---
title: "Czech"
author: "Emily Strand"
bibliography: cs.bib
output: html_document
---

Last updated: 2020-06-26

# Background

**Language Family**: Indo-European / Slavic / West / Czech-Slovak

* Speakers of Czech reside in a multitude of places included, but not limited to, the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia.

# Phonology

## Consonants

* @harkins_modern_1980 argue for /t/, /d/, and /n/ as dental consonants (p. 4); however, @simackova_czech_2012 and @bican_phonotactics_2011 do not (p. 226; p. 14).
* @bican_phonotactics_2011 argues for /ɣ/ rather than /ɦ/ (p. 15).

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}

library(dplyr)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)


consonants <- read.table(textConnection('
"Manner of Articulation"   Labial    Alveolar  Postalveolar  Palatal     Velar    Glottal
Stops                     "p  b"     "t  d"      ""           "c  ɟ"     "k  ɡ"     ""
Affricates                ""         "ts"        "tʃ"         ""         ""         ""
Fricatives                "f  v"     "s  z"      "ʃ  ʒ"       ""         "x"        "ɦ"
Nasals                    "m"        "n"         ""           "ɲ"        ""         ""
Trills                    ""         "r  r̝"      ""           ""         ""         ""
Approximants              ""         "l"         ""           "j"        ""         ""
'), TRUE)

kable(consonants, col.names = c("Manner of Articulation", "Labial", "Alveolar", "Postalveolar", "Palatal", "Velar", "Glottal"), align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered") %>%
  add_header_above(c("", "Place of Articulation" = 6)) %>%
  column_spec(1, bold = TRUE) %>%
  footnote(general = "Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced. Both alveolar trills are voiced, but the phoneme on the right is pronounced with frication.", general_title = "")
```

## Vowels

* Vowel length is contrastive in Czech, although /oː/ only appears in loanwords. Long vowels are indicated by an acute accent (´). An overring (˚) atop ⟨u⟩ also indicates length [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 7].  
* /eu/ and /au/ were introduced into the Czech language through loanwords; however, now days they are included in the vowel inventory [@bican_phonotactics_2011, p. 21; @simackova_czech_2012, p. 23].

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}

vowels <- read.table(textConnection('
         Front      Central       Back
High     "i"          ""           "u"         
Mid      "ɛ"          ""           "o"
Low      ""           "a"          ""
'), TRUE)

kable(vowels, align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered") %>%
  column_spec(1, bold = TRUE)
```  

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}

diphthongs <- read.table(textConnection('
Diphthongs   
"/ɛu/, /au/, /ou/"
'), TRUE)

kable(diphthongs, align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered")
```    

# Alphabet

* Preceding /i/, ⟨ť⟩, ⟨ď⟩, and ⟨ň⟩ are written as ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, and ⟨n⟩, respectively [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 6]. This does not pose any ambiguity related to whether the alveolar or palatal consonants are underlying because ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, and ⟨n⟩, representing /t/, /d/, and /n/, respectively (in native words), are never followed by ⟨i⟩ or ⟨í⟩ [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 12].
    - Also, preceding /ɛ/, ⟨ť⟩, ⟨ď⟩, and ⟨ň⟩ are written as ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, and ⟨n⟩, respectively, + ⟨ě⟩ (ibid.). This also does not create ambiguity, given that ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, and ⟨n⟩, representing /t/, /d/, and /n/, respectively (in native words), are never followed by ⟨ě⟩.
* ⟨ó⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨w⟩, and ⟨x⟩ appear in loanwords [@harkins_modern_1980, pp. 2-3].

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}

alphabet <- read.table(textConnection('
Grapheme      Phoneme          Comment
"a"	           "/a/"             ""
"á"	           "/aː/"            ""
"b"	           "/b/"             ""
"c"	           "/ts/"            ""
"č"	           "/tʃ/"            ""
"d"	           "/d/"             ""
"ď"	           "/ɟ/"        "the uppercase form is ⟨Ď⟩"
"e"	           "/ɛ/"             ""
"é"	           "/ɛː/"            ""
"ě"          	 "/ɛ/; /jɛ/"  "/ɛ/ following palatal consonants; /jɛ/ elsewhere"
"f"	           "/f/"             ""
"g"	           "/ɡ/"             ""
"h"	           "/ɦ/"             ""
"i"	           "/i/"             ""
"í"	           "/iː/"            ""
"j"	           "/j/"             ""
"k"	           "/k/"             ""
"l"	           "/l/"             ""
"m"	           "/m/"             ""
"n"	           "/n/"             ""
"ň"	           "/ɲ/"             ""
"o"	           "/o/"             ""
"p"	           "/p/"             ""
"r"	           "/r/"             ""
"ř"	           "/r̝/"             ""
"s"	           "/s/"             ""
"š"	           "/ʃ/"             ""
"t"	           "/t/"             ""
"ť"	           "/c/"    "the uppercase form is ⟨Ť⟩"
"u"	           "/u/"             ""
"ú"	           "/uː/"            ""
"ů"	           "/uː/"            ""
"v"	           "/v/"             ""  
"y"	           "/i/"             ""
"ý"	           "/iː/"            ""
"z"         	 "/z/"             ""
"ž"            "/ʒ/"             ""
**Digraph**    ""               ""
"ch"	         "/x/"             ""
"au"          "/au̯/"             ""
"eu"          "/ɛu̯/"             ""
"ou"          "/ou̯/"             ""
'), TRUE)

kable(alphabet, align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered")
```

# Lenition Rules

* Voiceless consonants become voiced if followed by voiced consonants [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 10].  
* /j/ may delete word-initially if preceding a consonant [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 14].  
* /ɦ/ is present in the language due to the lenition of /ɡ/, which is common within the Slavic languages [@sussex_slavic_2006, p. 143].  
* Consonant gemination is typically avoided in Czech [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 9]. Instances of it typically undergo degemination.
* /d/ may be realized intervocalically as a flap [@Machac2009 as cited in @simackova_czech_2012, p. 226].
* /v/ may approximate to [ʋ] [@Skarnitzl2005 as cited in @simackova_czech_2012, p. 226].

# Misc. Rules

* Glottal epenthesis occurs preceding vowels in word-initial positions [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 13].   
* The voiceless plosives are often aspirated, but it's not contrastive to their non-aspirated counterparts [@harkins_modern_1980, p. 5].
* /n/ assimilates in place preceding velar consonants and /m/ assimilates in place preceding labio-dental consonants [@simackova_czech_2012, pp. 226-227].

# References  
