Thread: Silent letters?

Originally Posted by Marcus

There can't be such a word in Russian, check the spelling.
There is a word эльф, which means elf. It is pronounced [el'f].

So it uses the э rather than the З? Aren't both of these a "Z" sound in English?

And yes, эльф meaning elf is exactly the word I'm looking for. Can you tell me why the first letter is silent?

Thank you.

Э is [e], and it's not silent.

Originally Posted by Marcus

Э is [e], and it's not silent.

OK, I see now that I confused the Э with the 3. Now I feel stupid.

Thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by quartz

So, if I clearly enunciated EVERY letter in чувство I wouldn't sound just a little odd??

The "pronounced as it's written" thing -- I've only heard it from Russian speakers, never from people learning Russian. One obvious thing that comes to mind is hard/soft consonants. And the list continues... Sure you would be *understood*, but...

Whether a consonant hard or soft is reflected in spelling. So yes, you pronounce the word just as it is spelled.

Watching Soviet movies, I've noticed the last name Мкртчян pop up in the credits. I'm guessing the name is Armenian, not Russian, but I still can't even fathom how to say a name with six consonants to one vowel.

Originally Posted by zxc

Watching Soviet movies, I've noticed the last name Мкртчян pop up in the credits. I'm guessing the name is Armenian, not Russian, but I still can't even fathom how to say a name with six consonants to one vowel.

Originally Posted by Lampada

Seems simple enough I guess, thanks. I get it's not a native Russian name, but why not write perhaps as Мэкэртэчян in Russian (that's how it sounds to me, at least...) instead of transliterating it directly from Armenian.

Originally Posted by zxc

Seems simple enough I guess, thanks. I get it's not a native Russian name, but why not write perhaps as Мэкэртэчян in Russian (that's how it sounds to me, at least...) instead of transliterating it directly from Armenian.

The rules of transliteration should be universal to avoid confusion. AFAIK mainly armenian words and names can be transliterated directly without such problems, so direct transliteration is the current rule for Armenian-Russian word transformation.

BTW This guy is an excellent comic. Consider his last name as a part of his emploi.

Originally Posted by zxc

Watching Soviet movies, I've noticed the last name Мкртчян pop up in the credits. I'm guessing the name is Armenian, not Russian, but I still can't even fathom how to say a name with six consonants to one vowel.

Schwas are not always spelt in Armenian. There are more vowels in this name.
In fact, many English words have many consonants in chain, like ministrels for example.

ministrels???

And for a guy who goes by zxc, don't think you are going a bit too far questioning consonant sequences? =:^)

In some Slavic languages the vocalic /r/ is quite natural. Take this Czech sentence, for instance.

Originally Posted by chaika

In some Slavic languages the vocalic /r/ is quite natural. Take this Czech sentence, for instance.

An extreme case, far from natural.