Template:Inline audio 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 {{IPA-ru}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Russian distinguishes hard (unpalatalized or plain) and soft (palatalized) consonants. Soft consonants, most of which are denoted by a superscript j, ʲ, are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate, like the articulation of the y sound in yes. /j, ɕː, tɕ/ are always soft, whereas /ʂ, ts, ʐ/ 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 Template:Audio-lang; апде́йт[2] boot Template:Audio-lang beautiful
d Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[2] do Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[2] dew (UK)
dz[3] Template:Audio-lang[2] lads [3] начди́в; Template:Audio-lang[2] jig
dzʲ[3] дзюдо́[1] lad's young
f Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang[4] fool Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[4] few
ɡ Template:Audio-lang;[5][6] Template:Audio-lang[2] goo ɡʲ Template:Audio-lang argue
ɣ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[5] Бог даст; дух бодр[2] between home and goo ɣʲ трёхдне́вный; други́х де́вушек[2] between argue and yes
colspan="3" Template:N/a j Template:Audio-lang [je-]; Template:Audio-lang [jɵ-]; Template:Audio-lang [ju-]; Template:Audio-lang [ja]; Template:Audio-lang[7] yes
k Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang[4] scar Template:Audio-lang; секью́рити skew
l Template:Audio-lang[8] pill Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang lean
m Template:Audio-lang moot Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang mute
n Template:Audio-lang noon Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[9] newt (for some dialects)
p Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang[4] span Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[4] spew
r Template:Audio-lang flapped or trilled r, like in Spanish Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang flapped or trilled r, like in Spanish
s Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang[4] soup Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang[4] assume (for some dialects)
ʂ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang;[4] Template:Audio-lang[10] rush ɕː Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[2][11] wish sheep
t Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang;[2] Template:Audio-lang[4] stand Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[4] stew (UK)
ts[3] Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang cats [3] Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang chip
tsʲ[3] Цю́рих[1] cat's young
v Template:Audio-lang; его́;[6] афга́н[2] voodoo Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang view
x Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[5] loch (Scottish); ugh Template:Audio-lang; Хью́стон; Template:Audio-lang[5] huge (for some dialects)
z Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[2] zoo Template:Audio-lang; резьба́; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[2] presume (for some dialects)
ʐ Template:Audio-lang; волшба́[2] rouge ʑː Template:Audio-lang;[12] вещдо́к[2] prestige genre
Stressed vowels
[-soft] [+soft]
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
a Template:Audio-lang father æ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[13] pat (US)
ɛ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang met e Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[13] mace
ɨ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; с и́грами roses (for some dialects) i Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang meet
o Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang chore ɵ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[13] foot
u Template:Audio-lang cool ʉ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[13] choose
Unstressed vowels
[-soft] [+soft]
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
ə Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[14] about ə Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[15] lasagna
ɐ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[14] bud ɪ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[16] bit
ɛ тетра́эдр; поэте́сса[17] met
ɨ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang; к Ива́ну roses (for some dialects)
o Template:Audio-lang; поэте́сса[17] chore ɵ ма́чо; сёрфинги́ст[13][18] foot
ʊ Template:Audio-lang pull ʉ Template:Audio-lang; Template:Audio-lang[13] youth
Suprasegmental
IPA Example Explanation
ˈ Template:Audio-lang [tɕɪˈtɨrʲɪ] stress mark, placed before the stressed syllable
ː Template:Audio-lang [ˈzːadʲɪ][2] consonant length mark, placed after the geminated consonant

Notes

mudé
  1. 1,0 1,1 1,2 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. 2,00 2,01 2,02 2,03 2,04 2,05 2,06 2,07 2,08 2,09 2,10 2,11 2,12 2,13 2,14 2,15 2,16 2,17 2,18 2,19 2,20 2,21 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 Template:Harvcol.
  3. 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5 The affricates [ts] and [tɕ] (and their voiced counterparts [dz] and [dʑ]) are sometimes written with ligature ties: [t͡s] and [t͡ɕ] ([d͡z] and [d͡ʑ]). Ties are not used in transcriptions on Wikipedia (except in phonology articles) because they may not display correctly in all browsers.
  4. 4,00 4,01 4,02 4,03 4,04 4,05 4,06 4,07 4,08 4,09 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 Template:Harvcol.
  5. 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 Template:Angbr is usually pronounced Template:IPAblink or (word-finally) Template:IPAblink in some religious words and colloquial derivatives from them, such as Template:Audio-lang and Template:Audio-lang, and in the interjections Template:Audio-lang, Template:Audio-lang, Template:Audio-lang, Template:Audio-lang, and also in бухга́лтер [bʊˈɣaltʲɪr] Template:Harvcol. /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 Template:Angbr as Template:IPAblink (soft Template:IPAblink, devoiced Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink) throughout.
  6. 6,0 6,1 Intervocalic Template:Angbr represents /v/ in certain words (Template:Audio-lang, Template:Audio-lang, итого́ ), and in the genitive suffix -ого/-его Template:Harvcol.
  7. The soft vowel letters Template:Angbr represent iotated vowels /je, jo, ju, ja/, except when following a consonant. When these vowels are unstressed (save for Template:Angbr, which is always stressed) and follow another vowel letter, the /j/ may not be present. The letter Template:Angbr produces iotated sound /ji/ only after ь.
  8. /l/ is often strongly pharyngealized Template:IPAblink, but that feature is not distinctive Template:Harvcol.
  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 Template:Angbr in the pronoun что and its derivatives as [ʂ]. All other occurrences of чт cluster stay as affricate and stop.
  11. Template:Angbr 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 Template:Angbr and the root Template:Angbr.
  12. Geminated Template:IPAblink is pronounced as soft Template:IPAblink, the voiced counterpart to Template:IPAblink, in a few lexical items (such as дро́жжи or заезжа́ть) by conservative Moscow speakers; such realization is now somewhat obsolete (Template:Harvcoltxt).
  13. 13,0 13,1 13,2 13,3 13,4 13,5 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. 14,0 14,1 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 Template:Harvcol.
  16. Unstressed /a/ is pronounced as [ɪ] after Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr except when word-final.[mancia na referënza]
  17. 17,0 17,1 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

mudé
  • 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
  • Template:SOWL
  • 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

mudé