# î sound



## Beobachter

Can someone tell me how similar is the pronunciation of Romanian _î_ to that of the Russian_ ы_?


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## Anatoli

Beobachter said:


> Can someone tell me how similar is the pronunciation of Romanian _î_ to that of the Russian_ ы_?



Wait for native speakers but I also replied (post #10) to your question re: the Romanian _î_ vs the Russian_ ы_:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=305259


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## Beobachter

I have just found a thread here http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=7528 in which this is discussed. 



> ...the Romanian î is not exactly like the Russian bl...The difference is that the Russian sound is usually pronounced more in the back of the mouth, while the Romanian one is pronounced closer to the lips. The same sound is pronounced differently depending on the neighbouring sounds. The old story of the allophones, like in every language.


 
I would be interested in any further comments on this. Also: are the â and î sounds always identical in every situation?


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## vince

Are they both transcribed in IPA by the letter i with a dash across it?

So is it midway between Russian и and Russian ы?


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## Beobachter

vince said:


> Are they both transcribed in IPA by the letter i with a dash across it?


 
Yes, so it seems.



> So is it midway between Russian и and Russian ы?


 
Well, so it has been said by some. I think it would be more helpful to try and compare with Russian ы, Ukrainian и, and Polish _y_. To me, it doesn't seem very close to Russian и.


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## robbie_SWE

The Romanian *î* and *â* are pronounced in the same way, in other words they have identical pronunciation. I think that the article presented in this thread about the Romanian î and the Russian equivalent is quite plausible. Î in Romanian is pronounced closer to the lips.

 robbie


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