Central monophthongs
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 485.
| 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 [êAêîé]. 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 [î], 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 [ý] and [à]. It resembles unstressed sounds in such words: êîìíàòà, ðàíà. |
Diphthongs with [i]-glide
| 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, ÷àé, ïÿòü. |
| [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]. |
Diphthongs with [V]-glide
| Diphthongs | Warning |
| [aV] The nucleus is pronounced with the bulk of the tongue in the front part of the mouth, but slightly retracted. The front of the tongue is slightly raised. [a] is front retracted low-broad unrounded. While pronouncing the glide the tongue moves higher and backward. The opening between the jaws is wide for the nucleus and much narrower for the glide. | 1) Don't replace [V] by [ó] and [H]. 2) Don't protrude the lips. |
| [OV] The nucleus is pronounced with the central part of the tongue in the [E:] position. [O] is central mid-narrow unrounded. While pronouncing the glide the back of the tongue rises higher moving in the direction towards [V]. The lips are neutral at the beginning of the diphthong but during the glide they are almost as much rounded as for [V]. | 1) Don't replace [OV] by Russian [oó] or [o]. 2) Start [OV] with [E:]. [OV] resembles the sounds in this position: åùå ó íàñ. |
Diphthongs with [q]-glide
| Diphthongs | Warning |
| [Iq] During the nucleus the bulk of the tongue is in the front part of the mouth cavity. The front of the tongue is raised to the position of [I].[I] is front-retracted high-broad unrounded. While pronounc-ing the glide the tongue moves back and down towards [q] (its articulation is fully accomplished). The lips are neutral. | 1) Don't replace [Iq] by [I] or [i:]. 2) Don't omit the glide [q]. [Iq] resembles the sounds in this position: Ó÷è àíãëèéñêèé. |
| [Fq] The nucleus is pronounced with the bulk of the tongue in the front part of the mouth. The front is mid-way between the position for [e] and [x]. The lips are spread or neutral. [F] is front mid-broad unrounded. While pronouncing the glide the bulk of the tongue moves towards the position for [q]. | 1) [F] is more open than either the vowel [e] or Russian [ý] before a non-palatalized consonant (“ýòîì”). 2) Don't replace [Fq] by [F] or [e]. 3) Pronounce a weak Russian [A] after the nucleus. For example, as it is in the word: â êîíöå àëëåè. 4) Don't replace [Fq] by [e]. |
| [Vq] The nucleus is pronounced with the bulk of the tongue in the back part of the mouth, but slightly advanced. The back of the tongue is raised as high as for [V]. [V] is back-advanced high-broad slightly rounded. While pronouncing the glide the tongue moves down to the position of [q]. | 1) Don't replace [Vq] by [V] or[u:] . 2) Don't omit the glide [q]. 3) [Vq] resembles the sounds in this position: ïèøóîïÿòü. |
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| Back monophthongs | | | III. Modifications of Vowels in Connected Speech. |