Kommersant in Russian. "Ъ" and "ѣ" as signs of the elite. Foppery on the old rules of Russian spelling. Church and Old Church Slavonic language

Solid sign performs a dividing function in Russian - it indicates that after a consonant, an iotated vowel letter does not denote the softness of the consonant, but two sounds: I- [y’a], e- [y’e], e- [y’o], Yu- [y’u] ( hug[aby'ʁat'] , will eat[sy'est] , shooting[sy'omka]).

Functions soft sign more difficult. It has three functions in the Russian language - dividing, the function of indicating the independent softness of paired consonants, and the grammatical function:

1. A soft sign can perform a similar dividing function in front of i, yu, e, yo, and inside a word not after a prefix ( blizzard, nightingale) and in some foreign words before O: (broth, companion).

2. A soft sign can serve to indicate the independent softness of a paired consonant at the end of a word and in the middle of a word before a consonant (see above): horse, bathhouse

3. A soft sign after a consonant that is unpaired in hardness/softness can perform a grammatical function - it is written according to tradition in certain grammatical forms, without carrying any phonetic load (cf.: key - night, study - study). At the same time, the soft sign does not denote softness not only in unpaired hard consonants, but also in unpaired soft consonants.

Positional assimilation of consonants based on other characteristics. Dissociation of consonants

Consonants can be similar to each other (subject to assimilation) not only in deafness / sonority, hardness / softness, but also in other characteristics - the place of formation of the barrier and its nature. Thus, consonants are subject to assimilation, for example, in the following combinations:

[s] + [sh] → [shsh]: sew[shshyt’] = [shyt’],

[s] + [h’] → [sch’] or [sch’ch’]: with something[sch’emta] or [sch’ch’emta],

[s] + [sch’] → [sch’]: split[rasch’ip’ʁit’],

[z] + [zh] → [lj]: get rid of[izhzhyt’] = [izhzhyt’],

[t] + [s] → [ts] or [tss]: wash[muscle] = [muscle], sleep it off[atsypat’],

[t] + [ts] → [ts]: unhook[atsyp’́it’] = [atsyp’́it’],

[t] + [h’] → [h’h’]: report[ach’ch’́ot] = [ach’́ot],

[t] + [sch’] → [h’sch’]: split off[ach’sh’ip’́it’].

Several features of consonants can be subject to positional change at once. For example, in the word count[pach’sh’́ot] there is an alternation of [d] + [w’] → [ch’sh’], that is, the likeness is represented by deafness, softness and signs of the location and nature of the obstacle.

In some words, the process opposite to assimilation is presented - dissimilation (dissimilation). Yes, in words easy And soft instead of the expected assimilation due to deafness and the formation of a long consonant ([g] + k’] → [k’k’]), the combination [k’k’] → [x’k’] ( easy[lokh’k’iy’], soft[ḿah’k’iy’]), where the dissimilarity of sounds according to the nature of the barrier is noted (when pronouncing the sound [k’], the organs of speech close, and when pronouncing [x’] they come closer). At the same time, dissimilation on this basis is combined with assimilation on the basis of deafness and softness.

Simplification of consonant clusters (unpronounceable consonant)

In some combinations, when three consonants are connected, one, usually the middle one, drops out (the so-called unpronounceable consonant). Consonant deletion is presented in the following combinations:

stl- [sl]: happy happy,

stn- [sn]: local me[sn]y,

zdn- [sn]: late po[z’n’]y,

zdc- [sc]: by the reins under the [sts]s,

ndsh- [ns]: landscape la[ns]aft,

NTG- [ng]: x-ray re[ng']en,

NDC- [nc]: Dutch goll[nc]s,

rdc- [rts]: heart s[rts]e,

rdch- [rh’]: little heart s[rch’]ishko,

lnc- [nc]: Sun so[nc]e.

The sound [й’] between vowels is also not pronounced if it is followed by a vowel [i]: my[maivo].

Qualitative and quantitative relationships between letters and sounds in the Russian language

Ambiguous qualitative and quantitative relationships are established between letters and sounds in the Russian language.

The same letter can represent different sounds, for example, the letter A can represent sounds [a] ( small[small]), [and] ( watch[ch'is]), [s] ( regret[zhyl’́et’]), which is associated with a change in the pronunciation of vowels in unstressed syllables; letter With can represent sounds [s] ( garden[sat]), [s’] ( guest[gos’t’]), [z] ( pass[zdat’]), [z’] ( do[z’d’elat’]), [w] ( squeeze[burn’]), [w] ( embroider[rashshyt’]), [sch’] ( split[rasch’sch’ip’́it’]), which is associated with the similarity of consonants according to various characteristics.

And vice versa: the same sound can be indicated in writing by different letters, for example: the sound [and] can be indicated by letters And (world[world]), A (watch[ch'isy]), I (ranks[r'idy]), e (warbler[p'ivun]).

If we consider a word from the point of view of those quantitative relationships that are established between letters and sounds, then the following possible relationships can be identified:

1. One letter can represent one sound: the seam[chof]; this relationship occurs when a vowel comes after a consonant that is unpaired in hardness/softness and the vowel letter denotes only the quality of the vowel sound: for example, the letter O in a word table[table] cannot be an illustration of this unambiguous relationship, since in this case it denotes not only the sound [o], but also the hardness of the consonant [t].

2. One letter can represent two sounds: pit[y'ama] (letters i, yu, e, yo at the beginning of a word, after vowels and separators).

3. A letter may not have a sound meaning: local[m’esny’] (unpronounceable consonant) , mouse[mouse] (soft sign in the grammatical function after consonants unpaired in hardness/softness).

4. One letter can indicate a sound attribute: horse[con’] , bathhouse[ban'ka] (soft sign to indicate the softness of a paired consonant at the end and middle of a word).

5. One letter can denote a sound and a sign of another sound: crumpled[m'al] (letter I denotes the sound [a] and the softness of the consonant [m’]).

6. Two letters can represent one sound: washes himself[moitsa] , rushed[n'os'a].

It may seem that three letters can also represent one sound: wash[mytsa], but this is not so: the sound [ts] is indicated by letters T And With, A b performs a grammatical function - indicates the form of the infinitive..

Syllable

Phonetic syllable- a vowel or a combination of a vowel with one or more consonants, pronounced with one exhalation impulse. There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels; two vowels cannot be within the same syllable.

Syllables can be stressed or unstressed.

Most syllables in the Russian language end in a vowel, that is, they are open: milk[ma-la-jo]. So, in the sequence SGSGSG (where S is a consonant, G is a vowel), only one syllable division option is possible: SG-SG-SG.

However, in the Russian language there are also syllables ending with a consonant (closed). Closed syllables occur:

1) at the end of a phonetic word: railway carriage[railway carriage],

2) in the middle of a word with a combination of two or more consonants, if

a) after [th"] any other consonant follows: war[wai"-na],

b) after the remaining unpaired voiced ones ([l], [l"], [m], [m"], [n], [n"], [r], [r"]), a consonant paired in deafness/voicedness follows : lamp[lamp].

In other cases of consonant clusters, the syllabic boundary passes before the group of consonants: booth[bu-tka], spring[v"i-sna].

A phonetic syllable should be distinguished from syllable to transfer. Although in a large number of cases the transfer is carried out at the place of syllable separation ( mo-lo-ko, lamp-pa), but in some cases the syllable to be transferred and the phonetic syllable may not coincide.

Firstly, the transfer rules do not allow one vowel letter to be transferred or left on a line, however, the sounds it denotes can form a phonetic syllable; for example, the word pit cannot be transferred, but must be divided into phonetic syllables [y"́a-ma].

Secondly, according to the transfer rules, identical consonant letters should be separated: van-na, cash-sa; the boundary of the phonetic syllable passes before these consonants, and at the place where identical consonants meet, we actually pronounce one long consonant sound: bath[va-na], cash register[Ya-sa].

Thirdly, when transferring, morpheme boundaries in a word are taken into account: it is not recommended to tear off one letter from a morpheme, so you should transfer smash, forest, but the boundaries of phonetic syllables are different: smash[ra-zb "́it"], forest[l "i-snoy"].

Accent

Accent- this is the pronunciation of one of the syllables in a word (or rather, the vowel in it) with greater force and duration. Thus, phonetically Russian accent power And quantitative(in other languages there are other types of stress: force (English), quantity (Modern Greek), tonic (Vietnamese).

Other distinctive features of the Russian accent are its diversity and mobility.

Diversity Russian stress is that it can fall on any syllable in a word, as opposed to languages with a fixed stress place (for example, French or Polish): tree, road, milk.

Mobility stress is that in the forms of one word the stress can move from the stem to the ending: legs - legs.

Compound words (i.e. words with several roots) may have multiple stresses: aircraft instrumentation, however, many compound words do not have side stress: steamship[parahot].

Stress in Russian can perform the following functions:

1) organizing - a group of syllables with a single stress makes up a phonetic word, the boundaries of which do not always coincide with the boundaries of the lexical word and can combine independent words together with service ones: into the fields[fpal "а], he's the one[onta];

2) semantically distinctive - stress can distinguish

a) different words, which is due to the variety of Russian accents: flour - flour, castle - castle,

b) forms of one word, which is associated with the diversity and mobility of Russian stress: earth - earth.

Orthoepy

The term “orthoepy” is used in linguistics in two meanings:

1) a set of norms of a literary language related to the sound design of significant units: norms of pronunciation of sounds in different positions, norms of stress and intonation;

2) a science that studies the variation of pronunciation norms of a literary language and develops pronunciation recommendations (spelling rules).

The differences between these definitions are as follows: in the second understanding, those pronunciation norms that are associated with the action of phonetic laws are excluded from the field of orthoepy: changes in the pronunciation of vowels in unstressed syllables (reduction), positional deafening / voicing of consonants, etc. In this understanding, only such pronunciation norms that allow for variability in the literary language, for example, the possibility of pronunciation after sibilants both [a] and [s] ([zhaŕa], but [zhysm"́in]).

Educational complexes define orthoepy as the science of pronunciation, that is, in the first meaning. Thus, according to these complexes, all pronunciation norms of the Russian language belong to the sphere of orthoepy: the implementation of vowels in unstressed syllables, deafening / voicing of consonants in certain positions, the softness of a consonant before a consonant, etc. These pronunciation norms were described above.

Among the norms that allow for variability in pronunciation in the same position, it is necessary to note the following norms, updated in the school course of the Russian language:

1) pronunciation of hard and soft consonant before e in borrowed words,

2) pronunciation of combinations in individual words Thu And chn like [pcs] and [shn],

3) pronunciation of sounds [zh] and [zh"] in place of combinations lj, zzh, zzh,

4) variability of positional softening of consonants in individual groups,

5) variability of stress in individual words and word forms.

It is these pronunciation norms related to the pronunciation of individual words and word forms that are the object of description in spelling dictionaries.

Let us give a brief description of these pronunciation norms.

Pronunciation of hard and soft consonant before e in borrowed words it is regulated separately for each word of this type. So, one should pronounce k[r"]em, [t"]ermin, mu[z"]ey, shi[n"]el, but fo[ne]tika, [te]nnis, sw[te]r; In a number of words, variable pronunciation is possible, for example: prog[r]ess and prog[r"]ess.

Pronunciation of combinations in individual words Thu And chn both [pcs] and [shn] are also specified by a list. So, with [pcs] the words are pronounced what to, with [sh] - words of course boring, in a number of words, variable pronunciation is acceptable, for example, two [ch"n"]ik and two [sh"]ik, bulo[ch"n]aya and bulo[sh]aya.

As already mentioned, in the speech of some people, mainly the older generation, there is a long soft consonant sound [zh "], which is pronounced in individual words in place of combinations of letters LJ, zzh, zhd: yeast, reins, ride, rain: [dozh"i], [vozh"i], [th"ezh"u], [dazh"i]. In the speech of people of the younger generation, in place of combinations LJ And zzh the sound can be pronounced [zh] = [zhzh] ([trembling], [th "ezhu]), at the place of the combination railway in a word rains- [zhd"] (thus, when deafening in a word rain we have pronunciation options [dosh"] and [dosht"]).

The variability of positional softening in individual groups of consonants has already been discussed when describing cases of positional softening. The necessity of positional softening in different groups of words is not the same. In the speech of all speakers of the modern Russian language, as already mentioned, only the replacement of [n] with [n"] before [ch"] and [sch"] occurs consistently: drum[drum"h"ik], drummer[drummer]. In other groups of consonants, softening or does not occur at all (for example, shops[lafk"i]), or it is presented in the speech of some native speakers and is absent in the speech of others. Moreover, the representation of positional softening in different groups of consonants is different. Thus, in the speech of many speakers there is a positional softening [s] before [n"] and [t"], [z] before [n"] and [d"]: bone[kos "t"], song[p"es"n"a], life[zhyz"n"], nails[gvoz "d"i], the softening of the first consonant in the combinations [zv"], [dv"], [sv"], [zl"], [sl"], [sy"] and some others is more an exception than rule (for example: door[dv"er"] and [d"v"er"], I'll eat[sy"em] and [s"y"em], If[y"esl"i] and [y"es"l"i]).

Since Russian stress is varied and mobile and, because of this, its placement cannot be regulated by rules uniform for all words, the placement of stress in words and word forms is also regulated by the rules of orthoepy. "Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language" ed. R.I. Avanesova describes the pronunciation and stress of more than 60 thousand words, and due to the mobility of Russian stress, all forms of this word are often included in the dictionary entry. So, for example, the word call in present tense forms the accent is on the ending: you call, it calls. Some words have variable stress in all their forms, e.g. cottage cheese And cottage cheese. Other words may have variable stress in some of their forms, for example: weaved And tala, braid And Yosu.

Differences in pronunciation may be caused by a change in the orthoepic norm. Thus, in linguistics it is customary to distinguish between “senior” and “younger” orthoepic norms: new pronunciation gradually replaces the old one, but at some stage they coexist, although mainly in the speech of different people. It is with the coexistence of the “senior” and “junior” norms that the variability of positional softening of consonants is associated.

This is also related to the difference in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels, which is reflected in educational complexes. The system for describing the change (reduction) of vowels in unstressed syllables in complexes 1 and 2 reflects the “minor” norm: in an unstressed position in pronunciation, the sound [and] after soft consonants are the same, all vowels that differ under stress, except [y]: worlds[m"iry], village[with "ilo", five[p"it"orka]. In an unstressed syllable, after hard hissing [zh], [sh] and after [ts], an unstressed vowel [s] is pronounced, reflected in the letter by the letter e(f[y]lat, sh[y]pt, ts[y]na).

Complex 3 reflects the “senior” norm: It says that the sounds [and], [s], [y] are pronounced clearly not only in stressed, but also in unstressed syllables: m[i]ry. In place of letters e And I in unstressed syllables after soft consonants, [ee] is pronounced, that is, the middle sound between [i] and [e] (p[ie]terka, s[ie]lo). After hard hissing [zh], [sh] and after [ts] in place e pronounced [ye] (f[ye]lat, sh[ye]ptat, ts[ye]na).

Pronunciation variability may be associated not only with the dynamic process of changing pronunciation norms, but also with socially significant factors. Thus, pronunciation can distinguish between literary and professional use of a word ( compass And compass), neutral style and colloquial speech ( thousand[thousand "ich"a] and [thousch"a]), neutral and high style ( poet[paet] and [poet]).

Complex 3 suggests producing in addition to the phonetic (see below) spelling analysis, which should be produced “when there is a possibility or error in pronunciation or stress in a word.” For example, more beautiful- the stress is always on the second syllable; kone[sh]o. Orthoepic analysis, in addition to phonetic analysis, is necessary when variability in the pronunciation of a given sound sequence is possible in a language or when the pronunciation of a word is associated with frequent errors (for example, in stress).

Graphic arts. Spelling

Graphic arts is defined in all three complexes as a science that studies the designation of sounding speech in writing.

Russian graphics have specific features relating to the designation of soft consonants in writing, the designation of the sound [th"] and the use of graphic signs (see above). Graphics establishes writing rules for all words, determines how language units are conveyed in all words and parts of words ( in contrast to spelling rules, which establish the spellings of specific classes of words and their parts).

Spelling- a branch of linguistics that studies the system of rules for the uniform spelling of words and their forms, as well as these rules themselves. The central concept of spelling is spelling.

A spelling is a spelling regulated by a spelling rule or established in a dictionary order, i.e., a spelling of a word that is selected from a number of possible spellings from the point of view of the laws of graphics.

Spelling consists of several sections:

1) writing significant parts of a word (morphemes) - roots, prefixes, suffixes, endings, that is, designating with letters the sound composition of words where this is not determined by graphics;

2) continuous, separate and hyphenated spellings;

3) use of uppercase and lowercase letters;

4) transfer rules;

5) rules for graphic abbreviations of words.

Let us briefly describe these sections.

A long time ago, back at the Proto-Slavic stage, our ancestors had a language in which all vowels were divided into two varieties:
1) LONG
And
2) SHORT.
There was no other variety. Any vowel sound could be either long or short. Since the phonetics of those times is usually depicted in Latin symbols, I will now show a complete list of all the vowels of that time and will only note that a line above a phonetic sign means longitude, and the absence of a line means shortness.
So:
ā – a,
ō – o,
ē–e,
ū – u,
ī – i.
There were also diphthongs: aj, oj, ej, au, ou, eu, but we are not talking about them now.
The sounds [a] and [o] were actually not distinguishable by ear, and therefore I could write the first two pairs as one pair, but the whole point is that the long sounds from these two pairs have now become the Russian sound [a], and short sounds - with the Russian sound [o]. However, this is not important, but this is the only way - by the way, it had to be.
We are now interested in the last two pairs. And this is what happened to them.

The Proto-Slavs, for some unknown reason, were struck by the following idea: to commit an act called LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE. This is a phenomenon when a person, in particular, becomes too lazy to spend effort on rounding his lips into a tube and pronouncing the sound [u]. He decides to spend less energy on this matter and not overwork his speech organs. And within the framework of this phenomenon the following processes appeared:
ū > ы,
u > ъ.
The > sign means "goes to".
Since Western Europe is only a distant outskirts of the Slavic world, all our processes there took place in exactly the same way, but always with a delay. They are trailing behind us. This is the process we are now seeing among the Scandinavians. What happened to us 4,000 years ago is only happening to them now.
But let me explain in more detail what these two lines mean:
ū > ы,
u > ъ.
The first line means the following: we pull out the vowel and long sound [ū] with all our might and at the same time stretch our lips into a tube. But then we continue to draw out the same vowel sound, but we no longer tense our lips, and the narrow stream of exhaled air becomes wider. And then we get the Russian sound [y], but only long, and not like it is now.
But that was the first line. Now let's take the second one. We pronounce the short sound [u] by stretching our lips into a tube. And as part of the process of losing flatness, we stop straining and expand this tube. Everything is the same as in the first case, but only there was a long sound, and now it’s a short one. And this is how we get the vowel sound, designated as follows: [ъ]. This is not a solid sign! This is a normal vowel sound (similar to the sound [s], but only more abrupt), which could be stressed, which formed syllables! The fact that several thousand years later it ceased to be pronounced in some cases is a completely different question. And I'll talk about this later.
In the meantime, I’ll tell you about another process: the pair ī – i.
The following natural changes occurred within this couple:
ī > and,
i > b.
What does this mean? This means that the sound [i] remains the same, we just stopped using it, because the Slavs abandoned long vowels in principle. But we decided to pronounce the short sound with less effort than before, and this is a different process. It's called LOSS OF DIVIDITY. As a result of this process, the short vowel sound [i] began to be pronounced with less stress than before. When we diligently pronounce the vowel [i], we stretch our lips into a smile. The loss of sharpness meant that the smile was canceled and the lips no longer stretched. And thus a sound was obtained, intermediate between the sound [i] and the sound [e]. We can observe such a sound in modern Germanic languages.
And thus:
A SOLID SIGN appeared during the LOSS OF FILTH,
The SOFT SIGN appeared during the LOSS OF SEVERITY.
Both vowels were syllabic sounds and could be stressed. I will give examples from the Old Russian language:
LЪБЪ, genitive case: LЪBA. This is FOREHEAD - FOREHEAD.
СЪНЪ, genitive case: СЪНА. This is a DREAM - a DREAM.
МЪХЪ, genitive case: МЪХА. This is MOX - MHA.
STUNCH, genitive case: STUNK. This is STUM - STUM (instead of STUM).
LEN, genitive case: LEN. This is FLAX - FLAX.
And so on. If I write MЪХЪ, it means that it was TWO SYLLABLES, and the stress fell on the first of them, and when transferred it was written like this: MЪ-ХЪ.
And then this phenomenon happened: THE FALL OF THE REDUCED. This is what it meant: for some time the sounds [ъ] and [ь] began to be pronounced very briefly. Jerky. And then the Slavs decided not to pronounce them at all, or to pronounce them, but not abruptly, but as full vowel sounds.
Where it was possible to discard the vowel sound [ъ] without affecting pronunciation, it was discarded. That is, he simply disappeared without a trace. For example, at the end of a word. It was a HOUSE, but it became a HOUSE. Where it could not be thrown away painlessly, there it was replaced with the vowel sound [o]. For example, in the word МЪХЪ - the first “hard sign” is replaced by pure O, and the second is thrown away. And so - everywhere and always.
We treated the sound [b] in a similar way. Where it could not be thrown away painlessly, it was replaced by the vowel sound [e], and where it could be thrown away, it was thrown away, but not without a trace, but leaving behind softness. For example: there was the word PEN, which had two syllables, and the stress fell on the first of the two, and then it became PEN - one syllable, in which the last letter no longer denotes sound, but serves only as an indicator of softness.
The Bolsheviks were the executioners of the Russian people and acted exclusively in the interests of those peoples who were hostile to the Russian people and wished harm to Russia. But the fact that they have almost completely removed the HARD SIGN from use is a positive phenomenon. Positive, not shameful!
The fact is that a solid sign was originally a product of ignorance and stupidity. This was initially an immoral phenomenon worthy of condemnation.
In fact, when the hard sign stopped being pronounced, the question immediately arose: why write it at all? There are chronicles and some ancient texts where it was not written at all.
The scribes wanted to show off their ingenuity and preserve the ancient tradition, but they could not figure out in what cases it was necessary to write this silent letter, and in what cases not to write it. One might notice that the hard sign was written in the middle of the word where we now see fluent vowels: МЪХЪ - МЪХА. But the concept of fluent vowels still required a high level of literacy and, in general, intellectual effort. Therefore, it was decided this way: to write a hard sign only at the end of a word after consonants. It was an easy rule that wasn't hard to remember. But this rule meant that the tradition was not fully observed, but only in the cases where we wanted. But in my opinion it’s like this: if we have decided to follow the tradition, then let’s write a firm sign in all other cases. And the remaining cases are at least 50 percent of the times this letter is used. If nothing else. And thus the hard sign became a symbol of ostentatious piety, laziness of mind, stubbornness and simply stupidity.
And it had to be removed at the end of the word.
And the soft sign continues to work and live and live. In the words HORSE or GOOSE - how do you remove it at the end of the word? But it doesn’t mean any sound!
There are analogues of the soft sign in other European languages. For example, in Lithuanian or Frisian, but they are depicted there using the Latin alphabet.
The fall of the reduced occurred in the West too, but, as always, with a great delay compared to us. For example, in French.
And in general: the West is following behind - this is my clear conviction. The division of the Indo-Europeans into the Centum and Satem languages is generally a shameful phenomenon that casts a shadow on some of the Indo-Europeans.
The languages of the Satem category were the vanguard of the Indo-Europeans, and the Centum languages were those who trailed behind, but then came to the same thing, but only with a delay.
By the way, the Slavs are satem, and the Germans, Celts and Romans are centum.

No matter how they try to convince students that the knowledge they acquired during their school years will be needed in the future, unfortunately, this is not the case. However, some things taught in school will actually be useful in adult life. For example, the ability to write correctly. To master it, you need to know the basic grammatical laws of the Russian language. Among them are the rules governing the use of separating signs ъ and ь.

Hard sign: history and its role in the word

The twenty-eighth letter of the Russian alphabet, despite the fact that it does not represent sounds, performs an important function in words. Therefore, before consideringrules governing the use of ъ and ь signs are worthlearn a little about its history and role in the word.

The hard sign existed in Slavic languages almost from the very moment of their formation. It started out as a short vowel sound until it evolved into an unpronounceable letter used to divide words into syllables and also replace spaces.

At the end of the 19th century. it was noted that the frequent use of ъ in texts (4% of the total volume) is inappropriate, especially in telegraphy, cursive writing and typography. In this regard, attempts have been made more than once to limit the use of a hard sign.

After the revolution of 1917, this letter was completely abolished for almost ten years. In those years, an apostrophe was used as a separator in words.However, in 1928 it was excluded from the Russian language (but remained in Ukrainian and Belarusian), and its dividing function was taken over by a solid sign, which it performs to this day.

In what cases is ъ put in words?

As for the use of a solid sign, there are several rules for placing it before e, yu, ё, i:

After prefixes that end with a consonant: connector, pre-anniversary.
In terms that came from other languages, with the prefixes ab-, ad-, diz-, in-, inter-, con-, ob- and sub-: adjuvant, disjunction.
After counter-, pan-, super, trans- and field-: pan-Europeanism, superyacht.
In compound words starting with two-, three-, four-: two-core, three-tier, quadrilingual.

There are several exceptions, when ъ does not stand at the junction of a prefix and a root, but inside the word itself. These nouns include: courier and flaw.

When they don't put it

In addition to the rules governing the use of ъ and ь signs, it is worth remembering cases when they do not need to be used:

A hard sign is not used in words with a prefix ending in a consonant when it is followed by the vowels a, o, i, u, e, s: cloudless, curbed.
This sign is not used in complex abbreviated terms: inyaz, glavyuvelirtorg.
It is also not used in lexemes written with a hyphen: half a diocese, half an apple.

When considering the rules governing the use of ъ and ь signs that perform a separating function in a word, it is worth remembering that the lexemes “interior” and “clerk” are written using a soft sign. This spelling is no exception, since in the word “interior” inter is not a prefix, but part of the root. And in “deacon” the prefix is not sub-, but po-, but -deacon is the root.

What functions does a soft sign perform?

As for ь, in ancient times it meant a short vowel [and], but gradually, like ъ, it lost its sound.

At the same time, he retained the ability [and] to impart softness to the preceding consonant sound.

Unlike the hard word, it can perform 3 functions.

Dividing.
Informs about the softness of the preceding sound.
Used to indicate certain grammatical forms.

Rules for using a soft sign

Studying the laws of the Russian languageregulating the use of ъ and ь signs, it is worth learning a few rules:

A soft sign that performs a dividing function is never placed after a prefix (this is the destiny of a hard sign). Parts of words in which the dividing ь is written are the root, suffix and ending to e, ё, yu, i: monkey, interior. This rule applies to both Russian vocabulary and borrowed terms from other languages.
The separator ь is placed in some words before the letter combination it: champignon, medallion, broth and million.

In the case when ь informs about the softness of the preceding sound, and does not perform a dividing function, its production is determined by the following rules:

In the middle of a word ь indicates the softness of the letter l if it precedes another consonant other than l: finger, prayer. Also, the soft sign does not “wedge” into letter combinations: nch, nsch, nn, rshch, chk, chn, rch, schn ( drummer, candle).
In the middle of a word, this sign is placed between the soft and hard consonants: please, very much.
In the middle of a word, ь can stand between two soft consonants. Provided that when the form of the word changes, the first remains soft, and the second becomes hard: request - in a request, letter - in a letter.
In some cases, this symbol is located at the end of a word after consonants. At the same time, it helps to establish the meaning of the token: linen(plant) - laziness(quality of character), con(place for bets in the game) - horse(animal).

As a marker for individual grammatical forms, this sign is used in the following cases:

In adjectives arising from the names of months (except January): February, September.
At the end of numerals from 5 to 30, as well as in their middle, if they denote tens from 50 to 80 and hundreds from 500 to 900: six, seventy, eight hundred.
In the imperative mood of verbs (except lie down - lie down): take it out, take it out, throw it in, throw it in.
In the infinitive (initial form of the verb): maintain, raise.
In all cases of the word “eight” and in the instrumental case it is plural. numbers of individual numerals and nouns: six, lashes.

The use of ь and ъ signs after hissing w, h, shch, sh

Following these soft sign letters is possible under the following conditions:

At the end of most adverbs and particles, except: I can't bear to get married and in pretext between.
In the infinitive: preserve, bake.
In the imperative mood of verbs: anoint, comfort.
In the second person endings of singular verbs of the future and present tenses: sell it, destroy it.
At the end of the nominative case of nouns. gender, in III declension: daughter, power. For comparison in m. gender - cry, broadsword.

In some cases, ь is not used after these letters:

In nouns of the 2nd declension: executioner, dummy.
In short forms of adjectives: fresh, burning.
In the genitive case of plural nouns: puddles, clouds

A hard sign after zh, sh, ch, sch at the end of a word or root is not placed, since its “place” is always after the prefix before e, e, yu, i.

Using ь and ъ signs: exercises

Having familiarized yourself with all the cases of setting soft and hard signs, you should move on to the exercises. To avoid confusion, we have collected together most of the above rules governing the use of ь and ъ signs. The table below will serve as a hint for completing the tasks.

In this exercise you need to choose which letter should be placed in the words.

This task concerns the use of a soft sign following sibilant letters. You should open the brackets in it and put a soft sign where necessary.

In the last exercise you need to write down the proposed words in 2 columns. In the first - those that are used with ь, in the second - those that are without it.

Since both hard and soft signs are “silent” letters, they play an important role in the Russian language. You can make many mistakes in your writing if you do not know the laws of grammar governing the use of ъ and ь signs. You will have to learn more than one rule so as not to confuse which sign should be used in a particular situation. However, it is worth it, especially in the case of a soft sign, since often only its presence helps determine the lexical meaning of the word.

Very often we simply ignore learning the functions of the soft sign, and the student simply does not know that the soft sign can mean anything other than softness. In this case, sometimes errors in pronunciation occur, for example in words such as wilderness, godly, suffocation.

Have you also once tried to pronounce the always hard consonants Zh and Sh as soft ones? Remember, they are always only hard and in Russian they do not have soft pairs.

So, if we see a soft sign after consonants, which can only be hard or only soft, we must understand that in these cases the soft sign performs other functions.

The soft sign (“b”) in Russian can perform several functions:

it can denote the softness of the consonant before it (day, dictionary);
it can denote the grammatical form of a word (speak, night);
and can also perform a separating function (leaves, family).

Let's talk more about each function and understand what these functions mean.

The first and most famous function of the soft sign is softness designation. A soft sign tells us that we should pronounce the consonant that comes before it softly. This is true for all consonants that have a soft pair. But we must remember that a soft sign cannot affect unpaired consonants: always hard (Zh, Sh, Ts) and always soft (Ch, Shch).

But what if we still see a soft sign after Sh or H?

Related to this grammatical function soft sign.

Always when we write a soft sign at the end of a word after hissing consonant (Zh, Sh, Ch, Shch), it does not mean softness at all, but shows us that this is a feminine word (3rd type of declension). You can remember this trick to better determine the gender of nouns ending in –b.

So, daughter, night, oven, mouse, quiet, lie, rye, help, thing– all these words are feminine.

Remember, in masculine words with a hissing consonant (Zh, Sh, Ch, Shch) at the end of the word we do not write –b: ball, rook, doctor, hut, ruff, hedgehog, borscht.

In addition, the soft sign also indicates the infinitive - the initial form of the verb: bake- to bake, help– to help. In verbs starting with - TH the soft sign denotes not only the infinitive, but also the softness of the T sound.

Now let's figure out what it is separation function soft sign. We can talk about this function when we see a soft sign after a consonant and before letters E, E, Yu, I, I(soft vowels). The separating function of the soft sign means that the soft sign “separates” the consonant before it and the subsequent soft vowel, and in this case we pronounce the vowel as a diphthong, with the initial sound /th/.

Let's look at examples of words with transcription:

Family [s`em`ya], leaves [l`is`t`ya], [friends`ya], [p`yot], pours [l`yot],
blizzard [v'yuga], nightingales [salav'yi], ants [ant'yi].

As we can see, the soft sign not only denotes the softness of consonants, but also determines the pronunciation of subsequent soft vowels and is able to indicate the grammatical features of the word, such as the feminine gender of nouns and the infinitive form of verbs.

It is very useful to know the functions of the soft sign if you want to have good pronunciation and understand how the Russian language works.

Good luck in learning Russian!
Your Julia.

b - indicator of softness of a consonant

denotes the softness of a consonant at the end of a word (pain, notebook, lantern)
in the middle of a word after a hard consonant (letter, palm tree, take).

Remember! Softness "l" is indicated

b before any consonants.

L-separation

before E, E, Yu, I, And inside the words (blizzard, leaves, casting)
in some foreign words before O (broth, champignon, medallion).

Remember! CLEANMAN, INTERIOR, REAR-GUARD.

b – separating

before E, E, Yu, I after consonant prefixes (entrance, filming)
after foreign language prefixes AD-, DIZ-, IN-, CONT-, SUB-, TRANS-, PAN-
adjutant, trans-European
in complex words after parts TWO-, THREE-, FOUR- and prefixes SUPER-, INTER- (two-tier, interlingual, supernatural).

In the Old Russian language, the letters Ъ and ь carried a different “load”: they denoted short, unclearly pronounced sounds

b - sound close to [O] b - sound close to [E]

volk (wolf), s'n (dream) d'en (day)

The letters were called b - er and b - er. This was the case until the 12th century. Then, in the middle of words, b was replaced by O, and b by E. But according to tradition, b was written at the end of words after consonants! ... until the 20th century.

According to L. Uspensky’s calculations, in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” (ed. 1897) there are 115 thousand solid characters (ers). These “worthless loafers,” as L. Uspensky put it, take up more than 70 pages!

The writing of the letter Ъ at the end of words - “the most expensive letter in the world” (according to L. Uspensky) - was abolished in 1918.

As a result of the loss of short vowel sounds in the Russian language, ALTERNATING vowels O and E with a zero sound appeared (sleep - sleep, day - day).

In oral speech, the loss of short vowel sounds led to deafening of voiced consonants

fruit – pl[t], honey – meth[t].

When recording transcriptions of words, use

icons b(er) and b(er)

to indicate unstressed vowel sounds:

Beginning of a word

2 pre-shock syllable

1 preset syllable

Stressed syllable

[‘I] / [Y]

Overstressed syllable