Apart from[iɛ] and[uɔ], there are also vowel+glide sequences[ɛɪ̯,æɪ̯,aɪ̯,iu̯,ɨu̯,au̯], which are very common. Rarer sequences include[uɪ̯],[ɔɪ̯] and[ɔu̯], with the last one occurring only inonomatopoeias and loanwords. Phonemically, they are all sequences of two phonemes, rather than proper diphthongs. In some dialects,[iu̯] and[ɨu̯] fall together as[ɛu̯].[au̯] can also merge with[ɔu̯] as[ɔu̯].[4]
^ab/v,vʲ/ are traditionally classified as approximants[ʋ,ʋʲ] which phonetically may be fricatives[v,vʲ].[7]
^abFor the approximants/ɪ̯/ and/ʊ̯/ the contrast between their hard and soft versions is phonetically realized as a contrast betweenretraction and advancement. The "soft" counterparts of/ɪ̯/ and/ʊ̯/ are/i̯/ and/u̯/.[8][9]Brejdak (2006, pp. 198–199) considers those to have phonemic status and argues that the contrast between them and the plain/ɪ̯/ and/ʊ̯/ corresponds to the soft/hard contrast. However,Nau (2011, p. 13) considers the phonemic status of/u̯/ and especially/i̯/ (which he transcribes with a non-IPA symbol ⟨jʲ⟩) as questionable. If the difference is considered to be allophonic, the resulting single palatal approximant can be transcribed with ⟨j⟩ and the corresponding labio-velar with ⟨w⟩. In this article, the difference is assumed to be phonemic.
There are two phonemic tonal accents in Latgalian, which appear only on long syllables, i.e. those with a long vowel, a diphthong, or a sequence of a short vowel and a sonorant. These arefalling (also calledlevel) andbroken (also calledsharp). However, there are only a handful of minimal (or near-minimal) pairs, such as[rɛ̀ɪ̯tʲ] 'swallow' and[rɛ̂ɪ̯t] 'tomorrow', both writtenreit.[9]
Phonetically, both of the tonal accents are falling; thefalling accent is realized as an even decrease in intensity and pitch, whereas thebroken accent is realized as a sudden decrease in intensity and pitch.[9]
