Editing Iotation (section)

=== Iotated vowels ===
In Slavic languages, iotated vowels are preceded by a [[palatal approximant]] {{IPA|/j/}} before a [[vowel]], at the beginning of a word, or between two vowels in the middle of a word, creating a diphthongoid, a partial [[diphthong]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://feb-web.ru/feb/slt/abc/lt1/lt1-3061.htm |title=Йотация // Словарь литературных терминов. Т. 1. — 1925 (текст) |publisher=Feb-web.ru |access-date=2011-09-17}}</ref> In the [[Greek alphabet]], the consonant is represented by [[iota]] (ι). For example, the [[English language|English]] ''apple'' is [[cognate]] to [[Russian language|Russian]] ''{{lang|ru|яблоко}} ({{transliteration|ru|ISO|jabloko}})'', both come from {{langx|ine-x-proto|h₂ébōl}}. As a result of the phenomenon, no native Slavic root starts with an {{IPA|[e]}} or an {{IPA|[a]}} but only with a {{IPA|[je]}} and {{IPA|[ja]}}; although other vowels are possible. An exception to this is Bulgarian, which has lost iotation for all front vowels (compared to Russian or Polish, who lost it only before {{IPA|[i]}}).

As it was invented for the writing of Slavic languages, the original [[Cyrillic alphabet]] has relatively complex ways for representing iotation by devoting an entire class of letters to deal with the issue. There are letters which represent iotated vowels; the same letters also palatalize preceding consonants (with or without self-iotation), which is why iotation and palatalization are often mixed up. There are also two special letters (''soft sign'' [[Ь]] and ''hard sign'' [[Ъ]]) that also induce iotation; in addition, [[Ь]] palatalizes preceding [[consonant]], allowing combinations of both palatalized (soft) and plain (hard) consonants with {{IPA|[j]}}. Originally, these letters produced short vowels {{IPA|[i]}} and {{IPA|[u]}}. The exact use depends on the language.

The adjective for a phone which undergoes iotation is ''iotated''. The adjective for a [[letter (alphabet)|letter]] formed as a [[ligature (typography)|ligature]] of the [[Early Cyrillic I]] (І) and another letter, used to represent iotation, is ''iotated''.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}. The use of an iotated letter does not necessarily denote iotation. Even an iotated letter following a consonant letter is not iotated in most orthographies, but iotated letters imply iotated pronunciation after vowels and [[soft sign|soft]] and [[yer|hard]] signs as well as in isolation.

In the Cyrillic alphabet, some letter forms are iotated, formed as a [[ligature (typography)|ligature]] of [[Early Cyrillic I]] (І) and a vowel.
{| class=wikitable
|-
!colspan=3 align=center|Normal||colspan=3 align=center|Iotated||rowspan=2 align=center|Comment
|-
!Name||Shape||Sound||Name||Shape||Sound
|-
||[[A (Cyrillic)|A]]||А||{{IPA|/a/}}||[[Iotated A]]||Ꙗ||{{IPA|/ja/}}
||Now supplanted by [[Ya (Cyrillic)|Ja]] (Я)
|-
||[[E (Cyrillic)|Est']]||Є||{{IPA|/e/}}||[[Iotated E]]||Ѥ||{{IPA|/je/}}
||No longer used
|-
||[[Uk (Cyrillic)|Uk]]||Оу||{{IPA|/u/}}||[[Iotated uk]]||Ю||{{IPA|/ju/}}
||Uk is an archaic form of [[U (Cyrillic)|U]] (У)
|-
||[[Little Yus|Little Jus]]||Ѧ||{{IPA|/ẽ/}}||[[Iotated little yus]]||Ѩ||{{IPA|/jẽ/}}
||No longer used
|-
||[[Big Yus|Big Jus]]||Ѫ||{{IPA|/õ/}}||[[Iotated big yus]]||Ѭ||{{IPA|/jõ/}}
||No longer used as of 1899
|}
In old inscriptions, other iotated letters, even consonants, could be found, but they are not in the regular alphabet.

There are more letters that serve the same function, but their [[glyph]]s are not made in the same way.
{| class=wikitable
|-
!colspan=3 align=center|Normal||colspan=3 align=center|Iotated||rowspan=2 align=center|Comment
|-
!Name||Shape||Sound||Name||Shape||Sound
|-
|[[A (Cyrillic)|A]]||Аа||{{IPA|/a/}}||[[Ya (Cyrillic)|Ja]]||Яя||{{IPA|/ja/}}
||Common for East Slavic alphabets
|-
|[[E (Cyrillic)|E]]||Ээ||rowspan=2|{{IPA|/e/}}||[[Ye (Cyrillic)|Je]]||Ее||rowspan=2|{{IPA|/je/}}
||Used in [[Belarusian alphabet|Belarusian]] and [[Russian alphabet|Russian]]
|-
|[[Ye (Cyrillic)|E]]||Ее||[[Ukrainian Ye|Je]]||Єє
||Used in [[Ukrainian alphabet|Ukrainian]]
|-
|[[Dotted I (Cyrillic)|I]]||Іi||{{IPA|/i/}}||[[Yi (Cyrillic)|Ji]]||Її||{{IPA|/ji/}}
||Used in [[Ukrainian alphabet|Ukrainian]]
|-
|[[O (Cyrillic)|O]]||Оо||{{IPA|/o/}}||[[Yo (Cyrillic)|Jo]]||Ёё||{{IPA|/jo/}}
||The letter is used in [[Belarusian alphabet|Belarusian]] and [[Russian alphabet|Russian]], in [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] the digraphs "Йо" and "Ьо" are used instead
|-
|[[U (Cyrillic)|U]]||Уу||{{IPA|/u/}}||[[Yu (Cyrillic)|Ju]]||Юю||{{IPA|/ju/}}
||Common for East Slavic alphabets
|}