patskanis

Latvian

Patskaņi

Alternative forms

• (obsolete forms) pašskanis, pašskaņa, patskaņa

Etymology

From pats (“self”) +‎ skan(ēt) (“to sound”), made into a 2nd-declension noun (ending -is). A calque of German Selbstlaut (“vowel”) coined by Atis Kronvalds in the 1860s (initially as pašskanis). It competed with, and eventually replaced, other coinages such as G. F. Stenders' skandinieks, K. Biezbārdis' skanis, or A. Stērste's balsskanis. There was some variation (patskanis, pašskaņa, patskaņa) until the early 20th century. After J. Endzelīns' and K. Mīlenbahs' 1907 Latviešu Gramatika, the form patskanis stabilized. It became accepted as a standard linguistic term in the 1920s.

Noun

patskanis m (2nd declension)

1. (phonetics, phonology) vowel

   uzsvērti un neuzsvērti patskaņi ― stressed and unstressed vowels

   garie un īsie patskaņi ― long and short vowels

   patskaņu klasifikācija ― vowel classification

   šaurais patskanis (“e” vai “ē”) ― narrow, tense vowel (“e” or “ē”, pronounced as IPA [ɛ])

   platais patskanis (“e” vai “ē”) ― broad, lax vowel (“e” or “ē”, pronounced as IPA [æ])

   ritma, lāpāmais patskanis ― rhythmic vowel (added for prosodic or metric reasons)

Declension

Declension of patskanis (2nd declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	patskanis	patskaņi
accusative (akuzatīvs)	patskani	patskaņus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	patskaņa	patskaņu
dative (datīvs)	patskanim	patskaņiem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	patskani	patskaņiem
locative (lokatīvs)	patskanī	patskaņos
vocative (vokatīvs)	patskani	patskaņi

Synonyms

• vokālis
• (obsolete terms) balsskanis, skandinieks, skanis

See also

• divskanis
• līdzskanis
• skaņa, skanēt