Palochka

Not to be confused with the Cyrillic letter І or the Latin letter I.

The palochka or palotchka (Ӏ ӏ; italics: Ӏ ӏ) (Russian: палочка, tr. palochka, IPA: [ˈpaɫətɕkə], literally "a stick") is a letter in the Cyrillic script. The letter usually has only a capital form, which is also used in lowercase text. The capital form of the palochka often looks like the capital form of the Cyrillic letter soft-dotted I (І і), the capital form of the Latin letter I (I i), and the lowercase form of the Latin letter L (L l). The letter was introduced in the late 1930s.

Cyrillic Palochka
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
А А́ А̀ А̂ А̄ Ӓ Б В Г Ґ Д Ђ Ѓ Е Е́ Ѐ Е̂ Е̄ Ё Є Є́ Ж З З́ Ѕ И І І́ Ї И́ Ѝ И̂ Ӣ Й Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О О́ О̀ О̂ Ō Ӧ П Р С С́ Т Ћ Ќ У У́ У̀ У̂ Ӯ Ў Ӱ Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш Щ Ъ Ъ̀ Ы Ы́ Ь Ѣ Э Э́ Ю Ю́ Ю̀ Я Я́ Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
Ӑ А̊ А̃ Ӓ̄ Ӕ Ә Ә́ Ә̀ Ә̃ Ӛ Ә̄ В̌ Ғ Г̑ Г̣ Г̌ Г̂ Г̆ Г̈ Ҕ Ӻ Ғ̌ Ӷ Д́ Д̌ Д̈ Д̣ Д̆ Ӗ Е̃ Ё̄ Є̈ Җ Ӝ Ӂ Ж̣ Ҙ Ӟ З̌ З̣ З̆ Ԑ Ԑ́ Ԑ̈ Ӡ И̃ Ӥ Ҋ І̄́ Қ Ӄ Ҡ Ҟ Ҝ К̣ Ԛ Л́ Ӆ Ԯ Ԓ Л̈ Ӎ ᵸ Н́ Н̃ Ӊ Ң Ԩ Ӈ Ҥ О̆ О̃ Ӧ̄ Ө Ө̄ Ө́ Ө̆ Ӫ Ҩ Ԥ П̈ Р̌ Ҏ С̌ Ҫ С̣ Т́ Т̈ Т̌ Т̇ Т̣ Ҭ ТЬ У̃ Ӳ У̊ Ӱ̄ Ү Ү́ Ү̈ Ұ Х̣ Х̱ Х̮ Х̑ Х̌ Ҳ Ӽ Ӿ Һ Һ̈ Һ̌ Ԧ Ц̌ Ц̈ Ҵ Ҷ Ҷ̣ Ӵ Ӌ Ч̡ Ҹ Ч̇ Ч̣ Ҽ Ҿ Ш̈ Ш̣ Ы̆ Ы̄ Ӹ Ҍ Э̆ Э̄ Э̇ Ӭ Ӭ́ Ӭ̄ Ю̆ Ю̈ Ю̈́ Ю̄ Я̆ Я̄ Я̈ Я̈́ Ԝ Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨ Б̀ Б̣ В̀ Г̀ Г̧ Г̄ Г̓ Г̆ Ҕ̆ Д̓ Д̀ Д̨ Ԁ Ԃ Ꚁ Ꙣ Е̨ Џ̆ Ж̑ Ꚅ Ꚅ̆ Ԫ Ꙃ Ꙅ Ꙁ З̀ З̑ Ԅ Ԇ Ꚉ Ꚃ Ꚕ І̂ І̨ Ꙇ Ј̵ Ꙉ К̓ К̆ Ӄ̆ К̑ К̇ К̈ К̄ Ԟ К̂ Ԛ̆ Л̀ Ԡ Ꙥ Ԉ Л̑ Л̇ Ԕ М̀ Ꙧ Н̀ Н̄ Ԋ Ԣ Н̢ Ѻ Ꙩ Ꙫ Ꙭ ꙮ Ꚙ Ꚛ П̓ П́ П̧ Ҧ П̑ Ҁ Һ̡ Р́ Р̀ Ԗ С̀ С̈ Ԍ Ҫ̓ Т̓ Т̀ Ԏ Т̑ Ꚋ Т̧ Ꚍ Ꚍ̆ Ѹ Ꙋ У̇ У̊ У̨ Ф̑ Ф̓ Х́ Х̀ Х̆ Х̇ Х̓ Ѡ Ꙍ Ѽ Ѿ Ꙡ Ц́ Ц̓ Ꚏ Ꚏ̆ Ꚑ Ч̀ Ч̑ Ч̓ Ԭ Ꚓ Ꚇ Ꚇ̆ Ҽ̆ Ш̆ Ш̑ Щ̆ Ꚗ Ꚗ̆ Ꙏ Ꙑ Ы̃ Ѣ́ Ѣ̈ Ѣ̆ Ꙓ Э̨ Ꙕ Ю̂ Ꙗ Я̂ Я̨ Ԙ Ѥ Ѧ Ꙙ Ѫ Ꙛ Ѩ Ꙝ Ѭ Ѯ Ѱ Ѳ Ѵ Ѷ Ꙟ
List of Cyrillic letters Cyrillic digraphs
v t e

History

In the early days of the Soviet Union, many of the non-Russian Cyrillic alphabets contained only letters found in the Russian alphabet to keep them compatible with Russian typewriters. Sounds absent from Russian were marked with digraphs and other letter combinations. The palochka was the only exception because the numerical digit 1 was used instead of the letter. In fact, on many Russian typewriters, the character looked not like the digit 1 but like the Roman numeral I with serifs. That is still common because the palochka is not present in most standard keyboard layouts (and, for some of them, not even the soft-dotted I) or common fonts and so it cannot be easily entered or reliably displayed on many computer systems. For example, as of 17 February 2023, even the official site of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Ingushetia uses the digit 1 instead of the palochka.^[1]

Usage

In the alphabets of Abaza, Avar, Chechen, Dargwa, Ingush, Lak, Lezgian, and Tabassaran, it is a modifier letter which signals the preceding consonant as an ejective or pharyngeal consonant;^[2] this letter has no phonetic value on its own.

In Adyghe, the palochka by itself represents a glottal stop /ʔ/.

• Example from Kabardian Adyghe dialect: елъэӏуащ [jaɬaˈʔʷaːɕ], "he asked her for something"

In Avar

• Example from Avar: кӏалъазе [kʼaˈɬaze], "to speak"

In Chechen, the palochka makes a preceding stop or affricate ejective if voiceless, or pharyngealized if voiced, but also represents the voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ when it does not follow a stop or affricate. As an exception, in the digraph ⟨хӏ⟩, it produces the voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/. Ingush is similar.

• Examples from Chechen: йоӏ [joːʕ], "girl" and хӏорд [ħoːrd], "sea"

Exceptionally among the Caucasian languages, Abkhaz does not use the palochka, but instead uses a series of special letters to distinguish ejective and non-ejective (aspirated) consonants.

Computing codes

Character information

Preview	Ӏ		ӏ
Unicode name	CYRILLIC LETTER PALOCHKA		CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER PALOCHKA
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	1216	U+04C0	1231	U+04CF
UTF-8	211 128	D3 80	211 143	D3 8F
Numeric character reference	Ӏ	Ӏ	ӏ	ӏ

The lowercase form of the palochka was added to Unicode 5.0 in July 2006.

See also

• Cyrillic characters in Unicode

References

1. "Г1алг1ай Республика законаш". Народное Собрание Республики Ингушетия (in Ingush). Retrieved 2021-11-08.
2. "Cyrillic: Range: 0400–04FF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0. 2010. p. 42. Retrieved 2011-05-20.