Ą

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Ą (minuscule: ą) is a letter in the Polish, Kashubian, Lithuanian, Creek, Navajo, Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Gwich'in, Tutchone, and Elfdalian alphabets. It is formed from the letter a and an ogonek and usually denotes a nasal a sound.

Polish

In Polish and Kashubian ą is right after a in the alphabet but it never appears at the start of a word.

Originally ą was a nasal a but in modern times the pronunciation of this vowel has shifted to a nasal o sound.

Unlike those in French (but rather like Portuguese ão), nasal vowels in Polish are asynchronous, meaning that they are pronounced as an oral vowel + a nasal semivowel, or a nasal vowel + a nasal semivowel. For instance, ą might be more accurately represented as [ɔw̃] but for the sake of simplicity, it is usually represented as /ɔ̃/.

Some examples,

• obowiązek ("duty", "obligation"), pronounced [ɔbɔˈvjɔ̃zɛk]
• robią ("They are making"), pronounced [ˈrɔbjɔ̃]
• wciąż ("still"), pronounced [ˈftɕɔ̃ʂ]

Before all stops and affricates, it is pronounced as an oral vowel + nasal consonant. The nasal consonant may be either m (before p or b) or n (all other cases). For example,

• kąpać ("to bathe") is pronounced [ˈkɔmpatɕ]
• pająk ("spider") is pronounced [ˈpajɔŋk]
• Bądź cierpliwy! ("Be patient!") is pronounced [ˈbɔɲtɕ]
• oglądając ("(by) watching") is pronounced [ɔɡlɔnˈdajɔnts]

History

Polish ą evolved from long nasal a of medieval Polish, which developed into a short nasal o in the modern language. This medieval vowel, along with its short counterpart, evolved in turn from the merged nasal *ę and *ǫ of Late Proto-Slavic.

Alternations

ą often alternates with ę, for example:

• tooth: ząb → zęby (teeth), thousand: tysiąc → tysięcy (thousands), snake: wąż → węże (snakes)
• husband in nominative: mąż → z mężem (with husband, in instrumental case)
• row in nominative: rząd → cztery razy z rzędu (four times in a row, in genitive case)

[but note that in words derived from rząd (government) the vowel does not change]
government in nominative: rząd → rozporządzenie rządu (government's ordinance, in genitive case)

• weight: ciężar → ciążyć (to weigh down, to be a burden), month: miesiąc → miesięczny (monthly)

Audio examples

• wąż (help·info) (snake)
• mąż (help·info) (husband)

Lithuanian

This section requires expansion.

In Lithuanian, it formerly indicated a nasal a but the nasal quality has since been lost. In the modern language ą is pronounced as a long a.

The Americas

This section requires expansion.

In some indigenous languages of the Americas, ą denotes a nasal a sound.

• Creek
• Navajo
• Western Apache
• Chiricahua
• Mescalero
• Gwich'in
• Tutchone

Elfdalian

This section requires expansion.

Computer use

This section requires expansion.

See also

• Ę
• Polish phonology
• Polish alphabet
• Ogonek
• Yus

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