Russian philology
those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. Almost every consonant has a hard or a soft
counterpart, and the distinction is a prominent feature of the language. Another important
aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Stress, which is unpredictable, is not normally
indicated orthographically. though an optional acute accent ( , znak udareniya)
may be used to mark stress, such as to distinguish between homographic words, for example
(zamók, meaning a lock) and (zámok, meaning a castle), or to indicate the
proper pronunciation of uncommon words or names.
The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language
( ). It arose in the beginning of the 18th century
with the modernization reforms of the Russian state under the rule of Peter the Great, and
developed from the Moscow (Middle or Central Russian) dialect substratum under the
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