Difference between revisions 358157 and 358165 on testwiki

{{About|the letter J
of the alphabet}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{Technical reasons|J#|the programming language|J Sharp}}
{{Latin letter info|j}}
[[File:J cursiva.gif|thumb|Writing cursive forms of J]]
'''J''' is the tenth [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]] and the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet]]. Its normal [[English alphabet#Letter names|name in English]] is ''jay'' {{IPAc-en|'|dʒ|eɪ}} or, now uncommonly, ''jy'' {{IPAc-en|'|dʒ|aɪ}}.<ref name="j-oed">"J", ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989)</ref><ref>"J" and "jay", ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993)</ref> When used for the [[palatal approximant]], it may be called ''yod'' ({{IPAc-en|'|j|ɒ|d}} or {{IPAc-en|'|j|oʊ|d}}) or ''yot'' ({{IPAc-en|'|j|ɒ|t}} or {{IPAc-en|'|j|oʊ|t}}).

==History==
The letter 'J' originated as a [[swash (typography)|swash]] letter ''i'', used for the letter 'i' at the end of [[Roman numerals]] when following another 'i', as in 'xxiij' instead of 'xxiii' for the Roman numeral representing 23. A distinctive usage emerged in [[Middle High German]].<ref>[http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/lexer/selectarticle?lemid=LJ00001 Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch von Matthias Lexer (1878)]</ref> [[Gian Giorgio Trissino]] (1478–1550) was the first to explicitly distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds, in his ''Ɛpistola del Trissino de le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua italiana'' ("Trissino's epistle about the letters recently added in the Italian language") of 1524.<ref>''[[:s:it:De le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana|De le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana]]'' in Italian [[Wikisource]].</ref> Originally, 'I' and 'J' were different shapes for the same letter, both equally representing {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/iː/}}, and {{IPA|/j/}}; but [[Romance languages]] developed new sounds (from former {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) that came to be represented as 'I' and 'J'; therefore, [[English language|English]] J, acquired from the [[French language|French]] J, has a sound value quite different from {{IPA|/j/}} (which represents the initial sound in the English word "''y''et").

==Use in writing systems==

===English===
In English, {{angbr|j}} most commonly represents the [[affricate]] {{IPAc-en|dʒ}}. In [[Old English]] the phoneme {{IPA|/dʒ/}} was represented orthographically with {{angbr|cg}} and {{angbr|cȝ}}.<ref name="hogg">
{{cite book
|title=The Cambridge History of the English Language
|first=Richard M.
|last=Hogg
|author2=Norman Francis Blake |author3=Roger Lass |author4=Suzanne Romaine |author5=R. W. Burchfield |author6=John Algeo
 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|year=1992
|ISBN=0-521-26476-6
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=CCvMbntWth8C
|pages=39
}}
</ref> Under the influence of [[Old French]], which had a similar phoneme deriving from Latin {{IPA|/j/}}, English scribes began to use {{angbr|i}} (later {{angbr|j}}) to represent word-initial {{IPA|/dʒ/}} in Old English (for example, '''''i'''est'' and, later '''''j'''est''), while using {{angbr|dg}} elsewhere (for example, ''he'''dg'''e'').<ref name="hogg"/> Later, many other uses of {{angbr|i}} (later {{angbr|j}}) were added in [[loanword]]s from French and other languages (e.g. ''ad'''j'''oin'', '''''j'''unta''). The first [[English language]] book to make a clear distinction between {{angbr|i}} and {{angbr|j}} was published in 1633.<ref>English Grammar, Charles Butler, 1633</ref> In loan words such as ''raj'', {{angbr|j}} may represent {{IPA|/ʒ/}}. In some of these, including ''raj'', ''[[Azerbaijan]]'', ''[[Taj Mahal]]'', and ''[[Beijing]]'', the regular pronunciation {{IPA|/dʒ/}} is actually closer to the native pronunciation, making the use of {{IPA|/ʒ/}} an instance of a [[hyperforeignism]].<ref>
{{cite book
|title=Accents of English 1: An Introduction
|first=John
|last=Wells
|isbn=0-521-29719-2
|year=1982
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|location=Cambridge, UN
|pages=108
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ty5RoXyTKQsC
}}
</ref> Occasionally {{angbr|j}} represents the original {{IPA|/j/}} sound, as in ''[[Hallelujah]]'' and ''[[fjord]]'' (see [[Yodh]] for details). In words of Spanish origin where {{angbr|j}} represents {{IPAblink|x}}, such as ''jalapeño'', English speakers usually approximate this to {{IPAc-en|h}}.

In English, {{angbr|j}} is the fourth-least-frequently used letter in words, being more frequent only than {{angbr|[[z]]}}, {{angbr|[[q]]}}, and {{angbr|[[x]]}}. It is however quite common in proper nouns, especially personal names.

===Other languages===
[[File:Pronunciation of J in Europa.png|thumb|Pronunciation of written <j> in European languages]]
The great majority of [[Germanic languages]], such as [[German language|German]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]; use {{angbr|j}} for the [[palatal approximant]] {{IPAslink|j}}, which is usually represented by the letter {{angbr|y}} in English. Notable exceptions are [[English language|English]], [[Scots language|Scots]] and (to a lesser degree) [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]]. {{angbr|j}} also represents {{IPAslink|j}} in [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Baltic languages|Baltic]], and those [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] and [[Slavic languages]] that use the Latin alphabet, such as [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]] and [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]. Some related languages, such as [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], also adopted {{angbr|j}} into the [[Je (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic alphabet]] for the same purpose. Because of this standard, the [[lower case]] letter was chosen to be used in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] as the phonetic symbol for the sound.

In the [[Romance languages]] {{angbr|j}} has generally developed from its original palatal approximant value in [[Latin]] to some kind of [[fricative]]. In [[French language|French]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], and [[Romanian language|Romanian]] it has been fronted to the [[Voiced postalveolar fricative|postalveolar fricative]] {{IPAslink|ʒ}} (like {{angbr|s}} in English ''mea'''s'''ure''). In [[Spanish language|Spanish]], by contrast, it has been both [[Voice (phonetics)|devoiced]] and backed from an earlier {{IPAslink|ʝ}} to a present-day {{IPA|/x ~ h/}},<ref>{{cite book
|title=A History of the Spanish Language
|first=Ralph John
|last=Penny
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|location=Cambridge, UK
|year=2002
|isbn=0-521-01184-1
}}
</ref> with the actual phonetic realization depending on the speaker's dialect/s.

In modern standard [[Italian language|Italian]] spelling, only [[Latin]] words, proper nouns (such as [[Jesi]], [[Letojanni]], [[Juventus]] etc.) or those borrowed from foreign languages have {{angbr|j}}. Until the 19th century, {{angbr|j}} was used instead of {{angbr|i}} in [[diphthong]]s, as a replacement for final ''-ii'', and in vowel groups (as in ''Savoja''); this rule was quite strict for official writing. {{angbr|j}} is also used to render {{IPAslink|j}} in dialect, ''e.g.'' Romanesque ''ajo'' for standard ''aglio'' (–{{IPAslink|ʎ}}–) (garlic). The Italian novelist [[Luigi Pirandello]] used {{angbr|j}} in vowel groups in his works written in Italian; he also wrote in his native [[Sicilian language]], which still uses the letter {{angbr|j}} to represent {{IPAslink|j}} (and sometimes also [dʒ] or [gj], depending on its environment).<ref>{{cite book|last=Cipolla|first=Gaetano|title=The Sounds of Sicilian: A Pronunciation Guide|year=2007|publisher=Legas|location=Mineola, NY|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pZy-gVVN64kC&lpg=PP1&dq=isbn%3A1881901513&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q&f=false|pages=11–12|authorlink=Gaetano Cipolla|accessdate=2013-03-31}}</ref>

In [[Basque language|Basque]], the [[diaphoneme]] represented by {{angbr|j}} has a variety of realizations according to the regional dialect: {{IPA|[j, ʝ, ɟ, ʒ, ʃ, x]}} (the last one is typical of the Spanish Basque Country).

Among non-European languages which have adopted the [[Latin script]], {{angbr|j}} stands for {{IPAslink|ʒ}} in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], for {{IPAslink|ʐ}} in [[Tatar language|Tatar]]. {{angbr|j}} stands for {{IPAslink|dʒ}} in [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Somali language|Somali]], [[Malay language|Malay]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Shona language|Shona]], [[Oromo language|Oromo]], [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], and [[Zulu language|Zulu]]. It represents a [[voiced palatal plosive]] {{IPAslink|ɟ}} in [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], and [[Swahili language|Swahili]]. In [[Kiowa language|Kiowa]], {{angbr|j}} stands for a voiceless alveolar plosive, {{IPAslink|t}}.

In [[Chinese language|Chinese]] [[Pinyin]], {{angbr|j}} stands for {{IPAslink|tɕ}}, the unaspirated equivalent of {{angbr|q}}.

The [[Royal Thai General System of Transcription]] does not use the letter {{angbr|j}}, although it is used in some proper names and non-standard transcriptions to represent either {{lang|th|จ}} {{IPA|[tɕ]}} or {{lang|th|ช}} {{IPA|[tɕʰ]}} (the latter following Pali/Sanskrit root equivalents).

In romanized [[Pashto language|Pashto]], {{angbr|j}} represents ځ, pronounced {{IPA|[dz]}}.

==Related characters==
<!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience codepoints in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->

*{{unicode|𐤉}} : [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[Yodh]], from which the following symbols originally derive
*I i : Latin letter [[I]], from which J derives
*ȷ : [[Dotless j]]
*[[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]-specific symbols related to J: {{IPA link|ʝ}} {{IPA link|ɟ}} {{IPA link|ʲ}}
*J with [[diacritic]]s: [[Ĵ|Ĵ ĵ]] [[J with stroke|Ɉ ɉ]]

==Computing codes==
{{charmap
| 004a | 006a | 0237 | name1 = Latin Capital Letter J | name2 = Latin Small Letter J | name3 = &#160; &#160; Latin Small Letter dotless J
| map1 = [[EBCDIC]] family | map1char1 = D1 | map1char2 = 91
| map2 = [[ASCII]] <sup>1</sup> | map2char1 = 4a | map2char2 = 6a
}}

:<sup>1</sup> Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

Unicode also has a dotless variant, {{Unicode|ȷ}} (U+0237). It is primarily used in [[Swedish Dialect Alphabet|Landsmålsalfabet]] and in mathematics. It is not intended to be used with diacritics since the normal j is softdotted in Unicode (that is, the dot is removed if a diacritic is to be placed above; Unicode further states that, for example i+
¨ ≠ ı+¨ and the same holds true for j and ȷ).<ref>[http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/ch07.pdf#page=293 The Unicode Standard, Version 8.0, p. 293] (at the very bottom)</ref>

{{anchor|Greek letter Yot}}In Unicode, a duplicate of 'J' for use as a special phonetic character in historical [[Greek language|Greek]] linguistics is encoded in the Greek script block as {{unicode|&#x03F3;}} (Unicode U+03F3). It is used to denote the [[palatal glide]] {{IPA|/j/}} in the context of Greek script. It is called "Yot" in the Unicode standard, after the German name of the letter J.<ref>Nick Nicholas, [http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/yot.html "Yot"]</ref><ref>[http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/03f3/index.htm Unicode code chart for Greek]</ref> An uppercase version of this letter was added to the Unicode Standard at U+037F with the release of version 7.0 in June 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unicode: Greek and Coptic|url=http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-7.0/U70-0370.pdf|accessdate=2014-06-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Unicode 7.0.0 | url=http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode7.0.0/ | publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]] | accessdate=2014-06-26 }}</ref>

===Wingdings smiley issue===
In the [[Wingdings]] font by [[Microsoft]], the letter "J" is rendered as a [[smiley|smiley face]] (note this is distinct from the Unicode code point U+263A, which renders as {{unicode|☺}}).
In Microsoft applications, an engineer corrected ":)" as a smiley rendered in a specific font face when composing rich text documents (and/or HTML email). 
This autocorrection feature can be switched off or changed to a Unicode smiley.<ref name="pirillo">http://chris.pirillo.com/j-smiley-outlook-email-problem-and-fix/</ref>
<ref>{{cite web |title = That mysterious J |url = http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2006/05/23/604741.aspx |author = Raymond Chen |work = The Old New Thing |publisher = [[MSDN Blogs]] |date = 23 May 2006 |accessdate = 2011-04-01 }}</ref>

==Other representations==
{{Letter other reps
|NATO=Juliet
|Morse=·–––
|Character=J0
|Braille=⠚
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource1911Enc}}
*{{Commons-inline|J}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|J}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|j}}

{{Latin alphabet|J|}}

[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]