the good old days, and that pesky letter "shee" (formerly "shch")

[Alina Israeli]

The argument goes back to the Moskovskaja foneticheskaja shkola vs.  
Leningradskaja foneticheskaja shkola. The old Petersburg  
pronunciation was shch, whereas the the Moscow pronunciation (and  
presumably of the rest of the country) was sh'sh' (long soft sh). It  
took decades to convince many people that while they thought they  
were saying shch, in fact they were pronouncing sh'sh', they had to  
be caught on tape in flagranti and made to listen etc.

However, like with some other sounds, for emphasis and in very slow  
and deliberate speech people say shch: On pojmal bol'shuju shchuku.  
Chto u tebja za shchekoj. (You have to watch mounds of Russian movies  
with a deliberate ear to actually hear it.)

Besides, let me assure you that if someone says Shchekochixin rather  
than Shshekochixin, no one would think he is incorrect.

Alina

On Sep 16, 2009, at 9:38 AM, Tatyana Buzina wrote:

> Hello,
> If your student means that letter shch means two sounds (sh+ch),  
> and for instance, щука (shchuka) is pronounced with five sounds (sh- 
> ch-u-k-a) he is wrong. It's "shuka" with long soft "sh" sound.  
> There is no "ch" sound there.
> Regards,
> Tatyana
>
>>

Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu





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