Russian Voiced and Voiceless Consonants - Pronunciation Rules
  • natalianovikova76 August 2013

    Here is a quick overview of the 6 pairs of voiced and their counterparts, voiceless (devoiced) consonants.

    Vocal chords vibrate (VOICED):     Б, В, Г, Д, Ж, З (b, v, g, d, zh, z)
    Vocal chords do not vibrate (VOICELESS): П, Ф, К, Т, Ш, С (p, f, k, t, sh, s)

    1. Word final devoicing
    Voiced     consonants at the end of words are pronounced as voiceless (including soft sign as ending):

    We write -> We pronounce:
    гараж -> гара[ш] (garage)
    маркетинг -> маркетин[к] (marketing) 
    лебедь -> лебе[т]ь (swan) 

    2. Voiced-voiceless assimilation
    When voiced and     voiceless consonants are adjacent to each other, the nature of the second consonant dictates the nature of the first:

    voiced + voiceless -> voiceless + voiceless
    субтитры -> су[пт]итры (subtitles)

    voiceless + voiced -> voiced + voiced
    баскетбол -> баске[дб]ол (basketball) 

    Check out this video: http://bit.ly/1525p8J for more information. 

    Please let me know if you have any questions - I am here to assist!

    Спасибо!
    Наташа

  • natalianovikova76 April 2014
    Дорогие друзья, добрый день!

    For those who want to revisit important Russian pronunciation rules, including Voiced and Voiceless (Unvoiced) consonants or learn them anew, here is a good video that explains it in great detail:



    More on Pronunciation Rules as well as Voiced vs. Voiceless:

    http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/pronounc.html

    Пожалуйста, задавайте вопросы!

    Пока,
    Наташа
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