How many vowels are there in the Russian language? Vowel sounds in Russian - how many are there?

Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy said that there is nothing sedimentary or crystalline in the Russian language; everything excites, breathes, lives. Such “liveness” of our native language is the merit of the words that make up it. But before you learn to use them, you need to learn the letters and sounds. They will be discussed in this article.

When learning a language with your child, you need to clearly make him understand the differences between spoken and written language. To do this, it is important to give him the concept of what a sound is and what a letter is.

Sounds are what we perceive with our ears. Our brain easily separates what relates to speech from other sounds and interprets them into images. We can write down the sounds of speech in letters, forming words from them.

A letter is a graphic symbol of the alphabet, thanks to which we can display on paper what we hear by ear. But there is something very special here for the child. great difficulty. After all, the number of sounds and letters that reproduce them on paper in different words may differ in one direction or the other.

How many letters and sounds are there in the Russian language and alphabet and their relationship

IMPORTANT: We hear and can produce sounds with our speech apparatus. We can see and write letters! Sounds exist in all languages. Even in those where there is no written language.

In a word like "chair" letters correspond to sounds. But, in the word "sun", the letter "L" not pronounced. Letters are also not pronounced "Kommersant" And "b". They only slightly change the pronunciation of the words in which they are used.

There is also such a “school” word as "Compass". In which instead of sound [AND] sound is pronounced [s].

There are still a lot of words in the Russian language that are pronounced differently from how they are written in letters. Therefore, it is very important for a child to learn to correctly understand this difference.

Alphabet

Language is the main invention of mankind. Moreover, for every nation that has created its own language, it is distinguished by the characteristics peculiar to this people. At a certain stage in the development of a community that a particular people uses, there appears a need to record speech sounds combined into words and sentences. This is how writing appeared, and at the same time the alphabet. That is, a set of all the letters used in writing, standing in strict order.

The alphabet of the Russian language contains 33 letters and looks like this:

The alphabet is the basis of any language that everyone who studies it needs to know. Is it possible to learn to speak without knowing the alphabet? Certainly. But, in addition to the ability to express your thoughts, you need to learn to write and read. And this is impossible to do without knowing the alphabet.

Today, children have a lot of different aids for learning the alphabet. You can buy special flash cards, magnets, and a small primer that your child can take with him on walks or trips.

In our computerized era, electronic gadgets can also be called upon to help in learning the alphabet. Type letters in text apps and name the sounds that teach them. You can use your imagination and use graphic editors, change fonts and add fills. Create your own alphabet that will be interesting to your child. Then learning will go faster and more efficiently.

INTERESTING: Teachers have come up with a very interesting and exciting way to learn the alphabet. Dedicate each new day in your family to one of the letters of the alphabet. Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the rest. Bake buns in the shape of letters, make letters from plasticine with your child, draw them, assemble them from counting sticks. Be sure to tell about the letter the day is dedicated to and give examples of its use.

Vowel sounds and letters

Introducing your child to the alphabet is a very exciting activity. But this is only one of the first steps in mastering the language. To continue studying it elementary units you need to learn to divide them according to their characteristics.

Those letters that are pronounced drawlingly are called vowels.

There are 10 vowels in Russian “A”, “E”, “Y”, “I”, “O”, “U”, “Y”, “E”, “Yu”, “I”
6 vowel sounds [a], [o], [y], [e], [i], [s]. Typically, vowel sounds in the school curriculum should be highlighted in red.

We have already clarified the difference between elementary particles language.

Letters I, Yo, Yu, E - iotized. They involve one or two sounds.

From this table, this difference can be seen again:

INTERESTING: By the way, about the letter “Y”. Today it is mistakenly believed that Karamzin introduced it into our alphabet. But that's not true. This was done by the director of the St. Petersburg Academy, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, on November 18, 1783 at a meeting on the occasion of the creation of the first explanatory dictionary in Russia. She suggested changing the letters “IO” to one “E”.

Stressed and unstressed vowel sounds

Stressed vowel sound pronounced with great strength and does not undergo changes.

For example: sn e g, st ý l, shk A f

Unstressed vowel sound pronounced with little force and undergoes changes.

For example: To ABOUT rzina (heard instead of ABOUT, sound A), m E dva d (In the first unstressed vowel sound instead E, can be heard AND), pl E cho (vowel sound AND is heard instead E).

IMPORTANT: Stress is not placed in words with one syllable and in words with a letter Yo.

Vowels Yotated letters Ya, Yu, E, Yo soften the consonant sound in front of them and create one sound: e → [e] or [i], е → [o], yu → [u], i → [a ].

For example:

At the beginning of the word: hedgehog [y’ozhik]
In the middle of a word: shelter [pri y’ut]
At the end of the word: gun [roug y'o]

Hard and soft vowels have a direct effect on consonants. For example, a consonant "P", maybe as solid (in the word "plastic bag"), and soft (in the word "cookie").

Consonants and letters

Consonant letters are called such because they contain consonant sounds. There are 36 consonant sounds in the Russian language:

An apostrophe marks soft sounds.
And 21 consonants:

Consonant letters and sounds, soft and hard: table

Consonants, like vowels, can be either hard or soft. For example, in the word "River", beech "R" soft, but in a word "Hand"– hard. In general, several factors influence the softness and hardness of sounds in a word. For example, the location of a sound in a word. The sounds are softened by iota vowels ( "E", "Yo", "YU" And "I") and diphthongs that come after consonants. For example:

"White"
"Love"
"Friday"

The letter also softens sounds "AND", and its antipode "Y", on the contrary, makes the sound hard. Important role plays the presence of a soft sign at the end of a word:

"Linen" And "laziness"

A soft sign can soften the sound, even if it is inside a word:

"Skates"

Voiceless and voiced consonants in Russian: table

Consonants can be voiced or unvoiced. Voiced sounds are obtained with the participation of the voice in the formation of sound. Whereas in the formation of a dull sound, the voice practically does not play its creative role.

Voiced consonants are formed when an air stream passes through oral cavity and fluctuations vocal cords. Thanks to this, consonants such as:

To make it easy to remember voiceless consonants, remember the expression: STYOPKA DO YOU WANT CHEEK? - FI!

If you delete all the vowels from this expression, only voiceless consonants will remain.

Paired and unpaired hard and soft consonants: table

In terms of hardness and softness, most sounds form pairs:

Paired and unpaired voiced and voiceless consonants: table

In the Russian language, it is customary to distinguish pairs of voiceless-voiced consonants:

The remaining consonants are unpaired:

Sometimes there is “forced” deafness or sonority of a consonant sound. This occurs due to the position of the sound in the word. A frequent example of such a forced state is the words: pond [rod] And booth [booth].

Sonorous- voiced unpaired consonant sounds. There are only 9 of them: [th’], [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’]

Noisy consonant sounds - there are voiced and voiceless:

Noisy voiceless consonants(16): [k], [k'], [p], [p'], [s], [s'], [t], [t'], [f], [f'], [ x], [x'], [ts], [h'], [w], [w'];
Noisy voiced consonants(11): [b], [b'], [c], [c'], [g], [g'], [d], [d'], [g], [z], [z '].

Summary table of commonly used soft and hard letters and sounds in the Russian language:

Sibilant consonants

Consonants "AND", "SH", "H" And "SCH" called sizzling. These letters add some zest to our language. At the same time, they make it very difficult. Even while learning these letters, the child should know the rules:

"ZHI" — "SHI" write from "AND"
"CHA" — "SHA" with a letter "A"
"CHU" — "SHU" with a letter "U"

Letters "AND" And "H" are voiced, and the remaining two ( "SH" And "SCH") deaf. Important feature These sounds are something that cannot be pronounced without opening the mouth. Compare their pronunciation with the pronunciation "M" or "N". To pronounce sibilant consonants, there must be a gap between the lips through which air will escape, creating an acoustic accompaniment for these sounds.

The letter “and short” denotes the consonant sound th

Letter "Y" or "And short" found in almost all Slavic alphabets, as well as in those non-Slavic alphabets that use the Cyrillic alphabet. In the Russian alphabet this letter occupies 11th place. It was formed from the vowel "AND" and a voiced consonant "J".

It is interesting that in the 18th century, when the civil script was introduced (as opposed to the church script), all superscript characters disappeared from it. And the letter "Y" an important part of her was missing. At the same time, the sound denoted by this letter “did not suffer” from such reforms. Return "Y" writing succeeded under Peter I. However, it was not returned to the alphabet. This was done only in the 20th century.

Today, more and more philologists attribute sound "Y" to sonorant consonants. That is, those sounds that are located between vowels and consonants, but still relate to a consonant. In addition, it is always considered soft.

Which letters have multiple sounds?

Letters and sounds tape for elementary school

Various manuals help very well in learning the Russian language. One of these benefits is "Summer of Letters". It helps to understand the difference between letters, quickly develop reading skills in children and facilitate phonetic analysis of words.

At least at first glance "Ribbon of Letters" carries a minimum of information, this is far from true. This manual can be used not only at school, but also at home. Parents can independently teach their child literacy using this tool.

The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The phonetics of the modern Russian number determines 42 sounds. The sounds are vowels and consonants. Letters ь ( soft sign) and ъ ( solid sign) do not produce sounds.

Vowel sounds

The Russian language has 10 vowel letters and 6 vowel sounds.

Vowel letters: a, i, e, e, o, u, s, e, yu, i.
Vowel sounds: [a], [o], [u], [e], [i], [s].

To remember, vowel letters are often written in pairs with similar sounds: a-ya, o-yo, e-e, i-y, u-yu.

Shocked and unstressed

The number of syllables in a word is equal to the number of vowels in the word: forest - 1 syllable, water - 2 syllables, road - 3 syllables, etc. The syllable that is pronounced with greater intonation is stressed. The vowel that forms such a syllable is stressed, the remaining vowels in the word are unstressed. The position under stress is called a strong position, without stress - a weak position.

Yotated vowels

A significant place is occupied by iotated vowels - the letters e, e, yu, i, which mean two sounds: e → [й'][е], е → [й'][о], yu → [й'][у], i → [th'][a]. Vowels are iotated if:

stand at the beginning of a word (spruce, fir-tree, spinning top, anchor),
stand after a vowel (what, sings, hare, cabin),
stand after ь or ъ (stream, stream, stream, stream).

In other cases, the letters e, e, yu, i mean one sound, but there is no one-to-one correspondence, since different positions in the word and different combinations with the consonants of these letters give rise to different sounds.

Consonants

There are 21 consonant letters and 36 consonant sounds. The discrepancy in numbers means that some letters can represent different sounds in different words - soft and hard sounds.

Consonants: b, v, g, d, g, z, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, ch, sh, sch.
Consonant sounds: [b], [b'], [v], [v'], [g], [g'], [d], [d'], [zh], [z], [z' ], [th'], [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 ' sign means soft sound, that is, the letter is pronounced softly. The absence of a sign indicates that the sound is hard. So, [b] - hard, [b’] - soft.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

There is a difference in the way we pronounce consonant sounds. Voiced consonants are formed in a combination of voice and noise, voiceless consonants are formed due to noise (the vocal cords do not vibrate). There are a total of 20 voiced consonants and 16 voiceless consonants.

Voiced consonants		Voiceless consonants
unpaired	doubles	doubles	unpaired
th → [th"]	b → [b], [b"]	p → [p], [p"]	h → [h"]
l → [l], [l"]	in → [in], [in"]	f → [f], [f"]	š → [š"]
m → [m], [m"]	g → [g], [g"]	k → [k], [k"]	ts → [ts]
n → [n], [n"]	d → [d], [d"]	t → [t], [t"]	x → [x], [x"]
p → [p], [p"]	zh → [zh]	w → [w]
	z → [z], [z"]	s → [s], [s"]
9 unpaired	11 doubles	11 doubles	5 unpaired
20 ringing sounds		16 dull sounds

According to pairing and unpairing, voiced and voiceless consonants are divided into:
b-p, v-f, g-k, d-t, w-sh, z-s- paired in terms of voicedness and deafness.
y, l, m, n, r - always voiced (unpaired).
x, ts, ch, shch - always voiceless (unpaired).

Unpaired voiced consonants are called sonorant.

Among the consonants, the following groups are also distinguished according to the level of “noisiness”:
zh, sh, h, sh - hissing.
b, c, d, e, g, h, j, p, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, sch- noisy.

Hard and soft consonants

Hard consonants		Soft consonants
unpaired	doubles	doubles	unpaired
[and]	[b]	[b"]	[h"]
[w]	[V]	[V"]	[sch"]
[ts]	[G]	[G"]	[th"]
	[d]	[d"]
	[h]	[z"]
	[To]	[To"]
	[l]	[l"]
	[m]	[m"]
	[n]	[n"]
	[P]	[P"]
	[R]	[R"]
	[With]	[With"]
	[T]	[T"]
	[f]	[f"]
	[X]	[X"]
3 unpaired	15 doubles	15 unpaired	3 doubles
18 hard sounds		18 soft sounds

On initial stage learning the Russian language in 1st grade, you need to learn the vowels and consonants of the alphabet. TO consonants relate: B, V, G, D, F, Z, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, F, X, C, H, W, Shch . Note, Y- consonant letter. TO vowel letters refer to A, E, E, I, O, U, Y, E, Y, I . Letters b And Kommersant do not apply to either vowels or consonants. Vowels are pronounced with the voice and can be sung. Consonants consist only of noise; they cannot be sung. (When learning vowels and consonants, you can try to sing them.)

We are offering to you online game, which will help you learn the vowels and consonants of the Russian alphabet in a playful way. It is created according to the type online coloring books, and can be used not only by first-graders, but also to prepare for school. In the game you need to color the vowels red and the consonants blue. To color a letter, click on it. Each time you press the color changes.

Online game “Vowels and consonants”

If you liked the material, please click the “Like” or “G+1” button. We need to know your opinion!

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 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 – [y’], [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 upper sky 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.

In the Russian language, not all speech sounds are designated, but only the main ones. The Russian language has 43 basic sounds - 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 does not match. The difference in the quantitative composition of basic sounds and letters is determined by the peculiarities of Russian writing. In Russian, a hard and soft sound is denoted by the same letter, but the sounds soft and hard are considered different, which is why there are more consonant sounds than the letters with which they are denoted.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Consonant sounds are divided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced ones consist of noise and voice, deaf ones consist only of noise.

Voiced consonant sounds: [b] [b"] [c] [v"] [d] [g"] [d] [d"] [z] [z"] [zh] [l] [l"] [ m] [m"] [n] [n"] [r] [r"] [th]

Voiceless consonants: [p] [p"] [f] [f"] [k] [k"] [t] [t"] [s] [s"] [w] [x] [x"] [ h"] [h"]

Paired and unpaired consonants

Many consonants form pairs of voiced and voiceless consonants:

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

Voiceless [p] [p"] [f] [f"] [k] [k"] [t] [t"] [s] [s"] [w]

The following voiced and voiceless consonant sounds do not form pairs:

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

Voiceless [x] [x"] [ch"] [sch"]

Soft and hard consonants

Consonant sounds are also divided into hard and soft. They differ in the position of the tongue when pronounced. When pronouncing soft consonants, the middle back of the tongue is raised towards hard palate.

Most consonants form pairs of hard and soft consonants:

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

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

The following hard and soft consonant sounds do not form pairs:

Solid [f] [w] [c]

Soft [h"] [sch"] [th"]

Sibilant consonants

The sounds [zh], [sh], [ch’], [sh’] are called hissing.

[g] [w] [h"] [sch"]

Whistling consonants

[z] [z"] [s] [s"] [ts]

Whistling sounds s-s, z-z, anterior lingual, fricative. When articulating hard s-z teeth exposed, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, the back of the tongue is slightly curved, the lateral edges of the tongue are pressed against the upper molars, causing a groove to form in the middle. Air passes through this groove creating frictional noise.

When pronouncing soft s, s, the articulation is the same, but in addition the back of the tongue rises to the hard palate. When pronouncing sounds z-z, the ligaments are closed and vibrate. Curtain of the palate raised.