From the history of the Russian alphabet. Why did the letters disappear? Russian alphabet

Russian writing, as noted in the previous paragraphs, is phonetic, sound-letter.

Letter- this is the minimum significant graphic sign of a certain writing system, which has a set form and is the main graphic means of transmitting oral speech in writing.

The set of all letters of a particular language, arranged in a certain order, is called alphabet(from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet “alpha” and “vita”). The Slavic alphabet is also called ABC(from the names of the first two letters of the ancient Slavic alphabet - “az” and “buki”).

The alphabet is the center of any graphic system, which may also include non-literal graphic means, such as accent marks, hyphens, punctuation marks, apostrophe, paragraph marks, spaces between words, chapters, paragraphs and other parts of the text, as well as italics, spacing, underscore.

The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters, which are arranged in a strictly established order.

Rice. ?. Modern Russian alphabet Nechaeva's alphabet, cover at the end - written alphabet - or others.

The sequence of letters is conventional, but knowledge of it is mandatory for every cultured person, since it is of great importance when searching for information in all modern means of storing it, the organization of which is based on the principle of alphabetical ordering.

Each letter of the alphabet is presented in two versions: printed and handwritten. Each option has two types of letters: uppercase (large) and lowercase (small). Of the 33 letters – 10 letters represent vowel sounds (a, e, e, i, o, u, s, e, yu, i); 21 – consonants (b, c, d, d, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, sch) and 2 letters – b And ъ– sounds are not indicated. Separating b And ъ the signs indicate that the iotated letter following them denotes 2 sounds: [ј] and the corresponding vowel: flaw- [izјan]; rook- [lad’ja], snowstorm- [v’југ]а.

The soft sign performs several more functions: it indicates the softness of consonant phonemes at the end of a word (laziness) and in the middle of a word (grind); used in certain grammatical forms: a) feminine nouns (speech, silence, rye); b) in the form of the imperative mood (eat(those), appoint(those), cut(those); c) in the form of 2nd person singular (eat, prescribe, cut); d) in the form of an infinitive (to take care of, bake, guard); d) in adverbs (totally, wide open, unbearably - exceptions: unbearable, already, married); e) in particles (just, I mean, see).

Each letter of the Russian alphabet has its own name.

The names of letters denoting vowel sounds are of two types:

1. Names of letters consisting of one sound, i.e. letters are named by the sound they represent - a, and, o, y, s, e.

2. Names of letters consisting of two sounds - the corresponding vowel and the one preceding it [ј]: e- [је]; e- [Ио]; Yu- [ју]; I- [ја].. Therefore, these letters are called iotized letters.

The names of letters denoting consonants are presented in three types.

1. Names consisting of the corresponding hard consonant followed by a vowel: b- [be], V- [ve], G- [ge], d- [de], and- [zhe], h- [ze], P- [pe], T- [te], ts- [tse], h- [che].

2. Names consisting of the corresponding consonant sound combined with the vowel preceding it: l- [el], m- [um], n- [en], R- [er], With- [es], f- [ef].

3. Names consisting of the corresponding consonant sound followed by a vowel [a]: To- [ka], X- [ha], w- [sha], sch- [sha].

For the letter denoting the sound [ј] in writing, there are two names: sound - [ј] - and “and short”.

Letters that do not represent sounds also have two names: b– soft sign; ъ– solid sign and preserved Cyrillic names b– er; ъ– er.

Practical tasks

Task 4. The oldest writing system among the Slavs is called Glagolitic. Below are Old Church Slavonic words written in Glagolitic alphabet, indicating which Russian words correspond to them.

Linguistic assignment, p.21 – increase by 1.5

a) What Russian words correspond to the following Old Church Slavonic words?

b) Write down Old Church Slavonic words corresponding to Russian words in Glagolitic letters horse, forest.

Task 5. Below is the text in Old Church Slavonic.

Linguistic task, p.24, supr.47.

a) Translate this passage into Russian, trying as much as possible not to shorten it, not to add anything, and to maintain the word order.

Notes 1) - food; 2) - five; 3) - two; 4) - ten, 5) - twelve; 6) - basket; 7) the scribes who rewrote the Gospel put periods without certain rules; 8) an icon above a word indicated that one or more letters were missing from the word.

Task 6. Task 4, page 56. In his work “Russian Spelling” (1885), J.K. Grot writes: “The Russian alphabet consists of 35 letters, arranged in the following order:

a b c d e f h i i j l

m n o p r s t u f x c h

w sq y ђ e y i Θ (v)

The last letter is in parentheses because it is almost never used.

Letters And And e receive another special purpose using superscripts (th, e), in which they represent other sounds, and therefore in this form they should also occupy a place in the alphabet.”

a) Were there letters in the old alphabet that had the same sound meaning (doublet letters)?

b) Arrange the following words first as they were placed in pre-revolutionary dictionaries of the Russian language (according to the given alphabet from the book by Y.K. Grot), and then in the order in which they are located in modern dictionaries (indicated in brackets, if necessary old spelling):

1. spruce, ride (ђzdit), food (ђda), barely;

2. 2) trouble (bђda), hip, run (bђgat), demon (bђsъ), run (bђgъ), conversation (beђda), hippopotamus (hippopotamus);

3. powerless (powerless), hopeless, slacker (idler), homeless, unconditional, reckless (reckless), restless (restless), endless (endless);

4. debunk (debunk), get excited, describe, tell, (tell), unload, amuse, story (story), decorate;

5. student (pupil), teaching (teaching), history (history) historical, historiography (historiography);

6. fleet (flot'), fodder (forage'), wick, incense (Θimiam').

Task 7. Modern river. 319. Check if there are any deviations from the traditional order in the arrangement of letters in the alphabets of D.D. Minaev and V.Ya. Bryusov. Are there any missing letters? (It should be remembered that these poems show the old Russian alphabet.)

July night

Task 8. Bunina, p.88 No. 320. The word in the dictionary stump printed on page 626, and foam- on the 523rd. Was this dictionary published in the 19th or 20th century?

Task 9. Boone, p.88 No. 321. Word work found on the (N + 100)th page of the dictionary, and the word difficult- on the Nth. How long ago was this dictionary compiled?

Task 10. Boone, p.88 No. 323. Task 19. . Why is it necessary for every modern cultured person to know where the letters belonged? Ђ, Θ, V in the old (pre-revolutionary) alphabet?

Task 11. Modern r 324. Read A.S. Pushkin’s epigram to F. Glinka:

Our friend Fita, Kuteikin in epaulets,

He mutters to us a drawn-out psalm:

Poet Fita, don't become Firth!

Sexton Fita, you are Izhitsa among poets!

Do you understand this epigram? Why is the hero of this epigram, the poet F. Glinka, called Fita? And then Izhitsa? What does it mean to not become Firth?

Task 12. Modern river. 315. Arrange the following words in alphabetical order (from the point of view of the modern Russian alphabet).

Bread, loaf, cast iron, show, smartly, first, gardener, woodpecker, clairvoyance, excavator, fidget, frenzy, sniffling, molded, mine, iodine, engage, hieroglyph, axe, era, bowstring, telescope, basket, legal, shake off, eyelash, heron, tickle, pitch black.

Task 13. Task 3, page 55. Rewrite the words, placing them in alphabetical order, taking into account not only the first, but also the second and all subsequent letters.

1) Brandt, Grigorovich, Lowkotka, Epstein, Safarik, Avdusin, Georgiev, Cherepnin, Prozorovsky, Karinsky, Lvov, Borkovsky, Sapunov, Chernykh, Engovatov, Sreznevsky, Vinogradov.

2) Height, blizzard, exit, entry, Vietnamese, viscous, calculate, pluck, fade, exit, enter, reveal.

What determines the practical need to know the alphabetical sequence of letters?

Task 14. Branch., Task 6, p. 57. Based on the nature of the sound composition, the names of the letters can be combined into the following groups (types):

1) a [a], o, y, e, and [i], s [s];

2) i, e, yu, e;

3) b [be], v, g, d, g, h, p, t, c, h;

4) l [el’], m [em], n, r, s, f;

5) k [ka], x, w, sch;

6) th [and short], ъ, ь.

a) Using transcription, indicate the sound composition of the names of all letters according to the proposed model.

b) Name the largest group of names of consonant letters.

Task 15. Branch. Task 7, page 57. Write down only those compound words whose reading does not correspond to the accepted names of letters in the alphabet. Underline words that can be read differently.

ATS, BGTO, VVS, VDNKh, Komsomol, VFDM, GTO, DLT, CPSU, Leningrad State University, MPVO, MTS, NKVD, OBKhSS, OTK, PVKhO, RSDLP, RSFSR, RTS, CIS, SNK, USSR, USA, VHF, UMK, FBI, FZMK, FZO, FZU, Germany, FSB, CSK, Central Committee.

Note. For reference, you can use the “Dictionary of Abbreviations of the Russian Language” (M., 1963), or “List of Abbreviations” in Volume 1U of the “Dictionary of the Russian Language” (M., 1961, pp. 1081-1083). The “Dictionary of Abbreviations...” and the “List of Abbreviations” reveal the meaning and indicate the pronunciation of complex abbreviated words.

a) What determines the practical need to know the names of letters?

b) Using the text from the previous exercise, determine the spontaneous process of aligning typical letter names.

Task 16.“Modern Russian language”314. Read the abbreviations:

FZO, FZU, Germany, FSB, FVK, FDC, FZP, FPK...

a) How to pronounce the name of the letter here f ?

b) Remembering the laws of associating consonants in terms of voicedness and deafness, think: in which of the given abbreviations would the usual name of this letter be inappropriate?

Note. For reference, you can use the literature specified in task 15

Task 17. Vetvitsky, p. 55, No. 2.. 55. Replace the letter where necessary e letter e(with dots):

1) ice, walking, carrying, cheerful; 2) takes a book, takes a bag, chalks the street, takes chalk, sing a song, eat soup; 3) five buckets, splash, fishing line, gall, talk nonsense, crypt, city of Priozersk, writer Yu. Olesha.

a) In what case is the correct reading of a word determined by its letter composition, and when does it depend on the combination of words? In what case will the reader, if he does not fully master the norms of pronunciation, not be helped by either the letter composition of the words or the context?

b) In the spelling of words of which group, the letter e Is it advisable to use sequentially? Is it possible to agree with those who believe that the Russian alphabet has not 33, but 32 letters?

Chapter Three

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF RUSSIAN GRAPHICS

What does the letter mean?

In different writing systems, the basic graphic unit can represent different units of language. It can be a concept, a word, a syllable or a sound.

The basic unit of graphics is usually called a grapheme. In modern linguistics, the term “grapheme” - (from the Greek - gráphσ - I write) does not have an unambiguous interpretation. Most often you can find two definitions:

1) a grapheme is a minimal unit of the graphic system of a language (writing system) that has one or another linguistic content. For phonetic writing, the term “grapheme” in this sense is often used as a synonym for letter;

2) a grapheme is a minimal sign of a certain writing system, expressing the relationship of the corresponding unit of language to its graphic representation. In the second meaning of the term, a grapheme appears as a set of relations between a phoneme and a letter.

“The grapheme system is formed as a result of the adaptation of a given alphabet as a set of letters to the set of phonemes of a given language at a given stage of its development.” Linguists note that an ideal letter, in which each letter would correspond to a separate sound, and each sound would be expressed by one letter sign, does not exist in any language in the world. “Russian graphics in this regard are one of the most advanced, since most of the letters of the Russian alphabet are unambiguous.”

In previous chapters, we have already found out that the letters of the Russian alphabet convey sounds. This is how the peculiarities of Russian writing are usually explained at school. However, there are many more sounds in Russian speech than letters. Consequently, the relationship “sound” - “letter” is more complex and ambiguous.

Observations on the rules for using letters lead many linguists to the conclusion that the letters of the Russian alphabet represent phonemes rather than sounds. In this case, the phonemic (or phonemic) principle is put forward as one of the basic principles of graphics. Evidence of the phonemic nature of Russian writing is also provided. For example: imagine that in the word house all letters represent sounds. But in word form Houses' to denote the vowel sound [Λ] we use the same letter O. If letters denoted sounds, it would be necessary to write lady'. But the sounds [о′] and [Λ] are variants of the phoneme /о/. Consequently, letters do not convey sounds, but phonemes.

However, it seems to us that when choosing the spelling option - lady or Houses- it is no longer graphics that determines the graphic appearance of a word, but another branch of linguistics - spelling. It is the phonemic principle of spelling that forces a letter to denote not a sound, but a phoneme in a strong position. If spelling did not exist, then we could write iron(instead of iron), khyrasho(instead of Fine).

If there is no consensus in science about the phonetic or phonemic nature of Russian graphics, then the next basic principle of Russian writing - syllabic - is unanimously accepted by everyone.

The modern Russian alphabet has 33 letters. Each letter has two options - printed and handwritten. In each version there are two types of letters - uppercase (capital letters) and lowercase (small). Thus, the first letter of the alphabet is represented by the variants A, a, A, a.

There are individual and complex letter names. The individual names are as follows:

The names of vowel letters are of two types. I. The names of the letters a, i, o, u, s, e consist of one vowel sound: [a], [i], [o], [u], [s], [e]. 2. The names of the letters e, e, yu, i consist of a vowel sound and a consonant preceding it [j].

The names of consonant letters are of four types (the first three of them are formed in accordance with the names of the letters of the Latin alphabet). 1. The names of the letters b, v, g, d, zh, z, p, t, c, n consist of the corresponding consonant sound and the following vowel [e]: [be], [ve], etc. 2 The names of the letters l, m, n, r, s, f consist of the corresponding consonant sound and the preceding vowel ]e]: [el'], [em], etc. The softness of [l'] in the name of the letter l, in contrast from the hardness of the remaining consonants in the names of letters of this type is explained by the fact that in the Latin alphabet, from which the name of this letter is borrowed, it corresponds to 1. In the name of the Russian letter, the “semi-soft” sound was replaced by a soft [l']. 3. The names of the letters k, x, sh, sh consist of the corresponding consonant sound and the subsequent vowel [a]: [ka], [ha], etc.

The letter th in the 18th and 19th centuries. was called “and with a short one” (by the “brief” icon above the letter).

At the end of the 19th century. they began to call it “and short.” This name is unfortunate: the letter th denotes a phoneme, but the name “and short” connects the letter th with the sound [i]. Therefore the letter

th in school textbooks the new name “th” is given (read

In modern Russian, there is a tendency to name consonant letters of the 2nd and 3rd types after the 1st, the most numerous. This tendency is manifested, in particular, in abbreviations read by the names of the letters: USA [se-she-a], Germany [fe-er-ge], ShKU (culinary apprenticeship school) [she-ke-u], etc. In abbreviations there is also a tendency to call the letter l with a hard consonant - [el] (by analogy with other names of this type); Wed Komsomol, LGPI, UFO, etc.

The letters ъ and 6 in scientific literature, in accordance with tradition, are called “er” and “er”. This is, in particular, what the letters of phonetic transcription are called. In school textbooks these letters are called “hard sign” and “soft sign”. The name “soft sign” corresponds to one of the functions 6 to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant phoneme. The name “hard sign” arose when ъ was written at the end of a word after a hard consonant: house, table, world. Now this name is pure convention.

Complex names denote classes of letters. There are 10 vowel letters in the Russian alphabet: a, e, ё, i, o, u, y, e, yu, ya; 21 consonant letters: b, v, e, d, g, z, y, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, n, w, sch. The letters ъ and ь do not represent sounds, so they are sometimes called voiceless.

ABSTRACT

on the topic “Russian alphabet. History, composition, style, modern Russian graphics"

Introduction

What could be more interesting than exploring what is, at first glance, obvious? And what, if not language, do we use every day? And, as you know, in language there is such a thing as an alphabet. This is what I want to talk about.

ALPHABET- a system of graphic signs ordered in a certain way, depicting individual sound elements of the language and thus conveying the sound appearance of words. A. is also called the order of letters established for a given language. The principle of alphabet was invented by West Semitic peoples; this made it possible to write words without referring to their meaning, in contrast to writing systems that use ideograms (written designations for concepts) and logograms (written designations for words). The most ancient systems of A., for example, Eblaitic (mid-3rd millennium BC), Ugaritic (mid-2nd millennium BC), are based on the designation of consonants (vowels in these languages ​​had a secondary meaning) and were syllabic, like the Phoenician letter (last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC), from which the Greek originates. A., no longer syllabic, with special signs for vowels (see Greek writing); on its basis many have developed. A., including Latin, Coptic, Etruscan, Slavic, Cyrillic. In all known letters, each letter has its own name (these names are mainly preserved in related systems). From the 1st millennium BC a firmly fixed order of letters was used to convey numbers; this principle was preserved in letters based on Greek. models, in particular in Old Church Slavonic and other Russian, which had a certain significance for the study of the history of A. Most modern ones are based on A. national writing systems.

Each letter of any alphabet has a specific meaning and Russian is no exception.

The word "Alphabet" comes from the name of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: άλφα " Αα» - alpha and βήτα « Ββ » - beta

The word “ABC” comes from the name of the first two letters of the ancient Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic: A - az and B - beeches

How did the alphabet come about? How did it develop in Rus'?

In my abstract I will talk about the research conducted and try to answer these questions.

History of the alphabet in Rus'

alphabet graphics phonetics copybook

Around 863, the brothers Constantine (Cyril) the Philosopher and Methodius from Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki), by order of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, streamlined the writing system for the Slavic language.

The brothers were natives of the city of Thessaloniki (now Thessaloniki). Ancient Thessaloniki was a bilingual city in which, in addition to the Greek language, a Slavic dialect was heard.

Constantine, being a very educated man, even before his trip to Moravia, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and began to translate the Gospel into the Slavic language. In Moravia, Constantine and Methodius continued to translate church books from Greek into the Slavic language, teaching the Slavs to read, write and conduct worship in the Slavic language. The brothers stayed in Moravia for more than three years, and then went with their disciples to Rome to the Pope. On the way to Rome, they visited another Slavic country - Pannonia (the area of ​​Lake Balaton, Hungary). And here the brothers taught the Slavs books and worship in the Slavic language.

In Rome, Constantine became a monk, taking the name Cyril. There, in 869, Cyril was poisoned. Methodius with his disciples, who received the priesthood, returned to Pannonia, and later to Moravia.

By that time, the situation in Moravia had changed dramatically. After the death of Rostislav, his captive Svyatopolk became the Moravian prince, who submitted to German political influence. The activities of Methodius and his disciples took place in very difficult conditions. The Latin-German clergy in every way prevented the spread of the Slavic language as the language of the church.

Methodius was sent to prison, where he dies in 885, and after that his opponents managed to achieve the ban on Slavic writing in Moravia. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the center of the spread of Slavic writing.

Here Slavic schools are created, the original Cyril and Methodius liturgical books are copied.

The widespread use of Slavic writing dates back to the reign of Simeon in Bulgaria (893-927). Later, the Old Church Slavonic language penetrated into Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century. becomes the language of the church in Kievan Rus.

The Old Slavic alphabet, which is used to write monuments that have survived to this day, is called the Glagolitic alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet. The first Old Church Slavonic monuments were written in the Glagolitic alphabet, which was supposedly created by Constantine based on the Greek cursive script of the 9th century. with the addition of some letters from other eastern alphabets.

The appearance of the Cyrillic alphabet (Fig. 1), dating back to the Greek statutory letter, is associated with the activities of the Bulgarian scribe schools; it is the Slavic alphabet that underlies the modern Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian alphabet.

The Cyrillic alphabet, as it was used in the Russian language, underwent gradual improvement.

The development of the Russian state at the beginning of the 18th century and the emerging needs for the printing of civil books necessitated the need to simplify the lettering of the Cyrillic alphabet.

In 1708, the Russian civil font was created, and Peter I himself took an active part in making sketches of the letters in 1710.

A sample of the new alphabet font was approved. This was the first reform of Russian graphics. Peter's reform of the Russian typographical font was carried out in 1708-1710.

This reform had two goals, one of them was: bringing the appearance of Russian books and other printed publications closer to what Western European publications of that time looked like, which were sharply different from the typically medieval-looking Russian publications, which were typed in Church Slavonic font, and the other: simplifying the composition Russian alphabet due to

excluding from it such outdated and unnecessary letters as “psi”, “xi”, “omega”, “Izhitsa”, “earth”, “izhe”, “yus small” (see below).

However, later, probably under the influence of the clergy, some of these letters were restored to use. The letter “E” was introduced in order to distinguish it from the yotized letter “E”, as well as the letter I instead of the small yotized yus.

In the civil font, uppercase (capital) and lowercase (small) letters are established for the first time.

The letter “Y” (and a short one) was introduced by the Academy of Sciences in 1735. The letter “Y” was first used by N.M. Karamzin in 1797 to indicate the sound [o] under stress after soft consonants.

Spelling reform of 1917-1918. two letters that duplicated each other were excluded: “yat”, “fita”, “and decimal”. The letter “Ъ” (er) was retained only as a dividing sign, “b” (er) - as a dividing sign and to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant. Regarding “Yo”, the decree contains a clause about the desirability, but not obligatory nature, of using this letter. Reform 1917-1918 simplified Russian writing and thereby facilitated learning to read and write.

Composition of the Russian alphabet

Russian alphabet

The Russian alphabet has 33 letters, of which 10 indicate vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 letters do not indicate special sounds, but serve to convey certain sound features. The Russian alphabet has uppercase (large) and lowercase (small) letters, printed and handwritten letters.

The relationship between Russian phonetics and graphics

Modern Russian graphics include an alphabet invented for Slavic writing and carefully developed for the Old Church Slavonic language, which about a thousand years ago was the literary language of all Slavic peoples. It is quite natural that the Old Church Slavonic alphabet could not fully correspond to the then sound system of the Russian language.

In particular, in the Old Church Slavonic alphabet there were letters to represent sounds that were not in the Russian language, for example: [yus big], [yus small].

This is how a divergence arose between oral and written language.
Over the thousand-year period of its existence, Russian graphics were subjected only to partial improvements, while the sound system of the living Russian language was continuously, although not always noticeably, changing. As a result, the relationship between Russian graphics and the sound system of the Russian language in our time has turned out to be devoid of complete correspondence: not all sounds pronounced in different phonetic positions are indicated in writing by special letters.

Modern Russian graphics are distinguished by a number of features that have developed historically and represent a specific graphic system. Russian graphics do not have an alphabet in which there is a special letter for each sound pronounced in the speech stream.

There are significantly fewer letters in the Russian alphabet than sounds in real speech.

As a result, the letters of the alphabet turn out to be polysemantic and can have several sound meanings.

So, for example, the letter s can denote the following sounds: 1) [s] (courts, garden), 2) [s"] (here, sit down), 3) [z] (delivery, collection), 4) [z" ] (mowing, transaction), 5) [w] (sew), 6) [g] (compress).

The meaning of the letter c in each of the six cases is different: in the words of the court and here, the letter c cannot be replaced by any other letter, such a replacement would lead to a distortion of the word. In this case, the letter s is used in its basic meaning.

In other words, the letter c appears in secondary meanings and can be replaced by certain letters, which preserves the usual pronunciation of the words (cf.: hand over - “zdat”, mowing - “goat”, sew - “shshit”, squeeze - “burn”). In the latter case, the letter s denotes sounds that replace the sound [s] in certain positions, in accordance with the living phonetic laws inherent in the Russian literary language.

Thus, with the polysemy of letters, Russian graphics distinguish main And minor letter meanings. So, in the word house the letter o is used in the main meaning, and in the word house - in a secondary meaning.

The second feature of Russian graphics is division of letters according to the number of sounds indicated.

In this regard, the letters of the Russian alphabet fall into three groups: 1) letters devoid of sound meaning; 2) letters denoting two sounds; 3) letters denoting one sound.

The first group includes the letters ъ, ь, which do not denote any sounds, as well as the so-called “unpronounceable consonants” in, for example, words: sun, heart, etc.

The second group includes the letters: i, yu, e [e], ё.

The third group includes letters denoting one sound, i.e. all letters of the Russian alphabet, with the exception of letters included in the first and second groups.

The third feature of Russian graphics is the presence of single-valued and double-valued letters in it: the first include letters that have one basic meaning; to the second - having two meanings.

So, for example, the letters ch and c are unambiguous, since the letter ch in all positions denotes the same soft sound [ch"], and the letter c - a hard sound [c].

Double-digit letters include: 1) all letters denoting consonant sounds, paired in hardness-softness; 2) letters denoting vowel sounds: i, e, e, yu.

The ambiguity of the indicated letters of the Russian alphabet is due to the specifics of Russian graphics - namely, its syllabic principle.

The syllabic principle of Russian graphics is that in Russian writing, in certain cases, the unit of writing is not a letter, but a syllable. Such a syllable, i.e. the combination of a consonant and a vowel is a solid graphic element, the parts of which are mutually determined. The syllabic principle of graphics is used in the designation of paired consonants in terms of hardness and softness. In modern Russian, consonant sounds paired in hardness and softness have a phonemic meaning, i.e. serve to distinguish the sound shells of words. However, in the Russian alphabet there are no separate letters to designate consonant sounds paired in softness and hardness, so, for example, the letter t is used for both the hard and soft sound [t] - (cf.: become - tightened).

The absence in the Russian alphabet of separate letters for paired consonant sounds in terms of hardness and softness is compensated by the presence in our graphics of double outlines of vowel sounds. Thus, the letters i, o, y, e, s indicate the hardness of the preceding consonant, paired in hardness-softness, and the letters - i, e, yu, e, i - indicate softness (cf.: rad - row, mole - chalk , knock - knock, sir - sir, was - beat). Thus, the letters denoting consonant sounds paired in hardness-softness are ambiguous: without taking into account the subsequent letter, it is impossible to determine whether the consonant sound paired in hardness-softness is hard or soft. Only at the end of a word and before consonants (though not always) the softness of consonants paired with hardness and softness is indicated by a special letter ь.

The syllabic principle also applies to the designation of the consonant sound [j] (iot), and this application is carried out only within words. The consonant sound yot is indicated by a special letter y only when the syllable ends with this sound following the vowel (cf.: sing - sing, lei - pour, spring, blind, etc.).

In all other positions, the sound yot together with the next vowel sound is denoted by one letter, namely: i -, e -, e -, yu -. This meaning of the letters i, e, e, yu occurs: 1) at the beginning of the word (cf. pit, hedgehog, south, spruce); 2) after vowels (mine, mine, I’ll go, mine); 3) after the dividing signs ъ and ь (announce - monkey, volume - let's knock, exit - mouth, situation - blizzard).

However, the syllabic principle is not applied consistently in Russian graphics. The main deviation from the syllabic principle is the designation of vowel sounds after consonants, unpaired in hardness and softness. So, after always hard consonants [zh], [sh], [ts], vowel sounds are indicated, contrary to the syllabic principle, by the letters i, e, e, occasionally yu, i (cf. fat, width, gesture, pole, gutter, whisper , brochure, jury, parachute, figure, chain, Kotsyubinsky, Tsyavlovsky, etc.); after the always soft [h], [sch], contrary to the syllabic principle, the letters a, o, u are written (cf. bowl, clink glasses, miracle, food, Shchors, pike, etc.).

These deviations from the syllabic principle in modern Russian graphics have developed historically. In modern Russian, the sounds [zh], [sh], [ts] do not have soft varieties, and the sounds [ch], [sch] do not have hard varieties. Therefore, the hardness and softness of these sounds are indicated by the consonant letters themselves, which are unambiguous and do not require designation by subsequent vowel letters.

Special cases of deviations from the syllabic principle: 1) writing foreign (usually French) words with ьо instead of ё (cf.: broth - linen, etc.); 2) writing complex abbreviated words with ьо, я, ьу and yu (cf. village district, village airfield, Dalugol, construction site); 3) writing yo at the beginning of foreign words instead of ё (cf. hedgehog, ruff - yot, iod, Yorkshire, New York).

In addition to the indicated inconsistency in the application of the syllabic principle, one can note in Russian graphics the absence of a designation for a stressed syllable in a word, as well as a special letter for the sound ["] (cf. yeast, squeal, ride, etc.)

Inscription in words

Conclusion

Thus, having gone through such a huge historical path, the Russian alphabet was able to borrow everything it needed from other alphabets and languages. Despite the fact that this alphabet is of Greek origin, it is safe to say that it has acquired its own special appearance.

Throughout the history of Russia, the Russian language has undergone many changes.

Unnecessary letters became a thing of the past and, thus, the original alphabet differs sharply from the modern one. All this was connected with the development of Kievan Rus, and later Russia.

Since writing is a universal carrier of information, religion, culture and politics, one cannot fail to note the very main role of the Russian state’s own writing: it is likely that it was the alphabet that preserved this people and did not allow them to assimilate into a foreign culture.

After all, “Language is the spirit of the people” (W. Humboldt), in language is the entire worldview of a nation, the subtlest features of perception, there is no People without Language!

List of used literature

1 Great Soviet Encyclopedia[Electronic resource]: Electronic version of the latest edition of BES 1977 - Electron. text data and electron. graph. Dan. - M: “Big Russian Encyclopedia”, 2002. - (Golden Fund of Russian Encyclopedias). - 183.90, rub. URL: http://library.kspu.ru/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=141

Modern Russian language. Valgina N.S., Rosenthal D.E., Fomina M.I.M.: Logos, 2002. - 528 p.

Yu.P. Minin "The solution to the Russian alphabet." / Under. Ed. K.R. Ivanova, N.E. Kirillova. - M.: Culture, 1985. - 143 pp.

Zemskaya E.A. Russian colloquial speech. / Ed. M.V. Kitaygorodskaya, E.N. Shiryaeva. - M.: Nauka, 1981. - 276 pp.

The concept of the alphabet, its main characteristics.

Writing styles. Typography.

Stages of formation of the Russian alphabet.

One of the main factors of phonemographic writing is alphabet– a set of letters arranged in the order accepted for a given writing system. The alphabet is characterized by the composition (number of letters) and the order of the letters in the list; it determines the style of the letters, their names and sound meanings.

The word "alphabet" is of Greek origin: it is composed of two Greek words - "alpha" and "vita (beta)" (α and β), in Latin "alphabetum". The Arabic word "alifba" is composed on the same principle. In the Russian language, the word “alphabet” is used, compiled from the name of the first letters of the Cyrillic alphabet: A - “az” and B - “buki”.

An ideal alphabet should consist of as many letters as there are phonemes in a given language. However, there are no ideal alphabets today, because writing has evolved over a long history, and much in writing reflects outdated traditions. There are alphabets that are more or less rational. Alphabetic characters (letters) can convey one sound (in Russian the letters I, O, T, R), but can convey two or more sounds (in Russian the letters E, Ts [ts]). On the other hand, one sound can be conveyed by two or more letters, for example, in English, the combinations of letters TH, SH, CH convey one sound each. Finally, there may be letters that do not convey sounds at all: in Russian these are the letters Ъ and ь.

Modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. There are 10 vowel letters: A, I, O, U, Y, E, E, Yo, Yu, Ya; consonants -21: B, V, G, D, ZH, Z, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, F, X, C, Ch, Sh, Sh. Letters b, b sounds are not indicated.

Lettering. There is no natural connection between the shape of a letter and its sound meaning; this connection is arbitrary, which turns the letter into a conventional sign of sound. The arbitrariness of the letter outline is confirmed by changes in the outline of the letters while the meaning is stable. For example, Ѩ eventually turned into I.

Meanwhile, the style of letters is an active characteristic of the alphabet, since it determines the appearance of the letter, its convenience and inconvenience, the speed of writing and reading, and the effectiveness of teaching both. The outline of a letter is a material carrier of its meaning, i.e. knowledge of the external appearance of a letter is a necessary condition for correct writing and reading. When drawing a letter, it is important to take into account both the interests of the writer and the interests of the reader. For the writer, simplicity of style is important, on which the speed of writing depends. For the reader, clarity and contrast in the appearance of the letter are important. The evolution of the external side of the alphabet - the shape of the letters - is connected precisely with these functions of the letter styles.

In addition, based on the handwriting and the general appearance of the letter, the time and place of creation of the written monument can be determined. The material side of writing is dealt with by the applied historical discipline - paleography(from Greek palaios "ancient").

The letters do not have a single descriptive pattern, but there are four varieties of each letter with two pairwise non-overlapping groupings: printed uppercase and lowercase; handwritten uppercase and lowercase. For example: A, a, A, a; T, t, T, t.;

Modern letters, based on the method of reproduction and design, are divided into written And printed. The designs of modern written letters were formed on the basis of the designs of the letters of the Slavic script. The foundations of the printed font were laid by the reform of Peter I.

Uppercase(large, capital) and lowercase(small) have their own history. Descriptive varieties of these letters began to appear in written monuments of the 16th century. The allocation of capital letters into a separate subalphabet was first noted in the primers of the 17th century. The use of capital letters was streamlined after the introduction of the Peter the Great civil alphabet.

The differences between uppercase and lowercase letters manifest themselves in three positions:

1) difference in size. This is reflected in the title (large and small), it is very important for reading, because large letters stand out against the background of small ones and serve as a support, a guide for the overall coverage of the text, highlighting its individual fragments;

2) difference in style. It does not apply to all letter characters, but to printed subalphabets of only four letters: A - a, B - b, E - e, E - e;

3) functional distinctions. They are the most significant components; spelling deals with this (see lecture 7). There are no functional differences in the letters ы, ь, Ъ.

Letter order in the alphabet is one of the characteristics of the alphabet, since the distinctive feature of any alphabet is its orderliness. The generally accepted arrangement of letters in the alphabet is arbitrary and has no connection with the letter itself and the phonetic side of the language. The place of a letter in the alphabet does not depend on its frequency. It was calculated that the most common letters are O, E (together with E), A, I, T, and the least used letters are Ш, Ц, ШЧ, Ф, Е.

On the one hand, the order of letters is the passive side of the modern alphabet, since it has no direct relation to the practice of writing. In order to write and read correctly, there is no need to know in what order the letters follow each other. This knowledge has general cultural significance. On the other hand, place in the alphabet is the most important characteristic of a letter, since it is determined by place, serial number (M is the fourteenth letter in the Russian alphabet). In speech practice, knowledge of the order of letters is necessary when using reference literature, since the headings in dictionaries are arranged in accordance with the so-called strict alphabet, i.e. the place in the alphabet is taken into account first by the first letters of the word, then by the second, etc. For example, in the dictionary the word will be listed first lamp, Then - doe.

Letter names are very essential in the writing system, because establishes their meaning. The names of Russian letters are built on the acrophonic principle: the meaning of a letter is the extreme sound of its name (from the Greek akros "extreme"). This may be the first sound of the name (initial type) - “de” - [d], “ka” - [k], “che” - [h]; the last sound (final type) – “er” - [r], “es” - [s], “ef” - [f]; the whole name (global type) is “a” - [a], “e” -, “yu” -. Thus, the name of a letter is directly related to its basic meaning, without which correct writing and reading are impossible.

The modern name of the letter is an indeclinable neuter noun, so it is correct to say “graceful” A", "big R".

Knowing the names is necessary to correctly read letter abbreviations: FSB[efsbe], ATS[atees], UMPO [uempeo]. They are taken into account in the formulation of spelling rules; it is impossible to do without letter names in textbooks and scientific works. Knowing the names of letters is also associated with speech culture. Errors in the names of letters (“re” instead of “er”, “cha” instead of “che”) are perceived as a gross violation of the norms of the literary language. The use of the correct letter names is an indicator of the level of a person’s general culture.

Alphabetical meaning of letters– this is the basic meaning of the letter, its original function. The alphabetic value is contrasted with the positional value of the letter. For example: letter ABOUT in a word Here means [o], in a word noses- [Λ], in nasal- [ъ], letter E in a word eating has meaning in the word we eat- , V weight- [`e], in scales- [`i e], in bike- [`ь], in karate- [uh]. However, it is clear to everyone who reads and writes in Russian that one of these meanings is basic (alphabetic) - the one that is acquired when learning the alphabet, the rest represent positional meanings. The alphabetic meaning is established regardless of the conditions of use; it is the basis for the formation of the meanings of letters, determined by graphics and spelling.

Writing style is a speech act considered from the point of view of its graphic execution in a written text. Being a significant characteristic of written speech and forming one whole with it, writing styles are divided into certain categories. The general requirements applicable to any manuscript include mastery of the skills of correct, aesthetically perfect writing, or the art calligraphy- mastery of writing characters. There are two main trends in the art of calligraphy: 1) perfect adherence to the standard rules of written characters; 2) the formation of an individual (personal) handwriting.

Handwriting refers not only to an individual style of writing, but also to a general style of writing that is characteristic of all writers of a certain historical period.

Personal, perfect handwriting that claims calligraphic significance is relatively poorly developed in the European tradition. The formation of calligraphically significant personal handwriting in Europe begins with the time of printing (XV century), when they began to be contrasted with standard printed letters as individual versus general. In the hieroglyphic cultures of the East, on the contrary, personal handwriting appears very early, and calligraphic art reaches high perfection. It should be borne in mind that personal handwriting always carries the spirit of its creator, expressing in a certain way some features of his personality, like individual features of pronunciation in oral speech.

The change in letter styles was associated with a change in supra-individual handwritings (charter, semi-charter, cursive), and then with the introduction of printing, the introduction of a civil font, followed by a change in cursive handwriting and printed fonts.

In the case of standard characters in Greek and Latin, as well as Slavic graphics, three standard styles of execution were gradually established:

1) charter - the complete style of marking;

2) cursive - shortened style of writing characters

3) semi-ustav - average (mixed) style of marking.

This division of styles is characteristic of all cultures. In Egyptian writing they correspond to hieroglyphic, democratic and hieratic writing, in Chinese hieroglyphs - zhenshu, caoshu and jianbizi.

The charter (from the beginning of writing to the middle of the 16th century) was characterized by a clear, calligraphic style. Words were not separated by spaces, and word abbreviations were rarely used. Each letter was written separately from the others, without connections or slanting, and had shapes close to geometric. The height and width of the letters were approximately the same. Therefore, the charter was easy to read, but difficult for the writer.

The semi-ustav (from the middle of the 14th century to the 17th century) differed from the charter in the less strictness of the lettering. Letters in their parts can form three rows of writing: the line itself, the superscript row and the subscript rows. Half-characters are placed in the middle line, and behind it are placed the superscript and subscript elements of the letter styles: loops, bows, etc. Sloping was allowed, letters became smaller and more elongated in height, titles (word abbreviations) and strengths (accent marks) were used. The semi-statut was written more fluently than the charter, but was more difficult to read. It moved from manuscripts to printed books from the time of Ivan Fedorov to Peter’s reforms; this was due to the desire of the first printers to give books a familiar appearance.

Cursive writing (from the end of the 14th century to the present day) is a coherent writing of letters, usually slanted to the right, with strokes extending beyond the top and bottom lines of the line. Initially it became widespread in diplomatic, clerical and trade correspondence.

Historically, charter is the earliest style of writing. The most solemn and official texts are executed in the statutory letter, and the least important ones are executed in cursive.

Typography is based on a new way of creating written characters. The essence of this method is to create a standard print run of handwritten text. The emergence and development of book printing is a complex and long historical process that had significant consequences for the spread and development of culture. The invention of printing cannot be attributed to any single person or nation. The basis for the creation of a printed book is the invention of paper by the Chinese in the 2nd century AD. e. Both a handwritten and a printed book can be equally embodied on paper. Following the invention of paper in the 7th-8th centuries. A printing press was created that was used to reproduce books. At first, the printing matrix was copper or wooden boards, on which the text was either cut out or etched with acid over handwritten text. From such a matrix, using a printing press, it was possible to create a certain edition of text. Books created from matrices are called xylographs; they were the main type of publication until the 15th century.

In the 15th century, Johann Guttenberg invented a type casting device and a typographic alloy - hart. This alloy was distinguished by its lightness and ductility - necessary qualities for creating a set. Europe thus became the birthplace of movable type printing. In the history of Russia, Ivan Fedorov became the first printer.

Printed speech develops directly from handwritten speech, changing the forms of existence of written speech, creating new qualities. It borrows linearity and the iconic principle of written language. However, writing signs change their shape in accordance with the conditions of machine production. In particular, the number and strict nomenclature of fonts are established. Modern typeface comes in a number of variations that are used to organize text in printed publications.

In the twentieth century, computers entered social and linguistic practice, due to which the scope of activity of technical devices for handwritten and printed speech significantly expanded. Computer graphics combines the properties of both. Computer graphics systems allow you to create not only text, but also drawings, geometric images, animation, etc.

In 988 the baptism of Rus' took place. The Christian religion (Orthodoxy) established itself as the state religion. This entailed the distribution of liturgical literature. Religious books were written in Old Church Slavonic using the Cyrillic alphabet. With the adoption of Orthodoxy, Slavic writing acquired the status of state writing.

In the history of Russian writing, several periods can be distinguished:

end of the 10th – mid-16th centuries. - from the beginning of writing to the beginning of printing;

second half of the 16th century - the beginning of Russian book printing;

Petrine reforms of Russian writing at the beginning of the 18th century;

Changes in the alphabet in the 18th-19th centuries;

Alphabet reform 1917-1918

In 1710, by decree of Peter, a new civil alphabet and printing books in a new font. Peter's next innovation was intended to strengthen the position of secular culture as opposed to church culture. Before this, Old Church Slavonic letter styles were used in official publications and in everyday life. After Peter's reform, the Old Church Slavonic font began to be called Church Slavonic. They are still used in church practice to this day.

The introduction of civil script at the beginning of the 18th century constituted an era in the development of Russian national culture. The alphabet has become much simpler and more accessible to a wide range of people. This also made it possible to create new techniques for book design. The need for the rapid development of printing in the Peter the Great era required a more advanced font than the Church Slavonic one.

The civil font was created on the basis of Western European fonts and new Russian handwriting, which were distinguished by greater symmetry in the construction of letters. About the change in the style of printed letters, M.V. Lomonosov wrote: “Under Peter, not only the boyars and boyars, but also the letters threw off their wide fur coats and dressed up in summer clothes.”

In addition to introducing a civil script, the Russian emperor tried to improve the alphabet. He personally crossed out the letters “yus big” - Ѭ, “yus small” -i, “xi” -Ѯ, “psi” -Ѱ, “izhitsa” - V, “uk” - Оу, “fert” - Ф, “omega” " - Ѡ, "earth" - Z, "like" - I.

However, this met with opposition from the church. The letters excluded by Peter continued to be used according to the established centuries-old tradition. As a result, civil books from 1711 to 1735 came out of print with a different set of letters.

Accent marks and titles (diacritical marks for abbreviating words) were abolished, since their use led to illegibility of texts and errors. At the same time, the use of letters in numerical values ​​was abandoned.

The new civil alphabet finally came into use by the middle of the 18th century, when it became familiar to the generation that learned to read and write using it. It existed unchanged until the reform of Russian writing in 1918.

Transformations in Russian writing had a significant impact not only on writing, but also on the formation of the Russian literary language. Church Slavonic graphics lost their dominant position in Russian writing and ceased to be the bearer of a literary norm, which also meant that the Church Slavonic language lost its dominant role in the literary language. In this sense, the alphabet reform is a striking example of the modernization of Russian life. It could only take place in conditions when life was renewed. Newspapers began to be published, mail appeared, people began to conduct active business and private correspondence. Writing and reading have become not only a godly activity, but a necessity to correspond to the spirit of the times.

Introduction of new letters. Over the entire history of its existence, four new letters have been introduced into the Russian alphabet: Ya, Y, E, Yo.

I in the Church Slavonic alphabet it looked like two things - like “yus small” Ѧ or “A iotated” IA, which had the same sound meaning a long time ago. The shape of the modern letter I, similar to a mirror image of the Latin letter R, reproduces the italic style of the letter Ѧ, which became widespread in the middle of the 16th century (with a quick drawing of this letter, the left leg gradually disappeared, and the whole figure turned somewhat clockwise. In this form it was fixed with the introduction of the civil font in 1708 and has remained virtually unchanged since then.

E is considered to be a borrowed Glagolitic form of the letter “is” (E), which looks like E. In the Cyrillic alphabet, the sign E has been used at least since the mid-17th century. The letter E was officially included in the alphabet in 1708 when the civil font was created. A large number of borrowings in the Petrine era and later necessitated the need for the letter e, which denoted the sound [e] after hard consonants and at the beginning of a word. Thus, to denote one sound [e], two letters appeared in the language - E and E.

Y introduced in 1753. In the Church Slavonic language, a consistent and mandatory distinction between the use of styles I - J has been legalized since the middle of the 17th century. The translation of the Russian letter into a civil script abolished the superscripts and again combined them with the letter I. Y was restored in 1735, although it was not considered a separate letter of the alphabet until the 20th century.

Yo introduced in 1784. This letter has its own history. Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, held a meeting of the Russian Academy at her home on November 29, 1783. The conversation was about the future six-volume Dictionary of the Russian Academy. Then Ekaterina Romanovna, in the presence of Derzhavin, Fonvizin, Knyazhnin, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg Gabriel, suggested writing not “yolk”, but “fir tree”. A year later, on November 18, “e” received official status. Derzhavin was the first to use the letter E, and the fabulist Ivan Dmitriev first printed it: he wrote the words “light” and “stump” into the fairy tale “The Freaky Girl”. The letter became famous thanks to Karamzin, and therefore until recently he was considered its creator.

Since then, the letter has experienced several stages of decline and rise in its popularity. Publishers of the tsarist period, the Soviet period, and perestroika had different attitudes towards it. In 2007, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation ordered that the letter “ё” be written in proper names. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Russia decided that in documents “ё” and “e” are equivalent. In 2009, the Bank of Russia allowed to write “ё” in payment documents.

The second reform of Russian writing was carried out in 1917-1918. This was a reform of both the alphabet and spelling. Preparations for this reform began at the end of the 19th century, when the need to simplify the alphabet and spelling became especially obvious. In 1904, the Spelling Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences was created, which included such prominent linguists as A.A. Shakhmatov, F.F. Fortunatov, I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, A.I. Sobolevsky and others. In the same year, a project was published that included proposals to eliminate unnecessary letters and new spelling rules. However, the project was met with hostility by the conservative part of society, government circles and even some scientists. At that time, the more widespread opinion was that the acquisition of spelling did not depend on the number of letters in the alphabet, but on incorrect teaching methods, and it was also believed that one should not attach much importance to the “cries of lazy students.” There were so many opponents of the reform that it was necessary to create a special preparatory commission with the participation of school teachers, which worked actively for more than ten years. Finally, in May 1917, the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education proposed introducing reformed spelling in schools starting with the new school year.

The reform was only implemented under Soviet power by decrees of the People's Commissariat of Education dated December 23, 1917 and the Council of People's Commissars dated October 10, 1918.

The reform finally abolished a number of unnecessary letters that made writing difficult: “fita” - Ѳ with replacement through Ф; “yat” - Ѣ with replacement through E; “and decimal - I with replacement through AND; “Izhitsa” – V. The letter “era” - Ъ was canceled at the end of words after a hard consonant (mir, bank).

The reform also made it possible to abandon the names of letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, which used significant words that began with the corresponding sounds (az - A, beeches - B). In the modern Russian alphabet, modeled on the Latin alphabet, the names of the letters are not significant: the name indicates the quality of the sound denoted by the letter (a - A; be - B). Brief letter names make learning the alphabet much easier.

As a result of the reform of 1917-1918. the current Russian alphabet appeared (see Appendix). This alphabet also became the basis of many newly written languages, for which writing was absent before the 20th century or was lost and introduced in the republics of the USSR after the October Socialist Revolution.

In 2010, Russia celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Russian alphabet.

This significant date was one of the reasons due to which the decision was made at the state level to create a domain zone on the Internet in Cyrillic. Cyrillic domains will allow the Russian language to exist in a much wider virtual space than before. This fact is significant not only for Russia, but also for those Slavic states whose writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

List of used literature

Ivanova V.F. Modern Russian language. Graphics and spelling. M., 1976.

Istrin V.A. The emergence and development of writing. M., 2010.

Istrin V.A. 1100 years of the Slavic alphabet. M., 2011.

Lowkotka Ch. Development of writing. (translated from Czech). – M., 1960.

Russian language. Encyclopedia/Ch. ed. Yu.N. Karaulov. – M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia; Bustard, 1998.

Shchepkin V.N. Russian paleography. – M., 1967.

Linguistics. Large encyclopedic dictionary. – M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1998.

Questions for self-control

Give a definition of the concept alphabet.

When does the Russian alphabet appear? What are the prerequisites for its creation?

Tell us about the main characteristics of the Russian alphabet.

In what directions did the Russian alphabet change?

Tell us about the fate of the letters excluded from the Russian alphabet. State the reasons for their initial inclusion in the alphabet and subsequent exclusion.

Tell us about the process of introducing native Russian letters into the alphabet.

What is the composition of the modern Russian alphabet?

Assignment for independent work:

study the topic “The Baptism of Rus' and Slavic writing.”

The text of the work is posted without images and formulas.
The full version of the work is available in the "Work Files" tab in PDF format

With the development of human relations, it has become difficult to convey all the necessary information through oral speech. The knowledge and experience gained by people could be lost over time or distorted in retelling. In addition, people began to spread over ever greater distances, and they needed to somehow transmit messages to each other.

Thus, the emergence of written language became necessary. At first the letter was substantive. Later, people began to depict objects, and writing with pictures - pictograms - appeared. But drawings were not suitable for conveying large texts or expressing feelings. And the next stage in the development of writing was graphic writing - the depiction of symbols. At the same time, the emergence of the first states determined the need to create such symbols with which one could quickly write, record various events, draw up official documents, conduct trade transactions, etc. The symbols were simplified and adapted to the peculiarities of the language and the main writing material of the state. And the next stage in the development of writing was the transition to letter-sound writing and the invention of the alphabet. The alphabet is a collection of letter signs, each of which, as a rule, conveys one speech sound 1.

Thus, alphabetic writing is, like language, a special heritage of each people, which preserves the history of the development of ancestors and reflects cultural values, emphasizing the sound features of speech.

It is necessary to know the history of the appearance of letters and the creation of the alphabet of your native language in order to better understand the features of the development of the state - your Motherland. This knowledge will also help you predict how the alphabet of your native speech will change in the future.

Hypothesis: What could the Russian alphabet become in the future? In my opinion, the alphabet of the Russian language of the future should be visual and help in studying the sound features of our language.

Target- learn the history of the appearance of the Russian alphabet and offer a sample of the alphabet of the future.

Studying literature sources about the history of the Slavic alphabet.

Studying the history of the Russian alphabet, the stages of its development.

Analysis of possible changes in the modern alphabet.

Creating a sample alphabet of the future.

When creating the work, materials from the books were studied: Golovanova, D., Mikhailova, E. “Russian language and culture of speech: A short course”, Ivanova T.A., “Old Slavonic language”, as well as “Secrets of the Russian alphabet” by Miroshnichenko,

O.F., who helped us analyze the history of the Russian alphabet.

Novelty Our research is that we went further on this issue: we proposed a sample of the alphabet of the future.

Chapter 1. How did the letters of the Russian language and the modern Russian alphabet appear?

The history of the appearance of Slavic letters and alphabet

Almost all known alphabetic writing systems have a common origin - from the writing of Phenicia, Syria and Palestine 1. This letter contained 22 signs for consonants, vowels were not indicated (Appendix 1).

The Phoenicians, who lived in ancient times on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, conducted active trade with neighboring states in the 9th century BC. introduced their writing to the Greeks. The Greeks somewhat modified the spelling of Phoenician letters and their names, maintaining the order, and also began to designate not only consonants, but also vowels with separate letters. In its classical version, formed in Athens, the Greek alphabet included 24 letters - 17 consonants and 7 vowels (Appendix 2).

It is important to note that the word “alphabet” comes from the name of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta - modern Greek - vita.

The spread of Christianity, whose preachers spoke and wrote in Greek and Latin, based on it, forced the Slavic princes to look for specialists capable of interpreting the Holy Scriptures in the native language of the Slavs. There was no official alphabet adapted to convey Slavic speech at that time.

So, from Byzantium to Moravia - one of the centers of the Slavic peoples - the Greeks were sent - the scientist Constantine the Philosopher (after Baptism - Cyril) and his older brother Methodius. They streamlined the first Slavic alphabet and, compiled by them in 863, the Slavic alphabet became known as the Cyrillic alphabet. Based on this alphabet, the brothers began to translate the main liturgical books, primarily the Gospel, from Greek and Latin into Slavic. The language of these translations, performed by Cyril, Methodius, and then by their students, is now called the Old Church Slavonic language 1.

It is important to note that the oldest Slavic inscriptions and manuscripts dating back to the 10th century were made using two graphic systems. One of them is called Cyrillic, and the other - Glagolitic (the Old Slavic word verb means speech, word).

Many scientists believe that Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet, which was known to his followers as the Cyrillic alphabet. Subsequently, in Bulgaria, one of Methodius’s students compiled another alphabet (we use it now), to which the name of the original alphabet was later transferred.

Among the Eastern Slavs, by the 12th century the Glagolitic alphabet had been replaced by a simpler and clearer Cyrillic alphabet. Old Russian scribes sometimes used Glagolitic letters for secret writing. The Cyrillic alphabet came to Rus' in 988 along with Epiphany 2.

The Glagolitic alphabet (Appendix 3) is a brighter and more original invention than the Cyrillic alphabet. The number of letters in the Glagolitic alphabet almost exactly corresponds to the number of sounds in the Old Church Slavonic language. The Glagolitic letters are not copied from another alphabet, but created independently. It is believed that its creators intended the Glagolitic alphabet specifically for sacred books: the first letter “az” is shaped like a cross. The designs of many other letters are also based on a cross, a triangle (probably a symbol of the Trinity) and a circle (possibly symbolizing eternity, infinity, the fullness of God) 3.

The Cyrillic alphabet (Appendix 4) is essentially the Greek alphabet with additional characters for Slavic sounds that do not exist in the Greek language. That’s why the Cyrillic alphabet contains several letters that are unnecessary for the Slavic language, like “xi” and “psi”. Combinations of corresponding sounds can be conveyed by combinations of other letters, for example, instead of “xi”, use the combination of “kako” and “word”. In general, doublet letters and letter combinations, which later became even more numerous due to the disappearance of some sounds in the language, led to numerous changes in the Cyrillic alphabet and the disappearance of some letters from it 1. In the modern Russian alphabet, compared to the Cyrillic alphabet, only 4 letters have been added - e, ya, й, ё, and much more have disappeared.

2. History of changes in the Russian alphabet

The ancestor of the Russian alphabet is the Old Russian Cyrillic alphabet, borrowed from the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet, consisting of 43 letters.

The Cyrillic alphabet entirely includes the Greek alphabet (24 letters), but some purely Greek letters (xi, psi, fita, izhitsa) are not in their original place, but are moved to the end. To these were added 19 letters to represent sounds specific to the Slavic language and absent in Greek. Cyrillic letters have their own names based on various common Slavic names that begin with them, or directly taken from Greek (xi, psi). The letters of the Glagolitic alphabet were also called.

The Old Church Slavonic ABC got its name from the combination of two letters “az” and “buki”, which designated the first letters of the alphabet A and B.

To write numbers exactly according to the Greek system, Cyrillic letters were also used, but with modifications. To designate 900 and 6, Slavic letters were used - C (900) and S (6). Some letters that are not in the Greek alphabet (for example, B, Z) did not have a numerical value of 1 (Appendix 5 2).

The Russian alphabet existed in this form until 1708-1711, i.e. before the reforms of Tsar Peter I (Church Slavonic remains practically the same now). Then the superscripts were abolished and the letters “psi”, “omega”, “yus small” were removed, E and Y were introduced. Iotated yus, yus large and E iotized were excluded because the corresponding sounds disappeared. Arabic numerals began to be used to write numbers.

Also, before the reform of Peter I, there were no lowercase letters in the Cyrillic alphabet; all text was written in capitals 3.

On January 29, 1710, in the Russian Empire, Peter I issued a decree on the official introduction of a new Russian alphabet, called “citizens” (Appendix 6 1).

Later, in 1735, the Academy of Sciences abolished the letters “zelo”, “xi” and “Izhitsa”, highlighted Y, but was not considered a separate letter. In 1758, “Izhitsa” was returned, and in 1783, Yo appeared, thanks to Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova 2.

The result of the last major reform of writing in 1918 was the exclusion of the letters “fita”, “izhitsa”, “i”, “yat” and the emergence of the current Russian alphabet, but at that time it was believed that the alphabet included 31 letters, since Yo and Y were recognized as options E and I.

Only in 1942 did the Russian alphabet officially begin to consist of 33 letters (Appendix 7 3).

So, the modern Russian alphabet belongs to the Cyrillic alphabets and today includes 33 letters. 21 letters are used to denote consonants, 10 - for vowels, 2 letters of the Russian alphabet do not denote sounds: ъ, ь.

However, there are always prerequisites for new changes. For example, today you can find letters of the pre-reform alphabet - on city signs, in the names of companies and products, etc., for example, the film “Empire under attack”, the TV show “Russian World”, “Chocolate “Sladkov” - high quality traditions” , “Restaurant “Shustov””, etc. Even the social movement “Solid Sign” has appeared: it seeks to unite all companies and organizations that have the letter “b” in their name, which, according to the initiators of the movement, has become a symbol of a return to what existed in great Russia traditions, stability, reliability, “firmness”; a symbol of Russia, eternal and incomprehensible, stable and always following its own path 1.

On the contrary, today the presence of Latin elements in any name becomes a symbol of novelty and fashionability: the store “CONTEINER”, the restaurant “Skvoznyak”, the play “Bummer off”, a snack for beer “BEERka”, the Internet cafe “ZveZda”, a cocktail bar “HOLD ON,” etc. It is known that the question of the Latinization of the Russian alphabet as a whole has been raised more than once: it first came up back in 1927, and even today there are supporters of such a reform 2 .

Thus, the development of the Russian alphabet has not stopped and continues today.

Chapter 2. What could the Russian alphabet become in the future?

Reasons for changing the Russian alphabet

The sounds of the Russian language that exists today in writing are indicated using 33 letters, the arrangement of which in the alphabet remains as an inheritance from the Cyrillic alphabet. However, if we consider the alphabet as a system of letters for conveying the sounds of a language, then we can propose such a representation for this system so that it is convenient to remember the letters and the features of the sounds that they represent.

Moreover, the history of the development of the Russian alphabet shows that the system of letters it represented was constantly modified, adapting to the requirements of its time.

In our time, when the amount of information used increases, when it is necessary to find more effective and faster ways to learn and work, the alphabet should become a convenient system of letters that solves several problems. Thus, it is more expedient to divide the letters of the alphabet into groups that would reflect the characteristics of the sounds corresponding to them. Therefore, I propose to first arrange in the alphabet the letters denoting vowel sounds, then consonants, dividing them, in turn, into voiced and voiceless (Appendix 8).

b and b can be excluded because they do not indicate independent speech sounds. In writing, the softness of consonants and the dividing b and b can be indicated using some generally accepted sign, for example, using an apostrophe. It turns out that the words “January”, “leaves” and “entrance” can be written “January’”, “leaves” and “entrance”.

In my opinion, such a representation of the alphabet will help, when memorizing letters, to simultaneously learn to determine the type of sounds that these letters represent using visual memory. In the future, this skill will most likely allow you to more successfully apply the grammatical rules of writing words in the Russian language.

Creating a sample of the Russian alphabet of the future

To create a model of the Russian alphabet of the future, you can use individual cards of letters of the modern Russian alphabet. Considering that b and b are proposed to be excluded, because they do not represent sounds; you need 31 cards with letters.

First, we place the letters denoting vowel sounds. For greater clarity and better use of visual memory, we highlight them in red.

The next step is to place letters representing voiced paired consonants, followed by unpaired consonants. These letters can be painted bright blue, except for the letters Zh and J. The letter Zh is highlighted in dark brown, which means that it always represents a hard, voiced consonant sound. Y - dark green, which means that a soft voiced consonant sound is always represented.

We do the same when arranging letters denoting voiceless consonants. First paired, then unpaired. We highlight them in blue, except for Ш, Ц, Ш and Ш. Ш and Ц always indicate a hard, dull consonant sound, we highlight them in light brown. Ch and Shch - always a soft dull consonant sound, highlighted in light green (Appendix 8).

Conclusion

The alphabet is a system of letter signs, each of which conveys one speech sound.

The ancestor of almost all alphabetic systems in the world was the Phoenician alphabet, which did not contain letters denoting vowel sounds.

The Greeks modified the spelling of Phoenician letters and their names, while maintaining the order, began to denote vowels with separate letters. This is how the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet appeared - 17 consonants and 7 vowels. Word " alphabet" comes from the name of the first two letters: alpha and beta - modern Greek - vita.

The Greek letter system became the basis for the Latin alphabet - the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet - the Slavic alphabet.

The spread of Christianity among the Slavs determined the use of the Greek alphabet in the creation of the ancient Slavic alphabet.

In Slavic writing, two alphabets were used - Glagolitic and Cyrillic.

The Glagolitic alphabet is considered more complex in writing, but also closer to the sounds of the Slavic language.

The Cyrillic alphabet was created in 863 by the Greeks Constantine the Philosopher (Cyril) and his brother Methodius based on the Greek alphabet.

Among the Eastern Slavs - the ancestors of modern Russians - after the Baptism of Rus' in 988, the Cyrillic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet became widespread.

The Old Slavic Alphabet received its name from the combination of two letters “az” and “buki”, which designated the first letters of the alphabet, consisted of 43 letters - 24 letters were taken from the Greek alphabet and 19 letters were added that conveyed sounds characteristic of the Slavic language.

Cyrillic letters were also used to denote numbers.

Currently, Old Russian Cyrillic is considered Church Slavonic.

On January 29, 1710, a decree of Peter I was issued in the Russian Empire on the official introduction of the new Russian alphabet - “ citizens" For the first time, 8 letters (psi, omega, yus) were excluded from the Russian alphabet, E and Z were introduced, and lowercase letters appeared that were not in the Old Church Slavonic alphabet. They stopped using letters to indicate numbers and switched to Arabic numerals.

Later, in 1735, the Academy of Sciences abolished the letters “zelo”, “xi” and “Izhitsa”, highlighted Y, but was not considered a separate letter. In 1758, the “Izhitsa” was returned.

In 1783, the letter E appeared thanks to the proposal of Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.

By 1917, the alphabet officially had 35 letters (actually 37; E and J were not considered separate letters).

In 1918, after the abolition of the letters “fita”, “izhitsa”, “i”, “yat”, the Russian alphabet contained 31 letters, E and Y were considered variants of E and I.

Only in 1942 did the Russian alphabet officially begin to consist of 33 letters.

But the development of the Russian alphabet has not stopped and continues today: there are supporters of returning old letters, others propose introducing Latin letters into the alphabet.

In our opinion, the alphabet as a system of letters denoting speech sounds should be convenient and help in learning the grammar of your native language. Therefore, it is more expedient to divide the letters of the alphabet into groups: vowels, voiced consonants, voiceless consonants. b and b can be excluded, since they do not convey sounds, and in writing they can be designated by some generally accepted sign.

List of sources used

Alphabet /azbyka.ru/

Old Church Slavonic alphabet /gov.cap.ru/

Russian language alphabet /home-edu.ru/

Speech culture /www.gramma.ru/

Russian language /www.razumniki.ru/

Old Church Slavonic language /www.lang-lit.ru/

Golovanova, D., Mikhailova, E. Russian language and culture of speech: A short course, M., 2006, p. 144.

Ivanova T.A., Old Church Slavonic language, Higher School, M., 1977, 340 p.

Miroshnichenko, O.F., Secrets of the Russian alphabet. Az, beeches, know, M., 2004, 155 p.

Appendix No. 1

Phoenician alphabet (http://home-edu.ru/)

Appendix No. 2

Greek alphabet (http://azbyka.ru/)

Appendix No. 3

Appendix No. 4

Cyrillic.

Appendix No. 5

Appendix No. 6

Appendix No. 7

Appendix No. 8

Our alphabet of the future

1 http://home-edu.ru/

1 http://home-edu.ru/

1 Ivanova T.A., Old Church Slavonic language, Higher School, M., 1977, P.155.

2 http://www.gramma.ru/

3 Golovanova, D., Mikhailova, E. Russian language and culture of speech: A short course, M.: VLADOS, 2006, P. 100.

1 Miroshnichenko, O. F., Secrets of the Russian alphabet. Az, beeches, I know, M.: Unity - Dana, 2004. P.95.

1 T.A. Ivanova, Old Church Slavonic language, “Higher School”, M., 1977, P.160.

2 http://azbyka.ru/

3 Miroshnichenko, O. F., Secrets of the Russian alphabet. Az, beeches, I know, M.: Unity - Dana, 2004. P.120.

1 http://www.lang-lit.ru/

2 http://www.gramma.ru/

3 http://www.razumniki.ru/

1 http://www.razumniki.ru/