gender of speaker?

[barbarakelley.livejournal.com]

The greeting (forgive spelling) Spraznikum. Most people seem to say it with the M on the end, others distinctly say "spraznika" with no M. I've read that some words in Russian would be said differently by a female speaker than they would be by a man; is this one of them? Or is this some local variation?

Thanks,
Barbara

Comments

[gordin.livejournal.com]

It's "С праздником" = S prazdnikom = [Spraznikam] (as actually pronounced).
Never heard of gender distinctions here...

[barbarakelley.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[b0bb.livejournal.com]

> The greeting (forgive spelling) Spraznikum.

"С праздником".

> Most people seem to say it with the M on the end, others distinctly say "spraznika" with no M.

The ears betray you, Barbara. M should be pronounced.

> I've read that some words in Russian would be said differently by a female speaker than they would be by a man;

Yes, for instance, when you use 1st person pronouns with adjectives or verbs in past tense: a man would say "Я умный", and a woman "Я красивая"... just joking... "Я умная". Same stuff with "Я запостил в ЖЖ"/"Я запостила в ЖЖ".

> is this one of them? Or is this some local variation?

This is most likely what you heard, not what was said.

[nyessax.livejournal.com]

I never heard the м either when I was growing up, and only learned the proper pronunciation this Christmas when I saw it written for the first time since learning Cyrillic.

[icedink.livejournal.com]

It's just as common for us English-speakers to say the last sound in a word quickly or faintly...

[spiderhood.livejournal.com]

Same goes for Russian speakers, actually. Only once have I seen a guy pronouncing the last sound of every [English] word sturdy and solid, he was Indonesian.