What letters are not needed in the Russian language. Sounds and letters

Composition of the Russian alphabet

The Russian alphabet has 33 letters, of which 10 indicate vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 letters do not indicate special sounds, but serve to convey certain sound features. The Russian alphabet has uppercase (large) and lowercase (small) letters, printed and handwritten letters.

The relationship between Russian phonetics and graphics

Modern Russian graphics include an alphabet invented for Slavic writing and carefully developed for the Old Church Slavonic language, which about a thousand years ago was the literary language of all Slavic peoples. It is quite natural that the Old Church Slavonic alphabet could not fully correspond to the then sound system of the Russian language.

In particular, in the Old Church Slavonic alphabet there were letters to represent sounds that were not in the Russian language, for example: [yus big], [yus small].

This is how a divergence arose between oral and written language. 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 continuously, although not always noticeably, changed. As a result, the relationship between Russian graphics and the sound system of the Russian language in our time has turned out to be devoid of complete correspondence: not all sounds pronounced in different phonetic positions are indicated in writing by special letters. Features of Russian graphics

Modern Russian graphics are distinguished by a number of features that have developed historically and represent a specific graphic system. Russian graphics do not have an alphabet in which there is a special letter for each sound pronounced in the speech stream.

There are significantly fewer letters in the Russian alphabet than sounds in real speech.

As a result, the letters of the alphabet turn out to be polysemantic and can have several sound meanings.

So, for example, the letter s can denote the following sounds: 1) [s] (courts, garden), 2) [s"] (here, sit down), 3) [z] (delivery, collection), 4) [z" ] (mowing, transaction), 5) [w] (sew), 6) [g] (compress). The meaning of the letter c in each of the six cases is different: in the words of the court and here, the letter c cannot be replaced by any other letter, such a replacement would lead to a distortion of the word. In this case, the letter s is used in its basic meaning.

In other words, the letter c appears in secondary meanings and can be replaced by certain letters, which preserves the usual pronunciation of the words (cf.: hand over - “zdat”, mowing - “goat”, sew - “shshit”, squeeze - “burn”). In the latter case, the letter s denotes sounds that replace the sound [s] in certain positions, in accordance with the living phonetic laws inherent in the Russian literary language.

Thus, with the polysemy of letters, Russian graphics distinguishes between the main and secondary meanings of letters. So, in the word house the letter o is used in the main meaning, and in the word house - in a secondary meaning. Old Church Slavonic alphabet Russian writing

The second feature of Russian graphics is the division of letters according to the number of sounds indicated.

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 the letters ъ, ь, which do not denote any sounds, as well as the so-called “unpronounceable consonants” in, for example, words: sun, heart, etc.

The second group includes the letters: i, yu, e [e], ё. The third group includes letters denoting one sound, i.e. all letters of the Russian alphabet, with the exception of letters included in the first and second groups. The third feature of Russian graphics is the presence of single-valued and double-valued letters in it: the first include letters that have one basic meaning; to the second - having two meanings.

So, for example, the letters ch and c are classified as single-valued, since the letter ch in all positions denotes the same soft sound [ch "], and the letter c - a hard sound [ts]. Double-valued letters include: 1) all letters denoting consonant sounds, paired in hardness-softness; 2) letters denoting vowel sounds: i, e, e, yu. The ambiguity of these letters of the Russian alphabet is due to the specifics of Russian graphics - namely, its syllabic principle.

The syllabic principle of Russian graphics is that in Russian writing, in certain cases, the unit of writing is not a letter, but a syllable. Such a syllable, i.e. the combination of a consonant and a vowel is a solid graphic element, the parts of which are mutually determined. The syllabic principle of graphics is used in the designation of paired consonants in terms of hardness and softness. In modern Russian, consonant sounds paired in 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 consonant sounds paired in softness and hardness, so, for example, the letter t is used for both the hard and soft sound [t] - (cf.: they will become - they will tighten).

The absence in the Russian alphabet of separate letters for paired consonant sounds in terms of hardness and softness is compensated by the presence in our graphics of double outlines of vowel sounds. Thus, the letters i, o, y, e, s indicate the hardness of the preceding consonant, paired in hardness-softness, and the letters - i, e, yu, e, i - indicate softness (cf.: rad - row, mole - chalk , knock - knock, sir - sir, was - beat). Thus, the letters denoting consonant sounds paired in hardness-softness are ambiguous: without taking into account the subsequent letter, it is impossible to determine whether the consonant sound paired in hardness-softness is hard or soft. Only at the end of a word and before consonants (though not always) the softness of consonants paired with hardness and softness is indicated by a special letter ь.

The syllabic principle also applies to the designation of the consonant sound [j] (iot), and 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 denoted by one letter, namely: i -, e -, e -, yu -. This meaning of the letters i, e, e, yu occurs: 1) at the beginning of the word (cf. pit, hedgehog, south, spruce); 2) after vowels (mine, mine, I’ll go, mine); 3) after the dividing signs ъ and ь (announce - monkey, volume - let's knock, exit - mouth, situation - blizzard).

The use of the syllabic principle in Russian graphics represents a very convenient solution to the problem of transmitting hard and soft consonants in writing, as well as the sound of yot (reducing the number of letters, significant space saving by eliminating spellings with yot).

However, the syllabic principle is not applied consistently in Russian graphics. The main deviation from the syllabic principle is the designation of vowel sounds after consonants, unpaired in hardness and softness. So, after always hard consonants [zh], [sh], [ts], vowel sounds are indicated, contrary to the syllabic principle, by the letters i, e, e, occasionally yu, i (cf. fat, width, gesture, pole, gutter, whisper , brochure, jury, parachute, figure, chain, Kotsyubinsky, Tsyavlovsky, etc.); after the always soft [h], [sch], contrary to the syllabic principle, the letters a, o, u 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 [ch], [sch] do not have hard varieties. Therefore, the hardness and softness of these sounds are indicated by the consonant letters themselves, which are unambiguous and do not require designation by subsequent vowel letters.

Special cases of deviations from the syllabic principle: 1) writing foreign (usually French) words with ьо instead of ё (cf.: broth - linen, etc.); 2) writing complex abbreviated words with ьо, я, ьу and yu (cf. village district, village airfield, Dalugol, construction site); 3) writing yo at the beginning of foreign words instead of ё (cf. hedgehog, ruff - yot, iod, 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 designation for a stressed syllable in a word, as well as a special letter for the sound ["] (cf. yeast, squeal, ride, etc.)

Inscription in words

Have you ever thought that there are letters in the Russian alphabet that could be completely dispensed with? Why are they needed?

b and b

Hard and soft signs do not indicate any sounds. The hard sign performs a dividing function and is used after prefixes ending in consonants, as well as before the root of a word starting with e, e, yu or i (pre-anniversary, disheveled, weaning, sarcastic).

For example, it helps us distinguish between the words “sat” and “ate.” The soft sign indicates the softness of the previous consonant: bindweed, monkey, before, seven. Sometimes a soft sign helps to distinguish a masculine noun from a feminine one: for example, the word “thing” is feminine, and “horsetail” is masculine.

In addition, it often contributes to the creation of different forms of the same verb: meet and meet. But in the Old Russian language, soft and hard signs (er and er) meant very real sounds. The first meant the short sound “i”, and the second meant the same short “o”.

Even before Russia adopted Christianity and the development of writing, the language had full, short and nasal vowels, and they all performed different functions. By the time of the baptism of Rus', nasal vowels had disappeared from the Russian language, but the letters to denote them remained.

The former short vowels ь and ъ in some words ended up in strong positions (for example, under stress, before a cluster of several consonants, in adjacent syllables with other short vowels or far from stressed syllables with any vowels) and thus turned into full vowels o or e , and in others - in weak positions (at the absolute end of a word, in adjacent syllables with stressed vowels) and gradually simply disappeared from use.

Previously, the hard sign was in the word “connect” instead of “o”, the soft sign in the word “day” instead of “e”.

In modern Russian there is such a thing as “fluent vowels.” This is the legacy of Old Russian. This is why texts in Old Russian are so difficult to read.

Do we need hard and soft signs? Hard to tell. In the Czech language, for example, they have long been replaced by diacritics. Language is subject to change, and it is possible that sooner or later ъ and ь will cease to exist as letters of the alphabet.

Vowels e, e, yu, i

If these letters appear after a soft or hard sign, at the beginning of a word or after a vowel, then they break up into two sounds:

For example, the word “yolka” is pronounced “yolka”. If these vowels come after consonants, then they are pronounced as follows: e - e or and e - o yu - u i - a or and Let’s say the word “meat” is pronounced like “misco”.

There was especially a lot of controversy about the letter e. After all, according to Soviet tradition, it was usually written as “e”. Thus, some words and surnames of foreign origin began to be pronounced incorrectly.

For example, the surname Richelieu actually sounds like Richelieu, Roerich - Roerich.

The situation with the letters “ts” and shch is also interesting. The first consonant is pronounced as the combination ts, the second - as sch. Why then are these letters needed?..

But the consonants k, p, l, s, t, f, w are just a softened form of the consonants g, b, p, z, v, zh. Theoretically, it would be possible to remove letters from the Russian alphabet that can be replaced with others.

But this is not as easy as it seems at first glance. “Extra” letters appeared in the Russian language for a reason, but for convenience - to reduce the number of letters when writing words or to show the difference in pronunciation.

However, the language changes over time, and both new ways of pronunciation and new letters may appear in it, while the old ones will die out.

Hard and soft signs do not indicate any sounds. The hard sign performs a dividing function and is used after prefixes ending in

consonants, as well as before the root of a word starting with e, e, yu or i (pre-anniversary, disheveled, weaning, sarcastic). For example, it helps us distinguish between the words “sat” and “ate.” The soft sign indicates the softness of the previous consonant: bindweed, monkey,

earlier, seven. Sometimes a soft sign helps to distinguish a masculine noun from a feminine one: for example, the word “thing” is feminine, and “horsetail” is masculine. In addition, it often contributes to the creation of different forms of the same verb: meet and meet.

But in the Old Russian language, soft and hard signs (er and er) meant very real sounds. The first meant the short sound “i”, and the second meant the same short “o”. Even before Russia adopted Christianity and the development of writing, the language had full, short and nasal vowels, and they all performed different functions. By the time of the baptism of Rus', nasal vowels had disappeared from the Russian language, but the letters to denote them remained. The former short vowels ь and ъ in some words found themselves in strong positions (for example, under stress, before a cluster of several consonants, in adjacent syllables with other short

vowels or far from stressed syllables with any vowels) and thus turned into full vowels o or e, and in others - in weak positions (at the absolute end of a word,

in adjacent syllables with stressed vowels) and gradually simply disappeared from use. Previously, the hard sign was in the word “connect” instead of “o”, the soft sign in the word “day” instead of “e”. In modern Russian there is such a thing as “fluent vowels.” This is the legacy of Old Russian. This is why texts in Old Russian are so difficult to read.

Hard and soft signs do not indicate any sounds. The hard sign performs a dividing function and is used after prefixes ending in

vowels or far from stressed syllables with any vowels) and thus turned into full vowels o or e, and in others - in weak positions (at the absolute end of a word,

Have you ever thought that there are letters in the Russian alphabet that could be completely dispensed with? Why are they needed?

b and b

Hard and soft signs do not indicate any sounds. The hard sign performs a dividing function and is used after prefixes ending in

vowels or far from stressed syllables with any vowels) and thus turned into full vowels o or e, and in others - in weak positions (at the absolute end of a word,

Vowels e, e, yu, i

If these letters appear after a soft or hard sign, at the beginning of a word or after a vowel, then they break up into two sounds:

For example, the word “yolka” is pronounced “yolka”.

If these vowels come after consonants, they are pronounced as follows:

e – e or i

I - and or and

For example, the word “meat” is pronounced “mistso”.

The situation with the letters “ts” and shch is also interesting. The first consonant is pronounced as the combination ts, the second - as sch. Why then are these letters needed?..

But the consonants k, p, l, s, t, f, w are just a softened form of the consonants g, b, p, z, v, zh.

Theoretically, it would be possible to remove letters from the Russian alphabet that can be replaced with others. But this is not as easy as it seems at first glance. “Extra” letters appeared in the Russian language for a reason, but for convenience - to reduce the number of letters when writing words or to show the difference in pronunciation. However, the language changes over time, and both new ways of pronunciation and new letters may appear in it, while the old ones will die out.