Words with a solid sign: main groups and spelling rules. "Ъ" and "ѣ" as signs of the elite. Foppishness on the old rules of Russian spelling

No matter how hard they try to convince students that the knowledge they received in their school years will be needed in the future, unfortunately, this is not the case. However, some things that are taught in school will actually come in handy in adult life. For example, the ability to write well. To master it, you need to know the basic grammatical laws of the Russian language. Among them are the rules governing the use of separators ъ and ь signs.

Solid sign: history and its role in the word

The twenty-eighth letter of the Russian alphabet, despite the fact that it does not denote sounds, performs an important function in words. Therefore, before consideringthe rules governing the use of ъ and ь signs are worthlearn a little about its history and role in the word.

A solid sign existed in the Slavic languages ​​almost from the very moment of their formation. At first, it was a short vowel sound, until it became an unpronounceable letter used to divide a word into syllables, as well as replacing spaces.

At the end of the XIX century. it was noted that the frequent use of ъ in texts (4% of the total volume) is inappropriate, especially in telegraphy, cursive writing and typography. In this regard, more than once they tried to limit the use of a solid mark.

After the 1917 revolution, this letter was generally abolished for almost ten years. In those years, the apostrophe was used as a separator in words.However, in 1928 it was excluded from the Russian language (but preserved in Ukrainian and Belarusian), and its dividing function was taken over by a solid sign, which it still performs to this day.

In what cases is put ъ in words

As for the use of a solid sign, there are several rules for putting it before e, u, yo, i:

• After prefixes that end in a consonant: connector, pre-anniversary.
• In terms that came from other languages, with the prefixes ab-, ad-, diz-, in-, inter-, con-, ob- and sub-: adjuvant, disjunction.
• After counter, pan, super, trans and feld: pan-Europeanism, superyacht.
• In compound words starting with two-, three-, four-: two-core, three-tier, four-language.

There are several exceptions when ъ is not at the junction of the prefix and the root, but inside the word itself. These nouns include: courier and flaw.

When do not put

In addition to the rules governing the use of ъ and ь signs, it is worth remembering the cases when they do not need to be put:

• A solid sign is not put in words with a prefix ending in a consonant letter, when it is followed by vowels a, o, and, y, e, s: cloudless, secluded.
• This sign is not put in complex abbreviated terms: foreign language, head of trade.
• It is also not put in lexemes written with a hyphen: half a diocese, half an apple.

Considering the rules governing the use of ъ and ь signs that perform a separating function in a word, it is worth remembering that the lexemes "interior" and "clerk" are written through a soft sign. Such a spelling is no exception, since in the word "interior" the inter is not a prefix, but part of the root. And in the "clerk" the prefix is ​​\u200b\u200bnot under-, but po-, but -clerk is the root.

What are the functions of a soft sign

As for ь, in ancient times it meant a short vowel [and], but gradually, like ъ, it lost its sound.

At the same time, he retained the ability [and] to give softness to the previous consonant sound.

Unlike a solid word, it can perform 3 functions.

• Dividing.
• Informs about the softness of the preceding sound.
• Used to denote certain grammatical forms.

Rules for the use of a soft sign

Studying the laws of the Russian languageregulating the use of ъ and ь signs, it is worth learning a few rules:

• A soft sign that performs a dividing function is never placed after a prefix (this is the lot of a hard sign). Parts of words in which the separating b is written are the root, suffix and ending before e, e, u, i: monkey, interior. This rule applies to both Russian vocabulary and borrowed terms from other languages.
• The separating b is placed in some words before the letter combination he: champignon, medallion, broth and million.

In the case when b informs about the softness of the previous sound, and does not perform a separating function, its setting is determined by the following rules:

• In the middle of a word, ь indicates the softness of the letter l if it precedes another consonant, except for l: finger, prayer. Also, a soft sign “does not wedge” into letter combinations: lf, nsh, nn, rsh, chk, ch, rch, schn ( drummer, candle).
• In the middle of a word, this sign is placed between soft and hard consonants: please, very much.
• In the middle of a word, ь can stand between two soft consonants. Provided that when the form of the word changes, the first remains soft, and the second becomes hard: a request is a request, a letter is a letter.
• In some cases, this symbol is located at the end of a word after consonants. In doing so, it helps to set the value of the lexeme: linen(plant) - laziness(quality of character), con(place for bets in the game) - horse(animal).

As a marker for individual grammatical forms, this sign is used in such cases:

• In adjectives arising from the names of the months (except January): February, September.
• At the end of numerals from 5 to 30, as well as in their middle, if they denote tens from 50 to 80 and hundreds from 500 to 900: six, seventy, eight hundred.
• In the imperative mood of verbs (except lie down - lie down): take out - take out, throw - throw.
• In the infinitive (the initial form of the verb): keep, grow.
• In all cases, the words "eight" and in the instrumental plural. numbers of individual numerals and nouns: six, lashes.

The use of b and b signs after hissing w, h, u, sh

Following these soft sign letters is possible under the following conditions:

• At the end of most adverbs and particles, except for: really, already, unbearable, married and in the preposition between.
• In the infinitive: save, bake.
• In the imperative mood of verbs: smear, soothe.
• In the endings of the II person singular of the future and present tenses: sell, sell.
• At the end of the nominative case of nouns f. kind, in the third declension: daughter, power. For comparison in the m. gender - call, broadsword.

In some cases, ь is not used after these letters:

• In nouns II declension: executioner, fake.
• In short forms of adjectives: fresh, poignant.
• In the genitive case of plural nouns: puddle, cloud

A solid sign after w, w, h, u at the end of a word or root is not put, since its “place” is always after the prefix before e, e, y, i.

Use of ь and ъ signs: exercises

Having familiarized yourself with all the cases of setting soft and hard signs, it is worth moving on to the exercises. To avoid confusion, we have collected together most of the above rules governing the use of ь and ъ signs. The table below will serve as a hint for completing tasks.

In this exercise, you need to choose which of the letters should be put in words.

This task concerns the use of a soft sign following the hissing letters. It should open the brackets and, where necessary, put a soft sign.

In the last exercise, you need to write out the proposed words in 2 columns. In the first - those that are used with ь, in the second - those that are without it.

That both hard and soft signs are "silent" letters, they play an important role in the Russian language. You can make many mistakes in your writing if you do not know the laws of grammar that govern the use of ъ and ь signs. You will have to learn more than one rule so as not to confuse which of the signs should be put in a particular situation. However, it is worth it, especially in the case of a soft sign, since often only its presence helps to determine the lexical meaning of a word.

On October 10, 1918, a large-scale reform of Russian spelling came into force: letters were thrown out of the alphabet, including the unpronounceable "ѣ", which was once considered a sign of literacy, was deleted. Almost a century later, the presence of "yat" in the company logo for many has become a mystical sign of authority. Life about why the outdated rules of the Russian language turned out to be so attractive for the marketing machine.

98 years ago, Russian spelling underwent significant changes: the letters "fita" (Ѳ), "and decimal" (I) and the now fashionable "yat" (ѣ) were deleted from the alphabet. The proletarian reform also changed the rules for using a solid sign, or, as it was called under the emperor, "er": the unpronounceable letter no longer needed to be placed at the end of words ending in a consonant: there was no sense. However, as history has shown, businessmen disagreed with innovations.

According to SPARK-Interfax, more than 50 Russian companies used the word "yat" in their names, and another 219 organizations - a hard sign. In the vast majority of cases, "ъ" and "ѣ" are used in the areas of trade (both retail and wholesale), a little less often - in the names of construction and law firms. According to experts, brands in the old manner are an attempt to artificially instill history and traditions in the company.

Under the magical influence of the old rules of the Russian language, the beer restaurant "Durdin", the restaurant "Cafe Pushkin", the bakeries "Daily Bread", vodka "Ѣ", the newspaper "Kommersant", the club of mixed martial arts "R.O.D.", St. Petersburg restaurant "Restoran". And there are dozens of such examples.

The BQB company, which was developing the Yat vodka brand (the company logo looks like the now unused letter "ѣ"), notes on its official website that Nicholas I refused during his reign (the first half of the 19th century. - Note. Life) to abolish the unpronounceable letter, arguing that it is - "a mark of difference between literate and illiterate gentlemen." That is why, as the agency claims, the advertised alcohol is "a product for competent gentlemen who understand a lot about real Russian vodka."

And the head of the club of mixed martial arts "R.O.D.b." Ivan Ivanov said that he wanted to emphasize with a firm sign in the name of the organization that everyone who comes to study will go to the end and achieve their goals.

When we came up with the name, we decided to rely on the most important root in the Russian language - "genus". It is with him that the most precious thing in a person is connected: parents, homeland, for example. This is something for which you can fight, for the sake of which you can become better. We also wanted to show the firmness of our intentions and those who will come to us, so we also added "b", says Ivanov.

Elena Galinskaya, professor of the Russian language department of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, in turn, said that the letter "ѣ" was abolished, because over time it became clear that it duplicates "e" in its sound.

Once the sounds were different, but over time, both letters sounded like "e". The only difference was in writing. Children in gymnasiums had to memorize a list of words (rhymes) in which the letter "yat" was used. Therefore, we can say that only very literate people could use "ѣ" - says Galinskaya. - A solid sign in the 11th century was considered a vowel (that is, in the word "bread" after the sound "p" there was something similar to a short "s". - Note. Life), then it became clear that it was necessary to get rid of redundancy in spelling.

According to the professor, entrepreneurs who use "yat" or a hard sign at the end in company names are dudes.

Still good if used correctly. For example, the bakery near the "Park Kultury" used to (now removed) called itself "Chl ѣb urgent "(chain of bakeries Le Pain Quotidien. - Note. Life), but this is incorrect. If you use "yat", then you must be guided by the fully old spelling rules. According to them, it was necessary to write "Daily Bread" correctly.

It was not possible to get a prompt comment from the Le Pain Quotidien bakery.

As explained by a source in the market, the outdated letter in the name is used in order to attract the attention of an adult audience (over 40 years old).

These people often perceive "yat" or even a hard sign at the end of a word as a symbol, if you can call it that, of "soft dissidence." In Soviet times, "yat" was often used by those who did not want to put up with the power of the proletarians. After all, a whole era has gone with the old spelling rules, - says the interlocutor. - We also tried to bring ourselves closer to the entrepreneurs of the 19th century: Grigory Eliseev, Savva Morozov. What if our brand is the same old? We appealed to the super-memory of consumers. Still, not everyone knew how to use "yat" correctly in tsarist Russia, this is really a letter for intelligent people.

Life, in turn, asked readers about what associations the letter "yat" and a solid sign after a consonant evoke. It turned out that some Russians immediately present texts in Church Slavonic, while others react negatively to "ѣ" at all, calling such naming bad taste.

It is worth noting that the fashion for the old spelling has reached social networks. For example, on VKontakte there are groups "Pre-revolutionary adviser" (more than 50 thousand people subscribed to it) and "Ub refuge in the native language. My home and my fortress "(more than 3 thousand subscribers). And a number of members of the first public (it is open to everyone) do not just read the posts of admins written in the old style, but in the same manner they comment on the entries:"Really, gentlemen, this young lady is a marvelous siren. Other sirs would lay half the world at her feet, ""This is both laughter and sin. "And judging by the high calmness (without any sarcasm) Russians are trying to communicate on the public page, some find such groups funny (here is a "new language", and therefore one can recall the "effect of stupefaction"), others may actually feel they are part of a special class of intellectuals.

A member of the Guild of Marketers, Nicholas Corot, emphasized that the letter itself cannot bring anything to the business, it should be an organic addition to the brand legend.

A deliberate manifestation of the archaic (that is, antiquity. - Note. Life) in the form of letters lost from the alphabet is not associated with monarchist trends in business or some kind of nostalgia. This is a visual sign of the connection of times. A pseudo-legend is created, which says that the brand survived the Soviet era, that it follows the traditions, - explains Koro. - Also, the use of "yat" or a solid sign can be a full-fledged address to the imperial trend. And he is.

At the same time, the marketer noted that there is nothing special in the choice of "ъ" and "ѣ". Sooner or later the disappearing letters will be used by entrepreneurs.

A good example is the letter "e". It is no longer printed anywhere with dots. Outwardly, today it is exactly the same as "e", and therefore it will probably disappear soon. Therefore, brands are already appearing today that deliberately expose "yo" with dots. After all, on the one hand, this letter has a certain slang component (rapper), on the other hand, lexical, including non-normative overtones.

The head of the Nota Bene PR agency, Natalya Bulanova, emphasized that no one "yat" or a hard sign at the end is introduced "from the ceiling" into the name of their company.

The brand must match. This is a direct reference to the old Russian traditions. And it doesn't matter how old the company is (even three years, for example). She wants to show the consumer that she can be trusted, says Bulanova. - And this did not bother the Russian buyer. It cannot be said that such a phenomenon is very common. Such a "trick" with the birth of a legend works because few people will bother and search the Internet for how old the company is, whether it has a history. Purely visually, this makes one believe in quality when it comes to a small purchase (sausage, for example). If a person buys a car or an apartment, then, of course, he will not believe in any fairy tales.

The famous Soviet-era linguist Lev Uspensky calls it the most expensive letter in the world. In his work on the origin of words, you can see how he relates to it. According to him - "she definitely does nothing, does not help anything, does not express anything." A pertinent question arises - how did the letter b appear in the Russian language, and what role was assigned to it by the creators?

The history of the appearance of the letter b

The authorship of the first Russian alphabet is attributed to Cyril and Methodius. The so-called Cyrillic alphabet, which was based on the Greek language, appeared in 863 after the birth of Christ. In their alphabet - a solid sign was number 29 and sounded like EP. (before the reform of 1917-1918 - the 27th in a row). The letter Ъ was a short semi-vowel sound without pronunciation. It was placed at the end of a word after a solid consonant.

What then is the meaning of this letter? There are two plausible versions of this explanation.

The first option concerned the Old Slavonic letter itself. Since there were simply no spaces familiar to us at that time, it was she who helped to correctly divide the line into words. As an example: "to God's chosen king."

The second explanation is associated with the Church Slavonic pronunciation of words. It was ER that did not muffle the voiced consonant when reading the word, as we see in modern Russian.

We pronounce the words flu and mushroom, which are different in meaning, the same way - (flu). There was no such sound phonetics in the Old Slavonic language. All words are spelled and spoken. For example: slave, friend, bread. This was explained by the fact that the division of syllables in the Old Slavonic language obeyed one law, which sounded like this:

“In the Old Church Slavonic language, the ending of a word cannot have consonants. Otherwise, the syllable will be closed. What cannot be according to this law.

In view of the above, we decided to attribute EP (b) at the end of words where there are consonants. So it turns out: Deli, Traktir, Lombard or Address.

In addition to the above two reasons, there is also a third. It turns out that the letter b was used to denote the masculine gender. For example, in nouns: Alexander, magician, forehead. They also inserted it into verbs, for example: put, sat down, (past tense masculine gender).

Over time, the letter b performed the function of a word separator less and less often. But the “useless” Kommersant at the end of the words still held its positions. According to the aforementioned linguist Uspensky L.V. this little "squiggle" could take up to 4% of the entire text. And this is millions and millions of pages annually.

18th century reforms

Anyone who believes that the Bolsheviks made a control shot in the “head” of the malicious letter Kommersant and thereby cleansed the Russian language of church prejudices is a little mistaken. The Bolsheviks in the seventeenth year simply "finished off" her. It all started much earlier!

Peter himself thought about the reform of the language, especially about Russian writing. An experimenter in life, Peter has long dreamed of breathing new life into the "decrepit" Old Church Slavonic language. Unfortunately, his plans only remained plans. But the fact that he moved this issue off the ground is his merit.

The reforms that Peter began from 1708 to 1710 primarily affected the church font. The filigree "squiggles" of church letters were replaced by common ones. Letters such as "Omega", "Psi" or "Yusy" have gone into oblivion. The familiar letters E and Z appeared.

The Russian Academy of Sciences began to think about the rationality of using some letters. So the idea of ​​excluding Izhitsa from the alphabet arose among academicians as early as 1735. And in one of the printing publications of the same academy, a few years later, an article was published without the notorious letter Ъ at the end.

Control shot for the letter b

In 1917, there were two shots - one on the Aurora cruiser, the other at the Academy of Sciences. Someone believes that the reform of Russian writing is the merit of the Bolsheviks alone. But historical documents confirm that in this matter, tsarist Russia also moved forward.

In the first years of the 20th century, Moscow and Kazan linguists were already talking about the reform of the Russian language. 1904 was the first step in this direction. A special commission was created at the Academy of Sciences, the purpose of which was to simplify the Russian language. One of the questions on the commission was the notorious letter Ъ. Then the Russian alphabet lost "Fita" and "Yat". New spelling rules were introduced in 1912, but, unfortunately, they never passed the censorship then.

Thunder struck on December 23, 1917 (01/05/18). On this day, People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky A.V. signed a decree on the transition to a new spelling. The letter Ъ - as a symbol of resistance to the Bolsheviks, let out its last breath.

In order to speed up the funeral of everything that was connected with the "tsarist regime", on November 4, 1918, the Bolsheviks issued a decree on the removal of the letter Ъ from the printing houses of the matrix and letters. As a result of this, the spelling miscarriage of the Bolsheviks appeared - the apostrophe. The separator function was now played by a comma (up, down, exit).

One era ends, another begins. Who would have thought that the small letter b would become so big and important in the confrontation between the two worlds, white and red, old and new, before and after the shot!

But the letter b remained. Remained just like the 28th letter of the alphabet. In modern Russian, it plays a different role. But this is a completely different story.

The letter Ъ, ъ (referred to as: a solid sign) is the 28th letter of the Russian alphabet (it was the 27th letter before the reformation of 1917-1918 and bore the name "er") and the 27th letter of the Bulgarian alphabet (called er golyam, i.e. "big er"); absent in other Cyrillic Slavic alphabets: if necessary, its functions are performed by an apostrophe (Russian congress - white. z'ezd - Ukrainian. z'їzd).

In the Church and Old Slavonic alphabets, it is called "er" and "er" respectively, its meaning (as well as the meaning of the names of a number of other Cyrillic letters) is not clear. Usually in Cyrillic it is the 29th in order and looks like ; The 30th in a row in the Glagolitic, looks like. Has no numerical value.

The origin of the letter in the Glagolitic alphabet is usually interpreted as a modified letter O (); Cyrillic is also associated with O, to which something is attached from above (in the most ancient Cyrillic inscriptions such forms are found).

Church and Old Church Slavonic

Approximately until the middle of the XII century. the letter b denoted a reduced (ultra-short) vowel sound of the middle rise. After the fall of the reduced ones, it ceased to designate any sound in all, except Bulgarian, Slavic languages ​​(in Bulgarian in specific positions, a similar sound ɤ is still preserved, along with its designation with the letter Ъ: Bulgarian modern alphabet ).

But the use of this unpronounceable letter in writing turned out to be useful: it contributed to the correct division of words into syllables, and lines into words (until they switched to using spaces): to God's chosen king.

In later Church Slavonic writing, it is used according to tradition:

Most often after consonants at the ends of words (i.e., a word can only end in a vowel, b, b, or y);

As a sign of separation between a consonant and a vowel, located at the boundary of the prefix and the root;

In some words: monkey, after, and also in all kinds of forms of the phrase each other, each other ...

In some cases (mainly at the ends of prefixes and prepositions) er is replaced by a superscript, called "erok".

Ъ in Russian

In 1917-1918, even before the reform of Russian spelling, the letter Ъ was used in accordance with the same Church Slavonic rules, but there were no exceptions. Separating Ъ (unlike modern spelling) was placed not only before iotated vowels, but also in a number of other cases, like to break up, save, two-yard, etc. (including it made it possible to distinguish words gift and gift in writing).

But the separating b was very rare (however, as it is now), and the very useless b at the ends of words accounted for almost 4% of the total volume of the text, and, as L. V. Uspensky calculated, up to 8.5 were required annually before the spelling reform. million additional pages.

The redundancy of the terminal b has been known for a long time; it could not be used in cursive writing, during the transmission of telegraph messages, and even in a number of books (printing without kommersant was widespread in the 1870s, but it was soon banned).

During the reformation, Ъ, which played the role of a separating sign, was preserved; but in order to cope with the publishers of magazines and newspapers who did not want to comply with the decisions of the new government, the Decree of the Supreme Council of National Economy of November 4, 1918 ordered the removal of the matrices and letters of the letter Ъ from the printing offices, which was done.

The result was the spread of a surrogate designation with an apostrophe (ad'jutant, rise) in the form of a dividing sign; such a spelling began to be perceived as an element of reform, while in reality, from the positions set forth in the decree, it was erroneous. There was a time (late 1920s - early 1930s) when it also passed into book publishing, and, for example, in typewriting it has practically survived to this day (in order to save the number of keys, inexpensive typewriters were made without Ъ).

Narkompros in August 1928 recognized the use of an apostrophe in Russian grammar as incorrect instead of a solid sign in the middle of a word.

Kommersant in the modern orthography of the Russian language is used only as a sign of separation between a consonant letter and a vowel. It is most often used at the junction of prefixes and roots (porch, announcement, trans-Yamal, pan-European), including those “fused” in modern Russian with the root of historical prefixes in a number of borrowings (adjutant, courier, injection); or in the case of 2 combined non-abbreviated (full!) stems before ioted e, u, yo, i in such complex words as (“three-tiered”) and means their “separate” (iotized) sound without softening the previous consonant.

Before other vowels, Ъ can occur only in transcriptions of foreign names and names: Junichiro, Chang'an, etc.
The use of Ъ before consonants is also noted (in the names of the Khoisan languages: k'gan-k'ne, k'hong, etc.), although the correctness of such spellings in Russian orthography is doubtful.
You can not use in complex words such as party cell, ministry of justice, foreign language.

Variants of spelling

In the inscription of the letter b, diversity is observed mainly in its size while maintaining the shape: it is in the line completely in the charter, in the semi-charter it happens both in the line and protrudes with its upper part upwards, while covering the previous letter with it, but takes up space in width less. Such a "high" form existed until ser. 18th century the main one and appeared in the first versions of the civil font.

The lowercase high letter ъ in a number of variants of the civil font lost its hook, i.e., the form was identified with the Latin lowercase b (at the same time, the lowercase ь had a modern look).

In a number of semi-statutory manuscripts and early printed books (for example, in I. Fedorov's Ostroh Bible), the letter b also comes across with a serif falling to the bottom on the left, (i.e., in the form of connected g), although more often the letter yat.

The letter Ъ - "solid sign" - is the 28th letter of the Russian alphabet. In modern language, a solid sign does not denote a sound and serves as a kind of guideline for the correct pronunciation of a number of words. Nevertheless, the solid sign is one of the symbols that formed the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet and to this day have come a long and difficult path along with the development of the language.

Words with a solid sign: a bit of history

The solid sign has been known in Cyrillic graphics since ancient times. In the Old Russian language, the letter had a different name - "er" and in some roots it could be pronounced as "o", and was also written at the end of words ending in a consonant, and after a prefix to a consonant before the root starting with a vowel. This practice continued until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1918, during the reform of Russian spelling, the writing of a hard sign at the end of words ending in a consonant was abolished. Today, words with a solid sign in Russian are characterized by a total of more than 140, and the use of this letter is clearly regulated. Let's talk about this in more detail.

The main groups of words with a solid sign and their spelling norms

The modern Russian language uses the symbol "Ъ" as a separator. A solid sign is used after consonants before iotized vowels e, e, u, i, mainly at the junction of morphemes.

Solid sign between prefix and root

1. After prefixes ending in a consonant, before a root starting with a vowel, and in words with native Russian prefixes ( eat, departure, detour, cringe, sarcastic), and in words with borrowed prefixes ( counter-tier, sub-core, trans-European).

2. A separate group consists of borrowed words with a solid sign, starting with combinations of ob-, sub-, ad-, ab-, diz-, inter-, con- and others, which were originally prefixes, but in modern Russian are identified as part root: object, subject, adjutant, abjuration, disjunction, interjection, conjuncture.

Solid sign between parts of compound words

1) before the second root after parts of two-, three-, four- ( two-tier, three-anchor, four-capacity);

2) such words with a separating hard sign are separately distinguished, such as courier and pan-European;

3) if we are talking about the spelling of complex abbreviated words with a similar structure, then a solid sign is not used in them: spetseda, hostess, military lawyer, state language and others.

Solid sign in proper names and their derivatives

There are a number of nouns and their derivatives (names of people and geographical names), where a solid sign is also used: city Kizilyurt, village Torjal, lake Jyväsjärvi, painter Guo Hengyu.

Thus, words with a solid sign in modern Russian are a separate group with their own regularities in spelling. Unlike a soft sign, which can be used several times in the same word, there can be only one hard sign in one word. The above cases of using a hard sign are clear rules that must always be followed. In situations not discussed in this article, under similar conditions, a separating soft sign is used.