Russian
The most notable example in Russian language is the greeting здравствуйте, which is colloquially pronounced . Other examples include:
- меня → мя ('me')
- сейчас → щас or ща ('now')
- что → чё ('what'; originally a contraction of Genitive чего, but can be used instead of Nominative too)
- когда → када ('when')
- тысяча → тыща ('thousand')
Contracted forms are usually found only in colloquial contexts, but they can occur in poetry.
For example, look at the verse from the Russian translation of Avesta (Mihr Yasht, verse 129):
- На колеснице Митры,
- Чьи пастбища просторны,
- Стрел тыща златоустых
"On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand ... arrows, with a golden mouth."
This contrasts with contracted forms found in colloquial speech in that it is used to keep the original rhythm. The previous verse (verse 128) has a literary form:
- На колеснице Митры,
- Чьи пастбища Просторны,
- Из жил оленьих тысяча
- Отборных тетивы
"On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand bows well-made, with a string of cowgut").
Read more about this topic: Relaxed Pronunciation
Famous quotes containing the word russian:
“In Western Europe people perish from the congestion and stifling closeness, but with us it is from the spaciousness.... The expanses are so great that the little man hasn’t the resources to orient himself.... This is what I think about Russian suicides.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“An enormously vast field lies between “God exists” and “there is no God.” The truly wise man traverses it with great difficulty. A Russian knows one or the other of these two extremes, but is not interested in the middle ground. He usually knows nothing, or very little.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Now comes this Russian diversion. If it is more than just that it will mean the liberation of Europe from Nazi domination—and at the same time I do not think we need to worry about the possibility of any Russian domination.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)