Such a process as the stunning of consonants in the flow of speech is a phenomenon that is familiar not only to people who have received education in the "linguistic", philological profile, but also speech therapists and their visitors. This process in itself is natural, but in some cases it becomes the cause of many problems. In particular, stunning a word at the wrong moment can cause an unpleasant impression on the speaker’s speech. And in the case of foreign languages, they completely distort the meaning of the spoken word and put the person in an extremely awkward position. It is for this reason that you should deal with the occurrence of a stun consonant in the wrong place and start solving this problem. Since the early start of work on it largely determines the speed of obtaining the result and its level.
Speech and Sound Changes
Pronouncing individual sounds clearly is a fairly simple task, but there is almost no need for it. They resort to it only in the process of working on new sounds. Human speech is a stream of sounds in which individual elements somehow influence each other, in a certain way changing their "neighbors" and changing independently.
Changes can be made to both vowel sounds (for example, they can change or lose any of their characteristics, get sounds), and consonant sounds (for example, they can be likened to each other, fall out, sound or stun). Some of these phenomena are the norm of pronunciation, some are typical of the Russian language, while others can only be found when studying a foreign language. In any case, changes in sounds in the flow of speech - an inevitable phenomenon, especially clearly noticeable by the example of consonant sounds.
Consonant changes in speech flow
The most common change in the consonant sound in the flow of speech in Russian is assimilation. The essence of the phenomenon denoted by this linguistic term is to liken one sound to another on any basis. Assimilation itself can be of several types. For example, it can be divided into full and incomplete. An example of complete assimilation can be found in the word “sew”, where the sound “c” at the beginning of the word is completely likened to the sound “w” following it. Examples of incomplete assimilation and in which words the consonant is stunned include “d” in the word “undermining”. Assimilation can also be divided into regressive and progressive. The first is the effect of subsequent sound on the previous consonant. The second, respectively, is a set.
Voicing consonants
The voicing of consonants is a fairly common phenomenon, one of the most frequent phonetic processes in the flow of speech, along with stunning sound. Most often found in several positions:
- In the case of sound at the junction of morphemes. For example, in the words “request”, “collection” and “deal”, a dull consonant located at the junction of the parts of the word is voiced, turning into its pair.
- When finding a voiced sound at the junction of a word and a preposition, standing in front of it, as, for example, in the phrases “to the house” and “from the dacha”.
- At the junction of the word with the particle behind it.
The refinement of the consonant sound is largely due to its surroundings in the flow of speech and the process of incomplete assimilation. Moreover, both regressive and progressive.
Stunning voiced consonants
The most common in Russian and the most typical phenomenon for it, which is considered the norm. This is a stun consonant at the end of a word. Especially in cases where it is followed by a pause. Examples of words with stunning consonants at the end are “oak,” “tooth,” “garden”. You can specify a lot of options. In these situations, the stunning of the consonant has a physiological basis. Due to the fact that a pause follows the spoken word, the speech apparatus at the time of pronouncing begins to come to a state of rest, to work with less stress. As a result, the consonant sound loses its sonority. Also, consonants can be stunned if they are in front of other deaf consonants (the incomplete assimilation mentioned above).
However, it so happens that sometimes a person does not make voiced sounds at all, stunning them, or some group of sounds. This does not always make the speech incomprehensible, but significantly complicates the understanding of what the speaker wants to convey to his interlocutor. As a rule, such excessive stunning is noticeable already in childhood and is corrected by classes with a speech therapist who, with the help of special exercises, helps the child master the correct articulation.
Pronunciation work
As mentioned above, stunning is a natural process in some cases. This is quite normal. However, sometimes it happens that a person unconsciously, for whatever reason, stuns a consonant where he should remain voiced. Such situations become a problem requiring solution, including the help of a speech therapist.
In the event that stunning is a speech therapy problem, it has several possible causes. Which ones? For example, stunning consonants can be associated with hearing impairment, malfunctioning of the vocal cords, or a person’s lack of recognition of pronounced sounds. One way or another, pronunciation correction has several stages:
- work on slot sounds;
- work on a sequence of explosive sounds.
Brief Summary
Stunning a consonant is an inevitable and natural process. In some cases, it is part of the pronunciation norm of the Russian language, in others it is a mistake, the correction of which should be worked hard. In addition, for a number of reasons, some people involuntarily stun sounds in the wrong place. But even such cases can be corrected. Work on the correct pronunciation of sounds is necessary, including so that the speaker’s speech meets the standards of the language, was understandable to his interlocutor. Moreover, correct speech is the key to a good first impression of a person. And the first impression, as you know, can affect a lot, but it can be very difficult to fix it.