The concept of phonetics in the Russian language. Voicing of consonants: examples. Russian phonetics

  (from the Greek Phone   - sound) studies the sounds of speech and everything connected with them (compatibility, education, change, etc.). Accordingly, the object of phonetics is sound. Sounds themselves do not matter, but they constitute the material envelope of the word.

The letter sounds are transmitted in letters. A letter is a conventional sign that serves to indicate speech sounds in a letter. The ratio of letters and sounds in not the same: for example, 10 letters of the Russian alphabet denote vowels (6), and 21 letters - consonants (36 + 1), moreover, letters and sounds do not mean at all. For example, festive   - 11 letters and 10 sounds [right "n" ich "ny"], her- 2 letters and 4 sounds [st "i" o´], etc.

The phonetics of the Russian language is distinguished by an abundance of sound classifications: deaf / voiced, hard / soft, percussion / unstressed, paired / unpairedand others. But among these "rules" there are exceptions: for example, unpaired firm([W], [W], [W]) and unpaired soft   ([h "], [w"], [j]), unpaired voiced (sonorous)   ([l], [l "], [m], [m"], [n], [n "], [p], [p"], [j]) and unpaired deaf   ([х], [х "], [ц], [ч], [щ]). They need to be remembered so that the meeting with them does not seem like a sad and unpleasant incident. Yes, remembering all the classifications is rather difficult, therefore you should resort to help fantasies: for example, " L im he - r ay   - all the sound of the Russian language, " Stepk a, x och shch ets? - F and!"- all deaf and others.

We speak in many ways intuitively, therefore, when pronouncing words, we do not think about the sounds that we pronounce, and about the processes that occur with sounds. Let us recall, for example, the simplest phonetic processes — stunning, voicing and assimilating in softness. See how the same letter - depending on the conditions of the utterance - turns into different sounds: withamy – [witha'my "", withto go – [c "id "e´t"], withto sew– [shto shyt] with   a friend – [s   friend'm] about is smilingba   - [about ' s "ba] and others

Often, ignorance of the phonetics of the Russian language leads to errors in speech. Of course, first of all it concerns the trap type words meter   (unit) and maitre   (prominent person) and words to remember the type shi [ n "uh] or. In addition, rather simple words, with their ease of pronunciation, often create problems for transcription: spring- [in isna], clock   - [h "isa"] and others. Let's not forget also that e, y, y, i, and   (in some cases) give two sounds under certain conditions.

In other words, knowledge of Russian phonetics and the ability to use its mechanisms is not only an indicator of the level of education and human culture, but also very useful knowledge that will be useful in school and can be useful in extracurricular life.

Successes in studying Russian phonetics!

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Once upon a time, in the Russian language classes at school, in elementary grades, we all diligently articulated under the watchful guidance of a teacher: round or squeeze lips, put a tongue to the sky or pushed their teeth ... We learned various sounds. And then they explained to us other rules from the section of phonetics. We grew up, the rules were forgotten. Who remembers examples of consonants voicing now and how does it even occur?

What is phonetics

The word "phonetics" comes from the Greek "sound". This is the name of one of the sections of the language that studies sounds, their structure, as well as intonation, stress and syllables. It is important to distinguish sounds from letters - first there are more than a hundred, second in the Russian alphabet, as we know, thirty-three. The study of phonetics includes two sides: articulatory (ways of making sounds) and acoustic (physical characteristics of each sound).

Phonetics sections

Discipline consists of five parts:

1. Phonetics - studies, as already mentioned, the sounds themselves and their signs.
2. Phonology - explores phonemes. The phoneme is called the minimum sound unit, which allows to distinguish one word from another (for example, in the words “meadow” and “bow”, the phonemes “r” and “k” help to understand the difference between them).
3. Orthoepy - studies pronunciation, including the norms of correct literary pronunciation.
4. Graphics - explores the ratio of letters and sounds.
5. Spelling - spelling learning.

Basic concepts of Russian phonetics

The most important thing in this discipline is sounds. They have no meaning (as opposed to whole words), but they help to distinguish different words and forms of the word from one another: sang-drank, house-at-home-and so on. On paper, to refer to sounds used is called transcription.

Sounds are first ten only, they are easier to pronounce than consonants: the air quietly penetrates through the mouth. Vowels can be stretched, shouted, chanted. When artists sing, they just pull these sounds. It depends on their number, how many syllables in a word. And there are words consisting solely of vowels (for example, unions or prepositions).

Consonants - 21, when they are pronounced the air encounters an obstacle: either in the form of a slit or in the form of closure. These are two ways to form consonants. The gap is obtained when the tongue approaches the teeth. Thus, the sounds of “s”, “z”, “g”, “sh” are pronounced. These are noisy sounds, they emit a hiss or whistle. The second way is when lips close. Such sounds do not stretch, they are sharp, short. These are “p”, “b”, “g”, “k” and others. But they are very much felt.

As well as in hardness and softness, consonants can be paired for voicing and deafness. To distinguish them is simple: the voiced are pronounced loudly, the deaf - deafly. These are such couples as “b” - sonorous, and “p” - deaf; "D" - ringing, and "t" - deaf. There are six such combinations in total. There are, in addition, five consonants that have no pair. They always remain voiced. These are “l”, “m”, “n”, “p” and “d”.

Developing in various words, making phrases, sounds acquire many properties. Such, for example, as voicing and stunning consonants. How does it happen?

Voicing consonants: examples

Five of the above letters (s, l, m, n, p) do not possess this property. It is very important to remember this! The voicing of a consonant sound can occur only if the sound is paired.

A deaf consonant can become voiced in pairs in some cases. The main condition is that it should be immediately before the sonorous sound (just before, not after!).

So, the voicing of a deaf consonant happens at the junction of morphemes. A morpheme is a part of a word (there is a root, a prefix, a suffix, an ending; there are more postfixes and prefixes, but they are not so important). Thus, at the junction of the prefix and the root or root and suffix, a voicing process is possible. Between the suffix and the ending of this does not happen, because the ending, as a rule, consists of vowel sounds. The examples of consonants in this case are the following: a deal (“c” is a prefix, a dull sound, the root of the cases begins with a ringing “d”, so assimilation occurs, that is, assimilation. Aloud we pronounce this word as “piecework”) (the root “braid” ends with a deaf sound “c” - the soft sign is not taken into account, a loud suffix “b” stands behind it - assimilation occurs again, and the word is pronounced like “goat”) and so on.

Words with the voicing of consonants are also found at the junction of an independent word and particle (particles are service words: well, not, not, whether, and so on). At least (pronounced out loud "walk"), as if (pronounced "kagby") and other combinations - these are all cases of voicing.

Finally, examples of consonant voicing can be situations where the necessary sounds are at the junction of an independent word and a preposition (the preposition is the service part of speech, helps to link words into sentences: in, to, when, under, to, and others): to the bath (utter “Gbane”), from the house (we say “oddom”), and so on.

Stunning consonants: examples

As in the case of voicing, stunning occurs only when there are paired sounds. In such a situation, the voiced consonant should stand in front of the deaf.

Usually this happens in the final word, if it ends in a consonant: bread (bread, honey), bring a lot of chairs (chair) and so on. Also, stunning occurs if in the middle of a word (as a rule, it is a combination of a root and a suffix), the combination “sonorous plus deaf” occurs. For example: stew (“bread” - root, ends with a ringing “b”, “k” - deaf suffix, at the output we say the word “chop”), fairy tale (root “kaz” ends with a ringing “z”, “k” - a deaf suffix, in sum we get "skaska").

The third option is when there is a stunning consonant sound - also at the junction of the word and the preposition: under the ceiling (pottopolkom), above you (nattoboy) and others. This property of the Russian language is especially hard for schoolchildren, who act according to the method of "both hearing and writing".

What about the others?

The most common language in the world - English - has its own peculiarities in phonetics, like any other language. The following distinguishes the British from Russian phonetics:

1. In Russia, vowels are not divided into long and short ones, but in England they are divided.
2. Consonants in English are always pronounced firmly, and in Russian they can be softened.
3. English consonants are never stunned, because it can change the meaning of the whole word.

It does not matter if you are a schoolchild or an adult, but if you live in Russia, you should be able to correctly express your thoughts and know the peculiarities of the native language. After all, our language is our wealth!

Each of us came across the word “phonetics” at school when I studied Russian. This section in Russian is very important, as, indeed, all the others. Knowledge of phonetics will allow you to correctly pronounce the sounds in words, so that your speech is beautiful and correct.

Phonetics definition

So, let's start our conversation by saying what phonetics is. Phonetics is part of the science of language, which studies the sounds that are part of words. Phonetics has a connection with such sections of the Russian language as spelling, culture of speech, as well as word formation and many others.

Sounds in phonetics are considered as elements of the entire language system, with the help of which words and sentences are embodied in a sound form. After all, only with the help of sounds, people can communicate, exchange information and express their emotions.

Phonetics are divided into private and general. Private in another way is called the phonetics of individual languages. It is divided into descriptive phonetics, which describes the sound structure of a particular language (for example, the phonetics of the Russian language) and historical phonetics, which studies how sounds change over time. General phonetics deals with the study of the basic conditions of sound formation, the compilation of a classification of sounds (consonants and vowels), and the study of patterns of combinations of various sounds.

And now it is time to talk about the phonetics of the Russian language. The phonetics of the Russian language consists of several levels of the formation of oral speech. Namely:

• Sounds, a variety of sounds, the pronunciation of sounds.
• Syllables, combinations of sounds.
• Stress
• Intonation, speech in general and pause.

Note that the Russian language includes 37 consonants and 12 vowels. Sounds form syllables. Each syllable necessarily has one vowel sound (for example, molo-loo-ko). Accent is the pronunciation of a certain syllable in a word with greater duration and power. And intonation is a speech element, which is expressed in a change in pitch. Under the pause means stopping voice.

Thus, we now know what phonetics is, the definition of this concept will summarize this article. Phonetics is a branch of the science of linguistics, which studies the sound side of a language, namely, sound combinations and syllables, as well as patterns of combining sounds into a chain.

Phonetics is a section of linguistics, which studies the sound side of the language, i.e. ways of forming and changing sounds in speech, as well as their acoustic properties.

H wook as a unit of language.

Sound is the minimum non-segmented unit of speech, which is the result of human articulation activity.

Sounds of vowels and consonants.

All sounds in Russian are divided into vowels and consonants. The vowel sounds (6 pcs.) Are the sounds of speech, during the formation of which the air stream passes freely through the vocal cords, they consist mainly of the voice tone with the complete absence of noise.

Table 1.

Rise	Front	Average	Rear
rows
Upper
Average
Lower

Note:   lifting the language to the sky is a way of education, a row is the place of education (the place of lifting the language).

Depending on whether an accent falls on a vowel in a word or not, all vowel sounds are divided into percussive (characterized by full pronunciation) and unstressed (reduced) sounds.

The consonant sounds (37 pcs.) Are the sounds of speech, when pronounced which the air stream encounters various obstacles, they consist of noise or of voice and noise.

From how voice and noise are involved in the formation of consonants, consonants are divided into:

- sonorous   (formed using voice and minor noise): [m], [n], [l], [p], [m "], [n"), [l "], [p], [j];

Noisy, which, in turn, are divided into voiced (formed by noise using voice): [b], [c], [d] [d] [g] [c] [b "] [c"] [g "] [ e "] [g"]; and deaf (formed only with the help of noise): [n], [f], [k], [t], [br], [s], [x], [q], [h "], [n"], [f "], [k"], [x "]. [t "], [s"].

Consonants are divided into hard ([b], [n], [v], [f], [d], [t], [s], [s], [p], [g], [br], [g], [k], [x], [m], [l], [n], [p]) and soft ([b "], [n"], [c "], [f"] , [d "], [t"], [s "], [s"], [g "] ,,, [m"] [l "], [n"], [p "]).

Consonant sounds can be between each other pairs of DEAF-CALL ([b] - [p], - [p "], [c] - [f], [c"] - [f "], [d] - [t ], [d "] - [t"], [з] - [с], [з "] - [с"], [ж] - [ш], [г] - [к], [г "] - [к "]) and on HARDNESS-SOFTNESS ([б] - [б"], [п] - [п "]. [В] - [В"], [ф] - [ф "], [Д ] - [Д "], [t] - [t"], [з] - [з "], [с] -, [г] - [г"], [м] - [м "], [л ] - [l "], [n] - [n"], [p] - [p "]).

Some consonants are not included in these pairs, they are called unpaired: voiced [l], [l "], [m], [m"], [n], [n "], [p], [p"] ,, deaf sounds [x], [ts], [h "], hard sounds [g], [w], [ts] and soft [h"], [u "),.

Because of its sound, the sounds [f], [w], [h] are called sizzling, and [3], [s] - whistling. The sounds of [q] and [h] are called affrications. as they are a fusion of sounds: [ts] and [tsh].

Strong and weak positions of sounds.

In speech, all sounds are either in a strong (pronounced more clearly) or in a weak position. Strong for vowel sounds is the shock position, and unstressed - weak (cf. before? M - at home?). For consonants, the position before the vowels [a], [o], [y], [and], [s], (mushrooms) is strong, and the weak owl at the end (the mushroom is [flu], the position before voiced and deaf consonants, in which paired for deafness-voiced consonants do not differ (passage [passage]).

  7. syllable- This is the minimum unit of speech flow, it is created by a single breathing impulse. It consists of either a single vowel or a combination of a vowel and a consonant. Depending on the end of the syllables, they are divided into open (end in a vowel sound: mo-lo-ko) and closed (end in a consonant sound Mur-zik).

  8. Verbal stress   - this is a stronger pronunciation of one syllable in a word, which serves to phonetically combine this word.

In Russian, the stress depends on the force of exhalation, therefore it is forceful and dynamic. In Russian there is no fixed fixed place of stress, it can fall on any syllable (different place stress): ma "ma, soba" ka. Russian word stress is also mobile, because when you move a word from one form to another, the place of stress in the word may also change: the wall "are steven".

If a word is polysyllabic (consists of several bases), then it can have several accents, while one of them is the main one, and the others are secondary: ki "nokarti" "on.

Service words and particles usually do not have stress and are adjacent to independent words (front are proclitics, rear are enclitics): under two “snoopes.

Sometimes stress can perform a meaningful function, for example, for "mock-zamo" k.

  9. Intonation- this is the unity of interrelated components: melody, intensity, duration, tempo, timbre and pauses. Intonation in the statement performs certain functions:

• distinguishes between communicative types of utterance: impulse, exclamation, question, implication, narration;
• draws up a statement into a single whole, highlights its parts in accordance with their importance;
• expresses candy emotions;
• conveys the subtext of statements;
• characterizes the speaker.

Ministry of Middle and Professional

of education

abstract

  Phonetics

1.   The use of phonetics …………………………………………………………………… 3

2.    The concept of phonetics ……………………………………………………………………… ... 5

3.    Phrase …………………………………………………………………………………. 5

4.   Phoneme …………………………………………………………………………………… .. 6

5.   Story ………………………………………………………………………………. 6

6.   Playback sounds ……………………………………………………………… ... 10

7.   Sounds …………………………………………………………………………………… ... 10

8.    Consonants …………………………………………………………………………… ........ 13

9.   Vowels …………………………………………………………………………………… 17

10.    Phonetic transcription …………………………………………………………… 17

11.   The syllable ……………………………………………………………………………… .... 17

12.   Emphasis ………………………………………………………………………………… 18

13.   The alternation of sounds ………………………………………………………… .. …… 20

14.   We speak correctly ……………………………………………………………………… 20

15.   The harmoniousness of the Russian language …………………………………………………… 21

16.   Spring language .................................................................................... 22

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………. 24

1. The use of phonetics

We live in a world of sounds. Waking up in the morning, we hear the ticking of the clock, the splashing of water in the sink, the puffing of the kettle on the stove. We leave the house - we are surrounded by the voices of the street: the chirping of sparrows, the sound of wind, the rustling of tires on the asphalt, the sound of trams. But behind you, the voice of a passerby rang out: “Tell me, please, what time is it?” You looked at the clock and answered. How did you catch those who gave you certain information from the stream of sounds? How do they (the sounds of speech) differ from others?

Everything in the language: parts of words, words, phrases, sentences - has a sound expression. It is not by chance that in school language learning begins with the fact that children are introduced to sounds and letters.

The sound side of speech is studying phonetics. She enters the school language course.

Is it possible to do without speech sounds when communicating? Probably, someone will answer this question in the affirmative and call gestures and facial expressions used in the process of communication; Perhaps, someone will remember about various signals (for example, about light signals, which a traffic light gives), about the language of whistles or even about the oriental “language of flowers”.

In addition to the language of words, there are other means of communication, but they are all very limited in their capabilities. Try, for example, with their help to convey the content of at least one phrase from the novel by K. Paustovsky "Meshcherskaya Side": A moth, resembling a lump of gray raw silk, sits on an open book and leaves the finest shiny dust on the page. Nothing will come out of this attempt. A sound speech makes it possible to express all the diversity of our thoughts and feelings.

In order to quickly and easily understand each other, we must correctly say: there are norms, rules of pronunciation that take into account the laws of the sound side of the language. Obviously, the conclusion is clear: one cannot do without speech sounds in communication.

The Russian language copes well with the duty to be a means of communication: it is inexhaustible rich. Have you thought about the manifestation of the richness of our language? If you answer that it is in the richness of the dictionary, in the refinement of synonymous means, in the variety of syntactic constructions, then you will be right. However, do not forget about the sound side of speech. The beauty and harmony of the Russian language are connected, for example, with the alternation of voiced and deaf consonants, with the fact that there are also soft ones that are especially pleasing to the ear. Vowels in our speech are also very active: although there are only six of them, they always accompany the consonants, usually avoiding their large concatenation.

The melodiousness of the Russian language was noted by many writers. K. Paustovsky in the "Book of wandering" says:

... In Arles, on De Liss Boulevard in the evening empty cafe, we were once more convinced by the middle-aged waiter, a “garleson” of our language, a typical Arlesian with mocking eyes.

For a long time he respectfully stood not far from our table, listened to the conversation, then came up and asked what language we speak.

And why do you ask this? - we asked in turn garrison.

Some, he answered, an unusually beautiful language ...

Language is needed everywhere: in everyday communication, in production, and in science. In the modern era of the scientific and technological revolution, automation is being widely introduced into production, robotics is developing, the issues of controlling technology with the help of speech commands are being addressed.

In the book of L.R. Zinder "common phonetics" produced interesting reflections on the communication of man with the machine. A person gives a command to the machine in the form of speech signals and even teaches it to perceive ordinary speech: the machine must recognize speech sounds, “know” about the possibilities of their compatibility and interchangeability. "Teach" this machine without resorting to phonetics is impossible. Consequently, phonetics is most directly related to scientific and technological revolution.

Phonetics are necessary for speech therapists: they teach children how to pronounce the sounds correctly. Many children for a long time can not pronounce [p] and [w], replace them with other sounds. To teach a child to utter a difficult sound for him, one must know how this sound is produced (how the pronunciation apparatus works. Only on the basis of phonetic knowledge can one teach the deaf speech of deaf-mute children (after all, they do not hear others and therefore do not speak); to understand the speech of the interlocutor of deaf-and-dumb children are taught by the movement of the lips.

Let us consider the question of how the oral side of our speech relates to the written one. The school studies spelling, which primarily shows how the sound composition of meaningful parts of words (roots, prefixes, suffixes, endings) is reflected with the help of letters. Why, for example, in the word mountain we write the letter o, although we hear a sound close to [a]? Why in the word oak write the letter b, although we hear the sound [p]? Any schoolchild will answer these “why”, if only he taught the rules of spelling. And in the spelling need phonetics!

Phonetic awareness is needed when creating writing for unwritten peoples. In our country in the 20-30 years began the creation of more than fifty alphabets. And the first stage of this work was connected with phonetics: it was necessary to hear all the typical meaning-discernment sounds typical for a given language, to choose a graphic image (letters) for them, to make an alphabet, to make out spelling rules, etc.

Do I need phonetics in cinematography? We answer again in the affirmative.

Who is aat? This is the author of the on-screen text. In dubbed, for example, foreign films, Russian speech sounds; French, German, Polish and other foreign artists actually speak their own language, and for the convenience of the audience, Russian stunt artists pronounce the text in Russian. Aeta’s task is to translate the text so that it is not only accurate in content, in emotional and stylistic coloring, but also phonetically similar to the original source. Phrases (foreign language and Russian) should coincide in length, the sounds should be similar in articulation (that is, in the movement of the pronunciation organs, first of all the lips). For example, one of the heroes of the German film pronounces the verb fallen (falen), which in the dictionary translates as "collapse" and "fall." Which of these synonyms for phonetic features is more suitable for a doubler? We argue: the verb fallen has two syllables, the verb has three to collapse (the word is longer than one German by one syllable). In addition, the German verb begins with a lip (lip-tooth) consonant [f] - on the screen you will see the convergence of the lips (more precisely, touching the upper teeth to the lower lip); the initial sound [p] in Russian is not a lingual, but a lingual verb. This means that the verb crumble for screen text will not work. The second synonym (to fall) is more convenient for such a translation: it has two verbs and the initial sound is also labial, and the stressed vowel (in the first syllable) is the same - [a].

This is how aet argues, and for such conclusions, you see, you need a solid meaning of phonetics.

Now it is clear that knowledge of phonetics is used in many areas of our life.

2. The concept of phonetics

F o ne t i k aa (Greek phonē - sound). –   This is the section of the science of language that studies its sound structure. Phonetics studies sounds, phonemes, syllables, stress and intonation. When studying phonetics, both the acoustic aspect is taken into account (after all, the sound of speech, like any other sound, has its own physical characteristics) and articulation (focusing on the ways in which speech sounds are formed).

Without speaking and listening to the sounds that make up the sound envelope of words, verbal communication is impossible. On the other hand, for speech communication, it is extremely important to distinguish the spoken word among others that are similar in sound. Therefore, in the phonetic system of the language, means are needed to convey and distinguish meaningful speech units — words, their forms, phrases and sentences.

Phonetic means of the Russian language with a demarcation function include sounds, stress (verbal and phrasal) and intonation, often acting together or in combination.

Speech sounds have a different quality and therefore serve in the language as a means for distinguishing words. Often, words differ by just one sound, the presence of an extra sound compared to another word, the order of sounds (cf. daw - pebbles, battle - howl, mouth - mole, nose - sleep).

Word stress distinguishes between words and forms of words that are identical in sound composition (cf. clubs — clubs, holes — holes, hands — hands).

Phrase stress distinguishes sentences by value with the same composition and word order (cf.: Snow goes and Snow goes).

Intonation distinguishes sentences with the same composition of words (with the same place of phrasal stress) (cf.: Does snow melt and does Snow melt?).

Sounds and word stress as the delimiters of significant elements of speech (words and their forms) are associated with vocabulary and morphology, and phrasal stress and intonation are associated with syntax.

From the side of rhythmic intonation, our speech represents a speech flow, or a chain of sounds. This chain is divided into links, or phonetic units of speech: phrases, bars, phonetic words, syllables and sounds.

3. Phrase

The phrase is the largest phonetic unit, a complete sentence, combined with a special intonation and separated by a pause from other phrases.

The phrase is a complete statement, combined with a special intonation. If you said to a friend: “Let's go to the skating rink tomorrow morning,” you said the phrase. The thought expressed by you is quite understandable and intonationally framed: by the middle of the phrase your voice has risen, and by the end it has gone down, and where the rise in tone has ended, you have paused.

A pause divided the phrases into speech cycles, which in turn consist of phonetic words. A phonetic word often corresponds to “ordinary”, but it can also include two “ordinary” words, if one of them is not stressed. It means that there are as many phonetic words in speech tact as there are accents. In the phrase you uttered, there are five “ordinary” words and only four phonetic words, because the preposition does not have its accent and is pronounced together with the noun rink.

Speech tact (or syntagma) most often consists of several words united by one stress.

The speech beat is divided into phonetic words, i.e. independent words along with unaccented utility words and particles adjacent to them.

Words are divided into phonetic units proper - syllables, and the last - into sounds.

4. Phoneme

The smallest unit of language is f about nema. This unit is represented in speech by a number of positionally alternating sounds due to phonetic positions, and serves to identify and distinguish morphemes and words.

There are 5 vowels and 36 consonant phonemes in Russian.

Vowel phonemes are characterized by degree reductions   (quantitative and qualitative change depending on the stress).

Each phonetic word consists of syllables, and a syllable of sounds: one (if it is a vowel), two or several (but certainly one of them will be a vowel).

Articulation characteristic of vowel sounds    It is based on three main features: lip involvement (labialization), the degree of elevation of the tongue in relation to the sky, the degree of advancement of the tongue forward or backward.

Consonant phonemes are characterized by hardness / softness and voicing / deafness. Allocate paired: hard / soft and deaf / voiced consonants. A pair on this basis refers to two linguistic units that differ only in this attribute.

5. History

At the first glance, many phenomena in modern language seem mysterious and defy explanation. At the root of the word with about   n stands fluent consonant [o]: sleep - d about   vision. The same thing happens in d e   ny: day - day e   vnoe. Why and where do vowels “run away”? Have x   oh but u sh   and but g   a - but well   ka ru to   a - ru h   ka What makes one consonant change to another? There are other alternations: time me    - time meni   and me    - and meni   , with hate    - with nyma   m ay    - m not   , on to chat    - on whine   . It is quite strange here: the vowel changes to a consonant, and one sound changes to the other two.

The answer must be sought in the history of the language. Monuments of writing indicate, for example, that modern cursory vowels are reflections, reflexes (from the Latin reflexus - “reverse movement”, “turn”) of the special vowel sounds of an ancient language that have not survived in modern. The history of the sounds of language is studied by historical phonetics.

In the Proto-Slavic language, the ancestor of ancient and modern, there were 11 vowel phonemes. In addition to common with modern Russian a, e, o, u, and, s   (the last two vowels in the modern language form one phoneme, and in Proto-Slavic and Early Old Russian, these were still two different phonemes) existed: two nasal vowels (nasal e    and about), two reduced ( ъ    "Er" and s    “Yer”), the vowel “yat”.

Imagine how the nasal vowels were pronounced in the Proto-Slavic language, it is easy for anyone who knows French or Polish: there are also nasal vowels in these languages. They are pronounced, for example, in the French words temps– “time”, rien - “never”, montre– “watch”. Nasal vowels were also in Old Slavic. Cyril, composing the Slavic alphabet, introduced for their designation special letters - "yusy." In Cyrillic, there were two "usas": "usus is small," meaning nasal e   , and “us big”, denoting the nasal sound about .

The fate of nasal vowels in the Slavic languages ​​evolved differently. They disappeared very early in the dialects of the Eastern Slavs - even before the first written records appeared in the 11th century. But they are not lost without a trace: nasal e    moved to [a], softening the previous consonant, and nasal about    - in [y]. So, the sound [a] in the words mud, knead, wilt, reap and many others goes back to the pre-Slavic nasal e, and [y] in the words is wise, judgment, internal, I catch, sing and others go back to the pre-Slavic nasal o.

How do scientists know when the nasal vowels were lost? According to the oldest manuscripts written in Russia, it is clear that the scribes read the letter “Yus Maliy” as [a], and “Yus Big” as [y]. Later, in the 12th century, the letter “Yus big” goes out of use.

How nasal vowels were formed, we are told of alternations in the noun suffixes on –– time: time, time –– name –– name. These words have a suffix –––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Once in the Proto-Slavic language, the suffix had a single form: -men-. Then the open syllable law began to operate. According to this law, only syllables ending in a vowel, but not in a consonant, could be in a language. The law of the open syllable was also contradicted by the last syllables of the forms of the times, and-men. The combination of ene in these forms merged into one nasal vowel, and then all the syllables became open. Later, in the early Old Russian language, the nasal e turned into a, and we got our modern forms - time, name. And in the forms of the name, time there was no need to transform the combinations ––, since all the syllables in them were already open. In the formation of nasal vowels from the combinations "vowel + nasal consonant n, m" in the position before the consonant speak and alternation in the roots of the verbs: take - take, start - start, press - press, press - press, crucify - crucify (a, I'm here goes back to the nasal e).

The change (weakening) of vowel sounds in an unstressed position is called reduction, and unstressed vowels are called reduced vowels. A distinction is made between the position of unstressed vowels in the first pre-stressed syllable (weak first-degree position) and the position of unstressed vowels in the remaining unstressed syllables (weak second-degree position). Vowels in a weak position of the second degree are more reduced than vowels in a weak position of the first degree. In early Old Russian (and even earlier - in Slavonic) there were two ruduses (from Latin reductio - “return”, “moving back”), or super-short vowels They were designated by the letters "er" and "er". The reduced vowel “Ere”, apparently, was pronounced as sound, the middle between modern [and] and [e] (approximately as the first vowel in the word man), and the reduced “er” as sound, the average between [s] and [a ] (approximately as the first vowel in the word youth). Despite their brevity, the reduced were full vowels, in particular, they could form syllables.

Reduced vowels are often found in the words of the Old Russian language, as well as of the Old Slavonic and their common ancestor - Pra-Slav. The reduced differed from the other vowels as follows: their pronunciation (duration) depended on what followed the syllable with the reduced. It is customary to distinguish the so-called strong and weak positions of the reduced. In the Old Russian language, the weak (in which the reduced were pronounced with a shorter duration) were the positions: at the end of the word; before a syllable with any vowel, except reduced, and before a syllable with reduced in a strong position. Strong (reduced in them had a great duration) were positions: before a syllable with a reduced in a weak position and in combination with the sounds of p and l between consonants.

In the ancient era of the existence of Slavic languages ​​(when they already stood out from Proto-Slavic), the process of the fall of the reduced began. In weak positions, the reduced ones disappeared, in the strong they continued to be pronounced. Over time, they coincided in sound with the vowels already existing in the language. In the old Russian, the vowel ъ in a strong position coincided with o, and b - with e.

Heritage of the reduced in the modern Russian language - quick vowels. For example, in the Old Russian language the nominative form of the singular of the word dream contained two letters ъ: remove. The final one was in a weak position, the root one was strong. After the fall of the reduced, it turns out to be taken out, then sleep. And in the form of the genitive case of this word, the root ъ is in a weak position - it means that after the fall of the reduced it turns out to be a dream. So the alternation of the strong and the weak b and b was transformed into the alternation of the vowel (o, e, or u) with a zero of sound: fleeting vowels arose.

The fall of the reduced without exaggeration can be called the main event in the history of Slavic (including Russian) languages ​​of the post-Slavic time. Thanks to him, not only did the number of vowels in the language decrease, and fugitive vowels appeared. After the fall of the Old Russian-reduced language, the structure of the syllable changed: if before it all (or almost all) syllables were open, now a large number of closed syllables appeared. The system of consonants has also changed dramatically. This change was outlined before the fall of the reduced ones: the hard consonants became soft before the front vowels. However, the "new soft" were not yet full consonant phonemes, since their softness was determined by the fact that the front row vowel followed them. After the fall of the final reduced soft consonants were at the end of the word. Now their softness was no longer due to the front row of the next vowel (there was no vowel anymore: [Kost'i], [Sol'i], [Osm''] turned into [Kost '], [Sol'], [Osm ']). Therefore, after the fall of the reduced soft consonants, they became independent phonemes capable of distinguishing words: me [t] - me [t ’], me [l] - me [l’]. Hence, our modern system of consonants with pairs of hardness / softness was formed at the end of the 11th century.

The number of consonants in the Russian language after the fall of the reduced and the appearance of soft consonant phonemes, paired solid, has greatly increased. The number of vowels, on the contrary, has decreased, and not only because the reduced ones have been “deleted” from the system of sounds. The appearance of paired in terms of hardness / softness of consonant phonemes changed the vowel ratios and    and s   . Now they are united into one phoneme, becoming each other’s “deputy” in different phonetic positions: and    happens only at the beginning of a word and after a soft consonant, s    - only after solid. This is another feature of the modern Russian literary language, formed after the fall of reduced vowels.

Another loss was associated with the disappearance of the “yat” phoneme. In the old Russian spelling was the letter "yat", denoting the sound [e] of the Russian literary language. The letter “Yat” was traditionally written in many Russian words, in which it is found in the most ancient Slavic manuscripts. The spelling reform of 1918 eliminated “Yat” from the Russian alphabet as redundant: after all, the alphabet has the letter e, which also denotes the sound [e].

Meanwhile, in the old Russian language, the letter “yat” meant a special sound, different from [e]. It is believed that “yat” in the ancient Russian dialects was the sound of the upper-middle ascent [e] (as the first sound in the word) or diphthong (a combination of sounds) [i].

The reform that eliminated the letter “et” greatly eased the lives of schoolchildren: after all, there are only five vowel phonemes in the literary language, and now it was not necessary to learn by heart the list of words in which it is written “yat”. But it became worse for those who utter a special phoneme “Yat”: they have to send two different phonemes in one letter (as if Muscovites were offered such a rule of graphics: sounds [and], [e] transfer in one letter e).

If the number of vowels in the history of the Russian language decreased, the number of consonants, on the contrary, increased. This was due to the emergence of new soft consonant phonemes (this process began in the Proto-Slavic language).

Originally, there was only one soft consonant in Proto-Slavic language - j   . Then, even at a very early stage of the life of the Proto-Slavic, the laws of the compatibility of sounds changed: the back-lingual consonants k, z, x could no longer be combined with front vowels. Therefore, in all the words where there were combinations of the type Ki, gi, chi, the posterior-linguals softened and sizzled: c to h, g to f, x to sh. Linguists call this change the first transitional softening of the back lingual consonants (the first palatalization). So there were three soft consonant phonemes. We find their reflexes in the words wide, wife, pure, and also hour, miracle, sting (in the last three words the vowels of the front row after the sizzling ones were formed later from the vowels of the front row). After softening the back-tongues, alternating back-consonant consonants with hissing appeared in the language: I can, you can, bake - bake, hand - ruchenka - handle, ravine - ravine, dry - dry. These alternations permeate the entire system of consonants of modern Slavic languages.

Alternations in the words father-fatherland, cucumber — cucumber, prince — princely are associated with the first transitional softening.

Some time after the first transitional softening of the back lingual consonants, new front vowels “Yat” and and   formed from diphthongs. Again, combinations of back-lingual consonants with front vowels arose, and the language still sought to get rid of them. Rear lingual before "yat" and and    softened, but passed no longer into hissing, but into whistling sounds: к в ц, г в з, and х в с. This change is called the second transitional mitigation of the back lingual consonants (the second palatalization). We see his results in the words gray, gray, whole, price, pupil, king, and others. Thus, three more soft consonant phonemes appeared.

The third transitional mitigation of the rear lingual consonants (the third palatalization) gave the same results in the Proto-Slavic dialects as the second. However, the positions in which it took place were different: the back lingual consonant was softened under the influence of the front row vowels preceding it and the combination lp-. The results of the third mitigation of the rear-born ones are found in Russian words, ladder, face, sheep, father, month, hare, twinkle; use, it is impossible, prince, paths; whole (pronoun).

In the language of ancient Novgorod, which was formed on the basis of tribal dialects, is not a word, the second transitional easing did not occur. These dialects in the era of the formation of new "yat" and and    “Had nothing simpler” combinations of back-lingual consonants with vowels of the front row.

In the old Russian language, combinations of the type Ki, gi, chi were no longer forbidden. In the 14th century, in most dialects, the old combinations of ky, gee, hy transform into ki, gi, hi. This rule of compatibility sounds persists today. In the modern language, combinations of ky, gy, chy are found in borrowings such as Kyrgyzstan, as well as at the junction of morphemes.

Soft consonants were formed in the late Proto-Slavic language and as a result of the merging of hard consonants with the subsequent j   At the same time, new soft phonemes have appeared.<н>,<л>,<р>   from combinations nj, lj, pj; combinations of hard tooth consonants with j   also turned into soft (hissing) sounds, but they were all in the language before. These phonetic changes led to the appearance of such alternations: knitting - knitting, writing - writing, searching - searching, searching for light - a candle, catching - catching, yelling - yelling, crying - crying. Merging consonants followed j   completed the formation of soft consonants in the late Slavic period.

The further history of soft consonants that have arisen in the Proto-Slavic language is the history of the hardening of hissing and c. The rules of Russian graphics remind of their former softness.

6. Playing Sounds

So that man could see, nature gave him eyes, so that he could hear — ears to move — legs, etc. But we don’t have any organs specifically designed for producing sounds: all those parts of the body with the help of which we speak do this work "in combination".

As a phenomenon of nature, speech sounds are no different from any other sounds. All of them arise as a result of the oscillation of a body: the strings of a musical instrument, the roof under the streams of rain, the vocal cords of a person, etc. The oscillating body forms elastic waves that are transmitted through the environment and reach our ear.

In order for the vocal cords to oscillate and produce sound, an air jet is first necessary. Man creates it, exhaling air from the lungs. First, the air flow enters the respiratory throat - the trachea, and then into the larynx. In the larynx between the cartilages, the vocal cords are stretched - muscular films running across the larynx, they can be relaxed (as during normal breathing), and can be strained and shifted. In the latter case, a stream of air, making its way into the narrow gap between the ligaments, makes them tremble. As a result of this oscillation, a voice is formed - just like the sound from a guitar string.

After passing the larynx, the stream of air enters the pharynx, which passes into two cavities - oral and nasal. These cavities play the role of resonators in the formation of speech sounds. They are separated by heaven; it is hard in the front and soft in the back and ends in a small tongue. The soft palate together with the small tongue is called the palatine curtain. If it is raised, the air goes through the mouth. And if lowered and closes the entrance to the oral cavity, the air comes out through the nose.

The oral cavity can change its shape and volume due to movements of the tongue, lips and lower jaw. This changes the nature of the sound, just as different resonators produce different sounds. The nasal cavity can not change the volume and shape. Only after passing through the mouth or nasal cavity, the sound gets the final color, acquires a characteristic timbre, peculiar to this sound and distinguishing it from any other. The organs by which a person speaks, together form a speech apparatus. The movements and positions of the organs of speech necessary to pronounce the sound are called articulation (from the Latin. Artikulare - “articulate articulately”).

In order to form a perfect, practical pronunciation apparatus in humans, it took thousands of years! After all, even highly developed animals have lungs, tongue, lips, teeth, but only man adapted them to produce speech, to form language as a means of human communication.

F. Engels in his work “The Role of Labor in the Process of Transformation of a Monkey into a Man” showed that in the process of collective labor, the human ancestors had “the need to say something to each other”; this need led emerging people to search for a means of communication: the vocal apparatus became the vocal apparatus, which for a long period was improved in the course of its work.

7. Sounds

Only using the letters of the Russian alphabet can not accurately reflect the pronunciation: the sounds in the language more than the letters in the alphabet. Therefore, the transcription uses special characters or letters from other alphabets. The recording of oral speech in full accordance with its sound cannot be made by ordinary spelling. When spelling, there is no complete correspondence between sounds and letters, there are no signs in the graphics necessary to record all the sounds of oral speech.

How many sounds are in Russian? The answer depends on how accurately you count. If several people utter the same word, the sounds will be albeit similar, but still a little different, since each person has his own individual peculiarities of speech. Every time a person says the same word differently: sometimes a little faster, sometimes slower, sometimes quieter, sometimes louder, etc. Each sound is different from any other. These are sounds of speech, i.e. specific sounds uttered by a specific person in a particular situation.

The shortest, minimal, non-segmented sound unit, which is distinguished by the successive sound division of the word, is called the sound of speech. The traditional classification of speech sounds is their division into vowels and consonants.

What are the sounds made of? This question cannot be answered, because speech sounds are no longer divisible, that is, the shortest unit in the audio stream of speech.

There are many sounds of speech, and they are characterized from different positions. They can be studied by physics along with many other sounds, musical and non-musical. Speech sounds are also varied from the point of view of their articulation (articulation is the work of speech organs aimed at producing sound). And, finally, consider the relationship of sounds to the semantic side of speech, their ability to distinguish words, such as: house - smoke, coma, tom - current.

The sound can act as a sense discerner. So there was his attitude to the semantic side of speech! The doctrine of this particular sound was created in the last century in Russia; then the term phoneme appeared. Its shortest definition looks like this: a phoneme is a sound acting as a sense discerner. The section of linguistics in which the phoneme is considered is called phonology.

Each person has some peculiarities of his own “speech apparatus”, therefore each of us makes several sounds “in his own way”: with bass or tenor, loud or muffled, etc. And the same person in different situations pronounces sounds in different ways. The answer “yes!” Can be repeated one person a thousand times during one's life and every time [a] in this word is different from all others [a] uttered in the same word: the volume, duration, intonation of the sound will be excellent, its tone not exactly the same from one utterance to another. The difference is often negligible, but it is always there, and sometimes it is significant.

However, all such sound shades do not serve to distinguish the sound shells of linguistic units: the word yes, spoken loudly or quietly, in a high or low voice, still remains for us the word yes.

Hence, the concept of sound in general does not have a permanent relationship to the semantic side of our speech. It is necessary to specifically consider the sounds from the point of view of their ability to be meaningful discriminators, to identify those that can fulfill this role.

It turns out that the phoneme is the sound of speech, but not every sound of speech is a phoneme. Speaking of the semantic distinctive function of sound, they are not referring to any, but “typical” sounds - sound types, which are called phonemes.

The sounds around us may be different. The violin plays, the trumpet sounds, the crystal glass rings: these are musical sounds that arose with a harmonious, uniform wobble. This sound is called tone. The wind rustles dry leaves. The man is coughing. Motor works. These are completely different sounds - non-musical, noise.

The sounds of speech, like all other sounds, consist of tone or noise. In all languages ​​of the world, sounds are divided into two large groups: vowels - tones, and consonants - noisy. Vowels are formed due to the oscillation of the vocal cords, when a stream of air passes through the larynx. In the formation of consonants involved the noise arising from overcoming the air stream obstacles (friction on the teeth, opening the lips, etc.). The vocal cords may be involved in the formation of consonants, and may be inactive.

However, this is not the only difference between vowels and consonants. When the vowels are pronounced, the air comes out freely, without encountering obstacles in its path, and when the consonants are pronounced, an obstruction forms in the path of the air stream. Therefore, when articulating consonants, the air jet is much stronger - after all, it is necessary to overcome the obstacle. In order to pronounce the vowel louder, you have to open your mouth wider, and if we want a consonant to sound louder, it is necessary to bring the speech organs as close as possible. That is why vowels are called mouth openers, and consonants are called merchandisers.

The sound of speech is “a physical phenomenon perceived by the hearing, caused by the oscillatory movement of air particles or other elastic medium” (this is how sound is defined in M. S. Lapatukhina, E. V. Skorlupovskaya, G. P. Snethova in the School Dictionary of the Russian Language) . Speech sounds are studied by acoustics (one of the sections of physics), distinguishing tones and noises. The tone (musical sound) is formed as a result of rhythmic oscillations of air (we hear the "singing" of a violin, flute, etc.), and the noise arises as a result of non-rhythmic oscillations (rustle of dry leaves, the rumbling of falling stones, the grinding of iron).

In the formation of speech sounds involved tones and noises. The musical tone (voice) is formed by the rhythmic movements of the vocal cords: they tremble like strings.

Noise is formed in the oral cavity, when the exhaled air overcomes obstacles, breaking through or "rubbing" through them: [s-s, sh, sh, f-ff, b, d, g].

The most resonant, the most musical - vowels: they consist only of voice. If you put your finger on the larynx and utter a vowel sound [a, o, u, u, s, u], then you will feel the vocal cords tremble. The vowel sounds are so musical that they can be sung.

According to the degree of sonority, consonants are divided into voiced and deaf: in the formation of deaf consonants there is noise and voice. True, the voiced are also unequal in the degree of sonority; compare, for example, [b] and [m]: in sound [b] there is more noise than voices, and in sound [m] - vice versa.

Consonants, in the formation of which the voice prevails over noise, are called sonorous; there are nine of them in Russian: m, m ’, n, n’, l, l ’, p, p’, y. Sonoric sounds, like vowels, can be “drawn”, and if desired, “singed”, as some performers of one of the old romances, for example, transmitting the monotonous buzz of a bell.

If the sounds of speech were located on an imaginary ladder, depending on the increase in sonority, then the vowels would appear on the upper step, and the deaf consonants would appear on the lower step.

This is how sounds are characterized from the standpoint of physics. In addition, physics studies the pitch, which depends on the frequency of oscillation of the vocal cords, as well as the duration and timbre of the sound (timbre is a peculiar color of the sound, caused by the complication of the basic tone with additional tones). But the most important thing is that physics showed the difference between the sounds of vowels and consonants.

And now it's up to f and s and about l and d and e. It will help us to go further along the path of the study of speech sounds. What is the difference between vowels? Why is every consonant sound blown out among its “brethren”? The articulation (or physiological) classification of speech sounds, which takes into account the work of the speech apparatus, which is performed during the formation of articulate sounds, will help us to answer these questions.

In the Small Academic Dictionary of the Russian language, among several meanings of the word sound, it is noted that this is an “articulate element of human pronounciation” Why is articulate only the sounds of human speech? Are the sounds made by animals not distinct, clear? Any child will say that, for example, a cat meows (shouts “Meow!”), A cow moans (“Muh!”), And a rooster sings the well-known “Ku-ka-re-ku”. But all this is "fiction" of man. It was he who “shifted” the inarticulate “meowing”, “yelping”, “mooing” of animals to his language. Indeed, because a cow does not “utter” the sounds of [m] and [y] at all, these sounds are characteristic of human speech, and the person used them to show how he hears the “mooing” of a cow. That is why the cries of the same representatives of the animal world are often transmitted differently by different peoples. It turns out, for example, that in France the rooster sings “Ki-ri-ko-ko”, in England the duck does not “quack”, but shouts “Kuen, quen!” - although in all countries both roosters and ducks scream the same ... inarticulately .

So: only a person can pronounce articulate sounds, which are formed as a result of the skillful work of the speech apparatus.

8. Consonants

Consonants are distinguished from vowels by the presence of noises that form in the oral cavity when they are pronounced.

Consonants differ:

2) at the place of formation of noise,

3) by the method of education noise

4) by the absence or presence of softness.

Noise and voice   . According to the participation of noise and voice, consonants are divided into noisy and sonorous. Sonars are called consonants formed with the help of voice and minor noise: [m], [m "], [n], [n"], [l], [l "], [p], [p"]. Noisy consonants are divided into voiced and deaf. Noisy voiced consonants are [b], [b "], [c], [c"], [g], [g "], [d], [d"], [g], [

“], [з], [з"], [j], [γ], [γ "],, formed by noise with voice participation. Noisy deaf consonants include: [n], [n"], [f ], [f "], [k], [k"], [t], [t "], [s], [c"], [w], ["], [x], [x"] , [u], [h], formed only with the help of a single noise, without voice.

Noise location   . Depending on which active organ of speech (lower lip or tongue) dominates in the formation of sound, the consonants are divided into labial and lingual. If we take into account the passive organ, in relation to which the lip or tongue is articulating, the consonants can be labial [b], [n] [m] and labial [c], [f]. The lingual are divided into front-lingual, middle-lingual and rear lingual. Anterior-lingual can be dental [t], [d], [s], [g], [q], [n], [l] and palatine-tooth [h], [br], [g], [p] ; middle lingual - medium-lingual [j]; posterior-lingual - posterior-nibble [r], [k], [x].

Noise Forms   . Depending on the difference in the way noise is formed, the consonants are divided into occlusive [b], [n], [d], [t], [d], [k], slit [v], [f], [s], [s ], [ш], [ж], [j], [х], affricates [c], [h], ping: nasal [n], [m], lateral, or oral, [l] and trembling (vibrant) [p].

Hardness and softness of consonants   . The absence or presence of softness (palatalization) determines the hardness and softness of the consonants. Palatalization (Latin palatum - hard palate) is the result of srednebozhnym articulation of the language, complementing the basic articulation of a consonant sound. The sounds formed with such additional articulation are called soft, and those formed without it are called solid.

A characteristic feature of the system of consonants is the presence of pairs of sounds in it, correlative in deafness-voicing and hardness-softness. The correlation of paired sounds lies in the fact that in some phonetic conditions (before vowels) they differ as two different sounds, while in other conditions (at the end of a word) they do not differ and coincide in their sound. Wed: rose - dew and roses - grew [grew - grew]. So the pair consonants [b] - [p], [c] - [f], [d] - [t], [3] - [s], [g] - [w], [g] - [to], which, therefore, form correlative pairs of consonants in deafness-voicedness.

The correlative row of deaf and voiced consonants is represented by 12 pairs of sounds. Paired consonants are distinguished by the presence of a voice (voiced) or the absence of it (deaf). Sounds [l], [l "], [m], [m"], [n], [n "], [p], [p"] [j] - out-of-pair sounds, [x], [c] , [h "] - non-pair deaf.

  ], - long hissing, paired for deafness-voicing; Wed [draw "and], [" and]).

The hardness and softness of consonants, like deafness-voicing, in some positions is different, and in others does not differ, which leads to the presence in the system of consonants of the relative number of hard and soft sounds. So, before the vowel [o] differ [l] - [l "] (cf .: lot - ice [lot - l" from], and before the sound [e] do not differ, not only [l] - [l "], but also other paired hard-soft sounds (cf .: [l "eu], [in" eu ", [b" eu], etc.).

Phonetic law of the end of the word   . The noisy voiced consonant at the end of the word is stunned, i.e. pronounced as the corresponding deaf pair. Such pronunciation leads to the formation of homophones: a threshold is a vice, a young one is a hammer, a goat is a braid, etc. In the words with two consonants at the end of the word, both consonants are stunned: grief - sadness, porch - podest [pΛdjest], etc.

Stunning final ringing occurs in the following conditions:

1) before the pause: [pr "ishol by jst] (the train arrived);

2) before the next word (without a pause) with the initial not only deaf, but also vowel, sonorous, and also [j] and [c]: [prah he], [sat our], [slap ja], [your mouth] (he is right, our garden, I am weak, your race). Sonoric consonants are not subjected to stunning: the dirty, they say, who, he.

Assimilation of consonants by voicing and deafness   . Combinations of consonants, of which one is deaf and the other is clear, are not characteristic of the Russian language. Therefore, if in the word there are a number of two consonants of different voicing, the first consonant is compared to the second. Such a change in consonants is called regressive assimilation.

By virtue of this law, voiced consonants in front of deaf people go into paired deafs, and deaf people in the same position - voiced. The voicing of deaf consonants is less common than the stunning voiced; the transition of voiced to the deaf creates homophones: [dushk - dushk] (shackle - darling), [in "and e from" ti - in "and e from" t "and] (carry - to lead), [fp" lp "and e m "eshku - fp" yr "and em" eshku] (alternately - alternately).

Before the sonorous, as well as before [j] and [c], the deaf remain unchanged: tinder, rogue, [Test] (departure), their own, yours.

Voiced and deaf consonants are assimilated under the following conditions:

1) at the junction of morphemes: [p хhotk (] (gait), [zbor] (collection);

2) at the junction of the prepositions with the word: [gd "el" (to the point), [hel "elm] (with the case);

3) at the junction of the word with the particle: [goat-th] (year something), [before

would] (daughter would);

4) at the junction of significant words, pronounced without a pause: [rock-chances] (goat's horn), [ras-n "at"] (five times).

Assimilation of consonants by softness   . Hard and soft consonants are represented by 12 pairs of sounds. By education, they are distinguished by the absence or presence of palatalization, which consists in additional articulation (the middle part of the back of the tongue rises high to the corresponding part of the palate).

Softness assimilation is regressive in nature: the consonant is softened, similar to the subsequent soft consonant. In this position, not all consonants, paired for hardness-softness, soften and not all soft consonants cause softening of the previous sound.

All consonants, paired for hardness-softness, are softened in the following weak positions:

1) before the vowel sound [e]; [b "ate], [in" ec], [m "ate], [c" ate] (bel, weight, chalk, sat), etc .;

2) before [and]: [m "il], [n" il "and] (mil, drank).

Before unpaired [W], [W], [C], soft consonants are impossible with the exception of [l], [l "] (cf. the end of the ring).

Dental [3], [с], [н], [р], [д], [т] and lip [б], [п], [м], [в], [ф] are the most susceptible to mitigation. They do not soften before soft consonants [g], [k], [x], and also [l]: glucose, key, bread, fill, keep quiet, etc. Mitigation occurs within the word, but is absent before the soft consonant of the next word ([here - l "eu]; cf. [Λ

op]) and in front of a particle ([growing-l "and]; cf. [rlesley]) (here is a forest, where it grew, grew, grew).

Consonants [s] and [s] are softened before soft [t "], [d"], [s "], [n"], [l "]: [m" кс "t"], [в "and e z "d" e], [f-ka

“ь], [treasure”] (revenge, everywhere, at the box office, execution). Mitigation [s], [s] also occurs at the end of the prefixes and prepositions consonant with them before the soft lips: [rz "d" and e el "it"], [p-c "t" and e chick "], [b" ez "-n" and e in), [b "and e with" -c "or] (split, stretch, without it, without strength). Before soft labial softening [3], [s], [e], [ t] is possible inside the root and at the end of the prefixes on -z, as well as in the prefix c- and in consonance with it the preposition: [с "m" ex], [s "in" р], [d "in" р |, [t "in" ]p], [with "p" ê "], [with" -n "im], [is" -pk "], [ΛΛ" d "t"] (laughter, beast, door, Tver , sing, with him, bake, undress).

Labial before soft tooth are not softened: [Fri "w” h ”bk], [n“ eft ”], [vz“ at ”] (baby bird, oil, take).

These cases of assimilative softness of consonants show that the effect of assimilation in modern Russian literary language is not always distinguished by strict consistency.

Hardness assimilation   . The assimilation of consonants in hardness is carried out at the junction of the root and the suffix, beginning with hard consonants: locksmith - locksmith, secretary - secretarial, etc. Before the labial [b] assimilation in hardness does not occur: [cpc "it"] - [prose "b], [millt" it "] - [young cad] (ask - please, thresh - threshing), etc. Assimilation is not subjected to [l "]: [field" ь] - [Λpol "of us] (field, field).

Assimilation of dental before hissing   . This type of assimilation extends to dental [s], [s] in a position in front of hissing (frontal) [sh], [g], [h], [w] and consists in the complete likening of dental [s], [s] to the subsequent sizzling .

Complete assimilation [s], [s] takes place: 1) at the junction of morphemes: [

at "], [pLa" "] (squeeze, unclench); [yt "], [p Λyt"] (sew, embroider); ["from], [рΛ" from] (invoice, settlement); [Λ "ik], [izvo" ik] (peddler, cab driver); 2) at the junction of the preposition and the words: [arym], [arym] (with heat, with a ball); [bi e ar], [bi e ar] (without heat, without a ball).

The combination of zh inside the root, as well as the combination of lj (always inside the root) turn into a long soft [zh]]: [by

"] (later), (I drive); [in" and], [draw "and] (reins, yeast). Optionally, in these cases, a long solid one can be pronounced [g].

A variation of this assimilation is the assimilation of dental [d], [t] following them [h], [q], with the result that the long [

],: [Λ "from] (report), (phra] (briefly).

Simplify consonant combinations   . Consonants [d], [t] in combinations of several consonants between vowels are not pronounced. Such simplification of groups of consonants is consistently observed in combinations: stn, stn, stl, ntsk, stsk, vstv, rdts, lts: [usny

], [pozn], [sh "and e plums], [g" igansk "and], [h" vstv], [heart], [sun] (oral, late, happy, gigantic, feeling, heart, sun) .

Reduction of groups of identical consonants   . At the confluence of three identical consonants at the junction of a preposition or prefix with the following word, as well as at the junction of the root and suffix, the consonants are reduced to two: [pa

op "it"] (one time + quarrel), [Ылкъ] (with a link), [кЛлоы] (column + н + nd); [Ladies] (Odessa + sk + i).

In the phonetic system of the modern Russian literary language there are two long consonant sounds - soft hissing [

"] and ["] (yeast, soup). These long hissing sounds are not opposed to sounds [br], [w], which are unpaired hard. As a rule, long consonants in the Russian language are formed only at the joints of morphemes and are a combination of sounds. For example, in the word rational [long], a long sound arose at the junction of the prefix of the root and the court-, cf .: [pΛ "elk], [ayl], [lö" ik] (fake, sewed, pilot). Arising in these cases, the sounds can not be defined as long, as they are devoid of distinctive function, not opposed to short sounds. In essence, such “long” sounds are not long, but double.

The cases of long consonants (quarrel, yeast, etc.) in the roots of Russian words are rare. Words with double consonants in the roots are usually foreign languages ​​(telegram, gamma, antenna, etc.). Such words in living pronunciation lose their vowel length, which is often reflected in modern spelling (literature, attack, corridor, etc.).

Vowel sounds differ from consonants by the presence of a voice - a musical tone and lack of noise.

The existing classification of vowels takes into account the following conditions for the formation of vowels: 1) the degree of elevation of the tongue, 2) the place of elevation of the tongue and 3) participation or nonparticipation of the lips. The most significant of these conditions is the position of the tongue, which changes the shape and volume of the oral cavity, the state of which determines the quality of the vowel.

According to the degree of vertical elevation of the tongue, the vowels of three degrees of elevation differ: vowels of the upper elevation [u], [s], [y]; vowels of the average rise e [e], [o]; vowel of lower lift [a].

The horizontal movement of the tongue leads to the formation of vowels of the three rows: the vowels of the front row [i], e [e]; middle vowels [s], [a] and back vowels [y], [o].

The participation or non-participation of the lips in the formation of vowels is the basis for the division of vowels into labialized (extinguished) [o], [y] and non-labialized (undestructed) [a], e [e], [i], [s].

9. Vowels

There are six vowel sounds in Russian: a, o, u, i, s, e.

When pronounced [and], the tongue is pushed forward and raised upwards; lips stretched. When [e] sounds, the tongue is also advanced and lifted up, but not completely: more precisely, it is raised, the lips are stretched. If we pronounce [s], the tongue stiffens and rises in the middle section; lips are not rounded. When it forms [o], the lips are rounded, the tongue in its back is raised.

Thus, vowels are characterized by the place of formation (depending on the horizontal movement of the language, vowels of the front, middle and back row are distinguished); according to the method of formation, which depends on its vertical movement (there are vowels of the upper, middle and lower elevations). In addition, by the participation of lips, vowels are divided into rounded (when we pronounce [o] and [y], the lips are rounded) and undeclared.

Vowel reduction   . The change (weakening) of vowel sounds in an unstressed position is called reduction, and unstressed vowels are called reduced vowels. A distinction is made between the position of unstressed vowels in the first pre-stressed syllable (weak first-degree position) and the position of unstressed vowels in the remaining unstressed syllables (weak second-degree position). Vowels in a weak position of the second degree are more reduced than vowels in a weak position of the first degree.

Vowels in a weak position of the first degree: [vLly] (ramparts); [shafts] (oxen); [b "and e yes] (trouble), etc.

Vowels in a weak position of the second degree: [прлвос] (steam locomotive); [kyrjgranda] (Karaganda); [kykklala] (bell); [n "l" and e on] (veil); [voice] (voice), [voice] (exclamation), etc.

10. Phonetic transcription.

To study the sounding speech, you need to fix it as accurately as possible. It would seem that for this purpose there are already letters that are intended to be conveyed on the letter of pronunciation. But the Russian letter is arranged in such a way that often the letter means not the sound that is pronounced. In the word water, for example, the letter o is written, and the sound is pronounced [a]; in the word year in place of the letter d there is a sound [t]. This feature of the Russian letter is one of the reasons why we “do not hear” certain sounds. People are so accustomed to the literal image of words that they no longer "believe their ears."

To record the pronunciation, a special system was developed, called phonetic transcription   . To show that a phonetic notation is used, rather than a regular alphabetic one, square brackets are written.

How do you manage to fix the pronunciation in the transcription? The fact is that in the transcription we do not record the specific sounds of speech, but the sounds of the language - units that unite a variety of speech sounds, different but similar. However, we do not pay attention to the small differences between them. The sound of a language is a certain standard of sound.

Softness is the imposition on the main articulation of additional sound (iota). Voicing - the presence of tone in the sound, deafness - its absence.

11. syllable

A syllable is a combination of sounds uttered by one push of exhaled air. At the same time, a syllable is a combination of sounds of varying degrees of sonority (sonority), and the most sonorous sound is called a syllable. The number of syllable sounds in a word determines the number of syllables.

The syllable tends to increase sonority. According to the degree of sound, sounds are divided into noisy deaf consonants, noisy voiced, sonorous and vowels.

From the point of view of education, from the physiological side, a syllable is a sound or several sounds uttered by one expiratory push.

From the point of view of sonority, on the acoustic side, a syllable is a sound segment of speech, in which one sound is distinguished by the greatest sonority in comparison with its neighbors — the preceding and the subsequent one. Vowel sounds, as the most loud, are usually syllabic, and consonants - non-syllable, but sonorous (p, l, m, n), as the most loud of consonants, can form a syllable. The syllables are divided into open and closed depending on the position of the syllable sound in them. A syllable ending with a syllable-sound is called open: va-ta. A syllable ending in a non-syllable sound is called closed: there, barking. Undisclosed is a syllable that begins with a vowel: a-orta. Covered is a syllable that starts with a consonant: ba-tone.

The structure of the syllable in the Russian language is subject to the law of rising sonority. This means that the sounds in the syllable range from the least resounding to the most resounding.

The law of ascending sonority can be illustrated in the words below, if the sonorousness is denoted by numbers: 3 - vowels, 2 - sonorous consonants, 7 - noisy consonants. Q: 1-3 / 1-3; board: 2-3 / 1-1-3; ma-slo: 2-3 / 1-2-3; Wave: 1-3-2 / 2-3. In the examples given, the basic law of the syllable is implemented at the beginning of the non-initial syllable.

The initial and final syllables in the Russian language are based on the same principle of increasing sonority. For example: lee: 2-3 / 1-3; Ste-Cl: 1-3 / 1-2-3.

The word section with the combination of significant words is usually preserved in the form that is peculiar to every word in the composition of the phrase: we Turkey - us - Tur-tzi-i; nasturtiums (flowers) - on-stur-chi-i.

A particular regularity of the syllable at the junction of morphemes is the impossibility of pronouncing, first, more than two identical consonants between vowels and, second, identical consonants before the third (other) consonants within one syllable. This is more often seen at the junction of the root and the suffix and less often at the junction of the prefix and the root, or the preposition and the word. For example: Odessa [o / de / sit]; art [and / sku]; to part [ra / become]; from the wall [ste / us], therefore more often - [with / ste / us].

12. Emphasis

The stress is the selection of a syllable in a word. The stressed syllable is distinguished by its duration and strength.

In the speech flow, the stress is phrasal, tact and verbal.

Word stress is the selection when one of the syllables of a disyllabic or polysyllabic word is pronounced. Word stress is one of the main outward signs of an independent word. Service words and particles usually do not have stress and are adjacent to independent words, making up one phonetic word with them: [under-mount], [on the side], [here it is].

Russian language is characterized by force (dynamic) stress, in which the stressed syllable is distinguished in comparison with the unstressed by greater intensity of articulation, especially vowel sound. The stressed vowel is always longer than the corresponding unstressed sound. Russian stress is different: it can fall on any syllable (exit, exit, exit). The diversity of accent is used in Russian to distinguish homographs and their grammatical forms (organ - organ) and separate forms of different words (my - my), and in some cases serves as a means of lexical differentiation of the word (chaos - chaos) or gives the word a stylistic coloring (well done - well done). Mobility and immobility of stress serves as an additional tool in the formation of forms of the same word: stress or remains in the same place of the word (garden, -a, -y, -th, -e, -y, -s, etc. .), or moves from one part of the word to another (city, -a, -y, -th, -e; -a, -ov, etc.). Mobility of stress provides a distinction of grammatical forms (buy - buy, legs - legs, etc.).

In some cases, the difference in the place of word stress loses any meaning: cf .: curd and curd, otherwise otherwise, butt and butt, etc.

Words can be unstressed and weakly beaten. Service words and particles are usually deprived of stress, however, they sometimes take upon themselves the stress, so the preposition with the following independent word has one stress: [for the winter], [beyond the city], [under-evening].

Two-syllable and three-syllable prepositions and conjunctions can be poorly impacted, simple numerals in combination with nouns, bundles to be and to become, some of the introductory words.

Some categories of words have, in addition to the main one, an additional, side stress, which is usually in the first place, and the main one - in the second, for example: Drevnewerish. These words include the words:

1) polysyllabic, as well as complex in composition (aircraft construction),

2) compound abbreviations (GTS),

3) words with prefixes after-, super-, archi-, trans-, anti-, etc. (the transatlantic, post-October),

4) some foreign words (script, pt factum).

Stroke stress is the selection in the pronunciation of the more important in the sense of the word within the verbal tact. For example: Do I wander | along noisy streets, | enter e | in a crowded temple, | I sit eh | among young men insane, | I indulge | my dreams (P.).

Phrasal stress is the selection in the pronunciation of the most important in the sense of the word within the utterance (phrase); such stress is one of clock. In the example above, the phrasal emphasis falls on the word dreams.

Stroke and phrasal stress is also called logical.

The emphasis serves two functions:

1) the selection of words from the general speech flow.

2) distinguishing homographs. In Russian, stress can fall on any syllable of a word. Moreover, it is mobile, i.e. in different forms, the word stress can fall on any syllable.

In multi-syllable words, secondary stress may appear. The place of stress in the word dictates orthoepy.

A phonetic word is a group of syllables related by common stress. The phonetic word may not equal lexical. The unstressed word adjacent to the percussion behind is called enclitic .

There is a variation of stress. The reasons for the variance of stress are different. One of the most important reasons is contact with other languages. For example, at one time the word passport, which came to us from French (and in this language, as is known, the constant stress is on the last syllable), had a stressed vowel [o]. Mastered by the Russian language, the noun passport name changed the “location” of the stress, which moved to the vowel [a] in the first syllable.

The variance of emphasis is also manifested in a special professional field. Sailors, for example, pronounce the words compass and report with the emphasis on the last syllable.

The main "engine" of stress is purely linguistic reasons, and the analogy is especially effective. For example, the verb whirl (like a noun vortex) initially had an emphasis on the first [and], and then, by analogy with such verbs as snake, whirl, “rearrange” its emphasis on the next syllable.

Variant (old) shock positions of words are preserved by poetry; the size of the verse depends on the stress, and carrying it "breaks" the line of verse. Therefore, we pronounce poems based on the pronunciation, peculiar to their author.

13. The alternation of sounds

Due to the presence of strong and weak sounds in the phonetic system of the Russian literary language there are positional alternations of sounds. Along with positional alternations, or phonetic, there is another kind of alternations, called historical.

Positional alternations of sounds are phonetically determined, i.e. are caused by phonetic laws in force in the modern language, for example, reduction in the field of vowels and assimilation in the field of consonants. Historical alternations are not phonetically determined and are remnants of phonetic processes that operated in earlier epochs of the development of the Russian language. Such, for example, is the alternation of [r] // [g] at the root of the run-. In the words of the run - to run the alternation of sounds [r] // [Well] is not phonetically conditioned, since these sounds are in the identical position, and the alternation is historical.

Historical alternations in their functions in the modern language are not the same. Particularly important is the role of historical alternations in the formation and word formation. It follows that historical alternations are studied in grammar and historical phonetics.

14. We speak correctly

What does it mean to say right?

First of all, sounds should be clearly pronounced; so that hissing really hissing, whistling whistling, explosive exploding, and trembling vibrate as they should. In other words, it is necessary to develop a good diction.

If fuzzy diction is associated with an insufficiently developed vocal apparatus, then turn to a speech therapist who "puts" the pronunciation of difficult sounds. Speech therapist often helps children who have not yet learned to speak well, such as, for example, the characters in V. Suslov’s poem:

Past the garden slowly

There were four kids.

Let's play, what's on the heels?

Lusse in myasik on plyasadke!

Here is pvidumav! Under the tongue

Vuchshe in vunki play! ..

"In the heels"?

"In vunki"?

What?!

Do not make out anything!

The first baby does not pronounce [p], the second - hissing sounds, and for the third one it is difficult [p] and [l].

In order to train children in the pronunciation of difficult sounds, use tongue twisters. For example:

I'm a bug, I'm a bug! I live here.

All my life buzzing: w…

Rain, rain, that you pour,

Do not let us walk?

By the river, by the pond

Bloomed reseda.

Russian people came up with a lot of them.

Fuzzy speech is sometimes associated with the sloppiness of the vernacular. Such a disrespectful attitude to speech is unforgivable.

Indeed, clear diction is very important for good speech.

But it also happens that a person with good diction speaks incorrectly because he does not follow the rules of literary pronunciation.

15. The harmoniousness of the Russian language

The Russian language is harmonious. What does it mean?

How can you define harmonies in general - in relation to any language?

It is justly considered that harmonious sounds imply combinations of sounds that are comfortable for pronunciation and pleasing to the ear. Even the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said: "... The writing must be readable and readable, which is one and the same."

The concept of harmony is based on the phonetic features of the language. For the Russian language, this is primarily due to the fact that it is not peculiar to the jumble of consonants and the accumulation of vowel sounds. Although we have only six vowels and six times more consonants, their activity in speech is almost the same: it is certain that there are approximately 42% vowels in the speech flow. Consonants rather evenly alternate vowels, thus achieving harmonic proportionality of the Russian language.

The morphological principle of spelling in Russian is the main one. And what principle is secondary? The morphological principle is opposed to phonetic, which obliges us to write differently the same morpheme, if it sounds different in different conditions. As a result, on the letter there are variants of the same morpheme. Here are the prefixes on -z: iz-, voz-, bez- and others. They are written either with the letter з, then with the letter (in accordance with their sound). For example, in words reckless (before a vowel), immeasurable (before a sonorous), painless (before a voiced consonant) at the end of the prefix a voiced sound is heard [3] - it is indicated in the letter. And in the words useless, wordless (in front of the deaf), the deaf is heard [s] and the letter s is written. However, there are relatively few such spellings in the Russian language.

16. Spring language

How did the important and necessary property of the sounds of speech - their content? To follow this process, you need to delve into the very origins of the language, lost in the dim distance of time.

The language of man, of course, did not originate from scratch, his historians were the signal cries of those animals with whom fate was destined to become humans. But after all, their cries were already significant: some signified anxiety, others — appeal, and others — signaled food, as now in animals. Hence, the richness of sound signals arose even earlier. Where did she come from? Obviously grew out of the pithiness of the sounds of nature.

The sounds of nature do not sound on their own, they accompany some phenomena: volcanic eruptions or running water over stones, lightning sparkling or fluttering of leaves in the wind. The "prehuman" was almost completely dependent on nature. Some of its manifestations threatened his life, were dangerous, scary; others, on the contrary, were safe, pleasant, soothing.

And what is curious is that dangerous, frightening phenomena of nature are accompanied, as a rule, by sounds of the same acoustic type, and safe sounds - just the opposite. Volcanic eruptions are accompanied by low, strong, unmelodious (rumbling, noisy) sounds. The growling and roar of predatory animals, the rumble of thunder, the crash of a mountain collapse, the noise of a hurricane and a storm are all sounds of the same acoustic type. On the other hand, the singing of birds, the murmur of a stream, the sound of drops, the cries of small animals are sounds of a different kind: high, quiet, melodic. Fast actions and movements are accompanied by short, sharp sounds, slow ones - extended, smooth.

The connection “phenomenon - sound” is realized many times. How should the higher nervous activity of any creature react to the influence of these two constantly connected factors? Undoubtedly, it must respond with the formation of a conditioned reflex. According to Pavlov. The bell rings - the dog is given food. And so several times. Finally, it is enough just to make the dog start secreting gastric juice. But the sound cannot be eaten. The dog reacts to sound, as if it were a phenomenon, as if it were food.

Exactly the same reflex is worked out in us by a great experimenter - nature: we react to sounds, as to phenomena, with these sounds. And on different sounds - as on different phenomena. On low, noisy and loud sounds - as on dangerous, scary, disturbing phenomena; to high, quiet, melodic sounds - like pleasant, safe phenomena. This is where the initial possibility of imparting meaning to a sound was laid: in the perception of an animal and a person, connections are established between the types of sound and the types of objects, phenomena and actions. Yes, so firmly established! Sometimes even against all logic. For example, from a crow and an eagle owl, no harm is made to man — only goodness alone. But in the human belief, “the crow nakaket”, and the owl is a very terrible bird, and in any fairy tale from him only evil. Why don't they love them? And for the fact that their cries - the sounds of low, loud, unmelodious. The sounds of fear and danger. That made them frightened for nothing at all about that. These reflexes have become unconditional, they live in us and now.

For us, nature created the original "natural" content of sounds. The whole area of ​​our spiritual life is based on this content - music. There is nothing but sounds in it, but who can say that the sounds of music are insignificant for us, empty? What subtle movements of the soul, what complex and strong feelings music expresses! Often, even the word can not compete in this.

But back to our "prehuman" He also uttered sounds. Did the reflex connections revealed by us spread to them? Why not? After all, these are sounds too. among them were, of course, low and high, loud and quiet. melodious and noisy. And since the acoustic characteristics already had a certain pithiness, then “natural” pithiness and becomes the significance of the sound signal. Here the first germ of the value breaks through. After all, the sound now does not have to communicate with the sounding object. The spoken sound has its own content, and this allows you to point these sounds to any object corresponding to such content, regardless of whether the object sounds or not.

Over time, in the process of development and the "human" organization of sound signals, sound signs, truly linguistic types of meanings begin to form. Gradually, parts of speech are more and more clearly formed, and they begin to absorb into themselves, they begin to shape out more and more specific, more and more specific meanings of sound in accordance with the acoustic characteristics of each individual sound of speech. Say, vowels are more melodic and therefore generally more pleasant than consonants. Noisy consonants like X, Ш, Ж turn out to be more “scary” than voiced, such as B, D, D, explosive (K, D, B, P) - more “quick” than fricative (F, W, C ), etc.

In addition, these values ​​are also supported by the vocabulary motivation, which turned out to be similar to the acoustic one. For example, loud sounds, according to their acoustic properties, acquire the importance of “strong, aggressive”, and here also articulation helps them: their pronunciation requires more vigorous work of the speech apparatus, and this adds to them “strength”. Explosive, such as B, D, K, or trembling sounds, such as P, require fast work of the organs of speech, and this supports the significance of “explosive, trembling” that already exists in them - which means “fast, active”.

This is how the phonetic significance arises and gradually becomes fixed in the language. It still does not correspond to the object or concept, but has a rather vague character. such pithiness can be described only with the help of signs: “scary” sound, “gentle” sound, “fast” sound, etc. It is this phonetic-indicative significance that the initial complexes of sounds most likely had, which cannot yet be called words. The traces of this stage of language development have survived, perhaps, only in interjections and expressive cries like Ah !, wow !, oh !, ha!    etc.

Bibliography:

Big School Encyclopedia, Russian Encyclopedic Association, Moscow 2004

Valgina I.S., Rosenthal DE, Fomian M.I. - Modern Russian language. Textbook edited by N.S. Valginoy 6th ed., Revised and enlarged. Moscow, Logos, 2002

Postnikova I.I., Podgaetskaya I.M. - Phonetics is interesting

Zhuravlev A.P. - Sound and meaning