What is sound? This is the minimum component of human speech. Shown in letters. In written form, sounds are distinguished from letters by the presence of square brackets at the first, which are used in phonetic transcription. The letter is o, the sound is [o]. The transcription shows differences in spelling and pronunciation. Apostrophe [ ‘ ] indicates soft pronunciation.

In contact with

The sounds are divided into:

• Vowels. They can be pulled easily. During their creation, the tongue does not take an active part, being fixed in one position. The sound is created due to changes in the position of the tongue, lips, various vibrations of the vocal cords and the force of air supply. Length of vowels – basis of vocal art(chanting, “singing smoothly”).
• The consonants a are pronounced with the participation of the tongue, which, occupying a certain position and shape, creates an obstacle to the movement of air from the lungs. This leads to noise in the oral cavity. At the output they are converted into sound. Also, the free passage of air is hampered by the lips, which close and open during speech.

Consonants are divided into:

• voiceless and voiced. Deafness and sonority of sound depend on the functioning of the speech apparatus;
• hard and soft. The sound is determined by the position of the letter in the word.

Letters representing consonants

Deaf

Voiceless in Russian: [k], [p], [s], [t], [f], [x], [ts], [sh]. The easiest way to remember is a phrase, and not a set of letters, “Styopka, do you want a cheek? Fi!” containing them all.

An example in which all consonant sounds are unvoiced: rooster, honeycomb, pin.

Voiced

When they are formed, the form of the tongue is close to the form that produces deaf, but vibrations are added. Voiced consonant sounds create active vibrations of the ligaments. vibrations deform the sound wave, and not a pure stream of air enters the oral cavity, but sound. Subsequently, it is further transformed by the tongue and lips.

Voiced consonants include: b, c, g, d, g, z, j, l, m, n, r.

When they are pronounced, tension is clearly felt in the larynx area. In addition, it is almost impossible to speak them clearly in a whisper.

A word in which all consonants are voiced: Rome, pride, ash, estuary.

Summary table of consonants (voiceless and voiced).

It is due to the change in sound that Russian speech is enriched with various words that are similar in spelling and pronunciation, but completely different in meaning. For example: house - volume, court - itch, code - year.

Paired consonants

What does pairing mean? Two letters that are similar in sound and, when pronounced, take similar positions with the tongue, are called paired consonants. The pronunciation of consonants can be divided into one-stage (lips and tongues are involved in their creation) and two-stage - the ligaments are connected first, then the mouth. Those cases when, during pronunciation, mouth movements coincide and create pairs.

Summary table of paired consonants taking into account hardness and softness

In speech, it is common not to pronounce each letter, but to “eat” it. This is not an exception only for Russian speech. This is found in almost all languages ​​of the world and is especially noticeable in English. In Russian, this effect is subject to the rule: paired consonant sounds replace (auditory) each other during speech. For example: love – [l’ u b o f’].

But not everyone has their own pair. There are some that are not similar in pronunciation to any others - these are unpaired consonants. The reproduction technique differs from the pronunciation of other sounds and combines them into groups.

Paired consonants

Unpaired consonants

The first group can be pronounced softly. The second has no analogues in pronunciation.

Unpaired consonants are divided into:

• sonors – [y’], [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’]. When they are pronounced, a stream of air hits the upper sky, like a dome;
• hissing – [x], [x’], [ts], [h’], [sch’].

The Russian language contains letters that are difficult to understand in context. Are the sounds [ch], [th], [ts], [n] voiced or unvoiced? Learn these 4 letters!

Important![h] - deaf! [th] - sonorous! [ts] is deaf! [n] – sonorous!

Unpaired consonants

Hard and soft

They are the same in spelling, but different in sound. Voiceless and voiced consonants, with the exception of hissing ones, can be pronounced hard or soft. For example: [b] was – [b`] beat; [t] current – ​​[t`] flowed.

When pronouncing hard words, the tip of the tongue is pressed against the palate. Soft ones are formed by pressing to the upper palate of the middle part of the tongue.

In speech, the sound is determined by the letter following the consonant.

Vowels form pairs: a-ya, u-yu, e-e, y-i, o-yo.

Double vowels (I, ё, yu, e) are pronounced in one of two combinations: the sound [th] and a paired vowel from E, O, U, A, or a soft sign and a paired vowel. For example, the word jung. It is pronounced [y] [y] [n] [g] [a]. Or the word mint. It is pronounced as: [m’] [a] [t] [a]. The vowels A, O, U, E, Y do not have a double sound, therefore do not affect the pronunciation of the preceding consonant.

Difference example:

A spoon is a hatch, honey is a sea, a house is a woodpecker.

Phonetic transcription:

[Spoon] – [L’ u k], [m’ o d] – [m o r’ e], [house] – [d’ a t e l].

Pronunciation rules:

• solid ones are pronounced before A, O, U, E, Y. Abscess, side, beech, Bentley, former;
• soft ones are pronounced before Ya, Yo, Yu, E, I. Revenge, honey, whale, mashed potatoes, mint;
• hard ones are pronounced if they are followed by another consonant: death. After the consonant [s] there is a consonant [m]. Regardless of whether the M is soft, voiced or hard, the S is pronounced firmly;
• hard ones are pronounced if the letter comes last in the word: class, house;
• Consonants before the vowel [e] in borrowed words are pronounced firmly, as before [e]. For example: muffler – [k] [a] [w] [n] [e];
• always soft before b: elk, pulp.
• exceptions to the rules:
  • always solid F, W, C: life, thorns, cyanide;
  • always soft Y, H, Sh: white, black, pike.

Attention! A voiceless letter does not always represent the same sound. It depends on the position in the word.

Hard and soft sounds

Stun

The Russian language has a concept of stunning - some voiced ones sound like voiceless ones consonant sounds from a pair.

This is not a speech defect, but, on the contrary, is considered a criterion for its purity and correctness. But this rule only works with paired consonants. For example, [g] in speech is often replaced by [x]. This refers to a defect, since [g], which is close to [x], is considered a distinctive feature of the Ukrainian language. Its use in Russian speech is incorrect. The exception is the word God.

Rules and examples:

• the letter is the last in the word: tooth - [zup], ice hole - [p r o r u p’];
• after the letter there is a voiceless consonant: russula - [raw cheese).

There is a reverse process - voicing. Means that in speech voiceless ones are pronounced as their counterparts to voiced ones. Voicing is justified when they come before voiced consonants: transaction - [z d' e l k a].

Consonants, voiced and voiceless, hard and soft

Consonant sounds are voiced and unvoiced. Russian language lesson in 5th grade

Introducing a child to the Russian alphabet is always an encounter with an unknown but mysterious world, in which there are so many interesting things.

The letters of the Russian alphabet make up a whole family, with 33 inhabitants!

And everyone needs to be remembered in their places. But the study of letters does not end there. We also have to divide them into vowels and consonants, stressed and unstressed, soft and hard, voiceless and voiced.. And this is still far from a complete classification. Let's figure out how to correctly divide the letters of the alphabet into groups.

Vowels and consonants sounds and letters

First, let's figure out how many letters the Russian alphabet contains. There are 33 of them in total. All of them are divided into two large groups: vowels and consonants.

We cannot attribute only the soft and hard signs to any of the groups: they do not denote sound, but serve to indicate the hardness or softness of the previous sound.

Vowel sounds

Vowel sounds are pronounced easily, in a singsong voice. This is possible due to the fact that during articulation in the mouth there is no obstruction to the air flow.

How many vowels are there in Russian? - 10 letters. Vowel sounds are much less: only 6: A, O, U, Y, I, E. This difference is explained by the fact that 4 vowel letters are formed by merging two sounds: E=Y+O; E=Y+E; Yu=Y+U; I=Y+A.

percussion and unstressed

Vowel sounds are stressed and unstressed. Stressed vowel sounds in a word are distinguished by the voice. Thanks to stress, we understand the meaning of the word. There are words in which the meaning depends only on the placement of the stress, for example: castle- castle. Unstressed sounds are not pronounced so clearly, so in writing we check unstressed sounds with stress.

How many consonants and sounds are there in Russian?

There are only 21 consonants, but there are 37 sounds.

Consonant sounds are formed due to an obstruction that occurs in the mouth during the passage of air flow. The role of an obstruction can be played by teeth, tongue, lips; depending on the nature of the obstruction, consonants are divided into many groups, for example, labial, dental, etc.

Also, consonants are divided into hard and soft, deaf and voiced.

Hard and soft

Hard consonants are pronounced more roughly, while soft ones sound more graceful and are softened by a nearby vowel or in writing using a soft sign. In transcription, soft sounds are indicated by a nearby apostrophe. For example, in the word HOUSE, the letter "d" sounds hard, and in the word GO - softly. Soft and hard consonants are presented in the table.

Voiceless and voiced

Voiceless consonant sounds are pronounced without the participation of the voice, while in the formation of hard sounds the participation of the voice is necessary. Voiced and unvoiced sounds, as a rule, form a pair, for example: B-P, V-F, etc. There are only a few sounds that do not have a voiced-voiced pair: Shch, Ts, Y, R, L, M, N.

The table presented on our website will help you fully consider deaf and voiced, hard and soft consonants, as well as stressed and unstressed vowels. It can be hung in the classroom where children have begun to study the Russian alphabet in more detail. It would also be a good idea to hang the chart in a visible place at home if your child is starting to learn letters.

tables

Related cartoons

To help your child quickly learn the division of letters into vowels and consonants, you can offer him cartoons on this topic. On our website you will find educational cartoons dedicated to this topic.

Speech therapist. Russian alphabet

This video presents sounds in the Russian language using examples of onomatopoeia. This technique will allow children to practice the clarity of pronunciation of vowels and consonants, and to more clearly feel the difference in their sound. Sounds accompany bright pictures of animals and natural phenomena. You can watch the cartoon here

Learn and sing the Russian alphabet

This video contains a performance of the alphabet to music. The melody is pleasant, easy to remember, and the song itself is accompanied by a display of the letter and form of its writing. This cartoon can be useful for children of any age, as it is aimed not only at remembering the order of letters, but also at practicing diction. You can watch the cartoon here

Voiceless consonants

There is a generally accepted opinion that it is impossible to sing consonants. However, the authors of this cartoon break the usual stereotypes of perception. Of course, this video cannot be called a song in its entirety: rather, we will be dealing with a drawn-out pronunciation of voiceless consonants. This is extremely useful for children's diction, in which defects in the pronunciation of hissing sounds are constantly visible. Play this cartoon for your child more often so that he corrects his diction. You can watch the cartoon here

Voiced consonants

It is much easier to sing voiced consonant sounds, although again we will not be dealing with singing, but with prolonged pronunciation of the sound. The voice is involved in the formation of voiced consonants, so they can be easily chanted. This cartoon invites children to practice this simple task and become more familiar with ringing sounds. You can watch the cartoon here

Learn vowel and consonant sounds, because they form the basis of our alphabet!

What sounds are called consonants?
What does a consonant sound consist of?
What are the different consonant sounds?
How many consonant letters and consonant sounds are there in the Russian alphabet?
Which consonants are always hard and which are always soft?
What letters indicate the softness of a consonant?

Sounds in the pronunciation of which the air encounters an obstacle in the mouth are called consonant sounds. A consonant sound consists of noise and voice or only noise.

Consonant sounds are divided into voiced and deaf. Voiced ones consist of noise and voice, while deaf ones consist only of noise.

The sounds only consist of noise: [k], [p], [s], [t], [f], [x], [ts], [ch], [sh], [sch]. These are voiceless consonants.

Many consonant sounds form pairs by voicing -deafness: [b] — [p], [v] — [f], [g] — [k], [d] — [t], [z] — [s], [w] — [w].

To memorize voiced consonants, you can learn the phrase: “ THE LION AND THE TOAD HAVE MANY FRIENDS».
See all phrases for memorizing voiced and voiceless consonants.

Voiceless consonants are easy to remember from the phrase: “ STYOPKA, DO YOU WANT A CHECK?— Ugh!».

Consonant sounds are indicated by letters:

B,IN,G,D,AND,W,Y,TO,L,M,N,P,R,WITH,T,F,X,C,H,W,SCH.

In total, the Russian language has 21 consonants.

Consonant sounds are also hard and soft.

Hard and soft sounds differ in the position of the tongue when pronounced. When pronouncing soft consonants, the middle back of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.

Most consonant sounds form pairs based on hardness and softness:

The following hard and soft consonant sounds do not form hard-softness pairs:

Table “Consonant sounds: paired and unpaired, voiced and voiceless, hard and soft” (grades 1-4)

Note: in elementary school, hard consonant sounds are indicated in blue, soft consonant sounds in green, and vowel sounds in red.

Hardness consonant sounds are indicated in writing by vowels A , ABOUT , U , S , E .

Softness consonant sound is indicated in writing by vowels E, Yo, I, Yu, I, as well as the letter b(soft sign).

Compare: nose[nose] - carried[n❜os], corner[corner] - coal[ugal❜].

Unpaired voiced sounds [й❜], [l], [l❜], [m], [m❜] [n], [n❜] [р], [р❜] are called sonorous, which means “sonorous” in Latin.

The sounds [zh], [sh], [ch❜], [sch❜] are called hissing. They got this name because their pronunciation is similar to hissing.

The sounds [zh], [sh] are unpaired hard hissing sounds.
The sounds [ch❜] and [ш❜] are unpaired soft hissing sounds.

The sounds [c], [s❜], [z], [z❜], [ts] are called whistling.

Consonant can not be stressed or unstressed.

In the Russian language, there are more consonant sounds (36) than consonant letters (21), since one letter can denote paired hard and soft sounds: for example, the letter L (el) denotes the sounds [l] and [l❜].

Attention! A consonant sound can form a syllable only with

What is the difference between vowels and consonants and letters and sounds? What rules do they obey? How are the hardness and softness of sounds and letters indicated? You will receive answers to all these questions in this article.

General information about vowels and consonants

Vowels and consonants represent the basis of the entire Russian language. After all, with the help of their combinations, syllables are formed that form words, expressions, sentences, texts, etc. That is why quite a lot of hours are devoted to this topic in high school.

and sounds in Russian

A person learns what vowels and consonants are in the Russian alphabet already from the first grade. 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 vowel letters, namely: o, i, a, y, yu, ya, e, e, u, e. During their immediate pronunciation, you can feel how air passes freely through the oral cavity. At the same time, we hear our own voice quite clearly. It should also be noted that vowel sounds can be drawn out (a-a-a-a, uh-uh-uh, i-i-i-i-i, u-u-u-u-u and so on ).

Features and letters

Vowels are the basis of a syllable, that is, they are the ones who organize it. As a rule, Russian words have as many syllables as vowels themselves. Let's give a clear example: u-che-ni-ki - 5 syllables, re-bya-ta - 3 syllables, he - 1 syllable, o-no - 2 syllables, and so on. There are even words that consist of only one vowel sound. Usually these are interjections (A!, Oh!, Oooh!) and conjunctions (and, a, etc.).

Endings, suffixes and prefixes are very important topics in the Russian Language discipline. After all, without knowing how such letters are written in a particular word, it is quite problematic to compose a literate letter.

Consonants and sounds in Russian

Vowels and consonants letters and sounds vary significantly. And if the first ones can be easily pulled out, then the latter ones are pronounced as briefly as possible (except for hissing ones, since they can be pulled out).

It should be noted that in the Russian alphabet the number of consonant letters is 21, namely: b, v, g, d, zh, z, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, ts, h, w, shch. The sounds they denote are usually divided into dull and voiced. What is the difference? The fact is that during the pronunciation of voiced consonants, a person can hear not only the characteristic noise, but also his own voice (b!, z!, r!, etc.). As for the deaf, there is no way to pronounce them loudly or, for example, shout. They only create a kind of noise (sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, s-s-s-s-s, etc.).

Thus, almost everything is divided into two different categories:

• voiced - b, c, d, d, g, z, j, l, m, n, r;
• deaf - k, p, s, t, f, x, c, ch, sh.

Softness and hardness of consonants

Not everyone knows, but vowels and consonants can be hard and soft. This is the second most important feature in the Russian language (after voicedness and voicelessness).

A distinctive feature of soft consonants is that during their pronunciation the human tongue takes a special position. As a rule, it moves slightly forward, and its entire middle part rises slightly. As for when pronouncing them, the tongue is pulled back. You can compare the position of your speech organ yourself: [n] - [n’], [t] - [t’]. It should also be noted that voiced and soft sounds sound slightly higher than hard sounds.

In the Russian language, almost all consonants have pairs based on softness and hardness. However, there are also those who simply do not have them. These include hard ones - [zh], [sh] and [ts] and soft ones - [th"], [h"] and [sh"].

Softness and hardness of vowel sounds

Surely few people have heard that the Russian language has soft vowels. Soft consonants are sounds quite familiar to us, which cannot be said about the above-mentioned ones. This is partly due to the fact that in secondary school practically no time is devoted to this topic. After all, it is already clear with the help of which vowels the consonants become soft. However, we still decided to dedicate you to this topic.

So, those letters that are capable of softening the consonants preceding them are called soft. These include the following: i, e, i, e, yu. As for letters such as a, y, y, e, o, they are considered hard because they do not soften the consonants in front. To see this, here are a few examples:

Indication of the softness of consonant letters during phonetic analysis of a word

Phonetics studies the sounds and letters of the Russian language. Surely, in high school you were asked more than once to make a word. During such an analysis, it is imperative to indicate whether it is separately considered or not. If yes, then it must be designated as follows: [n’], [t’], [d’], [v’], [m’], [p’]. That is, at the top right next to the consonant letter before 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"].

The Russian language has 21 consonants and 36 consonant sounds. Consonant letters and their corresponding consonant sounds:
b - [b], c - [c], g - [g], d - [d], g - [g], j - [th], z - [z], k - [k], l - [l], m - [m], n - [n], p - [p], p - [p], s - [s], t - [t], f - [f], x - [x ], c - [c], ch - [ch], sh - [sh], shch - [sch].

Consonant sounds are divided into voiced and voiceless, hard and soft. They are paired and unpaired. There are a total of 36 different combinations of consonants by pairing and unpairing, hard and soft, voiceless and voiced: voiceless - 16 (8 soft and 8 hard), voiced - 20 (10 soft and 10 hard).

Scheme 1. Consonants and consonant sounds of the Russian language.

Hard and soft consonants

Consonants are hard and soft. They are divided into paired and unpaired. Paired hard and paired soft consonants help us distinguish between words. Compare: horse [kon’] - kon [kon], bow [bow] - hatch [l’uk].

For understanding, let’s explain it “on the fingers”. If a consonant letter in different words means either a soft or hard sound, then the sound belongs to the pair. For example, in the word cat the letter k denotes a hard sound [k], in the word whale the letter k denotes a soft sound [k’]. We get: [k] - [k’] form a pair according to hardness and softness. Sounds for different consonants cannot be classified as a pair, for example [v] and [k’] do not form a pair in terms of hardness-softness, but they do form a pair [v]-[v’]. If a consonant sound is always hard or always soft, then it belongs to unpaired consonants. For example, the sound [zh] is always hard. There are no words in the Russian language where it would be soft [zh’]. Since there is no pair [zh]-[zh’], it is classified as unpaired.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Consonant sounds are voiced and unvoiced. Thanks to voiced and voiceless consonants, we distinguish words. Compare: ball - heat, count - goal, house - volume. Voiceless consonants are pronounced with the mouth almost closed; when pronouncing them, the vocal cords do not work. Voiced consonants require more air, the vocal cords work.

Some consonant sounds have a similar sound in the way they are pronounced, but are pronounced with different tonality - dull or voiced. Such sounds are combined in pairs and form a group of paired consonants. Accordingly, paired consonants are a pair of a voiceless and a voiced consonant.

• paired consonants: b-p, v-f, g-k, d-t, z-s, zh-sh.
• unpaired consonants: l, m, n, r, y, c, x, h, shch.

Sonorant, noisy and sibilant consonants

Sonorants are voiced unpaired consonant sounds. There are 9 sonorant sounds: [y’], [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’].
Noisy consonant sounds are voiced and unvoiced:

1. Noisy voiceless consonants (16): [k], [k"], [p], [p"], [s], [s"], [t], [t"], [f], [f "], [x], [x'], [ts], [h'], [w], [w'];
2. Noisy voiced consonant sounds (11): [b], [b'], [v], [v'], [g], [g'], [d], [d'], [g], [z ], [z'].

Hissing consonant sounds (4): [zh], [ch’], [sh], [sch’].

Paired and unpaired consonants

Consonant sounds (soft and hard, voiceless and voiced) are divided into paired and unpaired. The tables above show the division. Let's summarize everything with a diagram:

To be able to do phonetic analysis, in addition to consonant sounds, you need to know