Soft sign
The Ь ( lowercase letter ь; Russian мягкий знак mjachki snak " soft sign ", listen / i;? Bulgarian ер he малък malak " He little "; originally " Jer " ) is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet. He is known mainly soft sign with the name or soft character, which is a translation of the Russian name. The function and importance of the ь is dependent on regional and temporal aspects.
Older language levels
In the pre-Slavic and Old Church Slavonic is ь, Glagolitic, for a front vowel reduced, corresponding to a short about [ i]. Only in nachurslawischer time - so even in today's Slavic individual languages - the reduced vowels ъ and ь (rear reduced vowel) were either vollvokalisiert or they disappeared.
As a rule of thumb, we can state that always vanished from behind the reduced counted odd vowels of a pre-Slavic word; the straight, however, were in a strong position and were vollvokalisiert, the results are different in today's Slavic languages.
Example: Proto-Slavic * otьcь ( otisi ) "father", genitive * otьca ( otisa ).
In the nominative case, there are two reduced vowels, of which the one between t and c, the second is from the rear, is therefore in a strong position and is vollvokalisiert. Hence we find in today's Russia, the nominative отец ( Otets ), ie the Vollvokalisierung * ь > e, in contrast Croatian OTAC ( otats ), ie the Vollvokalisierung * ь > a, the genitive form only shows a single reduced vowel, which, accordingly, the first is from the back, is in a weak position and disappears. Therefore, the genitive of this word in Russian is not * отеца ( otetsa ) but отца ( otsa ).
Today's use
Due to the shrinkage or the Vollvokalisierung ь is no longer a vowel, but is an orthographic sign of Belarusian, Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet. It signals the palatalization of the preceding consonant, and can accordingly be only after consonants. In Serbian and in Macedonian it is not used as a separate letter, but only as a ligature with Л Н and ( Љ, Њ ). In Bulgarian it can only occur before о ( ьо, eg in синьо sinjo, blue ').
Encoding
Slavonic letters
Аа Бб Вв Гг Ґґ Ѓѓ Дд Ђђ Ее Ѐ ѐ Ёё Єє Жж Зз Ѕѕ Ии Ѝ ѝ Іі Її Йй Јј Кк Ќќ Лл Љљ Мм
Нн Њњ Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Ћћ Уу Ўў Фф Хх Цц Чч Џџ Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ээ Юю Яя
Not Slavonic letters
Ӑӑ Ӓӓ Әә Ӛӛ Ӕӕ Ғғ Ӷ ӷ Ӻ ӻ Ԁԁ Ԃԃ Ҕҕ Ӗӗ Ҽҽ Ҿҿ Ӂӂ Җҗ Ӝӝ Ҙҙ Ӟӟ Ԑԑ Ӡӡ Ԅԅ Ԇԇ
Ӥӥ Ӣӣ Ӏ ӏ Ҋ ҋ Ққ Ҟҟ Ҡҡ Ӄӄ Ҝҝ Ԟԟ Ԛԛ Ӆ ӆ Ԉԉ Ԓԓ Ӎ ӎ Ҥҥ Ңң Ӊ ӊ Ӈӈ Ԋԋ Ӧӧ Өө Ӫӫ Ҩҩ
Ҧҧ Ҏ ҏ Ҫҫ Ԍԍ Ҭҭ Ԏԏ Ӳӳ Ӱӱ Ӯӯ Үү Ұұ Ҳҳ Ӽ ӽ Ӿ ӿ Һһ Ҵҵ Ӵӵ Ҷҷ Ӌӌ Ҹҹ Ӹӹ Ҍ ҍ Ӭ ӭ
Altkyrillische letters
Ҁҁ Ѹѹ Ѡѡ Ѿѿ Ѻѻ Ѣѣ Ꙗ ꙗ Ѥѥ Ꙓ ꙓ Ѧѧ Ѩѩ Ѫѫ Ѭѭ Ѯѯ Ѱѱ Ѳѳ Ѵѵ Ѷѷ Ꙟ ꙟ
- Cyrillic letter