# Kyrgyz phonology

This article is about the phonology and phonetics of the Kyrgyz language.

## Vowels

Kyrgyz vowel phonemes :
| | Front | Front | Back | Back |
| | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded |
| Close | i | y yː | ɯ ɯː | u uː |
| Open | e eː (a) | ø øː | ɑ ɑː | o oː |
* Notes on vowel quality:
** Kyrgyz vowel space is different in affixes and stems. Washington (2007) describes the former as more typical and more condensed.
** In stem vowel space, the main difference between /e/ and /i/ is that the latter is more back. In affix vowel space, they can have the same backness, and differ by height.
* /a/ appears only in borrowings from Persian and is excluded from normal vowel harmony rules. In most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from /ɑ/ is questionable. There is also a phonetic [a] which appears as a result of regressive assimilation of /ɑ/ before syllables with phonological front vowels, e.g. "àydöş" [ajdøʃ] 'sloping'.
* /i, y, u, e, ø, o/ are sometimes transcribed /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ/.
* The sequence of any vowel and the consonant /z/ is pronounced as a long vowel with falling pitch.
* In colloquial speech, word-final vowels are dropped when the next word begins with a vowel.
* All vowels but /i/ may be both short and long. Long vowels are the result of historical elisions (e.g. compensatory lengthening) and contractions. For example, cá "rain" < *yağ; bé "mare" (cf. Kazakh biye); too "mountain" < *tağ; dőlöt "wealth" < Arabic daulat; ulú "great" < *uluğ; elű"fifty" < *eļļiģ.

## Consonants

Kyrgyz consonant phonemes :
| | | Labial | Dental/ alveolar | Post- alveolar | Dorsal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | | k |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | | ɡ |
| Affricate | voiceless | | (t͡s) | t͡ʃ | |
| Affricate | voiced | | | d͡ʒ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | ʃ | (x) |
| Fricative | voiced | (v) | z | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | l | | j |
| Trill | Trill | | r | | |
* /n, l, r/ are alveolar, whereas /t, d, t͡s, s, z/ are dental.
** the liquid /l/ is velarized [ɫ] in back vowel contexts.
* /ŋ, k, ɡ, x/ are velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.
** /k, ɡ/ are palatal [c, ɟ] in words with front vowels, and uvular [q, ʁ] in words with back vowels.
*** Word-initial [c] is often voiced [ɟ].
*** In loanwords from Persian and Arabic, palatal [c, ɟ] are always followed by front vowels, whereas velar [k, ɡ] are always followed by back vowels, regardless of the vowel harmony.
*** Word-final and word-initial /k/ is voiced to [ɡ] when it is surrounded by vowels or the consonants /m, n, ŋ, l, r, j/.
* /f, v, t͡s, x/ occur only in foreign borrowings, mostly from Indo-European and Semitic.
* In colloquial speech:
** /b/ is lenited to [w] after /l, r, j/ or between vowels.
** /t͡ʃ/ is deaffricated to [ʃ] before voiceless consonants.
** Intervocalic /s/ can be voiced to [z].
** Word-final /z/ is often devoiced to [s].

## Stress

Stress is usually always put on the last vowel except for loanwords. Recent loanwords often retain their original stress.

## Desonorisation and devoicing

In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with /n/ show desonorisation of the /n/ to [d] after consonants (including /j/), and devoicing to [t] after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this: ķemeñi ('the boat'), aydı('the month'), tordu ('the net'), koldu ('the hand'), tañdı ('the dawn'), ķözdü ('the eye'), baştı ('the head').
Suffixes beginning with /l/ also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than /l/, e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this: ķemeļer ('boats'), aylar ('months'), torlor ('nets'), koldor ('hands'), tañdar ('dawns'), ķözdör ('eyes'), baştar ('heads'). Other /l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LÚ, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with /l/ or /d/ after /r/; e.g. tordo-/torlo- ('to net/weave'), türdű/türļű ('various').
See Kyrgyz language#Case for more examples.