Phonetic Analysis

A Grades 7–9 Kyrgyz Language topic: «Phonetic analysis» (§1, pp. 5–8). A sound is what we say and hear; a letter is what we write and read, so their number in one word may differ: «ёлка» — 4 letters, 5 sounds. Kyrgyz has 8 vowel sounds, each described by four features: short/long, open/close, back/front, rounded/unrounded. Consonants fall into three groups by the part the voice plays: katkalang (voiceless), jumshak (voiced), uyan (sonorant). Plosives (jarylma) are б, п, д, т, г, к; fricatives (uchchul) are в, ф, з, с, ж, ш, х.