CLASSIFICATION OF VOWEL SOUNDS OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

Vowel sounds are speech sounds produced by the free passage of air through the vocal cords, consisting mainly of the voice (voice tone) with almost no noise.

In Russian, vowels are classified according to three criteria:

1) by row (place of education);

2) by ascent (method of formation);

3) by the presence or absence of labialization.

When classifying vowels into a row, the difference between vowels caused by the movement of the tongue in the horizontal direction is taken into account.

In this case, vowels are divided into three groups:

1) front , during the articulation of which the tongue is strongly moved forward: [i], [e];

2) middle , during the articulation of which the tongue moves slightly back: [s], [a];

back vowels , when pronounced, the tongue is strongly moved back: [u], [o].

When classifying vowels by tongue elevation, the difference between vowels caused by the movement of the tongue in the vertical direction is taken into account. In this case, vowels are divided into three groups:

1) high vowels , during the pronunciation of which the tongue is strongly raised, i.e. occupies the highest position: [i], [s], [y];

mid-rise vowels , during the pronunciation of which the tongue occupies a lower position: [e], [o];

3) lower , during the pronunciation of which the tongue occupies the lowest position: [a].

According to the width of the mouth opening (which is associated with the degree of elevation of the back of the tongue), vowels are divided into:

1) wide, i.e. acoustically the most sonorous: [a];

2) average, i.e. acoustically medium sonority: [e], [o];

3) narrow, i.e. acoustically the least sonorous: [i], [s], [u].

The third sign of classification is the presence or absence of labialization , i.e. stretching or rounding of lips.

In this case, vowels are divided into:

1) labialized vowels (rounded): [u], [o];

2) non-labialized vowels (unrounded): [a], [e], [i], [s].

The classification of vowels can be presented in tables.

The simplest table of articulation of vowel sounds

Row Lift	Front	Average	Rear
Upper	And	s	at
Average	uh	O
Lower	A

The division into three rows and three rises does not reflect the full richness of vowel sounds.

There are so-called reduced vowel sounds: [Λ], [and e], [ы e], [ъ], [ь].

[Λ] – reduced vowel [a], [o] in the first pre-stressed syllable and the absolute beginning of the word; this sound is called “a - narrow”;

[and e] – a sound intermediate between [i] and [e]; this is a sound pronounced with a slightly greater openness of the mouth and a slightly lower rise of the tongue than the sound [and]; the sound is called “[and] open” or “[and] with an overtone [e]”, or “[and] inclined to [e]”;

[s e] – a sound intermediate between [s] and [e]; the sound is called “[s] with an overtone [e]”, or “[s] inclined to [e]”;

[ъ], [ь] – reduced vowels [а], [о], [е] in all unstressed syllables, except the first prestressed one; [ъ] – a sound intermediate between [ы] and [а];

Shades of sounds can be considered as special sounds. Then the vowel table should be more detailed.

Vowel sounds articulation table

Row Lift	Front	Average	Rear
Upper	And	s	at
Upper-medium	and uh	ee
Average	uh	ъ	O
Lower	and Λ

Phonetics Basics

Bolycheva E. M.
Sound and letter

Sound is the minimal, indivisible unit of speech flow perceived by the ear. A letter is a graphic designation of a sound in writing, that is, a certain set of lines, a pattern.

The terms “sound” and “letter” must not be mixed. 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 relationships are impossible: a letter cannot be pronounced, sung, spoken, recited, it cannot be heard. Letters are neither hard nor soft, nor deaf, nor voiced, nor stressed, nor unstressed. All characteristics given refer to sounds. These 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. Sounds exist in any language, whether it is written or not.

Unlike other linguistic units (morphemes, words, phrases, sentences), sound itself has no meaning. At the same time, the existence of sounds is inextricably linked with meaningful units. The function of sounds in language is aimed at ensuring the possibility of communication between people and comes down to the formation and differentiation of morphemes and words.

When determining the distinctiveness of sounds, it is important to understand in what positions they occur. Position refers to the conditions for the pronunciation of sounds, specified by their position in relation to neighboring sounds, to a stressed syllable, to the beginning/end of a word. Only those sounds that have the ability to occur in the same position can distinguish words (morphemes). 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 denote consonant sounds, 21 letters are used: b, v, g, d, g, z, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, ch, sh, sch. 10 letters are used to denote vowel sounds: a, u, o, y, e, i, yu, e, i, e. There are 2 more letters that do not denote sounds: ъ, ь.

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

Letters have "multiple meanings", which are removed if adjacent letters/spaces are known. Thus, the letter е in the word fir-tree denotes the sound [j] and the sound [o], in the word heifer - a sign of softness of the consonant ['] and the vowel sound [o], and in the word silk - one vowel sound [o].

Signs of vowels

Vowel sounds have a number of characteristics in addition to stress.

Vowel raising

The rise is determined by the vertical position of the tongue body. He can be:

upper - the back of the tongue comes closest to the palate. This rise forms closed vowels: [i], [s], [u].
Middle-upper - the tongue rises to 2/3 of the oral cavity, forming half-open vowels: [e], [o].
Middle-lower - sounds are pronounced with the lower elevation of the tongue (by 1/3). It corresponds to half-closed vowels.
Lower - the tongue remains motionless. As a result, open vowels are pronounced: [a]

IMPORTANT! Not all languages recognize all four rises. For example, half-closed vowels are not found in Russian speech.

Vowel series

The vowel series is determined by the horizontal movement of the body of the tongue. Depending on the position it can be:

anterior - the tongue is as close to the teeth as possible ([i], [e]),
middle - the tongue occupies a middle position, i.e. remains without movement ([a], [s])
posterior - the body of the tongue produces sound in the back of the larynx ([u], [o]). Sometimes back vowels are called “dark”.

IMPORTANT! In case of speech defects, anterior articulation [y] and [o] is possible. This occurs if the tip of the tongue is close to the front lower teeth, and the back of the tongue is arched. As a result, in words where hard vowels are pronounced according to the norm, they are softened.

For example: instead of “pol” [pol] – [p’ol], instead of “remote” [pul’t] – [p’ul’t]. In addition, excessive protrusion of the tongue when pronouncing the sound [e] until it touches the lower lip appears as a case of exaggerated articulation.

Roundness (labialization)

The shape of the resonator - the oral cavity - can also be changed using the lips: by “protruding” them forward (in the form of a tube) or by rounding them. An example of the first method of labialization is the Russian sound [u], the second - [o].

REFERENCE! Together with these vowels, the consonant sounds that precede them are labialized.

It is noticed that only the back vowels are rounded, while the sounds of the front and middle row remain unlabialized.

Nasalization

The Russian language uses articulation through the oral cavity. However, in other languages, nasalization is used - an articulatory technique in which the soft palate (vera palatine) lowers and the air exits through the nasal cavity.

Thus, the nose acts as an additional resonator. Examples of nasalization are common in English and French.

Nasal vowels are opposed to oral vowels (oral, pure, simple), formed with a raised soft palate without the participation of the nasal cavity.

REFERENCE! In the Russian language, nasalization occurs as an articulatory defect - nasality.

Phonation

Phonation is the production of sound using the larynx. Sound quality is determined by the tension and position of the vocal cords.

The mechanism of action can be described as follows: at the exit from the trachea, a stream of air passes through the larynx and the vocal cords located in it. The following development options are possible:

If they tense and come together, the exhaled air causes vibration. This is how a tone arises, which is required for vowels and voiced consonants.
Relaxed vocal cords and spread arytenoid cartilages allow air flow to pass without hesitation. As a result, there is no tone, which is typical for the pronunciation of voiceless consonants.

The extreme positions of the vocal cords are called the modal voice (vibration with maximum amplitude) and the laryngeal stop (full reduction).

Usually, free vibration is necessary for the articulation of vocal vowels, however, in the practice of world languages there are cases:

squeaky voice (Vietnamese),
voiceless vowels (Japanese).

Tongue root position

The difference in the sound of vowels in some cases is influenced by the position of the root of the tongue:

pushed forward
pushed back.

REFERENCE! The contrast between such articulations is not always obvious, except in a number of West African languages (Bambara, Hausa, Yoruba, Djerma, etc.)

Additional articulations

The types of phonations considered do not exhaust the entire variety of possible narrowings in the vocal tract.

For example, in Even, Ket, Tofalar and dialects of the Tuvan language there are vowels formed as a result of narrowing of the pharynx. Such sounds are called pharyngealized. In some cases of pharyngealization, vibration occurs not in the vocal cords, but in the epiglottis.

Erization

The term is derived from the name of the letter k (“er-”) and the suffix “-ization.” In practice, it means adding the suffix er to a word or syllable. This is typical for English and Beijing Chinese. Erization performs a meaning-forming function

When articulating, the technique is expressed in a slight bend of the tip of the tongue back when pronouncing vowels.

"Tension"

Depending on how strong the articulation is, there are:

"tense" or cardinal vowels,
"unstressed" vowels. In order to pronounce them, the articulators do not reach the extreme points of position and the sounds remain in the intervals between different rows and rises.

REFERENCE! This quality is not always identified as a phonetic feature; most often it is attributed to a phonological nature.

Longitude

Longitude is a characteristic of sounds that differ in longer or shorter duration relative to each other. In accordance with this feature, short and long vowels are distinguished. Long vowels are indicated using a colon - [aː], [oː], [andː]

In modern Russian, longitude-shortness does not have a meaning-forming meaning, so often a long vowel is perceived as stress or unusual intonation (for example, the exclamation: “Maaaam! It’s blowing me”).

IMPORTANT! A stressed sound is always longer than an unstressed sound. The sound located as the second pre-shock sound, on the contrary, is the shortest.

For example, “Valentine” - contains short [a] and long [and:]

In addition, longitude is characteristic of double sounds, that is, formed by two identical vowels at the junctions of morphemes (surnames, realia, herbariums - [and:] at the end).

Shva

Sheva (meaning “nothing” in Hebrew) is a vowel sound produced without special articulation. When pronouncing it, the articulators do not make any significant movements and the sound remains neutral. When parsing phonetically, it is indicated by the symbol [ə].

The seam is located in the middle row of the middle rise. It sounds like a cross between [a], [e] and [o].

REFERENCE! As a rule, it is located in an unstressed position, typical for the endings of nouns of the 1st declension: “cow” - [ka′rovə], “dog” - [sa′bakə].

Conclusion: Thus, vowel sounds are sounds that are pronounced only with the voice. Each vowel sound forms a syllable in a word. Vowels can be stressed or unstressed. There are also a large number of different signs of vowel sounds.

Classification

To identify all existing consonant sounds, you should divide them into groups.

Noisy and sonorous

Consonant sounds are divided into two groups depending on the proportion of noise and voice in them:

Sonorants: [l], [m], [n], [r], [th']. The voice predominates. They can only be voiced; deafening is not possible.
Noisy: [d], [p], [f'], [s] and others. Noise predominates. They are divided into voiced and voiceless, voiced and devoiced in different positions: before vowels, consonants, at the end of a word.

According to deafness and voicedness

Consonants can be:

Voiced. They are pronounced with the participation of voice and noise. Voiced sounds include sonorant sounds and their soft variants. This group also includes the sound [th'], which is always soft.
Deaf. They are pronounced only with the participation of noise. This group also includes [h'] and [h'], which are always soft.

By hardness-softness

Consonant sounds are divided into hard and soft. A special sign ' helps to distinguish soft signs.

We identified 37 consonant sounds.

Place of tongue elevation

This is also called the vowel formation zone. This takes into account the articulatory movements of the tongue in the horizontal plane. Based on this feature, vowels are distinguished:

the front row, during the articulation of which the tongue moves forward and its front part rises to the palate: [i], [e];
back row. The tongue moves back and the back of its back rises: [o], [y];
middle row. When articulating them, the tongue does not change its horizontal position: [a], [s].

What are vowel sounds?

Our speech consists of words. Each word in turn is made up of sounds. In order for sound to appear, we use various organs: lungs, windpipe, larynx, mouth, tongue, nose and lips. With the help of the speech organs, a person can pronounce sounds that merge into a word.

The sounds in the word are not the same. Some sounds are made by voice, while others consist of noise and voice. When we begin to speak, we exhale air from the lungs, which rushes down the windpipe into the larynx. The larynx contains the vocal cords. If a stream of air passes freely through them and then does not encounter any obstacles on its path, then the result is a vocal sound consisting of a tone. If, when exhaling, the air makes its way through various obstacles, then a characteristic noise is obtained, typical of consonant sounds.

It is enough to change the position of your lips and you will get different vowel sounds with your voice.

To form the vowel sound [o], it is enough to round the lips, and by stretching them out with a tube, we get the sound [u]. The vowel sound [a] is pronounced with the mouth wide open. The sound [and] requires you to stretch your lips in a smile.

So, in the Russian language there are six vowel sounds. These sounds in writing are indicated by the corresponding letters: Vowel letters: o, a, u, i, s, e

Vowels differ from consonant sounds in that they can be pronounced for a long time or sung:

REFERENCE! Vowels are sometimes called “mouth openers” because they require you to open your mouth wide to pronounce them louder. This distinguishes them from consonants - “mouth-closers”, because in order to make them louder, you need to bring the organs of the mouth as close as possible.

Stressed and unstressed vowel sounds

There are strong and weak vowel positions. They correspond to their stressed and unstressed positions.

The clear pronunciation of a stressed vowel is contrasted with the reduction of unstressed vowels. In a weak position, articulation is less distinct, the duration and quality of sound is reduced.

REFERENCE! This is associated with errors in the spelling of unstressed vowels in words. For example, in the word “street”, [and] is unstressed and is heard as something between [and] and [e].

Thus, in Russian, the strong position of vowel sounds makes the differences between them more obvious.

dog

In the second syllable, the vowel sound indicated by the letter “a” sounds with particular strength and duration.

It is in a strong position and sounds clear and crisp. This vowel sound is stressed.

peaceful
city
smile
drawing

Yotated vowel sounds

Six vowel sounds correspond to 10 vowel letters of the Russian alphabet, 4 of which are formed by a pair with a consonant [y'] - ya [y'a], e [y'e], yo [y'o], yu [y'u]. In syllables and words, these iotated letters indicate the corresponding vowel sound coming after a soft consonant: forest [l'es], ball [m'ach'], and so on.

Vowel sounds and syllables

An important feature of a vowel sound is its ability to form a syllable. Alone or together with one or more consonants, a vowel sound makes up a syllable.

We pronounce it without immediately exhaling the entire stream of air, but releasing it in small portions, in three points. The vowel sound is the main sound in each sound segment of a word, which is called a syllable.

Conclusion: Vowel sounds form syllables in a word.

Let's count the number of vowels and syllables in the word "garden". Three vowel sounds form the same number of syllables.

Rule: There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowel sounds.

Rule!

There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowel sounds.

We can verify this if we pronounce and divide the words into syllables according to the number of vowels: