Language is truly a wonderful gift to mankind. This perfect instrument of communication has a complex structure, it is a system of language units. Traditionally, starting the study of a language, they turn to phonetics - a branch of the science of language, the subject of which is the sounds of speech, and more specifically, the classification of vowels and consonants.
Phonetics
Phonetics is designed to study speech sounds. It occupies a special position, which is determined by the fact that the subject of its study is the units of the language that have a material nature. Sounding speech is formed by the human speech organs and air vibrations. Sounding speech is perceived by the human ear.
Phonetics deals with the smallest unit of language - the sound of speech. There are an infinite number of such sounds. After all, everyone pronounces them differently. But it is possible to distinguish among this variety such sounds that are pronounced in the same way. Wayeducation - the basis for the classification of sounds.
The main thing that studies phonetics is the classification of vowels and consonants. Articulatory and acoustically, speech sounds are either vowels or consonants. Vowels provide melodiousness to speech. Consonants - noise.
When air flows from the lungs through the vocal cords and mouth freely, sounds are formed, which are called vowels. They differ only in the overtones formed by the movements of the tongue and lips.
Consonant sounds are produced when air overcomes obstacles in its path. They consist of voice and noise or only noise. Different ways of forming and overcoming these obstacles make it possible to distinguish consonant sounds from each other. The classification of vowels / consonants of the Russian language is based on these differences. We will consider its principles below.
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies the articulatory and acoustic features of speech sounds. Articulatory phonetics deals with the study of the anatomical and physiological nature of sound and the mechanisms of its production. Acoustic phonetics studies sound as vibrational movements carried out by passing it through the vocal cords and oral cavity. The subjects of study of acoustic phonetics are its pitch, strength, longitude and timbre.
Acoustic classification of vowels
Introduction to phonetics usually begins with the study of vowels. We will not deviate from traditions, which are due to their greater significance. They are syllabic. Consonants join vowels.
What classificationvowels and consonants will be the subject of our attention to study vowels in the first place?
First, consider the acoustic features of vowels:
- all these sounds are formed using the tone of voice;
- characterized by impact and lack of impact, that is, they are weak and strong;
- weak vowels are short in sound and do not require straining the vocal cords when pronouncing them;
- strong vowels are characterized by a longer pronunciation and tension of the vocal cords.
The tone of vowel sounds is not a meaningful characteristic. It can only convey the emotional state of the speaker or grammatical meaning. For example, in an interrogative sentence, the vowel in the word that carries the greatest semantic load is pronounced with a higher tone.
Weak and short sounds are called unstressed in Russian. Strong and long are shock. Stress is unfixed in our language and most often performs a grammatical function: house (singular), houses (plural). Sometimes the accent is meaningful: castle (structure), lock (device for locking the door).
Classification of vowel sounds according to articulatory features. Rounded/unrounded vowels
Articulatory classification of vowel sounds is much broader than acoustic. In addition to the voice, they are formed by the lips, tongue and lower jaw. The sound is formed in a certain way and is characterized by the following features:
- participation of the lips in his education;
- the degree of elevation of the tongue;
- horizontal movement of the tongue in the mouth.
Vowels can be formed by stretching the lips, then they are called rounded (labialized). If the lips do not participate in the formation of a vowel, then it is called unrounded (non-labialized).
Rounded vowels are formed when the lips protrude forward, close to each other. The air passes through the narrow space formed by the lips folded into a tube, the oral resonator lengthens. The degree of roundness is different: the vowel [o] is less, and the vowel [y] is characterized by a greater degree of roundness. The remaining vowels are unrounded, that is, unlabialized.
Vowels according to the degree of vertical movement of the tongue, that is, according to the rise
By the way the tongue rises to the palate, vowels are:
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Upper lift. These are the sounds [and], [s], [y]. They are formed when the tongue rises as high as possible. These sounds are also called narrow.
phonetics classification of vowels -
Medium rise - these are the sounds [e], [o]. When they are formed, the tongue falls slightly lower than when the previous ones were formed.
classification of vowel consonants of the Russian language -
Lower rise is the sound [a]. It is formed with the tongue lowered as low as possible. This sound is also called wide.
articulatory classification of vowels
The lower the rise, the wider the mouth opens and lowerjaw drops.
Vowels by horizontal tongue movement
The vowels are also divided into three groups according to the horizontal movement of the tongue in the mouth:
- The front row is the sounds [and], [e]. When they form, the front of the tongue must be raised to the front of the palate.
- The middle row is the sounds [a], [s]. When they are formed, the middle part of the tongue rises to the middle part of the palate.
- Back row - [y], [o]. When they form, the back of the tongue rises to the back of the palatine.
In a generalized form, the classification of vowel sounds is reflected in the vowel triangle. You can see it in the picture below.
Shades of vowels
Dividing by row and rise does not correspond to all the richness and variety of vowels. In general, the classification of vowels / consonants of the Russian language is much wider than given in the textbooks of the school curriculum. Both the former and the latter may have pronunciation variants. It depends on the position they are in.
In addition to the sound [and], there is one that is pronounced with a slightly more open mouth and a lower rise of the tongue than [and]. Such a sound has a name [and] open. In transcription, it is indicated as [ie]. Example: forests [l'iesa'].
Not so open is the sound [se]. For example, in the word "iron", which is pronounced as [zhyel'e'zny].
In a weak position, before the stressed syllable, instead of the sounds [a], [o], a non-labialized sound [/] is pronounced. He is in positionlanguage takes place between [a] and [o], for example: grass [tr/\va'], fields [n/\l'a'].
There are also reduced vowels, they are also called weakened sounds. This is and . is the sound of the middle row of the mid-low rise. - this sound is the sound of the front row of the middle-low rise. Examples: locomotive [par / \\ in's], water [vd'i e no'y]. The weakening of their pronunciation is due to the distance of these vowels from stress.
Sounds [ie], [se], [/], , are only found in the unaccented position.
Dependence of vowel sounds on the softness of consonants
Changing the pronunciation of vowels depending on soft (palatalized) consonants is considered by phonetics. The classification of vowels depending on such a neighborhood can be represented as follows:
- The vowels ['a], ['e], ['o], ['u] move slightly up and forward at the beginning of pronunciation.
- If these vowels are between soft consonants, changes in articulation persist throughout the pronunciation of the sound: son-in-law [z'a't'], aunt [t'o't'a], tulle [t'u' l'].
Types of stressed vowels
There are six positions in our language, which are represented by different types of stressed vowels. All of them are presented in the table below.
Types of unstressed vowels
Classification of non-stressed vowel sounds depends on proximity or distance from stress and preposition or postposition in relation to it:
- Vowels [and], [s],[y], standing in the pre-stressed syllable, are slightly weakened in their articulation, but do not change dramatically.
- If [s] stands after hissing and hard before soft, then it moves up and forward a little at the end of pronouncing the sound, for example, in the word f[s˙]vet.
- The sound [y] at the very beginning of a word, standing before soft consonants and after hard back-lingual or hissing, also slightly shifts up and forward at the end of pronunciation. For example: [u˙]tug, f[u˙]dry.
- The vowel [y], if it is behind a soft consonant, before a hard consonant, is shifted up and forward at the beginning of pronunciation. For example: [l'˙y] bov.
- If [y] is between soft consonants, it moves up and forward throughout the entire pronunciation: [l'˙u˙]beat.
- Vowels [a], [o], if they come after back-lingual at the beginning of a word, hard and [ц], are pronounced like [ㆄ], this vowel is formed in the middle row, it is mid-low in rise, it is non-labialized.
- Vowels [a], [o], [e], if they are after soft consonants, [h], [j] are pronounced as , which is characterized as a non-labialized vowel, middle between and [e], according to the row of education, it is front, according to the rise it is middle-upper.
- The vowels [e], [o], which come after [w], [g], are pronounced like [ye], it is a non-front row sound, it is no longer s and not e, such a sound can be heard, for example, in the word "live [ye] wat".
- The vowel [a] after [w], [g] is pronounced like [ㆄ]. This sound can be heard in the word "sh[ㆄ] pour".
- [and], [s], [y] weaken their articulation in the thirdand in the second prestressed syllables, but they do not change their pronunciation character.
- The vowel [y], if it is in the second and third prestressed syllables, before palatalized consonants and behind hard sounds, does not differ from the sound pronounced in the prestressed syllable, this also applies to vowels [s] and [and].
- The vowels [a], [o], [e] in the third and second pre-stressed syllables, at the very beginning of the word, change according to the type of syllable before the stress - in place of the stressed vowels [a], [o] it is pronounced [ㆄ], and in place of [e] it is pronounced [ye].
Changes in stressed vowels in stressed syllables are reflected in the table below.
Conclusion
Summing up, we can conclude that the classification of vowels is affected by the position of the language. Moving in the mouth, it creates different conditions for the formation of sounds. They are perceived as different vowels.
