All consonants. Hard and soft consonants

Introduction

In Russian, all letters, both vowels and consonants, are its basis. After all, thanks to letters, syllables are formed, and with the help of syllables we compose words, from words, expressions, sentences, and so on.

But today's lesson we will start by studying the consonants of the Russian language.

Consonants

Distinguish between consonants and sounds. What are these letters that are called consonants? To understand what consonants are, let's learn about the origin of the word "consonants". And they are called so because they always go next to vowels or together with vowels.

There is a fundamental difference between consonants and vowels. If you remember that all vowels can be easily pulled or even sung, then consonants should be pronounced as short as possible. The only exceptions are hissing consonants, since they can also be pulled.

The alphabet of the Russian language has twenty-one consonants and 37 consonants.

Consonants

Voiced and deaf sounds

Consonants are divided into voiced and unvoiced sounds. Here, pay attention to the letters that are written in pairs. If you look closely, then in each pair there is one letter that has a deaf sound, and the other has a voiced sound.

Silent letters mean a dull sound, and when we pronounce them, we hear only noise, while pronouncing voiced letters, we can hear not only noise, but also a voice.

B - P, Z - S, D - T, G - K

But at the moment we see letters that have a pair. These pairs in Russian can be counted eleven pieces. But not all letters got pairs, so in the Russian alphabet there are also unpaired voiced, as well as unpaired deaf.

The exercise: Think of words for paired voiced and deaf sounds.

Soft and hard sounds

In addition to voiced and unvoiced letters of the alphabet can have soft and hard consonants.

During the pronunciation of sounds, in accordance with what sound we pronounce, the position of our tongue changes. When pronouncing soft consonants, our language takes one position, and when it is hard, it is completely different.

Now let's try to pronounce soft sounds first, and then hard ones. If you notice, then when pronouncing soft consonants, we move the tongue a little forward and at the same time its middle part slightly rises. But when we pronounce hard consonants, our tongue is slightly pulled back.

Vowels and sounds in Russian

Now we invite you to remember what vowel sounds and letters are in Russian. There are only ten of us:

Pronouncing vowels, unlike consonants, during pronunciation we can pull or sing them, and at the same time we feel how the air passes through the entire oral cavity, and we clearly hear our voice.

Exercise 1.

Write the word rose

1. Change the letter z to s in this word.
2. What word did you get?
3. What has now changed in the third sound, and how did it begin to sound?
4. What are all the vowels in this word?
5. What are the consonants in this word?

Exercise 2.

Cat, juice, small, feast, bow, ball

1. Replace the vowels in these words with other vowels.
2. What kind of words did you get?
3. Write down the new words you come up with.
4. How are vowels read in previous words?
5. How should sounds be read, hard or soft, in newly formed words?

Homework

1. Vowels and consonants - what is their difference?
2. What is the difference between letters and sounds?
3. Does the number of letters of the Russian alphabet match the number of sounds?
4. Why are there fewer vowels in Russian than vowels?
5. How can you explain why there are more sounds than letters?
6. What types of consonant sounds are divided into?

The most important part of speech is words, we pronounce them, write and read them, we add phrases and sentences from them. They consist of letters and sounds that have become so firmly established in our lives that we hardly notice them.

Letters and sounds are not the same thing, although they are closely related concepts. We write, see and read letters, and we pronounce and hear sounds. Letters are graphic written symbols, while sounds are the acoustic component of words and human speech in general. In different words, the same letter sometimes corresponds to different sounds.

“In the beginning was the word. Then words, words, words... (author Vladimir Kolechitsky).

“The word was given to a person not for self-satisfaction, but for the embodiment and transmission of that thought, that feeling, that share of truth and inspiration that he possesses to other people.” (author V. Korolenko).

The study of letters and sounds is carried out by various sections of linguistic science. Sounds studies phonetics, and alphabetic characters - graphics. Spelling letters prerogative spelling .

The set of letters of any language makes up its alphabet. The letters of the Russian language are divided into consonants, vowels and auxiliary. Auxiliary ones include those that do not carry sound information - solid and soft sign.

Consonants and sounds of the Russian alphabet

Consonant sounds and letters are characterized by the fact that during their pronunciation, a certain obstacle arises in the path of air in the oral cavity. As a result, noise is necessarily present in the acoustic sound of consonants. They got the name "consonants" because they almost always stand next to vowels or in the same word with them.

In total, there are 21 consonants in Russian:

b	v	G	d	well	h	th
To	l	m	n	P	R	With
T	f	X	c	h	w	SCH

Another characteristic feature of consonants is that they cannot be pronounced in a singsong voice. The pronunciation of hissing consonants can be stretched (for example: With , f , w , SCH), but "singing" will not work.

As noted above, consonants in words almost always coexist with vowels. However, there is a limited number of words that consist only of consonants. Along with suggestions To , With or particle b, these are some foreign proper names ( Krc- district of Prague; Armenian name Mkrtch, which in Russian is sometimes written with a vowel - for euphony), as well as interjections like brr or shh .

The classification of consonant letters and sounds in Russian is based on acoustic criteria.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Those consonants whose pronunciation consists only of noise are called voiceless. In contrast, consonants formed by sound and noise are called voiced.

The letter stands apart th(and short). According to the acoustic sound, it is classified as a voiced consonant, however, its isolated pronunciation is impossible. Letter th can only be pronounced together with a preceding or following vowel sound, for example [yy], [y], etc.

Paired and unpaired consonants

Most voiced consonants correspond to certain deaf ones. These consonant letters are called paired. There are also consonants that do not have a pair. Among them there are also deaf and voiced, and they are called unpaired .

Paired voiced and deaf	Unpaired voiced	Unpaired deaf
b - p	l	X
c - f	m	c
g - k	n	h
d - t	R	SCH
w - w	th
h - s

Soft and hard consonants

The pronunciation of consonants in words can be hard or soft. If the sound is pronounced softly, then the tongue is slightly pushed forward, approaching the upper palate or touching it. When pronouncing solid sounds, the tongue does not move forward (but the tongue can touch the upper palate due to upward movement).

Most consonants form both hard and soft sounds, but there are some exceptions. In particular, the letters well , c , w always have a solid sound, and letters th , h , SCH- soft.

In other cases, the hardness or softness of consonants is determined by which letter comes after them.

If the consonant is followed by letters a , O , at , uh , s , b- then you get a solid sound. The same is true if the consonant is at the end of the word or is followed by another consonant.

If the consonant is accompanied by letters e , yo , and , Yu , I am , b- then its sound will be soft.
Video lesson

Hissing and whistling consonants

Some of the consonants in Russian sound like a hiss. These are the sounds well , w , SCH , h, which are called hissing consonants.

Another group of consonant sounds, when leaving the oral cavity, forms acoustic vibrations resembling a whistle. These are the sounds h , With , c- whistling.

The properties of hissing and whistling consonants are especially noticeable during their prolonged pronunciation.

One of the important features of these sounds is that most of the speech defects are associated with their pronunciation. For this reason, work with hissing and whistling consonants should be given special attention when teaching children. It is important to note that speech deficiencies associated with these sounds may be amenable to speech therapy correction.

Russian vowels and sounds

Unlike consonants and letters, characteristic feature vowels is that the air during their pronunciation passes through the oral cavity freely. As a result, vowels can not only be easily stretched, but also sung in a singsong voice. One more distinguishing feature- they can be pronounced as loudly as you like, with all the power of your voice.

By means of vowels and sounds, consonants are combined into syllables. Each syllable has only one vowel. The number of other letters - consonants, hard and soft signs - may be different. Words can consist of one or more syllables: ros-piss, breaking , yard , painting .

The number of vowels in Russian is 10:

a

e

yo

and

O

at

s

uh

Yu

I am

And there are only 6 vowels: [a], [i], [o], [y], [s], [e]. The vowels corresponding to them are monosonic. The remaining 4 vowels are e , yo , Yu , I am- two-voiced, and separately pronounced as [ye], [yo], [yu], [ya]. At the same time, in words, these letters mean one sound (examples: squirrel, ball, went, key).

As in the case of consonants, there are a number of Russian words that consist only of vowels. These are the pronouns I am , her; unions - and , a; prepositions - at , O; interjections - uh , ay .

Stressed and unstressed vowels

In words, vowels can be stressed and unstressed.

• If a vowel in a word is under stress, it is read more distinctly, with more emphasis and a little more drawl.
• In the absence of stress, vowels in words are read less clearly. Accordingly, an unstressed position is for them weak position, and the position in the stressed syllable is a strong position.

As a rule, in traditional writing, stress in words is not marked. If necessary, they are denoted by the sign "akut" - a small "/" stroke above the vowel.

Video lesson

Designations of sounds in phonetic parsing of a word

Phonetic or sound parsing of a word serves to display and parse it correct pronunciation. Both words and individual letters can be designated phonetically.

Sound designations, unlike letters, are enclosed in square brackets. The graphic record of the pronunciation of a word is called transcription.

The basic rules according to which sounds are indicated when phonetic analysis words as follows:

• The hardness of the consonants does not have any designation, but the softness is indicated by the apostrophe. For example, if [b] is a hard sound, then [b ’] is soft.
• A long sound in transcription is indicated by a colon, for example: cash register- [cas: a].
• Not always, but often the transcription of words is stressed. For instance: wave- [wave].
• The soft sign and the hard sign do not have a sound pronunciation, therefore, there is no display during phonetic analysis.

Video lesson

How to teach children to distinguish between hard and soft sounds

Sometimes children may have difficulty distinguishing between hard and soft consonants. In this case, there are some tricks that facilitate the assimilation of the topic.

First of all, it is necessary to explain to the child that the concepts of hardness and softness do not refer to consonants, but to their sounds. And that the same letter can sound both hard and soft. Let me give you an example: " b"- the words ram - white," R"- work - belt," l"- a horse is a swan.

Explaining the exception letters, for better memorization, it is recommended to write them like this:

• th , h , SCH
• well , w , c

It is necessary to make it clear to the child that the underlined letters, as it were, “sit on the pads” - the pads are soft and the letters are also soft.

In order for the child to remember well before which vowels the letter becomes hard or soft, you can use the following technique: first, with a serious facial expression, read a syllable with a hard consonant - and then, with a smile on your face, read another syllable where this consonant is soft. Then, do the same with other letters and syllables. For instance: la — la , mu — mi , zo — zya, bo — byu , ry — ryo etc. Soft pronunciation is well associated in a child with a smile, and hard pronunciation is well associated with seriousness and severity, which allows you to remember the material associatively.

Gradually, you need to improve your skills, and do the same exercises with simple words, such as: Mother , dad a - uncle , aunt etc. As you remember, from simple words move on to more complex ones. Explanations and exercises should be gradually alternated with tasks: write words, and then ask which consonants are hard and which are soft.

Another exercise can be proposed: to make tablets with words in which soft consonants are written in one color, and hard ones in another. For instance:

• N O S I K
• CARPET
• NUMBER
• WARM

There are many options, but it is advisable to choose among them those that the child likes best. This contributes to a better perception of the material, its memorization and practical assimilation.

Video lesson

Some interesting and useful information

• Sounds and words can be formed without human intervention. A well-known example is the pronunciation of words by birds of the parrot family. As for individual sounds, they can also appear in inanimate nature - with the rustle of leaves, gusts of wind, splashing waves. This cannot be said about letters - after all, only their meaningful spelling can be recognized as a letter designation, and this is characteristic only of people.
• Despite the small number of words consisting only of vowels, they can be used to make a sentence: “Hey, what about me?”
• Almost all Russian words containing the letter " f", are of foreign origin. Only in relation to rare words (for example: owl) is it assumed Russian origin, but this has not been proven for sure.
• All words beginning with " th”, also foreign-language. For example: iodine, yogurt, iota, Yemen, Yokohama, Yorkshire, etc.
• Letter " yo» in words almost always carries an accent. There are very few exceptions to this rule - these are words of foreign origin ( Königsberg surfers ), as well as compound words, which include numerals of three or four - ( twenty-three digit , four-door , three thousandth ). It should also be noted those rare situations when in one word there are two letters " yo", one of which becomes stressed, and the other - unstressed ( three-star , four-wheeled , aircraft lift , three-rouble note ).
• There are many words in Russian with unusual letter combinations. For example, words in which the same vowel is repeated three times in a row: snake-eater , animal association , long-necked. Word with 7 consonants in a row: counter-meeting (maybe, occasionalism ). Words with three soft signs: seductiveness , diminutiveness , multifunctionality , seductiveness etc. A word with two soft and one hard signs: courier . One-syllable word of 8 letters: in passing. Many other interesting examples can be cited.
• Any letter has a certain frequency of repetition, the most used letters in Russian are O , e , a , and , T , n , With , R. This phenomenon is used to recognize ciphertexts.

Knowledge of letters and sounds, their spelling and pronunciation is the basis of language literacy. In turn, a good command of the spoken and written language is one of the indicators of a person's erudition, and the skills of reading and understanding the text are the basis for learning other sciences. After all, the lion's share of information in modern world comprehended by reading or listening, and only a small part of it - through personal experience.

In Russian, not all speech sounds are indicated, but only the main ones. There are 43 basic sounds in Russian - 6 vowels and 37 consonants, while the number of letters is 33. The number of basic vowels (10 letters, but 6 sounds) and consonants (21 letters, but 37 sounds) also do not match. The difference in the quantitative composition of the main sounds and letters is determined by the peculiarities of Russian writing. In Russian, hard and soft sounds are denoted by the same letter, but soft and hard sounds are considered different, which is why there are more consonant sounds than the letters they are denoted by.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Consonants are divided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced sounds are made up of noise and voice, deaf sounds are made up of noise only.

Voiced consonants: [b] [b "] [c] [c "] [g] [g "] [d] [d "] [h] [h "] [g] [l] [l "] [ m] [m "] [n] [n"] [r] [r "] [th]

Deaf consonants: [n] [n "] [f] [f "] [k] [k "] [t] [t "] [s] [s "] [w] [x] [x"] [ h "] [u"]

Paired and unpaired consonants

Many consonants form pairs of voiced and voiceless consonants:

Voiced [b] [b "] [c] [c "] [g] [g "] [d] [d "] [s] [s"] [g]

Deaf [n] [n "] [f] [f "] [k] [k "] [t] [t "] [s] [s "] [w]

The following voiced and voiceless consonants do not form pairs:

Voiced [l] [l "] [m] [m "] [n] [n "] [r] [r "] [th]

Deaf [x] [x "] [h "] [u"]

Soft and hard consonants

Consonants are also divided into hard and soft. They differ in the position of the tongue during pronunciation. When pronouncing soft consonants, the middle back of the tongue is raised to the hard palate.

Most consonants form pairs of hard and soft consonants:

Solid [b] [c] [g] [d] [h] [k] [l] [m] [n] [p] [r] [s] [t] [f] [x]

Soft [b "] [c"] [g "] [d"] [h "] [k"] [l"] [m "] [n"] [p "] [r"] [s"] [ t "] [f"] [x"]

The following hard and soft consonants do not form pairs:

Solid [w] [w] [c]

Soft [h "] [u"] [th"]

Hissing consonants

The sounds [w], [w], [h ’], [u ’] are called hissing.

[w] [w] [h "] [u"]

Whistling consonants

[s] [s "] [s] [s "] [c]

Whistling sounds s-s, s-z anterior-lingual, slotted. When articulating hard s-z teeth naked, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, the back of the tongue is slightly arched, the lateral edges of the tongue are pressed against the upper molars, which causes a groove in the middle. Air flows through this groove creating frictional noise.

When pronouncing soft s, z, the articulation is the same, but additionally the back of the tongue rises to the hard palate. When pronouncing sounds, the z-z ligaments are closed and vibrate. The palatine curtain is up.

Usually, children do not have serious difficulties in understanding the difference between vowels and consonants. But on hard and soft consonants, you should dwell in more detail.

How to teach children to distinguish between hard and soft consonants

The very first thing to teach a child is that consonants can be hard and soft, but not letters.

Typical mistake:
Children confuse sound and letter. Remember that a sound is a sound, and a letter is an icon, it is written. A letter cannot be hard or soft, only a consonant sound can be hard or soft in pronunciation.

Sometimes children can easily learn to distinguish between soft and hard sounds by ear.
But it happens that this is difficult, and in this case, signs will come to the rescue by which one can distinguish hard sounds from soft ones.

Distinctive features of soft and hard sounds

What sound comes after the consonant:

• If after the consonant there is a vowel a, o, u, e, s, then the consonant is solid.
• If after the consonant there is a vowel and, e, u, i, then the consonant is soft.

Working with examples:
In the words "mother", "nora" - solid consonants, because after them come "a" and "o".
In the words "fly", "nanny" - consonants are soft, because after them come "e", "and", "I".

• If another consonant sounds after a consonant, then the first consonant will be hard.
• There are sounds that can only be hard and sounds that can only be soft, no matter what sound is heard and what letter is written after them.

Always solid sounds - w, w, c.
Always soft - th, h, u.
A common way to learn these sounds is a simple technique: we write the letters that convey these sounds in a line, and underline "th, h, u". The underline symbolizes the pillow on which soft sounds sit. The pad is soft, so the sounds are soft.

Soft sign and hard sign

• If the consonant is at the end of the word, and after it is the letter “b”, then the consonant is soft.

This rule is easy to apply if the child sees the written word, but it will not help if the child performs the task by ear.

Movement of the tongue when pronouncing soft and hard sounds

When pronouncing soft sound the tongue moves slightly forward, approaching the palate (or touching it) with its middle.
When pronouncing solid sounds, the tongue does not move forward.

Table of signs of hard and soft sounds

Solid:

1. Before a, o, u, uh, s.
2. At the end of a word before a consonant.
3. Zh, c, sh.

Soft:

1. Before the vowels e, e, i, u, i.
2. If after the consonant there is a soft sign (dust, measles).
3. Y, h, sh.

A picture or just a list of thematic words is shown, and the task is given to choose words with soft or hard consonants. For instance:

Voiced and voiceless consonants

There are 11 pairs of voiced/voiced consonants in Russian.
The phonetic difference between voiced and voiceless consonants lies in the tension of the vocal cords. Deaf sounds are pronounced with the help of noise, without tension of the ligaments. Voiced sounds are pronounced with a voice, are caused by the vibration of the vocal cords, because. noisy air comes out of the larynx.

Mnemonic technique for memorizing deaf sounds:
Memorize the phrase: “Stepka, do you want a cabbage? - Fi! All consonants here are deaf.

Examples of tasks for children

Tasks for training the difference of paired consonants can be compiled for each pair according to the following principle (using the example of the D/T pair):

Tasks for the difference between a pair of consonants Г/К

Ability to distinguish between soft and hard consonants. Obviously, they should not be memorized, but learned to hear. And for this, the child needs to be prompted exactly how these sounds are obtained - this will greatly facilitate his understanding.

Always soft and always hard consonants

Not all consonants in our language are both hard and soft. First you need your child to memorize those that are only hard: W, W, C, and also always soft: H, W, Y. To do this, you can, for example, make a commemorative plate where always hard will be drawn over blue bricks, and always soft - over green pillows (the choice of color is based on how these sounds are designated in the lower grades).

If the child constantly sees this picture, which you put in his workbook or hang over, then he will quickly remember these consonants.

How vowels command consonants

Then you explain to the child that the rest of the consonants can be both soft and hard. But neighboring letters will help to suggest this. If after our consonant there is another consonant, then ours is solid. For instance: table. What comes after the C sound? So it's a solid consonant.

The vowel sounds "command" the consonant standing in front of what he should be. If these are vowels: A, O, U, E, S, then only solid consonants are in front of them. And if it is: And, E, Yu, I, Yo, then - soft. The softness of the previous consonant is also indicated by

Educational games

In order for the child to remember this easier, try playing with him. Invite him to attach the outer side of his index finger to the palate and pronounce syllables in turn, where there are soft and hard consonants. For example: TA - TYA, ON - NYA. The child, thanks to this, will be able to remember exactly how a consonant sound is obtained. He will understand that when a soft consonant is formed, the tongue seems to move forward, and its back rises slightly to the sky. But when hard consonants are pronounced, this does not happen.

Throw the ball to the child, naming the syllable with a hard consonant, and let him return the ball to you, already pronouncing it with a soft one. For example: LA - LA, LO - LE, LY - LI, etc.

At school, students are asked to highlight hard and soft consonants using blue and green. Blue is hard and green is soft. Cut out some red, blue and green squares and ask them to jigsaw the word. The child will lay out vowel sounds in red, hard consonants, respectively, in blue, and soft ones - in green. Take for this small words, from one or two syllables: fish, elephant, branch, chalk etc.

Play word chain. You say a word ending in a syllable with a hard or soft consonant, and the child calls next word, which begins with this syllable. Not forgetting to determine aloud which consonant, hard or soft, was in this syllable: winds - fish - bagels - cinema etc.

If you methodically explain to your child the difference between hard and soft consonants, this will help him to navigate more easily in the future, when studying many features of the spelling of the Russian language. Good luck to you!