↑Russian makes contrasts between palatalized ("soft") and unpalatalized ("hard") consonants. Palatalized consonants, denoted by a superscript j, ‹ʲ› , are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate, in a manner similar to the articulation of the y sound in yes. /j/, /ɕɕ/, /tɕ/, /ʑʑ/ are also considered "soft".
12345In consonant clusters, the voicing or devoicing is determined by that of the final obstruent in the sequence (Halle 1959:31)
12345678Voiced obstruents (/b/,/bʲ/,/d/,/dʲ//ɡ/,/v/,/vʲ/,/z/,/zʲ/,/ʐ/, and /ʑʑ/) are devoiced word-finally unless the next word begins with a voiced obstruent (Halle 1959:22).
1234In some religious words such as Бог and Господь, as well as interjections, ‹г› and ‹к› represent [ɣ] and [x], respectively. When /ɡ/ loses its voicing, it is also lenited (a form of dissimilation) before plosives in some words.
↑The "soft" vowel letters <е> <ю> and <я> represent a /j/ plus a vowel when initial or following other vowels or a yer. When such vowels are unstressed, the /j/ may be deleted.
↑While some speakers pronounce words with <щ> as [ɕɕ] and some as [ɕtɕ], none contrast the two pronunciations, even in words where this sound is spelled with other letters.
↑Intervocalic <г> can represent /v/ in certain words and affixes
↑The phoneme /ʑʑ/ is in many dialects is replaced with /ʐ/.
↑[ɑ] appears between a hard consonant (or a pause) and /l/
