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Estonian phonology


This article is about the phonology and phonetics of the Estonian language.

There are 9 vowels and 36 diphthongs, 28 of which are native to Estonian. All nine vowels can appear as the first component of a diphthong, but only /ɑ e i o u/ occur as the second component. A vowel characteristic of Estonian is the unrounded back vowel /ɤ/, which may be mid back, close back, or mid central.

There are very few instances of vowel allophony; for instance, the long /y/ is pronounced as the diphthong [yi] in certain environments.

Simple vowels can be inherently short or long, written with single and double vowel letters respectively. Diphthongs are always inherently long. Furthermore, long vowels and diphthongs have two suprasegmental lengths. This is described further below.

Like the vowels, most consonants can be inherently short or long. For the plosives, this distinction is reflected as a distinction in tenseness/voicing, with short plosives being voiced and long plosives being voiceless. This distinction only applies fully for single consonants after stressed syllables. In other environments, the length or tenseness/voicing distinctions may be neutralised:

In addition, long consonants and clusters also have two suprasegmental lengths, like the vowels. This is described below.

Non-phonemic palatalization generally occurs before front vowels. In addition, about 0.15% of the vocabulary features fully phonemic palatalization, where palatalization occurs without the front vowel. A front vowel did historically occur there, but was lost, leaving the palatalization as its only trace (a form of cheshirization). It mostly occurs word-finally, but in some cases it may also occur word-medially. Thus, palatalization does not necessarily need a front vowel, and palatalized vs. plain continuants can be articulated. Palatalization is not indicated in the standard orthography.


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