A GRAMMAR OF CZECH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Karel Tahal

Karel Tahal: A Grammar of Czech as a Foreign Language
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ORTHOGRAPHY AND PRONUNCIATION
Pravopis a výslovnost
In most words, one letter (grapheme) stands for one sound (phoneme). Nevertheless, there are
several “regular deviations“ from the one-to-one relation. They are listed in the four points
below:
● 1:
The letter i changes the pronunciaton of the immediately preceding consonants n d t into
[ň ] [dˇ] [tˇ] (see examples above).
(Loan-words – ”internationalisms” – are exempt from this rule; e.g. in the words
komunikace (communication), diskuse (discussion), statistika (statistics), the syllables
in question are pronounced with n d t , in the same way as they are in English and
other languages.)
In front of the letter y, on the other hand, the pronunciation of the letters n d t is not
influenced.
This fact has a very important consequence: Although the letters i and y are pronounced in
the same way, it is absolutely necessary to distinguish
the written syllables ni di ti with the pronounced consonants [ň ] [dˇ] [tˇ]
from the written syllables ny dy ty , where there is no difference between spelling and
pronunciation of the consonants.
● 2:
The letter ě
does not stand for any special sound. It is pronounced [e], but it influences substantially the
pronunciation of the whole syllable, depending on the preceding consonant.
a) the written syllables ně dě tě are always pronounced [ňe] [dˇe] [tˇe] (see also
above)
b) the written syllables bě pě vě are always pronounced [bje] [pje] [vje]
(The same concerns the syllable fě [fje] which, however, has low occurence.)
c) the written syllable mě is always pronounced [mňe]
Examples:
a) spelling něco something dělat to do tělo body
pronunciation [ňeco] [dˇelat] [tˇelo]
b) spelling běžet to run pět five věc thing
pronunciation [bježet] [pjet] [vjec]
c) spelling město town
pronunciation [mňesto]
The letter “ě” can only occur after the consonants
n d t b p v f m
- never after any other consonant !!!
This is a very important fact, and it will be referred to later on,
when talking about various grammatical rules !
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