Thread: Voiced/unvoiced consonants (вчера, сдачаб)

Hi all,

Ok, I know the rule that the voiced consonants б/в/г/д/ж/з are pronounced as their unvoiced equivalent when they appear before one of the unvoiced consonants п/ф/к/т/ш/с. So вторник is like ftor-nik.

But why does вчера seem to be like fchi-ra instead of vchi-ra, please? в would become ф if the next letter were п/ф/к/т/ш/с... but the next letter is ч so why the change?

Any advice greatly received.

Thanks,

Simon

It's all right. Ч is unvoiced consonant.

Ч has no voiced couple in Russian but in general it exists. The voiced couple for ч is j like in John in English. Try to whisper "John" and you will have something like "чон".

Thanks it-ogo.

So the rule is actually that that б/в/г/д/ж/з mutate to п/ф/к/т/ш/с if they appear before any unvoiced consonant, right? Which would also mean before ч/х/ц/щ in addition to п/ф/к/т/ш/с?

On this topic, please can I check that I have the other rules correct:

2) б/в/г/д/ж/з mutate to п/ф/к/т/ш/с when they appear at the end of a word. That rule is simple enough I think... город sounds like go-rat, etc.

3) п/ф/к/т/ш/с mutate to б/в/г/д/ж/з when they appear before б/г/д/ж/з only. This I’ve read but couldn’t really hear myself... should сдача sound like zda-cha instead of sda-cha, etc?

Thanks,

Simon

Originally Posted by becksie

So the rule is actually that that б/в/г/д/ж/з mutate to п/ф/к/т/ш/с if they appear before any unvoiced consonant, right? Which would also mean before ч/х/ц/щ in addition to п/ф/к/т/ш/с?

Precisely!

Originally Posted by becksie

2) б/в/г/д/ж/з mutate to п/ф/к/т/ш/с when they appear at the end of a word. That rule is simple enough I think... город sounds like go-rat, etc.

Correct

Originally Posted by becksie

3) п/ф/к/т/ш/с mutate to б/в/г/д/ж/з when they appear before б/г/д/ж/з only. This I’ve read but couldn’t really hear myself... should сдача sound like zda-cha instead of sda-cha, etc?

Correct too. "сдать экзамен" ("to pass an exam") sounds like "здать эгзамен" (Well, the unstressed "э" and "е" in "экзамен" do not actually sounds like "э" and "е", but that's outside of the scope of this thread)

»when they appear at the end of a word
Actually this should read "before silence" because you have
for example
дед был /d'edbyl/
>should сдача sound like zda-cha
yes.
>when they appear before б/г/д/ж/з only
happens before all voiced consonants

and don't forget about ш ц ч and maybe щ (can't think of examples)
They are replaced by voiced phonetic counterparts before voiced consonants
отец был = [at'éӡbýl] where I used ӡ to represent the voiced ц.


And ж behaves similarly. Вижу нож. Нож был.

L, R, M and N do not participate in this phonetic phenomenon.

Thanks translationsnmru and chaika.

happens before all voiced consonants

So п/ф/к/т/ш/с mutate to б/в/г/д/ж/з when they appear before л/м/н/р/й as well as б/г/д/ж/з ? I’m sure I read somewhere that it doesn’t happen before в though?

Originally Posted by becksie

So п/ф/к/т/ш/с mutate to б/в/г/д/ж/з when they appear before л/м/н/р/й as well as б/г/д/ж/з ?

No.

Originally Posted by becksie

I’m sure I read somewhere that it doesn’t happen before в though?

No, it doesn't. квас = kvas, Тверь = tver, свет = svet