E, e (called: e) is one of the letters found in all modern Cyrillic alphabets. 6th in the Russian alphabet, as well as in the Belarusian and Bulgarian; 7th - in Ukrainian, Macedonian and Serbian; It is also used in writing among non-Slavic peoples.
In the Church and Old Church Slavonic alphabets - the 6th, is called “is” and “est”, respectively (from the Greek “εστι”); The Cyrillic symbol - , has the meaning of the number 5, in the Glagolitic alphabet it looks like , and corresponds to the number 6.
Derived from the letter Ε, ε (epsilon) of the Greek alphabet (the appearance of Glagolitic writing is sometimes also associated with Semitic scripts). 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 letters occurred 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], reduced in the pre-stressed 1st syllable to [йи e], in other unstressed syllables it sounds like [йь];
After consonant letters (except for zh, ts and sh, and individual borrowings, such as molybdenum, amber, panel, tempo, highway, Graves' disease, etc., and abbreviations such as esdek, socialist-revolutionary) softens the previous consonant and the sound under stress [e ], (in the 1st pre-stressed syllable - [and e]; in other unstressed syllables - [b]);
Under stress after zh, c and w (and other consonants in the individual cases given above) it means [e], in the 1st pre-stressed syllable - [ы e], in other syllables without stress - [b];
Also, sometimes the letter E is written as E. The reason for this is to speed up writing by eliminating 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 not to soften the preceding consonant (in this case it is written e, not e: tendentsyya, shests), with strong reduction, other letters are also used (shastsi - 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 the Serbian language it is always pronounced as [e], since in Serbian writing softening and iotation are clearly indicated, with special letters for soft consonants (“in lately" - "in the middle of time").
As in Russian, in the Bulgarian language, it softens the preceding consonant, and after vowels and at the beginning of a word it is pronounced with an iot (ezik [yezik]). This sound is typical for eastern 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: Ѥ (used in Old Russian, Old Slavonic, Old Serbian, etc.; until the 17th century it was used in the Serbian version of the Church-Slavic language), Є (used in the current Ukrainian, Old Serbian, Church Slavonic), Yo (in Russian and Belarusian); from the Glagolitic form came the style E (exists in Russian and Belarusian languages, previously also in Bulgarian and Serbian).
In the near future, the È style, used in the Macedonian language to distinguish homonyms (“Everything you write will be used (can be used) against you” - “Whatever you write can be used against you!”) may become an independent letter. Sometimes it already occupies a separate position in a number of computer fonts and encodings.
By historical standards, the letter “ё” entered the Russian alphabet recently - 234 years ago. Its appearance in speech and writing was accompanied by long disputes and protests: the population of the country did not want to get used to the innovation and believed that pronouncing the word through “e” was the lot of common people. How the letter “е” won its place in the alphabet and became entrenched in Russian speech, the site told linguist Alexey Zolotov.
New letter
The birthday of the letter “е” is considered to be November 29, 1783. That day, the favorite of Catherine II, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, who headed the Russian Academy of Sciences, held a meeting of academicians of literature. Among those present were the poet Gavrila Derzhavin and the writer Denis Fonvizin.
A new letter appeared in the new alphabet with light hand Princess Dashkova. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
When the meeting was already coming to an end, the princess asked the academicians if any of them could write a simple word on the board - “Christmas tree”? The learned men looked at each other in bewilderment, deciding that she was joking. Then Dashkova herself chalked out the word spoken to her: “iolka” - and noticed that it was wrong to represent one sound with two letters at once. Instead of combining two letters - “io” - she suggested using their combined version: “e”. And so that people do not confuse the new letter with “i”, Dashkova placed two dots above the new symbol.
At first, academicians doubted the feasibility of such an innovation, but then agreed with the princess’s arguments. Since then, they began to use “е” in correspondence, but the population was still far from accepting the new letter.
"The Sign of Commoners"
Ordinary people began to use “е” in writing only at the very end XVIII century. In 1795, a type for a new letter was created in the printing house at Moscow University and immediately began to be used for printing documents. The first word printed with the letter “е” was the word “everything”. He was followed by “light”, “stump”, “cornflower” and others. A year later, Nikolai Karamzin picked up the baton: in his almanac “Aonids” he published the words “dawn”, “eagle”, “moth”, “tears” and the verb “flowed”. Thanks to the writer, the letter “went to the people”: at first Karamzin was even considered its author. And two years later, Derzhavin first wrote his last name with the letter “e” - Potemkin.
Despite the fact that the letter began to appear in printed publications, the majority of the population did not want to accept it. “It was believed that noble and cultured people should speak “in the church way” - only through “e,” explains the linguist. - And “yokanie” was a sign of common people, “the vile rabble.” Among the opponents of the new letter were the writers Sumarokov and Trediakovsky, who never began to write “ё”. The fight against “yokan” lasted until the middle of the 19th century.
The mandatory use of the letter “е” was introduced only in 1942 by order of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. Only then did it fully enter the Russian alphabet. During the Khrushchev era, the use of the letter became optional due to the simplification of spelling rules. The situation remained unchanged until 2007, when the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation ordered the use of the letter “ё” in cases where it was necessary.
When should you write "ё"?
Currently, the rules for using “ё” are simple. In ordinary texts it is used at the request of the author, with some exceptions. “You need to write the letter “е” in proper names, if it is there,” says Zolotov. - For example, if we are talking about a person whose name is Alexey Korolev, his last name should be written only with an “e”. The use of "e" in in this case will be a mistake. The second point: “е” is written in words where the meaning depends on the spelling of one letter. For example, as in the pair of words “flight - flight”. The first word is derived from “fly”, and the second from “weed”. Just one letter, but what a different meaning!”Now in the Russian language there are about 12.5 thousand words with “е”, of which 150 words begin with this letter and about 300 words end with this letter. In writing, it is found in only 1% of all texts, but surveys and studies confirm that people are not ready to give up the letter “е”. The majority of the population votes to preserve “е” in the Russian alphabet, and in Ulyanovsk there is even a monument to the letter.
“The letter “e” adds to speech emotional coloring, - Alexey Zolotov is sure. - Take, for example, the popular exclamation “yo-my” or the phrase “my heart skipped a beat.” So “joka” to your health!”
Why, oh my, don’t you write “Yo” anywhere?
Recently, an amazing transformation of the Russian language has been taking place. Reforms in the field of word formation and stress have already led to the fact that coffee has become of an indefinite gender, and they are trying to completely eliminate the letter “Y” from the alphabet.
200-year "war"
The first discrepancies associated with “Yo,” the youngest letter in the Russian alphabet, began more than 220 years ago. In 1783, it was invented by Ekaterina Dashkova, an associate of Catherine II, princess and head of the Imperial Russian Academy. At an academic meeting, Ekaterina Romanovna asked Derzhavin, Fonvizin, Knyazhin and other letter scholars whether it was legal to write “iolka” and whether it would be wiser to replace the digraph “io” with one letter “Yo”.
Already in 1795, the letter “Y” began to appear in print, but linguistic conservatism still prevented the promotion of the young letter to the masses. For example, Tsvetaeva wrote “damn” on principle, Andrei Bely wrote “zholty”, and the Minister of Education Alexander Shishkov, for example, leafed through the books that belonged to him volume after volume, erasing two hated dots from them. In all pre-revolutionary Primers, “Y” did not stand after “E”, but at the very end of the alphabet.
The appearance of “Yo,” as its opponents believe, is the result of the arbitrariness of one person, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Allegedly for the sake of external effect, in 1797 he used the European umlaut, the Latin “E” with two dots, in the Russian-language text. Opponents of “Yo” are still trying by hook or by crook to get rid of the letter they hate. And where does this unnecessary, in my opinion, “disinfection” ultimately lead us?
On a computer keyboard it is “relegated” to the upper left corner, but on a phone it is often completely absent. When sending a telegram, we insistently ask for “more money.” Many of us are sure that the great Dumas wrote not about Cardinal Richelieu, but about Richelieu; the favorite French actor’s name is not Depardieu, but Depardieu. And our fellow countryman Fet once became Fet.
And how many legal problems do I, an honest citizen of the Russian Federation, have because of negligent passport officers, nurses, secretaries who ignore the letter “Y” in my last name? It turns out that according to my passport I am one person, but according to my driver’s license I am another... Literary and letter scholars say correctly: “We live like this, as if there are 32.5 letters in our alphabet.”
Hard facts:
— the letter E is in the sacred, “lucky” 7th place in the alphabet;
— in the Russian language there are about 12,500 words with “Ё”. Of these, about 150 begin with “Yo” and about 300 end with “Yo”;
— frequency of occurrence of “Ё” – 1% of the text. That is, for every thousand characters of text there are on average ten “yoshkas”;
- in Russian surnames “Yo” occurs in approximately two cases out of a hundred;
— in our language there are words with two and even three letters “Ё”: “three-star”, “four-vector”, “Börelökh” (a river in Yakutia), “Börögösh” and “Kögelön” ( male names in Altai);
- in the Russian language there are 12 male and 5 female names, in full forms which contain “Yo”. These are Aksen, Artyom, Nefed, Parmen, Peter, Rorik, Savel, Seliverst, Semyon, Fedor, Yarem; Alena, Klena, Matryona, Thekla, Flena;
- in Ulyanovsk, hometown of the inveterate “yofikator” Nikolai Karamzin, there is a monument to the letter “Y”.
By the way:
In Russia, there is an official Union of Efictionists of Russia, which is engaged in the fight for the rights of “de-energized” words. Thanks to their vigorous activity to besiege the State Duma, now all Duma documents (including laws) are completely “eified.” “Yo” - at the suggestion of the chairman of the Union Viktor Chumakov - appeared in some all-Russian newspapers, in television credits and in books.
Russian programmers have created "etator" - a computer program that automatically places letters with dots in the text. And the artists came up with the “epyrite” - an icon for marking official publications.
Wikipedia article
Ё, ё - the 7th letter of the Russian and Belarusian and the 9th letter of the Rusyn alphabets. Also used in some non-Slavic alphabets based on the civil Cyrillic alphabet (for example, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Chuvash and Udmurt).
In the Old and Church Slavonic alphabet there is no letter similar to “е” due to the lack of corresponding combinations of sounds; Russian “yokanye” is a common mistake when reading Church Slavonic text.
In 1783, instead of the existing variants, the letter “е” was proposed, borrowed from French, where it has a different meaning. In print, however, it was first used only twelve years later (in 1795). The influence of the Swedish alphabet has been suggested.
The spread of the letter "ё" in XVIII-XIX centuries The then attitude towards the “yokka” pronunciation as bourgeois, the speech of the “vile rabble” also interfered, while the “church” “eka” pronunciation was considered more cultured, noble and intelligent (among the fighters against the “yock” there were, for example, A.P. Sumarokov and V.K. Trediakovsky
What do you know about the letter e? (shkolazhizni.ru)
The letter E is the youngest in the Russian alphabet. It was invented in 1783 by Ekaterina Dashkova, an associate of Catherine II, princess and head of the Imperial Russian Academy.
The letter e must die (nesusvet.narod.ru)
... in my opinion, the letter E is completely alien to the Russian language and must die
The letter was stolen from the French.
So if the letter E is a Gallicism, then when, by whom and why was it introduced into Russian?
The letter E is the result of the arbitrariness of one person, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Publishing his articles in magazines, Karamzin, for the sake of external effect (or, as they would now say, “for show off”) in 1797, used the European umlaut, the Latin “e” with two dots, in the Russian-language text. There were many disputes, but there were even more imitators, and the letter E quietly made its way into the Russian language, but did not make it into the alphabet.
Sergey Gogin. Sacred letter of the alphabet (Russian magazine - russ.ru)
Despite the sacred seventh place that the letter “ё” occupies in the Russian alphabet, it is subject to the greatest discrimination in the modern press. With the exception of literature for children, “ё” has practically disappeared from texts in Russian.
Encyclopedias indicate that the letter “e” was introduced into circulation by the historian and writer Nikolai Karamzin, a native of Simbirsk (this is the historical name of Ulyanovsk). Karamzin published the poetic almanac “Aonids”, where in 1797 in Ivan Dmitriev’s poem “Experienced Solomon’s Wisdom, or Thoughts Selected from Ecclesiastes” for the first time in the word “tears” on page 186 the letter “e” appears in its current style. In this case, the editor in a footnote on this page states: “A letter with two dots replaces “io”.”
Mortal letter of the alphabet (01/06/2012, rosbalt.ru)
In 1917, the commission for the reform of Russian spelling proposed to abolish “fita” (ѳ), “yat” (ѣ), “izhitsa” (ѵ), “and” (і), in addition, to limit the use of a hard sign and “recognize the use of desirable letters "e". In 1918, all these points were included in the “Decree on the Introduction of a New Spelling” - all except the last one... The letter “e” plunged into lethargy. They forgot about her.
The abandonment of the letter "е" can be explained by the desire to reduce the cost of typesetting and the fact that letters with diacritics make cursive writing and continuity of writing difficult.
By uprooting the letter “е” from the texts, we have complicated and at the same time impoverished our language.
Firstly, we distorted the sound of many words (the letter “е” indicated the correct placement of stress).
Secondly, we have made it difficult to understand the Russian language. The texts became rough. To understand the semantic confusion, the reader must re-read the sentence, the entire paragraph, and sometimes even look for additional information. Often confusion arises from combining the words "all" and "all".
And the names of Russian celebrities today do not sound the same as before. The Soviet chess player was always exactly Alekhine, and Fet and Roerich were, after all, Fet and Roerich.
The rules of Russian spelling ("Complete academic reference book edited by Lopatin", 2006) indicate that the letter "ё" is mandatory only "in books addressed to children younger age", and in " educational texts for primary schoolchildren and foreigners studying the Russian language." Otherwise, the letter "ё" can be used "at the request of the author or editor."
The letter “Y” has marked its serious age (11/30/2011, news.yandex.ru)
Russia celebrated the Day of the letter “Y”. The history of the seventh letter of the Russian alphabet began on November 29, 1783. One of the first meetings of the Academy took place that day. Russian literature with the participation of Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, writer Denis Fonvizin and poet Gavriil Derzhavin.
Prokhorov will patent 10 trademarks starting with the letter “Y” (Yandex News, 4.4.2012)
Mikhail Prokhorov's Yo-auto company filed 12 applications to Rospatent to register trademarks containing the letter "Yo"
7. Letter e
The scoundrel Karamzin came up with such a letter “e».
After all, Cyril and Methodius already had B, X, and F...
But no. This was not enough for the esthete Karamzin...
Venedikt Erofeev
Myth #7: Writing e instead of e- gross spelling error.
In fact: According to the rules of Russian spelling, the use of the letter e in most cases optional (i.e. not required).
A short preface. We begin to consider an issue that has recently become one of the most pressing for many Russian speakers. The controversy surrounding the letter e, in their bitterness are comparable only to the discussion about what preposition should be used with the name of the state Ukraine – on or V. And, admittedly, there is something in common between these completely different, at first glance, problems. Just as the question of choosing a preposition for Ukraine constantly goes beyond the conversation about language, affecting other aspects - politics, interethnic relations, etc. - so does the problem of using the letter e has recently ceased to be strictly linguistic. It stopped mainly through the efforts of irreconcilable “yofikators” (as people who fight for the use of the letter e has become ubiquitous and mandatory) who perceive the spelling (orthographically correct!) hedgehog And let's go instead of hedgehog And let's go as a gross mistake, as ignoring the fact of existence e in the Russian alphabet, and therefore - due to the fact that this letter is endowed with the status of “one of the symbols of Russian existence” - as a disdain for the Russian language and Russia in general. “A spelling error, a political error, a spiritual and moral error” pathetically calls the spelling e instead of e An ardent defender of this letter is the writer V. T. Chumakov, chairman of the “Union of Efictors” he created.
How did it happen that of all the alphabetic and non-alphabetic signs of Russian writing, it is precisely two dots over e have become an indicator of the level of love for the Fatherland? Let's try to figure this out.
But let’s immediately make a reservation: this article was not written at all in order to once again enter into polemics with the “yofikators”. The purpose of the article is different: we invite to a calm, detailed conversation those who want to understand why, of all 33 letters of the Russian alphabet, it is e is in a special position, who is interested in knowing what arguments were expressed by linguists in different years for consistent use e and against such use, for whom it is important to hear what the law still says about this - the current rules of Russian spelling.
Many facts from the history of scientific discussions related to the letter e, as well as quotes from the works of linguists, we took from the book “Review of proposals for improving Russian spelling” (M.: Nauka, 1965). (This publication came out of print at a time when there was a heated discussion in society about the fate of Russian writing - proposals developed by the Orthographic Commission to amend the rules of Russian spelling were discussed.) In the corresponding section of the book, all the proposals that were put forward in different years are collected and commented on (from the end of the 18th century to the 1960s) regarding the use of the letter e(and - more broadly - related to the problem of the letter pair to O), arguments are given in favor of sequential and selective writing e. Readers interested in an in-depth study of this issue are strongly recommended to consult this book.
While working on the article, we came across a unique document - a fragment of correspondence between two outstanding Russian linguists - Alexander Alexandrovich Reformatsky and Boris Samoilovich Schwarzkopf. In a friendly letter to B. S. Schwarzkopf1 A. A. Reformatsky (probably continuing the previous discussion with the addressee) explains the reasons why the famous Russian chess player A. A. Alekhine could not stand it when his last name was pronounced A[l’o]khin. The chess player “liked to emphasize that he was good noble family, stubbornly insisting that his last name be pronounced without the “e” dotted. When, for example, someone asked on the phone whether it was possible to speak with Alekhine, he invariably answered: “There is no such thing, there is Alekhine,” A. A. Reformatsky quotes L. Lyubimov’s memoirs “In a Foreign Land.” Next is the commentary of the linguist himself: “All this is fair, but the reader gets the impression that all this is some kind of whim of a great chess player and noble fanfare, and “in truth” he should be Alekhine... In fact, all this is not So. The point here is not a matter of “whim” or “fanfare,” but of the laws of the Russian language, to which the surname Alekhine is subject.”
We begin our article by talking about these patterns. Before talking about the features of use e in modern Russian writing, it is necessary to answer the question why letter e was absent from the Cyrillic alphabet initially and why was there a need for its appearance?
To answer this question we will have to take a brief excursion into the history of Russian phonetics. In the Russian language of the most ancient era, the phoneme<о>did not appear after soft consonants. In other words, our ancestors once uttered, for example, the word dog not as we say now - [p’os], but [p’es], the word honey not [m’od], but [m’ed]. Letter e so they simply didn’t need it!
And then a very important change occurred in the phonetics of the Old Russian language, which linguists call the “transition e V O"(more precisely, the transition of the sound [e] to the sound [o]). The essence of this process is this: in the stressed position after soft consonants (let’s not forget that all sibilants were soft at that time) at the end of the word and before hard consonants, the sound [e] changed to [o]. This is how the modern pronunciation [m’od] arose (honey),[p’os] (dog),[all] (All). But before soft consonants, the sound [e] did not turn into [o], but remained unchanged, this explains the relationship, for example, [s’ol]a - [s’el’]skiy (village – rural): before the hard [l] the sound [e] turned into [o], but before the soft [l’] it did not. In a letter to B. S. Schwarzkopf, A. A. Reformatsky gives numerous examples of such relationships: whip - whip, cheerful - fun, day - day, crack - crack, smart - thinking, the same in proper names: Savelovo(station) – Savely(Name), Lakes(city) - Zaozerye(village), Styopka – Stenka, Olena (Alena) – Olenin (Alenin) etc.
(The attentive reader will ask: why then in modern language after a soft consonant before a hard consonant is often pronounced [e], and not [o]? There are many reasons for this; listing them completely would take us away from main topic this article. So, there is no indicated transition in words where there was once “yat” - forest, place, Gleb, in words where the consonant hardened after the transition e V O ended - first, female, in borrowed words - newspaper, Rebekah. Details about the transition e V O can be read in works on the historical phonetics of the Russian language.)
Thus, in the surname Alekhine[e] should really be pronounced: before soft [x’] there are no conditions for the transition [e] to [o] (cf.: Lyokha – there is a transition before the hard [x]. Then what does the noble origin that the chess player spoke about have to do with it? The fact is that for a long time in higher circles there was an opinion that “yokanye” is the lot of common people’s speech, but not the Russian literary language. It is known, for example, that an ardent opponent of “yokanya” and the letter e(after its appearance) there was a conservative and purist A. S. Shishkov.
But we got ahead of ourselves a little. So, transition e V O occurred (the first evidence of it appears in ancient Russian texts already in the 12th century), but there are no special letters to designate the combinations that appeared as a result of this change
But is it a letter? The answer is not obvious. Over 200 years of existence e In the Russian letter, polar opinions were expressed. Thus, in an article from 1937, A. A. Reformatsky wrote: “Is there a letter e in the Russian alphabet? No. There is only the diacritic sign “umlaut” or “trema” (two dots above the letter), which is used to avoid possible misunderstandings...”
What’s “wrong” with the outline of the sign? e, that not only many writers avoid its use, but even some linguists deny it the right to be considered a letter (while no one doubts that, for example, sch is an independent letter, not “ w with a ponytail")? Are all these people really “idlers” 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 to O, discontinued. In the XIX – XX centuries. instead of e letters were offered at different times ö , ø (as in Scandinavian languages), ε (Greek epsilon), ę , ē , ĕ (the last two signs were proposed already in the 1960s), etc. If any of these proposals were approved, the word honey we would now write like mod, or fashion, or mεd, or honey, or honey, or mĕd, or some other way.
Please note: the proposed letters were created in some cases based on O(since there was a search for a letter pair to O), but more often based on e, which is not surprising: after all, the sound for which the letter is being sought comes precisely from e. The question arises: what was the point of such searches, why the authors of these proposals were not satisfied with the outline e? The answer to this question will lead us to understand one of the main reasons why the letter e in the minds of native speakers is not perceived as obligatory . In 1951, A. B. Shapiro wrote:
“...The use of the letter e to the present day and even in the most recent years did not receive any wide circulation in the press. This cannot be considered a random phenomenon. ...The very shape of the letter е (a letter and two dots above it) is undoubtedly difficult from the point of view of the writer’s motor activity: after all, writing this frequently used letter requires three separate techniques (letter, dot and dot), and you need to monitor each time so that the dots are symmetrically placed above the letter sign. ...IN common system Russian writing, which has almost no superscripts (the letter y has a simpler superscript than ё), the letter ё is a very burdensome and, apparently, therefore unsympathetic exception.”
Now let us once again pay attention to the signs proposed in the function of a letter pair to 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 a letter sign that, on the one hand, would emphasize the relationship with e, and on the other hand, it required not three, but two separate techniques (as when writing th), i.e. it would be more convenient for the writer. But despite the fact that the design of almost all the proposed signs is more convenient e, they were never able to replace the letter that had already come into use. One can hardly expect the introduction of any new letter instead of e in the future (at least in the foreseeable future),
Meanwhile, numerous inconveniences e For decades, it has delivered not only to those who write, but also to those who print. 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 typewriting” (M., 1948) we read: “On the keyboards of most typewriters currently working in the USSR there is no... the letter “e”... The sign has to be made up... from the letter “e” and quotation marks.” Typists thus had to resort to pressing three keys: the letters e, carriage return, quotes. Naturally, sympathy for e this did not add anything: typists developed the habit of replacing a complex compound press with a simple one in the form of a letter e and saved it subsequently, after the appearance e on the keyboard of typewriters.
The letter required special attention e and with the advent of the computer age. In different layouts e takes up different places (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 in a text editor.
So, the following situation has arisen, which we invite readers to fully understand: as a function of the letter pair k O in our alphabet, a letter has been fixed (despite repeated proposals for the introduction of another, more convenient sign), which in its style is unusual for Russian writing, complicates it, requires increased attention and additional effort from those who write and type. Thus, native speakers actually faced a choice of two evils: not to indicate combinations in writing
But we must admit that the first of these “evils” is not always such an evil, since in most cases the failure to write e does not lead to significant reading problems; a literate person is unlikely to make a mistake and read the word that you just read correctly as wrong. According to N. S. Rozhdestvensky, “spelling’s tolerance for problems arising due to the absence of a letter e spellings is explained by the fact that there are few such spellings.” This is why native speakers prefer to consistently dodge the “evil” of the second language – inconvenient diacritics (even in cases where errors during reading are still possible). Can this be explained solely by the “carelessness” of the writer, his “indifference” to language? In our opinion, such statements in no way reveal true reasons peculiar fate e in Russian. “It is significant that, despite all the validity of the use of ё, it still cannot win a place for itself in our orthography,” wrote in 1960 by A. N. Gvozdev. - Obviously, practical requirements not to complicate writing takes precedence over theoretical motives regarding the systematicity and consistency of the written designation of phonemes.”
Over more than two hundred years of history of the letter e there was only one short period when it was considered obligatory. 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 promulgated. This order introduced mandatory use e in school practice (“in all grades of primary, junior high and secondary schools”). The order also spoke about the consistent use e in all newly published textbooks, textbooks and books for children's reading, about a detailed statement of the rules of use e in school grammars of the Russian language, as well as on the publication of a school reference book of all words in which the use e causes difficulties. Such a reference book entitled “Using the letter e” was published in 1945 (compiled by K. I. Bylinsky, S. E. Kryuchkov, M. V. Svetlaev, edited by N. N. Nikolsky). Before this, in 1943, the directory was published as a manuscript (see illustration).
The initiative to issue an order (and generally show attention to the letter e in 1942) rumor attributes it to Stalin: it all started with the fact that a decree on conferring the rank of general on several military men was brought to the leader for his signature. The names of these people in the resolution were printed without a letter e(sometimes they even name a last name that was impossible to read: Ognev or Ognev). Legend has it that Stalin immediately, in a very categorical form, expressed his desire to see e in writing and in print.
Of course, this is just a legend, but it’s believable: such a question could hardly have been resolved without the knowledge of “linguistics.” knowledgeable» leader. Sudden Appearance e in the issue of the Pravda newspaper dated December 7, 1942, where that same resolution was published, cannot be explained otherwise than by the strictest instructions from above (in the previous issue, dated December 6, there was no mention of this letter).
Modern “yofikaters”, who speak with breath about the resolution of 1942 and the strong will of the leader, who during the harsh war years put an end to “spelling sloppiness” with an iron hand, usually state with regret that the process of introducing letters into printing and writing e faded away a few years after Stalin's death. From this the conclusion suggests itself that during the life of the leader about optionality e no one dared to think. But this is not true. Discussion about the feasibility of using e resumed before March 1953. Above we cited the words of A. B. Shapiro about the complexity that e for the writer, said in 1951. And in 1952, the 2nd edition of the “Handbook of Spelling and Punctuation for Print Workers” by K. I. Bylinsky and N. N. Nikolsky was published. The book says in black and white: “ Letter e in print it is usually replaced by the letter e (Emphasis added by us. – V.P.) It is recommended to use e in the following cases: 1) When it is necessary to prevent the incorrect reading of a word, for example: let's find out unlike let's find out; All unlike that's it, bucket unlike bucket; perfect(participle) in contrast to perfect(adjective). 2) When you need to indicate the pronunciation of a little-known word, for example: Olekma River. 3) In dictionaries and spelling reference books, in textbooks for non-Russians, in books for children of primary school age and in others special types literature."
Almost word for word, these three points are repeated in the “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” of 1956. Thus, current spelling rules, consistent use of letters e not provided in ordinary printed texts. Understanding the complexity of choosing between two evils (which we talked about above), linguists found a middle ground: if from not placing two points the appearance of the word is distorted - the letter e we write (even if diacritics are inconvenient, it is more important to prevent the word from being read incorrectly). If non-writing e does not lead to errors when reading, replacement is quite acceptable e on e. That is, the rule (we emphasize that it is still officially in force) provides for writing in ordinary texts ice, honey, tree(it’s impossible not to recognize these words even without e), But All(to distinguish from All) And Olekma(to indicate the correct pronunciation of an obscure word). And only in standard 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), the spelling e Necessarily.
If the rule were a little more detailed and regulated sequential writing e V proper names(where possible options: Chernyshev or Chernyshev) and if it were strictly observed, then it is quite possible that in our days there would be no battles with the “yoficators”, the use e it would not have become overgrown with myths and speculation, and this article would not have had to be written. However, the habit turned out to be stronger: the letter e and after 1956 was replaced by e, words All And All were written the same way. This is precisely where a number of linguists see the main drawback of the existing rule: in practice it is difficult to implement. Already in 1963, just eight years after the adoption of the rules, A. A. Sirenko noted: “The spelling ё recommended by the “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” for the purpose of establishing differences between words and their forms is not observed even in the most necessary cases. The force of inertia manifests itself in spelling: where the letter е is not designated due to its optionality, it is not designated despite obvious necessity.”
That is why the discussion about the letter e continued. And after 1956, a proposal was repeatedly considered to replace the rule with another: on the consistent use e in all texts. At different times, linguists have given different arguments for and against the introduction of such a rule. Here are the main 2 arguments in favor:
1. Consistent writing e would provide an indication of the correct pronunciation of words with<о>after soft consonants in stressed position. It would prevent errors such as scam, grenadier, guardianship(Right: scam, grenadier, guardianship) – on the one hand and whitish, mockery(Right: 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 - hairdryer(wind), Guez(in the Netherlands in the 16th century: a rebel opposing Spanish tyranny).
2. When used consistently e 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 speech errors such as beets, quicklime(Right: beets, quicklime), etc.
3. Mandatory use e would make it easier to read and understand the text, distinguish and recognize words by their written appearance.
However, arguments against mandatory e quite a lot, but they are not limited to stating the inconvenience of this letter for writers, typists and readers. Here are some other counter-arguments given by linguists:
1. In cases where pronunciation is in doubt, the requirement is to consistently use e would lead to great difficulties in printing practice. It would be very difficult (and in some cases impossible) to resolve the issue of writing e or e when publishing texts by many authors of the 18th – 19th centuries. According to A.V. Superanskaya, Academician V.V. Vinogradov, when discussing the rule on mandatory e addressed the poetry of the 19th century: “We do not know how the poets of the past heard their poems, whether they had in mind forms with e or with e" In fact, can we say with confidence what his lines from the poem “Poltava” sounded like in Pushkin’s time: We are pressing the Swedes, army after army; // The glory of their banners darkens, // And God fights with grace // Our every step is captured? Banner – sealed or banner - sealed? Apparently banner - sealed, but we won’t know for sure. Therefore, the introduction of mandatory e in printing practice would require special rules for publications by authors of the 18th – 19th centuries. But how could their implementation be guaranteed given the mass production of such publications?
2. Mandatory use e would complicate school practice: teachers’ attention would be constantly directed to checking for the presence of “dots over e", failure to place points would have to be considered an error.
It was not by chance that we called the rule recorded in the 1956 code the “golden mean” above. To summarize the arguments for mandatory writing e and "against", it can be seen that, subject to strict adherence to the existing rule, almost everything of value is preserved, which gives a proposal for consistent use e and at the same time there are no difficulties associated with such use. This is the main advantage of the existing rule.
“Review of proposals for improving Russian spelling” gives us an idea of how for almost two hundred years (from the end of the 18th century to 1965, i.e., until the publication of the book), there was a scientific discussion about the pros and cons of sequential and selective letter usage e. Please note: this was precisely a scientific discussion, various arguments were expressed - convincing and controversial, a view was given on the problem from the point of view of a linguist and from the point of view of a native speaker - a non-specialist. What was missing from this controversy? There was no populism, there were no exaggerated statements about the letter e as a stronghold of the Russian language and one of the foundations Russian statehood. There were no arguments indicating the incompetence of their authors (in particular, the argument that the use e cannot be optional, because variations in spelling are allegedly in principle unacceptable3). There were no pseudoscientific or pseudoscientific arguments, including esoteric ones (that e in the Russian alphabet it is no coincidence that it is listed under the “holy, mystical” number seven) and nationalist (that due to the lack e in the book of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, a Russian surname Levin turned into Jewish Levin, and also that they reject the letter e those who are characterized by “irritation at everything distinctly Russian”). There were no direct insults to opponents. It never occurred to anyone that writing Kremlin Christmas tree less patriotic than Kremlin Christmas tree.
All this obscurantism, unfortunately, appeared in the late 1990s and continues today. Of course, not in the works of linguists: scientific discussion about the use e, and other spelling issues are conducted quite correctly within the linguistic community. But in recent years there has been a flourishing of what academician A. A. Zaliznyak calls “amateur linguistics”: people who are far from academic science have joined the conversation about the modern Russian language and its history, basing their views not on a strict scientific basis, but on their own thoughts and attitudes. “Where the criterion of serious scientific analysis of a problem is discarded, motives of a tasteful, emotional and especially ideological order will certainly come to the fore in its place - with all the ensuing social dangers,” rightly points out A. A. Zaliznyak. We encounter similar phenomena characteristic of amateur linguistics - the manifestation of one’s own taste, increased emotionality (sometimes going beyond the bounds of decency), an appeal to readers who share a certain ideology - when reading menacing articles and interviews of amateur “yofists”. They tell about the “crime against the native language” committed by those who write e instead of e, theses are heard about what is against e a “sacred struggle” is being waged, a set of pseudo-patriotic clichés is repeated, regrets are expressed about the absence of a law that would presuppose - literally - repression for not writing e. Its irrepressible defenders call this letter “the most unfortunate”, “the publican”, while using such concepts that are far from scientific terminology as “extermination” of the letter, “monstrous distortions of the native language”, “ugliness”, “mockery”, “foreign language terror” and etc., and try in every possible way to convince native speakers that writing e instead of e – a) a gross spelling error and b) a sign of lack of patriotism.
They are trying, admittedly, not without success. The myth that writing e instead of e in all cases is a violation of the norms of Russian writing, which is now shared by many native speakers, including writers, public figures, journalists, as well as many officials. Under the pressure of “yoficators”, it is mandatory to write e is now accepted in many print and electronic media, as well as in official documents of a number of regions of Russia, for example the Ulyanovsk region, where the letter e a monument was even erected in 2005. At the same time, the zealousness of officials, their hasty implementation e into practice, writing did not go unnoticed by publicists: he ironically calls it a “national spelling project.” new cult letters e writer, journalist, philologist R. G. Leibov.
We would like to draw the reader's attention to the wording that can often be heard from the mouths of "yofists" who spread the myth of the "war against e”, and people already in the grip of this myth: “there are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, the letter e no one canceled, therefore, writing e instead of e – error". Many don’t know what to say to this and agree: yes, indeed, since the letter e no one canceled it e instead of e, apparently, is indeed a mistake. In fact, the first two theses in this formulation are completely fair, no one denies them, but the third one does not correspond to reality and does not follow from the first two at all! Yes, there are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, yes, e no one has canceled it, but according to the current rules of Russian spelling, this letter is used selectively in ordinary printed texts - that’s how things stand. It must be admitted that the tricky combination in one sentence of true statements with false conclusion it confuses many.
And one more important note. From the previous few paragraphs, the reader may make the erroneous conclusion that both the author of the article and other linguists who oppose the forced “efication” of Russian texts experience some strange hostility towards e and they talk about the implementation of this letter that has happened in some contexts with regret. This, by the way, is another of the myths spread by the “yoficators”: that their opponents hate the letter e and they are trying with all their might to expel it from the Russian alphabet. Of course, this is not actually the case. It is difficult to imagine how one can hate this or that letter: to a literate person, a person who loves his native language, all its letters and words are dear, just as the norms of the language and the existing spelling rules are dear to him. The author, as well as fellow linguists who occupy a similar position, are not against e, A against the emerging cult of this letter, against the transformation of a private spelling problem into a political issue, against the absurd situation when a person writing according to the rules, accused of illiteracy and disregard for their native language. We are not at all waging a “holy struggle” with the letter e – we are trying to resist the aggressive expansion of militant amateurism.
However, among the supporters of mandatory e(we are still talking about native speakers - non-linguists) includes not only “yoficators”, who inflate a minor linguistic issue to the scale of a national problem, and their followers, who, out of ignorance, believe that non-writing e – This is truly a gross mistake. In sequential use e interested native speakers who, due to the presence of phonemes in their names, patronymics, and surnames<о>after a soft consonant or combination
Indeed, in recent years, the number of such situations has increased when, due to different spellings of the first name, patronymic or last name in different documents, their bearers were unable to formalize an inheritance, receive maternity capital and were faced with other bureaucratic delays. “For fifty years, legal services have written first and last names in passports and other documents without e,” emphasizes A.V. Superanskaya, “and now they demand that the “owners” of the documents prove to them that the names Seleznev And Seleznev identical that Semyon And Semyon- the same name. And if a person does not know what to object, he is sent to court to prove that he is he.”
It is significant, however, that such legal incidents related to writing / non-writing e, until the early 1990s (i.e., before the “yofikators” introduced confusion into this area of Russian writing) there was practically no observed...
What about linguists? Are their voices heard? Is there any room left for scientific debate in this situation? Yes, there are still works coming out that argue for consistent use e and against such use. As a rule, they repeat arguments that have already been expressed earlier and given above. Thus, recently one of the discussion platforms has been the journal “Science and Life”, in which in 2008 the already cited article by A. V. Superanskaya “” and - a few months later - the article by N. A. Eskova “” were published. If A.V. Superanskaya spoke mainly about the fact that mandatory e would ensure the correct pronunciation of proper names and prevent legal incidents, then N. A. Eskova noted that “the introduction of mandatory use e for all texts is fraught with danger... for Russian culture,” meaning the publication of texts by authors of the 18th – 19th centuries. “By entering “required” e How general rule, we will not save the texts of our classics from barbaric modernization,” warns N. A. Eskova.
In other words, the arguments of linguists - supporters and opponents of sequential use e- remain the same, it is unlikely that anything new can be added to them. Unless the following argument becomes even more relevant today: mandatory e would complicate school practice. Indeed, if we recognize the non-writing e error, it may be perceived as an additional punitive tool, and students' attention will be focused not on the really important spellings, but on the particular problem of spelling two dots (as was the case in the 1940s). Considering the heated discussions around school education go on in our society, it seems that adding another controversial issue to them would be at least unreasonable.
An attempt (in our opinion, quite successful) to put an end to a dispute that has lasted for 200 years was made by the authors of the complete academic reference book “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” (M., 2006), approved by the Orthographic Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This book is the first to clearly indicate that the use of the letter e can be sequential or selective. Consecutive use is mandatory in the following types of printed texts: a) in texts with sequentially placed accent marks (this includes heading words in dictionaries and encyclopedias); b) in books addressed to young children; c) in educational texts for primary schoolchildren and foreigners studying the Russian language. At the same time, an important caveat is made: at the request of the author or editor, any book can be printed sequentially with the letter e.
In ordinary printed texts, according to the reference book, the letter e used selectively. It is recommended to use it in the following cases: 1) to prevent incorrect identification of a word, for example: everything, sky, summer, perfect(in contrast to the words everything, sky, summer, perfect), including to indicate the place of stress in a word, for example: bucket, let's find out(unlike bucket, let's find out); 2) to indicate the correct pronunciation of a word - either rare, not well known, or having a common incorrect pronunciation, for example: gyoza, surfing, fleur, harder, lye, including to indicate the correct accent, for example: fable, brought, carried away, condemned, newborn, spy; 3) in proper names – surnames, geographical names, eg: Konenkov, Neyolova, Catherine Deneuve, Schrödinger, Dezhnev, Koshelev, Chebyshev, Veshenskaya, Olekma.
The attentive reader will notice that the rules for selective use of letters e became much more detailed. Unlike the 1956 code, a recommendation has been added to use e in words that have common mispronunciations; In addition, proper names are highlighted in a separate paragraph. In a letter to V.T. Chumakov dated October 21, 2009, the executive editor of the directory V.V. Lopatin indicates: “In the following editions of the directory, the recommendation in this wording (е in proper names – V.P.) may well be replaced by mandatory... which is quite consistent with the wishes of our “yofikators”, and with the decision of the Ministry of Education and Science of May 3, 2007 on the mandatory use of the letter e in proper names."
In our opinion, compliance with the rules set out in the handbook will help reconcile supporters and opponents of mandatory e and remove the severity of many issues related to the use of this letter. In fact, on the one hand: a) authors who want to “efect” their own books receive the right to do so; b) the requirement for mandatory e in heading words in dictionaries and encyclopedias, in publications for those who are just learning to read or are learning Russian as a second language; c) problems of bearers of names, patronymics, surnames in which e; d) provides an indication of the correct pronunciation of words that cause difficulty in reading - and on the other hand: e) Russian letter will not be overloaded with diacritics that are inconvenient for writers and readers; f) the texts of the classics will be saved from “barbaric modernization”, and the school will be saved from an additional “stumbling block” in Russian language lessons.
Of course, this is not enough for the irreconcilable “yoficators” who do not want to make any compromises; their passionate struggle with common sense continues. But we hope that the majority of our readers, who have become familiar with the history of the scientific debate around e, with arguments for the consistent use of this letter and against such use, with the requirements of the rules of 1956 and more full interpretation in the new academic reference book, it will be easier to separate genuine information from false information, and competent opinion from profanity. Therefore, we suggest you remember elementary truth No. 7.
Basic Truth No. 7. Use of letters e mandatory in texts with sequentially placed accent marks, in books for young children (including textbooks for primary school students), in textbooks for foreigners. In regular printed texts e it is written in cases where a word may be misread, when it is necessary to indicate the correct pronunciation of a rare word or to prevent a speech error. Letter e should also be written in proper names. In other cases, use e optional, i.e. optional.
Literature
1. Eskova N. A. About the letter e // Science and life. 2000. No. 4.
2. Eskova N. A. // Science and life. 2008. No. 7.
3. Zaliznyak A. A. From notes on amateur linguistics. M., 2010.
4. Review of proposals for improving Russian spelling. M., 1965.
5. Rules of Russian spelling and punctuation. M., 1956.
6. Rules of Russian spelling and punctuation. Complete academic reference book / Ed. V.V. Lopatina. M., 2006.
7. Superanskaya A.V. // Science and life. 2008. No. 1.
V. M. Pakhomov,
Candidate of Philological Sciences,
editor-in-chief of the portal "Gramota.ru"
1 Many thanks to k.f. n. Yu. A. Safonova, who provided the original letter to the author of the article.
2 Significant place in the scientific debate around e The question is how much the consistent use of this letter contributes to the implementation of the main principle of Russian spelling - phonemic. Since it will be very difficult for a non-linguist reader to understand this issue, when reviewing the arguments “for” and “against” we will allow ourselves e omit this paragraph; Let's just say that here too there are arguments in favor of sequential use e, and against such use.
3 That this is not true is evidenced, for example, by such equivalent spelling options as mattress And mattress, sparrow And little sparrows, hydrocephalus And hydrocephalus and many more etc.