56 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[k] =

Fig. 2.13 [k], [k]˛. From Avanesov 1972:

[k] =	fig. 20

The approximate [j] is articulated with a tongue position like that of the vowel [i], so that the blade of the tongue raises close to the hard palate behind the alveolar ridge; [j] differs from [i] in that it is not the peak of syllables and involves greater narrowing of the tongue to the front of the roof of the mouth. Given its tongue shape, [j] is intrinsically soft.

The trills [r r˛] are made by one or more taps in the dental region. With the laterals [l l˛], the blade of the tongue makes complete closure in the dental region but the sides of the tongue are raised, allowing air to pass laterally (hence the term) along its sides. Together the [r]-sounds and the [l]-sounds are liquids. Hard [r] and especially hard [l] are velarized: the middle portion of the tongue is depressed and the back of the tongue body is raised towards the back of the palate.

Collectively, the nasals, liquids (trills and laterals), and the glide [j] can be grouped together as sonorants (in notation, the set “R”), a loose class of sounds that are neither vowels nor obstruents. Sonorants can distinguish palatalization, in this respect like obstruents. Unlike obstruents, sonorants lack a distinction of voicing; like vowels, they are normally voiced, and do not cause preceding obstruents to become voiced (§2.3.9). Between an obstruent and another obstruent or word end (the contexts C/ RC/ or C/ R#), sonorants can become syllabic: MXATf

‘from MKhAT’ [ t ´m x ƒt´], jrnz´,hm ‘October’, [økt˛a55b(ə)r˛], hé,km ‘ruble’ [rub´(ə)l˛],

⁄

;∫pym ‘life’ [z˝5z˛(ə)n˛].42

‹⁄

2.3.2 Palatalization of consonants

Most consonants -- sonorants as well as obstruents -- can be palatalized or not. That is, for almost every consonantal articulation -- for almost every combination of place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicing and nasality -- there is one sound that is not palatalized and another that is pronounced with similar

42 “I pronounce the word ;bpym as two syllables, with a ‘fleeting’ *ı” (Trubetzkoy 1975:238).

Sounds 57

gestures but is palatalized. For example, both a palatalized voiced labial stop [b˛] and a non-palatalized [b] occur, and both a palatalized voiceless dental fricative [s˛] and a non-palatalized [s] occur. Palatalization is similar but not identical for sounds of different places of articulation. Though there are these minor differences, all palatalized consonants influence vowels in the same way.

When a given articulation occurs in both palatalized and non-palatalized forms, that articulation can be said to be paired, or mutable, for palatalization. Thus [b] and [b˛] are phonetically paired, or mutable. Most consonants are mutable. Labials and dentals obviously are. Velars are as well, although the palatalized forms of velars [k˛g˛x˛] are more restricted than palatalized labials or dentals; they do not occur in all phonological contexts, and they rarely if ever distinguish words in opposition to [k g x].

Some consonants are not mutable: the glide [j] (necessarily palatalized); the

hard affricate [c]; the soft affricate [c˛]; the hard fricatives [s] (Cyrillic ≤i≥) and
‹	‹

[z] (Cyrillic ≤;≥). Although the alveo-palatal fricatives [s˛z˛] are palatalized, they
‹	‹ ‹

are not paired with [s z] in this sense, since [s z] do not become palatalized at
‹‹	‹‹

the end of noun stems in the locative singular (j lei† ‘about the soul’ has [s],

‹

not [s]˛or [s˛]) nor in the conjugation of verbs (g∫itim has [s], not [s˛]).

‹ ‹ ‹ ‹

Accordingly, four groups of consonants can be distinguished:

[2]	hard, immutable:	[s z c]
		‹‹
	soft, immutable:	[j c˛s˛z˛]
		‹‹ ‹
	hard, mutable:	[p t k x s z], etc.
	soft, mutable:	[p t˛k˛x˛s˛z˛], etc.

Among labials and dentals, both palatalized and non-palatalized variants occur before vowels and after vowels in word-final position. In both contexts, palatalization can distinguish words. Compare: prevocalic nj´vysq ‘languid’ [t] vs. n=vysq ‘dark’ [t˛], gƒcnm ‘fall’ [p] vs. gz´cnm ‘metacarpus’ [p]; and final postvocalic dßgbn ‘drunk down’ [t] vs. dßgbnm ‘to drink down’ [t˛], ujnj´d ‘ready’ [f] vs. ujnj´dm! ‘prepare!’ [f˛]. Because contrasts occur in final position where no vowel follows the consonant, palatalization (or its absence) must be intrinsic to the consonant, and in a phonemic analysis, it is the consonant, palatalized or not, that distinguishes words in Russian. If palatalization is distinctive for some consonants in that position, it can be assumed to be distinctive in position before a vowel. Thus the contrast of [t] in nj´vysq ‘languid’ vs. [t˛] in n=vysq ‘dark’ is usually analyzed as a contrast of two types of dental stops, non-palatalized [t] as opposed to palatalized [t˛].43

43In contrast to the abstract phonology of (for example) Lightner 1972, in which there is a rich set of vowel distinctions and consonants are intrinsically hard, becoming palatalized in the position before (underlying) front vowels.

58 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Palatalized and non-palatalized consonants occur with different degrees of freedom depending on the context (the position in the word) and depending on the consonant itself.

All mutable (phonetically paired) consonants historically were palatalized before {e} within lexemes. Palatalization therefore used not to be distinctive in the position before {e}. This historical rule, which dates from the period when palatalization first arose in Russian (a thousand years ago, in the period around the fall of the jers), has been eroded in various ways. Consonants at the end of prefixes are not palatalized before a root-initial {e} (cэrjyj´vbnm ‘economize<pf>’), nor is the final consonant of a preposition palatalized before the {e} of the demonstrative …njn ‘this’ (d …njv ‘in that’, gjl …nbv ‘under that’, c …nbv ‘with

that’, etc., with [ve], [de], [se], not [v˛e5 ], [d˛e5 ], [s˛e5 ]).

⁄ ⁄ ⁄

Consonants remain non-palatalized before {e} in abbreviations, when that {e} is word-initial in the base word from which it derives, as in YЭG ([nep], not

[*n˛e5 p] -- from “yjdfz эrjyjvbxtcrfz gjkbnbrf”). In borrowings, non-palatalized

⁄

consonants occur before {e}, despite the rule that consonants were historically palatalized before {e} (§2.3.3).44 Evidently, this primordial rule is no longer productive in all contexts.

2.3.3 The distribution of palatalized consonants

Not all contexts allow both palatalized and non-palatalized consonants. Palatalized consonants are more restricted in their distribution, but non-palatalized consonants occur freely in almost all positions except preceding the vowel {e}.45 The distribution of palatalization is sensitive to the type of consonant involved.

Dentals distinguish palatalization before all vowels except {e}. Dentals are even developing a distinction before {e} in borrowings, and are doing so more readily than other consonants. Palatalized dentals can occur when no vowel follows. Dental stops occur palatalized in final position after a dental fricative (i†cnm ‘six’, udj´plm ‘nail’ [s˛t˛] vs. i†cn ‘pole’, lhj´pl ‘thrush’ [st]). At the other end of a word, a palatalized dental stop can occur in word-initial position dissimilatively before a non-dental (nmvƒ ‘darkness’, nmaé ‘phooey’). Word-internally not before vowels, palatalized dental obstruents occur dissimilatively before velars and labials, but not before other dentals or palatals: nƒnm,f ‘thievery’, cdƒlm,f ‘wedding’, n=nmrf ‘aunt’, G†nmrf ‘Pete’. Derivational suffixes that now begin with a consonant, such as {-n}, once began with etymological m, a high front vowel which, a thousand years ago, palatalized the preceding consonant. Now consonants are not palatalized before these suffixes: -obr (ajyƒhobr but ajyƒhm

44 Glovinskaia 1971, Alekseeva and Verbitskaia 1989.

45 Glovinskaia 1976.

Sounds 59

‘lantern’), -xbr (kƒhxbr ‘box’ but kƒhm ‘chest’), -ybr (nhj´cnybr ‘reed’ but nhj´cnm ‘cane’), -ysq (zynƒhysq but zynƒhm ‘amber’).

Palatalized dental sonorants [r˛l˛n˛], and especially [l˛], are distributed more freely: word-finally after other consonants (vßckm ‘thought’, hé,km ‘ruble’, cgtrnƒrkm ‘spectacle’, ;ehƒdkm ‘crane’, dj´gkm ‘howl’, d∫[hm ‘whirlwind’, ;∫pym ‘life’), in comparatives (hƒymit ‘earlier’, nj´ymit ‘thinner’, v†ymit ‘less’), and in adjectives from months (jrnz´,hmcrbq ‘of October’, b÷ymcrbq ‘of June’, b÷kmcrbq ‘of July’). The lateral [l˛] has the widest distribution: gjhneuƒkmcrbq ‘Portuguese’, djltd∫kmxbr ‘vaudeville performer’.

Labials, before vowels other than {e}, can be either non-palatalized (gƒcnm ‘fall’) or palatalized (gz´cnm ‘metacarpus’). Labials are not palatalized internally before suffixes that once conditioned palatalization: rabmsk(jm > hƒ,crbq ‘servile’. Labials distinguish palatalization in word-final position after vowels: rj´gm ‘mine’ vs. jrj´g ‘trench’, ujnj´d ‘ready’ vs. ujnj´dm ‘make ready!’. They can even occur in word-final position after consonants, in [jhéudm ‘standard’, d†ndm ‘branch’. Final palatalized labials in isolated grammatical forms were lost early in the history of Russian (athematic 1sg prs damm > lfv ‘I give’, ins sg -Vmm > {-om}),46 and there is a slight tendency to lose palatalization in labials at the end of words in other instances, for example, dj´ctvm ‘eight’ [m] [m˛].

Velars [k g x] can be either palatalized or non-palatalized. For the most part, the variants are distributed in complementary fashion: the palatalized variant occurs before {i e}, the hard variant elsewhere -- before other vowels and in a position not before a vowel. However, exceptions to this strict complementarity have begun to appear. Palatalized velars occur before the [o] functioning as the ligature in the second singular through second plural of the present tense of velar-stem verbs, with varying stylistic values in different words. By now, [k˛] is standard in forms of nrƒnm ‘weave’ (2sg nr=im, etc.), while [g]˛was used by about half of speakers (in the survey of the 1960s) in ;†xm ‘burn’ (3sg ;u=n for standard ;;=n), and [k˛] by a quarter of speakers in g†xm ‘bake’ (2sg gtr=im); in the last two the palatalized velar is not normative. To the extent that present adverbial participles are permitted from velar-stem verbs (they are not universally accepted), the form has a palatalized velar (,thtuz´ ‘protecting’) by analogy to other obstruent-stem verbs (ytcz´ ‘carrying’). Palatalized velars appear before {a o u} in borrowings in the previous century: uzéh ‘giaour’, ,hfr=h ‘inspector’, r/h† ‘cur†’, vfybr÷h ‘manicure’. Palatalized velars do not occur in final, postvocalic position. Non-palatalized velars do not occur before {e i} in native words, although a non-palatalized pronunciation is normal for the [k] of the preposition r before {i} and {e}, as in r buh† ‘to the game’ or r …njve ‘to that’ or for

46 Shakhmatov 1925.

60A Reference Grammar of Russian

velars in compounds, as in lde[эnƒ;ysq ‘two-storied’ [x]. In this way, there is a contrast of sorts between palatalized [k˛] internal to morphemes (r∫yenm ‘toss’ > [k˛í]) and non-palatalized [k] in the prepositional phrase (r ∫yjre ‘to the monk’ > [k˝!]). Thus velars are moving towards developing a contrast for palatalization.

In native words, all mutable hard consonants (all hard consonants except

[c s z]) are palatalized in the position before {e}. In borrowings, a non-palatalized

‹‹

pronunciation is possible to a greater or lesser extent, depending on how well assimilated the individual word is, the familiarity of a given speaker with foreign languages, and systemic properties. When the question was investigated in the 1960s, it was found that in some words -- seemingly more ordinary, domestic words -- the frequency of a hard pronunciation was increasing: h†qc ‘route’, rjyc†hds ‘conserves’, rjyrh†nysq ‘concrete’, ,th†n ‘beret’, htp†hd ‘reserve’. With other -- more scientific -- words, the percentage of the population using palatalized consonants decreased from the oldest to youngest cohort: fhn†hbz ‘artery’, by†hwbz ‘inertia’, rhbn†hbq ‘criterion’, эy†hubz ‘energy’, ,frn†hbz ‘bacteria’. And in a third group there is no clear direction of change: ghjuh†cc ‘progress’, gfn†yn ‘patent’.47 Hard consonants are more easily maintained in stressed than in unstressed position. Dentals most frequently allow hard consonants, then labials, then velars. Yet a hard pronunciation does occur with labials and with velars: ,tvj´km ‘b-flat’ [be*mj´öl˛], v…h ‘mayor’ [m†r], g…h ‘peer’ [p†r], u†vvf ‘engraved stone’ [g†m´], r†vgbyu r…vgbyu ‘camping’ [k†mpìng], […vvjr ‘hammock’ [x†m´k],

u†nnj ‘ghetto’ ([g†] [g†]).48

˛

Overall, the possibility of having a contrast of palatalized and non-palatalized consonants depends on a number of parameters. The possibility of a contrast for palatalization depends on the place (and secondarily manner) of articulation of the consonant itself, dentals favoring the distinction more than labials, which in turn favor the distinction more than velars; yet velars at least have positional variation for palatalization, thereby ranking them ahead of the im-

mutable consonants [s z s˛z˛], [c], and [j]. Having a contrast in palatalization also

‹‹‹ ‹

depends on context. A contrast for palatalization is most likely before vowels (/ V), less likely in a position after a vowel with no vowel following; within the latter environment, palatalization is less likely than before a consonant (/V C) than in word-final position (/V #) -- perhaps because in most instances in which a palatalized consonant would appear word-finally, the given form alternates with another form in which a vowel follows (nom sg uj´ke,m ‘dove’ [p], gen sg uj´ke,z [b˛´]). Palatalized consonants are infrequent in contexts not adjacent to a vowel, though they can occur (nmvƒ ‘darkness’, ;∫pym ‘life’, hé,km ‘ruble’, [jhéudm ‘standard’). Among vowels, a distinction is made more readily before back vowels

47 Glovinskaia 1976:100--10.

48 Glovinskaia 1971:63.