шь & щ

[ugly-boy.livejournal.com]

Are шь and щ the same? Also, is this analogy correct:

щ : ш :: тщ : ч

Does the sound "тщ" (presumably as in Mandarin q) exist?

Comments

[constpd.livejournal.com]

Lot of people have already said on шь.
In Russian the best explanation for щ is that it is the palatalized ш. Though ь never palatalizes ш itself. I mean that the letter ш always indicates the “hard” sound and щ always indicates “soft” sound. The explanation of щ as of shch is not correct for standard Russian but is true for speakers in some Russian regions, Belorussia and Ukraine.
Ч indicates palatalized and very integral ch. It is really very close to тщ but the sound doesn’t break apart.