Question about Russian soft sign...

[Fortheo]

Alright, so I understand the basics: ь makes the previous consonant soft, and that there's also 5 vowels — я, ё, ю, е, and и — that make the previous consonant soft. What I don't understand would be the function on the soft sign in a word like семья, considering я already dictates that the previous consonant would be soft, so what is the purpose of the soft sign in situations like this? is it to separate мь from the я?

Also, a somewhat related question: If ш is always hard, then what's the point of having soft signs after it in some words like Мышь for example? Same goes for ч and щ, if they're always soft, then what's the point of having soft signs after them in some words?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Dragon27]

What I don't understand would be the function on the soft sign in a word like семья, considering я already dictates that the previous consonant would be soft, so what is the purpose of the soft sign in situations like this? is it to separate мь from the я?

Without the soft sign it would be just "семя" (seed), which is pronounced /'sʲemʲa/. "Семья" (family) is pronounced /sʲɪ'mʲja/, and the soft sign here indicates /j/ (palatal approximant) in pronunciation.

is it to separate мь from the я?

Well it does kind of separate them into different syllables (and the syllable beginning with "я" has to begin with /j/ consonant).

Also, a somewhat related question: If ш is always hard, then what's the point of having soft signs after it in some words like Мышь for example? Same goes for ч and щ, if they're always soft, then what's the point of having soft signs after them in some words?

It's more of a tradition. For nouns it often helps to differentiate female and male genders (ь is written at the end of the female gendered nouns of the third type of declension after ж, ш, ч, щ), compare, for example, "плащ" and "мощь". There are also rules for certain forms of verbs, etc. You just have to accept it.

[Fortheo]

Without the soft sign it would be just "семя" (seed), which is pronounced /'sʲemʲa/. "Семья" (family) is pronounced /sʲɪ'mʲja/, and the soft sign here indicates /j/ (palatal approximant) in pronunciation.

Well it does kind of separate them into different syllables (and the syllable beginning with "я" has to begin with /j/ consonant).

Thanks for the quick response. That makes sense, although I struggle to hear a noticeable difference between just мья and мя endings, but I guess I just need to train my ears more.

It's more of a tradition. For nouns it often helps to differentiate female and male genders (ь is written at the end of the female gendered nouns of the third type of declension after ж, ш, ч, щ), compare, for example, "плащ" and "мощь". There are also rules for certain forms of verbs, etc. You just have to accept it.

Thanks again, that helps a lot.

[Dragon27]

That makes sense, although I struggle to hear a noticeable difference between just мья and мя endings, but I guess I just need to train my ears more.

Soft consonants is a distinguished peculiarity of Russian phonological system (another non-slavic language that distinguishes between hard and soft consonants that comes to mind is Irish Gaelic, although in the descriptions of Irish phonology they're usually called broad and slender respectively). The way they are usually explained to foreigners is telling them that the soft consonant is kind of like pronouncing a weak /j/ after the consonant, so non-native speakers often end up pronouncing them as a sequence of 'consonant' + /j/ (+ 'vowel'). This kind of pronunciation (like saying 'Настья' instead of 'Настя'; or in the classic scene from The Diamond Arm) is often made fun of. The difference in pronunciation between 'soft consonant' + 'soft vowel' and 'consonant' + /j/ + 'vowel' is crucial and easily perceived by native speakers.

[IronMike]

Thanks for the quick response. That makes sense, although I struggle to hear a noticeable difference between just мья and мя endings, but I guess I just need to train my ears more.

It's also context. Don't overthink it. Семя and семья probably won't come up a lot where you'll wonder if the person is talking about family or seed.