Re: Yers (was Re: Apologies)

That's pretty good ASCII art.

>There is also still used two other signs,
>which I've forgotten the names of, so I'll draw little pictures:
>   ---
>   \ /
>   /|\   which is usually corresponds to  'yer' (but is used in 'ca'
> [they] are)
>  / | \
>and
If the names are the same in Bulgarian as they are in Russian old
orthography, the one above is a 'jus' or 'jus bol'shoj.'    It was
originally a nasalized [u~], but the nasalization was later lost (at least
in Church Slavonic and Russian.  Apparently the nasalization has been
partially preserved in Polish.)  (There was also a 'jus malyj,' which is
still in use in modern Church Slavonic in some word positions.)

>  |
>-+-
>  |
>  |\   which usually corresponds to 'e'
>  | \
>  ---
This one is a 'jat.'  In Church Slavonic, it palatalizes differently than
'e' ('est.')  Jat is still used in modern emigree Russian, which uses the
Pre-Revolutionary orthography.  We have things in Russian that were written
(not just printed, but composed) recently that use this letter (and several
others) in them.

Isidora

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