Spelling rules Pronunciation rules A few words about orthography

Introduction Dear friends! Look, listen, and read the comments! Memorize this useful information! Enjoy Russian spelling!

Transcription Stressed vowels are written in big, bold type − [ а ]. Pre-stressed vowels are written slightly smaller − [а], and the remaining unstressed vowels are written in even smaller type − [ а ].

Vowels These 6 letters represent simple vowels: А (1), О (16), У (21), Ы (29), Э (31), И (10) Анна [ а нн а ]AaaAnn он[ о н]he ум[ у м]mind мы[м ы ]we это[ э т а ]this is мир[м’ и р]world, peace

Compound vowels and their spelling These 4 letters represent two sounds, each in isolated position: Е [йэ/’э] Ё [йо/’о] Ю [йу/’у] Я[йа/’а] The spelling of these vowels depends on their position in the word.

1) Initial position In a word-initial position they are made up of two sounds: ем [й э м] I eat ёж [й о ш] hedgehog юг[й у к] south я[й а ] I

2) Position after vowels At the end of a word, following a vowel, they are pronounced as two sounds: моя [м а й а ]my читая [ч и т а й а ] reading мою [м о й у ]I wash двое [дв о й э ] two (collective numeral)

3) Position after soft consonants After soft consonants, they are pronounced as just one sound: мел [м’ э л] chalk лёгкий[л’ о х’к’ий] easy, light любит [л’ у б’ и т] likes рядом [р’ а д а м]near

4) Placed after a soft sign (ь), compound vowels are pronounced as 2 sounds: семья [с ’и м ’й а ] family бьёт [б ’й о т] hits пью [п ’й у ] I drink

5) Placed after a hard sign (ъ), compound vowels are pronounced as 2 sounds: объяснять [ а б ’ й и сн’ а т ’ ]to explain подъезд [пад ’ й э ст]door way объём [ а б ’ й о м]volume

System of consonants Hard consonants These letters Ж (8), Ц (24), Ш (26) always denote hard consonants: женский [ж э нск и й]feminine ножи [н а ж ы ]knives центр [ц э нтр]center цирк [ц ы рк]circus шесть [ш э ст’]six широкий [ш ы р о к’ и й] wide

Soft consonants These letters Й (11), Ч (25), Щ (27) always denote soft consonants: май [м а й]May чашка [ч’ а шк а ]cup щука [ш’ш’ у к а ]pike

Correlative consonants These 12 letters denote pairs of voiced and unvoiced consonants: Б (2) – П (17) В (3) – Ф (22) Г (4) – К (12) Д (5) – Т (20) Ж (8) – Ш (26) З (9) – С (19)

Voiced consonants with no unvoiced equivalents These letters Й (11), Л (13), М (14), Н (15), Р (18) denote voiced consonants with no unvoiced equivalents: мой [м о й] my луна [л у н а ]moon дом [д о м]house она [ а н а ]she рот [р о т]mouth

Unvoiced consonants with no voiced equivalents These letters Х (23), Ч (25), Щ (27), Ц (24) denote unvoiced consonants with no voiced equivalents: хорошо [х а р а ш о ]well очень [ о ч’ и н’ ]very щи [ш’ш’ и ]schi (russian soup) цирк [ц ы рк]circus

Note! According to the rules of Russian orthography, after ч, щ, ц must be written е/и (not э/ы)! After ц, must be written и in the middle of the word, but ы at the end of a word.

Spelling of а, о, у, э, ы, и in stressed syllables: мама =[м а м а ]mom мода = [м о д а ]fashion ум = [ у м]mind это = [ э т а ] this мы = [м ы ]we мир = [м’ и р]peace, world

Spelling of е, ё, ю, я in stressed syllables: есть= [й э ст’] to eat юноша = [й у н а ш а ] youth яблоко = [й а бл а к а ]apple ёлка = [й о лк а ] fir-tree моё = [м а й о ]my (neut.) даёт = [д а й о т]gives Note! A syllable containing the letter Ё is always stressed.

Pronunciation of vowels in unstressed positions. Quantitative reduction of vowels Unstressed vowels sound shorter than stressed ones: салат → [с а л а т] salad мама → [м а м а ]mom

Qualitative reduction of vowels Unstressed vowels are reduced: окно → [ а кн о ] window молоко → [м а л а к о ]milk метро → [м и тр о ]metro занят → [з а н’ и т] busy этаж → [ и т а ш] floor

Spelling of и in the position after -ь и after ь → [йи] семьи → [с ’ э м ’ й и ] families чьи → [ч ’ й и ]whose

Pronunciation of и after hard consonants After these prepositions letter и is pronounced [ы]: из Ирака → [ и з ы р а к а ] from Iraq от Ирины → [ а т ы р’ и н ы ] from Irina об их сыне → [ а б ы х с ы н ’ и ] about their son с Иваном → [с ы в а н а м] with Ivan в институт → [в ы нст и т у т] in the institute в Интернете → [в ы нт ы рн э ти] on the Internet к инженеру → [кынжын’ э ру] to the engineer

Devoicing At the end of words and before voiceless consonants voiced consonants become devoiced: Б → [П] араб → [ а р а п]Arab В → [Ф] вторник → [фт о рн’ и к]Tuesday Г → [К] друг → – [др у к]friend Д → [Т] год → [г о т]year Ж → [Ш] нож → [н о ш]knife З → [С] мороз → [м а р о с]frost

Functions of the soft sign ь. P honetic function The soft sign (ь) is used to denote 1) Softness of consonants: соль [с о л ’ ] salt пальто [п а л ’ т о ]coat

2) Separate spelling of soft consonants: семья [с ’и м ’й а ] family братья [бр а т ’ й а ] brothers бьёт [б ’й о т] hits пью [п ’й у ] I drink

Orthographic function of the ь The soft sign (ь) is used to denote 1) Feminine gender after the letters ж, ч, ш, щ: дочь [д о ч ’ ]daughter вещь [в ’ э ш ’ ш ’ ]thing

2) Forms of the 2nd person singular of verbs in the present and future. (This does not affect the hardness of the ш): думаешь [д у м а и ш] you think прочитаешь [пр а ч и т а и ш] you will read

The function of the hard sign ъ is orthographic. The hard sign (ъ) is used after prefixes that are followed by the letters е, ё, ю, я: подъезд [п а д ’ й э ст]doorway объём [ а б ’ й о м]volume объяснять [ а б ’ й и сн’ а т ’ ]to explain адъютант [ а д ’ й у т а нт]aide-de-camp

Spelling of consonant groups. Silent consonants When three or more consonants are clustered together in a single word, one of them occasionally becomes silent: здравствуй → [здр а -ств у й]Hello! солнце → [c о -нц э ]sun сердце → [с ’ э р-ц э ]heart праздник → [пр а з-н’ и к] holidays честный → [ч ’ э с-н ы й] honest

Reappearance of silent consonants Affected by a vowel that follows it or that is found at the end of a word, an otherwise silent vowel should be pronounced: здоровье – [зд а р о в ’ й и ] health солнечный – [с о лн ’ и ч ’ н ы й]sunny сердечный – [с’ и рд ’ э ч ’ н ы й]cordial честь – [ч ’ э с’т ’ ]honor

Special cases of the spelling of the letter ч In some words clusters of letters чт and чн are pronounced as [шт] and [шн]: ч → [ш] что – [шт о ]what конечно – [к а н’ э шн а ]sure, of course скучно – [ск у шн а ]boring

Special cases of the spelling of the letter г Placed between vowels, the г in его and in masculine genitive and accusative endings must be pronounced as [в]: его – [йив о ]his моего – [м а и в о ]of my нашего – [н а ш ы в а ] of our нового – [н о в а в а ]of new хорошего – [х а р о ш ы в а ]of good

Pronunciation of the letter cluster сч СЧ → [ш’] счастье – [ш’ш ’ а ст ’й и ]happiness считать – [ш ’ш’ и т а т ’ ]count

Pronunciation of the letter clusters -ться/-тся These letter clusters are pronounced like [ца]: -ться/-тся → [ца] учиться - [ у ч ’ и ц а ] учится - [ у ч ’и ц а ]

List of references 1) Акишина А.А., Барановская С.А. Русская фонетика. – М.: Русский язык. 1980, 102 с. 2) А.Л. Архангельская и др. Русский язык с компьютером. Шаг 1. Компьютерный курс русского языка для начинающих. «Истрасофт»: диск 3) ЯРУС. Астраханский государственный университет. Сайт : 5) Википедия. Гласные.

6) Кедрова Г.Е. и др. Интернет-учебник по русской фонетике. URL: 1/index1.htmhttp:// 1/index1.htm 7) Кирилл и Мефодий. URL: 8) Кириллица. URL: 9) Махов Б.Ф. Русский алфавит как система. article_id=

Text and presentation by I. Shigina Sound recording by E. Panferova Translation consultants: Karen Chilstrom (USA), A. Leonov, PhD