Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Correct Russian phonetics?

 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages Post Reply
17 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6542 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 17 of 17
14 May 2014 at 8:39pm | IP Logged 
Russian doesn't have real diphthongs. I think you're misunderstanding the "pronouncing vowels separately" part. Sometimes when it's needed for clarity, we actually use glottal stops like in Danish, but when there's no ambiguity, articulating the vowels too clearly can sound artificial.

However, the vowels are still affected by reduction/their position wrt stress, and one of them is always at least a bit stronger than the other. Of course it's the stressed vowel or the one closer to the stressed syllable. And if they are pronounced too clearly, it might sound like you're stressing the vowel, which is confusing, especially if you have other pronunciation problems too (including intonation). Theoretically поработаешь with a strong e can sound like a casual "по работе едешь". The ending -ешь is even more similar to the word ешь, obviously, but fortunately in most contexts it's clear enough that you're not speaking about eating.

Also, it's a bit of a misnomer to call я ё ю e vowels. These are letters denoting a vowel AND either й or a change to the previous consonant. After a vowel they should just be treated as separate syllables, with the caveat that й is weaker than usual between vowels, and especially in endings it can disappear completely. Essentially you just apply the same rules as always.

I think the instructions in textbooks are given mostly with English speakers in mind, since they turn even single vowels into diphthongs.

I'd say that if you have trouble reducing the vowels naturally, you can simply make sure to pronounce the stressed ones louder. But then you need to be confident about placing the stress.


3 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 17 messages over 3 pages: << Prev 1 2

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 7.6250 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.