Context: The language possesses five vowels (or six, under the St. Petersburg Phonological School), which are written with different letters depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is palatalized. The consonants typically come in plain vs. palatalized pairs, which are traditionally called hard and soft. (The hard consonants are often velarized, especially before front vowels, as in Irish). The standard language, based on the Moscow dialect, possesses heavy stress and moderate variation in pitch. Stressed vowels are somewhat lengthened, while unstressed vowels tend to be reduced to near-close vowels or an unclear schwa. (See also: vowel reduction in Russian.)

Question: Who says Russian has 6 vowels?
Answer: St. Petersburg Phonological School

Question: When are Russian vowels written differently?
Answer: depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is palatalized

Question: What dialect is standard Russian based on?
Answer: Moscow dialect

Question: What language does Russian treat hard consonants similar to?
Answer: Irish

Question: What is done to unstressed vowels?
Answer: reduced to near-close vowels or an unclear schwa

Question: How many classes are there at the St. Petersburg Phonological School?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: When are Irish vowels written differently?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What pairs do vowels come in, in Irish?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What kind of stress is there in the Irish language?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What is the variation in pitch in Irish?
Answer: Unanswerable