Russian dialects are spoken variants of theRussian language.
Russian dialects and territorial varieties are divided in two conceptual chronological and geographic categories:[1]
Standard Russian, based on theMoscow dialect, is now used throughout Russia. However, traditional dialects may still be heard among rural population, in particular of older generations. Some people speak language varieties intermediate between standard Russian and traditional dialects; such varieties are calledprostorechiye (Russian: просторечие).Prostorechiye is characterized by usage of certain phonetic, grammatical, and lexical features which are considered nonstandard in speech which would otherwise be standard Russian. The use ofprostorechiye is highly stigmatized as a sign of uneducatedness. Even within standard Russian, certain regional variants may be distinguished; seedifferences between speech of Moscow and St. Petersburg residents in the Russian Wikipedia.
Depending on the presence or the absence ofvowel reduction (akanye and/orikanye) and the pronunciation ofProto-Slavic *g, Russian is divided into two main dialectical divisions and the intermediate one:
The dialects of the southernUral,Siberia and theFar East may be of all three groups, depending on where the settlers from European Russia came from. The dialects of theLower Don and theNorthern Caucasus are of the Southern Russian origin.
Bashkort Russian is characterised by the adoption of nativeBashkir andTatar words such as айда replacing давай to mean "let's go".[3] It is primarily spoken in theRepublic of Bashkortostan, which is an autonomous region of Russia.
Lake Peipus dialect (Russian: Причудский говор) is a Russian language variety spoken on both sides ofLake Peipus inPskov Oblast,Russia and some counties ofEstonia where Russian is a frequently-spoken or dominant language. It originated as a mix of Pskov and Gdov dialects of the Central Russian cluster. As many other dialects from this area, it is often considered to be transitional between Russian andBelarusian. Lake Peipus dialects also include some loanwords from theEstonian language.
The dialect has been studied and described by Olga Rovnova of theUniversity of Tartu who has conducted fieldwork in RussianOld Believers' communities in Estonia.
Astrakhani Russian is a collection of varieties of Russian spoken inAstrakhan Oblast, predominantly by the ethnically mixed population—ethnic Russians (61%),Kazakhs (17%),Tatars (7%) among the main speakers, and include many other groups such asAzeris, "Dagestani" (by self-identification according to the 2010 census),Nogay, andUkrainians.
LikeDagestani Russian, Astrakhan Russian refers to many different dialects varying depending on a speaker's native language, ethnicity, age, occupation, and other social factors. Even in the metropolitan area ofAstrakhan where a person of a minority background is likely to grow up speaking only Russian, traces of theirheritage language are still present.
Balachka is spoken in theKuban region of Russia, by theKuban Cossacks. TheKuban Cossacks being descendants of theZaporozhian Cossacks are beginning to consider themselves as a separate ethnic identity. Their dialect is based on Middle Dnieprian with theUkrainian grammar. It includes dialectical words of central Ukrainian with frequent inclusion of Russian vocabulary, in particular for modern concepts and items. It varies somewhat from one area to another.[citation needed]
| Isogloss | Northern Russian | Standard Russian | Southern Russian |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unstressed/o/ | [o] | [ɐ~ə] | [a~ɐ~ə~ɨ] |
| Unstressed/e/,/a/,/o/ after palatalized consonants | [ɪ],[e] | [ɪ] | [æ] (pre-stressed), [ɪ] |
| /ɡ/ | [ɡ] | [ɡ] | [ɣ] |
| /v/ | [v] | [v] | [w~u̯] |
| /f/ | [f] | [f] | [x~xv~xw] |
| Present 3 p. sg. & pl. final | /t/ | /t/ | /tʲ/ |
| Final /l/ | /l/ | /l/ | /w~u/ |
| Past sg. masc. final | /v/[n 1] | /l/ | /l/ |
| Prothetic/v~w/ | no | no[n 2] | yes |
| Hardening of final softlabials | no | no | yes |
Moldovan Russian is characterised by differences in orthography, with the use ofМолдова (Moldova) instead ofМолдавия (Moldavia) orКишинэу (Chișinău) instead ofКишинёв in government and media ofMoldova. It is also characterized by Romanian loanwords.[4] This change is also widely accepted by Russian-language media inside of Russia, as well. Russian is more often used as a second language and as the language of interethnic communication than as a first language in the country,[5] which contributes to influence from the state language,Romanian.
The Russian language in Ukraine has influence from theUkrainian language in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. When Ukrainians speak Russian, the Russian letterГ (G) is mostly pronounced as /ɦ/, like in Ukrainian, instead of /g/. There are also clear differences in the intonation. Additionally, a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian (the so calledsurzhyk), is also spoken by many Ukrainians.
Abkhaz Russian is characterised by the use ofAbkhaz terms, orthographical differences, and patterns of speech that diverge from that of Standard Russian.
Notable variety features include use of /u/ <у> in place of /v/ <в>, such as in <привет>, pronounced /priuet/ [приуэт]. Additionally,дон is used as a filler word, similar to ну or короче in standard Russian.
Dagestani Russian (Russian: Дагестанский русский) is a regional variety of the Russian language spoken inDagestan, a constituent republic of the Russian Federation, and some of the neighboring regions including Astrakhan Oblast andKalmykia. It is characterized by heavy influence from vernacular languages, mostly those belonging to the Northeast Caucasian and Turkic language families. It is considered a low prestige language and mostly used in informal domains. By some measures, it is considered anethnolect.
Armenian Russian is the regional variety of Russian spoken inArmenia[6][1] and the partially-recognisedRepublic of Artsakh (as Artsakhi (Armenian) Russian), where parliament voted to establish Russian an official language in March 2021.[7]
There are some vocabulary differences to the variety of Russian as spoken in Armenia/Artsakh, such as:
| English | Artsakhi Russian | Standard Russian |
|---|---|---|
| clothespin | шпилька | прищепка |
| water fountain | пулпулак | питьевой фонтан |
| sweatpants | финки | треники, тренировочные штаны |
Most key word differences come in the form oftoponyms of renamed cities after the 1991 independence of Kazakhstan. Not all renamings are manifested in the Russian language, such as with the city ofAlmaty, still known by its former name of Alma-Ata in Russian, because they sound similar. Other differences include names for authorities such as мажилис, мажилисмен which substitute the Russian word депутат. Акимат is a localised Russian construction of the borrowed word Аким, meaning "mayor", and given the traditional -ат suffix in standard Russian that is used for words such as секретариат and ректорат. Kazakhstani Russian is often classified as being influenced strongly by Kazakh and the use of Kazakh words.[8]
Kyrgyzstani Russian is characterised by phonetic differences as well as the use of some words from theKyrgyz language. There are also some other differences in vocabulary, such asсотка (sotka) replacing the standardмобильник (mobil'nik) meaning "mobile phone".[9]
The varieties of Russian spoken inTajikistan are collectively referred to as "Tajikistani Russian" or "Tajik Russian". Both Russian andTajik are recognised as official languages according to theConstitution of Tajikistan, and their usages often influence each other.
Tajik words and expressions are often found in the colloquial speech of Tajikistani Russian speakers, especially inDushanbe, although qualitatively, Russian borrowings into Tajik exceed the reverse. The varieties are greatly affected by Russian-speaking families, intermarriages between different nationalities, Russian-language classrooms, and location.[10]
Tajik lexical units have entered the Tajikistani Russian dialect. For example, the wordsдушман 'mujahid, enemy' andдухан 'tavern, shop' entered Russian through Tajik during theSoviet–Afghan War.[10]
The colloquial lexicon also includes words such as: алча (alcha), дастархан (dastarkhan), джигит (dzhigit), казан (kazan), кайф (kayf), карбос (karbos), кишмиш (kishmish), гашиш (gashish), топчан (topchan), чинара (chinara).[10]
There are also words used in science, literature and academia, such as бейт (beyt), дастан (dastan), and изафет (izafet).[10]
Exoticisms include манту (mantu), курпача (kurpacha), плов (plov), танур (tanur), хоуз (khouz), див (div), дутор (dutor), най (nay, самбуса (sambusa), чапан (chapan), and эзоры (ezory).[10]
Both Russian and Tajik speakers are served by the following words to address unfamiliar people and acquaintances.
| Tajikistani Russian | Standard Russian | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| апа | старшая сестра | 'older sister' |
| ака | старший брат | 'older brother' |
| хола | тётя | 'aunt' |
| янга | жена брата, невестка | 'daughter-in-law; sister-in-law' |
Calques are not very numerous and are often used with a humorous undertone. For example, хунуковато (from Tajikхунук meaning 'cold') in place of standard Russianхолодновато.[10]
There are also words used by Tajiki Russian speakers that have long had their own standard Russian equivalents:
| Tajikistani Russian | Standard Russian | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| зира | тмин | 'carum' |
| испанд | рута | 'ruta' |
| каймак | сметана | 'smetana' |
| халтак | мешочек, кисет | 'sack' |
| чакка | кислое молоко | 'fermented milk' |
Tajik expressions are often used:хайрият in lieu ofк счастью for 'fortunately', наконец-то (досл. добро) for 'finally', andтавба in place ofдосл. раскаяние for 'remorse'.[10]
In youth jargon, Russian affixes and endings are attached to Tajik stems, or a Tajik noun is paired with a Russian verb in a phrase. For example: гапы бросать instead ofразговаривать for 'to converse' (from Tajikгап 'speech, conversation').[10]
After the end of theSoviet period, many Russian words were given Tajik equivalents. For example, «велосипед» — «дучарха» for 'bicycle', «команда» — «даста» 'team', «фронт» — «джабха» for 'front', «ракета» — «мушак» for 'rocket'.[10]
Mixed speech also includes common Russian substitutions and additions either alongside or in place of other Tajik words such as обычный or простой instead of одати; морожени instead of яхмос; туалет instead of мабраз; and серьёзный instead of джидди.
A very noticeable feature of Tajikistani Russian is the usage of Tajik auxiliary verbs кардан ('to do') and доштан ('to have, to possess') in mixed speech. For example: ждать доштан; успеть кардан instead of расида тавонистан; договориться кардан instead of мувофикат хосил кардан; завтракать кардан instead of ноништа кардан. Additionally, утюг кардан ('to iron') (Standard Russian]l: гладить); телефон кардан ('to call (someone)') (Standard Russian: звонить); уборка кардан ('to clean') (Standard Russian: убирать).
Calques are also a very frequent domain in the usage of Tajik(istani) Russian:
Colloquial speech has retained almost all Russian borrowed elements (with the exception of words of purely Soviet semantics). Most borrowings, especially colloquial ones, change their phonetics and acquire a sound that is more suitable for the Tajik ear.
In most cases, this means, first of all,
A change of stress:
Loss of the soft sign (ь):
Change of the sound "ц" to the sound "с":
Frequent replacement of the sound "А" with the sound "О":
The reduction of sound "Ы" for the sound "И":
Disappearance of the ending to zero:
Nevertheless, a number of words remain unchanged: март, газета.[10]
There are words commonly used in Uzbekistani Russian not frequently used in that of Russia:вилоят,лаган,хурджук,хоким,юзбоши,атола,казы,димляма.[11]
Various mixed phrases include: мен хорошийман, девушкахон, Иван-ака, закяз-самса.[11]
Kodiak Russian and Ninilchik Russian, together known asAlaskan Russian, are two isolated dialects of Russian spoken inAlaska.
TheRussian language in Israel, spoken byRussian repatriates, differs from the Russian language in Russia. Differences range from individual words (such as «йом ришон», "yom rishon", instead of «воскресенье» for Sunday; «матнас»,matnas instead of «клуб» for club) and expressions (such as «брать автобус», "take a bus", instead of «ехать на автобусе», "go by bus"; «делать армию», "make an army" or "do army", instead of «служить в армии», "serve in the army"), to phonetics and phraseology. This variant is called by Israelis and scholars "Rusit"/"Русит", from the Hebrew name of the Russian language.[1][12][13]
Russian dialects usually preserve many archaic words and forms which dropped out of use or were replaced withChurch Slavonic counterparts. In North Russian there are about 200 words ofUralic origin.[citation needed]
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