Do you know why Russian is so difficult for foreigners to learn? Especially those whose languages ​​are not at all similar to Russian? One of the reasons is that our language cannot be said to mean that words can be written the way they are heard. We say “MALAKO”, but we remember that the word must be written with 3 letters O: “MILKO”.

This is the simplest and most obvious example. And, as a rule, no one thinks about what transcription (that is, a graphic recording of sounds) of the words that are most familiar to us looks like. To learn to understand what sounds words are made of, in schools and even universities they perform such a task as phonetic analysis words.

It is not easy for everyone, but we will help you understand and successfully cope with it in class and when preparing homework.

Phonetic analysis of the word- a task aimed at parsing a word into letters and sounds. Compare how many letters it has and how many sounds it has. And find out that the same letters are in different positions can represent different sounds.

Vowels

There are 10 vowel letters in the Russian alphabet: “a”, “o”, “u”, “e”, “y”, “ya”, “e”, “yu”, “e”, “i”.

But there are only 6 vowel sounds: [a], [o], [u], [e], [s], [i]. The vowels “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” consist of two sounds: vowel + y. They are written like this: “e” = [y’+e], “e” = [y’+o], “yu” = [y’+y], “i” = [y’+a]. And they are called iotized.

Remember that in transcription “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” are not always decomposed into two sounds. But only in following cases:

1. when words appear at the beginning: food [y’eda], ruff [y’orsh], skirt [y’upka], pit [y’ama];
2. when they come after other vowels: moi [moi’em], moe [mai’o], wash [moi’ut], warrior [vai’aka];
3. when they come after “ъ” and “ь”: pedestal [p’y’ed’estal], drinks [p’y’ot], drink [p’y’ut], nightingale [salav’y’a].

If “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” appear in a word after soft consonants, they can be confused with [a], [o], [y], [e]: ball [m'ach'] , honey [m'ot], muesli [m'usl'i], branch [v'etka]. They denote one sound in a position after consonants and under stress.

Not under stress “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” give the sound [i]: rows [r’ida], forest [l’isok]. In other cases, the letter “I” without stress can be pronounced as [e]: quagmire [tr’es’ina].

Another interesting thing about the relationship between “b” and vowels: if after soft sign the word contains the letter “and”, it is pronounced as two sounds: streams [ruc’y’i].

But after the consonants “zh”, “sh” and “ts” the letter “i” gives the sound [s]: reeds [reeds].

The vowels “a”, “o”, “u”, “e”, “s” indicate the hardness of consonant sounds. The vowels “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya”, “i” indicate the softness of consonant sounds.

By the way, in many words with the vowel “е” the emphasis always falls on it. But this rule does not work for borrowed words (amoebiasis) and complex words (such as trinuclear).

Consonants

There are 21 consonants in the Russian language. And these letters form as many as 36 sounds! How is this possible? Let's figure it out.

Thus, among the consonants there are 6 pairs according to the voicing of deafness:

1. [b] - [p]: [b]a[b]ushka – [p]a[p]a;
2. [v] - [f]: [v] water - [f] plywood;
3. [g] - [k]: [g]voice – [cow];
4. [d] - [t]: [d’] woodpecker - [t]ucha;
5. [f] - [w]: [f’]life – [sh]uba;
6. [z] - [s]: [z’]ima – o[s’]en.

This is interesting because paired sounds are represented by different letters. Such pairs do not exist in all languages. And in some, for example, Korean, paired unvoiced and voiced sounds are indicated by the same letter. Those. the same letter is read as a voiced or unvoiced sound depending on its position in the word.

There are also 15 pairs of hardness and softness:

1. [b] - [b’]: [b]a[b]glass – [b’]tree;
2. [v] - [v’]: [v]ata – [v’]fork;
3. [g] - [g’]: [g]amak – [g’]idrant;
4. [d] - [d’]: [d]ozh[d’];
5. [z] - [z’]: [z] gold – [z’] yawn;
6. [k] - [k’]: [k]ust – [k’]bist;
7. [l] - [l’]: [l]swallow – [l’]istik;
8. [m] - [m’]: [m]a[m]a – [m’]iska;
9. [n] - [n’]: [n]os – [n’]yuh;
10. [p] - [p’]: [p]archa – [p’]i [p’]etka;
11. [r] - [r’]: [r]lynx – [r’]is;
12. [s] - [s’]: [s] dog – [s’] herring;
13. [t] - [t’]: [t]apok – [t’]shadow;
14. [f] - [f’]: [f] camera - [f’] fencing;
15. [x] - [x’]: [x] hockey – [x’] ek.

As you can see, the softness of the sounds is ensured by the letter “b” and the soft consonants that come after the consonants.

There are unpaired consonant sounds in the Russian language that are never voiceless:

• [y’] – [y’]od;
• [l] – [l]ama;
• [l’] – [l’]eika;
• [m] – [m]carrot;
• [m’] – [m’] muesli;
• [n] – [n]osoceros;
• [n’]– [n’] bat;
• [r] – [r]daisy;
• [r’] – [r’] child.

To make it easier to remember all the voiced sounds, you can use the following phrase: “We didn’t forget each other”.

As well as unpaired sounds, which, in turn, are never voiced. Try reading the words from the examples out loud and see for yourself:

• [x] – [x]orek;
• [x'] - [x']surgeon;
• [ts] – [ts]apple;
• [h’] – [h’] person;
• [sch’] – [sch’] bristles.

Two phrases will help you remember which sounds remain deaf in any situation: “Styopka, would you like some soup?” - “Fi!” And “Fokka, do you want to eat some soup?”.

If you carefully read the examples given above, you probably already noticed that some consonants in the Russian language are never soft:

• [g] - [g]bug and even [g]acorn;
• [sh] - [sh]uba and [sh]ilo are read equally firmly;
• [ts] - [ts] scratch and [ts]irk - the same thing, the sound is pronounced firmly.

Remember that in some borrowed words and names “zh” is still soft [zh’]: jury [zh’]juri, Julien [zh’]julien.

Similarly, there are consonants in the Russian language that are never pronounced firmly:

• [th’] – [th’] ogurt;
• [h’] – [h’]chirp and [h’]asy – the sound is equally soft;
• [sch'] - [sch']cheek and [sch']fingers - similar: no matter what vowel comes after this consonant, it is still pronounced softly.

Sometimes in some textbooks the softness of these sounds is not indicated by an apostrophe during transcription - since everyone already knows that these sounds are not hard in the Russian language. It is also often customary to denote “sch” as [w’:].

Remember also that the consonants “zh”, “sh”, “ch”, “sch” are called hissing.

Phonetic analysis plan

1. First you need to spell the word correctly in terms of spelling.
2. Then divide the word into syllables (remember that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels in it), designate the stressed syllable.
3. The next point is the phonetic transcription of the word. You don’t have to transcribe the word right away - first try saying it out loud. If necessary, speak several times until you can say with confidence which sounds need to be recorded.
4. Describe all vowel sounds in order: identify stressed and unstressed sounds.
5. Describe all consonant sounds in order: identify paired and unpaired sounds by voicedness/dullness and hardness/softness.
6. Count and write down how many letters and sounds there are in the word.
7. Note those cases in which the number of sounds does not correspond to the number of letters and explain them.

In written phonetic analysis, sounds are written from top to bottom in a column, each sound is enclosed in square brackets -. At the end, you should draw a line and write down the number of letters and sounds in the word.

Special transcription characters

Now about how to correctly designate sounds during transcription:

• [ " ] – this is how the stressed vowel in the main stressed syllable is designated (O"sen);
• [`] – this is how a side (minor) sub-stressed vowel sound is designated: usually such a sub-stressed syllable is located at the beginning of a word, found in difficult words and words with the prefixes anti-, inter-, near-, counter-, over-, super-, ex-, vice- and others (`okolozE'mny);
• [’] – a sign of softening a consonant sound;
• [Λ] – transcription sign for “o” and “a” in the following cases: position at the beginning of a word, the first pre-stressed syllable in the position after a hard consonant (arka [Λrka], king [krol’]);
• – a more “advanced” transcription sign for recording iotated sounds; you can also use [th’].
• [and e] – something in between [i] and [e], used to denote the vowels “a”, “e”, “e” in the first pre-stressed syllable in the position after a soft consonant (blend [bl'i e sleep]) ;
• [ы е] – something between [ы] and [е] or [ы] and [а], used to denote the vowels “e”, “e” in the first pre-stressed syllable in the position after a hard consonant (whisper [shi e ptat '];
• [ъ] – transcription sign for the vowels “o”, “a”, “e” in positions after a hard consonant in a pre-stressed and post-stressed syllable (milk [milk]);
• [b] – transcription sign for the vowels “o”, “a”, “ya”, “e” in the position after a soft consonant in an unstressed syllable (mitten [var'shka]);
• [–] – a sign indicating the absence of sound in the place of “ъ” and “ь”;
• [ ‾ ]/[ : ] – transcription signs (you can use one or the other of your choice - it will not be a mistake) to indicate the length of consonants (to be afraid [bΛй'ац:ъ]).

As you can see, everything is very difficult with the transcription of letters into sounds. IN school curriculum, as a rule, these are complicated and more exact signs transcriptions are not used or are used little. Only with in-depth study of the Russian language. Therefore, it is allowed to use the sounds [a], [o], [u], [e], [s], [i] and [th’] in phonetic analysis instead of “and with the overtone e” and other complex designations.

Transcription rules

Do not forget also about the following rules for transcribing consonants:

• voicing of voiceless consonants in position before voiced ones (bending [zg’ibat’], mowing [kΛz’ba]);
• deafening of voiced consonants in the position at the end of a word (ark [kΛfch’ek]);
• deafening of a voiced consonant in a position in front of a voiceless one, for example, a voiced “g”, which can turn into voiceless sounds [k] and [x] (nails [nokt’i], light [l’ohk’iy’]);
• softening of the consonants “n”, “s”, “z”, “t”, “d” in the position before soft consonants (kantik [kan’t’ik]);
• softening of “s” and “z” in the prefixes s-, iz-, raz- in the position before “b” (remove [iz’y’at’]);
• unreadable consonants “t”, “d”, “v”, “l” in combinations of several consonant letters in a row: in this case, the combination “stn” is pronounced as [sn], and “zdn” - as [zn] (district [uy 'ezny']);
• combinations of letters “sch”, “zch”, “zsch” are read as [sch’] (accounts [sch’oty]);
• combinations “chn”, “cht” are pronounced [sh] (what [shto], of course [kΛn’eshn]);
• infinitive suffixes -tsya/-tsya are transcribed [ts] (bite [kusats:b]);
• the endings of -ogo/-him are pronounced through the sound [v] (yours [tvy’evo]);
• in words with double consonants, two transcription options are possible: 1) double consonants are located after the stressed syllable and form a double sound (kassa [kas:b]); 2) double consonants are located before the stressed syllable and give a regular consonant sound (million[m’il’ion]).

Now let's look at the phonetic transcription of words using examples. For recording we will use a simplified system of transcription of consonant sounds.

Examples of phonetic transcription of words

1. departure
2. ot-e"zd (2 syllables, stress falls on the 2nd syllable)
3. [aty'e "st]
4. o - [a] – vowel, unstressed
   t- [t] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   ъ – [–]
   e - [th’] - consonant, voiced (unpaired), soft (unpaired) and [e] - vowel, stressed
   z - [s] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   d - [t] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
5. 6 letters, 6 sounds
6. The letter “e” after the separating “b” gives two sounds: [th"] and [e]; the letter “d” at the end of the word is deafened to the sound [t]; the letter “z” is deafened to the sound [c] in the position before the voiceless sound.

One more example:

1. grammar
2. gram-ma"-ti-ka (4 syllables, stress falls on the 2nd syllable)
3. [gram:at"ika]
4. g – [g] – consonant, voiced (paired), hard (solid)
   р – [р] – consonant, voiced (unpaired), hard (paired)
   mm – [m:] – double sound, consonant, voiced (unpaired), hard (paired)
   a – [a] – vowel, stressed
   t – [t’] – consonant, voiceless (paired), soft (paired)
   k – [k] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   a – [a] – vowel, unstressed
5. 10 letters, 9 sounds
6. Double consonants “mm” give a double sound [m:]

And last:

1. became
2. sta-no-vi"-lis (4 syllables, stress falls on the 3rd syllable)
3. [stanav'i"l'is']
4. s – [s] – consonant, voiceless (paired), hard (paired)
   t – [t] – consonant, deaf (paired), hard (paired)
   a – [a] – vowel, unstressed
   n – [n] – consonant, voiced (unpaired), hard (paired)
   o – [a] – vowel, unstressed
   in – [v’] – consonant, voiced (paired), soft (paired)
   and – [and] – vowel, stressed
   l – [l’] – consonant, voiced (unpaired), soft (paired)
   and – [and] – vowel, unstressed
   s – [s’] – consonant, voiceless (paired), soft (paired)
   b – [–]
5. 11 letters, 10 sounds
6. The letter “o” in an unstressed position produces the sound [a]; the letter “b” does not denote a sound and serves to soften the consonant preceding it.

Instead of an afterword

Well, did this article help you understand the phonetic analysis of words? It is not so easy to correctly write down the sounds that make up a word - there are many pitfalls hidden along this path. But we tried to make the task easier for you and explain all the slippery aspects in as much detail as possible. Now such a task at school will not seem very difficult to you. Don't forget to teach your classmates and show them our helpful instructions.

Uses this article when preparing for lessons and passing the State Exam and Unified State Exam. And be sure to tell us in the comments what examples of phonetic analysis of words you are asked at school.

website, when copying material in full or in part, a link to the source is required.

HOW TO WRITE A TRANSCRIPTION

Put emphasis on the word. If a word has two or more stresses, mark the secondary ones. For example: po-mo-lo-dé t, À woẁ -to-trá ns-port. In the transcription itself, stress must be placed.

Determine the degree of reduction that is characteristic of the vowels in each unstressed syllable. Reduction of unstressed vowels is of I (not very strong) and II (very strong) degree.

I degree of reduction is observed in the following cases: 1) in the first pre-stressed syllable (the syllable preceding the main or secondary stress), 2) in any other pre-stressed syllable, if it is open (i.e. begins with a vowel sound).

The second degree of reduction is observed in all other cases - in particular, in all overstressed syllables.

For example: By II -mo II -lo I -deoh, well II -mò -That II -trá ns-port II .

Now you can write the transcription.

In the Russian tradition, transcription is written based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Badges ъ And b are used only to denote reduced vowels of the second degree of reduction. Icon e never used in transcription.

Icons for consonants correspond to ordinary letters of the Russian alphabet; letter th not used: the corresponding sound is indicated using a Latin icon j. Its softness is usually not indicated (a midlingual palatal sound cannot help but be soft), but we will indicate softness (for uniformity): .

To indicate a sound usually conveyed by a letter sch, [ш̅’] is used as standard, but we will use the usual icon sch: [sch'].

It is important to remember: the designation of softness in transcription is mandatory, even for always soft sounds[h'] and [sh']. This is important because the sound [h] may appear positionally in Russian speech - for example, in the word laugh it off due to the assimilation of [t] and [w], the hard [h] is pronounced. In the flow of speech, sounds that are not recognized by a native speaker of the Russian language can be pronounced: [γ] - voiced version [x], [dz] - voiced version [ts], [d'zh'] - voiced version [ch'].

In general: all processes of assimilation, dissimilation, deafening of sounds at the end of a word, simplification of consonant groups and others phonetic processes should be reflected in the transcription.

The length of the sound of a consonant sound is conveyed using the bar: [n̅].

There are 6 sounds under stress in the Russian language: [а́], [о́], [ы́], [е́], [и́], [у́]. In unstressed position, vowel phonemes in the Russian language are subject to quantitative (<ы>, <и>, <у>) and quality (<а>, <о>, <э>) reduction. To reflect this contrast, different symbols are used to represent reduced sounds, even if the actual sound is the same. For example, sounding the same in literary language forests And fox are written differently in transcription: [l’i e sa] and [l’isa]. This is done because in some dialects the corresponding unstressed vowels are pronounced differently. Rare cases of pronunciation of unstressed [o] in borrowed words ( palazzo) and service ( But) words are written in accordance with real pronunciation. You should also listen carefully to how prepositions and particles sound in the flow of speech: they can sometimes be included in one phonetic word with the main word form, then appear separately.

In Russian literary language in the first degree of reduction there are 4 sounds: [а ъ], [и е ]=[и], [ы е]=[ы] and [у], and in the second degree of reduction – 3: [ъ]=[ы̯] , [b]=[i̯] and [у᷃].

In an unstressed position, after soft consonants there can only be a front vowel or a rounded vowel ([i e ]=[i], [ь]=[и̯], [у] and [у᷃]), and after hard consonants - only a non-front vowel ( [a ъ], [ы е]=[ы], [ъ]=[ы̯], [у] and [у᷃]).

Wife [zhy e ná], tram [tra ъ mvaj’ch’ik].

Phonetic transcription In russian language- a graphic recording of the sound of a word, a type of scientific transcription.

Phonetic transcription is written in square brackets, in contrast to phonological transcription, which is written in oblique brackets.

It is widely used in school phonetic analysis of words.

This type of transcription is special kind recording of speech, which is used to record the features of its sound in writing. A sign that the reader is dealing with a transcription of spoken speech is provided by square brackets: .

When studying the sound side of a language, to convey the sound of words, one has to resort to a special phonetic letter, based on the fact that a certain symbol conveys the same sound. This type of writing is called phonetic transcription.

Transcription(from Latin transcription – rewriting) – special type a letter with the help of which spoken speech is recorded on paper.

The transcription is based on the alphabet of the language in which the speech is spoken, with the addition or modification of certain letters. So, the transcription system that we will use is based on the Russian alphabet, but the letters e, ё, й, ь, ь, я, and ъ, ь are not used to denote special unstressed vowel sounds. Separate letters from other alphabets are also used: j (iot) from Latin, ? (gamma) from Greek.

Phonetic letter does not coincide with orthographic writing, because orthographic writing does not reflect living sound processes occurring in the flow of speech, does not reflect changes in the sound system of the language, but rests on traditions. Phonetic transcription reflects changes in sounds that occur depending on position and environment.

In written speech, after soft consonant sounds, instead of a, o, u, e, the letters i, e, yu and e are written, the softness of the consonant at the end of a word is indicated by a special letter b, called the “soft sign” (before the Spelling Reform of 1917-1918, this sign was called "er"). In transcription, the softness of a consonant is always indicated in the same way - by an apostrophe next to the soft consonant: [m "at"]. The softness of unpaired soft consonants [h"] and [sh":] is also always indicated in transcription. The only exception is the designation in the transcription of the palatal (and therefore, by definition, soft) consonant [j] - it is not customary to put an apostrophe with it.

Basic rules of transcription
In transcription:
1. A sound, word, part of a word or segment of speech is enclosed in square brackets – .
The text is written as it is pronounced.
3. Capital letters are not used.
4. Punctuation rules do not apply; punctuation marks are replaced by pauses: a short pause is indicated by one vertical line - /; phrases are separated from each other by two lines – //, indicating a long pause.
5. Each sign is used to designate one sound.
6. Diacritics are used (Greek diakritikos - distinctive), which are placed above, below or near the letters. So,
a) the placement of stress is mandatory: the main one is the acute sign?, the secondary one is the gravis sign `;
b) a straight line above the letter indicates the length of the consonant - [s];
c) the softness of a consonant is indicated by an apostrophe - [m"];
d) function words, pronounced together with the significant, are connected by a chamber - [E]
e) the arc under the sign indicates the non-syllabic nature of the sound - [i].
In some cases, when necessary, other diacritics are used: dots (upper right and left of the letter) to indicate the advancement of stressed vowels forward in the vicinity of soft consonants: mya, mother, mjat;
sign ^ to convey the closed, narrow sound of vowels between soft consonants: drank - [p"ul"i].
7. In the area of ​​consonants the letter u is not used, but is designated as [w"]; in the area of ​​vowels there are no letters e, e, yu, i.
8. To indicate the sound [th], two signs are given: [j] - iot and [i] - and non-syllabic (a type of iota):
[j] – a) at the beginning of a word
b) after the separators ъ and ь
c) between two vowels before a stressed vowel.
In other cases – [i]
9. To designate voiced and voiceless consonants, their corresponding letters are used
10. Vowel sounds, depending on their position in a word, experience large changes in sound:
a) vowel sounds [i], [ы], [у] in an unstressed position do not change qualitatively, they only sound shorter than under stress, and such changes are not indicated in transcription
b) unstressed vowel sounds [a], [o], [e] change both quantitatively and qualitatively:
unstressed vowels [a], [o] at the absolute beginning of a word and in the first pre-stressed syllable after hard consonants are indicated by the sign [U] - a short sound [a].;
unstressed vowels [а], [о], [е] in the second pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables after hard consonants are indicated by the sign [ъ] - the sound is super-short [ы]
the unstressed vowel [e] in the first pre-stressed syllable after hard consonants is indicated by the sign [ые] - the sound is intermediate between [ы] and [е]
unstressed vowels [e], [a] in the first pre-stressed syllable after soft consonants are indicated by the sign [ie] - the sound is intermediate between [i] and [e]
unstressed vowels [e], [a] in the 2nd pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables after soft consonants are indicated by the sign [b] - the sound is super-short [i]

To denote the sound [g], pronounced “without explosion” in some words, and when voicing the sound [x], ["] is used - “g fricative”

Exist different systems transcriptions. Therefore, you need to choose one and consistently stick to it, so as not to destroy the emerging transcription skills.

It should also be borne in mind that in some cases, transcriptions allow variants that reflect the variant pronunciation that actually exists in the literary language. So, depending on the style of pronunciation, different vowels can sound at the absolute end of a word: in full style, with a clear pronunciation, - [U], [ie], [ые], and in colloquial, with fluent pronunciation, reduced [ъ] , [b].

What is transcription used for?
1. To learn to hear your native speech and show the norms of literary pronunciation.
2. When teaching a foreign language, especially if the spelling does not make it possible to judge pronunciation. For example, in English.
3. Transcription is also needed where the writing system is complex and little known to the student, especially where graphics are not intended to convey sound. For example, in hieroglyphic writing.
4. Transcription is used to record unwritten language or dialect speech.

Phonetic writing does not coincide with orthographic writing, because orthographic writing does not reflect living sound processes occurring in the flow of speech, does not reflect changes in the sound system of the language, but is based on traditions. Phonetic transcription reflects changes in sounds that occur depending on position and environment.

Once again, let's take a closer look at the Basic rules and signs of phonetic transcription:
1. The transcribed sound or segment of speech is enclosed in square brackets: oak - [dup], spoon. Speech bars are separated from each other by one vertical line, complete sentences by two. Capital letters are not used.
2. In two-syllable and polysyllabic words, stress is placed, in one-syllable words there is no stress: [in [ate/yuna], [elephant].
3. Stressed vowel sounds [a], , [e], [u], [i], [s] are always denoted by the letters a, o, e, u, i, s.
4. The [^] symbol (“a” with a lid) is used to indicate a weakened sound close to [a], which is pronounced at the absolute beginning of a word or at the first pre-stress! syllable in place of the letters a and o after hard consonants: cucumber [^gur"ets], lampshade - [^b^zhur], water - [e^da], gardens - [s^dy (in school practice - [a] ).
5. The sign [ъ] (er) denotes a reduced sound, average between [ы] and [а], which is pronounced in many unstressed syllables, except for the first pre-stressed and absolute beginning of the word, in place of the letters a, o, e; gardener - [sj^d^here], dear - [dur^goi], groove - [zhal^bok], place - [m’est], stick - [palk], too - [tozh].
6 The sign |ie] denotes a sound intermediate between [i] and [e], which is pronounced in the first pre-stressed syllable after soft consonants in place of the letters siya: forests - [l "iesa", five - [p "iet"y] ( in school practice [and]).
The sign [ые] is used to designate a sound intermediate between [ы] and [е], which is pronounced in the first unstressed syllable after hard sibilants and c: six ~ [shyes "t"y], price - [tsyena] (in school practice - [s]).
7. The sign [b] (er) denotes a reduced sound, close to [i], which is pronounced in all unstressed syllables, except the first pre-stressed one, after soft consonants in place of the letters e and i: piglet - [п"т^ч"ok ], democrat - [d"m^krat].
8. Unstressed sounds in place of the letters u, ы, and are usually designated in the same way as stressed sounds, with the signs [у], [ы], [и]: iron - [ut"uk], fisherman - [fisherman], go - [id"th].
9. The softness of a consonant sound is indicated by a comma to the upper right of the letter sign: strap - [l "amk", roar - [r "jf], lion - [l "ef], buy - [kupl "y].
10. The longitude of a consonant sound is indicated by a horizontal line above the letter: bath - [van], buzzes - [zhuzhyt].
11. The sign [j] denotes the consonant sound “yot”, which is pronounced before stressed vowels: yama - jamъ], ruff - , spruce - JEL "].

A weak version of this sound is pronounced in all other positions, usually indicated by the sign [and] (“and non-syllabic”): moi - [moi], flock [staiъ], (In school practice, the sign [th] is used in both cases)
Transcription can be not only complete, but also selective, when not the entire word is enclosed in square brackets, but only the element in question - a sound or number of sounds. This method of transcription is used, for example, in dictionaries and reference books to indicate correct pronunciation sounds: beefsteak - beefsh[te]k\ overcoat - shi[n"e]l.

A special recording of speech, used to record in writing all the features of sound, begins to be studied already in high school. The first thing a student learns about transcription notation is square brackets. If the text is placed in [...], then this is definitely a phonetic transcription.

In addition, you need to know that the word itself comes from the Latin (transcription - rewriting), denoting a special letter that records spoken speech. Russian phonetic transcription, naturally, will be based on the Russian alphabet, from which the letters “ё”, “e”, “y”, “yu”, “sch”, “ya” have been removed, the letters “ъ” and “ь” have been instructed to denote special vowels are unstressed, and when there were not enough Russian letters as a result of these actions, they called on the Latin “j” (iot) and the Greek “Y” (gamma).

Why is phonetic transcription needed?

1. Hearing is essential native speech and knowledge of the norms of literary pronunciation.

2. When studying foreign languages, where spelling almost always differs from pronunciation.

3. To record a language that does not have a written language, dialect speech, or hieroglyphs.

Living sound processes are rarely reflected in orthographic writing, but phonetic writing differs sharply from it. The strictest tradition reigns among letters. And the phonetic transcription of the text fully conveys the entire flow of speech with all changes sound system language.

Letter and sound

The Russian writing system was built so perfectly that it took into account all the phonetic features of the Slavic language. In the ninth century, Constantine the philosopher, and in monasticism - Cyril, our Saint and Equal of the Apostles, compiled Slavic alphabet, which was named after its creator - Cyrillic.

The phonetic transcription of the Russian language is not as simple as that of the Bulgarian brothers, for example. This is because in our country a letter often conveys two sounds, or vice versa: one sound is obtained when reading two letters. The entries are sometimes so funny that with the development of the Internet, young people, being mischievous, came up with a way to communicate in chats in “Albany language”, where, for example, the word “hedgehog” consisted of four letters, among which there was not a single correct one. Guessing the word in these letters is not so easy, because “yosh” doesn’t fit in your head. It's almost a transcription. There are not enough square brackets, and also the knowledge that the letter “th” in transcription is most often designated “j”, and a soft sign cannot be present here, because there is nothing to soften. The correct phonetic transcription of the word is [yosh].

Soft consonants

In a letter, after consonants intended to become soft, you need to write not the letters “a”, “u”, “o”, “e”, but softening ones - “ya”, “yu”, “e”, “e”. In endings, a soft sign is added to the consonant (in the pre-revolutionary alphabet it was called “er”). Phonetic transcription requires an apostrophe to indicate the softness of the consonant sound. There is one exception - “th”, that is [j], it is quite good without an apostrophe. The rest are designated as follows: [m"].

Spelling rules, that is, spelling, quite often do not convey exactly the sound that is pronounced in a word. Transcription signs are required to record pronunciation as accurately as possible. For example, we write the word “side” and pronounce it: [bʌkav`oy].

Accents

Have you noticed that the letter “v” has some strange apostophe attached to it? And this is not an apostrophe at all, but an accent. Unstressed vowels are not indicated in writing. Try saying the word "pencil". Isn't it true that all vowels written the same way sound different? Unstressed vowels are shorter and slightly weaker than the same vowel under stress. Phonetic transcription must emphasize this difference: [karʌnd`ash].

There is also a reduction here: do you hear the almost complete disappearance of the first vowel? The sounds we pronounce briefly are most often indicated by the same signs as percussion, but without stress, but “swallowed” sounds, that is, those that have undergone fundamental changes in pronunciation, have special signs: the ancient “er” [b] and “er” [b] . They do not indicate any sounds, but when transcribed as in in this case have a very important function.

Only special publications (dictionaries, textbooks for foreigners, literature for young children) leave an accent mark in words, but the transcription must mark it where the word has more than one syllable.

Stress in the Russian language is very flexible, it moves freely along the syllables of a word, and is not bound by constancy: gorod- goroda, okno- okna. It is so dynamically strong that a stressed syllable becomes much stronger than an unstressed one. This weakening is called reduction. There are its first and second degrees, depending on the position of the vowel: the first - on the first pre-stressed position, the second - on more than the first pre-stressed, as well as post-stressed position.

Long consonants

Some consonant sounds are only long and soft. These are “sh” - the sound [sh":] and “zh” - the sound [zh":]. If the spelling dictates two identical consonants - "cash", for example, then the phonetic transcription will differ significantly from this construction, since the pronunciation requires one, but long sound: [k`as:a].

However, the notations in textbooks vary. You can also find [kassa]. Sometimes they write one letter “s”, but underline it on top.

Phonetic word

What is a word? In writing and transcription they are not the same thing at all. In writing, we distinguish parts of speech into auxiliary or independent ones, and write everything separately. Prepositions, for example. Phonetic transcription of Russian words suggests a different attitude. This is a sequence of syllables in a single whole; a phonetic word has a single organizing center, a single stress.

This means that all prepositions, conjunctions, particles that are pronounced together with their main words are written in the same way. Of course, all changes that occur with the sounds that make up the word are also recorded. For example, “with him” - , “beyond the river” - [z'r"ik`oi], even more interesting: "asked b" - [sprʌs"`ilp].

The details with which phonetic transcription is recorded depend on the characteristics of sound, where both individual and situational (emotional, for example) speech productions are included. Here the phonetic transcription of the pronunciation as such dictates.

Now back to the basics

The Russian alphabet consists of thirty-three letters, the so-called graphemes, which we divide into vowels and consonants. The sound form of each grapheme is a phoneme, which has variants, that is, allophones.

Consonant sounds are divided into voiceless and voiced. It's pretty simple. A stream of air vibrates the vocal cords and thus causes a sound - a tone, which is then modified by natural barriers in the oral and nasal cavities, converting the tone into noise. Based on the nature of this noise, it is easy to divide consonants into voiced (in which the tone has not completely “died”) and voiceless, in which there is nothing left except noise.

It is necessary to divide them into soft and hard. There are thirty-three letters in the alphabet, and thirty-six phonemes of only consonants. Of these, fifteen are paired (hard-soft), three consonants are always hard (“sh”, “zh”, “ts”) and three are always soft (“ch”, “sch”, “y”).

When a stream of air exits, the vocal apparatus does not put any obstacles in the way of vowel sounds, leaving them with the purest tone. This means that we have six vowel phonemes: “a”, “u”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “s”. Allophones are also present here and depend on the stress in the word.

Rules for phonetic transcription for schoolchildren

1. Transcription is always placed in square brackets.

2. Capital letters and punctuation marks are not used. Pauses, most often coinciding with punctuation marks, are marked with a double line - a long, significant pause, or a single line - a short pause.

3. Words consisting of two or more syllables must be stressed.

4. Two words united by one stress are written together: to the garden - [fsat].

5. Soft consonants must have an apostrophe: sat - .

6. Among consonant letters, phonetic transcription never uses “шь” and “й”.

7. Long consonant sounds are indicated either by a superscript or a colon: bath - [van:a]. The letter "ш" is not used, but its phoneme is [sh"] or [sh":].

8. The sounds shch, th, ch are only soft, however, an apostrophe for “ch” and “th” is not required, although it sometimes occurs. “Zh”, “sh”, “ts” are always only hard. Exceptions for French words: parachute, jury, julienne, Jules (Verne) and so on, in which the letter "zh" is written [zh"].

Vowel sounds

Stressed vowels have six symbols: [i], [s], [u], [e], [o], [a]. For example, feast - [p'ir], ardor - [ardor], ray - [ray], forest - [l'es], house - [house], garden - [garden].

For the letters “e”, “e”, “yu”, “ya” one sound is not enough, so “e” is [ye], “e” is [yo], “ya” is [ya], “yu” is [yy]. If after the letter “and” the spelling dictates a soft sign, then the phonetic transcription will also write doubly: sparrows - [vurʌb`yi]. Just remember that the letter “th” is replaced by the Latin “j”.

Nov 25

What are the rules of phonetic transcription for students studying the Russian language in depth?

Phonetic transcription - 1) is a system of signs and rules for their combination, intended for recording pronunciation; 2) transcription is also called the writing of a word or text according to transcription rules.

The process of recording speech using transcription is called transcription.

Phonetic transcription is used to record spoken speech.

Phonetic transcription at school

1. Transcription is enclosed in square brackets.

2. In transcription, it is not customary to write capital letters and use punctuation marks when transcribing sentences. Pauses between segments of speech (usually coinciding with punctuation marks) are indicated by a double slash // (significant pause) or single / (shorter pause).

3. In words consisting of more than one syllable, emphasis is placed: [z’ima] - winter. If two words are combined with a single stress, they make up one phonetic word, which is written together or using a league: to the garden - [fsat], [f_sat].

4. The softness of a consonant sound is indicated by an apostrophe: [s’el] - sat.

5. Consonant sounds are written using all the corresponding letters, except ш and й.

Special superscript or subscript symbols can be placed next to the letter. They indicate some features of the sound, for example: o [n’] - an apostrophe denotes soft consonants: [n’obo] - palate;

The longitude of the sound is indicated by a superscript: [van¯a] - bath, [kas¯a] - cash register.

The letter u corresponds to the sound, which is conveyed by the sign [sh’] u[sh’]elye - gorge, [sh’]shetina - stubble.

The sounds [sh’], [th], [h] are always soft. Note. For sounds [й], [ч] it is not customary to indicate softness with an apostrophe, although in some textbooks it is indicated.

The sounds [zh], [sh], [ts] are always hard. Exceptions: soft [zh’] sounds in the words: jury - [zh’]yuri, Julien - [zh’]julien, Jules - [zh’]yul.

Letters ъ ( hard sign), ь (soft sign) do not indicate sounds, i.e. There are no such signs in the transcription for consonants: [razyom] - connector, [tr’ieugolnyy] - triangular.

6. Recording vowel sounds

Stressed vowels are transcribed using six symbols: and - [i] - [p'ir] pir, y- [s] - [ardor] ardor, u - [u] - [ray] ray, e - [e] - [ l"es] forest, o - [o] - [house] house, a- [a] - [garden] garden.

The letters e, e, ya, yu denote double sounds [ye], [yo], [ya], [yu]: [ya]bloko - apple, water[yo]m - pond, [yu]g - south, [ ye]l - spruce. The letter after the soft dividing sign also denotes the double sound [yi]: voro [b’yi] - sparrows.

Unstressed vowels [i], [s], [a] are not necessarily used in place of similar letters - you should listen carefully to the pronunciation of the word: fashion[s]ler - fashion designer, d[a]ska - board, [i]kkusantsant - excursionist , [a] search - search.

Phonetic transcription in manuals for in-depth study of the Russian language.

1. Some textbooks use additional signs to indicate vowel sounds: [Λ], [ie], [ые], [ъ], [ь].

In place of the letters o, and in the first pre-stressed syllable and the absolute beginning of the word, the sound [Λ] is pronounced: [vΛda] - water, [Λna] - she.

In place of the letters e and i in unstressed syllables after soft consonants, a vowel is pronounced, middle between [i] and [e], but closer to [i], it is designated [ie] (called “i, inclined to e”): [l 'iesa] - forests, [r'ieb'ina] - mountain ash.

In place of the letter e after the hard hissing [zh], [w], [ts] it is pronounced [ye] (“s, inclined to e”): zh[ye]lat - wish, sh[ye]ptat - whisper, ts[ е]na - price. Exception: dance - dance.

The sound [ъ] (“er”) is pronounced after hard consonants in the first pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables and is denoted by the letters a (locomotive [pravos]), o (milk [m’lako]), e (yellowness [zhalt “izna]).

The sound [ь] (“er”) is pronounced after soft consonants in the first pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables and is denoted by the letters e (transition [p'r'ihot]), i (ordinary [p'davoj]), and (hour [chsavoj]) .

2. The Latin letter j denotes the consonant “yot” in transcription, which sounds in the words block - apple, vodom - pond, vor[b»ji] - sparrows, zyk - tongue, sara[j] - barn, ma[j]ka - T-shirt, teapot - teapot, etc.

Sample phonetic transcription for school.

[bal’shaya plosh’at’ / na_katoray raspalazhy’las’ tse’rkaf’ / was completely zan’ita dl’ i´nym’i r’idam’i t’il’e´k //]

A sample phonetic transcription for advanced students of the Russian language at school.

The large area on which the church was located was completely occupied by long rows of carts.

[bl’sháj flat’ / n’_kotórj rassp’l’zhy’ls’ tse’rk’f’ / was completely know’etá d’i´n’m’ r’iedam’i t’iel’e´k //]