Kyrgyz phonology

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

Vowels



 * Notes on vowel quality:
 * Kyrgyz vowel space is different in affixes and stems.  describes the former as more typical and more condensed.
 * All rounded vowels are more back than their unrounded counterparts.
 * In stem vowel space, the main difference between and  is that the latter is more back. In affix vowel space, they can have the same backness, and differ by height.
 * appears only in borrowings from Persian and as a result of regressive assimilation. Normal vowel harmony does not apply to this vowel. Note that in most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from  is questionable.
 * are sometimes transcribed.
 * The sequence of any vowel and the consonant 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.

Consonants

 * are alveolar, whereas are dental.
 * are velar, whereas is palatal.
 * are palatal in words with front vowels, and velar  in words with back vowels.
 * Word-initial is often voiced.
 * In loanwords from Persian and Arabic, palatal are always followed by front vowels, whereas velar  are always followed by back vowels, regardless of the vowel harmony.
 * Word-final and word-initial is voiced to  when it is surrounded by vowels or the consonants.
 * occur only in foreign borrowings.
 * In colloquial speech:
 * is lenited to after  or between vowels.
 * is deaffricated to before voiceless consonants.
 * Intervocalic can be voiced to.
 * Word-final is often devoiced to.

The consonant phonemes have uvular realisations  in back vowel contexts (before back vowels). In front-vowel environments, is fricativised to  between continuants, and in back vowel environments both  and  fricativise to  and. Additionally, the liquid is velarized  in back vowel contexts. Other consonants have slightly different realisations in front- versus back-vowel contexts and when between continuants or not, but these are the clearest examples.

Stress
Recent loanwords often retain their original stress.

Desonorisation and devoicing
In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with show desonorisation of the  to  after consonants (including ), and devoicing to  after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this: кемени the boat, айды the month, торду the net, колду the hand, таңды the dawn, көздү the eye, башты the head.

Suffixes beginning with also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than, e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this: кемелер boats, айлар months, торлор nets, колдор hands, таңдар dawns, көздөр eyes, баштар heads. Other -initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LUU, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with or  after ; e.g. тордо-/торло- to net/weave, түрдүү/түрлүү various.

See Kyrgyz language for more examples.