View source for Yer

{{Short description|Letters of the Cyrillic script}}
{{Distinguish|Yery}}
{{Other uses|YER (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2008}}
{{IPA notice}}
A '''yer''' is either of two letters in [[Cyrillic alphabet]]s, '''[[Hard sign|ъ]]''' (ѥръ, ''jerŭ'') and '''[[Soft sign|ь]]''' (ѥрь, ''jerĭ''). The [[Glagolitic alphabet]] used, as respective counterparts, the letters  [[File:GlagolitsaJer.gif|13px]] (Ⱏ) and [[File:GlagolitsaJerj.gif|13px]] (Ⱐ). They originally represented phonemically the "ultra-short" vowels in [[Slavic languages]], including [[Old Church Slavonic]], and are collectively known as the yers.

In all modern Slavic languages, they either [[sound change|evolved]] into various "full" vowels or disappeared, in some cases causing the [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] of adjacent consonants. The only Slavic language that still uses "ъ" as a vowel sign (pronounced /ɤ/) is Bulgarian, but in many cases, it corresponds to an earlier [[Yus|ѫ (big yus)]], originally pronounced /õ/, used in [[Reforms of Bulgarian orthography|pre 1945 Bulgarian orthography]].

Many languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet have kept one or more of the yers to serve specific orthographic functions.

The '''back yer''' ('''Ъ''', '''ъ''', italics <span style="font-family: times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: larger">''Ъ'', ''ъ''</span>) of the [[Cyrillic script]], also spelled ''jer'' or ''er'', is known as the ''[[hard sign]]'' in the modern [[Russian alphabet|Russian]] and [[Rusyn alphabet|Rusyn]] alphabets and as ''ер голям'' (er golyam, "big er") in the [[Bulgarian alphabet]]. [[Reforms of Russian orthography|Pre-reform Russian orthography]] and texts in [[Old Russian language|Old Russian]] and in Old Church Slavonic called the letter "back yer". Originally, it denoted an ultra-short or [[reduced vowel|reduced]] [[Mid vowel|mid]] [[rounded vowel]].

Its companion, the '''front yer''' ('''Ь''', '''ь''', italics <span style="font-family: times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: larger">''Ь'', ''ь''</span>), now known as the ''[[soft sign]]'' in Russian, [[Belarusian alphabet|Belarusian]] and [[Ukrainian alphabet|Ukrainian]], and as ''ер малък'' (er malak, "small er") in Bulgarian, originally also represented a reduced vowel, more [[front vowel|frontal]] than the ъ. Today, it marks the palatalization of consonants in all of the Slavic languages written in the Cyrillic script except [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], which do not use it at all, but it still leaves traces in the forms of the palatalized letters [[њ]] and [[љ]]. In [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], it is debated whether the letter palatalises the preceding consonant or is a simple sound {{IPA|/j/}}. See [[Bulgarian phonology]].

In the modern [[Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet]], ь is also used to represent the palatalization of the previous consonant, while ъ represents a lack of palatalization. However, ъ is only necessary for the purposes of [[disambiguation]] between a consonant and an [[iotation|iotated]] vowel in situations when palatalization should not occur, as by default it would. It is therefore rarely used. As it is not necessary to specify palatalization under those circumstances, the much more common ь is frequently used as a substitute for ъ without any ambiguity arising.

==Original use==
In [[Old Church Slavonic]], the yer was used to indicate the so-called "reduced vowel": ъ = {{nowrap|{{IPA|*[ŭ]}}}}, ь = {{nowrap|{{IPA|*[ĭ]}}}} in the conventional transcription. They stemmed from the [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]] and [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] short {{nowrap|{{IPA|*/u/}}}} and {{nowrap|{{IPA|*/i/}}}} (compare [[Latin]] [[wikt:angulus|angulus]] and Old Church Slavonic [[wikt:ѫгълъ|ѫгълъ]], ''{{Transliteration|cu|ǫgŭlŭ}}'' < Early Proto-Slavic ''*angulu'' < Proto-Balto-Slavic ''*ángulas'' < Proto-Indo-European ''*h₂éngulos''). In all [[West Slavic languages]], the yer either disappeared or changed to {{IPA|/e/}} in strong positions, and in [[South Slavic languages]], the strong yer reflexes differ widely, according to dialect.

==Historical development==
{{Main|History of the Slavic languages#The yers ь and ъ}}
{{See also|Havlik's law}}

In [[Common Slavic]], the yers were normal short vowels /u/ and /i/. [[Havlik's law]] caused them, in certain positions, to be pronounced very weakly, perhaps as ultrashort vowels, and to lose the ability to take word accent. The weak yers were later dropped, and the strong yers evolved into various sounds that varied across different languages.

To determine whether a yer is strong or weak, one must break the continuous flow of speech into individual words, or [[prosodic unit]]s (phrases with only one stressed syllable, typically including a preposition or other [[clitic]] words). The rule for determining weak and strong yers is as follows:
*A '''terminal''' yer is ''weak''.
*A yer followed by a non-reduced vowel in the next syllable is ''weak''.
*A yer in the syllable before one with a weak yer is ''strong''.
*A yer in the syllable before one with a strong yer is ''weak''.

In Russian, for example, the yers evolved as follows:
*''Strong'' yers are ''fully voiced'': ь → е (or ë); ъ → о
*''Weak'' yers drop entirely, but the palatalization from a following ь generally remains.

Simply put, in a string of Old Russian syllables, each of which has a reduced vowel, the reduced vowels are, in Modern Russian, alternately given their full voicing or drop: the last yer in the sequence drops. There are some exceptions to the rule, usually considered to be the result of analogy with other words or other inflected forms of the same word, with a different original pattern of reduced vowels. Modern Russian inflection is, therefore, complicated by so-called "transitory" (lit. беглые {{IPA|[ˈbʲeɡɫɨjə]}} "fugitive" or "fleeting") vowels, which appear and disappear in place of a former ''yer''. For example (OR = Old Russian; R = Russian):
*'''OR''' сънъ {{IPA|/ˈsŭ.nŭ/}} → '''R''' сон {{IPA|[son]}} "sleep" (nominative singular)
*'''OR''' съна {{IPA|/sŭˈna/}} → '''R''' сна {{IPA|[sna]}} "sleep's" (genitive singular)
*'''OR''' ѫгълъ {{IPA|/ˈɔ̃.ɡŭ.lŭ/}} → '''R''' угол {{IPA|[ˈu.ɡəɫ]}} "corner" (nominative singular)
*'''OR''' ѫгъла {{IPA|/ɔ̃.ɡŭˈla/}} → '''R''' угла {{IPA|[ʊˈɡɫa]}} "corner's" (genitive singular)
*'''OR''' дьнь {{IPA|/ˈdɪnɪ/}} → {{IPA|/ˈdʲɪnʲɪ/}} → '''R''' день "day" (nominative singular)
*'''OR''' дьни {{IPA|/ˈdɪni/}} → {{IPA|/ˈdʲɪnʲi/}} "two days" (nominative dual) → '''R''' дни {{IPA|[d⁽ʲ⁾nʲi]}} "days" (nominative plural)
*'''OR''' двьрь {{IPA|/ˈdʋɪrɪ/}} → {{IPA|/ˈdʋʲɪrʲɪ/}} → '''R''' дверь {{IPA|[dvʲerʲ]}} "door" (nominative singular)
*'''OR''' двьри {{IPA|/ˈdʋɪri/}} → {{IPA|/ˈdʋʲɪrʲi/}} → '''R''' две́ри {{IPA|[ˈdvʲerʲɪ]}}  "doors" (nominative plural) (note: weak -ь- → {{angbr|e}} to avoid awkward cluster)

== Sources ==
*{{cite book
| last1 = Schenker 
| first1 = Alexander M. 
| chapter = Proto-Slavonic 
| title = The Slavonic languages
| publisher = Routledge
| editor1-last= Comrie
| editor1-first = Bernard
| editor2-last= Corbett
| editor2-first = Greville G
| year = 1993
| location = London, New York
| pages = 60–121
| isbn = 0-415-04755-2
}}
*{{cite book
| last1 = Sussex
| first1 = Roland
| last2 = Cubberley
| first2 = Paul
| title = The Slavic languages
| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
| year = 2006
| location = [[Cambridge]]
| isbn = 978-0-521-22315-7
}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline|Ъ}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|Ь}}

[[Category:Cyrillic letters]]