An Analysis of /h/ Allophony in Hungarian


By Elena Gill, Emma Reilly, and Danica Schulz

Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology Final Project 2021

1 Introduction

This paper focuses on the Hungarian language, specifically analyzing phonemic trends of the language and alternations regarding the /h/ phoneme using recordings from a native speaker. We analyzed voice recordings sent by our speaker using the PRAAT software, focusing on comparing the center of gravity and voicing of the fricative in different environments. We determined that our speaker realizes /h/ as [ɦ] between front vowels, [ç] between a front vowel and a syllable boundary, [x] after a back vowel, and [h] everywhere else.

2 Background

2.1 Language Background

Hungarian is spoken primarily in Hungary, where it is the national language, but is also spoken in Slovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. It is also commonly spoken in immigrant communities around the world (“Hungarian,” n.d.). There are approximately 9,780,000 speakers in Hungary, and 12,538,370 speakers globally (“Hungarian,” n.d.). There are eight main dialects of Hungarian: Western, Transdanubian, Alföld, Duna-Tisza, North-Western, North-Eastern, Trans-Királyhágó, and Székely (Siptár, 2000, 20-1). Western comprises primarily the inhabitants of Vas and Zala counties. Transdanubian encompasses most
of Transdanubia except for those that speak Western. Alföld covers the middle part of the Great Hungarian Plain. Duna-Tisza comprises most of the territories between the rivers Danuba and Tisza. North-Western encompasses Palóc and related varieties. North-Eastern covers the upper Tisza region and adjacent counties. Trans-Királyhágó covers Transylvania in present-day Romania, and Székely covers parts of Romania (Siptár, 2000, 20-1). A map of Hungary for reference can be seen in Figure 1 (“Administrative Map of Hungary,” 1998). While there is variation between dialects, it is minimal, and they only differ slightly from Standard Hungarian.

Figure 1
Map of Hungary

Hungarian is a Uralic language, and a member of the Finno-Ugric family (Harms, 2016). From the North-Central Urals where Proto-Uralic developed, Finno-Ugric spread south and west, to an area close to the confluence of Karma and Volga Rivers (Harms, 2016). From there, Hungarian separated from other Ugric languages, spreading south into the steppe region below the Urals (Harms, 2016). Hungarian has been written in a modified Latin alphabet since the 13th century, and its orthography was stabilized around the 16th century with the introduction of printing (“Hungarian Language,” 2013).

2.2 Consultant Background

Our speaker is a 20-year-old female student who was born in Texas but grew up in upstate New York. Her mom speaks North-Western Hungarian, and her dad speaks the Transdanubian dialect. Her dialect is most likely a mix of the two, although she said that they sound very similar to begin with. She was educated largely in English, although she did not speak English at all before the age of four. She also speaks French. She uses a relatively informal variety of the language when speaking at home/with family, and does not tend to speak Hungarian outside of that context. This paper will be presenting information on Standard Hungarian, but Standard Hungarian and our speaker’s dialect are very similar to one another.

3 Phonemic Overview

3.1 Vowels

Hungarian has seven basic vowel qualities that occur in distinctively long and short quantities (Szende, 1994, p. 92). These seven vowels are /ɔ/, /o/, /u/, /i/, /ø/, /y/, and /ɛ/. Each of these seven vowels has a long version. In the case of /ɔ/, whose paired long vowel is /a:/, and /ɛ/, whose paired long vowel is /e:/, the long vowels are different underlying vowels than the short vowels (Szende, 1994, p. 92). In the other cases, each vowel’s paired long version is the long version of the vowel (i.e. /ø:/ for /ø/) (Szende, 1994, p. 92). The vowel chart for the Hungarian vowels can be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2
Hungarian Vowel Chart

All fourteen of these vowels are contrastive in Hungarian. For example, á ([a:] phonetically) refers to ‘the letter A’ as opposed to a ([ɔ] phonetically), which refers to the definite
article ‘a.’ Another example of this phonemic contrast across vowel pairs is púp ‘lump’ [pu:p] and pap ‘minister’ [pɔp] (“Hungarian-English dictionary,” n.d.). The Hungarian vowel system also uses vowel harmony. In its vowel harmony system, vowels are classed into three groups: back vowels (ɔ, a:, o, o:, u, u:), front rounded vowels (ø, ø:, y, y:), and front unrounded vowels (ɛ, e:, i, i:). Front unrounded vowels function as “neutral” vowels, while back and front rounded vowels are “harmonic” (Siptár, 2000, p. 64). This means that back vowels and front rounded vowels do not occur together in the same word, although front unrounded vowels can occur with any other vowel (“Hungarian Language,” 2013). Hungarian vowel harmony functions as “stem-controlled” vowel harmony, where the backness of the stem controls the backness of vowels in affixes, specifically suffixes, as the harmony is directional (left-to-right) (Siptár, 2000, p. 64). This can be seen in how suffixes are normally alternating, where their vowel has a front and a back alternant which is selected by which agrees with the stem vowel(s) (Siptár, 2000, p. 64). Non-alternating suffixes either only have front unrounded (neutral) vowels, or have a back-harmonic vowel that does not harmonize (Siptár, 2000, p. 65). While in Standard Hungarian (and the Hungarian spoken by our speaker), speakers do not use [e] and there is no phonemic contrast between [e] and [ɛ], about fifty percent of the Hungarian speaking population uses a vowel system that distinguishes between [e] and [ɛ] (Szende, 1994, p.
93). In these dialects of Hungarian, the word written mentek ‘go.PL2.Pres’—in Standard Hungarian [mɛntɛk]—represents four different words: [mentek] ‘go.PL2.Pres’, [mentɛk] ‘go.PL3.Past’, [mɛntek] ‘save.SG1.Pres’, or [mɛntɛk] ‘to be exempt from.PL3.Pres’ (Szende, 1994, p. 93).

3.2 Consonants

The Hungarian Alphabet has 26 consonants in its alphabet, however you’ll notice that there are only 21 sounds documented in the phonetic alphabet. This is partially due to the presence of double and triple glyphs in the Hungarian alphabet that we touched upon earlier. The IPA representations for these glyphs are as follows – /ts/, /tʃ/, /dz/, /dʒ/, which are a combination of two phonetic elements. It’s debated as to whether these sounds are stop-fricative sequences or affricates. Sometimes the double or triple glyph is represented orthographically, such as with the letters Dz, Cs, and Dzs, and other times the multiplicity of phonetic elements is not represented orthographically, such as with C. It is also the case that some letters that are represented in the written alphabet with two letters, such as Sz, are phonetically one sound. There are 13 voiced sounds and 8 voiceless consonants. Interestingly, for the consonants that contain multiple sounds, it appears that in the Hungarian alphabet both sounds must either be voiced or voiceless, and there cannot be a combination of a voiced and voiceless sound for a consonant. The most common articulatory placements are alveolar and palatal and the most common manners of articulation were plosive and fricative. Additionally, the reason that the letters J and Ly are the same phonetic sound is that Ly
was originally pronounced as a palatal lateral sound ( ʎ), but in the standard Hungarian dialect as well as the eastern dialects of Hungary experienced a merger such that both orthographic consonants are now pronounced as a palatal approximate (Benko 1972). I expect that most younger generations of speakers would have this merger however given that our subjects parents are both from the more western part of the country it’s possible that our speaker could have a more lateral pronunciation for the Ly consonant.

bilabiallabiodentaldentalalveolarpostalveolarpalatalvelarglottal
plosivep bt dc ɟk g
nasalmnɲ
trillr
Tap
affr⌒ ⌒
tz dz
⌒ ⌒
tʃ dʒ
fricativef vs zʃ ʒh
latf
aproxj
latapl( ʎ)
Table 1
Consonant IPA
C /ts/           L /l/V /v/
Cs  /tʃ/  Ly /j/  (hey, ray)Z /z/
D /d/M /m/Zs / ʒ/
Dz /dz/N /n/ 
Dzs  /dʒ/Ny /ɲ/ 
F /f/P /p/ 
G /g/R /r/ 
Gy /ɟ/S /ʃ/ 
H /h/Sz /s/ 
J /j/  (you,yes)T /t/ 
K /k/Ty /c/ 
Table 2
Orthographic Representation of Hungarian Consonants

3.2.1 Stops

Hungarian has three voiceless stops and three voiced stops. The voiceless stops include the /p/ bilabial stop, the /t/ alveolar stop, and the /k/ velar stop, while the voiced stops include the /b/ bilabial stop, the /d/ alveolar stop, and the /g/ velar stop. The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ are also considered unaspirated, as these stops have a very short VOT compared to other languages with typical aspirated stops (Gósy, 1999). The average VOT value for typical aspirated stops in English tends to fall above 30 milliseconds (Anderson, 2018), and in Table 3, we see how the VOT values for /p/, /t/, and /k/ in Hungarian tend to fall close to or even below 30 milliseconds. /c/ and /ɟ/ in Hungarian are considered both palatal stops and affricates, as their closure duration is in between the two categories (Hungarian alphabet, 2021).

Word InitialWord MedialStopVOT – Word Initial (s)Closure Duration – Word Medial (s)
Bagózik [ˈbɒɡoːzik]Kabinet [ˈkɒbinɛt]b0.0086480.061314
Babrál [ˈbɒbraːl]Sebesség [ˈʃɛbɛʃːeːɡ]0.0158730.056645
Begipszez [ˈbɛɡipsɛz]Gabona [ˈɡɒbonɒ]0.0070700.065669
Tyúkhúsleves [ˈcuːkhuːʃlɛvɛʃ]Sarkantyú [ˈʃɒrkɒɲcuː]c0.1046960.097925
Tyúkülő [ˈcuːkˈyløː]Kártyákat [ˈkaːrcaːkɒt]0.1225500.081497
Tyő [ˈt̪yø̞̯]Dobhártya [ˈdophaːrcɒ]0.1080770.076476
Dalol [ˈdɒlol]Gadolinium [ɡadɔlɪnɪʊm]d0.0190410.023820
Domináló [ˈdominaːloː]Badarság [ˈbɒdɒrʃaːɡ]0.0237840.020628
Derce [dɛrt͡sɛ]Radírgumi [ˈrɒdiːrˈɡumi]0.0192670.016263
Galacsin [ˈɡɒlɒt͡ʃin]Tagok [ˈtɒɡok]g0.0428610.028320
Gabonanemű [ˈɡɒbonɒnɛmyː]Segédlet [ˈʃɛɡeːdlɛt]0.0331480.022255
Gallér [ˈɡɒlːeːr]Kagylóhéj [ˈkɒɟloːɦeːj]0.0289720.042823
Gyémánt [ˈɟeːmaːnt]Bejegyzés [ˈbɛjɛɟzeːʃ]ɟ0.0508690.049234
Gyümölcslé [ˈɟymølt͡ʃleː]Egyenlete [ˈɛɟɛnlɛt]0.0620240.036084
Gyullad [ˈɟulːɒd]Mogyorósi [ˈmo.ɟo.roːʃi]0.0476010.028717
Kadét [ˈkɒdeːt]Takarosan [ˈtɒkɒroʃɒn]k0.0631490.040097
Kamra [ˈkɒmrɒ]Gliptika [ˈgliptikɒ]0.0382730.043080
Kalamajka
[ˈkɒlɒmɒjkɒ]
Dajkál [ˈdɒjkaːl]0.0450490.057898
Padlás [ˈpɒdlaːʃ]Operál [ˈopɛraːl]p0.0190400.023092
Pajkosan [ˈpɒjkoʃɒn]Eperfa [ˈɛpɛrfɒ]0.0366700.027069
Pajzs [ˈpɒjʒ]Epekedve [ˈɛpɛˈkɛdvɛ]0.0335910.033502
Takarmány [ˈtɒkɒrmaːɲ]Katalizál [ˈkɒtɒlizaːl]t0.0215970.037370
Targonca [ˈtɒrɡont͡sɒ]Dettó [ˈdɛtːoː]0.0217920.026432
Tagolt [ˈtɒɡolt]Basztat [ˈbaʂ.tat]0.0296040.026910
Table 3
Stop VOT and Closure Duration Values
StopMean VOTSt. Error – VOTMean Closure DurationSt. Error – Closure Duration
b0.010530330.00270990.061209330.00260553
c0.111774330.005475520.085299330.00647709
d0.020697330.001544710.0202370.00219026
g0.034993670.004114240.031132670.00610175
ɟ0.0534980.004366140.038011670.00600066
k0.048823670.007424960.0470250.00550428
p0.0297670.005436650.027887670.00303286
t0.0243310.00263710.030237330.003569
Table 4
Averages and Standard Deviations for VOT and Closure Duration

3.2.2 Fricatives

F    /f/S       /ʃ/   
V     /v/Zs     /ʒ/
Sz     /s/H       /h/
Z         /z/ 
Table 5
Orthographic Representation of Hungarian Fricatives
WordIPAMeaning
fegy[fɛɟ]discipline
a fajta[ɔfɔjtɔ]the kind
varr[vɔr]he sews
var[vɔr]scab
vese[vɛʃɛ]kidney
vesse[vɛʃːɛ]throw away (imp.)
vesz[vɛs]he buys
sérve[ʃeːrvɛ]his hernia
eszes[ɛsɛʃ]brainy
vesszl[vɛs]go mad
zöm[zøm]bulk
ázik[aːzik]he gets wet
Űz[űz]chase
dohos[dohoʃ]mildewy
had[hɔd]army
házal[hazɔl]he goes selling door to door
tehát[ˈtɛɦaːt]so
ihlet[ˈiçlɛt]inspiration
doh[dox]musty
Table 6
Fricative Word List (Word List for Hungarian, n.d.)

The sound /f/ appears initially and medially following a back vowel. The sound ʃ also appears initially, medially, and finally, and is typically adjacent to a vowel. The sound /v/ almost always appears initially with a consonant following (at least based on this word set). The only allophone that exists among the fricatives is /h/ presenting as [ɦ] between two vowels, [ç] syllable-finally after front vowels, and [x] in the final position after a back vowel (Szende 1994). /f/ and /z/ appear to be in contrasting distribution as well.

3.2.3 Affricates

Affricatives

There is debate among linguistics as to whether the sounds that I have labeled as affricatives in the IPA chart are actually affricatives or are forms of stop-fricative sequences. For our purposes, and for thoroughness in this project, I will discuss them as if they are affricatives.

/dʒ/  appears both medially and initially. We see this with Cs as well, thus we can say that they are in contrastive distribution with each other. They are certainly within distinct phonemes as well. We see /dz/ as opposed to /dʒ/ which would appear phonetically similar based on the orthography are also relatively similar phonetically with both the /z/ and /ʒ/ sounds being voiced fricatives with a slight difference in placement of articulation. Additionally, we see c appearing initially, medially and finally typically adjacent to a lower open vowel. /tʃ/ demonstrates a similar pattern.

C /ts/   Cs  /tʃ/Dz /dz/Dzs  /dʒ/
Table 7
Orthographic Representation of Hungarian Affricates
ecet[ɛtsɛtʰ]vinegar
dac[dɔts]spite
vicc[vitsː]joke
csempe[tʃɛmpɛ]tile
dzsem[dʒɛm]jam
dedzett[ɛdzetʰː]he trained
cél[tsel]goal
edzŐ[εdzø]coach
csak [tʃpk]only
dzsezz[d͡ʒɛzː]jazz
Table 8
Word List (Word List for Hungarian, n.d.):

3.2.4 Nasals

Hungarian has three nasals, which include the voiced bilabial nasal [m], the voiced alveolar nasal [n], and the voiced palatal nasal [ɲ] (Hungarian Phonology, 2021). While there is no allophony for Hungarian nasals, there are several trends of nasal place assimilation in the language.

Hungarian nasals will always assimilate to the place of articulation of the following consonant within a word and sometimes occur across a word boundary. For example, nasals will assimilate to the voiced velar nasal [ŋ] before the velar consonants [k] and [g]: angol “English” → [ɒŋgol]. Nasals will also assimilate to the palatal nasal [ɲ] before the palatal consonants [c], [ɲ], and [ɟ]: magannyomozó “private detective” → [mɒga:ɲ:omozo:]. Nasals will additionally assimilate to the voiced labiodental nasal [ɱ] before the labiodental affricates [f] and [v]: különféle “various” → [kyløɱfe:lɛ]. Finally, nasals will assimilate to the voiced bilabial nasal [m] before the bilabial consonants [p], [b], and [m]: sínpad “stage” → [si:mpɒd] (Hungarian Phonology, 2021).

3.2.5 Approximants

Hungarian has two approximants, each with a long and short variety: /l/ and /l:/, and /j/ and /j:/. These four are all contrastive. For example, hal [hɔl] ‘fish’ and hall [hɔl:] ‘hallway’ (“Hungarian-English dictionary,” 2021). Or, for a contrast between /j/ and /l/, look at jó [jo:] ‘good’ and ló [lo:] ‘horse’ (“Hungarian-English dictionary,” n.d.). It is difficult to find minimal pairs for /j/ and /j:/, but theoretically the word ingujj [inguj:] ‘shirt-sleeve’ would contrast with an imagined word inguj [inguj] (“Hungarian-English dictionary,” n.d.).

While there is no allophony for /l/, /l:/, and /j:/, there is allophony for /j/. The phoneme /j/ becomes [ç] if it is between a voiceless obstruent and a word boundary, and becomes [ʝ] between voiced obstruents (Siptár, 2000, 205). For example, /j/ becomes [ç] in words like lopj [lopç] ‘steal’ and becomes [ʝ] in phrases like dobj be [dobʝ be] ‘throw (one/someone) in’ (Siptár, 2000, 205).

3.2.6 Trills

Hungarian has a singular trill consonant which is the sound /r/. Interestingly, longer rhotic sounds will occur as trills (such as a double r spelling), however, shorter rhotics will have less of a trill and present more as a tap (Tar 2017). Meaning that there are certainly allophones that exist for /r/ within the Hungarian language which are similar to /ɾ/.

4 Analysis

4.1 Introduction

When doing our phonetic analysis, we decided to examine the /h/ alternation that occurs intervocalically, in syllable final positions after front vowels, and word-finally. Following the Tamás Szende’s 1994 illustration of IPA we hypothesized that our speaker would realize /h/ as [ɦ] intervocallically, as [ç] in the syllabic-final position after a front vowel, and as [x] in the word-final position after a back vowel (Szende 1994). Based on our hypothesis we gathered a word list which we thought would allow our speaker to demonstrate these alternations and engaged in phonetic and phonological analysis via PRAAT software. Our results ended up differing from the hypothesis we had previously laid out and there is a question as to whether this represents solely the idiolect of the speaker or perhaps a greater phonetic and phonological realization in the Hungarian language.

4.2 Methods

We created our elicitation list by identifying several environments that we wanted to study for the phoneme /h/: word-initial, word-final after a back vowel, intervocalic between non-front vowels, intervocalic between a front vowel and a non-front vowel, and intervocalic between front vowels. Some of these categories overlap, but we made sure our word list had at least two words per category to make sure it was not an isolated incident. The exception to this is that we had one word to represent the environment “syllable-final following a front vowel.” We only had one due to the late addition of this category and the speaker’s lack of time available to record in a quiet space. The word list was given to the speaker in several chunks, which she then recorded either in her dorm room or her room at home on her phone, using the voice memo app. The voice memo app provides a sample rate of 44.1KHz. While we could not find the exact bit depth of recordings taken using the voice memo app, it is likely that it uses either a 16 or 24-bit setting (“Knowing Your Digital Audio Recorder,” 2014).

4.3 Phonetic Analysis

We measured the duration of each fricative, the standard deviation of each fricative to use as an indicator of dispersion, and the center of gravity of each fricative through analyzing the spectral slice of the fricative in PRAAT. We also made note of whether there was a voicing bar present. For each possible environment, we calculated the average standard deviation/dispersion and the average center of gravity. Additionally, we calculated what percent of the sounds in that environment were voiced.

EnvironmentAverage Dispersion (Hz)Average Center of Gravity (Hz)% Voiced
Between Front Vowels1506.851244.15100%
Word-Final After a Back Vowel1051.43819.730%
Word-Initial2309.381619.200%
Intervocalic—Non-Front Vowels840.17699.670%
Intervocalic—One Front One Non-Front1612.251244.1550%
Syllable-Final After a Front Vowel2866.53788.70%
Table 9
Averages and % Voiced for /h/ Acoustic Measurements

These results were a bit surprising. Looking at Table 9, the values for and word-final /h/ after a back vowel and /h/ between two non-front vowels, /h/ is mostly unvoiced, and its center of gravity is fairly low compared to that of /h/ between front vowels, after a front vowel, and word-initially. This indicates that our speaker may have the [x] alternation not only word-finally but also between two non-front vowels. The word-final alternation seems natural, as [x] is a little bit easier to hear, and so speakers would put in that extra effort to make sure the listener understood there was an /h/ at the end of the word. This could also be how the intervocalic alternation emerged, although it seems less natural than a voicing assimilation rule to make the /h/ easier to pronounce.

The centers of gravity for /h/ in all the other environments are closer to one another than they are to those in the “Word-Final After a Back Vowel,” “Syllable-Final After a Front Vowel,” or “Intervocalic—Non-Front Vowels” categories, indicating this is probably the same sound. The only difference is that /h/ is always voiced between front vowels. This indicates that our speaker has the [ɦ] alternation only between front vowels, as opposed to all vowels as we expected. In the category “Intervocalic—One Front one Non-Front,” the /h/ is voiced 50% of the time, so it could go either way. Going forward in our analysis we will treat it as though the /h/ is realized as unvoiced since some of the syllable boundaries are a bit unclear, which would make a rule for an [ɦ] alternation that occurs after front vowels difficult to distinguish from the [ç] alternation that also happens after front vowels but only syllable-finally.

The centers of gravity for /h/ in all the other environments are closer to one another than they are to those in the “Word-Final After a Back Vowel” or “Intervocalic—Non-Front Vowels” categories, indicating this is probably the same sound. The only difference is that /h/ is always voiced between front vowels. This indicates that our speaker has the [ɦ] alternation only between front vowels, as opposed to all vowels as we expected. Our word list only had one word where the /h/ was in between a front vowel and a consonant, and that one was not only unvoiced, but had an extremely high center of gravity (3788.7 Hz). This indicates that the /h/ in this instance is realized as [ç] as expected syllable-finally after a front vowel.

Overall, our speaker seemed to have different forms of the [ɦ] and [x] alternations than we expected, although they were easy to make patterns for, indicating that while her alternations are different than expected, they still seem natural and predictable.

4.4 Phonological Analysis

As discussed above, we went with three rules: a voicing rule in between front vowels, a palatization rule after a front vowel before a syllable boundary, and a velarization rule after a back vowel. These rules are written out in Table 10. We briefly discussed the first rule occurring after any front vowel, but it was both unclear if /h/ between a front vowel and a non-front vowel was voiced, and due to syllable boundaries being slightly unclear, it was unclear how we would distinguish between that rule and rule 2.

While rule 3 does not have to come before or after either rule 1 or 2, rule two must come after rule 1, as if a word has a syllable boundary between the /h/ and a front vowel after it, the /h/ should still be realized as [ɦ]. These rules seem relatively complex, since one only occurs between front vowels, as opposed to all vowels, which we have seen examples of more often. This alternation is also complex since there are three rules and four different realizations of the /h/ phoneme. However, it does make sense that these rules would depend on the backness of the vowel(s) surrounding it, since Hungarian has vowel backness harmony, so it would make sense that other alternations depend on the backness of vowels, as opposed to, for example, the height of the vowels.

IPAFeature Rules
(1) /h/—>  [ɦ]/front v___ front v [-cons – syl ] —> [+voi] / [+syl +front] ________ [+syl +front]
(2) /h/ —>  [ç]/front v___σ [+ cont, – str, -dor]   —>  [+dor +bk]/ [+syl +front] ______σ  
(3) /h/ —> [x]/ non-front vowel ____ [ +cont – str – dor ] —> [ + dor – bk ] /[+syl + bk] ______  
Table 10
Rules for /h/ alternation

5 Appendices

VowelWordIPAGloss
iide[idɛ]‘here’
igaz[igɔz]‘true’
indít[indi:t]‘start’
alkudozik[ɔlkudozik]‘bargain’
katalizál[kɔtɔlizál]‘to catalyze’
i:indít[indi:t]‘start’
atívak[ɔkti:vɔk]‘assets
csípős[tʃi:pø:ʃ]‘eager/shrewd/caustic’
radírgumi[rɔdi:rgumi]‘rubber’
sír[ʃi:r]grave
yüveg[yveg]‘glass’
dühös[dyhøʃ]‘furious’
megőszül[mɛgø:syl]‘go grey’
tyúkülő[cu:kylø:]‘roost’
gyümölcslé[ɟymøltʃle:]‘juice’
y:hűvös[hy:vøʃ]‘cold/cool’
[fy:]‘grass’
betű[bɛty:]‘character’
gyűrű[ɟy:ry:]ring
gabonanemű[gɔbonɔnɛmy:]‘cereal’
ubuta[butɔ]‘dumb’
fut[fut]‘course/race’
tud[tud]‘know’
gyullad[ɟul:ɔd]‘to ignite’
radírgumi[rɔdi:rgumi]‘rubber’
u:füj[fu:j]‘blow/bluster’
bús[bu:ʃ]‘cheerless/dejected’
púp[pu:p]‘hump/lump’
sarkantyú[sɔrkɔncu:]‘spurs’
tyúkülő[cu:kylø:]‘roost’
ɛide[idɛ]‘here’
mereven[mɛrɛvɛn]‘rigidly’
becsületes[bɛtʃylɛtɛʃ]‘honest/straightforward’
egyenlete[ɛɟɛnlɛtɛ]‘equation’
derce[dɛrtsɛ]‘seconds’
e:beszéd[bɛse:d]‘manner of speaking’
délelőtt[de:lɛlø:t:]‘morning/forenoon’
eléggé[ɛle:g:e:]‘fairly/sufficiently’
kadét[kɔde:t]‘cadet’
sebesség[sɛbɛsse:g]‘pace/speed’
øsötet[ʃøtɛt]‘black/dark’
hűvös[hy:vøʃ]‘cold/cool’
öreg[ørɛg]‘old man’
gyümölcslé[ɟymøltʃle:]‘juice’
zöm[zøm]‘bulk’
ø:megőszül[mɛgø:syl]‘go grey’
délelőtt[de:lɛlø:t:]‘morning/forenoon’
csípős[tʃi:pø:ʃ]‘eager/shrewd/caustic’
tyúkülő[cu:kylø:]‘roost’
tyő[cø:]‘work’
orossz[ros:]‘bad/evil’
holnap[holnɔp]‘tomorrow’
olaj[olɔj]‘oil/lube’
tagolt[tɔgolt]‘articulate’
takarosan[tɔkɔrosɔn]‘tidily’
o:[jo:]‘good’
disznó[disno:]‘pig’
óra[o:rɔ]‘clock/hour’
bagózik[bɔgo:zik]‘to chew’
mogyorósi[moɟoro:si]‘hazelnut’
ɔravasz[rɔvɔs]‘astute/cunning’
sápadt[ʃa:pɔdt]‘wan’
holnap[holnɔp]‘tomorrow’
targonca[tɔrgontsɔ]‘trolley/cart’
tagolt[tɔgolt]‘articulate’
a:hibás[hiba:ʃ]‘faulty/bad’
sápadt[ʃa:pɔdt]‘wan
ás[a:ʃ]‘burrow/delve’
operál[opɛra:l]‘operate’
takarmány[tɔkɔrma:ɲ]‘feed/fodder/storage’
Table 11
Vowel Word List
WordF1 (Hz)F2 (Hz)F3 (Hz)
ide39127123283
igaz40428803164
indít41528613303
alkudozik37726443053
katalizál40025553039
indít36928623224
aktívak35028253212
csípős35327993302
radírgumi39824242940
sír39426523313
üveg41923032890
dühös37520703172
megőszül32519963093
tyúkü36020882827
gyümölcslé42021102871
hűvös34719143384
fű33222993748
betű35223583001
gyű38722472921
gabonanemű37920822852
buta37012752824
fut41412292749
tud38813872818
gyullad38112622751
radírgumi39811642762
fúj3717832808
bús33710952907
púp3428662808
sarkantyú40610232604
tyúkülő36712792866
ide56121143073
mereven58020062967
becsületes60319743074
egyenlete62323393218
derce71419072923
beszéd45726063031
délelőtt48525193052
eléggé35926633252
kadét42726203103
sebesség46824143193
sötet37621933138
hűvös52119882913
öreg55820532893
gyümölcslé60418993045
zöm47620712841
megőszül39323142915
délelőtt48821163064
csípős25120832562
tyúkülő36318902713
tyő37922253463
rossz48711252421
holnap4769193003
olaj42711732924
tagolt4979862909
takarosan52212822524
jó47014163103
disznó43113343236
óra39716113069
bagózik37812612995
mogyorósi44112302656
ravasz59814752132
sápadt52413242873
holnap58016273185
targonca54312093105
tagolt58112492877
hibás73615572810
sápadt68416562766
ás59717112510
operál71817132788
takarmány62317092702
Table 12
Formant Values for Vowels
VowelMean F1 (Hz)Mean F2 (Hz)Mean F3 (Hz)Standard Error F1 (Hz)Standard Error F2 (Hz)Standard Error F3 (Hz)
i397.42730.43168.46.39262.45055.377
i:372.82712.43198.210.02780.43067.630
y379.82113.42970.618.12651.122368.037
y:359.42180.03181.210.26080.837168.958
u390.21263.42780.87.49936.38516.587
u:364.61009.22798.612.31587.18352.124
ɛ616.22068.03051.026.59275.55151.158
e:439.22564.43126.222.16444.28642.068
ø507.02040.82966.038.94148.53954.584
ø:374.82125.62943.437.83471.690155.545
o481.81097.02756.215.67065.111118.045
o:423.41370.43011.816.27568.18197.142
ɔ565.21376.82834.413.66577.305186.120
a:671.61669.22715.226.81530.01154.382
Table 13
Mean and Standard Error for Vowel Formant Values
StopWordIPAGloss
/p/Padlás[ˈpɒdlaːʃ]‘attic’; ‘loft’
Pajkosan[ ˈpɒjkoʃɒn]‘playfully’
Pajzs[ˈpɒjʒ]‘shield’
Operál[ ˈopɛraːl]‘operate’
Eperfa[ ˈɛpɛrfɒ]‘mulberry’
Epekedve[ˈɛpɛˈkɛdvɛ]‘languorously’
/t/Takarmány[ ˈtɒkɒrmaːɲ]‘feed/fodder’; ‘storage’
Targonca[ ˈtɒrɡont͡sɒ]‘trolley’; ‘cart’
Tagolt[ ˈtɒɡolt]‘articulate’
Katalizál[ ˈkɒtɒlizaːl]‘catalyze’
Dettó[ˈdɛtːoː]‘ditto’
Basztat[ˈbaʂ.tat]‘nag’
/k/Kadét[ ˈkɒdeːt]‘cadet’
Kamra[ ˈkɒmrɒ]‘chamber’; ‘closet’
Kalamajka[ ˈkɒlɒmɒjkɒ]‘ruckus’
Takarosan[ ˈtɒkɒroʃɒn]‘tidily’
Gliptika[ˈgliptikɒ]‘glyptic art’
Dajkál[ ˈdɒjkaːl]‘nurse’
/b/Bagózik[ ˈbɒɡoːzik]‘chew’
Babrál[ ˈbɒbraːl]‘fidget’
Begipszez[ ˈbɛɡipsɛz]‘plaster’
Kabinet[ ˈkɒbinɛt]‘administration’
Sebesség[ ˈʃɛbɛʃːeːɡ]‘pace’; ‘speed’
Gabona[ ˈɡɒbonɒ]‘grain’; ‘corn’
/d/Dalol[ ˈdɒlol]‘carol’; ‘chant’
Domináló[ ˈdominaːloː]‘rampant’
Derce[dɛrt͡sɛ]‘seconds’
Gadolinium[ɡadɔlɪnɪʊm]‘gadolinium’
Badarság[ ˈbɒdɒrʃaːɡ]‘bilge’
Radírgumi[ ˈrɒdiːrˈɡumi]‘rubber’
/g/Galacsin[ ˈɡɒlɒt͡ʃin]‘pellet’
Gabonanemű[ ˈɡɒbonɒnɛmyː]‘cereal’
Gallér[ ˈɡɒlːeːr]‘neck’; ‘collar’
Tagok[ˈtɒɡok]‘ranks’
Segédlet[ ˈʃɛɡeːdlɛt]‘aid’; ‘assistance’
Kagylóhéj[ ˈkɒɟloːɦeːj]‘scallop’; ‘seashell’
/c/Tyúkhúsleves[ ˈcuːkhuːʃlɛvɛʃ]‘chicken soup’
Tyúkülő[ˈcuːkˈyløː]‘roost’
Tyő[ˈt̪yø̞̯]‘work’
Sarkantyú[ ˈʃɒrkɒɲcuː]‘spurs’
Kártyákat[ˈkaːrcaːkɒt]‘cards’
Dobhártya[ ˈdophaːrcɒ]‘eardrum’
/ɟ/Gyémánt[ ˈɟeːmaːnt]‘diamond’
Gyümölcslé[ ˈɟymølt͡ʃleː]‘juice’
Gyullad[ ˈɟulːɒd]‘ignite’
Bejegyzés[ ˈbɛjɛɟzeːʃ]‘registration’
Egyenlete[ ˈɛɟɛnlɛt]‘equation’
Mogyorósi[ˈmo.ɟo.roːʃi]‘hazelnut’
Table 14
Stop Word List
WordExpected IPASpeaker IPA (According to Rules)Gloss
ihlet[içlɛt][içlɛt]‘inspiration’
peches[pɛɦɛs][pɛɦɛs]‘unlucky’
tehát[tɛɦɔt][tɛɦɔt]‘so’
léha[le:ɦɔt][le:ɦɔt]‘frivolous’
téhen[te:ɦɛn][te:ɦɛn]‘cow’
dohos[doɦos][doxoʃ]‘mildewy’
coho[coɦo][koxo][made up word]
uhu[uɦu][uxu]‘owl’
doh[dox][dox]‘dohos’
fatah[fɔtɔx][fɔtɔx][made up word]
sah[ʃɔx][ʃɔx]‘shah’
hólnap[ho:lnɔp][ho:lnɔp]‘tomorrow’
hét[he:t][he:t]‘seven’
hal[hɔl][hɔl]‘fish’
hajnal[hɔjnɔl][hɔjnɔl]‘dawn’
Table 15
Word list for /h/ alternation
WordEnvironmentDuration (sec)Dispersion/standard deviation (Hz)Center of gravity (Hz)Voicing bar?
pechesbetween front vowels0.044041784.51334.3yes
téhenbetween front vowels0.0480051120.4489.7yes
ihletafter front vowel0.1656582866.53788.7no
dohosintervocalic non front0.06671231.6943.7no
cohointervocalic non front0.068028682307.1no
uhuintervocalic non front0.091487606.9848.2no
dohword-final0.1725591191.91013.3no
fatahword-final0.0417591034.7853.7no
sahword-final0.058461927.7592.2no
hólnapword-initial0.1112652844.81371.8no
hétword-initial0.0942572803.82120.2no
halword-initial0.1116161507.41244.6no
hajnalword-initial0.0966992081.51740.2no
Table 16
Values for /h/ Alternation

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