Some consonant sounds of the Russian language form corresponding pairs according to a certain characteristic. Our article will help you find out how this happens, which sounds are not paired, and what difficulties may arise when writing paired consonants.
Paired in hardness and softness
Paired consonant sounds are those that are correlated according to one of the following characteristics:
- Hardness-softness;
- Voicedness-deafness.
Let's consider each of the options.
All consonant sounds are divided into:
- Solid(pronounced firmly):
[b], [c], [d], [d], [g], [h], [k], [l], [m], [n], [p], [p], [s ], [t], [f], [x], [ts], [w];
- Soft(pronounced softly, using additional articulation):
[b'], [c'], [g'], [d'], [h'], [th'], [k'], [l'], [m'], [n'], [p'], [p'], [s'], [t'], [f'], [x'], [h'], [w'].
Of these, they do not have a hardness-softness pair (considered unpaired):
- Always solid:
[zh], [ts], [w];
- Always soft:
[th’], [h’], [sch’].
The rest are paired.
The peculiarities of the Russian language are such that there are 21 consonant letters in it, but there are already 36 sounds. It is the paired consonant sounds in terms of hardness and softness that are the reason for this difference (in writing they are displayed as one letter).
Paired by voicedness-voicelessness
All consonant sounds of the Russian language are distinguished by:
- Voicings(voiced ones pronounce using voice and noise):
[b], [b'], [c], [c'], [d], [d'], [d], [d'], [g], [h], [h'], [ th'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [r], [r'];
- Deafness(deaf people pronounce using only noise):
[k], [k'], [p], [p'], [s], [s'], [t], [t'], [f], [f'], [x], [ x'], [ts], [h'], [w], [w'].
Of the listed sounds, unpaired ones stand out:
- Voiced that do not have a voiceless pair:
[th’], [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’];
- Deaf, which do not have a voiced pair:
[x], [x’], [ts], [h’], [w’].
The rest are pairs in which a voiced sound corresponds to a voiceless sound.
For convenience and ease of memorization, all relevant sounds are collected in a table of paired consonant sounds:
Spelling problems
In words with paired consonants in terms of voicedness and voicelessness, it is quite easy to make a mistake if one sound is heard, but you need to write another. Difficulties can arise when a paired consonant comes before a deaf person or when a word ends with it (tetra[d]ka, bread[b]).
To correctly select a paired consonant when writing a word, controversial sounds must be checked. In difficult cases, the word is changed or a single root word is selected so that the paired consonant appears before the vowel sound (when possible, before [n]).
You can use different ways to select test words:
- Change to plural:
tooth - teeth, train - trains;
- Replace with a diminutive:
bed - bed, bread - bread;
- Choose a single-root adjective:
carrot - carrot, labor - difficult;
- Change according to the principle small - large:
snowdrift - snowdrift, fur coat - fur coat;
- Use the word “no” to change:
bicycle - no bicycle, watchman - no watchman.
Consonants are voiced and voiceless. Stunning and voicing of consonants
According to their sound and method of formation, consonant sounds are divided in Russian into voiced and voiceless.
Voiced consonants are formed with the participation of the vocal cords and consist of voice and noise. Voiceless consonants are formed without the participation of the vocal cords and consist only of noise.
Most consonants form voiceless/voiced pairs. Table:
| [b’] - [p’] |
|
| [v’] - [f’] |
|
| [g’] - [k’] |
|
| [d’] - [t’] |
|
| [z’] - [s’] |
|
Some consonants do not form voiced/voiceless pairs (they are, so to speak, “only voiced” or “only voiceless”).
Unpaired voiceless consonants: [x], [x’], [ts], [ch’], [sch’].
Unpaired voiced consonants: [й’], [l], [l’], [m], [m’], [n], [n’], [r], [r’].
In the flow of speech, in certain positions, paired voiced consonants change to voiceless (voiced), and paired voiceless consonants change to voiced (voiced).
Voiced consonants are devoiced in two positions:
- At the end of the word:
Bread - [hl’ep].
(Many) flowers - [tsv’itof].
2. Before a voiceless consonant:
Claws - [kokt’i].
Spoon - [loshka].
Under the floor - [patpolam].
Voiceless consonants are voiced in position before paired voiced ones:
Request - [pros’ba].
Lights out - [adboy"].
With a friend - [to friends].
Consonants are soft and hard. Softening hard consonants
According to their sound and method of formation, consonant sounds in the Russian language are divided into hard and soft.
Soft consonants are formed with the participation of the middle part of the tongue and have a special, “soft” sound. Hard consonants are formed without the participation of the middle part of the tongue and have a “hard” sound.
Most consonants form hard/soft pairs.
Some consonants do not form hard/soft pairs (they are, so to speak, “only hard” or “only soft”).
Unpaired hard consonants: [zh], [sh], [ts].
Unpaired soft consonants: [th’], [h’], [sch’].
Hard consonants cannot be combined with the vowel sound [i] that follows them; soft consonants cannot be combined with the vowel sound [s] that follows them.
Man - [man] (here after the hard [zh] it sounds [s]).
Taught - [uch’il] (here after the soft [ch’] it sounds [i]).
In some cases, paired hard consonants are softened in the flow of speech.
Hard [n] can change to soft [n’] in combinations [n’ch’], [n’sch’].
Pancake - pancake [bl'in'ch'ik].
Change - changer [sm'en'sh'ik].
Hard [d], [t], [z], [s], [n] can soften before soft [d’], [t’], [z’], [s’], [n’].
Whistle - whistle [s’t’]net.
Forest - le[s"n"]ik.
The treasury is in the treasury.
Bow - ba[n"t"]ik.
India - I[n"d"]ia.
Similarity of consonants in sound and pronunciation, loss of consonants in difficult-to-pronounce combinations
In addition to softening, voicing and deafening in the flow of speech, consonant sounds undergo other changes in certain positions. Let's note some of them.
The sounds [z], [s], [d], [t] before the consonants [zh], [sh], [h"], [sch"] are similar to them in sound and pronunciation.
Sew - [shshyt’].
Kindle - [razzhech’].
Account - [sh’sh’ot].
He became generous - he became generous.
Clean up - [pach’ch’is’t’it’].
With a beetle - [buzz].
From wool - [ishshers "t"i].
In the verbs na -tsya and -tsya, the sounds [t’] and [s’], mutually similar in pronunciation, coincide in the double sound [ts].
To tear - [vazza].
Suitable - [gad’izza].
In the combination of TSC, the sounds [t] and [s], mutually similar in pronunciation, coincide in the sound [ts].
Arbatsky - [arbatskiy"].
Pirate - [p’iratsk’].
When a combination of consonant sounds is difficult to pronounce, one of them may be dropped.
Imperious - imperious.
Heart - s[rts]e.
Late - late.
The sun is so[nt]e.
Envious - envious.
Feeling is feeling.
Six hundred - she[ss]ot.
Dutch - goll[ns]ky.
Vowels are stressed and unstressed. Reduction of unstressed vowels
According to the characteristics of pronunciation, duration and strength of sound, vowel sounds are divided into stressed and unstressed.
Stressed vowels in Russian have a significantly longer duration and sound strength than unstressed vowels. Stressed vowels are characterized by clearer pronunciation than unstressed vowels.
Stressed vowels form stressed syllables in speech, unstressed vowels - unstressed syllables.
In an unstressed position, vowels are pronounced less clearly and sound for less duration (i.e., they are reduced).
Vowels [и], [ы], [у] without stress generally retain their sound.
Saw - [p’ila].
Smoke - [smoke].
Hand - [hand].
Vowels [o], [e], [a] without stress change the quality of their sound.
After hard consonants, unstressed [o] and [a] coincide in a short vowel sound, close but not identical to [a] (in the school phonetics course there is no special symbol for this sound; the symbol [a] is used).
Chapter - [chapter].
Words - [glory].
After soft consonants, unstressed [e] and [a] coincide in a short vowel sound, close but not identical to [i] (in the school phonetics course there is no special icon for this sound; the symbol [i] is used).
Deeds - [d'ila].
Pyatak - [p’itak].
The dual role of the letters E, E, Yu, I in Russian graphics
Letters e, yo, yu, I play a double role in Russian graphics.
Letters e, yo, yu, I denote two sounds at once if they are at the beginning of a word, either after the separating b and b, or after a vowel sound: [y'e], [y'o], [y'u], [y'a].
There is - [y'es"t"] (letter e denotes two sounds at the beginning of a word).
Will shed - [pral "y"ot] (letter e denotes two sounds after b).
Comfort - [uy'ut] (letter Yu denotes two sounds after a vowel).
The letters e, e, yu, i, standing after soft consonants, denote only the vowel sounds [e], [o], [u], [a] and the softness of the previous consonant.
Forest - [l’es].
Honey - [m’ot].
Luke - [l’uk].
Row - [r’at].
In the Russian language, voiced and voiceless consonants are distinguished by the participation/non-participation of the voice in the formation of the consonant sound.
The following consonants are voiced: [b], [b'], [c], [c'], [d], [d'], [d], [d'], [g], [h], [h'], [ th'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [p], [p'].
The sound [zh’], found in the speech of individuals in the words yeast, reins and some others, is also voiced.
The following consonants are voiceless: [ k], [k'], [p], [p'], [s], [s'], [t], [t'], [f], [f'], [x], [x '] [ts], [h'], [w], [w'].
To remember which consonants are unvoiced, there is a mnemonic rule (rule for memorization): in the phrase “Styopka, do you want a shetz?” - “Fi!” contains all voiceless consonants.
There are 11 pairs of consonants contrasted in deafness / voicedness: [b] - [p], [b'] - [p'], [v] - [f], [v'] - [f'], [g] - [k], [g'] - [k'], [d] - [t], [d'] - [t'], [z] - [s], [z'] - [s'], [g] – [w]. The listed sounds are, respectively, either voiced pairs or voiceless pairs.
The remaining consonants are characterized as unpaired. Voiced unpaired ones include [й'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [р], [р'], and unpaired unpaired sounds include sounds [x], [x'], [ts], [h'], [w'].
But the appearance of a dull or voiced sound can be predetermined by its position in the word. Such deafness/voiceness turns out to be dependent, “forced,” and the positions in which this occurs are considered weak in deafness/voiceness.
Voiced pairs are deafened (or rather, changed to voiceless)
1) at the absolute end of the word: pond [rod];
2) in front of the deaf: booth [booth].
Voiceless paired consonants standing before voiced ones, except [v], [v'], [th'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [р], [р'], are voiced, that is, they change to voiced: threshing [malad'ba].
Target: to develop the ability to check words with paired consonants at the root.
Lesson type: consolidation of learned material
Tasks:
- learn to find spelling patterns in words;
- develop the ability to designate with a letter a consonant sound paired in deafness/voice,
- generalize knowledge about methods of selecting test words.
Planned results:
1. Subject:
- find spelling patterns in words;
- select words to check paired deafness/voicedness of a consonant sound;
- form words with the same root and antonyms with the letter of the paired consonant
- understand and accept the learning task, solve it under the guidance of the teacher;
- plan your actions;
- conduct self-checks and mutual checks;
3. Communication:
- be able to work with partners;
- be able to correctly formulate your thoughts and pose questions;
4. Personal:
- be able to evaluate your own work and the work of a friend;
- be able to find the reason for the success of the work.
During the classes
1. Organizational moment.
The cheerful bell rang.
We are ready to start the lesson.
Is everyone ready? All is ready?
Let's listen, talk,
And help each other.
2. Motivation for cognitive activity.
Let's start our work in printed notebooks. Open p.59 exercise 149.
Let's read the task. (Read. Work in pairs: discuss what spellings are in each word. Underline the spellings.)
How will we work? (In pairs). Remember the rules for working in pairs.
Let's check. (Children read the words, name the spelling patterns they have learned and how to check them)
3. Updating the necessary knowledge.
Why are the letters highlighted in words? (You need to remember them)
Why do we remember the spelling of words? (Difficult to check spelling)
Which letters of the consonant sounds of the root words require testing in writing? (Unstressed vowels and paired consonants according to voicedness/voicelessness)
What verification methods do you know?
What helps us in choosing the correct spelling of a letter? (Memo.).
Why did we repeat the studied spellings?
Who will formulate the topic of our lesson? (On the interactive board we open the topic of the lesson (curtain))
4. Organization of cognitive activity.
Open the workbooks. Write down the number, great job. (Write on the board)
Let's read the task for the exercise. 216 on page 114
Let's read the words of group 1. (Student reads)
What part of speech are these words? (adjective)
Let's change the form of the words so that at the end of these words there is a paired consonant sound in terms of deafness / voicedness. (Good is good, fresh is fresh, weak is weak, happy is happy, rude is rude, cowardly is cowardly, young is young, truthful is truthful)
What kind of pairs of words did you get? (Test and test word)
Determine whether the pair of the word being tested and the test word are the same root or are they forms of one word? (word form)
What question does the test word answer? (Which?)
What question does the word being tested answer? (What?)
Write down this group of words, highlighting the spelling.
Record the following groups yourself.
Children complete the task.
Let's check.
What part of speech are the words of group 2? (Verbs)
What pairs of words did you get? (I'll save - I'll save, I'll take - I'll take, I'll take - I'll take, I'll freeze - I'll freeze, I'll lie in wait - I'll lie in wait) Gradually, a note appears on the board.
What part of speech are the words of group 3? (Using a noun)
What words did you write down? (Berries - many berries, tears - many tears, books - many books, puddles - many puddles, magpies - many magpies, ditches - many ditches, wheels - many wheels, cows - many cows, fish - many fish). Gradually a note appears on the board.
Read the task for exercise 217. (Read independently)
What title can be chosen for the poem?
Write by choosing the desired letter from the brackets.
What will help us in choosing the right letter from brackets? (Memo) Appears on the board.
Let's check. (There is a poem on the interactive board, children insert letters to explain her choice) Evaluate how you did your work. Add a smiley face. (Children draw a smiley face in the margin.)
The next task is written on the board. In each phrase, replace the adjective with an antonym. We work independently.
What phrases did you write down? (Children read)
4. Diagnostics of achievements of planned results.
Let's complete the next task in pairs. Write down 5 words with paired voiceless/voiced consonants at the end of the word and before the consonant.
Swap notebooks. Peer review.
5. Lesson summary.
What are the similarities and differences in the methods of checking the letter designation of unstressed vowels and paired deafness/voiced consonant sounds?
And now “Test yourself” in printed notebooks p. 59 No. 149. We work in pairs.
How to check the spelling of words with unverifiable vowels and consonants at the root? (In the spelling dictionary)
How do you evaluate the success of completing assignments in class?
6. Homework. In the printed notebook, the assignment is 150 p.60.
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. This is 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 your Russian language lesson, you can tell schoolchildren a funny episode from your 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 the 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 “literate” 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. Particular attention should be paid to designing 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 of 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 - fly);
- ts - ch - 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 referred to as the appearance of the “l” sound in verbs, which in this case has the 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.