Editing Iotation

{{Short description|Type of sound change in Slavic languages}}
{{about|palatalization in Slavic languages|iotated vowels in Korean|Korean phonology#Diphthongs and glides}}

In [[Slavic languages]], '''iotation''' ({{IPAc-en|j|oʊ|ˈ|t|eɪ|.|ʃ|ən}}, {{IPAc-en|ˌ|aɪ|.|oʊ|ˈ|t|eɪ|.|ʃ|ən}}) is a form of [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] that occurs when a consonant comes into contact with the [[palatal approximant]] {{IPA|/j/}} from the succeeding phoneme. The {{IPA|/j/}} is represented by [[iota]] (ι) in the [[early Cyrillic alphabet]] and the [[Greek alphabet]] on which it is based. For example, ''ni'' in [[English language|English]] ''onion'' has the sound of iotated ''n''. Iotation is a phenomenon distinct  from [[Slavic first palatalization]] in which only the front vowels are involved, but the final result is similar.

==Sound change==
Iotation occurs when a labial ({{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/b/}}), dental ({{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/s/}}, {{IPA|/l/}}) or velar ({{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|/x/}}) consonant comes into contact with an ''iotated vowel'', i.e. one preceded by a palatal glide {{IPA|/j/}}. As a result, the consonant becomes partially or completely palatalized.{{sfn|Bethin|1998|p=36}} In many Slavic languages, iotated consonants are called "soft" and the process of iotation is called "softening".

Iotation can result in a partial [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] so the centre of the tongue is raised during, and sometimes after, the articulation of the consonant. There can also be a complete sound change to a [[palatal consonant|palatal]] or [[alveolo-palatal consonant]]. This table summarizes the typical outcomes in the modern Slavic languages:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- 
! colspan="3" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="3" | [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/[[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]]
! colspan="3" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]/[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- style="font-size: small;"
! origin
! partial
! complete
! origin
! partial
! complete
! origin
! partial
! complete
|-
| {{IPA link|p}} || {{IPA|pʲ}} || {{IPA|pj, pʎ}} 
| {{IPA link|t}} || {{IPA|tʲ}} || {{IPA link|c}}, {{IPA link|tɕ}}, {{IPA link|tʃ}} 
| {{IPA link|k}} || {{IPA|kʲ}} || {{IPA link|c}}, {{IPA link|tɕ}}, {{IPA link|tʃ}}
|-
| {{IPA link|b}} || {{IPA|bʲ}} || {{IPA|bj, bʎ}} 
| {{IPA link|d}} || {{IPA|dʲ}} || {{IPA link|ɟ}}, {{IPA link|dʑ}}, {{IPA link|dʒ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}} || {{IPA|ɡʲ}} || {{IPA link|ɟ}}, {{IPA link|dʑ}}, {{IPA link|dʒ}} 
|-
| {{IPA link|f}} || {{IPA|fʲ}} || {{IPA|fj, fʎ}}
| {{IPA link|s}} || {{IPA|sʲ}} || {{IPA link|ɕ}}, {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| {{IPA link|x}} || {{IPA|xʲ}} || {{IPA link|ç}}, {{IPA link|ɕ}}, {{IPA link|ʃ}}
|-
| {{IPA link|v}} || {{IPA|vʲ}} || {{IPA|vj, vʎ}}
| {{IPA link|z}} || {{IPA|zʲ}} || {{IPA link|ʑ}}, {{IPA link|ʒ}}
| {{IPA link|ɣ}} || {{IPA|ɣʲ}} || {{IPA link|ʝ}}, {{IPA link|ʑ}}, {{IPA link|ʒ}}
|-
| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA|mʲ}} || {{IPA|mj, mʎ, mɲ}} 
| {{IPA link|n}} || {{IPA|nʲ}} || {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|h}} || {{IPA|hʲ}} || {{IPA link|ç}}, {{IPA link|ɕ}} 
|-
| || || || {{IPA link|l}} || {{IPA|lʲ}} || {{IPA link|ʎ}} 
|{{IPA link|ɦ}} || {{IPA|ɦʲ}} || {{IPA link|ʝ}}, {{IPA link|ʑ}}
|}
According to most scholars, the period of iotation started approximately in the 5th century, in the era of [[Proto-Slavic]], and it lasted for several centuries, probably into the late Common Slavic dialect differentiation. Here is an example from the early stage:{{sfn|Bethin|1998|p=36}}
* Proto-Slavic *''{{lang|sla|kĭasĭa}}''/kьасьа > Russian, Ukrainian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian '''{{lang|ru|чаша}}''' ''(čaša)'', Czech '''''{{lang|cs|číše}}''''', Croatian '''čaša'''

==Orthography==
=== 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
|}

=== Iotated consonants ===
Iotated consonants occur as result of iotation. They are represented in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] with superscript ''j'' after it and in [[X-SAMPA]] with apostrophe after it so the pronunciation of iotated ''n'' could be represented as {{IPA|[nʲ]}} or [{{mono|n'}}].

When [[Vuk Karadžić]] reformed the [[Serbian language]], he created new letters to represent iotated consonants. [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] uses two of them, but has its own versions for iotated ''t'' and ''d'' (resembling the letters [[Ge (Cyrillic)|Г]] and [[Ka (Cyrillic)|К]] instead of [[Te (Cyrillic)|Т]] and [[De (Cyrillic)|Д]]):
{| class=wikitable
|-
!Name||Shape||Sound
|-
||[[Lje]]||Љ љ||*{{IPA|/lʲ/}}→{{IPA|/ʎ/}}
|-
||[[Nje]]||Њ њ||*{{IPA|/nʲ/}}→{{IPA|/ɲ/}}
|-
||[[Tshe|Tje]]||Ћ ћ||*{{IPA|/tʲ/}}→{{IPA|/tɕ/}}
|-
||[[Dje]]||Ђ ђ||*{{IPA|/dʲ/}}→{{IPA|/dʑ/}}
|-
||[[Kje]]||Ќ ќ||*{{IPA|/tʲ/}}→{{IPA|/c/}}
|-
||[[Gje]]||Ѓ ѓ||*{{IPA|/dʲ/}}→{{IPA|/ɟ/}}
|}

== See also ==
* [[Cyrillic alphabet]]
* [[:Category:Cyrillic ligatures|Cyrillic ligatures]]
* [[Iotacism]]
* [[Palatalization (sound change)|Palatalization]], the historical-linguistic sound change
* [[Soft sign]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Lunt |year=2001 |title=Old Church Slavonic Grammar |first=Horace Gray |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=9783110162844 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7BXJgfIo_fYC&pg=PA195}}
* {{cite book |last=Bethin |year=1998 |first=Christina Y. |title=Slavic Prosody: Language Change and Phonological Theory |series=Cambridge Studies in Linguistics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521591485 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRrhc507BOUC&pg=PA36}}
{{refend}}

[[Category:Assimilation (linguistics)]]
[[Category:Cyrillic script]]