Vowel reduction in Russian
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Vowel reduction in the Russian language differs in language standard and in dialects. Several ways of reduction (and its absence) are distinguished.
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[edit] Language standard
Unstressed vowels tend to merge together. /o/ and /a/ generally have the same unstressed allophones (see akanye) and /e/ becomes /i/ when unstressed (picking up its unstressed allophones). Russian orthography does not reflect vowel reduction.
The realization of unstressed /o/ and /a/ goes as follows:
- Both become /i/ after palatalized consonants. This occurs for /o/ after retroflex consonants as well. Examples: жена [ʐɨ̞ˈna] (wife), язык [jɪˈzɨk] (tongue).
- Exceptions to this are across certain word-final suffixes and in non-final post-tonic (after the stressed syllable) positions. E.g. память [ˈpa.mʲɪtʲ] (memory) and выглянул, [ˈvɨ.glʲɪnul] (has looked out).
- In pretonic and absolute word-initial position, unstressed /a/ and /o/ become [ʌ]. In all other positions, they reduce to an unclear schwa (except where they’ve merged with /i/). Examples: паром [pʌˈrom] (ferry), облако [ˈobləkə] (cloud), трава [trʌˈva] (grass).
- When <аа>, <ао>, <оа>, or <оо> is written in a word, it indicates [ʌ.ʌ] so that соображать (to consider), is pronounced [sʌ.ʌ.brʌˈʐatʲ]
These processes occur even across word boundaries as in под морем [pʌˈd‿morʲɪm] (under the sea).
In addition to this, the unstressed high vowels /i/ and /u/ become lax (or near-close) as in ютиться [jʉ̞ˈtʲitʲsə] (to huddle), этап [ɪˈtap] (stage), дышать [dɨ̞ˈʂatʲ] (to breathe), and мужчина [mʊˈɕːinə] (man).
In weakly stressed positions, vowels may become voiceless between two voiceless consonants: выставка [ˈvɨstə̥fkə] (exhibition), потому что [pə̥tʌˈmu ʂtə] (because). This may also happen in cases where only the following consonant is voiceless: череп [tɕerʲɪ̥p] (skull).
There are a number of exceptions to the above comments on unstressed /о/ and /a/.
- Firstly, /o/ is not always reduced in foreign borrowings, eg радио, [ˈra.dʲɪ.o] (radio).
- Secondly, some speakers pronounce /a/ as [ɨ] after retroflex consonants (/ʐ/ and /ʂ/. This pronunciation generally only applies to жалеть [ʐɨˈlʲetʲ] (to regret), к сожалению [ksə.ʐɨˈlʲe.nʲɪ.ju] (unfortunately), and oblique cases of лошадь (horse), such as лошадей, [lə.ʂɨˈdʲej]. In addition, /i/ replaces /a/ after /ts/ in the oblique cases of some numerals, eg. двадцати, [dvə.tsɨˈtʲi] (twenty).
- Thirdly, when the perfectivizing prefix /vɨ/ is added to a verb form, post-tonic /a/ and /o/ become /i/ after soft consonants where they otherwise would not: вытянет [ˈvɨtʲɪnʲɪt] (he will pull out).
[edit] Types of reduction
[edit] Akanye
Akanye (Аканье in Cyrillic) is the term in the Russian language for the merger of /o/ as /a/ in unstressed syllables. Because /a/ has its own unstressed allophones, unstressed /o/ will be pronounced as one of these allophones and not actually an open front unrounded vowel. For example, молоко (“milk”) is pronounced [məlʌ'ko], identically to the hypothetical word (logatom) малако.
Linguists have conjectured that this phenomenon appeared owing to the influence of Uralic languages, spoken by tribes who inhabited the region of what is now Russia before the arrival of the Slavs. [citation needed]
Beginning students of Russian are often confused by this phenomenon, as the pronunciation does not correspond to the spelling. For the most part Russian spelling is phonemic or morphophonemic, but akanye breaks this convention and often results in words being misspelled, especially by school children.
Akanye is typical of the dialect of Moscow. In certain other Russian dialects, literal pronunciation of /o/ (also called okanye) has persisted to modern times (for example, in the accents of Kaluga and Vologda). Okanye is older and more similar to other Slavic languages such as Ukrainian. Akanye became a language norm in Russian by the middle of the nineteenth century.
[edit] Okanye
Okanye (Оканье in Cyrillic) is the term in the Russian language for the absence of the merger of /o/ as /a/ in unstressed syllables (i.e., absence of akanye).
Okanye is featured in the Povolzhye (Volga region) dialects, e.g., in accents of Kaluga and Vologda and in Northern Russian dialects.
Akanye became a language norm in Russian by the middle of the 19th century. Okanye is older and more similar to other Slavic languages such as Ukrainian. The archaic trait of okanye is preserved in the Church Slavonic language.
The Russian folk song ensemble Yaroslavskie Rebyata, (The Yaroslavl Guys) has been notable for their okanye in chastushkas.
[edit] Ikanye
Ikanye, (Иканье in Cyrillic) is the practice in the Russian language of pronouncing unstressed /e/ as /i/. Because /i/ has several allophones (depending on stress and proximity to palatalized consonants), unstressed /e/ will be pronounced as one of these allophones and not actually the close front unrounded vowel. For example, семена ("seeds") is pronounced [sʲɪ.mʲɪ'na] and цена ("price") is pronounced [tsɨ̞'na].
Ikanye often causes confusion in learners of Russian, as there is a difference between pronunciation and writing. For the most part, Russian spelling is phonemic or morphophonemic, but ikanye breaks this convention and often results in words being misspelled, especially by school children.
Ikanye is typical of the dialect of Moscow. In certain other Russian dialects, /e/ has its own unstressed allophones. This is called yekanye.
[edit] Yekanye
Yekanye, (Еканье in Cyrillic) is the practice in the Russian language of pronouncing unstressed /e/ as with its own unstressed allophones rather than those of /i/. The distinction between unstressed /e/ and unstressed /i/ is most clearly heard in the syllable just before the stress. Thus, придать ("to add to") contrasts with предать ("to betray"); the two are pronounced [prʲɪ'datʲ] and [prʲe̱'datʲ].
Yekanye is not typical of the dialect of Moscow. In Standard Russian, as well as other dialects, unstressed /e/ is pronounced as /i/ (ikanye). Speakers may code-switch between the two types of pronunciation due to various factors, the strongest likely being speed of pronunciation.
[edit] Yakanye
Yakanye (Яканье in Cyrillic) is the practice in the Russian language whereby unstressed /e/ and /a/ following palatalized consonants and preceding a stressed syllabus are not reduced to [ɪ] (unlike the Standard Russian) and are instead pronounced as /a/ in such positions (e.g. несли is pronounced as [nʲasˈlʲi], not as [nʲɪsˈlʲi]).
This style is observed east of Moscow, particularly in Ryazan Region, as expressed in a Russian quip (with liberal yakanye):
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Orthography Standard pronunciation Yakanye pronunciation English language version А у нас в Рязани [ʌ u nəs vrʲɪˈzanʲɪ] [a u nəs vrʲaˈzanʲə] And for us in Ryazan пироги с глазами. [pʲɪˈrogʲɪ z glʌˈzamʲɪ] [pʲɪˈrogʲɪ z glaˈzamʲə] Pies are with eyes: Их едят, [ɪxʲ jɪˈdʲat], [ɪxʲ jaˈdʲætʲ], While being eaten, а они глядят. [ə ʌnˈʲi glʲɪˈdʲat] [ə anˈʲi glʲaˈdʲætʲ] They stare at you.
This example also demonstrates yet another feature of dialects in this area: palatalized final /t/ in 3rd person forms of verbs.
[edit] References
- Jones, Daniel & Ward, Dennis (1969). The Phonetics of Russian. Cambridge University Press.
- Halle, Morris (1959). Sound Pattern of Russian. MIT Press.
[edit] Further reading
- Hamilton, William S. (1980). Introduction to Russian Phonology and Word Structure. Slavica Publishers.
- Sussex, Roland (1992), "Russian" in W. Bright, ed., International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (1st ed.), New York: Oxford University Press.
[edit] External links
- Vowel Reduction in Russian
- Vowel Reduction in Russian
- Dispersion Theory and Phonological Vowel Reduction in Russian
- The Language of the Russian Village (A dialect atlas for use in Russian junior high school. Maps 12 and 13 shows the extend of vowel reduction in Russian dialects.) (Russian)
