The letter Ё owes its appearance to changes in Russian phonetics. Once upon a time, after soft consonants, O was not pronounced. That is why they said, for example, not a dog, but a dog. But at some point, E turned into O: this is how the modern pronunciation of such words as honey, everything, and many others arose. True, for a long time there was no new designation for this sound. The writers calmly managed with the letters O and E: bees, honey. But in the 18th century, these words began to be written differently, using the combination io (everything-everything). It was then that it became obvious: the need new letter! Princess Dashkova and the writer Karamzin suggested replacing the two signs with one. This is how the letter Y was born.
What other options were considered?
Certainly. IN different time there were different ideas for replacing the letter Y. We could now write the same pronoun “everything” as “everything”. Both in the 19th and in the 20th century, a wide variety of proposals were heard: ö , ø , ε , ę , ē , ĕ . However, none of these options have been approved.
Many did not like the letter Y and still do not like it. Why?
For a long time, "yokan" was considered a sign of common speech. The letter was new, so it was treated with suspicion and even some contempt - as something new, not in line with Russian linguistic traditions.
But there is another, very simple reason for dislike - it is inconvenient to write the letter Yo, for this you need to perform three actions at once: write the letter itself, and then put two dots above it. Such a complex letter was perceived as a burden, some linguists noted. It was not easy for those who typed texts with Yo on typewriters. Soviet typists had to press three keys at once: letters e, carriage return, quotation marks.
By the way, even now they joke about those who type texts with Yo on a computer: “Beware of people who type words with Yo: if they reached it on the keyboard, they will reach you!”
Yo is a full-fledged letter, the same as all the others?
Complex issue. Since yo appeared, opinions about it were expressed the most contradictory. Some linguists did not consider it an independent letter. For example, in an article of 1937, A. A. Reformatsky wrote: “Is there a letter in the Russian alphabet yo? No. There is only a diacritical sign "umlaut" or "trema" (two dots above the letter), which is used to avoid possible misunderstandings ... "
There are such symbols above letters in many languages. And native speakers of these languages, as a rule, treat them very jealously. In France, for example, the government's attempt to abandon the sign "aksan sirkonfleks" (the house above the letter) as part of the spelling reform caused a real storm: the French were ready to take to the streets to protect their favorite sign.
Does our Yo have defenders?
There are, and more! The fighters for the "rights" of the letter Y are called yofikators ( don't forget to reach for the letter Ё when writing this word). Yofikators strive to ensure that the use of the letter yo became ubiquitous and obligatory. The fact is that they perceive words with E instead of Yo as an insult to the Russian language and even Russia as a whole. For example, the writer, head of the "Union of Yofikators" V.T. Chumakov calls the neglect of the letter Yo not only a spelling, but also a political, spiritual, moral mistake.
Do linguists agree with him?
No, linguists are just not so categorical. Chief Editor portal "Gramota.ru" Vladimir Pakhomov calls the statement that E instead of Yo is a gross spelling mistake, one of the myths about the Russian language. Of course, there are arguments both for and against. For example, obligatory Yo would help memorize correct pronunciation some names, surnames and names of settlements. But there is also a danger: if Yo is made obligatory, then the texts of the classics may begin to “modernize”, and then Yo will appear where it should not be at all.
What words are mispronounced Y?
There are quite a few such words. You can often hear scam instead of scam or guardianship instead of guardianship. In fact, there is no letter Yo in these words, and pronunciation with Yo is considered a gross spelling mistake. In the same list, words such as grenadier ( not a grenadier!) , expired in the meaning of time (one cannot say elapsed period)settled ( by no means settled!),life And being . Here, by the way, it is appropriate to recall the director Yakin from the film "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession." Yakin say the word life absolutely right - through E, and not through E.
Anewborn also without Yo?
You can also write this word with E instead of Yo, but now it is pronounced with Y. That's right - a newborn, not a newborn!
Words are also pronounced with Yo smutty ( remember it, this word is often mispronounced!) point, worthless, windsurfing, bled out.
I'm completely confused. Still, if I don’t want to reach for Yo on the keyboard, am I not betraying the Russian language and the Motherland?
Of course no! There is no mistake or betrayal in refusing Yo. You can’t do without the letter Y except in textbooks for junior schoolchildren and in manuals for foreigners who do not know how to read and pronounce Russian words. In other cases, the decision is yours. However, if in a correspondence about the weather you suddenly want to write something like “Tomorrow we will finally rest from the cold,” try to still reach out to Yo.
And once again about the letter Y
Candidate of Philological Sciences N. Yeskova
A difficult fate befell the letter Y. Long years they did not remember her, as if they had forgotten about her existence. And, as always happens in such cases, the fighters for the return of the seventh letter of the alphabet sometimes go too far: the thoughtless use of the letter Y can distort the meaning of the text.
In fact, the existing “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” provide the necessary clarifications, which state that, in addition to texts with a consistently used stress mark (which include, in particular, the heading articles of most dictionaries and encyclopedias and texts intended for students of the Russian language as non-native) the letter ё should be consistently used in texts addressed to those who still lack reading skills: in educational and works of art for children younger ages. One of the notes specifically stipulates that any author has the right to print his materials by consistently using the letter ё.
But for the bulk of the texts, the rules retain the selective use of ё. Recommendations boiled down to three points:
1) to ensure the correct recognition of the word (everything, palate),
2) to indicate the correct pronunciation of the word (surfing, harder),
3) in proper names(Konenkov, Olekma), as already mentioned above.
The rules clarified that in some cases related to the first two paragraphs, e is used to indicate the place of stress in the word: we recognize (to distinguish from we recognize), given (to prevent incorrect stress given).
The letter ё as a sign of stress often appears in proper names. This includes an example with the name Falenki, given by A.V. Superanskaya in the article “Again about the letter Yo” (see “Science and Life”, No. 1, 2008). There are many such cases in the spelling of surnames (it is to indicate stress that the letter ё is needed in such surnames as Dezhnev, Koshelev, Chebyshev).
If the press strictly adheres to the rules approved in 1956 and confirmed by the new reference book (with the addition of permission to consistently use e at the request of the author), no incidents should arise.
It is necessary to justify why the new rules do not introduce the consistent use of the letter ё for all texts. In my previous article (see "Science and Life" No. 4, 2000) it was explained that a reader who has mastered the process of reading does not experience difficulties when reading books in which the letter ё is used only in necessary cases formulated by the current rules. I foresee an objection: why “save”, because you can’t spoil porridge with butter, isn’t it better, without further ado, to always write all words with the letter e? I will try to show that the introduction of the obligatory use of ё for all texts is fraught with danger ... for Russian culture.
Literaturnaya Gazeta was in the front ranks of the "fighters" for the letter ё. And in the very first issue of 2004, in which it was announced that from now on the newspaper is printed with yo, it demonstrated what this “danger” is. The following quotation from Derzhavin is given: "... Years, days pass, the roar of the sea and the noise of a storm ..." from "Poltava" and other Pushkin's rhymes: in tune - roar ("Message to Galich"), subdued - roar - anger ("Collapse"), anger - roar ("Ezersky"). Many more such examples can be cited from the works of poets of that time.
As stated in the article by A. V. Superanskaya, Academician V. V. Vinogradov, when discussing the rule on the obligatory writing of the letter ё, “approached the introduction of this rule very carefully, referring to the poetry of the 19th century.” His words are quoted: "We do not know how the poets of the past heard their poems, whether they had in mind the forms with e or with e."
In many cases, we know this on the basis of rhymes, for example: completely - at ease, bloodied - imperishable, tired - blessed, returned - humble, tearful - kind, embarrassed - excellent, lulled - blissful, touched - priceless ("Eugene Onegin"), red-hot - the universe ("Anchar"). Many more such examples can be cited, not only from A. S. Pushkin, but also from other authors of the 18th-19th centuries.
And those words and forms, the pronunciation of which cannot be established on the basis of rhymes, we have no right to transfer in print with the letter ё, guided by modern standards. Entering "mandatory" e as general rule, we will not save the texts of our classics from barbaric modernization.
At the same time, the current rules, if followed consistently and carefully, remove most of the "difficulties".
Of course, the rules about the letter ё need even more detailed explanations than the new guide does. A special dictionary of those words and grammatical forms, the writing of which with the letter ё is mandatory or desirable, would be very useful. It is advisable to include in this dictionary those words and forms that should be printed with an accent mark to facilitate reading and correct understanding of the text. Among them, proper names should take a large place.
(information from the site gramota.ru)
From the history of the issue
Lifetime edition with the consistent use of the letter ё,
reflecting the traditional (old Moscow) pronunciation of the name of Leo Tolstoy (Lev)
Transition e V O occurred (the first evidence of it appears in ancient Russian texts as early as the 12th century), but there are no special letters to designate the combinations that appeared as a result of this change
Only in the 18th century did the letter combination io come into practice: miod, iozh, vsio, the combination io was less commonly used. However, they did not take root for quite understandable reasons: the use of letter combinations that are functionally equivalent to letters is not typical of Russian writing. Indeed, combinations
But is it a letter? The answer is not obvious. Over the 200 years of its existence, polar opinions have been expressed in the Russian letter. So, in a 1937 article, A. A. Reformatsky wrote: “Is there a letter ё in the Russian alphabet? No. There is only a diacritical sign "umlaut" or "trema" (two dots above the letter), which is used to avoid possible misunderstandings ... "
What is “wrong” in the inscription of the sign ё, that not only many writers avoid using it, but even some linguists deny it the right to be considered a letter (while no one doubts that, for example, u is an independent letter, and not "sh with a tail")? Are all these people really all “loafers” and “slobs”, as the “yofikators” claim, or are the reasons much deeper? This question is worth thinking about.
A little-known fact: the proposal of E. R. Dashkova and N. M. Karamzin did not mean at all that the search for a sign that could become a letter pair k o was stopped. In the XIX - XX centuries. instead of ё, the letters ö, ø (as in the Scandinavian languages), ε (Greek epsilon), ę, ē, ĕ (the last two characters were proposed already in the 1960s), etc. were proposed at different times. If any of these sentences was approved, we would now write the word honey as möd, or mød, or mεd, or męd, or mēd, or mĕd, or in some other way.
Let us note that the proposed letters were created in some cases on the basis of o (because there was a search for the letter pair k o), but more often on the basis of e, which is not surprising: after all, the sound for which the letter is being searched comes precisely from e. The question arises : what was the meaning of such searches, why were the authors of these proposals not satisfied with the inscription ё? The answer to this question will lead us to understand one of the main reasons why the letter ё in the minds of native speakers is not perceived as mandatory.
In 1951, A. B. Shapiro wrote:
“... The use of the letter ё up to the present time and even in the most last years has not been widely disseminated in the press. This cannot be considered a random occurrence. ... The very form of the letter ё (a letter and two dots above it) is an undoubted difficulty from the point of view of the motor activity of the writer: after all, writing this frequently used letter requires three separate techniques (letter, dot and dot), and each time you need to follow so that the dots are symmetrically placed above the sign of the letter. ...IN common system Russian writing, which almost does not know superscripts (the letter th has a simpler superscript than ё), the letter ё is a very burdensome and, apparently, therefore not sympathetic exception.
Now let us once again pay attention to the signs proposed as a function of the letter pair k o and created on the basis of the letter e: ę, ē, ĕ (in 1892, I. I. Paulson also proposed such a very exotic sign as e with a circle at the top) . It becomes clear: there was a search for such an alphabetic sign, which, on the one hand, would emphasize kinship with e, and on the other hand, it required not three, but two separate techniques (as when writing y), that is, it would be more convenient for the writer . But despite the fact that almost all of the proposed signs are more convenient than ё in their design, they have not been able to replace the letter that has already come into use. We can hardly expect the introduction of any new letter instead of ё in the future (at least in the foreseeable future),
Meanwhile, the letter ё has caused numerous inconveniences for decades not only to writers, but also to printers. First - to typists, for the simple reason that there was no corresponding key on typewriters for a long time. In the textbook by E. I. Dmitrievskaya and N. N. Dmitrievsky “Methods of teaching typing” (M., 1948) we read: “On the keyboards of most typewriters currently working in the USSR there is no ... the letter "e" ... you have to compose ... from the letter "e" and quotation marks. Typists thus had to resort to pressing three keys: the letter e, carriage return, quotation marks. Naturally, this did not add sympathy to ё: typists developed the habit of replacing a complex compound pressing with a simple one in the form of the letter e and retained it later, after the appearance of ё on the keyboard of typewriters.
The letter ё also required special attention with the advent of the computer age. In different layouts, ё takes a different place (often inconvenient), on some keyboards produced at the dawn of the computer era, it was not provided at all, sometimes it was possible to type a letter only using special characters of a text editor.
So, the following situation has developed, which we invite readers to fully understand: in the function of the letter pair k o in our alphabet, a letter has been fixed (despite repeated proposals to introduce another, more convenient sign), which is unusual in its style for Russian writing, complicating it requires increased attention and additional efforts from those who write and print. Thus, native speakers actually faced a choice between two evils: not to designate combinations
But it must be admitted that the first of these "evils" is far from always such an evil, since in most cases not writing e does not lead to significant problems when reading; a literate person is unlikely to make a mistake and read the word that you just read correctly, how wrong [b'e] tsya. According to N. S. Rozhdestvensky, "the tolerance of orthography to the orthograms arising due to the absence of the letter ё is explained by the fact that there are few such orthograms." That is why native speakers prefer to consistently dodge the "evil" of the second - inconvenient diacritics (even in cases where reading errors are still possible). Is it possible to explain this solely by the "disorder" of the writer, his "indifference" to the language? In our opinion, such statements in no way reveal the true reasons for the peculiar fate of ё in the Russian language. “It is significant that, despite all the validity of the use of e, it still cannot win a place in our spelling,” wrote A. N. Gvozdev in 1960. - Obviously, practical requirements not to complicate writing take precedence over theoretical motives regarding the systematic and consistent written designation of phonemes.
In more than two hundred years of the history of the letter ё, there was only one short period when it was considered mandatory. On December 24, 1942, the order of the People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR V.P. Potemkin “On the use of the letter “e” in Russian spelling” was published. This order introduced the mandatory use of ё in school practice ("in all classes of primary, incomplete secondary and high schools"). The order also dealt with the consistent use of ё in all newly published textbooks, teaching aids and books for children's reading, about a detailed presentation of the rules for the use of ё in school grammars of the Russian language, as well as the publication of a school reference book of all words in which the use of ё causes difficulties. Such a reference book called “The use of the letter ё” was released in 1945 (compiled by K. I. Bylinskiy, S. E. Kryuchkov, M. V. Svetlaev, edited by N. N. Nikolsky). Prior to that, in 1943, the reference book was published as a manuscript.
The initiative for issuing the order (and, in general, showing attention to the letter ё in 1942) is rumored to be attributed to Stalin: it all started with the fact that a decision was brought to the leader’s signature on conferring the rank of general on several military men. The names of these people in the decree were printed without the letter ё (sometimes they even give a surname that could not be read: Ognev or Ognev). Legend has it that Stalin immediately, in a very categorical manner, expressed his desire to see e in writing and in print.
Of course, this is just a legend, but one believes in it: such a question could hardly have been resolved without the knowledge of the "knowledgeable in linguistics" leader. The sudden appearance of ё in the issue of the newspaper Pravda dated December 7, 1942, where that very decision was published, cannot be explained otherwise than by the strictest instructions from above (in the previous issue, dated December 6, this letter was not even mentioned).
Modern “yofikators”, who aspirate about the decree of 1942 and the firm will of the leader, who put an end to “spelling slovenliness” with an iron hand in the harsh war years, usually state with regret that the process of introducing the letter ё into print and writing came to naught through a few years after Stalin's death. From this, the conclusion suggests itself that during the life of the leader, no one dared to think about optional e. But this is not true. The discussion about the advisability of using e resumed before March 1953. Above we have quoted the words of A. B. Shapiro about the complexity that e represents for the writer, said in 1951. And in 1952, the 2nd edition of the Spelling and Punctuation Handbook for Press Workers by K. I. Bylinsky and N. N. Nikolsky was published.
The book says in black and white:
“The letter ё in print is usually replaced by the letter е. It is recommended to use ё in the following cases: 1) When it is necessary to prevent the misreading of a word, for example: we recognize in contrast to we recognize; everything, unlike everything, a bucket, unlike a bucket; perfect (participle) as opposed to perfect (adjective). 2) When it is necessary to indicate the pronunciation of a little-known word, for example: the Olekma river. 3) In dictionaries and spelling guides, in textbooks for non-Russians, in books for younger children school age and in other special types of literature.
Practically word for word, these three points are repeated in the "Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation" of 1956. Thus, the current spelling rules do not provide for the consistent use of the letter ё in ordinary printed texts. Understanding the complexity of choosing from two evils (which we talked about above), linguists have found a middle ground: if the appearance of the word is distorted by the non-position of two points, we write the letter e (although diacritics are inconvenient, but it is more important to prevent incorrect reading of the word). If not writing ё does not lead to errors when reading, it is quite acceptable to replace ё with е. That is, the rule (we emphasize that it is still officially in force) provides for writing ice, honey, Christmas tree in ordinary texts (these words cannot be recognized even without e), but everything (to distinguish from everything) and Olekma (to indicate the correct pronunciation of a little-known word). And only in the normative dictionaries of the Russian language, as well as in texts intended for those who are just mastering the skills of reading in Russian (these are children and foreigners), writing ё is mandatory.
If the rule were a little more detailed and regulated the consistent spelling of ё in proper names (where options are possible: Chernyshev or Chernyshev) and if it were strictly observed, then it is quite possible that today there would be no battles with "yofikators", the use of ё would not be overgrown with myths and conjectures, and this article would not have to be written. However, the habit turned out to be stronger: even after 1956, the letter ё was replaced by е, the words everything and everyone were written the same way. It is in this that a number of linguists see the main drawback of the existing rule: in practice it is difficult to implement.
Already in 1963, only eight years after the adoption of the rules, A. A. Sirenko noted:
“Recommended by the Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation, the spelling of ё in order to establish differences between words and their forms is not respected even in the most necessary cases. The force of inertia is manifested in orthography: where the letter e is not indicated due to optionality, it is not indicated even in spite of obvious necessity.
That is why the discussion about the letter ё continued. And after 1956, the proposal to replace the rule with another was repeatedly considered: on the consistent use of ё in all texts. At different times, linguists have given different arguments for the introduction of such a rule and against it.
Here are the main arguments in favor:
1. Sequential spelling ё would provide an indication of the correct pronunciation of words with<о>after soft consonants in a stressed position. It would prevent such mistakes as scam, grenadier, guardianship (correct: scam, grenadier, guardianship) - on the one hand, and whitish, mockery (correct: whitish, mockery) - on the other. An indication of the correct pronunciation of proper names (foreign and Russian) would be provided - Cologne, Goethe, Konenkov, Olekma, as well as little-known words - föhn (wind), göz (in the Netherlands in the 16th century: a rebel opposing Spanish tyranny).
2. When used consistently, the written form of all words that include a phoneme<о>after soft consonants in a stressed syllable, would contain an indication of the place of stress. This would prevent such speech errors as beets, quicklime (correct: beets, quicklime), etc.
3. The obligatory use of ё would make it easier to read and understand the text, to distinguish and recognize words by their written form.
However, there are many arguments against the obligatory ё, and they are by no means exhausted by a statement of the inconvenience of this letter for writers, typists and readers. Here are some other counterarguments cited by linguists:
1. In cases where pronunciation is in doubt, the requirement to consistently use ё would lead to great difficulties in the practice of printing. It would be very difficult (and in some cases impossible) to decide whether to write ё or e when publishing the texts of many authors of the 18th-19th centuries. According to A. V. Superanskaya, Academician V. V. Vinogradov, when discussing the rule on the obligatory e, turned to the poetry of the 19th century: “We don’t know how the poets of the past heard their poems, whether they had in mind the forms with e or with e” . Indeed, can we say with certainty how his lines from the poem "Poltava" sounded in Pushkin's time: We are pressing the Swedes army after army; // The glory of their banners darkens, // And the grace of the god of war // Is our every step imprinted? Banners - sealed or banners - sealed? Apparently, the banner is imprinted, but we will not know for sure. Therefore, the introduction of obligatory ё in the practice of printing would require special rules for publications of authors of the 18th-19th centuries. But to what extent it would be possible to guarantee their implementation given the mass nature of such publications?
2. The obligatory use of e would complicate school practice: the attention of teachers would be constantly directed to checking the presence of "dots over e", the non-setting of dots would have to be considered a mistake.
Above, it was not by chance that we called the rule fixed in the code of 1956 the “golden mean”. If we summarize the arguments for and against the obligatory spelling of ё, we can see that, provided that the existing rule is strictly observed, almost everything of value is preserved, which gives a suggestion for the consistent use of ё, and at the same time there are no difficulties associated with such use. This is the main advantage of the existing rule.
Printing books on demand (Book On Demand) a way to print books as needed and in small runs. from one copy. With royalties paid to the author.
E, e (called: e) is one of the letters found in all Cyrillic modern alphabets. 6th in a row in the Russian alphabet, as well as in Belarusian and Bulgarian; 7th - in Ukrainian, Macedonian and Serbian; It is also used in writing among non-Slavic peoples.
In the Church and Old Slavonic alphabets - the 6th, is called respectively "is" and "ѥst" (from the Greek. "εστι"); cyrillic character- , has the meaning of the number 5, in the Glagolitic it looks like, and corresponds to the number 6.
Derived from the letter Ε, ε (epsilon) Greek alphabet(The appearance of the Glagolitic spelling is sometimes also associated with Semitic writing). In a form identical to the Latin "E, e", it has been used since 1707-1711, when the civil script was introduced.
Previously, only an open style was used for a printed lowercase letter: e narrow - in the form of a square E, and e wide, in the form of an elongated rounded Є (it was written only at the beginning of a word and in specific grammatical forms, sometimes after vowels). The development of small handwritten and printed e took place in the 17th century. in old Russian cursive, and before that its form was close to either lowercase Greek ε (epsilon) or є.
Pronunciation
In Russian, pronunciation depends on the stress and position of the letter in the word:
Being under stress, after vowels and at the beginning of words it denotes the sound pair [ye], is reduced in the pre-stressed 1st syllable to [yi e], in other unstressed syllables it sounds like [y];
After consonants (except for w, c and sh, and individual borrowings, like molybdenum, amber, panel, tempo, highway, Graves' disease, etc., and abbreviations such as esdek, eser), softens the previous consonant and sound under stress [e ], (in the 1st pre-stressed syllable - [and e]; in other unstressed syllables - [b]);
Under stress after w, c and w (and other consonants in the above individual cases) means [e], in the 1st pre-stressed syllable - [s e], in other syllables without stress - [b];
Also, sometimes the letter Yo is written like E. The reason for this is the acceleration of writing, due to the exclusion of dots, but when printing texts, such a replacement is usually not recommended.
The meaning of the letter in the Belarusian language is basically the same, only due to the greater phonetic nature of the language, the reading rules are somewhat simpler: it is impossible for the preceding consonant to be softened (in this case, it is written e, not e: tendenciya, shest), with a strong reduction, other letters are also used (shascі - six, Myafodziy - Methodius).
In Ukrainian, it is similar to the Russian letter E (and the equivalent of the Russian letter E is the letter Є).
IN Serbian it is always pronounced as [e], since in Serbian writing mitigation and iotation are indicated explicitly, with special letters for soft consonants (“lately” - “at last vrijeme”).
As in Russian, Bulgarian, softens the preceding consonant, and after vowels and at the beginning of the word it is pronounced with iot (ezik [yezik]). This sound is typical for the east of Bulgaria. In the west of the country, the pronunciation corresponds to the Russian "e".
Derived letters "E"
From the letter E of the Cyrillic alphabet in the writings of various peoples branched off: Ѥ (used in Old Russian, Old Slavonic, Old Serbian, etc.; until the 17th century it was used in the Serbian version of the Church-sl. language), Є (used in the current Ukrainian, old Serbian, Church Slavonic), Yo (in Russian and Belarusian); from the Glagolitic form came the inscription E (exists in Russian and Belarusian languages, previously also in Bulgarian and Serbian).
In the near future, the mark È, used in the Macedonian language to distinguish between homonyms, may become an independent letter (“Everything that you write will be used (can be used) against you” - “Cè what you can write and use it against you!”). Sometimes it already occupies a separate position in a number of some computer fonts and encodings.
History of the letter Yoyo
November 29, 2013 the letter Yo turns 230 years old!
Russian alphabet
consists of thirty three letters. One of them stands somewhat apart from the general row. Firstly, she is the only one among her colleagues who has dots on top. Secondly, she was introduced into an already existing alphabet in order.This is a letter Her.
The history of the letter began in 1783 year.November twenty ninth 1783, one of the first meetings of the newly created Academy of Russian Literature took place with the participation of its director - Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, as well as well-known writers Fonvizin and Derzhavin. Ekaterina Romanovna proposed to replace the two-letter designation of the sound "io" in the domestic alphabet with one new letter "E" with two dots on top. Arguments Dashkova seemed convincing to the academicians, and soon her proposal was approved by the general meeting of the Academy.
A well-known new letter yo became thanks to the historian N.M. Karamzin. In 1797, Nikolai Mikhailovich decided to replace two letters in the word “sl io zy" for one letter e. Yes, lightly Karamzin, the letter "ё" took its place under the sun and was fixed in the Russian alphabet. Due to N.M. Karamzin was the first to use the letter ё in the printed edition, which was released in a rather large circulation, some sources, in particular, Bolshaya Soviet Encyclopedia, it is he who is erroneously indicated as the author by the letter ё.
The Bolsheviks, having come to power, "scrambled" the alphabet, removed the "yat" and fita and Izhitsu, but did not touch the letter Yo. It is at Soviet power dots over yo in order to simplify typing disappeared in most words. Although formally no one forbade or abolished it.
The situation changed dramatically in 1942. Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin received German maps on the table, in which German cartographers entered the names of our settlements up to points. If the village was called "Demino", then Demino (and not Demino) was written in both Russian and German. The Supreme appreciated the enemy's meticulousness. As a result, on December 24, 1942, a decree was issued prescribing the mandatory use of the letter Yё everywhere, from school textbooks to the Pravda newspaper. Well, of course, on the cards. By the way, no one has ever canceled this order!
Some statistics
In 2013, the letter Yoyo turns 230 years old!
She stands at the 7th (lucky!) place in the alphabet.
In Russian, there are about 12,500 words with the letter ё, of which about 150 words begin with it and about 300 words end with ё!
For every hundred characters of text, there is an average of 1 letter ё. .
There are words in our language with two letters Ё: “three-star”, “four-bucket”.
In Russian, there are several traditional names in which the letter Y is present:
Artyom, Parmen, Peter, Savel, Seliverst, Semyon, Fedor, Yarem; Alena, Matryona, Thekla and others.
Optional use letters ё leads to erroneous readings and the inability to restore the meaning of the word without additional explanations, for example:
Loan-loan; perfect-perfect; tears-tears; sky-sky; chalk-chalk; donkey donkey; merry merry...
And, of course, a classic example from "Peter the Great" by A.K. Tolstoy:
Under such a sovereign take a break!
It was meant - " let's take a break". Feel the difference?
And how do you read "We'll Sing"? Do we all eat? Do we eat everything?
And the name of the French actor will be Depardieu, not Depardieu. (see Wikipedia)
And, by the way, A. Dumas has the name of the cardinal not Richelieu at all, but Richelieu. (see Wikipedia)
And it is necessary to pronounce the name of the Russian poet correctly Fet, not Fet.
Interesting expressions from Russian speech:
The expression “not every bast in a line” is, as it were, understandable, but not for every modern
word tocsin attributed to Arabic (or Turkic?) origin. With this word
The expression "our regiment has arrived" direct action. Means simply "ours"
In fact, Suvorov called his instructions (formulated in the form of a manuscript for
The expression "to be out of your element" means to feel awkward, uncomfortable,
The expression "in seventh heaven" is usually used with the verb be
Since ancient times (to this day) nuts have been a favorite delicacy of children.
Climbing on the wall- talk about those who are in an extremely excited or state
Incense is the common name for incense that smoked not only in front of the altars
interesting expression – scapegoat. The phrase is unsaid, but everything is fine
An interesting expression is to buy a pig in a poke. It can be classified as intuitive
The nightingale is the most pleasant songbird living in the vastness of Russia. Why of all
Kuzka's mother(or show Kuz'kin's mother) - a stable phrase of indirect
Expression mutual responsibility- this expression direct meaning, that is, it means
This expression - squaring the circle you must have seen it somewhere. And that's what it is
The expression in all Ivanovo, more precisely, yelling in all Ivanovo, is known very
On November 29 (November 18 according to the old style), 1783, one of the first meetings of the newly created Russian Academy, which was attended by the poet Gavriil Derzhavin, playwrights Denis Fonvizin and Yakob Knyaznin and others. The project of a complete explanatory Slavic-Russian dictionary, later famous 6-volume Dictionary of the Russian Academy, was discussed.
Dashkova suggested that those present at the meeting introduce a new letter "e" instead of two letters "io" to depict the corresponding sound on the letter. For the "lower" letter in the Russian alphabet, they did not invent a new sign: they used the existing letter e, putting two dots above it - an umlaut. The innovative idea of the princess was supported by a number of leading cultural figures of that time. Gabriel Derzhavin was the first to use the letter "ё" in personal correspondence. In November 1784, the new letter received official recognition.
Replication of the letter by the printing press took place in 1795 at the Moscow University Printing House with the publishers Ridiger and Claudius during the publication of the book "And my trinkets" by Ivan Dmitriev. The first word printed with the letter "ё" was the word "everything". Then followed the words "light", "stump", "immortal", "cornflower". In 1796, in the same printing house, Nikolai Karamzin in his first book "Aonid" with the letter "e" printed the words "dawn", "eagle", "moth", "tears" and the first verb - "drip". In 1798, Gavriil Derzhavin used the first surname with the letter "ё" - Potemkin.
In 1904, the Spelling Commission was established at the Imperial Academy of Sciences, which included the largest linguists of that time. The proposals of the commission, finally formulated in 1912, were to simplify the graphics on the basis of the phonemic principle (the elimination of letters that did not denote any sounds, for example, "ъ" at the end of words, and letters that denoted the same sounds as other letters - "yat "," and decimal", "fita", "izhitsa"). In addition, the commission recognized the use of the letter "ё" as desirable, but not mandatory.
On January 5, 1918 (December 23, 1917 according to the old style), a decree was published, signed by the Soviet People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, who introduced the reformed spelling as mandatory, and also recommended the use of the letter "e".
IN Soviet time the letter "ё" was "officially recognized" in 1942, after the publication of the order "On the introduction of the mandatory use of the letter "ё" in school practice." A year later, a guide to the use of the letter "e" was published. In 1956, the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry higher education The USSR approved and then published the "Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation" with paragraphs on the use of the letter "e". However, in practice its use continued to be optional.
IN Russian Federation regulates the use of the letter "ë" in title documents. In a letter from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated May 3, 2007, authorities that issue official state documents to citizens are instructed to use the letter "ё" in proper names.
A letter from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated July 20, 2009 recommends using the letter "ё" in school textbooks.
Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Dmitry Livanov, the rules for the use of the letters "e" and "e" should be fixed at the legislative level.
Now the letter "ё" is contained in more than 12.5 thousand words, in at least 2.5 thousand names of citizens of Russia and former USSR, in thousands geographical names Russia and the world and in thousands of names and surnames of citizens of foreign countries.
In 2005, the letter "e" was installed in Ulyanovsk. The author of the monument, Ulyanovsk artist Alexander Zinin, depicted an exact enlarged copy of the letter that was used in the almanac "Aonides", where Nikolai Karamzin first published a poem with a new letter.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
