I. B. Itkin’s Index of morphonemes and phonemes of the russian language

Abstract

The paper compares the Index of Russian morphonemes according to I.B. Itkin and the nomenclature of phonemes in original Russian morphemes as described by the Kazan phonemological school. Firstly, the correspondence of 21 phonemes (out of 23) is discussed. Then the differences between the rendering of the glides {I/J} and {U/V}, borrowed sounds /f/ (in the original morphemes the consonant /f/ is in complementary distribution with the non-syllabic variant of the sonant {U/V}); there is a correlation of hardness and softness of sounds – it is positionally dependent, i.e., is not phonematic; hushing sounds and affricates – they are either allophones (positionally defined variations) of the gutturals or polyphones (samples of two or more phonemes); also the paper discusses cases and anomalies such as alternations of /k/ and /t’/ (e.g. ‘puskat’ – pustit’) and the mobile vowel /e/ which alternates with /’o/ (e.g. Lev – L’va – L’ova). It is suggested to define the body of phonemes of the original subsystem on the basis of the minimal pairs of original words (a minimal pair with a borrowed word or two borrowed words allows to define the body of phonemes in the international phonematic system). Also, the hierarchy of the levels of language should be taken into account: the priority of the interests of the lexical level over the interests of morphology and phonetics, and the interests of morphology over the interests of phonetics.