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

[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.