What is the difference between vowels and consonants and sounds? What rules do they follow? How is the hardness and softness of sounds and letters indicated? You will receive answers to all these questions in the presented article.
General information about vowels and consonants
Vowels and consonants are the basis of the entire Russian language. Indeed, with the help of their combinations, syllables are formed that add up to words, expressions, sentences, texts, and so on. That is why so many 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 already from the first grade. And despite all the apparent simplicity of this topic, it is considered one of the most difficult for students.
So, in Russian there are ten vowels, namely: o, i, a, s, u, i, e, e, u, e. During their direct pronunciation, you can feel how the air passes freely through the oral cavity. At the same time, we hear our own voice quite clearly. It should also be noted that vowels can be pulled (ah-ah-ah-ah, uh-uh-uh, i-i-i-i-i, u-u-u-u-u and sonext).
Features of vowels and letters
Vowels are the basis of the syllable, that is, they organize it. As a rule, there are as many syllables in Russian words as there are vowels themselves. Let's give a good example: u-che-no-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 (Ah!, Oh!, Woo!) and unions (and, a, etc.).
The spelling of vowels in the root of words, endings, suffixes and prefixes are very important topics in the Russian language discipline. Indeed, without knowing how such letters are written in a particular word, it is rather problematic to compose a competent letter.
Consonants and sounds in Russian
Vowels and consonants and sounds differ significantly. And if the former can be easily pulled, then the latter are pronounced as short as possible (except for hissing ones, since they can be pulled).
It should be noted that in the Russian alphabet the number of consonant letters is 21, namely: b, c, d, e, g, h, d, k, l, m, n, p, p, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, w. The sounds denoted by them are usually divided into deaf 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!, p!, etc.). As for the deaf, they cannot be pronounced loudly or, for example, shouted. They only make a kind of noise (sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, s-s-s-s-s, etc.).
Thus, almost all consonantssounds fall into two different categories:
- voiced - b, c, d, e, f, s, d, l, m, n, r;
- deaf - k, p, s, t, f, x, c, h, 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 voiced and deaf).
A distinctive feature of soft consonants is that during their pronunciation, the human language takes on a special position. As a rule, it shifts slightly forward, and its entire middle part rises slightly. As for hard consonants, when they are pronounced, 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 Russian, almost all consonants have pairs based on softness and hardness. However, there are those who simply do not have them. These include hard ones - [g], [w] and [c] and soft ones - [d '], [h '] and [w '].
Softness and hardness of vowels
Surely few people have heard that Russian has soft vowels. Soft consonants are sounds that are quite familiar to us, which cannot be said about the above. This is partly due to the fact that in high school there is practically no time for 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 are called soft,which are able to soften the consonants going before them. These include the following: i, e, i, e, u. As for such letters as a, y, s, e, o, they are considered hard, since they do not soften the consonants going in front. To see this, here are a few examples:
- package;
- child;
- car;
- speech;
- clothes;
- bed;
- computer;
- Petya;
- wood;
- frost;
- fun;
- small and others.
Designation of the softness of consonants in the phonetic analysis of the word
Sounds and letters of the Russian language are studied by phonetics. Surely, in high school you were asked more than once to make a phonetic analysis of a word. During such an analysis, it is imperative to indicate whether the consonant considered separately is soft or not. If yes, then it must be denoted as follows: [n '], [t '], [d '], [c '], [m '], [n ']. That is, at the top right, next to the consonant letter in front of the soft vowel, you need to put a kind of dash. The following soft sounds are also marked with a similar icon - [th'], [h'] and [w'].
