Russian phonology
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The standard language, based on the Moscow dialect, possesses heavy stress and moderate modulation in pitch (which is not a lexical differentiator). Stressed vowels have greater length, loudness, and clearer articulation, while unstressed vowels tend to be reduced to an unclear schwa, depending on their position relative to the stressed syllable. Consonant clusters tend to be simplified. The spoken dialects show a large number of variations.
Contents
Vowels
The modern standard Russian has five vowels:
| а — я | |
| э — е | |
| ы — и | |
| o — ё | |
| у — ю |
The second letter in each row (with the exception of /i/ — /ʲi/) denotes the sound produced by iotation (when initial, see Semi-vowel) or softening, or palatalization, (when preceded by a consonant, see Consonants) of the first letter.
The pronunciation of Russian vowels greatly depends on the dialect. But in standard Russian, the following modifications in the pronunciation of vowels are made.
Stressed vowels
- The default pronunciation of а is /a/; я differs from this merely by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant (or iotation at the beginning of the word). In both cases, /a/ is fronted to [æ] between palatalized consonants (see consonants below). So мать is realised as [matʲ], whereas пять is realised as [pʲætʲ]. When not following a palatalized consonant, /a/ is retracted to [ɑ̟] before /l/ as in палка ['pɑlkə].
- The default pronunciation of э is /ɛ/; е differs from this mostly by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant but also by a slight raising ([ɛ̝]). It should be noted that э is a relatively rare letter generally used only as the initial letter of a word. In both cases, /ɛ/ is raised to [e] before a palatalized consonant. Preceding hard consonants cause retraction to both [ɛ] and [e] to [ɛ̠] and [e̠] respectively. So столе and это are[stʌ.'lɛ̠] and ['ɛ.tə] respectively, whereas эти is ['ɛ.tʲɪ].
- The vowels ы and и ([ɨ] and /i/) are considered allophonic of one i-phoneme. Their isolated pronunciation is distinct. [ɨ] appears only after hard consonants and never word-initially. [i] appears word-initially and after soft-consonants. When unstressed, both are lowered to near-close positions; /i/ becomes [ɪ] and [ɨ] becomes [ɨ̞].
- The default pronunciation of о is /o̞/; ё, frequently written simply as е, differs from this by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant (or iotation at the beginning of the word). Where it occurs, ё is always stressed, and so need not be discussed below in the section on unstressed vowels. In the case of either о or ё, the vowel is fronted to [ɵ] between two palatalized consonants. For example, тётя is realised as ['tʲɵ.tʲə].
- The default pronunciation of у is /u/; ю differs from this by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant (or iotation at the beginning of the word). In either case, the vowel is fronted to [ʉ] between two palatalized consonants. For example, люди is realised as ['lʲʉ.dʲɪ].
Unstressed vowels
Standard speech pronounces vowels clearly only under stress. In the unstressed (weak) position, vowels are reduced in a number of ways, partly dependent on the position of the vowel in relation to the stressed syllable. Russian orthography does not reflect vowel reduction.
- Reduction of о and a. These are reduced in similar ways. In the syllable immediately before the stress (the pretonic syllable), both are realised as [ʌ]. For example, потом becomes [pʌ.'tom], and паром becomes [pʌ.'rom]. The vowel reductions apply across word boundaries, eg под морем becomes [pʌ.'d‿morʲɪm]. The combinations аа, ао, оа and оо are all pronounced [ʌʌ], as in сообразить, [sʌ.ʌ.brʌ.'zʲitʲ].
- In pre-pretonic positions (before the stressed syllable, but not immediately before it), both о and a become [ə]. For example, молодой becomes [mə.lʌ.'doj].
- In post-tonic positions (after the stressed syllable), both о and a become [ə]. For example, рано is pronounced ['ra.nə].
- : There are a number of exceptions to the above comments on unstressed о and а. Firstly, о is not always reduced in foreign borrowings, eg радио, ['ra.dʲɪo]. Secondly, а is pretonically pronounced [ɪ] after ч and щ, eg часы, [ʨɪ.'sɨ ] and щадить, [ɕːɪ.'dʲitʲ]. Thirdly, some speakers pronounce а as [ɪ] after ж and ш. In standard Russian, this pronunciation generally only applies to жалеть, [ʐɪ.'lʲetʲ], к сожалению, [k‿sə.ʐɪ.'lʲe.nʲɪ.u], and oblique cases of лошадь, such as лошадей, [lə.ʂɪ.'dʲej]. а is pronounced as [ɪ] after ц in the oblique cases of some numerals, eg двадцати, [dvə.tsɪ.'tʲi].
- Reduction of е and я. These are reduced in similar ways in unstressed syllables. Pretonically, both are realised as [ɪ], preceded by palatalization/iotation where appropriate. So язык is pronounced [jɪ.'zɨk]. Also worth noting is that words that are differentiated in spelling by unstressed е and я in the pretonic position are pronounced the same, eg разредить and разрядить, both of which are pronounced [rə.zrʲɪ.'dʲitʲ].
- Post-tonically е is pronounced [ɪ], whereas я is pronounced [ə]. поле is ['po.lʲɪ]. дыня is ['dɨ.nʲə]. Exceptions to this are that я is pronounced [ɪ] before a palatalized consonant and in a non-final post-tonic position, eg память, ['pa.mʲɪtʲ] and выглянул, ['vɨ.glʲɪnul].
- The unstressed vowels у and ю show a slight loss of quality compared with the stressed vowels, but the difference is not great enough to require a separate phonetic symbol. If a separate transcription were required, there is a slight tendency towards [ʊ]. An exception would be капюшон where the ю is pronounced [ɪ].
- As mentioned above, the unstressed vowels и and ы tend to lose quality and merge towards [ɪ].
- Unstressed э is pronounced [ɪ], as in этап, [ɪ.'tap].
Semi-vowel
Russian possesses one semi-vowel: /j/, equivalent to the English <y> in boy. It is denoted in writing with й as in русский ['ru.skʲɪj]. When /j/ precedes a vowel (iotation), it is more commonly considered an approximant consonant and is incorporated in writing with the following vowel sound in the iotated/softening series of vowels given above: ем [jɛm] "I eat". In some foreign words, however, the й is also written before the vowel: йога ['jo.gə] "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 ['sje.zʲdʲɪtʲ], "to go, travel"; панъевропейский ['pan.jɪ.vrʌ.'pʲej.skʲɪj] "pan-European"; пью [pʲju] "I drink"; пьеса ['pʲjɛ.sə] "a theatrical play". Note: in the case of the hard sign, the modern tendency is for pronunciation to follow the spelling and thus to pronounce the prefix ending immediately before the hard sign hard.Vowel Diagram
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