Vowels and voiced consonants. Paired and unpaired consonants. How many pairs of consonants are formed according to deafness-voicing

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. 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 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"].

“Tell me how to teach with a child consonants hard and soft, voiced and unvoiced?” - a mother recently asked, apparently, a first-grader.

Answer: no way.

There is no need to teach your child hard and soft consonants, voiced and voiceless. We need to teach the child to hear them and identify them based on various signs. It’s simply impossible to learn! It is necessary for the child to first understand how voiced and voiceless, hard and soft consonants are made, and after understanding comes knowledge.

How do we teach a child to distinguish consonant sounds?

Let's start with hard and soft consonants.

In Russian, not all consonants can be both hard and soft. Therefore, first the child must remember the consonants Zh, Sh, Ts, which are always hard, and Ch, Shch, Y, which are always soft.

Give your child such a reminder, pay attention to the child that the letters CH, Ш, И sit on the pillows because they are always soft. If the child has this reminder before his eyes, it will be easier for him to remember these letters. You can print it out and hang it above the table where your child studies. You can write it on cardboard and put it in a notebook on writing or the Russian language.

But the rest of the consonants can be either hard or soft. And neighboring letters will help determine the hardness and softness of a consonant.

An interesting option for memorizing hard and soft consonants was suggested by our reader Irina: “I figured out how to remember for my children three always solid sound, ("F", "W", "C")t. that is, those who never soften.

Iron, Washer and Cement - Which will be harder? What's the secret?

There are always three soft sounds: “Ch”, “Shch”, “Y”. Here's a funny tongue twister: Bangs Tickle Y-Y-Y. ("th" will play the sound of laughter)"

If after the defined consonant there is another consonant, then it is hard. For example, in the word “song” after S there is N and we mark S as a hard consonant. Despite the fact that in the Russian language there is a concept of assimilation, when sounds are likened to one another, as in this case, but in primary school We don’t go into such jungles of phonetics.

If there is a vowel sound after a consonant, then it is very easy to determine hardness and softness. All vowel letters are commanders and they command the previous consonant what sound to be - hard or soft. The only exceptions are the 6 letters that we talked about earlier. Make this reminder to your child and let it help him distinguish between hard and soft sounds.

And, of course, it is necessary to teach the child to hear hard and soft sounds, to distinguish between them by ear. There are many development exercises for this. And to everyone famous game can be modified to suit our task and give the child the task of determining hard or soft first consonant in a word.

At first, you need to select words that begin with a consonant: stump, pony, crayfish, river, bow, hatch... Then you can complicate the task and select words where the consonant is not the first sound. Since there are several consonants in a word, you need to discuss with your child which consonant you will determine - the first or the last. The child needs to identify by ear the desired consonant in a word and hear its hardness or softness. And this is already a difficult task. For example: o d it came and went d Uvanchik. The first consonant is D, but in these words it denotes sounds of different softness.

Apply all these methods at once and the child will learn to identify without problems. About voiced and deaf next time.

If you have questions, write in the comments.

1. A a a
2. B b b b b
3. In in ve
4. G g g
5. D d d e
6. E e e
7. Yo yo yo
8. Zhe zhe
9. Z ze ze
10. And and and
11. Thy and short
12. K k ka
13. L l el
14. Mm um
15. N n en
16. Ooo
17. P p pe
18. R r er
19. S s es
20. T t teh
21. U u u
22. F f ef
23. X x ha
24. Ts ts tses
25. Ch h wh
26. Sh sh sha
27. Shch shcha
28. ъ hard sign
29. s s
30. b soft sign
31. Uh uh
32. Yu yu yu
33. I I I

How do letters differ from sounds?

Sound is elastic vibrations in any medium. We hear sounds and can create them, among other things, with the help of the speech apparatus (lips, tongue, etc.).

A letter is a symbol of the alphabet. It has a capital (excl., ь and ъ) and lowercase version. Often a letter is a graphic representation of the corresponding speech sound. We see and write letters. To ensure that the writing is not affected by the peculiarities of pronunciation, spelling rules have been developed that determine which letters should be used in the word in question. The exact pronunciation of the word can be found in phonetic transcription words that are shown in square brackets in dictionaries.

Vowels and sounds

Vowel sounds (“glas” is the Old Slavonic “voice”) are the sounds [a], [i], [o], [u], [s], [e], in the creation of which the vocal cords are involved, and on the way no barrier is erected to the exhaled air. These sounds are sung: [aaaaaaa], [iiiiiiiii] ...

Vowel sounds are designated by the letters a, e, e, i, o, u, y, e, yu, i. The letters e, e, yu, i are called iotized. They denote two sounds, the first of which is [th"], when

1. are first in phonetic word e le [th" e ́l"e] (3 letters, 4 sounds) e shche [th" and sh"ó] (3 letters, 4 sounds) e f [y" o ́sh] (2 letters, 3 sounds) Yu la [th" u ́l"a] (3 letters, 4 sounds) i block [th" a ́blaka] (6 letters, 7 sounds) i ichko [th" and ich"ka] (5 letters, 6 sounds)
2. follow after the vowels birdie d [pt "itsy" e ́t] (7 letters, 8 sounds) ee [yiy" o ́] (2 letters, 4 sounds) kayu ta [kai" u ́ta] (5 letters, 6 sounds) blue [with "in" a] (5 letters, 6 sounds)
3. follow after ь and ъ е зд [вй" е ́ст] (5 letters, 5 sounds) rise m [fall" о ́м] (6 letters, 6 sounds) lyu [л"й" у ́] (3 letters, 3 sounds ) wings [wing "th" a] (6 letters, 6 sounds)

The letter and also denotes two sounds, the first of which is [th"], when

1. follows after ь nightingale [salav "й" and ́] (7 letters, 7 sounds)

In a word, vowel sounds that are emphasized during pronunciation are called stressed, and those that are not emphasized are called unstressed. Stressed sounds are most often both heard and written. To check which letter needs to be placed in a word, you should select a single-root word in which the desired unstressed sound will be stressed.

Running [b"igush"] - running [b"ek] mountain [gara] - mountains [mountains]

Two words united by a single accent make up one phonetic word.

To the garden [fsat]

There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. The division of a word into syllables may not correspond to the division during hyphenation.

Consonants and sounds

Consonant sounds are sounds that create an obstruction in the path of exhaled air.

Voiced consonants are pronounced with the participation of the voice, and voiceless consonants are pronounced without it. The difference is easy to hear in paired consonants, for example, [p] - [b], when pronounced, the lips and tongue are in the same position.

Soft consonants are pronounced with the participation of the middle part of the tongue and are indicated in transcription by an apostrophe " what happens when consonants

1. are always soft [th"], [ch"], [sch"] ai [ai" ] (2 letters, 2 sounds) ray [ray" ] (3 letters, 3 sounds) bream [l "esch" ] (3 letters, 3 sounds)
2. follow before the letters e, e, i, yu, i, b (excl., always hard [zh], [ts], [sh] and in borrowed words) mel [m "el"] (4 letters, 3 sounds) aunt [t"ot"a] (4 letters, 4 sounds) people [l"ud"i] (4 letters, 4 sounds) life [zh yz"n"] (5 letters, 4 sounds) circus [ts yrk] (4 letters, 4 sounds) neck [sh eyya] (3 letters, 4 sounds) tempo [t emp] (4 letters, 4 sounds)
3. come before soft consonants (some cases) pancake [bl"in" ch"ik]

Otherwise, consonant sounds will predominantly be hard.

Sibilant consonants include the sounds [zh], [sh], [h"], [sch"]. Speech therapists rule their pronunciation penultimately: the tongue must be strong and flexible to resist exhaled air and be held against the roof of the mouth in the shape of a cup. The last ones in line are always vibrating [p] and [p"].

Do schoolchildren need phonetics?

Without dividing into vowels, consonants, stressed and unstressed, of course, it is impossible. But the transcription is clearly too much.

Speech therapists are required to know phonetic analysis of words, and it can probably be useful to foreigners.

For students (from 1st grade!) who have not yet mastered the rules of spelling, a fairly in-depth study of phonetics only hinders, confuses and contributes to incorrect memorization of the spelling of words. It is “back” that the child will associate with the pronounced “run”.

In the Russian language, voiceless and voiced consonants are distinguished. The rules for writing letters denoting them begin to be studied already in the first grade. But even after graduating from school, many still cannot write words containing voiceless and voiced consonants without errors. This is sad.

Why do you need to write voiceless and voiced consonants correctly in Russian?

Some people treat writing culture superficially. They justify their ignorance in this area with such a common phrase: “What difference does it make how it’s written, it’s still clear what it’s about!”

In fact, errors in spelling words indicate a low level of personal culture. You can't consider yourself developed person, not knowing how to write correctly in their native language.

There is one more fact that testifies in favor of the rule of error-free writing. After all, voiceless and voiced consonants are sometimes found in words that are homophones in oral speech. That is, they sound the same, but are written differently. Incorrect use of a letter in them is fraught with loss or change in the meaning of the context.

For example, the words “pond” - “rod”, “cat” - “code”, “horn” - “rock” are included in this list.

Shameful loss

During your Russian language lesson, you can tell schoolchildren a funny episode from your life. It should be based on the fact that several children did not know how to correctly write in words the letters denoting voiced and voiceless consonant sounds.

And this happened during school team game"Treasure Hunters". In its rules it was noted that it was necessary to move along the route indicated in the notes. Moreover, the place where it was hidden next letter, was not specified precisely. The note contained only a hint of him.

The teams received the first letters with the following text: “Road, meadow, stone.” One group of guys immediately ran towards the lawn and found a stone there, under which the letter was hidden. The second one, having mixed up the homophone words “meadow” and “onion”, ran to the garden bed. But, naturally, they did not find any stone among the bright green rows.

You can change history in such a way that the notes were written by an illiterate scribbler. It was he who, when giving instructions to his team members, used “bow” instead of the word “meadow”. Not knowing how to write paired voiced and voiceless consonants, the “literate” misled the children. As a result, the competition was canceled.

The rule for writing dubious paired consonants according to deafness and voicedness

In fact, checking which letter should be written in a particular case is quite simple. Paired voiced and voiceless consonants raise doubts about the spelling only when they are at the end of a word or are followed by another consonant voiceless sound. If one of these cases occurs, you need to choose a cognate or change the form of the word so that the dubious consonant is followed by a vowel sound. You can also use the option where the letter being tested is followed by a voiced consonant.

Mug - mug, snow - snow, bread - bread; carving - carved, sweat - sweaty.

Didactic game “Connect the word being tested with the test word”

To get more done during class, you can play a game that reinforces skills without recording. Its condition will be a task in which children are asked only to connect test words with the trait being tested. It takes less time, and the work done will be extremely effective.

The game will become more interesting if it is played in the form of a competition. To do this, three variants of tasks are made, where two columns are used. One contains test words. In the other, you need to include those in which voiced and voiceless consonants are in a dubious position. Examples of words could be like this.

First column: bread, ponds, snow, onion, meadows, twig. Second column: onion, bread, meadow, twig, snow, pond.

To complicate the task, you can include in the column with test words those that are not suitable for verification, that is, they are not the same root as those whose spelling there are doubts: snacks, servant, octopus.

Table of consonants according to voicedness and voicelessness

All consonant sounds are divided according to several parameters. During the phonetic analysis of a word in school, characteristics such as softness-hardness, sonority or deafness are indicated. For example, the sound [n] is a consonant, hard, sonorous. And the sound [p] differs from it in only one characteristic: it is not voiced, but dull. The difference between the sounds [р] and [р’] lies only in softness and hardness.

Based on these characteristics, a table is compiled, thanks to which you can determine whether the sound has a softness-hardness pair. After all, some consonants are only soft or only hard.

They also separate voiced and voiceless consonants. The table presented here shows that some sounds do not have a pair on this basis. For example, these are

• y, l, m, n, r;
• x, c, h, sch.

Moreover, the sounds of the first row are voiced, and the sounds of the second are unvoiced. The remaining consonants are paired. It is they that make writing difficult, since a dull sound is often heard where the letter denoting a voiced consonant is written.

Only paired consonants - voiced and voiceless - require verification. The table reflects this point. For example, the sound “b”, falling into the final position or being in front of another voiceless consonant, is itself “deafened”, turning into “p”. That is, the word “hornbeam” (wood species) is pronounced and heard as [grap].

The table shows that these sounds are paired in terms of voicedness and deafness. The same can be called “v” - “f”, “g” - “k”, “d” - “t”, “g” - “w” and “z” - “s”. Although you can add the sound “x” to the “g”-“k” pair, which often sounds in a deafened position in place of “g”: soft - soft[m'ahk'ii], easy - light[l’ohk’ii].

Didactic lotto game “Doubtful consonants”

So that classes in which the spelling of voiced and voiceless consonants is studied do not turn into a tedious routine, they should be diversified. For a didactic game, teachers and parents can prepare special small cards with pictures and words that contain dubious consonant sounds. A dubious consonant can be replaced with dots or asterisks.

Additionally, larger cards should be made, which will contain only letters indicating paired consonants in terms of voicedness and deafness. Cards with pictures are laid out on the table.

At the leader’s signal, the players take them from the table and cover with them the letters on the large card that they think are missing. Whoever closes all the windows before others and without mistakes is considered the winner.

Extracurricular activities in Russian language

Advantageous options for developing interest in this area of ​​science are evenings, competitions, and KVNs. They are held outside school hours for everyone.

It is very important to create an exciting scenario for such an event. Particular attention should be paid to designing activities that are both rewarding and fun. Such activities can be carried out with students of all ages.

Interesting tasks can also be those that contain an element of literary creativity. For example, it is useful to offer the guys:

Make up a story about how the sounds “t” and “d” quarreled;

Come up with as many words with the same root as possible for the word “horn” in one minute;

Write a short quatrain with rhymes: meadow-onion, twig-pond.

Alternation of consonants in Russian

Sometimes, contrary to the laws of spelling, some letters in words are replaced by others. For example, “spirit” and “soul”. Historically (etymologically) they are the same root, but have different letters the roots are “x” and “w”. The same process of alternation of consonants is observed in the words “burden” and “to wear.” But in the latter case, the sound “sh” alternates with the consonant “s”.

However, it should be noted that this is not an alternation of voiced and voiceless consonants making up a pair. This special kind the replacement of one sound by another, which occurred in ancient times, at the dawn of the formation of the Russian language.

The following consonant sounds alternate:

• z - f - g (example: friends - to be friends - friend);
• t - h (example: fly - flying);
• ts - ch - k (example: face - personal - face);
• s - w - x (examples: forester - goblin, arable land - to plow);
• w - d - railway (example: leader - driver - driving);
• z - st (example: fantasy - fantastic);
• shch - sk (example: polished - gloss);
• sh - st (example: paved - paved).

Alternation is often referred to as the appearance of the “l” sound in verbs, which in this case has the beautiful name “el epentheticum”. Examples could be pairs of words “love - love”, “feed - feed”, “buy - buy”, “graph - graph”, “catch - catch”, “ruin - ruin”.

The Russian language is so rich, the processes occurring in it are so diverse, that if a teacher tries to find exciting options for working in the classroom, both in the classroom and outside of class, then many teenagers will plunge into the world of knowledge and discovery, and will become truly interested in this school subject.

Sound is the smallest unit of language pronounced with the help of the organs of the speech apparatus. Scientists have discovered that at birth, the human ear perceives all the sounds it hears. All this time, his brain sorts out unnecessary information, and by 8-10 months a person is able to distinguish sounds unique to his native language and all the nuances of pronunciation.

33 letters make up the Russian alphabet, 21 of them are consonants, but letters must be distinguished from sounds. A letter is a sign, a symbol that can be seen or written. The sound can only be heard and pronounced, and in writing it can be designated using transcription - [b], [c], [d]. They carry a certain semantic load, connecting with each other, form words.

36 consonant sounds: [b], [z], [v], [d], [g], [zh], [m], [n], [k], [l], [t], [p ], [t], [s], [sch], [f], [ts], [w], [x], [h], [b"], [z"], [v"], [ d"], [th"], [n"], [k"], [m"], [l"], [t"], [s"], [p"], [r"], [ f"], [g"], [x"].

Consonant sounds are divided into:

• soft and hard;

voiced and voiceless;

paired and unpaired.

Soft and hard consonants

The phonetics of the Russian language is significantly different from many other languages. It contains hard and soft consonants.

At the moment of pronunciation soft sound the tongue is pressed harder against the palate than when pronouncing a hard consonant, preventing the release of air. This is what distinguishes a hard and soft consonant sound from each other. In order to determine in writing whether a consonant sound is soft or hard, you should look at the letter immediately after the specific consonant.

Consonant sounds are classified as hard in the following cases:

• if letters a, o, u, e, s follow after them - [poppy], [rum], [hum], [juice], [bull];
• after them there is another consonant sound - [vors], [hail], [marriage];
• if the sound is at the end of the word - [darkness], [friend], [table].

The softness of sound is written as an apostrophe: mole - [mol’], chalk - [m’el], wicket - [kal’itka], pir - [p’ir].

It should be noted that the sounds [ш'], [й'], [ч'] are always soft, and hard consonants are only [ш], [тс], [ж].

A consonant sound will become soft if it is followed by “b” and vowels: i, e, yu, i, e. For example: gen - [g"en], flax - [l"on], disk - [d"ysk] , hatch - [l "uk", elm - [v "yaz", trill - [tr "el"].

Voiced and voiceless, paired and unpaired sounds

Based on their sonority, consonants are divided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants can be sounds created with the participation of the voice: [v], [z], [zh], [b], [d], [y], [m], [d], [l], [r] , [n].

Examples: [bor], [ox], [shower], [call], [heat], [goal], [fishing], [pestilence], [nose], [genus], [swarm].

Examples: [kol], [floor], [volume], [sleep], [noise], [shch"uka], [choir], [king"], [ch"an].

Paired voiced and voiceless consonants include: [b] - [p], [zh] - [w], [g] - [x], [z] - [s]. [d] - [t], [v] - [f]. Examples: reality - dust, house - volume, year - code, vase - phase, itch - court, live - sew.

Sounds that do not form pairs: [h], [n], [ts], [x], [r], [m], [l].

Soft and hard consonants can also have a pair: [p] - [p"], [p] - [p"], [m] - [m"], [v] - [v"], [d] - [ d"], [f] - [f"], [k] - [k"], [z] - [z"], [b] - [b"], [g] - [g"], [ n] - [n"], [s] - [s"], [l] - [l"], [t] - [t"], [x] - [x"]. Examples: byl - bel, height - branch, city - cheetah, dacha - business, umbrella - zebra, skin - cedar, moon - summer, monster - place, finger - feather, ore - river, soda - sulfur, pillar - steppe, lantern - farm, mansions - hut.

Table for memorizing consonants

To clearly see and compare soft and hard consonants, the table below shows them in pairs.

Another table will help you remember consonant sounds.

Children's poems for better mastery of the material

There are exactly 33 letters in the Russian alphabet,

To find out how many consonants -

Subtract ten vowels

Signs - hard, soft -

It will immediately become clear:

The resulting number is exactly twenty-one.

Soft and hard consonants are very different,

But not dangerous at all.

If we pronounce it with noise, then they are deaf.

The consonant sounds proudly say:

They sound different.

Hard and soft

In fact, very light.

Remember one simple rule forever:

W, C, F - always hard,

But Ch, Shch, J are only soft,

Like a cat's paws.

And let’s soften others like this:

If we add a soft sign,

Then we get spruce, moth, salt,

What a cunning sign!

And if we add the vowels I, I, Yo, E, Yu,

We get a soft consonant.

Brother signs, soft, hard,

We don't pronounce

But to change the word,

Let's ask for their help.

The rider rides on a horse,

Con - we use it in the game.