Every first-grader knows that sound is a unit of speech that we pronounce and hear, and letters we read and write. In Russian they are divided into vowels and consonants. Of the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet, 21 are called consonants. They are divided according to their sonority and dullness, softness and hardness. They begin to study the classification of letters in the 1st grade, but the student will have to use it before graduating from school. When studying phonetics, each student must learn to distinguish between voiceless sounds and voiced sounds. During writing, they are indicated by transcription - [b]. The table will help you distinguish and remember paired consonant sounds.

Paired consonants according to voiced-voicelessness

All consonants in the Russian language form pairs; a voiced consonant is opposed to a voiceless consonant. There are 12 paired letters in total, making 6 pairs:

Paired and unpaired consonants need to be known in order to be successful in spelling. Many spellings of the Russian language are based on the selection of cognate words according to this classification, for example:

• soft - soft,
• tooth teeth.

The first pair contains the letter g, which is not clearly heard when pronounced and spelling it is difficult. The second words are test words when the spelling is pronounced clearly. Younger students often make mistakes in these works.

You may notice that not all letters of the alphabet form pairs. This happens because phonetics has rules that need to be remembered. They are based on the fact that sounds can only be voiced or only unvoiced. They are easy to remember because they are small in number. As a rule, by the end of 1st grade, students know them by heart. These include r, n, l, m, th - sonorous, always voiced, ts, ch, sh, x - always voiceless.

Paired consonants for softness and hardness

Consonants are usually divided into hard and soft. In phonetics, the softening process occurs in several situations:

• when after a consonant there is a vowel: yu, ya, e, e, and (blizzard, buttercup);
• or there is a soft sign (blizzard, drinking).

If after a consonant there is a vowel, except e, e, yu, ya, and, then it does not allow softening. For example, in the words peony, earth, after the consonant there is a vowel, which provokes the process of softening. In words such as lamp, water, there are no letters e, e, yu, i, and, therefore, when pronounced, all sounds are hard.

There are also letters that, when reproduced in speech, will always be soft or hard. These include: shch, h, j, c, w, g. Every student needs to know the classification of letters and sounds for successful learning.

A special table will help you remember paired voiced and voiceless voices. It's easy to navigate.

Such a table or a similar one can sometimes be found in a primary school classroom. It has been proven that younger schoolchildren have more developed visual-figurative thinking, so they need to provide new information in the form of illustrations or pictures, then it will be effective.

Every parent can create such a table on a first-grader’s desktop. Do not be afraid that this tip will lead to laziness of the student. On the contrary, if he often looks at the image, he will quickly remember everything he needs.

There are more consonant sounds in the Russian language, so remembering their classification is more difficult. If you list all the unvoiced and voiced ones, you get the number 12. The letters ch, sh, y, shch, c, zh, r, n, l, m are not taken into account; they are classified as unpaired.

There are tips for children on how to quickly learn to recognize a voiced and a voiceless consonant when parsing a word. To do this, you need to press your palm to your throat and pronounce a clearly separate sound. Voiceless and voiced consonants will be pronounced differently and, accordingly, will be reflected differently in the palm of your hand. If there is vibration in the hand, it is voiced; if not, it is deaf. Many children use this hint when studying phonetics.

There is another exercise that helps to accurately determine which consonant is in front of the student. To do this, you need to cover your ears with your hands, but preferably there should be silence. Say the exciting letter and listen to it with your ears closed. If it is not heard, then it is a dull sound; if, on the contrary, it is clearly heard, it is a ringing sound.

If you try, today any parent can find many interesting, exciting and educational exercises and rules that will help the child easily master new knowledge. This will make the learning process more interesting and entertaining, which in turn will affect academic performance.

In Russian, not all consonants can be both hard and soft. For example, in the word “song” there is an N after the C and we mark the C as a hard consonant. In writing, the hardness and softness of consonant sounds are indicated only when writing a transcription. Find consonant sounds that sound before voiced paired consonants.

So, let's look at vowel sounds, which are divided into hard and soft. Pay attention to consonant sounds at the end of words and before voiceless consonants. 5 letters, 6 sounds). But not all consonant sounds and letters form pairs. Those consonants that do not have pairs are called unpaired.

Make this reminder to your child and let it help him distinguish between hard and soft sounds. Apply all these methods at once and your child will learn to identify hard and soft consonants without any problems. Even though these consonants are paired, they are still very different. First, the child learns to understand how letters are divided into vowels and consonants. It is quite easy to determine whether a consonant is hard or soft.

Having remembered this simple rule, children no longer experience difficulties in determining the hardness and softness of individual consonant sounds if they are followed by a vowel. If, when pronouncing a word or syllable, the corners of the mouth move into a smile (i.e., the consonant is followed by one of the vowels i, e, e, yu, i), then this consonant sound is soft. Phonetics gives a clear idea of ​​whether a consonant sound will be voiced or unvoiced. To remember and distinguish voiced consonants from deaf ones, we divide them into pairs. There are 11 of them in total, if you take into account soft consonants (exception -) -; -; -; -; -.

In each case there are consonants that have a pair, as well as consonants that do not have a pair. Let's look at paired and unpaired consonants, and in what words they occur. In an unstressed position, vowels are pronounced less clearly and sound for less duration (i.e., they are reduced). When letters that usually denote voiceless consonants, when voiced, denote voiced sounds, this seems so unusual that it can lead to errors in transcription.

In tasks related to comparing the number of letters and sounds in a word, there may be “traps” that provoke errors. If a person pronounces consonant sounds, he closes his mouth (at least a little), which causes noise. But consonants make different noises.

Which sounds are always hard and which are soft?

You can conduct a similar experiment by placing your hands on your neck on the right and left sides, and pronounce the sounds and. The sound is pronounced much louder, more resonant. Scientists call such sounds voiced, and sounds that consist only of noise are dull. Let's populate phonetic houses in the city of sounds. Let’s agree: dull sounds will live on the first floor, and voiced sounds will live on the second floor.

Let's put unpaired consonant sounds in our houses. Let us remind you that the sound is always only soft. The sounds of the second house are also called sonorous, because they are formed with the help of the voice and almost without noise, they are very sonorous. Comparison with vowel sounds. Each consonant has characteristics that distinguish it from other consonant sounds. 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.

We need to teach the child to hear them and identify them based on various signs. 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.

It depends on the position of the letter in the word. At the end of a syllable, the voiced sound is muffled, the same happens if the letter comes before a voiceless consonant, for example “dove”. It is necessary to remember that after hard consonants there are always vowels: a; O; y; e; s. If after the consonant there are: and; e; Yu; I; e, then these consonants are soft.

The Russian language has 21 consonants and 37 consonant sounds:

Consonant sounds are hard and soft, voiced and voiceless. The softness of sound is indicated as follows - ["].

Hard and soft consonants

A hard consonant sound is obtained if after the consonant there is a vowel A, O, U, Y or E:

na lo ku we fe

A soft consonant sound is obtained if after the consonant there is a vowel E, Yo, I, Yu or Ya:

be le ki nu la

The softness of consonant sounds is also indicated using the soft sign - b. The soft sign itself does not denote a sound; it is written after a consonant letter and together with it denotes one soft consonant sound:

lynx[lynx"], fire[fire"], snowstorm[v"y"uga].

Most consonant letters correspond to two sounds: hard and soft; such consonants are called paired.

Paired consonants for hardness - softness:

But there are consonant letters that correspond to only one of the sounds: hard or soft; such consonants are called unpaired.

Unpaired hard consonants(always hard): F [f], Sh [w], C [c].

Unpaired soft consonants(always soft): Ch [h"], Shch [sch"], J [th"].

In the Russian language there is a long, voiced soft sound [zh "]. It is found in a small number of words and is obtained only when pronouncing combinations of letters lj, zzh, zhd: reins, rattle, rain.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Consonant sounds can be divided into voiceless and voiced.

Voiceless consonants are those sounds in the pronunciation of which the voice is not used, they consist only of noise, for example: the sounds [s], [w], [h"].

Voiced consonants are those sounds whose pronunciation uses a voice, that is, they consist of voice and noise, for example: the sounds [r], [zh], [d].

Some sounds form a pair: voiced - voiceless, such sounds are called paired.

Paired consonants according to deafness - voicing:

Unpaired voiced consonants: J, L, M, N, R.

Unpaired voiceless consonants: X, C, Ch, Shch.

Hissing and whistling consonants

The sounds [zh], [sh], [ch"], [sch"] are called hissing consonant sounds. The sounds [zh] and [sh] are unpaired hard hissing consonant sounds:

bug[bug], jester[jester]

The sounds [ch"] and [sch"] are unpaired soft hissing consonant sounds:

siskin[ch"izh], shield[shield]

The sounds [z], [z"] [s], [s"], [ts] are called whistling consonant sounds.

Letter and sound Y

The letter Y (and short) means the sound [th"]: paradise [paradise"]. The letter Y is written:

1. At the beginning of the words: iodine, yogurt.
2. In the middle of words, before consonants: husky, T-shirt, coffee pot.
3. At the end of the words: paradise, may, yours.

The sound [th"] is more common than the letter Y, since it appears in words where there is no letter Y, but there are vowels Ya, E, Yu and E. Let's consider in what cases the sound [th"] occurs in words that do not contain the letter Y:

1. The vowels Ya, E, Yu and Yo are at the beginning of the word: pit [th "ama]
2. The vowels I, E, Yu and E come after the vowels: blowing [blow it]
3. The vowels Ya, E, Yu and Yo come after the hard separating sign (Ъ): entry [vy"ezd]
4. The vowels Ya, E, Yu and Yo come after the soft separating sign (b): it's pouring [l"th"from]
5. The vowel I comes after the soft separating sign (b): hives [st "y"]

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’], [w’].

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

[h] - ? [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.

What is sound? This is the minimum component of human speech. Depicted in letters. In written form, sounds are distinguished from letters by the presence of square brackets at the first, which are used in phonetic transcription. The letter is o, the sound is [o]. The transcription shows differences in spelling and pronunciation. Apostrophe [ ‘ ] indicates soft pronunciation.

In contact with

The sounds are divided into:

• Vowels. They can be pulled easily. During their creation, the tongue does not take an active part, being fixed in one position. The sound is created due to changes in the position of the tongue, lips, various vibrations of the vocal cords and the force of air supply. Length of vowels – basis of vocal art(chanting, “singing smooth”).
• Consonant sounds a are pronounced with the participation of the tongue, which, occupying a certain position and shape, creates an obstacle to the movement of air from the lungs. This leads to noise in the oral cavity. At the output they are converted into sound. Also, the free passage of air is hampered by the lips, which close and open during speech.

Consonants are divided into:

• voiceless and voiced. Deafness and sonority of sound depend on the functioning of the speech apparatus;
• hard and soft. The sound is determined by the position of the letter in the word.

Letters representing consonants

Deaf

Voiceless in Russian: [k], [p], [s], [t], [f], [x], [ts], [sh]. The easiest way to remember is a phrase, and not a set of letters, “Styopka, do you want a cheek? Fi!” containing them all.

An example in which all consonant sounds are unvoiced: rooster, honeycomb, pin.

Voiced

When they are formed, the shape of the tongue is close to the form that produces voiceless sounds, but vibrations are added. Voiced consonant sounds create active vibrations of the ligaments. Vibrations deform the sound wave, and not a pure stream of air enters the oral cavity, but sound. Subsequently, it is further transformed by the tongue and lips.

Voiced consonants include: b, v, g, d, g, z, j, l, m, n, r.

When they are pronounced, tension is clearly felt in the larynx area. In addition, it is almost impossible to speak them clearly in a whisper.

A word in which all consonants are voiced: Rome, pride, ash, estuary.

Summary table of consonants (voiceless and voiced).

It is due to the change in sound that Russian speech is enriched with various words that are similar in spelling and pronunciation, but completely different in meaning. For example: house - volume, court - itch, code - year.

Paired consonants

What does pairing mean? Two letters that are similar in sound and, when pronounced, take similar positions with the tongue, are called paired consonants. The pronunciation of consonants can be divided into one-stage (lips and tongues are involved in their creation) and two-stage - the ligaments are connected first, then the mouth. Those cases when, during pronunciation, mouth movements coincide and create pairs.

Summary table of paired consonants taking into account hardness and softness

In speech, it is common not to pronounce each letter, but to “eat” it. This is not an exception only for Russian speech. This is found in almost all languages ​​of the world and is especially noticeable in English. In Russian, this effect is subject to the rule: paired consonant sounds replace (auditory) each other during speech. For example: love – [l’ u b o f’].

But not everyone has their own pair. There are some that are not similar in pronunciation to any others - these are unpaired consonants. The reproduction technique differs from the pronunciation of other sounds and combines them into groups.

Paired consonants

Unpaired consonants

The first group can be pronounced softly. The second has no analogues in pronunciation.

Unpaired consonants are divided into:

• sonors – [th’], [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’]. When they are pronounced, a stream of air hits the upper sky, like a dome;
• hissing – [x], [x’], [ts], [h’], [sch’].

The Russian language contains letters that are difficult to understand in context. Are the sounds [ch], [th], [ts], [n] voiced or unvoiced? Learn these 4 letters!

Important![h] - deaf! [th] - sonorous! [ts] is deaf! [n] – sonorous!

Unpaired consonants

Hard and soft

They are the same in spelling, but different in sound. Voiceless and voiced consonants, with the exception of hissing ones, can be pronounced hard or soft. For example: [b] was – [b`] beat; [t] current – ​​[t`] flowed.

When pronouncing hard words, the tip of the tongue is pressed against the palate. Soft ones are formed by pressing to the upper palate of the middle part of the tongue.

In speech, the sound is determined by the letter following the consonant.

Vowels form pairs: a-ya, u-yu, e-e, y-i, o-yo.

Double vowels (I, ё, yu, e) are pronounced in one of two combinations: the sound [th] and a paired vowel from E, O, U, A, or a soft sign and a paired vowel. For example, the word cabin boy. It is pronounced [y] [y] [n] [g] [a]. Or the word mint. It is pronounced as: [m’] [a] [t] [a]. The vowels A, O, U, E, Y do not have a double sound, therefore do not affect the pronunciation of the preceding consonant.

Example difference:

A spoon is a hatch, honey is a sea, a house is a woodpecker.

Phonetic transcription:

[Spoon] – [L’ u k], [m’ o d] – [m o r’ e], [house] – [d’ a t e l].

Pronunciation rules:

• solid ones are pronounced before A, O, U, E, Y. Abscess, side, beech, Bentley, former;
• soft ones are pronounced before Ya, Yo, Yu, E, I. Revenge, honey, whale, mashed potatoes, mint;
• hard ones are pronounced if they are followed by another consonant: death. After the consonant [s] there is a consonant [m]. Regardless of whether the M is soft, voiced or hard, the S is pronounced firmly;
• hard ones are pronounced if the letter comes last in the word: class, house;
• Consonants before the vowel [e] in borrowed words are pronounced firmly, as before [e]. For example: muffler – [k] [a] [w] [n] [e];
• always soft before b: elk, pulp.
• exceptions to the rules:
  • always solid F, W, C: life, thorns, cyanide;
  • always soft Y, H, Sh: white, black, pike.

Attention! A voiceless letter does not always represent the same sound. It depends on the position in the word.

Hard and soft sounds

Stun

The Russian language has a concept of stunning - some voiced ones sound like voiceless ones consonant sounds from a pair.

This is not a speech defect, but, on the contrary, is considered a criterion for its purity and correctness. But this rule only works with paired consonants. For example, [g] in speech is often replaced by [x]. This refers to a defect, since [g], which is close to [x], is considered a distinctive feature of the Ukrainian language. Its use in Russian speech is incorrect. The exception is the word God.

Rules and examples:

• the letter is the last in the word: tooth - [zup], ice hole - [p r o r u p’];
• after the letter there is a voiceless consonant: russula - [raw cheese].

There is a reverse process - voicing. Means that in speech voiceless ones are pronounced as their counterparts to voiced ones. Voicing is justified when they come before voiced consonants: transaction - [z d' e l k a].

Consonants, voiced and voiceless, hard and soft

Consonant sounds are voiced and unvoiced. Russian language lesson in 5th grade