Читать книгу Bohemian Grammar - Jaroslav Victor Nigrin - Страница 20

When the Latin script was adopted for the Bohemian language there were not enough letters for some of the Bohemian sounds. In the early times groups of letters were used to denote such sounds. The long vowels were marked by doubling. Ex. Pán was written paan, the present letter š (equal to our sh in shoe) was written ss, sh, or sch. In the XV. century the Bohemian reformer John Hus advanced a spelling reform by devising simple marks over kindred Latin letters to represent such sounds as had no Latin equivalents. At the present hooks are used to mark these peculiar consonants.

ž, like z in seizure,	žák, pupil;—užitek, use.
š, like sh in shoe,	košile, shirt;—koš, a basket.
č, like ch in church,	černý, black;—oči, eyes.
ť, like ty (y like in you),	koťata, kittens;—ťuká, knocks.
ď, like dy (y like in you),	loď, ship.
ň, like n in onion,	laň, roe;—kůň, horse.
ř, something like rsh,	kořen, root;—hoří, burns.

It is impossible to indicate the exact pronounciation of the letters ď, ť and ř. The best way to learn their pronunciation is by imitating the native Bohemians. The following phonetical description of the more difficult sounds will be perhaps helpful.

ď, ť, ň are palatal dentals. They are formed when the tip of the tongue is close to the conjunction of the palate and front teeth.

ž, š, č are palatal sibilants, the position of the tongue is in the middle of the mouth, the teeth are almost closed and hissing sounds are formed.

ř, the tongue as in the preceding section, but the tip is slightly raised and it trills when ř is pronounced.

h, ch, gutturals, are formed in the throat.