Macedonian phonology

This article discusses the phonological system of Standard Macedonian (unless otherwise noted) based on the Prilep-Bitola dialect. For discussion of other dialects, see Macedonian dialects. Macedonian possesses five vowels, one semivowel, three liquid consonants, three nasal stops, three pairs of fricatives, two pairs of affricates, a non-paired voiceless fricative, nine pairs of voiced and unvoiced consonants and four pairs of stops.

Schwa
The schwa is phonemic in many dialects (varying in closeness to or ) but its use in the standard language is marginal. When writing a dialectal word and keeping the schwa for aesthetic effect, an apostrophe is used; for example, $⟨к’смет⟩$, $⟨с’нце⟩$, etc. When spelling aloud, each consonant is followed by the schwa. The individual letters of acronyms are pronounced with the schwa in the same way: $⟨МПЦ⟩$. The lexicalized acronyms $⟨СССР⟩$ and $⟨МТ⟩$  (a brand of cigarettes), are among the few exceptions.

Vowel length
Vowel length is not phonemic. Vowels in stressed open syllables in disyllablic words with stress on the penult can be realized as long, e.g. $⟨Велес⟩$ 'Veles'. The sequence is often realized phonetically as ; e.g. $⟨саат⟩$   'colloq. hour'.

Consonants


Depending on dialect, and  may be alveolo-palatal affricates (,  as in some of the Northern Macedonian dialects while in the urban Prilep subdialect of the Prilep-Bitola dialect, they have merged to  and, respectively.

Neither nor  recognize the existence of a palatalised  or palatal  lateral in Standard Macedonian. This is in contrast with the surrounding related languages (Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian). However, a cluster does occur (spelled $⟨лј⟩$) which in rapid speech can coalesce. Both of these scholars also assert that there is a phonemic contrast between the velarised lateral and the nonvelarised. While they admit that and  occur mainly before front and non-front vowels, respectively (where they are both written $⟨л⟩$), they state that, at least in the prescribed norm or in some words,  may also occur before non-front vowels (where it is written $⟨љ⟩$). Hence minimal pairs like $⟨бела⟩$ (adj. fem. sg. 'white') versus $⟨беља⟩$  (n. fem. sg. 'trouble') express this phonemic contrast.

The alveolar trill is syllabic between two consonants; for example, $⟨прст⟩$  'finger'. The dental nasal and dental lateral  are also syllabic in certain foreign words; e.g. $⟨њутн⟩$  'newton',  $⟨Попокатепетл⟩$  'Popocatépetl', etc.

The labiodental nasal occurs as an allophone of  before  and  (e.g. $⟨трамвај⟩$  'tram'). The velar nasal similarly occur as an allophone of  before  and  (e.g. $⟨англиски⟩$  'English'). The latter realization is avoided by some speakers who enunciate.

The velar fricative /x/ does not occur natively in the language. It has been introduced or retained in Standard Macedonian under the following circumstances: (1) new foreign words: $⟨хотел⟩$ 'hotel', (2) toponyms: Ohrid, (3) Church Slavonicisms: $⟨дух⟩$  'spirit', (4) new literary words: $⟨доход⟩$  'income', and (5) to disambiguate between potential homophones: $⟨храна⟩$  'food' vs. $⟨рана⟩$  'injury, wound'.

Phonological processes
At morpheme boundaries (represented in spelling) and at the end of a word (not represented in spelling), voicing opposition is neutralized.

Stress
The word stress in Macedonian is antepenultimate, meaning it falls on the third from last syllable in words with three or more syllables, and on the first or only syllable in other words. This is sometimes disregarded when the word has entered the language more recently or from a foreign source. The following rules apply:
 * Disyllabic words are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.

For example, $⟨дете⟩$ 'child', $⟨мајка⟩$  'mother' and $⟨татко⟩$  'father'.
 * Trisyllabic and polysyllabic words are stressed on the third-to-last syllable.

For example, $⟨планина⟩$ 'mountain', $⟨планината⟩$  'the mountain' and $⟨планинарите⟩$  'the mountaineers'.

Exceptions include:
 * Verbal adverbs: e.g. $⟨викајќи⟩$ 'shouting', $⟨одејќи⟩$  'walking'.
 * Foreign loanwords: e.g. $⟨клише⟩$ 'cliché', $⟨генеза⟩$  'genesis', $⟨литература⟩$  'literature', $⟨Александар⟩$, 'Alexander', etc.