Thread: Russian feminine nouns that end with -а

Originally Posted by alexsms

correct. very close.

аватара - close to 'shwa' in Engl.
аватаре - close to e in 'pen'

So let me transliterate it in IPA

аватара = [ɐvɐˈtarʲə]
аватаре = [ɐvɐˈtarʲɪ]

(underlined "а" is the stress)

Originally Posted by Karavanshchik

So let me transliterate it in IPA

аватара = [ɐvɐˈtarʲə]
аватаре = [ɐvɐˈtarʲɪ]

(underlined "а" is the stress)

I'm not sure but it's probably more like

аватара [əvəˈtarə]

аватаре [əvəˈtare] - r should be soft here

Originally Posted by Karavanshchik

аватара = [ɐvɐˈtarʲə]

[...rə]
[r] is hard here.

Originally Posted by iCake

I'm not sure but it's probably more like

аватара [əvəˈtarə]

аватаре [əvəˈtare] - r should be soft here

Originally Posted by RedFox

[...rə]
[r] is hard here.

Sorry, I meant.

аватара = [ɐvɐˈtarə]
аватари = [ɐvɐˈtarʲɪ]
аватаре = [ɐvɐˈtarʲə]

Got confused.

Although iCake says he can distinguish -и and -е in the ending position, and there actually are minor differences in pronunciation in different areas of the country, I believe the standard language tends to fully merge these unstressed phonemes. (Except for such cases as желание, сиденье, приключение and so on.)

Letters е/и in тучи, лиса, леса, кое-где, ниже and море aren't required to be pronounced differently, neither has one to able to distinguish them to understand Russian.