The Pronunciation of the Slovak Accents

In the previous entry, The Slovak Accents: Acute, Caron and Circumflex, we discussed the three Slovak accents: acute, caron and circumflex. These three accents are represented in the following examples respectively: 'í', 'ň', and 'ô'. The purpose of this entry is to explain how each of these accents is pronounced in Slovak. Understanding their pronunciation is important for the development of your Slovak speaking (and spelling!) skills. The correct pronunciation will also ensure that you convey the right meaning to a word. This can prevent two words, which are spelt differently but pronounced somewhat similarly, from being confused (for example, “vodit'” and “vodič”).

Let's start!

Pronouncing the Acute Accent
The pronunciation of the acute accent was briefly covered in the entry An Introduction to Slovakia and Slovak. To quickly recap, the acute accent occurs with vowels only and serves to lengthen the pronunciation of the vowel. By lengthening the vowel, the vowel is also emphasised. Two further examples include: “druhý”, which is pronounced something like “drew-hee”, and means “second”; and “dúha”, which is pronounced something like “d0o-hah”, and means “rainbow”.

Where the acute accent occurs above the consonants 'l' and 'r', these consonants are considered vowels. The pronounciation of 'ĺ' sounds like “lurid” in English. There is no known English equivalent for the 'ŕ' sound. However, let's take a quick look at the pronunciation of the Slovak 'r' without an accent to give you some idea. It is pronounced very differently to the 'r' in English but the same as the 'r' in German, Italian and Spanish. Say the Spanish words "arriva" and "carramba" out loud. Did you feel your tongue vibrating? Well, that's how you say the Slovak 'r'. To understand how to pronounce the 'r' with an accent, try to hear the pronunciation of the words “hŕba” or “vŕtať”, which mean “heap” and “drill” respectively.  You can listen to the pronunciation of “arriva” on the Forvo website here as a guideline for the Slovak 'r'.

Pronouncing the Caron
The caron was introduced in the previous entry The Slovak Accents: Acute, Caron and Circumflex. To quickly recap, the caron is used above consonants only and is shown either as a “v” mark (above the letters c, n, s or z) or as an apostrophe (behind the letters d, l, t).

The caron serves to soften the sound of the consonants when it is pronounced. Some examples of their usage and pronounciation are shown below:
~ 'č' – “čo”, which is pronounced something like the “ch” in “chello”, and means “what”.
~ 'ň' – “voňavka”, which is pronounced something like “vo-njau-ka”, and means “perfume”. To help with the pronunciation, think of the 'n' sound in the English word “news”.
~ 'š' – “náš”, which is pronounced something like “sh” in “ship”, and means “ours”.
~ 'ž' – “žaba”, which is pronounced something like “zha-bah”, and means “frog”. To help with the pronunciation, think of the 'si' sound in the English word “television”.
~ 'ď' – “ďakujem”, which is pronounced something like “dja-koo-yem”, and means “thank you”. To help with the pronunciation, think of the 'd' sound in the English word “during”.
~ 'ľ' – “vľavo”, which is pronounced something like “vlja-voh”, and means “to the left”. There is no known English equivalent for this sound however, it is similar to the Italian pronounciation in the word “Cagliari”. Hear the pronunciation of this word on the Forvo website here.
~ 'ť' – “ťava”, which is pronounced something like “tja-vah”, and means “camel”. To help with the pronunciation, think of the 'tj' sound of the last 't' in the English word “attitude”.

Pronouncing the Circumflex
The circumflex was introduced in the previous entry, The Slovak Accents: Acute, Caron and Circumflex. To quickly recap, the circumflex is used above the letter 'o' only to produce the letter 'ô'. This particular character is known as a dipthong.

The Greek word “dipthongos” means “two sounds” or “two tones”. Dipthongs therefore consist of two vowels and also two sounds. In Slovak, there are four dipthongs ('ia', 'iu', 'ie' and 'ô'). The letter 'ô' is represented by the vowels 'u' (pronounced as a short, weak "oo") and 'o' in the order 'uo', where the 'u' is less pronounced than the 'o'. Examples of the usage of this consonant in Slovak are: “kôň”, “kôl” and “kôpor”, which mean “horse”, “stake” and “dill” respectively. The pronunciation is represented by “ku-onj”, “ku-ol” and “kuo-por”. Notice how your mouth changes shape when saying these words and how the 'o' is emphasised more than the 'u'.

In summary, the pronunciation of many of the vowels and consonants we have considered so far can be heard online at the Omniglot website. Listen to the sound file for the “Sample text in Slovak” on the Slovak page. The text version of the audio file is shown below. Read it before listening to the audio and refer to it while listening to match the vowels and consonants with their written versions.

“Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a sebe rovní, čo sa týka ich dôstojnosti a práv. Sú obdarení rozumom a majú navzájom jednať v bratskom duchu.”

Next time we will look at the pronunciation of the letters in the Slovak alphabet which do not have accents.

Notes:

1. In the above extract from Omniglot, the word “dôstojnosti” was incorrectly spelt in the original text as “dostôjnosti”. It has been corrected here to ensure the text correctly matches the pronunciation heard in the audio file.

2. It has been suggested that the word “jednať ” should be replaced with the word “konať ” in this context. This is a common mistake caused by the use of the word “jednať ” in Slovak based on its use in the Czech language. However, “jednať ” in Czech is actually equivalent to “konať” in Slovak.

The Slovak Accents: Acute, Caron and Circumflex

The Acute Accent Mark

In the previous entry the acute accent mark (prolongation mark or "dĺžeň"), which is used to denote long vowels in Slovak, was introduced. The acute accent mark is used on all Slovak vowels except the wide a (ä). These long vowels are therefore: á, é, í, ó, ú and ý. They are called long vowels because the vowel is emphasised when it is pronounced by holding the sound of the vowel.

Let's look at an example. In Slovak the word for "wine" is "'víno". As you can see from the acute mark, the 'i' vowel is long (í). The word "víno" is therefore pronounced more like "vee-no" and not like "vi-no". Other examples of long vowels include "biológia", which means "biology", and "súd", which means "court".  The pronunciation of "biológia" is something like "bi-o-low-gia" and closely resembles "sood" for "súd" where the 'ú' is pronounced like the 'oo' in "moo". 

It is important to note here that the acute accent mark can also be used with the consonants 'l' and 'r' to produce the letters 'ĺ' and 'ŕ'. As with English, a consonant is a letter of the alphabet that is not a vowel. However, these two consonants are considered vowels in these instances. Examples of their usage in Slovak are "kĺb", which means "joint" and "hŕba", which means "pile" or "heap".

The Caron and Circumflex

In Slovak there are two other accent marks that we have not yet introduced. These are the caron ("mäkčeň") and the circumflex ("vokáň"). The caron is a 'v'-like accent that is used with consonants only. It is written in two forms: as a small 'v' above the letter 'c', 'n', 's' and 'z' to create the letters 'č', ň', 'š', and 'ž'; and as an apostrophe behind the letters 'd', 'l' and 't' to create the letters 'ď', 'ľ', and 'ť'.

The caron serves to soften the sound of these letters when they are pronounced in Slovak. For example, the word "žena", which means "woman", is pronounced more like "zje-na" and not like "ze-na", where the 'ze' is something like the 'ze' in "zebra". Another example is "široký". This word means "wide" and is pronounced more like "she-ro-key" and not like "sa-ro-key".

The circumflex is an upside down 'v' that is used above the vowel 'o' only. It is represented as 'ô' and forms a diphthong. An example of the use of the circumflex is in the word "stôl", which means "table". It is pronounced something like "stwol". Diphthongs will be covered in a later entry on this blog.

As it is quite difficult to explain the pronunciation of the Slovak sounds through comparison with other English words, I suggest you try to familiarize yourself with Slovak by listening to the Slovak language and how it sounds in daily conversation. I will be looking for some Slovak sound clips to see if I can assist with this familiarization in some ways.

In the meantime, why not listen to some Slovak online? Visit Surf Music to listen to radio stations broadcast in Slovakia online. I recommend FUN Rádio and KISS 98; these are both radio stations that I often listen to when travelling in Slovakia. Rádio Slovensko (shown as Radio Slovensky on the Surf Music webpage) is also a good option as they talk more than some of the other radio stations. Look for a link that includes the word "živé" ("alive") on any of the websites to connect to their live broadcast. If you want to search for other broadcasts try using the search term "rozhlas", which means "radio broadcast".

Next time we will be looking at Slovak consonants and their associated accents in more detail.

An Introduction to Slovakia and Slovak

Slovakia, or Slovensko as it is known to the locals, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The Slovak Republic territory that exists today was established in 1989 after the fall of Communism. The country was recognised as a sovereign state when Czechoslovakia was divided into two separate countries, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, on the 1st of January 1993.

With just under 5.5 million inhabitants, Slovakia is one of the smaller countries in Europe. Its size in terms of square kilometers is somewhat larger than that of Denmark and almost two thirds the size of its western neighbour and historical partner, the Czech Republic. Since its formation Slovakia has built a name for itself within Europe. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Schengen zone in 2007.  It also adopted the Euro on the 1st of January 2009.

The national language of Slovakia is Slovak (slovenčina). Slovak is a slavic language, or simply, a language of the Slavic people. The Slavic people are an ethic and linguistic group of people who populated many parts of Europe in around 6BC. Like other Slavic languages, Slovak descends from a parent language called 'Proto-Slavic' and is categorised as a 'West Slavic' language based on its geographical origin.

Slovak utilises the Latin alphabet, which is the same as the English ABC's. However, it includes 'ch' as a separate letter after 'h' and also excludes 'w' and 'q'. The letter 'x' is usually only used in foreign words. The language has two additional vowels compared to the English "a, e, i, o, u". These are the vowels ("samohlásky") 'y' and 'ä'. The vowel 'y' is pronounced like the English small 'i' and the wide 'ä', which is written as an 'a' with an umlaut, is pronounced more like the English small 'e'.

All of the vowels except for 'ä' are used in both a short and a long form, where the long form is denoted by an acute mark above the vowel. The differentiation between the long and short vowels is an important aspect of the Slovak language as the pronunciation of the word gives it its meaning. Take for example the Slovak word "rad". Spelled with a short 'a' (an 'a' without an accent), it means "row" or "line" in English. Replace the short 'a' with a long one, 'á' (an 'a' with an acute mark), and it means "gladly" or "with pleasure".

It becomes obvious then that understanding the Slovak accents and sounds is a vital step to mastering the language. Next time we will cover the Slovak consonants and their accents, which modify their pronunciation and result in a lot of tongue twisting for those of us who are not used to a soft language like Slovak!