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].
§2. RUSSIAN WRITING
Russian writing and printing, like English, fails to show the place of the stress. In books like the present one, which are intended for non-Russian students, the stress, is indicated by an accent mark, and by two dots over the letter e when it has the value of accented [é]: мука [muka] "torment," мука [muka] "flour," ковёр [kavjor] "rug." Two such marks on one word mean that this word is spoken in two ways, with one or the other stress: броня "armor" means that they say either [bronja] or [branja].
The Russian alphabet, with the most usual values of the letters, is as follows:
| Capital | Small | Value | Name of Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| А | а | [a] | [a] |
| Б | б | [b] | [be] |
| В | в | [v] | [ve] |
| Г | г | [g] | [gje] |
| Д | д | [d] | [de] |
| Е | е | [e, o] | [ye] |
| Ж | ж | [ž] | [že] |
| З | з | [z] | [ze] |
| И | и | [i] | [i] |
| Й | й | [y] | [i kratk'ya] |
| К | к | [k] | [ka] |
| Л | л | [l] | [elj] |
| М | м | [m] | [em] |
| Н | н | [n] | [en] |
| О | о | [o] | [o] |
| П | п | [p] | [pe] |
| Р | р | [r] | [er] |
| С | с | [s] | [es] |
| Т | т | [t] | [te] |
| У | у | [u] | [u] |
| Ф | ф | [f] | [ef] |
| Х | х | [x] | [xa] |
| Ц | ц | [c] | [ce] |
| Ч | ч | [č] | [če] |
| Ш | ш | [š] | [ša] |
| Щ | щ | [šč] | [šča] |
| Ъ | ъ | [y] | [tvjord'y znak] |
| Ы | ы | [i] | [yiri] |
| Ь | ь | [y] | [mjaxk'y znak] |
| Э | э | [e] | [e abarotn'ya] |
| Ю | ю | [u] | [yu] |
| Я | я | [a] | [ya] |
Vowel Letters. The Russian alphabet has two signs for each vowel sound:
| sound: | [a, | e, | i, | o, | u] |
| letter (1) | а | э | ы | о | у |
| letter (2) | я | е | и | ё | ю |
In general, the letters in row (1) simply represent the vowel sound: ад [at] "hell," баба [bdba] "country woman." The letters in row (2) represent the vowel sound and in addition indicate that a preceding consonant has the soft sound: няня [njanja] "nurse"; at the beginning of a word or after another vowel letter or after the letters ъ and ь, they indicate that the vowel is preceded by [y]: яд [yat] "poison," шёя [ščya] "neck," объять [abyatj] "to embrace," семья [sjimjya] "family." There are various special cases and exceptions, mentioned in the following paragraphs.
At the beginning of a word, the vowel sounds are written а, э, и, о, у: ад [at] "hell," это [eta] "this," имя [imja] "name," он [on] "he," ум [um] "intelligence." Note that here и (and not ы) is used; this accords with the fact that at the beginning of a word [i] has its sharp sound, much as after a soft consonant.
Hard and Soft Consonant Spellings. The Russian alphabet has no special signs for the soft consonants other than [č, šč, y] ч, щ, й, which are always soft. There is no letter for the consonant [žj], long soft [ž]; it is written зж or жж: езжу [yežju] "I ride," жжёт [žjot] "he burns."
When a soft consonant comes before a vowel, the vowel
letters я, е, и, ё, ю are used to show that the consonant is soft:
баба [baba] "country woman": дядя [djadja] "uncle"
сет [set] "set (of tennis)": вес [vjes] "weight"
сын [sin] "son": винт [vjint] "screw"
дом [dom] "house": лёд [ljot] "ice"
муж [muš] "husband": люблю [ljublju] "I love"
But after some consonant letters a different choice is made.
After the letters ж (including зж, жж), ч, ш, щ the vowels
are written a, e, и, о, у:
час [čas] "hour," шар [šar] "sphere"
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