Hungarian dz

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For the Macedonian Latinic digraph, go to Macedonian dz

Hungarian language
Alphabet, including ő ű and cs dz dzs gy ly ny sz ty zs
Phonetics and phonology
Vowel harmony
Grammar, including noun phrases and verbs
T-V distinction
Regulatory body
Tongue-twisters
English words from Hungarian
Hungarian pronunciation of E.
Hungarian name
Old Hungarian script (runes)
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1 Linguistics & Pronunciation
- 1.1 Length
2 Usage
3 Examples

[edit] Linguistics & Pronunciation

Dz is a digraph, the seventh letter of the Hungarian alphabet. It is pronounced (using English pronunciation with letter romanization) "dzay" in the alphabet, but just "dz" when spoken in a word. Using the IPA phoneme, it can be written as /dz/.

[edit] Length

In several words, it is pronounced long, e.g.

bodza, madzag, edz, pedz

In some other ones, short, e.g.

brindza, kamikadze, ódzkodik, dzadzíki, dzéta, Dzerzsinszkij

In several verbs ending in -dzik (approx. 50), it can be pronounced either short or long, e.g.

csókolódzik, lopódzik, takaródzik

These are verbs where the dz can be replaced by z (and is replaced by some speakers): csókolózik, lopózik, takarózik.

In some of these verbs, there is no free variation: birkózik, mérkőzik (only with z) but leledzik, nyáladzik (only with dz, pronounced long). In some other verbs, there is a difference in meaning: levelez(ik) (correspond with sb.) but leveledzik (to leaf [like a tree]).

It is only doubled in writing when an assimilated suffix is added to the stem: eddze, lopóddzon.

[edit] Usage

Usage of this letter is similar than in Polish and Slovak languages. One has to remember that in Hungarian, even if two characters are put together to make a different sound, they are considered one letter, and even acronyms keep the letter intact.