Polish Consonants

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.

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Introduction to Polish Diction

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Vowels: Part 1—Oral Vowels