Phonology in the Soviet Union

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This invited contribution to a collection on the history of phonology explores the history of phonological studies in the USSR. I offer a short history of phonology in Russia and the USSR before the formation of the two main theoretical currents (the ‘Leningrad’ and ‘Moscow’ schools), and emphasize both their mutual common roots and their closeness to other structuralist frameworks, in particular Prague phonology. I discuss the differences between the two schools both in their approach to the phoneme and in their analysis of morphophonological alternations. Throughout, the focus is on the ways in which a focus on Russian shaped the directions of phonological thinking.