Writing appeared in ancient times. The first letters were Sumerian, they were written on special clay tablets with a sharp stick, which was made from reed or reed. Before writing, clay pottery was prepared by burning in an oven and drying. The prerequisites for the development of writing in any part of the world are the same: at first people tried to portray something important with the help of drawings, then they came up with written signs, pictograms. These icons were peculiar to each language. Gradually, there was a transition from the image of one word in one drawing to the image of the word spelled. Somewhere in the XV century BC, the first alphabet began to be composed, and this happened among the Phoenicians. The alphabet of the Slavic language was ordered by Cyril and Methodius in 863. This was done in order to translate the Slavonic language of Greek religious books. Thus appeared Cyrillic, the mother of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and other languages of the Slavs.
Alphabet
The modern Russian alphabet is an improved and well thought out version of Old Slavic over time. All letters in the alphabet are arranged in a well-defined order. There are 33 letters in total. The alphabetical order is necessary to organize information, for example, to compile dictionaries, lists, encyclopedias. Learning begins with the study of the alphabet, because in order to learn, you must be able to read, and reading is possible only with full knowledge of the letters. In the elementary class, all the basics are studied: letters, how many letters and sounds in different words, what sound is indicated.
Alphabetic characters and sounds
Letters are called graphic images by which sounds are written during writing. Their number is clearly defined by the alphabet, they are much less than sounds. Letter spelling is used to spell words. The question of how many letters and sounds in Russian can be answered if we understand the basics of phonetics.
The smallest unit of language is sound, which in itself does not express semantic meaning, it is pronounced during (exception - words consisting of one sound). Sounds play the most important role in the formation and spelling of words. With their help, words are distinguished, their sound envelope is created and their meaning-distinguishing function is performed. Words can differ in the number of sounds that they consist of, for example: crow-funnel, as well as a set of sounds: cake - port, rum - catfish, beans - password. Different words can consist of the same sounds, which are in different order: bush - knock, sleep - nose. Some words pronounce one sound, but spell two letters: bath, gamma. In these cases, consonants are pronounced a bit "elongated."
Sounds are formed at the moment when a person exhales, and are formed due to fluctuations in air and the work of the larynx with ligaments, tongue, lips and teeth.
Spelling rules
There are certain relationships between the existing letters of the Russian alphabet and the sounds with which they are pronounced. Different rules for the use of a particular letter are developed. How many letters and sounds are written in separate words, it is necessary to understand in each case individually. There are rules for spelling and spelling words separately, using a hyphen, writing one or two "n", correct spelling of a vowel at the root of a word, and other important grammar laws. All rules are important, therefore, require careful study.
The ratio of letters and sounds
What does the relationship “sounds - letters” look like, how many letters and sounds, or rather, whether their number is equal in Russian, it becomes clear when studying the alphabet. Full compliance is not observed. As already mentioned, there are 33 letters in the Russian language, and the number of sounds is definitely more. The components of the alphabet are pronounced using 43 sounds: 37 consonants and 6 vowels. It should be noted that there are more consonant sounds than letters: 21 versus 37, but vowels - less: 6 sounds versus 10 letters. This is because some vowels indicate two sounds on the letter.
In a letter, most often in words it is written how many letters, so many sounds, that is, one letter means one sound. So, for example, in the word "stick" 5 letters and 5 sounds, each letter in the word denotes one sound.
Two letters in Russian are not pronounced at all. Such letters are the soft sign b and the hard sign b, the so-called mute letters. They play the role of a separator in words, a soft sign is also used to indicate the softness of the sound that is located in front of it. In some words, according to the rules, letters are written, but not pronounced: the heart (pronounced like a heart), the sun (like a sun).
What letters indicate several sounds
How many vowels and letters in a language are studied in the first grade. Many still remember how small children chanted vowels and determined the number of sounds by which they were voiced. In Russian, several sounds indicate certain vowels, when pronouncing which we pronounce more than one sound. For example, the letter "I" in certain cases is pronounced using the sounds "th" and "a", the letter "u" - "th" and "y", the letter "" - "th" and "o", "e" - "th" and "e." It is important to understand that these two vowels do not always mean these vowels. When doing a sound-letter analysis, we indicate the double sound of letters only in certain cases. How many letters denoting vowels are determined by the rules established in the grammar of the Russian language. So, two sounds vowels denote:
- in those cases when the words are at the beginning: language, hedgehog, yula;
- in cases where they stand after other vowels: Bayun, cabin, ate;
- in those words in which the listed vowels are after a soft b or hard b sign: monkey, blizzard, connector.
How many sounds does the letter “I” stand for? The letter "Y"?
The letter "i" - iot has a special status. It can be used as a separate letter and as an additional designation in sound-letter analysis. When used as an assistant to indicate the double sound of vowels, the special status of the letter appears. How many sounds and letters are used in this case, is recorded in the sound-letter analysis. We must not forget that in the word the letter "y" can be used to convey sound: "iot." A letter can be written before and after vowels and designate one sound. After consonants, “th” is not used, and before consonants it is quite common: T-shirt, seagull, jay. The letter "and" on the letter always means one sound. There are no special rules in grammar when writing this letter.
How many letters and sounds are written in individual words is determined by the rules of grammar in Russian.