Today, almost all children know letters and the alphabet already in early childhood. However, it is recommended to learn letters without naming the letters as they sound in the alphabet. Letters must be taught with sounds. When talking about the letter “B”, it is necessary to call it [b], and not “be”. This is necessary so that it will be easier for the child to combine letters into syllables and words.

However, the world of sounds does not end there. And when the baby grows up, he will have to master such concepts as vowel sounds, hard, soft, paired, voiceless and voiced consonants. I invite you to talk today about such different sounds. We will talk about this in a fairy-tale form, in a form closest to children's perception. I invite you to phonetic tale . This is an expanded version of the tale of sounds, presented in.

So, friendly letters live in a hospitable place. And sounds created a large Kingdom called Phonetics.

Kingdom of sounds - Phonetics

In the kingdom of sounds of the Russian language Phonetics we lived together and got along vowels And consonants sounds. Each sound had its own house. For vowels, the houses were painted red, and for consonants, blue. But the roofs of all the houses were white and changed on their own when the sounds visited each other.

Total in the kingdom 42 inhabitants: 6 vowel sounds [a], [e], [o], [u], [i], [s] and 36 consonants. They lived amicably and often visited each other. And every time they visited each other, magic happened: as soon as they held hands, new sounds were created for new words.

Vowel sounds loved to be sung. Therefore, there was always music playing in their houses. But with consonant sounds it was not possible to sing at all. But they were very pliable and always “agreed” with the vowels in everything. At the same time, they could become hard or soft . For example, the sound [p]. In a word "saw" sounds soft, but in words "dust"- firmly. And all because the sound [i] softened the [p], and the sound [s], on the contrary, made it harder.

This is how consonant sounds, joining hands with vowels, become soft or hard at their request.

However, there were also “naughty” sounds in the kingdom. And although they lived in blue houses and were called consonants, they did not want to change in any way. And this happened on the day when, sitting idly on benches, they argued about who was more important: vowels or consonants. And sounds [and],[w] And [ts] decided to become independent and not obey anyone, especially vowel sounds. They proclaimed themselves to be hard sounds that would never, under any circumstances, become soft! And to prove their firm decision, they painted the white roofs of their houses dark blue.

But compliant and non-conflicting sounds [sch],[th] And [h] They were very upset and afraid that the balance of the ratio of sounds in the kingdom would be upset and decided to remain soft forever. And so that all the residents of Phonetics knew about this, they painted the roofs of their houses green.

However, soon 2 more inhabitants appeared in the kingdom of Phonetics - soft and hard signs. But they did not violate the unity of the sound world. The soft sign helped the consonants become soft, and the hard sign helped the consonants become hard. They built themselves white houses and everyone lived peacefully and amicably.

But the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Phonetics were famous not only for their hard and soft characters. Many of them had and still have their own special preferences. Some sounds loved the sound of falling leaves, while others loved the sound of rain. They even built separate quarters for themselves so that in one the bell always rings loudly, and in the other, as if under a dome, it is dull and noisy... This is how they appeared voiced and voiceless consonants . And a river flows between the blocks.

So in the quarter with the bell the sounds [r], [l], [m], [n], [y], [b], [g], [v], [d], [z], [z] settled . And in a quiet quarter - [p], [f], [t], [w], [s], [k], [x], [ts], [h], [sch]. And some letters became so friendly that they connected their houses with bridges. So there is a bridge between the sounds p-b, f-v, t-d, sh-zh, s-z and k-g. This paired consonants .

This is how the amazing Kingdom of Phonetics lives. The sounds visit each other, change, adjust, make noise, shout, sing... They have fun. And in this fun words are born, from them the sentences that make up our speech. By the way, speech happens... However, we’ll talk about this another time.

How to learn soft and hard consonants

These are the complex relationships between sounds. To make it easier for my son to draw phonetic diagrams of words, he and I made very convenient clouds. Using them, it is very easy to determine the hardness or softness of consonant sounds.

Read about how we taught hard and soft consonants using clouds.

How to distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonants

And a very simple technique helped us make it easier for the child to distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonants. When naming the sound, press your palm to your neck. If the sound is ringing, then vibration (tremor) of the vocal cords is felt. If the sound is dull, there will be no vibration.

For the same purposes, we used the picture with houses and bridges across the river, which you saw above.

Enjoy your acquaintance with the world of Phonetics!

All the best!

We invite you to watch a fascinating video on our video channel "Workshop on the Rainbow"

Consonant sounds sound different in different words. Somewhere it’s hard, and somewhere it’s soft. In this lesson we will learn to distinguish between soft and hard consonant sounds and to indicate the softness of consonant sounds in writing with the letters I, E, E, Yu, I and b. Let's find out which consonants form hard-soft pairs, and which are only hard or only soft.

Compare the first consonants. When pronouncing the sound in the word KIT, the middle part of the tongue rises to the palate, the passage through which air flows narrows, and a sound is obtained, which scientists conventionally call soft. And the opposite sound was called - solid.

Let's complete the task. You need to put the vegetables in two baskets. In the first place we put those whose names contain some soft sounds, in the second those in whose names all consonant sounds are hard. Beets, turnips, eggplant, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, onions, pumpkin, cucumber.

Let's check. In the first basket they put: beets(sound [v’]), turnip(sound [r’]), tomato(sound [m’]),cucumber(sound [r’]). Second: cabbage, pumpkin, eggplant, onion .

It is important to listen to the sounds of spoken words. If you say the word NOS otherwise - with a hard first sound, we get a completely different word - NOSE.

Let's listen and watch the movement of our tongue:

row - sound [p’] - rad - sound [p]

hatch - sound [l’] - bow - sound [l]

Rice. 3. Bow ( )

crumpled - sound [m’] - small - sound [m]

Sounds can be written (conventionally) using icons. Musical sounds are written in notes, and speech sounds are written in letters, but in special square brackets - in transcription. In order not to confuse hard and soft sounds when reading the transcription, scientists agreed to show the softness of the sound with an icon very similar to a comma, only they put it on top.

Most consonant sounds form pairs based on softness and hardness:

Some consonants are only hard or only soft. They do not form pairs in terms of hardness/softness:

Only hard consonants: [zh], [w], [ts]. Only soft consonants: [th’], [h’], [sch’].

Let's complete the task: indicate the paired sound.

[z] - ? [and] - ? [R'] - ? [h’] - ? [With'] - ? [l] - ? Let’s check the correctness of the task: [z] - [z’]; [r’] - [r]; [s’] - [s]; [l] - [l’]. [zh], [h’] - unpaired sounds in terms of softness and hardness.

In writing, the hardness of consonant sounds is indicated by the vowels A, O, U, Y, E, and the softness of consonant sounds is indicated by the vowels E, Yo, I, Yu, Ya.

There are words with soft consonant sounds at the end of words or in the middle of words before other consonant sounds. Listen to the words: salt, horse, notebook, coat, ring, letter. Then a soft sign will come to the rescue. Even his name suggests - a sign soft, for soft consonants.

Let's make a reminder of how to act when writing words:

I hear a hard consonant sound - after it I write the letters in place of the vowel sound: A, O, U, Y, E.

I hear a soft consonant sound before a vowel sound - I indicate its softness with vowels: E, Yo, I, Yu, Ya.

I hear a soft sound at the end of a word or before a consonant sound - I show softness b.

Rice. 5. Hard and soft consonants ()

So, today we learned that consonant sounds can be soft and hard, and the softness of consonant sounds in writing in Russian is indicated by the letters i, e, e, yu, i and ь.

1. Andrianova T.M., Ilyukhina V.A. Russian language 1. M.: Astrel, 2011. ().
2. Buneev R.N., Buneeva E.V., Pronina O.V. Russian language 1. M.: Ballas. ()
3. Agarkova N.G., Agarkov Yu.A. Textbook for teaching literacy and reading: ABC. Academic book/textbook.

Additional web resources

1. Hypermarket of knowledge ()
2. Russian language: short theoretical course. ()
3. Logosauria: site for children's computer games. ()

Make it at home

1. Andrianova T.M., Ilyukhina V.A. Russian language 1. M.: Astrel, 2011. Pp. 35, ex. 6, Page 36, ex. 3.
2. Count how many soft consonants are in a word train? (The word electric train has 3 soft consonant sounds ([l’], [r’], [h’]).
3. Using the knowledge gained in the lesson, make up puzzles or charades with words where the softness and hardness of a sound changes the meaning.

Consonant is formed during the passage of exhaled air into the oral cavity overcoming obstacles created by the tongue, lips, teeth, and palate. All consonant sounds are made up of noise that is created when they do so. In some consonant sounds, in addition to noise, the voice is involved, which is created by the vibration of the vocal cords.

Comparison with vowel sounds. Vowel sounds consist only of voice (tone), and consonants can contain voice, but necessarily contain noise. When vowels are formed, exhaled air passes freely through the oral cavity, and when consonant sounds are formed, the air overcomes obstacles created by the speech organs.

Classification of consonants.

Each consonant has characteristics that distinguish it from other consonant sounds. Consonants are different from each other

• according to the degree of participation of voice and noise: sonorant (in education the voice predominates with a small amount of noise), noisy voiced (consist of noise and voice) and noisy voiceless (consist only of noise);
• at the place of noise formation, depending on where and by what organs of speech the barrier is formed, which the flow of exhaled air overcomes (labial, lingual, etc.).

Consonant sounds differ in a number of characteristics, but are most clearly opposed to each other in terms of sonority/dullness and hardness/softness, which is important when distinguishing words by ear: pond - rod; chalk - stranded.

To indicate consonant sounds in writing - 21 consonant letters: b, c, d, d, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, sch.

But there are much more consonant sounds - 36: [b], [b'], [v], [v'], [g], [g'], [d], [d'], [zh], [ z], [z'], [y'], [k], [k'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [ p], [p'], [p], [p'], [s], [s'], [t], [t'], [f], [f'], [x], [x '], [ts], [h'], [w], [w'].

The reason for this discrepancy is that the softness of paired consonant sounds is indicated not by a consonant letter, but by a vowel letter (E, E, Yu, Ya, I) or b.

Voiced and voiceless consonants.

• Voiced
  • are formed with the help of voice and noise.
  • letters L, M, N, R, J denote the most voiced consonant (sonorant) sounds that are formed in a predominant voice and slight noise: [m], [n], [l], [r], [m'], [n'], [l'], [p'], [th']. They do not form voiced/voiceless pairs - always voiced.
  • B, C, D, D, F, G - noisy voiced [b], [v], [d], [d], [g], [z], [b'], [v'], [g'], [d'], [zh'] , [z'], consist of noise and voice, have paired sounds in terms of voicedness/voicelessness.
• Deaf (noisy deaf)
  • pronounced only from noise (without voice):
  • P, F, K, T, Sh, S - [p], [p'], [f], [f'], [k], [k'], [t], [t'], [w], [s], [s'] - deaf, have paired voiced sounds;
  • X, C, Ch, Shch - [x], [x'], [ts], [ch'], [sch'] - always deaf, do not have paired voicedness/deafness.

In speech, sounds can be replaced under the influence of neighboring sounds in a word. It is important to know the strong and weak positions of consonant sounds in a word in order to spell them correctly.

In weak positions, which depends on the position of the sound in the word, a change in consonant sounds in terms of voicedness/voicelessness may occur: voiced paired consonants change to the corresponding paired deaf ones (voiced), and the voiceless paired consonants change to the corresponding paired voiced consonants (voiced). These changes in sounds are usually not reflected in writing. A weak position is a sign of spelling.

Strong positions in voicedness/voicelessness

(as we hear, so we write):

• before vowels: owl [owl], forests [l’esa];
• before sonorants [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’], [th’]: light [sv'et] - ringing [ringing], change [sm'ena] - betrayal [ism'ena], break off [atlamat'] - bummer [bummer], take away [atn'at'] - tray [padnos], remedy [medicine] – zrazy [zrazy] etc.;
• before [in], [in’]: yours [yours] - two [two], your [your’] - ringing [ringing];
• for paired voiced consonants, the strong position is before voiced consonants: building [buildings];
• for paired deaf people - before deaf consonants: bowl [bowl].

Weak position in terms of voicedness/voicelessness:

• at the end of a word: mushroom [flu] - flu [flu], fruit [raft] - raft [raft], code [cat] - cat [cat], genus [mouth] - mouth [mouth];
• voiced paired consonants are deafened before voiceless consonants: low [low], booth [booth];
• voiceless paired consonants are voiced before paired voiced consonants (except [в], [в’]): passed [zdal], threshing [malad’ba], light [light];

Hard and soft consonants.

Soft sounds differ from hard sounds in that when pronouncing them, the tongue performs an additional action: its middle part rises to the hard palate.

Strong positions in hardness/softness:

• before vowels: nose - carried, they say [mol] – chalk [m’el];
• at the end of a word: chalk [m'el] - chalk [m'el'], blow - hit, corner - coal;
• for sounds [l], [l’] regardless of position: shelf [shelf] – polka [shelf];
• for sounds [s], [s'], [z], [z'], [t], [t'], [d], [d'], [n], [n'], [r] ,[p'] before [k], [k'], [g], [g'], [x], [x'], [b], [b'], [p], [p'] , [mm'] : bank [bank] - bathhouse [ban'ka], blizzard [blizzard] - earring [ser'ga], hut - carving.

Weak position on hardness/softness:

• Changes in consonant sounds in hardness/softness can be caused by the influence of sounds on each other.
• the hard sound changes to a paired soft sound before soft consonants (usually z, s, n, p before any soft consonant):
  • n –> n’, p –> p’ before h’, sch’: drummer [drum’sh’ik], lamplighter [fanar’sh’ik];
  • s –> s’ before n’, t’: song [p’es’n’a], bone [kos’t’];
  • з –> з’ before n’, d’: life [zhyz’n’], nails [gvoz’d’i];
  • in some other combinations: door [d’v’er’], ate [s’y’el];
• a soft consonant before a hard one becomes hard: horse - horse

If dull and voiced sounds are indicated using letters, then hard and soft sounds are indicated by other means.

Indication of softness of paired consonants:

• letters I, E, Yo, Yu : lethargic - cf. val, ser - sir, drove - cart, hatch - bow;
• before the letter AND consonants are always soft (except F, W, C): feast, peace, sieve;
  after Zh, Sh, Ts (they are always hard) it is pronounced [s], not [i]: fat [zhir], zhito [zhyta], cone [bump].
• soft sign b:
  • at the end of a word: stump, stand - cf. camp, steel - became, heat - heat, reality - was, all - weight, shallow - chalk;
  • softness of the consonant [l’] before any other consonant: herring, July, polka;
  • softness of a consonant preceding a hard consonant: earlier, only (cf. talk), bitterly (cf. slide), bathhouse (cf. bank), radish - rarely, zorka - vigilantly, pebble - jackdaw, coals - corners, hemp - foam;
  • The softness of a consonant that comes before other soft ones ([g'], [k'], [b'], [m']) is indicated by the soft sign b only if, when the word is changed, the second consonant becomes hard, but the first remains soft: earrings (soft [p'] before soft [g']) - earring (soft [p'] before hard [g]), eight - eighth, lights - lights. But, bridge [mos’t’ik] - without b, because bridge [bridge] - [c] hard before hard [t], tail - tail, sprout - growth.
• Softness of consonants Ch, Shch is not indicated before other consonants, because Ch, Sh are always soft: stove maker, kidney, power, assistant.

Hardness is indicated

• absence of a soft sign in strong positions,
• writing after consonant vowels letters A, O, U, Y, E
• in some borrowed words there is a hard consonant before E: [fanEt'ika].

Other consonant changes

• Simplification of a consonant group of 3-4 letters (unpronounceable consonant): with lnc e [with nc e], tro stn ik [tra s'n‘ik], se rdc e [s'e rc uh], hello vstv wow [healthy stv ui’], le stn itza [l'e s'n' itza] and etc.
• Assimilation (assimilation) of consonants according to the place of formation: sch astier [ sch‘ast’y’e], gru zch ik [gru sch' ik], US it [ w yt’], szh at [ and at’], get rid of [and and: yt'] and etc.
• Change —yes, yes in verbs ending in [ tsa]:We there is[We tsa], my tsya[my'e tsa] and etc.
• Change th – [pcs]/ [h’t]: Thu oh [what], Thu customs[shtoby], not Thu o [not huh A] and etc.
• Double consonants: va nn a [va n: a], tra ss a [tra With: a], mi ll ion [m'i l'and he] and etc.

Sounds can change in several ways at once: counting [pach’sch’ot] - sch->[sch’], d+[sch’]->[ch’sch’].

Spelling consonants.

• At the root of the word:
  • verifiable
  • unpronounceable
  • unverifiable
• Consonants at the end of prefixes:
  • on z (s);
  • for the remaining consonants
• Consonants (except n) in suffixes of nouns and adjectives
  • -schik (-chik);
  • -sk- and -k-;
• The letters -n- and -nn- in suffixes.

References:

1. Babaytseva V.V. Russian language. Theory. 5th - 9th grade: textbook for in-depth study. studied Russian language. / V.V. Babaytseva. — 6th ed., revised. — M. Bustard, 2008
2. Kazbek-Kazieva M.M. Preparation for Russian language Olympiads. 5-11 grades / M.M. Kazbek-Kazieva. – 4th ed. – M.J. Iris-press, 2010
3. Litnevskaya E.I. Russian language. A short theoretical course for schoolchildren. - MSU, Moscow, 2000, ISBN 5-211-05119-x
4. Svetlysheva V.N. Handbook for high school students and applicants to universities / V.N. Svetlysheva. — M.: AST-PRESS SCHOOL, 2011

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 to 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.

When pronouncing a soft sound, the tongue is pressed harder against the palate than when pronouncing a hard consonant sound, 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.

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 discipline "Russian language". 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 ones.

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"].