Editing Russian language (section)

== Dialects ==
{{Main|Russian dialects|Moscow dialect|Pomor dialect}}
[[File:Dialects of Russian language-ru.png|thumb|upright=1.35|
Russian dialects in 1915
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Northern dialects
{{legend|#587942|1. [[Arkhangelsk]] dialect}}
{{legend|#3E7D6D|2. [[Olonets]] dialect}}
{{legend|#45AD96|3. [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]] dialect}}
{{legend|#69A74B|4. [[Kirov, Kirov Oblast|Viatka]] dialect}}
{{legend|#61C57A|5. [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]] dialect}}
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Central dialects
{{legend|#F587C1|6. [[Moscow dialect]]}}
{{legend|#D172A2|7. [[Tver]] dialect}}
Southern dialects
{{legend|#FF9B06|8. [[Oryol|Orel]] (Don) dialect}}
{{legend|#FF7D26|9. [[Ryazan]] dialect}}
{{legend|#FFAA71|10. [[Tula, Russia|Tula]] dialect}}
{{legend|#F2D273|11. [[Smolensk]] dialect}}
Other
{{legend|#40956C|12. Northern Russian dialect with [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] influences}}
{{legend|#ECBD00|13. [[Slobozhan dialect|Slobozhan]] and [[Steppe dialect|Steppe]] dialects of [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]}}
{{legend|#FFD93E|14. Steppe dialect of Ukrainian with Russian influences ([[Balachka]])}}
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Despite [[Dialect levelling|leveling]] after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary and phonetics, a number of dialects still exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of Russian into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with Moscow lying on the zone of transition between the two. Others divide the language into three groupings, [[Northern Russian dialects|Northern]], [[Central Russian dialects|Central]] (or Middle), and [[Southern Russian dialects|Southern]], with Moscow lying in the Central region.<ref>David Dalby. 1999–2000. ''The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities''. Linguasphere Press. Pg. 442.</ref>{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}}

The [[Northern Russian dialects]] and those spoken along the [[Volga River]] typically pronounce unstressed {{IPA|/o/}} clearly, a phenomenon called [[vowel reduction in Russian#Back vowels|okanye]] ({{lang|ru|оканье}}).{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}} Besides the absence of vowel reduction, some dialects have [[high vowel|high]] or [[diphthong]]al {{IPA|/e⁓i̯ɛ/}} in place of {{proto|slavic|ě}} and {{IPA|/o⁓u̯ɔ/}} in stressed closed syllables (as in Ukrainian) instead of Standard Russian {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}}, respectively.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}} Another Northern dialectal morphological feature is a post-posed definite article ''-to'', ''-ta'', ''-te'' similar to that existing in Bulgarian and Macedonian.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}}

In the [[Southern Russian dialects]], instances of unstressed {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/a/}} following [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] consonants and preceding a stressed syllable are not reduced to {{IPA|[ɪ]}} (as occurs in the Moscow dialect), being instead pronounced {{IPA|[a]}} in such positions (e.g. {{wikt-lang|ru|несл'''и'''}} is pronounced {{IPA|[nʲaˈslʲi]}}, not {{IPA|[nʲɪsˈlʲi]}}) – this is called [[yakanye]] ({{lang|ru|яканье}}).{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}}<ref>{{cite web|title=The Language of the Russian Village|language=ru|url=http://www.gramota.ru/book/village/map13.html|access-date=10 November 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607225323/http://gramota.ru/book/village/map13.html|archive-date=7 June 2012}}</ref> Consonants include a [[Voiced velar fricative|fricative {{IPA|/ɣ/|cat=no}}]], a [[semivowel|semivowel {{IPA|/w⁓u̯/|cat=no}}]] and {{IPA|/x⁓xv⁓xw/}}, whereas the Standard and Northern dialects have the consonants {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|/v/}}, and final {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/f/}}, respectively.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}} The morphology features a palatalized final {{IPA|/tʲ/}} in 3rd person forms of verbs (this is unpalatalized in the Standard and Northern dialects).{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|pp=521–526}}<ref>{{cite web|title=The Language of the Russian Village|language=ru|url=http://www.gramota.ru/book/village/map14.html|access-date=10 November 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212213519/http://www.gramota.ru/book/village/map14.html|archive-date=12 February 2012}}</ref>