Page:Dictionary of spoken Russian (1945).djvu/225

 made with the tongue pushed forward. See especially under [e] and [i], below.

There are five vowels: [a, e, i, o, u].

[a] а, Я, like English a in father, but shorter: [как] как "how"; [dalj] даль "distance," with a y-like off-glide before the [lj]; [pjatj] пять "five," tongue drawn forward between the soft consonants; almost like English a in pat.

[e] Э, е, like Enghsh e in bet: [eta] это "this." Before soft consonants the tongue is drawn forward and the vowel is almost like English ai in bait: [yestj] есть "to eat."

[i] ы, и, like English i in will. After a hard consonant the tongue is drawn back (almost as if one were gagging), so as to produce a dull, hollow sound: [sin] сын "son," [bil] был "he was." At the beginning of a word and after soft consonants the front of the tongue is raised, giving a sharp high-pitched sound, almost like English ее in beet, but shorter: [iva] ива "willow," [pjitj] пить "to drink."

[o] о, е, like the vowel of English board, but shorter: [dom] дом "house"; [solj] соль "salt," with a y-like off-glide before the [lj]; [tjotja] тётя "aunt," with the tongue drawn forward between the two soft consonants; almost like French eu in peur.

[u] у, ю, like the vowel of English put, foot, but with the lips slightly thrust out, so that the sound, though short, resembles the vowel of English goose, soup: [sup] суп "soup"; [rulj] руль "steering wheel," with a y-like off-glide before the [lj].

The variations in the Russian vowel sounds take place in ordinary rapid speech in accordance with consonants in preceding and following words. Thus, [idjot] идёт "he goes" has the sharp initial sound of [i], but in [on idjot] он идёт "he goes" or in [brat idjot] брат идёт "the brother goes," the [i] has its dull sound after the hard consonant. In [fsje] все "all" the [e] is like the vowel of English bet, but in [fsje dnji] все дни "all days" the [e] has its fronted sound, resembling the vowel of English made, before the soft cluster [dnj].

 §2. RUSSIAN WRITING

Russian writing and printing, like English, fails to show the place of the stress. In books like the present one, which are intended for non-Russian students, the stress, is indicated by an accent mark, and by two dots over the letter e when it has the value of accented [é]: мука [muka] "torment," мука [muka] "flour," ковёр [kavjor] "rug." Two such marks on one word mean that this word is spoken in two ways, with one or the other stress: броня "armor" means that they say either [bronja] or [branja].

The Russian alphabet, with the most usual values of the letters, is as follows:

Vowel Letters. The Russian alphabet has two signs for each vowel sound:

In general, the letters in row (1) simply represent the vowel sound: ад [at] "hell," баба [bdba] "country woman." The letters in row (2) represent the vowel sound and in addition indicate that a preceding consonant has the soft sound: няня [njanja] "nurse"; at the beginning of a word or after another vowel letter or after the letters ъ and ь, they indicate that the vowel is preceded by [y]: яд [yat] "poison," шёя [ščya] "neck," объять [abyatj] "to embrace," семья [sjimjya] "family." There are various special cases and exceptions, mentioned in the following paragraphs.

At the beginning of a word, the vowel sounds are written а, э, и, о, у: ад [at] "hell," это [eta] "this," имя [imja] "name," он [on] "he," ум [um] "intelligence." Note that here и (and not ы) is used; this accords with the fact that at the beginning of a word [i] has its sharp sound, much as after a soft consonant.

Hard and Soft Consonant Spellings. The Russian alphabet has no special signs for the soft consonants other than [č, šč, y] ч, щ, й, which are always soft. There is no letter for the consonant [žj], long soft [ž]; it is written зж or жж: езжу [yežju] "I ride," жжёт [žjot] "he burns."

When a soft consonant comes before a vowel, the vowel letters я, е, и, ё, ю are used to show that the consonant is soft: баба [baba] "country woman": дядя [djadja] "uncle" сет [set] "set (of tennis)": вес [vjes] "weight" сын [sin] "son": винт [vjint] "screw" дом [dom] "house": лёд [ljot] "ice" муж [muš] "husband": люблю [ljublju] "I love"

But after some consonant letters a different choice is made. After the letters ж (including зж, жж), ч, ш, щ the vowels are written a, e, и, о, у: час [čas] "hour," шар [šar] "sphere" 