Kashubian alphabet explained

The Kashubian or Cassubian alphabet (kaszëbsczi alfabét, kaszëbsczé abecadło) is the script of the Kashubian language, based on the Latin alphabet. The Kashubian alphabet consists of 34 letters:

A, Ą, Ã, B, C, D, E, É, Ë, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ò, Ó, Ô, P, R, S, T, U, Ù, W, Y, Z, Ż

The Kashubian language also uses some digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dż, rz and sz. The digraphs cz, dż, sz, ż are pronounced in a different manner from their Polish counterparts – they are palato-alveolar, not retroflex – but rz is pronounced the same as in Polish.

Pronunciation

Upper case	Lower case	Name of letters http://www.skarbnicakaszubska.pl/component/joomdoc/biuletyn/biuletyn_2010.pdf/detail	Pronunciation
A	a	a	pronounced as /[a]/
Ą	ą	ą	pronounced as /[õ]/ pronounced as /[ũ]/ in southern dialects
Ã	ã	ã	pronounced as /[ã]/ pronounced as /[ɛ̃]/ (Puck County, Wejherowo County)
B	b	bé	pronounced as /[b]/
C	c	cé	pronounced as /[t͡s]/
D	d	dé	pronounced as /[d]/
E	e	e	pronounced as /[ɛ]/
É	é	é	pronounced as /[e]/, pronounced as /[ɨ]/ at the end of a word pronounced as /[ɨj]/ in some dialects pronounced as /[i]/[ɨ]/ from Puck to Kartuzy
Ë	ë	szwa	pronounced as /[ə]/
F	f	éf	pronounced as /[f]/
G	g	gé	pronounced as /[ɡ]/
H	h	ha	pronounced as /[x]/
I	I	i	pronounced as /[i]/
J	j	jot	pronounced as /[j]/
K	k	ka	pronounced as /[k]/
L	l	él	pronounced as /[l]/
Ł	ł	éł	pronounced as /[w]/ pronounced as /[l]/ in some northern dialects
M	m	ém	pronounced as /[m]/
N	n	én	pronounced as /[n]/
Ń	ń	éń	pronounced as /[ɲ]/ pronounced as /[jn]/^[1] pronounced as /[n]/
O	o	o	pronounced as /[ɔ]/
Ò	ò	ò	pronounced as /[wɛ]/ pronounced as /[wɔ]/ in loanwords (among some speakers)
Ó	ó	ó	pronounced as /[o]/ pronounced as /[u]/ (southern dialects)
Ô	ô	ô	pronounced as /[ɞ]/ pronounced as /[ɛ]/ (western dialects) pronounced as /[ɔ]/ (Wejherowo County) pronounced as /[o]/[u]/ (southern dialects)
P	p	pé	pronounced as /[p]/
R	r	ér	pronounced as /[r]/
S	s	és	pronounced as /[s]/
T	t	té	pronounced as /[t]/
U	u	u	pronounced as /[u]/
Ù	ù	ù	pronounced as /[wʉ]/
W	w	wé	pronounced as /[v]/
Y	y	igrek	pronounced as /[i]/ pronounced as /[y]/ in loanwords (among some speakers)
Z	z	zet	pronounced as /[z]/
Ż	ż	żet	pronounced as /[ʒ]/

Consonants combination

Upper case	Lower case	Pronunciation
Ch	ch	pronounced as /[x]/
Cz	cz	pronounced as /[t͡ʃ]/
Dz	dz	pronounced as /[d͡z]/
Dż	dż	pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/
Rz	rz	pronounced as /[ʐ]/ pronounced as /[r̝]/
Sz	sz	pronounced as /[ʃ]/

Literature

Eugeniusz Gòłąbk: Wkôzë kaszëbsczégò pisënkù. Oficyna Czec, Gduńsk 1997, p. 25 .

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Fonetyka i fonologia. Treder. Jerzy. 2005-09-28. Rastko Kaszuby. 2024-07-14. pl.