Editing Slovak language (section)

==Orthography==
{{Main|Slovak orthography|Slovak braille}}

Slovak uses the [[Latin script]] with small modifications that include the four [[diacritic]]s (<big>ˇ, ´, ¨, ˆ</big>) placed above certain letters ({{lang|sk|a-á,ä; c-č; d-ď; dz-dž; e-é; i-í; l-ľ,ĺ; n-ň; o-ó,ô; r-ŕ; s-š; t-ť; u-ú; y-ý; z-ž|italic=no}})

{{columns-list|colwidth=16em|
*A a {{IPA|[a]}}
*Á á {{IPA|[aː]}}
*Ä ä {{IPA|[ɛɐ̯~ɛ]}}
*B b {{IPA|[b]}}
*C c {{IPA|[ts]}}
*Č č {{IPA|[tʂ]}}
*D d {{IPA|[d]}}
*Ď ď {{IPA|[ɟ]}}
*Dz dz {{IPA|[dz]}}
*Dž dž {{IPA|[dʐ]}}
*E e {{IPA|[ɛ]}}
*É é {{IPA|[ɛː]}}
*F f {{IPA|[f]}}
*G g {{IPA|[ɡ]}}
*H h {{IPA|[ɦ]}}
*Ch ch {{IPA|[x]}}
*I i {{IPA|[i]}}
*Í í {{IPA|[iː]}}
*J j {{IPA|[j]}}
*K k {{IPA|[k]}}
*L l {{IPA|[l]}}
*Ľ ľ {{IPA|[ʎ]}}
*Ĺ ĺ {{IPA|[lː]}}
*M m {{IPA|[m]}}
*N n {{IPA|[n]}}
*Ň ň {{IPA|[ɲ]}}
*O o {{IPA|[ɔ]}}
*Ó ó {{IPA|[ɔː]}}
*Ô ô {{IPA|[ʊɔ̯]}}
*P p {{IPA|[p]}}
*''Q q {{IPA|[kʋ]}}''
*R r {{IPA|[r]}}
*Ŕ ŕ {{IPA|[r̩ː]}}
*S s {{IPA|[s]}}
*Š š {{IPA|[ʂ]}}
*T t {{IPA|[t]}}
*Ť ť {{IPA|[c]}}
*U u {{IPA|[u]}}
*Ú ú {{IPA|[uː]}}
*V v {{IPA|[v~ʋ]}}
*''W w {{IPA|[v~ʋ]}}''
*''X x {{IPA|[ks]}}''
*Y y {{IPA|[i]}}
*Ý ý {{IPA|[iː]}}
*Z z {{IPA|[z]}}
*Ž ž {{IPA|[ʐ]}}
}}

''Italic'' letters (Q and W) are used in loanwords and foreign names.

The primary principle of Slovak spelling is the [[phoneme|phonemic]] principle. The secondary principle is the morphological principle: forms derived from the same stem are written in the same way even if they are pronounced differently. An example of this principle is the assimilation rule (see below). The tertiary principle is the etymological principle, which can be seen in the use of ''i'' after certain consonants and of ''y'' after other consonants, although both ''i'' and ''y'' are usually pronounced the same way.

Finally, the rarely applied grammatical principle occurs when, for example, the basic singular form and plural form of masculine adjectives are written differently with no difference in pronunciation (e.g. {{lang|sk|pekný}} = nice – singular versus {{lang|sk|pekní}} = nice – plural). Such spellings are most often remnants of differences in pronunciation that were present in Proto-Slavic (in Polish, where the vowel merger did not occur, {{lang|pl|piękny}} and {{lang|pl|piękni}} and in Czech {{lang|cs| pěkný}} and {{lang|cs|pěkní}} are pronounced differently).

Most [[loanword]]s from foreign languages are respelt using Slovak principles either immediately or later. For example, "weekend" is spelled {{lang|sk|víkend}}, "software" – {{lang|sk|softvér}}, "gay" – {{lang|sk|gej}} (both not exclusively){{Clarify|reason=Which two are meant? What are/do they "not exclusively"?|date=September 2020}}, and "quality" is spelled {{lang|sk|kvalita}}. Personal and geographical names from other languages using Latin alphabets keep their original spelling unless a fully Slovak form of the name exists (e.g. {{lang|sk|Londýn}} for "[[London]]").

Slovak features some [[Heteronym (linguistics)|heterophonic homographs]] (words with identical spelling but different pronunciation and meaning), the most common examples being {{lang|sk|krásne}} {{IPA|/ˈkraːsnɛ/}} (beautiful) versus {{lang|sk|krásne}} {{IPA|/ˈkraːsɲɛ/}} (beautifully).