I with bowl

Not to be confused withthe lowercase letter b,Ƅ,orsoft sign.

I with bowl
Ь ь
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	Alphabetic
Language of origin	Yañalif
Sound values	[ɯ] [ɤ̆] [ɨ]
History
Development	Ь ь
Other
Writing direction	Left-to-Right

Latin yeruorIwith bowl(majuscule:Ь,minuscule:ь)is an additional letter of the Latin alphabet based on the Cyrillicsoft sign.It was introduced in 1928 into the reformedYañalif,and later into other alphabets for Soviet minority languages. The letter was designed specifically to represent the non-front close vowel soundsɨandɯ.Thus, this letter corresponds to the letter⟨I ı⟩in modern Turkic alphabets,and the letteryery(⟨Ы ы⟩) in Cyrillic.

Usage

The letter was originally included in theYañalifand later also in the alphabets of theKurdish,Abaza,Sami,Ingrian,Kalmyk,Komi,Tsakhur,AzerbaijaniandBashkirlanguages, as well as in the draft reform of theUdmurt alphabet.During the project for romanizing Russian, the letter corresponded to the Cyrillic letter⟨Ы ы⟩.In Kalmyk, however, it represented palatalisation of the preceding consonant and thus corresponded to the Cyrillic homoglyph⟨Ь ь⟩.

In languages and alphabets that used the letter, the lowercase form of B was asmall capital⟨ʙ⟩so that there would be no confusion between⟨b⟩and⟨ь⟩.

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  New Turkic alphabet (Yañalif)
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  The Latin-basedUnified Northern Alphabet
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  Kurdish alphabet of 1929
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  Abazin alphabet of the 1930s
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  Sami alphabet of 1933
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  Komi alphabet of 1934
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  Tsakhur alphabet of 1934
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  The draft reform of the Udmurt and Komi scripts of 1931
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  Crimean Tatar alphabet from the 1920s, with the Latin script in the middle columns.
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  Table of contents, on a book, showing the use of Ь in some words.
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  Tour poster showing the promo of a state conservery, I with bowl can be seen.
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  Comparison of the New Turkic alphabets, as well as examples of sentences.
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  Book cover, whose title translates to "On Surkhan," shows the use of the letter in the word "Bujьnda."
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  Wall sign at a ballet theatre, notice the I with bowl is barely visible at the top of it.
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  Sample ballot in Crimean Tatar for voting elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Crimean ASSR in 1938.
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  Examples of sentences in Latin-script Komi.
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  Janjur Saman theatrical play poster
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  Yerevan State poster for the opera show at an Azerbaijani theatre.
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  Front title on an Azerbaijani book, whose title translates roughly to "Lovers."
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  Poster of Leyli and Majnun, with Latin-script on top section.
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  1936 bulletin about Baku theatres.
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  Emblem of Azerbaijani SSR from 1937-1940. I with bowl is found in the words "Respuʙliqasь" and "Proletarlarь."
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  Azerbaijani dance melody sheet. The letter can be seen in the title written in Latin script.

Encoding

A Latin letter I with bowl has not been adopted into Unicode because of the concern that encoding it could open the door to "duplicating the whole Cyrillic alphabet as Latin letters."Instead, computer and mobile users can substitute similar letters: eitherЬ ьorƄ ƅ(Latin letter tone six, the letter that had been used in theZhuangalphabet to denote the sixth toneIPA:[˧]).

See also

• Latinisation in the Soviet Union