Changes in Russian pronunciation

[John Dunn]

Thanks to both Nathan Goldstone and George Kalbouss for their comments.  I am fairly sure that there is something in both of George's suggestions, and I would too would welcome comments on possible changes in intonation patterns.

I have to confess it is many decades since I saw the film Aleksandr Nevskij, but I wonder if part of the problem stems from the fact that the film is set in medieval Russia. It is rather fewer decades since I saw Ivan Groznyj, and I seem to remember that there are scenes in that film in which a version of 'Old Russian' is constructed which is sufficiently convincing, but also sufficiently comprehensible to pass muster with a modern audience.   

John Dunn.

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at listserv.ua.edu] On Behalf Of George Kalbouss [kalbouss at MAC.COM]
Sent: 25 June 2012 16:09
To: SEELANGS at listserv.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Changes in Russian pronunciation

        I'm not a linguist, but I sense there are two reasons for these differences.  The first has to do with what the Russians
call сценическая речь, i.e. the way actors project words into the auditorium, over-accenting certain syllables, ostensibly to
be heard better.  We know that the Russian cinema drew a lot of actors from the Moscow Art Theater (MXAT), and MXAT, in
the first half of the twentieth century, dominated in how actors pronounced words.  There are a few examples provided in
the Russian Wikipedia article, Сценическая речь.   All actors (and singers, too)in all languages, practice this to some extent, obviously it
is not as crucial nowadays with microphones and certainly on television and films, and that's why, perhaps, the practice
it less.  I think of the mumblings of people like James Dean,  Marlon Brando, etc. (ironically influenced by Actors Studio
which in turn was influenced by MXAT).

        The second reason is I think there have been changes in the intonational "tone" of the Russian language after the Revolution.  I
grew up in an immigrant community of the first and second "waves," i.e. pre- and immediately post-revolutionary emigres,
and I don't recall the "sing-songy" ups and downs of Soviet speech.  The emigre's speech was much more even in its
intonation than what one would hear on the Soviet radio.  Perhaps some of the movie actors in the 30's were still intoning
the pre-revolutionary way (if there, indeed was such a way), I do recall the opposite, though, of great intonational
variances in many actors' utterances.   I would appreciate someone else's thoughts on my observations.

        These are my observations, perhaps they are helpful.

George Kalbouss
THE Ohio State University

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