Letter "y": hard or soft? This question is very often asked by students who need to parse a word according to all the rules of phonetics. You will get the answer to this a little further.

General information

Before we talk about what kind of letter “th” is (soft or hard), you should find out why the letters of the Russian alphabet are generally divided according to such criteria.

The fact is that each word has its own sound shell, which consists of individual sounds. It should be noted that the sound of a particular expression is completely correlated with its meaning. At the same time, different words and their forms have completely different sound design. Moreover, the sounds themselves have no meaning. However, they play a vital role in the Russian language. After all, thanks to them we can easily distinguish words. Here's an example:

[house] - [lady´] - [house´ma];
[m’el] - [m’el’], [tom] - [there], [house] - [volume].

Transcription

Why do we need information about what type of letter “th” is (hard or soft)? When pronouncing a word, it is very important to correctly display the transcription that describes its sound. In such a system it is customary to use the following symbols:

This designation is called They must be used to indicate transcription.

[´] is the accent. It is placed if the word has more than one syllable.

[b’] - a kind of comma is placed next to the consonant letter and denotes its softness.

By the way, during phonetic analysis of words the following symbol is often used - [j]. As a rule, it denotes the sound of the letter “th” (sometimes a symbol such as [th] is used).

Letter "y": consonant or vowel?

As you know, in the Russian language all sounds are divided into consonants and vowels. They are perceived and pronounced completely differently.

Vowel sounds are those sounds during the pronunciation of which air easily and freely passes through the mouth, without encountering any obstacles on its way. Moreover, you can pull them, you can shout with them. If you put your palm to your throat, you can quite easily feel the work of the vocal cords during the pronunciation of vowels. There are 6 stressed vowels in the Russian language, namely: [a], [e], [u], [s], [o] and [i].
Consonant sounds are those sounds during the pronunciation of which the air encounters an obstacle on its way, namely a bow or a gap. Their appearance determines the nature of the sounds. As a rule, a gap is formed when pronouncing [s], [w], [z] and [z]. In this case, the tip of the tongue approaches the upper or lower teeth. The presented consonants can be drawn out (for example, [z-z-z], [z-z-z]). As for the stop, such a barrier is formed due to the closure of the speech organs. The air, or rather its flow, abruptly overcomes it, due to which the sounds are energetic and brief. That is why they are called explosive. By the way, it is impossible to pull them (try it yourself: [p], [b], [t], [d]).

In addition to the above consonants, the Russian language also has the following: [m], [y], [v], [f], [g], [l], [r], [ch], [ts], [x] . As you can see, there are many more of them than vowels.

Voiced and voiced sounds

By the way, many consonant sounds form pairs of deafness and voicedness: [k] - [g], [b] - [p], [z] - [c], [d] - [t], [f] - [v], etc. In total, there are 11 such pairs in the Russian language. However, there are sounds that do not have pairs on this basis. These include: [y], [p], [n], [l], [m] are unpaired voiced ones, and [ch] and [ts] are unpaired voiceless ones.

Soft and hard consonants

As you know, consonant letters differ not only in sonority or, conversely, deafness, but also in softness and hardness. This property is the second most important feature of sounds.

So, is the letter “th” hard or soft? To answer this question, you should consider each sign separately:

When pronouncing soft consonants, the entire tongue moves slightly forward, and its middle part rises slightly.
During the pronunciation of hard consonants, the entire tongue is literally pulled back.

It should be especially noted that many consonant letters form pairs with each other based on characteristics such as softness and hardness: [d] - [d’], [p] - [p’], etc. There are 15 such pairs in total. However, there are also sounds that do not have pairs on this basis. Which letters of hard consonant sounds are unpaired? These include the following - [w], [f] and [c]. As for the unpaired soft ones, these are [sch’], [h’] and [th’].

Designation on the letter

Now you know the information about whether the letter “th” is hard or soft. But here a new question arises: “How is the softness of such sounds indicated in writing?” Completely different methods are used for this:

The letters “e”, “yu”, “e”, “ya” after consonants (not counting “zh”, “sh”, and “ts”) indicate that these consonants are soft. Let's give an example: uncle - [d'a'd'a], aunt - [t'o't'a].
The letter “i” after consonants (not counting “zh”, “sh”, and “ts”) indicates that these consonants are soft. Let's give an example: cute - [m'i'ly'], leaf - [l'ist], ni´tki - [n'i´tk'i].
The soft sign (“b”) after consonants (not counting “zh” and “sh”) is an indicator of grammatical form. It also indicates that the consonants are soft. Examples: far - [dal’], stranded - [m’el’], request - [proz’ba].

As you can see, the softness of consonant sounds in writing is conveyed not by individual letters, but by their combinations with the vowels “e”, “yu”, “e”, “ya”, as well as a soft sign. That is why experts recommend paying attention to adjacent symbols.

As for the vowel letter “th”, it is always soft. In this regard, in transcription it is usually denoted as follows: [th’]. That is, the comma symbol, indicating the softness of the sound, must always be inserted. [ш'], [ч'] also obey the same rule.

Let's sum it up

As you can see, there is nothing difficult about doing any word correctly. To do this, you just need to know what vowels and consonants are, unvoiced and voiced, as well as soft and hard. For a better understanding of how transcription should be formatted, we will provide several detailed examples.

1. The word "hero". Consists of two syllables, with the 2nd being stressed. Let's do the analysis:

g - [g’] - voiced, consonant and soft.

e - [i] is an unstressed vowel.

p - [p] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and hard.

o - [o] - stressed vowel.

th - [th’] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and soft.

Total: 5 letters and 5 sounds.

2. The word "trees". Consists of three syllables, with the 2nd being stressed. Let's do the analysis:

d - [d’] - voiced, consonant and soft.

e - [i] is an unstressed vowel.

p - [p’] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and soft.

e - [e´] - stressed vowel.

in - [v’] - voiced, consonant and soft

e - [th’] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and soft and [e] - vowel, unstressed;

v - [f] - dull and hard.

Total: 8 letters and 8 sounds.

Paired hard and soft consonant phonemes, except for /zh/, /ch"/, /ts/, are represented in writing by the same letter: /b - b"/ - b,/в - в"/ - V,/t - t"/ - T etc. The hardness/softness of a consonant phoneme in this case can be indicated in writing by another letter following the consonant, or by another graphic sign.

The hardness/softness of such consonant phonemes preceding vowels is indicated in writing by vowel letters. The hardness of a consonant before a vowel is indicated by letters A, O, u, s, e: small/small/, soybeans/dream/, bow, you sir. The softness of a consonant before a vowel is indicated by letters I, e, yu, and: crumpled/m "al/, honey/Maud/, People/l "ud"i/.

The letter e does not indicate the quality of the preceding consonant phoneme: spelling those may correspond to /t"e/ (dough) and /te/ (tennis)", de- /d "e/ (case) and /de/ (model)", fe- /f"e/ (coffee) and /fe/ (cafe) etc. Before the hardness/softness consonant remains unmarked in writing.

At the end of a word, the softness of the consonant phoneme is indicated by the letter b, hardness - space: hit the/R"/, hit/R/; all/With"/, weight/With/; mole/l"/, they say/l/.

Before a consonant, except for /)"/, the softness of the consonant phoneme is indicated by the letter ь, hardness by the second consonant letter: bathhouse/n"/, jar/n/; believe/p"/, in envelope/R/; chain mail/l"/, quiver/l/.

After the consonants before /5/, dividing letters 5, ъ are written, which serve to clarify the meaning of the following letters i, /o, e, ё, and, but do not indicate the hardness/softness of the preceding consonant. Wed. identical pronunciation by most speakers of the first consonant in words entry And Vietnamese, pronunciation of soft [d"] in a word adjutant and so on. Hardness/softness of the consonant before /)/ is associated with specific sounds and morphemes and is not conveyed in writing.

Vowels after sibilants and ts

Letters w, sh, h, sch, c convey the entire content of the corresponding phonemes. Therefore, after sh, h, sch, ts vowel letters represent only vowel phonemes.

The phonemes /a/, /u/, /o/, /i/, /e/ are represented in writing by letters a - i, u - y, o - e, s - i, e - e. From each pair of letters the graphic “selects” for the position after the sibilants and ts one letter - a, y, o, and, e: heat, tar, thicket, king", beetle, noise, miracle, pike, father", hedgehog, rustle, prim, rattle, face", fat, thorn, clean, cabbage soup, number ", gesture, pole, honor, gap, workshop. After hissing words they are also written e And yu yellow, walked, bangs, cheeks; brochure, jury, parachute", after ts is written s: gypsies, sisters, fathers, but these spellings are the result of the “interference” of spelling in the field of graphics.

Letters a, y, oh, and used after sizzling and ts because they convey here only the phonemes /a/, /u/, /o/, /i/, as at the beginning of a word and after a vowel, where there is no need to indicate quality

preceding consonant. The letters are I, yu, yo, s, in addition to designating the corresponding vowel phoneme, they have additional functions: I,/O, e also denote /)/ or the softness of the preceding consonantal phoneme, and s - her hardness. After f, w, h, sch, c letter is written e because the letter uh established itself in the Russian alphabet only in the 18th century. and after a consonant additionally indicates the hardness of this phoneme. Letter e is appropriate in this position because it denotes only a vowel phoneme and after other consonants.

Letter meanings

In the graph, the meanings of letters are determined by the significatively strong positions of the corresponding phonemes. The meanings of b y k v are the correlation of letters with phonemes or with their parts (differential features), as well as clarification of the meaning of neighboring letters. All letters except y, y, have many meanings.

Letters i, /o, e, e denote the phonemes /]a/, /]у/, /)e/, /)o/ at the beginning of a word, after a vowel and after ь, b: poison, standing, sons, embrace. Letters I, Yu after a consonant indicate vowel phonemes and the softness of the preceding consonant phoneme: nanny- /"A/, to sniff- /"u/. Letter e has the same meaning after consonants, except for sibilants: carried -/"o/. In addition, the letter e after a sibilant it means only /o/: walked, black. Letter e after a consonant it means /e/. In the preceding consonant phoneme, hardness/softness remains unmarked: dash, hay, or transmitted by a consonant letter - hissing or ts: victim, sliver, target, or is not a differential feature and therefore should not be designated: foyer.

Letter And can be denoted as /and/ (game, search, life), and /"and/, i.e. the vowel phoneme and the softness of the preceding consonant (force), and /)and/ (whose).

Letters a, oh, uh, uh at the beginning of a word and after a vowel they denote /a/, /o/, /u/, /e/: army, veil, vacation, backhand, morning, naudit, echo, duet. The letters have the same meaning a, oh, y after the hissing and ts, the letter o also has after it th: tea, glutton, face, iodine. After other consonants a, oh, uh, uh indicate the corresponding vowel phonemes and the hardness of the preceding consonant phonemes: myself -/a/ and hardness /c/, scrap- /o/ and hardness /l/, oak, mayor

Letter s after a consonant it denotes /and/ and the hardness of the preceding consonant phoneme: was/beat/, We/mi/. In cases where the letter s written after ts(transmitting hardness /ts/), it denotes only /i/: fathers, scanty.

In most positions the letters y, w, w, h, sch, c denote /)/, /and/,/sh/, /ch"/, /sh"/, /ts/, letters b, c, d,<3, а, к, л,м, //, p, p, s, tl,, x convey the general part of the content of the phonemes /b - b"/, /v - v"/, etc. - place and method of formation, deafness/voice. The hardness/softness of these phonemes is indicated by a subsequent letter or space or remains unmarked.

All consonants that come after consonants (but not after w, w, Chu Shu Tsu y and not in combinations pch, nsch), convey, in addition to its main meaning, the hardness of the preceding consonant phoneme: watermelon - b also denotes hardness /r/ (cf. struggle), hetman - m also denotes hardness /t/ (cf. darkness), carry(cf. incite), thickness(cf. fan), chalcedony(cf. ring). In combinations pch, nsch, Where b never written ( deceptive, strappy, blast furnace worker, day laborer), letters h, sch do not indicate hardness/softness /n - and "/.

Letter b has several meanings:

1) indicates the softness of the preceding consonant phoneme: take, radish",
2) acts as a dividing mark: whose, pour, pour, judge, family; Here b indicates that e, e, yu, i, and denote /r/, /uz/u /)u/u/Behind/, /)And/; a separating mark separates a vowel from the preceding consonant, while e, e, yu, i have the same meaning as at the beginning of the word; absence b would lead to a different meaning of vowels (cf.: whose, raid, field, judging, seven)",
3) combination of letters yo stands for /)O/ in borrowed words: broth, medallion, lotion and etc.

There is an opinion that the letter b after sibilants at the end of a word and before consonants it has a morphological meaning - it indicates the feminine gender of the noun: rye, mascara 2nd person singular verb: go and wash yourself" imperative form: cry, cut; infinitive: preserve, bake", adverb: all over, gallop; particle: just, look. In reality the letter b is written here only according to tradition, and these words and forms require memorization.

Letter ъ used only as a separator: subject, trans-European, go around, shrink, pre-anniversary, inter-tier, bilingual.

Dividing b does not indicate the softness of the preceding consonant, but ъ - on its hardness. And before b, and before ъ consonants can be pronounced hard, semi-soft and soft: snowstorm -[vZuga], [v^uga], [v^uga]; congress -[s^est], [srst], [srst]; adjutant[ad "iutant]; I sew[going]. In words volume And let's beat you, monkey And without blemish The consonant before the separator is pronounced the same by many speakers. Thus, hard/soft

bone consonant phoneme separators y y not indicated on the letter. Separating ь, ъ perform the same graphic function: they clarify the meaning of the polysemantic letters that follow them I, yu, e y yo, yu indicating that these letters represent two phonemes - /)/ and the corresponding vowel (/]a/, /]O/ etc.). 11This is why they are sometimes called warning signs. The use of a separator b or b determined by spelling rules. Performing the same function as ъ, letter b - superfluous in Russian writing.

Thus, a letter can denote part of a phoneme, part of one and part of another phoneme, one phoneme, one phoneme and part of another phoneme, two phonemes, two phonemes and part of another phoneme, or may not have a phonemic meaning. A letter can clarify the meaning of an adjacent letter.

For many parents who begin to study the alphabet with their children, the question arises: how to classify Y as a vowel or consonant sound?

Indeed, the sound Y is similar to both, being, as it were, in the middle. Let's try to understand this issue.

A little bit of history

Y, or I short, as this letter in the alphabet is called, is known in many Slavic languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian; in Serbia and Macedonia, the letter J is used to indicate the sound Y.

In non-Slavic languages that use Cyrillic writing, this letter is also present.

In Russian, this letter is the 11th letter.

The sound Y was formed on the basis of the non-syllabic vowel “I” and the similar voiced consonant “J”.

Thus, the sound Y really combines a vowel and a consonant.

In the Bulgarian and Ukrainian languages, the letter Y is still used in the combination “YO”, which is intended to denote the letter E.

The letter Y arose in Church Slavonic writing in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, during the time of Patriarch Nikon Y, it was already included in the publication of books in Church Slavonic in Moscow.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the so-called civil script was introduced. Superscript signs in Slavic writing were eliminated, and the letter Y was removed from the alphabet, although the sound remained in the language.

During the time of Peter the Great in 1735, Y was rehabilitated and appeared again in writing, but it was not included in the alphabet and did not represent any numbers (previously, numbers were designated by letters of the Church Slavonic alphabet). Already in the 20th century, the letter Y finally became part of the alphabet, but still remained somewhat “disregarded in its rights.” It was not included in the letter designations of the lists, and sometimes the tail above the letter in the letter is skipped, as are the dots above the e.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the letter Y was already part of the Ukrainian and Belarusian alphabet. In Ukrainian it is called “ii”, which once again demonstrates its dual origin.

Which sound?

And yet, when classifying sounds, it is not entirely clear which sound Y is a vowel or a consonant.

It’s worth answering right away: neither one nor the other.

Let's try to think.

The Y sound is not dull, which can be easily felt when pronouncing this sound.

It is rather sonorous, as it is pronounced with the participation of the voice. However, it is not a vowel sound, since any vowel can be sung without difficulty.

Try to sing the sound Y: you are unlikely to succeed. In this regard, although the voice is involved in the formation of this sound, he still agrees.

This is how philologist teachers qualify it in school practice.

However, the Y sound is not voiced. According to the classification of philologists, a consonant sound can be classified into one of four groups: voiceless, hissing, voiced or sonorant. Let's talk about the last group of sounds in more detail.

A consonant sonorant sound is located in its characteristics between vowels and consonants, but it is still designated as a consonant.

There are few sonorant sounds in the Russian language: N, R, L, Y, M. They can be pronounced with the voice, but they cannot be sung as a vowel sound.

Thus, the sound Y is a sonorant consonant.

Another question that may arise is whether the letter Y is soft or hard.

Most sounds have pairs of softness and hardness. The sound Y does not have such a pair.

It is qualified by scientists as always soft.

In the transcription of a word, there is always a symbol of softness next to it.

Composed of letters

The consonant sonorous sound Y in the Russian language is present not only in the form of the letter Y, but is also part of four vowel sounds: E, E, Yu, Ya. In writing, of course, it is not indicated in this case, but when pronounced it is heard clearly. Each of these letters is a combination: a vowel sound and Y.

If we decompose these letters into their components, we get: E = Y + E, E = Y + O, Y = Y + U, I = Y + A.

These letters are read as “vowel + Y” only in strictly defined cases: after a vowel, b or b. In other cases, they only soften the previous consonant.

Thus, we can say quite definitely that today’s science is not inclined to regard the sound Y as a vowel, although it was born precisely from such a sound.

If we consider that in the Greek language there was such a concept as long and short sounds, then the birth of Y in Church Slavonic writing as a short version of I is quite natural, because the Church Slavonic language was created on the basis of Greek.

In modern language, we classify J as a consonant sound, but classify it as a sonorant sound as being as close as possible to vowels. This is how knowledge about the sound Y is taught to children in school. Of course, it is very difficult to explain to a small child what a sonorous sound means. You can simply designate it as a consonant, but parents should remember the history of its origin in order to be ready to answer unforeseen questions at any time.

What is meant is the spelling of the letters, and not their sounds, because some letters do not have independent sounds at all - the letter “b”, for example. Look carefully at these letters and you will definitely cope with this task. You just need to turn on your imagination a little and remember the alphabet, then it will happen by itself and after analyzing the task you will understand its meaning.

Common Elements

Let's consider each letter of the proposed series separately.

Letter "Y". The simplest one, perhaps. Has an obvious resemblance to the letter "I". There’s no need to even explain, it’s all in the dash over the “I”. Did you notice? Let's move on to the next letter.
Letter "b". We carefully look at the proposed series of letters. Did you notice? The answer in this case is the letter “y”; they are distinguished only by the absence of a horizontal line on the right side of the letter “b”. Next.
Letter "C". All you need is your imagination. This letter can match the letter "X" from the proposed series. The fact is that if you “stretch out” the hook-letter “C”, one long line will be formed. And the letter “x” consists of two small lines, which can be obtained from the “elongated” letter “c”. It's quite simple.
Letter "P". In the row we have given, there is no letter that matches it. But there is a “G” similar to it, it’s all about the same horizontal line on the right, as in the case of the letters “Y” and “b”. It's amazing how such similar letters can mean completely different sounds.
Letter "I". Just like the previous one, there are no similar ones in this row, but there is one letter that is very similar to it. True, it is from another language, but why not mention it now? This letter "R" is from the English alphabet. Many English-speaking children, while learning to read and write, write it backwards and get a letter from another language - Russian “ya”.

Conclusion

Look for similarities in everything you see and try to remember and understand using this approach. This applies not only to the Russian language, but also to any other subject, so you can use the acquired knowledge to your advantage. Also, be careful, using the example of English-speaking schoolchildren who confuse “I” and “R”, you could understand how one mistake changes everything.

Is the letter "Y" a vowel or a consonant, hard or soft? Phonetic analysis of the word.

This question is very often asked by students who need to parse a word according to all the rules of phonetics. You will get the answer to this a little further.

General information.

Before we talk about what kind of letter “th” is (soft or hard), you should find out why the letters of the Russian alphabet are generally divided according to such criteria.

Transcription.

– this designation is called square brackets. They must be placed to indicate transcription.

[´] is the accent. It is placed if the word has more than one syllable.

[b’] - a kind of comma is placed next to the consonant letter and denotes its softness.

By the way, during phonetic analysis of words the following symbol is often used – [j]. As a rule, it denotes the sound of the letter “th” (sometimes a symbol such as [th] is used).

Letter "y": consonant or vowel?

As you know, in the Russian language all sounds are divided into consonants and vowels. They are perceived and pronounced completely differently.

Vowel sounds are those sounds during the pronunciation of which air easily and freely passes through the mouth, without encountering any obstacles on its way. Moreover, you can pull them, you can shout with them. If you put your palm to your throat, you can quite easily feel the work of the vocal cords during the pronunciation of vowels. There are 6 stressed vowels in the Russian language, namely: [a], [e], [u], [s], [o] and [i].

Consonant sounds are those sounds during the pronunciation of which the air encounters an obstacle on its way, namely a bow or a gap. Their appearance determines the nature of the sounds. As a rule, a gap is formed when pronouncing [s], [w], [z] and [z]. In this case, the tip of the tongue approaches the upper or lower teeth. The presented consonants can be drawn out (for example, [z-z-z], [z-z-z]). As for the stop, such a barrier is formed due to the closure of the speech organs. The air, or rather its flow, abruptly overcomes it, due to which the sounds are energetic and brief. That is why they are called explosive. By the way, it is impossible to pull them (try it yourself: [p], [b], [t], [d]).

In addition to the above consonants, the Russian language also has the following: [m], [y], [v], [f], [g], [l], [r], [ch], [ts], [x] . As you can see, there are many more of them than vowels.

Voiceless and voiced sounds.

Soft and hard consonants.

As you know, consonant letters differ not only in sonority or, conversely, deafness, but also in softness and hardness. This property is the second most important feature of sounds.

So, is the letter “th” hard or soft? To answer this question, you should consider each sign separately:

When pronouncing soft consonants, the entire tongue moves slightly forward, and its middle part rises slightly.
During the pronunciation of hard consonants, the entire tongue is literally pulled back.

It should be especially noted that many consonant letters form pairs with each other based on characteristics such as softness and hardness: [d] - [d'], [p] - [p'], etc. There are 15 such pairs in total. However, there are also sounds that do not have pairs on this basis. Which hard letters are unpaired? These include the following - [w], [f] and [c]. As for the unpaired soft ones, these are [sch’], [h’] and [th’].

Designation on the letter.

The letters “e”, “yu”, “e”, “ya” after consonants (not counting “zh”, “sh”, and “ts”) indicate that these consonants are soft. Let's give an example: uncle - [d'a'd'a], aunt - [t'o't'a].
The letter “i” after consonants (not counting “zh”, “sh”, and “ts”) indicates that these consonants are soft. Let's give an example: cute - [m'i'lyy'], leaf - [l'ist], threads - [n'i'tk'i].
The soft sign (“b”) after consonants (not counting “zh” and “sh”) is an indicator of grammatical form. It also indicates that the consonants are soft. Examples: distance – [dal’], stranded – [m’el’], request – [proz’ba].

As you can see, the softness of consonant sounds in writing is conveyed not by individual letters, but by their combinations with the vowels “e”, “yu”, “e”, “ya”, as well as a soft sign. That is why, when analyzing a word phonetically, experts recommend paying attention to neighboring symbols.

Let's summarize.

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in correctly performing a phonetic analysis of a word. To do this, you just need to know what vowels and consonants are, unvoiced and voiced, as well as soft and hard. For a better understanding of how transcription should be formatted, we will provide several detailed examples.

1. The word "hero". Consists of two syllables, with the 2nd being stressed. Let's do the analysis:

G - [g’] - voiced, consonant and soft.
p - [p] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and hard.
o - [o] - stressed vowel.
th - [th’] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and soft.

Total: 5 letters and 5 sounds.

2. The word "trees". Consists of three syllables, with the 2nd being stressed. Let's do the analysis:

D - [d’] - voiced, consonant and soft.
e - [i] - unstressed vowel.
p - [p’] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and soft.
e - [e´] - stressed vowel.
in - [v’] - voiced, consonant and soft
b - [–]
e - [th’] - voiced, consonant, unpaired and soft and [e] - vowel, unstressed;
v - [f] - deaf,