Modern Russian spelling is based on certain principles. To understand the principle of spelling means to see its system and perceive each of its individual rules as part of the system, to understand the spelling rule and each spelling in the interrelations of grammar, etymology, and the history of the language. The theory of Russian spelling specifies morphological, phonetic, traditional principles, as well as differentiating spellings.
Morphological the principle of spelling presupposes a uniform, identical spelling of morphemes - roots, prefixes, suffixes, endings, regardless of phonetic changes in the sounding word that occur during the formation of related words or word forms, that is, regardless of positional alternations and other traditional inconsistencies of writing and pronunciation. Such inconsistencies include: all cases of unstressed vowels in different morphemes - root, prefix, suffix, ending, deafening of voiced consonants and voicing of voiceless consonants before paired deaf and voiced consonants, deafening at the absolute end of a word; orthoepic, traditional pronunciation of many words and combinations.
Checking spellings written according to morphological characteristics includes: firstly: understanding the meaning the word or phrase being tested, without which it is impossible to select a related test word, determine the case form, proper name, etc.; secondly: analysis morphological composition of the word, the ability to determine the location of the spelling, which is important for choosing and applying the rule; third: phonetic analysis, definitions syllabic composition, stressed and unstressed syllables, highlighting vowels and consonants, understanding weak and strong positions of phonemes, positional alternations and their causes; fourthly, grammatical analysis words (phrases) – definition of a part of speech, form of a word, for example: a noun, first declension, in d.p., singular, etc.
The leading position of the morphological principle of Russian orthography also determines the methodology of teaching spelling: the latter is based on a conscious, analytical approach to language, on understanding the meanings of words and their combinations, text, grammatical categories and forms, and the phonemic composition of a word.
The following orthographic topics studied in primary grades correspond to the morphological principle: spelling of unstressed vowels, voiced and voiceless consonants, unpronounceable consonants, except for unverified words that are written according to a different principle; spelling of unstressed vowels, voiced and unvoiced consonants in prefixes and suffixes, at the junctions of morphemes (except for certain cases, for example, prefixes with “-z”, which are written according to a different principle; this case is not studied in primary grades); spelling of unstressed vowels in the endings of word forms: in the case endings of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd declension of nouns, in the case endings of adjectives, in the personal endings of verbs of the 1st and 2nd conjugations of the present and future tense; transferring words from line to line, since when transferring, not only syllabic, but also morphemic division of words is observed; to a certain extent, the morphological principle also operates in combined and separate spellings of words, in particular, in distinguishing between prefixes and prepositions, as well as in the use of “Ъ” after prefixes, since the application of the corresponding rules requires a morphemic analysis of words and the determination of their morphological features.
Even such spelling topics as indicating soft consonants in writing, capitalizing names, and double consonants also rely on children's morphological knowledge and skills.
So, the morphological principle is the basic principle of Russian orthography. As mentioned above, its essence lies in the fact that all significant parts of a word (roots, prefixes, suffixes, inflections), repeated in different words and forms, are always written the same way, regardless of how they are pronounced in one position or another ( see Appendix 1) .
The unity of the orthographic appearance of morphemes is achieved by the fact that the letter indicates not the pronunciation in a particular case, but the phonemic composition of the morpheme, formed by strong phonemes. Therefore, the basic principle of Russian orthography can also be called phonetic, meaning by this the principle of transmitting the phonemic composition of a morpheme in writing.
Deviations from the basic principle of Russian spelling are phonetic And traditional-historical principles.
Let's consider further phonetic principle. It is assumed that the sound-letter writing that initially emerged among different peoples was always phonetic: each sound of speech was recorded as it sounds, as the writer hears it. And in modern Russian writing there are many such spellings where there are no discrepancies between sound and writing: “moon”; “chair”, “we”, “cancer” and many others. In most words, along with verifiable or unverifiable spellings, other sounds are designated by letters, essentially on a phonetic basis. Thus, in the word “car” the sound [a] is unstressed and is considered unverifiable, the letter -a- is written according to tradition, but the other letters of the word are written in accordance with the sound. In essence, all these spellings should be called not phonetic, but phonetic-graphic.
Phonetic-graphic spellings do not cause difficulties for writers, so they are usually simply not noticed; but in primary school their role is very important. Phonetic-graphic spellings do not contradict the morphological principle of Russian orthography, since they do not lead to unequal spelling of morphemes. But their danger is that they still create in students the illusion of well-being, the illusion that letters correspond to sounds, which in fact is not always the case.
Cases such as “table”, “hand”, “lamp” (phonetic spellings) reflect the phonemic composition of these words and do not oppose the morphological principle of spelling. So, the phonetic principle of Russian orthography is that sounds are written in words as they are heard, i.e. the spelling conveys the sound of the word. Appendix B discusses spellings based on the phonetic principle.
In the system of spelling rules, there are also those that are based on the phonetic principle and are in sharp contradiction with the leading, morphological principle. The contradiction lies in the fact that morphemes (in this case, prefixes with - -з) are not written uniformly, but depending on pronunciation, reflecting positional alternation. The prefixes from-, is-, time-, race-, vz-, vs-, through-, through- and others do not obey the morphological principle. According to the rule, these prefixes are written with the letter Z before vowels or voiced consonants, and in other cases - with the letter C: “unnamed, but “infinite”. It is easy to notice that the spelling Z- (S- in this example corresponds to the pronunciation, i.e. is subject to the phonetic principle.
Rules based on the phonetic principle and contradicting the morphological one cause difficulties for students, destroy their ideas about the spelling system that have just begun to form, and contradict the general principle of checking vowels and consonants in weak positions.
Since the rules based on the phonetic principle contradict the understanding of the Russian spelling system that is developing in children and are generally difficult to master, they are not studied in the elementary school course. But younger schoolchildren encounter words containing such spellings in written speech and write them, learning them on a practical basis through memorization.
It can be emphasized that cases similar to the spelling of prefixes with -з- are few in number: other principles of spelling generally do not contradict, but, on the contrary, support the morphological principle of Prussian spelling. This is the third principle - traditional(historical). According to this principle, many words are written according to tradition, without checking the rules.
Words that are not verified by the rules are very numerous: in the text typical of the written speech of primary schoolchildren, their number reaches 20% (many of these words will later, in high school, become verifiable for students). These are mostly words borrowed from other languages. Many of them entered the Russian language relatively recently: “bath” - German, “suitcase” - Persian, others in ancient times: “watermelon”, “balyk”, “tulup” - Turkic. etc.
Many spellings considered traditional can in fact be verified based on the source language: “cardboard” is from Latin; “suit” – from French, etc.
Sometimes a spelling considered traditional can be verified on the basis of knowledge of the history of the etymology of words and historical changes in the phonetics of the Russian language: “rooster” - from the Old Russian “peti”, “peas” - contains the full vowel –oro-, in which there is no –a- . Appendix B describes spelling variations based on traditional historical principles.
So, traditional historical writings are those writings that do not depend on either morphemes or pronunciations, and the writing according to tradition is preserved.
Within the framework of the traditional principle, which generally does not contradict the general rules of Russian writing and the leading principle of Russian orthography - morphological, there are several cases that contradict the general system.
The traditional spelling of the combinations ZHI, SHI, with the letter “i”, CHA, SCHA, with the letter “a”, CHU, SHU with the letter “u” contradicts the general rule of Russian spelling, according to which after hard consonants one should write not “and”, but “y”, after soft ones - not “u”, “a”, but “yu”, “ya”.
In the elementary grades, the spelling of these combinations is learned by heart without any explanation, and, of course, cannot but cause damage to the formation of the concept of a spelling system in the minds of students.
The morphological principle is contradicted by the traditional spelling of individual words: “kalach” (according to the morphological principle, one should write “kolach”).
If morphological spellings are checked and learned on the basis of phonetic, word-formation and grammatical analysis of words and their combinations, then traditional spellings are mainly based on memorization, in the order of the so-called dictionary-spelling work. Memorization in the elementary grades plays an important role; it cannot be neglected; on the contrary, it is necessary to develop a deep system of motivations and game techniques that make it easier for children to memorize words with difficult spellings.
With the development of phonology, with the introduction of the concept of phoneme into scientific use, a new phonemic principle was proposed, which some linguists define as the basic principle of Russian orthography. But, as mentioned above, the leading role in checking spellings belongs to the morphological approach: you need to know whether the spelling is in the root, suffix, prefix or ending. And without a morphological approach, the phonemic method of verification is blind and is applicable only in the simplest, obvious cases such as “water” - “water” or “meadow” - “meadows”.
It is impossible to check the spelling of the words [r shot], [long], [shyt] and many other spellings without resorting to morphological analysis. The morphological principle explains all these cases; in other words, the morphological principle is wider than the phonemic one; it covers a significantly larger number of spellings than the phonetic one. The authors of most textbooks for universities consider the morphological and phonemic principles in close connection, but however not equal, since the phonetic principle is part of the morphological one.
Both pedagogical science and school practice have made significant progress in recent years in determining rational ways to develop educational skills in schoolchildren. Data from studies conducted by psychologists and methodologists confirm that only a system of exercises ensures that students master the skills of competent writing.
The nature and system of Russian spelling is revealed using its principles: morphological, phonemic, traditional-historical, phonetic and the principle of differentiation of meanings. Modern methods of teaching spelling are focused on these principles. They help to understand the meaning of each rule, each method of checking spelling, to comprehend each spelling as a link in a general system, as a derivative of the laws of the language.
Younger schoolchildren are not introduced to the principles themselves, only to the rules and their application, but the teacher needs knowledge of the principles and the ability to apply them both in the practice of testing and in the methodology of teaching this to children.
The morphological principle requires that the spelling check be focused on the morphemic composition of the word; it assumes uniform, identical spelling of morphemes: root, prefix, suffix, ending, regardless of positional alternations (phonetic changes ) in a sounding word, occurring during the formation of related words or word forms. Such inconsistencies between writing and pronunciation include: unstressed vowels in different morphemes - in the root, prefix, suffix, ending; deafening of voiced consonants and voicing of voiceless consonants in weak positions; unpronounceable consonants; orthoepic, traditional pronunciation of many words and combinations: [siniev] - blue, [kan'eshn'] - of course and many more. etc.
According to the morphological principle, the letter outwardly diverges from the pronunciation: we pronounce [gorʹt], [vada], [zdal], - we write city, water, passed, pull up. Writing according to the morphological principle preserves in the letter composition of the word, its morphemes the original sound, which is revealed through the strong positions of phonemes within the morpheme - root, prefix, suffix, ending: for the root -year- in the words godik, new year, anniversary; for the root -water- in the words watery, waterless, flood, flood; for the prefix s- in the words moved out, copied, drove away, collected; for the prefix, put it in the words, came up. In the word pull up, the morphemic approach allows us to “highlight” both the root -tyan-, the first sound of which in pronunciation merges with the prefix pod- [sweat], and the postfix -sya. Constant, systematic work of students to check spelling in the described way (based on checking morphemes) contributes to the assimilation of word composition, word formation, the simplest cases of etymology, enrichment and mobility of the dictionary. The morphological principle also ensures verification of endings, i.e., the writing of morphological forms of a word - unstressed case endings of nouns and adjectives: the ending is checked by the stressed ending in the same word form of the same type of declension. The same approach applies to other parts of speech.
Checking spellings written according to the morphological principle includes:
a) firstly, understanding the meaning of the word or combination of words being tested (sometimes
entire sentence or even text), without which it is impossible to select a related test
a word, determine the grammatical form of the word, etc.;
b) secondly, analysis of the morphemic composition of a word, the ability to determine the place of the spelling - in the root, in the prefix, in the suffix, in the ending, which is necessary for choosing and applying the rule;
c) thirdly, phonetic analysis, identification of stressed and unstressed syllables, identification of vowels and consonants, understanding of strong and weak positions of phonemes, positional alternations and their causes; for example, the alternation of o/a, o/b, etc., the alternation of a voiced consonant with its paired unvoiced one, the alternation of a consonant with a zero sound: [l’esn’its] – staircase.
The assimilation of spellings that correspond to the morphological principle cannot be effective without strong speech skills of students: choosing words, forming their forms, constructing phrases and sentences. So, in the word stand (“that which is substituted under something, on which they put”) the root is -stav-, the prefix is pronounced like [pot], but the letter retains the same type of morpheme, which is observed in the strong position [pаdyskаk’] . But there is no need to carry out such a complex check every time, since schoolchildren memorize morphemes, especially prefixes: there are not many of them. Mixed prefixes are pre- and pre-, but they are not studied in primary school; there is a prefix pa- (stepson, pastures, flood), but it is always, as a rule, under stress, and is also unproductive.
We should not forget that memorizing a word and its spelling often precedes testing and proof.
In the word form along the street [paulitsj] the ending sounds like a vowel [ъы], but in another word of the same grammatical class (1st cl. noun) voda in the same dative case the ending is stressed - on water [пъв'ади́] . The morpheme, in this case the ending, retains its uniform spelling regardless of positional alternations.
Checking spelling is often difficult due to historical alternations of sounds.
kovs, which, unlike positional alternations, are reflected in writing: run - run, drag - drag, growth - grow, end - finish. Sometimes, when alternating, the root takes on an unrecognizable appearance: hearing - hear, burning - burning - burning. Historical alternations are not studied in primary school; textbook authors try to avoid words with them. But it is impossible to completely avoid them, since these are commonly used words, they are often found both in readable texts and in the speech of children. The teacher, willy-nilly, has to explain to the children that bake and bake are forms of one word, run and run are related words.
The morphological principle in spelling has long been considered the main, leading one, because it ensures the leading role of semantics in language teaching. But in recent decades, a new, phonemic principle has claimed the role of the leading principle of spelling.
Phonemic principle
In modern phonology, it is generally accepted that if two or more sounds alternate positionally, then in the language system they are identical. This is a phoneme - a linguistic unit represented by a number of positionally alternating sounds. Thus, the phoneme [o] can be represented by the following sounds, regularly reproduced in the speech of native Russian speakers:
strong position – under stress [house];
weak position, unstressed [queen];
weak position, reduced [m'lako'], [o'b'k].
The phonematic principle of spelling (more precisely, graphics) states: the same letter denotes a phoneme (not a sound!) in strong and weak positions. Russian graphics are phonemic: a letter denotes a phoneme in its strong version and in a weak position, also in the same morpheme, of course. Phoneme is a meaning distinguisher. A letter, fixing a phoneme, provides a unified understanding of the meaning of a morpheme (for example, a root) regardless of its sound variations.
The phonemic principle explains basically the same spellings as the morphological principle, but from a different point of view, and this allows for a deeper understanding of the nature of orthography. He more specifically explains why, when checking an unstressed vowel letter, one should focus on the stressed version, on the strong position of the phoneme.
The phonemic principle allows us to combine many disparate rules: checking unstressed vowels, voiced and voiceless consonants, unpronounceable consonants; promotes understanding of consistency in spelling; introduces teachers and students to a new linguistic teaching - phonology.
Morphological and phonemic principles do not contradict each other, but deepen each other. Checking vowels and consonants in a weak position through a strong one - from the phonemic; reliance on the morphemic composition of the word, on parts of speech and their forms - from the morphological (morphematic) principle. Some modern programs and textbooks of the Russian language (for example, the school of V.V. Repkin) provide basic information on phonology, and in those schools where the textbook by V.V. Repkin is used, the interaction of the two considered principles and practical methods is already being implemented.
Related information.
The basic rule of the phonetic principle (the dream of every schoolchild!): “As we hear, so we write.” Guided by this rule, today one should write horat instead of city or piti instead of five. Of course, initially the letter-sound system of Russian writing was focused specifically on pronunciation. In ancient Russian texts (for example, birch bark letters) you can find such spellings as bestyda (without shame), bezloby (without malice) and even bezhny (without it). Equally “phonetic” are the first attempts at writing in a child who has barely mastered the alphabet. “Sivodni I went to Ermitash and f sat with Tyota May,” wrote my four-year-old daughter. And today the phonetic principle is used as a leading principle, for example, in Serbian and Belarusian orthography. However, applying it is by no means as simple as it seems at first glance. Firstly, it is difficult to follow pronunciation when writing. Secondly, pronunciation does not have unconditional unity: after all, each of us speaks and hears in our own way. Learning to “decipher” texts written strictly within the framework of the phonetic principle will not be easier than learning to write “according to the rules,” that is, in accordance with the logic of the morphological principle.
Nevertheless, some of the modern spellings developed precisely under the influence of phonetic patterns:
- Writing only two consonants where morphologically there should be three, and (in some cases) only one consonant where morphologically there should be two: ode ss ki = Ode ss -a + s k; ss udit b = s + ss ud-a; ma n ka = ma nn -a + k; oper t ka = oper t -a + k, etc. (The reasons that necessitated such a violation of the morphological principle of spelling were discussed above). Noteworthy in this sense is the participle cart + burnt, the spelling of which has undergone long fluctuations. Note that the sound z before the next z in this word is replaced by the sound z and to convey a long, or, in other words, double zh, two letters are enough - zzh. It is in this phonetic spelling (vozzheny) that this word is recorded in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language, ed. D.N. Ushakova (1935-1940). However, later the morphological spelling (burnt), adopted in modern dictionaries, prevailed.
Double consonants in derived words in accordance with pronunciation (i.e. in those positions where the phonetic principle is “more influential” than the morphological one) are not preserved in the following cases: - in the first part of compound words: gra m entry (though: gra mm background recording) r point (although: to pp respondent point), etc.;
- at the end of compound abbreviated words military r, laboriously r, rural r, sobko r, special r, junco r(although: military co pp respondent) and derivatives from them (voenkorovsky, junkorovets, etc.); such words should be distinguished from graphic abbreviations. correspondent, worker corr. etc., which are a combination of two separate independent words (own correspondent, working correspondent);
- in forms of subjective assessment of proper names, if the suffix following the root begins with a consonant: Kiri l ka (though: Kiri ll, Kiri ll abalone), Fili n ka (though: Fili pp, Fili pp OK);
- in some of those words whose productive stem ends in nn and the suffix begins with a consonant: ante n ka, ante n box, though: ante NN a, ante NN glasses; colo n ka, colo n chatted though: colo NN ah, colo NN shaped; ma n ka, although: ma NN cereal; one and a half n ka, though: then NN oh, one and a half NN y; form n ka (although the form NN y); fi n skiy, fi n ka, though: fi NN, fi NN o-Ugric;
- in some derivatives from the word krista ll formed using suffixes starting with a consonant: crista l ny, Krista l Yes, Krista l ness, Christa l bitch (but: Krista ll ichical, Krista ll ization, krista ll ik, etc.);
- in all derivatives of the word opera tt a: opera T ka, opera T accuracy, opera T full-time [Please note that this paragraph presents an exhaustive list of words that do not retain a double consonant during inflection and the formation of derivatives. The spelling of all other words of this type is subject to the morphological principle: ba ll- high five ll ny, Bo NN- bo NN skiy, va tt- stova tt ny, etc.];
- in words there will be n ovka and will n sheep (although: Will NN oh, will NN ovsky), which is most likely due to extralinguistic factors;
- in the words of brie l yant, brie l Yantik, Brie l Yantin, Brie l amber, brie l yantschik, serving as spelling variants of brie ll iant, bree ll iantik, brie ll iantine, brie ll iant, brie ll iantschik and having a special stylistic coloring (options with l instead of ll are characteristic, first of all, of the colloquial style of speech, but are also widely used in poetic texts);
- in the words of mi l yon, mi l yonny, mi l monger, mi l yonshchitsa, although assessed as hopelessly outdated and not recommended spelling options for the forms ll ion, mi ll ionic, mi ll ionist, mi ll ionist, but, nevertheless, widely represented in poetic texts, where “correction” of the spelling would inevitably entail a violation of the poetic rhythm: “Millions of you. We are darkness, and darkness, and darkness” (A. Blok. Scythians) ;
- in words well l evik, well l Yevka, well l eva, n at face, n at l (although: well ll ification, well ll ified, well ll ify, well ll become infected).
- Writing -s- instead of -z- at the end of some prefixes (without- (nebez-, bez-), voz- (vz-), iz- (syz-), niz-, raz- (ros-), through- ( through-)) before the next voiceless consonant.
The reason that prefixes with zs exist in our orthography according to their own laws lies in the deep history of the Russian language. The fact is that these prefixes, unlike all the others, were never prepositions, that is, independent words, and therefore between the final sound of such a prefix and the initial sound of the next part of the word there was, relatively speaking, no “gap”, no pause , as a result of which assimilation (i.e. phonetic adaptation) of the last consonant of the prefix to the first consonant of the root occurred regularly and from the most ancient times.
Morphologically, these prefixes should always be written the same way, since in terms of meaning scatter- , for example, is no different from raz- (scatter - scatter). This is exactly how, without changing the graphic appearance, we write all the other prefixes: reset - throw off, throw up - throw up, throw away - throw away, etc. However, the spelling of prefixes in zs is not completely phonetic. Let's say, in the word ruthless, instead of the spelling s, one actually hears z, and in the word silent, at the end of the prefix it sounds not s, but sh. In other words, when writing prefixes of this kind, the spelling reflects only one of the features of their sound: sonority or deafness, determined by the next sound. And even then, strictly speaking, not so much with a sound, but... with a letter. Please note: the word tasteless is written with the spelling variant bez-, although in place of the spelling z the unvoiced sound s is actually pronounced (since the subsequent b is deafened before the sound k). But the real sound is eclipsed in our consciousness by the force of the visual impact of the letter.
For purely methodological purposes, one of the researchers of modern Russian writing suggests using the following funny mini-dialogue, which combines all ten consonant letters, before which the final consonant of the prefixes listed above is always indicated by the letter s: “- Styopka, do you want shchetc? - Fi!” [Meierov V.F. Modern Russian writing: Notation of sounds in weak positions: Textbook. Irkutsk, Irkutsk University Publishing House. 1995. P. 87]. - The presence of four written variants for the prefix roz- (ros-) - raz- (ras-), which reflects not only the alternation of voiced z with unvoiced s, but also stressed o with unstressed a: search - but to search, ro write-off - but write off, etc. It would seem that this discrepancy can be avoided by completely abandoning the options with the letter a, and write, for example, list (similar to painting) and distribute (since there is a form distributed). However, modern pronunciation resists such spelling simplification: we know of several cases when, under the stress in the prefix, it is clearly audible (rave, r a sleep [See V. Mayakovsky: “With what pleasure would He be whipped and crucified by the gendarmerie caste ..." ("Poems about the Soviet passport")], etc.). Therefore, the very wording of the rule should be clarified: not “under stress it is written o, without stress - a”, as most textbooks and reference manuals say, but “in an unstressed position one should always write ras- (raz-), and under stress - then what is heard (usually rose- (ros-))". However, this formulation also needs to be supplemented: according to the current rules, the adjective investigative is still written about, although the prefix is not under stress [This exception is discussed in sufficient detail in the article on spelling reform].
These spellings are entirely phonetic. Compliance with the morphological principle of spelling would in this case lead to a violation of another important principle of our writing - the syllabic principle of graphics. This principle assumes that the graphic syllable acts as a unit of reading and writing in the Russian language, i.e. that “the combination of a consonant and vowel letters represents an integral graphic element, a letter combination, both parts of which are mutually determined: both vowels and consonants are written and are read taking into account adjacent letters "[Ivanova V.F. Modern Russian language. Graphics and spelling. M., 1976. S. 76-77].
In accordance with this principle, the letter and following a consonant requires that this consonant be pronounced as soft. However, according to the modern pronunciation norm, softening of the hard consonant at the end of prefixes before the initial and the root does not actually occur (cf. di- pre yes coming, oh bi yes - oh would play). Obviously, Russian graphics could in this case choose another way of observing the syllabic principle: recommend writing a dividing hard sign (for example, prehistory) at the junction of a prefix and a root - similar to how this grapheme is used at the junction of prefixes ending in a hard consonant, and roots that begin with the vowels e, e, yu, i, which also require softening of the previous consonant sound (tongueless, supernatural, etc.). However, firstly, such writing looks much more cumbersome; secondly, the letter i (unlike e, e, yu, i) in a position after a hard consonant never denotes two sounds (cf. eat and dine - the need for a dividing hard sign in the first word is dictated not only by the lack of softening of the consonant b, but also by pronunciation in place of the orthographic e of the combination of two sounds ye); thirdly, the half-forgotten historical fact that the letter y was born from the imagination of the creators of our alphabet, Cyril and Methodius, may also be significant, precisely as a combination of the letters ъ and i [Let us note in passing: the very same i (And), about which the well-known saying “dot the dots” speaks i " ].
The preservation of the initial and radical after the prefixes inter- and super- is explained by historical reasons. Writing ы after the prefix inter- would first of all violate the general rule, known to even inveterate poor students from the first grade: " live And shi always write via And". "Encroach on the sacred" for the sake of just four little-used words in which the prefix inter-adjacent to the initial and root (inter-publishing, inter-imperialist, inter-institutional, inter-irrigation [See "Consolidated Dictionary of Modern Russian Vocabulary". Vol. 1. M., 1991. P. 587 ]), the spelling has not been resolved. In addition, historical phonetics knows that the sounds zh and sh in the Russian language for a long time were only soft (and not just hard, as now) [ Zh may remind us of the former softness. modern pronunciation of words rein And yeast ].
With the prefix super-, a completely opposite story happened: for many centuries the sound x could only be hard, so when combining the prefix super- and the root starting with and, in fact, no phonetic changes occurred that would be worth reflecting in the graph (cf. . spelling of complex words, the first stem of which ends in and: three-pulse, four-needle).
The origin of the root - whether it is Russian or foreign - is not taken into account in this rule, although before the publication of the current spelling code (1956), instead of the etymological one and after prefixes, it was written only in Russian roots, and in borrowed roots it was preserved (since s play, but without And active). However, such a distinction can hardly be considered appropriate, since in modern language words such as idea, history, interest and many others are no longer perceived as foreign words.
After foreign language prefixes ending in a consonant (des-, counter-, pan-, post-, sub-, super-, trans-), and is saved so that the writer can quickly see the boundary between parts of the word and thereby understand them faster meaning. As a result of this approach (which takes into account the origin of the prefix, but not the root), the initial letter of the root looks differently in pairs such as post And impressionistic - pre s impressionistic or counter And gra - roses s sin.
Particular attention should be paid to the verb to take, in which the original Russian prefix вз, ending in a hard consonant, is attached to the Old Russian verb imat "to take", however, at the beginning of the root the letter and is retained, since such a spelling corresponds to the pronunciation (cf. vz And mother, but from s mother).
In addition, it should be remembered that the rule about the transition to and after prefixes does not apply to complex abbreviated words: sport And inventory, state And inspection.
Spelling
Spelling(from the Greek ortos - straight, correct and grapho - I write) is a system of rules establishing the uniformity of spellings required for a given language. Orthography can also be called a branch of the science of language that studies the spelling of words at a certain stage of development of this language.
Modern Russian orthography includes five sections:
1) transmission of the phonemic composition of words in letters;
2) continuous, separate and hyphenated (semi-continuous) spellings;
3) use of uppercase and lowercase letters;
4) ways of transferring words;
5) graphic abbreviations of words.
The rules for transmitting the sound side of speech through letter symbols can be based on various principles. The principles of orthography are the basis on which the spelling of words and morphemes is based, given the choice of letters provided by graphics.
Spelling (from the Greek orthos - straight, correct and grámma - letter) is the correct spelling, which should be chosen from a number of possible ones. For example, in the word railway station letters are spellings O(a letter can be written A), To(a letter can be written G), l(possibly written ll). Each of the five sections of spelling has specific spellings associated with it. So, for example, firstly, a specific letter in a word: we sweat And wO roh, proposalO live And proposalA go away etc., secondly, continuous, separate and hyphenated (semi-continuous) spelling of words: slowly, in an embrace, like spring; third, uppercase and lowercase letters: Motherland And homeland; fourthly, word transfer: sister And sister, on-throw And over-break: fifthly, graphic abbreviations: etc. (and so on), etc.. (and others) cm. (Look).
Russian writing, like the writing of most peoples of the world, is sound, that is, the meaning of speech in it is conveyed by conveying the sound side of the language with conventionally accepted graphic symbols - letters.
In writing, the sounds of the Russian language are conveyed through a certain number of letters, which together form the alphabet. As is known, graphics are the study of letters. The world's spelling systems vary in how they use graphics capabilities. For example, certain difficulties may arise when, in different phonetic conditions, one letter (due to its polysemy) denotes different sounds. This situation can arise with qualitative reduction (in the word rivers letter e denotes the sound [e], and in a word river by the same letter e the sound [and e] is indicated), as well as when consonants are deafened at the absolute end of a word (in the word meadows letter G denotes the sound [g], and in the word meadow same letter G denotes the sound [k]). In such cases, the choice of letters is determined by spelling rules. Thus, it is spelling that regulates the spelling of a particular letter denoting a phoneme in a weak position.
In the modern Russian language there are three principles of spelling: morphological (phonemic, phonemic, morphophonemic, phonemic-morphological), phonetic and historical (etymological, or traditional).
The morphological principle is the main, leading principle of Russian orthography. By tradition, this principle is called morphological, although it would be more correct to call it morphophonematic, since, firstly, the same letters of the alphabet designate a phoneme in all its modifications, and secondly, this principle ensures the same spelling of morphemes (prefixes, roots, suffix and ending) regardless of their pronunciation, for example, the root -mor- is written the same way, regardless of position, in words sea, maritime׳ yay, sailor etc.
The following spelling rules are based on the morphological principle:
writing unstressed vowels, verified by stress: (in the roots of words: VO ׳ bottom - inO Yes׳ – VO dyanoy – navO day; in service morphemes: O׳ t-stranded And from-fight, wise׳ ts And old man, on the table' And on a chair).
writing voiced and voiceless consonants at the end of a word ( luG – luG ah, luTo – luTo A) and at the root of the word before consonants ( laV ka-laV ok, frying pand ka - frying pand OK);
writing verifiable unpronounceable consonants ( Bybuilding niy – opobuilding at, lest ny – lest b);
writing prefixes on a consonant, excluding prefixes on h (OT give How OT catch, ond build How ond break etc.);
use of letter e after sibilants in stressed position in the roots of words, as well as in suffixes of verbs and verbal words ( nighte Vka – nighte wow, wowe sweat - she bird, betweene vka – demarcatione wat);
writing hard and soft consonants in combination with soft consonants ( most ik – most , but incm and – incm Ouch);
writing unstressed endings of nouns, which are usually checked by the stressed endings of nouns of the same declension and in the same case form (cf.: in the village, in the park - in the saddle; in joy - in the steppe; in sky - in a bucket, etc.).
The phonetic principle (or phonetic spellings) is that the spelling conveys the sound of the word; in this case, the letter denotes not the phoneme, but the sound. Phonetic spellings are close to phonetic transcription (as is known, transcription is the transfer of spoken speech into writing).
The following spellings are based on the phonetic principle:
writing prefixes ending in h (from-, through-, up-, bottom-, times-, rose-, without-, through-, through-) with a letter With before voiceless consonants and with a letter h before all other consonants and before vowels ( publish - write down, exalt - chant, rise - climb, depose - overthrow, distribute - distribute, wordless - impassability, extreme - striped);
writing a letter A in an unstressed prefix times- (dis-), despite the fact that under the stress in this prefix it is written O (section׳ t - distributed, signed׳ t - painting, story׳ call - ro׳ tales, races׳ fall - ro׳ rash);
writing a letter s after consonant prefixes (excluding inter-, super- and borrowed prefixes) before the initial letter And root (cf.: background - search - super interesting). In addition, after hard consonants in compound words, the letter and is retained (medical institute, sports equipment);
writing a letter O in suffixes –onok –onka after hissing ones (bear cub, cap, etc.);
writing a letter s after ts at the endings of nouns and adjectives ( streets, cucumbers, pale-faced, Ptitsyn, Kunitsyn, etc.);
missing letter b in adjectives with the suffix –sk-, formed from nouns ending in b(Mozyr - from Mozyr, Zversky - from beast; cf.: September - from September, December - from December).
Writing individual words (wedding - cf.: matchmaker, woo; hole - cf.: open; kalach - cf.: colo, etc.).
The traditional (historical) principle of Russian orthography is that a particular spelling is determined by the laws of the language at a certain stage of its historical development. In modern language, such spellings are preserved by tradition.
Traditional (historical) writings include the following:
1) writing words (usually borrowed) with unverified unstressed vowels a, o, e, and, i (boots, laboratory, panorama, team, smell, vinaigrette, conductor, deficit, intellectual, confusion, month, hare etc.);
2) writing roots with alternating vowels a/o, e/i (dawn - illumination - dawn; tan – sunbathe – burn; touch – touch; bow – bend over – inclination; proposal – attach – canopy; plant – sprout – grow – grown; gallop - jump - jump; collect - I will collect; run away - I'll run away; shine - shine; unlock - unlock, spread - spread; wipe - wipe etc.);
3) writing letters i, e after letters f, w And ts(as is known, the sounds [zh], [sh] were soft until the 14th century, and [ts] – until the 19th century): six, tin, skis, width, briar, goal, whole, qualification, quote, circus etc.
4) writing double consonants in the roots of borrowed words ( kilogram, coral, highway, baroque, antenna, assimilation etc.);
5) writing a letter G in place of the sound [v] in endings -wow, -him genitive case of adjectives and participles ( strong, blue, walking etc.);
6) writing a letter b after hard sizzling f, w at the endings of 2nd person singular verbs in the indicative mood ( go, look, read) and in forms of the imperative mood ( eat, cut, spread). In addition, according to tradition it is written b after hissing adverbs at the end, with the exception of words already, married, unbearable (just, completely, exactly, backwards, wide open etc.);
7) writing words with unverifiable vowels in combinations oro, olo (milk, cow);
8) writing individual words ( backpack, asphalt, station etc.) .
Differentiating (different) spellings explain the spelling of words and word forms that have different meanings and are related to homonyms. It is thanks to the presence of differentiating spellings that homonyms, homoforms, and homophones are distinguished. For example, writing letters A or O helps to understand in what meaning words are used ToA company"event, exercise" and ToO company(group of people). The meaning of homonyms can differ by writing a single and double letter: ball(celebratory evening) and point(grade); writing in uppercase and lowercase letters: Novel(male name) and novel(literary genre), Eagle(city) and eagle(bird), etc.
The differentiating spellings include the following:
1) presence or absence of a letter b for words with a hissing stem (the presence b for feminine words: daughter, oven, rye, power; absence b for masculine words: guard, march, cloak);
2) writing letters O or e to distinguish between nouns and verb word forms ( coolO g, podzhO G– nouns and coole g, podzhe G– verbs in the masculine past tense form);
3) writing some roots with alternating vowels, the choice of which is determined by the semantics of the word (cf.: dip a pen in ink - get wet in the rain; trim (make even) - leveled (made equal);
4) writing prefixes pre-, pre- also depends on the semantics of the word (cf.: betray a friend - give form, successor (follower) - receiver (apparatus));
5) writing endings -om, -th in the instrumental case singular form of nouns in – ov, -in, indicating the names of people and names of settlements (cf.: with Sergei Borisov - with the city of Borisov);
6) writing ъ, ь depends on the location of these letters in the word ( cf.: entrance, volume, pre-anniversary, immense - sparrows, bindweed, pouring, bench, on the bench);
7) some continuous, separate or hyphenated spellings, with the help of which the lexico-grammatical meanings of homonymous words are clarified ( Wed: too(union) – Same(pronoun with particle), that's why– adverb or part of a conjunction, from that– pronoun with preposition, etc.).
Despite the fact that the general rules for separate writing are quite simple (words in phrases and sentences are written separately from each other, and morphemes in a word are written together), there are many cases when it is difficult to make a choice: before us are individual words or parts of words, for example : dear or deeply respected, no or none, bad weather or bad weather etc.
Many spellings are very contradictory. Thus, there is still no single approach to writing adverbs, and they are written either together, sometimes with a hyphen, sometimes separately (cf.: to the top - to capacity, slowly - like spring). Nouns and adjectives of the same type are also written differently (cf.: checkpoint - checkpoint, national economic - people's democratic etc.).
The phonetic principle of spelling is traditionally understood as one in which successive chains of sounds in word forms are designated on the basis of a direct “sound-letter” connection, without taking into account any other criteria.
This principle is briefly defined by the motto “write as you hear.”
But a very important question is what sounds should be designated using the phonetic principle, and with what detail.
In practical writing, which is any letter-sound letter, and with the phonetic principle of spelling, only phonemes can and should be designated.
The phonetic principle of spelling with the advent of the concept and term “phoneme” could be called the phonemic principle of spelling, but since the latter term in modern linguistic literature (by IFS scientists) is used in a different sense (see about this below, pp. 145 et seq.), it is more convenient to leave it the same name1.
The phonetic principle as a specific orthographic principle is proclaimed when positional alternations of phonemes (if they occur) are specifically reflected in the letter. The phonetic principle is a principle of designating phonemes when phonemes of weak positions, with which phonemes of strong positions alternate, are designated by letters that are adequate to phonemes of weak positions on the basis of a direct connection “phoneme - letter adequate to it”2.
But the designation of certain phonemes of strong positions also falls within the scope of the phonetic principle. This is the designation of the stressed vowel /o/ after sibilants (as is the case with the morphological principle), which is associated with the “transition” of /e/ into /o/ and the peculiarity of the letter series e - e - o, for example: galchonok, cap, etc. .
The phonetic principle is the antagonist of the morphological principle. Spellings written according to the phonetic principle may, if deemed appropriate, be written according to the morphological principle; That is why they are considered to be violations of the morphological principle.
There are few spellings that correspond to the phonetic principle in Russian spelling. Let's look at them.
1. Writing prefixes with final s: without-, voz-, vz-, iz-, niz-, raz-, roz-, through- (through-).
Morphologically, these prefixes should always be written with z, i.e. one should write not only painless, but also “non-partisan”, not only escaped, but also “stained”, etc. This is exactly how all the other prefixes are written without changing the graphical form: sang and passed, repaid and thanked, sat down and ran up, etc.
Meanwhile, we write prefixes with -z based on the phonetic principle: they are written either with the letter z or with the letter s, depending on the pronunciation (see “Rules...”, § 50). According to the law of alternations, the sound /z/ before the next voiceless consonant is replaced by /s/, and this sound alternation, contrary to the morphological principle, is reflected in the letter:
It should be noted that prefixes starting with -з are not written completely phonetically. So, in the words ruthless and reckless, in place of the final orthographic z in the prefix it sounds /zh/, and in place of the final spelling s in the prefix it sounds /sh/. In these words, an alternation of a different nature occurs - alternation according to the place of formation.
Thus, the phonetic nature of writing prefixes in -z has a limit: it is limited to showing in writing either the voicedness or the voicelessness of the final consonant sound of the prefix before subsequent voiced (before which z is written) and voiceless (before which it is written s) consonants. There is one peculiar exception here. The word tasteless is written with the spelling variant bez-, although in place of the spelling z in the prefix a dull sound /s/ is pronounced: be/s/tasty (before the subsequent dull sound /f/, pronounced in place of the letter v). But since in the letter we see the sign of a voiced consonant, namely the letter v, and not f, we write the prefix without the letter z (i.e., with the sign of a voiced consonant) in relation to the subsequent letter v (the sign of a voiced consonant), and not to the unvoiced sound it denotes /f/. Here the real sound recedes in our consciousness before the force of the letter1.
2. Writing the prefix rose-.
In the spelling of this prefix, in addition to reflecting the alternation of /z/ with /s/ - razdal, but painting, - also reflects the positional alternation of stressed /o/ with unstressed /a/. The “Rules...” says: “...the prefix raz- (ras-) is always written without stress, for example: distribute (at birth), schedule, receipt (at birth )".
Thus, the prefix roz- has four written variants: roz-, ros-, raz-, ras-.
Removal of unstressed variants of times- (ras-), i.e. the ability to write “distribute” instead of the now accepted distribution (since there is a birth); “rospiska” instead of the now accepted signature (since there is a painting), etc., some cases of stress on /a/ interfere: r?zvit, r?zvito, r?zvity - from developed; developed (along with developed), developed (along with developed), developed (along with developed) - developed1.
But the phonetic nature of the spelling of the vowel in the prefix roz- for a long time was limited to one exception: the word search with unstressed /a/ was written with o (since search). The latest edition of the Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language (M., 1991) gives the spelling of this word with a - search, search (see p. 305).
3. Writing ы instead of the initial and (in pronunciation) at the root after prefixes2 ending with a solid consonant: artless, refined, unprincipled, pre-Yuly, etc.3
These spellings are phonetic. After prefixes ending in a hard consonant, it is pronounced in accordance with the phonetic laws of the Russian language /ы/.
Before the publication of “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” in 1956, instead of the etymological and after prefixes, it was written only in Russian words (play, search, etc.), in foreign language roots, according to the rules, and ("ideless", " uninteresting" etc.). Since in modern language such words as idea, interest, history and many others. etc., are no longer perceived as foreign words, in 1956 it was considered advisable to give a single rule for both Russian and borrowed words. And indeed, writing is not always easy
can determine whether the root part of a word is borrowed. It is no coincidence that there were hesitations: idealess and unprincipled, uninteresting and uninteresting, which took place in the practice of the press before the publication of the “Rules...” in 1956.
The spelling of initial and radical after hard consonants is currently preserved after Russian prefixes inter- and super-, as well as after foreign language prefixes and particles. After the prefix inter- and is written due to the general rule, according to which s are not written after z, and after super- - because the combinations gy, ky, xy are not characteristic of the Russian language. After foreign language prefixes, it is saved so that the writer can quickly see and understand the root, for example in the word subinspector, etc., and thanks to this, quickly understand the word. The rule is set out in § 7 of the “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation”.
4. Writing about in the suffixes -onok, -onk(a) after hissing words: galchonok, cap, etc. (cf.: owlet, hut, etc.). Writing with e would correspond to the morphological principle.
Traditionally, it was considered consistent with the phonetic principle to write e/o after sibilants and c in the endings of nouns and adjectives, as well as to write e/o in the suffix -ok- (-ek-) after sibilants1. But these writings can be considered morphological (see above, p. 109).
In the general system of Russian spelling, built on the morphological principle, spellings based on the phonetic principle, as falling out of the system, complicate writers to a greater extent than morphological ones, and therefore they should be given special attention.
It must be emphasized once again that spellings such as house, hold, floor, etc. are not within the scope of the phonetic principle (just as they are not within the scope of any other orthographic principle). There are no spellings here2.
Such spellings as country, suk, etc. do not correspond to the phonetic principle. 3 The letters a and k are written not on the basis of a direct phoneme-letter connection, but on the basis of morphological comparisons (country?, since countries; suk , so how are bitches?), i.e. according to the morphological principle.
1 Baudouin de Courtenay called this method of writing phonemography: “...phonemography denotes a one-sided, exclusively phonetic way of writing, in which the breakdown of a sentence into syntagms or syntactic elements and the breakdown into morphemes, i.e. morphological elements, is not taken into account. , in morphemography, attention is paid to mental kinship, i.e. associations by the similarity of a sentence with other sentences and words with other words" (Baudouin de Courtenay I.A. The influence of language on worldview and mood; also in the book: Selected works on general linguistics. M., 1963. T. 2. P. 332.
2 The name “phonemic” (and not “phonetic”) principle is used for these cases: Maslov Yu.S. (Introduction to linguistics. M., 1987. P. 259); Zinder L.R. (Essay on the general theory of writing. Leningrad, 1987, p. 91); Selezneva L.B. (Modern Russian writing... Tomsk, 1981. P. 56).
1 The literal aspect of the rule about prefixes ending with -з was noted by A.I. Moiseev. (Russian language: Phonetics. Morphology. Orthography. M., 1980. P. 233); Kuzmina S.M. (Theory of Russian spelling. M., 1981. P. 251).
1 See: Russian literary pronunciation and stress: Dictionary-reference book / Ed. R.I. Avanesov and S.I. Ozhegova. M., 1959. P. 484; Orthoepic dictionary of the Russian language. M., 1983. P. 480.
2 ы instead of and (according to pronunciation) it is written in the prefix iz-, if it follows another prefix: siznova, sizmalstva.
