Talk:Slovak orthography

Names of letters of the alphabet

Hi. The alphabet list in this article shows consonant names ending in long "é". However, I see occasional news broadcasts from the Slovak TV channel RTVS, and as best I can tell, the announcers invariably pronounce the channel name as "er-te-ve-es" (with short "e" throughout). I don't speak Slovak at all, so I'm not going to presume to explain the apparent discrepancy; can anyone who does know the language shed some light here? — Richwales (no relation to Jimbo) 08:09, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

TL;DR: The article mentions the names of the letters. They can be used, and sometimes they are indeed used, when spelling out an abbreviation. But it is not always the case. For the sake of brevity and a speed of speech, many compromises are involved.

For those interested into more details:

Let's start with an abbreviation HTML, referring both computer language and file extension. It may be spelled as /ˈɦaː, ˈteː, ˈem, ˈel/ with noticeable pauses between letters, as /ˈɦaˌteˌemˌel/ or even as /ˈɦəˌtəˌməˌlə/. Which style the user picks, depends on a context. When spelling over a phone to an elderly person, who could be unfamiliar with the abbreviation, and yet he/she is expected to type the abbreviation without mistake, speaker would opt for the first option. When speaker does not want to waste a time, and he/she is confident the listener will understand what the talk is about, the speaker can opt for the third option. The fourth option comes into play when the abbreviation is easily pronounceable as a word (such as NATO), when it is always read as if it was a regular word, and practically it is never spelled out.

Actually, the abbreviations in Slovak mostly do have their own preferred spelling. As far as I can tell, there is no linguistic rule, which spelling style should be used in which case (bar the pronounceable abbreviations). Once the abbreviation was introduced to a public with a given spelling, it usually stuck. Maybe (I am guessing), the people responsible for its introduction took in some way into account the expected frequency of usage and expected knowledge among wide public. Changing the way the abbreviation is spelled would force listeners (even native listeners) to think a little before realising what has been meant. Most likely, this is the reason why newer abbreviations do not have their preferred spelling yet.

Let's take two abbreviations coming from first half of 20th century. The Comecon was abbreviated in Slovak as RVHP, spelled as /ˈeɾˌʋeˌɦaˌpe/, and probably never as /ˈɾəˌʋəˌɦəˌpə/. For contrast, Soviet Union was abbreviated as ZSSR, spelled as /ˈzəˌsəˌsəˌɾə/, and probably never as /ˈzetˌesˌesˌeɾ/.

Not even ambiguity of abbreviation stops speaker from making it shorter. For example, the organisation WHO and the domain prefix www are routinely spelled /ˈʋeˌɦaˌɔ/ and /ˈʋeˌʋeˌʋe/ respectively, despite /ˈʋe/ resembles the name for letter V, not the letter W.

To make things more complicated, names and their abbreviations are taken from foreign languages in unpredictable ways. Some abbreviations are translated. Thus UN is abbreviated as OSN and spelled /ˈɔˌesˌen/, or China People's Republic is abbreviated as ČĽR and spelled /ˈt͡ʂəˌʎəˌɾə/. Sometimes, the name itself is translated, while the abbreviation is taken verbatim from the original. Thus Svetová zdravotnícka organizácia is abbreviated WHO (instead of hypothetical SZO), and it is spelled /ˈʋeˌɦaˌɔ/, or Severoatlantická aliancia is abbreviated NATO (instead of hypothetical SAA), and it is spelled /ˈna.tɔ/. Other times, neither original nor translated name is known to an average speaker, yet the loaned abbreviation is understood. For example LCD, spelled as /ˈelˌt͡seˌde/, or CD, spelled as /ˈt͡seˌde/. And there are abbreviations like DJ or OK, where even the spelling tries to imitate the letter spelling from original language: /ˈdiːˌd͡ʐej/, /ˈɔˌkej/, or the original reading of the abbreviation, like OPEC /ˈɔ.pek/. Mîḵā'ēl (SK) (talk) 19:12, 25 March 2023 (UTC)

e - /ɛ/ é - /ɛː/ Pronunciation as [æ] is already archaic (or dialectical) but still considered correct by some authorities; the standard pronunciation today is [ɛ].

According to the article about Slovak phonology it's /e/ and /e:/, and /æ/ is pronounced either /e/ or /a/, so what's with this article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.204.156.74 (talk) 16:37, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

The assimilation rule

Is the voicing and devoicing rule incomplete? It doesn't apply to some consonant clusters such as tr, tl. Is there any one who can explain it detailedly? And, does the rule apply to the š of Lukáš Lacko? Thanks! LoveVanPersie (talk) 22:02, 27 February 2018 (UTC)