Basic principles of Russian graphics. The syllabic principle of Russian graphics

Graphics is an applied field of knowledge about the language, which establishes the composition of the styles used in the letter, and the sound meanings of the letters.

Russian graphics is based on two main principles - phonemic and positional.

essence phonemic principle Russian graphics is reduced to the fact that the letter means not a sound, but a phoneme. But there are more phonemes in Russian than letters. To smooth out such a discrepancy, another principle - positional (syllabic, letter combination), which allows you to clarify the sound meaning of a letter by means of another one following it. The positional principle of Russian graphics is its great advantage, since thanks to it the transmission of hard and soft consonants is halved in writing (for example, in the Serbo-Croatian language there are special letters for denoting soft consonants: w - soft l, w - soft n). The positional principle is applied to transfer hardness / softness consonant phonemes.

The positional principle for the transfer of hardness / softness of consonant phonemes is implemented in the following way:

At the end of the word, the softness of the consonant is indicated by a soft consonant, and the hardness is indicated by a space: coal_- angle_;

the softness of a consonant before a hard consonant is conveyed by a soft sign: free - wave;

the softness and hardness of a consonant in front of vowels is distinguished with the help of these vowels: single-valued letters indicate the hardness of the consonant phoneme, and multi-valued vowels indicate softness: mayor, mor, onion, varnish, bast, but mel, chalk, mil, crushed.

Syllabic principle Russian graphics lies in the fact that in Russian writing, in certain cases, not a letter, but a syllable, acts as a unit of writing. Such a syllable, i.e. the combination of consonant and vowel letters is an integral graphic element, the parts of which are mutually conditioned. The syllabic principle of graphics is used in the designation of paired consonants in hardness-softness. In modern Russian, consonants that are paired in terms of hardness and softness have a phonemic meaning, i.e. serve to distinguish the sound shells of words. However, in the Russian alphabet there are no separate letters to designate consonants paired in softness-hardness, so, for example, the letter t is used both for hard and for soft sound[t] - (cf .: they will become - pulled together).

The absence in the Russian alphabet of individual letters for consonants paired in terms of hardness and softness is compensated by the presence of double vowel styles in our chart. So, the letters i, o, u, e, s indicate the hardness of the previous consonant, paired in hardness-softness, and the letters i, e, u, e, and - softness (cf .: glad - row, they say - chalk , knock - bale, sir - ser, was - beat). Thus, the letters denoting consonant sounds paired in hardness-softness are two-valued: without taking into account the subsequent letter, it is impossible to determine whether a consonant sound paired in hardness-softness is hard or soft. Only at the end of a word and before consonants (although not always) the softness of consonants, paired in hardness-softness, is indicated by a special letter b.

The syllabic principle also applies to the designation of a consonant sound [j] (yot), moreover, this application is carried out only within words. The consonant sound yot is indicated by a special letter y only when the syllable ends with this sound following the vowel (cf.: sing - sing, lei - pour, spring, blind, etc.). In all other positions, the sound yot together with the next vowel sound is indicated by one letter, namely: i -, e -, e -, u -. This meaning of the letters i, e, e, u takes place: 1) at the beginning of the word (cf. pit, hedgehog, south, spruce); 2) after vowels (mine, mine, I will go, mine); 3) after the separating signs b and b (announce - monkey, volume - let's go down, congress - mouth, conjuncture - blizzard).

The main deviation from the syllabic principle- designation of vowels after consonants, unpaired in hardness-softness. So, after always solid consonants [w], [w], [c] vowels are denoted, contrary to the syllabic principle, by the letters i, e, e, occasionally u, i (cf. fat, breadth, gesture, pole, groove, whisper , brochure, jury, parachute, figure, chain, Kotsyubinsky, Tsyavlovsky, etc.); after always soft [h], [u], contrary to the syllabic principle, the letters a, o, y are written (cf. bowl, clink glasses, miracle, food, Shchors, pike, etc.). These deviations from the syllabic principle in modern Russian graphics have developed historically. In modern Russian, the sounds [zh], [sh], [ts] do not have soft varieties, and the sounds [h], [u] do not have hard varieties. Therefore, the hardness and softness of these sounds are indicated by the consonants themselves, which are unambiguous and do not require designation by subsequent vowels.

Particular cases of deviations from the syllabic principle: 1) writing foreign (more often French) words with ё instead of ё (cf .: broth - linen, etc.); 2) writing complex abbreviated words with yo, ba, yu and yu (cf. village district, village airfield, Dalugol, construction site); 3) writing at the beginning foreign words yo instead of yo (cf. hedgehog, ruff - iot, iodine, Yorkshire, New York). In addition to the indicated inconsistency in the application of the syllabic principle, one can note in Russian graphics the absence of a stressed syllable designation in a word, as well as a special letter for the sound ["] (cf. yeast, squeal, drive, etc.).

SECTION "GRAPHICS"

The concept of graphics. Development of writing

Graphic arts- This is a branch of linguistics that considers the relationship of letters of the alphabet to the composition of phonemes. Also, this word is a set of letters or styles that are used in writing.

Russian literary language exists in two forms: oral and written.

Writing emerged as a means of communication, complementary to oral speech. Writing associated with the use of descriptive characters (drawing, sign, letter) is called descriptive writing. It has come a long way in its development.

We use sound, or rather phonemic writing. In it, signs (letters) serve to convey phonemes in strong position, as well as the sounds of Russian speech.

The list of all letters is arranged in a certain order, which is called alphabetically(from the name of the Greek letters "alpha" and "vita") or alphabet(from the name of the first letters Slavic alphabet"az" and "beeches").

Our writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, an alphabet created at the end of the 9th-10th centuries by Byzantine missionaries Cyril (Konstantin) and Methodius. The Cyrillic alphabet was compiled for the translation of Greek church books into Old Church Slavonic (the Macedonian dialect of the Bulgarian language).

In Russia, the Cyrillic alphabet appeared at the end of the tenth century in connection with the adoption of Christianity in 988. It was based on the Greek alphabet.

Since 988, all aspects of the language have changed (vocabulary, phonetics, grammar). Along with the language, Russian writing developed and improved.

Until the 16th century, our writing was continuous - there were no spaces between words. At the end of the words were put "b" and "b".

In the development of graphics and orthography, the reforms of Peter I played an important role, on the initiative and with the participation of which the Civil Alphabet was created in Russia (1708-1710). The ecclesiastical font was replaced by a civil one: the letters of the civil alphabet, unlike the Cyrillic alphabet, were simpler in geometric outlines and closer to the outlines Latin alphabet. Some letters have disappeared from the alphabet.

For more than 1000 years, only three letters have appeared in the Russian alphabet: the letter "yo" introduced by N. Karamzin in 1797,

letter "e" legitimized by Peter I, but was used in Russian writing earlier, the letter "th" introduced by the Academy of Sciences in 1735

With small changes this alphabet is still in use today.

To late XIX century, a draft graphic and spelling reform was prepared, but it was approved on December 10, 1918 by a special decree of the Council people's commissars. The graphics were simplified, the letters were eliminated from it: “yat”, “and decimal”, “fita” and others.

For the period from 1918 to the present, no changes have been made in the composition of the Russian alphabet.

Composition of the Russian alphabet. Letter and phoneme

The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The arrangement of letters in alphabetical order is conditional, but knowledge of it is necessary in order to freely use dictionaries, alphabetical lists and indexes.

Each letter has its own name, equal to one sound or two: a - [a], b - [be] etc.

Ten letters are vowels, of which letters a, o, uh, i, u, s- simple (unambiguous), letters e, yo, yu, i- iotated (two-digit). Twenty-one letters are consonants. Letters b and b sounds are not indicated. The lettering has 2 varieties - printed and written. Each distinguishes between lowercase (small) letters and uppercase (capital) letters, with the exception of b, b, s.

Letter- an element of the alphabet, which is the inscription of a certain configuration, this is a drawing that cannot be pronounced.

In addition to letters, graphics also use non-letter graphics: accent mark, hyphen (dash), punctuation marks (the rules for their use apply to punctuation), apostrophe, paragraph mark, spaces between words, parts of text, as well as font emphasis (italic, bold font, discharge, etc.), underlining, highlighting.

In most cases, a letter in writing conveys a phoneme in a strong position (and not a sound).

Phoneme - this is an insignificant unit of language, which in speech is realized by a number of positionally alternating sounds. The main function of the phoneme is distinctive. In writing, we designate a phoneme in a strong position. As a result, it turns out that each morpheme (the significant part of the word: root, prefix, suffix, ending), since it contains the same phonemes, is always written the same way.

Water - water - water

[in | d s] - [in a |d ] - [in b| d'and e | n j]

<о>: [about] - [ a ] - [b]

[g r' |b ] - [gr ' P ]

<б>: [b] // [p]

The syllabic principle of Russian graphics

The relationship between letters and phonemes in the Russian language is determined by the operation of the syllabic principle.

essence it lies in the fact that not one letter, but a whole syllable is taken as a unit of writing and reading. In this regard, letters for the transmission of both vowels and consonant phonemes (sounds) are read and written taking into account neighboring letters.

The syllabic principle manifests itself in two cases:

1. when designating hardness in writing - softness of consonant phonemes,

2. when designating a phoneme in writing .

Graphic arts

General concept about graphics

Graphic arts(from the Greek graphe - inscription) - a system of graphic writing tools that serve to fix speech. Graphics, as a section of linguistics, establishes the composition of the styles used in writing, and the sound (phonemic) meanings of letters.

This system primarily includes letters ( letter- a graphic sign, written or printed, which is part of the alphabet; distinguish between lowercase and uppercase, or large, capital letters). The same letter can be represented different options, for example: lowercase printed bold " well', capital printed italic "J". As a common name, the term proposed by Baudouin de Courtenay is used. : as the sound corresponds to the phoneme ("sound representation"), so the letter - grapheme("letter representation". ). A grapheme is a minimal graphic unit that performs the function of designating a phoneme. Variants of one grapheme will be F, F, well , w, well etc. The graphics themselves in many cases cannot answer the question of which letter should be written in a word. In terms of graphics, a long soft sound [w,:] in the word before sch can be transferred different ways(before sch aty, up to mid aty, up to zch aty, up to shh aty, etc.), but the choice of a specific spelling remains with the spelling, which regulates it, based on its principles: up to sch aty, ne mid any, out of zch ik, pi mid ooh, spring shh aty, etc.

Letters (more precisely, graphemes) do not convey sounds (for example, in the word about t ec [t]- stop, explosive, soft, and in the word about t tsa - implosive, i.e. having only the phase of the bow), but phonemes. Correlating letters with differential signs phonemes, we find out meaning of letters (graphemes):

Graphemes a, oh, uh stand for phonemes <а>, <о>,<э>, <у> at the beginning of a word ( a rka, about kna), after vowels (according to uh t, ra at nd), after h, w, w, w, c(virgin soil, fur coat ) After consonants (paired in hardness-softness), they denote not only the corresponding phonemes, but also the hardness of the preceding consonants (lot, mayor);

Graphemes e, yo, yu, i designate phonemes after consonants <э>, <о>, <у>, <а> and the softness of these consonants (m yo d, tel I tina), denote a combination of two phonemes at the beginning of a word ( Yu la, I rky), after vowels (according to I from, to yo t) and after b and b(con Yu nctura, kol e);

Grapheme and stands for phoneme <и> at the beginning of a word ( and ks), after a vowel (according to and sk), after w, w, c(w and r, c and pk); phoneme <и> and the softness of the preceding consonant after the consonant (n and R); after b(seven and);

Grapheme s after consonants means <и> and hardness of the preceding consonant (n s l); after c only <и>( c s gang, wrestler s);

Graphemes d, w, w, h, w, c stand for phonemes <й>, <ж>, <ш>, <ч>, < щ>, <ц> (well at th, h a sch a);

Graphemes b, c, d, e, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x designate general part phonemes (place of formation, method of formation, presence of voice and noise) <б> - < б"> etc. The hardness or softness of these phonemes is indicated by the next grapheme, a space, or not indicated at all;

Grapheme b (soft sign) can denote: a) the softness of the preceding consonant phoneme (pal b then), b) act as a separating sign (col b f), indicating (specifying) that subsequent i, yo, yu e, and designate , , , , (le Yu, judge I), c) in combination yo stands for in loanwords (los yo n);

Grapheme b is used only as a separator, clarifying the meaning behind b vowels e, yo, yu, i, indicating what they mean , , , (volume yo m, hell Yu tant)

A set (and list) of letters arranged in a certain order is called alphabetically. The term itself is made up of the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (ά / alpha / and β / beta, in the late Greek pronunciation of vita /). Tracing paper can be used as a synonym ABC, modeled after the first letters of the Greek alphabet old Slavic writing(az and beeches). Note also the use given word in terminological combinations: morse code and braille dotted alphabet.

The Russian alphabet contains 33 letters:

Letter	Name	Letter	Name
Ah	a	pp	er
bb	bae	ss	es
Vv	ve	Tt	te
Gg	ge	woo	y\|
dd	de	FF	ef
Her	e	xx	Ha
Her	yo	ts	ce
Learn	zhe	hh	Che
Zz	ze	shh	sha
ii	and	Shch	shcha
yy	and short (th)	b	solid mark(ep)
Kk	ka	s	s
Ll	ale	b	soft sign (er)
Mm	Em	uh	uh
Hn	en	Yuyu	Yu
Oo	about	Yaya	I
Pp	pe

The individual names of the letters given in the table are formed differently:

For a, and, oh, u, s, uh they consist of one sound: [a], [i], [o], [y], [s], [e];
For e, yo, yu, i consist of [th] + the corresponding vowel sound: [ye], [yo] ...;
letter names b, c, d, e, g, h, p, t, c, h consist of the corresponding consonant sound + [e]: [be], [ve] ...;
letter names l, m, n, r, s, f consist of [e] + the corresponding consonant: [el,], [em] ... The softness of the consonant in the name of the letter l is explained by the fact that in Latin it corresponds to “semi-soft” [l], which is replaced by soft [l,] in Russian (Zola , beach). In some abbreviations, non-alphabetic reading of consonants is possible (FBI, CSB). The existing tradition of pronouncing the name of the letter in abbreviations l by analogy with the rest of the names of this type firmly - [el] (VLKSM, LDPR, UFO, CLT) - led to the fact that such a name penetrated into educational literature;
letter names k, x, w, w consist of the corresponding consonant sound + [a]: [ka], [ha] ...;
letter th officially entered the alphabet in 1735. It was called "and with a short one" by the diacritical sign above the letter (cf. i - "and with a dot"). In the second half of the XIX century. she got a new name "and short" (proposed by Academician Ya. K. Grot);
Letters b and b in scientific literature like the icons phonetic transcription, in accordance with tradition, they are called "er" and "er". In school textbooks, they are defined as "hard sign" and "soft sign".

Non-alphabetic means of graphics include punctuation marks(period, comma, colon, dash, brackets, quotation marks, etc.), graphic abbreviations, as well as the use of spaces, indents, accents, various kinds of selections, underlining, etc. special types letters, for example, phonetic transcription, shorthand, can use their own graphic signs. So, for example, firmly entered English language shorthand badge & (the so-called ampersand, abbreviation of the union and), which appeared as an abbreviation back in Ancient Rome to transfer the union et (and).

Graphic abbreviations Dont Have sound form and are used to save time and space only in writing. In oral speech, they are realized in full form(street - street). There are usually several types of graphic abbreviations:

Point(ch. arr. - mainly, centuries - centuries, approx. - about, h. - number);
Hyphen(some - some, un-t - university, island - island);
Oblique(agriculture - agricultural, km / h - kilometers per hour, x / h - cold smoked, a / l - nuclear icebreaker);
Zero(zk - prisoner / originally: prisoner canal soldier /, mm - millimeter, kt - kiloton, g - gram; such words do not external signs graphic reduction);
Combined(adm.-terr., f.-t. - physico-technical, south-west - south-western, rpm, c / ha - centners per hectare; these reductions are a combination of the above types of reductions) .

Positional principle of Russian graphics

As already noted, the main purpose of graphemes (letters) is to reflect phonemes in writing, in which the phonemic principle of Russian graphics is manifested. But graphemes have other functions as well. The main of these functions is that a grapheme can act as a differentiating, diacritical (Greek diakritikos - distinctive) sign together with another grapheme, while acquiring a phonemic meaning as part of a combination. So, for example, in the words onion and hatch in the designation of phonemes <л> and <л, > letters involved at and Yu. Only in combination with them can we determine which phoneme is in front of us ( <л> or <л, > ), seeing only the grapheme l it fails to do so. In other words, we can say that, in addition to designating a phoneme <у>, graphemes at and Yu carry a diacritical meaning, indicating the hardness or softness of the preceding phoneme ( <л> or <л, > ), and the phonemic meaning Yu moreover, it depends on the position (cf. Lew).

Thus, we can conclude that the principle under consideration is valid in cases where the letter does not convey the entire content of the phoneme (l) or polysemantic (Yu). If the letter is single-valued (in any position th transmits ), then the positional principle does not work.

This phenomenon in Russian graphics is attributed to the action of the positional principle, which can also be called syllabic or letter combination. This principle is associated with such features of Russian graphics as a) graphic designation of a phoneme and b) the designation of hardness - softness of consonant phonemes.

Graphic designation of a phoneme

Phoneme transmission in Russian words can be carried out depending on the position in the following ways:

th(T-shirt, loaf);

At the beginning of a word before a vowel or between vowels transmitted together with the following vowel graphemes i, yu, e, yo (I rmo, Yu gentle, mo e go, by yo t);

After a consonant, before a vowel, together with the next vowel, is indicated i, yu, e, yo, and, in front of which b or b(about bye m, eat zd, view ha, obya tiya, whose);

Phoneme transfer in borrowed words is carried out in the following ways:

After a vowel, before a consonant or at the end of a word, it is indicated by a letter th(ka th man, jock th);

Before a vowel at the beginning of a word and after a vowel, it is conveyed by a grapheme th (th exu, th cucumber, th from "name latin letter and the sound of speech, th i, fo th e);

・Combined with yo(tire yo n, gil yo tina, bool yo n) by passing .

We point out that to determine the presence of a phoneme after a vowel in place and special verification is required, since it is not graphically transmitted and justified: more and(the root of the battle is a combination <оjи> ), behind and skivat (prefix for- and root claim -- combination <аи> ), on and t ( <оjи> ), Ka and R ( <аи> ), at and kend <уи> ).

Similar information.

Phonemic principle of graphics

The letters of the Russian alphabet do not represent sounds, but phonemes. Yes, letter c in the word overalls corresponds to the sound [c], and in the word special task -[dz]. But these different sounds- variations of the same phoneme /c/, which is indicated by the letter c. In word forms Peter, Petra, Peter in place of the letter R sounds are pronounced [), [p], [p°]. But the letter R does not denote these sounds, but the phoneme /r/ embodied in these sounds.

One of the most frequent sounds of the Russian language is [a], but it does not have its own letter, since [e] does not represent a special phoneme. For example, in the word herbal it is a variant of the phoneme /a/, which is denoted by the letter a, in the word water - variant of the phoneme /o/, which is denoted by the letter about.

Positional principle of graphics

If a phonetic principle graphics is related to what letters represent, the positional principle is related to how phonemes are indicated in writing.

Almost all Russian letters are ambiguous: next to some letters they denote one phoneme, next to other letters - others. So, yo can represent a combination of phonemes /)about/ (Christmas tree/]olka/); /o/, i.e. vowel phoneme and part of the preceding consonant phoneme - its softness ( heifer/ sense /); /about/ ( silks/sholka/). Letter meaning yo is determined by the position it occupies - the preceding letters and a space.

Some letters designate a phoneme only together with other letters. So, in the designation of the phoneme /in "/ in the word led letters take part in and ё, and in the designation of the phoneme /v/ in the word ox - letters in and about. Therefore, if only the letter v is visible, then we will not be able to determine which phoneme appears in the word - /v/ or /v "/. This can be done only by seeing what comes after in, i.e. determining the position of the letter.

The positional principle of graphics (it is also called syllabic and letter-combining) is that a phonemic correspondence to a letter can only be established taking into account its position - neighboring letters and other graphic signs.

The positional principle of graphics is manifested in cases where the letter is polysemantic or does not convey the entire content of the phoneme. Almost all letters are like that. Only a letter th always conveys the same phoneme /]/ regardless of position. This letter is outside

operation of the positional principle of graphics. (Same value and b, but the very presence of this letter in the alphabet is determined not by graphics, but by spelling.)

The positional principle of graphics is associated with two of its features: the designation of a phoneme in writing /]/ and designation of hardness/softness of consonant phonemes.

Designation of the phoneme in writing

In native Russian words, the phoneme /)/ is indicated in three different ways depending on the position occupied by this phoneme. At the beginning of a word before a vowel and between vowels /)/ together with the following vowel /a/, /u/, /e/, /o/ is denoted by the letters i, yu, e, yo: pit/]ama/, south/)"ug/, spruce/)*el"/, hedgehog /) ozh / mine/mo)"a/, mine/mo)y/, my/mo)e)/, my /io]o/.

After a consonant before a vowel, a phoneme // together with the following vowel is denoted by the letters i, yu, e) yo u and, preceded by a separator b or b: monkey, flaw, boat, adjutant, judge, entrance, beat, volume, whose.

After a vowel before a consonant and at the end of a word /]/ denoted by the letter th: construction site, teapot, barn, mine.

in borrowed words th can mean /]/ and before a vowel: iodine, Yoshkar-Ola, Yemen, district, major, mayonnaise, foyer, fireworks. So transmitted /)/ at the beginning of a word and after a vowel. After a consonant, a combination of phonemes /woo/ transmitted in letters yo: broth, pavilion, postman, chignon, signor, guillotine.

After a vowel before /and/ a phoneme // not indicated on the letter. Therefore, combinations of phonemes are equally transmitted in writing /u/, /schi/ u /o]/, /uui/u /e)i/ outskirts, arias, milking, streaming, glue and /ai/, /ii/, /oi/, /ui/, /ei/: fawn, anti-historicism, lose, half-name, insincere. To find out if there are between vowels /)/, a special check is required. Graphics do not provide an answer to this.

Russian graphics. Composition of the Russian alphabet. Letters and sounds. Basic principles of Russian graphics. Russian orthography, its principles. Merged, hyphenated and separate spellings In russian language. Word hyphenation rules. Rules for the use of uppercase and lowercase letters.

Russian graphics

graphics called the set of means used for written fixation of speech. The main means of Russian graphics are letters combined into an alphabet. A letter is a written or printed graphic sign that serves to convey sounds in writing. Graphics determines the ways in which sounds are indicated in writing and the sound meaning of each letter.

In addition to letters, non-alphabetic graphic means are also used: spaces between words, a dash (hyphen), an accent mark, an apostrophe, a paragraph mark, and some others.

Composition of the Russian alphabet

A set of letters arranged in a certain order is called alphabet. The Russian alphabet was formed on the basis of the Old Slavonic alphabet (Cyrillic), introduced by the great Slavic enlighteners monks Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. n. e. There are 33 letters in the modern Russian alphabet. There are consonants, vowels and voiceless letters.

Consonant letters denote consonant sounds in writing; There are 21 consonants in the Russian alphabet (including the letter and, which denotes the sonorous consonant sound [j] "iot").

Vowels are indicated on the letter vowel sounds Vowels in the Russian alphabet 10: a, o, u, uh, i, s, as well as e, yo, yu, i.

The last four of the listed letters are called iotized. They have double value. If an iotated vowel is used at the beginning of a word (spruce, tree, spinning top, apple), or after any vowel (arrived, mine, warm, flock), or after letters b and b (congress, rise, pour, zealous), then it denotes two sounds - the consonant sound "yot" and the vowel sound: If an iotated vowel is used after a consonant, then it denotes only one vowel, and additionally indicates the softness of the preceding consonant: forest[l "es], honey[m "from].

Letters b and b, which do not represent any sounds are called voiceless. They are used as separating marks separating an iotated letter from a consonant. In addition, the letter ь is used to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant. (like- mole), as well as in spelling to distinguish types of declension (mouse- 3rd declension, compare: hut- 2nd declension) and some grammatical forms (going- 2nd l. units h. indicative mood; eat- imperative mood).

Letters and sounds

The composition of modern Russian graphics is an alphabet invented for Slavic writing and carefully developed for the Old Church Slavonic language, which about a thousand years ago was literary language all Slavic peoples. It is quite natural that the Old Slavonic alphabet could not fully correspond to the then sound system of the Russian language. In particular, in Old Slavonic alphabet there were letters to denote such sounds that were not in the Russian language, for example: [yus big], [yus small]. Thus, there was a discrepancy between spoken language and written.

Over the thousand-year period of its existence, Russian graphics have undergone only partial improvements, while the sound system of the living Russian language has changed continuously, although not always noticeably. As a result, the relationship between Russian graphics and sound system Russian language to our time have been deprived of full correspondence: not all sounds pronounced in various phonetic positions are indicated in writing by special letters.

sound and letter

Sound- this is the minimum, indivisible unit of the speech flow, perceived by the ear. Letter is a graphic designation of sound in writing, that is, a certain set of lines, a pattern.

The terms "sound" and "letter" must not be confused. The words what and who are distinguished by the sounds [w] and [k], and not by letters. Sounds are pronounced and heard, letters are written and read. Other correlations are impossible: a letter cannot be pronounced, sung, spoken, recited, it is impossible to hear it. Letters are neither hard nor soft, neither deaf, nor voiced, neither stressed nor unstressed. All of the above specifications refer to sounds. This is sounds are linguistic units, while letters belong to the alphabet and most often have nothing to do with the description of linguistic patterns. It is the quality of the sound that determines the choice of letter, and not vice versa. There are sounds in any language, regardless of whether it has a written language or not.

Unlike others language units(morphemes, words, phrases, sentences) the sound itself doesn't matter. At the same time, the existence of sounds is inextricably linked with significant units. The function of sounds in the language is aimed at providing the possibility of communication between people and is reduced to the formation and distinction of morphemes and words.

When determining the distinctiveness of sounds, it is important to understand in what positions they occur. The position is called the conditions for the pronunciation of sounds, given by their position in relation to neighboring sounds, to stressed syllable, to the beginning/end of a word. Words (morphemes) can be distinguished only by those sounds that have the ability to occur in one position. The difference in the pronunciation of such sounds is noticed by native speakers in contrast to other sound features.

The Russian alphabet is called Cyrillic and has 33 letters. To designate consonants, 21 letters are used: b, c, d, d, g, z, d, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, u. 10 letters serve to denote vowel sounds: a, y, o, s, e, i, u, e, and, e. There are 2 more letters that do not denote sounds: b, b.

There can be a mirror correspondence between the phonetic and graphic appearance of the word: [volume] vol. However, such a correspondence is not necessary: there are three sounds in the word [p'at '], and it is written with four letters - five.

Letters have "ambiguity", which is removed if adjacent letters/spaces are known. So, the letter ё in the word tree means the sound [j] and the sound [o], in the word heifer - a sign of the softness of the consonant [ ’] and the vowel sound [o], and in the word silk - one vowel sound [o].

Basic principles of Russian graphics

Russian graphics do not have such an alphabet in which for each uttered in speech stream sound available special letter. There are much fewer letters in the Russian alphabet than there are sounds in live speech. As a result, the letters of the alphabet are multi-valued, they can have several sound meanings.

So, for example, the letter with can denote such sounds: 1) [s] ( court, garden), 2) [s"] ( here, sit down), 3) [h] ( delivery, collection), 4) [h "] ( mowing, deal), 5) [w] ( sew), 6) [g] ( squeeze).

Letter meaning with in each of the six cases is different: in words court and here letter with cannot be replaced by any other letter, such a substitution would lead to a distortion of the word. In this case, the letter with used in its main meaning. In other words, the letter with appears in secondary meanings and allows replacement by certain letters, in which the usual pronunciation of words is preserved (cf .: pass- "give" mowing- "goat", sew- "shish", squeeze- "burn"). AT last case letter with denotes sounds that replace the sound [s] in certain positions, respectively, live phonetic laws characteristic of the Russian literary language.

Thus, with the ambiguity of letters, Russian graphics distinguish between the main and secondary meanings of letters. Yes, in a word house letter about used in the main sense, but in the word Houses- in a secondary sense.

The second feature of Russian graphics is the division of letters according to the number of sounds they designate. In this regard, the letters of the Russian alphabet fall into three groups: 1) letters devoid of sound meaning; 2) letters denoting two sounds; 3) letters denoting one sound.

The first group includes letters b, b, which do not denote any sounds, as well as the so-called "unpronounceable consonants" in such, for example, words: sun, heart etc.

Letters belong to the second group: I , Yu , e , yo .

The third group includes letters denoting one sound, i.e. all letters of the Russian alphabet, except for the letters included in the first and second groups.

The third feature of Russian graphics is the presence of single-digit and double-digit letters in it: the first include letters that have one basic meaning; to the second - having two meanings.

So, for example, the letters h and c are among the unambiguous, since the letter h in all positions denotes the same soft sound [h "], and the letter c - hard sound[ts].

Two-digit letters include: 1) all letters denoting consonants, paired in hardness-softness; 2) letters denoting vowel sounds: i, e, e, u.

The ambiguity of the indicated letters of the Russian alphabet is in connection with the specifics of Russian graphics - precisely with its syllabic principle. The syllabic principle of Russian graphics ( this name, despite its rather frequent use, should be recognized as conditional, because when determining the method of denoting a sound or the sound meaning of a letter, the immediate environment is taken into account, and not the entire syllable, the other name is letter combination ) lies in the fact that in Russian writing, in certain cases, not a letter, but a syllable, acts as a unit of writing. Such a syllable, i.e. the combination of consonant and vowel letters is an integral graphic element, the parts of which are mutually conditioned. The syllabic principle of graphics is used in the designation of paired consonants in hardness-softness. For example, a letter t used for both hard and soft sound [t] - (cf .: become - tightened).