WHEN RUSSIAN “O” SOUNDS LIKE “A”

The pronunciation of the vowels (not only “A” and “O” but all vowels in the Russian alphabet)
depends on the stress. The same vowel can give different sounds depending on whether it´s
stressed or unstressed. To know how to pronounce “A” and “O” in any given situation, you need to
understand what syllable it is in. The syllable can be either stressed or unstressed. There is only one
stressed syllable in a word but there may be several unstressed syllables and they are different. That
is important because it affects pronunciation!

The unstressed syllable can be either pre-tonic or post-tonic (“tonic” means “stressed”). The pre-
tonic syllable is the syllable that goes before the stressed syllable. There can be a 1st pre-tonic
syllable (“ча” in “часы́”), 2nd pre-tonic syllable (“ча” in “часовóй”) and so on. The post-tonic
syllable is the syllable that goes after the stressed syllable. There can be a 1st post-tonic syllable
(“чал” in “нáчал”), 2nd post-tonic syllable (“кать” in “зáвтракать”) and so on.

If a vowel is stressed, it´s pronounced exactly like in the alphabet. If the vowel is unstressed,
reduction happens. It means that the vowel is pronounced not exactly like in the alphabet and
sometimes even unrecognizably. It´s especially noticed in spoken speech when you speak so fast that
you don´t have time to pronounce everything accurately.

There is a 1st and 2nd degree of reduction. The 1st degree of reduction happens when the unstressed
vowel is right before the stressed syllable - for example, “за” in “завóд” is the 1st pre-tonic syllable).
It´s called first degree because the sound of the vowel doesn´t change that much, in fact, it sounds
almost identical to the sound that the stressed vowel gives, just a little shorter. ([^] in the table
below).

The 2nd degree of reduction happens when the vowel is far from the stressed syllable (2nd, 3rd pre-
and all post-tonic syllables - for example, “кать” in “зáвтракать” is the 2nd post-tonic syllable). In
this position, the vowel sounds very differently, almost unrecognizably ([ъ] in the table below).

To sum up, stressed “A” and “O” sound the way they are pronounced in the alphabet ([a] and [o]
respectively). If unstressed “A” and “O” are at the very beginning or end of the word or right before
the stressed syllable, the 1st degree of reduction happens and they´re pronounced as a short “A”, that
in transcription is marked as [^]. And in all other positions the 2nd degree reduction happens, and “A”
and “O” sound like schwa [ъ].

1. [а] is the sound that the letter “A” gives in the alphabet;
2. [o] is the sound that the letter “O” gives in the alphabet;
3. [^] is a short and less intense [а];
4. [ыэ] is something in-between “Ы” and “Э”;
5. [иэ] is something in-between “И” and “Э”;
6. [ъ] is something in-between “А” and “Ы”. It sounds very similar to the English schwa sound
[ǝ] like the final sound in the English word “water”.
7. [ь] is a very short and reduced [и].

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 UNSTRESSED SYLLABLE

STRESSED 2nd, 3rd pre- and all post-tonic

[ыэ]
after Ж, Ш and Ц

жакéт ['ь]
[á] [^] [^] [ъ] [^]
ж[ыэ]кет after Ч and Щ
А
ра́дость арбу́з заво́д караме́ль му́за
[иэ] частота́
р[á]доcть [^]рбуз з[^]вóд к[ъ]р[^]ме́ль му́з[^]
after Ч and Щ ч['ь]стота́

часы́
ч[иэ]сы

[^] [^]

окно́ тéло
[ó] [^]кно [^] [ъ] тéл[^]
O - -
мо́ре [ó] мото́р попроси́ть [o]
м[о]ре in borrowed words м[^]то́р п[ъ]пр[^]си́ть in borrowed words

Оклахо́ма Оте́лло
[o]клахо́ма [o]те́лл[o]

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