Russian has a basic six-vowel system: //i, ɨ, e, o, u, a//.4 (1) Standard Russian Vowel Inventory
front central back
close i ɨ u
half-closed e
mid (ɛ) o
low a
It should be noted that the front mid vowel [ɛ], shown in parentheses, is a positional variant of the half-closed vowel [e], appearing after [t͡s], [š], or [ž]
and in word-initial position. The mid back vowel [o] has been described as falling “between half-open and half-close but nearer to half-open than to half- close” (Jones, 1923/1969: 55). Though it is the same height as [ɛ], it has been a standard practice to use the IPA symbol [o] because the Russian mid back vowel is tense.5 Furthermore, the high vowels [i] and [ɨ] occur in complemen-tary distribution, the former is found after soft consonants and the latter after hard consonants. There has been a long debate in the literature whether the
4 Data and basic generalisations presented in this section come from standard descriptions of Russian phonetics, such as Jones & Ward (1923/1969), Avanesov & Ožegov (1959), Avanesov (1984), Timberlake (2004), Knjazev (2006), and others. Russian words and proper names have been transliterated using the International Scholarly System of transliteration, with the exception of letters ë and э, which are transliterated as jo and e, respectively.
5 It should be also noted that [o] contrasts with a more open lax vowel [ɔ] in many Russian dialects (Avanesov & Orlova, 1965; see Chapter 4 for futher discussion).
segments in question are different phonemes or allophones of one phoneme.
I assume, after Lightner (1972), Melvold (1990), and Plapp (1996), that the underlying high unrounded //ɨ// is a separate phoneme of Russian. The follo-wing binary features have been standardly used to describe Russian vowels:
(2) Feature specifications of Russian vowels
i u ɨ e o a
high + + + – – –
low – – – – – +
back – + + – + +
round – + – – + –
Russian consonants are either soft (palatalised) or hard (velarised). In the pal-atalised consonants, the tongue moves forwards and its upper part is raised towards the front of the hard palate, while in the velarised segments, the tongue moves backwards and raises its dorsum at different heights towards the soft palate (Broch, 1911: 224).6 The Russian consonantal inventory is presented in (3) below. It does not include contextual variants resulting from voice assimi-lation; for a more detailed description, see Timberlake (2004). Palatalisation is indicated with a superscript [j ], velarisation is not marked. Note that palatalisa-tion is contrastive for most consonants except for the dental affricate [t͡s], which is hard, and the alveo-palatal affricate [čj] and the palatal glide [j], which are always soft.
(3) Russian Consonantal Inventory
bilabial labio-dental dental (alveo-)palatal velar
voiceless stop p pj t tj k kj
voiced stop b bj d dj g gj
voiceless affricate t͡s čj
voiced affricate
voiceless fricative f fj s sj š šj: x xj
voiced fricative v vj z zj ž žj:
nasal stop m mj n nj
lateral l lj
trill r rj
glide j
6 Palatalised consonants are also referred to as soft, and velarised consonants are also called hard or non-palatalised in the present book.
2 .2 . Vowel reduction
The full set of vocalic contrasts presented in (1) is found only in stressed sylla-bles.7 Two degrees of reduction are observed in unstressed syllables. In imme-diately pretonic positions, the inventory is reduced to four vowels [i], [ɨ], [u]
and [a] (moderate reduction). The unstressed [i], [ɨ] and [u] are produced with a lower position of the tongue than their stressed counterparts. Phonetically, they are defined as half-close lax vowels and usually transcribed as [ɪ], [ᵼ], and [ʊ], respectively (Jones, 1923/1969). In the present book, the symbols [i], [ɨ], and [u] will be used for vowels in both stressed and immediately pretonic positions, and symbols [ɪ], [ᵼ], and [ʊ] will be employed for other positions.
The quality of the reduced vowel depends on the secondary articu-lation of the preceding consonant. After a hard consonant or word-initially, the mid vowel //o// is lowered and unrounded, resulting in an [a]-like sound.8 Traditional sources transcribe this sound as a not fully open central vowel [ʌ]
(Ščerba, 1912; Jones, 1923/1969; Avanesov, 1984). However, Panov (1967) notes that “not all speakers of literary Russian employ this pronunciation, the majority pronounce [a] instead of [ʌ]”.9 Kasatkina (2005) further reports that the pronunciation of a ‘compressed’ sound [ʌ] is characteristic of the stand-ard Russian spoken in the areas, in which local dialects lack vowel reduction, such as Northern Russian regions, Ural, Siberia, and Ukraine. In Moscow and surroundings, as well as areas in which local dialects neutralize the distinction between //o// and //a// in an unstressed syllable, a fully open sound [a] in imme-diately pretonic positions does not differ in quality from its stressed counterpart (see also Vysotskij, 1984: 35). Following Vysotskij (1984), Kasatkina (2005), and others, the outcome of the //o// – //a// neutralisation in the pretonic syllable is transcribed with the symbol [a]. This process is illustrated in (4).
(4) [o] – [a]
kot [ˈkot] ‘cat’ (nom. sg.) – kota [kaˈta] (gen. sg.) stol [ˈstol] ‘table’ (nom. sg.) – stola [staˈla] (gen. sg.) bok [ˈbok] ‘side’ (nom. sg.) – boka [baˈka] (nom. pl.) zori [ˈzorjɪ] ‘dawn’ (nom. pl.) – zorja [zaˈrja] (nom. sg.) koról’ [kaˈrolj] ‘king’ (nom. sg.) – korolja [kәraˈlja] (gen. sg.)
7 In the present study, the term “accent” is employed for an abstract prosodic feature, whereas
“stress” refers to the surface properties of utterances.
8 Vowels in pretonic syllables reduce to [i] after soft consonants. This process is discussed and analysed in Chapter 6.
9 Cited after Kasatkina (2005: 31), translation is mine.
Extreme reduction occurs in post-tonic (5a) and not immediately pretonic positions (5b), in which all vowels, with the exception of //u// and //ɨ//, are centralised to [ә] after hard consonants and to a front vowel [ɪ] after palatalised consonants. The unstressed vowels [ʊ] and [ᵼ] do not lose their timbre, though they are shorter and lower than their stressed counterparts //u// and //ɨ//.10 (Note:
a capital letter ‘V’ stands for a vowel.) (5) a. Post-tonic positions
V – [ә]
volos [vaˈlos] ‘hair’ (gen. pl.) – volos [ˈvolәs] ‘hair’ (nom. sg.) golov [gaˈlof] ‘head’ (gen. pl.) – nagolovu [ˈnagәlәvʊ] ‘(defeat) utterly’
zerkal [zjirˈkal] ‘mirror’ (gen. pl.) – zerkalo [ˈzjerkәlә] (nom. sg.) skazat’ [skaˈzatj] ‘tell’ – vyskazat’ [ˈvɨskәzәtj] ‘outspeak’
b. Not immediately pretonic positions
V – [ә]
gorod [ˈgorәt] ‘town’ – gorodok [gәraˈdok] ‘small town’
golos [ˈgolәs] ‘voice’ (nom. sg.) – golosov [gәlaˈsof] (gen. pl.) parus [ˈparʊs] ‘sail’ (nom. sg.) – parusa [pәruˈsa] (nom. pl.)
maska [ˈmaskә] ‘mask’ – maskarad [mәskaˈrat] ‘masquerade’
The extreme reduction is blocked in absolute word-initial position, where //a//
and //o// neutralise to the low vowel [a] instead of the expected schwa. Some examples are given below.
(6) odinokij [adiˈnokjɪi̭] *[әdiˈnokjɪi̭] ‘lonely’
okružat’ [akruˈžatj] *[әkruˈžatj] ‘surround’
akvarel’ [akvaˈrjelj] *[әkvaˈrjelj] ‘watercolour’
arendovat’ [arjɪndaˈvatj] *[әrjɪndaˈvatj] ‘rent’
Knjazev (2006: 41) presents experimental data which demonstrates that block-ing effects are found only in phrase-initial position, whereas word-initial vowels which are preceded by consonant-final words within the same phrase undergo extreme reduction.
(7) a. ogorod [agaˈrot] ‘garden’
iz ogoroda [iz әgaˈrodә] ‘from the garden’
vskopal ogorody [fskaˈpal әgaˈrodᵼ] ‘he dug gardens’
10 The reduction of atonic /u/ and /ɨ/ is not suspended in casual speech, where both vowels neu-tralise to [ә] (Zemskaja, 1973).
b. Aleksandr [aljiˈksandr] ‘Alexander’
ot Aleksandra [at әljiˈksandrә] ‘from Alexander’
krax Aleksandra [ˈkrax әljiˈksandrә] ‘the fall of Alexander’
In addition, the application of vowel reduction is blocked in hiatus sequences.
While reduction is regular when the second member in hiatus is a high vowel, for example naizust’ [nәiˈzusjtj] ‘by heart’, naugad [nәuˈgat] ‘by guesswork’, reduction to schwa does not take place in hiatus consisting of //o// or //a//, as illustrated in (8) below. It should be noted that vowel sequences are rare in native morphemes, but they occur freely at prefix/preposition boundaries and in borrowings. Here are some examples, taken from Avanesov (1984) and Shapiro (1968).
(8) //oo// → [aa] voobšče [vaapˈšj:e] ‘generally’, sootnošenie [saatnaˈšenjɪi̭ә] ‘ratio’
//oa// → [aa] poakkompaniroval [paakәmpaˈnjirәvәl] ‘he accompanied’
//ao// → [aa] naobum [naaˈbum] ‘random’
naoborot [naabaˈrot] ‘conversely’
//aa// → [aa] zaalet [zaaˈljetj] ‘grow scarlet’
zaaplodirovali [zaaplaˈdjirәvәljɪ] ‘they applauded’
Similarly, extreme reduction is blocked when //o// or //a// is preceded by //e//.11 (9) //eo// → [ɪa] ne otdam [njɪadˈdam] ‘I will not give away’
neodnokratnyj [njɪadnaˈkratnᵼi̭] ‘frequent’
//ea// → [ɪa] neakkuratnyj [njɪakuˈratnᵼi̭] ‘untidy’
reabilitacija [rjɪabjɪljiˈtat͡sᵼi̭ә] ‘rehabilitation’
It should also be noted that the vowels [o] and [a] are reduced to [ә], instead of the expected [ɪ], after palatalised consonants in some grammatical endings, for example, kurjat [ˈkurjәt] ‘smoke’ (3rd pers. pl.) vs. kurit [ˈkurjɪt] ‘smoke’ (3rd pers. sg.), cf. sem’desat [ˈsjemjdjɪsjɪt] ‘seventy’.12
In sum, the outcome of vowel reduction is dependent both on the prosodic as well as on the segmental context. The vowel inventory //i, ɨ, u,
11 In informal speech, the unstressed sequence [ɪa] can be pronounced [ɪә], or further simplified to [ɪ], and sequences [aa] can be reduced to [a] (Shapiro, 1968: 24,25). However, Avanesov (1984: 108) emphasises that such pronunciation is non-literary and warns against it.
12 The issues concerning morphological blocking effects will not be subject of the present inves-tigation; see Bethin (2012) for discussion and analysis.
e, o, a// found in stressed syllables is shrunk to the vowels [i], [ɨ], [u], [a] in immediately pretonic syllables (moderate reduction) and to [ɪ], [ᵻ], [ʊ], [ә] in atonic positions (extreme reduction). In moderate reduction, vowels //o// and //a// are neutralised to [a] after non-palatalised consonants and to [i] after pal-atalised consonants.13 The remainder of this chapter develops an OT analysis of vowel reduction taking place after hard consonants in atonic and pretonic positions. Before developing the tonal account of moderate vowel reduction, I present the analysis of extreme reduction, which can be considered a more general pattern as it takes place in positions which do not immediately precede stressed syllables.