Grammar 1.2:

Latvian Sounds in Contexts

LATVIAN SOUND SYSTEM

a. Arranged as a phonological system, the Latvian sounds may look like this:

b. The letter "v" at the end of a word or before a consonant must be pronounced as English "w": tev 'to you', nav 'is not', zivs 'fish', tuvs 'near-m.', govs 'cow', Dievs 'God', etc. When followed by a vowel, "v" is pronounced normally: tevi 'you-ac.', nav alus 'there is no beer', tuvu 'nearby', zivis 'fishes', govis 'cows', Dievam 'to God.'

c. The combinations of sounds are also different in each language. Thus Latvian tolerates the combinations /kn/, /gn/, which English does not: knābis 'beak', knieba 'pinched', knosās 'fidgets'; gnīda 'nit', gnoms 'gnome', gnu 'a species of antelope', etc. Latvian even pronounces the initial clusters /ks-/ and /ps-/ in Greek borrowings: ksilofons 'xylophone', psīche 'psyche'. Besides, Latvian has various sound combinations unique to it: sprakšķis 'crackle', pirksts 'finger', īkšķis 'thumb', režģis 'web', kusls 'weak', zvaigzne 'star', zvaigžņu 'of stars', ligzda 'nest', siksna 'belt', šļūc 'slides', etc.

d. Besides the diphthongs shown above, the combinations of a vowel and a nasal or a liquid in the same syllable must also be considered diphthongal: ve*lk 'pulls', kur 'where', sen 'long ago', rimst 'becalms', maļ 'grinds', viņs 'he'.

e. Long syllables (containing long vowels or diphthongs) carry certain tonality that is perceived as 2-3 kinds of different "pitches" whose exact qualities may vary from a region to region. In the whole Latvian area grammatical contrasts can be made by opposing the s.c. "broken" pitch to what we'll call "normal" pitch. The latter has regional varieties although mostly it has an evenly drawn out articulation. The broken pitch contains a glottal stop: during its articulation the glottis closes and opens again splitting the vocalic sequence in two (hence the name of the pitch). In West Latvia the broken pitch is found in more words than in the eastern part. We shall record the broken pitch only in those instances where it is used by all. The normal pitch will not be marked since it occurs most often. The broken pitch will be marked (where necessary) by the sign of "*".

f. In the word bases the pitch contrasts are important to learn, because they may indicate different meanings: rīt 'to swallow' vs. rī*t 'tomorrow'; griezt 'to rotate' vs. grie*zt 'to cut'; mēs 'we' vs. mē*s 'will bleat'; vē*lu 'I wish' vs. vē*lu 'late'; kā 'whose' vs. kā* 'how'; osta 'port' vs. o*sta 'sniffs'; lūgs [lūks] 'will beg' vs. lū*ks 'willow bark'. The broken pitch can associate with any diphthong: pir*mais 'the first', ņem*t 'take', lai*st, 'let', lau*zt 'break,' ai*kt 'yearn', etc.

g. Certain suffixes carry the broken pitch; among them are:

LOCATIVE ENDINGS: plītī*/plītī*s 'in the oven(s)', kokā*/koko*s 'in the tree(s)', zemē* 'on earth', etc.

COMPARATIVE MARKER: -ā*k-: labā*ks 'better', valrā*k 'more', etc.

ADJECTIVAL FORMANT: -ī*g-: priecī*gs 'merry', laimī*gi 'happy-m.pi.'

LONG FUTURE ENDINGS: darī*s 'will do', mazgā*s 'will wash', meklē*s 'will seek', 'dabū*s 'will get', izlabo*s 'will correct', etc.

REFLEXIVE ENDINGS: skato*s 'I look', skatījā*s 'he looked', skatī*sie*s 'he will look'

(In the last example note how both the future long -ī*s- and the reflexive -ie*s have the broken pitch.)

h. Therefore, some meaning contrasts can be expressed by pitch differences in the end syllables: debesis 'sky' vs. debesī*s 'in the sky'; zīmē 'draws' vs. zīmē* 'in the sign'; labā 'the good one-f' vs. labā* 'in (something) good'; labos 'the ones-m.ac.pl.' labo*s 'will repair'.

PHRASE AND SENTENCE STRESS

i. Apart from the 1st syllable stress in the words, there are also stresses for the whole sentences; that gives the speech a certain rhythm. If the stress pattern is not altered artificially for some reason, usually there is a light stess at the start of the sentence and a heavier stress at the end: Atvedu tev mazu DĀVANU. 'I brought you a little gift.' Kā tev tagad KLĀJAS? 'How are you now doing?'In compound and complex sentences, each clause repeats the sentence stress rhythm: Skolotāja jautā abām MEITENĒM, kā viņas SAUC. 'The teacher asks both girls how they are called.'

j. If a sentence or a clause has only two words, only the end stress Is maintained: Meitene LASA. 'The girl is reading.' Kas TUR? 'Who is there?'

k. Pronounced in isolation, the phrases assume the same stress patterns: māja kalna GALĀ 'a house on the top of the hill', ļoti ŽĒL 'a great pity', etc.

l. The various particles and one-syllable adverbs and pronouns HAVE NO STRESS OF THEIR OWN. In pronunciation they usually join the word that follows them: ne*šis, ne*tas 'neither this, nor that'; kur*biji? 'where were you?', viņš un*viņa 'he and she'; pie*mājas 'near the house', te*papīrs 'here (is some) paper'; tas*koks 'that tree'; etc. But in the FINAL POSITION the particle MUST ASSUME THE STRESS: šur*un*tur 'here and there'.

m. Perhaps for the reasons stated in k. and i. above, some adverbial compounds betray their phrasal origins by usually having their stress on their second element: neviens 'no one', ikreiz 'every time', jebkad 'at any time', tepat 'right here', varbūt 'maybe', diemžēl "unfortunately", labrīt 'good morning', labdien 'good day', labvakar 'good evening', and a few more.