This article is about thephonology andphonetics of theKyrgyz language.

• Notes on vowel quality:
  • Kyrgyz vowel space is different in affixes and stems.Washington (2007) describes the former as more typical and more condensed.^[2]
  • In stem vowel space, the main difference between/e/ and/i/ is that the latter is more back. In affix vowel space, they can have the same backness, and differ by height.^[2]
• /a/ appears only in borrowings from Persian and is excluded from normal vowel harmony rules. In most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from/ɑ/ is questionable. There is also a phonetic[a] which appears as a result of regressive assimilation of/ɑ/ before syllables with phonological front vowels, e.g.aydöş[àjd̪ø̞ʃ] 'sloping'.^[3][4]
• /i,y,u,e,ø,o/ are sometimes transcribed/ɪ,ʏ,ʊ,ɛ,œ,ɔ/.^[5]
• The sequence of any vowel and the consonant/z/ is pronounced as a long vowel with falling pitch.^[6]
• In colloquial speech, word-final vowels are dropped when the next word begins with a vowel.^[7]
• All vowels but/i/ may be both short and long. Long vowels are the result of historical elisions (e.g.compensatory lengthening) and contractions. For example,caa 'rain' < *yağ;bee 'mare' (cf. Kazakhbie);too 'mountain' < *tağ;döölöt 'wealth' < Arabicdawlat;uluu 'great' < *uluğ;elüü 'fifty' < *ellig.

• /n,l,r/ are alveolar, whereas/t,d,t͡s,s,z/ are dental.^[8]
  • the liquid/l/ is velarized[ɫ] in back vowel contexts.
• /ŋ,k,ɡ,x/ are velar, whereas/j/ is palatal.^[8]
  • /k,ɡ/ are palatal[c,ɟ] in words with front vowels, and uvular[q,ʁ] in words with back vowels.^[9]
    • Word-initial/k/ is often voiced to[g].^[10]
    • In loanwords from Persian and Arabic, palatal[c,ɟ] are always followed by front vowels, whereas velar[k,ɡ] are always followed by back vowels, regardless of the vowel harmony.^[9]
    • Word-final and word-initial/k/ is voiced to[ɡ] when it is surrounded by vowels or the consonants/m,n,ŋ,l,r,j/.^[7]
• /f,v,t͡s,x/ occur only in foreign borrowings, mostly fromIndo-European andAfroasiatic languages.^[8]
• In colloquial speech:
  • /b/ is lenited to[w] after/l,r,j/ or between vowels.^[7]
  • /t͡ʃ/ sometimes is deaffricated to[ʃ] before voiceless consonants.^[7]
  • Intervocalic/s/ can be voiced to[z].^[7]
  • Word-final/z/ is often devoiced to[s].^[7]

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Stress is usually always put on the last vowel except for loanwords.Recent loanwords often retain their original stress.^[11]

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In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with/n/ show desonorisation of/n/ to[d] after consonants (including/j/), and devoicing to[t] after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this:kemeñi ('the boat'),aydı ('the month'),tordu ('the net'),koldu ('the hand'),tañdı ('the dawn'),közdü ('the eye'),baştı ('the head').

Suffixes beginning with/l/ also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than/l/, e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this:kemeler ('boats'),aylar ('months'),torlor ('nets'),koldor ('hands'),tañdar ('dawns'),közdör ('eyes'),baştar ('heads'). Other/l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LÚ, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with/l/ or/d/ after/r/; e.g.tordo-/torlo- ('to net/weave'),türdüü/türlüü ('various').

SeeKyrgyz language#Case for more examples.

• Kyrgyz language
• Turkic phonologies

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