We celebrate the Day of the Letter "yo" or "ё" (Russian).
18th, November (Old Style) - in the house of the director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Science - Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, one of the first meetings of new-established Academy was held. There were lots of visitors among who were Derzhavin, Fonvizin, Lepyohin, Knyazhnin and metropolitan Gavrilin. The project of full definition Slavic-Russian dictionary was discussed.
p.s.
I have found the very interesting article for the learners of the Russian language about ё
ReplyDeleteHere it is
Do you know that today is the official day of the letter Ё? I didn't, but now I do! :)
The letter Ё in the Russian alphabet represents
1 - the combination of sounds [jo] when the letter is placed in the beginning of the word (ёлка, ёж), after a vowel (моё, твоё) and after the soft/hard sign in the middle of the word (разобьём)
2 - [o] after a soft consonant - Пойдём!
The letter Ё in the word is always stressed!
As you have probably noticed, we don't always use Ё. It's important to use it in children's books, books and texts for foreign students - before they remember in which words it should be used.
In original Russian texts philologists recommend to use it when it's necessary to prevent misreading or misunderstanding (for example, to mark the difference between ВСЕ everybody and ВСЁ everything). Also, when we need to specify how a rare word should be read.
The letter Ё had a long and interesting history. It was first introduced into the Russian alphabet in 1783 and has been a reason for arguments ever since. Some people insist that it should be used in all positions where it appears, others say that it can be replaced by E when it doesn't bring amy confusion to the text.
The Supreme Court of Russia supported the Russian people who were tired of going through the bureaucracy so many times because of the letter Ё in their first, last or middle names. From now on the letter Ё is equal to the letter Е in people's names.
ReplyDeleteAccording to "Российская газета" (Russia's Newspaper) letter Ё caused a lot of additional difficulties when issuing documents or sending out pension payments. So from now on Соловьёв and Соловьев is one and the same last name.
Approximately as many as 3% of Russia's population have letter Ё in their names which makes it about 2,500 last names.
Letter "ё" is not the only questionable letter of the Russian alphabet. Sooner or later letter Й could have the same fate.
Wow)))It`s very interesting and funny information))) The phrase "ё моё" is very common among Russian people and I personaly like it))) It`s amazing that there`s a monument, dedicated to such unique letter)))
ReplyDeleteTo dot or not to dot –that is the question. The Russian Education Ministry is drafting a law to standardise the usage of the Russian letter ‘ё’ (pronounced yo).
ReplyDeleteCurrently, people use it in different ways – with some writing it without the two dots. This lack of a formal standard has caused considerable bureaucratic chaos, with the same names and surnames having different spellings on different documents.
‘Ё’ entered the Russian language at the end of the 18th century. But its use was frowned upon by many, especially in educated high society.
After the 1917 Revolution, the letter’s status improved and its use became quite widespread. However, its use was still optional.
Nowadays the letter ‘ё’ is used as a marketing tool, much like the ‘i’ in Apple’s ‘iPhone’ logo. For example, a ‘ё’ appears in the name of a planned new hybrid electric car called the Yo-Mobile (‘ё-мобиль’).