Editing Soft sign (section)

{{Short description|Letter of the Cyrillic script}}
{{About|the Cyrillic character|the psychopathology-related neurological symptom|neurological soft signs}}
{{Distinguish|b{{!}}the lowercase letter b|Ƅ|I with bowl}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox grapheme
| script = [[Cyrillic]]
| type = [[Alphabet]]
| typedesc = ic
| name = Soft sign
| image = Cyrillic letter Yeri - uppercase and lowercase.svg
| imagealt = 
| phonemes = {{IPAblink|◌ʲ}}
| number = 
| fam1 = [[Ⱐ|Ⱐ&nbsp;ⱐ]]
| letter = Ь ь
| language = [[Old Church Slavonic]], [[East Slavic languages]]
| children = 
| associates = [[Modifier letter double apostrophe|ꚝ]]
| unicode = U+042C, U+044C
}}

[[File:Azbuka Benois - Ь.jpg|thumb|Soft sign, from [[Alexandre Benois]]' 1904 [[alphabet book]]. It shows ''prorub′'' (ice-hole), ''v′yuga'' ([[snowstorm]]) and ''puzyr′'' ([[soap bubble|bubble]]).]]

The '''soft sign''' (Ь&nbsp;ь; italics: <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">''Ь&nbsp;ь''</span>)  is a letter in the Cyrillic script that is used in various Slavic languages.<ref>{{Cite Efron|Ь}}</ref> In [[Old Church Slavonic]], it represented a short or reduced front vowel. However, over time, the specific vowel sound it denoted was largely eliminated and merged with other vowel sounds.

In most contemporary Slavic Cyrillic writing systems, such as those used in [[East Slavic languages]] (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian) and Church Slavic, the soft sign does not represent a distinct sound on its own. Instead, it serves as an indicator of [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] of the preceding consonant. In the Bulgarian language, it is only used to mark the palatalization of the preceding consonant when in front of the letter o, causing the combination ьо (/ʲo/). An example of this is the word {{lang|bg|гьол}} (/gʲol/).

Palatalization is a linguistic process in which the middle of the tongue moves closer to the hard palate while pronouncing a consonant. It affects the pronunciation of the preceding consonant by giving it a palatal quality or causing it to become a palatal consonant. The soft sign acts as a visual marker to show that the consonant before it is palatalized.

For example, in Russian, the soft sign is often used after consonants to indicate palatalization. It affects the pronunciation of the preceding consonant and can change the sound of words. The specific effect varies depending on the consonant it follows. In other Slavic languages where the soft sign is used, a similar palatalization function is observed.

It may also be used as a superscript in Lithuanian dialectology. (ꚝ)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Girdenis |first=A. |title=Kalbotyros darbai =: Studies in linguistics |date=2000 |publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas |isbn=978-5-420-01475-2 |location=Vilnius}}</ref>