PHONOLOGY
Russian Hard vs. Soft Vowels
The phonological systems between Russian and English are very different. It is difficult for speakers of Russian to acquire native-like speech of the English language, including intonation and pronunciation of sounds that are not part of their native language. Uses of intonation changes can cause confusion to the English speaker. For example, the Russian speakers may use a falling intonation instead of a rising intonation to ask a question.
Alphabet
There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, 21 consonants, 2 silent letters and 10 vowels without designation of short versus long vowel as in English. Many letters are similar in the way they look or sound compared to the English alphabet.
Vowels
Russian vowel sound very similar to English vowels. The Russian language system contains 10 (5 pairs) of vowels. The vowels are divided into two categories, including five "soft-indicating" and five "hard-indicating" vowels and they indicate whether the consonant before them is pronounced "soft" or "hard".
SLP TIP: Russian words have a one-to-one correspondence, there are no blends or homonyms (words that are spelled differently but sound the same).
SLP TIP: For English Language Learners, it will be difficult for students to learn that not all words
are pronounced as they look.
SLP TIP: Vowel sounds that are difficult to distinguish for the Russian language learner are /æ/ and /ɛ/ as in sat / seat and /ɪ/ and /i/ as in sit and seat. You should expect difficulty between /ð/ and /θ/, these sounds are not part of the Russian language. /ɲ/ at the end of words and /w/ and /v/ sounds cause difficulty also.
Consonants
In Russian, 37 consonantal sounds can be spoken from the 21 consonants available because of the vowels allowing the consonant sounds to be pronounced as “soft” or “hard”. Russian language also has voiced and voiceless consonant sounds
as in English.
SLP TIP: Russian speakers have difficulty with the /r/ just as it is with students learning English. The /r/ is especially difficult when it is preceded by /w/, as in the word "work" or "were".
Sources:
http://masterrussian.com/aa081201a.shtml
http://masterrussian.com/russian_alphabet.shtml
http://masterrussian.com/blalphabet.shtml
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED520566.pdf
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/Russian.htm
Alphabet
There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, 21 consonants, 2 silent letters and 10 vowels without designation of short versus long vowel as in English. Many letters are similar in the way they look or sound compared to the English alphabet.
Vowels
Russian vowel sound very similar to English vowels. The Russian language system contains 10 (5 pairs) of vowels. The vowels are divided into two categories, including five "soft-indicating" and five "hard-indicating" vowels and they indicate whether the consonant before them is pronounced "soft" or "hard".
SLP TIP: Russian words have a one-to-one correspondence, there are no blends or homonyms (words that are spelled differently but sound the same).
SLP TIP: For English Language Learners, it will be difficult for students to learn that not all words
are pronounced as they look.
SLP TIP: Vowel sounds that are difficult to distinguish for the Russian language learner are /æ/ and /ɛ/ as in sat / seat and /ɪ/ and /i/ as in sit and seat. You should expect difficulty between /ð/ and /θ/, these sounds are not part of the Russian language. /ɲ/ at the end of words and /w/ and /v/ sounds cause difficulty also.
Consonants
In Russian, 37 consonantal sounds can be spoken from the 21 consonants available because of the vowels allowing the consonant sounds to be pronounced as “soft” or “hard”. Russian language also has voiced and voiceless consonant sounds
as in English.
SLP TIP: Russian speakers have difficulty with the /r/ just as it is with students learning English. The /r/ is especially difficult when it is preceded by /w/, as in the word "work" or "were".
Sources:
http://masterrussian.com/aa081201a.shtml
http://masterrussian.com/russian_alphabet.shtml
http://masterrussian.com/blalphabet.shtml
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED520566.pdf
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/Russian.htm