Unit 2

UNIT 2 Hard and Soft Consonants One of the main peculiarities of Russian pronunciation is the presence of so-called hard and soft consonants. Most Russian consonants go in pairs according to their hardness or softness, the only difference between the hard and the soft consonant of each pair being that the latter has a peculiar soft (or palatalized) sound. It is of the utmost importance to distinguish between a hard one and the corresponding soft one, since the meaning of a word will not infrequently depend only on whether a consonant is pronounced hard or soft. Thus the words угол УcornerФ and уголь УcoalФ differ vocally only in that the sound л is pronounced hard in the former, and soft in the latter. A number of Russian consonants do not go in pairs according to hardness or softness: some of them are always hard (ж, ш, ц), While others are always soft (ч, щ, й). Soft consonants differ from their hard counterparts in the position assumed by the tongue in their pronunciation. To pronounce the soft т, д, с, з, п, б, ф, в, р, л, н, м, the center of the tongue is slightly raised towards the front of the palate; this additional tongue movement never occurs in the pronunciation of the hard consonants. The secondary articulation, palatalization, must take place exactly the same tine as the basic articulation of the consonant. It is not something added on after basic articulation. Because of the raising of the middle part of the tongue, the area of contact of the tongue during the production of soft consonants is considerably greater than during the corresponding hard consonants. The contact must be firm but brief. While practicing the following items be sure to avoid a superfluous й-sound between the consonant and vowel Ц make a soft consonant followed immediately by a vowel sound. Ex.1. Listen, repeat, read. There are, however, cases in Russian when a consonant is followed by a /й/ which serves as a separate consonant. It is important to distinguish clearly in speech between a soft consonant followed by a vowel and a consonant followed by /й/ plus a vowel. The Russian consonant /й/ The Russian consonant /й/ is similar to its English counterpart (as in yeast or yes), but it is pronounced with considerably greater tension, and the tongue is closer to the front part of the mouth, even closer than for the Russian vowel sound /и/. Russian does not have any single symbol for this consonant sound. Before a vowel sound the consonant /й/ is not represented by a separate symbol, but is combined with the vowel sound into one symbol. When it comes after a vowel sound, with no other vowel sound following, /й/ is represented by the symbol й. Use of letters ¤, е, Є, ю. Letter Pronun- ciation When so pronounced Remarks я я /йа/ /а/ After vowels, after ъ, ь, and at the beginning of a word. After soft consonants. ≈ ≈ /йэ/ /э/ After vowels, after ъ, ь, and at the beginning of a word. After soft consonants ® ® /йо/ /о/ After vowels, after ъ, ь, and at the beginning of a word. After soft consonants In a few words of foreign origin the combination /йо/ after a consonant is rendered in writing by ьо, e.g. бульон СbrothТ. ё ё /йу/ /у/ After vowels, after ъ, ь, and at the beginning of a word. After soft consonants. Intonation Contour 2 (IC-2) Ц Questions containing a question word. In both English and Russian questions which contain an interrogative (question) word are generally pronounced with a falling intonation. The presence of the interrogative word makes it unnecessary to signal the question by means of a special intonation contour. In Russian IC-2 is somewhat like IC-1, but the emphasized word is pronounced with increased energy and tension and may be somewhat longer than in other words. Be careful not to confuse simple loudness with the required increased tension! When the main sentence stress is on the last syllable of the sentence, the tone will fall within the accented syllable, but will not fall as far or as sharply as in IC-1. Any syllables following the syllable bearing the main intonational stress must remain at a low level and not be allowed to rise above the speakerТs normal mid-tone. The emphasized word will normally be at the end of the sentence except in contexts where intonation is used to mark the new element in the question. Exceptions occur in the case of very short questions containing a pronoun or adverb at the end of the question. Placing the emphasis on the interrogative word in other cases will normally result in a very peremptory question or one with special emotional overtones. While practicing the items in the following exercise, remember to strive for smoothness throughout the whole sentence, with no extraneous pauses between words. Remember about the proper distribution of energy within the word, and that in each sentence there will be one word picked out for special stress, while other words will be relatively unstressed (without losing their identity and relative vowel values). Avoid extraneous pauses. Practice these items until you know them by heart. Ex.3. Listen and repeat. When practicing this exercise remember to strive for extra tension in both the consonant /й/ and in the accented vowels.