Kapital and diacritics (I)
- galois.ai
- Oct 25, 2023
- 12 min read
Updated: Jan 20
Its manifesto and some random perusals suggest that Kapital noviny features news seen from a critical or contentious angle. It can be found in Bratislava, and therefore features both critical thinking and diacritics.
Let's start with diacritics.
"A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph.
Diakritika (tiež diakritické znamienko, diakritický bod, diakritické znamienko alebo prízvuk) je glyf pridaný k písmenu alebo k základnému glyfu.
The term derives from the Ancient Greekδιακριτικός (diakritikós, "distinguishing"), from διακρίνω (diakrī́nō, "to distinguish").
Pojem pochádza zo starogréckeho διακριτικός (diakritikós, "rozlišujúci"), z διακρίνω (diakrī́nō, "rozlišovať").
The word diacritic is a noun, though it is sometimes used in an attributive sense, whereas diacritical is only an adjective.
Slovo diakritik je podstatné meno, hoci sa niekedy používa v atributívnom význame, kým diakritický je len prídavné meno.
Some diacritics, such as the acute⟨á⟩, grave⟨à⟩, and circumflex⟨â⟩ (all shown above an 'a'), are often called accents.
Niektoré diakritické znamienka, ako napríklad akútne ⟨á⟩, grave ⟨à⟩ a cirkumflex ⟨â⟩ (všetky uvedené nad "a"), sa často nazývajú prízvuky.
Diacritics may appear above or below a letter or in some other position such as within the letter or between two letters."
Diakritické znamienka sa môžu vyskytovať nad alebo pod písmenom alebo v inej polohe, napríklad vo vnútri písmena alebo medzi dvoma písmenami.
Since we have some comparative material, let's take a closer look, by the way and as a warm-up, at a few points that have piqued our curiosity. We'll focus on prepositions and the expression of place. pridaný is a past participle (added) taken as an adjective, accompanied by the preposition k (which translates to to or towards in English). It seems that the preposition k always governs the dative case, here featured in písmenu and základnému glyfu. In pochádza zo starogréckeho διακριτικός [...] z διακρίνω the verb pochádza (originates) is constructed with zo/z (from) followed by the genitive (starogréckeho). používa (used) is followed by the preposition v, which means in and calls the locative case, as in atributívnom (-om ending) and význame (-e ending). nad and pod are below and above respectively. (Actually, we've discussed the prefix nad- at length earlier, as a translation of the English (or Dutch) prefix under-.) vo vnútri is followed by the genitive písmena (from písmeno, the letter, in the sense of a printed character) and means inside, within. Finally, medzi, between, is followed by the instrumental, dvoma písmenami. písmenami is the plural instrumental of the same písmeno and dvoma the instrumental of the numeral two. Indeed, Slovak numerals are subject to gender, number and case declensions. This is how two works:
Nominative: dva (masc.), dve (fem./neut.)
Genitive: dvoch (masc./fem./neut.)
Dative: dvom (masc./fem./neut.)
Accusative: dvoch/dvoh (masc. animate), dva (masc. inanimate), dve (fem./neut.)
Locative: dvoch (masc./fem./neut.)
Instrumental: dvoma (masc./fem./neut.).
So, diacritics are accent marks. In Slovak, the following diacritics apply: the acute mark ´, the circumflex ^, the umlaut ¨ and the háček ˇ. For each letter with diacritic, we give the typical IPA phonetic representation in square brackets, followed by a number of examples. The phonetic transcriptions of vocabulary words are as close as possible to the IPA transcription from the Wiktionary. Where this is not available, we do our best. (Click play⏵in the following to hear.)
The acute mark ´ In Slovak dĺžeň, "prolongation mark" or "lengthener", it indicates a long vowel, e.g. í = [iː]. Used on any vowel except ä (wide e, široké e in Slovak) as well as above the consonants l and r, indicating the long syllabic [l̩ː] and [r̩ː] sounds. á [aː] ⏵ (English father) ráno - [ˈraːno] (morning) láska - [ˈɫaːs.ka] (love) zákon - [ˈzaːkon] (law) západ - [ˈzaːpat] (west) záhrada - [ˈzaːɦrada] (garden) zápas - [ˈzaːpas] (match or struggle) sláva - [ˈsɫaːva] (fame) pád - [paːt] (fall) pán - [ˈpaːn] (lord or gentleman)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
é [e:]⏵(German See is the closest we can think of)
Seemingly a marginal monophthongs in Slovak, é might be occurring mainly in foreign loanwords or proper nouns. péenka - [ˈpeːɛnka] (sick note) fén - [fɛːn] (hairdryer) médium - [ˈmeːdium] (medium) légia - [ˈleːɡi̯a] (legion) éter - [ˈeːtɛr] (ether, air) dlhé - [ˈdl̩ɦ̩ɛː] (long) krém - [ˈkrɛːm] (polish, cream)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
í, ý [i:]⏵(English leave)
týždeň - [ˈtiːʒɟɛɲ] (week)
rýchly - [ˈriːxli] (quick)
líška - [ˈliːʃka] (fox)
príjem - [ˈpriːjɛm] (receipt, income)
víťaz - [ˈviːcas] (winner)
nízky - [ˈɲiːski] (low)
lístok - [ˈliːstɔk] (card, license, ticket)
rímsky - [ˈriːmski] (Roman)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
ú [u:] ⏵(English fool)
budúci - [ˈbuduːt͡si] (future)
súhlas - [ˈsuːɦlas] (agreement, consent)
úplne - [ˈuːpl̩nɛ] (completely, totally)
súčasne - [ˈsuːt͡ʃasne] (at the same time)
ústav - [ˈuːstaf] (institute, institution)
úspech - [ˈuːspɛx] (success)
úžitok - [ˈuːʒitɔk] (benefit)
úroveň - [ˈuːrovɛɲ] (level, degree)
Same comment as for é. A marginal sound in Slovak, mostly featured in foreign loanwords, proper nouns or
older terms.
tónový - [ˈtɔːnɔviː] (tonal)
kópia - [ˈkɔːpia] (copy, facsimile)
ozón - [ɔˈzɔːn] (ozone)
pódium - [ˈpɔːdium] (stage, podium)
kód - [kɔːt] (code, cipher)
óda - [ˈɔːda] (ode)
bója - [ˈbɔːja] (buoy, float)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
ĺ [l̩ː] (English little left)
Travelling to the Slovak paradise would inform a careful traveller about the dhlé ĺ and its pronunciation,
compared with another l with diacritic we shall encounter later, ľ. The latter is the palatal ľ, with the háček ˇ, and
written ľ (with a kind of apostrophe) in print.
tĺcť - [tl̩ːt͡sc] (to beat, to hammer)
dĺžeň - [ˈdl̩ːʒeɲ] (acute accent)
tĺk - [tl̩ːk] (stamper)
skĺbiť - [skl̩ːbiɟ] (to combine, to harmonize)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
ŕ [r̩ː] (Spanish perro)
kŕdeľ - [ˈkr̩ːɟɛʎ] (flock)
vŕba - [ˈvr̩ːba] (willow)
tŕň - [tr̩ːɲ] (thorn)
kŕmiť - [ˈkr̩ːmic] (feed, nourish, nurture)
vŕšok - [ˈvr̩ːʃɔk] (hill, top)
mŕtvy - [ˈmr̩ːtvi] (dead)
Listen to and repeat the whole list here⏵.
Now compare the IPA representations [l̩ː] and [l] - the former features a dot, in fact a vertical dash (◌̩) under the l
symbol. This understroke diacritic is used to represent a syllabic (or vocalic) consonant, a consonant forming
phonetically a syllable of its own. Many Slavic languages such as Czech, Macedonian, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian,
Slovene have syllabic consonants. Some pronunciations or dialects of English can feature some syllabic
consonant too, essentially with the consonants n, m, l. Alternative pronunciations can in this case be
represented by the syllabic consonant or the same consonant preceded by the schwa sound. For instance, cycle
may be pronounced as either [ˈsaɪkɫ̩] or as [ˈsaɪkəɫ]. The same goes with bottle, prism, prison, etc. In Slovak
both syllabic consonant are featured in a short and a long version. We must therefore distinguish between [l] as
in láska, [l̩] as in vlk and [l̩:] vĺča⏵. And between [r] as in robot, [r̩] as in prst and [r̩ː] vŕba⏵.
The circumflex ^ In Slovak vokáň, it turns the o into the diphthong [ʊɔ] which pronounces (according to a great phonetics outline of Slovak) like (approximately) the first sound in the English word warrior. ô [ʊɔ] (English warrior) We should note that the exact diphthong [ʊɔ] is probably not represented in English, and if we break it down, the first sound [ʊ] can be found in the English word foot [fʊt], and the second [ɔ] can be found in thought [θɔːt]. For stôl for instance, the Wiktionary phonetics gives [stu̯ɔɫ] where the sound (represented by) [u̯] doesn't seem to be represented in the Slovak IPA phonetics. So we stick to a transcription featuring [ʊɔ]. [u̯] is, as the IPA diacritic suggest, the semivowel corresponding to the close back rounded vowel [u]. It is also called the voiced labiovelar approximant and represented by [w]. It is anyway closest to [ʊ] on the IPA vowel chart. stôl - [stʊɔl] [stu̯ɔɫ] (table, desk) vôbec - [ˈvʊɔbɛt͡s] (at all, by no means, actually) vôľa - [ˈvʊɔʎa] (will) pôvod - [ˈpʊɔvɔt] (origin) pôst - [pʊɔst] (fast, fasting) nôž - [nʊɔʃ] (knife, blade) dôvod - [ˈdʊɔvɔt] (reason, cause) vôňa - [ˈvʊɔɲa] (nice smell, fragrance) pôda - [ˈpʊɔda] (soil, land) Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
The umlaut ¨ In Slovak prehláska or dve bodky (two dots), it is only used above the letter a. It indicates an opening diphthong [ɛɐ], which doesn't look frequent in English and is similar to German Herz [hɛɐts] (heart) (when it is not pronounced [hɛʁts], with a consonantal /r/).
ä [ɛɐ] ⏵ (German Herz, when pronounced [hɛɐts])
smäd - [ˈsmæt] (thirst)
mäso - [ˈmɛɐ̯sɔ] (meat)
väčší - [ˈvɛt͡ʃʃi], [ˈvæt͡ʃʃi] (bigger, larger)
päť - [pɛɐ̯c] (five)
deväť - [ˈɟevɛɐ̯c] nine
zväzok - [ˈzvɛɐ̯zɔk] (bundle, bunch, paket)
väzeň - [ˈvɛɐ̯zeɲ] prisoner
svätý - [ˈsvætiː] (holy, sacred)
väčšina - [ˈvɛt͡ʃʃina], [ˈvæt͡ʃʃina] (majority)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
The háček ˇ In Slovak mäkčeň ("palatalization mark" or "softener"), it indicates a change of alveolar fricatives, affricates, and plosives into either retroflex or palatal consonants, in informal Slovak linguistics often called just palatalization. Eight consonants can bear a háček. In printed texts, the háček is printed in two forms: (1) č, dž, š, ž, ň and (2) ľ, ď, ť (looking more like an apostrophe), but this is just a convention. In handwritten texts, it always appears in the first form. Phonetically, two forms of palatalization exist: ľ, ň, ď, ť are palatal, while č, dž, š, ž are retroflex (which, phonetically speaking, is not "soft" but "hard"). Interestingly, mäkčeň alone has three diacritics. Let's listen and repeat⏵.
č [tʂ] (English chase) čakať - [ˈt͡ʃakac] (to wait, to expect) večer - [ˈvet͡ʃer] (evening) včas - [ˈft͡ʃas] (in time, punctually)
súčasne - [ˈsuːt͡ʃasnɛ] (at the same time) väčší - [ˈvæt͡ʃʃi] (bigger, larger) väčšina - [ˈvɛt͡ʃʃina], [ˈvæt͡ʃʃina] (majority) človek - [ˈt͡ʃlɔvek] (person, man)
[dʐ] (English job, voiced)
[dʐ] seems to be a marginal (phonetic) consonant in Slovak, spelled with č but also with dž. dž [dʐ] (English job, voiced) The consonant dž seems, like the sound [dʐ], to be rare. It seems to be found mainly in foreign loan words
džem - [ˈd͡ʒɛm] (jam, conserve) bendžo - [ˈbɛndʒo] (banjo) bridž - [brit͡ʃ] (bridge, car game)
džentlmen - [d͡ʒěntl̩men] (gentleman)
avšak - [ˈafʃak] (but, however) všedný - [ˈfʃɛdɲiː] (ordinary, commonplace) našepkať - [ˈnaʃɛpkaɟ] (to suggest, to insinuate)
líška - [ˈliːʃka] (fox) vršok - [ˈvr̩ʃɔk] (top, upper part) väčšina - [ˈvɛt͡ʃʃina], [ˈvæt͡ʃʃina] (majority)
Final š pronounces [ʐ]⏵like in English fusion.
držgroš - [ˈdr̩ʒɡrɔʃ] (scrooge, miser)
železo - [ˈʒe.ɫe.zɔ], [ˈʒe.ʎe.zɔ] (iron) ťažký - [ˈcaʃ.kiː] (heavy)
žiť - [ʒic] (to live, to be alive) život - [ˈʒivɔt] (life)
užívať - [ˈuʒiːvat] (to enjoy) týždeň - [ˈtiːʒɟɛɲ] (week) úžas - [ˈuːʒas] (astonishment, surprise) držgroš - [ˈdr̩ʒɡrɔʃ] (scrooge, miser)
Final ž pronounces [ʂ]⏵like in English shell. už - [ˈuʃ] (already, yet) Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵. ľ [ʎ]⏵(English failure) We saw earlier the accented l or dhlé ĺ (long l), for example in dĺžeň - [ˈdl̩ːʒeɲ] (acute accent). We show here the
mäkké ľ, palatal l in English. The sound approaches the l sound in the English words failure or million. vôľa - [ˈvu̯oʎa] (will) ľahký - [ˈʎaxkiː] (leight) kráľ - [kraːʎ] (king) ľúbiť - [ˈʎuːbic] (to love) kŕdeľ - [ˈkr̩ːɟɛʎ] (flock) ľad - [ʎat] (ice) veľa - [ˈveʎa] (many) gúľať - [ˈɡuːʎac] (to roll) Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵. ň [ɲ]⏵(English canyon)
týždeň - [ˈtiːʒɟɛɲ] (week) vôňa - [ˈvu̯oɲa] (nice smell, fragrance) úroveň - [ˈuːrovɛɲ] (level, degree) aspoň - [ˈaspoɲ] (at least) baňa - [ˈbaɲa] (mine, pit, workings)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
The pronunciation of ď and ť is symmetrical. ď is generally pronounced [ɟ] as in the English word dew, and at
the end of the word [c], as in the English word stew. The opposite is true for ť, which is generally pronounced [c]
and [ɟ] at the end of the word.
ď [ɟ]⏵(English dew) It seems that an ď in the middle of a word often appears in a noun derived from a place or country name, such
as the name of the inhabitants or the derived adjective.
maďarský - [ˈmaɟarskiː] (hungarian)
Holanďanka - [ˈɦolanɟaŋka] (Dutch person, fem.)
As said earlier, a final ď pronounces [c] like the English word stew.
keď - [ˈkɛc] (when, while)
dážď - [daːʃc] (rain)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
ť [c]⏵(English stew) ťava - [ˈcava) (camel) ťažký - [ˈcaʃ.kiː] (heavy) víťaz - [ˈviːcas] (winner) But a final ť pronounces [ɟ] like in English dew. žiť - [ʒic] (live, be alive)
ľúbiť - [ˈʎuːbic] (to love) päť - [pɛɐ̯c] (five)
Listen to and repeat the full list here⏵.
Enough lists, let's now get acquainted with the Kapitál journal and read an insightful article. [1]
"V deň prvého výročia teroristického útoku na Zámockej sa Právnická fakulta UK rozhodla spropagovať výzvu na esejistickú súťaž s témou „Registrované partnerstvá na Európskom súde pre ľudské práva – možnosti (a limity) konzervatívnej odpovede na rozsudky ESĽP (Fedotova)“."
Here we have an anthology of diacritics on various characters, an opportunity to practice a little pronunciation. First of all som acute marks ´ lengthen vowels: á, é, í, ý, ó, ú. zámockej, právnická, partnerstvá, práva, nadáciou⏵ teroristického, témou, registrované, ľudské⏵
útoku, esejistickú, súťaž, súde, organizujú, inštitútom⏵
The háček ˇ or in Slovak, mäkčeň, palatalizes consonants: ť, ľ, ň (palatal consonants) and ž, š (retroflex consonants).
( to be continued here )
[1] Pavol Hardoš, "Neotravujte, tu sme pri budovaní konzervatívnej retrotópie" in Kapitál noviny online, https://kapital-noviny.sk, October 13th, 2023. Full article here.