Iotation
Encyclopedia
Iotation is a linguistic phenomenon very characteristic of the Slavic languages
. It should not be confused with palatalization
, which is an entirely different process.
Iotation is an appearance of palatal approximant
/j/ before a vowel
at the beginning of a word or between two vowels in the middle of a word, creating a diphthongoid (a partial diphthong). In the Greek alphabet
this consonant is represented by iota
(ι), hence the name. For example, the English
apple is cognate
to Russian
яблоко (jabloko); they both come from an Indo-European
root *āblu-. As a result of this phenomenon, no native Slavic root starts with an [e] or an [a], but only with a [je] and [ja], although other vowels are possible. This process is still partially productive in some rural areas.
As it was invented for the writing of Slavic languages, the original Cyrillic script has relatively complex ways for representing iotation, devoting an entire class of letters to deal with the issue; there are letters which represent iotified vowels; these same letters also palatalize preceding consonants, which is why iotation and palatalization are often mixed up. There are also two special letters (Ь and Ъ) that prevent that palatalization, but the first one itself palatalizes the consonant again, thus allowing combinations of both palatalized and non-palatalized consonants with [j]. Originally they were super-short vowels [i] and [u] themselves. The exact use depends on the language; see Cyrillic script as used in Slavic languages.
The adjective for a phone which undergoes iotation is iotated. The adjective for a letter
formed as a ligature
of the Early Cyrillic I (І) and another letter (which is used to represent iotation) is iotified.
of Early Cyrillic I (І) and a vowel.
In old inscriptions, other iotified letters, even consonants, could be found, but these are not parts of a regular alphabet:
There are more letters which serve the same function, but their glyph
s are not made in the same way.
:Category:Cyrillic ligatures
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
. It should not be confused with palatalization
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
, which is an entirely different process.
Iotation is an appearance of palatal approximant
Palatal approximant
The palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is '...
/j/ before a vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
at the beginning of a word or between two vowels in the middle of a word, creating a diphthongoid (a partial diphthong). In the Greek alphabet
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
this consonant is represented by iota
Iota
Iota is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 10. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh . Letters that arose from this letter include the Roman I and J and the Cyrillic І , Yi , Je , and iotified letters .Iota represents...
(ι), hence the name. For example, the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
apple is cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
to Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
яблоко (jabloko); they both come from an Indo-European
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
root *āblu-. As a result of this phenomenon, no native Slavic root starts with an [e] or an [a], but only with a [je] and [ja], although other vowels are possible. This process is still partially productive in some rural areas.
As it was invented for the writing of Slavic languages, the original Cyrillic script has relatively complex ways for representing iotation, devoting an entire class of letters to deal with the issue; there are letters which represent iotified vowels; these same letters also palatalize preceding consonants, which is why iotation and palatalization are often mixed up. There are also two special letters (Ь and Ъ) that prevent that palatalization, but the first one itself palatalizes the consonant again, thus allowing combinations of both palatalized and non-palatalized consonants with [j]. Originally they were super-short vowels [i] and [u] themselves. The exact use depends on the language; see Cyrillic script as used in Slavic languages.
The adjective for a phone which undergoes iotation is iotated. The adjective for a letter
Letter (alphabet)
A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language....
formed as a ligature
Ligature (typography)
In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms", where the specific shape of a letter depends on...
of the Early Cyrillic I (І) and another letter (which is used to represent iotation) is iotified.
Iotified Cyrillic letters
In the Cyrillic script, some letter forms are iotified, that is, formed as a ligatureLigature (typography)
In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms", where the specific shape of a letter depends on...
of Early Cyrillic I (І) and a vowel.
| Normal | Iotified | Comment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Shape | Sound | Name | Shape | Sound | |
| A A (Cyrillic) A is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents an open front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨a⟩ in "father".The Cyrillic letter A is romanized using the Latin letter A.-History:... |
А | /a/ | Iotified A | Ꙗ | /ja/ | Now supplanted by Ja Ya (Cyrillic) Ya is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, the civil script variant of Old Cyrillic Little Yus . Among modern Slavonic languages it is used by Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian to represent both the combination in initial or post-vocalic position and after a palatalised consonant; in... (Я). Often substituted and confused with Ѧ in East Slavic texts. |
| E E (Cyrillic) E , also known as Backwards E from , E oborotnoye, is a letter found amongst Slavonic languages only in Russian and Belarusian, representing the sounds and... |
Е | /e/ | Iotified E E iotified Iotated E is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It is no longer used in any modern language.-History:Iotated E has no equivalent in the Glagolitic alphabet, and probably originated as a ligature of ⟨⟩ and ⟨⟩ to represent [je].... |
/je/ | No longer used | |
| Uk Uk (Cyrillic) Uk is a letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet. It was originally a digraph of the Cyrillic letters O and U or less frequently O and Izhitsa . To save space, it was often written as a vertical ligature , called "monograph Uk"... |
/u/ | Iotified Uk Yu (Cyrillic) Yu is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. After a palatalized consonant, it represents the close back rounded vowel , somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨oo⟩ in "boot"; elsewhere it is a so-called iotated vowel representing the combination , like the pronunciation of ⟨you⟩ in "youth"... |
Ю | /ju/ | Uk is an archaic form of U U (Cyrillic) U is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. It commonly represents the close back rounded vowel , somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨oo⟩ in "boot"... (У) |
|
| Little Jus Yus Little Yus and Big Yus , or Jus, are letters of the Cyrillic script, representing two Common Slavonic nasal vowels in the early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets. Each can occur in iotified form , formed as ligatures with the letter Decimal I... |
/ẽ/ | Iotified Little Jus Yus Little Yus and Big Yus , or Jus, are letters of the Cyrillic script, representing two Common Slavonic nasal vowels in the early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets. Each can occur in iotified form , formed as ligatures with the letter Decimal I... |
/jẽ/ | No longer used | ||
| Big Jus Yus Little Yus and Big Yus , or Jus, are letters of the Cyrillic script, representing two Common Slavonic nasal vowels in the early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets. Each can occur in iotified form , formed as ligatures with the letter Decimal I... |
/õ/ | Iotified Big Jus Yus Little Yus and Big Yus , or Jus, are letters of the Cyrillic script, representing two Common Slavonic nasal vowels in the early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets. Each can occur in iotified form , formed as ligatures with the letter Decimal I... |
/jõ/ | No longer used | ||
| I | І | /i/ | Ji | И | /ji/ | Iotified distinction lost in modern pronunciation |
In old inscriptions, other iotified letters, even consonants, could be found, but these are not parts of a regular alphabet:
| Normal | Iotified | Comment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Shape | Sound | Name | Shape | Sound | |
| Jat Yat Yat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel... |
/æ/ | Iotified Jat Yat Yat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel... |
/jæ/ | iotified form is very rare even in manuscripts | ||
There are more letters which serve the same function, but their glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
s are not made in the same way.
| Normal | Iotified | Comment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Shape | Sound | Name | Shape | Sound | |
| A A (Cyrillic) A is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents an open front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨a⟩ in "father".The Cyrillic letter A is romanized using the Latin letter A.-History:... |
А | /a/ | Ja Ya (Cyrillic) Ya is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, the civil script variant of Old Cyrillic Little Yus . Among modern Slavonic languages it is used by Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian to represent both the combination in initial or post-vocalic position and after a palatalised consonant; in... |
Я | /ja/ | Used in Bulgarian, Belarusian Belarusian alphabet The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script and is derived from the alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language. The alphabet has existed in its modern form since 1918 and consists of thirty-two letters... and Russian Russian alphabet The Russian alphabet is a form of the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School... |
| E E (Cyrillic) E , also known as Backwards E from , E oborotnoye, is a letter found amongst Slavonic languages only in Russian and Belarusian, representing the sounds and... |
Э | /e/ | Je Ye (Cyrillic) Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In some languages this letter is called E.It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in "yes".Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E.... |
Е | /je/ | Used in Belarusian Belarusian alphabet The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script and is derived from the alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language. The alphabet has existed in its modern form since 1918 and consists of thirty-two letters... and Russian Russian alphabet The Russian alphabet is a form of the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School... |
| E Ye (Cyrillic) Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In some languages this letter is called E.It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in "yes".Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E.... |
Е | /e/ | Je Ukrainian Ye Ukrainian Ye is a character of the Cyrillic script. It is considered as an individual letter of modern Ukrainian alphabet and as a variant form of Ye in modern Church Slavonic language... |
Є | /je/ | Used in Ukrainian Ukrainian alphabet The Ukrainian alphabet is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, the official language of Ukraine. It is one of the national variations of the Cyrillic script.... |
| I Ukrainian I Dotted I , also called Decimal I, is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It commonly represents the close front unrounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨i⟩ in "machine".... |
І | /i/ | Ji Yi (Cyrillic) Yi is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.It represents the iotated vowel sound , like the pronunciation of ⟨yi⟩ in "playing", and is used in the Rusyn and Ukrainian alphabets.... |
Ї | /ji/ | Used in Ukrainian Ukrainian alphabet The Ukrainian alphabet is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, the official language of Ukraine. It is one of the national variations of the Cyrillic script.... |
| O O (Cyrillic) O is a letter of the Cyrillic script.O commonly represents the close-mid back rounded vowel , like the pronunciation of ⟨o⟩ in "go".-History:The Cyrillic letter O was derived from the Greek letter Omicron .... |
О | /o/ | Jo Yo (Cyrillic) Yo is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. In Unicode, the letter ⟨Ё⟩ is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO.It commonly represents the sounds , like the pronunciation of ⟨Yo⟩ in "York".... |
Ё | /jo/ | Used in Bulgarian, Belarusian Belarusian alphabet The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script and is derived from the alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language. The alphabet has existed in its modern form since 1918 and consists of thirty-two letters... and Russian Russian alphabet The Russian alphabet is a form of the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School... |
See also
- Cyrillic script
- PalatalizationPalatalizationIn linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
- Soft signSoft signThe soft sign , also known as yer, is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Old Church Slavonic, it represented a short front vowel. As with its companion, the back yer, the vowel phoneme it designated was later partly dropped and partly merged with other vowels...
:Category:Cyrillic ligatures