Russian phonologyThis article discusses the phonological system of standard Russian based on the Moscow dialect (unless otherwise noted). For an overview of dialects in the Russian language, see Russian dialects. Most descriptions of Russian describe it as having five vowel phonemes, though there is some dispute over whether a sixth vowel, ɨ, is separate from /i/. Russian has 34 consonants, which can be divided into two types: hard (твёрдый Ru-твёрдый.ogg) or plain soft (мягкий Ru-мягкий.
Relative articulationIn phonetics and phonology, relative articulation is description of the manner and place of articulation of a speech sound relative to some reference point. Typically, the comparison is made with a default, unmarked articulation of the same phoneme in a neutral sound environment. For example, the English velar consonant /k/ is fronted before the vowel /iː/ (as in keep) compared to articulation of /k/ before other vowels (as in cool). This fronting is called palatalization.
Phonological changeIn historical linguistics, phonological change is any sound change that alters the distribution of phonemes in a language. In other words, a language develops a new system of oppositions among its phonemes. Old contrasts may disappear, new ones may emerge, or they may simply be rearranged. Sound change may be an impetus for changes in the phonological structures of a language (and likewise, phonological change may sway the process of sound change).
Yo (Cyrillic)Yo, Jo or Io (Ё ё; italics: Ё ё; jɵ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Unicode, the letter is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO. In English, the letter Yo is romanized using the Latin ë (according to the ALA–LC and British Standards), ë (yë word-initially) (BGN/PCGN) or yo/jo (orthographic transcription) for Russian, and as i͡o (ALA–LC), yo (BGN/PCGN), or ë (BSI) for Belarusian. In international systems, Yo is romanized as ë (ISO 9). It was derived from the Cyrillic letter Ye (Е е).
SemivowelIn phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are the consonants y and w, in yes and west, respectively. Written j_w in IPA, y and w are near to the vowels ee and oo in seen and moon, written i:_u: in IPA. The term glide may alternatively refer to any type of transitional sound, not necessarily a semivowel.
