Polish phonology

This article deals with the pronunciation of the Polish language.

In the course of its development was lost in the Polish, the distinction between long and short vowels. Today only exists latter. However, the Polish distinguishes between hard and soft consonants. Soft consonants are, however, always marked by a line or a subsequent i. The word accent of the Polish strengthened on the penultimate syllable.

Because of the frequency of the sibilant sounds and combinations of sibilants within a word, the Polish pronunciation for native North and West Germanic languages ​​is deemed not easy to learn.

For the pronunciation of h and ³: In some regions, a different pronunciation is found:

• ³ - in velarisierter ( [ ɫ ] ) form, similar to the pronunciation of "l" in the Rhineland or the hard " л " in Russian.
• H - as voiced glottal fricative ( [ ɦ ] ), but articulated in the larynx.