基本记忆法_soft hard vowel-CSDN博客

《博赞学习技巧》十二章基本记忆法

-----软音和硬音的区别

What are hard/soft vowels/consonants?

Terminology varies based on the language described, but there ARE some typical patterns

The MAIN use of "hard" and "soft" applies to CONSONANTS

In most cases, when VOWELS are called "hard" or "soft" it is based on how the CONSONANT just before them is typically pronounced. (The terminology tends ONLY to be applied to the vowels when the pattern is common and extensive. Thus, if only a COUPLE of consonants are involved, the vowels are not described this way -- as is the case in English.)

Typical use of "hard" or "soft" for consonants -- In MOST languages we use this terminology for refers to a distinction between "stops" and "fricatives", with the stops being considered "hard" consonants, the fricatives "soft".

To clarify -- A "stop" is, as the name might suggest, a consonant sound made by completely STOPPING the flow of air, usually by blocking it with the tongue or lips. The main stops include b,p, t,d, k and g. "Fricatives" only partially block the air flow (think "friction") -- examples, related to the stops just listed: f, v, th (with or without the voice), the "ch" sounds of German "ich" or Scottish "loch", as well as the "sibilants" (= "s-sounds" -- s, z, sh and the "zh" sound of the z in "azure").

The MAIN use of the terms "hard" and "soft" in ENGLISH is to distinguish two ways of pronouncing "g" and "c". Here they are, with examples:

HARD g (the stop) = garden, go, gum
SOFT g (like English "j") = gem, giraffe, gym
HARD c (stop /k/) = carpet, coin, cup
SOFT c (/s/ sound) = ceremony, civil, cycle

Now, note the vowels that come AFTER these hard and soft consonants. This is the general pattern -- the "soft" c and g, when used, come after e, i and y (though not in ALL instances of these vowels), but these consonants are ALWAYS "hard" after the remaining vowel sounds.

Again, since this is such a limited and INCONSISTENT feature (since the consonants are NOT ALWAYS "soft" after e,i, y), we do NOT speak of soft and hard VOWELS. But for other languages, in which this sort of thing is more common, that kind of terminology IS sometimes used.