Akanye


Akanye or akanje, literally "a-ing", is a phonological phenomenon in Slavic languages in which the phonemes or are realized as more or less close to. It is a case of vowel reduction. The most familiar example is probably Russian akanye. Akanye also occurs in standard Belarusian as well as in northern Ukrainian dialects, Slovene dialects, some subgroups of the Kajkavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian dialects.

Description

In Belarusian аканне, both non-softened and softened and and other phonemes phonetically merge into in unstressed positions; see Belarusian phonology.
In Russian а́канье,, and phonetically merge in unstressed positions. If not preceded by a palatalized consonant, these phonemes give in the syllable immediately before the stress and in absolute word-initial position. In other unstressed locations, non-softened and are further reduced towards a short, poorly enunciated. The dialects without reduction of unstressed o are called okanye, literally "o-ing".
After soft consonants, unstressed and are pronounced like in most varieties of Russian ; this reduction is not considered a manifestation of akanye. Unlike Belarusian akanne, Russian akanye does not affect softened vowels.
Slovene akanje may be partial or complete. Examples from various Slovene dialects: domú → damú 'at home', dnò → dnà 'bottom', léto → líəta, ne vém → na vém 'I don't know', hléb → hlàb 'loaf', jêčmen → jèčman 'barley'.