Where did the unpronounceable consonants come from in Russian?

Try to read the word "agency" fluently without missing a letter. Most likely, it will be inconvenient and difficult. And such difficulties arise for everyone. Therefore, if there is a confluence of consonants in a word, for example "-nts-", "-zdn-" or "-stl-", one of them may not be pronounced. However, pronunciation does not always play a decisive role in writing. It depends on the principles of spelling.

Morphological principle of spelling

He is the main one in RussianPrinciples of Russian Spelling / Culture of Writing. It means that, despite the difference in pronunciation, morphemes - the minimum significant parts of a word: root, prefix, suffix and ending - are transmitted uniformly in writing. Therefore, we pronounce “dup” and write “oak”, because we cannot write “oaks” or “oak” through “n”, and we check the noun “water” with the form of “water” or the adjective “water”.

In the case of unpronounceable consonants, the same principle applies. When writing one-root words, the same root must be preserved: "agency - agent", "star - star", "happy - happiness". To check, we select such an option where the consonant is clearly heard or not heard. For example, "participate" is often written with

a mistake - "to participate", although the spelling here can be found out with the help of a word where "in" is definitely absent: "participation". The story is similar with "terrible - terrible" or "dangerous - dangerous": there is no "t" in the test short forms, and it is not needed in the full ones either.

However, here, as in many rules, there are exceptions. For example, the combinations "-skn-" and "-stn-" in some words have been historically simplifiedWriting unpronounceable consonants / Spelling commenting on the Russian dictionary and turned into "-sn-": "shine", although "gloss"; "Crack" although "crackle"; "Shine" although "shine". And we also have a "tablecloth" with a single-root "tablecloth".

Traditional spelling principle

Everything becomes more fun if we remember the words where unpronounceable consonants are written, but we cannot check them with the same root, following the morphological principle. To understand why this is so, you need to refer to etymology.

For example, the "ladder" ascendsN. M. Shansky, T. A. Bobrov. School etymological dictionary of the Russian language to the common Slavic lězti - "to climb". These two words are connected in the same way as "razor" and "shave": the ladder is what one climbs with. And this ancient verbal "t" is still with us. Even though it does not withstand the test of the "ladder".

We pronounce "Please" without the consonant "y", but in the letter it is needed. The point is that this word is formedN. M. Shansky, T. A. Bobrov. School etymological dictionary of the Russian language from "perhaps" and "hundred" - the former form of the verb "to become" for the second and third person. Once upon a time in the Russian language there were both "thank you" and "health", but outdated.

"Feeling" is a derivativeN. M. Shansky, T. A. Bobrov. School etymological dictionary of the Russian language from "chuv", which meant "the ability to feel" and in turn was formed from the verb "chuti", that is, "to feel", "to feel". Our mysterious "v" in this case is historically a suffix, the same as in the words "temper" and "anger".

"Peer" is formedN. M. Shansky, T. A. Bobrov. School etymological dictionary of the Russian language from the Old Russian "sv'rstny" - "the same age." Historically, this word is related to the noun "versta", which some teachers recommend to check an unpronounceable consonant.

"Landscape" borrowed in the 18th century from German, where Landschaft was formed with a suffix from Land - "country", "land". In Russian, "d" is not pronounced, but by tradition it is written, as in the source language. It is curious that initially this word looked likeM. Vasmer. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language in a different way - "Lenschaft", but in this form it did not take root.

"Mouthpiece" also came to us in the Petrine era and also from German, where Mundstück is the addition of Mund ("mouth") and Stück ("piece"). And here, by tradition, the foreign "d" has been preserved. By the way, in this case there was alsoM. Vasmer. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language the unaccustomed option is the "mouthpiece".

"Montpensier" borrowedM. Vasmer. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language from French, where Montpensier is the name of the county. Perhaps for some it will be a surprise, but the name of the candy should contain "-asye-" - without the "n". In French, en is pronounced as a nasal "a", but we don't have such sounds and just "a" remains. Perhaps the letter "n" in the word was preserved as a memory of the nasality of the vowel, and possibly after the French letter n.

In all of the above examples, the spelling of words corresponds to the traditional principle of Russian spelling, when it is correct as historically. It regulatesWriting morphemes (significant parts of a word) / E. AND. Litnevskaya. Russian language: a short theoretical course for schoolchildren, for example, spelling unverifiable vowels ("dog", "the vinaigrette") And consonants (" absinthe "," backpack ").

Thus, the leading principle of spelling in Russian is morphological. Leading, but not the only one. And although there are very few words that are written according to the traditional principle, some with unpronounceable consonants are exactly what they are.