Introduction to Polish Diction
It all begins with an idea.
Polish is a Western Slavic language spoken by over 45 million people worldwide and is an official/recognized minority religion in Poland, Belarus, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Since Polish belongs to the Western Slavic branch, it is a latin-based alphabet with some diacritics.
There are 32 letters in the Polish alphabet: 9 vowels and 23 consonants. The vowels in alphabetical order are as follows: a, ą, e, ę, i, o, ó, u, and y. Two vowels (ó/u) share one sound, meaning there are only eight vowel sounds.
In Polish, six of the vowel sounds are oral vowels and are monophthongs and two are nasal (demonstrated by the [~] above the IPA symbol). The nasal vowel pronunciation will vary depending on the proceeding consonants. This will be discussed later on in a separate post.
The phonemes of Polish consonants can be found in a variety of Indo-European languages (e.g. English, Italian, and Russian), and since it is a Latin-derived alphabet there is less of a barrier for English speakers than with Cyrillic-based Slavic languages. As a general rule, dental consonants are pronounced more like Italian dental consonants unless they are palatalized (i.e. softened). The consonants that are most familiar to English speakers are: B, D, F, G, K, M, N, P, S, T, Z. The consonant L is similar to the Italian pronunciation than the velarized pronunciation in American English. The consonant c is pronounced as [ʦ].
Like in Russian, consonants have soft and hard counterparts. Consonants can be softened with acute diacritics as in ń [ɲ]. These consonants can also be rewritten with an i in place of the diacritic when followed by another vowel. Unlike Russian, Polish has another layer to the softening of consonants. In addition to hard or soft, some consonants can be functionally soft. As a consonant's pronunciation mutates, the pronunciation will switch from dental, to retroflex, and to palatal. Most of the time, this is demonstrated through the use of digraphs, however this is not always the case. For example, the letter z changes from its dental pronunciation [z] to the alveolar [ʐ], ż, to the softened ź/zi or [ʑ]. These functionally soft consonants now belong to the group of hard consonants.
The last three letters that are different from English pronunciation are W, Ł, and H. The first of the three is pronounced like in German, or [v], while the second is the labio-velar approximant [w] like in 'water'. H, [x], is pronounced like the words loch, or хороший.
Only in foreign words would you encounter the letters Q, V, and X. When pronouncing such words, they will follow the pronunciation of the language it is borrowed from or be pronounced in a Polonized way. For example, “quiz” is pronounced [kvis], and Québec [kɛbɛk]. Video [vidɛɔ] and X will be pronounced as [ks] and usually is found in such a form already in words such as ksylofon [ksɪlɔfɔn] "xylophone". I could not find a word beginning with 'x,' but let me know if you find one!
In upcoming posts I will discuss in further detail nasal vowels, functionally soft consonants and palatalization, and also palatalization in comparison to Russian.
Polish Consonants
It all begins with an idea.
Similar to other West Slavic languages, Polish uses an extended Latin alphabet that is largely phonemic. Polish is a language rich in consonants, many of which are similar to already familiar languages for many classical singers. The alphabet is phonetic, and, except for a few instances of assimilation, words are largely spoken as they are written. The following consonants are pronounced similarly as in Italian (unless followed by the letter i): B [b], D [d], F [f], G [g], K [k], L [l], M [m], N [n], P [p], R [r], S [s], T [t], Z [z]. The consonants W [v] and J [j] are pronounced similarly to German, while C [t͡s] is like the Russian letter Ц or Czech C.
Polish also has the following digraphs: Ch [x] (this phoneme is also written with H), Cz/cz [t͡ʂ], Dz/dz [d͡z], Dź/dź [d͡ʑ], Dż/dż (d͡ʐ], Rz/rz [ʐ], Sz/sz [ʂ]. The digraph Dź/dź can be written as a trigraph, dzi, and will still have the same pronunciation when a vowel follows the trigraph, otherwise it will be pronounced as [d͡ʑi] (e.g. chodzi [xɔ.d͡ʑi] “he/she walks”. It is important to note that digraphs and trigraphs are not considered to be individual letters within the alphabet. Therefore, when consulting a dictionary the digraph/trigraph will be listed under the first letter within the cluster.
As seen in some of the digraphs, additional letters are made through the use of diacritics. Polish diacritics include the kreska (e.g. ń) and kreska ukośna (ł), kropka (ż), and ogonek (ę). In writing, the kreska will be replaced with the vowel i when followed by another vowel. For example, the word “shade,” cień includes two letters represented with a kreska: ć and ń. [This is not the case for ł. It will always be written with the kreska ukośna.]
SC + V + SC = ć + e + ń = cień [t͡ɕɛɲ] “shade”
Other consonants with a kreska include:
Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant affricate
Ć/ć [t͡ɕ]: ćma [t͡ɕma] “moth”; cisza [t͡ɕi.ʂa] “silence”
Voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant affricate
Dź/dź [d͡ʑ]: dźgać [d͡ʑgat͡ɕ] “to prod”; z Łodzi [z‿wɔ.d͡ʑi] “from Lodz”
Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative
Ś/ś [ɕ]: środa [ɕrɔ.da] “wednesday; miesiąc [mʲɛ.ɕɔnt͡s] “month”; iść [iɕt͡ɕ] “to go by foot”
Voiced alveolo-palatal fricative
Ź/ź [ʑ]: źródło [ʑru.dwɔ] “source”; zielony [ʑɛ.lɔ.nɪ] “green”; jaźń [jaʑɲ] “self, ego”
Voiced labio-velar approximant
Ł/ł [w]: łódź [wut͡ɕ] “boat” (and city); mały [ma.wɪ] “small”; kawał [ka.vaw] “joke, piece”
Consonants with a kropka include:
Voiced retroflex sibilant fricative
Ż/ż [ʐ]: żaba [ʐa.ba] “frog”; każdy [kaʐ.dɪ] “each, every”; drużyna [dru.ʐɪ.na] “fellowship, troop”
Voiced retroflex sibilant affricate
Dż/dż [d͡ʐ]: dżem [d͡ʐɛm] “jam”; dżdżysty [d͡ʐd͡ʐɪ.stɪ] “rainy”; drożdże [drɔ.ʐd͡ʐɛ] “yeast”
The same concept applies for other palatalized sounds. However, the ending will change based on grammatical gender. For those familiar with other Slavic languages, the case endings in Polish may be more difficult to identify due to various consonant mutations and each case having several possible endings for one gender. Palatalized sounds only occur when a consonant is followed by an i or there is a kreska above a consonant. To denote palatalization, I recommend using the superscript [ ʲ ], however some Slavists use dots above or below to mark the articulatory change. As seen in the phonetic spelling of cień, [nʲ] is frequently substituted with [ɲ] but it is important to remember that the sound is to be articulated with the tip of the tongue. Dr. Benjamin Schultz also incorporates the voiced palatal stop [ɟ] as the sign for the palatalized voiced velar stop, g, however I suggest using the superscript-j [gʲ] as to differentiate this phoneme from the voiced palatal stop found in Czech and Slovak.
If a consonant is not palatalized, or “softened,” it is viewed to be hard. However, L is always soft with Ł being its hard counterpart.
E.x. Licho [li.xɔ] Demon of Misfortune in Slavic mythology
Łysy [wɪ.sɪ] bald
There is a subgroup of non-palatalized consonants that is a remnant of historical palatalizations. These consonants are called hardened consonants or functionally-soft consonants. They are as follows:
Voiceless alveolar affricate
C [t͡s]: cytryna [t͡sɪ.trɪ.na] “lemon”
Voiceless retroflex sibilant affricate
Cz [t͡ʂ]: czy [t͡ʂɪ] a question word
Voiced alveolar affricate
Dz [d͡z]: dzban [d͡zban] “pitcher”
Voiced retroflex sibilant affricate
Dż [d͡ʐ]: dżem [d͡ʐɛm] “jam”
Voiceless retroflex sibilant fricative
Sz [ʂ]: szary [ʂa.rɪ] “gray”
Voiced retroflex sibilant fricative
Ż/Rz [ʐ]: żaba [ʐa.ba] “frog”; rzeka [ʐɛ.ka] “river”
Rz shows that the word comes from a historically palatalized r, much like the ř in Czech.
Again, Dr. Schultz uses the more familiar voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] and voiced postalveolar fricative [ʒ] in lieu of [ʂ] and [ʐ]. While these sounds are found in other Slavic languages, such as Czech and Ukrainian, I have been corrected by native speakers/voice instructors to pronounce these two phonemes as retroflex. In practice this helps to truly clearly articulate the difference between the functionally-soft consonants and soft consonants.
Lastly, the letters Q, V, and X only appear in foreign words, and are frequently respelled as their appropriate Polish analogs kw [kf], w [v], and ks [ks]. Examples include, quorum (kworum) [kfɔ.rum] “quorum”; voodoo/wudu [vu.du] “voodoo”; xenia/ksenia [ksɛ.ɲa] “xenia” (botany). X is also seen occasionally as an abbreviated form for the word “priest,” ksiądz [kɕɔnt͡s], although ks. is the more common practice.
Vowels: Part 1—Oral Vowels
It all begins with an idea.
Polish has six oral vowels (a, e, i, o, u/ó, y) and two nasal vowels (ą, ę). The oral vowels are predominantly italianate in their formation and unlike Russian, Polish vowels do not centralize when they are not in stressed positions. For this post, I will solely focus on the oral vowels although the nasal vowels will have some carryover into phonemes used for the oral vowels.
The vowel <a> will be similar to the Italian [a], just not as bright. When forming this vowel, the tongue will relax into a low position while the sides and the tip touch the lower teeth. This phoneme appears wherever the letter a is written.
Bajka [baj.ka] “fairy tale”; Awans [a.vans] “promotion”; Praca [pra.t͡sa] “work”
Speakers of Russian need to be sure that the vowel remains pure even when in unstressed positions as Polish does not have vowel reduction.
The next vowel, <e>, will always be represented by the IPA symbol [ɛ]. It is pronounced almost exactly the same as in the Italian word tempo or English word bed. Again this vowel will never devoice, and will also not be pronounced as a closed [e]. It is
Cedr [t͡sɛdr] “cedar”; Beza [bɛ.za] “meringue”; Feler [fɛ.lɛr] “defect, fault”
The phoneme [i] (close forward unrounded vowel) is represented by the letter <i> in Polish and serves two purposes: a vowel and also an indicator of palatalization. Palatalization will be covered in a later post, but when a consonant is palatalized the vowel will usually be pronounced as [ʲ] or not at all. When it is between two vowels, [i] will be pronounced as a [j]. Otherwise, the letter <i> will always be pronounced as [i]. This sound is very familiar to singers as the vowel in the Italian rive or French fini.
Miś [mʲiɕ] “bear”; Praia [pra.ja] Praia, Cape Verde; ognisko [ɔg.ɲi.skɔ] “bonfire, campfire”
Much like the open-e, the Polish <o> will always be pronounced as the open, back, mid-rounded [ɔ] and can be found wherever <o> is written. Speakers of Russian need to be sure that word-initial <o> does not reduce to [ɐ]. To be sure that [ɔ] is being properly pronounced, make sure the lips are rounded and slightly protruded. A good English comparison, as suggested by Dr. Schultz, is to practice the British pronunciation of awe and go. The Polish rounding should lay within the middle of the two.
Kot [kɔt] “cat”; odkroić [ɔt.krɔ.it͡ɕ] “to cut off”; kto [ktɔ] “who”
The phoneme [u] can be represented by two letters in Polish: <u> and <ó>. The latter is a remnant of vowel length, as seen in Czech. The long <o> in Polish eventually developed into the short [u] sound, but retained the spelling (much like how the <rz> shows the development from the historically palatalized r). [u] is a very pure, close, back, rounded vowel sound, much like the Italian puro or Russian узкий [ˈu.skʲij]. The tip of the tongue touches the lower incisors while the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. The jaw is not lowered and the lips are very rounded and closed.
Król [kɾul] “king”; tulić [tu.lit͡ɕ] “to cuddle, nestle”; próba [pɾu.ba] “rehearsal”; kura [ku.ɾa] “hen”
The last oral vowel <y>, is related to the [i] vowel as it is just an allophonic change. While <i> can trigger palatalization, <y> will never palatalize a preceding consonant. It is a close forward unrounded vowel, with the tip of the tongue still touching the lower incisors and the upper portion of the body of the tongue slightly lower than [i]. <y> will always be pronounced as [ɪ], similar to the German and English [ɪ] vowel.
Życie [ʐɪ.t͡ɕɛ] “life”, mydło [mɪ.dwɔ] “soap”; dotykać [dɔ.tɪ.kat͡ɕ] “to touch”
Compare and contrast [i] and [ɪ]
Nic [ɲit͡s] “nothing” and ruiny [ɾu.i.nɪ] “ruins”
Być [bɪt͡ɕ] “to be” and bić [bʲit͡ɕ] “to beat”
Siano [ɕa.nɔ] “hay” and szyna [ʂɪ.na] “rail, splint”
Vowels: Part 2—Nasal Vowels
It all begins with an idea.
One historical element of Slavic languages that remains in Polish is nasal vowels. Originally, four nasal vowels were found in Proto-Slavic, but from the 12th through the 16th centuries, the nasal vowels merged into what are now ą and ę, the historically long and short variants respectively. In Czech, historical nasal vowels are now represented by the diphthong ou and in Russian with y [u]. While in spoken Polish, nasal vowels are diphthongized with a [ʷ], so that ą would be pronounced as [ɔ̃ʷ] and ę as [ɛ̃ʷ], this trait is not desired in lyric diction. Therefore, nasal vowels should be pronounced in a pure manner similar to French. However, when these vowels appear in words, their pronunciation will change slightly depending on the position and the consonants. When this occurs, the vowel will no longer be nasalized and a nasal element is added.
When a nasal vowel precedes the consonants ch/h, f, s, sz, ś, z, ź, ż, rz, w the nasal will be pronounced as a pure nasal vowel.
Ex. Język [ˈjɛ̃.zɪk] “language, tongue”
Mąż [mɔ̃ʂ] “husband”
When a nasal vowel is pre-approximant (l, ł) it will be pronounced as the respective vowel without the nasal.
Ex. zaczęli [za.ˈt͡ʂɛ.li] “they began”; wziął [vʑɔw] “he took”
When ą or ę is in a pre-labial stop position (p, b) it will be pronounced as the oral vowel followed by the phoneme [m].
Ex. zęby [ˈzɛm.bɪ] “teeth”; dąb [dɔmp] “oak tree”
Similarly, when the nasal vowel is followed by an alveolar stop (t, d, c) it will be pronounced as an oral vowel followed by [n].
Ex. ręce [ˈɾɛn.t͡sɛ] “hands”; sąd [sɔnt] “court”
When the nasal vowel is before affricates (dz, cz, dż, dź, ć) the vowel will become an oral vowel also followed by [n] if hard or [ɲ] if soft. Remember that hardened or functionally soft vowels (dz, cz, dż) are considered to be a subgroup of the hard consonants, while dź and ć are soft.
Ex. ręczne (hard) [ˈɾɛn.t͡ʂnɛ] “by hand”; pięć (soft) [pʲɛɲt͡ɕ] “five”
Łączka (hard) [ˈwɔn.t͡ʂka] “meadow”; giąć (soft) [gʲɔɲt͡ɕ] “to bend”
When the nasal vowel is followed by a velar stop (k or g) it will be pronounced as an oral vowel followed by the voiced velar nasal [ŋ].
Ex. ręka [ˈɾɛŋ.ka] “hand”; mąka [ˈmɔŋ.ka] “flour”
Lastly, when the nasal vowel is in word-final position, ą will be pronounced as a pure nasal vowel [ɔ̃] while ę will be pronounced as the oral vowel [ɛ]. In some older recordings, final-ę is nasalized and it can also be heard slightly in Bieczała’s recordings of Polish songs or baritone Alfred Orda’s recording of Paderewski’s Piosnka dudarza [ˈpʲɔsn.ka du.ˈda.ʐa] “The Piper’s Song”, however it is standard practice to not nasalize this vowel in word-final position.
Ex. robię [ˈɾɔ.bʲɛ] “I do/make”; robią [ˈɾɔ.bʲɔ̃] “they do/make”
Palatalization & Soft Consonants
In several Slavic languages, some consonants can undergo an allophonic change that is caused by the iotation of the following vowel. This articulatory change is called palatalization and is usually commonly represented with a superscript-j following a consonant. In Polish, several consonants will become palatalized, or soft, when followed by the letter i. They are as follows:
b, ch/h, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, and w.
Whenever an i follows these consonants they can be transcribed as the appropriate consonant followed by [ʲ]. For example, bi will be transcribed as [bʲ]. Certain Slavists make use of a dot above or below, which follows the rules of Slavonic Phonetic Alphabet (pl. slawistyczny alfabet fonetyczny). This is the preferred method in Dr. Schultz’s book as it does not give room for inserting a j-glide, which is not ideal or correct in Polish lyric diction. However, I will follow the IPA rules of the superscript-j. It is important to remember that palatalized consonants are not formed with two sounds, but one. A trick I was taught during Russian coachings with Alexandre Nauomenko was to act as if it were a “hidden diphthong”. When you pronounce a palatalized consonant, the jaw will drop as the iotified sound is made.
Practice with the following words:
Mały [ˈma.wɪ] “small” and miały [ˈmʲa.wɪ] “they had” (non-virile)
Certain letters from the list above will not take the superscript-j, but instead take on a different IPA symbol. They are as follows:
Ch/h, g, k, and n.
As Dr. Schultz suggests, velar consonants have “palate-velar counterparts that serve as the palatalized version of the velar consonant” (p. 38). Ni/ń or [ɲ] is a palatal consonant, much like Czech. Please find in the list below the appropriate palatal/palatalized symbol for Polish consonants.
bi – [bʲ] (ex. Biały [bʲa.wɪ] “white”)
chi/hi – [ç] (ex. Chiny [çi.nɪ] “China”; historia [çi.ˈstɔ.rʲja] “history” *)
fi – [fʲ] (ex. Fioletowy [fʲɔ.lɛ.ˈtɔ.wɪ] “purple” (adj.))
gi – [ɟ] (ex. Giętki [ˈɟɛnt.ci] “flexible”)
ki – [c] (ex. Cukier [ˈt͡su.cɛɾ] “sugar”)
li – [lʲ] (ex. Lilia [ˈlʲi.lʲa] “lilly”)
mi – [mʲ] (ex. Miał [mʲaw] “he had”)
ni/ń – [ɲ] (ex. Cień [t͡ɕɛɲ] “shade”)
pi – [pʲ] (ex. Pieśń [pʲɛɕɲ] “song”)
wi – [vʲ] (ex. Wiadro [ˈvʲa.dɾɔ] “bucket”)
When I transliterate Polish into IPA, I usually use the superscript-j for the following symbols: [ɟ], [c], and [ç], as I prefer to emphasize the occurrence of the palatalization. Whichever is employed, be sure to be consistent in your use.
You may have also noticed that when transcribing some of the words, i both palatalizes and appears as [j] or [i]. When there is no other vowel besides i in a syllable, it will palatalize the preceding consonant and also be the vowel sound in that foot. The vowel i will trigger palatalization and be pronounced as [j] when followed by a vowel usually in words of Latin or Greek origin.
It is also important to note that some letters will always be soft (palatal/palatalized):
ś/si, ź/zi, dź/dzi
In these instances, the [ʲ] will not be employed unless i is the only vowel in the syllable. Therefore, the corresponding IPA symbols are:
ś/si – [ɕ] siema [ˈɕɛ.ma] “hey”
ź/zi – [ʑ] ziemia [ˈʑɛ.mʲa] “Earth”
dź/dzi – [d͡ʑ] dzięki [d͡ʑɛŋ.kʲi] “thanks”
Devoicing & Assimilation
For those who have studied Russian, German, and other languages, the concept of consonant devoicing is not foreign. In Polish, most consonants have a voiced and unvoiced pair. The pairs are as follows:
Voiced – Unvoiced
B [b] – p [p]
Gołąb [ˈgɔ.wɔmp] “dove”
D [d] – t [t]
Środku [ˈɕɾɔ.tku] “middle” (loc. case)
Dz [d͡z] – c [t͡s]
Kukurydz [ku.ku.ˈɾɪt͡s] “corn”
Dź [d͡ʑ] – ć [t͡ɕ]
Łódź [wut͡ɕ] “Lodz (city), boat”
Dż/drz [d͡ʐ] – cz, trz, tsz, tż [t͡ʂ]
Mądrz [mɔnt͡ʂ] “pontificate” (short form imperative)
G [g] – k [k]
Filolog [fʲi.ˈlɔ.lɔk] “philologist”
Rz, ż [ʐ] – sz [ʂ]
Twarz [tfaʂ] “face”
W [v] – f [f]
Krew [kɾɛf] “blood”
Z [z] – s [s]
Teraz [ˈtɛ.ɾas] “now”
Ź [ʑ] – ś [ɕ]
Przyleź [ˈpʂɪ.lɛɕ] “turn up uninvited” (2nd person sing. imperative)
Unlike other Slavic languages, Polish assimilation rules are quite simple—consonants will only assimilate from voiced to unvoiced. There are three instances when voiced consonants will assimilate to an unvoiced consonant.
1. When a paired voiced consonant is word-final.
2. When a paired voiced consonant is before an unvoiced consonant.
3. When a preposition (w, z) is before an unvoiced consonant.
When examining clusters of consonants, it is the last obstruent that will determine devoicing. However, w and rz will not determine the voicing of the cluster. In these instances, it will be the preceding consonant(s) as shown in the examples below.
Ex. Trzy [tʂɪ] “three”; drzwi [dʐvʲi] “door
Twarz [tfaʂ] “face”; dwór [dvuɾ] “manor”
These rules apply across word barriers as well. Therefore, if a word ends with a paired voiced consonant and the following word begins with a voiced/unvoiced consonant, it will be voiced or unvoiced. If the following word begins with a vowel, j, or w, the consonant of the previous word will be unvoiced. The exception to this is prepositions.
Ex. Żołnierz ranny [ˈʐɔw.ɲɛʂ‿ranːny] “wounded soldier”
Ogród ojca [ˈɔ.grut‿ˈɔj.t͡sa] “father’s garden”
But
Pod lasem [pɔd‿ˈla.sɛm] “by the forest”
Z matką [z‿ˈmat.kɔ̃] “with mother”
Old Orthography
Old Orthographic spellings This largely applies for those who perform early music; however, some spellings were acceptable until the early-20 th century. Jan Kochanowski, a Polish Renaissance poet, codified the Polish language in the 16 th century and proposed some letters that do not exist today namely, vowels with acute and grave accents to denote length, as well as ç (cz [t͡ʂ]), θ (dz [d͡z]), θ´ (dź [d͡ʑ]), θ˙ (dż [d͡ʐ]), ŗ (rz [ʐ]), σ (ś [ɕ]), and ß (sz [ʂ]).
While most of these letters are quite rare, I have found them, namely ß, in anthologies of liturgical music that was published in the 18 th century in Kraków, which could also be attributed to the fact that German was the official language of the Habsburg Empire in the late 18th century. Additionally, some editions may include ƶ as a replacement for ż [ʐ], but be careful as this is also quite common as a fancier way to write titles of pieces. This is still common as well in handwriting as a way to distinguish ż from ź. Also, quite common was the use of j and sometimes y in place of i. Names like Marian, Maria, and nouns of Greek and Latin origin (historia, ortografia) were spelled Marjan, Marya, historja, ortografja but have since been consolidated to the [i] vowel. The most likely encounter will be a sole j which is just an old orthographic spelling of i. If the word is of Slavic origin, the word has been replaced with the historical palatalized r — rz [ʐ].
Double Consonants and Clusters
As you may have noticed, Polish is a consonant-rich language and as a result several consonants may occur in a single syllable as either a doubling or in a cluster. The rule of thumb in Polish lyric diction is that every consonant should be articulated following previous pronunciation rules (assimilation, devoicing, etc.). However, the means of which these sounds will be articulated is dependent on musical factors, most importantly tempo. In spoken Polish, double consonants will always be rearticulated so that a double n, as in the name Anna will be pronounced as [ˈan.na] with a very subtle schwa between the two ns. The schwa in Polish, like in Russian, is based around y [ɪ] (ы [ɨ] in Russian) vowel sound. In sung Polish, the most common approach to doubling is just as in German or Italian, i.e. prolonging the sound without rearticulation. However, the letter n is usually rearticulated even in fast tempi (I will elaborate later using an example). Fricates will also be rearticulated as in czczo [t͡ʂt͡ʂɔ] “fasting” and dżdżysty [ˈd͡ʐd͡ʐɪ.stɪ] “rainy”.
Consonant clusters and doubling can occur at the beginning, middle, and end of a word and across word boundaries. Typically, word-initial and word-internal clusters can have up to four consonants and word-final can have up to five. It is also worth pointing out that unlike Czech, Polish does not have vocalic consonants. Therefore the word krwawy (“bloody”) is pronounced as [ˈkrva.vɪ] and not [kr̩.va.vɪ].
When approaching a cluster, start by working backwards beginning with the vowel. For example, the adjective bezwzględny (“harsh, absolute”). If you take the word apart, we have the prefix bez [bɛs] (“without”), followed by the core wzgląd [vzglɔnt] (“consideration”) (here ą mutates to ę creating względ), ending with the adjectival suffix -ny [nɪ], and can see that it follows the paradigm for word-internal consonant clusters. Now, take the core and slowly work back in the following sequence
-ęd [ɛnt], -lęd [lɛnt], -ględ [glɛnt], -zględ [zglɛnt], względ [vzglɛnt]
Now, add the prefix bez and pay attention to voicing/devoicing rules:
Bezwzględ- [bɛz.vzglɛnt]
Finally, add the adjectival suffix and again keep in mind voicing rules:
Bezwzględny [bɛzˈvzglɛnd.nɪ]
It is also possible for not every consonant to be pronounced in a given word. While some simplifications of consonant clusters are common, others are specific to an individual and dependent on emotional state, pace, degree of attention, and other factors. They are considered correct, but simplifications should not be the result of neglecting the desired effort to carefully pronounce a certain word.
Let’s look at a few words (full pronunciation followed by truncated):
Krakowski (krakowian): [kraˈkɔf.skʲi] or [kraˈkɔ.skʲi]
Pierwszy (first): [ˈpʲɛr.fʂɪ] or [pʲɛr.ʂɪ]
This pattern is similar to consonant deletion in Russian clusters.
Pięćdziesiąt (fifty): [pʲɛɲt͡ɕˈd͡ʑɛ.ɕɔnt] or [pʲɛɲˈd͡ʑɛ.ɕɔnt]
Sześćdziesiąt (sixty): [ʂɛʑd͡ʑˈd͡ʑɛ.ɕɔnt] or [ʂɛʑˈd͡ʑɛ.ɕɔnt]
Here, the latter is more common in spoken Polish.
Trzcina (reed): [ˈtʂt͡ɕi.na] or [ˈt͡ʂt͡ɕi.na]
Here, the difference lies in the length of the fricative. This is important to pay attention
to, especially with the words czy [t͡ʂɪ] (question word) and trzy [tʂɪ] “three”. In the case of the latter, the [ʂ] sound is longer than in the affricate found in the former.
However, with word final ł [w] in stage pronunciation and lyric diction, the consonant will be devoiced to [w̥] when following a consonant according to Zenon Klemiesiewicz, linguist and 20th-century reformer of the Polish language. In practice this sounds more similar to an off-glide, especially at faster tempi.
Poszedł (he went): [ˈpɔ.ʂɛtw̥] not [ˈpɔ.ʂɛdw]
Wyrzekł (he renounced): [ˈvɪ.ʐɛkw̥] not [ˈvɪ.ʐɛkw]
This is similar for r, m, l, n, and ń at the end of words and also when they are between two unvoiced consonants.
Krtan [kr̥tan] “throat”; piosnka [pʲɔsn̥ka] “little song”, jabłko [ˈjap.wkɔ] “apple” (the b would devoice because of assimilation rules)
The question is now, when would it be appropriate to use such a tool in singing? I would suggest recitative or patter as an appropriate setting. One perfect example would be Stanisław Moniuszko’s song „Prząśniczka” (“The Spinner Girl”). The tempo here is presto and the refrain “Kręć się, kręć wrzeciono…” has consonant clusters across word boundaries and in the beginning and middle of words (See link in comments to text, translation, and IPA). While the proper IPA transcription would be [krɛnt͡ɕ ɕɛ krɛnt͡ɕ vʐɛˈt͡ɕɔ.nɔ] / [vʲit͡ɕ ɕɛ ˈtɔ.bʲɛ vʲit͡ɕ] / … / [ˈt͡ʂɪ.ja ˈdwuʂ.ʂa ɲit͡ɕ], but at such a fast tempo, reducing the affricates ć [t͡ɕ] to [ɕ] in kręć się and wić się would be more beneficial. Similarly, the double [ʂ] in dłuższa should be simply lengthened rather than rearticulated [ˈdwuʂːʂa]. However, in nearly every recording I have found of a native speaker, the n in inny and innemu is rearticulated while intoning on the [i] vowel sound.
When taking a step back from this very close examination, it is possible to see some potential rules/options to simplifying consonant clusters. A singer can either omit a consonant, devoice a consonant (sonorants), truncate a stop and fricative into an affricate, or change an affricate to a fricative. This is a grey area within the realm of diction, but it can also be a great tool for not only singing more effectively in Polish, but also finding your interpretation of a piece.