This appendix describes the rules of phonetic assimilation in pronunciation of Hungarian.
Pronunciation of written Hungarian is, for the most part, easy once one learns to pronounce the consonants and vowels since words are pronounced as written. The main exceptions are due to voicing and devoicing of consonants causing the spelling and pronunciation to diverge.
Unfortunately, some of the IPA transcription produced even by native speakers do not accurately reflect the change in pronunciation caused by different assimilation mechanism. It is therefore necessary and useful to list the different cases of assimilation to assist both editors and readers to manage this tricky subject by providing sufficient examples of correct IPA transcriptions.
For a deeper explanation of the rules refer to the Wikipedia article
Consonants can be classified as voiced and unvoiced.
Unvoiced | p | t | k | f | sz | s | c | cs | ty | h | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voiced | b | d | g | v | z | zs | dz | dzs | gy | j | ly | m | n | ny | l | r |
It is a partial assimilation, meaning only one part of the consonant cluster is modified.
In a cluster of consonants ending in an obstruent, all obstruents change their voicing according to the last one of the sequence.
The assimilation rules are the following.
Voiced consonants (except j, ly, m, n, ny, l, r) are devoiced when preceding unvoiced consonants.
Unvoiced consonants (except h) become voiced when preceding voiced consonants (except j, ly, m, n, ny, l, r, v).
b | d | g | z | zs | dz | dzs | gy | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | pb | pd | pg | pz | pzs | pdz | pdzs | pgy |
alapbér | népdal | népgazdaság | képzés | kapzsi | ? | terepdzseki | gépgyár | |
t | tb | td | tg | tz | tzs | tdz | tdzs | tgy |
képzeletbeli | kétdimenziós | hátgerinc | sötétzöld | kabátzseb | ? | pamutdzsörzé | iratgyűjtő | |
k | kb | kd | kg | kz | kzs | kdz | kdzs | kgy |
ajándékbolt | ablakdeszka | mákgubó | alakzat | homokzsák | ? | gyerekdzseki | gyermekgyógyász | |
f | fb | fd | fg | fz | fzs | fdz | fdzs | fgy |
széfben | csúfdal | afgán | ? | ? | ? | golfdzseki | széfgyártás | |
sz | szb | szd | szg | szz | szzs | szdz | szdzs | szgy |
horgászbot | csúszda | fűrészgép | gyászzene | horgászzsinór | ? | kamaszdzseki | viaszgyertya | |
s | sb | sd | sg | sz | szs | sdz | sdzs | sgy |
kevésbé | mosdik | basszusgitár | nyílászáró | sertészsír | ? | városdzsungel | vasgyár | |
c | cb | cd | cg | cz | czs | cdz | cdzs | cgy |
párducbőr | lécdarab | piacgazdaság | tánczene | arczsába | ? | árbocdzsungel | nyolcgyermekes | |
cs | csb | csd | csg | csz | cszs | csdz | csdzs | csgy |
barkácsbolt | gubacsdarázs | tolmácsgép | kavicszátony | csúcszsaru | ? | narancsdzsem | abroncsgyártás | |
ty | tyb | tyd | tyg | tyz | tyzs | tydz | tydzs | tygy |
pontyból | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Hissing sibilants (sz, z) when preceding hushing sibilants (s, zs) become hushing sibilants (the above voicing and devoicing rules also apply if applicable).
Between two vowels the consonant clusters dj, gyj, tj, tyj, nj, nyj are pronounced long, but if they are between a consonant and a vowel, they are pronounced short.
If more than two consonants follow each other in a word, the middle consonant will not be pronounced.