The Mythology of All Races/Volume 3/Slavic/Pronunciation
PRONUNCIATION
THE vowels are pronounced generally as in Italian. In the Lithuanian diphthong ai the first element predominates almost to the suppression of the second. Russian ĕ has the sound of the English word yea or of ye in yes; Lithuanian è (often written ie) is pronounced like yea, but with a slight a-sound added (yäa), and ů is equivalent to uóa (very like English zvhoaa); Lettish ee is simply ē (English a in fate); Polish ie is like English ye in yes; Russian iy is practically the i in English pique. The Slavic ĭ and ŭ have only an etymological value, and are not pronounced; in the present study they are omitted when final, so that Perunŭ, e.g., is here written Perunŭ.
J is like y (for convenience the Russian letters often transcribed ja, etc., are here given as ya, etc.); of the liquids and nasals, r and l between consonants have their vowel-value, as in English betterment, 'apple-tree (betterment, appltree); ř is pronounced in Polish like the z in English azure, and in Bohemian like r followed by the same sound of z; Polish t is a guttural (more accurately, velar) l; ń has the palatal value of ni in English onion. The sibilant š is like sh in English shoe (in Lithuanian this sound is often written sz), and ž (Lithuanian ż) is like z in azure.
Of the consonants č (often written cz in Lithuanian) has the value of ch in church; ch that of the German or Scottish ch in ach, loch; c that of the German z (ts).
The consonant-groups in the present study are pronounced as follows: cz like ch in church; dz and dj like j in judge; rz like z in azure; sj like sh in shoe; and szcz like shch in fresh-chosen.