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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Russian pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Russian distinguishes hard (unpalatalized or plain) and soft ( palatalized) consonants (both phonetically and orthographically). Soft consonants, most of which are denoted by a superscript ʲ, are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate, like the articulation of the y sound in yes. In native words, /j, ɕː, tɕ/ are always soft, whereas /ʐ, ʂ, ts/ are always hard. [1]

See Russian phonology and Russian alphabet for a more thorough look at the sounds of Russian.

Consonants
Hard Soft
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
b бок ; апде́йт [2] boot бе́лый , бью beautiful
d дать ; футбо́л [2] do де́ло ; ходьба́ ; жени́тьба [2] media
[3] джип jug [3] начди́в; дочь бы [2] jig
dz [3] плацда́рм [2] lads dzʲ [3] дзюдо́ [1] lad's young
f фо́рма ; вы́ставка ; [2] бо́ров [4] fool фина́л ; верфь ; кровь [4] few
ɡ год ; [5] [6] анекдо́т [2] good ɡʲ геро́й argue
ɣ Го́споди ; ага́ ; [5] Бог даст; дух бодр [2] loch ( Scottish) but voiced ɣʲ двухдверный [2] Loch Ewe ( Scottish) but voiced
j есть [je-]; ёж [jɵ-]; юг [ju-]; я [ja]; майо́р [7] yes
k кость ; бе́гство ; [2] флаг [4] scar кино́ ; секью́рити skew
l луна́ [8] pill лес ; боль failure
m мы́ло moot мя́со ; семь mute
n нос noon нёс ; день ; ко́нчик [9] vinyard
p под ; ры́бка ; [2] зуб [4] span пе́пел ; цепь ; зыбь [4] spew
r раз American atom ряд ; зверь American catty
s соба́ка ; ска́зка ; [2] глаз [4] soup си́ний ; здесь ; есть ; грызть ; [2] резь [4] assume (RP)
ʂ широ́кий ; кни́жка ; [2] муж ; [4] что [10] rush ɕː щека́ ; счита́ть ; мужчи́на [2] [11] wish sheep
t то ; во́дка ; [2] лёд [4] stand тень ; дитя́ ; путь ; грудь [4] stew (RP)
ts [3] цена́ ; нра́виться cats tsʲ [3] Цю́рих [1] cat's young
[3] ко́лледж [4] chop [3] чай ; течь chip
v вы ; его́; [6] афга́н [2] voodoo весь ; вью́га view
x ход ; Бог [5] loch ( Scottish); ugh хи́трый ; Хью́стон; лёгкий [5] huge (for some dialects)
z зуб ; сбор [2] zoo зима́ ; резьба́; жизнь ; про́сьба [2] presume (RP)
ʐ жест ; кешбэ́к [2] pleasure ʑː по́зже ; [12] вещдо́к [2] prestige genre
Stressed vowels
[-soft] [+soft]
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
a трава́ father ( Australian English) æ пять ; ча́сть [13] pat
ɛ жест ; э́тот met e пень ; э́тика [13] mace
ɨ ты ; ши́шка ; с и́грами roses (for some dialects) i ли́ния ; и́ли meet
o о́блако ; шёпот chore ɵ тётя ; плечо́ [13] foot
u пу́ля cool ʉ чуть ; лю́ди [13] choose
Unstressed vowels
[-soft] [+soft]
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
ə ко́жа ; о́блако ; се́рдце ; собира́ть [14] about ə во́ля ; сего́дня ; ку́ча [15] lasagna
ɐ облака́ ; како́й ; сообража́ть ; тропа́ [14] bud ɪ лиса́ ; четы́ре ; тяжёлый ; де́вять ; часы́ [16] bit
ɛ тетра́эдр; поэте́сса [17] met
ɨ дыша́ть ; жена́ ; во́ды ; эта́п ; к Ива́ну roses (for some dialects)
o ра́дио ; поэте́сса [17] chore ɵ ма́чо; сёрфинги́ст [13] [18] foot
ʊ мужчи́на pull ʉ чуде́сный ; люби́ть [13] youth
Suprasegmental
IPA Example Explanation
ˈ четы́ре [tɕɪˈtɨrʲɪ] stress mark, placed before the stressed syllable
ː сза́ди [ˈzːadʲɪ] [2] consonant length mark, placed after the geminated consonant

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Even though /ts/ and its voicing [dz] are considered to be exclusively hard consonants, they may be palatalized in certain words of foreign origin.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Consonants in consonant clusters are assimilated in voicing if the final consonant in the sequence is an obstruent (except [v, vʲ]). All consonants become voiceless if the final consonant is voiceless or voiced if the final consonant is voiced ( Halle 1959:31).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h The affricates [ts], [tɕ], and [tʂ] (and their voiced counterparts [dz], [dʑ], and [dʐ]) are sometimes written with ligature ties: [t͡s], [t͡ɕ], and [t͡ʂ] ([d͡z], [d͡ʑ], and [d͡ʐ]). Ties are not used in transcriptions on Wikipedia (except in phonology articles) because they may not display correctly in all browsers.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The voiced obstruents /b, bʲ, d, dʲ, ɡ, v, vʲ, z, zʲ, ʐ/ are devoiced word-finally unless the next word begins with a voiced obstruent ( Halle 1959:22).
  5. ^ a b c d г is usually pronounced [ ɣ or (word-finally) [ x in some religious words and colloquial derivatives from them, such as Госпо́дь [ɣɐsˈpotʲ] and Бог [box], and in the interjections ага́ , ого́ , Го́споди , ей-бо́гу , and also in бухга́лтер [bʊˈɣaltʲɪr] ( Timberlake 2004:23). /ɡ/ devoices and lenites to [x] before voiceless obstruents ( dissimilation) in the word roots -мягк- or -мягч-, -легк- or -легч-, -тягч-, and also in the old-fashioned pronunciation of -ногт-, -когт-, кто. Speakers of the Southern Russian dialects may pronounce г as [ ɣ (soft [ ɣʲ, devoiced [ x and [ ) throughout.
  6. ^ a b Intervocalic г represents /v/ in certain words ( сего́дня , сего́дняшний , итого́ ), and in the genitive suffix -ого/-его ( Timberlake 2004:23).
  7. ^ The soft vowel letters е, ё, ю, я represent iotated vowels /je, jo, ju, ja/, except when following a consonant. When these vowels are unstressed (save for ё, which is always stressed) and follow another vowel letter, the /j/ may not be present. The letter и produces iotated sound /ji/ only after ь.
  8. ^ /l/ is often strongly pharyngealized [ ɫ, but that feature is not distinctive ( Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996:187-188).
  9. ^ Alveolo-palatal consonants are subjected to regressive assimilative palatalization; i.e. they tend to become palatalized in front of other phones with the same place of articulation.
  10. ^ Most speakers pronounce ч in the pronoun что and its derivatives as [ʂ]. All other occurrences of чт cluster stay as affricate and stop.
  11. ^ щ is sometimes pronounced as [ɕː] or [ɕɕ] and sometimes as [ɕtɕ], but no speakers contrast the two pronunciations. This generally includes the other spellings of the sound, but the word счи́тывать sometimes has [ɕtɕ] because of the morpheme boundary between the prefix с- and the root -чит-.
  12. ^ Geminated [ ʐː is pronounced as soft [ ʑː, the voiced counterpart to [ ɕː, in a few lexical items (such as дро́жжи or заезжа́ть) by conservative Moscow speakers; such realization is now somewhat obsolete ( Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015:224)).
  13. ^ a b c d e f Vowels are fronted and/or raised in the context of palatalized consonants: /a/ and /u/ become [æ] and [ʉ], respectively between palatalized consonants, /e/ is realized as [e] before and between palatalized consonants and /o/ becomes [ɵ] after and between palatalized consonants.
  14. ^ a b Unstressed /a/ and /o/ regularly lose their contrast, being pronounced [ɐ] in word-initial position, as well as when in a sequence, and [ə] in posttonic position (i.e. after the stress); in non-initial pretonic position (i.e. before the stress) they are reduced to [ɐ] only immediately before the stress, being realized [ə] otherwise.
  15. ^ Only in certain word-final morphemes ( Timberlake 2004:48-51).
  16. ^ Unstressed /a/ is pronounced as [ɪ] after ч and щ except when word-final. citation needed
  17. ^ a b In the careful style of pronunciation unstressed /e/ and /o/ in words of foreign origin may be pronounced with little or no reduction.
  18. ^ Unstressed [ɵ] only occurs in words of foreign origin.

References

  • Cubberley, Paul (2002), "The phonology of Modern Russian", Russian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge University Press
  • Halle, Morris (1959), Sound Pattern of Russian, MIT Press
  • Jones, Daniel; Ward, Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN  0-631-19815-6.
  • Timberlake, Alan (2004), "Sounds", A Reference Grammar of Russian, Cambridge University Press
  • Yanushevskaya, Irena; Bunčić, Daniel (2015), "Russian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (2): 221–228, doi: 10.1017/S0025100314000395

See also