Paired consonant sounds in Russian

At home and on the street, we can hear a lot of sounds: the man's steps, the ticking of the clock, the sound of rain, the singing of birds, the whistle of the car. However, the sounds of human speech stand apart and differ from others, because with their help you can form words. It is known that all the sounds of the Russian language are divided into two groups: consonants and vowels. When forming vowels for air, there are no obstructions in the oral cavity. But in the case of the pronunciation of consonants in the oral cavity a barrier arises. So, what kind of consonant sounds can be , which groups they divide, what does the expression "paired consonants" mean?

Deaf and sonorous consonants

The division into these groups is as follows: voiced consonants are pronounced with the help of noise and voice, but the deaf ones consist of one noise. The first and second can form pairs of voicelessness / voicedness. The relative pairs are represented by 12 rows. For example: "d" - "t", "g" - "to", "z" - "c" and others. Such sounds are paired consonants. But not all consonants can be combined in pairs. They do not form sonorous "n", "m", "l", "d", "p", as well as deaf "ts", "x", "chi", "h". On the letter, sounds are indicated by corresponding letters. It is important to be careful. Paired and unpaired consonants at the end of a word or in the middle before a consonant may sound the same, but be indicated by different letters. To verify their spelling, it is necessary to find a word with the same root, so that after the verified consonant there is a vowel, and the sounding leaves no doubt in spelling. For example:

Gri b - gris, si gris np ;

Ro-trotrova (cavity), ro- dodrodova (castle).

Consonant soft and hard

Depending on the position of the tongue in the pronunciation of sounds, all consonants are divided into hard and soft. These are different phonemes. Stand out paired consonants and unpaired. Examples of pairs: "в" - "в ^," , "к" - "к ^," , "р" - "р ^," and others. The ( ^, ) symbol indicates the softness of sound during transcription. Steam does not form soft "ni", "h", "d", and also solid "sh", "g", "c". Of course, it is very important to distinguish paired consonant sounds hard and soft. Sometimes they even distinguish words. For example:

M s > s > s > s > s > s > s > s > s > s > s > < / s>.

In "me" and "me", the selected consonants are soft, and in the words "ol" and "mel " - solid. Thanks to this special pronunciation, words are not confused.

When writing words, the softness of consonant sounds can be indicated in the following ways:

• With the help of "b". For example: skates, elk, hit.
• With the use of the letters "and", "I", "e", "e", "yu". These are the cases: the wheel, the throw, the ball.

It is important to remember that in the middle of a word in front of a consonant, softness is not indicated by a soft sign in the following combinations: "c", "ni", "nt", "rsh", "chn", "chk", "nsh", "nch". Pay attention to the words: kon nch ina, sporchtsa , mo stiki . In the selected combinations, the first consonant is heard softly, but is written without a soft sign.

The letters "I", "e", "e", "yu" can represent vowel sounds "a", "e", "o", "y" + the softness of the consonant in front of them. In other cases (at the beginning of a word, after a vowel sound, after "b", "b") they mean two sounds. And before the sound "and"   Consonants will always be pronounced softly.

So, it was possible to notice that the creation of pairs is a feature that is very characteristic for the system of consonant sounds of the Russian language. Paired consonants are grouped together and simultaneously opposed to each other. Often they help to distinguish words.