Vowels: Part 2—Nasal Vowels

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”