Central monophthongs

English

Russian

[A] central low-narrow unrounded short and lax.

It is pronounced with the central part of the tongue raised in the direction of the juncture of the hard and soft palate a little higher than for [a]. The lips are spread. The opening between the jaws isn’t so wide as for [R].

[A] is not so open as Russian stressed [a]. It is like [кAкой].

A tongue must be held a little higher, give a shade of [R] (the bulk of the tongue should be advanced), shorten the vowel.

[E:] central mid-narrow unrounded long tense.

It is pronounced with the central part of the tongue raised almost as high as for [e]. There is no lip rounding. The opening between the jaws is narrow.

There is no counterpart in Russian. Don’t replace [E:] by [о], no arching of the tongue. The tip of the tongue touches the base of the lower teeth.

[q] central mid-broad unrounded short and lax.

It is pronounced with the central part of the tongue raised a little, but less than for [E:]. The lips are neutral. The opening between the jaws is narrow.

Don’t replace [q] by Russian [э] and [а]. It resembles unstressed sounds in such words: комната, рана.

Diphthongs

Warning

[eI] is pronounced with the bulk of the tongue in the front part of the mouth cavity. During pronunciation of [e] the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate, as for [e]. It is here front mid-narrow unrounded.

The tongue moves toward [I] (e→i). The actual formation of [I] isn’t accomplished. The lips are slightly spread. The opening between the jaws is rather narrow, wider for nucleus.

1. Don’t drop the glide (monophthong-ize).

2. Don’t replace it by different sounds.

3. Mind the length of nucleus.

4. There shouldn’t be any [j] or [x'] after [e].

The gliding movement of the tongue should be stopped before the tongue reaches the position necessary to pronounce these sounds. The glide should sound like a very weak and vague [e].

[aI] is pronounced with the bulk of the tongue in the front part of the mouth cavity, but slightly retracted. During pronunciation of [a] the front of the tongue is slightly raised, but lower than for [x]. It is front-retracted low-broad unrounded.

a→i. The front of the tongue moves higher in the directon of [I], but without reaching it. The glide sounds like a weak [e]. The opening between the jaws is rather wide for [a] and much narrower for [I].

1. Don’t replace [aI] by [R].

2. Pronounce it somewhat medium between [x] and [a].

[aI]

\/

[x] [a]

[aI] resembles Russian [a] between 2 palatalized consonants. For example, чай, пять.

[OI] During pronunciation of [O] the bulk of the tongue is in the back part of the mouth, the back of the tongue is slightly raised. The lips are slightly rounded. It is back low-narrow slightly rounded.

While pronouncing [I] the tongue moves forward and upward, towards [I]. The opening between the jaws is wide for [a] and much narrower for [I].

1. Don’t replace [OI] by Russian [o].

[I] resembles a weak [e].