Do you know why Russian is so difficult for foreigners to learn? Especially those whose languages ​​are not at all similar to Russian? One of the reasons is that our language cannot be said to mean that words can be written the way they are heard. We say “MALAKO”, but we remember that the word must be written with 3 letters O: “MILKO”.

This is the simplest and most obvious example. And, as a rule, no one thinks about what transcription (that is, a graphic recording of sounds) of the words that are most familiar to us looks like. To learn to understand what sounds words are made of, schools and even universities perform such a task as phonetic analysis of a word.

It is not easy for everyone, but we will help you understand and successfully cope with it in class and when preparing homework.

Phonetic analysis of the word- a task aimed at parsing a word into letters and sounds. Compare how many letters it has and how many sounds it has. And find out that the same letters in different positions can mean different sounds.

Vowels

There are 10 vowel letters in the Russian alphabet: “a”, “o”, “u”, “e”, “y”, “ya”, “e”, “yu”, “e”, “i”.

But there are only 6 vowel sounds: [a], [o], [u], [e], [s], [i]. The vowels “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” consist of two sounds: vowel + y. They are written like this: “e” = [y’+e], “e” = [y’+o], “yu” = [y’+y], “i” = [y’+a]. And they are called iotized.

Remember that in transcription “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” are not always decomposed into two sounds. But only in the following cases:

1. when words appear at the beginning: food [y’eda], ruff [y’orsh], skirt [y’upka], pit [y’ama];
2. when they come after other vowels: moi [moi'em], moe [mai'o], wash [moi'ut], warrior [vai'aka];
3. when they come after “ъ” and “ь”: pedestal [p’y’ed’estal], drinks [p’y’ot], drink [p’y’ut], nightingale [salav’y’a].

If “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” appear in a word after soft consonants, they can be confused with [a], [o], [y], [e]: ball [m'ach'] , honey [m'ot], muesli [m'usl'i], branch [v'etka]. They denote one sound in a position after consonants and under stress.

Not under stress “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” give the sound [i]: rows [r’ida], forest [l’isok]. In other cases, the letter “I” without stress can be pronounced as [e]: quagmire [tr’es’ina].

Another interesting thing about the relationship between “b” and vowels: if after soft sign the word contains the letter “and”, it is pronounced as two sounds: streams [ruc’y’i].

But after the consonants “zh”, “sh” and “ts” the letter “i” gives the sound [s]: reeds [reeds].

The vowels “a”, “o”, “u”, “e”, “s” indicate the hardness of consonant sounds. The vowels “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya”, “i” indicate the softness of consonant sounds.

By the way, in many words with the vowel “е” the emphasis always falls on it. But this rule does not work for borrowed words (amoebiasis) and complex words (such as trinuclear).

Consonants

There are 21 consonants in the Russian language. And these letters form as many as 36 sounds! How is this possible? Let's figure it out.

Thus, among the consonants there are 6 pairs according to the voicing of deafness:

1. [b] - [p]: [b]a[b]ushka – [p]a[p]a;
2. [v] - [f]: [v] water - [f] plywood;
3. [g] - [k]: [g]voice – [cow];
4. [d] - [t]: [d’] woodpecker - [t]ucha;
5. [f] - [w]: [f’]life – [sh]uba;
6. [z] - [s]: [z’]ima – o[s’]en.

This is interesting because paired sounds are represented by different letters. Such pairs do not exist in all languages. And in some, for example, Korean, paired unvoiced and voiced sounds are indicated by the same letter. Those. the same letter is read as a voiced or unvoiced sound depending on its position in the word.

There are also 15 pairs of hardness and softness:

1. [b] - [b’]: [b]a[b]glass – [b’]tree;
2. [v] - [v’]: [v]ata – [v’]fork;
3. [g] - [g’]: [g]amak – [g’]idrant;
4. [d] - [d’]: [d]ozh[d’];
5. [z] - [z’]: [z] gold – [z’] yawn;
6. [k] - [k’]: [k]ust – [k’]bist;
7. [l] - [l’]: [l]swallow – [l’]istik;
8. [m] - [m’]: [m]a[m]a – [m’]iska;
9. [n] - [n’]: [n]os – [n’]yuh;
10. [p] - [p’]: [p]archa – [p’]i [p’]etka;
11. [r] - [r’]: [r]lynx – [r’]is;
12. [s] - [s’]: [s] dog – [s’] herring;
13. [t] - [t’]: [t]apok – [t’]shadow;
14. [f] - [f’]: [f] camera - [f’] fencing;
15. [x] - [x’]: [x] hockey – [x’] ek.

As you can see, the softness of the sounds is ensured by the letter “b” and the soft consonants that come after the consonants.

There are unpaired consonant sounds in the Russian language that are never voiceless:

• [y’] – [y’]od;
• [l] – [l]ama;
• [l’] – [l’]eika;
• [m] – [m]carrot;
• [m’] – [m’] muesli;
• [n] – [n]osoceros;
• [n’]– [n’] bat;
• [r] – [r]daisy;
• [r’] – [r’] child.

To make it easier to remember all the voiced sounds, you can use the following phrase: “We didn’t forget each other”.

And unpaired sounds, which, in turn, are never voiced. Try reading the words from the examples out loud and see for yourself:

• [x] – [x]orek;
• [x'] - [x']surgeon;
• [ts] – [ts]apple;
• [h’] – [h’] person;
• [sch’] – [sch’] bristles.

Two phrases will help you remember which sounds remain deaf in any situation: “Styopka, would you like some soup?” - “Fi!” And “Fokka, do you want to eat some soup?”.

If you carefully read the examples given above, you probably already noticed that some consonants in the Russian language are never soft:

• [g] - [g]bug and even [g]acorn;
• [sh] - [sh]uba and [sh]ilo are read equally firmly;
• [ts] - [ts] scratch and [ts]irk - the same thing, the sound is pronounced firmly.

Remember that in some borrowed words and names “zh” is still soft [zh’]: jury [zh’]juri, Julien [zh’]julien.

Similarly, there are consonants in the Russian language that are never pronounced firmly:

• [th’] – [th’] ogurt;
• [h’] – [h’]chirp and [h’]asy – the sound is equally soft;
• [sch'] - [sch']cheek and [sch']fingers - similar: no matter what vowel comes after this consonant, it is still pronounced softly.

Sometimes in some textbooks the softness of these sounds is not indicated by an apostrophe during transcription - since everyone already knows that these sounds are not hard in the Russian language. It is also often customary to denote “sch” as [w’:].

Remember also that the consonants “zh”, “sh”, “ch”, “sch” are called hissing.

Phonetic analysis plan

1. First you need to spell the word correctly in terms of spelling.
2. Then divide the word into syllables (remember that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels in it), designate the stressed syllable.
3. The next point is the phonetic transcription of the word. You don’t have to transcribe the word right away - first try saying it out loud. If necessary, speak several times until you can say with certainty which sounds need to be recorded.
4. Describe all vowel sounds in order: identify stressed and unstressed sounds.
5. Describe all consonant sounds in order: identify paired and unpaired sounds by voicedness/dullness and hardness/softness.
6. Count and write down how many letters and sounds there are in the word.
7. Note those cases in which the number of sounds does not correspond to the number of letters and explain them.

In writing phonetic analysis sounds are written from top to bottom in a column, each sound is enclosed in square brackets - . At the end, you should draw a line and write down the number of letters and sounds in the word.

Special transcription characters

Now about how to correctly designate sounds during transcription:

• [ " ] – this is how the stressed vowel in the main stressed syllable is designated (O"sen);
• [`] – this is how a side (minor) sub-stressed vowel sound is designated: usually such a sub-stressed syllable is located at the beginning of a word, found in difficult words and words with the prefixes anti-, inter-, near-, counter-, over-, super-, ex-, vice- and others (`okolozE'mny);
• [’] – a sign of softening a consonant sound;
• [Λ] – transcription sign for “o” and “a” in the following cases: position at the beginning of a word, the first pre-stressed syllable in the position after a hard consonant (arka [Λrka], king [krol’]);
• – a more “advanced” transcription sign for recording iotated sounds; you can also use [th’].
• [and e] – something in between [i] and [e], used to denote the vowels “a”, “e”, “e” in the first pre-stressed syllable in the position after a soft consonant (blend [bl'i e sleep]) ;
• [ы и] – something between [ы] and [е] or [ы] and [а], used to denote the vowels “e”, “e” in the first pre-stressed syllable in the position after a hard consonant (whisper [shi e ptat '];
• [ъ] – transcription sign for the vowels “o”, “a”, “e” in positions after a hard consonant in a pre-stressed and post-stressed syllable (milk [m'lok]);
• [b] – transcription sign for the vowels “o”, “a”, “ya”, “e” in the position after a soft consonant in an unstressed syllable (mitten [var'shka]);
• [–] – a sign indicating the absence of sound in the place of “ъ” and “ь”;
• [ ‾ ]/[ : ] – transcription signs (you can use one or the other of your choice - it will not be a mistake) to indicate the length of consonants (to be afraid [bΛй'ац:ъ]).

As you can see, everything is very difficult with the transcription of letters into sounds. In the school curriculum, as a rule, these complicated and more accurate transcription signs are not used or are used little. Only with in-depth study of the Russian language. Therefore, it is allowed to use the sounds [a], [o], [u], [e], [s], [i] and [th’] in phonetic analysis instead of “and with the overtone e” and other complex designations.

Transcription rules

Do not forget also about the following rules for transcribing consonants:

• voicing of voiceless consonants in position before voiced ones (bending [zg’ibat’], mowing [kΛz’ba]);
• deafening of voiced consonants in the position at the end of a word (ark [kΛfch’ek]);
• deafening of a voiced consonant in a position in front of a voiceless one, for example, a voiced “g”, which can turn into voiceless sounds [k] and [x] (nails [nokt’i], light [l’ohk’iy’]);
• softening of the consonants “n”, “s”, “z”, “t”, “d” in the position before soft consonants (kantik [kan’t’ik]);
• softening of “s” and “z” in the prefixes s-, iz-, raz- in the position before “b” (remove [iz’y’at’]);
• unreadable consonants “t”, “d”, “v”, “l” in combinations of several consonant letters in a row: in this case, the combination “stn” is pronounced as [sn], and “zdn” - as [zn] (district [uy 'ezny']);
• combinations of letters “sch”, “zch”, “zsch” are read as [sch’] (accounts [sch’oty]);
• combinations “chn”, “cht” are pronounced [sh] (what [shto], of course [kΛn’eshn]);
• infinitive suffixes -tsya/-tsya are transcribed [ts] (bite [kusats:b]);
• the endings of -ogo/-him are pronounced through the sound [v] (yours [tvy’evo]);
• in words with double consonants, two transcription options are possible: 1) double consonants are located after the stressed syllable and form a double sound (kassa [kas:b]); 2) double consonants are located before the stressed syllable and give a regular consonant sound (million [m'il'ion]).

Now let's look at the phonetic transcription of words using examples. For recording we will use a simplified system of transcription of consonant sounds.

Examples of phonetic transcription of words

1. departure
2. ot-e"zd (2 syllables, stress falls on the 2nd syllable)
3. [aty'e "st]
4. o - [a] – vowel, unstressed
   t- [t] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   ъ – [–]
   e - [th’] - consonant, voiced (unpaired), soft (unpaired) and [e] - vowel, stressed
   z - [s] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   d - [t] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
5. 6 letters, 6 sounds
6. The letter “e” after the separating “b” gives two sounds: [th"] and [e]; the letter “d” at the end of the word is deafened to the sound [t]; the letter “z” is deafened to the sound [c] in the position before the voiceless sound.

One more example:

1. grammar
2. gram-ma"-ti-ka (4 syllables, stress falls on the 2nd syllable)
3. [gram:at"ika]
4. g – [g] – consonant, voiced (paired), hard (solid)
   p – [p] – consonant, voiced (unpaired), hard (paired)
   mm – [m:] – double sound, consonant, voiced (unpaired), hard (paired)
   a – [a] – vowel, stressed
   t – [t’] – consonant, voiceless (paired), soft (paired)
   k – [k] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   a – [a] – vowel, unstressed
5. 10 letters, 9 sounds
6. Double consonants “mm” give a double sound [m:]

And last:

1. became
2. sta-no-vi"-lis (4 syllables, stress falls on the 3rd syllable)
3. [stanav'i"l'is']
4. s – [s] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   t – [t] – consonant, deaf (paired), hard (paired)
   a – [a] – vowel, unstressed
   n – [n] – consonant, voiced (unpaired), hard (paired)
   o – [a] – vowel, unstressed
   in – [v’] – consonant, voiced (paired), soft (paired)
   and – [and] – vowel, stressed
   l – [l’] – consonant, voiced (unpaired), soft (paired)
   and – [and] – vowel, unstressed
   s – [s’] – consonant, voiceless (paired), soft (paired)
   b – [–]
5. 11 letters, 10 sounds
6. The letter “o” in an unstressed position produces the sound [a]; the letter “b” does not denote a sound and serves to soften the consonant preceding it.

Instead of an afterword

Well, did this article help you understand the phonetic analysis of words? It is not so easy to correctly write down the sounds that make up a word - there are many pitfalls hidden along this path. But we tried to make the task easier for you and explain all the slippery aspects in as much detail as possible. Now such a task at school will not seem very difficult to you. Don't forget to teach your classmates and show them our helpful instructions.

Uses this article when preparing for lessons and passing the State Exam and Unified State Exam. And be sure to tell us in the comments what examples of phonetic analysis of words you are asked at school.

blog.site, when copying material in full or in part, a link to the original source is required.

Nov 25

What are the rules phonetic transcription for students studying Russian in depth?

Phonetic transcription - 1) is a system of signs and rules for their combination, intended for recording pronunciation; 2) transcription is also called the writing of a word or text according to transcription rules.

The process of recording speech using transcription is called transcription.

Phonetic transcription is used to record spoken speech.

Phonetic transcription at school

1. Transcription is enclosed in square brackets.

2. It is not customary to write in transcription capital letters and use punctuation marks when transcribing sentences. Pauses between segments of speech (usually coinciding with punctuation marks) are indicated by a double slash // (significant pause) or single / (shorter pause).

3. In words consisting of more than one syllable, emphasis is placed: [z’ima] - winter. If two words are combined with a single stress, they make up one phonetic word, which is written together or using a league: to the garden - [fsat], [f_sat].

4. The softness of a consonant sound is indicated by an apostrophe: [s’el] - sat.

5. Consonant sounds are written using all the corresponding letters, except ш and й.

Special superscript or subscript symbols can be placed next to the letter. They indicate some features of the sound, for example: o [n’] - an apostrophe denotes soft consonants: [n’obo] - palate;

The longitude of the sound is indicated by a superscript: [van¯a] - bath, [kas¯a] - cash register.

The letter u corresponds to the sound, which is conveyed by the sign [sh’] u[sh’]elye - gorge, [sh’]shetina - stubble.

The sounds [sh’], [th], [h] are always soft. Note. For sounds [й], [ч] it is not customary to indicate softness with an apostrophe, although in some textbooks it is indicated.

The sounds [zh], [sh], [ts] are always hard. Exceptions: soft [zh’] sounds in the words: jury - [zh’]yuri, Julien - [zh’]julien, Jules - [zh’]yul.

The letters ъ (hard sign) and ь (soft sign) do not indicate sounds, i.e. There are no such signs in the transcription for consonants: [razyom] - connector, [tr’ieugolnyy] - triangular.

6. Recording vowel sounds

Stressed vowels are transcribed using six symbols: and - [i] - [p'ir] pir, y- [s] - [ardor] ardor, u - [u] - [ray] ray, e - [e] - [ l"es] forest, o - [o] - [house] house, a- [a] - [garden] garden.

The letters e, e, ya, yu denote double sounds [ye], [yo], [ya], [yu]: [ya]bloko - apple, water [yo]m - pond, [yu]g - south, [ ye]l - spruce. The letter after the soft dividing sign also denotes the double sound [yi]: voro [b’yi] - sparrows.

Unstressed vowels [i], [s], [a] are not necessarily used in place of similar letters - you should listen carefully to the pronunciation of the word: fashion[s]ler - fashion designer, d[a]ska - board, [i]kkusantsant - excursionist , [a] search - search.

Phonetic transcription in manuals for in-depth study Russian language.

1. Some textbooks use additional signs to indicate vowel sounds: [Λ], [ie], [ые], [ъ], [ь].

In place of the letters o, and in the first pre-stressed syllable and the absolute beginning of the word, the sound [Λ] is pronounced: [vΛda] - water, [Λna] - she.

In place of the letters e and i in unstressed syllables after soft consonants, a vowel is pronounced, middle between [i] and [e], but closer to [i], it is designated [ie] (called “i, inclined to e”): [l 'iesa] - forests, [r'ieb'ina] - mountain ash.

In place of the letter e after the hard hissing [zh], [sh], [ts] it is pronounced [ye] (“s, inclined to e”): zh[ye]lat - wish, sh[ye]ptat - whisper, ts[ е]na - price. Exception: dance - dance.

The sound [ъ] (“er”) is pronounced after hard consonants in the first pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables and is denoted by the letters a (locomotive [pravos]), o (milk [m’lako]), e (yellowness [zhalt “izna]).

The sound [ь] (“er”) is pronounced after soft consonants in the first pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables and is denoted by the letters e (transition [p'r'ikhot]), i (ordinary [p'davoj]), and (hour [chsavoj]) .

2. Latin letter j denotes the consonant “yot” in transcription, which sounds in the words block - apple, vodom - pond, voro[b»ji] - sparrows, zyk - tongue, sara[j] - barn, ma[j]ka - T-shirt, cha [j]nik - teapot, etc.

Sample phonetic transcription for school.

[bal’shaya plosh’at’ / na_katoray raspalazhy’las’ tse’rkaf’ / was completely zan’ita dl’ i´nym’i r’idam’i t’il’e´k //]

A sample phonetic transcription for advanced students of the Russian language at school.

The large area on which the church was located was completely occupied by long rows of carts.

[bl’sháj flat’ / n’_kotórj r’sp’l’zhy’ls’ t’se’rk’f’ / was completely know’etá d’i´n’m’ r’iedam’i t’iel’e´k //]

Before moving on to phonetic analysis with examples, we draw your attention to the fact that letters and sounds in words are not always the same thing.

Letters- these are letters, graphic symbols, with the help of which the content of a text is conveyed or a conversation is outlined. Letters are used to visually convey meaning; we perceive them with our eyes. The letters can be read. When you read letters out loud, you form sounds - syllables - words.

A list of all letters is just an alphabet

Almost every schoolchild knows how many letters are in the Russian alphabet. That's right, there are 33 of them in total. The Russian alphabet is called the Cyrillic alphabet. The letters of the alphabet are arranged in a certain sequence:

Russian alphabet:

In total, the Russian alphabet uses:

• 21 letters for consonants;
• 10 letters - vowels;
• and two: ь (soft sign) and ъ (hard sign), which indicate properties, but do not themselves define any sound units.

You often pronounce sounds in phrases differently from how you write them in writing. In addition, the word can use more letters than sounds. For example, “children’s” - the letters “T” and “S” merge into one phoneme [ts]. And vice versa, the number of sounds in the word “blacken” is greater, since the letter “Yu” in this case is pronounced as [yu].

What is phonetic analysis?

We perceive spoken speech by ear. By phonetic analysis of a word we mean the characteristics of the sound composition. In the school curriculum, such analysis is more often called “sound-letter” analysis. So, with phonetic analysis, you simply describe the properties of sounds, their characteristics depending on the environment and syllable structure phrases united by a common verbal stress.

Phonetic transcription

For sound-letter parsing, a special transcription in square brackets is used. For example, it is correctly written:

• black -> [h"orny"]
• apple -> [yablaka]
• anchor -> [yakar"]
• Christmas tree -> [yolka]
• sun -> [sontse]

The phonetic parsing scheme uses special symbols. Thanks to this, it is possible to correctly designate and distinguish the letter notation (spelling) and the sound definition of letters (phonemes).

• The phonetically parsed word is enclosed in square brackets – ;
• a soft consonant is indicated by a transcription sign [’] - an apostrophe;
• percussive [´] - accent;
• in complex word forms from several roots, the secondary stress sign [`] - gravis is used (not practiced in the school curriculum);
• the letters of the alphabet Yu, Ya, E, Ё, ь and Ъ are NEVER used in transcription (in the curriculum);
• for doubled consonants, [:] is used - a sign of the longitude of the sound.

Below are detailed rules for orthoepic, alphabetic, phonetic and word analysis with online examples, in accordance with general school standards of the modern Russian language. Professional linguists' transcriptions of phonetic characteristics are distinguished by accents and other symbols with additional acoustic features of vowel and consonant phonemes.

How to make a phonetic analysis of a word?

The following diagram will help you carry out letter analysis:

• Write down the necessary word and say it out loud several times.
• Count how many vowels and consonants there are in it.
• Indicate the stressed syllable. (Stress, using intensity (energy), distinguishes a certain phoneme in speech from a number of homogeneous sound units.)
• Divide the phonetic word into syllables and indicate their total number. Remember that syllable division in is different from the rules of transfer. The total number of syllables always matches the number of vowels.
• In the transcription, sort the word by sounds.
• Write the letters from the phrase in a column.
• Opposite each letter in square brackets, indicate its sound definition (how it is heard). Remember that sounds in words are not always identical to letters. The letters "ь" and "ъ" do not represent any sounds. The letters “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya”, “i” can represent 2 sounds at once.
• Analyze each phoneme separately and indicate its properties separated by commas:
  • for a vowel we indicate in the characteristic: vowel sound; stressed or unstressed;
  • in the characteristics of consonants we indicate: consonant sound; hard or soft, voiced or deaf, sonorant, paired/unpaired in hardness-softness and sonority-dullness.
• At the end of the phonetic analysis of the word, draw a line and count the total number of letters and sounds.

This scheme is practiced in the school curriculum.

An example of phonetic analysis of a word

Here is a sample phonetic analysis of the composition for the word “phenomenon” → [yivl’e′n’ie]. In this example there are 4 vowels and 3 consonants. There are only 4 syllables: I-vle′-n-e. The emphasis falls on the second.

Sound characteristics of letters:

i [th] - acc., unpaired soft, unpaired voiced, sonorant [i] - vowel, unstressedv [v] - acc., paired hard, paired sound l [l'] - acc., paired soft., unpaired . sound, sonorant [e′] - vowel, stressed [n’] - consonant, paired soft, unpaired sound, sonorant and [i] - vowel, unstressed [th] - consonant, unpaired. soft, unpaired sound, sonorant [e] - vowel, unstressed________________________In total, the word phenomenon has 7 letters, 9 sounds. The first letter “I” and the last “E” each represent two sounds.

Now you know how to do sound-letter analysis yourself. The following is a classification of sound units of the Russian language, their relationships and transcription rules for sound-letter analysis.

Phonetics and sounds in Russian

What sounds are there?

All sound units are divided into vowels and consonants. Vowel sounds, in turn, can be stressed or unstressed. The consonant sound in Russian words can be: hard - soft, voiced - deaf, hissing, sonorous.

How many sounds are there in Russian living speech?

The correct answer is 42.

Doing phonetic analysis online, you will find that 36 consonant sounds and 6 vowels are involved in word formation. Many people have a reasonable question: why is there such a strange inconsistency? Why does it vary? total number sounds and letters, both vowels and consonants?

All this is easily explained. A number of letters, when participating in word formation, can denote 2 sounds at once. For example, softness-hardness pairs:

• [b] - cheerful and [b’] - squirrel;
• or [d]-[d’]: home - to do.

And some do not have a pair, for example [h’] will always be soft. If you doubt it, try to say it firmly and make sure it is impossible: stream, pack, spoon, black, Chegevara, boy, little rabbit, bird cherry, bees. Thanks to this practical solution, our alphabet has not reached dimensionless proportions, and the sound units are optimally complemented, merging with each other.

Vowel sounds in Russian words

Vowel sounds Unlike consonants, they are melodic; they flow freely, as if in a chant, from the larynx, without barriers or tension of the ligaments. The louder you try to pronounce the vowel, the wider you will have to open your mouth. And vice versa, the louder you try to pronounce a consonant, the more energetically you will close your mouth. This is the most striking articulatory difference between these phoneme classes.

The stress in any word form can only fall on the vowel sound, but there are also unstressed vowels.

How many vowel sounds are there in Russian phonetics?

Russian speech uses fewer vowel phonemes than letters. There are only six shock sounds: [a], [i], [o], [e], [u], [s]. And let us remind you that there are ten letters: a, e, e, i, o, u, y, e, i, yu. The vowels E, E, Yu, I are not “pure” sounds in transcription are not used. Often, when parsing words by letter, the emphasis falls on the listed letters.

Phonetics: characteristics of stressed vowels

The main phonemic feature of Russian speech is the clear pronunciation of vowel phonemes in stressed syllables. Stressed syllables in Russian phonetics are distinguished by the force of exhalation, increased duration of sound and are pronounced undistorted. Since they are pronounced clearly and expressively, sound analysis of syllables with stressed vowel phonemes is much easier to carry out. The position in which the sound does not undergo changes and retains its basic form is called strong position. This position can only be taken by percussion sound and syllable. Unstressed phonemes and syllables remain in a weak position.

• The vowel in a stressed syllable is always in a strong position, that is, it is pronounced more clearly, with greatest strength and duration.
• A vowel in an unstressed position is in a weak position, that is, it is pronounced with less force and not so clearly.

In the Russian language, only one phoneme “U” retains unchangeable phonetic properties: kuruza, tablet, u chus, u lov - in all positions it is pronounced clearly as [u]. This means that the vowel “U” is not subject to qualitative reduction. Attention: in writing, the phoneme [y] can also be indicated by another letter “U”: muesli [m’u ´sl’i], key [kl’u ´ch’], etc.

Analysis of the sounds of stressed vowels

The vowel phoneme [o] occurs only in a strong position (under stress). In such cases, “O” is not subject to reduction: cat [ko´ t'ik], bell [kalako´ l'ch'yk], milk [malako´], eight [vo´ s'im'], search [paisko´ vaya], dialect [go´ var], autumn [o´ s'in'].

An exception to the rule of a strong position for “O”, when the unstressed [o] is also pronounced clearly, are only some foreign words: cocoa [kaka "o], patio [pa"tio], radio [ra"dio], boa [bo a "] and a number of service units, for example, the conjunction but. The sound [o] in writing can be reflected by another letter “ё” - [o]: thorn [t’o´ rn], fire [kas’t’o´ r]. It will also not be difficult to analyze the sounds of the remaining four vowels in the stressed position.

Unstressed vowels and sounds in Russian words

It is possible to make a correct sound analysis and accurately determine the characteristics of a vowel only after placing stress in the word. Do not forget also about the existence of homonymy in our language: zamok - zamok and about the change in phonetic qualities depending on the context (case, number):

• I'm home [ya do "ma].
• New houses [no "vye da ma"].

IN unstressed position the vowel is modified, that is, pronounced differently than written:

• mountains - mountain = [go "ry] - [ga ra"];
• he - online = [o "n] - [a nla"yn]
• witness line = [sv’id’e “t’i l’n’itsa].

Such changes in vowels in unstressed syllables are called reduction. Quantitative, when the duration of the sound changes. And high-quality reduction, when the characteristics of the original sound change.

The same unstressed vowel letter can change phonetic characteristic depending on position:

• primarily relative to the stressed syllable;
• at the absolute beginning or end of a word;
• in open syllables (consisting of only one vowel);
• on the influence of neighboring signs (ь, ъ) and consonant.

Yes, it varies 1st degree of reduction. It is subject to:

• vowels in the first pre-stressed syllable;
• naked syllable at the very beginning;
• repeated vowels.

Note: To make a sound-letter analysis, the first pre-stressed syllable is determined not from the “head” of the phonetic word, but in relation to the stressed syllable: the first to the left of it. In principle, it can be the only pre-shock: not-here [n’iz’d’e’shn’ii].

(uncovered syllable)+(2-3 pre-stressed syllable)+ 1st pre-stressed syllable ← Stressed syllable → over-stressed syllable (+2/3 over-stressed syllable)

• vper-re -di [fp’ir’i d’i´];
• e -ste-ste-st-no [yi s’t’e´s’t’v’in:a];

Any other pre-stressed syllables and all post-stressed syllables when sound analysis belong to the reduction of the 2nd degree. It is also called a “weak position of the second degree.”

• kiss [pa-tsy-la-va´t’];
• model [ma-dy-l’i´-ra-vat’];
• swallow [la´-sta -ch’ka];
• kerosene [k'i-ra-s'i´-na-vy].

The reduction of vowels in a weak position also differs in stages: second, third (after hard and soft consonants - this is beyond curriculum): learn [uch’i´ts:a], become numb [atsyp’in’e´t’], hope [nad’e´zhda]. During letter analysis, the reduction of the vowel in the weak position in the final open syllable(= at the absolute end of a word):

• cup;
• goddess;
• with songs;
• turn.

Sound-letter analysis: iotized sounds

Phonetically, the letters E - [ye], Yo - [yo], Yu - [yu], Ya - [ya] often mean two sounds at once. Have you noticed that in all the indicated cases the additional phoneme is “Y”? That is why these vowels are called iotized. The meaning of the letters E, E, Yu, I is determined by their positional position.

When analyzed phonetically, the vowels e, e, yu, i form 2 sounds:

◊ Yo - [yo], Yu - [yu], E - [ye], I - [ya] in cases where there are:

• At the beginning of the words “Yo” and “Yu” are always:
  • - shudder [yo´ zhyts:a], Christmas tree [yo´ lach’nyy], hedgehog [yo´ zhyk], container [yo´ mcast’];
  • - jeweler [yuv ’il’i´r], top [yu la´], skirt [yu´ pka], Jupiter [yu p’i´t’ir], nimbleness [yu ´rkas’t’];
• at the beginning of the words “E” and “I” only under stress*:
  • - spruce [ye´ l’], travel [ye´ w:u], huntsman [ye´ g’ir’], eunuch [ye´ vnukh];
  • - yacht [ya´ hta], anchor [ya´ kar’], yaki [ya´ ki], apple [ya´ blaka];
  • (*to perform sound-letter analysis of the unstressed vowels “E” and “I”, a different phonetic transcription is used, see below);
• in the position immediately after the vowel “Yo” and “Yu” always. But “E” and “I” are in stressed and unstressed syllables, except in cases where these letters are located after a vowel in the 1st pre-stressed syllable or in the 1st, 2nd unstressed syllable in the middle of words. Phonetic analysis online and examples in specified cases:
  • - receiver [pr’iyo´mn’ik], sings t [payo´t], klyyo t [kl’uyo ´t];
  • -ayu rveda [ayu r’v’e´da], I sing t [payu ´t], melt [ta´yu t], cabin [kayu ´ta],
• after the dividing solid “Ъ” the sign “Ё” and “Yu” - always, and “E” and “I” only under stress or at the absolute end of the word: - volume [ab yo´m], shooting [syo´mka], adjutant [adyu "ta´nt]
• after the dividing soft “b” the sign “Ё” and “Yu” is always, and “E” and “I” are under stress or at the absolute end of the word: - interview [intyrv'yu´], trees [d'ir'e´ v'ya], friends [druz'ya´], brothers [bra´t'ya], monkey [ab'iz'ya´ na], blizzard [v'yu´ ga], family [s'em'ya´ ]

As you can see, in the phonemic system of the Russian language, stress is of decisive importance. Vowels in unstressed syllables undergo the greatest reduction. Let's continue the sound-letter analysis of the remaining iotized ones and see how they can still change characteristics depending on the environment in the words.

◊ Unstressed vowels“E” and “I” designate two sounds and in phonetic transcription and are written as [YI]:

• at the very beginning of the word:
  • - unity [yi d'in'e´n'i'ye], spruce [yil´vyy], blackberry [yizhiv'i´ka], him [yivo´], fidget [yigaza´], Yenisei [yin'is 'e´y], Egypt [yig'i´p'it];
  • - January [yi nvarskiy], core [yidro´], sting [yiz'v'i´t'], label [yirly´k], Japan [yipo´n'iya], lamb [yign'o´nak ];
  • (The only exceptions are rare foreign word forms and names: Caucasoid [ye vrap'io´idnaya], Evgeniy [ye] vgeny, European [ye vrap'e´yits], diocese [ye] pa´rkhiya, etc.).
• immediately after a vowel in the 1st pre-stressed syllable or in the 1st, 2nd post-stressed syllable, except for the location at the absolute end of the word.
  • in a timely manner [svai vr'e´m'ina], trains [payi zda´], let's eat [payi d'i´m], run into [nayi w:a´t'], Belgian [b'il'g'i´ yi c], students [uch'a´sh'iyi s'a], with sentences [pr'idlazhe´n'iyi m'i], vanity [suyi ta´],
  • bark [la´yi t'], pendulum [ma´yi tn'ik], hare [za´yi c], belt [po´yi s], declare [zayi v'i´t'], show [prayi in 'l'u´]
• after the dividing hard “Ъ” or soft “b” sign: - intoxicating [p'yi n'i´t], express [izyi v'i´t'], announcement [abyi vl'e´n'iye], edible [syi dobny].

Note: The St. Petersburg phonological school is characterized by “ecane”, and the Moscow school is characterized by “hiccup”. Previously, the iotrated “Yo” was pronounced with a more accented “Ye”. When changing capitals, performing sound-letter analysis, they adhere to Moscow norms in orthoepy.

Some people in fluent speech pronounce the vowel “I” the same way in syllables with a strong and weak position. This pronunciation is considered a dialect and is not literary. Remember, the vowel “I” under stress and without stress is voiced differently: fair [ya ´marka], but egg [yi ytso´].

Important:

The letter “I” after the soft sign “b” also represents 2 sounds - [YI] in sound-letter analysis. (This rule is relevant for syllables in both strong and weak positions). Let's conduct a sample sound-letter online parsing: - nightingales [salav'yi´], on chicken legs [na ku´r'yi' x" no´shkah], rabbit [kro´l'ich'yi], no family [s'im'yi´], judges [su´d'yi], draws [n'ich'yi´], streams [ruch'yi´], foxes [li´s'yi]. But: The vowel “O” after the soft sign “b” is transcribed as apostrophe of softness ['] of the preceding consonant and [O], although when pronouncing the phoneme, iotization can be heard: broth [bul'o´n], pavilion n [pav'il'o´n], similarly: postman n, champignon n, shigno n, companion n, medallion n, battalion n, guillotina, carmagno la, mignon n and others.

Phonetic analysis of words, when the vowels “Yu” “E” “E” “I” form 1 sound

According to the rules of phonetics of the Russian language, at a certain position in words, the designated letters give one sound when:

• sound units “Yo” “Yu” “E” are under stress after an unpaired consonant in hardness: zh, sh, ts. Then they represent phonemes:
  • ё - [o],
  • e - [e],
  • yu - [y].
  Examples of online analysis by sounds: yellow [zho´ lty], silk [sho´ lk], whole [tse´ ly], recipe [r'itse´ pt], pearls [zhe´ mch'uk], six [she´ st '], hornet [she'rshen'], parachute [parashu't];
• The letters “I” “Yu” “E” “E” and “I” indicate the softness of the preceding consonant [’]. Exception only for: [f], [w], [c]. In such cases in a striking position they form one vowel sound:
  • ё – [o]: ticket [put'o´ fka], easy [l'o´ hk'iy], honey fungus [ap'o´ nak], actor [akt'o´ r], child [r'ib' o´nak];
  • e – [e]: seal [t’ul’e´ n’], mirror [z’e’ rkala], smarter [umn’e´ ye], conveyor [kanv’e´ yir];
  • I – [a]: kittens [kat'a´ ta], softly [m'a´ hka], oath [kl'a´ tva], took [vz'a´ l], mattress [t'u f'a ´ k], swan [l'ib'a´ zhy];
  • yu – [y]: beak [kl'u´ f], people [l'u´ d'am], gateway [shl'u´ s], tulle [t'u´ l'], suit [kas't 'mind].
  • Note: in words borrowed from other languages, the stressed vowel “E” does not always signal the softness of the previous consonant. This positional softening ceased to be a mandatory norm in Russian phonetics only in the 20th century. In such cases, when you do a phonetic analysis of the composition, such a vowel sound is transcribed as [e] without a preceding apostrophe of softness: hotel [ate´ l'], strap [br'ite´ l'ka], test [te´ st] , tennis [te´ n:is], cafe [cafe´], puree [p'ure´], amber [ambre´], delta [de´ l'ta], tender [te´ nder], masterpiece [shede´ vr], tablet [table´ t].
• Attention! After soft consonants in prestressed syllables the vowels “E” and “I” undergo qualitative reduction and are transformed into the sound [i] (except for [ts], [zh], [sh]). Examples of phonetic analysis of words with similar phonemes: - grain [z'i rno´], earth [z'i ml'a´], cheerful [v'i s'o´ly], ringing [z'v 'i n'i´t], forest [l'i sno´y], blizzard [m'i t'e´l'itsa], feather [p'i ro´], brought [pr' in'i sla´], knit [v'i za´t'], lie [l'i ga´t'], five grater [p'i t'o´rka]

Phonetic analysis: consonants of the Russian language

There is an absolute majority of consonants in the Russian language. When pronouncing a consonant sound, the air flow encounters obstacles. They are formed by organs of articulation: teeth, tongue, palate, vibrations of the vocal cords, lips. Due to this, noise, hissing, whistling or ringing appears in the voice.

How many consonants are there in Russian speech?

In the alphabet they are designated by 21 letters. However, when performing sound-letter analysis, you will find that in Russian phonetics consonant sounds more, namely 36.

Sound-letter analysis: what are the consonant sounds?

In our language there are consonants:

• hard - soft and form the corresponding pairs:
  • [b] - [b’]: b anan - b tree,
  • [in] - [in’]: in height - in yun,
  • [g] - [g’]: city - duke,
  • [d] - [d’]: dacha - dolphin,
  • [z] - [z’]: z von - z ether,
  • [k] - [k’]: k onfeta - to enguru,
  • [l] - [l’]: boat - l lux,
  • [m] - [m’]: magic - dreams,
  • [n] - [n’]: new - nectar,
  • [p] - [p’]: p alma- p yosik,
  • [r] - [r’]: daisy - row of poison,
  • [s] - [s’]: with uvenir - with urpriz,
  • [t] - [t’]: tuchka - t ulpan,
  • [f] - [f’]: f lag - f February,
  • [x] - [x’]: x orek - x seeker.
• Certain consonants do not have a hard-soft pair. Unpaired ones include:
  • sounds [zh], [ts], [sh] - always hard (zhzn, tsikl, mouse);
  • [ch’], [sch’] and [th’] are always soft (daughter, more often than not, yours).
• The sounds [zh], [ch’], [sh], [sh’] in our language are called hissing.

A consonant can be voiced - voiceless, as well as sonorous and noisy.

You can determine the voicedness-voicelessness or sonority of a consonant by the degree of noise-voice. These characteristics will vary depending on the method of formation and the participation of the organs of articulation.

• Sonorant (l, m, n, r, y) are the most sonorous phonemes, in them a maximum of voices and a few noises are heard: l ev, rai, n o l.
• If, when pronouncing a word during sound parsing, both a voice and noise are formed, it means that you have a voiced consonant (g, b, z, etc.): plant, b people, life.
• When pronouncing voiceless consonants (p, s, t and others) vocal cords they don’t strain, only noise is made: st opka, fishka, k ost yum, tsirk, sew up.

Note: In phonetics, consonant sound units also have a division according to the nature of formation: stop (b, p, d, t) - gap (zh, w, z, s) and method of articulation: labiolabial (b, p, m) , labiodental (f, v), anterior lingual (t, d, z, s, c, g, w, sch, h, n, l, r), midlingual (th), posterior lingual (k, g, x) . The names are given based on the organs of articulation that are involved in sound production.

Tip: If you're just starting to practice spelling words phonetically, try placing your hands on your ears and saying the phoneme. If you were able to hear a voice, then the sound being studied is a voiced consonant, but if noise is heard, then it is voiceless.

Hint: For associative communication, remember the phrases: “Oh, we didn’t forget our friend.” - V this proposal contains absolutely the entire set of voiced consonants (excluding softness-hardness pairs). “Styopka, do you want to eat some soup? - Fi! - similarly, the indicated replicas contain a set of all voiceless consonants.

Positional changes of consonants in Russian

The consonant sound, just like the vowel, undergoes changes. The same letter phonetically can mean different sound, depending on the position occupied. In the flow of speech, the sound of one consonant is compared to the articulation of a consonant located next to it. This effect makes pronunciation easier and is called assimilation in phonetics.

Positional stun/voicing

In a certain position for consonants, the phonetic law of assimilation according to deafness and voicedness applies. The voiced paired consonant is replaced by a voiceless one:

• at the absolute end of a phonetic word: but [no´sh], snow [s’n’e´k], garden [agaro´t], club [klu´p];
• before voiceless consonants: forget-me-not a [n’izabu´t ka], obkh vatit [apkh vat’i´t’], Tuesday [ft o´rn’ik], tube a [corpse a].
• doing a sound-letter analysis online, you will notice that the voiceless paired consonant standing before the voiced one (except for [th'], [v] - [v'], [l] - [l'], [m] - [m'] , [n] - [n'], [r] - [r']) is also voiced, that is, replaced by its voiced pair: surrender [zda´ch'a], mowing [kaz'ba´], threshing [malad 'ba´], request [pro´z'ba], guess [adgada´t'].

In Russian phonetics, a voiceless noisy consonant does not combine with a subsequent voiced noisy consonant, except for the sounds [v] - [v’]: whipped cream. In this case, the transcription of both the phoneme [z] and [s] is equally acceptable.

When parsing the sounds of words: total, today, today, etc., the letter “G” is replaced by the phoneme [v].

According to the rules of sound-letter analysis, in the endings “-ого”, “-го” of adjectives, participles and pronouns, the consonant “G” is transcribed as the sound [в]: red [kra´snava], blue [s'i´n'iva] , white [b'e´lava], sharp, full, former, that, that, whom. If, after assimilation, two consonants of the same type are formed, they merge. In the school curriculum on phonetics, this process is called consonant contraction: separate [ad:'il'i´t'] → the letters “T” and “D” are reduced into sounds [d'd'], besh smart [b'ish: u ´much]. When analyzing the composition of a number of words in sound-letter analysis, dissimilation is observed - the opposite process to assimilation. In this case, the common feature of two adjacent consonants changes: the combination “GK” sounds like [xk] (instead of the standard [kk]): light [l'o′kh'k'ii], soft [m'a′kh' k'ii].

Soft consonants in Russian

In the phonetic parsing scheme, an apostrophe [’] is used to indicate the softness of consonants.

• Softening of paired hard consonants occurs before “b”;
• the softness of the consonant sound in a syllable in writing will help determine the vowel letter that follows it (e, ё, i, yu, i);
• [ш'], [ч'] and [й] are only soft by default;
• The sound [n] is always softened before soft consonants “Z”, “S”, “D”, “T”: claim [pr'iten'z 'iya], review [r'itseen'z 'iya], pension [pen 's' iya], ve[n'z'] el, licé[n'z'] iya, ka[n'd'] idat, ba[n'd'] it, i[n'd'] ivid , blo[n'd']in, stipe[n'd']iya, ba[n't']ik, vi[n't']ik, zo[n't']ik, ve[n' t'] il, a[n't'] ical, co[n't'] text, remo[n't'] edit;
• the letters “N”, “K”, “P” during phonetic analysis of the composition can be softened before soft sounds[ch'], [sch']: glass ik [staka'n'ch'ik], substitute ik [sm'e'n'sh'ik], donch ik [po'n'ch'ik], mason ik [kam'e'n'sch'ik], boulevard ina [bul'va'r'sch'ina], borscht [bo'r'sch'];
• often the sounds [з], [с], [р], [н] before a soft consonant undergo assimilation in terms of hardness-softness: wall [s't'e′nka], life [zhyz'n'], here [ z'd'es'];
• in order to correctly perform sound-letter analysis, take into account the exception words when the consonant [p] before soft teeth and labials, as well as before [ch’], [sch’] is pronounced firmly: artel, feed, cornet, samovar;

Note: the letter “b” after a consonant unpaired in hardness/softness in some word forms performs only a grammatical function and does not impose a phonetic load: study, night, mouse, rye, etc. In such words, during letter analysis, a [-] dash is placed in square brackets opposite the letter “b”.

Positional changes in paired voiced-voiceless consonants before hissing consonants and their transcription during sound-letter parsing

To determine the number of sounds in a word, you need to take them into account positional changes. Paired voiced-voiceless: [d-t] or [z-s] before sibilants (zh, sh, shch, h) are phonetically replaced by a sibilant consonant.

• Literal analysis and examples of words with hissing sounds: arrival [pr'ie'zhzh ii], ascend [vashsh e´st'iye], izzh elta [i´zh elta], take pity [zh a´l'its: A].

The phenomenon when two different letters are pronounced as one is called complete assimilation in all respects. When performing sound-letter analysis of a word, you must denote one of the repeated sounds in the transcription with the longitude symbol [:].

• Letter combinations with a hissing “szh” - “zzh” are pronounced like a double hard consonant [zh:], and “ssh” - “zsh” - like [sh:]: squeezed, sewed, without a splint, climbed in.
• The combinations “zzh”, “zhzh” inside the root, when parsed by letters and sounds, are written in transcription as a long consonant [zh:]: I ride, I squeal, later, reins, yeast, zhzhenka.
• The combinations “sch”, “zch” at the junction of a root and a suffix/prefix are pronounced as a long soft [sch’:]: account [sch’: o´t], scribe, customer.
• At the junction of the preposition with the following word in place of “sch”, “zch” is transcribed as [sch'ch']: without number [b'esh' ch' isla´], with something [sch'ch' e'mta] .
• During sound-letter analysis, the combinations “tch”, “dch” at the junction of morphemes are defined as double soft [ch':]: pilot [l'o´ch': ik], good fellow [little-ch': ik], report [ach': o´t].

Cheat sheet for comparing consonant sounds by place of formation

• sch → [sch':]: happiness [sch': a´s't'ye], sandstone [p'ish': a´n'ik], peddler [vari´sch': ik], paving stones, calculations, exhaust, clear;
• zch → [sch’:]: carver [r’e’sch’: ik], loader [gru’sch’: ik], storyteller [raska’sch’: ik];
• zhch → [sch’:]: defector [p’ir’ibe´ sch’: ik], man [musch’: i´na];
• shch → [sch’:]: freckled [in’isnu’sch’: ity];
• stch → [sch’:]: tougher [zho’sch’: e], biting, rigger;
• zdch → [sch’:]: roundabout [abye’sch’: ik], furrowed [baro’sch’: ity];
• ssch → [sch’:]: split [rasch’: ip’i′t’], became generous [rasch’: e’dr’ils’a];
• thsch → [ch'sch']: to split off [ach'sch' ip'i′t'], to snap off [ach'sch' o´lk'ivat'], in vain [ch'sch' etna], carefully [ch' sch' at'el'na];
• tch → [ch’:]: report [ach’: o′t], fatherland [ach’: i′zna], ciliated [r’is’n’i′ch’: i′ty];
• dch → [ch’:]: emphasize [pach’: o’rk’ivat’], stepdaughter [pach’: ir’itsa];
• szh → [zh:]: compress [zh: a´t’];
• zzh → [zh:]: get rid of [izh: y´t’], kindle [ro´zh: yk], leave [uyizh: a´t’];
• ssh → [sh:]: brought [pr’in’o′sh: y], embroidered [rash: y’ty];
• zsh → [sh:]: lower [n’ish: s′y]
• th → [pcs], in word forms with “what” and its derivatives, doing a sound-letter analysis, we write [pcs]: so that [pcs] , for nothing [n'e′ zasht a], something [ sht o n'ibut'], something;
• th → [h't] in other cases of letter parsing: dreamer [m'ich't a´t'il'], mail [po´ch't a], preference [pr'itpach't 'e´n' ie] etc;
• chn → [shn] in exception words: of course [kan'e´shn a′], boring [sku´shn a′], bakery, laundry, scrambled eggs, trifling, birdhouse, bachelorette party, mustard plaster, rag, as well as in female patronymics ending in “-ichna”: Ilyinichna, Nikitichna, Kuzminichna, etc.;
• chn → [ch'n] - letter analysis for all other options: fabulous [ska´zach'n y], dacha [da´ch'n y], strawberry [z'im'l'in'i´ch'n y], wake up, cloudy, sunny, etc.;
• !zhd → in place of the letter combination “zhd”, double pronunciation and transcription [sch’] or [sht’] is allowed in the word rain and in the word forms derived from it: rainy, rainy.

Unpronounceable consonants in Russian words

During the pronunciation of an entire phonetic word with a chain of many different consonant letters, one or another sound may be lost. As a result, in the spelling of words there are letters devoid of sound meaning, the so-called unpronounceable consonants. To correctly perform phonetic analysis online, the unpronounceable consonant is not displayed in the transcription. Number of sounds in similar phonetic words will be less than letters.

In Russian phonetics, unpronounceable consonants include:

• "T" - in combinations:
  • stn → [sn]: local [m’e´sn y], reed [tras’n ’i´k]. By analogy, one can perform a phonetic analysis of the words staircase, honest, famous, joyful, sad, participant, messenger, rainy, furious and others;
  • stl → [sl]: happy [sh':asl 'i´vyy"], happy, conscientious, boastful (exception words: bony and postlat, in them the letter “T” is pronounced);
  • ntsk → [nsk]: gigantic [g'iga´nsk 'ii], agency, presidential;
  • sts → [s:]: sixs from [shes: o´t], to eat up [take´s: a], to swear I [kl’a´s: a];
  • sts → [s:]: tourist [tur'i´s: k'iy], maximalist cue [max'imal'i´s: k'iy], racist cue [ras'i´s: k'iy] , bestseller, propaganda, expressionist, Hindu, careerist;
  • ntg → [ng]: x-ray en [r’eng ’e´n];
  • “–tsya”, “–tsya” → [ts:] in verb endings: smile [smile´ts: a], wash [my´ts: a], looks, will do, bow, shave, fit;
  • ts → [ts] for adjectives in combinations at the junction of a root and a suffix: childish [d’e´ts k’ii], bratskiy [bratskyi];
  • ts → [ts:] / [tss]: athlete [sparts: m’e´n], send [atss yla´t’];
  • tts → [ts:] at the junction of morphemes during phonetic analysis online is written as a long “ts”: bratz a [bra´ts: a], father epit [ats: yp'i´t'], to father u [k atz: y´];
• “D” - when parsing by sounds in the following letter combinations:
  • zdn → [zn]: late [z'n'y], star [z'v'ozn'y], holiday [pra'z'n'ik], free [b'izvazm' e′know];
  • ndsh → [nsh]: mundsh tuk [munsh tu´k], landsh aft [lansh a´ft];
  • NDsk → [NSK]: Dutch [Galansk ’ii], Thai [Thailansk ’ii], Norman [Narmansk ’ii];
  • zdts → [ss]: under the bridles [fall uss s´];
  • ndc → [nts]: Dutch [galans];
  • rdc → [rts]: heart [s’e´rts e], serdts evin [s’irts yv’i´na];
  • rdch → [rch"]: heart ishko [s’erch ’i´shka];
  • dts → [ts:] at the junction of morphemes, less often in roots, are pronounced and when parsed soundly, the word is written as double [ts]: pick up [pats: yp'i´t'], twenty [dva´ts: yt'] ;
  • ds → [ts]: factory koy [zavac ko´y], rods tvo [rac tvo´], means [sr’e´ts tva], Kislovods k [k’islavo´ts k];
• “L” - in combinations:
  • sun → [nz]: sun [so´nts e], solar state;
• “B” - in combinations:
  • vstv → [stv] literal analysis of words: hello [hello, go away], feelings about [ch's'tva], sensuality [ch'us'tv 'inas't'], pampering about [pampering o´], virgin [d'e´stv 'in:y].

Note: In some words of the Russian language, when there is a cluster of consonant sounds “stk”, “ntk”, “zdk”, “ndk” the loss of the phoneme [t] is not allowed: trip [payestka], daughter-in-law, typist, summons, laboratory assistant, student , patient, bulky, Irish, Scottish.

• When parsing letters, two identical letters immediately after the stressed vowel are transcribed as a single sound and a longitude symbol [:]: class, bath, mass, group, program.
• Doubled consonants in pre-stressed syllables are indicated in transcription and pronounced as one sound: tunnel [tane´l’], terrace, apparatus.

If you find it difficult to perform phonetic analysis of a word online according to the indicated rules, or you have an ambiguous analysis of the word being studied, use the help of a reference dictionary. Literary standards orthoepies are regulated by the publication: “Russian literary pronunciation and stress. Dictionary - reference book." M. 1959

References:

• Litnevskaya E.I. Russian language: short theoretical course for schoolchildren. – MSU, M.: 2000
• Panov M.V. Russian phonetics. – Enlightenment, M.: 1967
• Beshenkova E.V., Ivanova O.E. Rules of Russian spelling with comments.
• Tutorial. – “Institute for Advanced Training of Education Workers”, Tambov: 2012
• Rosenthal D.E., Dzhandzhakova E.V., Kabanova N.P. Handbook of spelling, pronunciation, literary editing. Russian literary pronunciation. – M.: CheRo, 1999

Now you know how to parse a word into sounds, make a sound-letter analysis of each syllable and determine their number. The described rules explain the laws of phonetics in the format school curriculum. They will help you phonetically characterize any letter.

Lesson 1: Basic Phonetic Transcription

The Russian alphabet has 33 letters (graphemes), which can be divided into consonants and vowels. Each grapheme has its own sound form, called phoneme, which may have other variants (allophones).

Consonants arise with the help of a stream of air, which, passing through the vocal cords, causes them to vibrate, which produces a pure sound (tone). This tone is further modified in the oral and nasal cavities, where obstructions are present and noise occurs. Consonants can be divided into voiced(in addition to noise, they also contain tone) and deaf(contain only noise). Next we divide the consonants into hard and soft. In the Russian language there are 15 paired hard and soft consonants, 3 consonants are always hard - these are “sh”, “zh” and “ts” and 3 consonants are always soft “ch”, “sch” and “y”. In total, we distinguish 36 consonant phonemes.

Vowels are also formed when a stream of air passes through the vocal cords, which produces a tone that is modified in the nasal and oral cavities, but in the absence of obstacles, so that a pure tone is preserved. There are 6 vowel phonemes in the Russian language: |a|, |e|, |i|, |ы|, |о|, |у| , which have their own variants - allophones, depending on the position of the vowel in relation to the stress in the word.

Russian emphasis free, mobile. It can be on any syllable in a word, it is not constant and can be on different syllables in one word, for example. window - window, city - city.

Russian accent strong, dynamic, the understressed vowel is qualitatively and quantitatively much stronger than the unstressed one, which is pronounced much weaker. The weakening of unstressed vowels is called reduction and there are 2 degrees of reduction.

Russian vowels in relation to stress can be divided into:

3 – drums (strong, dynamic, long)

2 – first pre-shock (1st reduction stage)

1 – more than the first pre-stress and post-stress (2nd degree of reduction).

Table of pronunciation of Russian vowels and their recording in transcription

Vowels after consonants:

Grapheme	Phoneme	Options	towards	word positions
		3	2	1
a	| a|	[ á]	[^], also at the beginning and end of a word	[ъ]
o	| o|	[ ó]	[^]	[ъ]
I	| "a|	[" á]	["and",["^] at the end of a word	["ь]
e	| "e|	["uh"]	["And]	["ь]
e	|"o|	[" ó]	–	–
uh	|uh|	[uh"]	[s]	[ъ]
at	|y|	[ý]	[y]	[y]
Yu	|"y|	["ý]	["y]	["y]
And	|"and|	["and"], [s]	["and", [s]	[" and], [s]
s	|s|	[s]	[s]	[s]

“I”, “e”, “e”, “yu”, “i” after vowels, at the beginning of a word or after a soft and solid sign:

Grapheme	Phoneme	Options for	towards	word positions
		3	2	1
I	|j|+|a|		[ṷи], [ṷ^] at the end of a word	[ṷь]
e	|j|+|e|		[ṷи]	[ṷь]
e	|j|+|o|		–	–
Yu	|j|+|y|		[ṷу]	[ṷу]
And	|j|+|i|		[ṷи]	[ṷи]

Transcription of some consonants:

hard [t] – soft [t"]

• th = stressed [j], unstressed [ṷ]

• Tsya, -tsya = [ts:^]

Exercises

Exercise 1.1

Read and rewrite in transcription:

Mommy, grandma, milk, good, pine, cold, side, crocod And l, chocolate, magpie, laugh, city, young, dialect And t, saying, mash And on, house, contract, school, frying pan, open s weaving, stop, aroma, car And l.

Tree, knee, birch, girl, spring, business, timber truck, translation, telephone, television And zor, auditor, director, series, furniture, attic, suitcase, man, d I da, aunt, zar I dka, n I chick, knit, heavy, meat, frog, private, with And Nya.

Apple, amber, Japan, I on, Yaroslav, language s To, I ma, I year, phenomenon, January, I sleepy, Europe, Elena, Eva, Eg And pet, european, let's go, food, hedgehog, herringbone, spruce, Egor, eli, Yu bka, Yu zhny, Yula, YU rmala, Yu burden, Yu ny, southwest, Yugoslavia, jewelry And R.

Seven I, trees, mo I, green, Tat I na, comma, d I con, Dar I, Mar And I, summer, will pour, mine, with And her, bad weather, happiness, health, move out, move in, go, yours Yu, With And I do, I do, my Yu, Ra And sa, Zina And yes, mo And, its And, operations, laboratories.

Ride, exercise, swim, get dressed, study And wash, wash, agreement And he smiles, she is shy I it is, they are skating, he is learning And I was happy, she was happy, I was happy And gone.

Transcription and reading rules in English language- two closely related concepts. Reading rules explain how letters and letter combinations are pronounced in different cases, and with the help of transcription we record and read speech sounds.

Reading rules can confuse a beginner. There are many of them, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are only so scary if you understand them deeply and try to learn them by heart, along with the exceptions. In reality, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart.

While studying English, you will constantly be doing something, and soon you will learn to correlate letters and sounds without thinking, automatically. There is no need to worry about exceptions either. Usually the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word are remembered as one whole - you just know that such and such a word is pronounced this way.

Feature of English phonetics: we write “Manchester” - we read “Liverpool”

The phonetics of the English language has a noticeable feature: words are often read differently from how they are written, that is, from the spelling of a word it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced. As linguists joke: “We write “Manchester”, but read “Liverpool.”

In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complex, but the letters and spelling remain the same or change with great delay. English is no exception. At the dawn of its development, words were read and pronounced more or less similar, but over time this discrepancy became greater and greater, the situation was aggravated by the diversity of dialects, and now we are in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

Nobody is in a hurry to reform English spelling; there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language has long no longer had a single “control center”. Reforms initiated in London may be coolly received in Sydney and rejected in Washington. And in general, spelling reform is always a painful process that meets resistance among a significant part of native speakers. It's much easier to leave it as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. She should not be afraid or avoided, because she is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great for saving time and helping to avoid mistakes. One glance at the transcription of an English word is enough for you to understand how it is read correctly.

When you memorize or write down a new word that comes across in the text, you definitely need to look at its transcription and/or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then they will not understand you.

Is it possible to write English words in Russian letters?

Sometimes on websites or even in books you can see “ English transcription in Russian” or “pronunciation English words in Russian letters” – that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn sophisticated icons if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from the English phonetics so much that the sound can only be conveyed very, very approximately. Some sounds English speech We simply don’t, and vice versa.

Transcription and pronunciation of all sounds of the English language separately (video)

With this interesting video table, you can listen to the sound of all sounds separately and see how they are recorded using transcription. Click on play and wait for the video to load completely, then click on the sound you want.

Please note that in the transcription, in addition to the symbols themselves denoting sounds, the following are used:

• Square brackets– traditionally, transcription is always written in [square brackets]. For example: [z].
• Vowel length icon– in English, vowels can be long or short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• Accent icon– if a word with more than one syllable is transcribed, the stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

In total, there are 44 sounds in the English language, which, like in Russian, are divided into consonants and vowels. Among them there are sounds similar to Russian, for example: [b] - [b], [n] - [n], and sounds that have no analogues in the Russian language: [ ð ], [θ ].

In English phonetics there are no such concepts as softness/hardness of consonants, but there is longitude of vowels (not characteristic of the Russian language) - vowels can be short [a] and long. It should also be noted that vowel sounds in English can be:

• single (monophthongs): [ i: ], [ e ],
• consisting of two sounds (diphtogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as solid sounds.

Table of English sounds with examples and cards

Having studied how English sounds are pronounced individually, be sure to listen to how they are read whole words. It is often easier for students to understand and hear the pronunciation English sounds when they sound as part of a word, and not separately.

In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. Using electronic cards you can listen to the pronunciation.

Consonants in English
[ f] fox	[ d] date	[ v] vase	[ k]cat
[ θ ] think	[ g] go	[ ð ] father	[ tʃ] change
[ s] say	[ dʒ] age	[ z] zoo	[ m] mom
[ ʃ ] ship	[ n] nose	[ ʒ ] pleasure	[ ŋ ] sing
[ h]hound	[ l] lazy	[ p] pen	[ r] red
[ b] bro	[ j] yes	[ t] today	[ w] wine

Vowel sounds in English
[ i:] he, she	[ ei] name	[ i] his, it	[ ai] line
[ e]ten	[ au] town	[ æ ] hat	[ ɔi] toy
[ a:] car	[ ou] go home	[ ɔ ] not	[ iə] here
[ ʌ ] nut	[ ɛə ] dare	[ u] good	[ uə] poor
[ u:] food	[ juə]Europe	[ ju:] tune	[ aiə] fire
[ ɜ: ] turn	[ auə] our	[ ə ] paper	[ ɔ: ] all

How to learn to pronounce English sounds?

There are two approaches:

1. Theoretical- usually in textbooks detailed description how to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to form a certain sound. With an illustration showing a cross-section of a human head. The method is scientifically correct, but it is difficult to use on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide the upper teeth along the lower lip” and will be able to perform this action.
2. Practical– listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier this way. You simply repeat after the announcer, trying to imitate the sound as accurately as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should supervise, but you can simply record yourself on a webcam and watch from the outside.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the “Video Puzzles” exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down your speech and, as in Lingvaleo, watch the translation of words by clicking on them directly in the subtitles.

In video puzzles, you first need to watch a video and then assemble sentences from words.

Detailed review of this service:

In addition, for practical classes different kind people Many videos have been shot and are available on YouTube. For example, these two videos examine in detail the sounds of English speech in the American and British versions:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

When you start learning English, you shouldn’t strive to achieve “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the “generalized” British and American versions are presented above), and secondly, even native speakers who speak professionally (for example, actors) often take lessons from special trainers in order to master the features of or another version of pronunciation - practicing speech is not an easy task.

Just try to speak in a way that 1) is understandable and 2) doesn’t hurt your ears too much.

Reading rules in English: table and cards

Reading rules in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only that, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and syllable types can be read in nine different ways, and there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look – as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.

If you search in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with to varying degrees diving into details. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is reading rules in English for children.

For this article, I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook “English. Grades 1 – 4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!

What is an open and closed syllable?

In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

• the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
• a vowel is followed by another vowel,
• a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.

A syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
• A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.

In these cards and the table below you can see how different letters are pronounced in different combinations and syllable types.

Reading rules
Reading the letter “A”
A – in an open syllable	name, face, cake
A [æ] – in a closed syllable	hat, cat, man
A – in a closed syllable on r	far, car, park
A [εə] – at the end of the word vowel + re	dare, care, stare
A [ɔ:] – combinations all, au	all, wall, fall, autumn
Reading the letter “O”
O [əu] – in an open syllable	no, go, home
O [ɒ] – in a closed stressed syllable	not, box, hot
O [ɜ:] – in some words with “wor”	world, word
O [ɔ:] – in a closed syllable with r	form, fork, horse, door, floor
O – in combination “oo”	too, food
O [u] – in combination “oo”	book, look, good
O – in combination “ow”	town, down
O [ɔɪ] – in combination “oy”	toy, boy, enjoy
O [ʊə] – in combination “oo”	poor
Reading the letter “U”
U, – in an open syllable	pupil, blue, student
U [ʌ] – in a closed syllable	nut, bus, cup
U [u] – in a closed syllable	put, full
U [ɜ:] – in combination “ur”	turn, hurt, burn
Reading the letter “E”
E – in an open syllable, combination “ee”, “ea”	he, she, see, street, meat, sea
E [e] – in a closed syllable, combination “ea”	hen, ten, bed, head, bread
E [ɜ:] – in combinations “er”, “ear”	her, heard
E [ɪə] – in combinations of “ear”	hear, near
Reading the letter “I”
i – in an open syllable	five, line, night, light
i [ɪ] – in a closed syllable	his, it, pig
i [ɜ:] – in combination “ir”	first, girl, bird
i – in combination “ire”	fire, tired
Reading the letter “Y”
Y – at the end of a word	try, my, cry
Y [ɪ] – at the end of a word	family, happy, lucky
Y [j] – at the beginning or middle of a word	yes, year, yellow
Reading the letter “C”
C [s] – before i, e, y	pencil, bicycle
C [k] – except for combinations ch, tch and not before i, e, y	cat, come
C – in combinations ch, tch	chair, change, match, catch
Reading the letter “S”
S [s] – except: at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	say, books, six
S [z] – at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	days, beds
S [ʃ] – in combination sh	shop, ship
Reading the letter “T”
T [t] – except combinations th	ten, teacher, today
T [ð] – in combination th	then, mother, there
T [θ] – in combination th	thin, sixth, thick
Reading the letter “P”
P [p] – except for the combination ph	pen, penalty, powder
P [f] – in combination ph	photo
Reading the letter “G”
G [g] – except for combinations ng, not before e, i, y	go, big, dog
G – before e, i, y	age, engineer
G [ŋ] – in combination ng at the end of a word	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] – in combination ng in the middle of a word	strongest

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From this we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
• The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch is read as: match, catch.

Basic rules for reading vowels

• In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as in: no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember reading rules?

Most people who are fluent in English as a foreign language will not be able to immediately name even a few basic reading rules. Rules readings do not need to be memorized, you need to be able to use them. But is it possible to use what you don’t know? As much as possible! Thanks to frequent practice, knowledge turns into skills and actions begin to be performed automatically, unconsciously.

In order for the reading rules to quickly reach the automatic stage, I recommend:

• Study the rules themselves - read, comprehend, speak examples out loud.
• Practicing reading aloud will help develop pronunciation skills, and at the same time, the rules of reading will be reinforced. Take the text with audio, video with subtitles so that you have something to compare it with.
• Do small written works– writing practice is useful for development vocabulary, consolidating grammar knowledge and, of course, improving spelling.

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