In the Russian language there are voiced and voiceless consonants. When studying phonetics (the study of speech sounds) and graphics (the study of letters of the alphabet), it is necessary to clearly know which sounds are unvoiced and which are voiced.
What is this for?
The fact is that in the Russian language, letters denoting voiced consonants are not necessarily read voiced in all cases. There are also cases when letters denoting dull sounds are read loudly. The correct correlation of letters and sounds will significantly help in learning the rules of writing words.
Let us examine in more detail what the concepts of deafness and voicedness mean. The formation of voiced consonants occurs due to noise and voice: the air stream not only overcomes the obstacle in the oral cavity, but also vibrates the vocal cords.
- The following sounds are voiced: b, v, g, d, zh, z, l, m, n, r, y.
- However, in phonetics, from this series of sounds, so-called sonorant sounds are also distinguished, which are as close as possible in their characteristics to vowel sounds: they can be sung and prolonged in speech. These sounds include y, r, l, n, m.
Voiceless consonant sounds are pronounced without the participation of the voice, only with the help of noise, while the vocal cords are relaxed.
- These letters and sounds include the following: k, p, s, t, f, x, c, ch, sh, shch. In order to make it easier to remember all the voiceless consonants in the Russian language, you need to learn the phrase: “Styopka, do you want shchetc?” - “Fi!” All consonant sounds in it are unvoiced.
Pairs of voiced and voiceless consonants
Voiced and unvoiced sounds and the letters denoting them are contrasted in Russian and form pairs:
- b-p,
- w-f,
- g-k,
- d-t,
- ss,
- w-sh.
If we take into account that the consonants in these pairs can also be soft (except zh-sh), then there are a total of 11 contrasting pairs of deafness-voicedness. The listed sounds are called paired. The remaining voiced and unvoiced sounds do not have pairs. The voiced unpaired ones include the above sonorants, and the voiceless ones include x, c, ch, shch. The table of consonants presented on our website will help you study these sounds in more detail.
Click on the picture to print a table with voiced and voiceless consonants
How is it that letters in the Russian alphabet can represent several sounds?
Features of the pronunciation of a sound are often predetermined by its position in the word. Thus, a voiced sound at the end of a word is deafened, and this position of the sound is called “weak”. Stunning can also occur before the next voiceless consonant, for example: pond, booth. We write voiced consonants and pronounce: twig, butka.
Conversely, a voiceless consonant can become voiced if it is followed by a voiced sound: threshing, but we pronounce malad ba. Knowing this feature Russian phonetics, we check the spelling of consonants at the end and middle of a word using test words: molotba - thresh, pond-ponds, booth - booth. We select the test word so that after the dubious consonant there is a vowel.
To remember what a sound is according to its characteristics, it is necessary to make mental associations of the sound with some object, event or natural sound. For example, the sound sh is similar to the rustling of leaves, and the sound z is similar to the hum of bees. The association will help you find your way in time. Another way is to create a phrase with a specific set of sounds.
Thus, knowledge of the letter-sound relationship is extremely important for spelling and correct pronunciation. Without studying phonetics, it is impossible to study and correctly perceive the melody of a language.
Video lesson about voiced and voiceless consonants:
Tralik and Valik about voiced and voiceless consonants
Another video lesson for children with riddles about voiced and voiceless consonants
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. And it's 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 cannot consider yourself a developed person if you cannot write correctly in your 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 a Russian language lesson, you can tell schoolchildren a funny episode from 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 the next letter was hidden was not indicated 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 “letterer” 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. Special attention Care should be taken to design 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 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 in the root - “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 is a special type of replacing one sound with 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 - h - 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 called the appearance of the sound “l” in verbs, which is used in this case 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.
There's a lot of trouble with letters, that's the kind of people they are.
Sounds change without asking and pretend to be different.
How much trouble these letters and sounds cause for children! Learn the letters, and then remember when and what sound they represent! And there are oh-oh-oh so many sounds. How to remember everything voiced and voiceless consonants?
Everything turns out to be very simple if you set up your child correctly.
I already wrote about it. But consonants are not only hard and soft, but also voiced and unvoiced. And they cause so much trouble for children in the form of mistakes! How to teach a child to identify correctly?
Simply memorizing voiced and voiceless consonants is a losing proposition. Even if the child remembers, it will be very difficult for him to apply this knowledge. But if a child understands how voiced and unvoiced sounds are made, learns to hear them and identify them by their signs, then it will be easy for him to remember.
Let's figure it out ourselves first voiced and voiceless consonants.
In the Russian language, consonant sounds are divided into voiced and voiceless, depending on the participation of the voice in the pronunciation of the sound. How to determine this? Say a single consonant sound and place your hand to your throat. If the vocal cords vibrate, it is a ringing sound. If not, then you are deaf. Check with your child and pronounce the sounds B - P, M or X. Did you notice?
Voicedness or deafness can be defined differently. Cover your ears with your palms and say a consonant sound. Did you hear a voice or noise? If a voice is heard, then the sound is ringing, if the noise is dull.
And this way you can easily and simply determine voiced or voiceless consonant. At first, this method is very good. But if the child continues this way, then it will take a lot of time. The child will not have time to complete work in class. Therefore, it is necessary for the child to remember voiced and voiceless consonants.
And here we need to remember that the brain can perceive information in different ways - through hearing, vision or sensations. This means that in order for a child to remember information, it is necessary to influence all the child’s systems.
By determining the voicedness and deafness of consonants by ear, we have already included hearing in the work. By putting our hand to our throat, we connected the sensations. Now we need to connect our vision. To do this, you need to make a sign or drawing, where you denote the voiced and voiceless consonants with some symbols.
Voiced and voiceless consonants There are paired and unpaired. This means that when creating such a diagram or tablet, you need to place paired consonants side by side. You can use any symbols that remind the child that the sound is voiced or unvoiced. So in this scheme, voiced consonants are indicated by a bell, and voiceless consonants are indicated by headphones.
Draw a similar sign with your child. Let him independently place the letters near the desired symbol, and you just control and guide the child’s actions. Remember that a person will only remember well what he did on his own.
Play with the placement of letters on floors or houses with the desired symbol several times and the child will perfectly remember the voiced and voiceless consonants. Hang this sign in a visible place and periodically return to it, ask the child to tell, show, name some sounds.
So, by playing, repeating already familiar properties of sounds and letters, you will help your child learn the basics of the Russian language without difficulty, remember voiced and voiceless consonants.
Any questions? Write in the comments to get an answer.
In the meantime, get some positivity and watch a wonderful cartoon. Let's learn from this cheerful monkey to find the good in everything.
All consonant sounds in the Russian language are divided according to several criteria, including the principle of voicedness and deafness. This pronunciation characteristic influences whether the voice is used when pronouncing a sound or not. Studying this topic is very important for understanding the basic principles of the phonetic system, because voiceless consonants are a very important part of it.
What is a voiceless consonant?
Voiceless consonant sounds are produced only by noise, without the participation of the voice. When pronouncing them, the vocal cords are completely relaxed, the larynx does not vibrate.
Paired and unpaired voiceless consonants
Most sounds that fall into this category have a voiced pair. What sounds these are, you can find out from the table “Voiceless consonant sounds in the Russian language.”
Thus, in the Russian language there are 11 voiceless consonants that have a voiced pair. But there are also unpaired ones - these are sounds such as [x], [x’], [h’] and [sch’].
They cannot become voiced regardless of position.
A special mnemonic phrase helps to remember all the voiceless consonants that exist in the Russian language: “Styopka, do you want shchetc?” - Ugh!". But it will not help to remember their pairing by hardness-softness, since voiceless consonants that have a pair are presented in it only in one variety - either hard or soft.
Consonant devoicing rule
In the Russian language, there are often cases when a voiced consonant is written in writing, but in speech it turns into a dull consonant. This happens, for example, when voiced letter appears at the very end of the word, as in the word mushroom, the transcription of which will look like [flu].
Due to the fact that voiced consonants are deafened at the end, difficulties often arise when reproducing such words in writing. However, there is an easy way to check which letter to use: you need to change the word so that the consonant appears before the vowel, for example, mushroom - mushroom. Then it will immediately become clear what needs to be written. The same applies to cases when there is a voiceless consonant at the end, and in writing it is voiced “by general rule" You can check which letter is written in the same way: krik - krik, lot - lota.
Voiced consonants located in positions at the beginning and in the middle of a word can also be deafened if they are followed by a voiceless consonant. This is easy to understand using an example: booth [booth].
What have we learned?
Voiceless consonant sounds are those sounds in the formation of which the larynx does not vibrate, that is, the voice does not participate. They consist only of noise. Most voiceless consonants have ringing couple, however, there are four unpaired sounds of this type - these are [x], [x’], [h’] and [uh’]. Due to the rule of deafening consonants during pronunciation, those consonants that are voiced in writing go into their voiceless pair. This happens if they appear at the end of a word, and also when another voiceless consonant precedes them.
What is sound? This is the minimum component of human speech. Depicted in letters. IN in writing sounds differ from letters by the presence of square brackets at the first, used in phonetic transcription. The letter is o, the sound is [o]. The transcription shows differences in spelling and pronunciation. Apostrophe [ ‘ ] indicates soft pronunciation.
The sounds are divided into:
- Vowels. They can be pulled easily. When they are created, the language does not accept active participation, fixing 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 smoothly”).
- 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 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, c, 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 used 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 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.
