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”