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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.
The language possesses five non-allophonic vowels, which are given sepate letters depending on whether or not they palatalize a preceding consonant. The consonants typically come in pairs, hard 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 are somewhat drawled, while unstressed vowels tend to be reduced to an unclear schwa. Consonant clusters tend to be simplified.
The spoken dialects show a vey large number of variations.
Vowels
The modern standard Russian has five non-allophonic vowels:
| а — я | /a/ — /ja/ or / ʲa/
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| э — е | /ɛ/ — /je/ or / ʲe/
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| ы — и | /ɨ/ or /ɪ/ — / ʲi/ or /i/ (see below)
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| o — ё | /o/ — /jo/ or / ʲo/
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| у — ю | /u/ — /ju/ or / ʲu/
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The second letter in each row (with the exception of / ʲi/ — /i/) denotes the sound produced by iotation (when initial, see Semi-vowel) or softening (when preceded by a consonant, see Consonants).
The vowels ы and и (/ɪ/ and /i/) are considered allophonic. Their isolated pronunciation is distinct. The vowel /ɪ/ is more tense than the /i/, and the position of the tongue differs: neutrally flat for /ɪ/, slightly raised (without tension) for /i/. However, the two sounds tend to merge when unstressed or when following the sibilant consonants ж /ʒ/, ш /ʃ/, щ /ʆ/,ц /ʦ/, ч /tʆ/. See Consonants for details.
The pronunciation of Russian vowels greatly depends on the dialect. Standard speech pronounces vowels clearly only under stress. In the unstressed (weak) position, vowels are reduced to a neutral vowel, more or less a schwa /ə/. This reduction is least evident in the syllable immediately before the one stressed. Russian orthography does not reflect vowel reduction.
Semi-vowel
Russian possesses one semi-vowel: й /j/, equivalent to the English <y> in yes. The /j/ always immediately precedes or follows a vowel. If it follows, as in русский /'ʀu.skʲɪj/, it is denoted in writing with й. If it precedes (iotation), it is incorporated in writing with the following vowel sound in the iotated/softening series of vowels given above: ем /jem/ "I eat". In some foreign words, however, the й is also written before the vowel: йога /'jo.gə/ "yoga" (the non-existent word *ёга would be pronounced identically). If the /j/ 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 /'sʲje.zʲdʲɪtʲ/, "to have driven/ridden/travelled"; панъевропейский /'pan.jə.vʀʌ.'pʲej.skʲɪj/ "pan-European"; пью /pʲju/ "I drink"; пьеса /'pʲje.sə/ "a theatrical play".
Consonants
 The letter Щ in an ABC book printed in St. Petersburg in 1904 Hard and soft consonants
Russian consonants are of two types: hard (твёрдый /'tvʲo.ʀdɪj/) and soft (мягкий /'mʲa.çkʲɪj/). 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 /i:/ that is not there.
Consonants with both hard and soft varieties
The consonants б /b/, в /v/, г /g/, д /d/, ж /ʒ/, з /z/, к /k/, л /l/, м /m/, н /n/, п /p/, р /ʀ/, с /s/, т /t/, ф /f/, х /ɤ/ have both a hard and a soft pronunciation. Except for ж /ʒ/, their softness is indicated in writing:
- if followed by a soft sign ь;
- always before the vowels я / ʲa/ or /ja/, ё / ʲo/ or /jo/, и / ʲi/, ю / ʲu/ or /ju/, which are then pronounced as standard uniotated а /a/, о /o/, и /i/, у /u/ (the initial и /i/ has not been iotated since the nineteenth century);
- almost always before the vowel е / ʲe/ or /je/, which is then pronounced as э /e/ or /ɛ/. In words borrowed from other languages, it is often the case that е does not soften the preceding consonant at first, but does so after the foreign word has been fully adopted into Russian. For example, Fr/E chauffeur > R шофер; early twentieth century pronunciation /ʃo.'fɛʀ/, modern pronunciation шофёр, /ʃʌ.'fʲoʀ/.
The soft pronunciation of ж is indicated in writing by doubling: жж /ʓ/ (as in жжёшь /ʓoʃ/ "you (sg) burn"). Otherwise, the consonant ж /ʒ/ is always hard, except in isolated cases of consonant assimilation (see below): жаба /'ʒa.bə/ "toad". There is exactly one unassimilated exception: жюри /ʓu.'ʀʲi/ "jury". In feminine nouns and in some inflexional forms, a soft sign ь is written by historical tradition after the undoubled ж /ʒ/ at the end of the word, but there is no softening: рожь /ʀoʒ/ "rye". Similarly, a е /e/, ё /o/, or и /i/ or /ɨ/ written after the undoubled ж does not imply a soft pronunciation: также /'ta.kʒə/ "also", жёлтый /'ʒo.ltəj/ "yellow", жить /ʒɪtʲ/ "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 /ʃ/ and ц /ʦ/ 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 /ʆ/ and ч /tʲʆ/ 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 /ɤ/ is a guttural similar to the German [ch] in ach. The soft хь /ç/ is a soft sibilant similar to the German soft [ch] in ich.
The hard л /l/, т /t/, and д /d/ are dental, with the tongue kept much lower than for the English /l/, /t/, /d/. The soft ль /lʲ/, ть /tʲ/, and дь /dʲ/ are much closer to the English /l/, /t/, /d/ than the hard Russian /l/, /t/, /d/.
Both the hard р /ʀ/ and the soft рь /ʀʲ/ are trilled.
The hard ж /ʒ/ is similar to the English [s] in pleasure, but is harder (the tongue is lower). The soft жж /ʓ/ is close to the English [s] in pleasure.
The hard ш /ʃ/ is similar to the English [sh] in ship, but is considerably harder. The soft щ /ʆ/ is close to the English [sh] in ship, but is somewhat softer. The consonant щ is sometimes pronounced /ʆtʲʆ/, but such precision may sound affected to many Russians.
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 /'stʀo.gə.nʌf/.
- Voiceless consonants with voiced counterparts become voiced before voiced consonants: футбол /fu.'dbol/ "soccer/football".
- Similarly, voiced consonants with voiceless counterparts become voiceless before voiceless consonants:водка /'vo.tkə/ "vodka".
- Consonants assimiliate at morphemic boundaries. For example, с /s/ + ч /tʲʆ/ > [*щ] /ʆ/: счастье /'ʆa.sʲtʲjə/ "happiness, fortune".
- Certain clusters of consonants assimilate in individual cases even if not at morphemic boundaries. For example, sometimes з /z/ + ж /ʒ/ > [*жж] /ʓ/: езжу /'je.ʓu/ "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 /g/ 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 /jɪ.'vo/ his, him; белого /'bʲe.lə.və/ "(of the) white"; синего /'sʲi.nʲɪ.və/ "(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 /'do.mə/, of the house; дома́ /dʌ.'ma/, 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 slurred levelling of the unstressed vowels to an /a/ or /ʌ/ ("akanye" аканье), a schwa /ə/, or an intermediate frontal vowel /ɪ/ ("ikanye" иканье). 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 slurred less than the others.
- an affection for sibilant consonants in some positions. In particular, the pronunciation of [ч] /tʲʆ/ approaches that of [ш] /ʃ/ in a number of fundamental words. For example, что /tʲʆto/ ("what") is pronounced што /ʃto/. The pronunciation /tʲʆto/ is a hallmark of old St. Petersburg, but, though not yet dead, is in decline. This transformation is fairly common before a following /n/ sound: конечно /kʌ.'nʲe.ʃnə/ "of course", although in the related, and original, sense "finally", the /tʲʆ/ 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
 Russian scribe, 15th century Like all Slavic languages, Russian was originally a language of open syllables. All syllables ended in vowels (as in Japanese), 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 [-en-]/[-an-]/[-on-] 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 [ *sо̃̃tĭ ], OCS сѫть, R суть /sutʲ/ "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 [-dl-/-tl-] to [-l-]: ComSl [ *mydlo ], Polish mydło, R мыло /'mɨ.lə/ "soap".
- A tendency for greater maintenance of intermediate ancient [-s-], [-k-], etc., before frontal vowels, than in other Slavic languages, the so-called incomplete second and third palatalizations: R ноги /'no.gʲi/ Uk нозі /nozʲi/ "legs".
- Pleophony or "full-voicing"(полногласие /pʌ.lnə.'gla.sʲjə/), that is, the addition of vowels on either side of /l/ and /ʀ/ between two consonants. Church Slavonic influence has made it less felt in Russian than in modern Ukrainian and Belarusian: R воробей /və.ʀʌ.'bʲej/, OCS врабіи /'vʀa.bii/ "sparrow"; R Владимир /vlʌ.'dʲi.mʲɪʀ/, Uk Володимір /volodimʲiʀ/ "Vladimir"/"Volodymir".
Major phonological processes in the last thousand years have included:
- The failure 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 объ мьнѣ /o.bŭ mĭ.'nĕ/ > R обо мне /ʌ.bʌ 'mnʲe/ "about me"; OR сънъ /'sŭ.nŭ/ > R сон /son/ "sleep" (nom. sg.), cognate with Lat. somnus; OR съна /sŭ.'na/ > R сна /sna/ "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 къдѣ /kŭ.'dĕ/ > R где /gdʲe/ "where". Nonetheless, multiple consonant clusters thus created were often in their turn simplified: здравствуйте /'zdʀa:.stvʌj.tʲə/ "hello", not */'zdʀa.vstvʌj.tʲə/; сердце /'sʲe.ʀʦə/ "heart", not */'sʲe.ʀdʦə/; солнце /'so.nʦə/ "sun", not */'so.lnʦə/. The tendency to consider all clustered consonants to be at the beginning of a syllable whereever possible has, however, remained.
- The development of OR ѣ /ĕ/ (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 /ĕ/ into /e/ or /je/ has also been debated.
- The development of /e/ into /o/ under stress: OR сѣменъ /sĕ.'me.nŭ/ "seed" (gen. pl.) > R семён /sʲɪ.'mʲon/ "seed" (gen. pl.).
- A greater variety of (non-allophonic) soft consonants, and the systematic softening of consonants before /e/ and /i/.
- Conversely, the hardening of ж /ʒ/, ш /ʃ/, and ц /ʦ/, all of which were in the early historical period soft (/ʓ/, /ʆ/, /ʦ/, repectively). In particular ш was close to modern щ, which was a compound шч /ʆtʲʆ/ to a much greater extent than is heard today.
- The adoption of /f/ as a non-foreign sound, stemming from the loss of the final yer and the devoicing of now-terminal /v/. Before a vowel, where the /f/ occurs only in borrowed words, it was considered difficult for uneducated speakers to pronounce until at least the end of the nineteenth century.
See also
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