↑Russian makes contrasts between palatalized ("soft") and unpalatalized ("hard") consonants. Palatalized consonants, denoted by a superscript j, ‹ ʲ› , are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate, in a manner similar to the articulation of the y sound in yes. /j/, /ɕː/, /tɕ/, /ʑː/ are also considered "soft".
↑ 2.02.12.22.32.4In consonant clusters, the voicing or devoicing is determined by that of the final obstruent in the sequence (Halle 1959, p. 31)
↑ 3.03.13.23.33.43.53.63.7Voiced obstruents (/b/,/bʲ/,/d/,/dʲ//ɡ/,/v/,/vʲ/,/z/,/zʲ/,/ʐ/, and /ʑː/) are devoiced word-finally unless the next word begins with a voiced obstruent (Halle 1959, p. 22).
↑ 4.04.14.24.3In some religious words and colloquial derivatives from them, such as "Господи!", "Бог", as well as interjections, ‹г› is more often pronounced [ɣ] and [x]. When /ɡ/ loses its voicing, it is also lenited (a form of dissimilation) before plosives in the word roots -мягк-/-мягч-, -легк-/-легч-, -тягч-, and also in the old-fashioned pronunciation of -ногт-, -когт-, кто.
↑The "soft" vowel letters <е> <ю> and <я> represent a /j/ plus a vowel when initial or following other vowels or a yer. When such vowels are unstressed, the /j/ may be deleted.
↑While many speakers pronounce words with ‹щ› as [ɕɕ] and others as [ɕtɕ], none contrast the two pronunciations. This generally includes words spelled with other letters, though speakers with the [ɕɕ] pronunciation may still pronounce words like считывать with [ɕtɕ] because of the morpheme boundary between ‹с› and ‹ч›.
↑Intervocalic <г> can represent /v/ in certain words and affixes
↑In many dialects, the phoneme /ʑː/ is replaced with /ʐ/.
↑[ɑ] appears between a hard consonant (or a pause) and /l/
