Alphabet vowel: What are vowels and consonants?

– English diphthong vowels have two IPA symbols because they are made up of two mouth position.
– in other words, diphthong vowels are two short vowels joined together, they are also called double vowels.
– many non-native speakers make some English diphthong vowels as single vowels

English Vowels Examples – IPA Diphthong (double) Vowels

Vowel Phonetic Symbol   &    IPA Examples in Words

/eɪ/     place /pleɪs/, late /leɪt/, dangerous /ˈdeɪn. dʒə.rəs/
/oʊ/    home /hoʊm/, phone /foʊn/, global /ˈɡloʊ.bəl/
/aʊ/    mouse /maʊs/, brown /braʊn/, accountant /əˈkaʊn.t̬ənt/
/ɪə/    clear /klɪə/, fear /fɪə/,  career /kəˈrɪə/
/eə/   care /keə/, wear /weə/, declare /dɪˈkleə/
/ɔɪ/    boy /bɔɪ/, toy /tɔɪ/, enjoyable /ɪnˈdʒɔɪ.jə.bəl/
/aɪ/    find /faɪnd/, bite /baɪt/, tiger  /ˈtaɪ.ɡə/
/ʊə/   tour /tʊə/, pure /pʊə/,  mature /məˈtʃʊə/

What are English Diphthong Vowels in the IPA? There are 8 IPA symbols for English Diphthong vowels. The IPA for English Diphthong vowels are: /eɪ/, /oʊ/, /aʊ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ɔɪ/, /aɪ/, /ʊə/.  

More English Vowels Examples -IPA Diphthong Vowels

Use the boxes below to revise and practise each of the English vowels phonetics for double vowels in English.

See the phonetic symbol for each vowel sound at the top of each box, see IPA vowel examples of it in 4 common English words, click to hear it pronounced and record your own pronunciation. 

ACHTUNG!

As you listen to the IPA examples, listen carefully to hear the two vowel sounds in each.  

Can you hear the two vowels?

Many people make a single vowel, instead of a double vowel. This happens because the English double vowel doesn’t exist in their first language. 

This makes many of their words unclear. For example, when they say ‘coat’ it sounds more like ‘cot’, when they say ‘note’ it sounds more like ‘not’, when they say ‘won’t’ it sounds more like ‘want’ – Video on pronouncing ‘won’t’ vs ‘want’. 

As you go through, feel the two positions in each double vowel.   

Click to below to hear English vowels exercises on double / diphthong English vowel pronunciation with English vowel phonetics. 

/aɪ/
light /laɪt/ like /laɪk/
rice /raɪs/  ripe /raɪp/

/eɪ/
late /leɪt/ lake /leɪk/
race /reɪs/ train /treɪn/

/ɔɪ/
boy /bɔɪ/
join /dʒɔɪn/ choice /tʃɔɪs/ 
noise/nɔɪs/

/aʊ/
about /əˈbaʊt/
 found /faʊnd/ house /haʊs/ down /daʊn/

/oʊ/
note /noʊt/ coke /koʊk/ hose /hoʊs/ phone /foʊn/

/ɪə/
hear /hɪə/ near /nɪə/
fear /fɪə/ beer /bɪə/

/eə/
hair /heə/ share /ʃeə/
pear /peə/ chair /tʃeə/

/ʊə/
 tour  /tʊə/ lure /lʊə/
cure /kʊə/ pure /pʊə/

See English Diphthong Vowels in the IPA in the dictionary.  

See an example of how diphthong vowels or double vowels are shown in dictionaries in the diagram below.
This IPA example is from the free Cambridge Online Dictionary. The Cambridge Online Dictionary is a reliable and free site that you can use to check the pronunciation of English words. 

It shows the IPA for American English and British English and you can click to hear the word pronounced in both American and British accents. 

See a screen shot of how English diphthong and double vowels are shown in the IPA in the dictionary below. I’ve labelled the marker for Word Stress in the IPA and also schwa, the most important weak vowel in English. 

English Vowel Sounds Chart PDF 

Here is a clear English Vowel Sounds Chart with IPA Symbols. 

Many ESL speakers find this English Vowel Sounds Chart extremely helpful. 

English Vowels Sounds Chart pdf. 

Download English Vowel Sounds Chart PDF here

Join Our Free English Pronunciation Starter Course For More English Vowels Practice

After your English vowels practice from today, you might be wondering why certain vowels are more difficult than others. Which vowels you find challengings depends on your first language. You can find out more about which vowels speakers of your first language find difficult and continue your English vowels practice with our free 5 day English Pronunciation Course, 

You’ll receive 5 emails full of excellent English pronunciation videos. Learn priority areas for clearer, better spoken English, record a clear professional voicemail greeting, English vowels exercises, improve your word stress, correct lots of commonly mispronounced words.

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And there you have it!

All the English Vowel Sounds IPA, clearly shown with each International Phonetic Alphabet Symbol. 

These English vowels exercises have hopefully helped you become more aware of which English vowel sounds you need to improve on for clearer, better spoken English. 

I hope the images and information in this article will help you understand the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for English Vowels and how to use the IPA to improve your pronunciation of vowel sounds in English.

The IPA is a powerful tool that can be seriously helpful to learners. 

Georgie’s Tips For Using The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) To Improve Your Pronunciation:

Remember that even if you don’t know every symbol you should still use the IPA for important information such as:  

— the /:/ tells you when there is a long vowel
— two symbols means it’s a double or diphthong vowel 
— /’/ is for word stress and tells you the next syllable is stressed

All the best.  

x

Georgie 

by Georgie

Georgie Harding has assisted thousands of people from all over the world with improving their clarity and spoken English skills. A Speech Pathology degree (BAppSc(SpPath) and CELTA qualifications and over 15 years of experience providing 1:1, group and online training make Georgie a leader in her field.  

Georgie is the creator the world’s leading English Pronunciation online courses that are tailored to the language background of the student and presents regularly at Universities.

If you’ve ever met Georgie or completed her award winning courses you’ll know how passionate she is about helping people move forward with better spoken English and more confidence. 

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Korean Vowels — Know these essential Hangul letters

The Korean language has its own alphabet letters that are made up of Korean vowels and Hangul consonants. Learning the Korean vowels and consonants will give you a better foundation as you read and write Korean, which, in turn, will make learning Korean easier.

If you have been studying with us for a while, you may have already noticed our article on learning the Korean alphabet that gives you a guide to learn Korean. Based on that article, in today’s lesson, we will specifically focus on Korean vowels.

After this lesson, you will have a deeper understanding of what Korean or Hangul vowels are, how to pronounce them and how Korean syllables and Korean words are constructed with them. Let’s get started!

Get “Korean Vowels” Free PDF Guide

Contents

• 1 What are “vowels” in Korean?
• 2 How many vowels are in the Korean alphabet?
• 3 Korean Vowels List
  • 3.1 Basic Korean Vowels
  • 3.2 Korean Double Vowels
    • 3.2.1 How to pronounce Korean double vowels?
• 4 Names of the Korean Vowels
• 5 How to pronounce Korean vowels?
  • 5.1 ㅓ and ㅕvs ㅗ and ㅛ
  • 5.2 ㅐ and ㅒ vs ㅔ and ㅖ
  • 5.3 Korean Compound Vowels
  • 5.4 ㅢ and ㅡ
• 6 How to construct syllables with Korean vowels
  • 6.1 Syllables with double vowels
• 7 What to learn next after Hangul vowels?

What are “vowels” in Korean?

You can say “vowels” in Korean as 모음 (moeum). These characters are part of the Korean alphabet that is used both in South Korea and North Korea.

How many vowels are in the Korean alphabet?

There are 21 vowels in the Korean language. Of these, 10 are basic vowels, and the remaining 11 are double vowels.

Korean Vowels List

Korean vowels can be categorized into basic vowels and double vowels. We’ve listed down the complete list of vowels below, along with their vowel sounds or their closest sound approximation to English letters.

Basic Korean Vowels

There are ten basic vowels in the Hangul alphabet. Below is a list of the ten vowels in Hangul with their character pronunciation. However, it’s important to note that the Korean pronunciation below is just a close approximation of the alphabet letters. Their sound may vary when they are combined with other Korean letters.

Korean Double Vowels

Some Korean letters are formed by combining the basic vowels, which are then called double vowels. There are 11 double vowels in the Korean alphabet.

How to pronounce Korean double vowels?

So, how do you read these double vowels? In doing so, it’s best if you are already familiar with how the basic vowels are pronounced first. In this way, you’ll also have a better idea of how the vowels are pronounced when they’re combined.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it’s best to practice reading them in Hangul early on and not through their romanized spelling. Romanization serves as a guide, but the pronunciation may not sound as accurate as when you read words in Hangul.

Below are each of the double vowels with association examples so you can remember them easily. We’ve also added their audio so you can practice the pronunciation too.

ㅐ

This Hangeul double vowel is a combination of the vowelsㅏ and ㅣ. When you combine “iPad” with “tree,” you get a similar pronunciation to the “e” in “egg. ”

ㅔ

The next double vowel looks and sounds similar to the first one. This is a combination ofㅓ+ ㅣ= ㅔ. When you combine the “o” sound from “iPod” with the “ee” sound from “tree,” you get the “e” from “egg.”

Although both ㅐ and ㅔ sound the same, they are romanized differently. This concept is similar to how the letters “c” and “k” in English work, as they are two different letters but are often pronounced the same way.

ㅒ

This character sounds like the beginning of the word “yes.” The first part of this double vowel can be seen as the character ㅑwhich sounds like “ya” combined with the characterㅣ which sounds like “ee” in “tree.”

ㅖ

The next one is quite similar to ㅔ, with the exception that the initial vowel is written asㅕ. That means we’ll add the”y” sound to the beginning, so this combination will sound like the beginning of the word “yes.”

 ㅘ

This double vowel is a combination of the two letters ㅗ and ㅏwhich produces the sound “wa. ” It is similar to the beginning of the word “waffle”.

 ㅙ

The next one is written by combining the two Korean alphabet letters ㅗ, and ㅐwhich makes the sound “we” that sounds like the beginning of the word “wedding.”

 ㅚ

This is pronounced the same as ㅙ. It sounds like “wedding.” It is written by putting together the Korean alphabet letters ㅗ and ㅣ.

 ㅟ

If you combine the two Korean letters ㅜ and ㅣ, you get ㅟ. This combination sounds like the beginning of the word “week.”

 ㅝ

This combination of Hangul vowels is written by combining the Korean alphabet letters ㅜ  and ㅓ. It makes a sound like the beginning of the word “won”.

 ㅞ

When you combine the two Korean alphabet letters ㅜ and ㅔ, you get ㅞ. This Hangul vowel combination has a sound that is the same as the beginning of “wedding.”

 ㅢ

Lastly, the Hangul vowel combination ㅢ can be quite challenging to pronounce. It is a combination of the vowels ㅡ that sounds like the “oo” in “brook,” and ㅣwhich is like the “ee” in “tree.”

Here’s a way to remember its pronunciation:

Blend together the sound ㅡ (brook) + ㅣ (tree), and you’ll get ㅢ (gooey). Imagine saying “chop suey” really fast.

Get “Korean Vowels” Free PDF Guide

Names of the Korean Vowels

Similar to all other letters of any language, such as English, Korean letters also have their assigned names. However, the naming systems for Hangul consonants and vowels are different. Consonants in the Hangul alphabet have their specific names assigned to each of them, while vowels simply follow the sound they produce for their names.

Let’s take a look at the different vowel names in the list below.

How to pronounce Korean vowels?

As with Korean consonants, the correct pronunciation of Korean vowels may not be directly what you expect from the romanization of the Korean word. Therefore, we encourage you to practice the pronunciation directly from the 한글 (Hangeul) instead.

If you’d like to focus on Hangul pronunciation first before moving forward with vowels specifically, we have an article focused solely on it. Otherwise, let’s keep getting friendly with vowels!

The basic rule of thumb with pronouncing each vowel is that each Korean letter tries to resemble the sound they make as accurately as possible. Mastering this will help you learn how to speak Korean easier.

ㅓ and ㅕvs ㅗ and ㅛ

In both ㅓ and ㅕ, the “e” is skipped in pronunciation, making their pronunciations “o” and “yo” respectively. As you may notice, there is already a different character for both “o” and “yo,” which are ㅗ and ㅛ, respectively. So how do you differentiate between the Korean sounds they make?

In both ㅗ and ㅛ, your mouth forms a tight o-shape, which makes the sound more emphasized than it does in ㅓ or ㅕ.

ㅐ and ㅒ vs ㅔ and ㅖ

Similarly, in ㅐ and ㅒ, the “a” is skipped in pronunciation. In fact, the most prominent difference between pronouncing ㅐ and ㅒ versus ㅔ and ㅖ is that the e-sound is lengthier in the latter two.

Get “Korean Vowels” Free PDF Guide

Korean Compound Vowels

Additionally, take note of each vowel combining two vowels into one. Examples are ㅘ and ㅞ. While ㅗ alone has the “o” sound and ㅜ alone sounds more like “u,” when combined into a vowel with another basic vowel, both develop a sound closer to “w.” This is simply to make the vowel sound more natural.

ㅢ and ㅡ

Lastly, explaining which sound is the closest to ㅢ and ㅡ in romanized letters is the hardest as the sound is largely different from its romanization. Not necessarily more complicated, but one for which a character in the Roman alphabet does not exist. As you may notice from how the Korean letter is written, your mouth is expected to form a wide stance with your lips and teeth nearly pursed together when creating the sound.

How to construct syllables with Korean vowels

Most of the Korean syllable construction with vowels is rather straightforward. To form syllables, you simply add the vowel after the consonant, including the soundless one, ㅇ. Remember that ㅇ is used as the first letter in a syllable in cases where the syllable begins with a vowel.

If the Korean syllable has a final consonant, then another consonant will be added after the vowel. Otherwise, you move to build the next syllable.

Syllables with double vowels

In the case of double vowel letters starting with ㅗ or ㅜ or ㅡ, the Korean consonant letter will be added above this portion of the vowel, while the latter part of the vowel combination is “leftover” as its own part of the syllable. For example, the verb 와 (wa) means “come” in the present casual tense.

It is also entirely possible for a Korean syllable to have one vowel (that is not a double vowel) with three consonant letters! But you will want to check the lesson for Korean consonant letters starting with the basic letters to learn more about this.

After learning both consonants and vowels, we highly recommend you learn to memorize each one, what they sound like, and how you construct Korean syllable blocks and Korean words with them.

What to learn next after Hangul vowels?

And that’s it for Hangul vowels at this time! Are you ready for the next lesson?

Perhaps you would like to move on to other Korean grammar lessons that we have in store for you? You can start by learning the most common Korean nouns. Then you can proceed with learning Korean phrases or more lessons like Korean Conjunctions, Conjugations, Korean Pronouns, and Verbs.

You may also enjoy learning more about Korea and the Korean culture by reading this article. You can check out our article on Korean slang, things tourists can do in Korea, and great food in Korea and get to know more about South Korea.

However, if you’re focused on learning the Korean language, our structured course can greatly help you in a span of 90 days. Learn more about our courses here. Happy studying!

Alphabet vowels and consonants sounds and letters of the Russian language. How to distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonants. Softness and hardness of consonants

What sounds are called consonants?
What does a consonant sound consist of?
What are consonant sounds?
How many consonant letters and consonant sounds are there in the Russian alphabet?
Which consonants are always hard and which are always soft?
What letters indicate the softness of a consonant sound?

Sounds, during the pronunciation of which air meets an obstacle in the mouth, are called consonants
. A consonant sound consists of noise and voice, or only noise.

Consonants are divided into voiced and voiceless
. Voiced sounds are made up of noise and voice, deaf sounds are made up of noise only.

Sounds consist only of noise: [k], [p], [s], [t], [f], [x], [c], [h], [w], [u]. These are voiceless consonants.

Many consonants form pairs according to their sonority-
deafness
: [b] —
[p], [v] —
[f], [g] —
[k], [d] —
[t], [g] —
[s], [g] —
[sh].

To memorize voiced consonants, you can learn the phrase: “ LION AND TOAD HAVE MANY FRIENDS
«.
See all phrases for memorizing voiced and voiceless consonants.

Deaf consonants are easy to remember by the phrase:
—
Fu!
«.

Consonants are indicated by letters:

B
, B
, Y
, D
, F
, Z
, Y
, K
, L
, M
, H
, P
, R
, C
, T
, F
, Х
, C
, H
, Sh
, Shch
.

In total there are 21 consonants in Russian
.

Consonants are also hard and soft.

Hard and soft sounds
differ in the position of the tongue when pronouncing. When pronouncing soft consonants, the middle back of the tongue is raised to the hard palate.

Most consonants form hardness-softness pairs:

The following hard and soft consonants do not form hardness-softness pairs:

Table «Consonants: paired and unpaired, voiced and deaf, hard and soft» (grades 1-4)

Note:
in elementary school, hard consonants are indicated in blue, soft consonants in green, vowels in red.

Hardness

consonants are indicated on the letter with vowels A

, O

, Y

, S

, E

.

Softness

consonant sound is indicated in writing by vowels E
, Yo
, AND
, YU
, I
, as well as the letter b
(soft sign).

compare: nose
[nose] — carried
[n❜os], angle
[angle] — coal
[ugal❜].

Unpaired voiced sounds [d❜], [l], [l❜], [m], [m❜] [n], [n❜] [p], [p❜] are called sonorous
, which means «sonorous» in Latin.

Sounds [w], [w], [h❜], [u❜] are called hissing
. They got this name because their pronunciation is like a hiss.

Sounds [g]
, [w]
These are unpaired solid hissing sounds.
Sounds [h❜]
and [u❜]
— These are unpaired soft hissing sounds.

Sounds [c], [s❜], [z], [z❜], [c] are called whistling
.

No consonant
shock or unstressed.

In Russian there are more consonant sounds (36) than consonant letters (21), since one letter can denote paired hard and soft sounds: for example, the letter L (el) denotes the sounds [l] and [l❜].

Attention!
A consonant can form a syllable only with

In this chapter:

§1. Sound

Sound
is the smallest unit of sounding speech. Each word has a sound shell, consisting of sounds. The sound is related to the meaning of the word. Different words and word forms have different sound design. The sounds themselves do not matter, but they play an important role: they help us to distinguish:

• words: [house] — [volume], [volume] — [there], [m’el] — [m’el’]
• word forms: [house] — [lady´
  ] — [before
  ma].

Please note:

words written in square brackets are given in transcription.

§2. Transcription

Transcription
is a special recording system that displays sound. Symbols accepted in transcription:

Square brackets, which are the designation of transcription.

[ ´
] — accent. The stress is placed if the word consists of more than one syllable.

[b ‘] — the icon next to the consonant indicates its softness.

[j] and [й] — different designations for the same sound. Since this sound is soft, these symbols are often used with an additional softness designation:, [th ‘]. On this site, the designation [th ’] is adopted, which is more familiar to most guys. The soft icon will be used to get you used to the fact that this sound is soft.

There are other symbols. They will be introduced gradually, as you become familiar with the topic.

§3. Vowels and consonants

Sounds are divided into vowels and consonants.
They have a different nature. They are pronounced and perceived differently, as well as behave differently in speech and play different roles in it.

Vowels
— these are sounds, during the pronunciation of which the air freely passes through the oral cavity, without encountering obstacles in its path. Pronunciation (articulation) is not focused in one place: the quality of vowels is determined by the shape of the oral cavity, which acts as a resonator. When articulating vowels, the vocal cords in the larynx work. They are close, tense and vibrate. Therefore, when pronouncing vowels, we hear a voice. Vowels can be drawn. They can be screamed at. And if you put your hand to your throat, then the work of the vocal cords when pronouncing vowels can be felt, felt with your hand. Vowels are the basis of the syllable, they organize it. There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. For example: he
— 1 syllable, o-on
— 2 syllables, re-bya-ta
— 3 syllables, etc. There are words that consist of one vowel sound. For example, unions: and, a
and interjections: Oh!, Ah!, Woo!
and others.

Words can have vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables
.
stressed syllable
is one in which the vowel is pronounced clearly and appears in its basic form.
In unstressed syllables
vowels are modified, pronounced differently. Changing vowels in unstressed syllables is called reduction.

There are six stressed vowels in Russian: [a], [o], [y], [s], [i], [e].

Remember:

Possible words that can only consist of vowels, but consonants are also required.
There are many more consonants in Russian than vowels.

§4. Formation of consonants

Consonants
— these are sounds, during the pronunciation of which the air meets an obstacle in its path. In Russian, there are two types of barriers: a gap and a bow — these are the two main ways of forming consonants. The type of barrier determines the nature of the consonant sound.

Slit
is formed, for example, when pronouncing sounds: [s], [s], [w], [g]. The tip of the tongue only approaches the lower or upper teeth. Slit consonants can be pulled: [s-s-s-s], [sh-sh-sh-sh] .
As a result, you will hear the noise well: when pronouncing [c] — whistling, and when pronouncing [w] —
hissing.

Bow,
the second type of articulation of consonants, is formed when the organs of speech are closed. The air flow abruptly overcomes this barrier, the sounds are short, energetic. That is why they are called explosive. You won’t be able to pull them. Such, for example, are the sounds [p], [b], [t], [d] .
Such articulation is easier to feel, feel.

So, when pronouncing consonants, noise is heard. The presence of noise is a hallmark of consonants.

§5. Voiced and deaf consonants

According to the ratio of noise and voice, consonants are divided into voiced and deaf
.
When pronouncing voiced
consonants are heard both voice and noise, and deaf
— noise only.
Deaf people cannot be spoken loudly. They cannot be shouted.

Compare words: house
and cat.
Each word has 1 vowel and 2 consonants. The vowels are the same, but the consonants are different: [d] and [m] are voiced, and [k] and [t] are deaf. Voiced-deafness is the most important sign of consonants in Russian.

voiced-deafness pairs:
[b] — [p], [h] — [c] and others. There are 11 such pairs. ] and [g], [k «] and [g»], [t] and [d], [t «] and [d»], [w] and [g], [s] and [h], [s»] and [s»].

But there are sounds that do not have a pair on the basis of sonority — deafness. For example, the sounds [p], [l], [n], [m], [th ‘] do not have a voiceless pair, but [c] and [h ‘] do not have a voiced pair.

Unpaired in deafness-voicedness

Voiced unpaired:
[r], [l], [n], [m], [th «], [r»], [l»], [n»], [m»] .
They are also called sonorants
.

What does this term mean? This is a group of consonants (9 in total) that have pronunciation features: when they are pronounced in the oral cavity, barriers also arise, but such that the air stream
,
passing through an obstruction makes only a slight noise; air passes freely through the opening in the nasal or oral cavity. Sonorants are pronounced with the help of a voice with the addition of a slight noise.
Many teachers do not use this term, but everyone should know that these sounds are voiced unpaired.

Sonorants have two important features:

1) they are not deafened, like paired voiced consonants, before deaf and at the end of a word;

2) there is no voicing of paired deaf consonants before them (i.e. the position in front of them is strong in deafness-voicedness, as well as before vowels). For more information about positional changes, see .

Deaf unpaired:
[c], [h»], [w»:], [x], [x»].

How to remember lists of voiced and voiceless consonants easier? Oh, we didn’t forget each other!
(Here only voiced consonants)

Foka, would you like to eat some cabbage?
(Here only voiceless consonants)

True, these phrases do not include hardness-softness pairs. But usually people can easily figure out that not only hard [h] is voiced, but also soft [h «] too, not only [b], but also [b»], etc.

§6. Hard and soft consonants

Consonants differ not only in deafness-voicedness, but also in hardness-softness.
Hardness —
softness
is the second most important sign of consonants in Russian.

Soft consonants
different from solid
special language provision. When pronouncing hard ones, the entire body of the tongue is pulled back, and when pronouncing soft ones, it is shifted forward, while the middle part of the tongue is raised. Compare: [m] — [m ’], [h] — [h ’]. Voiced soft ones sound higher than hard ones.

Many Russian consonants form pairs according to hardness-softness
: [b] — [b ‘], [c] — [c ‘] and others. There are 15 such pairs. ] and [f «], [s] and [s»], [s] and [s»], [d] and [d»], [t] and [t»], [n] and [n» ], [l] and [l «], [p] and [p «], [k] and [k»], [g] and [g «], [x] and [x»].

But there are sounds that do not have a pair on the basis of hardness-softness.For example, the sounds [g], [w], [q] do not have a soft pair, and [y ‘] and [h ‘] — hard.0010

Unpaired in hardness-softness

Solid unpaired
: [w], [w], [c] .

Soft unpaired
: [й»], [h»], [w»:].

§7. Designation of the softness of consonants in writing

Let us digress from pure phonetics. Let us consider a practically important question: how is the softness of consonants indicated in writing? Russian language has 36 consonants, among which 15 pairs of hardness-softness, 3 unpaired hard and 3 unpaired soft consonants.Only 21 consonants.0012 How can 21 letters represent 36 sounds?

Various methods are used for this:

• iotized letters
  after consonants, except w, w
  and c,
  unpaired in hardness-softness, indicate that these consonants are soft, for example: aunt
  — [t’o´
  t’a], dya´
  ya —
  [d’a´
  d’a] ;
  
• letter and
  after consonants, except w, w
  and c
  . Consonants denoted by letters w, w
  and c,
  unpaired hard. Examples of words with the vowel and
  : none´
  tki
  — [n’i´
  fabrics], sheet
  — [l’ist], mi´
  ly
  — [m’i´
  ly’] ;
• letter b,
  after consonants, except w, w,
  after which the soft sign is an indicator of the grammatical form. Examples of soft sign words :
  pro´
  plea
  — [proz’ba], stranded
  — [m’el’], distance
  — [gave ‘].

Thus, the softness of consonants in the letter is conveyed not by special letters, but by combinations of consonant letters with the letters and, e, e, u, i

and b.

Therefore, when parsing, I advise you to pay special attention to neighboring letters after consonants.

Discussing the problem of interpretation

School textbooks say that [w] and [w’] —
unpaired in hardness-softness. How so? After all, we hear that the sound [w ’] is a soft analogue of the sound [w].
When I studied at school myself, I couldn’t understand why? Then my son went to school. He had the same question. It appears in all the guys who are thoughtful about learning.

Bewilderment arises because school textbooks do not take into account that the sound [w’] is also long, but the hard [w] is not. Pairs are sounds that differ in only one feature. And [w] and [w ’] — two. Therefore, [w] and [w’] are not pairs.

Adults and Seniors
.

In order to maintain correctness, it is necessary to change the school tradition of transcribing the sound [sh ‘]. It seems that it is easier for children to use one more additional sign than to face an illogical, unclear and misleading statement. Everything is simple. So that generation after generation does not rack their brains, it is necessary, finally, to show that a soft hissing sound is long.

For this, in linguistic practice, there are two icons:

1) superscript above the sound;
2) colon.

The use of an accent is inconvenient because it is not included in the character set that can be used in computer typing. This means that the following possibilities remain: the use of a colon [w’:] or a grapheme denoting the letter [w’] .
It seems to me that the first option is preferable. Firstly, at first, guys often mix sounds and letters. The use of a letter in transcription will create a basis for such confusion, provoke an error. Secondly, the guys now start learning foreign languages ​​early. And the [:] sign, when used to indicate the length of a sound, is already familiar to them. Thirdly, a transcription with a colon [:] for longitude will perfectly convey the features of the sound. [w ‘:] — soft and long, both features that make up its difference from the sound [w] are presented clearly, simply and unambiguously.

What advice would you give to children who are currently studying according to generally accepted textbooks? You need to understand, comprehend, and then remember that in fact the sounds [w] and [w ‘:] do not form a pair of hardness-softness. And I advise you to transcribe them as your teacher requires.

§8. Place of formation of consonants

Consonants differ not only in terms of signs already known to you:

• deafness-voicedness,
• hardness-softness,
• formation method: bow-slit.

The last, fourth sign is important: place of formation
.
The articulation of some sounds is carried out by the lips, others — by the tongue, its different parts. So, the sounds [p], [p ‘], [b], [b ‘], [m], [m ‘] are labial, [c], [c ‘], [f], [f ‘ ] — labio-dental, all the rest — lingual: front-lingual [t], [t ‘], [d], [d ‘], [n], [n ‘], [s], [s ‘], [s ], [h ‘], [w], [g], [w ‘:], [h ‘], [c], [l], [l ‘], [p], [p ‘] ,
middle language [th ‘] and back language [k], [k ‘], [g], [g ‘], [x], [x ‘].

§9. Positional changes of sounds

1. Strong-weak positions for vowels. Positional vowel changes. Reduction

People do not use spoken sounds in isolation. They don’t need it.
Speech is a sound stream, but a stream organized in a certain way. The conditions in which a particular sound appears are important. The beginning of a word, the end of a word, the stressed syllable, the unstressed syllable, the position before the vowel, the position before the consonant — these are all different positions. We will figure out how to distinguish between strong and weak positions, first for vowels, and then for consonants.

Strong position
is the one in which the sounds are not subject to positionally determined changes and appear in their main form. A strong position is distinguished for groups of sounds, for example: for vowels, this is a position in a stressed syllable. And for consonants, for example, the position before vowels is strong.

For vowels, the strong position is stressed, and the weak position is unstressed
.
In unstressed syllables, vowels undergo changes: they are shorter and are not pronounced as distinctly as under stress. This vowel change in weak position is called reduction
. Due to reduction, fewer vowels are distinguished in the weak position than in the strong position.

Sounds corresponding to stressed [o] and [a], after hard consonants in a weak, unstressed position, sound the same. Normative in the Russian language is recognized as «akanye», i. e. indistinction O
and A
in an unstressed position after hard consonants.

• stressed: [house] — [lady] — [o] ≠ [a].
• without accent: [d a
  ma´
  ] -at home
  — [d a
  la´
  ] -dala´
  — [a] = [a].

Sounds corresponding to stressed [a] and [e], after soft consonants in a weak, unstressed position, sound the same. The normative pronunciation is «hiccups», i.e. indistinguishability E
and A
in an unstressed position after soft consonants.

• under stress: [m’ech’] — [m’ach’] — [e] ≠ [a].
• without accent: [m’ich’o´
  m] — sword´
  m —
  [m’ich’o´
  m] — ball´
  m — [and] = [and].
  
• But what about the vowels [and], [s], [y]? Why was nothing said about them? The fact is that these vowels in a weak position undergo only quantitative reduction: they are pronounced more briefly, weakly, but their quality does not change. That is, as for all vowels, an unstressed position for them is a weak position, but for a schoolchild these vowels in an unstressed position do not present a problem.

[ly´
zhy], [in _lu´
zhu], [n’i´
t’i] — both in strong and weak positions, the quality of vowels does not change. Both under stress and in an unstressed position, we clearly hear: [s], [y], [and] and write the letters with which these sounds are usually denoted.

Discussing the problem of interpretation

What vowels are actually pronounced in unstressed syllables after hard consonants?

Performing phonetic analysis and transcribing words, many guys express bewilderment. In long polysyllabic words, after solid consonants, it is not the sound [a] that is pronounced, as school textbooks say, but something else.

They are right.

Compare the pronunciation of words: Moscow — Muscovites
. Repeat each word several times and listen for the vowel in the first syllable. With the word Moscow
everything is simple. We pronounce: [maskva´
] — the sound [a] is clearly audible. And the word Muscovites
? In accordance with the literary norm, in all syllables, except for the first syllable before stress, as well as the positions of the beginning and end of the word, we pronounce not [a], but a different sound: less distinct, less clear, more like [s] than [ a]. In the scientific tradition, this sound is denoted by the icon [ъ]. So, we really say: [málako´
] — milk´
,
[harasho´
] — good´
,
[kulbasa´
] — sausage´
.

I understand that by presenting this material in textbooks, the authors tried to simplify it. Simplified. But many children with good hearing, who hear clearly that the sounds in the following examples are different, cannot understand why the teacher and the textbook insist that these sounds are the same. Actually:

[at a
yes´
] — water´
—
[in b
d’other’] — water´
th:
[a]≠[b]
[dr a
va´
] — firewood´
—
[dr b]
v’ino´
y’] — wood fired´
th:
[a]≠[b]

Realizations of vowels in unstressed syllables after sibilants form a special subsystem. But in the school course, this material is not presented at all in most textbooks.

What vowels are actually pronounced in unstressed syllables after soft consonants?

I feel the greatest sympathy for the guys who study from textbooks offered locally A,
E
, O
after soft consonants, hear and transcribe the sound “and, prone to e”. I consider it fundamentally wrong to give schoolchildren as the only option the outdated pronunciation norm — “ekanye”, which is much less common today than “hiccups”, mainly among very elderly people. Guys, feel free to write in an unstressed position in the first syllable before the stress in place A
and E
— [and].

After soft consonants in other unstressed syllables, except for the position of the end of the word, we pronounce a short weak sound resembling [and] and denoted as [ь]. Say words vo´
seven,
de´
vyat
and listen to yourself. We pronounce: [vo´
s’m’] — [b], [d’e´
w’t’] — [b].

Do not confuse:

Transcription marks are one thing, but letters are another.
The transcription sign [ъ] denotes a vowel after hard consonants in unstressed syllables, except for the first syllable before stress.
The letter ъ is a solid sign.
The transcription mark [ь] denotes a vowel after soft consonants in unstressed syllables, except for the first syllable before stress.
The letter ь is a soft character.
Transcription marks, unlike letters, are given in square brackets.

End of word
— special position. It shows clearing of vowels after soft consonants. The system of unstressed endings is a special phonetic subsystem. It contains E
and A
differ:

Zda´
nie
[background´
n’i’e] — yes´
nia
[background´
n’iy’a], me´
nie
[mn’e´
n’i’e] — me´
nia
[mn’e´
n’iy’a], mo´
re
[mo´
re] — mo´
rya
[mo´
r’a], vo´
la
[vo´
l’a] — on vo´
le
[na_vo´
l’e]. Keep this in mind when doing phonetic parsing of words.

Check:

How your teacher requires you to mark unstressed vowels. If he uses a simplified transcription system, that’s okay: it’s widely accepted. Just do not be surprised that you really hear different sounds in an unstressed position.

2. Strong-weak positions for consonants. Positional changes of consonants

For all consonants without exception, the strong position is the position before the vowel
. Before vowels, consonants appear in their basic form. Therefore, when doing phonetic analysis, do not be afraid to make a mistake characterizing a consonant in a strong position: [dacha]
— yes´
cha,
[t’l’iv’i´
zur] — television´
zor,
[s’ino´
n’im] — shino´
nims,
[b’ir’o´
PS] — birches,
[karz» and´
us] — korzi´
us
. All consonants in these examples are before vowels, i.e. in a strong position.

Strong positions in voicelessness:

• before vowels: [there] — there,
  [ladies] — ladies
  ,
• before unpaired voiced [p], [p’], [l], [l’], [n], [n’], [m], [m’], [d’]: [dl’a] — for,
  [tl’a] — aphid
  ,
• Before [in], [in ‘]: [own’] — own,
  [chime] — ringing
  .

Remember:

In a strong position, voiced and voiceless consonants do not change their quality.

Weak positions in terms of deafness-voicedness:

• in front of pairs for deafness-voicedness: [weak´
  tk’y] — sla´
  dkiy,
  [zu´
  pk’i] — zu´
  bki
  .
• before deaf unpaired ones: [aphva´
  t] — girth, [fhot] — entrance.
• at the end of the word: [zoop] — tooth,
  [dup] — oak.
  

Positional changes of consonants according to deafness-voicedness

In weak positions, consonants are modified: positional changes occur with them. Voiced ones become deaf, i.e. deafened, and the deaf — voiced, i.e. voiced. Positional changes are observed only in paired consonants.

Stunning-voicing of consonants

Voiced stunning
occurs in positions:

• before paired deaf people: [fsta´
  w’it’] — in
  sta´
  twist
  ,
• at the end of the word: [clat] — treasure.
  

Voicing of the deaf
occurs in position:

• before double voiced: [kaz’ba´
  ] — to with
  bba´
  

Strong positions in hardness-softness:

• before vowels: [mat’] — mother,
  [m’at’] — crush
  ,
• at the end of the word: [won] — won,
  [won’] — stink
  ,
• before labials: [b], [b ‘], [p], [n ‘], [m], [m ‘] and back lingual: [k], [k ‘], [g], [g ‘], [x[ [x’] for sounds [s], [s’], [s], [s’], [t], [t’], [d], [d’], [ n], [n’], [p], [p’]: [ca´
  n’k’i] — Sa´
  nkie
  (genus case), [s´
  ankh’i] — sa´
  nk,
  [bu´
  lx] — bu´
  lka,
  [bu´
  l’k’t’] — bu´
  lick,
  
• all positions for sounds [l] and [l ’]: [forehead] — forehead,
  [pal’ba] — firing.
  

Remember:

In a strong position, hard and soft consonants do not change their quality.

Weak positions in hardness-softness and positional changes in hardness-softness.

• before soft [t’], [d’] for consonants [c], [h], which are necessarily softened: , [z’d’es’],
• before [h ‘] and [w ‘:] for [n], which is necessarily softened: [by´
  n’ch’ik] — by´
  nichik,
  [ka´
  m’n’sh’: ik] — ka´
  changer.
  

Remember:

In a number of positions today, both soft and hard pronunciation is possible:

• before soft front lingual [n ‘], [l ‘] for front lingual consonants [c], [h]: snow —
  [s’n’ek] and, angry —
  [z’l’it’] and [zl’it’]
• in front of soft anterior lingual, [h ’] for anterior lingual [t], [d] — rise´
  th —
  [pad’n’a´
  t ’] and [padn’a´
  t’] , take away´
  th —
  [at’n’a´
  t’] and [atn’a´
  t’]
• before soft anterior lingual [t «], [d»], [s «], [s»] for anterior lingual [n]: vi´
  ntik —
  [in’i´
  n «t» ik] and [v’i´
  nt’ik], pe´
  nsiya —
  [p’e´
  n’s’iy’a] and [p’e´
  ns’iy’a]
• before soft labials [c ‘], [f ‘], [b ‘], [n ‘], [m ‘] for labials: inscribe´
  th —
  [f «p» isa´
  t ’] and [fp «is´
  at’], ri´
  fme
  (dat. fall.) — [r’i´
  f «m» e] and [r’i´
  fm «e]

Remember:

In all cases, in a weak position, positional softening of consonants is possible.
Writing a soft sign with positional softening of consonants is erroneous.

Positional changes of consonants according to the features of the method and place of formation

Naturally, in the school tradition it is not customary to describe the characteristics of sounds and the positional changes that occur with them in all details. But the general laws of phonetics need to be learned. Without this, it is difficult to do phonetic analyzes and complete test tasks. Therefore, below is a list of positionally determined changes in consonants according to the features of the method and place of formation. This material is a tangible help for those who want to avoid errors in phonetic parsing.

Assimilation of consonants

The logic is this: the Russian language is characterized by the likening of sounds if they are similar in some way and at the same time are close.

Learn the list:

[c] and [w] → [w:] — stitch

[g] and [g] → [g:] — compress

[s] and [h’] — at the root of words →
[w’:] — happiness, score
— at the junction of morphemes and words →
[w’:h’] —
comb, dishonest,
with what (a preposition followed by a word is pronounced as one word)

[s] and [w’:] → [w’:] — split

[t] and [c] — in verb forms → [c:] — smiles
— at the junction of prefix and root →
[cs] — pour

[t] and [c] → [c:] — unhook

[t] and [h’] →[h’:] — report

[t] and [t] and [w’:]←[c] and [h’] — reading

[d] and [w’:] ←[c] and [h’] — counting

Consonant distribution

Assimilation is the process of positional change, opposite to assimilation.

[g] and [k’] → [x’k’] — light

Simplification of consonant clusters

Learn the list:

su — [st]: hello, feel
zdn — [zn]: late
zds — [ss] : under the bridle
lnts — [nts]: sun 0004 NDC —
[nc]: Dutch
ndsh —
[nsh:] landscape
ng — [ng]: roentgen

rdts —
[rc]: heart
rdh —
[rh’]: heart
stl — [sl’]: happy
stn — [sn]: local