Жамият ва инновациялар –
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Society and innovations
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How to pronounce silent letters in English and French
Dilfuza NOSIROVA
1
, Mehrigiyo O‘KTAMOVA
2
Bukhara State university
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received March 2021
Received in revised form
20 March 2021
Accepted 15 April 2021
Available online
20 May 2021
According to the Law on Education, the National Training
Program, new educational institutions have been built, and the
existing ones have been reconstructed and repaired in
accordance with modern standards. In the framework of the Law
of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Education” and the National
Program of Personnel Training, a comprehensive system of
teaching foreign languages, is the formation of a harmoniously
developed, educated, modern-minded young generation, a
system aimed at further integration of the republic into the world
community has been created.
Silent letter is part of a word that written but not spoken.
Silent letter can sometimes join with other letters to form part of
a word. Silent letters exist in many English words and French
words as well. Because of this, they often cause confusion and
sometimes embarrassment when they are accidentally spoken.
One of the reasons why silent letters are used in English, French
and some other languages relates to following. During the
formation evolution of English and French many foreign words
were assimilated or absorbed in the language in Latin, Germanic,
Greek words were readily added to early English and French as
was the spelling. All natural languages change and because they
change, they have histories. Every language changes in different
ways, so their histories are unique and different. The history of a
given language is the description of how it has changed over time.
2181-1415/© 2021 in Science LLC.
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
formation evolution,
natural languages,
further integration,
modern educational,
silent letter.
1
lecturer of the Department of Foreign language in Humanities, Bukhara State university. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
2
student of master’s degree of Bukhara State university. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
Жамият ва инновациялар – Общество и инновации – Society and innovations
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Ingliz va fransuz tillarida tovushsiz harflarning talaffuz qilinishi
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar:
shakllanish evolyutsiyasi,
tabiiy tillar,
keyingi integratsiya,
zamonaviy ta’lim,
ovozsiz xat.
Ta’lim to‘g‘risidagi qonunga va Kadrlar tayyorlash milliy
dasturiga binoan yangi ta’lim muassasalari barpo etildi va
mavjudlari zamonaviy standartlar asosida rekonstruksiya qilindi
va ta’mirlandi. O‘zbekiston Respublikasining “Ta’lim to‘g‘risida”
gi qonuni va Kadrlar tayyorlash milliy dasturi doirasida chet
tillarini o‘qitishning kompleks tizimi bu barkamol, bilimli,
zamonaviy tafakkurli yosh avlodni shakllantirishga qaratilgan
tizimdir.
Tovushsiz xat – bu yozilgan, ammo aytilmagan so‘zning bir
qismi. Tovushsiz harf ba’zan boshqa harflar bilan qo‘shilib,
so‘zning bir qismini tashkil qilishi mumkin. Bu harflar ko‘plab
inglizcha so‘zlarda va fransuzcha so‘zlarda ham mavjud. Shu
sababli, ular tasodifan gapirganda ko‘pincha chalkashliklarni
keltirib chiqaradilar va ba’zida xijolat bo‘ladilar, ingliz, fransuz va
boshqa ba’zi tillarda jim harflarning ishlatilishining sabablaridan
biri quyidagilarga tegishli. Ingliz va frantsuz frantsuz
evolyutsiyasi shakllanishida ko‘plab xorijiy so‘zlar lotin, german,
singari singdirilgan yoki tilga singib ketgan, yunoncha so‘zlar
imlo kabi erta ingliz va frantsuz tillariga qo‘shilgan. Barcha tabiiy
tillar o‘zgaradi va o‘zgargani uchun ularning tarixlari bor. Har
qanday til har xil shaklda o‘zgaradi, shuning uchun ularning
tarixi noyob va har xil. Muayyan tilning tarixi bu vaqt o‘tishi bilan
qanday o‘zgarganligini tavsiflashdir.
Произношение
согласных
букв
на
английском
и
французском языках
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
эволюция образования,
естественные языки,
дальнейшая интеграция,
современное образование,
безмолвное письмо.
Согласно Закону об образовании, Национальной
программе обучения построены новые учебные заведения,
а существующие реконструированы и отремонтированы в
соответствии с современными стандартами. В рамках
Закона Республики Узбекистан «Об образовании» и
Национальной программы подготовки кадров комплексной
системы обучения иностранным языкам происходит
формирование гармонично развитого, образованного,
современно мыслящего молодого поколения, система,
направленная при дальнейшей интеграции республики в
мировое сообщество.
Тихая буква – это часть слова, которое написано, но не
произнесено. Тихая буква иногда может соединяться с
другими буквами, образуя часть слова. Молчаливые буквы
существуют во многих английских словах, а также во
французских словах. Из-за этого они часто вызывают
замешательство, а иногда и смущение, когда их случайно
произносят. Одна из причин, почему молчаливые буквы
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используются на английском, французском и некоторых
других языках, связана со следующим. Во время
формирования английского и французского языков многие
иностранные слова были ассимилированы или поглощены
языком в латинском, германском, греческие слова были
легко добавлены к раннему английскому и французскому
языкам, как и орфография. Все естественные языки
меняются, и, поскольку они меняются, у них есть история.
Каждый язык меняется по-разному, поэтому их истории
уникальны и различны. История данного языка – это
описание того, как он менялся с течением времени.
INTRODUCTION
The pronunciation of some of the words were simplified, while others were
completely changed. This is why in modern languages which is being learned you will see
many silent letters placed in common words. 53 Another reason for the use of silent letters
is to avoid confusion between words with similar sounds and spelling. For example: plum-
plumb; hole-whole and others. In this regard, it is useful to distinguish the external history
from the internal history. The former concerns the events that have happened to the
speakers of Old English leading to changes in the language, for example, the Norman
invasion that made French the official language of England for about three hundred years,
which profoundly affected the English language, whereas the internal history refers to the
changes that occur within the language itself and cannot be attributed directly to external
forces. Since the Norman Conquest in 1066 and over the centuries, the Gallicisms or French
expressions have been able to take root into the English lexicon thanks to the History that
both languages have shared. It is worth noticing that the process of the linguistic transfer
is somewhat complex. The conventionality of the lexicon is a process that gradually leads
a lexical item to its introduction into a linguistic community. Through the contact with the
speakers of the receiving language, the lexicon progressively takes the main features, such
as pronunciation, of the said language. English has experienced many periods during which
there have been different successive waves of loanwords from French and above all from
Norman French.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Also there are many words in English which use Silent letters, that more the same
sound as other letters: threw-through, right-write. They make the same sound but as you
can see the spelling is very different. Especially, “h” is considered as the silent letter in
French, for example, l’homme, habiter, l’habitude, héros, hiver and others. Some silent
letters seem to have no logical purpose at all, for example: The “b” in “comb”, “womb”,
‘‘bomb’’ in English, “banale”, “fatale”, “natale” and others. There is only one letter changes
between these words, yet they are pronounced differently. Other words containing Silent
letters such as, campaign’’, “rhythm”, “bureau” in English, but in French “fer-faire”,
“le-l’eau”, “quand-can”, “mais-mes, maire-mes” They are taken directly from other
languages. The most common Silent languages are: B, H, K, T, U, W in English, and E, H, CH,
R, T, Q etc. But the letter “X” is not a Silent letter in English. It starts a word by being
pronounced as “z”. Such as in “xylophone”, and “xenophobia”. This particular use stems
from the language of the ancient Greeks. There is also the letter “X” which is silent letter in
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Special Issue – 4 (2021) / ISSN 2181-1415
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French such as “l’ exercise”, “l’exemple”. The letter “s” is not pronounced as “z” when it
comes between vowels,like that, la française, I’exercise, xenophobie, xylophone, xeresand
the letter “x” is the silent letter in these words: “doux”, “douteoux”, “here you can see more
examples: French, like English, is not written phonetically. Vowels can be represented by
several different letter combinations and many letters are actually not pronounced. The
final consonant of many words is silent. Sometimes a final c, f, l or rare pronounced though.
Final c, f, l, r silent: blanc cléf outil parler franc cerf sourcil chercher tabac nerf gentil
habiteres tomac persil fermer Final c, f, l, r pronounced: bouc œuf fil car lac sauf avril mer
avec veuf civil pour donc actif col hiver Similar to English, final – e in most words is not
pronounced. For feminine adjectives and nouns, this generally means that the final
consonant of the masculine form will now be pronounced. Masculine and Feminine vert
verte, grand grande, canadien canadienne, boulanger boulangère, chat chatte. A few silent
letters were placed in French orthography for the prestige of being more similar to Latin.
Other letters are now silent for other historical reasons (i.e. perhaps the pronunciation
changed, but the spelling did not.) The following words all have silent letters: 54 Sept, rang,
fils, trop, rompt, sang, pouls, camp, aspect, œil, saoul, chocolat, instinct, fauteuil, cul, credit,
pied, ail, renault, riz, nid, drap, sirop, nez. A few plural nouns change their pronunciations
to include silent letters, whereas these consonants are pronounced in the singular form:
un œuf, des œufs, un bœuf, des bœufs, un os, des os. Here some more examples in English
Silent B lamb [læm], lambs [læmz], jamb [jæm], climb [klaim], climbed [claimd], limb [lim],
limbs [limz], bomb [bom], bombs [bomz], bomber [‘bomər], comb [koum], combed
[koumd]. Silent C Connecticut [kə’netikət], indict [in’dait], indictment [in’daitmənt],
victuals [’vitlz], to victual [’vitl], Corpuscle [’ko:rpəsəl], [’ko:rpəsl] But: corpuscular
[ko:r’pəskyələr], muscle [‘məsəl], [’məsl], But: muscular [’məskyələr]. Silent D
handkerchief [‘hæŋkərchi:f], handsome [‘hænsəm], Wednesday [‘w enzdei]. Silent E late
[leit], lately [‘leitli], race [rei], racehorse [’reisho:rs], save [seiv], saved [seivd], life [laif],
lifeless [‘laiflis], drive [draiv], driveway [’draivwei], note [nout], notebook [’noutbuk] Silent
GH high [hai], sigh [sai], thigh [θai], weigh [wei], neighbor, neighbour [’neiborhud], dough
[dou], though [ðou], through [θru:], thorough [’θərou], [’θərə], thoroughly [’θərəli], But:
laughter [‘læftər], [‘la:ftər]. Silent H hour [’auər], honor, honour [’onər], honest [’onist],
heir [eər], But: inherit [in’herit], inheritance [in’heritəns] But: who [hu:], whom [hu:m],
whose [hu:z] Silent K know [nou], knit [nit], knee [ni:],kneel [ni:l], knife [naif], knives
[naivz], knight [nait], knock [nok] Silent L calm [ka:m], balm [ba:m], palm [pa:m], salmon
[’sæmən], almond [’a:mənd], [’æmənd]. Silent M mnemonic [ni’monik], [ni:’monik],
mnemonics [ni’moniks], [ni:’moniks]. Silent N autumn [’o:təm] But: autumnal [o:’təmnəl],
column [‘koləm] But: columnar [kə’lemner]. Silent P pneumonia [nu’mouniə],
[nyu:’mouniə], pneumatic [nu’mætik], [nyu:’mætik], psalm [sa:m], psalms [sa:mz],
psalmist [sa:mist], psychology [sai’koləgi], psychologist [sai’koləgist], psyche [‘saiki],
psychic [’saikik]. But: corpse [ko:rps], corpus [‘ko:rpəs]. SilentS aisle [ail], aisles [ailz],
island [’ailənd], islands [’ailəndz], isle [ail], isles [ailz]. Silent T 55 listen [‘lisən], glisten
[’glisən], fasten [’fæsən], [’fa:sn], fastener [‘fæsənər], [‘fa:sənər],But: fast [fæst], hasten
[’heisən], But: haste [heist]. Silent W who [hu:], whom [hu:m], whose [hu:z], whole
[houl],wrack [ræk],wrangle [’ræŋgəl], [’ræŋgl], wrangler [’ræŋglər],wrap [ræp] two [tu:],
But: twice [twais], twenty [’twenti], twins [twinz]. English words that contain Silent letters:
crumb, climb, thumb, lamb, doubt, limb, plumber, bomb, why, when, which, what, weather,
ghost, white, while, honest, knot, knitting, know, knee, soften, listen, match, butcher, castle,
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guard, guess, guitar, guest, tongue, wreck, wrestling, whole, two, wrong. Instead of saying
“when” a person might say “when. Instead of “what” we might say “what”, just let the sound
leave our lips naturally. In French there are also words that considered Silent letters like
that le vent, le serpent, la serre, nous mangeons, langue, longue, la guitar, le match, trop,
there is no doubt that Silent letters course confusion for everyone including native English
students.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
We can compare letters with its placement within words. It is great way of
familiarizing yourself with not only the spelling words. He was the foremost authority of
his generation on medieval French language and lexicography. His greatest academic
legacy was probably his editorship of the online Anglo-Norman Dictionary, which records
the variety of French introduced to Great Britain by the Norman conquest of 1066. There
are big differences in pronunciation of 3 languages: there are special rules of pronunciation
in French which Uzbek and English languages don to have. However, similarities can be
noticed between these languages, as they belong to one family.
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