pronounced as /notice/
The phonological system of the Polish language is similar in many ways to those of other Slavic languages, although there are some characteristic features found in only a few other languages of the family, such as contrasting postalveolar and alveolo-palatal fricatives and affricates. The vowel system is relatively simple, with just six oral monophthongs and arguably two nasals in traditional speech, while the consonant system is much more complex.
The Polish vowel system consists of six oral sounds. Traditionally, it was also said to include two nasal monophthongs, with Polish considered the last Slavic language that had preserved nasal sounds that existed in Proto-Slavic. However, recent sources present for modern Polish a vowel system without nasal vowel phonemes, including only the aforementioned six oral vowels.[1]
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| Phoneme | Typical Spelling | Phonemic position | Allophone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //ɨ// | y | pronounced as /Cɨ(C)/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /CɨÇ/ | ||||
| pronounced as //i// | i | pronounced as /(Ç)i(C)/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /(Ç)iÇ/ | ||||
| pronounced as //ɛ// | e, ę* | pronounced as /(C)ɛ(C)/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /(C)ɛÇ/ | ||||
| ie, jeię*, ję* | pronounced as /Çɛ(C)/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /ÇɛÇ/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as //a// | a | pronounced as /(C)a(C)/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /CaÇ/ | ||||
| ia, ja | pronounced as /Ça(C)/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /ÇaÇ/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as //ɔ// | o, ą* | pronounced as /(C)ɔ(C)/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /(C)ɔÇ/ | ||||
| io, joią*, ją* | pronounced as /Çɔ(C)/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /ÇɔÇ/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as //u// | u, ó | pronounced as /Cu(C)/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /CuÇ/ | ||||
| iu, juió, jó | pronounced as /Çu(C)/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /ÇuÇ/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
"C" represents a non-(alveolo)-palatal consonant only. "(C)" represents a non-(alveolo)-palatal consonant, a vowel, utterance boundary. "Ç" represents an alveolo-palatal consonant pronounced as //ɲ, ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ// or pronounced as //j//. ę*, ą* represent pronounced as //ɛ, ɔ// followed by pronounced as //m, n, ɲ, ŋ// | ||||
Nasal vowels do not feature uniform nasality over their duration. Phonetically, they consist of an oral vowel followed by a nasal semivowel pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ (są is pronounced pronounced as /[sɔw̃]/, which sounds closer to Portuguese são pronounced as /[sɐ̃w̃]/ than French sont pronounced as /[sɔ̃]/ – all three words mean '(they) are'). Therefore, they are phonetically diphthongs.[9] (For nasality following other vowel nuclei, see § Allophony below.)
The nasal phonemes pronounced as //ɔ̃, ɛ̃// appear in older phonological descriptions of Polish e.g.,, . In more recent descriptions the orthographic nasal vowels ą, ę are analyzed as two phonemes in all contexts e.g., . Before a fricative and in word-final position (in the case of ą) they are transcribed as an oral vowel pronounced as //ɔ, ɛ// followed by a nasal consonant pronounced as //ɲ, ŋ// or pronounced as //j̃, w̃//.[10] Under such an analysis, the list of consonantal phonemes is extended by a velar nasal phoneme pronounced as //ŋ// or by two nasal approximants pronounced as //j̃//, pronounced as //w̃//.
If analyzed as separate phonemes, nasal vowels do not occur except before a fricative and in word-final position. When the letters ą and ę appear before stops and affricates, they indicate an oral pronounced as //ɔ// or pronounced as //ɛ// followed by a nasal consonant homorganic with the following consonant. For example, kąt ('angle', 'corner') is pronounced as //kɔnt//, gęba ('mouth') is pronounced as //ˈɡɛmba//, pięć ('five') is pronounced as //pjɛɲt͡ɕ// and bąk ('bumble bee') is pronounced as //bɔŋk//, as if they were spelled *kont, *gemba, *pieńć and *bonk. Before pronounced as //l// or pronounced as //w//, nasality is lost altogether, and ą and ę are pronounced as oral /pronounced as /link// or /pronounced as /link//. The pronounced as //ɛŋ// sequence is also denasalized to /pronounced as /link// in word-final position, as in pronounced as //ˈbɛndɛ// 'I will be'.
| IPA | Polish script | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //i// | i | pronounced as //miɕ// ('teddy bear') | |
| pronounced as //ɛ// | e | pronounced as //tɛn// ('this one') | |
| pronounced as //ɨ// | y | pronounced as //mɨʂ// ('mouse') | |
| pronounced as //a// | a | pronounced as //ptak// ('bird') | |
| pronounced as //u// | u/ó | pronounced as //bum// ('boom') | |
| pronounced as //ɔ// | o | pronounced as //kɔt// ('cat') | |
| pronounced as //ɛŋ// (or pronounced as //ɛ̃//) | ę | pronounced as //vɛŋʐɛ// ('snakes') | |
| pronounced as //ɔŋ// (or pronounced as //ɔ̃//) | ą | pronounced as //vɔŋʂ// ('snake') | |
| pronounced as //ɛɲ// (or pronounced as //ɛ̃//) | ę | pronounced as //ɡɛɲɕ// ('goose') | |
| pronounced as //ɔɲ// (or pronounced as //ɔ̃//) | ą | pronounced as //ɡɔɲɕɔr// ('gander') |
Distinction between vowel lengths was inherited from late Proto-Slavic, although in Polish only some pretonic long vowels and vowels with the neoacute retained length. Additional vowel lengths were introduced in Proto-Polish (as in other West Slavic languages) as a result of compensatory lengthening when a yer in the next syllable disappeared according to Havlík's law. In Polish this only happened in penultimate syllables (which thus became final syllables) before a voiced consonant (in other Slavic languages where a similar process occurred this could be more general).
The resultant system of vowel lengths was similar to what is today preserved in Czech and to a lesser degree in Slovak, although the distribution of the sounds often differed (for example in Czech the old acute also lengthened vowels). In the emerging modern Polish, however, the long vowels were shortened again but sometimes (depending on dialect) with a change in quality (the vowels tended to become higher). The latter changes came to be incorporated into the standard language only in the case of long o and the long nasal vowel. The vowel shift may thus be presented as follows:
The pronounced as //u// that was once a long pronounced as //oː// is still distinguished in script as ó, except in some words which were later respelled, such as Polish: bruzda, Polish: dłuto, Polish: pruć (instead of etymological Polish: brózda, Polish: dłóto, Polish: próć).
In most circumstances, consonants were palatalized when followed by an original front vowel, including the soft yer (ь) that was often later lost. For example: *dьnь became dzień ('day'), while *dьnьmъ became dniem ('day' instr.).
Nasal vowels *ę and *ǫ of late Proto-Slavic merged (*ę leaving a trace by palatalizing the preceding consonant) to become the medieval Polish vowel pronounced as //ã//, written ø. Like other Polish vowels, it developed long and short variants. The short variant developed into present-day pronounced as //ɛ̃// ę, while the long form became pronounced as //ɔ̃//, written ą, as described above. Overall:
The historical shifts are the reason for the alternations o:ó and ę:ą commonly encountered in Polish morphology: *rogъ ('horn') became róg due to the loss of the following yer (originally pronounced with a long o, now with pronounced as //u//), and the instrumental case of the same word went from *rogъmъ to rogiem (with no lengthening of the o). Similarly, *dǫbъ ('oak') became dąb (originally with the long form of the nasal vowel), and in the instrumental case, *dǫbъmъ the vowel remained short, causing the modern dębem.
Polish dialects differ particularly in their realization of nasal vowels, both in terms of whether and when they are decomposed to an oral vowel followed by a nasal consonant and in terms of the quality of the vowels used.
Also, some dialects preserve nonstandard developments of historical long vowels (see previous section); for example, a may be pronounced with pronounced as /[ɔ]/ in words in which it was historically long.
The Polish consonant system is more complicated; its characteristic features include the series of affricates and palatal consonants that resulted from four Proto-Slavic palatalizations and two further palatalizations that took place in Polish and Belarusian.
The consonant phonemes of Polish are as follows:
| Labial | Dental/ alveolar | Post- alveolar | (Alveolo-) palatal | Velar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | ||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | |||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | (pronounced as /link/) | |||
| Vibrant | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| IPA | Polish script | Example | IPA | Polish script | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //m// | m | pronounced as //masa// ('mass') | pronounced as //ɲ// | ń/n(i) | pronounced as //kɔɲ// ('horse') | |
| pronounced as //b// | b | pronounced as //bas// ('bass') | pronounced as //ʑ// | ź/z(i) | pronounced as //ʑrɛbjɛ// ('foal') | |
| pronounced as //p// | p | pronounced as //pas// ('belt') | pronounced as //ɕ// | ś/s(i) | pronounced as //ɕruba// ('screw') | |
| pronounced as //v// | w | pronounced as //vur// ('bag') | pronounced as //d͡ʑ// | dź/dz(i) | pronounced as //d͡ʑvjɛŋk// ('sound') | |
| pronounced as //f// | f | pronounced as //futrɔ// ('fur') | pronounced as //t͡ɕ// | ć/c(i) | pronounced as //t͡ɕma// ('moth') | |
| pronounced as //n// | n | pronounced as //nɔga// ('leg') | pronounced as //ʐ// | ż/rz | pronounced as //ʐɔna// ('wife') | |
| pronounced as //d// | d | pronounced as //dɔm// ('home') | pronounced as //ʂ// | sz | pronounced as //ʂum// ('rustle') | |
| pronounced as //t// | t | pronounced as //tɔm// ('volume') | pronounced as //d͡ʐ// | dż | pronounced as //d͡ʐɛm// ('jam') | |
| pronounced as //z// | z | pronounced as //zɛrɔ// ('zero') | pronounced as //t͡ʂ// | cz | pronounced as //t͡ʂas// ('time') | |
| pronounced as //s// | s | pronounced as //sum// ('catfish') | pronounced as //ŋ// | n(k)/n(g) | pronounced as //baŋk// ('bank') pronounced as //gɔŋk// ('gong') | |
| pronounced as //d͡z// | dz | pronounced as //d͡zvɔn// ('bell') | pronounced as //ɡ// | g | pronounced as //gmin// ('populace') | |
| pronounced as //t͡s// | c | pronounced as //t͡sɔ// ('what') | pronounced as //k// | k | pronounced as //kmin// ('cumin') | |
| pronounced as //r// | r | pronounced as //rɔk// ('year') | pronounced as //x// | h/ch | pronounced as //xak// ('hook') pronounced as //xur// ('choir') | |
| pronounced as //l// | l | pronounced as //liɕt͡ɕ// ('leaf') | (pronounced as //ɡʲ//) | g(i) | pronounced as //ɡjɛwda// (or pronounced as //ɡʲɛwda//) ('marketplace') pronounced as //filɔlɔɡja// (or pronounced as //filɔlɔɡʲja//) ('philology') | |
| pronounced as //j// | j | pronounced as //jutrɔ// ('tomorrow') | (pronounced as //kʲ//) | k(i) | pronounced as //kjɛdɨ// (or pronounced as //kʲɛdɨ//) ('when') pronounced as //kjɔsk// (or pronounced as //kʲjɔsk//) ('kiosk') | |
| pronounced as //w// | ł | pronounced as //waska// ('grace') | (pronounced as //xʲ//) | h(i)/ch(i) | pronounced as //xjɛrɔɡlif// (or pronounced as //xʲjɛrɔɡlif//, pronounced as //xʲɛrɔɡlif//) ('hieroglyph') pronounced as //mɔnarxja// (or pronounced as //mɔnarxʲja//) ('monarchy') |
The postalveolar sounds and the corresponding alveolo-palatals both sound similar to the English palato-alveolar consonants (the sh and ch sounds and their voiced equivalents). The tongue shape of the postalveolar sounds is similar to the shape postalveolar approximant pronounced as /link/ (one of the realizations of the English pronounced as //r// phoneme, see also Pronunciation of English /r/). The alveolo-palatals are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised to the hard palate but a greater area of the front of the tongue is raised close to the hard palate compared to the English palato-alveolar sounds. The series are known as "rustling" (Polish: szeleszczące) and "soughing" (Polish: szumiące) respectively; the equivalent alveolar series is called "hissing" (Polish: syczące).
Polish contrasts affricates and stop–fricative clusters by the fricative components being consistently longer in clusters than in affricates. Stops in clusters may have either a plosive release accompanied by a weak aspiration or a fricated release (as in an affricate) depending on the rate of speech and individual speech habits.
Both realizations of stop-fricative clusters are considered correct and typically respelled as tsz, d-ż and czsz, dżż respectively in normative descriptions of Polish pronunciation. The distinction is lost in colloquial pronunciation in south-eastern Poland both being realized as simple affricates as in some Lesser Polish dialects. According to,, such a simplification is allowed in the standard language variety only before another consonant or before a juncture, e.g. Polish: '''trz'''miel pronounced as //tʂmjɛl// or pronounced as //t͡ʂmjɛl// ('bumblebee'), Polish: pa'''trz''' pronounced as //patʂ// or pronounced as //pat͡ʂ// ('look', imper. sing.).
For the possibility of an additional velar fricative pronounced as //ɣ// for (h), see § Dialectal variation below. On the same grounds as for pronounced as //xʲ// gives pronounced as //ɣʲ// a phonemic status for speakers who have pronounced as //ɣ// in their system.
Polish, like other Slavic languages, permits complex consonant clusters, which often arose from the disappearance of yers (see § Historical development above). Polish can have word-initial and word-medial clusters of up to four consonants, whereas word-final clusters can have up to five consonants.[19] Examples of such clusters can be found in words such as Polish: bezwzględny pronounced as //bɛzˈvzɡlɛndnɨ// ('unconditional' or 'heartless', 'ruthless'), Polish: źdźbło pronounced as //ˈʑd͡ʑbwɔ// ('blade of grass'), pronounced as //ˈfstʂɔŋs// ('shock'), and Polish: krnąbrność pronounced as //ˈkrnɔmbrnɔɕt͡ɕ// ('disobedience'). A popular Polish tongue-twister (from a verse by Jan Brzechwa) is pronounced as //fʂt͡ʂɛbʐɛˈʂɨɲɛ xʂɔŋʂt͡ʂ bʐmi ˈftʂt͡ɕiɲɛ// ('In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reeds').
For the restrictions on combinations of voiced and voiceless consonants in clusters, see § Voicing and devoicing below. Unlike languages such as Czech, Polish does not have syllabic consonants: the nucleus of a syllable is always a vowel.
The consonant pronounced as //j// is restricted to positions adjacent to a vowel. It also cannot precede i or y. (For other restrictions on consonants appearing before i or y, see § Distribution above.)
| Example | style=max-width:10em colspan="2" | Sandhi | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style=max-width:10em | Final | style=max-width:10em | Initial | style=max-width:10em | Voicing pronunciation | style=max-width:10em | Devoicing pronunciation |
| Word final obstruent or obstruent + pronounced as //m, n, l, r, j, w// | style=max-width:10em | Sonorant pronounced as //m, n, l, r, j, w, i, ɨ, ɛ, a, ɔ, u// | Polish: ko'''t r'''udy ('a ginger cat') Polish: dłu'''g m'''ały ('a small debt') Polish: ko'''t ł'''aciaty ('a speckled cat') Polish: dłu'''g Ł'''ukasza ('Luke's debt') Polish: ko'''t E'''wy ('Eve's cat') Polish: mą'''ż''' Ewy ('Eve's husband') | style=text-align:center | pronounced as /[kɔd‿ɾudɨ]/ pronounced as /[dwuɡ‿mawɨ]/ pronounced as /[kɔd‿wat͡ɕatɨ]/ pronounced as /[dwuɡ‿wukaʂa]/ pronounced as /[kɔd‿ɛvɨ]/ pronounced as /[mɔw̃ʐ‿ɛvɨ]/ | style=text-align:center | pronounced as /[kɔt‿ɾudɨ]/ pronounced as /[dwuk‿mawɨ]/ pronounced as /[kɔt‿wat͡ɕatɨ]/ pronounced as /[dwuk‿wukaʂa]/ pronounced as /[kɔt‿ɛvɨ]/ pronounced as /[mɔw̃ʂ‿ɛvɨ]/ |
| style=max-width:10em | Voiceless obstruent: pronounced as //p, f, t, t͡s, s, t͡ʂ, ʂ, t͡ɕ, ɕ, k, x, (kʲ), (xʲ)// | Polish: ro'''k S'''moka ('the Year of the Dragon' Polish: ró'''g st'''ołu ('a table corner') Polish: wia'''tr sz'''umi ('the wind rustles') Polish: ka'''dr f'''ilmu ('a film frame') | pronounced as /[ɾɔk‿smɔka]/ pronounced as /[ɾuk‿stɔwu]/ pronounced as /[vʲjatɾ̥‿ʂumʲi]/ pronounced as /[katɾ̥‿fʲilmu]/ | ||||
| style=max-width:10em | Voiced obstruent: pronounced as //b, v, d, d͡z, z, d͡ʐ, ʐ, d͡ʑ, ʑ, ɡ, (ɣ), (ɡʲ), (ɣʲ)// | Polish: pora'''dź Z'''osi ('give Zosia (some) advise') Polish: ro'''k d'''obry ('a good year') Polish: i'''dź z'''araz ('go right now') Polish: pło'''t b'''rązowy ('a brown fence') | pronounced as /[pɔɾad͡ʑ‿zɔɕi]/ pronounced as /[ɾɔɡ‿dɔbɾɨ]/ pronounced as /[id͡ʑ‿zaɾas]/ pronounced as /[pwɔd‿bɾɔw̃zɔvɨ]/ | ||||
| style=max-width:10em rowspan="3" | Prepositional clitic: w, z, bez, przez, nad, pod, od, przed | style=max-width:10em | Sonorant pronounced as //m, n, l, r, j, w, i, ɨ, ɛ, a, ɔ, u// | Polish: o'''d m'''atki ('from the mother') Polish: o'''d ł'''ąki ('from a meadow') Polish: o'''d o'''jca ('from the father') | pronounced as /[ɔd‿matk̟i]/ pronounced as /[ɔd‿wɔŋ̟k̟i]/ pronounced as /[ɔd‿ɔjt͡sa]/ | ||
| style=max-width:10em | Voiceless obstruent: pronounced as //p, f, t, t͡s, s, t͡ʂ, ʂ, t͡ɕ, ɕ, k, x, (kʲ), (xʲ)// | Polish: po'''d p'''łotem ('at/by the fence') | pronounced as /[pɔt‿pwɔtɛm]/ | ||||
| style=max-width:10em | Voiced obstruent: pronounced as //b, v, d, d͡z, z, d͡ʐ, ʐ, d͡ʑ, ʑ, ɡ, (ɣ), (ɡʲ), (ɣʲ)// | Polish: po'''d dz'''wonnicą ('beneath a bell tower') | pronounced as /[pɔd‿d͡zvɔɲːit͡sɔw̃]/ | ||||
In Polish consonant clusters, including across a word boundary, the obstruents are all voiced or all voiceless. To determine (based on the spelling of the words) whether a given cluster has voiced or voiceless obstruents, the last obstruent in the cluster, excluding w or rz (but including ż), should be examined to see if it appears to be voiced or voiceless. The consonants n, m, ń, r, j, l, ł do not represent obstruents and so do not affect the voicing of other consonants; they are also usually not subject to devoicing except when surrounded by unvoiced consonants. Some examples follow (click the words to hear them spoken):
In some dialects of Wielkopolska and the eastern borderlands, pronounced as //v// remains voiced after voiceless consonants.
The above rule does not apply to sonorants: a consonant cluster may contain voiced sonorants and voiceless obstruents, as in pronounced as /[krul]/, pronounced as /[vart]/, Polish: '''sł'''oń pronounced as /[ˈswɔɲ]/, Polish: '''tn'''ąc pronounced as /[ˈtnɔnt͡s]/.
Utterance-finally, obstruents are pronounced voiceless. For example, the pronounced as //ɡ// in Polish: bóg ('god') is pronounced pronounced as /[k]/, and the pronounced as //zd// in Polish: zajazd ('inn') represents pronounced as /[st]/. If followed by a word beginning with an obstruent then the above cluster rules apply across morpheme boundaries. When the second word begins with a sonorant the voicing of any preceding word-final obstruent varies regionally. In western and southern Poland, final obstruents are voiced (voicing pronunciation) if the following word starts with a sonorant (here, for example, the pronounced as //t// in Polish: brat ojca 'father's brother' would be pronounced as pronounced as /[d]/). On the other hand, they are voiceless (devoicing pronunciation) in eastern and northern Poland (pronounced as //t// is pronounced pronounced as /[t]/). This rule does not apply to prepositional clitics Polish: w, z, bez, przez, nad, pod, od, przed which are always voiced before sonorants.
Multiple palatalizations and some depalatalizations that took place in the history of Proto-Slavic and Polish have created quite a complex system of what are often called "soft" and "hard" consonants. These terms are useful in describing some inflection patterns and other morphological processes, but exact definitions of "soft" and "hard" may differ somewhat.
"Soft" generally refers to the palatal nature of a consonant. The alveolo-palatal sounds are considered soft, as normally is the palatal . The sound is also normally classed as a soft consonant: like the preceding sounds, it cannot be followed by but takes instead. The palatalized velars pronounced as //kʲ//, pronounced as //ɡʲ// and pronounced as //xʲ// might also be regarded as soft on this basis.
Consonants not classified as soft are dubbed "hard". However, a subset of hard consonants,, often derive from historical palatalizations (for example, usually represents a historical palatalized) and behaves like the soft consonants in some respects (for example, they normally take in the nominative plural). These sounds may be called "hardened" or "historically soft" consonants.
The historical palatalized forms of some consonants have developed in Polish into noticeably different sounds: historical palatalized t, d, r have become the sounds now represented by respectively. Similarly palatalized became the sounds . The palatalization of labials has resulted (according to the main phonological analysis given in the sections above) in the addition of pronounced as /-pl/, as in the example Polish: pies just given. These developments are reflected in some regular morphological changes in Polish grammar, such as in noun declension.
In some phonological descriptions of Polish, however, consonants, including especially the labials m, p, b, f, w, are regarded as occurring in "hard" and "soft" pairs. In this approach, for example, the word Polish: pies ('dog') is analyzed not as pronounced as //pjɛs// but as pronounced as //pʲɛs//, with a soft pronounced as //pʲ//. These consonants are then also analyzed as soft when they precede the vowel pronounced as //i// (as in Polish: pić pronounced as //pʲit͡ɕ// 'to drink'). Unlike their equivalents in Russian, these consonants cannot retain their softness in the syllable coda (when not followed by a vowel). For example, the word for "carp" has the inflected forms Polish: karpia, Polish: karpie etc., with soft pronounced as //pʲ// (or pronounced as //pj//, depending on the analysis), but the nominative singular is Polish: karp, with a hard pronounced as //p//.
Similar considerations lead to two competing analyses of palatalized velars. In, all three palatalized velars are given phonological status on the grounds of their distribution and minimal contrasts between pronounced as /[c̱e]/, pronounced as /[ɟ̱e]/, pronounced as /[ç̱e]/ and pronounced as /[c̱je]/, pronounced as /[ɟ̱je]/, pronounced as /[ç̱je]/ e.g. Polish: giełda pronounced as //ˈɡʲɛwda// pronounced as /[ˈɟ̱ewda]/ ('stock market'), Polish: magiel pronounced as //maɡʲɛl// pronounced as /[maɟ̱el]/ ('laundry press ') but Polish: giętki pronounced as //ˈɡʲjɛntkʲi// pronounced as /[ˈɟ̱jentc̱i]/ ('flexible'), Polish: higiena pronounced as //xʲiɡʲjɛna// pronounced as /[ç̱iɟ̱jena]/ ('hygiene'). Phonemes pronounced as //kʲ//, pronounced as //ɡʲ// and pronounced as //xʲ// do not occur before pronounced as //a, ɔ, u// where they are separated by a distinct pronounced as /[j]/ e.g. Polish: kiosk pronounced as //kʲjɔsk// pronounced as /[c̱jɵsk]/ ('kiosk'), Polish: filologia pronounced as //filɔˈlɔɡʲja// pronounced as /[filɔˈlɔɟ̱ja]/ ('philology'), Polish: Hiob pronounced as //xʲjɔp// pronounced as /[ç̱jɵp]/ ('Job'). A system with pronounced as //kʲ// and pronounced as //ɡʲ// but without pronounced as //xʲ// is given by,, and . This analysis is based on an assumption that there is actually no pronounced as /[ç̱e]/ but only pronounced as /[ç̱je]/ as chie, hie occur only in loanwords. However, a decomposed palatalization of kie, gie i.e. pronounced as /[c̱je]/, pronounced as /[ɟ̱je]/ in all contexts is a predominant pronunciation in contemporary Polish.[20] Based on that, a system without palatalized velars is given by, and . In such a system palatalized velars are analyzed as pronounced as //k//, pronounced as //ɡ// and pronounced as //x// before pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //kj//, pronounced as //ɡj// and pronounced as //xj// before other vowels. This is the main analysis presented above.
The consonants t, d, r (and some others) can also be regarded as having hard and soft forms according to the above approach, although the soft forms occur only in loanwords such as Polish: tir pronounced as //tʲir// ('large lorry'; see TIR). If the distinction is made for all relevant consonants, then y and i can be regarded as allophones of a single phoneme, with y following hard consonants and i following soft ones (and in initial position).
In more contemporary Polish, a phonetic glottal stop may appear as the onset of a vowel-initial word (e.g. Polish: Ala pronounced as /[ʔala]/).[21] It may also appear following word-final vowels to connote particular affects; for example, Polish: nie ('no') is normally pronounced pronounced as /[ɲɛ]/, but may instead be pronounced pronounced as /[ɲɛʔ]/ or in a prolonged interrupted pronounced as /[ɲɛʔɛ]/. This intervocalic glottal stop may also break up a vowel hiatus, even when one appears morpheme-internally, as in Polish: poeta ('poet') pronounced as /[pɔʔɛta]/ or Polish: Ukraina ('Ukraine') pronounced as /[ʔukraʔina]/. A relatively new phenomenon in Polish is the expansion of the usage of glottal stops. In the past, initial vowels were pronounced with an initial voiceless glottal fricative (so that Polish: Ala was pronounced pronounced as /[hala]/), pre-iotation (so that Polish: igła ('needle') was pronounced pronounced as /[jiɡwa]/), or pre-labialization (so that Polish: oko 'eye' was pronounced pronounced as /[u̯ɔkɔ]/).[22]
In some Polish dialects (found in the eastern borderlands and in Upper Silesia) there is an additional voiced velar fricative pronounced as /link/, represented by the letter (h). It may be actually a voiced glottal fricative [{{IPA link|ɦ}}] for some speakers, especially word-finally. In most varieties of Polish, both (h) and (ch) represent pronounced as /link/.
Some eastern dialects also preserve the velarized dental lateral approximant, pronounced as /[ɫ̪]/, which corresponds to pronounced as /[w]/ in most varieties of Polish. Those dialects also can palatalize pronounced as /link/ to pronounced as /link/ in every position, but standard Polish does so only allophonically before pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/. pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ are also common realizations in native speakers of Polish from Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.
notes that students of Polish philology were hostile towards the lateral variant of (ł), saying that it sounded "unnatural" and "awful". Some of the students also said that they perceived the lateral (ł) as a variant of (l), which, he further notes, along with the necessity of deciding from context whether the sound meant was pronounced as //w// or pronounced as //l//, made people hostile towards the sound. On the other hand, some Poles view the lateral variant with nostalgia, associating it with the elegant culture of interwar Poland.[23]
In the Masurian dialects and some neighboring dialects, Polish: [[mazurzenie]] occurs: postalveolar pronounced as //ʂ, ʐ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ// merge with the corresponding dentals pronounced as //s, z, t͡s, d͡z// unless pronounced as //ʐ// is spelled (rz) (a few centuries ago, it represented a fricative trill pronounced as //r̝//, distinct from pronounced as //ʐ//; only the latter sound occurs in modern Polish).
The predominant stress pattern in Polish is penultimate: the second-last syllable is stressed. Alternating preceding syllables carry secondary stress: in a four-syllable word, if the primary stress is on the third syllable, there will be secondary stress on the first.[24]
There must be a syllable for each written vowel except when the letter i precedes another vowel (in that case the i represents either pronounced as //j//, or palatalization of the preceding consonant, or both, depending on analysis; see Polish orthography and the above). Also, the letters u and i sometimes represent only semivowels after another vowel, as in Polish: autor pronounced as //ˈawtɔr// ('author'); these semivowels mostly occur in loanwords (so not in native Polish: nauka pronounced as //naˈu.ka// 'science, the act of learning', for example, nor in nativized Polish: Mateusz pronounced as //maˈte.uʂ// 'Matthew').
Some loanwords, particularly from classical languages, have the stress on the antepenultimate (third-last) syllable. For example, Polish: fizyka (pronounced as //ˈfizɨka//) ('physics') is stressed on the first syllable. That may lead to a rare phenomenon of minimal pairs differing only in stress placement: Polish: muzyka pronounced as //ˈmuzɨka// 'music' vs. Polish: muzyka pronounced as //muˈzɨka// – genitive singular of Polish: muzyk 'musician'. When further syllables are added at the end of such words through suffixation, the stress normally becomes regular: Polish: uniwersytet (pronounced as //uɲiˈvɛrsɨtɛt//, 'university') has irregular stress on the third (or antepenultimate) syllable, but the genitive Polish: uniwersytetu (pronounced as //uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛtu//) and derived adjective Polish: uniwersytecki (pronounced as //uɲivɛrsɨˈtɛt͡ski//) have regular stress on the penultimate syllables. Over time, loanwords tend to become nativized to have a penultimate stress.
Another class of exceptions to the usual stress pattern is verbs with the conditional endings Polish: -by, -bym, -byśmy etc. Those endings are not counted in determining the position of the stress: Polish: '''zro'''biłbym ('I would do') is stressed on the first syllable and Polish: zro'''bi'''libyśmy ('we would do') on the second. According to prescriptive grammars, the same applies to the first and second person plural past tense endings Polish: -śmy, -ście although this rule is often ignored in colloquial speech (so Polish: zro'''bi'''liśmy 'we did' is said to be correctly stressed on the second syllable, although in practice it is commonly stressed on the third as Polish: zrobi'''li'''śmy). The irregular stress patterns in the presence of these verb endings are explained by the fact that the endings are detachable clitics rather than true verbal inflections: for example, instead of Polish: '''ko'''go zoba'''czy'''liście? ('whom did you see?') it is possible to say Polish: '''ko'''goście zoba'''czy'''li? – here Polish: kogo retains its usual stress (first syllable) in spite of the attachment of the clitic. Reanalysis of the endings as inflections when attached to verbs causes the different colloquial stress patterns.
Some common word combinations are stressed as if they were a single word. That applies in particular to many combinations of preposition plus a personal pronoun, such as Polish: '''do''' niej ('to her'), Polish: '''na''' nas ('on us'), Polish: prze'''ze''' mnie ('because of me'), all stressed on the bolded syllable of the preposition.