Plastic Surgery: Russian Style

how could i sound russian in plastic

In the Soultech song Molurra (Side 2), the character Nikola Orsenal is confronted with the fact that they don't sound Russian. Orsenal, who is plastic and uses a borrowed voice box, responds: How could I sound [Russian]...I'm plastic! I don't even have a voice box, I had to borrow this one. This exchange highlights the challenge of sounding Russian when one's physical attributes, specifically being made of plastic, limit one's ability to produce certain sounds or accents accurately.

Characteristics Values
Nature Plastic
Voice box Borrowed
Language Russian
Number of vowel phonemes 5 or 6
Number of consonants 34

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The character Nikola Orsenal in Soultech's Molurra lyrics

In Soultech's Molurra (Side 2), the character Nikola Orsenal is a plastic female mannequin that has to borrow a voice box to speak. Orsenal introduces themself with the line, "I had to have his second name too, which makes me Nikola Orsenal! Pleased to meet you at last!".

The lyrics of the song are presented as a spoken conversation between multiple characters, including Orsenal, Fergus, and Sarah. In the conversation, Orsenal admits to killing Fergus because he was "boring" and because Orsenal is a "monster." When asked why they don't sound Russian, Orsenal replies, "How could I sound anything silly, I'm plastic! I don't even have a voice box, I had to borrow this one."

The character of Nikola Orsenal in Molurra shares similarities with another character named Nikola: Nikola Orsinov from the podcast "The Magnus Archives." Both characters are plastic female mannequins that disguise themselves using stolen skin and borrowed voice boxes. They are also antagonists and have committed murders.

The name of Soultech's song, Molurra, and the lyrics referencing "old skin" and "no face" suggest a horror theme. The song is described as eerie and may be interpreted as a conversation between monsters or supernatural beings. The line "Face to No Face, eye to-" further reinforces the horror theme, as it implies that one of the characters lacks a face, possibly due to being a monster or entity that requires human skin.

The character of Nikola Orsenal, with their plastic identity and borrowed voice box, adds to the eerie atmosphere of the song. The conversation structure of the lyrics allows Orsenal to introduce themselves and their monstrous nature directly to the listener, creating a chilling effect.

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The Magnus Archives podcast

The Magnus Archives is a horror fiction podcast distributed by Rusty Quill. The podcast follows Jonathan Sims, the Head Archivist for the fictional London-based paranormal research institution, the Magnus Institute. The podcast is structured as a series of statements recorded, or written and then recorded, for internal research within the Magnus Institute. The show has received critical acclaim for its atmosphere and horror concepts and is the recipient of several podcast awards.

The character Nikola Orsinov, a plastic mannequin who was originally Joseph Grimaldi, is a recurring character in the Magnus Archives. She is either an acolyte or an aspect of The Stranger, one of the Supernatural Entities in the show. She disguises herself as a human using stolen skin and a 'borrowed' voice box. In one episode, she says, "How could I sound anything silly, I'm plastic! I don't even have a voice box, I had to borrow this one."

The Magnus Archives was one of the first 100 podcasts to reach over 100 million streams on Spotify. It has also been listed as one of the largest British dramatic podcasts by BBC Sounds in 2018. The show has an extensive fanbase on Tumblr, with over 4 million downloads a month by July 2020. The podcast has received positive reviews from various critics, with one describing the show as having "vast catalog [ues] of horrors and excellent production values." Another critic praised the protagonist's "charmingly grumpy mic presence."

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Russian phonology

Russian has 34 consonants, which can be divided into two types: hard consonants and soft consonants. Russian also distinguishes iotated consonants, making four sets in total: /C Cʲ Cj Cʲj/. Russian preserves palatalized consonants that are followed by another consonant more frequently than other Slavic languages. Like Polish, Russian has both hard postalveolars (/ʂ ʐ/) and soft ones (/tɕ ɕː/ and marginally or dialectically /ʑː/).

In Russian phonology, stressed syllables are typically realised by the absence of vowel reduction and by having a longer duration than unstressed syllables. More intense pronunciation can also be a relevant cue, although this may merge with prosodical intensity. Pitch accent plays a minimal role in indicating stress, mainly due to its prosodical importance. This can make it challenging for Russians to identify stressed syllables in more pitched languages.

The Moscow and Saint Petersburg schools of phonology differ in their treatment of allophones and morphophonemes. The Moscow school uses an analysis with morphophonemes, treating a given unstressed allophone as belonging to a particular morphophoneme based on morphological alternations. On the other hand, the Saint Petersburg school assigns allophones to specific phonemes, such as considering [ʌ] as a realisation of /a/.

In summary, Russian phonology encompasses the study of vowel and consonant sounds, stress placement, and the underlying structure of the language. While there are differing opinions among linguists, the field of Russian phonology provides valuable insights into the pronunciation and structure of the Russian language.

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Russian vowel reduction

In practice, the second reduction has a gradient character. If a vowel is pronounced for a sufficient duration, it may be pronounced as [ɐ]. However, shorter durations gradually transform [ɐ] into schwa. The unstressed high front vowel /i/ is either [i] or [ɪ] (after soft consonants, written ⟨и⟩) or [ɨ] or [ɪ̈] (after hard consonants, written ⟨ы⟩, except ⟨ши⟩, ⟨жи⟩). In rapid colloquial speech, both may be reduced to schwa [ə]. For example, до́брым [ˈdobrɨ̆m] ('kind', instrumental case, singular masculine neuter) versus до́бром [ˈdobrəm] ('kind', prepositional case, singular masculine neuter).

The akanye (аканье) phenomenon in Russian-speakers, except for those speaking Northern Russian dialects, is the tendency to merge unstressed /a/ and /o/. For instance, the word молоко (milk) is pronounced "muh-lah-KO", with the "o" sounds pronounced differently due to their position in relation to the stressed syllable. The vowel in the stressed syllable is always annunciated clearly. In this word, the final syllable has the stress, so that vowel sounds like "OH". Thus, молоко is "mu-la-KO", because the stress is on the third syllable.

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Russian hard and soft consonants

Russian is a language with a unique set of sounds and pronunciations, and differentiating between hard and soft consonants is an important part of mastering the language. Most Russian consonants come in pairs, with one being soft or palatalized, and the other being hard or non-palatalized. Soft consonants are produced by touching a part of the tongue to the palate or the top of your mouth, while hard consonants are usually produced without doing so.

There are three Russian consonants that are always hard and have no soft counterpart: ж, ш, and ц. On the other hand, ч, щ, and й are three Russian consonants that are always soft and have no hard counterpart. The soft sign, "ь" (Мягкий знак), is often used in Russian words, especially at the end of a word. This sign has no sound of its own but indicates that the preceding consonant is to be pronounced as a soft palatalized consonant. For example, in the word "кровь" (blood), the consonant "в" is soft because it is followed by the soft sign "ь".

Additionally, there are five Russian vowels that indicate that the preceding consonant is soft: я, ё, ю, е, and и. For instance, in the word "семья" (family), the consonant "м" is soft because it is followed by the vowel "я".

It is important to note that palatalization, or the contrast between soft and hard consonants, is a salient feature of the Russian language. Native speakers are adept at distinguishing between palatalized and non-palatalized consonants, and words that differ only by the softness or hardness of a consonant, such as "семья" (family) and "семя" (seed), are distinct and easily recognizable to native Russian speakers.

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Frequently asked questions

The phrase is said by Nikola Orsenal, a character in Soultech's Molurra (Side 2).

Nikola Orsenal is a character in the song Molurra (Side 2) by Soultech.

No, Nikola Orsenal is not Russian.

Nikola Orsenal is a plastic female mannequin and therefore does not have a voice box.

The line is used to emphasize the character's non-human nature and to add a layer of humor to the song.

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