Russian Surname Prounciation, 'Novikov'

Synthesis

Okay, I've been trying to figure this out for a while, and wouldn't you know it, all the Russian speakers I know are out for vacation or otherwise gone.

The Russian surname Но́виков, 'Novikov', how is it pronounced? Up to this point, I've pronounced it with the 'No' as in 'November', and 'Vik' as in 'Victor', and 'Ov' as in 'Mauve' (or how you pronounce the 'off' sound in German).

I've heard some people say it differently though, such as with 'Nu' as in 'new', or 'vi' with an 'eye' sound, or the 'Kov' as in in the word 'cove'.

I'm originally a Chinese speaker, and I haven't had much success finding translations (which I'm not sure really account for pronunciation). Could any native Russian speakers put this to rest for me? I'm a TA, and I'd really rather not give my students the same confusion I have. A youtube video of someone saying it correctly would help too.

Karnack

You're pretty much right in your assumption.


No vi kov/koff

the important thing is that the stress is on the NO, and you can kind of let the rest of the word come out quickly, which is why the kov often comes out as koff.


It does seem to be the TA's who really try very hard to pronounce things correctly, most of mine go out of their way to get it right, which is admirable. Most professors pronouncing things out of their specialty never seem to care (D'artagnan as Dartanyion, etc)

Synthesis

Much appreciated. So the second and third syllables are softer? Sort of like "NOOvikov", and the end isn't smooth, like 'ov', but a little more abrupt, like 'off'?

Yeah, TA's tend to worry more about these things, since, well, we're still learning ourselves. Plus, when teaching or writing, I use Novikov as a generic name when needed on Soviet-related subjects (I teach/study History), sort of like "Brown" or "Smith" if I were talking about Americans.

Karnack

second and third syllables are softer, yes. Just don't get caught up extending the OO too long, I had a bad habit of that when I was learning.

As far as a generic name, what I've heard used as an occasion "John Doe" or "John Smith" name in russian is Ivan Ivanovich, which kind of ignores the surname part, but that's common in certain aspects of russian society. Using a first name and patronymic (as with Ivan Ivanovich) is used for polite speech/authority/many other things, since there isn't a really good mister or missus equivalent.

Synthesis

No, I'm familiar with the patronymic system (it's well documented in lots of places). When I use generic names, I just need a surname for demonstrative purposes. Plus, in my field, there are a decent number of important people with the surname 'Novikov'.

GungHo

No as No (hard accent)
Vi as veh (soft accent)
Kov as kov/koff (soft accent)

"No" is a distinct syllable, "vikov" should almost be pronounced as one syllable. I mean, it's distinct enough to hear it, but not a hard seperation. Whereas in Mandarin/Taiwanese, you'd usually pronounce each syllable with a hard seperation, in Russian surnames, the first syllable is going to be stressed and the rest is going to a little "mush-mouthed". It's almost kind of how you might say 柳, where you'll almost say "lee-oh" but mash it together a little. 柳 is a little more pushed together than vikov, but do you kinda get the idea?

Synthesis

It's easier to do with Chinese (or even Japanese) phonetics for me, but that's probably because of years of practice. But I see what you're getting at, thank you.