ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION

Phonemic inventoryAlphabetStress

Phonemic inventory

The phonemic inventory of Vozgian is displayed in the charts below:

Vowels:

Consonants:


Alphabet

Vozgian is written in the Cyrillic script as shown in the first column. However, both for the sake of those who cannot read it and for scientific and practical purposes abroad, an official romanisation exists (represented in the second column). The ASCII-friendly version is basically an English popular transcription, useful in the media but definitely not recommended for scientific use.

Cyrillic Romanisation ASCII-friendly Phonetic value
А а A a A a  open front unrounded vowel [a]
Б б B b B b  voiced bilabial stop [b]
В в V v V v  voiced labiodental fricative [v]; in combination with ў: bilabial fricative [β]
Г г G g G g  voiced velar stop [g]
Ғ ғ H h GH gh  voiced velar fricative [ɣ]
Д д D d D d  voiced dental stop [d̪],voiced alveolar stop [d] (allophone)
Ђ ђ Ð ð DH dh  voiced dental fricative [ð]
Е е E e E e  open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ]
Ж ж Ž ž ZH zh  voiced alveopalatal fricative [ʒ]
З з Z z Z z  voiced alveolar fricative [z]
І і I i I i  close front unrounded vowel [i]
И и Y y Y y  close central unrounded vowel [ɨ]
Й й (Ј ј) J j J j  alveolar approximant [j]
К к K k K k  unvoiced velar stop [k]
Л л L l L l  alveolar lateral approximant [l]
М м M m M m  bilabial nasal [m]
Н н N n N n  dental nasal [n̪]; velar nasal [ŋ] (allophone)
О о O o O o  close-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ]
Ö ö Ö ö OE oe  close-mid central rounded vowel [ø] when stressed, otherwise schwa [ə]
П п P p P p  unvoiced bilabial stop [p]
Р р R r R r  alveolar trill [r]
С с S s S s  unvoiced alveolar fricative [s]
Т т T t T t  unvoiced dental stop [t̪], unvoiced alveolar stop [t] (allophone) 
Ћ ћ Þ þ TH th  unvoiced dental fricative [θ]
У у U u U u  close back rounded vowel [u]
Ў ў (*) Ŭ ŭ (*) U u  labiovelar glide [w]
Ф ф F f F f  unvoiced labiodental fricative [f]
Х х CH ch KH kh  unvoiced velar fricative [x]
Ц ц C c TS ts  unvoiced alveolar affricate [ts]
Ч ч Č č CH ch  unvoiced alveopalatal affricate [tʃ]
Ш ш Š š SH sh  unvoiced alveopalatal fricative [ʃ]
Ы ы AI ai AI ai  diphthong [ɑj]
Ю ю Ü ü UE ue  close front rounded vowel [y]
Я я Ä ä AE ae  almost open front unrounded vowel [æ] when stressed, otherwise schwa [ə]

(*) The brevis is usually not used in normal writting; it appears only in grammars, textbooks and dictionaries.


Stress

In Vozgian, stress always falls heavily and unconditionally on the first syllable of a word. In words with more than three syllables, secondary stress may occur on later syllables, depending on the etymology of a word.