Russian phonology

The Russian language possesses five vowels, which are written with different letters depending on whether or not they palatalize a preceding consonant. The consonants typically come in pairs, called hard (non-palatalised) and soft (palatalised).

The standard language, based on the Moscow dialect, possesses heavy stress and moderate modulation in pitch (which is not a lexical differentiator). Stressed vowels have greater length, loudness, and clearer articulation, while unstressed vowels tend to be reduced to an unclear schwa, depending on their position relative to the stressed syllable. Consonant clusters tend to be simplified. The spoken dialects show a large number of variations.

Vowels

The modern standard Russian has five vowels:

а — я
э — е
ы — и	(see below)
o — ё
у — ю

The second letter in each row (with the exception of ) denotes the sound produced by iotation (when initial, see Semi-vowel) or softening, or palatalization, (when preceded by a consonant, see Consonants) of the first letter.

The pronunciation of Russian vowels greatly depends on the dialect. But in standard Russian, the following modifications in the pronunciation of vowels are made.

Stressed vowels

The default pronunciation of а is ; я differs from this merely by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant (or iotation at the beginning of the word). In both cases, is fronted to between palatalized consonants (see consonants below). So мать is realised as , whereas пять is realised as . When not following a palatalized consonant, is retracted to before as in палка .
The default pronunciation of э is ; е differs from this mostly by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant but also by a slight raising (). It should be noted that э is a relatively rare letter generally used only as the initial letter of a word. In both cases, is raised to before a palatalized consonant. Preceding hard consonants cause retraction to both and to and respectively. So столе and это are and respectively, whereas эти is .
The vowels ы and и ( and ) are considered allophonic of one i-phoneme. Their isolated pronunciation is distinct. appears only after hard consonants and never word-initially. appears word-initially and after soft-consonants. When unstressed, both are lowered to near-close positions; becomes and becomes .
The default pronunciation of о is ; ё, frequently written simply as е, differs from this by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant (or iotation at the beginning of the word). Where it occurs, ё is always stressed, and so need not be discussed below in the section on unstressed vowels. In the case of either о or ё, the vowel is fronted to between two palatalized consonants. For example, тётя is realised as .
The default pronunciation of у is ; ю differs from this by indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant (or iotation at the beginning of the word). In either case, the vowel is fronted to between two palatalized consonants. For example, люди is realised as .

Unstressed vowels

Standard speech pronounces vowels clearly only under stress. In the unstressed (weak) position, vowels are reduced in a number of ways, partly dependent on the position of the vowel in relation to the stressed syllable. Russian orthography does not reflect vowel reduction.

Reduction of о and a. These are reduced in similar ways. In the syllable immediately before the stress (the pretonic syllable), both are realised as . For example, потом becomes , and паром becomes . The vowel reductions apply across word boundaries, eg под морем becomes . The combinations аа, ао, оа and оо are all pronounced , as in сообразить, .
In pre-pretonic positions (before the stressed syllable, but not immediately before it), both о and a become . For example, молодой becomes .
In post-tonic positions (after the stressed syllable), both о and a become . For example, рано is pronounced .
There are a number of exceptions to the above comments on unstressed о and а. Firstly, о is not always reduced in foreign borrowings, eg радио, . Secondly, а is pretonically pronounced after ч and щ, eg часы, and щадить, . Thirdly, some speakers pronounce а as after ж and ш. In standard Russian, this pronunciation generally only applies to жалеть, , к сожалению, , and oblique cases of лошадь, such as лошадей, . а is pronounced as after ц in the oblique cases of some numerals, eg двадцати, .
Reduction of е and я. These are reduced in similar ways in unstressed syllables. Pretonically, both are realised as , preceded by palatalization/iotation where appropriate. So язык is pronounced . Also worth noting is that words that are differentiated in spelling by unstressed е and я in the pretonic position are pronounced the same, eg разредить and разрядить, both of which are pronounced .
Post-tonically е is pronounced , whereas я is pronounced . поле is . дыня is . Exceptions to this are that я is pronounced before a palatalized consonant and in a non-final post-tonic position, eg память, and выглянул, .
The unstressed vowels у and ю show a slight loss of quality compared with the stressed vowels, but the difference is not great enough to require a separate phonetic symbol. If a separate transcription were required, there is a slight tendency towards . An exception would be капюшон where the ю is pronounced .
As mentioned above, the unstressed vowels и and ы tend to lose quality and merge towards .
Unstressed э is pronounced , as in этап, .

Semi-vowel

Russian possesses one semi-vowel: , equivalent to the English <y> in boy. It is denoted in writing with й as in русский . When precedes a vowel (iotation), it is more commonly considered an approximant consonant and is incorporated in writing with the following vowel sound in the iotated/softening series of vowels given above: ем "I eat". In some foreign words, however, the й is also written before the vowel: йога "yoga" (the non-existent word *ёга would be pronounced identically). If the immediately follows a consonant and precedes a vowel sound, it is separated from the consonant in writing by the hard sign ъ (after a prefix, the sole remaining usage for the letter ъ in Russian), or by the soft sign ь (in all other cases): съездить , "to go, travel"; панъевропейский "pan-European"; пью "I drink"; пьеса "a theatrical play". Note: in the case of the hard sign, the modern tendency is for pronunciation to follow the spelling and thus to pronounce the prefix ending immediately before the hard sign hard.

Vowel Diagram

Front	N.-front	Central	N.-back	Back
Close

•

Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open

Consonants

Phonemic distinctions

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Phonetic detail

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Alveolar Post-
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Hard and soft consonants

Russian consonants are of two types: hard (твёрдый ) and soft (мягкий ). The hard pronunciation is the basic one, and is achieved in general by keeping the tongue as low as possible. For the soft pronunciation or palatalization, the mouth is slightly more open in a horizontal slit, and the tongue is drawn slightly back, almost as though to pronounce an that is not there.

Consonants with both hard and soft varieties

The consonants б, г, з, д, в and ж are devoiced at the end of a word.

The consonants б , в , г , д , ж , з , к , л , м , н , п , р , с , т , ф , х have both a hard and a soft pronunciation. Except for ж , their softness is indicated in writing:

if followed by a soft sign ь;
always before the vowels я or , ё or , и , ю or , which are then pronounced as standard uniotated а , о , и , у (the initial и has not been iotated since the nineteenth century);
almost always before the vowel е or , which is then pronounced as э or . In words borrowed from other languages, it is often the case that е does not soften the preceding consonant at first, but often does so after the foreign word has been fully adopted into Russian. For example, Fr/E chauffeur > R шофер; early twentieth century pronunciation , modern pronunciation шофёр, . On the other hand, the pronunciation of words such as отель "hotel" retains the hard consonants despite a long presence in the language.

The soft pronunciation of ж (always "doubled" = lengthened) is indicated in writing by doubling: жж (as in жжёшь "you (sg) burn"). Otherwise, the consonant ж is always hard, except in isolated cases of consonant assimilation (see below): жаба "toad". There is exactly one unassimilated exception: жюри "jury". In feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms, a soft sign ь is written by historical tradition after the undoubled ж at the end of the word, but there is no softening: рожь "rye". Similarly, an е , ё , or и written after the undoubled ж does not imply a soft pronunciation: также "also", жёлтый "yellow", жить "to live". The soft pronunciation of жж has in the twentieth century lost ground to the hard. Nonetheless, it continues to be standard in broadcasting, etc.

Consonants that are always either hard or soft

The consonants ш and ц are always hard. In writing, the soft sign ь historically follows ш, but never ц, for feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms at the end of the word.

The consonants щ and ч are always soft. In writing, the soft sign ь historically follows them for feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms at the end of the word.

Supplementary notes

The hard х is similar to the German <ch> in ach. Its place of articulation is velar. The soft х is a palatalized allophone of but is not pronounced like the German soft <ch> in ich , which is a palatal consonant.

The hard л , т , and д are dental, with the tongue kept much lower than for the English , , . The soft ль , ть , and дь have a more similar place of articulation with the English , , than the hard Russian , , . With /t/ and /d/, simple palatalization is not enough to describe the sound change: the raising of tongue with /t/ and /d/ often produces frication, thus the palatalized /t/ and /d/ can actually be affricates, with a brief palatalized (Russian does not contrast the briefly fricated and non-fricated versions, but this is possible).

Only the hard р , and not the soft рь , is trilled. It is impossible to trill the soft рь more than once.

The hard ж is similar to the English <g> in genre, but is harder (the tongue curled back). The soft жж is much closer to the English <g> in genre but more palatalized.

The hard ш and the soft щ are usually pronounced exactly like ж and жж respectively but are voiceless instead of voiced. The major exception being when щ is sometimes pronounced ; this pronunciation is falling into disuse.

Assimilation of consonants

In continuous speech, the pronunciation of consonants shows systematic transformations not reflected in the Russian orthography:

Voiced consonants with voiceless counterparts lose their voicing at the end of a word: строганов .
Voiceless consonants with voiced counterparts become voiced before voiced consonants: футбол "soccer/football".
Similarly, voiced consonants with voiceless counterparts become voiceless before voiceless consonants:водка "vodka".
Consonants assimiliate at morphemic boundaries. For example, с + ч > *щ : счастье "happiness, fortune".
Certain clusters of consonants assimilate in individual cases even if not at morphemic boundaries. For example, sometimes з + ж > : езжу "I go, ride, travel".
In clusters of consonants followed by a softening vowel, all the consonants, not merely the final one, tend to become soft. This tendency, however, manifests itself to different extents depending on the word being pronounced, the dialect, and, indeed, the individual speaker.

The historic transformation of into 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 his, him; белого "(of the) white"; синего "(of the) blue".

Stress

Heavy stress, rather than pitch or vowel length, lexically determines Russian accentuation. The stress may fall on any syllable, and may shift within an inflexional paradigm: до́ма , of the house; дома́ , houses. Note the different reductions of the unstressed о before and after the stress.

Phonology

The Moscow standard features:

A moderate amount of modulation in pitch, though pitch is not a lexical differentiator.
Slight drawling of stressed vowels and levelling of the unstressed vowels to ("akanye" аканье), a schwa , or a lax front vowel ("ikanye" иканье) as described in the section on unstressed vowels above. Iotation and palatalization (soft consonants) are preserved in the unstressed syllables, regardless of the level of vowel reduction. The vowels in syllables immediately before the stressed syllable are reduced less than the others.
an affection for sibilant consonants in some positions. In particular, the pronunciation of ч approaches that of ш in a number of fundamental words. For example, что ("what") is pronounced што . The pronunciation is a hallmark of old St. Petersburg, but, though not yet dead, is in decline}. This transformation is fairly common before a following sound: конечно "of course", although in the related, and original, sense "finally", the may be kept more often.
a tendency to soften consonants before е in borrowed words.

In contrast, the pronunciation in St. Petersburg has traditionally been more staccato, monotonic, and more faithful to the written appearance of native words and to the original pronunciation of borrowed ones.

The regions show a very large number of variations. As in many other languages, mass communications have considerably levelled the regional differences.

Historical sound changes

The modern phonological system of Russian is inherited from Common Slavonic, but underwent considerable modification in the early historical period, before being largely settled by about 1400.

Like all Slavic languages, Russian was originally a language of open syllables. All syllables ended in vowels (as in Fijian and Hawaiian), and consonant clusters, in far lesser variety than today, existed only at the start of a syllable.

By the time of the earliest records, Old Russian already showed characteristic divergences from Common Slavonic. Major features of this stage include:

The loss of the nasal vowels (the yuses of ancient Cyrillic), which had themselves developed from Indo-European ^*/^*" target="_blank" >before a consonant—usually dental or labial—and at word boundaries. Non-nasalized vowels took their place, possibly iotated or with softening of the preceding consonant: IE *’soⁿti, Lat sunt, ComSl , OCS , R суть "they are". Borrowings in the Finno-Ugric languages with interpolated [-n- after Common Slavonic nasal vowels have been taken to indicate that the nasal vowels did exist in E.Slavic until some time possibly just before the historical period.
Simplification of ancient to [-l-: ComSl , Polish mydło, R мыло "soap".
A tendency for greater maintenance of intermediate ancient [-k-, etc., before frontal vowels, than in other Slavic languages, the so-called incomplete second and third palatalizations: R ноги Uk нозі "legs".
Pleophony or "full-voicing"(полногласие ), that is, the addition of vowels on either side of and between two consonants. Church Slavonic influence has made it less felt in Russian than in modern Ukrainian and Belarusian: R воробей , OCS врабіи "sparrow"; R Владимир , Uk Володимір "Vladimir"/"Volodymir"; although the nickname form in Russian is still Володя .

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: OR > R обо мне "about me"; OR сънъ > R сон "sleep" (nom. sg.), cognate with Lat. somnus; OR съна > R сна "of sleep" (gen. sg.). (Please note that the yers are given conventional transcription rather than precise IPA symbols in the Old Russian pronunciations.)
The loss of the yers has led to a much greater variety of consonant clusters, with attendant voicing and/or devoicing in the assimilation: OR > R где "where". Nonetheless, multiple consonant clusters thus created were often in their turn simplified: здравствуйте "hello", not , although such a pronunciation could be affected in the archaic meaning "be healthy"; сердце "heart", not ; солнце "sun", not . The tendency to consider all clustered consonants to be at the beginning of a syllable wherever possible has, however, remained.

The development of OR (conventional transcription) into , as seen above. This development has caused by far the greatest of all Russian spelling controversies. The timeline of the development of into or has also been debated.
The development of into under stress: OR о чемъ "about which" (loc. sg.) > R о чём .
A greater variety of soft consonant phonemes, and the systematic softening of consonants before and .
Conversely, the hardening of ж , ш , and ц , all of which were in the early historical period soft (, , , repectively). In particular ш was close to modern щ, which was a compound шч to a much greater extent than is heard today.
The adoption of as a non-foreign sound, stemming from the loss of the final yer and the devoicing of now-terminal . Before a vowel, where the occurs only in borrowed words, it was considered difficult for uneducated speakers to pronounce until at least the end of the nineteenth century.

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