Consonants
The following chart shows a complete list of the consonant phonemes of Czech:
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Stop | p b | t d | c ɟ | k (ɡ) | ||
| Affricate | t͡s (d͡z) | t͡ʃ (d͡ʒ) | ||||
| Fricative | (f) v | s z | ʃ ʒ | x | ɦ | |
| r̝ | ||||||
| Trill | ||||||
| r | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j |
The phoneme /r̝/, written ⟨ř⟩, is a raised alveolar non-sonorant trill. (Listen: Antonín Dvořák ) Its rarity makes it difficult to produce for foreign learners of Czech, who may pronounce it as /rʒ/; however, it contrasts with /rʒ/ in words like ržát /rʒaːt/, which is pronounced differently from řád /r̝aːt/. The basic realization of this phoneme is voiced, but it is voiceless when preceded or followed by a voiceless consonant or at the end of a word.
/t/ and /d/ can be pronounced as dental stops.
The voiceless realization of the phoneme /ɦ/ is velar .
Secondary articulations (aspiration, labialization, velarization, palatalization, etc.) are not used in Czech.
Read more about this topic: Czech Phonology