Wednesday, July 11, 2007 / Updated Moscow Time
News
Wednesday, July 11, 2007. Issue 3696. Page 2.
Government Revisits 'Yo'
The Moscow Times
The government is considering returning the two dots over the letter e, which turn it into the letter yo.
The often-ignored letter ё should be used all the time, Culture and Press Minister Alexander Sokolov said Monday, Itar-Tass reported.
Sokolov said he always added the two dots over the letter ё.
The letter ё, essential for swearing and for buying a New Year's tree, is properly marked in children's books, but most newspapers and books do not print it, given that most Russians recognize when an e is really a ё.
Many non-Russian speakers find the absence of the two dots confusing.
An interdepartmental commission on the Russian language has come out in favor of printing the letter. Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko also supports the use of the letter.
The government will have the final say in the matter.
The letter ё is one of the less used letters in the Cyrillic alphabet but still appears in more than 12,500 words and close to 2,500 surnames.