Gramatyka kontrastywna

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE STUDIES


1. What are the best linguistic parameters along which languages can be classified?
Morphological, syntactic (word order), phonological

2. What is the alternative name for analytic langugaes?
Isolating

3. How can analytic languages be characterized?
Their words have no or little internal structure.

4. How can synthetic languages be characterized?
They allow the analysis of their words into smaller parts (morphemes).

5. What languages do Chinese and Vietnamese represent as regards their morphological structure?
Isolating

6. What languages do Turkish and German represent as regards their morphological structure?
Synthetic

7. What are two subtypes of the synthetic languages?
Agglutinating and inflecting (fusional)

8. What language does Japanese represent asa regards its morphological structure?
Agglutinating

9. What morphological type do most of European languages represent?
fusional

10. How can English be classified?
Largely analytic with some synthetic elements

11. What word order do the majority of languages of the world represent?
SVO, SOV, VSO

12. What language does Turkish represent as regards its word order?
SOV

13. What do segmental aspects refer to?
Sounds (sgements)

14. What do suprasegemental aspects refer to?
Tone and rhythm

15. What are tones?
Pitch variations that affect meaning of words

16. What is the name of languages that use high and low tones? Where can such languages be found?
Register tone languages ; mainly in Africe

17. What is the name of languages that use falling and rising tones? Where can such languages be found?
Contour tone languages; mainly in Asia and Australia

18. Taking into consideration rhythm, how can languages be classified?
Stress-timed and syllable-timed

19. How can English be classified as regards rhythm?
Stress-timed

20. How can Italian be classified as regards rhythm?
syllable-timed

1. Name in Polish parts of speech in the sentences below. Determine also case value on each noun.
Zbyszko reczownik mianownik wiedział czasownik leksykalny przecież spójnik, że spójnik idzie
czasownik leksykalny o przyimek Danusię rzeczownik biernik. Był czasownik posiłkowy pewny
przymiotnik, że spójnik ten zaimek wskazujący Krzyżak rzeczownik mianownik przyłożył czasownik
leksykalny ręki rzeczownik dopełniacz do przyimek jej zaimek osobowy porwania gerundium i spójnik walcząc imiesłów przysłówkowy z przyimek nim zaimek osobowy – walczył czasownik leksykalny za przyimek jej zaimek dzierżawczy krzywdy rzeczownik biernik. Ale spójnik jako przyimek młody przymiotnik i spójnik chciwy przymiotnik bitew rzeczownik dopełniacz, w przyimek chwili rzeczownik miejscownik walki rzeczownik dopełniacz myślał czasownik leksykalny o przyimek samej przymiotnik walce rzeczownik miejscownik. Nagle przysłówek ów zaimek wskazujący krzyk rzeczownik mianownik uprzytomnił czasownik leksykalny mu zaimek osobowy jej zaimek osobowy stratę rzeczownik biernik i spójnik jej zaimek dzierżawczy niedolę rzeczownik biernik. Miłość rzeczownik mianownik, żal rzeczownik mianownik i spójnik zemsta rzeczownik mianownik nalały czasownik leksykalny mu zaimek osobowy ognia rzeczownik dopełniacz do przyimek żył rzeczownik dopełniacz. Serce rzeczownik mianownik zaskowyczało czasownik leksykalny w przyimek nim zaimek osobowy z przyimek rozbudzonego imiesłów przymiotnikowy bólu rzeczownik dopełniacz. (…) Do przyimek uszu rzeczownik dopełniacz widzów rzeczownik dopełniacz doszedł czasownik leksykalny tylko partykuła rozdzierający imiesłów przymitonikowy krzyk rzeczownik mianownik.

2. Determine parts of speech in the sentences below. Whenever you bump into a non-finite verb,
provide also information as regards its form (e.g. participle, infinitive, etc.):

a) The definite article Robinsons proper noun are auxiliary verb (here it is also a lexical verb) away
adverb of place this demonstrative pronoun weekend noun.
b) Somebody indefinite pronoun says lexical verb that subordinating conjunction there expletive
pronoun was auxiliary verb (also a lexical verb at the same time) a indefinite pronoun serious
attributive adjective fire noun in preposition a indefinite pronoun block noun of preposition flats noun
in preposition Glasgow proper noun last attributive adjective night noun.
c) I personal pronoun asked lexical verb him personal pronoun whether subordinating conjunction the
definite article disease noun could modal verb have primary auxiliary verb (non-finite, bare infinitive)
killed lexical verb (non-finite, past participle) off verbal particle half noun the definite article
population noun of preposition the definite article country noun.
d) We personal pronoun must modal verb start lexical verb (non-finite, bare infinitive) to infinitival
marker plan lexical verb (non-finite, along with “to” it comprises a marked infinitive) now adverb of
place, for subordinating conjunction the definite article future noun may modal verb bring lexical verb
(non-finite, bare infinitive) unexpected attributive participial adjective (it has been derived from the
past participle “unexpected”) changes noun.
e) Mary proper noun and coordinating conjunction i personal pronoun have lexical verb quite
intensifying adverb an indefinite article easy attributive adjective life noun, inasmuch as complex
subordinating conjunction neither indefinite pronoun of preposition us personal pronoun works lexical
verb hard adverb of manner but coordinating conjunction we personal pronoun earn lexical verb quite
intensifying adverb a indefinite article lot noun of preposition money noun.
f) As subordinating conjunction it expletive pronoun was auxiliary verb getting lexical verb (non-finite,
present participle) late predicative adjective, I personal pronoun decided lexical verb that subordinating
conjunction I personal pronoun should modal verb go bare infinitive home adverb of place.
g) When subordinating conjunction he personal pronoun found lexical verb the definite article money
noun that relative pronoun the definite article old attributive adjective lady noun had auxiliary verb lost
lexical verb (non-finite, past participle), he personal pronoun felt lexical verb pleased predicative
participial adjective (it has been derived from a past participle “pleased”).
h) Ministers noun are lexical verb increasingly adverb of manner anxious predicative adjective about
preposition the definite article cost noun of preposition health noun care noun.
I) The definite article speed noun at preposition which relative pronoun decisions noun are auxiliary
verb made participial adjective (it has been derived from a past participle “made”) in preposition the
definite article company noun is lexical verb worrying participial adjective (it has been derived from apresent participle “worrying”).


1. a. Yesterday adverb of time John proper noun bought finite lexical verb oranges common
noun.
b. Wczoraj przysłówek Janek rzeczownik mianownik nominative własny kupił czasownik
leksykalny pomarańcze biernik accusative.
congruent
2. a. Have auxiliary finite verb you personal pronoun ever adverb of time been past participle
non-finite verb to preposition London proper noun?
b. Czy partykuła byłeś czasownik leksykalny kiedykolwiek przysłówek w przyimek
Londynie rzeczownik własny miejscownik locative?
equivalent
3. a. Mary proper noun opened finite lexical verb the definite article determiner door
common noun with preposition a indefinite article determiner key common noun.
b. Marysia rzeczownik własny mianownik nominative otworzyła czasownik leksykalny
drzwi rzeczownik biernik accusative kluczem rzeczownik narzędnik instrumental.
Equivalent
4. a. Last attributive adjective year common noun I personal pronoun spent lexical finite verb
a indefinite article determiner week common noun in preposition Israel proper noun.
b. W przyimek zeszłym przymiotnik miejscownik locative roku rzeczownik miejscownik
locative spędziłem czasownik leksykalny tydzień rzeczownik biernik accusative w
przyimek Izraelu rzeczownik własny locative miejscownik.
equivalent
5. a. When interrogative pronoun are auxiliary finite verb you personal pronoun going semiauxiliary verb to infinitival marker sign non-finite lexical verb the definite article
determiner petition common noun?
b. Kiedy zaimek pytajny podpiszesz czasownik leksykalny petycję rzeczownik biernik
accusative?
equivalent
6. a. Co zaimek pytajny kto zaimek pytajny kupił czasownik leksykalny?
b. Who interrogative pronoun bought finite lexical verb what interrogative pronoun?
equivalent


CONTRAST


a) Yesterday John bought oranges. Wczoraj Jan kupił pomarańcze.
No contrast, congruence'

b) Have you ever been to London? Czy kiedykolwiek byłeś w Londynie?
Categorial – the particle “czy” has no counterpart in the English sentence
structural – Polish subjectless construction, an implicit subject “ty”

c) John opened the door with a key. Jan otworzył drzwi kluczem.
Categorial – Polish “drzwi” corresponds to “the door” which contains a definite article. Also
English PP “with a key” corresponds to the Polish NP “kluczem” with no preposition. Notice that
“With a key” contains an indefinite article that does not appear in “kluczem”. Once again an
instance of categorial contrast.

d) Last year I spent a week in Israel. W zeszłym roku spędziłem tydzień w Izraelu.
Categorial – a NP “last year” corresponds to PP “w zeszłym roku”; “a week” corresponds to
“tydzień” that does not contain an indefinite article
Structural – subjectless construction in Polish with an implicit subject

e) When are you going to sign the petition? Kiedy podpiszesz petycję?
Categorial - “the petition” contains a definite article that does not appear in “petycję”
Structural - subjectless construction in Polish with an implicit subject

f) Co kto kupił? Who bought what?
Structural – in Polish whenever there are more than one interrogative pronoun, they have to appear
at the beginning of the sentence; in English, on the other hand, only pronoun pops up in the
sentence-initial posiiton, the other one stays put.

1. a) A man was murdered.
 b) Zamordowano jakiegos mężczyznę.
Categorial - „A” is an article (przedimek) and „jakiegoś” is an indefinite pronoun (zaimek
nieokreślony)
Structural – in Polish the sentence is a subjectless construction, which means that Polish has a
different phrase structure rule not shared y the grammar of English
Functional - „A man” is a subject and „jakiegoś mężczyznę” is an object

2. a) You did not answer my question.
 b) Nie odpowiedziałeś na moje pytanie.
Structural – in Polish the main clause need not have a subject on the surface („ty” is deleted”).
Furthermore, English has a phrase structure rule that requires the insertion of the auxiliary verb
„did” to negate the lexical infinitival verb in the past, whereas Polish does not need a special
operator in the negative.
Categorial - „my question”, a NP, corresponds in Polish to „na moje pytanie”, a PP

3. a) We are sad.
 b) Jest nam smutno.
Structural – in Polish the sentence is a subjectless construction, English does not allow that.
Furthermore, in Polish there is a phrase structure rule, not shared by English, that allows for an
adverb of manner to occur in post-copular (predicative) position. In English copular verbs can be
followed only by an AP, NP, Adverb of place or a PP.
Functional - „We”, a subject, corresponds to „nam” which is an object. „Sad” is a subject
complement, whereas „smutno” is an obligatory adjunct of manner.
Categorial - „sad” is an A, whereas „smutno” is an adverb of manner.

4. a) John cut the bread with a knife.
 b) Jan pokroił chleb nożem.
Categorial - „with a knife” is a PP, whereas „nożem” is an NP.

5. a) John painted the garage brown.
 b) Jan pomałował garaż na brązowo
Categorial - „brown” is an A, whereas „na brązowo” is a PP.



1. a) The (D) window (N) was (auxiliary verb) broken (participial adjective) yesterday (adverb).
 b) Wczoraj (przysłówek) wybito (bezosobowa forma czasownika) szybę (noun, biernik,
accusative).
Structural – in Polish the sentence is a subjectless construction, which means that Polish has a
different phrase structure rule not shared by the grammar of English. Furthermore, English has a
structural device used to mark definiteness of the NP (witness the presence of „the”) which is
standardly unavailable in Polish.
Functional - „The window” is a subject and „szybę” is an object

2. a) Poszła (czasownik) do (przyimek) sklepu (rzeczownik, dopełniacz, genitive) i (spójnik) nigdy
(przysłówek) nie (partykuła) wróciła (czasownik).
 b) She (personal pronoun)went (lexical verb) to (preposition) the (article) shop (noun) and
(coordinating conjunction) never (adverb) came (lexical verb) back (particle).
Structural – 2 implicit subjects in Polish, a structural device not used by English.

3. a) W (przyimek) ogrodzie (rzeczownik,miejscownik, locative) była (czasownik) piękna
(przymiotnik) dziewczyna (rzeczownik, mianownik, nominative).
 b) There (expletive pronoun) was (auxiliary verb) a (indefinite article) beautiful (adjective) girl
(noun) in (preposition) the (determiner) garden (noun).
Structural – English allows for a syntactic structure with an expletive subject, the congruent
counterpart of which is non-existent in Polish. Furthermore, English has a structural device used to
mark definiteness of the NP (witness the presence of „the”) and its indefiniteness (witness „a”)
which is standardly unavailable in Polish.

4. a) There (expletive pronoun) is (auxiliary verb) no (determiner) life (noun) without (preposition)
water (noun).
 b) Nie (partykuła) ma (czasownik) życia (rzeczownik, dopełniacz,genitive) bez (przyimek) wody
(rzeczownik, dopełniacz).
Structural - English allows for a syntactic structure with an expletive subject, the congruent
counterpart of which is non-existent in Polish. What we get instead is a subjectless construction in
Polish (although some linguists claim that „życia” is a subject).

5. a) He (personal pronoun) took (lexical verb) off (particle) his (possessive pronoun) coat (noun).
 b) Zdjął (czasownik) kapelusz (rzeczownik, biernik, accusative).
Structural – an implicit subject in Polish, a structural device unavailable in English
Categorial – in English two categories „took” and the particle „off” are used to express the meaning
„zdjął”

6. a) It (expletive pronoun) is (auxiliary verb) Mark (noun) who (relative pronoun) will (modal
verb) go (lexical verb) there (adverb).
 b) To (zaimek) Marek (rzeczownik, mianownik) pójdzie (czasownik) tam (zaimek przysłowny).
Structural – English has the so called „cleft construction” (a combination of the pronoun,
emphasized element and a relative clause), which has no congruent counterpart in Polish.'

7. a) I (personal pronoun) want (lexical verb) him (personal pronoun) to (infinitival marker) go
(lexical verb).
 b) Chcę (czasownik), aby (spójnik) on (zaimek osobowy) poszedł (czasownik).
Structural - in Polish there is an implicit subject, a structural device unavailable in English.
Furthermore, English allows for a construction where the lexical verb is followed by an object and
an infinitival clause. This situation is not encountered in Polish, where the equivalent sentence
needs to introduce a complementizer right after the verb.

8. a) I (personal pronoun) will (modal verb) be (auxiliary verb) leaving (lexical verb) tomorrow
(adverb).
 b) Jutro (przysłówek) wyjeżdżam (czasownik).
Structural - in Polish there is an implicit subject, a structural device unavailable in English.
Furthermore, the futurity in Polish is expressed by the use of the imperfective verb in the present
tense form, whereas the English equivalent uses the combination of the modal, auxiliary verb and
the participial lexical verb.

9. a) Our (possessive pronoun) homeward (adverb) journey (noun) was (auxiliary verb) pleasant
(adjective).
 b) Nasza (zaimek dzierżawczy) podróż (rzeczownik, mianownik) do (przyimek) domu
(rzeczownik, dopełniacz) była (czasownik posiłkowy) przyjemna (przymiotnik).
Categorial - „homeward” is an AdvP and „do domu” is a PP.

10. a) What (interrogative pronoun) are (auxiliary verb) we (personal pronoun) going to (auxiliary
verb) do (lexical verb) food-wise (adverb)?
 b) Co (zaimek pytajny) zrobimy (czasownik) w (przyimek) sprawie (rzeczownik, miejscownik)
jedzenia (rzeczownik, dopełniacz)?
Categorial - „food-wise” is an AdvP and „w sprawie jedzenia” is a PP.
Structural - in Polish there is an implicit subject (my), a structural device unavailable in English.
Furthermore, futurity in Polish is expressed by means of the perfective form, whereas the equivalent
meaning in English is conveyed by means of auxiliary verbs.

11. a) She (personal pronoun) sounded (lexical verb) quite (intensifying adverb) reasonable
(adjective).
 b) Brzmiała (czasownik) całkiem (przysłówek) rozsądnie (przysłówek).
Categorial – „reasonable”, an AP, is translated as an AdvP in Polish
Structural – in Polish there is an implicit subject, a structural device unavailable in English


1. Identify morphological processes below. Use both English and Polish terminology (if existent):
a) NBP initialism, literowiec b) MSZ initialism, literowiec c) KUL acronym,
głoskowiec d) PAP acronym, głoskowiec
e) wporz – w porządku clipping f) git – gites clipping g) ja – mnie
suppletion, formy supletywne
h) niedziela – niedzieli fleksja, inflection i) kolor – kolorowy derywacja, słowotwórstwo,
derivation j) uczyć – nauczyć derivation, affixation, słowotwórstwo
k) chłop – chłopisko zgrubienie, augmentative form, derivation, słowotwórstwo
l) lampa – lampka, bluza – bluzka, koszula – koszulka infixation, wrostki
m) pies-piesek derivation, słowotwórstwo, zdrobnienie, diminutive form n) pisać –
pisywać derivation, słowotwórstwo o) kwa-kwa onomatopoeia, onomatopeja, wyrazy
dźwiękonaśladowcze
p) biedronka – biedra clipping q) Warszawa – wawa clipping r) palec – paluch
zgrubienie, augmentative form
s) cichociemny compounding, złożenie t) płyn do naczyń compounding,
zestawienie u) Rzeczpospolita compounding, zrost
v) Krasnystaw compounding, zrost w) durnostojka compounding, złożenie
x) mój – mojemu inflection, fleksja

2. What languages do English and Polish represent in terms of their morphological structure?
English represents analytic lg, whereas Polish is an inflecting lg.
3. What are counterparts of the following terms in English or Polish?
a) słowotwórstwo derivation b) inflection fleksja c) deklinacja declension d) biernik
accusative
e) koniugacja conjugation f) instrumental narzędnik g) miejscownik locative
h) wrostek infix
i) compounds wyrazy złożone j) głoskowce acronyms k) literowce initialisms
l) zgrubienia augmentative forms
m) zrosty compounds n) root rdzeń, podstawa o) case przypadek

4. Zidentyfikuj rdzeń, znajdź oboczności:
a) strach – straszny „strach” i rdzeń oboczny „strasz”, oboczności ch:sz
b) lód – lodowy „lód” i rdzeń oboczny „lod”, oboczności ó:o
c) lecieć – lot „leci” i „lot”, oboczności c':t
d) lew – lwica „lew” i rdzeń oboczny „lwi”, oboczności e:ǿ i w:w'

5. Is -owi a portmanteau morpheme? Prove your point.
Marysia pomogła Jankowi.
Yes, it is. It provides information on case (dative), number (sg), grammatical function (object),
gender (masculine).

Polish and English phonetics and phonology

Phonetics (fonetyka) – the study of speech sounds that occur in the lgs of the world. Phonetics is a
part of phonology.

Phonology (fonologia) – the study of how speech sounds form systems and patterns in human lg.
The first thing that strikes one when comparing the pronunciation of English and Polish is that in
the former one and the same letter may correspond to different speech sounds and the other way
round – one and the same sound may correspond to different spelling, e.g.
Did he believe that Caesar could see the people seize the seas?
Notice that all the letters in bold represent the same sound [i:].
And in the examples below the letter a may represent different sounds:
dame dad father call village many
Some letters have no sound at all:
psychology climb sword debtor corps
Fortunately in Polish the situation is better – there is a significant correspondence between letters
and sounds they represesent.
There are 45 speech sounds in English which are represented by 26 letters. The English alphabet, as
opposed to the Polish one, does not contain any diacritic marks (glyphs added to a letter) (cf. Polish
ó, ą, ł, etc.). In Polish there are 37 speech sounds and 32 letters.
Both English and Polish have vowels (samogłoski) and consonants (spółgłoski). It is standardly
assumed that Polish has 8 vowels and English 10 vowels (excluding diphtongs). Obviously English
does not have such Polish vowels as [ę] or [ą]. And the English vowels that cannot be found in
Polish are:
1 Based on Tomasz P. Krzeszowski (1984) „Gramatyka angielska dla Polaków” and Jacek Fisiak et al. (1978) „An
introductory English-Polish contrastive grammar.”
a) /æ/ – as in am [æm] or bag [bæg]
b) /ʌ/ - as in cut [kʌt] or flood [flʌd]. This sound is more raised than Polish /a/
c) /ǝ/ - a reduced vowel appearing in unstressed syllables as in sofa ['soʋfə] or above [əbʌv]
d) /ɜ/ - a vowel that appears in stressed positions as in bird [bɜd]
Apart from single vowels, there are also combinations of two vowels which are called diphtongs
(dwugłoski). They are pronounced as one chunk but one has to remember that the second element is
usually shorter and has a tighter cnnection with the first element than its counterpart in the Polish
clusters. For example, the English word my [mai] contains a diphtong /ai/ that constitutes one
chunk, whereas the Polish word maj contains a combination /aj/ that represents two distinct speech
sounds /a/ and /j/. A similar difference can be observed between English day [dei] and Polish tej
[tej]. Therefore, it may be concluded that Polish has no diphtongs (although they do appear in
foreign and onomatopeic words such as hau-hau, Europa or autor) .
As regards the manner of articulation of sounds, English has the following types of consonants:
a) stops (zwarte) /p,b,t,d,k,g/
b) affricates (zwarto-szczelinowe) /tʃ, dʒ/
c) fricatives (szczelinowe) /f,v, θ, δ, r, s, z, ʃ,ʒ, h/
d) liquids (półotwarte) /m, n, ŋ, l/
e) semivowels (półsamogłoski) /j, w/
The English consonants that have no counterparts in Polish are
a) /θ/ as in thick [θɪk]
b) /δ/ as in bathe [beiδ]
c) /ŋ/ as in sing [sɪŋ]
d) /l/ at the end of a word after a vowel as in fell [fel] and before a consonant at the end of a syllable
or word as in help [help] (when pronouncing the English /l/ the tongue touches upper teeth whereas
in the articulation of the Polish /l/ the tongue touches gums).
Polish has more consonants than English and the Polish consonants that have no counterparts in
English include the following:
a) /p'/ pies, piasek
b) /b'/ biżuteria, biel
c) /k'/ kiosk, kij
d) /g'/ giwera, git
e) /f'/ fiołek, filiżanka
f) /v'/ wilk, witać
g) /m'/ mięso, miał
h) /n'/ niego, nisza
i) /s'/ siać, siwy
j) /z'/ ziemia, zima
k) /c'/ cichy, ciepło
l) /dz'/ dzień, dziwny
Some English speakers replace /t/ at the end of such words as don't or can't or in the middle of
words like bottle or button with a glottal stop sound /Ɂ/ so that what we get is /donɁ/ or /baɁǝl/.
The air is then stopped completely at the glottis by closed vocal cords. This phenomenon does not
take place in Polish.
Voiceless stops /p, t. k/ in English can become aspirated [ph
, th
, kh
] if an extra puff of air is released
when articulating them. This happens when they occur as the only thing in the onset of a stressed
syllable e.g. pick, kick, time, pie, etc. are pronounced as [ph
ɪk], [kh
ɪk], [th
aim], [ph
ai]. However p in
speak, t in steal and k in skull are unaspirated (if you hold a piece of paper in front of your lips
when pronouncing these words, you will see that the paper doesn't move since the aspiration (the
puff of air) does not pop up) since they are not the only element in the onset. The stop may also be
unaspirated if it occurs in an unstressed syllable, e.g. in hippy. The Polish counterpart of
„aspiration” is przydech. In Polish there is no aspiration.
Phonotactics (fonotaktyka) is a study of the way in which sounds are allowed to combine in
particular positions of the word. For example in English certain sequences of sounds are allowed
and others are not. A stop consonant cannot appear after a consonant like /b/, /g/, /k/ or /p/, a
phenomenon which is permissible in Polish, cf. kto or gdakać. If an English word starts with an /r/
or /l/, the following sound must be a vowel, which is inapplicable in Polish since you can say rtęć,
rwać or lniany. If an English word starts with /tʃ, dʒ/, the following sound cannot be a consonant.
This rule is not observed in Polish, where czkawka or dżdży can be heard. Furthermore in Polish zł
combination is allowed, as in zło or złoty, a sequence clearly disallowed in English. We can also
hear chrząszcz or szczypać in Polish but these combinations will never appear in English.
Polish is a fixed-stress lg, which means that the placement of stress is predictable. The predominant
pattern is as follows: in disyllables, trisyllables, quadrisyllables and words of more syllables the
stress falls on the penultimate syllable, e.g. 'mama, nie'bieski, kolo'rowy, niepoko'jący.
English, on the other hand, is a free-stress lg, which entails that the placement of stress is not fixed.
As far as phonological rules are concerned, in Polish one can observe the devoicing
(ubezdźwięcznienie) of final voiced stops, fricatives and affricates. However, when they are
followed by a vowel, they become voiced, e.g:
chleb [-p] – chleba [-b-]
brud [-t] – brudu [-d-]
stóg [-k] – stogu [-g-]
gwiżdż [-tʃ] – gwiżdżę [-dʒ-]
powódź [-ċ] – powodzi [-dz'-]
połów [-f] – połowu [-w-]
zraz [-s] – zrazy [-z-]
staż [-ʃ] – staże [-ʒ-]
paź [-ś] – pazia [-z'-]
English voiced stops, fricatives and affricates undego only partial devoicing, i.e. this phonological
rule is inapplicable in such words as rob, bed, hog, bridge, love, size, bathe, rouge, etc.
Another phonological process that can be observed in Polish is palatalization (zmiękczenie) of the
initial consonants under the influence of the following vowel:
[p] – [p']
[b] – [b']
[k] – [k']
[g'] – [g']
[m] – [m']
[n] – [n']
The process appears in such words as pień, biało, kit, gitara, mięso, niebo, etc. In English the rule is
inoperative under the same circumstances as in Polish and therefore the first consonants in peace,
beagle, keen, gear, meat and near differ from Polish [p', b', k', g', m', n'].
Both lgs make use of the process of assimilation (upodobnienie) whereby one speech
sound becomes similar to the other one in certain respects. There are two types of assimilation:
regressive (wsteczne) and progressive (postępowe). In the former the preceding sound acquires
qualities of the following sound, e.g. in ławka voiced /w/ becomes voiceless /f/ under the influence
of the following voiceless /k/. The same mechanism is operative in podkowa where voiced /d/
becomes voiceless /t/ under the influence of the following voiceless /k/. In English the rule is
applicable in pronouncing for example have to where voiceless /t/ makes voiced /v/ voiceless /f/.
The result is [h æftǝ].
As regards the progressive assimilation, the following sound becomes similar to the
preceding sound, e.g. in the word przerwa voiced /ʒ/ is pronounced as voiceless /ʃ/ under the
influence of voiceless /p/. In English the phenomenon can be observed in such words as bombed or
kicked where the final sound of the root affects the pronunciation of the last sound of the word. In
the case of bombed voiced /m/ affects the way we pronounce /d/ so that it is articulated in its voiced
version, whereas voiceless /k/ in kicked makes final /d/ voiceless, the result of which is /t/.
In both lgs there appears simplification of complex clusters (uproszczenie grup
spółgłoskowych). For example in Polish the word jabłko is pronounced as [japko] and in the word
warszawski the complex cluster /wsk/ is reduced to /sk/ to ease the articualtion. The same
mechanism is at work in English in the case of, for instance, fifths where the original pronunciation
[fɪfθs] changes into [fɪfs].
Epenthesis (epenteza) is another process operating in both English and Polish. In crude
terms it adds a sound. To illustrate the process, one can look at the word athlete, the pronunciation
of which changes from [æθli:t] to [æθǝli:t]. In Polish good examples of epenthesis are wewnątrz and
ze szkoły where the addition of /e/ facilitates the articulation of the words.