Armenia Russian Language Unified Exam flashcards

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Vowel reduction

In Russian, unstressed vowels are pronounced shorter and less distinctly; /o/ after hard consonants becomes [ɐ] or [ə], and /e/ after soft consonants reduces.

Final devoicing

Russian voiced obstruents at the end of a word become voiceless; for example, друг is pronounced [друк], with г replaced by [к].

Two-sound vowels

Letters е, ё, ю, я denote two sounds at word start, after vowels, and after ъ or ь; after consonants they show softness plus one vowel sound.

Orthoepic stress

Russian stress is free and mobile, so it must be learned per word; correct forms include звонИть, красИвее, and тОрты, not звонить or красивее.

Polysemy

Polysemy is one word having several related meanings, as in крыло bird wing and building wing; the meanings share a semantic core.

Homonyms

Homonyms are words with identical sound or spelling but unrelated meanings, such as лук onion and лук bow; they are not senses of one word.

Phraseologism

A phraseologism is a stable, reproducible word group with a holistic meaning, such as бить баклуши, which means to idle rather than to strike blocks.

Paronyms

Paronyms are words similar in form but different in meaning, such as адресат recipient and адресант sender; confusing them creates a lexical error.

Zero ending

A zero ending is a meaningful absence of ending at the end of a word, as in стол for nominative singular masculine, contrasting with столы or стола.

Prefixal formation

Prefixal word formation adds a prefix to an existing word without changing its part of speech, as in писать to написать or ходить to уходить.

Suffixal formation

Suffixal word formation adds a suffix that can change meaning or part of speech, as in дом to домик or читать to читатель.

Connecting vowels

In Russian compounds, connecting vowels о and е link stems, as in пароход steamboat and землетрясение earthquake; the choice depends on the preceding consonant.

Noun gender

Russian nouns have masculine, feminine, or neuter gender; gender is grammatical and often shown by ending and agreement, as новый дом, новая книга, новое окно.

Verb aspect

Russian verbs are imperfective or perfective; imperfective verbs show ongoing or repeated action, while perfective verbs present action as complete, as читать versus прочитать.

Short adjectives

Short adjectives are predicate forms that agree in gender and number but not case, as новый becomes нов, нова, ново, новы; they often express temporary states.

Participle

A participle is a verb form that combines verbal tense and aspect with adjectival agreement, as читающий in читающий мальчик; it modifies a noun like an adjective.

Compound nominal predicate

A compound nominal predicate consists of a linking verb and a nominal part, as in Он был врачом; the link carries tense and the nominal part carries the main meaning.

Subordinate clause

A subordinate clause is a dependent clause attached to a main clause by a conjunction or relative word, as когда in Я знаю, когда он придёт.

One-part sentence

A one-part sentence has only one main member, either subject or predicate, as Светает or Тишина; it contrasts with a two-part sentence containing both.

Alternating roots

Some Russian roots alternate vowels by rule, as -лаг-/-лож- in предлагать and предложить, or -раст-/-рос- in растение and вырос; the choice depends on suffix or consonant.

Н and НН

Russian spelling distinguishes н and нн in adjectives and participles; derived adjectives often use нн, while verbal participles use нн when prefixed or perfective, as решённый.

Не with verbs

Не with verbs is normally written separately, as не читать; it is written together only when the verb without не is not used, as ненавидеть.

Introductory words

Introductory words express the speaker's attitude or connection and are set off by commas, as конечно in Он, конечно, придёт; they are not sentence members.

Participial phrase commas

A participial phrase is set off by commas when it follows the noun it modifies, as in Книга, лежащая на столе, новая; before the noun it usually is not.

Dash between subject and predicate

A dash is placed between subject and predicate when both are nouns in the nominative and there is no link verb, as Москва - столица.

Functional styles

Russian functional styles include colloquial, official-business, scientific, journalistic, and literary-artistic; each has typical vocabulary, syntax, and communicative purpose.

Pleonasm

Pleonasm is redundant expression using unnecessary words with overlapping meaning, as главная суть main essence; it differs from tautology, which repeats the same root or word.

Official-business style

Official-business style is standardized and impersonal, using clichés, formal terms, and complex sentences, as in заявление or приказ; it avoids emotional coloring and colloquial vocabulary.

Theme and idea

The theme is what a text is about, while the idea is the main point or message the author conveys; distinguishing them helps summarize and interpret a text.

Narration

Narration is a text type that recounts events in time order, usually with dynamic verbs and a sequence of actions, as in a story about a journey.

Cohesion

Cohesion is the linking of sentences through devices such as pronouns, conjunctions, lexical repetition, and synonyms, which make a text read as a unified whole.

Inference

Inference is a conclusion drawn from stated information plus context, as when a character's silence implies disagreement; it is not directly stated in the text.