How to pronounce soft consonants correctly. Voiced and voiceless consonants. Strong-weak positions for consonants. Positional changes of consonants

Sound is the smallest unit of language pronounced with the help of the organs of the speech apparatus. Scientists have discovered that at birth, the human ear perceives all the sounds it hears. All this time, his brain sorts out unnecessary information, and by 8-10 months a person is able to distinguish sounds unique to his native language and all the nuances of pronunciation.

33 letters make up the Russian alphabet, 21 of them are consonants, but letters must be distinguished from sounds. A letter is a sign, a symbol that can be seen or written. The sound can only be heard and pronounced, and in writing it can be designated using transcription - [b], [c], [d]. They carry a certain semantic load, connecting with each other to form words.

36 consonant sounds: [b], [z], [v], [d], [g], [zh], [m], [n], [k], [l], [t], [p ], [t], [s], [sch], [f], [ts], [w], [x], [h], [b"], [z"], [v"], [ d"], [th"], [n"], [k"], [m"], [l"], [t"], [s"], [p"], [r"], [ f"], [g"], [x"].

Consonant sounds are divided into:

• soft and hard;

voiced and voiceless;

paired and unpaired.

Soft and hard consonants

The phonetics of the Russian language is significantly different from many other languages. It contains hard and soft consonants.

When pronouncing a soft sound, the tongue is pressed harder against the palate than when pronouncing a hard consonant sound, preventing the release of air. This is what distinguishes a hard and soft consonant sound from each other. In order to determine in writing whether a consonant sound is soft or hard, you should look at the letter immediately after the specific consonant.

Consonant sounds are classified as hard in the following cases:

• if letters a, o, u, e, s follow after them - [poppy], [rum], [hum], [juice], [bull];
• after them there is another consonant sound - [vors], [hail], [marriage];
• if the sound is at the end of the word - [darkness], [friend], [table].

The softness of sound is written as an apostrophe: mole - [mol’], chalk - [m’el], wicket - [kal’itka], pir - [p’ir].

It should be noted that the sounds [ш'], [й'], [ч'] are always soft, and hard consonants are only [ш], [тс], [ж].

A consonant sound will become soft if it is followed by “b” and vowels: i, ё, yu, i, e. For example: gen - [g"en], flax - [l"on], disk - [d"ysk] , hatch - [l "uk", elm - [v "yaz", trill - [tr "el"].

Voiced and voiceless, paired and unpaired sounds

Based on their sonority, consonants are divided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants can be sounds created with the participation of the voice: [v], [z], [zh], [b], [d], [y], [m], [d], [l], [r] , [n].

Examples: [bor], [ox], [shower], [call], [heat], [goal], [fishing], [pestilence], [nose], [genus], [swarm].

Examples: [kol], [floor], [volume], [sleep], [noise], [shch"uka], [choir], [king"], [ch"an].

Paired voiced and voiceless consonants include: [b] - [p], [zh] - [w], [g] - [x], [z] - [s]. [d] - [t], [v] - [f]. Examples: reality - dust, house - volume, year - code, vase - phase, itch - court, live - sew.

Sounds that do not form pairs: [h], [n], [ts], [x], [r], [m], [l].

Soft and hard consonants can also have a pair: [p] - [p"], [p] - [p"], [m] - [m"], [v] - [v"], [d] - [ d"], [f] - [f"], [k] - [k"], [z] - [z"], [b] - [b"], [g] - [g"], [ n] - [n"], [s] - [s"], [l] - [l"], [t] - [t"], [x] - [x"]. Examples: byl - bel, height - branch, city - cheetah, dacha - business, umbrella - zebra, skin - cedar, moon - summer, monster - place, finger - feather, ore - river, soda - sulfur, pillar - steppe, lantern - farm, mansions - hut.

Table for memorizing consonants

To clearly see and compare soft and hard consonants, the table below shows them in pairs.

Another table will help you remember consonant sounds.

Children's poems for better mastery of the material

There are exactly 33 letters in the Russian alphabet,

To find out how many consonants -

Subtract ten vowels

Signs - hard, soft -

It will immediately become clear:

The resulting number is exactly twenty-one.

Soft and hard consonants are very different,

But not dangerous at all.

If we pronounce it with noise, then they are deaf.

The consonant sounds proudly say:

They sound different.

Hard and soft

In fact, very light.

Remember one simple rule forever:

W, C, F - always hard,

But Ch, Shch, J are only soft,

Like a cat's paws.

And let’s soften others like this:

If we add a soft sign,

Then we get spruce, moth, salt,

What a cunning sign!

And if we add the vowels I, I, Yo, E, Yu,

We get a soft consonant.

Brother signs, soft, hard,

We don't pronounce

But to change the word,

Let's ask for their help.

The rider rides on a horse,

Con - we use it in the game.

The speech of a person, especially a native speaker, must not only be correct, but also beautiful, emotional, and expressive. Voice, diction, and consistent spelling standards are important here.

The ability to correctly pronounce sounds consists of practical exercises (voice training: volume, timbre, flexibility, diction, etc.) and knowledge of in what cases a particular pronunciation of a sound is appropriate (orthoepic norms).

Before talking about the letters that represent soft consonant phonemes, you should remember the basic phonetic concepts and terms.

Phonetics: sounds and letters

Let's start with the fact that there are no soft consonants in Russian words. Since sound is what we hear and pronounce, it is elusive, it is an indivisible part of speech, which is obtained as a result of human articulation. A letter is only a graphic symbol denoting a particular sound. We see them and write them.

There is no complete correspondence between them. The number of letters and sounds in one word may not match. The Russian alphabet consists of thirty-three letters, and speech has forty-seven sounds.

Accurate in the word through letters - transcription. The letters in this case are written in square brackets. When analyzing phonetically, each sound must be written down as a separate letter, emphasized and indicated as soft, if necessary ["], for example, milk - [malako], mole - [mol"] - in this case, the letter l with an apostrophe indicates soft sound[l"].

Phonetics: vowels and consonants

When a stream of air flies out of the throat without encountering obstacles on its way, it turns out (singing). There are six of them in the Russian language. They are shock and unstressed.

If the air leaving the larynx does not pass freely, then a consonant sound is obtained. They are formed from noise or noise and voice. There are thirty-seven consonant phonemes in our Russian language.

• sonorous (the voice is much stronger than the noise);
• noisy - voiced and unvoiced.

Also, according to pronunciation, there are soft consonants (the letters that represent them are written with an apostrophe) and hard sounds. They differ in pronunciation - when speaking a soft consonant, a person raises the middle back of the tongue high to the palate.

Graphics: letters

So, letters are the designations of sounds in writing. The science that studies them is graphics. The alphabet is a graphic representation of the sounds of a language, arranged in a certain order. The ten letters of the Russian alphabet are vowel letters that represent vowel sounds. It also includes twenty-one consonants and two letters that do not represent sounds at all. Each letter in the alphabet has its own unique name. The modern alphabet was created in 1918 and officially approved in 1942. Now these graphic signs are used in more than fifty different languages ​​of the world.

Letter-sound composition

In the Russian language, the composition of speech sounds and letters differs due to the specifics of the letter - the letters of soft consonant sounds and hard ones are identical - ate [y "el", el [y "el"]; and six vowels are indicated in writing by ten letters. This is how it turns out that there are fourteen more sounds in speech than letters in the alphabet.

Hard consonants

Consonant phonemes are paired: voiced - voiceless, soft - hard. But there are those that will always sound firm - these are w, sh, ts. Even in the words parachute, brochure and cognates w will remain solid. In some foreign words, they are pronounced differently.

Soft consonants

There is also a trio of sounds that are always soft, consonant letters denoting them - h, sch, th. There are no exceptions to these rules in Russian.

Paired consonants

Consonants are mostly paired, that is, each hard sound corresponds to its softer pronunciation. The letters denoting soft ones will be identical. In the transcription, the sign ["] will be added to them.

How to determine where soft consonants will appear? Letters do not immediately form words; they first form syllables. The softness or hardness of the pronunciation of a consonant depends on which sound follows it in the syllable.

Syllables

A syllable is a sound or several sounds that are pronounced in one breath, with one push of air.

Vowels are syllable-forming sounds, consonants are adjacent to them - the syllable is obtained: mo-lo-ko, let-ta-yu-sha-ya fish. The number of syllables in a word is equal to the number of vowels in it.

Open syllables end with vowel sounds: picture - car- Tina, lawful - right-dimensional.

If a syllable ends with a consonant, it is a closed syllable: car-ti-na, legitimate - right-in measured.

In the middle of a word there are often open syllables, and the consonants adjacent to them are transferred to the next syllable: po-ddat, di-ktor. The sounds that can close a syllable within a word are voiced, unpaired, hard consonants and soft. Letters for writing them - y, r, l, m, n. For example: kitty - ki-sony-ka.

There are divisions of words into syllables and parts for transfer, as well as into morphemes. This is the syllabic, or syllabic, principle of graphics. It also applies to consonants.

Hard and soft consonants: letters (syllabic principle)

It manifests itself in relation to consonants in that it determines the unit of reading and writing:

1. Like combining a consonant and the vowel that follows it.
2. Combining a consonant and a soft sign.
3. Grouping two consonants or a space at the end of a word.

So, in order to understand whether the sound defined in a word is soft or hard, you need to pay attention to what comes after it in the syllable.

If any consonant follows the one we are interested in, then the sound being identified is hard. For example: chatter - chatter, T- solid.

If the next one is a vowel, then you need to remember that before a, o, u, e, s stand For example: mother, fetters, vine.

And, e, yu, I, e- letters denoting a soft consonant sound. For example, a song is a song, p, n- soft, while With- solid.

In order to speak well and correctly read soft consonants and sounds, you need to develop your understanding and discrimination of speech sounds. A well-developed ability to clearly identify what sounds are in a word, even if you hear it for the first time, will allow you to better remember and understand the speech of others. And the main thing is to speak more beautifully and correctly yourself.

The syllabic principle is convenient because it allows you to reduce the number of letters in the alphabet. After all, in order to designate soft and hard consonant phonemes, it would be necessary to invent, create, and users would have to learn fifteen new graphic elements. This is exactly what is contained in our speech. In practice, it turned out to be enough to determine the vowels indicating which letters have soft consonants.

Letters representing soft consonants

The softness of sound is indicated by ["] only when writing a transcription - sound analysis of a word.

When reading or writing, there are two ways to represent soft consonants.

1. If a soft consonant ends a word or comes before another consonant, then it is designated “ь”. For example: blizzard, stolnik, etc. Important: when writing, the softness of a consonant is determined by “b” only if it appears in words with the same root both before a soft and before a hard consonant in different cases (len - flax). Most often, when two soft consonants are next to each other, after the first “b” they are not used in writing.
2. If a soft consonant is followed by a vowel, then it is determined by letters I, yu, i, yo, e. For example: drove, sat down, tulle, etc.

Even when applying the syllabic principle, problems arise with e before a consonant, they are so deep that they turn into orthoepy. Some scientists believe that a necessary condition euphony is a ban on writing e after hard consonants, because this grapheme defines soft consonants and interferes with the correct pronunciation of hard ones. There is a suggestion to replace e to single digit uh. Before the introduction, unified spelling of syllables e-e in 1956, paired spelling of such words (adequate - adequate) was actively and legally practiced. But unification did not solve the main problem. Replacing e with uh after hard consonants, obviously, will also not be an ideal solution; new words are appearing more and more often in the Russian language, and in what case to write one or another letter remains controversial.

Orthoepy

Let's return to where we started - our speech - it is determined by orthoepy. On the one hand, these are developed norms for correct pronunciation, and on the other, this is a science that studies, justifies and establishes these norms.

Orthoepy serves the Russian language, blurring the lines between adverbs to make it easier for people to understand each other. So that when communicating with each other, representatives of different regions think about what they are saying, and not about how this or that word sounded from the interlocutor.

The foundation of the Russian language and, therefore, pronunciation is the Moscow dialect. It was in the capital of Russia that science began to develop, including orthoepy, so the norms require us to speak - to pronounce sounds like Muscovites.

Orthoepy gives one the right way pronunciations, rejecting all others, but at the same time sometimes allowing options that are considered correct.

Despite clear, understandable and simple rules, orthoepy notes many features, nuances and exceptions in how letters are pronounced, denoting a soft consonant sound and a hard one...

Orthoepy: soft and hard consonants

Which letters have soft consonants? Ch, sch, th- Under no circumstances should you pronounce hard sounds instead of soft sounds. But this rule is violated, falling under the influence of the Belarusian language and even Russian dialects and reprimands. Remember how the word sounds in this Slavic group more, For example.

L- this is a paired consonant sound, respectively, standing immediately before the consonant or at the end of the word it should sound firm. Before oh, a, y, uh, s too (tent, corner, skier), but in some words that came to us more often from foreign languages, whose speakers live mainly in Europe, and which are proper names, l pronounced almost softly (La Scala, La Rochelle, La Fleur).

The last consonants in the prefix before the hard sign, even if followed by letters denoting a soft consonant sound, are pronounced firmly (entrance, announcement). But for consonants With And h this rule does not have full force. Sounds With And h in this case they can be pronounced in two ways (congress - [s"]ezd - [s]ezd).

The rules of orthoepy state that the final consonant in a word cannot be softened, even if it merges with the next word starting with e (in this, to the equator, with emu). If such a consonant is softened in speech, this indicates that the person communicates through a colloquial style.

"b" also belongs to the list of "soft consonants" and the sounds before it should be pronounced softly, even the sounds m, b, p, c, f in words such as seven, eight, ice hole, shipyard, etc. Pronounce soft sounds firmly in front of " b" is unacceptable. Only in the words eight hundred and seven hundred m may not have a soft, but a hard sound.

Which letters represent soft consonants, you need to remember clearly - e, yu, yo, i, and.

So, in many foreign words before e the consonant sound is not softened. This often happens with labial m, f, c, b, p. P- Chopin, coupe; b- Bernard Shaw; V- Solveig; f- auto-da-fe; m- reputation, consommé.

Much more often than these consonants, firmly before e dental consonants sound r, n, z, s, d, t. R- Reichswehr, Roerich; n- pince-nez, tour; h- chimpanzee, Bizet; With- highway, Musset; d- dumping, masterpiece; T- pantheon, aesthetics.

Thus, the letters of soft consonants have a fairly definite composition, but fall under a number of exceptions.

In the Russian language, not all speech sounds are designated, but only the main ones. The Russian language has 43 basic sounds - 6 vowels and 37 consonants, while the number of letters is 33. The number of basic vowels (10 letters, but 6 sounds) and consonants (21 letters, but 37 sounds) also does not match. The difference in the quantitative composition of basic sounds and letters is determined by the peculiarities of Russian writing. In Russian, a hard and soft sound is denoted by the same letter, but the sounds soft and hard are considered different, which is why there are more consonant sounds than the letters with which they are denoted.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Consonant sounds are divided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced ones consist of noise and voice, deaf ones consist only of noise.

Voiced consonant sounds: [b] [b"] [c] [v"] [d] [g"] [d] [d"] [z] [z"] [zh] [l] [l"] [ m] [m"] [n] [n"] [r] [r"] [th]

Voiceless consonants: [p] [p"] [f] [f"] [k] [k"] [t] [t"] [s] [s"] [w] [x] [x"] [ h"] [h"]

Paired and unpaired consonants

Many consonants form pairs of voiced and voiceless consonants:

Voiced [b] [b"] [c] [c"] [d] [g"] [d] [d"] [z] [z"] [g]

Voiceless [p] [p"] [f] [f"] [k] [k"] [t] [t"] [s] [s"] [w]

The following voiced and voiceless consonant sounds do not form pairs:

Voiced [l] [l"] [m] [m"] [n] [n"] [r] [r"] [th]

Voiceless [x] [x"] [ch"] [sch"]

Soft and hard consonants

Consonant sounds are also divided into hard and soft. They differ in the position of the tongue when pronounced. When pronouncing soft consonants, the middle back of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.

Most consonants form pairs of hard and soft consonants:

Solid [b] [c] [d] [d] [h] [j] [l] [m] [n] [p] [r] [s] [t] [f] [x]

Soft [b"] [c"] [d"] [d"] [z"] [k"] [l"] [m"] [n"] [p"] [p"] [s"] [ t"] [f"] [x"]

The following hard and soft consonant sounds do not form pairs:

Solid [f] [w] [c]

Soft [h"] [sch"] [th"]

Sibilant consonants

The sounds [zh], [sh], [ch’], [sh’] are called hissing.

[g] [w] [h"] [sch"]

Whistling consonants

[z] [z"] [s] [s"] [ts]

Whistling sounds s-s, z-z, anterior lingual, fricative. When articulating solids the teeth are exposed, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, the back of the tongue is slightly curved, the lateral edges of the tongue are pressed against the upper molars, causing a groove to form in the middle. Air passes through this groove creating frictional noise.

When pronouncing soft s, s, the articulation is the same, but in addition the back of the tongue rises to the hard palate. When pronouncing sounds z-z, the ligaments are closed and vibrate. The velum is raised.

In this chapter:

§1. Sound

Sound- the minimum unit of sounding speech. Each word has a sound shell consisting of sounds. The sound corresponds to the meaning of the word. Different words and word forms have different sound patterns. The sounds themselves don't matter, but they do important role: They help us distinguish:

• words: [house] - [tom], [tom] - [there], [m’el] - [m’el’]
• forms of the word: [house] - [lady´ ] - [house´ ma].

Please note:

words written in square brackets are given in transcription.

§2. Transcription

Transcription is a special recording system that displays sound. The following symbols are used in the transcription:

Square brackets indicating transcription.

[ ´ ] - emphasis. The accent is placed if the word consists of more than one syllable.

[b’] - the icon next to the consonant indicates its softness.

[j] and [th] are different designations for the same sound. Since this sound is soft, these symbols are often used with an additional designation of softness: [th’]. This site uses the notation [th’], which is more familiar to most guys. The soft icon will be used to help you get used to the sound being soft.

There are other symbols. They will be introduced gradually as you become familiar with the topic.

§3. Vowels and consonants

Sounds are divided into vowels and consonants.
They have different natures. They are pronounced and perceived differently, and also behave differently in speech and play different roles in it.

Vowels- these are sounds during the pronunciation of which air passes freely through the oral cavity without encountering an obstacle on its way. Pronunciation (articulation) is not focused in one place: the quality of vowels is determined by the shape of the oral cavity, which acts as a resonator. When articulating vowels, the vocal cords in the larynx work. They are close, tense and vibrate. Therefore, when pronouncing vowels, we hear a voice. Vowels can be drawn out. You can shout them. And if you put your hand to your throat, you can feel the work of the vocal cords when pronouncing vowels, feel it with your hand. Vowels are the basis of a syllable; they organize it. There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. For example: He- 1 syllable, she- 2 syllables, Guys- 3 syllables, etc. There are words that consist of one vowel sound. For example, unions: and, and and interjections: Oh!, Ah!, Oooh! and others.

In a word, vowels can be in stressed and unstressed syllables.
Stressed syllable one in which the vowel is pronounced clearly and appears in its basic form.
IN unstressed syllables vowels are modified and pronounced differently. Changing vowels in unstressed syllables is called reduction.

There are six stressed vowels in the Russian language: [a], [o], [u], [s], [i], [e].

Remember:

There are words that can only consist of vowels, but consonants are also necessary.
In the Russian language there are many more consonants than vowels.

§4. Method of formation of consonants

Consonants- these are sounds, when pronounced, the air encounters an obstacle in its path. There are two types of obstruents in the Russian language: gap and stop - these are the two main ways of forming consonants. The type of obstruction determines the nature of the consonant sound.

Gap is formed, for example, when pronouncing sounds: [s], [z], [w], [z]. The tip of the tongue only approaches the lower or upper teeth. Frictional consonants can be drawn out: [s-s-s-s], [sh-sh-sh-sh] . As a result, you will clearly hear the noise: when pronouncing [c] - whistling, and when pronouncing [w] - hissing.

Bow, The second type of articulation of consonants is formed when the organs of speech close. The air flow abruptly overcomes this obstacle, the sounds are short and energetic. That's why they are called explosive. You won't be able to pull them. These are, for example, the sounds [p], [b], [t], [d] . Such articulation is easier to feel and feel.

So, when pronouncing consonants, noise is heard. The presence of noise is a distinctive feature of consonants.

§5. Voiced and voiceless consonants

According to the ratio of noise and voice, consonants are divided into voiced and unvoiced.
When spoken voiced consonants, both voice and noise are heard, and deaf- only noise.
Deaf words cannot be pronounced loudly. They cannot be shouted.

Let's compare the words: house And cat. Each word has 1 vowel sound and 2 consonants. The vowels are the same, but the consonants are different: [d] and [m] are voiced, and [k] and [t] are voiceless. Voicedness-voicelessness is the most important feature of consonants in the Russian language.

voiced-voiceless pairs:[b] - [p], [z] - [c] and others. There are 11 such pairs.

Voiceless-voiced pairs: [p] and [b], [p"] and [b"], [f] and [v], [f"] and [v"], [k] and [d], [k"] and [g"], [t] and [d], [t"] and [d"], [w] and [g], [s] and [z], [s"] and [ z"].

But there are sounds that do not have a pair on the basis of voicedness - deafness. For example, the sounds [r], [l], [n], [m], [y’] do not have a voiceless pair, but [ts] and [ch’] do not have a voiced pair.

Unpaired according to deafness-voicing

Voiced unpaired:[r], [l], [n], [m], [th"], [r"], [l"], [n"], [m"] . They are also called sonorous.

What does this term mean? This is a group of consonants (9 in total) that have peculiarities of pronunciation: when they are pronounced, obstacles also arise in the oral cavity, but such that the air stream, passing through an obstacle produces only a slight noise; air passes freely through an opening in the nasal or oral cavity. Sonorants are pronounced using the voice with the addition of slight noise. Many teachers do not use this term, but everyone should know that these sounds are voiced unpaired.

Sonorants have two important features:

1) they are not deafened, like paired voiced consonants, before voiceless consonants and at the end of a word;

2) before them there is no voicing of paired deaf consonants (i.e. the position in front of them is strong in deafness-voicing, just like before vowels). See more about positional changes.

Voiceless unpaired:[ts], [h"], [w":], [x], [x"].

How can it be easier to remember lists of voiced and voiceless consonants?

The following phrases will help you remember lists of voiced and voiceless consonants:

Oh, we didn’t forget each other!(Here only voiced consonants)

Foka, do you want to eat some soup?(Here only voiceless consonants)

True, these phrases do not include pairs of hardness and softness. But usually people can easily figure out that not only hard [z] is voiced, but also soft [z"] too, not only [b], but also [b"], etc.

§6. Hard and soft consonants

Consonants differ not only in deafness and voicedness, but also in hardness and softness.
Hardness-softness- the second most important sign of consonants in the Russian language.

Soft consonants different from solid special position of the tongue. When pronouncing hard words, the entire body of the tongue is pulled back, and when pronouncing soft words, it is moved forward, and the middle part of the tongue is raised. Compare: [m] - [m’], [z] - [z’]. Voiced soft ones sound higher than hard ones.

Many Russian consonants form hardness-softness pairs: [b] - [b’], [v] - [v’] and others. There are 15 such pairs.

Hardness-softness pairs: [b] and [b"], [m] and [m"], [p] and [p"], [v] and [v"], [f] and [f"] , [z] and [z"], [s] and [s"], [d] and [d"], [t] and [t"], [n] and [n"], [l] and [l"], [p] and [p"], [k] and [k"], [g] and [g"], [x] and [x"].

But there are sounds that do not have a pair on the basis of hardness and softness. For example, the sounds [zh], [sh], [ts] do not have a soft pair, but [y’] and [h’] do not have a hard pair.

Unpaired in hardness-softness

Hard unpaired: [zh], [w], [ts] .

Soft unpaired: [th"], [h"], [w":].

§7. Indication of softness of consonants in writing

Let's take a break from pure phonetics. Let's take a practical look important question: How is the softness of consonants indicated in writing?

There are 36 consonant sounds in the Russian language, including 15 hard-soft pairs, 3 unpaired hard and 3 unpaired soft consonants. There are only 21 consonants. How can 21 letters represent 36 sounds?

Various methods are used for this:

• iotized letters e, e, yu, i after consonants, except w, w And ts, unpaired in hardness-softness, indicate that these consonants are soft, for example: aunt- [t’o´ t’a], uncle -[d'a´ d'a] ;
• letter And after consonants, except w, w And ts. Consonants indicated by letters w, w And ts, unpaired solids. Examples of words with a vowel letter And: nothing- [n’i´ tk’i], sheet- [l’ist], Cute- [Cute'] ;
• letter b, after consonants, except sh, f, after which the soft sign is an indicator grammatical form. Examples of words with a soft sign : request- [prose], stranded- [m’el’], distance- [gave’].

Thus, the softness of consonants in writing is conveyed not by special letters, but by combinations of consonants with letters and, e, e, yu, I And b. Therefore, when parsing, I advise you to pay special attention to adjacent letters after the consonants.

Discussing the problem of interpretation

School textbooks say that [w] and [w’] - unpaired in hardness and softness. How so? We hear that the sound [w’] is a soft analogue of the sound [w].
When I was at school myself, I couldn’t understand why? Then my son went to school. He had the same question. It appears in all children who approach learning thoughtfully.

Confusion arises because school textbooks do not take into account that the sound [sh’] is also long, but the hard sound [sh] is not. Pairs are sounds that differ in only one attribute. And [w] and [w’] - two. Therefore [w] and [w’] are not pairs.

For adults and high school students.

In order to maintain correctness, it is necessary to change the school tradition of transcribing the sound [w’]. It seems that it is easier for the guys to use one more additional sign than to face an illogical, unclear and misleading statement. It's simple. So that generation after generation does not rack their brains, it is necessary to finally show that a soft hissing sound is long.

For this purpose, in linguistic practice there are two icons:

1) superscript above the sound;
2) colon.

Using a superscript is inconvenient because it is not provided by the set of characters that can be used in computer typing. This means that the following possibilities remain: using a colon [w’:] or a grapheme denoting the letter [w’] . It seems to me that the first option is preferable. Firstly, children often mix sounds and letters at first. The use of a letter in transcription will create the basis for such confusion and provoke an error. Secondly, the guys are now starting to study early foreign languages. And the [:] symbol, when used to indicate the length of a sound, is already familiar to them. Thirdly, transcription indicating longitude with a colon [:] will perfectly convey the features of the sound. [sh’:] - soft and long, both features that make up its difference from the sound [sh] are presented clearly, simply and unambiguously.

What advice can you give to children who are now studying using generally accepted textbooks? You need to understand, comprehend, and then remember that in fact the sounds [w] and [w’:] do not form a pair in terms of hardness and softness. And I advise you to transcribe them the way your teacher requires.

§8. Place of formation of consonants

Consonants differ not only according to the characteristics already known to you:

• deafness-voice,
• hardness-softness,
• method of formation: bow-slit.

The last, fourth sign is important: place of education.
The articulation of some sounds is carried out by the lips, others - by the tongue, it in different parts. So, the sounds [p], [p'], [b], [b'], [m], [m'] are labial, [v], [v'], [f], [f' ] - labiodental, all others - lingual: anterior lingual [t], [t'], [d], [d'], [n], [n'], [s], [s'], [z ], [z'], [w], [w], [w':], [h'], [c], [l], [l'], [r], [r'] , middle lingual [th’] and back lingual [k], [k’], [g], [g’], [x], [x’].

§9. Positional changes of sounds

1. Strong-weak positions for vowels. Positional changes of vowels. Reduction

People do not use spoken sounds in isolation. They don't need it.
Speech is a sound stream, but a stream organized in a certain way. The conditions in which a particular sound appears are important. The beginning of a word, the end of a word, a stressed syllable, an unstressed syllable, a position before a vowel, a position before a consonant - these are all different positions. We will figure out how to distinguish between strong and weak positions, first for vowels, and then for consonants.

Strong position one in which sounds do not undergo positionally determined changes and appear in their basic form. A strong position is allocated for groups of sounds, for example: for vowels, this is a position in a stressed syllable. And for consonants, for example, the position before vowels is strong.

For vowels, the strong position is under stress, and the weak position is unaccented..
In unstressed syllables, vowels undergo changes: they are shorter and are not pronounced as clearly as under stress. This change in vowels in a weak position is called reduction. Due to reduction, fewer vowels are distinguished in the weak position than in the strong position.

The sounds corresponding to stressed [o] and [a] after hard consonants in a weak, unstressed position sound the same. “Akanye” is recognized as normative in the Russian language, i.e. non-discrimination ABOUT And A in an unstressed position after hard consonants.

• under stress: [house] - [dam] - [o] ≠ [a].
• without accent: [d A ma´ ] -home´ - [d A la´ ] -dala´ - [a] = [a].

The sounds corresponding to stressed [a] and [e] after soft consonants in a weak, unstressed position sound the same. The standard pronunciation is “hiccup”, i.e. non-discrimination E And A in an unstressed position after soft consonants.

• under stress: [m’ech’] - [m’ach’] - [e] ≠[a].
• without accent: [m’ich’o´ m]- sword´ m -[m'ich'o´ m] - ball´ m - [and] = [and].
• But what about the vowels [i], [s], [u]? Why was nothing said about them? The fact is that these vowels in a weak position are subject to only quantitative reduction: they are pronounced more briefly, weakly, but their quality does not change. That is, as for all vowels, an unstressed position for them is a weak position, but for a schoolchild these vowels in an unstressed position do not pose a problem.

[ski´ zhy], [in _lu´ zhu], [n’i´ t’i] - in both strong and weak positions the quality of vowels does not change. Both under stress and in unstressed position we clearly hear: [ы], [у], [и] and we write the letters that are usually used to denote these sounds.

Discussing the problem of interpretation

What vowel sounds are actually pronounced in unstressed syllables after hard consonants?

When performing phonetic analysis and transcribing words, many guys express bewilderment. In long polysyllabic words, after hard consonants, it is not the sound [a] that is pronounced, as school textbooks say, but something else.

They're right.

Compare the pronunciation of words: Moscow - Muscovites. Repeat each word several times and listen to what vowel sounds in the first syllable. With the word Moscow it's simple. We pronounce: [maskva´] - the sound [a] is clearly audible. And the word Muscovites? In accordance with the literary norm, in all syllables except the first syllable before stress, as well as the positions of the beginning and end of the word, we pronounce not [a], but another sound: less distinct, less clear, more similar to [s] than to [ a]. In the scientific tradition, this sound is designated by the symbol [ъ]. This means that in reality we pronounce: [mаlako´] - milk ,[khrasho´ ] - Fine ,[kalbasa´] - sausage.

I understand that by giving this material in textbooks, the authors tried to simplify it. Simplified. But many children with good hearing, who clearly hear that the sounds in the following examples are different, cannot understand why the teacher and the textbook insist that these sounds are the same. In fact:

[V A yes´ ] - water´ -[V ъ d'inoy'] - water:[а]≠[ъ]
[other A wa´ ] - firewood´ -[other ъ in’ino´ th’] - wood-burning:[а]≠[ъ]

A special subsystem consists of the realization of vowels in unstressed syllables after sibilants. But in the school course this material is not presented at all in most textbooks.

What vowel sounds are actually pronounced in unstressed syllables after soft consonants?

I feel the greatest sympathy for the children who study from textbooks that offer on-site A,E, ABOUT after soft consonants, hear and transcribe the sound “and, inclined to e.” I think it is fundamentally wrong to give schoolchildren as the only option the outdated pronunciation norm - “ekanya”, which is found today much less often than “icanya”, mainly among very elderly people. Guys, feel free to write in an unstressed position in the first syllable before the stress in place A And E- [And].

After soft consonants in other unstressed syllables, except for the position of the end of the word, we pronounce a short weak sound reminiscent of [i] and denoted as [b]. Say the words eight, nine and listen to yourself. We pronounce: [vo´ s’m’] - [b], [d’e´ v’t’] - [b].

Don't be confused:

Transcription marks are one thing, but letters are another.
The transcription sign [ъ] indicates a vowel after hard consonants in unstressed syllables, except for the first syllable before stress.
The letter ъ is a solid sign.
The transcription sign [b] indicates a vowel after soft consonants in unstressed syllables, except for the first syllable before stress.
The letter ь is a soft sign.
Transcription signs, unlike letters, are given in square brackets.

End of the word- special position. It shows clearing of vowels after soft consonants. The system of unstressed endings is a special phonetic subsystem. In it E And A differ:

Building[building n’ii’e] - buildings[building n’ii’a], opinion[mn’e´ n’i’e] - opinion[mn’e´ n’ii’a], more[mo´ r’e] - sea[mo´ r’a], will[vo´l’a] - at will[na_vo´l’e]. Remember this when doing phonetic analysis of words.

Check:

How your teacher requires you to mark vowels in an unstressed position. If he uses simplified system transcriptions, no big deal: it's widely accepted. Just don’t be surprised that you actually hear different sounds in the unstressed position.

2. Strong-weak positions for consonants. Positional changes of consonants

For all consonants without exception, the strong position is position before vowel. Before vowels, consonants appear in their basic form. Therefore, when doing phonetic analysis, do not be afraid to make a mistake when characterizing a consonant in a strong position: [dach’a] - country house,[t'l'iv'i´ z'r] - TV,[s’ino´ n’ima] - synonyms,[b'ir'o´ zy] - birch trees,[karz"i´ny] - baskets. All consonants in these examples come before vowels, i.e. in a strong position.

Strong positions on deafness of voicedness:

• before vowels: [there] - there,[ladies] - I'll give,
• before unpaired voiced [p], [p’], [l], [l’], [n], [n’], [m], [m’], [y’]: [dl’a] - For,[tl'a] - aphids,
• Before [in], [in’]: [own’] - mine,[ringing] - ringing.

Remember:

In a strong position, voiced and voiceless consonants do not change their quality.

Weak positions in deafness and voicedness:

• before paired ones according to deafness-voicing: [sl´ tk’ii] - sweet,[zu´ pk’i] - teeth.
• before voiceless unpaired ones: [aphva´ t] - girth, [fhot] - entrance.
• at the end of a word: [zup] - tooth,[dup] - oak.
  

Positional changes deafness-voicing consonants

In weak positions, consonants are modified: positional changes occur with them. Voiced ones become voiceless, i.e. are deafened, and the deaf are voiced, i.e. call out. Positional changes are observed only for paired consonants.

Stunning-voicing of consonants

Stunning voiced occurs in positions:

• before paired deaf people: [fsta´ in’it’] - V put,
• at the end of the word: [clat] - treasure.

Voicing of the deaf occurs at position:

• before paired voiced ones: [kaz’ba´ ] - to With bah´

Strong positions in terms of hardness and softness:

• before vowels: [mat’] - mother,[m’at’] - crush,
• at the end of the word: [von] - out there,[won’] - stench,
• before labialials: [b], [b'], [p], [p'], [m], [m'] and posterior linguals: [k], [k'], [g], [g' ], [x[, [x'] for sounds [s], [s'], [z], [z'], [t], [t'], [d], [d'], [n ], [n'], [r], [r']: [sa´ n'k'i] - Sa´nki(gen. fall.), [s´ ank’i] - sled,[bun] - bun,[bu´ l’qt’] - gurgle,
• all positions for sounds [l] and [l’]: [forehead] - forehead,[pal'ba] - firing.

Remember:

In a strong position, hard and soft consonants do not change their quality.

Weak positions in hardness-softness and positional changes in hardness-softness.

• before soft [t’], [d’] for consonants [c], [z], which are necessarily softened: , [z’d’es’],
• before [h’] and [w’:] for [n], which is necessarily softened: [po´ n’ch’ik] - donut,[ka´ m’n’sh’:ik] - mason.

Remember:

In a number of positions today, both soft and hard pronunciation is possible:

• before soft front-lingual [n’], [l’] for front-lingual consonants [c], [z]: snow -[s’n’ek] and , make angry -[z’l’it’] and [zl’it’]
• before soft front-lingual, [z’] for front-lingual [t], [d] - lift -[pad’n’a´ t’] and [padn’a´ t’] , take away -[at’n’a´ t’] and [atn’a´ t’]
• before soft front-lingual [t"], [d"], [s"], [z"] for front-lingual [n]: vi´ntik -[v’i´ n"t"ik] and [v’i´ nt’ik], pension -[p'e´ n's'ii'a] and [p'e´ n's'ii'a]
• before soft labials [v’], [f’], [b’], [p’], [m’] for labials: enter -[f"p"isa´ t’] and [fp"is´ at’], ri´ fme(Dan. fall.) - [r'i´ f"m"e] and [r'i´ fm"e]

Remember:

In all cases, positional softening of consonants is possible in a weak position.
It is a mistake to write a soft sign when softening consonants positionally.

Positional changes of consonants based on the method and place of formation

Naturally, in the school tradition it is not customary to present the characteristics of sounds and the positional changes that occur with them in all the details. But the general principles of phonetics need to be learned. Without this, it is difficult to do phonetic analysis and complete test tasks. Therefore, below is a list of positionally determined changes in consonants based on the method and place of formation. This material is a tangible help for those who want to avoid mistakes in phonetic analysis.

Assimilation of consonants

The logic is this: the Russian language is characterized by similarity of sounds if they are similar in some way and at the same time are nearby.

Learn the list:

[c] and [w] → [w:] - sew

[z] and [zh] → [zh:] - compress

[s] and [h’] - at the root of words → [sh’:] - happiness, score
- at the junction of morphemes and words → [w’:h’] - comb, dishonest, with what (a preposition followed by a word is pronounced together as one word)

[s] and [w’:] → [w’:] - split

[t] and [c] - in verb forms→ [ts:] - smiles
-at the junction of prefix and root → [tss] - sleep it off

[t] and [ts] → [ts:] - unhook

[t] and [h’] → [h’:] - report

[t] and [t] and [w’:]←[c] and [h’] - countdown

[d] and [w’:] ←[c] and [h’] - counting

Dissociation of consonants

Dissimilarity is a process of positional change, the opposite of assimilation.

[g] and [k’] → [h’k’] - easy

Simplifying consonant clusters

Learn the list:

vst - [stv]: hello, feel
zdn - [zn]: late
zdc - [sc] : by the reins
lnts - [nts]: Sun
NDC - [nc]: Dutch
ndsh - [ns:] landscape
NTG - [ng]: x-ray
rdc - [rts]: heart
rdch - [rh’]: little heart
stl - [sl’]: happy
stn - [dn]: local

Pronunciation of sound groups:

In the forms of adjectives, pronouns, participles there are letter combinations: wow, him. IN place G they are pronounced [in]: him, beautiful, blue.
Avoid reading letter by letter. Say the words him, blue, beautiful Right.

§10. Letters and sounds

Letters and sounds have different purposes and different natures. But these are comparable systems. Therefore, you need to know the types of ratios.

Types of relationships between letters and sounds:

1. The letter denotes a sound, for example, vowels after hard consonants and consonants before vowels: weather.
2. The letter has no own sound value, For example b And ъ: mouse
3. A letter represents two sounds, for example iotated vowels e, e, yu, i in positions:
   • the beginning of a word
   • after vowels,
   • after separators b And ъ.
4. A letter can denote a sound and the quality of the preceding sound, such as iotated vowels and And after soft consonants.
5. The letter may indicate the quality of the preceding sound, for example b in words shadow, stump, gunfire.
6. Two letters can represent one sound, usually a long one: sew, compress, rush
7. Three letters correspond to one sound: smile - shh -[ts:]

Test of strength

Check your understanding of this chapter.

Final test

1. What determines the quality of a vowel sound?

   • From the shape of the oral cavity at the moment of pronouncing the sound
   • From the barrier formed by the speech organs at the moment of pronouncing a sound

2. What is reduction called?

   • pronouncing vowels under stress
   • pronouncing unstressed vowels
   • special pronunciation of consonants

3. For which sounds does the air stream encounter an obstacle on its path: a bow or a gap?

   • In vowels
   • In consonants

4. Can voiceless consonants be pronounced loudly?

5. Are the vocal cords involved in pronouncing voiceless consonants?

6. How many pairs of consonants are formed according to deafness and voicedness?

7. How many consonants do not have a voiced-voiced pair?

8. How many pairs do Russian consonants form according to hardness and softness?

9. How many consonants do not have a hard-soft pair?

10. How is the softness of consonants conveyed in writing?

    • Special icons
    • Letter combinations

11. What is the name of the position of a sound in a stream of speech in which it appears in its basic form, without undergoing positional changes?

    • Strong position
    • Weak position

12. What sounds have strong and weak positions?

    • In vowels
    • In consonants
    • For everyone: both vowels and consonants

Correct answers:

1. From the shape of the oral cavity at the moment of pronouncing the sound
2. pronouncing unstressed vowels
3. In consonants
4. Letter combinations
5. Strong position
6. For everyone: both vowels and consonants

All speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants. In turn, consonants can be divided into hard and soft. This is one of the main characteristics of a consonant sound.

What sounds are called soft

Most schoolchildren have no doubt whether a sound is soft or hard. Usually we distinguish them simply by ear. Indeed, these sounds are heard differently than solid ones. When pronouncing them, the tongue moves slightly forward towards the teeth and are localized in the area of ​​the hard palate. That is why after soft consonants, vowels are most often pronounced, which are also formed in front, next to the teeth.

Paired and unpaired soft consonants

Hard and soft sounds often form pairs. For example, the hard sound [B] corresponds to the soft [B’]. In transcription, softness is indicated by an apostrophe.

We see that in the Russian language there are several unpaired hard sounds and a few unpaired soft ones.

Hard and soft paired consonants can perform a meaningful function. For example, MAL and MYAL, CHALK and MEL. There are many linguistic mysteries based on this.

How are soft sounds indicated in writing?

As a rule, soft consonant sounds in writing can be indicated in different ways.

With a soft sign. However, we must remember that the soft sign only indicates the softness of the paired consonant. If we have a hissing one in front of us, its softness cannot be indicated with a soft sign. Hissing ones are either always hard (in which case they cannot be softened) or always soft (in which case a soft sign is unnecessary in this situation). After sibilants, the soft sign performs a grammatical function, that is, with its help, nouns of the 2nd and 3rd declension are distinguished.

Studying the Russian language already in the 2nd grade, children learn about the dual role of the letters E, E, Yu, Ya. If these letters stand in the field of a paired consonant, they are read E, O, U, A and at the same time indicate the softness of the previous consonant: [L'E ], [L'O], [L'U], [L'A].

Similar to the first case, after sibilants E, Yo, Yu, Ya cannot indicate the softness of the previous consonant, therefore spelling E and Yo after sibilants is difficult and is also learned as a rule and also performs the grammatical function of distinguishing parts of speech. For example, the word “arson” is a noun, and the word “arson” is a verb.

In what cases is it not necessary to indicate softness in writing?

Some soft consonant sounds and combinations are not friendly with a soft sign.

This is an unpaired soft sound [Y’]. A soft sign is never placed in its field.

In the combinations CHK, CHN-NCH, CHV, CHT, SHCHN-NSCH, RSHch, a soft sign is not needed.

It is not required in combinations ST, CH, ZD, ZN and some others, in which S or Z are softened when pronounced before a soft consonant: verses [S’T’], difference [Z’N’], etc.

After a sibilant, a soft sign usually performs a grammatical function, but can also be dividing: “sews”, “whose”, etc.