Hungarian phonology
This article deals with the phonology and the phonetics of the Hungarian language. (Phonology studies abstract elements (phonemes) as they contrast with each other; phonetics studies the actual acoustic realizations of phonemes as speech sounds.)
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Vowels
Here follows the table of Hungarian vowels, with the distinctive features of the Hungarian vowel system:
Hungarian_vowel_chart.png
The vowel phonemes of Hungarian
Phoneme | Most common grapheme | [back] | [round] | [high] | [low] | [long] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/a/ | [ɒ] | a | + | + | - | + | - |
/a:/ | [aː] | á | + | - | - | + | + |
/o/ | [o] | o | + | + | - | - | - |
/o:/ | [oː] | ó | + | + | - | - | + |
/u/ | [u] | u | + | + | + | - | - |
/u:/ | [uː], [u] | ú | + | + | + | - | + |
/e/ | [ɛ] | e | - | - | - | + | - |
/e:/ | [eː] | é | - | - | - | - | + |
/i/ | [i] | i | - | - | + | - | - |
/i:/ | [iː], [i] | í | - | - | + | - | + |
/ø/ | [ø] | ö | - | + | - | - | - |
/ø:/ | [øː] | ő | - | + | - | - | + |
/y/ | [y] | ü | - | + | + | - | - |
/y:/ | [yː], [y] | ű | - | + | + | - | + |
As can be seen from the table, Hungarian has seven pairs of corresponding short and long vowels. Their phonetic value does not match in each case, for instance the /e/ - /e:/ and /a/ - /a:/ pairs; as is common in many languages, the short vowel is realized as lax, while the long vowel is also tense.
The length distinction in high vowels is not consistent. Many dialects lack the phonemes /i:/, /u:/ and /y:/, and colloquial use is also very different than the orthography (eg. unió is pronounced [uːnioː], but szomorú is pronounced [somoru]).
Vowel harmony
As in Finnish and Turkish, vowel harmony plays an important part in determining the distribution of vowels in a word. The primary division is between front and back vowels.
The following vowels are considered front vowels:
- e [ɛ]
- é [eː]
- i [i]
- í [iː]
- ö [ø]
- ő [øː]
- ü [y]
- ű [yː]
The following vowels are considered back vowels:
- a [ɒ]
- á [aː]
- o [o]
- ó [oː]
- u [u]
- ú [uː]
For the most part, words contain vowels primarily of one of the two types. Mixed category words are uncommon, but do exist, even in native words (e.g. "derekas"). Most mixed words are of foreign origin (e.g. "telefon") or consist of compound words (e.g. "pénz|tárca" [purse]). For purposes of determining the class of suffix to use (Suffixes usually have two forms, one for each of the classes of vowels) compound words take the suffix corresponding to the vowel-class of the last unit of the compound, and loanwords use the vowel-class of the last vowel.
It should be noted that /i/, /e:/ and sometimes /e/, while being nominally "front" vowels, are "transparent;" i.e. if they are preceded by back vowels, the word is considered a back-vowel word.
A few words which contain /i/, /i:/ and, rarely, /eː/ are counted as back-vowel words because in Old Hungarian, the words contained the /ɨ/ phoneme in their place. This sound is the same as Polish y, Russian yery, Rumanian â and î, and, in some dialects of English the sound of the "e" in "roses" (in those dialects where "Rosa's" and "roses" don't sound alike). In most modern Hungarian dialects, this vowel has merged with /i/, /iː/, and, rarely, /eː/. Certain conservative dialects (e.g. the Bihar dialect) preserve it unchanged or as /ɪ/ (as in the English word "it").
Additionally, there is another set of criteria based on vowel roundedness for mid-high front vowels.
Most of Hungarian's multitude of suffixes have multiple forms, for use depending on the vowel class predominating in the stem.
Most types are:
| alternating vowels | example | back stems | front non-rounded stems | front rounded stems |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/, /e/ | -ban, -ben "in ..." | házban "in a house" | kézben "in hand" | könyvben "in a book" |
| /a:/, /e:/ | -ság, -ség "-ity, a collection of ..." | okosság "the quality of being clever" | vétség "fault" | ökörség "being like a bull = stupidity" |
| /o/, /e/, /ø/ | -on, -en, -ön "on ..." | házon "on (the top of) a house" | kézen "on hand" | könyvön "on a book" |
| /o:/, /ø:/ | -ó, -ő "-ing" | váró "(sy) waiting" | néző "(sy) looking" | lövő "(sy) shooting" |
| /u/, /y/ | -unk, -ünk "plural 1st person present suffix" | várunk "we're waiting" | nézünk "we're looking" | lövünk "we're shooting" |
| /u:/, /y:/ | -ú, -ű "something having ..." | ötágú "five-pointed (star)" | szép szemű "one having nice eyes" | gyönyörű "sg having beauty=beautiful" |
As can be seen, the phoneme /e/ is found both in the low vowel series (/a/ - /e/), and in the mid vowel series (/o/ - /e/ - /ö/). This odd feature is solved in the old language and in dialects: there was/is an eighth short phoneme /ë/, which is just like the /e/ but it is mid, and its pronunciation is [e], in contrast with /e/ being [ɛ]. In dialects, this phoneme is found in the mid series, and the low /e/ in the low series.
Many suffixes have only one form. These are usually new-born suffixes (-kor "at the time of ...": hatkor "at 6 o'clock", hétkor "at 7 o'clock", ötkor "at 5 o'clock"), or they contain /i/ or /e:/ (-i "universal noun → adjective suffix": budai "somebody from Buda", pesti "somebody from Pest"; -ért "for ...": aranyért "for gold", ezüstért "for silver").
Consonants
Hungarian has the following consonant system (not using standard SPE-like features), with unusual graphemes marked bold:
Phoneme | Most common grapheme | place of articulation | type of articulation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/p/ | [p] | p | - | ||
/b/ | [b] | b | + | ||
/t/ | [t̪] | t | - | ||
/d/ | [d̪] | d | + | ||
/c/ | [c] | ty | - | ||
/ɟ/ | [ɟ] | gy | + | ||
/k/ | [k] | k | - | ||
/g/ | [g] | g | + | ||
/f/ | [f] | f | - | ||
/v/ | [v] | v | + | ||
/s/ | [s̪] | sz | - | ||
/z/ | [z̪] | z | + | ||
/ʃ/ | [ʃ] | s | - | ||
/ʒ/ | [ʒ] | zs | + | ||
/j/ | [j] or [ʝ] | j, ly | + | ||
/h/ | [h] | h, ch | - | ||
/ts/ | [ts̪] | c | - | ||
/dz/ | [dz̪] | dz | + | ||
/ʧ/ | [ʧ] | cs | - | ||
/ʤ/ | [ʤ] | dzs | + | ||
/l/ | [l̪] | l | + | ||
/r/ | [r̪] | r | + | ||
/m/ | [m] | m | + | ||
/n/ | [n̪] | n | + | ||
/ɲ/ | [ɲ] | ny | + |
* Hungarian /s/ and /z/ are really dental although the IPA chart puts them in the alveolar slot.
Almost every consonant has a geminate counterpair, written by doubling: bb, pp, ss etc., or by doubling the first element of the grapheme cluster: ssz, nny, ddzs, etc. The phoneme /dz/ and /ʤ/usually appear on surface as geminates: bridzs [bridʤ] "bridge (the card game)".
Most important allophones are:
- /n/ becomes [ŋ] if followed by a velar consonant (eg. hang "voice" [hɒŋg])
- /j/ becomes [ç] if preceded by one of /p t k/ in an imperative at the end of the word (eg. kapj [kɒpç] "get (imp.)")
- /h/ may become [ɦ] between two vowels (eg. tehát [tɛɦaːt] "so")
- /h/ disappears at the end of the word in some cases: méh [meː] "bee", cseh [ʧɛ] "Czech"
- /h/ becomes otherwise [x] at the end of a syllable, even possible pronounciation for the words mentioned(méh [meː], but colloquially can be [meːx]), otherwise compulsory: doh [dox], ihlet [ixlɛt], or [içlɛt].
- /h/ becomes [xː] when geminate: méhhel [meːxːɛl] "with a bee" (in literary Hungarian the form is méhvel [meːvɛl]), peches [pɛxːɛʃ] "unlucky"