Southern Russian Intonation: East Vs. West

Abstract

This paper deals with the phrase intonation of two Southern Russian dialects—Eastern (Rasskazovsky district, Tambov region) and Western (Pochinkovsky district, Smolensk region). The study conducted reveals that the prosodic system of the former one is relatively similar to that one of the Modern Standard Russian and the Eastern Middle-Russian Vladimir dialects, sharing with them most bitonal pitch accents (H*+L, L*+H, L+H*) and association of tonal structures with the basic communicative categories—statements, yes-no questions, wh-question, non-finality, commands and requests. The main peculiar properties of the Tambov dialect as compared to Standard Russian is the phonological distinction between high and low initial boundary tones %L and %H. The Smolensk dialect, by contrast, utilizes two monotonal pitch accents—H* and L*—as opposed to absence of such accents in Standard Russian and presence of the only L* in Tambov dialect. There are as well two initial boundary tones—%H and %L in this dialect. Thus, the intonational system of Smolensk idiom is much more focused on the level tunes than the Tambov one, while both dialects studied share two basic peculiarities which differ them from the Standard idiom: the lack of final boundary tone’s truncation in polar question and the presence of two initial boundary tones.

DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2025.1.09