User:Havocrazy/sandbox

Letter	Cursive	Italic Letter	Name	Old name	IPA	Scientific transliteration	Approximate English example	Russian example, romanization, meaning	№	Unicode (Hex)
Аа		А а	а [a]	азъ [as]	/a/	a	father	два dva "two"	1	U+0410 / U+0430
Бб		Б б	бэ [bɛ]	буки [ˈbukʲɪ]	/b/ or /bʲ/	b	bad	оба óba "both"	–	U+0411 / U+0431
Вв		В в	вэ [vɛ]	вѣди [ˈvʲedʲɪ]	/v/ or /vʲ/	v	vine	вот vot "here"	2	U+0412 / U+0432
Гг		Г г	гэ [ɡɛ]	глаголь [ɡɫɐˈɡolʲ]	/ɡ/ or /gʲ/	g	go	год god "year"	3	U+0413 / U+0433
Дд		Д д	дэ [dɛ]	добро [dɐˈbro]	/d/ or /dʲ/	d	do	да da "yes"	4	U+0414 / U+0434
Ее		Е е	е [je]	есть [jesʲtʲ]	/je/, / ʲe/ or /e/	e	yes	не ne "not"	5	U+0415 / U+0435
Ёё		Ё ё	ё [jo]	–	/jo/ or / ʲo/	ë	yore	ёж yozh "hedgehog"	–	U+0401 / U+0451
Жж		Ж ж	жэ [ʐɛ]	живѣте [ʐɨˈvʲetʲɪ]	/ʐ/	ž	pleasure	жук zhuk "beetle"	–	U+0416 / U+0436
Зз		З з	зэ [zɛ]	земля [zʲɪˈmlʲæ]	/z/ or /zʲ/	z	zoo	зной znoy "heat"	7	U+0417 / U+0437
Ии		И и	и [i]	иже [ˈiʐɨ]	/i/, / ʲi/, or /ɨ/	i	police	или íli "or"	8	U+0418 / U+0438
Йй		Й й	и краткое [i ˈkratkəjɪ]	и съ краткой [ɪ s ˈkratkəj]	/j/	j	toy	мой moy "my, mine"	–	U+0419 / U+0439
Кк		К к	ка [ka]	како [ˈkakə]	/k/ or /kʲ/	k	kept	кто kto "who"	20	U+041A / U+043A
Лл†		Л л	эл or эль [ɛɫ] or [ɛlʲ]	люди [ˈlʲʉdʲɪ]	/ɫ/ or /lʲ/	l	feel or lamp	ли li "whether"	30	U+041B / U+043B
Мм		М м	эм [ɛm]	мыслѣте [mɨˈsʲlʲetʲɪ]	/m/ or /mʲ/	m	map	меч mech "sword"	40	U+041C / U+043C
Нн		Н н	эн [ɛn]	нашъ [naʂ]	/n/ or /nʲ/	n	not	но no "but"	50	U+041D / U+043D
Оо		О о	о [о]	онъ [on]	/o/	o	more	он on "he"	70	U+041E / U+043E
Пп		П п	пэ [pɛ]	покой [pɐˈkoj]	/p/ or /pʲ/	p	pet	под pod "under"	80	U+041F / U+043F
Рр		Р р	эр [ɛr]	рцы [rt͡sɨ]	/r/ or /rʲ/	r	rolled r	река reká "river"	100	U+0420 / U+0440
Сс		С с	эс [ɛs]	слово [ˈsɫovə]	/s/ or /sʲ/	s	set	если yésli "if"	200	U+0421 / U+0441
Тт		Т т	тэ [tɛ]	твердо [ˈtvʲerdə]	/t/ or /tʲ/	t	top	тот tot "that"	300	U+0422 / U+0442
Уу		У у	у [u]	укъ [uk]	/u/	u	tool	уже uzhé "already"	400	U+0423 / U+0443
Фф		Ф ф	эф [ɛf]	фертъ [fʲert]	/f/ or /fʲ/	f	face	форма fórma "form"	500	U+0424 / U+0444
Хх		Х х	ха [xa]	хѣръ [xʲer]	/x/ or /xʲ/	x	loch	дух dukh "spirit"	600	U+0425 / U+0445
Цц		Ц ц	цэ [tsɛ]	цы [t͡sɨ]	/t͡s/	c	sits	конец konéts "end"	900	U+0426 / U+0446
Чч		Ч ч	че [tɕe]	червь [t͡ɕerfʲ]	/t͡ɕ/	č	chat	час chas "hour"	90	U+0427 / U+0447
Шш		Ш ш	ша [ʂa]	ша [ʂa]	/ʂ/	š	sharp	ваш vash "yours"	–	U+0428 / U+0448
Щщ		Щ щ	ща [ɕɕæ]	ща [ɕt͡ɕæ]	/ɕɕ/	šč	sheer (in some dialects pronounced as in pushchair)	щека shcheká "cheek"	–	U+0429 / U+0449
Ъъ		Ъ ъ	твёрдый знак [ˈtvʲɵrdɨj znak]	еръ [jer]		ʺ	(called "hard sign") silent, prevents palatalization of the preceding consonant	объект obyékt "object"	–	U+042A / U+044A
Ыы		Ы ы	ы [ɨ]	еры [jɪˈrɨ]	[ɨ]	y	roses, hit	ты ty "you"	–	U+042B / U+044B
Ьь		Ь ь	мягкий знак [ˈmʲæxʲkʲɪj znak]	ерь [jerʲ]	/ ʲ/	'	(called "soft sign") silent, palatalizes the preceding consonant (if it is phonologically possible)	весь vyes' "all"	–	U+042C / U+044C
Ээ		Э э	э [ɛ]	э оборотное [ˈɛ ɐbɐˈrotnəjɪ]	/e/	è	met	это éto "this, that"	–	U+042D / U+044D
Юю		Ю ю	ю [ju]	ю [ju]	/ju/ or / ʲu/	ju	use	юг yug "south"	–	U+042E / U+044E
Яя		Я я	я [ja]	я [ja]	/ja/ or / ʲa/	ja	yard	ряд ryad "row"	–	U+042F / U+044F

The consonant letters represent both as "soft" (palatalized, represented in the IPA with a ⟨ʲ⟩) and "hard" consonant phonemes. If a consonant letter is followed by a vowel letter, then the soft/hard quality of the consonant depends on whether the vowel is meant to follow "hard" consonants ⟨а, о, э, у, ы⟩ or "soft" ones ⟨я, ё, е, ю, и⟩; see below. A soft sign indicates ⟨Ь⟩ palatalization of the preceding consonant without adding a vowel. However, in modern Russian six consonant phonemes do not have phonemically distinct "soft" and "hard" variants (except in foreign proper names) and do not change "softness" in the presence of other letters: /ʐ/, /ʂ/ and /t͡s/ are always hard; /j/, /ɕː/ and /t͡ɕ/ are always soft. See Russian phonology for details.

^† An alternate form of the letter El (Л л) closely resembles the Greek letter for lambda (Λ λ).

Non-vocalized letters

Hard sign

The hard sign (⟨ъ⟩) acts like a "silent back vowel" that separates a succeeding "soft vowel" (е, ё, ю, я, but not и) from a preceding consonant, invoking implicit iotation of the vowel with a distinct /j/ glide. Today it is used mostly to separate a prefix ending with a hard consonant from the following root. Its original pronunciation, lost by 1400 at the latest, was that of a very short middle schwa-like sound, /ŭ/ but likely pronounced [ə] or [ɯ]. Until the 1918 reform, no written word could end in a consonant: those that end in a ("hard") consonant in modern orthography had then a final ъ.

While ⟨и⟩ is also a soft vowel, root-initial /i/ following a hard consonant is typically pronounced as [ɨ]. This is normally spelled ⟨ы⟩ (the hard counterpart to ⟨и⟩) unless this vowel occurs at the beginning of a word, in which case it remains ⟨и⟩. An alternation between the two letters (but not the sounds) can be seen with the pair без и́мени ('without name', which is pronounced [bʲɪz ˈɨmʲɪnʲɪ]) and безымя́нный ('nameless', which is pronounced [bʲɪzɨˈmʲænːɨj]). This spelling convention, however, is not applied with certain loaned prefixes such as in the word панислами́зм – [ˌpanɨsɫɐˈmʲizm], 'Pan-Islamism') and compound (multi-root) words (e.g. госизме́на – [ˌɡosɨˈzmʲenə], 'high treason').

Soft sign

The soft sign (⟨ь⟩) in most positions acts like a "silent front vowel" and indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized (except for always-hard ж, ш, ц) and the following vowel (if present) is iotated (including ьо in loans). This is important as palatalization is phonemic in Russian. For example, брат [brat] ('brother') contrasts with брать [bratʲ] ('to take'). The original pronunciation of the soft sign, lost by 1400 at the latest, was that of a very short fronted reduced vowel /ĭ/ but likely pronounced [ɪ] or [jɪ]. There are still some remnants of this ancient reading in modern Russian, e.g. in the co-existing versions of the same name, read and written differently, such as Марья and Мария (Mary).

When applied after stem-final always-soft (ч, щ, but not й) or always-hard (ж, ш, but not ц) consonants, the soft sign does not alter pronunciation, but has a grammatical meaning:

• feminine gender for singular nouns in nominative and accusative cases; e.g. тушь ('India ink', feminine) cf. туш ('flourish after a toast', masculine) – both pronounced [tuʂ];
• imperative mood for some verbs;
• infinitive form of some verbs (with -чь ending);
• second person for non-past verbs (with -шь ending);
• some adverbs and particles.

Vowels

The vowels ⟨е, ё, и, ю, я⟩ indicate a preceding palatalized consonant and with the exception of ⟨и⟩ are iotated (pronounced with a preceding /j/) when written at the beginning of a word or following another vowel (initial ⟨и⟩ was iotated until the nineteenth century). The IPA vowels shown are a guideline only and sometimes are realized as different sounds, particularly when unstressed. However, ⟨е⟩ may be used in words of foreign origin without palatalization (/e/), and ⟨я⟩ is often realized as [æ] between soft consonants, such as in мяч ("toy ball").

⟨ы⟩ is an old Proto-Slavic close central vowel, thought to have been preserved better in modern Russian than in other Slavic languages. It was originally nasalized in certain positions: камы [ˈkamɨ̃]; камень [ˈkamʲɪnʲ] ("rock"). Its written form developed as follows: ⟨ъ⟩ + ⟨і⟩ → ⟨ꙑ⟩ → ⟨ы⟩.

⟨э⟩ was introduced in 1708 to distinguish the non-iotated/non-palatalizing /e/ from the iotated/palatalizing one. The original usage had been ⟨е⟩ for the uniotated /e/, ⟨ѥ⟩ or ⟨ѣ⟩ for the iotated, but ⟨ѥ⟩ had dropped out of use by the sixteenth century. In native Russian words, ⟨э⟩ is found only at the beginnings of words or in compound words (e.g. поэтому "therefore" = по + этому). In words that come from foreign languages in which iotated /e/ is uncommon or nonexistent (such as English, for example), ⟨э⟩ is usually written in the beginning of words and after vowels except ⟨и⟩ (e.g. поэт, poet), and ⟨е⟩ after ⟨и⟩ and consonants. However, the pronunciation is inconsistent. Many words, especially monosyllables, words ending in ⟨е⟩ and many words where ⟨е⟩ follows ⟨т⟩, ⟨д⟩, ⟨н⟩, ⟨с⟩, ⟨з⟩ or ⟨р⟩ are pronounced with /e/ without palatalization or iotation: секс (seks — "sex"), проект (proekt — "project") (in this example, the spelling is etymological but the pronunciation is counteretymological). But many other words are pronounced with /ʲe/: секта (syekta — "sect"), дебют (dyebyut — "debut"). Proper names are usually not concerned by the rule (Сэм — "Sam", Пэмела — "Pamela", Мао Цзэдун — "Mao Zedong"); the use of ⟨э⟩ after consonants is common in East Asian names and in English names with the sounds /æ/ and /ɛər/, with some exceptions such as Джек ("Jack") or Шепард ("Shepard"), since both ⟨э⟩ and ⟨е⟩ are not palatalized in cases of же ("che") or ше ("she"), yet in writing ⟨е⟩ usually prevails.

⟨ё⟩, introduced by Karamzin in 1797 and made official in 1943 by the Soviet Ministry of Education, marks a /jo/ sound that has historically developed from /je/ under stress, a process that continues today. The letter ⟨ё⟩ is optional (in writing, not in pronunciation): it is formally correct to write ⟨e⟩ for both /je/ and /jo/. None of the several attempts in the twentieth century to mandate the use of ⟨ё⟩ have stuck.