 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
The modern phonetical system of the Russian language is a development of the Common Slavonic inheritance.
The modern standard Russian has five non-allophonic vowels:
| а — я | /a/ — /ja/ or /'a/ |
| э — е | /e/ — /je/ or /'e/ |
| ы — и | /1/ or /i/ — /'i/ or /i/ (see below) |
| o — ё | /o/ — /jo/ or /'o/ |
| у — ю | /u/ — /ju/ or /'u/ |
The second letter in each row (with the excption of /'i/ — /i/) denotes the sound produced by iotation (when initial, see Semi-vowel) or softening (when preceded by a consonant, see Consonants).
The vowels ы and и (/1/ and /i/) are considered allophonic. Their isolated pronunciation is distinct. The vowel /1/ is more tense than the /i/, and the position of the tongue differs: neutrally flat for /1/, slightly raised (without tension) for /i/. However, the two sounds tend to merge when unstressed or when following the sibilant consonants ж /Z/, ш /S/, щ /S'/, ч /tS'/. See Consonants for details.
The pronunciation of Russian vowels greatly depends on the dialect. Standard speech pronounces vowels clearly only under stress. In the unstressed (weak) position, vowels are reduced to a neutral vowel, more or less a schwa /@/. This reduction is weakest in the syllable immediately before the one stressed. Russian orthography does not reflect vowel reduction.
Russian possesses one semi-vowel: й /j/, equivalent to the English <y> in yes. The /j/ always immediately precedes or follows a vowel. If it follows, as in русский /russkij/, it is denoted in writing with й. If it precedes (iotation), it is incorporated in writing with the following vowel sound in the iotated/softening series of vowels given above: ем /jem/ "I eat". In some foreign words, however, the й is also written before the vowel: йога /joga/ "yoga" (the non-existent word *ёга would be pronounced identically). If the /j/ immediately follows a consonant and precedes a vowel sound, it is separated from the consonant in writing by the hard sign ъ (after a prefix, the sole remaining usage for the letter ъ in Russian), or by the soft sign ь (in all other cases): съездить /sjezdit'/, "to have driven/ridden/travelled"; панъевропейский /panjevrop'ejsk'ij/ "pan-European"; пью /p'ju/ "I drink"; пьеса /p'jesa/ "a theatrical play".
Hard and soft consonants
Russian consonants are of two types: hard (твёрдый /tv'ord1j/) and soft (мягкий /m'axk'ij/). The hard pronunciation is the basic one, and is achieved in general by keeping the tongue as low as possible. For the soft pronunciation or palatalization, the mouth is slightly more open in a horizontal slit, and the tongue is drawn slightly back, almost as though to pronounce an /i:/ that is not there.
Consonants with both hard and soft varieties
The consonants б /b/, в /v/, г /g/, д /d/, ж /Z/, з /z/, к /k/, л /l/, м /m/, н /n/, п /p/, р /r/, с /s/, т/t/, ф /f/, х /x/ have both a hard and a soft pronunciation. Except for ж /Z/, their softness is indicated in writing:
The soft pronunciation of ж is indicated in writing by doubling: жж /Z'/ (as in жжёшь /Z'oS/ "you (sg) burn"). Otherwise, the consonant ж /Z/ is always hard, except in isolated cases of consonant assimilation (see below): жаба /Zaba/ "toad". There is exactly one unassimilated exception: жюри /Z'uri´/ "jury". In feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms, a soft sign ь is written by historical tradition after the undoubled ж /Z/ at the end of the word, but there is no softening: рожь /roZ/ "rye". Similarly, a е /(')e/, ё /(')o/, or и /(')i/ or /1/ written after the undoubled ж does not imply a soft pronunciation: также /takZe/ "also", жёлтый /Zolt1j/ "yellow", жить /z1t'/ "to live". The soft pronunciation of жж has in the twentieth century lost ground to the hard. Nonetheless, it continues to be standard in broadcasting, etc.
Consonants that are always either hard or soft
The consonants ш /S/ and ц /ts/ are always hard. In writing, the soft sign ь historically follows ш for feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms at the end of the word.
The consonants щ /S'/ and ч /tS'/ are always soft. In writing, the soft sign ь historically follows them for feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms at the end of the word.
Supplementary notes
The hard х /x/ is a guttural similar to the German [ch] in ach. The soft хь /C/ is a soft sibilant similar to the German soft [ch] in ich.
The hard л /l/, т /t/, and д /d/ are dental, with the tongue kept much lower than for the English /l/, /t/, /d/. The soft ль /l'/, ть /t'/, and дь /d'/ are much closer to the English /l/, /t/, /d/ than the hard Russian /l/, /t/, /d/.
Both the hard р /r/ and the soft рь /r'/ are trilled.
The hard ж /Z/ is similar to the English [s] in pleasure, but is harder (the tongue is lower). The soft жж /Z'/ is close to the English [s] in pleasure.
The hard ш/S/ is similar to the English [sh] in ship, but is considerably harder. The soft щ /S'/ is close to the English [sh] in ship, but is somewhat softer. The consonant щ is sometimes pronounced /S'tS'/, but such precision may sound affected to many Russians.
Assimilation of consonants
In continuous speech, the pronunciation of consonants shows systematic transformations not reflected in the Russian orthography:
The historic transformation of /g/ into /v/ in the genitive case (and also the accusative for animate entities) of masculine singular adjectives and pronouns is not reflected in the modern Russian orthography: его /jevo/ his, him; белого /b'elovo/ "(of the) white"; синего /s'in'evo/ "(of the) blue".
Stress, rather than pitch or vowel length, lexically determines Russian accentuation. The stress may fall on any syllable, and may shift within an inflexional paradigm: дóма /dóma/, of the house; домá /domá/, houses.
The Moscow standard features:
In contrast, the pronunciation in St. Petersburg has traditionally been more staccato, monotonic, and more faithful to the written appearance of native words and to the original pronunciation of borrowed ones.
The regions show a very large number of variations. As in many other languages, mass communications have considerably levelled the regional differences.
Like all Slavic languages, Russian was originally a language of open syllables. All syllables ended in vowels (as in Japanese), and consonant clusters, in far lesser variety than today, existed only at the start of a syllable.
By the time of the earliest records, Old Russian already showed characteristic divergences from Common Slavonic. Major features of this stage include:
Major phonological processes in the last thousand years have included:
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
