Lesson 2- Palatalization/Soft consonants

In order to learn Romanian, it is essential to understand a linguistic concept called "palatalization."  If the learner understands palatalization, the seeming "mystery" of the language will be unlocked from the beginning.

Even though this article is technical, it is important to read it.  You can't speak Romanian unless you understand this.  

Palatalization is a natural process by which consonants change in a word to make them "easier to say" or "more flowing after a "y" or an "ee" sound is added to it.  

English nation:  From Latin "natio" (na-tee-oh) we get English "nayshun."  Do you see how the "t" in "nation" is pronounced like a "sh" sound?  This is because the "t" has been "palatalized."

The original Latin sound [tee] having changed to English [sh] is very common in many English words.
Latin conver-sa-tee-oh I converse --> English "conversayshun"  conversation
Latin pa-tee-oh I suffer -->English "payshens"  patience
Latin in-tro-duk-tee-oh  I insert  --> English "In-chroh-duk-shin" introduction

Spanish and French palatalized this "tee" sound to [s].  This [tee] -> [sy] version of palatalized "tee" is another common form of palatalization in many languages.

Spanish: nación,            French: nation [nasyõ]
Spanish: pasión             French: passion [pasyõ]
Spanish: introducción,  French:  introduction  [introducsyõ]

German palatalized this sound as [tsy].  Nation is pronounced [nah-tsyon] in German.

[ty] -> [tsy] is also a common form of palatalization in Romanian.
ati -> ați [atsi]  "you all have"
stati -> stați [statsi] "you all stand"
mulțumit + i  -> mulțumiț [multsumits]  "grateful" (plural)

Another example of palatalization is the word "vision."  From Latin "visio" [vizee-oh] English made [vizh-un].

This [zy] to [zh] is common in English.
Latin deci-dee-oh -> Romance deci-zee-oh -> French deci-zyo -> English "decizhun." decision
Latin kol-lee-dee-oh  "collide"  ------> English "collizhin." collision

In Spanish and French, the transition did not go as far as in English.

Spanish visión     French vision [vizyõ]
Spanish decisión  French decision [decizyõ]

Another example of palatalization in English is the [tr] sound, which is produced in most places as [chr].
"tree" [chree]
"trip"  [chrip]
"traffic"  [chra-fik]

Compare to Spanish where a distinct [t] and [r] sound are heard.

tres [t-reys]
tren [t-reyn]
traje [t-ra-hey]

In all of these example, a consonant is being changed to a slightly different, but related, sound by adding a "y" sound after it.  This "y" sound is the sound which "palatalizes" the previous consonant, or makes it change from [z] to [zh], [t] to [ts], [d] to [dj] or from [t] to [sh].  The reason it is called "palatalize" is because when your tongue makes a "y" sound, your tongue is pressed against the roof of your mouth, which is called the "palate" in linguistics.  

To see this for yourself, say the sound

"eeeeeeee yeeeeeeeeeee yeeeeeeeeee yeeeeeeeeeee yeeeeeeeeeee" and notice the position of your tongue.  For the sound "eeeeee" your tongue is just underneath the position to make the sound "y" which is called a "palatal" half-consonant( a "semi-vowel" in linguistic terms).  When you say the sound "y" your tongue just barely-almost touches the roof of your mouth to make the "y" sound, and then returns to its slightly lower "eeeee" position.

Now try palatalizing some consonants.  Say long "eeeeeeee" sounds and quickly insert the consonant while moving your tongue as little as possible.

s:   eeeeeeeeee seeeeeeeeeeee seeeeeeeeeee seeeeeeeeeeeeee

Did you hear the strange sounding "sh" sound when you said the letter "s" this way?  This is called a "palatalized" or "soft" s in Slavic linguistics.

t:  eeeeeeeeee  teeeeeeeeeeeeee teeeeeeeeeeeee teeeeeeeeeeeee

Did you hear the strange sounding "ts"/ "ch" sound when you said the letter "t" this way?  This is called a "palatalized" or "soft" t in Slavic linguistics and is used at the end of many Romanian plural words.  The "normal" t is used for the singular.  

z:  eeeeeeeeeee zeeeeeeeee  zeeeeeeeeeeee zeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Did you hear the weird "zh" sound being made when you said the letter "z" this way?  This is called a "palatalized" or "soft" z in Slavic linguistics and is used in many important Romanian 2nd person verbs.  The "normal" z is used as the first person.  

d:  eeeeeeeee  deeeeeeeeee  deeeeeeeeeeee deeeeeeeeeeeee

Depending on your accent, you may have gotten a "j" sound from this or a "dz" sound from this.  Both of these are palatalized forms of "d" in Slavic languages.  In Romanian, palatalized "d" goes a step further than this to the palatalized "z" sound above.  

Many times the "palatalized" consonant is not shown in writing with a different letter, but instead is written in Romanian by a silent letter "i" at the end of the word.  The rule in Romanian is that the first i on the end of the word has no sound of its own but only means that the consonant before it is palatalized.  To cheat on this before you speak Romanian fluently, think of this letter "i" as a letter "y."  However, your pronunciation will sound stilted, as real Romanian speech doesn't have a "y" sound but only the different, palatalized consonant. 

bani= "bany"  (pronounced like Spanish bañ ) money

vezi = "vezy" you see (not "vezeee" but "vez-yah" without the "ah" vowel.  This word is only one syllable).  

ori  = "ory"  times/hours  (not "or-eeee" but one syllable like "or-yah" with the "-ah" deleted.)

Sometimes, palatalization will mean that a different letter is used.  Here are some common spelling changes due to palatalization:

d + i -> zi

s + i  -> și  "shy" (This is the Romanian letter sheh like in "shepherd")

t + i   -> ți  "tsy" (This is the Romanian letter tseh like in princess)

c + i   -> chi  "ky"  (Romanian spelling is like Italian.  ci = English "chee." chi= English "kee")  This palatalization of the Romanian "k" sound is found in nouns.

c ["k"] + i   ->  ști  "shty"  Found in verb conjugations.  When the "k" sound of a first person verb needs to be palatalized, it often changes to a "shty" sound.  We will learn all this later.  

Palatalization is very important in Romanian, and is used in 3 areas:

1.  For forming plurals

2.  For making the 2nd person singular of verbs

3.  For simplifying groups of vowels into one syllable.  

Good job on getting through this lesson!  Don't worry, the language will come much, much easier to you now since you did this work!