Russian Phonemes

This chart outlines the phoneme system of Russian (Russia) – ru-RU, using both IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and X-SAMPA notation. Each entry includes a phoneme symbol, an example word, and its full phonetic transcription in both formats.

Russian phonology features a rich contrast between hard (non-palatalized) and soft (palatalized) consonants, which are marked by the superscript “j” in X-SAMPA and by the palatalization diacritic in IPA (e.g., /b/ vs. /bʲ/). The language has a reduced vowel inventory in unstressed positions and includes sounds uncommon in many other Indo-European languages. This chart is an excellent reference for students, linguists, and speech technologists working with Russian pronunciation or linguistic data. A table of stress symbols and syllable boundaries is included at the end.

Russian (Russia) – ru-RU

X-SAMPA	IPA	Example Word	X-SAMPA Transcription	IPA Transcription
b	b	бар	"bar	ˈbar
b_j	bʲ	бинт	"b_jint	ˈbʲint
p	p	пар	"par	ˈpar
p_j	pʲ	пить	"p_jit_j	ˈpʲitʲ
d	d	дар	"dar	ˈdar
d_j	dʲ	дядя	"d_jad_ja	ˈdʲadʲa
t	t	тур	"tur	ˈtur
t_j	tʲ	тяга	"t_jaga	ˈtʲaga
g	g	гора	ga"ra	gaˈra
g_j	gʲ	гиря	"g_jir_ja	ˈgʲirʲa
k	k	кора	ka"ra	kaˈra
k_j	kʲ	кит	"k_jit	ˈkʲit
v	v	вор	"vor	ˈvor
v_j	vʲ	вера	"v_jera	ˈvʲera
f	f	фора	"fora	ˈfora
f_j	fʲ	финал	f_ji"nal	fʲiˈnal
z	z	зорь	"zor_j	ˈzorʲ
z_j	zʲ	зима	z_ji"ma	zʲiˈma
s	s	сор	"sor	ˈsor
s_j	sʲ	синий	"s_jin_jij	ˈsʲinʲij
Z	ʒ	жор	"Zor	ˈʒor
S	ʃ	шар	"Sar	ˈʃar
x	x	хор	"xor	ˈxor
x_j	xʲ	химик	"x_jim_jik	ˈxʲimʲik
S_j	ʃʲ	щель	"S_jel_j	ˈʃʲelʲ
n	n	ноль	"nol_j	ˈnolʲ
n_j	nʲ	няня	"n_jan_ja	ˈnʲanʲa
m	m	моль	"mol_j	ˈmolʲ
m_j	mʲ	мел	"m_jel	ˈmʲel
l	l	лом	"lom	ˈlom
l_j	lʲ	липа	"l_jipa	ˈlʲipa
r	r	ром	"rom	ˈrom
r_j	rʲ	ряса	"r_jasa	ˈrʲasa
j	j	йод	"jot	ˈjot
a	a	мак	"mak	ˈmak
e	e	тег	"tek	ˈtek
i	i	тик	"tik	ˈtik
o	o	ток	"tok	ˈtok
u	u	лук	"luk	ˈluk
1	ɨ	мышь	"m1S	ˈmɨʃ

Stress Symbols

Function	IPA	X-SAMPA
Primary stress	ˈ	"
Syllable boundary	.	.