Vowels
There are 10 vowel phonemes in Czech. 5 of them are short and 5 are long. The duration of the long vowels is approximately double in comparison with their short counterparts. Long and short vowels form minimal pairs. The length (quantity) is an important distinctive feature in Czech. It differentiates various word meanings, e.g. pata /pata/ (heel) and pátá /paːtaː/ (the fifth). Moreover, some authors regard the diphthongs /au̯/, /eu̯/, /ou̯/ as separate phonemes.
The Czech vowel system is three-grade and triangular (see the picture). The system of long vowels is regarded as symmetric with the system of short vowels, although the phoneme /oː/ occurs almost exclusively in words of foreign origin.
Besides the length, the distinctive features of vowels are the openness (open/mid/close) and the frontness/backness (front/central/back). The roundedness is not a separate distinctive feature, it enlarges the acoustic difference between the front and the back vowels. The back vowels are rounded while the front and central ones are unrounded.
Vowel modifications such as nasalization do not occur in Czech. The vowels are never reduced and undergo no assimilations. The vowel length and quality is independent of the stress.
Read more about this topic: Czech Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word vowels:
“These equal syllables alone require,
Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Playing “bop” is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.”
—Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
“As no one can tell what was the Roman pronunciation, each nation makes the Latin conform, for the most part, to the rules of its own language; so that with us of the vowels only A has a peculiar sound.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)