Types of Vowels
Cyrillic: а, ә, е, о, ө, ұ, ү, ы, і
Latin: a, ä, e, o, ö, u, ü, ı, i
There are 2 types of vowels in Kazakh language – hard and soft (literally translated as “thick” and “thin”):
| Lip involvement | No lip involvement | Lip involvement | ||
| Broad | Narrow | Broad | Narrow | |
| Hard |
а | a |
ы | ı |
о | o |
ұ | u |
| Soft |
ә | ä, e | e |
і | i |
ө | ö |
ү | ü |
The following vowels are neither hard nor soft: и, у (when it’s vowel), э, ю, я / ï, w (when it’s vowel), [Russian] e, yu, ya.
Peculiar thing about Kazakh language is that generally (in most of the cases) vowels of any word are either all hard or all soft. For example,
жазушы | jazwşı (writer) vs. күнделік | kündelik (diary)
Consonants
б, г, ғ, д, ж, з, й, к, қ, л, м, н, ң, п, р, с, т, х, һ, ш
b, g, ğ, d, j, z, y, k, q, l, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, t, x, h, ş
(*note: x is kh sound)
| Voiceless | к, қ, п, с, т, х, һ, ш / k. q. p. s. t. x. h. ş | |
| Voiced | б, г, ғ, д, ж, з / b, g, ğ, d, j, z | |
| Resonant | nasal | м, н, ң / m, n, ñ |
| smooth | л, р, й, у / l, r, y, w | |
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