Vowel and consonant letters and sounds

What are the differences between vowels and consonant letters and sounds? What rules do they obey? How is the hardness and softness of sounds and letters indicated? All of these questions will be answered in the article.

General information on vowels and consonants

Vowels and consonants are the basis of the entire Russian language. After all, with the help of their combinations, syllables are formed that are added to words, expressions, sentences, texts, and so on. That's why a lot of hours are dedicated to this topic in high school.

Vowels and sounds in Russian

About what vowels and consonants are available in the Russian alphabet, a person learns already from the first class. 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 vowel letters, namely: o, u, a, u, w, y, e, e, y, e. During their direct pronunciation, one can feel how the air passes unhindered through the oral cavity. At the same time, we quite clearly hear our own voice. It should also be noted that vowel sounds can be pulled (a-a-a-a, e-e-ee, u-u-u-u-u, yy-yy-yu and so on ).

Features of vowels and letters

Vowel letters are the basis of the syllable, that is, they organize it. As a rule, in Russian words there are as many syllables as the vowels themselves. Let's give an illustrative example: y-che-ni-ki - 5 syllables, re-ba-ta - 3 syllables, it - 1 syllable, o-no-2 syllables and so on. There are even words that consist of only one vowel sound. Usually this is an interjection (A, D, Y-y-y!) And conjunctions (and, and so on).

Spelling of vowels in the root of words, endings, suffixes and prefixes are very important topics in the discipline "Russian language". After all, without knowing how these letters are written in a particular word, it is quite problematic to write a literate letter.

Consonant letters and sounds in Russian

Vowels and consonant letters and sounds vary considerably. And if the first can be easily pulled, the latter are pronounced as short as possible (except for sibilants, since they can be pulled).

It should be noted that in the Russian alphabet the number of consonants is 21, namely: b, c, d, d, g, d, d, k, l, m, n, p, p, c, t, C, h, w, w. Sounds, denoted by them, are usually divided into voiceless and sonorous. What is the difference? The fact is that during the pronunciation of sonorous consonants, one can hear not only a characteristic noise, but also one's own voice (b, s, p, and so on). As for the deaf, they can not be uttered loudly or, for example, shouting. They create only a kind of noise (sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, s-s-s-s, etc.).

Thus, almost all consonant sounds are divided into two different categories:

• Sonorous - b, c, d, d, w, z, d, l, m, n, p;
• Deaf - k, n, c, t, f, x, q, h, w.

Softness and hardness of consonant sounds

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

A distinctive feature of soft consonants is that during their pronunciation the language of a person takes a special position. As a rule, it moves slightly forward, and its entire middle part slightly lifts. As for solid consonants, when they are pronounced, the tongue is drawn back. You can compare the position of your speech organ independently: [n] - [n '], [t] - [t']. It should also be noted that sonorous and soft sounds sound somewhat higher than solid sounds.

In Russian almost all consonants have couples on the basis of softness and hardness. However, there are others who simply do not. These include solid - [ж], [ш] and [ц] and soft - [d '], [ч'] and [ш '].

Softness and hardness of vowels

Surely few people have heard of the fact that there are soft vowels in Russian. Soft consonants are quite familiar sounds for us, which can not be said about the above. Partly this is due to the fact that in the secondary school this topic is almost not given time. After all, and so it is clear, with the help of which vowels consonants become soft. However, we nevertheless decided to dedicate you to this topic.

So, soft are those letters that are able to soften the consonants coming before them. These include the following: u, e, i, e, u. As for letters such as a, y, y, e, o, they are considered solid, since they do not soften the consonants ahead. To see this, we give a few examples:

• package;
• child;
• car;
• Speech;
• clothes;
• bed;
• a computer;
• Peter;
• wood;
• frost;
• fun;
• Small and other.

Designation of softness of consonants in phonetic parsing of a word

Sounds and letters of the Russian language are studied by phonetics. Surely, in high school you are often asked to do a phonetic analysis of a word. During such an analysis, it is always necessary to indicate whether the separately considered consonantal letter is soft or not. If yes, then it must be designated as follows: [н '], [т'], [д '], [в'], [м '], [п']. That is, at the top right next to the consonant letter facing the soft vowel, it is required to put a peculiar dash. The following soft sounds are marked with the same icon: [d '], [h'] and [w '].