Ingrian phonology

The following chart shows the monophthongs present in the Ingrian language:

• The vowel /ɨ/ is only present in some Russian loanwords, like rьbakka ("fisher"); this vowel has been replaced by /i/ in some idiolects.^[1]

All vowels can occur as both short (/æ e i ɨ ø y ɑ o u/) and long (/æː eː iː ɨː øː yː ɑː oː uː/). The long vowel /ɨː/ is extremely rare, occurring in borrowed words like rььžoi ("red-haired"). The vowels /eː øː oː/ are often realised as either diphthongs ([ie̯ yø̯ uo̯]) or diphthongoids ([i̯eː y̯øː u̯oː]) and in some dialects even as [iː yː uː].^[1]

Besides the diphthongs that arise due to diphthongisation of the long mid vowels ([ie̯ yø̯ uo̯]), Ingrian has a wide range of phonemic diphthongs, present in both dialects:

Ingrian has only one falling phonemic diphthong, iä (/iæ̯/), which is only present in the personal pronouns miä ("I") and siä ("you", singular).

Vowel reduction is a very common feature of the Ala-Laukaa dialect, and is to a very restricted extent also present in Soikkola. The term refers to the process of acoustically weakening the unstressed vowels.

In Soikkola, vowel reduction is restricted to the vowels a and ä; These vowels are sometimes reduced to [ə], but mostly in quick speech, making it a purely phonetic feature:^[1]

linna /ˈlinːɑ/ [ˈlinːə] ("city")

ilma /ˈilmɑ/ [ˈiɫmə] ("weather")

In Ala-Laukaa, this process is much more common. In open final syllables, the vowels /ɑ æ e/ are reduced to [ə], the other vowels (/i ø y o u/) are simply shortened ([ĭ ø̆ y̆ ŏ ŭ]). The process of reducing vowels is contrastive in Ala-Laukaa:^[4]

linna /ˈlinːə/ ("city", NOM) linnaa /ˈlinːɑ/ ("city", PTV)

In a closed final syllable, the reduction of the vowel /e/ is much more uncommon, and occurs primarily in polysyllabic words. In words with three syllables and a long third syllable (in the form CVV), the penultimate syllable will reduce in the same way as described above. In three-syllable words with a short final syllable (in the form (C)CV), however, any short vowel in the second syllable will be reduced to [ə]. In polysyllabic words, reduction of the even syllables doesn't occur after short syllables.

The reduced vowels in Ala-Laukaa Ingrian can further experience deletion:^[1]

istuisi ("he/she sat down") [ˈistŭsĭ] ~ [ˈistŭsʲ] ~ [ˈistŭzʲ]

 

Ingrian, just like its closest relatives Finnish and Karelian, has the concept of vowel harmony. The principle of this morphophonetic phenomenon is that vowels in a word consisting of one root are all either front or back. As such, no native words can have any of the vowels {a, o, u} together with any of the vowels {ä, ö, y}.^[2][5]

To harmonise formed words, any suffix containing one of these six vowels have two separate forms: a front vowel form and a back vowel form. Compare the following two words, formed using the suffix -kas: liivakas ("sandy") from liiva ("sand") and iäkäs ("elderly") from ikä ("age").^[2][5]

The vowels {e, i} are considered neutral and can co-occur with both types of vowels. However, stems with these vowels are always front vowel harmonic: kivekäs ("rocky") from kivi ("rock").^[2]

Compound words don't have to abide by the rules of vowel harmony, since they consist of two stems: rantakivi ("coastal stone") from ranta ("coast") + kivi ("stone").^[2]

The consonantal phonology of Ingrian varies greatly among dialects. For example, while Soikkola Ingrian misses the voiced-unvoiced distinction, it has a three-way consonant length distinction, missing in the Ala-Laukaa dialect.^[1]

• The velar nasal [ŋ] is a form of /n/ occurring before the plosive /k/ (written ⟨nk⟩).
• The velar fricative [x] is a (half-)long version of /h/ (written ⟨hh⟩).
• Common realisations of /s/ are [ʃ] (in most subdialects) and [s̠] (in some subdialects).^[6]
• /t͡ʃ/ is most commonly realised as the palatalised [t͡ɕ]
• /t͡s/ may be realised as the consonant cluster [ts̠].

In the Soikkola dialect, consonants have a three-way distinction in length. Geminates can be either short (1.5 times the length of a short consonant) or long (twice the length of a short consonant):^[4]

tapa /ˈtɑpɑ/ ("manner" NOM)

tappaa /ˈtɑpˑɑː/ ("he/she catches" also: "manner" PTV)

tappaa /ˈtɑpːɑː/ ("to kill")

A similar phenomenon can be observed in the related Estonian language.

A word with the underlying structure *(C)VCVCV(C) is geminated to (C)VCˑVːCV(C) in the Soikkola dialect:

omena /ˈomˑeːnɑ/ ("apple" NOM; respelled ommeena)

omenan /ˈomˑeːnɑn/ ("apple" GEN; respelled ommeenan)

orava /ˈorˑɑːʋɑ/ ("squirrel" NOM; respelled orraava)

This rule however does not apply to forms that are underlyingly tetrasyllabic:

omenaal (< *omenalla) /ˈomenɑːl/ ("apple" ADE)

omenaks (< *omenaksi) /ˈomenɑːks/ ("apple" TRANSL)

The Soikkola dialect also exhibits a phonetic three-way voicing distinction for plosives and the sibilant:

• Intervocalically, short (ungeminated) consonants, when followed by a short vowel, are generally realised as semi-voiced, so [b̥], [d̥], [ɡ̊] and [ʒ̊] for /p/, /t/, /k/ and /s/ respectively:^[4][7]

  poika /ˈpoi̯kɑ/, [ˈpoi̯ɡ̊ɑ]

  poikaa /ˈpoi̯kɑː/, [ˈpoi̯kɑː]

• When preceding a hiatus, word-final consonants are also semi-voiced. When not, voicing assimilation occurs, resulting in voiced consonants ([b], [d], [ɡ], [ʒ]) before voiced consonants and vowels, and voiceless consonants ([p], [t], [k], [ʃ]) before voiceless consonants:^[4][7]

  pojat /ˈpojɑt/, [ˈpojɑd̥]

  pojat nooret /ˈpojɑt ˈnoːret/, [ˈpojɑd‿ˈnoːred̥]

  pojat suuret /ˈpojɑt ˈsuːret/, [ˈpojɑt‿ˈʃuːred̥]

  pojat ovat /ˈpojɑt ˈoʋɑt/, [ˈpojɑd‿ˈoʋɑd̥]

• Word-initially, plosives and sibilants are generally voiceless. Some speakers, however, may pronounce Russian loanwords, deriving from Russian words with a word-initial voiced plosive, with a voiced initial consonant:^[4]

  bocka [ˈpot͡ɕkɑ] ~ [ˈbot͡ɕkɑ]; compare also pocka [ˈpot͡ɕkɑ]

A word-final dental nasal (/n/) assimilates to the following stop and nasal:^[7]

meehen poika [ˈmeːhem‿ˈpoi̯ɡ̊ɑ]

meehen koira [ˈmeːheŋ‿ˈkoi̯rɑ]

kanan muna [ˈkɑnɑm‿ˈmunɑ]

Some speakers also assimilate word-final /n/ to a following liquid, glottal fricative or bilabial approximant:^[7]

meehen laps [ˈmeːhel‿lɑps]

joen ranta [ˈjoer‿rɑnd̥a]

miul on vene [ˈmiul oʋ‿ˈʋene]

varis on harmaa [ˈʋɑriz ox‿ˈxɑrmɑː]

• The velar nasal /ŋ/ only appears before the plosive /k/ (written ⟨nk⟩) or /ɡ/ (written ⟨ng⟩)
• /t͡s/ may be realised as the consonant cluster [ts].
• /t͡s/ sometimes corresponds to Soikkola /t͡ʃ/ and is thus written ⟨c⟩: compare mancikka (Soikkola /ˈmɑnt͡ʃikːɑ/, Ala-Laukaa /ˈmɑnt͡sikːə/).

In the Ala-Laukaa dialect, phonetic palatalisation of consonants in native words occurs first of all before the vowels {y, i} and the approximant /j/:^[1]

tyttö [ˈtʲytːø̆] ("girl"); compare Soikkola [ˈtytːøi̯] and Standard Finnish [ˈt̪yt̪ːø̞].

The palatalised /t/ and /k/ may both be realised as [c] by some speakers. Furthermore, palatalisation before /y(ː)/ and /i(ː)/ that have developed from an earlier */ø/ or */e/ respectively is rare:

töö [ˈtøː] ~ [ˈtyø̯] ~ [ˈtyː] ("you (plural)")

The cluster ⟨lj⟩ is realised as a long palatalised consonant in the Ala-Laukaa dialect:^[7]

neljä [ˈnelʲː(ə)] ("four"); compare Soikkola [ˈneljæ]

paljo [ˈpɑlʲːŏ] ("many"); compare Soikkola [ˈpɑljo]

kiljua [ˈkilʲːo] ("to shout"); compare Standard Finnish [ˈkiljuɑ]

These same phenomena are noticed in the extinct Ylä-Laukaa dialect:^[7]

tyttö [ˈtʲytːøi̯] ("girl")

neljä [ˈnelʲːæ] ("four")

At the end of a word, the sibilant ⟨s⟩ and the stop ⟨t⟩ are voiced:

lammas [ˈlɑmːəz] ("sheep")

linnut [ˈlinːŭd] ("birds")

Like in the Soikkola dialect, when preceding a word beginning with a voiceless stop, this sibilant is again devoiced:

lammas pellool [ˈlɑmːəs‿ˈpelolː(ə)]

linnut kyläs [ˈlinːŭt‿ˈkylæsː(ə)]

Stress in Ingrian falls on the first syllable in native words, but may be shifted in loanwords. An exception is the word paraikaa (/pɑrˈɑi̯kɑː/, "now"), where the stress falls on the second syllable. Secondary stress falls on odd-numbered syllables or occurs as a result of compounding and is not phonemic.^[1][5]