Unit 7. Reading

Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

Some consonants sound in Russian as well as in English are produced with the vibration of the vocal cords.

Touch your neck in the area of the throat while making a sound 'z-z-z-z-z-z-z...' and you'll feel your vocal cords vibrating. If you do the same thing while producing a sound 's-s-s-s-s-s-s...', you'll feel that your vocal cords are not vibrating.

So, we say that the 'z' sound is a voiced consonant, while it's counterpart  's' sound is a voiceless consonant. Except for voicing, 'z' and 's' have identical articulation. There are 11 pairs of voiced and voiceless consonant sounds in Russian.

 Voiced

б

 Voiceless

п

Notice that except for voicing each pair of these consonant sounds has essentially identical articulation.

Devoicing of Final Consonants

In the final position in a word a voiced consonant is pronounced like it's voiceless counterpart

For example: б sounds like п;   д  sounds like т , ж  sounds like ш  etc .

Click the words to listen:

город

When a cluster of consonants occurs (mostly two consonants), the final element in the cluster determines the voicing of the whole cluster.  

Memorize the rules:

! 

[зафтра] 

[вотка]

[лошка]

в  -> ф before voiceless т

д  -> т before voiceless  к

ж  -> ш before voiceless к

! 

вокзал 

[вагзал]

[фудбол]

к  -> г before  voiced з

т  -> д before voiced б

автобус  

but

свобода 

[афтобус]

[свабода]

[квартира]

в  -> ф before т

but

св

кв

Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice

зуб, лоб

Ростов (old Russian city)

друг, круг 

лёд,  cад , город 

глаз, водолаз 

нож , багаж

зуб  - суп   (tooth - soup)

глаз - класс   (eye - class)

дом - Том  (house - men's name)

луг - лук            (onion - meadow)

рот  - род          (mouth - gender)

автобус   (bus)

завтра   (tomorrow)

ложка   (spoon)

футбол   (soccer)

сделать   (to make)

рюкзак   (backpack)

свет (light)

твой (your, yours)

до свидания (good-bye)