Editing Russian orthography (section)

==Spelling==
Russian is written with a modern [[Russian alphabet|variant]] of the [[Cyrillic script]]. Russian spelling typically avoids arbitrary [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]. Except for the use of [[hard sign|hard]] and [[soft sign|soft]] signs, which have no phonetic value in isolation but can follow a consonant letter, no [[phoneme]] is ever represented with more than one letter.

===Morphological principle===
Under the morphological principle, the [[morpheme]]s (roots, suffixes, infixes, and inflexional endings) are attached without modification; the compounds may be further agglutinated.  For example, the long adjective шарикоподшипниковый, sharikopodshipnikoviy {{IPA|[ʂa.rʲɪ.kə.pɐtˈʂɨ.pnʲɪ.kə.vɨj]}} ('pertaining to ball bearings'), may be decomposed as follows (words having independent existence '''in boldface'''):

{| align="center" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" style="text-align: center"
|-
| '''шар'''<br> {{IPA|/ˈʂar/}} || ик<br>{{IPA|/ik/}} || o<br>{{IPA|/o/}} || '''под'''<br>{{IPA|/pod/}} || '''шип'''<br>{{IPA|/ˈʂip/}} || ник<br>{{IPA|/nʲik/}} || ов<br>{{IPA|/ov/}} || ый<br>{{IPA|/ij/}}
|-
| 'sphere' || diminutive suffix || connecting interfix || 'under'<br>(preposition or prefix) || 'pin' || suffix indicating subject, intended for what is called by the stem (thus 'something to lay under pin')|| adjectival suffix of property or innateness|| inflexional ending, [[nominative]] [[masculine]] [[Grammatical number|singular]] ending of adjectives
|-
|-
| colspan=2 | '''шарик'''<br>{{IPA|[ˈʂa.rʲɪk]}}<br>'little sphere', 'ball' || о<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;
| colspan=3 | '''подшипник'''<br>{{IPA|[pɐtˈʂɨ.pnʲɪk]}}<br>'bearing' || ов<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp; || ый<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;
|-
| colspan=6 | '''шарикоподшипник'''<br>{{IPA|[ʂa.rʲɪ.kə.pɐtˈʂɨ.pnʲɪk]}}<br>'ball bearing'
| colspan=2 | овый<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;
|-
| colspan=8 | '''шарикоподшипниковый'''<br>{{IPA|[ʂa.rʲɪ.kə.pɐtˈʂɨ.pnʲɪ.kə.vɨj]}}<br>'pertaining to ball bearings'
|}

Note again that each component in the final production retains its basic form, despite the vowel reduction.

The phonetic assimilation of consonant clusters also does not usually violate the morphological principle of the spelling.  For example, the decomposition of счастье {{IPA|[ˈɕːa.sʲtʲjɪ]}} ('happiness, good fortune') is as follows:

{| align=center cellpadding=6   style="text-align: center"
|-
| '''с''' || '''часть''' || е
|- 
| {{IPA|/s/}} || {{IPA|/t͡ɕasʲtʲ/}} || {{IPA|/&nbsp;jə/}}
|-
| 'good'<br>(< *sъ- (good), as in A.-Indian su - good) || 'part' (here in the related meaning 'fate') || (ending of abstract noun of state - Neutral Sing. Nom.)
|}

Note the assimilation with {{angbr|сч}}- so that it represents the same sound (or cluster) as {{angbr|щ}}-. The spelling <щастие> was fairly common among the literati in the eighteenth century, but is usually frowned upon today.

===Phonetic principle===
The phonetic principle implies that:
* all morphemes are written as they are pronounced in isolation, ''without vowel reduction'', [[Church Slavonic]] style, or, more strictly, taking inflexion into account (this in combination with the morphological agglutination described above is sometimes called the morphemic principle);
* certain prefixes that end in a voiced consonant (in practice, only those in -{{angbr|з}} {{IPA|/z/}}) have that consonant devoiced (become {{IPA|[s]}}) to voicing assimilation.  This may be reflected orthographically.  For example, for the prefix/preposition ''без'' {{IPA|[bʲez]}} 'without':

{| align=center cellpadding=6
|-
| '''без'''умный || {{IPA|[bʲɪˈzu.mnɨj]}} || 'mindless', 'mad' (ум {{IPA|[um]}} 'mind')
|-
| '''бес'''смертный || {{IPA|[bʲɪsˈsmʲe.rtnɨj]}} || 'immortal' (смерть {{IPA|[smʲertʲ]}} 'death')
|}

* certain roots and prefixes occasionally have their vowel modified in individual cases to reflect historical changes in pronunciation, usually as a result of being unstressed or, conversely, stressed.  In practice, this usually applies to -{{angbr|o}}- {{IPA|/o/}} changing to -{{angbr|a}}- {{IPA|[ɐ]}} or {{IPA|[ə]}} (''[[akanye]]''), and alternations between the allophonic vowels {{IPA|[ɨ]}} and {{IPA|[i]}} (represented by {{angbr|ы}} and {{angbr|и}} respectively):
{| align=center cellpadding=6
|-
|'''рост''' || {{IPA|[rost]}} || 'growth'
|-
| '''расти''' || {{IPA|[rɐˈsʲtʲi]}} || 'to grow'
|-
|'''история''' || {{IPA|[ɪˈsto.rʲɪ.jə]}} || 'history'
|-
| '''предыстория''' || {{IPA|[prʲɪ.dɨˈsto.rʲɪ.jə]}} || 'prehistory'
|}

* borrowed words and foreign names are usually spelled as [[orthographic transcription]]s, or, more precisely, mixed transcriptions-transliterations based mainly on original pronunciation ([[Jacques-Yves Cousteau]] is rendered in Russian as Жак-Ив Кусто; the English name Paul is rendered as Пол, the French name Paul as Поль, the German name Paul as Пауль) but also on original spelling (the German surnames Schmied, Schmidt, Schmitt are rendered in Russian as Шмид, Шмидт, Шмитт). In particular, double consonants are usually retained from original spelling when their pronunciation is not normally geminated. In addition, unpalatalized consonants are usually followed by {{angbr|е}} rather than {{angbr|э}} (e.g. кафе {{IPA|[kɐˈfɛ]}},'café'); 19th-century linguists, such as [[Yakov Karlovich Grot]], considered unpalatalized pronunciation of consonants before {{IPA|/e/}} to be foreign to Russian, though this has now become the standard for many loanwords.

Pronunciation may also deviate from normal phonological rules.  For example, unstressed {{IPA|/o/}} (spelled {{angbr|о}}) is usually pronounced {{IPA|[ɐ]}} or {{IPA|[ə]}}, but радио ('radio') is pronounced {{IPA|[ˈra.dʲɪ.o]}}, with an unstressed final {{IPA|[o]}}.

===Etymological principle===
The fact that Russian has retained much of its ancient phonology has made the historical or etymological principle (dominant in languages like English, French, and Irish) less relevant.  Because the spelling has been adjusted to reflect the changes in the pronunciation of the [[yer]]s and to eliminate letters with identical pronunciation,  the only systematic examples occur in some foreign words and in some of the inflectional endings, both nominal and verbal, which are not always written as they are pronounced. For example:

{| align=center cellpadding=6
|-
| '''русского''' || {{IPA|[ˈru.skə.və]}}  <br>'''not''' {{IPA|*[ˈru.sko.ɡo]}} || 'of the Russian' <br>(adj. masculine/neuter genitive singular)
|}

===Grammatical principle===
The '''grammatical''' principle has become stronger in contemporary Russian.  It specifies conventional orthographic forms to mark grammatic distinctions (gender, participle vs. adjective, and so on).  Some of these rules are ancient, and could perhaps be considered etymological; some are based in part on subtle, and not necessarily universal, distinctions in pronunciation; and some are practically arbitrary.  Some characteristic examples follow.

For nouns ending in a sibilant -{{angbr|ж}} {{IPA|/ʐ/}}, -{{angbr|ш}} {{IPA|/ʂ/}}, -{{angbr|щ}} {{IPA|/ɕː/}}, -{{angbr|ч}} {{IPA|/t͡ɕ/}}, a [[soft sign]] {{angbr|ь}} is appended in the nominative singular if the gender is feminine, and is not appended if masculine:
{| align=center cellpadding=6
|-
| '''дочь''' || {{IPA|[dot͡ɕ]}} || daughter '''F''' || -
|-
| '''меч''' || {{IPA|[mʲet͡ɕ]}} || sword '''M''' || -
|-
| '''грач''' || {{IPA|[ɡrat͡ɕ]}} || rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') '''M''' || modern levelling; [[Mikhail Lomonosov|Lomonosov]] (1755) gives ''грачь''
|}
: Neither of the aforementioned consonants has phonemically distinct [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] and unpalatalized variants. Hence, the use of {{angbr|ь}} in these examples is not to indicate a different pronunciation, but to help distinguish different grammatical genders. A common noun ending in a consonant without -{{angbr|ь}} is masculine while a noun ending in -{{angbr|ь}} is often feminine (though  there are some masculine nouns ending in a "soft" consonant, with the -{{angbr|ь}} marking a different pronunciation).
: Though based on common ancient etymology, by which a hard sign '''ъ''' was appended to masculine nouns before 1918, both symbols having once been pronounced as ultra-short ("reduced") vowels (called ''[[yer]]s'' in Slavic studies), the modern rule is nevertheless grammatical, because its application has been made more nearly universal.

The past passive participle has a doubled -{{angbr|'''нн'''}}- {{IPA|/nn/}}, while the same word used as an adjective has a single -{{angbr|'''[[н]]'''}}- {{IPA|/n/}}:
{| align=center cellpadding=6
|-
| '''варёный''' || {{IPA|[vɐˈrʲɵ.nɨj]}} || 'cooked/boiled'
|-
| '''варенный''' || {{IPA|[ˈva.rʲɪn.nɨj]}} || '(something that has) been cooked/boiled'
|-
| '''жареный''' || {{IPA|[ˈʐa.rʲɪ.nɨj]}} || 'fried'
|-
| '''жаренный''' || {{IPA|[ˈʐa.rʲɪn.nɨj]}} || '(something that has) been fried'
|}
:This rule is partly guided by pronunciation, but the geminated pronunciation is not universal. The rule is therefore considered one of the difficult points of Russian spelling, since the distinction between adjective (implying state) and participle (implying action) is not always clear. A proposal in the late 1990s to simplify this rule by basing the distinction on whether or not the verb is transitive has not been formally adopted.

Prepositional phrases in which the literal meaning is preserved are written with the words separated; when used adverbially, especially if the meaning has shifted, they are usually written as a single word:
{| align=center cellpadding=6
|-
| '''во время (чего-либо)''' || {{IPA|[vɐ ˈvrʲe.mʲə]}} || 'during the time (of something)'
|-
| '''(он пришёл) вовремя''' || {{IPA|[ˈvovrʲɪmʲə]}} || '(he arrived) on time'
|}
: (This is extracted from a whole set of extremely detailed rules about run-together, hyphenated, or separated components. Such rules are essentially arbitrary.  There are enough sub-cases, exceptions, undecidable points, and inconsistencies that even well-educated native speakers sometimes have to check in a dictionary.  Arguments about this issue have been continuous for 150 years.)