Sonorous sounds are special phonetic units. They differ from other sounds not only in characteristics, but also in the specifics of functioning in speech. What “sonor sounds” means and what are their features is discussed in detail in the article.
The sound system of the Russian language
Language is a unique phenomenon. It is studied and described from various perspectives, which determines the existence of many sections in the science of language - linguistics. One of these sections is phonetics. In the systemic representation of the language, phonetics is the first, basic language tier. It deals with one of the material aspects of the language, namely, with its sound. Thus, phonetics is a branch of linguistics that explores the sound side of language.
Phonetics defines sound as the smallest indivisible unit of the language, all speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants, their key difference in the way of articulation: vowels are created using the tone (they usually say that such sounds can be sung in school), and participates in the formation of consonants noise.
There was once a debate about the number of vowel sounds in the Russian language, the points of view were divided: the Moscow phonological school did not recognize the sound [s] as independent, considering it a variant of the sound [s], the Leningrad scientific school insisted on complete independence [s]. Thus, according to the former, there are 5 vowels in the Russian language, and according to the latter - 6. We note that the point of view of the Leningrad phonological school is generally accepted.
Consonant sounds
In linguistics, the classification of consonants is carried out for various reasons:
- at the place of formation (depending on the place in the mouth where the outgoing air stream meets an obstacle);
- by the method of formation (depending on what obstacle the air stream encounters and how it overcomes it);
- by the presence / absence of palatalization (mitigation);
- by noise level (i.e., by the ratio of tone and noise during articulation).
It is of interest to us that it is the latter principle, since it is according to it that all consonants are usually divided into noisy and sonorous. With the formation of noisy consonants, the noise intensity is significantly higher than with the formation of sonorous.
Note that such a classification is universally recognized, but far from the only one.
Sonor sounds in Russian
In the formation of sonorous sounds, tone prevails over noise. But we already know that with the help of tone (voice) vowel sounds are formed. It turns out that sonorous sounds are vowels ?! Modern linguistics unambiguously classifies sonoric as consonants, but this has not always been so.
If you look into the textbook of the professor, doctor of philological sciences A. A. Reformatsky's “Introduction to Linguistics” of the 1967 edition, you will see that the author divides the sounds into sonorous and noisy. Thus, in the Reformed classification, all vowels, as well as [r], [l], [m], [n] and their soft pairs, as well as [j], are precisely due to the dominance of tone over noise during articulation .
Over time, the classification has undergone changes, and today it is customary to distinguish between vowels and sonoric, and the latter are included in the consonants. Modern linguistics refers to the sonoric [r], [l], [m], [n] (as well as their palatalized pairs) and [j] (in some school books it is designated as [th]).
But from a change in the formal side, the principle and method of their formation has not changed, which determines the special position of these sounds in the phonetic system of the Russian language. Simply put, sonorous sounds are consonants that behave in speech like vowels in terms of phonetic laws.
For example, they are not subject, like other voiced consonants, to stunning at the end of a word, for example: oak [dup], but table [table]. And also they do not obey the law of assimilation, which states that the deaf who stands before the voiced consonant becomes voiced, that is, he is likened to him, and the deaf before the deaf is stunned. Sleepy ones do not affect the quality of the forward consonant sound, just like vowels. Compare: turn in [the building] and the track [the cloud], but the primus [primus].
Summarize
So, sonor sounds are the sounds [p], [l], [m], [n] and their soft pairs [pꞌ], [lꞌ], [mꞌ], [nꞌ] respectively, as well as the sound [j]. All these sounds do not have a pair of hardness / deafness, that is, they are always sonorous. And the sound [j] does not have a pair of hardness / softness, that is, it is not only always sonorous, but also always soft.