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Should 'э' be pronounced as 'a' in "cat", or 'e' in "net"? Is its pronunciation context dependent? If so what are the rules for its pronunciation?

ctype.h
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5 Answers5

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If you mean the British pronunciation of [æ] as in "cat", this is definitely not our 'э'; it's like 'я' between two palatalized consonants. The closest to stressed Russian 'э' among symbols used for English is [ɛ], but [e] is also acceptable. But, on the other side, Russians usually have difficulties to pronounce [æ] correctly here and replace it with a long [ɛ]; this is supported by some American dialects affection and that can confuse native English speakers to find a relation between sounds.

The Wikipedia page declares [ɛ] as the main variant for a stressed 'э'. It's rather true because the relation between [ɛ] and [e] follows common relations between the mid-back vowel row, after unpalatalized consonants, and the front row, after palatalized consonants. The letter "э" is never used to palatalize a consonant before it, so it means [ɛ]. OTOH, "е" can mean both [e] after a palatalized consonant (the most used case), [e̞] after non-palatalized sibilant as "ш", or [ɛ] in loanwords (тест, кашне, проект, etc.); the native words usually have no non-palatalization effect, but it's typical for loanwords.

You should also notice that Russians who haven't got special linguistics education don't understand the difference between [ɛ] and [e], as with most other pairs ([a] vs. [æ], etc.) because the factor which affects vowel allophone selection is palatalization of the previous consonant, but in written the latter is defined by vowel letter selection (а/я, э/е, etc.); this could be confusing if not understood clearly. Traditional school grammar requires a student to sign the vowel as [э] independently of its implementation variant, so e.g. "лето" is transcribed as [л'эта].

So, the short final conclusion is that you can pronounce it like [e] in "net", etc., or better as the first sound in "air" [ɛə], but the main factor is that you shouldn't palatalize ("soften") the preceding consonant and you will be correctly understood when using either of them; and [æ] isn't applicable here. And, BTW, unstressed 'э' is something between [ɨ], [ɪ], [ɛ]... the difference between them is not important in this context.

Glorfindel
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Netch
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  • In проект e is iotized. – Anixx Mar 20 '13 at 17:59
  • @Anixx: wiktionary gives [prɐˈɛkt (prɐˈjekt)] though I couldn't find another source (and I personally only say [prɐˈjekt]). It seems enough people pronounce "проэкт" for that spelling to be quite widespread on the Internet. – Igor Skochinsky Mar 21 '13 at 01:35
  • @Igor Skochinsky it is incorrect pronunciation and spelling. Possibly, hypercorrection. – Anixx Mar 21 '13 at 03:37
  • @Anixx, могу представить звук "й" в слове "проект" только из уст человека, который произносит слова "что" и "конечно" со звуком "ч". Это звучит то ли архаично, то ли чудаковато; короче, 99% русскоязычных говорят [prɐˈɛkt]. – КуЪ Mar 21 '13 at 09:20
  • В Сибири 99% говорят [prɐjɛkt], [prɐɛkt] звучит претенциозно. – Alexei Kaigorodov Mar 25 '13 at 13:14
  • gramota.ru ссылается на словарь "Русское словесное ударение" с однозначным вариантом через -э-, без альтернатив. Далее, по тому, что я слышу, именно "проект", "проектирование" (планирование и работа по плану) не содержат [j], в отличие от "проекция", "проецирование" и т.д. (геометрический смысл). Это Киев, но украинское влияние исключено (в украинском только без йота), так что предполагаю корнем нормирование через радио и телевидение. – Netch Mar 26 '13 at 14:12

  • it's like 'я' between two palatalized consonants <

    what??? compare ляля and cat?

     – shabunc Apr 03 '13 at 07:32
  • @shabunc I don't catch why you are so wondering. I've given the reference to IPA table in my answer, it lists [æ] in "пять". You also can listen any example of any so-called "Oxford" course for it. – Netch Apr 08 '13 at 10:26
  • @Netch [æ] in "пять - this is not true. – shabunc Apr 08 '13 at 10:40
  • @shabunc Well, what's your opinion what sound is said there? And how will you prove this to linguists? – Netch Apr 09 '13 at 12:14
  • I won't prove to linguists that there's no æ ин Russian пять just like I won't prove any other trivial scientific fact to any other kind of scientist. Don't blindly believe to everything you read in wikipedia. Compare this one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fr-hiver-fr_CA.ogg and this one - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/En-us-cat.ogg - and this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ru-пять.ogg – shabunc Apr 09 '13 at 12:44
  • @shabunc I don't believe in wikipedia blindly, I simply use it to confirm the fact I hear, and yes, it's trivial fact:) Please compare not with US version of "cat" but with canonic (RP, i.e. Oxford norm) one. They all are the same type of sound. If you disagree, please don't simply object but instead show your own interpretation of what you hear in Russian, using IPA symbols. Otherwise I don't see a reason to continue this non-constructive flame. – Netch Apr 09 '13 at 18:57
  • @Netch, are you a native speaker? Once again (just to make sure), do you claim that there is exactly the same sound in Russian пять that is in French hiver, for example? PS there is probably typo, I can imagine they've meant петь, not пять. Indicating non-relevant information does not mean flaming after all. – shabunc Apr 10 '13 at 06:20
  • @shabunc 1) Yes, I'm native speaker. 2) No, it's not "exactly the same sound" and shan't be, but any IPA/analog sign as [æ] mean some set of sounds, defined with articulation characteristics, and russian 'я' between soft consonants fall into this set, among with British 'a' in 'cat', last vowel in this 'hiver', etc. 3) It isn't typo. "петь" has [e], not [æ]. – Netch Apr 10 '13 at 06:46
  • OK, let the community say it's final word. – shabunc Apr 10 '13 at 07:29
  • This is the best answer to this question so far. According to the Russian phonology wiki you pointed out, an unstressed vowel is pronounced [ɪ] at the beginning of a word and [ɨ̞] between consonants, not [ə]. – Alan Evangelista Sep 11 '19 at 04:33
  • @AlanEvangelista you are somewhat right, I'll update the answer. [ə] is improper for unstressed "э" but real sound depends on dialect and can be like [ɨ], [ɪ], [ɛ] itself...; difference between them isn't important for this context. – Netch Sep 12 '19 at 05:24
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From the Russian point of view, the sounds you are asking about ( 'a' in "cat", or 'e' in "net"? ) are just the same. Many Russians learning English do believe that "bed" and "bad" are homophones.

Konstantin
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    It seems that one of the previous answers already contains this information. I encourage you to extend your answer by adding new information which has not been mentioned before, of to simply upvote the existing answer, if you believe that it is complete and there is no need to say more. – Olga Mar 30 '13 at 06:09
  • According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_phonology , there is a phonetic difference between different words with the vowel э: it may be pronounced [ɛ] or [e] when it is stressed and [ɪ] or [ɨ̞] when unstressed. IMHO that is much more relevant to Russian learners than phonemic difference (ie, what native Russian speakers perceive as different or not). – Alan Evangelista Sep 11 '19 at 04:09
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'Э' often is used to transmit the sound [æ] (blackpool) or diphthong [ɛə] (Delaware, Blair).

There are some rules for its pronunciation:

  1. 'Э' is pronounced in initial position before hard consonants: этот, энциклопедия, эклиптика, эволюция, элементарно.

  2. 'Э' after consonants (пэр, мэр, сэр) denotes the hardness of the consonant.

  3. 'Е' reads as 'э' after some hard consonants of loanwords: фонетика, отель, кафе, эссе.

  4. 'Э' is used to write a few words of ingrained Russian: этот, этакий, это, эк, эвон, эва, эдак, эх, эхе-хе, эй, эхма, эге-ге, эге.

Glorfindel
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Clever Masha
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  • Where is it used to transmit diphthong? Any examples? -1. – Anixx Mar 23 '13 at 12:13
  • Maybe Weir or Ware - Уэйр (David Weir - Дэвид Уэйр, Charles Ware - Чарльз Уэйр). – Clever Masha May 13 '13 at 15:04
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    I do not understand how these rules you present are related to the correct pronunciation of the vowel Э. According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_phonology , when 'Э' is stressed, it has the sound [ɛ] if in a vowel+consonant group at the beginning of the word or a consonant+vowel+non palatized consonant group; it has the sound [e] if in a consonant+vowel+palatized consonant group. When it is not stressed, it may be pronounced [ɪ] or [ɨ̞]. I think that is what the OP wanted to know ( all possible pronunciations of the vowel and when each one is used). – Alan Evangelista Sep 11 '19 at 04:19
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A bit late and guess you figured out, but э is like in French et moi(and me), the e from that word.

mike27015
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Here is an article in the wiki about the sound with sound file, denoted in phonetic transcription as [ɛ], which is the ideal Russian 'Э' from a linguistic POV. However, from the POV of a native speaker this sound denoted in phonetic transcription as [æ] is the same. To be precise, this is a part of English that gives native Russians a hard time.

permeakra
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  • I propose you to expand your answer by quoting the main points of the linked article. If for some reason those links aren't available (however, very unlikely with Wikepedia but anyway), your answer comes useless. Adding the transcription symbols would already be an improvement. – Alexey Ivanov Feb 15 '13 at 20:00
  • permeakra, please include some rewording of those links otherwise this answer might become useless in the future due to link rot. – Alenanno Mar 22 '13 at 23:32