ы

[squodge.livejournal.com]

I was told many months ago that Russian was unique in that it was the only language that had the vowel sound depicted in Russian as ы.

I've now discovered that Romanian uses the exact same sound. My question is, does anyone know of any other languages that use this sound?

Thanks!

~ squodge ~

Comments

[bater.livejournal.com]

In Arabic language there is something that sounds like ы

[squodge.livejournal.com]

From what I learned in Phonology and Phonetics, Arabic only has three vowels, namely a,i,u. I've checked on www.omniglot.com and this seems to be true.

~ squodge ~

[bater.livejournal.com]

In some combinations "i" sounds like "ы", but there's is not specific vowel sound for this.

[med99.livejournal.com]

you might be talking about ayn, but that's technically a consonant

[rimokon.livejournal.com]

I think Polish "y" is the exact same sound, lol.

[squodge.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've just looked it up in www.omniglot.com and you're absolutely right ^__^

So now I know that both Polish and Romanian share this ы sound. I've looked at the Slavic languages and Russian and Polish are the only ones that use the ы sound.

~ squodge ~

[lacrimosa.livejournal.com]

"ы" is much more pronounced in Russian. I speak Polish fluently (my parents are native speakers, although my dad is actually Russian) and I never would have thought that the two were equal.

Some Ukrainians pronounce и (transliterated as y) as ы, but that's the influence of Russian speaking.

[dma.livejournal.com]

I personally doubt it. The Ukrainian и correctly pronounced as ы - they have i for the Russian и. And they do have i with two dots - the sound, which is absolutely fantastic, but even more fantastic is how the human being can correctly pronounce it :))

[lacrimosa.livejournal.com]

I think it depends which side of the river you're on, but ok. ;)

Re: Reply to your comment...

[dma.livejournal.com]

Well.. why do they need и and i then? :))

Re: Reply to your comment...

[lacrimosa.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I'm not a linguist, but the Russian ы has that backwards-diphthong quality to it: uuy.

Ukrainian and Polish -- it's a very plain y sound, without that little swoop in the back of the throat.

[alex-inside.livejournal.com]

i with two dots pronounced like "йи" =)

[alex-inside.livejournal.com]

exactly Ukrainian i = Russian и, и = ы

[a-1dao2-shi3.livejournal.com]

That sound in Polish doesn't exist. What people are thinking of is the ''y'' sound. It's pronounced more like the ''I'' sound in ''it.'' I also speak Polish and study Russian, I am certain that there is a clear differentiation between the two.

[squodge.livejournal.com]

I got my information from www.omniglot.com, and apparently the sounds are the same.

~ squodge ~

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I am a native Russian speaker. I have visited Poland a lot of times. I speak a bit Polish and understand spoken Polish. There is a minor difference between Polish and Russian Ы sound, but this is but a minor difference. In many Russian dialects (like Southern) this sound is exactly the same as in Polish.

[beowabbit]

Turkish ı (dotless I) isn’t identical, but it’s similar.

[gvadelupa.livejournal.com]

I think most of Turkic languages has 'ы' sound. E.g. phrase from Azerbajan language (with cyrillic-based alphabet, which was used in Azerbajan during Soviet period):

"гырмызы, jашыл, сары
Бакынын ишыглары"

As you can see, there are a lot of 'ы' sound. In that words 'ы' sound is pronounced the same way as in Russian.

[merclangrat.livejournal.com]

In Uzbek language, also Turkic group, letter "i" in most cases is pronounced as "ы".

[noser.livejournal.com]

Vietnamese has something like it. Written "ư" (u with a dot). Also, I believe, Estonian has something not entirely, but pretty close, written "õ".

[beowabbit]

Thanks; I always wondered how that was pronounced. Is ơ pronounced the same but more open (ie is it a centralized version of o)?

[noser.livejournal.com]

heh, I don't know Vietnamese. I just happen to know that fact. (questioned a coworker :)

[vladon.livejournal.com]

in all of the Turkic languages (Tatar, Chuvash, Azerbaijani, etc.)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

All Turkish languages have this sound. In Yakutian, for example, several words start with Ы, which never takes place in Russian.
Ukrainian and Polish "y" sound is a bit different but really close.
Eyonian and some other Ugro-Finnish languages (like Karjala and Hanty) also have this sound.
Vietnamese and Corean languages as well as some Chinese dialects have this sound as well.
There is also a sound in Welsh which counts for the genuinely Welsh sound that cannot be reproduced by anybody else but Welsh people; it is called "dark I". It is clear and plain Russian ы :))

[gvadelupa.livejournal.com]

"Проводник разбудил нас за десять минут до остановки.
- Спите, а мы Ыхью проехали, - недовольно выговорил он.
Жбанков неподвижно и долго смотрел в пространство. Затем сказал:
- Когда проводники собираются вместе, один другому, наверное, говорит:
"Все могу простить человеку. Но ежели кто спит, а мы Ыхью проезжаем - век тому не забуду..."

Сергей Довлатов. Компромисс (http://lib.web-malina.com/getbook.php?bid=1779)

Although "Ыхья" is name of station which was invented by Dovlatov, as all Estonian colour in his story, it seems to be like Estonian ordinary place-name.

[alex-inside.livejournal.com]

I can say that Russian, Polish, Ukrainian and some more are making Romanian language group and they may sound the same.

Ы - is the vowel that also you can meet in Estonian language, it is Õ (O with wave or dash on top), pronounced the same and is used pretty much.

[aveleen.livejournal.com]

It's not pronounced the same ;) It's very close to [e] or [o], but it is of similar physical characteristics with Russian ы.

[alex-inside.livejournal.com]

okey-dockey, u r philologist, it's more likely u know better, but for me they are the same

4 example: ÕLU, ПЫВО, ПЫВЫЩЩЕ =)

[igor-varnavsky.livejournal.com]

Yes. "Ы" is used in Kazakh language.

[ex-vision-fu642.livejournal.com]

I think that in all Asian languages (such as Mongolian or Kazakh) there is vowel which sounds as Russian "ы".

[makhachcho.livejournal.com]

In Corean language you can meet Ы very often.

[ekeme-ndiba.livejournal.com]

In fact there's a bunch of ы-like sounds in different languages.

1. Central close spread vowel, [i] (i with stroke). Russian ы, Romanian â/î, in some dialects - Ukrainian и.

2. Almost front almost close spread vowel, [ɪ] (small capital i). English i (in closed syllables), Polish y, Ukraininan и.

3. Back close-mid unrounded vowel, [ɤ] (ram's horn). Estonian õ.

4. Back close unrounded vowel, [ɯ] (turned m). Korean _ (eu), Turkic (Turkish, Azeri, Tatar etc.) ı/ы.