Phonology
| Phonology | |
|---|---|
| Moravska State Archive · 1976 | |
| Classification | Language |
| Status | canon |
| Last updated | 2026-11-03 |
| Archive source | 04 Language/Phonology.md |
| Length | 592 words (3 min read) |
| Internal links | 4 outgoing, 3 incoming |
| Sources | 4 cited |
Contents
[hide]Moravskan sounds hard and low. The coast softens the ends of words. The interior keeps them hard. The difference marks a speaker's home in one sentence.
Vowels [edit]
Six vowels are common.
| Letter | Sound | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| а | /a/ | *bara* | marsh |
| е | /ɛ/ | *more* | sea |
| и | /i/ | *liman* | lagoon |
| о | /ɔ/ | *more* | sea |
| у | /u/ | *kula* | tower |
| ъ | /ə/ | *zălăv* | bay |
A seventh vowel survives in 14 words. The letter is Ꙟ and the sound is a nasal /ɔ̃/. See Script and Typography.
|
Note:
|
The nasal words
pǫt (path), mǫka (flour), rǫka (hand), gǫba (mushroom). A coastal speaker keeps the nasal. An inland speaker says păt, măka, răka.
|
Consonants [edit]
The language has 26 consonants. Six of them do not exist in standard Russian.
| Sound | Letter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| /d͡z/ | Ꙃ | *Ꙃid* (wall) |
| /t͡s/ | ц | *tsena* (price) |
| /d͡ʒ/ | дж | *dzhob* (pocket) |
| /ʒ/ | ж | *zhalba* (complaint) |
| /ɲ/ | нь | *nyama* (there is not) |
| /ʎ/ | ль | *lyato* (summer) |
Clusters [edit]
Moravskan keeps heavy consonant groups. The groups come from the Slavic base and from the sea trade.
| Cluster | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| str- | *strana* | side |
| br- | *breg* | shore |
| skr- | *skrezh* | frost |
| vzk- | *vzkăsno* | late |
| mgl- | *mgla* | fog |
| shr- | *shram* | shame |
A speaker can say 4 consonants before a vowel. A Russian speaker says 3 with difficulty. A Greek speaker drops the first.
Coastal softening [edit]
The coast palatalises a final consonant before a front vowel. The interior does not.
| Word | Coast | Interior |
|---|---|---|
| bread | *hlyab* → *hlyapy* | *hlyab* |
| salt | *sol* → *soly* | *sol* |
| pier | *skal* → *skaly* | *skal* |
The softness comes from 300 years of Greek and Italian contact. A port speaker hears it as polite. An inland speaker hears it as weak.
Stress [edit]
Stress is free and it changes meaning. The stress falls on the stem in most words and on the article in a few.
| Word | Stress | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| *more* | MO-re | the sea |
| *moreto* | mo-RE-to | the sea (definite) |
| *voda* | vo-DA | water |
| *vodata* | vo-DA-ta | the water |
A wrong stress marks a foreigner. A child who moves the stress is corrected at the table.
Rhythm and the sea [edit]
Two habits come from work at sea.
- The shout form. A stressed word is clipped and the final vowel is long. Bora-a! means "the Bora is here".
- The count. Sailors count in a short series: edin, dva, tri, chet. The long form chetiri belongs to land.
What the sound means [edit]
A Moravskan hears four things in a voice.
- Region: soft or hard word ends.
- Class: the official register rounds the vowels.
- Age: a person under 30 drops the nasal.
- Trade: a sailor clips the words, a farmer holds them.
Other notes [edit]
Sources[edit]
- Statistical compendium State Sports Council (1972). Comecon statistical yearbook, 1976. Comecon Secretariat. COM-1972-8515. Cited in Consonants, Other notes. See also Grammar.
- Oral history Zaligrad Editorial Board (1977). Oral history transcript, the Kray. Narodna Biblioteka Moravska. NBM-1977-6716. Cited in Consonants, Coastal softening. See also Proverbs and Idioms.
- Decree State Sports Council (1975). State Sports Council Decree 214. State Sports Council. SSC-1975-2237. Cited in Coastal softening, What the sound means. See also Script and Typography.
- Monograph Narodna Biblioteka Archivist (1972). Settlement and custom in Medenik. Zaligrad University Press. ZUP-1972-9947. Cited in Other notes, Clusters. See also Moravskan Language.
References[edit]
Documents in the archive that cite or cross-reference Phonology:
- ^ "Grammar". Language, Narodna Biblioteka Moravska, 1976.
- ^ "Moravskan Language". Language, Narodna Biblioteka Moravska, 1976.
- ^ "Script and Typography". Language, Narodna Biblioteka Moravska, 1976.