[w] for [v] in the speech of Russians speaking English

[J P Maher]

EXCELLENT. Rus /v/ and /m/ are voiced by default but have no opposing voiceless counterparts, such as/b p, d t/...
jpm
 

________________________________
 From: Alina Israeli <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] [w] for [v] in the speech of Russians speaking English
  


I don't think anyone has mentioned yet (unless I missed it) that some phoneticians treat Russian [v] as semi-sonorant; it used to be a sonorant in Old Russian and did not loose all of its sonorant qualities. For example consonants before [v] do not assimilate, just like before other sonorants:

к воде [kv]
к беде [gb]
к маме [km]

It's not only systemic but also phonetic and articulatory, Russians don't bite the lip unlike French, for ex. Teeth don't even touch the outside of the lip, but rather somewhere inside the mouth, barely touching the flesh under the lip. 

Consequently, the sound produced, which is for Russians a [v] may be perceived by speakers of other languages as [w] (not in that video clip where she clearly confuses the two), but in the context of a Russian accent.

On Sep 18, 2013, at 4:52 AM, Piper Wheeler wrote:

I've often wondered about this, due not least to my first Russian teacher substituting the "w" in English *only* in the word "village" (=willage). Because I've since noticed this particular pronunciation in a number of Russians whose English is otherwise very correct, I've thought the "w" cropped up due to the short "ih" sound that's so foreign to native Russian speakers. This isn't a rigorously, linguistically informed opinion, and I'm interested to hear more reasoned answers.
>It does seem, though, that the "w" appears before phonemes that are rare or nonexistent in Russian-- so we see "wery" and "willage." I don't think any Slavic native speaker would say woracious, Kurt Wonnegut, woodoo, or wandal (=vandal). For example. 
>PW
>
>

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




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