To clear up some misconceptions...

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Is an unstressed о at the end of a word (as in спасибо, хорошо) pronounced like an a?
I heard that words like говорить are really ga-va-REET'... but is it spa-SEE-bo or spa-SEE-ba?

Comments

[lollydoll.livejournal.com]

When it comes to спасибо I was told it didn't matter and could be pronounced either way.

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

I believe that its spaCIba, (possibly SPAciba, i've heard it both ways, but never with an o sound a the end), harasho, gavareet'.

[giggle-chick.livejournal.com]

i've been told that unstressed o's in general are pronounced like an a. When the o is stressed, then it takes on the characteristic "oh" sound

[vic-vega.livejournal.com]

Correctly [spasiba]. Final [a] is short.

Variant [spasibo] also correctly, but sound some provincial.

[lollydoll.livejournal.com]

I remember reading that. You're probably right.

[yers.livejournal.com]

"o" and "a" sound the same when unstressed; however, there are two versions of that common sound depending whether the following syllable is stressed. If it is, the sound is a clear "ah", if it's not, it's more or less a schwa sound like o in 'abandon'. For the nonce I'll use ă as a symbol for it. So говорить would be "gă-vah-REET'". Спасибо has the schwa-like sound at the end. (The pre-emphatic syllable rule only applies inside a word, so even if the next word after спасибо is stressed on the first syllable, the sound is still short.)

Хорошо, by the way, is stressed on the last syllable, so it's "khă-rah-SHO".

Some more examples: мостовая - "mă-stah-VAH-yĕ" (I'm using more or less arbitrary symbols, let ĕ = a soft schwa-like sound, like a very short "ee"); посёлок - "pah-S'O-lăk", пригород - "PREE-gă-răt", нагромождение - "nă-gră-mahzh-D'EH-nee-yĕ".

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Ohhh... I think I understand. It's хороший, but хорошо?

[yers.livejournal.com]

Yes. Actually a lot of adverbs shift stress compared to the adjective, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern. Светлый gives светло, for example, but весёлый — весело and сильный — сильно. You just have to be prepared for some randomness there.

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Happens in English too, actually...

Like the difference between permit (n.) and permit (v.)

[yms.livejournal.com]

Strictly speaking, it depends on region. E.g., in Ukraine this "ah" before the stressed syllable is perceived as Moscow accent. You may overstress this "ah" to mock a Muscovite or to tell a joke about Moscow nouveau riche.

[ekeme-ndiba.livejournal.com]

These silly jokes won't actually mock a Muscovite, since in standard Moscow dialect [a] sound exists in stressed positions only. The sound heard in the last pre-stress syllable is actually [ʌ] (like "u" in cut), and all other syllables have [ə] for both "a" and "o".

By the way, overemphasized [a] is a White Russian feature.

[welgar.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit too complicated (even for a native speaker like myself :-)). In general these sounds are very similar, so it's enough for a non-native speaker to just use the "ah" instead of "oh" for unstressed "о".

[welgar.livejournal.com]

Actually, there is a kind of rule for this kind of words in English. When it's a noun, the first vowel is stressed. When it's a verb, the second one is. There are some exceptions, AFAIK, but not so many.

[yms.livejournal.com]

It depends on your ear :) If you lived in Moscow, you might have not noticed the strength of pre-stress [a]. But if you lived in Ukraine and used to come to Moscow...

If you mean that clear pre-stress [a] is more typical for other regions like Ryazan etc., you may consider my comment as concerning just them.

[vty.livejournal.com]

ga-va-REET'
spa-SEE-bo

It's right to speek in russian :-)))) Hello from russia ;)

ga-va-REET' - say
spa-SEE-bo - Thank you

:-)