Russian Dialects

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The language has its roots all the way back to 1000AD and has continued to evolve throughout the ages, becoming what we know today as Modern Russian. Part of the natural evolution of the Russian language has been the formation of various dialects which most scholars classify under one of two regions; either Northern and Southern with Moscow being the transitional area.

Northern Dialect

The Northern Dialect of the Russian language is spoken North of Moscow and along the Volga River.  The dialects of this region don’t exhibit typical vowel reduction in unstressed syllables. Among the dialects of the Northern Region are Pomor, Olonets, Novgorod, Vologda-Kirov, and Vladimir-Volga.

Southern Dialect

The Southern Dialects are spoken around Tula, Ryazan, Oryol, Lipestk, Tambov and most of Kaluga, Voronezh , and Kursk Oblasts. These dialects are also found in the southern part of Penza and the western part of Saratov, Don Voisko Oblasts.

There are language scholars that insist on dividing the dialects into three groups; the above-named Northern and Southern dialects, as well as the Central Dialects.  They maintain that the Central Dialects are spoken in and around Moscow.

Central Dialect

Very few dialects are actually part of this group as it mainly consists of dialects from the Northern origin that have taken on some of the Southern dialects characteristics.  The official dialect of the Russian language stems from this small group of dialects. The Central Dialect is mainly spoken in Moscow and in some of the surrounding areas.

Russia is kaleidoscope of dialects that reflect its ancient origins as well as the unique culture it stems from.