Shcha
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Shcha (Щ щ; italics: Щ щ or Щ щ; italics: Щ щ), Shta, or Scha is a letter of the Cyrillic script.[1]
In Bulgarian, it represents the consonant cluster Script error: No such module "IPA". and is named Shta.
While in the Russian the letter ⟨щ⟩ represents the long voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative Script error: No such module "IPA"., similar to the pronunciation of ⟨sh⟩ in "sheep", in the Ukrainian and Rusyn, ⟨щ⟩ represents the consonant cluster Script error: No such module "IPA". (a hard ⟨sh⟩ followed by ⟨ch⟩, as in "borscht"). This pronunciation preserves the historical character of ⟨щ⟩ as a combination of sounds, consistent with its Old Church Slavonic origins, unlike the modern Russian pronunciation.[2] The official Ukrainian transliteration system renders the letter as ⟨shch⟩, reflecting this two-component structure.[3] This is also reflected in Belarusian, where the letter ⟨щ⟩ was abolished in favour of the phonetic spelling ⟨шч⟩ to represent the similar sound cluster Script error: No such module "IPA"..[4]
Most other non-Slavic languages written in Cyrillic use this letter for loanwords or foreign names; in these contexts, it is often pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA"., an approximation of the Russian pronunciation.[citation needed]
In English, ⟨щ⟩ is romanized as ⟨shch⟩, ⟨ŝ⟩, ⟨šč⟩ or occasionally as ⟨sch⟩.[5] English-speaking learners are often instructed to pronounce it as a cluster, although this no longer reflects the standard modern Russian phonetic realization.[citation needed]
History
Cyrillic Щ (Early Cyrillic form: 
) is derived from the Glagolitic letter shta Template:Script/Glagolitic,[6] which was a ligature of sha Template:Script/Glagolitic (= Cyrillic Ш, pronounced [ʃ]), and tverdo Template:Script/Glagolitic (= Cyrillic Т, pronounced [t]).[7] The original pronunciation, Script error: No such module "IPA"., is maintained in Bulgarian.
This letter was also used in the Komi language as Script error: No such module "IPA"., but it has fallen out of use in favour of digraph ⟨тш⟩.
Form
The form of the letter shcha is considered to have originated as a ligature of the letters Ш and Т.[8] However in later orthographies it began to be depicted as the letter Cyrillic Sha (Ш ш) with a descender. The descender (also used in Ц) has been reinterpreted as a diacritic and used in several letters for non-Slavic languages, such as Ң and Қ.
Related letters and other similar characters
- Ш ш : Cyrillic letter Sha
- С́ с́ : Montenegrin Sje
- Ŝ ŝ : Latin letter Ŝ
- Ś ś : Latin letter Ś
Computing codes
Script error: No such module "Charmap".
See also
- Mama ŠČ!
- Transliteration table for romanization of Russian, provides versions ⟨ŝ⟩ (note circumflex vs. caron/háček in ⟨šč⟩), ⟨shh⟩
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cyrillic script". omniglot.com. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Shevelov, George Y. (1979). A Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. pp. 624–626. ISBN 978-3533027874.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Table of transliteration of the Ukrainian alphabet by means of the Latin alphabet". Official website of the Parliament of Ukraine. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mayo, P. (1993). "Belarusian". In Comrie, B.; Corbett, G. G. (eds.). The Slavonic Languages. Routledge. pp. 890–891.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Maier, Ingrid (2021). "Russian Pronunciation Rules in the Alphabetum Russarum (Stockholm, Peter van Selow)". Slovo: Journal of Slavic Languages, Literatures and Cultures. 62: 39–60.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Zhang, Xiangning; Zhang, Ruolin (July 2018). "Evolution of Ancient Alphabet to Modern Greek, Latin and Cyrillic Alphabets and Transcription between Them". Proceedings of the 2018 4th International Conference on Economics, Social Science, Arts, Education and Management Engineering (ESSAEME 2018). Atlantis Press. pp. 156–162. doi:10.2991/essaeme-18.2018.30. ISBN 978-94-6252-549-8.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schenker, Alexander M. (1995). The Dawn of Slavic: An Introduction to Slavic Philology. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 179. ISBN 0-300-05846-2.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Chodzko, Alexandre; Chodźko, Aleksander Borejko (1869). Grammaire paléoslave, suivie de textes paléoslaves (in French). [s. n.] – via Oxford University collection.
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