The article discusses the fate of the problem units of the phonological system in the Slovak literary language. These are the vocal phoneme [ä] and the consonant phoneme [ľ], that have significant similarities in their history in the new literary language, but different final results. Both of these phonemes were not codified by Ľ. Štúr for various reasons, but were simultaneously introduced into the literary language in the compromise “Brief Slovak grammar” of 1852. The Fixing both phonemes in the literary language was initially difficult, but the phoneme [ä] was accustomed with great success, as in spelling the letter denoting its quickly began to be used in accordance with the codification, and the corresponding sound became a sign of stage pronunciation. Later on, however, this process stopped and the sound [ä] as well as the corresponding phoneme happened to be lost. We are currently witnessing the final phase of this process. The phoneme fixation of [ľ] in the Slovak literary language went on unevenly under the influence of spelling. Currently, the norm of the pronunciation [ľ] is in the position of the absolute end of the word, before the consonant and before the vowel of the non-front row, in which softness is indicated on the letter, and the pronunciation [l] is before the vowels of the front row and i-shaped diphthongs, where softness is not indicated by a special sign. The norm, however, differs significantly from the current codification, which requires the pronunciation [ľ] in both cases.