Morphological principle .

Spelling principles are the guiding ideas for the choice of letters by a native speaker where the sound can be designated variably. The nature and system of Russian spelling is revealed using its principles: morphological, phonemic, traditional-historical, phonetic and the principle of differentiation of meanings.

The morphological principle requires that the spelling check be focused on the morphemic composition of the word, it assumes uniformity, the same spelling of morphemes: root, prefix, suffix, ending, regardless of positional alternations (phonetic changes) in the sounding word that occur during the formation of related words or word forms. These inconsistencies in writing and pronunciation include: unstressed vowels in different morphemes - in the root, prefix, suffix, ending; stunning voiced and voicing deaf consonants in weak positions; unpronounceable consonants; orthoepic, traditional pronunciation of many words and combinations: [siniev] - blue, [kan`eshn] - of course and many others. etc. Spelling, based on the morphological principle, outwardly diverges from pronunciation, but not sharply and only in certain parts of speech. At the same time, the discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation is carried out with morphological writing on the basis of strictly defined relationships with pronunciation. Morphological writing is a consequence of the understanding by the seeker of the structural division of the word into its significant parts (morphemes) and results in the most uniform transmission of these parts in writing. The way of writing with a uniform graphic transmission of significant parts of words makes it easier to “grasp” the meaning when reading. The preservation of the graphic unity of the same morphemes in writing, where possible, is a characteristic feature of Russian orthography. The uniformity of the spellings of significant parts of words is achieved by the fact that positional alternations of vowels and consonants are not reflected in Russian writing.

Checking spelling, written according to the morphological principle, includes:

a) understanding the meaning of the word or combination of words being checked, without which it is impossible to select a related test word, determine the grammatical form of the word, etc.;

b) analysis of the morphemic composition of the word, the ability to determine the place of the spelling - in the root, in the prefix, in the suffix, in the ending, which is necessary for choosing and applying the rule;

c) phonetic analysis, determination of stressed and unstressed syllables, selection of vowels and consonants, understanding of strong and weak phonemes, positional alternations and their causes. Next - the solution of the spelling problem according to the algorithm.

It should be noted that the assimilation of spellings corresponding to the morphological principle cannot be effective without strong speech skills of students: the choice of words, the formation of their forms, the construction of phrases, sentences.

Since ancient times, the morphological principle in spelling has been considered the main, leading one, because it ensures the leading role of semantics in language teaching. But in recent decades, a new, phonemic principle claims to be the leading principle.

phonemic principle.

In modern phonology, it is generally accepted that if two or more sounds alternate positionally, then in the language system they are an identity. This is a phoneme - a linguistic unit, represented by a number of positionally alternating sounds. So, the phoneme [o] can be represented by the following sounds, regularly reproduced in the speech of native speakers of the Russian language: strong position - under stress [house]; weak position - unstressed [lady]; weak position - reduced [málako], [cloud].

The phonemic principle of spelling says: the same letter denotes a phoneme (not a sound!) In strong and weak positions. Russian graphics are phonemic: the letter denotes in its strong version and in a weak position also in the same morpheme, of course. The phoneme is a semantic distinction. The letter, fixing the phoneme, provides a unified understanding of the meaning of the morpheme (for example, the root) regardless of the variants of its sound.

The phonemic principle explains basically the same orthograms as the morphological principle, but from a different point of view, and this allows a deeper understanding of the nature of orthography. He more specifically explains why, when checking an unstressed vowel, one should focus on the stressed variant, on the strong position of the morpheme.

The phonemic principle allows you to combine many disparate rules: checking unstressed vowels, voiced and voiceless consonants, unpronounceable consonants; contributes to the understanding of consistency in spelling; introduces teachers and students to a new linguistic doctrine - phonology.

Morphological and phonemic principles do not contradict each other, but deepen each other. Checking vowels and consonants in a weak position through a strong one - from phonemic; reliance on the morphemic composition of the word, on parts of speech and their forms - from the morphological (morphematic) principle.

Some modern programs and textbooks of the Russian language (for example, the school of V.V. Repkin) provide elementary information on phonology, and in those schools where the textbook by V.V. Repkin is used, the interaction of the two considered principles and practical methods is already being implemented.

There is also a phonetic principle, that is, one in which successive chains of sounds in words are indicated on the basis of a direct connection “sound - letter”, without taking into account any other criteria. Briefly, this principle is defined by the motto "write as you hear." But a very important question is what sounds should be designated with the phonetic principle, with what detail. In practical writing, which is any letter-sound writing, and with the phonetic principle of spelling, only phonemes can and should be designated.

The phonetic principle of spelling with the advent of the concept and the term "phoneme" could be called the phonemic principle of spelling, but since the latter term is used in a different sense in modern linguistic literature, it is more convenient to leave the former name for it.

The phonetic principle as a certain orthographic beginning is proclaimed when positional alternations of phonemes (if any) are specifically reflected in the letter. The phonetic principle is such a principle of designating phonemes when the phonemes of weak positions, with which the phonemes of strong positions alternate, are denoted by letters that are adequate to the phonemes of weak positions on the basis of a direct connection “a phoneme is an adequate letter to it.

In addition, there are many words in Russian that are impossible (or difficult) to check with the rules, and they are written in the usual way, as usual, i.e. traditionally.

Traditional principle - this is such a principle in which phonemes that are in weak positions are indicated by one of a number of letters that are phonologically possible to designate a given phoneme. Phonologically, letters are possible that are adequate to the phonemes that head the phonemic series of the morphological system of the language, which could include one or another phoneme of a weak position subject to designation. The traditional principle is, as it were, a morphological principle intended for implementation, but not having the opportunity to pass into it. Since phonemic oppositions in word forms are not violated when designating phonemes of weak positions on the basis of the traditional principle, this principle could be called phonemic-traditional.

In this principle, the final choice of a letter is based on tradition (based on etymology, transliteration, transcription, or simply convention). But the set of letters to choose from is also limited and quite specific. Only phonemic sequences that can be called potential are presented here.

Unverifiable words are acquired on the basis of memorizing the literal composition, the whole "image" of the word, comparison and opposition, i.e. visually, by pronunciation, based on kinesthesia, speech-motor memory, through use in speech in writing and orally, etc.

So, knowledge of the basic principles of Russian spelling allows us to generalize the studied rules, to find a single pattern in them. Spelling is necessary to ensure full-fledged communication, and it is natural that each of its principles is communicatively expedient.

differentiating principle is used where two words or two forms that have the same phonemic structure are conditionally distinguished using spelling (burn - burn, ink - ink). Consolidated, separate and hyphenated spellings using three graphic characters (continuous spelling, space and hyphen) include different grammatical categories of words: compound nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, adverbs, as well as spelling particles with different parts of speech. The principles on which the spelling rules of this section are built are called: - lexical-syntactic - to distinguish between a word and a phrase (long-playing record - a child playing in the yard for a long time; finally, I did all the work - we are planning a trip for the end of summer);

Word-building and grammatical - for writing complex adjectives and nouns: automobile-road and road, gas-oil and gas-oil; forest park and diesel engine.

The separate spelling of words is based on the principle: to write all the words of the Russian language, independent and official, separately, for example: “A month looks from the middle of the sky.” In the course of the life of a language, prepositions and particles sometimes merge with the words they refer to, forming new words, for example: on the right, for the first time, not bad. In this case, there are transitional cases, for example: on the go, for memory. A capital letter is used to highlight the beginning of a sentence and to highlight proper names, for example: “Our great poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin lived at that time in the Pskov province.”

Transfer rules are based on the division of words into syllables, taking into account the composition of words: smell, swim.

Spelling, reflecting a complex and lively language process, is constantly being improved on the basis of spelling practice and theoretical linguistic research.

Principles of Russian spelling

Phonemic principle

Essence phonemic (phonological) principle lies in the fact that the significant part of the word (root, suffix, prefix, grammatical ending) retains its spelling regardless of its pronunciation realizations.

In other words, the speech representation of a phoneme (a phoneme in a significatively weak position) is indicated in writing by the sign that is used to designate it in the main, significatively strong position. Russian writing is phonemic, that is, the leading principle of Russian spelling is phonemic (phonological).

Basic spelling requirements based on the phonemic principle, i.e. its phonemicity are reduced to the following: “1) in order to know how to write an unstressed vowel, you need to put it under stress; 2) in order to know how to write a voiced or voiceless consonant, you need to put this consonant before the vowels or sounds [m], [n], [l], [p], [v], [j]; 3) to know whether or not to write b after a consonant before another consonant, you need to change the word so that the second consonant becomes solid; if at the same time the first consonant remains soft, then a soft sign must be written; 4) spelling of words honest, lovely, late, county etc. is checked by words honest, charm, be late, county etc.; 5) after h in combinations chk, th, thu soft sign is not written; 6) after w, w, w, h letters are not written i, yu, s, and the letters a, y, and(i.e., those that do not indicate the quality of the preceding consonant).

In accordance with the phonological principle, the characteristics of sound in significatively weak positions are not taken into account, and the phoneme variant is checked by its main realization, which is presented in a significatively strong position. Thus, root and grammatical morphemes in Russian orthography have a permanent graphic appearance. The "morphematism" of the phonological principle brings it closer to the morphological principle.

Vowels

In accordance with the phonological principle of Russian orthography, a variant of a vowel phoneme, that is, a phoneme in a weak significative position, without stress, is checked by a strong significative position within the same morpheme:

1) at the root - thunderstorm - thunderstorms, tree - trees, stripe - stripes - stripe,

side - side - side, in the yard - yard, in the snow - snow,

window - windows, poor - poor, short - short, look - look,

stretch - pull and etc.;

2) in suffixes - ladder, button, street, plate, water, buttonhole;

3) in consoles - ran, turned white, chatted, walked, wandered, torn.

pluck, match, collect, warm, create, created, torn off,

elevate, repay, exalt, resurrect, uplift, uplift and etc.

4) at the end - about a chair, about a house, about a city - about a table, about a sheet and etc.

about the frame, about the desk, about the bag, about winter, about the board and etc.

about the field, about the sea, about business, about the village, about the window and etc.

ran, prepared, let, walked, found and etc.

Consonants

opposed on the basis of deafness/voicedness

The consonant phoneme in the position of neutralization on the basis of deafness / voicedness, in accordance with the phonemic principle of writing, must be elevated to a strong position, i.e. put in one of the possible positions:

1) before a vowel;

2) before a sonorant consonant;

3) before<в>+ sonorant or vowel.

In one of these positions, relevant on the basis of deafness / voicedness, the check is also carried out within the limits of functionally identical morphemes:

4) at the root - frost - frost, snow - snow, fresh - fresh, light - light, good - good, tears - got down, rags - rags, low - low, dexterous - dexterous and etc.;

4) in consoles - make, fasten, compress, hand over, fool, blind, remove, shoe, peep, file, raise, learn and etc.

Consonants

contrasted on the basis of hardness / softness

The designation of a consonant phoneme in writing in the position of neutralization on the basis of hardness / softness also obeys the rule built on phonemic foundations. In this regard, one should distinguish between phonemic softness (independent, independent) and positional, conditioned softness.

Their difference lies in the fact that the phonemic softness of the consonant is preserved in combination not only with a soft consonant, but also with a hard one. Since she is independent, she is marked on the letter. A way to indicate the softness of a consonant in such difficult-to-write cases is a soft sign, for example: take - take, eight - eighth; skates - skate; struggle - struggle; Kuzma - Kuzma and etc.

However, positional softness, softness under the influence of a subsequent soft consonant phoneme (non-independent), is not preserved in position before a hard consonant. To indicate such softness, a soft sign is not used: ba [n "d"] it -ba[nd] a; to o[s"t"] and -ko [st] point, o roma [n "s"] e-roma[ns]; bi [n "t"] ik - bi[nt]a; ti [s "n"] enen - ty[sn] ut; ro [s "l"] and - ro[sl] a and etc.

Task number 1. Transcribe these words. Determine in which cases the softness of the consonant does not have a phonemic meaning.

Day, cut, stump, judge, take, bow, horse, raw materials, supine, mouse, daughter, lie down, cog, get carried away, postman, skates.

Task number 2. Find spellings in the text written in accordance with the phonological principle, and mark them above the word with a letter f .

In the left wing of the manor house, below, there was a very large dining room; next to it - a buffet and three spare rooms for guests. The right wing was occupied by a double-height hall, passing which one got into a home theater with several rows of seats and boxes on the sides. Several more rooms were located behind the stage.

(V.Khodasevich)

Morphological (morphematic) principle

The essence of this principle lies in the observance of the uniform spelling of the same morphemes. This is important when transferring the phonemic composition of words, when the same morpheme has a different phonemic composition in different words and forms of these words. The question of the morphological principle is solved differently by representatives of the St. Petersburg (SPFS) and Moscow (MFS) phonological schools.

From the standpoint of SPFS, the morphological principle is “a way of designating phonemes, in which phonemes that are in weak positions and are connected by a relationship of positional alternation with phonemes of strong positions are designated - in order to preserve the graphic uniformity of morphemes - by letters adequate to the phonemes of strong positions." This principle of non-designation of positional alternations is considered the leading principle of Russian orthography. In accordance with it, Russian writing retains the graphic uniformity of the same morphemes (roots, prefixes, suffixes, endings) where possible. In words [in] dy- [vΛ] Yes- [v] diana positionally alternating sounds [o], [l], [b] represent different phonemes,<о>, <а>, <а>respectively, but are transmitted in a strong position, and this achieves the unity of the morpheme. In words pru[e] s - pr[t] positionally alternating sounds [d] and [t] also represent different phonemes<д>and<т>respectively, but are transmitted in writing in a strong position, and this also achieves the unity of the morpheme.

From the standpoint of the IPF, positionally alternating sounds do not belong to different, but to one phoneme, and in writing, the whole series of alternating sounds is designated by one letter, but this is a manifestation of the phonemic principle.

On the morphological principle, from the positions of the IMF, contrary to the phonological principle, the spelling of only individual words is built.

So, in the roots of words black and turn black different vowel phonemes appear under stress: black - <о>;turn black - <э>, but this alternation is conveyed by graphically similar letters, and this maintains the orthographic unity of the morpheme: whisper - whisper, yellow - turn yellow and under.

In accordance with the morphological principle, a return postfix is ​​written -sya in verb forms, where not only the phoneme can appear<с"> (blow<с"ь> ), but<ц> (teach<ць> ) and<с> (took<сь>). But the orthographic appearance of this morpheme does not reflect the pronunciation features of this postfix.

The morphematic principle extends to such spellings as ultra-refined, inter-irrigation, counterplay, disinformation etc., where the letter and after a solid consonant (contrary to the graphic rule, write s after hard consonants - sum up, uninteresting etc.) helps to preserve the unity of the morpheme - the root.

Task number 3. Find in this list the words written in accordance with the morphological principle (according to the IMF) and mark them above the spelling with the letter m.

Twine, supra-individual, silk, afraid, whisper, improvise, lattice, rattle, disinformation, wives, slum, named himself, overnight stay, bangs, engaged, counterplay, opened, teacher's institute, penny.

Phonetic principle

With the phonetic principle of spelling, the letter indicates not a phoneme, but a sound. Phonetic spellings are therefore somewhat similar to transcription: the word is spelled as it is pronounced. This principle is leading in the spelling system of some languages. These are languages ​​where the basis for writing is pronunciation. For example, the spelling of the Belarusian language has the following spellings: city(city) - garadas(cities); forest(forest) - laces(forests); mora(sea) - marschi(nautical); night(night) - start(night); river(river) - cancer(river); rent(rent) - tenant(tenant); galava(head) - galouka(head).

The orthography of the Serbo-Croatian literary language, which underwent a radical reform at the beginning of the 19th century, also reflects the speech changes in the phoneme: erbin(Serb) - Serbian(Serbian); sweetie(sweet) - slatka(sweet); create(create) - be friends(to make friends); run(run) - bekstvo(escape); knife(legs) - noshka(leg); vrsidba(threshing) - vrshiti(thresh); nazeb(cold) - nazepsti(to catch a cold).

It is quite obvious that the spelling of these languages ​​does not make it possible to identify morphemes: they are written differently, in accordance with the pronunciation.

In Russian orthography, in accordance with the phonetic principle, they write a/o in prefixes of words search - search, although the phonemic composition of prefixes is the same in accordance with the strong position -<роз>.

According to the phonetic principle, the endings of nouns are written in -iya, -iya, -iya (about the revolution, in the building, in the sanatorium), although formally they can be attributed to the 1st declension (on -and I) or to the 2nd declension (on -th, -th) and have an appropriate ending. The phonetic principle corresponds to the spelling s after c (contrary to the phonemic requirement to designate a phoneme<и>the sign corresponding to it - the letter and. Prefixes on z- (time-, bottom-, air-, without-, through-, through-, from-) change the consonant depending on the subsequent voiced / deaf sound: immense, but careless.

Task number 4.. Find spellings in these sentences written in accordance with the phonetic principle and designate them above the word with the letter p (based on pronunciation).

1) There is no favorable wind for a broken ship. 2) Outlived the need, forgot friendship. 3) Chickens are counted in the fall. 4) You can’t drive a shameless guest out of the hut with beer. 5) In March, a gypsy sells a fur coat. 6) He made a noise like a sparrow to the rain. 7) All these stories are far away. 8) A few moments passed in silence.

Traditional principle

The traditional principle of spelling is that those spellings that corresponded to pronunciation in the distant past of the language are preserved, although they are far from its modern norms. Such spellings cannot be explained either by phonetic or morphological features of the language. They reflect pronunciation norms of the past or occasional spellings that once became the orthographic norm.

Traditional spellings relate the current state of the language to its history, and their explanation is linked to the history of the language and the history of orthography. For example, in the Old Russian language, writing inflections of adjectives, possessive pronouns and participles -ago, -yago matched the pronunciation. In the course of the long history of the language, the phonetic system has undergone changes, but the pronunciation of inflection with a consonant in modern orthography is reflected according to the rules that developed in the distant past of the language, i.e. pronounce blue[ in ]oh, yours[ in ]oh, red[ in ]oh, another[ in ]about, but in writing, according to tradition, we denote the phoneme<в>letter g: blue, yours, another.

The most traditional spelling of the English language. In the Middle English period (until the 16th century), the spelling of the English language corresponded to the pronunciation. It was characterized by the absence of strictly established orthographic norms, since every writer was guided by his pronunciation, and it contained some differences of dialect origin.

The introduction of printing (in the 16th century) required the establishment of orthographic norms, and the spelling of the English language, adopted by Cagston in his printed editions, became the basis of English orthography, which has survived in its main features to the present.

In the course of the development of the language and its phonetic-phonological system of the New English period, there were changes, but the spelling remained basically the same as in the Middle English period. Therefore, there are significant discrepancies between the graphic and phonetic appearance of most words in the English language, which creates certain difficulties in mastering English spelling.

Many English scholars (starting from the 16th century) were busy with the issue of improving English writing. Over the course of three centuries, several reform projects were proposed, but none of them were put into practice.

In the 19th century societies for the improvement of spelling were created in England and the USA, but the activities of these societies, as well as projects

reforms that were considered by the British Parliament did not lead to positive results.

In English, it is not enough to hear a word in order to write it correctly, so it is typical for it to ask about the spelling of a word: How do you spell it? What is the spelling of this word?

The complexity of English spelling is expressed by a well-known saying: Written by Manchester - read Liverpool.

Traditional spelling systems present the greatest difficulty in learning a language, since spellings are not subject to any verification and require automatic memorization.

English spelling does not satisfy the native speakers themselves. It is known, for example, that B. Shaw was extremely worried about the state of English spelling. He bequeathed a large sum to whoever finds the most rational means of simplifying it; who will bring the spelling closer to the current state of the English language. However, the bequeathed amount has not yet been received by anyone.

In Russian writing, spellings are traditional, when the choice of a letter is not motivated by the phonemic composition of the word, the letter is written according to traditions. So, the endings of adjectives, participles, possessive pronouns in R. p. units. h.m. are written according to the traditional Principle, contrary to the phonemic one: a phoneme in a significatively strong position is indicated by the sign of another phoneme according to tradition, as it was formed in Church Slavonic writing: we pronounce your[ in ]oh, red[ in ]oh, another[ in ]oh really[ in ]about, but we write yours, red, different, real. The choice of a letter is not phonemically motivated: a phoneme in a significatively strong position does not have an adequate designation, and this contradicts the basic principle of Russian writing.

Word spelling assistant also traditional, contrary to the phonemic principle: the phoneme<ш>in a significatively strong position, denoted by the letter u - assistant, although we pronounce help[ sh ]Nick.

Spelling of hyperphonemes

A hyperphonemic situation arises when a phoneme in a significatively weak position cannot be determined, since it is impossible to raise it to a significatively strong position within the same morpheme. In this case, we are dealing with a special phoneme, which is usually called a hyperphoneme. A hyperphoneme is defined as a phonological unit, which is a set of phonemes that neutralize (coincide) in weak positions, where it is impossible to verify a functionally identical morpheme. (Kuzmina S. M. Theory of Russian orthography: Russian orthography and its relation to phonetics and phonology - M. 1981 - P. 232.) Thus, since the hyperphoneme is represented only by sounds of weak positions or, according to R. I. Avanesov, is a phonemic series not headed by a strong phoneme, it is sometimes called a "defective" phoneme, a unit of "lower rank". (Avanesov R. I. Phonetics of modern lit. language - M., 1956. - p. 33)

The choice (disjunction) of phonemes is possible for different groups of sounds:

1) e. vowels.

2) e. consonants. Opposite - x in ch./sv.

3) D. agreed, against - x on TV / soft.

Given a choice of phonemes, orthography traditionally selects one of two or > suitable signs for learning a phoneme.

Vowel hyperphonemes

< и/э >- exam, interest, gypsy, iron, etc.

< о/а >- kalach, poster, dog. Cow, drum...

< и/э/о/а >- minnow, minute, walk, ...

< э/о/а >- january, japanese, raccoon, barely, yet,…

Consonant hyperphonemes.

<г/к>- all of a sudden, all of a sudden. on an empty stomach...

<т/д>- football, this one, that one, as if ...

<з/с>- air, watchman, etc.

<с/с">- snow, cast, tears, lick ...

<с/с"/з/з">- steppe, walls, banner, sterlet, ...

<т/т"/д/д"/ц>twenty, thirty, fifteen, etc.

Similar information.

While mechanization of the writing process is the ideal,
but only up to a certain limit,
beyond which the process of writing must still be conscious.
Attention must linger on certain forms of language,
analyze them quickly and accordingly
solve some spelling problem.
It already follows from this that the mechanization of the writing process
in no way will give absolute literacy,
and even more - it will certainly lead to semi-literacy,
because it will not create habits when writing
analyze linguistic forms.
L.V. Shcherba

Writing is one of the types of speech activity, along with speaking, listening and reading. A letter is a product of speech using special graphic characters (letters of the alphabet). This type of speech activity unfolds in space and time. Space is paper (there were papyrus, parchment, birch bark, etc.) or a monitor screen (pager, cell phone, etc.). In order to imprint language units on a suitable fragment of space, some time is needed. And a set of graphic signs suitable for conveying the author's exciting meanings embodied in linguistic units. However, written communication in any culture in any of the languages ​​of the world is characterized by another important feature: correct spelling, i.e. compliance with the rules of written speech established in a given society using a certain national language. The rules of speech behavior in writing are regulated primarily by spelling and punctuation.

The main goal of our work is to reveal the psychological content of writing in accordance with the rules of Russian spelling. We will try to establish what kind of intellectual work is required for literate writing, what mental operations are necessary for the error-free use of various spelling rules, and whether there are linguistic patterns behind the spelling rules, and if so, which ones.

The set goal can be achieved by consistent solution of specific tasks. First, it is necessary to discuss the principles of Russian orthography in relation to the laws inherent in the language. Secondly, it is required to characterize writing as a functional system, as an activity. Finally, thirdly, it is necessary to determine the mental operations “responsible” for writing the word in accordance with different spelling principles.

Let's start in order.

Characteristics of the principles of Russian spelling

The discussion of the principles of Russian spelling should begin with the definition of the principles of graphics, i.e. letters. The principles of graphics govern the ways in which sound speech is conveyed in writing, while the principles of spelling provide rules for the transmission of sound speech by graphic symbols. In other words, graphics are primary in relation to spelling.

In Russian letter(Russian script) the main one is phonemic principle: most of the letters of the Russian alphabet denote a phoneme in writing. Meanwhile, not all phonemes have a special letter. However, the alphabet also contains letters denoting allophones, or variants of a phoneme. Recall the definitions of phoneme and allophone.

Phoneme- minimum language unit, capable of acting as the only distinguisher of the plan of expression of morphemes and words. In speech phoneme represented sounds. Consider an example. The word bak consists of three phonemes /B,A,K/, which are represented by three sounds [b, a, k]; if this word is pronounced in a whisper, then the phonemic composition will not change, but the first consonant will change in the sound composition: voiced consonants are impossible in whispered speech and the phoneme /B/ will be presented as [p]. In turn, the words bak and buk differ in vowels: their phonemic composition is /Б,А,К/ and /Б,У,К/, respectively. However, the first consonant phoneme is presented differently in these words: in the word beech, under the influence of the subsequent rounded vowel /U/, we pronounce [b°]. Such a sound expression of a phoneme dependent on “neighbors” (i.e., on a phonetic position) is called an allophone (or a variant of a phoneme).

The letters denoting allophones in writing “work” in accordance with a different principle of writing - in accordance with syllabic principle letters. Let's take an example. The words onion and luk differ in their phonemic composition by the first consonants: /L/ and /L’/, respectively. Nevertheless, in writing, the first consonants are transmitted by the same letter. But different letters are used to convey a vowel. In the word luk, the letter Yu conveys the allophone of the phoneme /U/ in position after a soft consonant. Thus, this letter also denotes the softness of the preceding consonant. As a result, in writing, all iotized vowels represent a whole syllable: a soft consonant + an allophone of a vowel phoneme occurring in position after a soft consonant.

Recall that in the Russian alphabet there is a letter that conveys the sign of a phoneme: b conveys only the softness of the preceding consonant. It can be said that in Russian writing the same phoneme (soft consonant) is transmitted either by a digraph: sol; or a sign for the corresponding solid consonant in combination with a special (iotized) vowel. There is also an “extra” letter, denoting a “morphemic seam” between the prefix and the root in writing: this is b.

So, Russian writing is based on phonemic and syllabic principles. The signs of Russian writing - letters - correspond to phonemes or allophones of phonemes. There are isolated cases of letters that correspond to a sign of a phoneme or a boundary between morphemes. According to the fair remark of L.R. Zinder, “thanks to the witty use of letters, the Russian alphabet, consisting of 33 letters, provides an adequate representation of 41 phonemes” (Zinder 1996: 19).

Let's move on to discussing the principles of Russian spelling. In a classic work on the theory of writing, Lev Rafailovich Zinder, a representative of the Shcherbov linguistic school, defines eight principles of spelling. These are (1) phonemic, (2) morphematic, (3) grammatical, (4) differentiating, (5) traditional (historical), as well as (6) citation, (7) transliteration and (8) transcriptional principles (Zinder 1996: 22-24).

From the point of view of how the principles of spelling correlate with the laws of the language and the peculiarities of the speech activity of native speakers, they can be represented as motivated by language laws and not motivated by language laws. Principles based on patterns inherent in the language itself are comprehended by native speakers as motivated and can be learned consciously (Zinder 1996: 25). Strictly speaking, the principles of spelling, not motivated by linguistic laws, are motivated by speech activity, i.e. features of the written form of communication. Let's discuss all the principles that determine the correctness of the transmission of the sound composition of a morpheme and a word in writing, in the aspect of their motivation by the laws of the language.

Let's start with the phonemic principle. Phonemic principle“suggests the motivation for writing the designated word or morpheme by the sound image without taking into account their word-formation connections” (Zinder 1987: 92). In accordance with this principle, we write a rally, although the root -igr in words that do not have proper Russian prefixes begins with the letter I. We convey the same root morpheme, which has the same lexical meaning, with different letters only because that we are trying to accurately reflect the sound of the first vowel. Similarly, a soft sign is written at the end of the numeral five, conveying the softness of the final consonant, although the same root in the word pyatak does not have the softness designation /T/ in writing, since the final consonant of the root in the word pyatak is hard /T/. In accordance with the phonemic principle, we allow different spellings of the same morpheme for the sake of accurately reflecting its sound composition. Thus, the phonetic principle is motivated by the variability of the sound composition (plan of expression) of the morpheme, which is actually represented in the languages ​​of the world, including Russian. The spelling of a word according to the phonemic principle reflects the phonetic reality: the real sound composition of the word.

In the works of representatives of the Moscow Linguistic School, this principle is called phonetic. The disparity in terminology is due to the difference between the Moscow phonological school and Shcherbovskaya.

Let us pass to the characterization of the morphematic principle. Morphematic principle associated with lexical and grammatical meanings, it reflects "the desire to show the identity of the morpheme ..., the spelling does not reflect the live alternations characteristic of this morpheme" (ibid.: 94). The composition of the morpheme is transmitted by a strong phonetic position: zdraVie - hello. In the words health and hello, the root morpheme will coincide, however, in the first word, the final consonant of the morpheme is /B’/, and in the second - the vowel /А/. Meanwhile, in writing, differences in the sound composition of the same root morpheme in different words are not transmitted: in both cases, we write V at the end of the root. In accordance with the morphematic principle, the phonemic composition of the morpheme is always transmitted in writing in the same way (according to a strong phonetic position).

The morphematic principle is motivated by the law of linguistic sign stability. The law of stability is manifested in the fact that in the languages ​​of the world a certain plan for expressing a sign (a segment of a speech chain) causes a certain image in the mind of a native speaker (a plan for the content of a sign). The relationship between the plan of expression and the plan of content is stable, and this ensures the reliability of communication: by conveying a certain meaning by a sequence of sounds, the speaker expects the listener to activate this meaning in his mind. Thanks to the morphematic principle of spelling, the writer has the right to count on the same: the same meaning (lexical for the whole word, grammatical for the morpheme) is actualized in the mind of the reader. A linguistic unit in written speech is even more stable than in oral speech: the morphematic principle neglects the variability of the plan of expression of a morpheme as part of various lexemes. Note that this principle is the most common in Russian spelling.

The morphematic principle in the works of representatives of the Moscow Linguistic School correlates with phonemic and morphological principles.

Consider grammatical principle. If the morphematic principle is associated primarily with the lexical meaning, then the grammatical principle is associated with the grammatical meaning. The grammatical principle reflects the desire to convey the grammatical and some other metalinguistic features of the word in writing. In accordance with this principle, grammatical meanings are conveyed in writing within the framework of such grammatical categories as gender, number, case, person, belonging to a certain part of speech. At the same time, the way of transmitting grammatical features is in no way connected with the sound composition of the word. For example, in Russian words rye and knife, the final consonant is the same. To write a word according to the morphematic principle, the final consonant is determined by its strong position: over the abyss in the rye, on the edge of a knife. Therefore, in both cases we write Zh. However, the word rye also has a soft sign after the consonant, although /Ж/, like /Ш/ and /Ц/, does not have any softness in any of the phonetic positions. The soft sign in this case indicates that the word rye belongs to feminine nouns. Note that instead of a soft sign, the belonging of a word to the feminine gender could be conveyed by any other designation. As well as the presence of a soft sign could signal the masculine, and its absence - the feminine gender of the noun. So, the soft sign after the hissing consonant as a “signal” that a noun in the nominative case belongs to the feminine gender reflects not the peculiarities of the language, but the established tradition of written Russian speech.

Is the grammatical principle of Russian spelling motivated by the laws of the language? Certainly motivated. In accordance with this principle, the essential characteristics of the content plan of the linguistic sign are conveyed in writing. True, the choice of a means of fixing grammatical meanings in writing is arbitrary (see the example of rye - a knife).

As we can see, the relation of the grammatical principle to being motivated/unmotivated by the laws of the language is ambiguous. The ambiguity is due to the fact that, in contrast to the phonemic and morphematic principles, the grammatical principle provides for the fixation in writing not of the expression plan, but of the content plan of the linguistic sign. In fact: the phonemic principle insists on the maximum possible correspondence of the oral form of the sign expression plan with the written one, the morphematic principle insists on the stability of the written form of the sign expression plan. In contrast, the grammatical principle does not determine the choice of the written form of the plan of expression, "using" what is suggested by the phonemic or morphematic principles. This principle insists on the need in one way or another to fix in writing a change in one of the aspects of the content plan, namely, grammatical meaning. We can call the grammatical principle dependent, dependent on the basic - phonemic and morphematic - principles.

Let's move on to the characteristics differentiating principle. Note that this principle has a small radius of action, determining the spelling of homonyms. In accordance with this principle, writing reflects the desire to distinguish between homonyms, fully conveying their sound image in different graphic ways: burn - burn; ball - ball, etc. The first pair of homonyms are homoforms (the sound of lexemes does not coincide in all word forms) related to different parts of speech. In this case, the distinction between homoforms in writing corresponds to the grammatical principle: the vowel E is written in verbal word forms, the vowel O is written in noun word forms. The words of the second pair are not opposed by grammatical meanings, the words bal - balL are spelled differently in accordance with the differentiating principle. This principle is secondary, like the grammatical one: it does not determine the graphic appearance of the word, but “layers” on the phonemic and morphematic principles. According to the differentiating principle, a morpheme has a constant plan of expression in writing (as the morphematic principle implies), but the sound compositions of morphemes that coincide in oral form are transmitted in writing in different ways (which limits the scope of the phonemic principle) in order to reflect differences in lexical meaning.

The differentiating principle is connected with the laws of the language only insofar as homonymy (coincidence of the plans for the expression of linguistic signs when their meanings do not coincide) is the result of the principle of economy. The very way of conveying differences in terms of content is due to the presence of different graphical possibilities for fixing the sound composition of the morpheme. The distribution of graphemes reflecting matching sounds is arbitrary: it is necessary to remember that the same sequence of sounds in a letter is fixed in different ways: either as a company - (“a group of people spending time together”, etc.), then as a campaign - (“work or action carried out in a certain period and aimed at solving a certain problem”).

Note that the grammatical and differentiating principles have much in common. Often they are combined into one principle (Russian language 2001: 443). Both principles "insist" on the transfer in writing of a certain component of the plan of the content of a linguistic sign: grammatical - on the transfer of grammatical meaning, differentiating - on the transfer of lexical meaning. Both principles are not independent, since, according to the laws of Russian graphics, the plan of expression of the word is fixed in writing: behind the written form there is a certain phonetic reality. That is why both principles are implemented in combination with morphematic and/or phonemic principles.

Let's characterize traditional (historical) principle spelling. This principle reflects the established tradition or history of the word. In accordance with the traditional principle, it is customary to write RED, BLUE, although such spelling does not reflect either phonetic reality or grammatical or lexical meaning. Rather, in a certain period of the history of the Russian language, the endings of full adjectives in the singular form of the genitive case were pronounced [th] and [him], their spelling corresponded to the phonemic principle. However, the oral form of the language changes much faster than the written one, since oral speech changes spontaneously, while “the spelling norm is created consciously, changes are made to it only when the contradiction between spelling and pronunciation becomes obvious” (Zinder 1996: 23). For this reason, languages ​​with a long written tradition often retain spellings that are not justified by the current state of the language.

The traditional principle of spelling is not motivated by the laws of language. It reflects the tradition that has arisen in written communication.

Finally, we turn to the discussion quotation, transliteration and transcription principles Russian spelling. These principles determine the ways in which borrowed words, usually proper names, are transmitted in writing. The transliteration principle involves the transfer of the literal composition of a borrowed word in the source language by means of the alphabet of the borrowing language, for example: English. London - Russian London; English marketing - Russian marketing. The transcription principle reflects the desire to convey by means of the alphabet of the borrowing language the phonemic composition of the word in the source language, for example: German. Marx - Russian Marx; English fast food - Russian fast food. Usually the transcription principle is combined with the transliteration principle, for example: German. Hegel - Russian Hegel, where the last Russian letter does not correspond to the letter of the original word, but reflects the pronunciation features of the German /L/; as a result, the whole graphic image of the word is determined by the "cooperation" of transcription and transliteration principles. The quotation principle is most often used when the borrowing language lacks the necessary graphic means to convey the literal or sound composition of the borrowed word. In other words, the citation principle is resorted to if it is impossible to apply the transliteration and transcription principles. In the modern Russian-language press, especially in electronic versions of printed publications, the quotation principle is widely used for writing Americanisms and Anglicisms: PR, on line, as well as foreign brands: BMW, D @ G, etc.

Let us sum up the discussion of the principles of Russian spelling in the aspect of their motivation by language laws.

1. The basic law of Russian graphics - to fix the phonemic composition of a language unit (its plan of expression) in writing - implements two basic principles of spelling: phonemic and morphematic. The phonemic composition of a borrowed word reflects the spelling in accordance with the transcription principle.
2. The elements of the content plan of the language unit are reflected in writing in accordance with the grammatical and differentiating principles. The spelling of a morpheme/word according to these principles does not reflect any phonetic reality. In essence, such a spelling is consistent with hieroglyphic writing, in which the written form is oriented towards the transfer of meaning, and not sound.
3. Neither grammatical, nor differentiating, nor traditional principles are able to independently determine the written form of a morpheme/word. These principles are implemented in an ensemble with phonemic or morphematic principles. The need for an ensemble is due to the impossibility of using the Russian alphabet directly to reflect the meaning of a language unit.
4. Usually a word is written in accordance with several simultaneously applied spelling principles.
5. Three principles of spelling - phonemic, morphematic and grammatical - reflect the laws inherent in the language, motivated by the laws of the language. This motivation is most clearly manifested in the case when the spelling reflects the phonetic reality.
6. The principles of spelling reflect the following language laws:

Variation of the plan of expression of a linguistic sign, subject to the stability of its content (phonemic principle);
. striving for the stability of the relationship between the content plan and a certain expression plan (morphematic principle; differentiating principle; citation and transliteration principles);
. the law of the symmetry of the linguistic sign (which coexists with the principle of the asymmetry of the sign): in a tendency, any element of the content plane tends to manifest itself in the expression plane; in other words, meaning tends to be expressed. This law motivates the grammatical and differentiating principles of orthography;
. the law of the stability of language (as opposed to the variability of speech). This law is most clearly reflected in the traditional principle.

Obviously, in order to successfully master the rules that embody a certain principle, it is necessary to have an idea of ​​the linguistic patterns behind this principle.
7. Establish principles motivated by the traditions of written communication. Strictly speaking, the traditions of written communication reflect all principles, since they are all based on a traditionally established schedule. In this case, we mean the priority of tradition over other possible motivations. First of all, it is only by tradition that the traditional principle is motivated. Traditionally, the principles of transferring borrowed words in writing are motivated. The differentiation principle is clearly motivated by tradition, according to which the grapheme that delimits homonyms is chosen arbitrarily and its use is fixed by tradition. Finally, it is worth mentioning the grammatical principle, in the implementation of which the means for expressing the grammatical meaning is chosen arbitrarily, and then it is reproduced according to tradition.
8. It is advisable to present the relationship of the principles of orthography to the reflection of phonetic reality and linguistic patterns graphically. The graphic representation will inevitably turn out to be inaccurate, since quantitative estimates of the measure of reflection of phonetic reality or linguistic patterns are not clear. Nevertheless, we will try to depict the phenomenon of interest to us on the diagram (see diagram 1).

Scheme 1. What do the principles of Russian spelling reflect

Let's comment on the diagram. Each of the spelling principles is numbered according to the order in which they are discussed in our article: (1) phonemic, (2) morphematic, (3) grammatical, (4) differentiating, (5) traditional (historical), and (6) quotation, (7) transliteration and (8) transcription principles. All eight principles are inscribed in a large oval, designated as "Traditions of Written Communication", since all the principles in one way or another reflect the established tradition in the use of signs of Russian graphics. Two small ones are inscribed in the large oval, designated as “Phonetic Reality” and “Linguistic Patterns”, respectively. Differentiating, traditional, citation and transcription principles (numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively) are located outside the small ovals. This means that the spelling of a word in accordance with these principles does not directly reflect either the phonetic reality of the modern Russian language or its inherent patterns. The transcription principle (number 8 in the diagram) is inscribed in the small oval “Phonetic Reality”, since the spelling of a borrowed word in accordance with the transcription principle reflects its sound appearance. The grammatical principle (number 3 on the diagram) is inscribed in the center of the small oval “Linguistic patterns”, since the spelling of the morpheme in accordance with this principle reflects its specific grammatical meaning. Finally, the phonemic and morphemic principles (numbers 1 and 2, respectively) are inscribed in both small ovals: the spelling of morphemes or words in accordance with these principles reflects both phonetic reality and linguistic patterns. The morphematic principle reflects the phonetic reality of the morpheme, regardless of which variant of the morpheme is represented in the given word. Its more indirect relation to phonetic reality compared to the phonetic principle is conveyed in the diagram: the number 1 is located in the center of the “Phonetic reality” oval, and the number 2 is noticeably closer to the border of the “Phonetic reality” oval and to the center of the “Linguistic patterns” oval.
9. The principles that have the greatest scope and regulate the spelling of three-quarters of all word forms (phonemic, morphematic and grammatical) reflect the laws inherent in the language.
10. Obviously, when teaching literate writing, it is necessary to use various techniques and methods. To master the rules based on the principles motivated by the laws of the language, a conscious analysis of the linguistic facts is necessary: ​​the phonemic and morphemic composition of the word, its inherent grammatical meanings, etc. meaningful memorization of the correct graphic appearance of the word.

Writing as an activity

Like any activity, writing is a complex organization of interrelated and interdependent operations. At the same time, private operations in the system of activity are aimed at solving particular problems that bring the achievement of the main goal closer. In turn, the achievement of the main goal satisfies the motive that is relevant for the individual, without which the individual would not have begun to carry out activities (Leontiev 1977). Therefore, in order to master writing, as well as the rules of spelling and punctuation, a native speaker must form a strong motive for achieving a certain goal, which is unattainable without the ability to write correctly.

Writing is a conscious form of speech activity. The founder of neuropsychology and neurolinguistics, Alexander Romanovich Luria, formulated the main difference between the assimilation of written speech and oral speech: “If oral speech is acquired purely practically, by “living adaptation” to the speech of adults, and its articulation remains unconscious for a long time, then writing from the very beginning is a conscious act, arbitrarily constructed in the process of special conscious learning” (Luriya 2002: 13).

A necessary condition for the formation of a conscious attitude to speech and mastery of writing is the psychophysiological readiness of the child. The characteristics of the child's psychophysiological readiness for learning to write are given both in special university textbooks (Dubrovinskaya, Farber, Bezrukikh 2000; Semenovich 2002) and in scientific publications by physiologists, teachers, and neuropsychologists. The researchers note that the difficulties in the initial period of mastering writing (up to dysgraphia) are due to the variety of operations - the functional components of writing.

The letter is characterized by a complex psychological content, i.e. involves a series of interrelated operations with images of morphemes and words stored in the mind. This is a complex functional system consisting of many links - functional components. A.R. Luria defined the psychological content of the letter as follows: “Its psychological content necessarily includes a sound analysis of the word to be written, clarification of the phonemic composition of this word, and preservation of the order of the sounds included in it. This process is largely reduced to the transformation of individual sound "variants" into clear stable phonemes and to the analysis of their temporal sequence" (ibid.: 74).

The sound analysis of a word implies a conscious attitude to one's speech, i.e. the ability to abstract from the meaning of a word and concentrate on its plan of expression - a sequence of sounds. On the basis of sound analysis, there is an awareness of the standard stored in the mind of the “sample”, formed as a result of the perception of the speech of others; on the basis of similarity with the standard, the sound image of morphemes and words is identified. The primary task of mastering writing is to establish a stable mutual association between the units of sounding speech and their designations in writing. For a child mastering alphabetic writing, this is the association phoneme ↔ letter (combination of letters): “... a child who needs to write a word always deals primarily with the sounds that this word consists of, and with those letters with which he must write it. Consequently, the subject of his awareness from the very beginning should be the ways in which he must designate the desired word, and the set of sounds that distinguishes this word from other, close words" (ibid.: 13).

In other words, the primary task is the assimilation of the alphabet and graphics. The solution to this problem takes more than one month: “The entire first period of primary literacy education is distinguished by the fact that the student is forced to devote his attention to mastering the technical prerequisites of writing for a very long time - ways to decompose a word into sounds and write them down in letters” (ibid.). This means that the child may not have “free” psycho-physiological and intellectual resources for solving more complex problems, in particular, spelling problems already known to him (separate spelling of words, writing a capital letter at the beginning of sentences and proper names, etc.).

So, the psychological content of the letter is determined by its functional components. Writing as a functional system includes an ensemble of operations. In the works of student A.R. Luria, neuropsychologist Tatyana Vasilievna Akhutina (1998, 2001a, b; 2002), discusses the importance of all operations that organize writing as a functional system for the successful mastery of writing. These are the operations:

On the processing of auditory information (sound analysis);
. on the processing of motor (kinesthetic) information (analysis of articulatory movements and movements in the graphic representation of an object);
. on the processing of visual and visual-spatial information (analysis of the visual image of a letter, its location on a sheet, the proportionality of the details of a single letter, the relative position of the details of the letter and the letters themselves; the visual appearance of the written word);
. according to the serial organization of movements (sequence of movements when writing both a single letter and a word and a whole sentence);
. on programming (planning) and activity control (comparison of the result - the written part of a letter, a whole letter or a word with what he planned to write);
. on selective activation (the ability to arbitrarily focus attention and activity on individual components of activity) (Akhutina 2002).

T.V. Akhutina notes that “all those identified by A.R. Luria, the components of the structural and functional organization of the brain are involved in the process of writing a child mastering a new type of activity” (Akhutina 2001b: 10).

The components of the structural and functional organization of the brain develop unevenly. Naturally, the formation of operations that support writing also turns out to be multi-temporal and uneven. In particular, the processing of auditory information and the analysis of articles (the establishment of correspondence between the movement of the organs of speech and some auditory image) are usually already formed by the beginning of schooling. As for other operations, they usually continue to form at school age. The processing of motor information when writing letters and words, the processing of visual and visual-spatial information are the technical prerequisites for writing that make up the content of the initial stage of learning. In a neuropsychological examination of pupils of the first - fourth grades of secondary schools in Moscow, O.A. Velichenkova, O.B. Inshakova and T.V. Akhutin reveal significant problems in the technical prerequisites for writing among younger students. Accordingly, even if a persistent association “phoneme ↔ its graphic designation” is formed and when recognizing the sound of oral speech, the image of the letter and the sequence of movements necessary for writing it appear in the child’s mind, failures in the organization of serial movements are likely. Regulatory prerequisites for writing, programming and control of activities suffer.

The formation of the function of programming and control is completed only in adolescence. Moreover, the various links of the functional system "writing" develop unevenly, the level of their development is distinguished by wide individual variability. Thus, individual differences in the development of the serial organization of movements are manifested in the fact that many adults (very successful in other respects) are not able to learn how to dance well, knit complex patterns - in a word, perform those types of activities that consist of a sequence of voluntary actions performed simultaneously by different organs. movements.

It should be noted that the listed functional components of writing determine the success of solving not only the primary (mastering the technical prerequisites of writing), but also subsequent more complex tasks. In particular, "failures" in the programming and control of written speech lead to spelling, punctuation, grammatical and stylistic errors. In writing as a speech activity of each native speaker, the selective activation operation plays a key role. As an illustration, we can cite errors that occur in the written speech of secondary school students, and even adult native speakers, to the rules they know: for various reasons, the writer “does not work” with the automatism of writing (or simply has not developed a skill), and attention to the decision a specific spelling task was not selectively activated.

So, let's summarize the discussion of writing as a type of speech activity.

1. Writing is a consciously mastered type of speech activity.
2. The functional system "writing" as components includes operations that are formed at different ages and develop unevenly.
3. Mastering the letter occurs in stages. The initial stage involves mastering the technical prerequisites for writing.
4. Mastering the rules of speech behavior in writing, spelling, first of all, occurs in elementary school in parallel with the automation of the "technical prerequisites" of writing.
5. A person seeks to master written speech when he has a motive for this. Mastering any activity without formed motivation is not very successful. Therefore, it is impossible to teach literacy to someone who does not consider literacy a necessary condition for language competence. It is advisable to teach a child to write at a time when he has reached psychophysiological readiness.

On the psychological content of literate writing

Let us turn to a discussion of the relationship between the functional components of writing and the simplest rules of behavior in written speech - spelling.

What is the psychological content of writing a word in accordance with the basic principles of spelling? What role do the various functional components of writing play in writing a word according to different spelling principles? In other words, let's try to answer the following questions: what operations underlie the literate spelling of a word in accordance with the phonemic principle; what operations turn out to be leading for the literate spelling of a word in accordance with the grammatical principle, etc.

Naturally, the correct spelling of a word requires all the functional components of writing, all the operations described in the works of neuropsychologists (for example, in the articles of T.V. Akhutina). I would like to recall that for many schoolchildren, right up to adolescence, writing is an extremely difficult technical task.

Researchers talk about the pre-grammatical and grammatical stages of mastering writing (Kornev 1997). The ability to formulate a spelling problem is formed at the grammatical stage on the basis of certain experience in written communication and spelling generalizations made (Kornev 1999: 101). A well-known specialist in the field of children's speech and speech therapy, Alexander Nikolayevich Kornev, experimentally established that after the first year of study, a significant part of schoolchildren studying in general education schools remain at the pre-grammatical stage of mastering writing (ibid.: 102). Within the framework of one exercise, first-graders regularly encounter different spellings of the same word form, inconsistency in the transmission of the sound composition of the same morpheme in different words. A.N. Kornev believes that first-graders mainly “rely on phonemic analysis, mechanical memory or the principle of analogy. With such an organization of writing, the result is largely dependent on the level of wakefulness, the state of attention and memory” (ibid.: 102-103). Apparently, many children have mastered the technical side of writing, but their communicative experience is still insufficient for spelling generalizations. In this case, those morphemes are correctly transmitted in writing, the spelling of which is regulated by the phonemic principle. Proper spelling of morphemes in accordance with other principles is random.

Recall that in order to solve the current spelling problem, first of all, a conscious analysis of the sound composition of the morphemes included in the word is necessary. In other words, the subject of analysis is phonetic reality. Successful determination of the sound composition of morphemes is a prerequisite for competent spelling in accordance with the phonemic principle. On the basis of practice, a skill is formed - mechanically, or automatically, to analyze phonetic reality. The automation of the analysis of the sound composition of a word is said to be in the case when the child does not need additional pronunciation of the word: its sound composition is updated “by itself” at the moment of listening, regardless of the possible distortion of the phonetic appearance of the word in a particular speech act. Sometimes automatism is developed spontaneously, due to such individual characteristics of the child as well-formed phonemic hearing, a relatively high level of selective activity, planning and control of activities. Automatism spontaneously developed in some children gives researchers reason to assert that “the child himself is able to learn a lot of the existing rules that regulate the writing process - before learning, and often regardless of learning ...” (Tseitlin 1998: 49).

So, initially writing is formed on the basis of phonetic reality; this is sufficient for the competent writing of morphemes in accordance with phonemic and transcriptional principles. Let us make a special reservation that such a spelling will be literate provided that there is a stable association between a phoneme and a grapheme (a letter or a combination of letters), as well as with the formation of motor skills in the image of a grapheme. The phonemic (and transcriptional) principle of writing requires a relatively simple program of activity: the plan includes a motor (motor) program of a sequence of graphemes, derived from an analysis of phonetic reality, and control of incoming kinesthetic visual-spatial information (is the letter depicted correctly, is the sequence of letters correct), “checked” with phonetic reality (whether all sounds and their characteristics are reflected in the letter).

Of course, writing in accordance with the phonemic principle does not always lead to the correct spelling of a word: the spelling of a Russian word is usually regulated by different principles. For example, in the word pyatak, displayed in "phonetic writing", an error in the transfer of the first vowel [and] is inevitable, since the morphematic principle is "responsible" for its spelling.

Let us turn to operations that ensure the correct spelling of a word in accordance with the morphematic principle. It is believed that "the construction of a morphological system should precede the construction of an orthographic system" (Tseitlin, Rusakova, Kuzmina 1999: 189). In other words, based on the analysis of their own speech experience, the child establishes analogies and associations, determining the identity of the meaning hidden behind the variable sound. Thus, the child notices that the lexical meaning “domestic mammal from the family to which the tiger, lion and others belong” (of course, represented in the mind of the child as “fluffy funny meowing animal”) is associated with the sound [kot], [kΛt], [kosh], [kΛsh], [cat '], [kΛt ']; in the mind of the child, an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe morpheme is formed; this representation is realized in a single graphic image of the morpheme cat in the words and word forms cats, cat, feline, cat, kitten.

The spelling of words in accordance with the morphematic principle relies on a higher level of auditory information processing: it is necessary to analyze not only the “current” phonetic reality, but also to update the sound image of other words containing this morpheme. Naturally, the program of activities becomes much more complicated. This kind of activity needs an "additional subprogram" for the analysis of speech experience in order to establish morphemic boundaries. Before planning a motor program for a sequence of graphemes, it is necessary to establish the composition of graphemes, updating all known words containing a given morpheme in a different environment and making a decision about the “reference” appearance of a morpheme (according to a strong position). In turn, selective activation is required. Selective activation suggests that some components of the activity proceed without the control of consciousness, “by themselves”. Obviously, the technical premises of the letter should go into the shadows. Recall that many of the difficulties in mastering writing by younger students are based precisely on failures in various parts of the “technical prerequisites” for writing. With the complexity of the activity program for such students, the number of errors that are not directly related to spelling will naturally increase (incorrect display of boundaries between words and sentences, omissions of letters, mixing letters to designate paired consonants in terms of deafness / voicedness, mixing letters to designate vowels, mixing letters similar in spelling, etc.). These kinds of errors show that the mind-controlled components of writing are not automated. Without conscious control over the processing of visual information, kinesthetic information, a series of sequentially performed movements, the writing program is distorted.

One of the consequences of the distortion of the writing program in accordance with the morphematic principle is errors of the type of hypercorrection (writing zem instead of winter, motroz instead of sailor, etc.). It has been noted that hypercorrection occurs longer and much more often in the works of children with certain psychophysiological characteristics and experiencing difficulties in mastering writing (Letter and Reading 2001). The child notices that “it is spelled differently than it is heard” and, starting from this principle, tries to build his own writing system. Such errors indicate that the child has already mastered the opposition of the strong and weak positions of phonemes in the composition of the morpheme, but so far he is not able to represent the morpheme as a unit, an abstract unit that unites all its variants, regardless of their real sound.

Discussing the formation of writing in accordance with the morphemic principle, one of the most authoritative specialists in children's speech, Stella Naumovna Zeitlin, notes: “At some certain moment, based partly on the reader’s experience, partly on the developing metalinguistic instinct, suggesting the possibility of identifying different allomorphs of one morpheme into a single structural unit (“they searched for mushrooms”, “found a mushroom”, “mushroom soup”, etc.) in the linguistic consciousness, an idea arises of a certain single graphic standard corresponding to a certain morpheme” (Tseitlin 1998: 50). The child needs to establish the absence of an analogy between the device of oral and written speech: the variability of the plan for expressing a morpheme in oral speech can be “overcome” in writing. Such a generalization is possible due to a metalinguistic intuition (interest and desire to analyze linguistic facts: for more details see Ovchinnikova 1998) on the basis of rich communicative experience, it is no coincidence that S.N. Zeitlin mentions the reader's experience. S.N. Zeitlin believes that “a lot is learned by the child on his own (“spontaneously”) and is associated with the processes of not only writing, but also reading, and the wisdom of the pedagogical system lies mainly in being in harmony with this spontaneous process” (Tseitlin 1998: 49 ). As a rule, the formation of “morphemic writing” (Tseitlin, Rusakova, Kuzmina 1999: 188) occurs in the process of purposeful school teaching of written speech with the help of an adult professional teacher.

So, "morphemic writing" is provided by the development of cognitive experience (the ability to generalize), metalinguistic intuition (the ability to observe speech and analyze speech material), automation of the technical prerequisites for writing, and selective activation.

Let's move on to a discussion of the functional components and basics of writing in accordance with the grammatical principle. Since the grammatical principle reflects the desire to convey in writing the grammatical meaning inherent in a given word form, in order to master writing in accordance with this principle, it is necessary to be able to identify the transmitted meanings. The psychological content of the application of the grammatical principle includes the analysis of the grammatical meanings of the word form, which have their own plan of expression in writing. This is a very complex cognitive operation. The cognitive complexity of this task determines the largest number of errors made on the rules that reflect the grammatical principle, compared to those that occur on the rules that reflect the morphematic, and even more so the phonemic principles. Grammatical meanings, unlike lexical ones, are not consciously chosen by the speaker and are not consciously analyzed by the listener. Consequently, in order to reflect the grammatical meaning of a morpheme in writing, it is necessary to learn how to analyze the unconscious in one's speech activity, to learn how to "display into the window of consciousness" directly unobservable facts of the language.

Recall that spelling according to the grammatical principle does not directly reflect the phonetic reality; the child needs to determine the sound composition of the word form, set the meanings of morphemes and identify one of them for which a special grapheme is provided. For example, writing b after the sibilant nominative singular of a noun conveys the grammatical meaning of "feminine". This grammatical meaning (however, like any other) is formal, it is not motivated by the gender of the signified, since both animate and inanimate nouns have grammatical gender. Meanwhile, at first, schoolchildren deliberately write “doctor Ivanov”, proving the legitimacy of writing b at the end of the word doctor by referring to the gender of a particular representative of the noble profession mentioned in the sentence. In this case, the grammatical category "gender of a noun" in the child's mind merges with one of the signs of the referent. The use of b in writing is recognized as a marker of both the formal gender of inanimate nouns and the gender of animate nouns. To master the rules of writing, regulated by the grammatical principle, it is necessary to develop linguistic competence and metalinguistic flair. Indeed: to write a vowel O or E before hissing and C in suffixes and endings, it is important to determine the part of speech of the word, to know its origin (borrowed or non-borrowed); for the correct spelling of the particle not and the prefix not, it is also necessary to represent different parts of speech and a number of other, including syntactic, characteristics of the word; for writing -nn-, in addition to knowledge of parts of speech, it is important to have an idea of ​​morphemic boundaries and syntactic dependence, etc.

Consequently, the functional writing system is complemented by an independent program for analyzing the semantics of grammatical forms. This program involves the establishment of the lexico-grammatical class to which the word belongs; updating the grammatical categories of this lexico-grammatical class; analysis of grammatical meanings within these categories and identification of those that have an independent plan of expression in writing; actualization of the grapheme, reflecting the grammatical meaning in writing. As you can see, it is necessary to turn to long-term memory, to process the “obtained information” in the RAM, to keep the locus of control on the spelling task until it is satisfactorily solved and graphically implemented. And, of course, the processing of auditory information, kinesthetic information, visual information remains an urgent task until the writing skill has been formed. Until the “technical prerequisites” of writing are automated, the solution of “technical problems” occurs in parallel with the solution of the spelling problem.

So, the writing of morphemes and words in accordance with the grammatical principle just represents the limit beyond which, according to L.V. Shcherba, “the process of writing must still be conscious,” and complete “mechanization” will certainly fail, depending on a variety of circumstances. In particular, we did not touch upon the problem of planning the meaning of a written message at all (however, a number of other very complex problems of the formation of written speech: see Zhinkin 1998).

Thus, the psychological content of the writing process in accordance with various spelling principles is not the same. It turns out to be the most difficult in accordance with the principles that reflect the laws inherent in the language, but do not directly reflect the phonetic reality. In this case, the experience of oral communication is insufficient for competent written speech. Literacy is formed on the basis of communicative experience in writing, some linguistic erudition, metalinguistic competence, arbitrary control over one's activities. Recall that in the process of writing a child mastering this new type of activity for himself, all components of the structural and functional organization of the brain participate. Literate writing is a super task in relation to mastering writing. It should be staged and solved by adequate methods.

Finally, like any activity, writing begins with a motive. It is impossible to master competent writing without formed motivation.

The work is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 02-06-80227: “Individual strategies for constructing discourse in ontogeny”)
. The appeal to the works of the representatives of the Shcherbov linguistic school is due to the desire to discuss the theoretical foundations of the basic provisions for teaching the Russian language. The Shcherbov school is less known to a wide range of readers associated with the methodology and practice of teaching the Russian language. Usually in textbooks, teaching aids and didactic materials there are references to the works of scientists of the Moscow Linguistic School. Meanwhile, a complete understanding of the principles of Russian graphics and spelling can only be obtained as a result of their analysis from various points of view and in various aspects.

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Basic principles of orthography

The first part of orthography - the letter designation of the sound composition of words - is its main part, since it more than the other parts corresponds to the general alpha-sound type of modern Russian writing and is directly related to the other two factors of writing - the alphabet and graphics. The basic principle of this part and Russian orthography as a whole is morphological.

The morphological principle of orthography consists in the requirement (or establishment) of a uniform (within the positional alternation of sounds) spelling of morphemes (each specific morpheme separately: a given root, a given suffix, etc.), even if they are pronounced differently when changing phonetic positions. For example: word root city should always be spelled the same city-, although in the composition of different words and word forms it is pronounced differently: [ burnt], [proud]a, [gard]a, at[gurt] etc. Through the uniform designation of morphemes, a uniform spelling of words is achieved, which is the ultimate goal of orthography.

But the morphological principle is not the only possible principle of the spelling of alpha-sound writing. In Russian writing, there are other principles of spelling: phonetic (or purely sound), phonemic (phonemic), historical (traditional), etc. (there is also a differentiating principle).

The phonetic principle of spelling focuses writing directly on pronunciation: its basic rule is "Write as you pronounce!". Uniform spelling of words is achieved in this case through a uniform designation of individual speech sounds. The phonetic principle is used, for example, in Serbian and Belarusian orthography. In Russian writing, on the basis of this principle, spellings like vada, sat, gorat, drink etc. Prefixes are written phonetically h (with): distribute — pull apart and etc.

With the phonemic principle, the uniform spelling of words is achieved through the uniform designation of phonemes. Some researchers believe that modern Russian spelling is built on this principle. Is written mountain, garden, since in the roots of these words, from the point of view of the Moscow phonological school, phonemes /about/ and /d/. From the point of view of the Petersburg school, here, respectively, the phonemes /a/ and /t/. In general, it is very difficult to be guided by the phonemic principle.

The historical principle of orthography advocates the traditional spelling. His main requirement can be briefly expressed by the formula: "Write as you wrote before!" (This principle is widely used in English orthography.) Traditionally written about in words about din, about the weight, with about tank and etc.

The differentiating principle consists in distinguishing in writing what is indistinguishable in pronunciation, although different in meaning: to a company and to about company, pla h (n.) — pla whose (command, obl. verb), that sh — that sh.

Guided by the phonetic principle, it is difficult to follow the pronunciation when writing. In addition, pronunciation does not have a strict uniformity: it is not without reason to say that everyone speaks and hears in his own way. If you are guided only by the phonetic principle, then it is almost impossible to achieve uniformity in writing.

The phonemic principle will require writers to do a very complex and difficult job of translating specific speech sounds - variants of phonemes - into phonemes. In addition, the question of the phonemic composition of words has not been resolved. Therefore, if the same facts of writing can be interpreted from the point of view of both phonemic and morphological principles, as noted for many spellings ( garden, mountain, clock etc.), it is easier to interpret them morphologically and consider the principle itself morphological.

The historical principle of orthography is designed mainly for memory and, as a result, is very irrational.

The differentiating principle has a very narrow scope - the distinction in writing of some homonyms (homophones). Therefore, it is usually not even considered a principle, but only differentiating spellings are spoken of.

Unlike other principles, the morphological principle of spelling is characterized by high meaningfulness and considerable simplicity. Orthography based on the morphological principle seems to be the most perfect and promising.