Russian dialects
Russian dialects are spoken variants of the Russian language.
Russian dialects and territorial varieties are divided in two conceptual chronological and geographic categories:
- The dialects of the territory of the primary formation, which consist of "Old" Russia of the 16th century and roughly correlate with the modern Central and Northwestern Federal districts. These "historical dialects" are claimed as ethnically Russian.
- The dialects of the territory of the second formation, where Russians settled after the 16th century. These new territorial varieties were produced by the Russian and Soviet expansions during the last centuries and are mainly spoken by non-Slavic, non-Slavophone, and non-Orthodox populations in post-Soviet states.
In Russia
Depending on the presence or the absence of vowel reduction and the pronunciation of Proto-Slavic *g, Russian is divided into two main dialectical divisions and the intermediate one:- Northern, in the northern and north-eastern parts of European Russia, from Veliky Novgorod to the Perm and northern Ural regions; this has no or little vowel reduction in unstressed positions and stop.
- Southern, in the western and southern parts of European Russia; this has various types of vowel reduction and fricative ; this group makes up a dialect continuum with Belarusian, although it differs significantly from the Ukrainian dialects to the further south, sharing only a few isoglosses. This is due to the fact that the Russian-Ukrainian linguistic boundary has only existed since the expansion of both of these languages into the steppes, at which time they were already markedly different.
- Central or Middle is in an intermediate position between the above two, stretching from Pskov to Tver, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, and down to the Lower Volga region; this group is very heterogeneous and consists of dialects both with and without vowel reduction and either or. The Muscovite dialect forms the basis of Standard Russian: being originally a northern dialect, with and no reduction, it later came under the southern influence and has adopted vowel reduction, but retained.
Dialects within Russia
[Northern Russian dialects]
Central or Middle Russian">Central Russian dialects">Central or Middle Russian
Bashkort Russian
Bashkort Russian is characterised by the adoption of native Bashkir and Tatar words such as айда replacing давай to mean "let's go". It is primarily spoken in the Republic of Bashkortostan, which is an autonomous region of Russia.Lake Peipus
Lake Peipus dialect is a Russian language variety spoken on both sides of Lake Peipus in Pskov Oblast, Russia and some counties of Estonia where Russian is a frequently-spoken or dominant language. It originated as a mix of Pskov and Gdov dialects of the Central Russian cluster. As many other dialects from this area, it is often considered to be transitional between Russian and Belarusian. Lake Peipus dialects also include some loanwords from the Estonian language.The dialect has been studied and described by Olga Rovnova of the University of Tartu who has conducted fieldwork in Russian Old Believers' communities in Estonia.
[Southern Russian dialects]
Astrakhani Russian
Astrakhani Russian is a collection of varieties of Russian spoken in Astrakhan Oblast, predominantly by the ethnically mixed population—ethnic Russians, Kazakhs, Tatars among the main speakers, and include many other groups such as Azeris, "Dagestani", Nogay, and Ukrainians.Like Dagestani Russian, Astrakhan Russian refers to many different dialects varying depending on a speaker's native language, ethnicity, age, occupation, and other social factors. Even in the metropolitan area of Astrakhan where a person of a minority background is likely to grow up speaking only Russian, traces of their heritage language are still present.
Cossack Russian
Balachka
is spoken in the Kuban region of Russia, by the Kuban Cossacks. The Kuban Cossacks being descendants of the Zaporozhian Cossacks are beginning to consider themselves as a separate ethnic identity. Their dialect is based on Middle Dnieprian with the Ukrainian grammar. It includes dialectical words of central Ukrainian with frequent inclusion of Russian vocabulary, in particular for modern concepts and items. It varies somewhat from one area to another.Isoglosses
;NotesEastern Europe
Moldovan Russian
Moldovan Russian is characterised by differences in orthography, with the use of Молдова instead of Молдавия or Кишинэу instead of Кишинёв in government and media of Moldova. It is also characterized by Romanian loanwords. This change is also widely accepted by Russian-language media inside of Russia, as well. Russian is more often used as a second language and as the language of interethnic communication than as a first language in the country, which contributes to influence from the state language, Romanian.Ukrainian Russian
The Russian language in Ukraine has influence from the Ukrainian language in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. When Ukrainians speak Russian, the Russian letter Г is mostly pronounced as /ɦ/, like in Ukrainian, instead of /g/. There are also clear differences in the intonation. Additionally, a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian, is also spoken by many Ukrainians.Belarusian Russian
Caucasus
Abkhaz Russian
Abkhaz Russian is characterised by the use of Abkhaz terms, orthographical differences, and patterns of speech that diverge from that of Standard Russian.Chechen Russian
Notable variety features include use of /u/ <у> in place of /v/ <в>, such as in <привет>, pronounced /priuet/ . Additionally, дон is used as a filler word, similar to ну or короче in standard Russian.Dagestani Russian
Dagestani Russian is a regional variety of the Russian language spoken in Dagestan, a constituent republic of the Russian Federation, and some of the neighboring regions including Astrakhan Oblast and Kalmykia. It is characterized by heavy influence from vernacular languages, mostly those belonging to the Northeast Caucasian and Turkic language families. It is considered a low prestige language and mostly used in informal domains. By some measures, it is considered an ethnolect.Armenian Russian
Armenian Russian is the regional variety of Russian spoken in Armenia and the partially-recognised Republic of Artsakh, where parliament voted to establish Russian an official language in March 2021.There are some vocabulary differences to the variety of Russian as spoken in Armenia/Artsakh, such as:
| English | Artsakhi Russian | Standard Russian |
| clothespin | шпилька | прищепка |
| water fountain | пулпулак | питьевой фонтан |
| sweatpants | финки | треники, тренировочные штаны |
Central Asia
Kazakhstani Russian
Most key word differences come in the form of toponyms of renamed cities after the 1991 independence of Kazakhstan. Not all renamings are manifested in the Russian language, such as with the city of Almaty, still known by its former name of Alma-Ata in Russian, because they sound similar. Other differences include names for authorities such as мажилис, мажилисмен which substitute the Russian word депутат. Акимат is a localised Russian construction of the borrowed word Аким, meaning "mayor", and given the traditional -ат suffix in standard Russian that is used for words such as секретариат and ректорат. Kazakhstani Russian is often classified as being influenced strongly by Kazakh and the use of Kazakh words.Kyrgyzstani Russian
Kyrgyzstani Russian is characterised by phonetic differences as well as the use of some words from the Kyrgyz language. There are also some other differences in vocabulary, such as replacing the standard meaning "mobile phone".Tajikistani Russian
The varieties of Russian spoken in Tajikistan are collectively referred to as "Tajikistani Russian" or "Tajik Russian". Both Russian and Tajik are recognised as official languages according to the Constitution of Tajikistan, and their usages often influence each other.Lexicon
Tajik words and expressions are often found in the colloquial speech of Tajikistani Russian speakers, especially in Dushanbe, although qualitatively, Russian borrowings into Tajik exceed the reverse. The varieties are greatly affected by Russian-speaking families, intermarriages between different nationalities, Russian-language classrooms, and location.Tajik lexical units have entered the Tajikistani Russian dialect. For example, the words душман 'mujahid, enemy' and духан 'tavern, shop' entered Russian through Tajik during the Soviet–Afghan War.
The colloquial lexicon also includes words such as: алча, дастархан, джигит, казан, кайф, карбос, кишмиш, гашиш, топчан, чинара.
There are also words used in science, literature and academia, such as бейт, дастан, and изафет.
Exoticisms include манту, курпача, плов, танур, хоуз, див, дутор, най, чапан, and эзоры.
Both Russian and Tajik speakers are served by the following words to address unfamiliar people and acquaintances.
| Tajikistani Russian | Standard Russian | English translation |
| апа | старшая сестра | 'older sister' |
| ака | старший брат | 'older brother' |
| хола | тётя | 'aunt' |
| янга | жена брата, невестка | 'daughter-in-law; sister-in-law' |
Calques are not very numerous and are often used with a humorous undertone. For example, хунуковато in place of standard Russian холодновато.
There are also words used by Tajiki Russian speakers that have long had their own standard Russian equivalents:
| Tajikistani Russian | Standard Russian | English translation |
| зира | тмин | |
| испанд | рута | |
| каймак | сметана | 'smetana' |
| халтак | мешочек, кисет | 'sack' |
| чакка | кислое молоко | 'fermented milk' |
Tajik expressions are often used: хайрият in lieu of к счастью for 'fortunately', наконец-то for 'finally', and тавба in place of досл. раскаяние for 'remorse'.
In youth jargon, Russian affixes and endings are attached to Tajik stems, or a Tajik noun is paired with a Russian verb in a phrase. For example: гапы бросать instead of разговаривать for 'to converse'.
After the end of the Soviet period, many Russian words were given Tajik equivalents. For example, «велосипед» — «дучарха» for 'bicycle', «команда» — «даста» 'team', «фронт» — «джабха» for 'front', «ракета» — «мушак» for 'rocket'.
Mixed speech also includes common Russian substitutions and additions either alongside or in place of other Tajik words such as обычный or простой instead of одати; морожени instead of яхмос; туалет instead of мабраз; and серьёзный instead of джидди.