Richard Lalli



Issues of Russian PronunciationDRAFT (Lalli, 2017)The Cyrillic Alphabet Knowing the order of the Cyrillic alphabet is necessary if working with a dictionary, an alphabetized index, or a list. Learning it well can take agood while. Where its order strays from that of the Latin alphabet is shown below. Russian letter names are given with IPA symbols. The most common Romanization spellings, which are sometimes found in scores, are given here as well. Latin Cyrillic NameRomanization (IPA) a Аа [ɑ] a b Бб [b?] b Вв [v?] v Гг [g?] g c d Дд [d?] d e Ее [j?] e Ёё [jo] e Жж [??] zh Зз [z?] z f g h i Ии [i] i й *short [i] or [j] i * [и краткайэ] in Cyrillic / [i kratkaj?] in IPA j k Кк [kɑ] k l Лл [?l] l m Мм [?m] m n Нн [?n] n o Оо [o] o p Пп [p?] p q r Рр [?r] r s Сс [?s] s t Тт [t?] t u Уу [u] u Фф [?f] f v w x Хх [xɑ] kh Цц [ts?] ts Чч [t??] ch Шш [?ɑ] sh Щщ [?t?ɑ] shch y z ъ hard sign ы [ji r?] y ь soft sign ЭЭ [?] e Юю [ju] yu Яя [jɑ] yaVowelsHardening and softening vowels. Each of the five standard vowels that one finds in a Latinate language such as Italian - i, e, a, o and u - is represented by two letters (graphemes), one of which softens the preceding vowel and the other of which hardens it. ITALIAN RUSSIAN CommonVOWELS HARDENING and SOFTENING Pronunciations VOWELS i Ы ы И и [ ? ] [ i ] [ I ] e Э Э Е е [ e ] [ ? ] [ I ] a А а Я я [ a ] [ ɑ ] [ ? ] o О о Ё ё [ o ] [ ? ] [ ɑ ] [ ? ] u У у Ю ю [ u ] [ U ]Familiar vowel graphemes. Three are identical to their Roman look-alikes. Think to make.Аа Оо ЕеUnfamilar vowel sound. Nothing in English resembles the sound of the letter Ы. One must hear it spoken and sung - and by a variety of people - as there is no one standard pronunciation. (Some might say it is the [U] vowel sung with spread lips.)Regressive assimilation. The exact pronunciation of a vowel depends upon the letter that follows it. This phenomenon, called regressive assimilation, pervades the pronunciation of both vowels and consonants in Russian.Vowel reduction. In almost all unstressed syllables, vowels are reduced, veering either toward the open pronunciation of the same vowel or toward a more neutral sound. For example, in a word such as óблако, the first letter is clearly [o]and the fourth [a], but the final letter could be pronounced [?][ɑ] or [?]. The rules that govern vowel reduction are many and contradictory. No one seems to agree, and some don't care.й is sometimes treated as a vowel while it is simply a symbol to indicate softness.Consonants Familiar consonant graphemes. Three are identical to their Roman look-alikes. Think to make.Кк Мм ТтUnfamiliar consonant graphemes.Бб [b]Гг[g]Дд[d]Зз[z]Лл[?]Пп[p]Фф[f]Ж[?] Ш[?] Misleading consonant graphemes. These resemble Roman consonants but are not pronounced accordingly.Вв[v]Нн[n]Рр[r]Сс[s]Хх[x]Mixed consonants. There are three Russian consonants that consist of more than one sound.Ц [ts]Ч [t?]Щ [?t?]Hard and soft consonants. Most important to the Russian ear is the quality of consonants. Hard consonants of Russian are similar to the hard, unaspirated consonant sounds of Italian. In contrast, the soft consonant sounds of Russian are palatalized, that is, spoken or sung with the tongue close to the hard palate, giving a very slight suggestion of air escaping at the same time as the consonant is uttered. If the air follows the consonant or is abundant, one hears the [j] glide, a sound that is classified as either a semi-vowel or a semi-consonant. This is to be avoided at all costs. Palatalization is one of the hardest aspects of Russian pronunciation for English speakers. It requires a sensitivity to a subtlety that does not exist in most Western languages. For example, even though the softening vowel Я is pronounced [ja] when it stands alone - with a distinct [j] glide, a consonant, such as Т that might precede it must not be include a glide. The phoneticization of ТЯ is [t?a] and not [tja]. (The phonertic symbol [?] represents palatalization.)Consonants that are always hardЖжЦцШConsonants that are always softЧчЩщЙйConsonants that are softened when followed by a soft consonant or softening vowelДдТтЗзСсНнРрConsonants that are sometimes softened when followed by a soft consonant or softening vowelВв ЛлVoiced and unvoiced consonants.Pairs of voiced - unvoiced consonantsБб - Пп Вв - Фф Гг - Кк Дд - Тт Жж - Ш Зз - СсConsonants that are always voiced ЛлМмНнРрConsonants that are always unvoicedХхЧчЦцЩщ Consonants that make the previous consonant voicedБбГгДдЖжЗзConsonants that make the previous consonant unvoicedПпФфКкТтШшСсХхЧчЦцЩщ Two more symbols. Symbols that have no sounds of their own. They do what they say they do.ъhard signЬsoft sign ................
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