General History

Slovak is part of the Indo-European language family, the Slavic branch, and the West Slavic group. This means it is closely related to languages like Czech and Polish. Slovak is also related to other Slavic languages like Russian and Bulgarian. Slovak is distantly related to languages like English and Spanish as well. 

Currently, Slovak is the official language of Slovakia and a region in Northern Serbia called Vojvodina. It is recognized as a minority language in Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. The language is also spoken by the diaspora in other countries including the United States. While not the oldest language, Slovak’s increase in writing can be seen in the 17th and 18th centuries. Within Slovak, there are three dialect groups: Eastern, Central, and Western. The Western dialect of Slovak also tends to mend into the Moravian dialect of the Czech language. In fact, most dialects of Slovak and Czech are mutually intelligible aside from the far eastern dialects of Slovak and the Bohemian Czech dialect. 

The Phonology (Sounds) of Slovak

Terms

Slovak has 29 consonant sounds, 17 of which are shared with English. Every sound has three criteria: voiceless or voiced, placement, and manner. Voiceless refers to when one makes a sound without the use of the vocal cords. For example, “s,” as in snake. Voiced refers to when one makes a sound with the use of the vocal cords. For example, “z,” as in zoo. Placement is where in the mouth and throat the sound is being made. This can range from the lips to the larynx. In Georgian, there are six placements. Finally, manner is how a sound is made. For example, the sound /p/ is called a voiceless bilabial plosive. In layman’s terms, it is a sound made without vocal cords, using only the lips, and a burst of air.  

Plosives

Plosives are sounds made when one stops airflow and then releases it in a burst of air. In Slovak, there are eight plosives. First are the voiceless and voiced bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/ which are just like they look. /p/ as in pack or pes, and /b/ as in aback or biti. Next are the voiceless and voiced alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ which again sound just like they look. /t/ as in tin or to, and /d/ as in dash or do. Then, are the voiceless and voiced palatal plosives /c/ and /ɟ/. /c/ sounds like a “k” sound but higher up in the mouth like in the French word qui while /ɟ/ sounds like a “g” but higher in the mouth like in the English word geese. /c/ can be found in words like keen or ťava, /ɟ/ can be found in words like geese or d’aleký. Lastly, there are the voiceless and voiced velar plosives /k/ and /g/ which sound how they look. /k/ as in kiss or kosť, and /g/ as in good or miazga.

Fricatives

Fricatives are defined by closing the mouth to the point where only a small airstream can be pushed out, creating friction and therefore a sound. The first sounds are the voiceless and voiced labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/. They can be seen in words like fun or fúkať and in words like vote or voda. The next sounds are the voiceless and voiced alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/. /s/ can be seen in words like sit or slovenský, and /z/ can be heard in zoo or zima (zari).

Affricates

The next sounds are affricates, meaning one must make a plosive sound immediately followed by a fricative. Georgian has six affricates; however, only four will be covered in this section. The first two are the voiceless and voiced alveolar affricates /ts/ and /dz/. Respectively they are a combination of /t/, /s/, /d/, and /z/. /ts/ can be seen in words like pits or cisár, and /dz/ as in day (in some English accents) or hrádza (dzvali).

Nasals

Next are the nasal sounds, which are defined as air stream passing through the nose in order to make the sound. The first two nasal sounds are the voiced bilabial nasal sound /m/ and the voiced alveolar nasal sound /n/. Both sound like how they look in English. /m/ can be seen in words like him or muž. /n/ can be found in words like nice or na. There is also the voiced palatal nasal /ɲ/. This is in words like canyon or pečeň. 

Approximants

The next group is the approximants. This is more of a catch-all term for anything that does not nicely fit into the other categories. The first sound is the voiced palatal approximant /j/. This makes the English “y” sound. /j/ can be found in words like you or jesť. Then is the voiced alveolar lateral approximant /l/ and the geminated (longer) voiced alveolar lateral approximant /lː/. /l/ can be found in words like let or luna while /lː/ can be found in words like feel or mĺkvy. Lastly is the voiced palatal lateral approximant, /ʎ/. /ʎ/ can be found in words like million or ľúbiť.   

Slovak Sounds

There are six last sounds that do not exist in English and could be hard for English speakers to pronounce. The first is the voiceless velar fricative /x/. This sound can be found in the European Spanish word ojo, the Brazilian Portuguese word rosa, the French word jota, and the Slovak word chlap. Second is the voiced glottal fricative /ɦ/. This sound can be found in the Portuguese word hashi, the Quebec French word manger, the Dutch word haat, and the Slovak word hora. The next sounds are the voiceless and voiced retroflex affricates /tʂ/ and /dʐ/. /tʂ/ make a “ch” sound slightly further back in the mouth while /dʐ/ makes a “j” sound also slightly further back in the mouth. /tʂ/ can be found in the Mandarin word 中文 (zhōngwén), the Polish word czas, the Vietnamese word trà, and the Slovak word čakať. /dʐ/ can be found in Mandarin word 广州 (guangzhou), the Polish word dżem, the Serbo-Croatian word џеп (džep), and the Slovak word džús. Lastly, are the voiceless and voiced retroflex fricatives /ʂ/ and /ʐ/. These make the “sh” and “zh” sounds but slightly further back in the mouth. /ʂ/ can be found in the Mandarin word 石 (shí), the Polish word szum, the Vietnamese word sữa, and the Slovak word šatka. /ʐ/ can be found in the Mandarin word 常熟 (changshu), the Polish word żona, the Serbo-Croatian word жут (žut), and the Slovak word žaba.    

Vowels

Vowels in Slovak are slightly complicated. The language works on a six vowel system using a, e, i, o, u, and æ. All of which are in English. However, Slovak also differentiates between short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds except for æ. Making eleven sounds, long vowels will not be discussed in this article, to pronounce them just hold the short sound a bit longer. These are represented with an acute accent mark (´). The first sound is the open-front unrounded vowel /a/. It sounds like the English “a” in hat or aký. The next sound is the open-mid front unrounded vowel /ε/. It is found in words like bed and evanjelický. Then there is the close front unrounded vowel /i/. It sounds like the English “e” in free or iný. Furthermore, there is the open-mid back rounded vowel /ɔ/. This makes the English “ough” sound like in thought or ohúriť. The close back rounded vowel /u/ makes the English “oo” sound like in boot or úbohý. Lastly, the near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/. This makes the “a” sound in cat or mäkčeň. 

Diphthongs

There are four diphthongs in the Slovak language. The first one is /ɪu/. This makes the “u” sound in words like abuse or vyššiu. Then is the diphthong /ɪe/ which makes the “ye” sound like in yes or viera. The diphthong /ɪɐ/ makes the “ya” sound like in yap or piaty. Lastly, is /ʊɔ/ which makes the “wa” sound like in warrior or stôl.  

The Orthography (Writing) of Georgian

Alphabet – Abeceda

Slovak, just like English, is written from left to right. Slovak script has sub-alphabets because there is the standard alphabet and then alphabets with accent marks and double letters. This article will have a combination of all three. The Slovak script consists of 46 letters. Slovak, unlike Hebrew, uses an alphabet. This means that there are letters for the vowels and consonants. Now let’s get into the abeceda.

The first letter of the alphabet is a. A it looks like this Aa. It makes the “a” sound. Then there are modified a’s like á which looks like Áá and makes the long “a” sound and široké e which looks like Ää and makes the “æ” sound. The next letter is Bé. It looks like this Bb and it makes the “b” sound. The next letter is Cé and it looks like this Cc, it makes the “ts” sound. Čé looks like this Čč and makes the “ch” sound. Then is Dé which looks like this Dd and makes the “d” sound. Ďé looks like Ďď and makes the soft “g” sound. Džé which looks like DŽdž and makes the “j” sound. Furthermore, E which looks like this Ee and makes the “e” sound. É looks like Éé and makes the long “e” sound. Next is Ef which looks like this Ff and makes the “f” sound. Gé looks like this Gg and makes the “g” sound. Then is Há which looks like this Hh and makes the rough “h”’ sound. Additionally, Chá looks like this CHch and makes the “kh” sound. Then is I which looks like this Ii and makes the “i” sound. There is also Í which looks like this Íí and makes the long “i” sound. Next Jé which looks like this Jj. Lasi makes the “y” sound. Next is Ká which looks like this Kk and makes the “k” sound. Then there is El which looks like this Ll and makes the “l” sound. There is also Dlhé El which makes the long “l” sound sound. Furthermore there is Eľ which looks like this Ľľ and makes the “y” sound. After is Em which looks like this Mm and makes the “m” sound. Then is En which looks like this Nn and makes the “n” sound. Eň looks like this Ňň, it makes the “ng” sound. Next is O which looks like this Oo and makes the “o” sound. There is also the letter Ó which looks like this Óó and makes the long “o” sound. Ô is the next letter and looks like this Ôô and makes the “wa” sound. This letter is Sani/სანი it looks like this ს. T’ari/ტარი looks like this ტ and makes the “t’” sound. Then is Pé which looks like this Pp and makes the “p” sound. Next is Kvé which looks like this Qq and makes the “kv” sound. The next letter is Er. It looks like this Rr and makes the “r” sound. There is also Dlhé Er which looks like this Ŕŕ and makes the long “r” sound. Then is the letter Es which looks like this Ss and makes the “s” sound. Then the letter Eš which looks like this Šš and it makes the “sh” sound. Next is Té and it looks like this Tt and it makes the “t” sound. Additionally there is Ťe which looks like this Ťť and makes the soft “k” sound. Then is U which makes the “u” sound and looks like this Uu. There is also Ú which makes the long “u” sound and looks like Úú. Next is V which looks likes this Vv and makes the “v’” sound. There is also Dvojité Vé which looks like this Ww and makes the “v” too. Additionally, is the letter Iks which looks like this Xx and makes the “ks” sound. Then is Ypsilon and it looks like this Yy and it makes the “i” sound. There is Dlhý Ypsilon which looks like Ýý and makes the long “i” sound. Zé is the next letter and it makes the “z” sound. Zé looks like this Zz. Lastly, is the letter Žé. Žé makes the “zh” sound and looks like this Žž. 

Positives

Slovak is not the hardest language to learn but by no means is it the easiest. From its sometimes confusing letter sounds to its difficult pronunciation. However, Slovak has a thriving culture and has centuries of history behind the language. Slovak has two cases like English and uses a modified Latin script. Slovak is also spelled phonetically meaning it is spoken how it is written.     

Useful Phrases

1. What’s up? –  Jak je? 

2. Hello/Good-bye –  Ahoj/Zbohom 
3. I’m Sorry –   Prepáč
4. My name is _____ –   Moje meno je  ______
5. How much is this? –   Koľko to stojí?
6. I don’t speak Slovak –   Nehovorím po slovensky
7. Do you speak English? –  Hovoríš po anglicky?
8. What time is it? –  Koľko je hodín?
9. Yes –   Áno
10. No –  Nie
11. Good morning–   Dobré ráno
12. Good evening –   Dobrý večer
13. One –  Jeden
14. Two –  Dva
15. Three –  Tri
16. Four –  Štyri
17. Five –  Päť
18. Six –  Šesť
19. Seven –  Sedem
20. Eight –  Osem
21. Nine –  Deväť
22. Ten –  Desať

Conclusion

In all, Slovak has many close relations with languages like Czech or Polish. The language also has distant relations with languages like English. Slovak is a thriving language with it being used in many pop songs and showing up on the international stage. The Slovak language contains 29 consonant sounds and six vowels, combining for 35 sounds: /p, b, t, d, c, ɟ, k, g, f, v, s, z, ʂ, ʐ, x, ɦ, ts, dz, tʂ, dʐ,, m, n, ɲ, j, ʎ, l, r, a, ε, i, ɔ, u, æ/. The Slovak language has four diphthongs: ɪu, ɪe, ɪɐ, and ʊɔ. The Slovak language uses a modified Latin script with a total of  46 characters. Slovak is a very interesting language as it brings up many unique challenges; however, the language has so much history and culture behind it. You cannot lose, if you choose to learn it.