View source for Palochka

{{Short description|Cyrillic letter}}
{{distinguish|text=the [[Dotted I (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic letter І]], the [[I|Latin letter I]], the [[Dotless I]], the numeral [[1]], or the [[L|Latin letter L]]}}

{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}

{{infobox grapheme
| letter = &#x04C0; &#x04CF;
| script = [[Cyrillic]]
| type = [[Alphabet]]
| typedesc = ic
| name = Palochka
| image = Cyrillic letter palochka - uppercase and lowercase.svg
| imagealt = 
| phonemes = {{IPA|[ʔ]}}, {{IPA|[ʕ]}}, {{IPA|[<sup>ʔ</sup>]}}, {{IPA|[ˁ]}}, [ʼ]
| number = 
| fam1 = <hiero>F1</hiero>
| fam2 = [[File:Proto-semiticA-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Sinaitic 'alp]]
| fam3 = [[File:Protoalef.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Caananite aleph]]
| fam4 = 𐤀
| fam5 = 𐡀
| fam6 = 𐢀 ,𐢁‎
| fam7 = [[Aleph#Arabic|ا]]
| variations = 1
| usageperiod = late 1930s–present
| direction = left-to-right
| unicode = U+04C0, U+04CF
| language = [[Languages of the Caucasus]]
}}

The '''palochka'''{{efn|{{langx|ru|палочка}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈpaɫət͡ɕkə|}}, {{lit.}} "stick", {{small|{{pl.}}}} {{lang|ru|палочки}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈpaɫət͡ɕkʲɪ|}}}} ({{not a typo|&#x04C0;&nbsp;&#x04CF;; italic: ''{{serif|&#x04C0;&nbsp;&#x04CF;}}''}}) is a letter in the [[Cyrillic script]]. The letter is usually caseless. It was introduced in the late 1930s as the Hindu-Arabic digit '[[1]]'; on Cyrillic keyboards, it is usually typeset as the [[Roman numeral]] '{{serif|I}}'. Unicode currently supports both caseless/capital palochka at U+04C0 and a rarer lower-case palochka at U+04CF. The palochka marks [[glottalized consonant|glottal(ized)]] and [[pharyngealization|pharyngeal(ized)]] consonants.

==Form==
The letter looks similar to the digit [[1]]. Its uppercase form resembles the Latin Letter [[I]] (I i) in uppercase form, while its lowercase form resembles the Latin letter [[L]] (L l) in lowercase form.{{fact|date=May 2025}}

==History==
The Cyrillic palochka was derived directly from the Arabic letter alif ⟨{{Lang|ar|[[ا]]}}⟩. The name of the letter comes from a diminutive form of the Russian word {{wikt-lang|ru|палка}} ({{Small|translit.}} {{transliteration|ru|palka}}), which means "{{wikt-lang|en|i=-|stick}}" in English (as in, a long thin piece of wood). 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 [[typewriter]]s. 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]] {{serif|I}} with [[serif]]s. That is still common because the palochka is not present in most standard keyboard layouts (and, for some of them, not even the similar-looking Cyrillic-script letter [[Dotted I (Cyrillic)|dotted i]] {{angle|{{serif|І}}}}) or common fonts and so it cannot be easily entered or reliably displayed on many computer systems. For example, even the official site of the [[People's Assembly of the Republic of Ingushetia]] uses the digit 1 instead of the palochka.<ref name=assembly>{{Cite web|title=Г1алг1ай Республика законаш|url=https://parlamentri.ru/category/verkhnee-menyu/g1alg1aj-respublika-zakonash/|access-date=2023-06-12|website=Народное Собрание Республики Ингушетия|date=11 March 2021|language=inh|archive-date=2023-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612125644/https://parlamentri.ru/category/verkhnee-menyu/g1alg1aj-respublika-zakonash/|url-status=live}} Note: This citation only supports the assertion about the Assembly website using '1', not the entire preceding paragraph.</ref>

==Usage==
In the alphabets of [[Abaza language|Abaza]], [[Avar language|Avar]], [[Chechen language|Chechen]], [[Dargin language|Dargwa]], [[Ingush language|Ingush]], [[Lak language|Lak]], [[Lezgi language|Lezgian]], [[Tabassaran language|Tabassaran]], and [[Tsakhur language|Tsakhur]], it is a modifier letter which signals the preceding consonant as an [[ejective consonant|ejective]] or [[pharyngeal consonant]];<ref name=unicode-aspiration>{{cite web |url=http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0400.pdf |title=Cyrillic: Range: 0400–04FF |work=The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0 |year=2010 |page=46 |access-date=2011-05-20 |archive-date=2011-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513234533/http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0400.pdf |url-status=live }} §04C0 Ӏ CYRILLIC LETTER PALOCHKA: "aspiration sign in many Caucasian languages"</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2025}} this letter has no phonetic value on its own.

In [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]], the palochka by itself represents a [[glottal stop]] {{ipa|/ʔ/}} (like the tt in [[General American English|GA]] button).
*Example from [[Kabardian Adyghe dialect]]: {{lang|kbd|2=елъэӀуащ}} {{IPA|[jaɬaˈʔʷaːɕ]}}, "he asked her for something"

In Avar, it represents an ejective consonant.
*Example from Avar: {{lang|av|2=кӀалъазе}} {{IPA|[kʼaˈɬaze]}}, "to speak"

In [[Chechen language|Chechen]], the palochka makes a preceding stop or affricate ejective if voiceless, or pharyngealized if voiced, but also represents the [[Pharyngealization|pharyngealized glottal plosive]] {{IPA|/ʔˤ/}} (like the [[Ayin|ayn]] in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], but more abrupt, usually transcribed {{IPA|/ʡ/}}) when it does not follow a stop or affricate. As an exception, in the digraph ⟨хӀ⟩, it produces the [[voiceless glottal fricative]] {{IPA|/h/}}. [[Ingush language|Ingush]] is similar.
*Examples from Chechen: {{lang|ce|2=йоӀ}} {{IPA|[juo̯ʔˤ]}}, "girl" and {{Lang|ce|2=хӀорджӀаьла}} [{{IPA|hordʒˤæla}}], "shark"

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

==Computing codes==
{{anchor|Code positions}}
{{charmap
|04C0|name1=Cyrillic Letter Palochka
|04CF|name2=Cyrillic Small Letter Palochka
}}
<ref name=unicode>{{cite web |url=http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0400.pdf |title=Cyrillic: Range: 0400–04FF |work=The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0 |year=2010 |page=42,46 |access-date=2011-05-20 |archive-date=2011-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513234533/http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0400.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

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

==See also==
* [[Cyrillic characters in Unicode]]
* [[1]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Cyrillic navbox}}
[[Category:Cyrillic letters]]
[[Category:Abaza language]]
[[Category:Adyghe language]]
[[Category:Avar language]]
[[Category:Chechen language]]
[[Category:Dargwa language]]
[[Category:Ingush language]]
[[Category:Lak language]]
[[Category:Lezgian languages]]
[[Category:Kabardian language]]