The use of the letter Ѣ in periodicals of the 18th–19th centuries: Usage and codification

The article based on the material of “Vedomosti” era Peter I, “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” and “Moscow 18th–19th centuries traces formation use letter Ѣ. established usage is compared with recommendations grammatical works centuries. specificity this norm that Ѣ was determined not only by Church Slavonic spelling tradition artificial rules for differentiating homonyms, but also some special patterns oral bookish pronunciation. in Peter’s occurs very consistently accordance ancient numbers both church civil type, though older contemporary do offer any list words Ѣ, nor a governing letter. “Vedomosti”, demonstrate great stability primarily at end adverbs, function words, comparative superlative degrees adjectives, as well prefix нѣ indefinite pronouns adverbs. slight variability observed inflections disappears 20s 18th century. least regular reveals itself roots even here its newspapers more than lists provided grammars. A century before appearance first kind Academic Grammar 1802 main corpus systematically written root formed, subsequently recorded full “Russian Spelling” Ya.K. Grot 1885. variation vowels found mainly foreign ceased long codification these grammars dictionaries.