This article discusses the phonological system of standard Russian based on the Moscow dialect (unless otherwise noted). For discussion of other dialects, see Russian dialects. Russian possesses five vowels and consonants which typically come in pairs of hard (твёрдый [ˈtvʲo.rdɨj]) and soft (мягкий [ˈmʲæ.xʲkʲɪj]) or plain and palatalized.
Contents |
Russian possesses five or six vowel phonemes in stressed syllables. There is some dispute over the sounds [i] (which is usually rendered by the Russian letter ⟨и⟩) and [ɨ] (usually rendered by ⟨ы⟩). These two sounds appear quite different to the ear, and Russians are normally taught in school that they are two separate "vowels". In Proto-Slavic times they were clearly separate phonemes, with /i/ deriving from Balto-Slavic (and late PIE) /iː/ and /ei/, and with /ɨ/ deriving from Balto-Slavic (and late PIE) /uː/. Some linguists[1] still consider them separate phonemes in modern Russian. However, in the modern language [ɨ] and [i] are largely or completely in complementary distribution, with [ɨ] occurring after hard (non-palatalized) consonants and [i] elsewhere. As a result, the majority of linguists analyze both sounds as allophones of a single phoneme /i/, and that interpretation is assumed in this article.
Russian vowels are subject to considerable allophony, especially between stressed and unstressed syllables. In most unstressed positions, in fact, only three phonemes are distinguished after hard consonants, and only two after soft consonants. Unstressed /a/ and /o/ merge (a phenomenon known as akan'je); unstressed /e/ and /i/ merge (ikan'je); and all four unstressed vowels merge after soft consonants, except in absolute final position in a word. None of these mergers are represented in writing.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | (ɨ) | u |
| Mid | e | (ə) | o |
| Open | a |
Vowel allophony is largely dependent on stress and the palatalization of neighboring consonants:
When a preceding consonant is hard, /i/ is retracted to [ɨ]. Formant studies in Padgett (2001) demonstrate that [ɨ] is better characterized as slightly diphthongized from the velarization of the preceding consonant, implying that a phonological pattern of using velarization to enhance perceptual distinctiveness between hard and soft consonants is strongest before /i/. When unstressed, /i/ becomes near-close; that is, [ɨ̞] following a hard consonant and [ɪ] in most other environments.[2] Between soft consonants, both stressed and unstressed /i/ are raised,[3] as in пить [pʲi̝tʲ] ('to drink') and маленький [ˈmalʲɪ̝nʲkʲɪj] ('small'). When preceded and followed by coronal or dorsal consonants, [ɨ] is fronted to [ɨ̟].[4] After a labial + /l/ cluster, [ɨ] is retracted, as in плыть [plɨ̠tʲ] ('to float'); it is also slightly diphthongized to [ɯ̟ɨ̟].[4]
In native words, /e/ only follows unpaired (i.e. the retroflexes and /t͡s/) and soft consonants. After soft consonants (but not before), it is a mid vowel ([e̞] or [ɛ̝]), while a following soft consonant raises it to [e]. Another allophone, an open-mid [ɛ] occurs word-initially and never before or after soft consonants (hereafter [ɛ̝] is represented without the diacritic for simplicity).[5] Preceding hard consonants retract /e/ to [ɛ̠] and [e̠][6] so that жест ('gesture') and цель ('target') are pronounced [ʐɛ̠st] and [t͡se̠lʲ] respectively.
In words borrowed from other languages, it is often the case that /e/ does not follow a soft consonant until the word has been fully adopted into Russian.[7] For instance, шофёр (from French chauffeur) was pronounced [ʂoˈfɛr] in the early twentieth century but is now pronounced [ʂɐˈfʲor]. On the other hand, the pronunciations of words such as отель [ɐˈtɛlʲ] ('hotel') retain the hard consonants despite a long presence in the language.
Between soft consonants, /a/ becomes [æ][8] as in пять [pʲætʲ] ('five'). When not following a soft consonant, /a/ is retracted to [ɑ̟] before /l/ as in палка [ˈpɑ̟lkə] ('stick').[8]
For most speakers, /o/ is a mid vowel but it can be more open for some speakers.[9] Between soft consonants[10] or simply following one,[11] /o/ is centralized to [ɵ̞] as in тётя [ˈtʲɵ.tʲə] ('aunt').
As with the other back vowels, /u/ is centralized between soft consonants,[12] as in чуть [t͡ɕʉtʲ] ('narrowly'). When unstressed, /u/ becomes near-close.
Unstressed vowels tend to merge. /o/ and /a/ generally have the same unstressed allophones and unstressed /e/ becomes /i/ (picking up its unstressed allophones).[13] Russian orthography (as opposed to that of closely related Belarusian) does not reflect vowel reduction.
The realization of unstressed /o/ and /a/ goes as follows:
Across certain word-final suffixes, the reductions do not completely apply.[18] In certain suffixes, after soft consonants and /j/, /a/ and /o/ (which is written as ⟨e⟩) can be distinguished from /i/ and from each other: по́ле (ˈpo̞.lʲɪ) ('field' nom. sg. neut.) is different from по́ля ('field' sg. gen.), and these final sounds differ from the realization of /i/ in such position.
There are a number of exceptions to the above comments on unstressed /o/ and /a/.
In addition to this, the unstressed high vowels /i/ and /u/ become lax (or near-close) as in ютиться [jʉ̞ˈtʲit͡sə][19] ('to huddle'), этап [ɪˈtap] ('stage'), дышать [dɨ̞ˈʂatʲ] ('to breathe'), and мужчина [mʊˈɕɕinə] ('man').
In weakly stressed positions, vowels may become voiceless between two voiceless consonants: выставка [ˈvɨstə̥fkə] ('exhibition'), потому что [pə̥tɐˈmu ʂtə] ('because'). This may also happen in cases where only the following consonant is voiceless: череп [t͡ɕerʲɪ̥p] ('skull').
Russian diphthongs all end in a non-syllabic [i̯], which can be considered an allophone of /j/, the only semivowel in Russian. In all contexts other than after a vowel, /j/ is considered an approximant consonant. Phonological descriptions of /j/ may also classify it as a consonant even in the coda. In such descriptions, Russian has no diphthongs.
The first part of diphthongs are subject to the same allophony as their constituent vowels. Examples of words with diphthongs: яйцо [jɪjˈt͡so] ('egg'), ей [jej] ('her' dat.), действенный [ˈdʲejstvʲɪnnɨj] ('effective'). /ij/ (written ⟨ий⟩ or ⟨ый⟩) is a common adjectival affix where it is often unstressed; at normal conversational speed, such unstressed endings may be monophthongized to [ɪ̟].[20]
⟨ʲ⟩ denotes palatalization, meaning the center of the tongue is raised during and after the articulation of the consonant.
| Labial | Dental & Alveolar |
Post- alveolar/ Palatal |
Velar | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hard | soft | hard | soft | hard | soft | hard | softa | |
| Nasal | m | mʲ | n | nʲ | ||||
| Plosive | p b | pʲ bʲ | t d | tʲ dʲ | k ɡ | kʲ ɡʲ | ||
| Affricate | t͡s | (t͡sʲ) | t͡ɕ | |||||
| Fricative | f v | fʲ vʲ | s z | sʲ zʲ | ʂ ʐ | ɕːb ʑːb | x | xʲ |
| Trill | r | rʲ | ||||||
| Approximant | l | lʲ | j | |||||
Phonetic details:
A series of reductionist approaches made by many structuralists[29] have postulated an underlying deep structure wherein soft consonants are the result of phonological processes.[30] Despite such proposals, linguists have long agreed that the underlying structure of Russian is closer to that of its acoustic properties, namely that soft consonants are phonemes in their own right.[31]
Voiced consonants (/b/, /bʲ/, /d/, /dʲ/ /ɡ/, /v/, /vʲ/, /z/, /zʲ/, /ʐ/, and /ʑː/) are devoiced word-finally unless the next word begins with a voiced obstruent.[32] /ɡ/, in addition to becoming voiceless, also lenites to [x].
Russian features a general retrograde assimilation of voicing and palatalization.[33] In longer clusters, this means that multiple consonants may be soft despite their underlyingly (and orthographically) being hard.[34] The process of voicing assimilation applies across word-boundaries when there's no pause between words.[35]
Within a morpheme, voicing is not distinctive before obstruents (except for /v/, and /vʲ/ when followed by a vowel or sonorant). The voicing or devoicing is determined by that of the final obstruent in the sequence:[36] просьба [ˈprozʲbə] ('request'), водка [ˈvotkə] ('vodka'). In foreign borrowings, this isn't always the case for /f(ʲ)/, as in Адольф Гитлер [ɐˈdolʲf ˈɡʲitlʲɪr] ('Adolf Hitler') and граф болеет [ɡraf bɐˈlʲeɪt] ('the count is ill'). /v/ and /vʲ/ are unusual in that they seem transparent to voicing assimilation; in the syllable onset, both voiced and voiceless consonants may appear before /v(ʲ)/:
When /v(ʲ)/ precedes and follows obstruents, the voicing of the cluster is governed by that of the final segment (per the rule above) so that voiceless obstruents that precede /v(ʲ)/ are voiced if /v(ʲ)/ is followed by a voiced obstruent (e.g. к вдове [ɡ vdɐˈvʲɛ] 'to the widow') while a voiceless obstruent will devoice all segments (e.g. без впуска [bʲɪs ˈfpuskə] 'without an admission').[37]
/t͡ɕ/, /t͡s/, and /x/ have voiced allophones before voiced obstruents,[32] as in дочь бы [ˈdod͡ʑ bɨ][38] ('a daughter would' [I like to have][39]) and плацдарм [plɐd͡zˈdarm] ('bridge-head').
Other than /mʲ/ and /nʲ/, nasals and liquids devoice between voiceless consonants or a voiceless consonant and a pause: контрфорс [ˌkontr̥ˈfors] ('buttress').[40]
Before /j/, paired consonants are normally soft as in пью [pʲju] ('I drink') and пьеса [ˈpʲjɛ.sə] ('theatrical play'). However the last consonant of prefixes and parts of compound words generally remains hard in the standard language: отъезд [ɐ'tjɛst] 'departure', Минюст [ˌmʲi'njust] 'Min[istry of] Just[ice]'; and only when prefix ends in /s/ or /z/, there exists an optional softening: съездить [ˈs(ʲ)je.zʲdʲɪtʲ] ('to go/travel').
Paired consonants preceding /e/ are also soft; although there are exceptions from loanwords, alternations across morpheme boundaries are the norm.[41] The following examples show the different types of alternations:[42]
Because velar consonants are unpaired, palatalization contrasts do not exist, especially before front vowels. Allophonically, they become soft as in короткий [kɐˈrotkʲɪj] ('short') unless there is a word boundary, in which case they are hard (e.g. к Ивану [k ‿ɨvanu] 'to Ivan').[44]
Before hard dental consonants, /r/, /rʲ/, labial and dental consonants are hard: орла [ɐrˈla] ('eagle' gen. sg).
Before soft labial and dental consonants or /lʲ/, dental consonants (other than /t͡s/) are soft.[45]
Velar consonants are soft when preceding /i/; within words, this means that velar consonants are never followed by [ɨ].[46]
/x/ assimilates the palatalization of the following velar consonant лёгких [ˈlʲɵxʲkʲɪx] ('lungs' gen. pl).
Palatalization assimilation of labial consonants before labial consonants is in free variation with nonassimilation, that is бомбить ('to bomb') is either [bɐmˈbʲitʲ] or [bɐmʲˈbʲitʲ] depending on the individual speaker.
When hard /n/ precedes its soft equivalent, it is also soft (see gemination). This is slightly less common across affix boundaries.
In addition to this, dental stridents conform to the place of articulation (not just the palatalization) of following postalveolars: с частью [ˈɕːasʲtʲju] ('with a part'). In careful speech, this does not occur across word boundaries.
Russian has the rare features of nasals not typically assimilating place of articulation. For example, both /n/ and /nʲ/ appear before retroflex consonants: деньжонки [dʲɪnʲˈʐonkʲɪ] ('money' (scornful)) and ханжой [xɐnˈʐoj] ('hypocrite' instr.). In the same context, other coronal consonants are always hard. The velar nasal is an allophone before velar consonants in some words (функция [ˈfuŋk.t͡sɨjə] 'function'), but not in most other words like банк [bank] ('bank').
Russian is notable for having fewer phonotactic restrictions than many other languages,[47] producing word-initial clusters that would be difficult for English speakers. Some, such as in встретить [ˈfstrʲetʲɪtʲ] ('to encounter') or вздрогнуть [ˈvzdroɡnutʲ] ('to flinch'), can have as many as four segments.
| 3 Segments | Russian | IPA | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCL | скрип | [skrʲip] | squeak |
| CCC* | ствол | [stvol] | (tree) trunk |
| LCL | верблюд | [vʲɪrˈblʲut] | camel |
| LCC | толстый | [ˈtolstɨj] | thick |
For speakers who pronounce [ɕt͡ɕ] instead of [ɕː], words like общий ('common') also constitute clusters of this type.
| 2 Segments | Russian | IPA | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC | кость | [kosʲtʲ] | bone |
| LC | ртуть | [rtutʲ] | mercury |
| CL | слепой | [sʲlʲɪˈpoj] | blind |
| LL | горло | [ˈɡorlə] | throat |
| CJ | дьяк | [dʲjak] | dyak |
| LJ | рьяный | [ˈrʲjanɨj] | zealous |
If /j/ is considered a consonant in the coda position, then words like айва ('quince') contain semivowel+consonant clusters.
Clusters of four consonants are possible, but not very common, especially within a morpheme.[48] Some potential clusters are deleted as well. For example, dental plosives are dropped between a dental continuant and a dental nasal: лестный [ˈlʲɛsnɨj] ('flattering'). At word boundaries, there is generally an audible release between consecutive consonants at word boundaries (rather than an overlap) so that each consonant is pronounced distinctly, especially in comparison to English.[49] This allows for a more accurate perception of similar consonants such as /t/ and /tʲ/.
/n/ and /nʲ/ are the only consonants that can be geminated within morpheme boundaries. Such gemination does not occur in loanwords.
The historic transformation of /ɡ/ into /v/ in the genitive case (and also the accusative for animate entities) of masculine singular adjectives and pronouns is not reflected in the modern Russian orthography: его [jɪˈvo] ('his/him'), белого [ˈbʲɛ.lə.və] ('white' gen. sg.), синего [ˈsʲi.nʲɪ.və] ('blue' gen. sg.). Orthographic г also represents /x/ when it precedes other velar sounds: легко [lʲɪxˈko] ('easily').
Between any vowel and /i/ (excluding instances across affix boundaries but including unstressed vowels that have merged with /i/), /j/ may be dropped: аист [ˈa.ɪst] ('stork') and делает [ˈdʲɛləɪt] ('does').[50][51]
Stress in Russian may fall on any syllable and words can contrast based just on stress (e.g. мука [ˈmukə] 'ordeal, pain, anguish' vs. [mʊˈka] 'flour, meal, farina'); stress shifts can even occur within an inflexional paradigm: до́ма [ˈdomə] ('house' gen. sg.) vs дома́ [dɐˈma] ('houses'). The place of the stress in a word is determined by the interplay between the morphemes it contains, as some morphemes have underlying stress, while others do not. However, other than some compound words, such as морозоустойчивый [mɐˌrozəʊˈstojtɕɪvɨj] ('frost-resistant') only one syllable is stressed in a word.[52] Russian also has an intonation pattern similar to that of English.
Non-open back vowels velarize preceding hard consonants: ты [tˠɨ] ('you' sing.). /o/ and /u/ labialize all consonants: бок [bʷok] ('side'), нёс [nʲʷos] ('he carried'). [53]
The modern phonological system of Russian is inherited from Common Slavonic, but underwent considerable innovation in the early historical period, before being largely settled by about 1400.
Like all Slavic languages, Old Russian was a language of open syllables.[54] All syllables ended in vowels (as in Fijian and Hawaiian), and consonant clusters, in far lesser variety than today, existed only in the syllable onset. However, by the time of the earliest records, Old Russian already showed characteristic divergences from Common Slavonic.
Around the tenth century, Russian may have already had paired coronal fricatives and sonorants so that /s z n l r/ could have contrasted with /sʲ zʲ nʲ lʲ rʲ/, though any possible contrasts were limited to specific environments.[54] Otherwise, palatalized consonants appeared allophonically before front vowels.[55] When the yers were lost, the palatalization initially triggered by high vowels remained,[56] creating minimal pairs like данъ /dan/ ('given') and дань /danʲ/ ('tribute'). At the same time, [ɨ], which was already a part of the vocalic system, was reanalyzed as an allophone of /i/ after hard consonants, prompting leveling that caused vowels to alternate according to the preceding consonant rather than vice versa.[57]
The loss of the nasal vowels (the yuses of Cyrillic, which had themselves developed from Common Slavic *eN and *oN before a consonant). Non-nasalized vowels took their place, possibly iotated or with softening of the preceding consonant:
Borrowings in the Uralic languages with interpolated /n/ after Common Slavonic nasal vowels have been taken to indicate that the nasal vowels did exist in East Slavic until some time possibly just before the historical period.
Simplification of Common Slavic *dl and *tl to *l:[59]
A tendency for greater maintenance of intermediate ancient [-g-], [-k-], etc. before frontal vowels, than in other Slavic languages, the so-called incomplete second and third palatalizations:
Pleophony or "full-voicing" (polnoglasie, 'полногласие' [pəlnɐˈɡlasʲɪɪ]), that is, the addition of vowels on either side of /l/ and /r/ between two consonants. Church Slavonic influence has made it less common in Russian than in modern Ukrainian and Belarusian:
Major phonological processes in the last thousand years have included the absence of the Slavonic open-syllable requirement, achieved in part through the loss of the ultra-short vowels, the so-called fall of the yers, which alternately lengthened and dropped (the yers are given conventional transcription rather than precise IPA symbols in the Old Russian pronunciations):
The loss of the yers has led to geminated consonants and a much greater variety of consonant clusters, with attendant voicing and/or devoicing in the assimilation:
Consonant clusters thus created were often simplified:
The development of OR ѣ /ě/ (conventional transcription) into /(j)e/, as seen above. This development has caused by far the greatest of all Russian spelling controversies. The timeline of the development of /ě/ into /e/ or /je/ has also been debated.
Sometime between the twelfth and fourteenth century, the allophone of /i/ before velar consonants changed from [ɨ] to [i] with subsequent palatalization of the velars.[46]
The retroflexing of postalveolars: /ʒ/ became [ʐ] and /ʃ/ become [ʂ]. This is considered a "hardening" since retroflex sounds are difficult to palatalize. At some point, /t͡s/ resisted palatalization, which is why it is also "hard" although phonetically it is no different than before. The sound represented by ⟨щ⟩ was much more commonly pronounced /ɕt͡ɕ/ than it is today. Today's common and standard pronunciation of ⟨щ⟩ is /ɕː/.
The development of stressed /e/ into /o/ when between a soft consonant and a hard one:[11][60]
This has led to a number of alternations:[61]
| Word | Gloss | Word | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| безупре́чность | irreproachability | упрёк | reproach |
| бере́чь | to protect | берёг | he protected |
| ве́дший | one that had lead | вёл | he conducted |
| ве́дреный | fine (of weather, archaic) | вёдро | fine weather (archaic) |
| весе́лье | merriment | весёлый | merry |
| вле́чь | to attract | влёк | he attracted |
| гре́бля | rowing | грёб | he rowed |
| гре́зить | to dream | грёза | a dream |
| дале́че | distantly | далёк | distant |
| двоеже́нец | bigamist | двоежёнство | bigamy |
| де́нь | day | подённо | by day |
| деше́вле | cheaper | дешёвый | cheap |
| е́ль | fir-tree | ёлка | fir-tree |
| жере́бчик | stallion (diminutive) | жерёбая | with foal |
| жечь | to burn | жёг | he burned |
| желть | yellow paint | жёлтый | yellow |
| зе́млю | earth (acc. sg.) | чернозём | black earth |
| изреше́чивать | to pierce with holes | решёта | sieves |
| кле́плет | he/she/it riviets | клёпаный | riveted |
| коле́сник | wheel-wright | колёса | wheels |
| коте́льная | boiler-room | котёл | boiler |
| ле́дник | refrigerator | лёд | ice |
| лечь | to lie down | лёг | he lay down |
| наве́ртит | he/she/it will twist | навёртывать | to twist |
| пе́нь | stump | пёнышек | dear, little stump |
| пере́дний | front (adj) | перёд | front (noun) |
| перекре́щивать | to cross | перекрёсток | cross-road |
| пе́рья | feathers | пёрышко | dear, little feather |
| пе́стрядь | colored cotton cloth | пёстрый | variegated |
| Пе́тя | Pete | Пётр | Peter |
| пе́чь | to bake | пёк | he baked |
| пле́ть | lash | плётка | lash |
| поме́лья | brooms | мёл | he swept |
| предре́чь | to foretell | предрёк | he foretold |
| пренебре́чь | to neglect | пренебрёг | he neglected |
| просве́рливать | to bore, drill | свёрла | borers, drills |
| проче́сть | to read | прочёл | he read |
| пче́льник | apiary | пчёлы | bees |
| реме́нь | strap | ремённый | made of straps |
| реме́сленник | artisan | ремёсла | trades |
| роже́чник | horn-player | рожо́к | horn |
| сельский | rural | сёла | villages |
| семь | seven | сам-сём | with six others |
| се́стрин | sister's | сёстры | sisters |
| смерть | death | мёртвый | dead |
| созве́дие | constellation | звёзды | stars |
| спле́тня | gossip | сплётка | gossip |
| стере́чь | to guard | стерёг | he guarded |
| тве́рдь | firm foundation | твёрдый | hard, firm |
| те́мень | darkness | тёмный | dark |
| те́плит | to light | тёплый | warm |
| те́рнии | thorns | тёрн | blackthorn |
| тете́рька | heath hen | тетёрка | heath hen |
| те́чь | to flow | тёк | it flowed |
| тре́плет | wears out | трёпаный | worn out |
| Фе́дя | Ted | Фёдор | Theodore |
| че́рнь | niello | чёрный | black |
| че́рти | devils | чёрт | devil |
| че́сть | honor | почёт | honor |
| шерсть | hair | шёрстка | hair (diminutive) |
| шесть | six | сам-шо́ст | with five others |
| щель | chink | щёлка | chink |
Note that the /e/ that derives from the yat usually did not undergo this change with only the following fifteen exceptions:
Loanwords from Church Slavonic reintroduced /e/ between a soft consonant and a hard one, including:[62]
A number of Russian's phonological features are attributable to the introduction of loanwords (especially from non-Slavic languages), including:
Many double consonants have become degeminated, though they are still written with two letters in the orthography.[69]
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||