Dictionary of Spoken Russian/Russian-English/Section 1

§1. SOUNDS

In indicating pronunciation and in explaining grammatical forms we shall use a modified English alphabet. Everything that is printed in this alphabet is inclosed in square brackets.

We can here give only a very rough description of the sounds of Russian.

Hard and Soft Consonants. Most Russian consonants occur in two varieties: hard (or plain) and soft (or palatalized).

In producing a hard consonant the Russian speaker lowers the middle or back of his tongue and slightly thrusts out his lips. This gives the consonant a dull sound; to the English speaker's ear the Russian hard consonant often sounds as if it had a short glide like a w after it. Thus, a word like [škola] школа "school" sounds almost as if it were [škwola], and a word like [mi] мы "we" sounds as if it were [mwi].

In producing a soft consonant the Russian speaker presses the middle or forward part of his tongue up against the roof of the mouth, much as we do at the beginning of a word like year. This gives the consonant a high-pitched sound; to our ear the Russian soft consonants seem to be followed by a short glide like a y. We mark the soft consonants in our modified alphabet by writing the sign [j] after them: [bjitj] бить "to beat." The y-like glide sound after a soft consonant is shorter than a full [y]; for instance, [sjestj] сесть "to sit down" begins with soft [sj], but [syestj] съесть "to eat up" begins with hard [s] followed by [y].

As to the occurrence of the hard and soft varieties, Russian consonants fall into four sets:

1. The consonants [b, d, f, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z] occur hard or soft, regardless of what sounds may follow.

[b] б, like English b in bat: [baba] баба "country woman"; [bjel'y] белый "white."

[d] Д, like English d in den, but the tip of the tongue touches the upper front teeth: [da] да "yes"; [djadja] дядя "uncle."

[f] Ф, like English f in fan: [fakt] факт "fact"; [fjiga] фига "fig."

[l] Л, like English l in wool, but with the back of the tongue lowered, so as to give a hollow sound: [lapa] лапа "paw"; in the soft [lj], on the other hand, the middle part of the tongue is pressed up against the palate, giving an even higher-pitched sound than the l of English least: [ljist] лист "leaf."

[m] м, like English m in man: [mama] мама "mama"; [mjot] мёд "honey."

[n] н, like English n in net, but the tip of the tongue touches the upper front teeth: [nos] нос "nose": soft [nj] sounds much like English ni in onion, only the y-glide is weaker: [njanja] няня "nurse." Russian [n] never has the sound that we have in sing, finger, sink: in a word like [bank] банк "bank" the Russian [n] is made with the tip of the tongue touching the upper front teeth.

[p] п, like English p in pen, but without any puff of breath after it: [papa] папа "papa"; [pjatj] пять "five."

[r] р, the tip of the tongue vibrates against the upper gums, as in a telephone operator's pronunciation of thr-r-ree: [rak] рак "crab"; [rjat] ряд "row."

[s] c, like English s in see: [sat] сад "garden"; [sjena] сено "hay."

[t] т, like English t in ten, but the tip of the tongue touches the upper front teeth, and there is no puff of breath after the consonant: [tam] там "there"; [tjotja] тётя "aunt."

[v] в, like English v in van: [vata] вата "cotton batting"; [vjas] вяз "elm."

[z] з, like English z in zero: [zup] зуб "tooth"; [zjatj] зять "son-in-law."

2. The consonants [g(h), k, x] are always soft before the vowels [e, i] and always hard in all other positions. (There are a very few exceptions: [tkjot] ткёт "he weaves"; [kep] кэб "cab".)

[g] г, like English g in go, get, give: [naga] нога "foot"; [nogji] ноги "feet."

[h] г, like English h in ahead, but voiced (that is, with more of a buzzing sound). This is in Russian merely a variety of [g]; most speakers use it only in a very few words or phrases: [slava bohu, slava bogu] слава Богу "thank the Lord."

[k] к, like English c in cut and k in kit, but with no puff of breath after it: [ruka] рука "hand"; [rukji] руки "hands."

[x] x, a breathy h-like sound, made by raising the back of the tongue up against the soft part of the palate (like German ch in ach, but weaker): [muxa] муха "fly"; [muxji] мухи "flies."

3. The consonants [c (dz), š, ž] occur only hard; they have no soft varieties.

[c] ц, like English ts in hats, tsetse-fly: [carj] царь "tsar."

[dz] ц, like English dz in adze, occurs only in rapid speech for [c]; see §3.

[š] ш, like English sh in shall: [šina] шина "tire."

[ž] ж, like English z in azure: [žaba] жаба "toad."

4. The consonants [č (j), šč, y, žj]] occur only soft; they have no hard varieties.

[č] ч, like English ch in church [čas] час "hour."

[j] ч, like English j in judge, occurs only in rapid speech for [č]; see §3.

[šč] щ, is a long soft sh-sound: [pjišča] пища "food."

[y] й, like English у in yes: [čay] чай "tea."

[žj] зж, жж is a long soft [ž] sound: [yežju] езжу "I ride."

Clusters. Russian has many clusters, which are unbroken sequences of consonants, as in [fstatj] встать "to get up." When the last consonant of a cluster is soft, the preceding ones fluctuate between hard and soft; in general [d, n, r, s, t, z] are most likely to be made soft before a soft consonant: [svjet] свет "light," [dnji] дни "days." Only [l] and [lj] are fully distinct before a soft consonant: [molnj'ya] молния "lightning" has hard [l], but [spaljnja] спальня "bedroom" has soft [lj]. Before a hard consonant the distinction of hard and soft consonants is maintained: [banka] банка "can, container" has hard [n], but [vanjka] ванька "Johnnie" has soft [nj].

Long Consonants. In English we have long consonants only in phrases and compounds, such as ten nights, pen-knife; in Russian there are long consonants in all kinds of positions: [vanna] ванна "bathtub," [žžeč] сжечь "to burn up," [ silka] ссылка "exile," [s soljyu] с солью "with salt." Note that the consonants [šč, žj] are always long.

Vowels. In Russian, as in English, a word of two or more syllables has one syllabic stressed (or accented) — that is, spoken louder than the rest. In our modified alphatet we put an accent mark over the vowel of the stressed syllable: [muka] мука "torment," [muka] мука "flour." In Russian, as in English, the vowels of unstressed syllables are slurred and weakened; we shall describe these weakened vowels in §3. Section 4.

Russian vowels, when stressed, before a single consonant that is followed by another vowel are about as long as the vowel of an English word like bad: [baba] баба "country woman." Before a final consonant or a cluster they are somewhat shorter: [dal] дал "he gave," [banka] ванка "can." At the end of a word they are quite short, like the vowel of English bit: [da] да "yes." Unstressed vowels are still shorter; see §3. Each Russian vowel differs greatly in sound according to the hard or soft sound of the preceding and following consonants. After a hard consonant there is an on-glide like a w, and before a hard consonant there is a w-like off-glide; after a soft consonant there is a y-like on-glide, and before a soft consonant a y-like off-glide. Between hard consonants a vowel is made with the tongue drawn back; between soft consonants it is made with the tongue pushed forward. See especially under [e] and [i], below.

There are five vowels: [a, e, i, o, u].

[a] а, Я, like English a in father, but shorter: [как] как "how"; [dalj] даль "distance," with a y-like off-glide before the [lj]; [pjatj] пять "five," tongue drawn forward between the soft consonants; almost like English a in pat.

[e] Э, е, like Enghsh e in bet: [eta] это "this." Before soft consonants the tongue is drawn forward and the vowel is almost like English ai in bait: [yestj] есть "to eat."

[i] ы, и, like English i in will. After a hard consonant the tongue is drawn back (almost as if one were gagging), so as to produce a dull, hollow sound: [sin] сын "son," [bil] был "he was." At the beginning of a word and after soft consonants the front of the tongue is raised, giving a sharp high-pitched sound, almost like English ее in beet, but shorter: [iva] ива "willow," [pjitj] пить "to drink."

[o] о, е, like the vowel of English board, but shorter: [dom] дом "house"; [solj] соль "salt," with a y-like off-glide before the [lj]; [tjotja] тётя "aunt," with the tongue drawn forward between the two soft consonants; almost like French eu in peur.

[u] у, ю, like the vowel of English put, foot, but with the lips slightly thrust out, so that the sound, though short, resembles the vowel of English goose, soup: [sup] суп "soup"; [rulj] руль "steering wheel," with a y-like off-glide before the [lj].

The variations in the Russian vowel sounds take place in ordinary rapid speech in accordance with consonants in preceding and following words. Thus, [idjot] идёт "he goes" has the sharp initial sound of [i], but in [on idjot] он идёт "he goes" or in [brat idjot] брат идёт "the brother goes," the [i] has its dull sound after the hard consonant. In [fsje] все "all" the [e] is like the vowel of English bet, but in [fsje dnji] все дни "all days" the [e] has its fronted sound, resembling the vowel of English made, before the soft cluster [dnj].