Russian Vowel Dipthongs Question/Thoughts

[Udut, Kenneth]

Hello SEELANGers!

I've been wondering if the following are
dipthongs (or 'almost' dipthongs),
among other things - please tell me
if I'm off base or not, or perhaps where
I could furthur explanations of this:

"Ya" seems to be "EE-AH"
"Ye" seems to be "EE-EH"
"Yo" seems to be "EE-OH"
"Yu" seems to be "EE-OO"

"O" seems to be, sometimes: "owe-ih", othertimes "owe-uh"
"A" seems to be, sometimes: "ah-ih", othertimes "ah-uh"


The 'E kratkoe' seems like a very short "EE-ih"

-bI- seems like "oo-ih", with the tongue
flat with a smile, and the soft palatte
seems to be vibrating, whereas -y-, seems like
"oo-ih" with rounded lips. and the voice box
vibrating...

I can feel these movements in my
mouth when I'm practicing alongside
of a tape, and have been hearing them
for a time on the tapes or in person
w/a Russian speaker.

I've noticed that when I try to
pronounce anything with an "sr"
combination - it comes out,
like a very fast, "See-uh-R",
and this is also how I hear it
when I listen to Russian.

"tr" seems like, "Tee-Rah".

"mr" combo seems like "Mee-r"

Any clues on this stuff?


-Kenneth
--
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing
at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the
tempting moment.   -author unknown
[Kenneth Udut   kenneth.udut at spcorp.com  simplify3 at juno.com]

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