Standard Russian · Moskovskoye
The Moscow-area standard of Russian. The reference variety in education, broadcasting, and most second-language teaching.
Southern Russian
The southern Russian dialect group spanning Voronezh, Rostov, and the broader steppe. Marked by fricative /ɣ/ and a distinct verb-ending system.
Shareable facts
Want a Southern Russian app?
Vote and we'll prioritise it. Top-voted dialects move up the roadmap. One vote per email.
Frequently asked questions
What language is Southern Russian?
Southern Russian is a dialect of the Russian language.
Where is Southern Russian spoken?
Southern Russian is primarily spoken in Russia.
Which region is Southern Russian associated with?
Southern Russian is part of the Europe region on DialectAtlas.
What are the other dialects of Russian?
Russian also includes Moscow Russian, Saint Petersburg Russian, Northern Russian, Pomor Russian, Volga Russian, Ural Russian, Siberian Russian, Far Eastern Russian, Kazakhstani Russian. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other Russian dialects
See on the atlas →Petersburg pronunciation
The traditional educated speech of Saint Petersburg. Distinct from Moscow Russian in clearer enunciation of unstressed vowels and a number of lexical preferences.
The northern Russian dialect group around Vologda and Arkhangelsk. Preserves okanye (clear /o/ in unstressed positions) lost in standard varieties.
Pomorsky govor
The Russian of the Pomor coastal communities along the White Sea. A North Russian variety with a distinct lexicon shaped by maritime life, fishing, and contact with Karelian and Saami.
Vladimir-Volga dialects · Middle Russian
The Central Russian dialects of the middle Volga, around Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir. A transitional zone between the Northern and Southern dialect groups.
Uralsky govor
The Russian of the Ural region around Yekaterinburg and Perm. Mixes Northern and Central Russian features with contact influence from local Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages.
Sibirskie govory
The Russian varieties of Western and Central Siberia, descended from northern-Russian settlers. Distinguished by retained okanye, a conservative lexicon, and contact features from indigenous Siberian languages.
Dalnevostochny govor
The Russian of the Russian Far East around Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. The youngest major regional variety, formed through 19th- and 20th-century settlement; close to standard Russian with regional vocabulary tied to Pacific life.
The Russian of Kazakhstan, used by ethnic Russians and as a second language by many Kazakhs. Based on standard Russian but with regional vocabulary, code-switching, and Kazakh contact features.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →165 km away
The Greek of the Mariupol region in Ukraine, descended from communities resettled from Crimea by Catherine the Great in 1778. Endangered; structurally close to Pontic Greek.
292 km away
A Northwest Caucasian language of the Adygea Republic in Russia. Together with Kabardian, makes up the Circassian language continuum, with a large diaspora in Turkey and the Levant.
361 km away
The only Mongolic language of Europe, spoken in the Republic of Kalmykia by the descendants of 17th-century Oirat migrants from Dzungaria. Endangered but officially recognised.
375 km away
The Russian-Ukrainian mixed colloquial register, widely spoken across central and eastern Ukraine. Treated by linguists as a code-mixing continuum rather than a fixed dialect.
401 km away
The Southeastern Ukrainian variety of the Sloboda region around Kharkiv and Sumy. Close to the standard, but with a distinctive lexicon shaped by long contact with Russian.
403 km away
A Northwest Caucasian language of the Black Sea coast around present-day Sochi, carried to Anatolia in the 1864 deportation. Famous for one of the largest consonant inventories ever recorded — around eighty consonants against two phonemic vowels. Died with its last speaker, Tevfik Esenç, in 1992; extensively documented by Georges Dumézil.