Capsule summary of Russian pronunciation The transcription used in this article is
morphophonemic rather than strictly phonemic, i.e. it writes the underlying phonemes rather than the phonemes actually heard when pronounced. The difference occurs particularly in the representation of unstressed vowels, where multiple underlying phonemes merge. For example, underlying
e and
i merge into the same sound when unstressed, but the difference is revealed in related forms based on the same root: e.g. ''z'eml'á
"land" has accusative z'éml'u
, but z'imá
"winter" has accusative z'ímu'' . When the transcription (which is derived from the spelling) disagrees with the actual morphophonemic pronunciation, the latter is indicated specially, e.g. čto /što/; š'it' /šyt'/; ž'óltyj /žóltyj/; ž'ená /žená/ ; sólnc'e /sónce/ . This occurs mostly with the letters
š, ž, c, which are normally written palatal but pronounced non-palatal; but it is also due to occasional assimilations. Note that the rules for unstressed vowels still need to be applied (see below). •
á, é, í etc. indicates stress. •
š ,
ž and
c are never palatal, while
č and
šš are always palatal, regardless of spelling. •
y : allophone of
i [i] after non-palatal consonants, but written differently by convention. Written
i sounds as
y after
š, ž, c, regardless of whether indicated as palatal in the spelling: ''ž'it'' "to live". • Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables are extensive, but not written. • After palatal, vowels
a, o, e, i all merge as : ''t'až'ólyj
"heavy", v'el'ík'ij'' "big". • After non-palatal, vowels
a and
o merge as directly before the stress and absolutely word-initially, elsewhere:
molokó "milk",
sobáka "dog", ''č'elov'ék'' "man (human)". • After non-palatal, vowels
e and
i/y merge as : ''ž'ená'' . • Exception: Absolutely word-finally after a palatal,
e, i merge as but
a, o merge as : ''s'ém'a'' "seed". • Obstruents are devoiced word-finally, and agree in voicing in a cluster before another obstruent:
muž "husband", ''vs'o
"everything", vokzál
"railway station". But v'' does not trigger voicing of preceding obstruent, nor is it devoiced. • The reflexive suffix ''-s'a
and reflexive infinitive -t'-s'a
are pronounced without palatalization, i.e. as if written -sa
and -t-sa''.
Capsule summary of Bulgarian pronunciation •
á, é, í etc. indicates stress. • Stressed
ǝ is actually ; unstressed
a and
ǝ tend to merge as . • Obstruent voicing/devoicing as in Russian.
Capsule summary of Czech pronunciation •
á, é, í etc. indicates vowel length. •
ů <
*ó.
ou <
*ú. •
h ,
ch . •
č ,
š ,
ž ,
ř (a palatal
fricative trill, sounding a bit like ). •
ď ,
ť ,
ň . Also indicated by
d, t, n before
i,
í or
ě. •
y =
i but indicates normal rather than palatal pronunciation after
d t n. •
ě = short
e but signals palatal nature of previous consonant:
dě, tě, ně =
ďe, ťe, ňe;
vě, fě, bě, pě = ;
mě =
mňe. • Obstruent voicing/devoicing as in Russian.
ř after obstruent is itself devoiced rather than trigger voicing: přímý "straight".
Capsule summary of Polish pronunciation • Retroflex consonants:
sz ,
cz ,
ż ,
rz <
*ř (as in Czech),
dż . • Alveolopalatal consonants:
ś or
si ,
ć or
ci ,
ź or
zi ,
dź or
dzi ,
ń or
ni . • All consonants are palatalized before
i. Note that alveolar
s,
z,
n become
alveolopalatal when palatalized, absorbing the
i before another vowel:
chodzić "to walk",
siedzieć "to sit". •
h or
ch ,
w ,
ł . •
y ,
ó <
*oː,
ę ,
ą . • Obstruent voicing/devoicing as in Russian and Czech. However,
w and
rz do not voice a preceding voiceless obstruent, but instead are devoiced:
kwiat "flower",
przyjść "to come" <
*prʲijtʲ (cf. Russian ''pr'ijt'í'').
Capsule summary of Serbo-Croatian pronunciation • Accents:
á (long rising),
à (short rising),
ȃ (long falling),
ȁ (short falling),
ā (length in unstressed syllable),
ã (long rising in Chakavian dialect = Common Slavic neoacute). •
š ,
č ,
ž ,
dž ,
ć ,
đ ,
nj ,
lj . • Russian-style obstruent voicing/devoicing does not occur. ==Dialectal differentiation==