On 2009-02-24 01:33, Andrew Jarrette wrote:
> So the Russian character which they always say is pronounced "shch" is
> actually not so pronounced, rather /S:/? Is it never and nowhere
> pronounced "shch", or do some dialects have /StS/ instead of general
> Russian /S:/? My Ukrainian girlfriend (who speaks primarily Russian)
> pronounces it /S:/, I think, although I've read that it also has some
> palatalization in it, similar to /S:j/ or something like that, so at
> times I think I hear her saying /S:/ with a slight [j]-like sound.
> But that may be merely because that is what I expect to hear, not that
> I actually hear it. So what is the real, actual pronunciation of the
> Russian "shch" character, throughout Russia (and Ukraine)?
Russian. Ordinary Russian /S, Z/ are apico-postalveolar, or even
slightly retroflex, with a "dark" quality. By contrast, /tS/ (without a
voiced counterpart) is a "soft" medio-palatal [tS']; the tongue is domed
rather than curled back. The long fricatives /S:, Z:/ traditionally
pattern with the latter, i.e. they are pronounced as [S':, Z':].
/S:/ can be spelt <{s^c^}> [one grapheme], <sc^, zc^, z^c^>. It does
have a variant realisation, [S'C'] (a cluster of two "soft" consonants),
but I don't think this pronunciation is common any longer. Word-finally
and next to a consonant, /S:/ may be pronounced short ([S']).
/Z:/ can be spelt <z^z^, zz^>. Alongside traditional [Z':], there is a
second, increasingly common pronunciation, a long "dark" [Z:]. They may
occur in free variation with each other.
<doz^d'> 'rain' is a case apart (the spelling is unusual, perhaps
borrowed from CS). It used to be pronounced [doS'(:)] ([doZ':-] before
inflectional endings), but the most widespread realisation today is
[doSt', doZd'-] (presumably a spelling-pronunciation).
As far as I know, Ukrainian has /S, Z, tS, dZ/. All of them are
allophonically palatalised when followed by /i/, and /S, Z/ are likewise
"soft" when doubled. I hope George Knysh will correct me if I got the
facts wrong.
Piotr