How does native language influence Russian accent acquisition

Native language influences the acquisition of a Russian accent primarily through phonetic and phonological transfer processes. Speakers tend to apply the sound patterns, intonation, and stress rules of their first language (L1) when learning Russian, which leads to deviations from native Russian pronunciation. For example, speakers of languages with different vowel or consonant inventories may have trouble producing Russian sounds accurately, resulting in distinctive accent features. Articulatory habits, stress patterns, and prosody from the native language also shape how learners acquire Russian intonation and rhythm.

Studies on bilingual speakers (e.g., Kazakh-Russian or Uzbek-Russian) show that the dominant native language affects the realization of Russian stress and vowel sounds. Articulatory differences can cause specific phonetic challenges—such as vowel quality shifts or stress placement errors—when speaking Russian. Furthermore, cross-linguistic influence extends beyond pronunciation to lexical stress and pitch accent, where speakers of tonal or pitch-accent languages may transfer their native prosodic patterns into Russian. The degree of influence also depends on factors like language dominance, proficiency, exposure, and the linguistic distance between the native language and Russian. In sum, native language shapes how learners perceive and produce Russian sounds, leading to characteristic foreign accents. ^{1, 2, 3, 4}

Hence, native language influences Russian accent acquisition through phonetic transfer of segmental and suprasegmental features, which results in non-native accent characteristics reflecting the phonological system of the speaker’s first language.

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