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Dotted I (Cyrillic)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cyrillic letter
Dotted i
Phonetic usage:[i], [ɪ], [ɘ]
Numeric value:10
Derived from:Greek letter Iota (Ι ι)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӐӒБ
ВГҐДЂЃЕЕ́
ЀЕ̂Е̄ЁЄЄ́ЖЗ
З́ЅИІІ́ЇИ́
ЍИ̂ӢЙӤЈКЛ
ЉМНЊОО́О̀О̂
ŌӦПРСС́ТЋ
ЌУУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰ
ФХЦЧЏШЩ
ЪЪ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́
ЮЮ́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
А̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃Ӛ
В̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂Г̆
Г̈г̊ҔҒӺҒ̌ғ̊
ӶГ̡Д́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆Ӗ
Е̃Ё̄Є̈ԐԐ̈ҖӜӁ
Ж̣ҘӞЗ̌З̣З̆ӠИ̃
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣к̊
қ̊ԚЛ́ӅԮԒЛ̈
ӍН́ӉҢԨӇҤ
О̆О̃Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆Ӫ
ԤП̈Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱
Т́Т̈Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬУ̃
ӲУ̊Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱
Х̮Х̑Х̌ҲӼх̊Ӿӿ̊
ҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌Ц̈ҴҶҶ̣
ӴӋҸЧ̇Ч̣ҼҾ
Ш̣Ы̆Ы̄ӸҌҨ
Э̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈
Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈Ӏʼˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧
Н̃ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀
П́ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́
Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓
Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆ѸУ̇
У̨ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠѼ
ѾЦ̀Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓
ԬꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀
Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Ъ̄Ъ̈
Ъ̈̄Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂
Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴѶ

The dotted i (І і; italics: І і), also called Ukrainian I, 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 и) as used in Russian and other languages. However, the letter І (⟨І⟩) was also used in Russian before the Bolshevik reform of 1918.

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/.

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. However, the current official rules of Belarusian orthography (2008) state that the letter ⟨і⟩ is undotted in printed uppercase, but should be dotted in lowercase and in handwritten uppercase.[1]

History

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The Cyrillic soft-dotted letter i was derived from the Greek letter iota (Ι ι).[2] 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".[3] 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 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

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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.
Romanian In use until 1860s.
Bulgarian In use until 1878.
Ossetian In use until 1923.

Rules for usage in Russian (pre-1918)

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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.

Usage in other languages

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In Macedonian, this letter, or the letter Й, was used by Macedonian authors to represent the sound /j/ until the introduction of the letter Ј. In Romanian the letter was used until 1860s when it gradually switched to modern Latin alphabet. In Bulgarian the letter was used until 1878, while in Ossetian it was used until 1923.

This letter is currently in use in Belarusian, Kazakh, Khakas, Komi, Carpathian Rusyn and Ukrainian, where it usually represents the sound /i/ (in Kazakh, /ɪ/). It is the tenth letter in Belarussian, the twelfth in Carpathian Rusyn and Ukrainian, the thirty-eighth in Kazakh and the eleventh in Komi.

Computing codes

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Character information
Preview І і
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER
BYELORUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN I
CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER
BYELORUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN I
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 1030 U+0406 1110 U+0456
UTF-8 208 134 D0 86 209 150 D1 96
Numeric character reference І І і і
Named character reference І і
KOI8-U 182 B6 166 A6
Code page 855 139 8B 138 8A
Windows-1251 178 B2 179 B3
ISO-8859-5 166 A6 246 F6
Macintosh Cyrillic 167 A7 180 B4
[edit]
[edit]
  • The dictionary definition of І at Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition of і at Wiktionary

References

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  1. ^ "Правілы беларускай арфаграфіі і пунктуацыі" (in Belarusian). Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  2. ^ Campbell, George L.; Moseley, Christopher (2013-05-07). The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-22296-3.
  3. ^ Corbett, Professor Greville; Comrie, Professor Bernard (September 2003). The Slavonic Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-86137-6.