It is easy to be confused by the opposing spelling conventions used in Polish and Hungarian for the sounds /s/ and /ʃ/:
- Polish uses the symbol <s> for the sound /s/ and the digraph (letter sequence) <sz> for the sound /ʃ/.
- conversely, Hungarian uses the digraph <sz> for the sound /s/ and the symbol <s> for the sound /ʃ/.
/ʃ/ is the first consonant in English ship /ʃip/. English spelling often uses the digraph <sh> for this sound, but sometimes uses other letters or sequences of letters for it.
Here are examples in these two languages of words each containing one of these two sounds.
| /s/ | /ʃ/ | |
| Polish | ser /sɛr/ ( ‘cheese’) | szary /ʃarɨ/ (‘grey’) |
| Hungarian | szó /soː/ (‘word’) | sok /ʃok/ (‘much, a lot’) |
Another sibilant in Polish
/s/ and /ʃ/ are both sibilants. Polish also has another sibilant pronounced /ʂ/ and written <ś> (except before <i>, when it is written <s>). I will write more about Polish sibilants in a future post.
An Italian spelling convention
As I have written before, the Italian word bruschetta contains the digraph <ch> to show that it is pronounced /bruskɛtə/. But many people in the UK now pronounce it /bruʃɛtə/, reflecting English (or perhaps German) spelling conventions, not Italian spelling conventions. Romance languages: pronouncing C and G – Language Miscellany
The Italian convention:
- writes the sequence /sk/ as <sch> before the font vowels /i/ and /e/, but as just <sc> before other vowels. Examples: bruschetta (/bruskɛtə/); scacco (/skakko/, ‘chess piece’).
- writes the sibilant /ʃ/ as <sc> before /i/ and /e/, but as <sci> before other vowels. Examples: scegliere (/ʃeʎʎere/, ‘to choose’); sciacquare (/ʃakkware/, ‘to rinse’)