two 't' sounds

[MorphemeAddict@wmconnect.com]

> there are two kinds of "t" (Russian have the two ones). One is like the
> spanish 't', and the other one is the English 't'. In russian, there are soft
> vowels, which soften the consonant just before the vowel. For example, "ye"
> vowel after a "t" ("tye"), is pronounced as a <English t + spanish e>. But if
> you write "te", it's pronounced as <Spanish t + spanish e>.

russian does indeed have two 't' sounds: one hard and one soft (palatalized).  english 't' and spanish 't' are indeed different, but the difference is not the same as the two russian sounds.  and the quality of the russian 'e' sounds does not change in open syllables - it's still the open 'e' sound, which is also the sound i use in "stevo".   :-)     
[the vowel sound between two palatalized consonants in russian is 'fronted' (i think that's the term).  i.e.  p'at'  ('five') has /a/ as in 'cat', 'man', 'attack'.  if either or both of the consonants is hard, then the vowel remains open as 'a' in the regular russian pronunciation of 'a'.  with 'e', the result is a sound much closer to the closed 'e' of italian (and maybe spanish next to 's'), versus the normal open sound of 'get', 'gem', 'bet'.]

stevo


stevo