# Pronunciation of Kosovo



## jazyk

Hello,

Is Kosovo stressed on the first or the second syllable in its original language? If that language makes a distinction between open and closed vowels (as I think Slovenian does), are those vowels open or closed? I don't remember which Souther Slavic language has tones, but is this word pronounced in a particular tone? (I hope not). 

That's it. Thanks. 

Jazyk


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## Crescent

jazyk said:


> Hello,
> 
> Is Kosovo stressed on the first or the second syllable in its original language? If that language makes a distinction between open and closed vowels (as I think Slovenian does), are those vowels open or closed? I don't remember which Souther Slavic language has tones, but is this word pronounced in a particular tone? (I hope not).
> 
> That's it. Thanks.
> 
> Jazyk



Hello Jazyk,
Kosovo (Косово) is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable: К*о*сово. The rest of the vowels (o's) are open and sound all like ''a''.

Hope it helps!


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## jazyk

> The rest of the vowels (o's) are open and sound all like ''a''.


This information sounds valid to me only for Russian. No other Slavic languages I'm acquainted with reduce their o's like Russian. Or maybe you're saying that the open o's sound like a, but they don't to me, since we also have both closed and open o's (and e's) in Portuguese.


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## dudasd

All "o"s are open, they don't sound like "a". (If you mean Serbian pronunciation and spelling.) Short stress on the first syllable.


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## Justwantoknow

['koseva:] or ['KOS/\Va:]


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## sokol

The native pronunciation of Kosovo could be either Serbian or Albanian; Serbian pronunciation see the one mentioned by *dudasd *- as for Russian and Ukrainian pronunciation, this obviously isn't what jazyk wanted to know.

Serbian has no 'tones' like some East Asian languages but a 'tonemic accent' which also would apply here - but as for what accent and how to pronounce it correctly I can't be of any help.

As for Albanian pronunciation, refer to Albanian Wiki version = shquip: this gives 'Kosova' and should be, I think, with two open 'o' stressed on first syllable, but that's only an educated guess.


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## dudasd

Albanian version is "Kosova" as sokol said - open "o"s and normal "a".

In Serbian version the stress is very short and falling, and 2nd and 3rd syllables don't have any lenght or "height". (Like in English "bothering".)


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## jazyk

> Serbian pronunciation see the one mentioned by *dudasd *- as for Russian and Ukrainian pronunciation, this obviously isn't what jazyk wanted to know.


Exactly.

Anyway, I think I have what I was looking for: stress on the first syllable, open o's, but I'm still not very clear with the tonemic accent (but that is okay as well, I just wanted to primarily check the stress because I've heard both Kósovo and Kosóvo in Brazilian and foreign media).  Thank you all very much. 

Jazyk


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## Nanon

The Albanian language is described as having only an open o, not a closed o.
According to Albanian sources in English:


> In most                                                  cases, especially in the noun system, the stress falls                          on the penultimate                                                  syllable.
> Source


But since Kosovo / Kosova is a word of Slavic origin (cf. Kosovo polje), would the stress fall on the first syllable like in Serbian (wild guess)?

This may be a question for "Other languages" as far as Albanian is concerned.


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## dudasd

I hear it as *KosOvâ *in Albanian (O pronounced simillar to Italian pronounced o and a kind of length in last syllable). (I've just checked several video clips in Albanian.)


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## Athaulf

jazyk said:


> Anyway, I think I have what I was looking for: stress on the first syllable, open o's, but I'm still not very clear with the tonemic accent (but that is okay as well, I just wanted to primarily check the stress because I've heard both Kósovo and Kosóvo in Brazilian and foreign media).  Thank you all very much.



The tonal accent is short falling (it's marked with the double grave accent, which is infamously difficult to reproduce on computers). However, differentiating between rising and falling short accents is very difficult even for many native speakers, since not all Serbian dialects have the same accentuation as the standard language.


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## Duya

Athaulf said:


> The tonal accent is short falling (it's marked with the double grave accent, which is infamously difficult to reproduce on computers). However, differentiating between rising and falling short accents is very difficult even for many native speakers, since not all Serbian dialects have the same accentuation as the standard language.



...but generally, short falling is more "natural" for foreign speakers, so in the case at hand, English pronunciation and stress is relatively close to the original Serbian (modulo vowel quality). Compare e.g. košava, which has short rising stress on first syllable, and which would likely be misaccented by foreigners. Well, sort of, it's difficult to map a feature which exists only in one language.


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