Orthoepy is definitely one of the most difficult topics in the Russian language. The problem is that even native speakers can not always say how to pronounce a particular word. Of course, in most cases, we intuitively know this, but sometimes the combination of sounds in a word confuses us as well. Are there any rules that can facilitate the life of a Russian-speaking person and help him avoid mistakes at least in this? Definitely exist. Welcome to the dark world of confused Russian orthoepy.
Vowel Combinations
Let's start with vowels - they are less influenced by their neighbors. A combination of vowels is usually pronounced according to the rules of orthoepy. The only nuance is that if there is another vowel before - e, y, y, e - then these sounds, so to speak, are split: - e - becomes [ye], - y - turns into [yu], - e - will turn in [yo], and - I - will be pronounced as [ya] - these are the so-called iota vowels, in which the sound of this very sonorous appears. In addition, โiotaโ also appears at the beginning of the word (for example, โ pit โ sounds like [ yama ]), and even after the dividing soft and hard characters ([ vyuga ] and [ padyezd ]). By the way, even if the vowel before another vowel is in a different word (-g I said -), iota will still be present.
It should also be noted that the most successful position for vowels is shock, it is in it that sounds are heard most clearly.
And practice
Let's fix the combination of two vowel sounds by transcribing several words: independence, canyon, huntsman, raining, classification, adagio, youth, vibrant yule, traveling, apple, variation, arrival, fair, country of Japan, singing.
Combinations of consonants. Identical at the junction of morphemes
With consonants, things are not so easy. Everything matters here: the sounds-neighbors, the position of the sound in the word (in its morphemes) and many other factors.
The first question is the combination of consonants at the junction of morphemes, especially identical sounds. We all came across words like - long, reason, program - and we pronounce them without thinking at all. And at the same time, there are certain rules and phonetic laws that explain these phenomena. So in words like - to sew, reason, fake - the combination of several sounds is pronounced as one, just longer: [ sew, ration, fake ]. Yes, another phenomenon is observed here - the assimilation of one consonant sound to another, which will be explained later. The main thing to understand is that in any case, the same sounds at the junction of morphemes turn into one.
And if they are in the same morpheme? In the root, for example
But what about the combination of sounds in a word that is at the root? In modern Russian, such cases are almost never found - they are typical mainly for borrowed words ( gamma, process ). So, such combinations are also pronounced as one sound, but not long, but short. In a number of borrowed words, these changes are visible to the naked eye: attack (from attack) corridor (from corridor) .
The same sounds in Russian at the junction of morphemes become one long, but if they occur in the same morpheme, the root, for example, then this longitude does not appear. Another important note: in phonetic transcription, two identical sounds are never written side by side, if you need to show that this sound will be long, a horizontal line is placed above it - a special phonetic sign.
And what is assimilation
The next phenomenon associated with the concept of a combination of sounds in a word is assimilation. Assimilation is an assimilation of the pronunciation of one sound to another, there are several types of this phenomenon, determined depending on the sounds influencing each other. Let's consider each of them.
Voice / Deaf Assimilation
Assimilation of voicing and deafness manifests itself at the junction of a voiced and deaf consonant, respectively - a similar combination is alien to the Russian language, therefore the first sound is influenced by the second, being stunned or voiced. Scientifically, this is called regressive assimilation.
Changes occur in the following cases:
- At the junction of morphemes: probes - voiced -zh- under the influence of the deaf -to- also becomes deaf
- At the junction of prepositions and words: T in the snow - voiced -d- is influenced by the deaf -s-, stunned
- At the junction of a word and a particle: rT something - again stunning due to the influence of the deaf -t-
- In the significant (words possessing lexical independence - nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.) words that are pronounced without a pause between them: roK goats - voiced -g- is stunned by the influence of the neighboring deaf -k-.
As you can see from the examples, stunning is much more common than voicing. At the same time, this rule does not apply to sonor sounds in the Russian language ( Trend - according to the rules, [ Drend ] should be pronounced, but due to the peculiarities of Russian orthoepy, the first consonant is not subject to change) and to consonants in front of the -y- sound that appears in iota vowels: [ oTyEzd ], although the word should have sounded like [ oYEzd ].
Soft Assimilation
We go to the next type of assimilation - by softness. It is also regressive - that is, the first sound is subject to the influence of the subsequent. Such a change occurs before:
- Vowels: [e] - m'El - chalk; [and] - p'il - drank
- Soft consonants: inside the word ( kaz'n ' ); at the junction of morphemes ( S'm'ena ).
Suspiciously simple
But there are a number of exceptions to this rule. The combination of sounds in a word is not subject to assimilation:
- At the junction of words ( WOT l'es ) - by analogy with assimilation of voicing / deafness, mitigation should have occurred, but this situation is an exception.
- Lip consonants - b, p, c, f - before the dental - d, t, d, k, x - ( PT'enchik, VZ'at )
- - W , W, C - they are never soft, moreover, soft consonants do not appear in front of them. The only exception to this rule is [ l / l ']: end-to-end.
Thus, it is impossible to say that assimilation by softness is so strictly subordinate to its rules. There are a number of nuances that should never be forgotten.
Hardness assimilation
The next type of mutual influence is assimilation by hardness. It occurs only between the root and the suffix: the P'-lockโs locks - that is, the suffix that begins with a solid consonant affects the previous sound. And again there are exceptions: assimilation will not occur before - b - ( proZ'Ba ), and also [ l ' ] will not obey the rule ( poLe - zapol'ny ).
Assimilation before hissing
Another kind of assimilation affects the number of sounds in a word - whistling - s, s - before hissing - w, h, w -. In this case, the first sound merges with the second, absolutely likening to it: sew - ห Sew , with heat - ห Heat . The same rule applies for - q, t - before - h, t -: หOdd . This type of assimilation extends to the combinations - LJ - and - LJ - in the root of the word (- later - later ). Thus, because of this type of assimilation, the number of sounds in a word is one less than the letters.
Unpronounceable consonants
No one has canceled the phenomenon of unpronounceable consonants. In some places, some sounds are simply not pronounced - we can say that they fall out. This phenomenon perfectly demonstrates the combination of sounds in a word - stn, zdn, stl, ntsk, stsk, vstv, pdts, lnts - for example, HONEST, LATE, FEELING, SUN . Certain difficulties are associated with it: some are guided by the so-called phonetic principle of writing (as I hear - I write this), therefore, if the consonant is not pronounced, it should not be in the word. Unfortunately, this is not the case. So itโs necessary to select the same root word to check if there is any sound in this situation: honest - honor, late - late - they usually look for words where after the consonant there will be a vowel or sonorous that will allow the sound to appear most vividly.
Not quite a combination, but a bit about stunning
Continuing the theme of stunning consonants, it should be noted that these sounds tend to become deaf at the end of a word, regardless of the previous vowel or consonant. We say vice instead of threshold and hammer instead of youth . A similar phenomenon leads to the appearance of so-called homophones - words that are written differently but pronounced the same way as the same hammer (as an instrument) and young (as a short adjective). The spelling of the consonant at the end of such words should be checked.
And a little bit of history
In Russian at the beginning of the last century, assimilation of sonoric was popular, that is, for example, a consonant - p - in the word the army was not pronounced firmly, as is usual for us modern speakers of the language, but gently ar'm'iya . At the moment, this phenomenon is practically not observed.
Repetition is the mother ...
You can consolidate all of the above by transcribing the words below:
garden, laughter, absence, apple, hunch, hail, droid, savannah, civilization, mirage, burn, report, mailing, fill, refusal, fun, grass, power, pouring, bribe, access code, Kiev, a year or so.
Finally
A word, syllable, sound - this is how the orthoepic hierarchy of the Russian language can be represented. And to say that everything is easy in it is impossible in any case. Using the simplest example of consonant combinations, we were convinced that not always in order to pronounce a word correctly, intuition is enough. Letโs at least try to speak correctly in order to preserve the beauty and richness of our language. This is not at all difficult.