Alejandromarques17
Fri, 28/08/2015 - 12:57
I really can't get it, I always thought that letter Я would sound like /ja/ not like /jæ/. That's what I heard. Doesn't /æ/ sound like english a in "cat"? being so closer to /ɛ/.
Can you explain me? Is it another accent?
Tibor
Fri, 28/08/2015 - 14:21
You mixed an transliteraion with IPA. :) Transliteration takes only rough idea of sound. IPA takes an international standart of phonemes. In transliteration has "ja" for "я". But IPA for the accent cases "я" offer only /æ/. The phoneme /j/, means "й" may face /æ/ and may not. Yes, /æ/ sound like english "a" in "cat", but only in case of transliteration. In this word "a" sound closer to russian letter "э", which in IPA for Russian language writes like /ɛ/, if its an accent case: это = 'ɛtə. :) If you still didn't believe me, looks here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Russian :)
Alejandromarques17
Fri, 28/08/2015 - 17:01
I took a look on this page and yeah the transcription for russian Я is /jæ/ but for other slavic languages is /ja/ I thought they were all the same. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%8F#Russian though I listen to the same sound... but it must be my ears.
Tibor
Fri, 28/08/2015 - 17:34
As you see, in Russian is /jæ/. :) There are no the same. The difference is that in other languages sound "я" is more sharply and sound like a mix of й+а:. But in Russian it is very-very soft and consist of some allophones. Smth like и+й+э+а. Plus to all, Russian language has a million difference dialects, huses of speech and others. So letter "я" may sound many different ways and may transcribe a many different ways too. :)
Tibor from QS-FB