Alphabet letter numbers. What are the serial numbers of letters in the Russian alphabet? Russian alphabet
The alphabet of the Russian language has a centuries-old history. And although this is a well-known truth, few know who invented it and when.
Where did the Russian alphabet come from?
The history of the Russian alphabet goes back to ancient times, during the pagan times. Kievan Rus.
The order to create the Russian alphabet came from the Emperor of Byzantium, Michael III, who instructed the monastic brothers to develop the letters of the Russian alphabet, later called the Cyrillic alphabet. This happened in 863.
The Cyrillic alphabet had its roots in the Greek script, but since Cyril and Methodius came from Bulgaria, this land became a center for the spread of literacy and writing. Church Greek and Latin books began to be translated into Old Church Slavonic. After several centuries it became exclusively the language of the church, but played an important role in the development of the modern Russian language. Many consonants and vowels have not survived to this day, since this Russian alphabet has undergone many changes. The main transformations affected the alphabet during the time of Peter and during the period October Revolution.
How many letters are in the alphabet?
However, it is interesting not only who invented the Russian alphabet, but also how many letters it contains. Most people, even as adults, doubt how many there are: 32 or 33. And what can we say about children! There is every reason for this. Let's dive into history.
The Old Church Slavonic alphabet (as it came down to us in written sources) had 43 letters. Subsequently, 4 more letters were added, and 14 were removed, since the sounds they denoted ceased to be pronounced or merged with similar sounds. In the 19th century, Russian historian and writer N. Karamzin introduced the letter “ё” into the alphabet.
For a long time, “E” and “E” were considered one letter, so it was common to think that there are 32 letters in the alphabet.
Only after 1942 they were separated, and the alphabet became 33 letters.
The alphabet of the Russian language in its current form is divided into vowels and consonants.
We pronounce vowels freely: the sound passes through the vocal cords without obstacles.
Consonant sounds require an obstacle in the way to be created. In modern Russian, these letters and sounds are in the following relationship, while the number of sounds and letters will be different:
- - sounds: vowels – 6, consonants – 37;
- - letters: vowels - 10, consonants - 21.
If we don’t go into details and say briefly, this is explained by the fact that some vowel letters (e, ё, yu, ya) can denote two sounds, and consonants have pairs of hardness and softness.
By spelling, letters are distinguished between uppercase and lowercase letters:
Their writing is associated with the need to highlight proper and common nouns in the text (capitals are used for the latter, as well as for writing words in general).
Learning the order of letters
Even if your baby knows what the letters are called, closer to school age The problem arises in that you need to remember the letters in order in the alphabet. Most children confuse letters for a long time and cannot put them in the right order. Although it is very easy to help a child. There are several ways to do this.
Photos and pictures for kids
Pictures and photos with letters can help you learn the alphabet. You can download them on our website, print them, stick them on thick cardboard and practice with your child.
How can pictures and photos attached to letter symbols be useful?
Beautiful design, bright colors will definitely attract the attention of kids. Children become interested in everything unusual and colorful - and learning goes faster and more exciting. The Russian alphabet and pictures will become best friends in lessons for kids.
Russian alphabet in pictures for children. 
Table with cards of the Russian alphabet. Another option is a table of letters with numbers, numbers
You can also easily download and print it on the website. A numbered letter list for children can make learning the alphabet order much easier for those who can count. This is how the children firmly remember how many letters are in the alphabet, and the accompanying photos and pictures that the table includes help build an associative series. So someone came up with a great idea - to teach the alphabet with pictures and photos.
Russian alphabet with numbering of letters. Educational cartoons
No one will argue with the fact that all children love cartoons. But this love can be put to good use and you can learn the alphabet with the help of specially created educational cartoons. They include excerpts from Soviet cartoons, bright symbols of letters, pictures, songs. Musical accompaniment forces children to hum and rhyme the alphabet, and this way they remember it much faster.
— “The alphabet in cartoons”
This cartoon can be viewed here:
This great video allowance for children. There is not only writing and reading letters, but also excerpts from cartoons, images of what words with a particular letter mean, etc. The baby will have no choice but to remember the song and the order of the letters.
— “Learning letters: the alphabet in verse”
You can watch this cartoon here:
In addition to colorful cartoons and melodic music, the cartoon “Learning Letters: The ABC in Poems” offers simple verses that are easy to remember and tell the child which letter is next in the alphabet.
— “ABC for Kids” by Berg Sound Studio
This is a great cartoon for those children who are already familiar with the alphabet and are trying to read. Here we learn the alphabet and rules for writing words with the Computer and its assistant File. Using words as an example, they tell kids how to read, and what place the letters occupy in the alphabet, as well as how many letters there are in the Russian alphabet. This fascinating cartoon lasts 30-40 minutes, so you will have to be patient. But for children it will not be needed: the material is presented in game form, and the guys don’t get bored.
You can view the cartoon here
— “Learning letters with the cat Busya”
You can download the cartoon here
The main character is the cat Busya, who emerged from an illustrated primer to show children how letters look and are read. The cartoon has not only colorful drawings, but also musical accompaniment. Cat Busya reads short poems dedicated to a specific letter.
— “Learning the Russian alphabet”
It’s easy to watch this cartoon here
It consists of viewing an illustrated primer, and a male voice pleasantly and leisurely reads short poems dedicated to letters.
Thus, learning the alphabet should be interesting for children, then they will quickly and easily master the material. We teach in a fun and unobtrusive way
Emperor Michael III streamlined the writing system for the Slavic language. After the appearance of the Cyrillic alphabet, which dates back to the Greek statutory (solemn) letter, the activity of the Bulgarian school of scribes (after Cyril and Methodius) developed. Bulgaria becomes a distribution center Slavic writing. The first Slavic book school was created here - Preslav Book School, in which the Cyril and Methodius originals of liturgical books (Gospel, Psalter, Apostle, church services), new Slavic translations from Greek are being made, original works appear in the Old Slavonic language (“About the writing of Chrnoritsa Khrabra”). Later, Old Church Slavonic penetrates Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century it becomes the language of the church in Kievan Rus.Old Church Slavonic, being the language of the church, was influenced by the Old Russian language. It was an Old Church Slavonic language with elements of living East Slavic speech. Thus, the modern Russian alphabet comes from the old Cyrillic alphabet Slavic language, which was borrowed from the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet and became widespread in Kievan Rus.
Later 4 new letters were added, and 14 old ones were in different times excluded as unnecessary, since the corresponding sounds disappeared. The first to disappear was the iotized yus (Ѩ, Ѭ), then the large yus (Ѫ), which returned in the 15th century, but disappeared again at the beginning of the 17th century [ ], and iotinated E (Ѥ); the remaining letters, sometimes slightly changing their meaning and form, have survived to this day as part of the Church Slavonic alphabet, which for a long time was mistakenly considered identical with the Russian alphabet. Spelling reforms of the second half of the 17th century (related to the “correction of books” under Patriarch Nikon) fixed the following set of letters: A, B, C, D, D, E (with a spelling different variant Є, which was sometimes considered a separate letter and placed in the alphabet on place of the present E, that is, after Ѣ), Ж, S, З, И (with the orthographically distinct variant И for the sound [j], which was not considered a separate letter), I, K, L, M, N, O (in two orthographically different styles: “narrow” and “wide”), P, R, S, T, U (in two orthographically different styles:), Ф, Х, Ѡ (in two orthographically different styles: “narrow” and “wide” , as well as as part of the ligature “ot” (Ѿ), usually considered a separate letter), Ts, Ch, Sh, Shch, b, ы, b, Ѣ, Yu, Ya (in two styles: Ꙗ and Ѧ, which were sometimes considered in different letters, sometimes not), Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ, Ѵ. Sometimes the big yus (Ѫ) and the so-called “ik” (in the form of the current letter “u”) were also included in the alphabet, although they had no sound meaning and were not used in any word.
The Russian alphabet remained in this form until the reforms of Peter I of 1708-1711 (and the Church Slavonic alphabet remains like this to this day), when superscripts were abolished (which, incidentally, “abolished” the letter Y) and many doublet letters were abolished,
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To record spoken speech, letters are required. In Russian modern language 33 letters that make up the Russian alphabet. All the necessary information about the alphabet is presented in our article.
Brief history
Who created the Russian alphabet? The question is not so obvious. After all, over the course of ancient times, many changes have been made to it, many reforms have been carried out.
In Rus', the alphabet - Cyrillic - appeared in connection with the adoption of Christianity, and it was required primarily in the church. Each letter had a name (for example, a - az, b - beeches, c - lead, etc.) Numbers were also designated by letters. They wrote without spaces or punctuation. Long and well-known words were written abbreviated, putting a special sign over them - a title. To make it easier for monks learning to read to remember the alphabet in order, they were offered a special prayer to memorize (“alphabet”), where each line began with the letter b alphabetical order(the first - on az, the second - on beeches, etc.).
There is no doubt that the creators of the first Slavic alphabet are Saints Cyril and Methodius. But what is the first alphabet? There is an opinion that Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet, which forms the basis of the modern alphabet, is the creation of a disciple of St. Cyril, Kliment Ohridski.
Many reforms to the Russian alphabet were intended to bring it closer to what sounds are actually still used in speech. Therefore, the letters Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ, Ѵ and several others disappeared.
Primary oral speech, therefore the alphabet is designed to reflect its phonetic composition.
Letters of the Russian alphabet
The Russian, as well as the Latin, alphabet is based on Greek. Many letters are very similar even now. For example, β - in, π - n, etc. However, the sound composition Greek language different from Slavic. Therefore, Cyril and Methodius slightly increased the number of letters, trying to ensure that the alphabet had signs for all vowels and consonants. We don't have to resort to using special symbols or writing 2-3 letters to convey one sound.
Learning the alphabet
Letters in Russian, as in any other alphabet, are arranged in a certain order. Naturally, it is random. So is it necessary to memorize the Russian alphabet in order? Of course you need it! After all, it is in this sequence that words are located in the dictionary and the names of children in the school magazine, books in the library and articles in the encyclopedia - any elements of any list. Of course, at the beginning of the dictionary the alphabet is usually given for those who could not remember it, but it is always better to know it yourself than to rely on a hint.
Learning the alphabet is not difficult. The Russian language alphabet for children in the form of a poster with colorful pictures can be bought at any store for schoolchildren. There are many poems and songs for learning the alphabet in order. For foreigners learning the Russian language, a table of transcription of the Russian alphabet may be useful, which suggests not only the style of letters, but also their pronunciation.
What have we learned?
From the article we learned that the basis of the Russian alphabet is its Greek counterpart. We found out who and when the alphabet was invented. Answered the question why everyday life know the order of letters in the alphabet.
Hello, dear guys! Greetings, dear adults! You are reading these lines, which means that someone once made sure that you and I could exchange information using writing.
Drawing rock carvings, trying to tell something, our ancestors many centuries ago could not even imagine that very soon the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet would form words, express our thoughts on paper, help us read books written in Russian and allow us to leave our mark on history of folk culture.
Where did they all come to us from A to Z, who invented the Russian alphabet, and how did the letter originate? The information in this article may be useful for research work in 2nd or 3rd grade, so welcome to study in detail!
Lesson plan:
What is the alphabet and where did it all begin?
The word familiar to us from childhood came from Greece, and it is composed of two Greek letters - alpha and beta.
In general, the ancient Greeks left a huge mark on history, and we couldn’t do without them here either. They made a lot of efforts to spread writing throughout Europe.
However, many scientists still argue who would have been the first, and in what year it was. It is believed that the Phoenicians were the first to use consonant letters back in the 2nd millennium BC, and only then did the Greeks borrow their alphabet and add vowels there. This was already in the 8th century BC.
This Greek writing became the basis of the alphabet for many peoples, including us, the Slavs. And among the most ancient are the Chinese and Egyptian alphabets, which appeared from the transformation of rock paintings into hieroglyphs and graphic symbols.
What about ours? Slavic alphabet? After all, we don’t write in Greek today! The thing is that Ancient Rus' sought to strengthen economic and cultural ties with other countries, and for this a letter was needed. And even in Russian state The first church books began to be brought, since Christianity came from Europe.
It was necessary to find a way to convey to all Russian Slavs what Orthodoxy is, to create our own alphabet, to translate church works into readable language. The Cyrillic alphabet became such an alphabet, and it was created by the brothers, popularly called “Thessalonica”.
Who are the Thessaloniki brothers and why are they famous?
These people are called this way not because they have a surname or a given name.
Two brothers Cyril and Methodius lived in a military family in a large Byzantine province with the capital in the city of Thessaloniki, from which the name of their small homeland came the nickname.
The population in the city was mixed - half Greeks and half Slavs. And the brothers’ parents were of different nationalities: their mother was Greek, and their father was from Bulgaria. Therefore, both Cyril and Methodius knew two languages from childhood - Slavic and Greek.
This is interesting! In fact, the brothers had different names at birth - Konstantin and Mikhail, and they were named church Cyril and Methodius later.
Both brothers excelled in their studies. Methodius mastered military techniques and loved to read. Well, Kirill knew as many as 22 languages, was educated at the imperial court and was nicknamed a philosopher for his wisdom.
Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the choice fell on these two brothers when the Moravian prince turned to the Byzantine ruler for help in 863 with a request to send wise men who could convey to the Slavic people the truth of the Christian faith and teach them to write.
And Cyril and Methodius set off on a long journey, moving for 40 months from one place to another, explaining in the Slavic language they knew well from childhood who Christ was and what his power was. And for this it was necessary to translate all church books from Greek into Slavic, which is why the brothers began to develop a new alphabet.
Of course, already in those days the Slavs used many Greek letters in their lives in counting and writing. But the knowledge they had had to be streamlined, brought to one system, so that it would be simple and understandable for everyone. And already on May 24, 863, in the Bulgarian capital of Pliska, Cyril and Methodius announced the creation of a Slavic alphabet called the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the progenitor of our modern Russian alphabet.
This is interesting! Historians have discovered the fact that even before the Moravian commission, while in Byzantium, the brothers Cyril and Methodius invented an alphabet for the Slavs based on Greek writing, and it was called Glagolitic. Maybe that’s why the Cyrillic alphabet appeared so quickly and simply, since there were already working outlines?
Transformations of the Russian alphabet
The Slavic alphabet created by Cyril and Methodius consisted of 43 letters.
They appeared by adding newly invented 19 signs to the Greek alphabet (which had 24 letters). After the appearance of the Cyrillic alphabet in Bulgaria, the center of Slavic writing, the first book school appeared, and they began to actively translate liturgical books.
In any old book
“Once upon a time there lived Izhitsa,
And with it the letter Yat"
Gradually the Old Church Slavonic alphabet comes to Serbia, and in Ancient Rus' it appears at the end of the 10th century, when the Russian people adopted Christianity. That's when it all starts long process creating and improving the Russian alphabet that we use today. That's what was interesting.
This is interesting! The godmother of the letter “Y” was Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, who proposed introducing it into the alphabet in 1783. The idea of the princess was supported by the writer Karmazin, and with them light hand the letter appeared in the alphabet, taking an honorable seventh place.
“Yo”’s fate is not easy:
- in 1904 its use was desirable, but not at all mandatory;
- in 1942, by order of the educational authority, it was recognized as compulsory for schools;
- in 1956, entire paragraphs of the rules of Russian spelling were devoted to it.
Today, the use of “Yo” is important when you can confuse the meaning of written words, for example here: perfect and perfect, tears and tears, palate and sky.
This is interesting! In 2001, in the Ulyanovsk park named after Karamzin, the only monument to the letter “Y” in the world was opened in the form of a low stele.
As a result, today we have 33 beauties who teach us to read and write, open up to us new world, help to be educated to learn their native language and respect their history.
I am sure that you have known all these 33 letters for a long time and never confuse their places in the alphabet. Would you like to try to learn the Old Church Slavonic alphabet? Here it is, below in the video)
Well, in your piggy bank of projects for one interesting topic became more. Share the most interesting things with your classmates, let them also know where the Russian alphabet came to us from. And I say goodbye to you, see you again!
Good luck in your studies!
Evgenia Klimkovich.