What is the difference between vowels and consonants and sounds? What rules do they obey? How is the hardness and softness of sounds and letters signified? You will receive answers to all these questions in the submitted article.
General information on vowels and consonants
Vowels and consonants represent the foundation of the entire Russian language. After all, with the help of their combinations syllables are formed, which are added up into words, expressions, sentences, texts and so on. That is why quite a few hours are devoted to this topic in high school.
Vowels and sounds in Russian
About what vowels and consonants are in the Russian alphabet, a person learns from the first class. And despite the apparent simplicity of this topic, it is considered one of the most difficult for students.
So, in the Russian language there are ten vowels, namely: o, u, a, s, u, i, e, e, e, y, e. During their direct pronunciation, you can feel how the air freely passes through the oral cavity. At the same time, we quite clearly hear our own voice. It should also be noted that vowel sounds can be pulled )
Features of vowels and letters
Vowels are the basis of a syllable, that is, they organize it. As a rule, there are as many syllables in Russian words as there are vowels themselves. Let us give a clear example: u-che-ni-ki - 5 syllables, re-ba-ta - 3 syllables, he - 1 syllable, o-but - 2 syllables and so on. There are even words that consist of only one vowel sound. Usually this is an interjection (A !, O !, Oooo!) And unions (and, a, etc.).
The spelling of vowels at the root of words, endings, suffixes and prefixes are very important topics in the discipline "Russian language". Indeed, without knowledge of how such letters are written in a particular word, it is quite difficult to write a competent letter.
Consonants and sounds in Russian
Vowels and consonants are significantly different. And if the former can be easily pulled, the latter are pronounced as short as possible (except for hissing, since they can be pulled).
It should be noted that in the Russian alphabet the number of consonants is 21, namely: b, c, d, d, f, s, d, k, l, m, n, n, p, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, n Sounds denoted by them are usually divided into deaf and sonorous. What is the difference? The fact is that during the pronunciation of voiced consonants, a person can hear not only a characteristic noise, but also his own voice (b! S! P! And so on). As for the deaf, they can not be pronounced loudly or, for example, to shout. They create only a peculiar noise (sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, s-s-s-s-s and so on.).
Thus, almost all consonant sounds are divided into two different categories:
- voiced - b, c, d, d, f, s, d, l, m, n, r;
- deaf - k, n, s, t, f, x, t, h, w.
Softness and hardness of consonants
Not everyone knows, but vowels and consonants can be hard and soft. This is the second most important sign in the Russian language (after voicing and deafness).
A distinctive feature of soft consonants is that during their pronunciation, the human language takes a special position. As a rule, it moves a little forward, and its entire middle part rises slightly. As for the solid consonants, then when they are pronounced, the language is pulled back. You can compare the position of your speech organ yourself: [n] - [n '], [t] - [t']. It should also be noted that loud and soft sounds sound somewhat higher than solid ones.
In Russian, almost all consonants have pairs based on softness and hardness. However, there are those who simply do not have them. These include the hard ones - [g], [w] and [q] and the soft ones - [y '], [h'] and [w '].
Softness and hardness of vowels
Surely few have heard that in the Russian language there are soft vowels. Soft consonants are sounds quite familiar to us, which cannot be said about the above. This is partly due to the fact that almost no time is devoted to this topic in high school. After all, it’s clear with what vowels the consonants become soft. However, we still decided to devote you to this topic.
So, soft letters are those letters that are able to soften the consonants in front of them. These include the following: and, e, i, e, y. As for such letters as a, y, s, e, o, they are considered solid, since they do not soften the consonants ahead. To verify this, we give a few examples:
- package;
- child;
- car;
- speech;
- clothes;
- bed;
- a computer;
- Petya;
- wood;
- frost;
- fun;
- small and others.
The designation of the softness of consonants in phonetic parsing
Sounds and letters of the Russian language are studied by phonetics. Surely, in high school you have repeatedly been asked to do a phonetic analysis of a word. During such an analysis, it must be indicated whether the separately considered consonant is soft or not. If yes, then it must be denoted as follows: [n '], [t'], [d '], [v'], [m '], [n']. That is, in the upper right next to the consonant facing the soft vowel, you need to put a kind of dash. The following soft sounds are marked with a similar icon - [th '], [h'] and [w '].