Russian Vowel Dipthongs Question/Thoughts

[Andrew Jameson]

Kenneth, what you're hearing is the transients as the mouth
moves from one articulatory position to another. Different
consonants are articulated in different parts of the mouth.
This is not so noticeable where the vowel is hard (in phonetic
terms, where the consonants on either side of the vowel
are hard). Where the vowel is palatalised however, it is
pronounced with the tongue arched upwards and it has
quite a long way to travel up (to make the palatalised vowel)
or down (to go from palatalised to unpalatalised). If the voice
is "switched on" at the time you hear the transients, e.g.
something like chit-A-EE-I-t' when pronouncing chitat', to read.

owe-uh is a case where O is articulated and then you hear the
mouth relaxing (e.g. at the end of words).

bI isn't really 00-ih, it's simply /u/ but changed by being
pronounced with unrounded lips.

OK, I know some of this is not kosher phonetics, but it's the
way I used to explain things to my students..

Andrew Jameson
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Languages and Professional Development
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK
Tel: 01524 32371  (+44 1524 32371)

----------
From: Udut, Kenneth <kenneth.udut at SPCORP.COM>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Russian Vowel Dipthongs Question/Thoughts
Date: 15 February 2000 20:07

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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