| Adjective |
A part of speech which names a qualitative feature of a substantive, i.e. a person or a thing (what kind?), and which is declinable in Polish by case, number and gender, also forming degrees of comparison, as a rule. E.g. kudłaty, czerwony, wysoki, młody, angielski, English shaggy, red, high, young, English. In the Polish grammar also adjective participles (see) have been counted among adjectives recently. Polish counterparts of such words as each, my are considered pronouns, never adjectives, unlike in the English grammar. Similarly, the counterparts of fourth, seven etc. are considered numerals, not adjectives. |
Przymiotnik |
| Adjunct |
See Attribute, Modifier, Qualifier. |
Przydawka |
| Adverb |
A part of speech which names qualifying features of an act or of other features. An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, a clause, by expressing time, place, manner, degree, cause (how? where? when?). It is independent, uninflected, but sometimes able to make degrees of comparison. E.g. głośno, wysoko, wysoce, młodo, wyraźnie, niezwykle, zaraz, chyłkiem, czasami, szybko, ostrożnie, Eng. loudly, high, highly, young, extremely, at once, stealthily, sometimes, fast, carefully. Adverb participles (see) have been counted among adverbs in the Polish grammar lately. Some words which equivalents are counted among adverbs in English, can be pronouns in Polish, e.g. then. |
Przysłówek |
| Adverbial |
A part of sentence which expresses the circumstances during accomplishing the action, which are time, place, manner, cause, aim etc. Notice that adverbial not means the same as adverb even if adverbs can act as adverbials. But also other parts of speech can act as adverbials, in both English and Polish. They are adjectives (He went off happy), participles (He left the house singing), infinitives (They came to learn) or clauses. |
Okolicznik |
| Affricate |
Affricate consonants are formed with air flow stopped completely for a moment, and with a following delayed release phase (while speech organs form a narrowing). Affricates are English ch, j, and Polish c, dz, cz, dż, ć, dź. The view that affricates are just complex sounds composed of a stop and an fricative, is incorrect (the evidence is given by Polish trzy with a stop followed by a fricative, which can be contrasted with czy with an affricate). |
Zwarto-szczelinowy, Afrykata |
| Allophone |
One of several different sounds (phones (see)) being varieties of one phoneme (see). Different allophones are never the only difference between similar words. It depends on adjoining sounds which allophone will be pronounced. For example, in British English we have two allophones of the phoneme /l/. One of them is velarized and pronounced before a consonant and word-finally – it is so called “dark l”. The other is non-velarized and pronounced elsewhere (“light l”). |
Alofon |
| Alveolar |
Alveolar consonants: articulated with the tongue and gums. They are l, r as in row, English t, d, s, z, n (narrow articulation), Polish cz, dż, sz, rz / ż (wide articulation). Polish t, d, n can be alveolar but only in some positions. See also Dental, Denti-alveolar, Palato-alveolar, Hissing, Rustling. |
Alweolarny, Dziąsłowy |
| Alveolo-palatal |
See Postalveolar. |
Alweolo-palatalny, Dziąsłowo-podniebienny |
| Apical |
Apical consonants: articulated with the same tip of the tongue. English s, z, t, d are often described as apical, as well as Spanish n, l. In Basque the voiceless apical consonant spelt with s (close to the English s) contrasts with the laminal z (close to the Polish s). See Laminal, Cacuminal, Retroflex. |
Apikalny |
| Asynchronous |
Failing to occur at the same time (e.g. about pronunciation of a sound produced with two articulatory moves). |
Asynchroniczny |
| Attribute |
A word being part of a sentence which qualifies, i.e. modifies or limits the meaning of a substantive, which acts as the subject, the predicative or as the object. Also termed: adjunct, modifier, qualifier. |
Przydawka |
| Back |
Back vowels: articulated in the back part of the buccal cavity. They are u in put, o in dog, a in father, etc. |
Tylny |
| Back-tongued |
Back-tongued consonants: articulated with the back part of the dorsum. Prevelar, velar and uvular consonants belong here. See Dorsal, Fore-tongued, middle-tongued. |
Tylnojęzykowy |
| Bilabial |
Bilabial consonants: articulated with both lips. They are p, b, m, w, Polish ł. See Labial. |
Dwuwargowy |
| Cacuminal |
Cacuminal consonants: articulated with a spoon-like tongue, so with rising up the tip of the tongue (but not with bending it back). The wide Polish sz, ż/rz, cz, dż belong here, as well as the Russian š, ž, the German sch, often the French ch, the narrow Spanish s, moreover the Polish, Russian, Spanish trill or flap r, and the English approximant r. Cacuminals are termed retroflex by some modern western phoneticians which is both erroraneous and confusing. See Laminal, Apical, Retroflex. |
Kakuminalny |
| Central |
Central vowels: articulated in the central part of the buccal cavity. They are u in but, a in about, etc. |
Środkowy |
| Cerebral |
Cerebral consonants: cacuminal or retroflex (see). |
Cerebralny |
| Cognate |
A language related to another language. |
Język pokrewny |
| Cognation |
Relationship among languages. |
Pokrewieństwo |
| Conjunction |
An uninflected, dependant part of speech, which informs about space and time relations between objects and actions, and which is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. E.g. i, a, oraz, albo, lub, ale, jeśli, jednak, więc, czy, bo, albo… albo, Eng. and, or, but, if, however, because, either… or. |
Spójnik |
| Consonant |
A speech sound produced with a radical obstruction in speech organs for air flow. The obstruction can be made by means of a temporary stop of the air stream (stops and affricates), of forming a narrow passage between speech organs that makes noise (fricatives), or a stop of the air at one point while it can escape at another point (sonorants). Polish consonants does not form syllables but some English consonants (m, n, ng, l, r) can form syllables. See also Vowel. |
Spółgłoska |
| Continuant |
In phonetics: a sound that can be prolonged during pronunciation. Continuants are vowels, sonorants and fricatives, while stops and affricates are not continuants. |
Kontynuant |
| Copula |
Linking verb, copulative finite verb, a part of a nominal predicate expressed with an auxiliary verb (jest, bywa, staje się, robi się, Eng. is, becomes, gets). Modal verbs (chce, może, musi, zamierza, Eng. may, can, must) have similar function. In Polish the words to, oto can act as copulas, too. There are even exceptional instances of using participles (będąc młodym zasłużył na awans), verbal nouns (bycie opanowanym to wielka sztuka) and infinitives (wspaniale być wypoczętym) as copulas. |
Łącznik |
| Coronal |
Coronal consonants: articulated with the front part of the tongue. In a newer literature this term is used similarly to the traditional Polish term “fore-tongued” but additionally including postalveolar consonants (Pol. ś, ź, ć, dź), treated as middle-tongued. In an older literature “coronal” meant “cacuminal”, i.e. “articulated with a spoon-like shape of the tongue”, like Pol. sz, ż/rz, cz, dż, and unlike Polish flat s, z, c, dz, named dorsal (or predorsal). See Dorsal, Radical. |
Koronalny |
| Dental |
Dental consonants: articulated with the tongue and the upper teeth. In the stricter meaning they are Polish t, d, c, dz, s, z, n and a rare variant of ł. The French t, d, less often n, l, may also be dental, just like Spanish or Italian t, d. They are also term postdental, which is however confusing. Not present in English. In the wider meaning dental consonants contain interdental, proper dental, denti-alveolar/gingival and alveolar consonants (see also Interdental, Postdental, Denti-alveolar, Alveolar, Hissing). |
Dentalny, Zębowy |
| Denti-alveolar |
Denti-alveolar (gingival) consonants: articulated with the tongue against the alveolar ridge of upper teeth. The German t, d, n, l, z [c], ß [s], s [z] belong here, the French t, d, n, l can have a similar articulation. They are not present in English or Polish (see also Dental, Alveolar). |
Zębowo-dziąsłowy |
| Dorsal |
Dorsal consonants: articulated with the mid body of the tongue. In a newer literature this name contains palatal (Eng. y), velar (Eng. k, g) and uvular consonants (German (a)ch, r, Spanish g(e/i)/j; absent in English or Polish). In an older literature fore-tongued flat consonants, like Polish s, z, c, dz (predorsal), were also termed dorsal. See Coronal, Radical. |
Dorsalny |
| Epiglottal |
Epiglottal consonants: a kind of radical consonants, articulated with the epiglottis. Some consonants formerly thought to be pharyngeal have appeared epiglottal in many languages. In Caucasian languages both epiglottal and pharyngeal consonants can be present, which is exceptional. |
Nagłośniowy |
| External sandhi |
The sandhi on borders of words. See Sandhi. |
Sandhi zewnętrzne |
| Finite (verb) |
A form of a verb which has limits of person, number, tense, etc. It can be used as a predicate. |
Forma osobowa |
| Fore-tongued |
Fore-tongued consonants: articulated with the front, flexible part of the tongue. Usually this term covers interdental (Eng. th), dental (Pol. s, z, c, dz, t, d, n), alveolar (Eng. s, z, t, d, n, Pol. sz, ż/rz, cz, dż) and palato-alveolar consonants (Eng. sh, zh, ch, j). Fore-tongued does not means exactly the same as coronal as the latter term contains also alveolo-palatal consonants. See middle-tongued, Back-tongued. |
Przedniojęzykowy |
| Fricative |
Fricative consonants (spirants) are articulated by means of breath forced through a so narrow slit that it causes friction and can be heard as noise. Fricatives are English f, v, s, z, sh, zh, Polish f, w, s, z, sz, ż/rz, ś, ź, ch/h. The aspiration h is also regarded as fricative, the same about the voiced laryngeal (laryngeal-pharyngeal) h as in Czech, Ukrainian and in Polish in pronunciation of borderers. See also Continuant. |
Szczelinowy |
| Front |
Front vowels: articulated in the front part of the buccal cavity. They are i in sin, e in ten, a in cat, etc. |
Przedni |
| Gingival |
See Denti-alveolar. |
Gingiwalny |
| Glottal |
See Laryngeal. |
Krtaniowy |
| Hard |
Some people believe stops to be hard consonants but that is an incorrect use of this term. It still remains ambiguous however. Sometimes “hard” means “velarized” (see) and sometimes it means “not palatal or palatalized” (see). |
Twardy |
| Hissing |
About fricatives and affricates pronounced with a narrow opening, like English and Polish s, z, Polish c, dz. See also Rustling, Hushing, Dental, Alveolar. |
Syczący |
| Hushing |
About Polish postdental fricatives and affricates ś, ź, ć, ź. See also Hissing, Rustling, Postdental. |
Ciszący |
| Infinitive |
The form of the verb that expresses existence or action without reference to person, number, or tense and can also function as a noun: in English, it is usually the form of the the first person singular present preceded by the marker to (to go, to think) or by another verb form (can he speak, make him try). In Polish the infinitive is a separate form of verb (with the ending -ć or -c) which is used without markers (hence the term “split infinitive” cannot be applied here at all). |
Bezokolicznik |
| Interdental |
Interdental consonants: articulated with the tongue and both upper and lower teeth. They are th in that and th in think. Not present in Polish. See Dental. |
Interdentalny, Międzyzębowy |
| Interjection |
An uninflected, dependent part of speech which expresses feelings or which acts as an appeal, without grammatical connection to the rest of the sentence. E.g. aj, oj, hop, hej, stop, trach, klap, brr, bzz, szur, Eng. ouch, ah, well. |
Wykrzyknik |
| Internal sandhi |
The sandhi on borders of morphemes within one word. See Sandhi. |
Sandhi wewnętrzne |
| Intransitive |
In Polish: an intransitive verb is a verb without an object in accusative and having no passive voice. |
Nieprzechodni |
| Juncture |
The transition from one speech sound to the next, esp. marking the boundaries between words. In this sense, a juncture often is a silent (not pronounced) element which causes changes of the sounds in the neighbourhood. Sometimes the presence of a juncture shows itself as a pause in the speech or as a glottal stop. |
Junktura |
| Labial |
Labial consonants: articulated with the lips. Proper labials (bilabials) are p, b, m, w, Polish ł. In a wider sense labio-dentals (see) are a subdivision of labials. |
Labialny, Wargowy |
| Labio-dental |
Labio-dental consonants: articulated with the upper teeth and the lower lip. They are f, v, Polish w. |
Labiodentalny, Wargowo-zębowy |
| Laminal |
Laminal consonants: articulated with the lowered tip of the tongue, so by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue (the flat top surface in the front part of the tongue just behind the tip). Also termed predorsal. Polish dental t, d, c, dz, s, z, n, French t, d, s, z, German denti-alveolar t, d, z [c], ß [s], s [z] are described as laminal (unlike English s, z, t, d, which are apical). In Northwest Caucasian languages (such as Ubykh) there exist closed laminal (postalveolar) consonants, written with symbols like ŝ, and pronounced with the tip of the tongue resting against the lower teeth. Acoustically they are hissing-hushing sibilants. See Apical, Cacuminal, Retroflex, Hissing, Rustling, Hushing. |
Laminalny |
| Laryngeal |
Laryngeal consonants: articulated in larynx. They are English and German h. Not present in Polish but some Poles read h as a voiced laryngeal (or laryngeal-pharyngeal) consonant. The British often pronounce t as the laryngeal (glottal) stop when it is at the end of a syllable. The same sound can be heard at the end of Polish word nie when pronounced with the sharp tone. |
Laryngalny, Krtaniowy |
| Liaison |
A variety of the external sandhi existing in French. The liaison consists in pronouncing final consonants which are not pronounced under normal conditions. The liaison occurs when the next word begins with a vowel. For instance we read est as [e] in the sentence C’est Pierre, but as [et] in the sentence Pierre est un garçon (before un). A similar kind of sandhi exists in British English, where the final [r] is restored in similar conditions, e.g. in the sentence My car is nice [… ka:r iz… ]. |
Łączenie międzywyrazowe |
| Linking verb |
See Copula. |
Łącznik |
| Liquid |
Liquids are non-nasal sonorant consonants (l, r). |
Płynny |
| middle-tongued |
middle-tongued consonants: articulated with the middle part of the tongue. They are usually thought to contain postalveolar or alveolo-palatal (Polish ś, ź, ć, dź) and palatal consonants (Eng. y, Pol. j). See Fore-tongued, Back-tongued. |
Środkowojęzykowy |
| Modifier |
See Attribute. |
Przydawka |
| Morpheme |
The smallest meaningful part of a language. In forgetfulness morphemes are: for-, -get-, -ful(l)-, -ness. Some morphemes have variants in spelling (like full : -ful-) and also in pronunciation (which is often in Polish: dech and tch- in tchu, tchawica are variants of one morpheme). |
Morfem |
| Noun |
A term that is not very frequent in the Polish grammar (note that imię means Christian name as well). Nouns are declinable parts of speech: substantives, adjectives, pronouns and numerals (see). |
Imię |
| Numeral |
A part of speech which defines a number of things or their position in sequence (how many? how much? which (in order)?). E.g. dwa, trzeci, milion, trzykrotny, English two, third, million, triple. English grammarians rarely distinguish numerals as a separate class but Polish ones do as a rule. |
Liczebnik |
| Object |
A part of sentence which receives the action of the predicate, completing its sense this way. In the sentence I am giving the book to Tom, the group the book acts as the direct object because the action descends directly to the book. The group to Tom acts as the indirect object. |
Dopełnienie |
| Obstruent |
A sound that is not a sonorant, a real consonant. Obstruents are produced with speech organs being closed to high degree, i.e. with complete blockage or considerable narrowing. There are 3 classes among obstruents: stops, affricates and fricatives (see). All non-obstruents are termed sonorants. |
Obstruent |
| Occlusive |
Occlusive consonants – produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. The following consonants are regarded occlusive: stop obstruents (e.g. p, d, g), usually nasal sonorants (e.g. m, n), sometimes also affricates (e.g. c, dź). |
Okluzywny |
| Palatal |
Palatal consonants: articulated with the back of the tongue and the hard palate. They are English y, Polish j, German ch in ich. |
Palatalny, Podniebienny |
| Palatalized |
Soft, pronounced with an additional movement of the back of the tongue toward the hard palate. Palatalized consonants exist in Slav languages; Polish palatalized consonants are often asynchronous, contrary to the Russian language. See also Velarized. |
Palatalizowany, Miękki |
| Palato-alveolar |
Palato-alveolar consonants: articulated with the tongue touching or close to gums and the hard palate. They are English ch, j, sh, zh (= s in pleasure). Not present in Polish. See also Alveolar, Rustling. |
Palatalno-alweolarny, Podniebienno-dziąsłowy |
| Palato-velar |
Palato-velar consonants: articulated with the back of the tongue and the region on the border of the hard palate and the soft palate (velum). They are Polish ki, gi, chi / hi in kiedy, giąć, Chiny, historia. Not present in English. |
Palato-welarny, Podniebienno-miękkopodniebienny |
| Participle |
A form created from a verb which is used similarly like an adjective or an adverb. E.g. the Polish words śpiewający, szczekając, stanąwszy, wzięty, zapytany, English singing, barking, having stopped, taken, asked. English has the present participle which ends in -ing and the past participle which most commonly ends in -ed or -en, Polish has more participles. English participles are used in verb phrases (are asking, was carried), as verbs (seeing the results, he stopped), as adjectives (a laughing boy, the beaten path), as nouns, i.e, gerunds (seeing is believing), as adverbs (raving mad), as connectives (saving those present). In Polish some of these functions are accomplished with other forms, like gerunds, which are not participles. |
Imiesłów |
| Particle |
An uninflected, dependent part of speech which amplifies or modifies the meaning of another part of speech, e.g. nie, czy, -że, no, oby, tam, tak, też. In the Polish grammar, unlike in the English grammar, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are not particles. In fact, English has not words fully corresponding with Polish particles. |
Partykuła |
| Parts of sentence |
Word classes which are separated on the ground of their actual functions in sentence. Main parts of sentence are the subject and the predicate (in Polish, and rarely also in English, there exist sentences without the subject). In addition, the sentence can contain complements which are attributives, objects and averbials. Note that in the Polish grammar there is a strict distinction between parts of sentence and parts of speech. It means that ex. adverb does not mean adverbial (even if adverbs can act as adverbials). The predicate can be simple (verbal predicate) or composed of the copula and the predicative (note that predicative and predicate are two different terms in the Polish grammar). Particular parts of sentence are understood as functions to be fulfilled with parts of speech in the sentence. |
Części zdania |
| Parts of speech |
Word classes which are separated on the ground of their inflectional, syntactic and semantic (meaning) features. In the Polish grammar we distinguish parts of speech from parts of sentence very thoroughly. Following the tradition, 10 parts of speech are singled out (see): substantives, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and particles. See also: Noun, Participle, and on this page. |
Części mowy |
| Pharyngeal |
Pharyngeal consonants: articulated with the root of the tongue and the back face of the throat. Not present in European languages, known from Arabic. |
Faryngalny, Gardłowy |
| Phone |
A speech sound, the smallest part of the run of speech, perceived as a homogeneous sound. Phones are phonemes (see) or allophones (varieties of phonemes). |
Głoska |
| Phoneme |
The smallest part of the language, heard as one sound by native speakers and playing the distinctive role, which means that similar but different phonemes make different words possible to be distinguished. E.g. bat and bad are two different words because t and d are different phonemes. A phoneme can consist of several different sounds which are never used to distinguish words from one another. Such sounds are allophones (see). |
Fonem |
| Plosive |
See Stop. |
Plozywny, Zwarto-wybuchowy |
| Postalveolar |
Postalveolar consonants: articulated with the tongue touching or close to the region behind gums and to the hard palate. They are Polish ć, dź, ś, ź, ń. See also Hushing. |
Postalweolarny, Zadziąsłowy |
| Postdental |
This term is very confusing as in the older literature it means the same as alveolo-palatal or postalveolar (see) while in the newer literature it means the same as proper dental (see Dental). |
Postdentalny, Zazębowy |
| Predicate |
A main part of sentence which informs about an act, a state or a feature, asserting something about the subject (if any; in Polish many sentences have no subject). Traditionally, in the Polish grammar the predicate is not understood as the whole verbal phrase, so it cannot include complements, objects, modifiers. A simple predicate is a finite form of a verb and it is always a verbal predicate. Ex. I walk. A composed nominal predicate consists of a copula (i.e. link-verb, which is a verb of incomplete predication) and a predicative (predicate complement). Ex. I am a man, I am hungry. A composed verbal predicate is, among others, a modal predicate which consists of a modal verb and an infinitive. Ex. I must go. |
Orzeczenie |
| Predicative |
Predicate complement, a part of a nominal predicate which asserts something about the subject. A predicative cannot be a finite verb. There are 2 main types of the predicative in Polish, depending on which part of speech acts as the predicative. They are substantive and adjective predicatives. Participles, pronouns and numerals can also be used in substantive and adjective predicatives instead of substantives or adjectives respectively. |
Orzecznik |
| Predorsal |
See Laminal. |
Predorsalny |
| Preposition |
An uninflectable and dependent part of speech being a relation or function word which informs about space and time relations between things. In a sentence it always connects a substantive or another word with similar function to another part of speech, requesting (in Polish) its proper casual form, contrary to a conjunction. E.g. przed, w, między, na, od, o, bez, spomiędzy, wzorem, obok, Eng. before, in, between, on, from, about, without, from among, after the example of, near. |
Przyimek |
| Prevelar |
See Palato-velar. |
Prewelarny |
| Pronoun |
A part of speech without own meaning essence, a relationship or signal word, which assumes the function of another part of speech. E.g. ona, ja, kto, nasz, swój, siebie, czyj, tamten, nikt, ktoś, Eng. she, I, who, our, his, myself, whose, that, nobody, anybody. |
Zaimek |
| Qualifier |
In English: a part of sentence which qualifies, i.e. modifies or limits the meaning of another word or group of words. This term is used also instead of adjunct, attribute. |
Kwalifikator |
| Radical |
Radical consonants: articulated with the root of the tongue. In a newer literature this name is used for one of three classes of tongue consonants, together with coronal and dorsal (see). They contain pharyngeal and epiglottal consonants, and are absent in English or Polish. |
Radykalny, Nasadowy |
| Resonant |
Resonants are sonorant consonants together with vowels (and semivowels). |
Rezonant |
| Retroflex |
Retroflex consonants: articulated with the tip of the tongue rising up and curled back (retro = back, flexus = curled) so the articulational channel is made by the lower (subapical) surface of the tongue. Sounds of this type can be found in Swedish and Norwegian, as well as in Dravidian languages, moreover so called cerebrals in Indic languages are also described as retroflex (in real they are cacuminal, as a rule). The Mandarin ch, zh, sh, r, acoustically “harder” than the Polish (cacuminal) cz, dż, sz, ż/rz, may also belong here. See Laminal, Apical, Cacuminal. |
Retrofleksyjny |
| Row |
Place of articulation. We can distinguish vowels of front, central and back rows. Among consonants we can distinguish many rows: labial, labio-dental, interdental, dental, alveolar, palatal-alveolar, postdental, palatal, prevelar, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, laryngeal. See under particular entries and in the table below. |
Rząd |
| Rustling |
About fricatives and affricates pronounced with a wide opening, like English sh, zh (s in pleasure), ch, j and Polish sz, rz / ż, cz, dż. See also Hissing, Hushing, Alveolar, Palato-alveolar. |
Szumiący |
| Sandhi |
Changes of phonemes on borders of morphemes (internal sandhi) or words (external sandhi). The processes of sandhi are frequent in Polish even if not present in written texts. For instance ławka should be read [łafka], even if D lm is ławek (internal sandhi); we read brzeg as [bżek] at the end of a sentence and in the phrase brzeg topora, but as [bżeg] when in brzeg wyspy (external sandhi). See also Liaison and more examples on the 1st page of the grammar. |
Sandhi |
| Semiconsonant |
See Sonorant. |
Półspółgłoska |
| Semivowel |
A vowel that does not form a syllable. Semivowels are also defined as consonants which are pronounced with the same position of speech organs as vowels but which do not form syllables. Semivowels are English w, y (sometimes h is also regarded as a semivowel) and Polish ł, j. See also Vowel, Consonant, Sonorant, Sonant. |
Półsamogłoska |
| Sentence |
A group of syntactically related words expressing a full thought, containing a predicate which is expressed (in English, and as a rule in Polish) by a finite. |
Zdanie |
| Sibilant |
About dental or alveolar fricatives and affricates, like English s, z, sh, zh, ch, j and Polish s, z, c, dz, sz, ż/rz, cz, dż, ć, dź. See also Rustling, Hushing, Hissing. |
Sybilant |
| Soft |
See Palatalized. Some people believe sonants to be soft consonants, but that is an incorrect use of this term. |
Miękki |
| Sonant |
Sonants are consonants occuring in many languages (not in Polish), similar to m, n, l, r, that make syllables, like at the end of lesson, little. Sometimes this term is used for sonorants. |
Sonant |
| Sonorant |
Sonorants (sonorant consonants, semiconsonants) are pronounced with the air flow stopped at one point while it escapes at another. We divide them into nasals (m, n, ng) and liquids (l, r). Sonorants (in a broader sense, also termed resonants) are also all vowels. All other sounds are termed obstruents. See also Sonant, Continuant, Occlusive. |
Sonorny |
| Spirant |
See Fricative. |
Spirant |
| Stop |
Stop (Latin: clausae) consonants are formed with air flow stopped completely for a moment, and with a following sudden release phase. The proper stops (plosive) are English b, p, d, t, g, k, and also the glottal stop which can be heard instead of t in British pronunciation, like in but, bottle. In wider sense, affricates (see) belong here as well. See also Fricative, Affricate, Continuant, Occlusive. |
Zwarty |
| Subapical |
See Retroflex. |
Subapikalny |
| Subject |
A main part of sentence about which something is said in the predicate. A substantive, an adjective, an adjective participle, a pronoun, a numeral, or an infinitive (rarely), can act as the subject in Polish. |
Podmiot |
| Substantive |
A part of speech which names or denotes a person, thing, place, conception, action, quality (who? what?), and which is declinable in Polish by case and number, while having a fixed gender. E.g. kobieta, pies, woda, Paryż, śpiewanie, mowa, młodość, czerwień, piękno, in English woman, dog, water, Paris, singing, speech, youth, scarlet, beauty. Sometimes substantives are called nouns, which is however incorrect as the class of nouns also contains adjectives, numerals and some pronouns. |
Rzeczownik |
| Synchronous |
Occurring at the same time (e.g. about pronunciation of a sound produced with two articulatory moves). |
Synchroniczny |
| Transitive |
In Polish: a transitive verb is a verb with an object in accusative or having the passive voice. |
Przechodni |
| Umlaut |
A sort of a vowel change. Whether the vowel changes or not, it depends on the sounds which follow it. An example is the change of u into ü when followed by i in Old German. Another example is the change of e into o when followed by a non-palatalized dental in pre-Old Polish. |
Przegłos |
| Uvula |
The small, fleshy process hanging down from the middle of the soft palate above the back of the tongue. |
Języczek |
| Uvular |
Uvular consonants: articulated with the back of the tongue and the uvula (see). They are Scottish and German ch, German r, Arabic q, Spanish j. Not present in English or Polish. |
Uwularny, Języczkowy |
| Velar |
Velar consonants: articulated with the back of the tongue and the soft palate (velum). They are k, g in go, ng in sing, Polish ch/h. |
Welarny, Miękkopodniebienny |
| Velarized |
Hard or “dark”, pronounced with an additional movement of the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velum). Velarized consonants exists in Celtic languages. Most Russian non-palatalized consonants are velarized. The English “dark” l is velarized too. The same about a Polish regional variant of ł (it is very rare now however and it may disappear completely very soon). See also Palatalized. |
Welaryzowany |
| Verb |
A part of speech which informs about actions, states and occurrences (what is it doing? what happens?), and which is conjugatable (by persons, numbers, tenses, moods, voices, sometimes genders) and which has a determined aspect (imperfective or perfective). E.g. szczeka, śpiewał, mówię. Participles (see) have been considered just forms of verbs, but now they are counted among adjectives or adverbs rather. |
Czasownik |
| Vocalism |
The system of vowels which is present in a given language. |
Wokalizm |
| Vocalization |
Changing a consonant into a vowel (which forms a syllable). E.g. we can observe vocalization of the final -n in written ['ritn]: the preceding -e- becomes only a graphic symbol (it is not pronounced at all) and the -n builds a syllable. A similar process does not occur in Polish. |
Wokalizacja |
| Vowel |
A speech sound pronounced without a radical obstruction for the air flow, with no friction (noise). Semi-vowels are sometimes regarded to be vowels as well. See also Consonant, Continuant. |
Samogłoska |
| Word-finally |
At the end of the word. |
W wygłosie |
| Word-initially |
At the beginning of the word. |
W nagłosie |
| Word-medially |
In the middle of the word. |
W śródgłosie |
| Yer |
An ultrashort vowel as known from Old Church Slavic. The soft yer ь was pronounced like a very short i, the hard yer ъ like a very short Polish y (before it had lost labialization, like a short u). |
Jer |