Editing Reforms of Russian orthography (section)

===Specific changes===
[[File:Cyrillic letter Yat.png|250px|right|thumb|The Old Cyrillic letter 'yat']]
Russian [[orthography]] was made simpler and easier by unifying several adjectival and pronominal inflections, conflating the letter '''{{lang|ru-petr1708|ѣ}}''' ([[Yat]]) with '''{{lang|ru-luna1918|е}}''', '''{{lang|ru-petr1708|ѳ}}''' with '''{{lang|ru-luna1918|ф}}''', and '''{{lang|ru-petr1708|і}}''' and '''{{lang|ru-petr1708|ѵ}}''' with '''{{lang|ru-luna1918|и}}'''.  Additionally, the archaic mute ''yer'' became obsolete, including the '''{{lang|ru-petr1708|ъ}}''' (the "[[hard sign]]") in final position following consonants (thus eliminating practically the last graphical remnant of the Old Slavonic [[Law of open syllables|open-syllable system]]). For instance, {{lang|ru-petr1708|Рыбинскъ}} became {{lang|ru-luna1918|Рыбинск}} ("[[Rybinsk]]").

Examples:
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|дѣти}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|дети}} ([[child]]ren)
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|Іисусъ Христосъ}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|Иисус Христос}} ([[Jesus|Jesus Christ]])
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|мараѳонъ}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|марафон}} ([[marathon]])
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|Петроградъ}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|Петроград}} ([[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]])
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|раіонъ}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|район}} ([[Administrative division|region/district]])
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|Россія}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|Россия}} ([[Russia]])
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|Сѣверо-Американскіе Соединенные Штаты}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|Северо-Американские Соединённые Штаты}} – The United States of America ({{lit| North American United States}}, popular pre-revolutionary name of the [[United States]] in Russia)
* {{lang|ru-petr1708|Сѵнодъ}} to {{lang|ru-luna1918|Синод}} ([[synod]])

In a complex system of cases, the genitive adjectival ending {{lang|ru-petr1708|-аго}} was replaced with {{lang|ru-luna1918|-его}} after {{lang|ru-luna1918|ж, ц, ч, ш}}, and {{lang|ru-luna1918|щ}} ({{lang|ru-petr1708|лучшаго}} → {{lang|ru-luna1918|лучшего}}), in other instances {{lang|ru-petr1708|-аго}} was replaced with {{lang|ru-luna1918|-ого}}, and {{lang|ru-petr1708|-яго}} with {{lang|ru-luna1918|-его}} (for example: {{lang|ru-petr1708|новаго}} → {{lang|ru-luna1918|нового}} and {{lang|ru-petr1708|ранняго}} → {{lang|ru-luna1918|раннего}}), respectively.

19th-century spelling prescriptions distinguished feminine and neuter plural adjectival endings {{lang|ru-petr1708|-ыя}}, {{lang|ru-petr1708|-ія}} from masculine plural endings {{lang|ru-petr1708|-ые}}, {{lang|ru-petr1708|-іе}} (with no difference in pronunciation). Although Old East Slavic distinction of genders in the plural (masculine {{lang|orv|-ии}}, feminine {{lang|orv|-ыѣ}}, neuter {{lang|orv|-аꙗ}}) had died in speech long ago, 18th-century writers still tried to distinguish genders in the spelling, and [[Mikhail Lomonosov]]'s variant was chosen as the standard. The reform gave the uniform {{lang|ru-luna1918|-ые}}, {{lang|ru-luna1918|-ие}} for all the three genders ({{lang|ru-petr1708|новыя (книги, изданія)}} → {{lang|ru-luna1918|новые}}).

19th-century spelling prescriptions gave the spellings {{lang|ru-petr1708|онѣ, однѣ, однѣхъ, однѣмъ, однѣми}} for feminine plural forms, but {{lang|ru-petr1708|они, одни, однихъ, однимъ, одними}} for masculine and neuter plural forms. Although these forms were prescribed to be pronounced differently, the difference was not usually observed in everyday speech; pronunciations were used interchangeably, the one with {{lang|ru|и}} being more common.<ref>{{cite journal |script-title=ru:Извлеченiя изъ протоколовъ засѣданiй Академiи |journal=Извѣстія Академіи Наукъ |year=1917 |volume=11 |issue=15 |pages=1179–1230 |url=https://www.mathnet.ru/links/320a620c6bb4332b43ce1c1822ce2049/im6110.pdf }}</ref> The reform gave the uniform spelling {{lang|ru-luna1918|они, одни, одних, одним, одними}} for all genders. However, when {{lang|ru-petr1708|онѣ, однѣ}} were pronounced according to the spelling in poetic rhymes, modern editions write them as {{lang|ru|оне, одне}}.

19th-century spelling prescriptions gave the spelling of the feminine pronoun {{lang|ru-petr1708|ея (нея)}} in the genitive case, but {{lang|ru-petr1708|ее (нее)}} in the accusative case, whereas it was usually pronounced as {{lang|ru-petr1708|её (неё)}} in both cases. The reform gave uniform spelling for both cases: {{lang|ru-luna1918|ее (нее)}} (or {{lang|ru-luna1918|её (неё)}}, with the optional letter Ё). However, sometimes {{lang|ru-luna1918|ея (нея)}} was pronounced according to the spelling in poetic rhymes. In that case, it is not changed in modern editions.<ref>{{Cite web  |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/otnoshenie-tvorcheskoy-intelligentsii-k-reforme-russkogo-yazyka-1918-goda/viewer |script-title=ru:Отношение творческой интеллигенции к реформе русского языка 1918 года |website=cyberleninka.ru }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Вестник Томского государственного университета. Филология. |year=2016 |last1=Barakhnin |first1=V. B. |last2= Kozhemyakina |first2=O. Yu. |script-title=ru:К проблеме аутентичности фонетического анализа в связи с возможными особенностями авторской орфографии (на примере чередования окончаний -ой/-ый в лирике А. С. Пушкина) |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/k-probleme-autentichnosti-foneticheskogo-analiza-v-svyazi-s-vozmozhnymi-osobennostyami-avtorskoy-orfografii-na-primere-cheredovaniya/viewer |volume=2 |issue=40 |page=5}}</ref>

[[Prefix]]es ending with {{lang|ru-petr1708|-з/с}} underwent a change: now all of them (except {{lang|ru|с-}}) end with {{lang|ru-luna1918|-с}} before voiceless consonants and with {{lang|ru-luna1918|-з}} before voiced consonants or vowels ({{lang|ru|разбить, разораться}}, but {{lang|ru|расступиться}}). Previously, the prefixes showed concurrence between phonetic (as now) and morphological (always {{lang|ru-petr1708|з}}) spellings; at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the standard rule was: {{lang|ru-petr1708|с-}}, {{lang|ru-petr1708|без-}}, {{lang|ru-petr1708|ч(е)рез-}} were always written in this way; other prefixes ended with {{lang|ru-petr1708|с}} before voiceless consonants except {{lang|ru-petr1708|с}} and with {{lang|ru-petr1708|з}} otherwise ({{lang|ru|разбить, разораться, разступиться}}, but {{lang|ru|распасться}}). Earlier 19th-century works also sometimes used {{lang|ru-petr1708|з}} before {{lang|ru-petr1708|ц, ч, ш, щ}}.
[[File:Ливадийский дворец 224.jpg|thumb|right|A [[blackboard]] with handwritten pre-revolutionary Russian]]