Similarities between Russian and Japanese Phonologies

Perceptions of Russian Sound

• Often compared to Portuguese, Polish, and sometimes backwards English.
• Rarely compared to Japanese, a neighboring language.

Initial Contrast Between Russian and Japanese

• Japanese: Mostly open syllables (e.g., neko, mizu, kawa).
• Russian: Many consonant clusters, complex phonotactics (e.g., gdje, vstrétitʹ).
• Vowel Reduction: Russian vowels often reduce to /ə/ and /ɪ/; Japanese vowels don't reduce.

Surprising Phonological Similarities

Consonants

• Most consonants in Japanese and Russian have similar counterparts.
  • Main Discrepancies:
    • Russian /v/ vs Japanese /w/
    • Russian /l/ vs Japanese /r/ (Japanese /r/ can sound between /l/ and /r/).
  • Variability in pronunciation depending on dialect.

Vowels

• Both languages have 5 vowel systems: a, e, i, o, u.
  • Japanese u is closer to /ɯ/; Russian u is closer to English 'oo' as in 'book' (/ʊ/).
  • Russian has an additional vowel /ɨ/ in complementary distribution with /i/.

Alphabet and Vowel Representation

• Cyrillic and Vowels:
  • Russian uses 10 vowel letters to differentiate hard (non-palatalized) and soft (palatalized) consonants.
  • Soft consonants in Russian include a /j/ sound.
• Japanese: Palatalization seen with /i/ and glides /ja/, /jo/, /ju/. Frequently appears in Chinese loanwords.

Adjectives and Demonstratives

• Japanese: Verb-like adjectives end in -i (e.g., -ai, -ii, -oi, -ui).
• Russian: Singular nominative masculine form of adjectives often ends in -ii, similar to Japanese.
• Russian demonstratives like kakóy and inóy have -oi endings.

Consonant Clusters

• Japanese: Few clusters, limited to double consonants or nasal coda /ɴ/.
  • Voiceless consonants can appear at the end of syllables through vowel devoicing.
• Russian: Devoicing of voiced consonants at word ends and before voiceless consonants.
  • Similar coda consonants between both languages.

Why They Don't Sound Similar

• Russian vowel reduction alters phonological output.
• Languages have distinct sound patterns; similarity is not common.
• Despite differences, the phonological similarities are notable.