Dotted I (Cyrillic)

The dotted i і; italics: І і), also called decimal i (и десятеричное, after its former numeric value) or soft-dotted i, is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the close front unrounded vowel /i/, like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in English "machine". It is used in the orthographies of Belarusian, Kazakh, Khakas, Komi, Carpathian Rusyn and Ukrainian and quite often, but not always, is the equivalent of the Cyrillic letter i и) as used in Russian and other languages. However, the letter І (І) was also used in Russian before the Bolshevik reform of 1918.

Cyrillic letter
Dotted i
Phonetic usage:[i], [ɪ], [ɘ]
Numeric value:10
Derived from:Greek letter Iota ι)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́
ЍИ̂ӢЙЈКЛЉ
МНЊОО́О̀О̂Ō
ӦПРСС́ТЋЌ
УУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́Ю
Ю́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒӺҒ̌Ӷ
Д́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ҖӜӁЖ̣ҘӞ
З̌З̣З̆ԐԐ̈ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈Ӎ
Н́ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃
Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤП̈
Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈
Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬУ̃ӲУ̊
Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑
Х̌ҲӼӾҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌
Ц̈ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋҸ
Ч̇Ч̣ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆
Ы̄ӸҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇
ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆
Я̄Я̈Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃
ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀П́П̧
ҦП̑ҀԚ̆Р́Р̀Р̃
ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓Т̓Т̀
ԎТ̑Т̧Ꚍ̆
ѸУ̇У̨ꙋ́Ф̑
Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇Х̧Х̓
һ̱ѠѼѾЦ̀Ц́
Ц̓Ꚏ̆Ч́
Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓Ԭ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆
Ꚗ̆Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂
Я̈Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴ
Ѷ

In Ukrainian, І is the twelfth letter of the alphabet and represents the sound [i] in writing. Ukrainian uses и to represent the sound [ɪ]. In Belarusian, I is the tenth letter of the alphabet. It represents [i]. The two Carpathian Rusyn standard varieties use і, и and ы for three different sounds: /i/, /ɪ/ and /ɨ/, respectively. In Komi, і occurs only after the consonants д, з, л, н, с, and т and does not palatalize them, while и does. In Kazakh and Khakas, і represents /ɘ/, as in "bit".

Just like the Latin letters I/i (and J/j), the dot above the letter appears only in its lowercase form and then only if that letter is not combined with a diacritic above it (notably the diaeresis, used in Ukrainian to note the letter yi of its alphabet, and the macron). Even when the lowercase form is present without any other diacritic, the dot is not always rendered in historic texts (the same historically applied to the Roman letters i and j). Some modern texts and font styles, except for cursive styles, still discard the "soft" dot on the lowercase letter, because the text is readable without it.

History

The Cyrillic soft-dotted letter i was derived from the Greek letter iota ι).[1] The dot came later with some typefaces through Western European influence, which similarly affected other Cyrillic letters such as а and е. The name of this letter in the Early Cyrillic alphabet was и (i), meaning "and".[2] In the Cyrillic numeral system, soft-dotted І had a value of 10.

In the early Cyrillic alphabet, there was little or no distinction between the Cyrillic letter i и), derived from the Greek letter eta, and the soft-dotted letter i. They both remained in the alphabetical repertoire, since they represented different numbers in the Cyrillic numeral system, eight and ten, respectively. They are, therefore, sometimes referred to as octal I and decimal I.

Usage

Languages Notes
Belarusian, Kazakh, Khakas, Komi, Carpathian Rusyn, Ukrainian In current use. In Kazakh, ⟨i⟩ is for native [ɘ], but in foreign words it is instead written as <и>.
Macedonian Either this letter or the letter ⟨Й⟩ was used by Macedonian authors to represent the sound /j/ until the introduction of the letter ⟨Ј⟩.
Russian In use until 1918, when the Bolsheviks significantly altered the Russian orthography; groups opposed to the Bolsheviks continued to use the letter for decades thereafter.
Bulgarian In use until 1878.
Ossetian In use until 1923.

Rules for usage in Russian (pre-1918)

In early Russian typewriters like this one, there was no key for the digit 1, so the dotted І was used instead. Following the Russian alphabet reform of 1918, a 1 key was added.
  • ⟨і⟩ was used before all vowels and before the semivowel ⟨й⟩ except at the end of a morpheme in a compound word, where ⟨и⟩ was used. So англійскій (English) used ⟨і⟩, but пяти + акровый = пятиакровый (five-acre) used ⟨и⟩.
  • ⟨и⟩ was used as the last letter of a word and before consonants except in міръ for "world, universe, local community, commons, society, laity" (and words derived from it) to differentiate from миръ "peace"). After 1918, both are spelled мир.
  • In a few words derived from Greek, use was derived etymologically based upon whether iota or eta was in the original Greek: Іисусъ "Jesus", from Greek Ιησούς, now written Иисус; also Іванъ from Ἰωάννης, now written Иван. However, since the middle of the 18th century loanwords came to be spelled according to the general rule: Іоаннъ but Иванъ, Никита (instead of Нiкита), Филиппъ (instead of Фiлiппъ).

According to critics of the Bolshevik reform, the choice of Ии as the only letter to represent that side and the removal of Іі defeated the purpose of 'simplifying’ the language, as Ии occupies more space and, furthermore, is sometimes indistinguishable from Шш.

The reform also created many homographs and homonyms, which used to be spelled differently. Examples: есть/ѣсть (to be/eat) and миръ/міръ (peace/the Universe) became есть and мир in both instances.

Computing codes

Character information
PreviewІі
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER
RUSSIAN–BYELORUSSIAN–UKRAINIAN I
CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER
RUSSIAN–BYELORUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN I
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode1030U+04061110U+0456
UTF-8208 134D0 86209 150D1 96
Numeric character reference&#1030;&#x406;&#1110;&#x456;
Named character reference&Iukcy;&iukcy;
KOI8-U182B6166A6
Code page 8551398B1388A
Windows-1251178B2179B3
ISO-8859-5166A6246F6
Macintosh Cyrillic167A7180B4
  • The dictionary definition of І at Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition of і at Wiktionary

References

  1. Campbell, George L.; Moseley, Christopher (2013-05-07). The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-22296-3.
  2. Corbett, Professor Greville; Comrie, Professor Bernard (September 2003). The Slavonic Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-86137-6.
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