Ѐ and Ѝ

Hi,

How are the letters Ѐ and Ѝ typed on the standard Macedonian keyboard? Are there whole keys for them or is the accent added separately?

And what Unicode code points are used for them? 0400 and 0450 or Е and И with an added accent?

Thank you.

It's a bit of an issue with the Macedonian keyboard. These characters are neither letters in their own right, nor accents (Macedonian doesn't use accents because it has a regular, pre-determined antepenultimate stress). They are merely words to distinguish a few common words from their homophones, who are also common and can cause confusion in cases where they aren't differentiated, as those words tend to be next or near each other in these cases. Hence these are called "е and и with superimposed mark". See here and here.

These aren't added separately, but they exist only in the form you have written here (i.e. as a whole). Vast majority of people don't use them because they use the US layout as default in Windows out of habit, that didn't include them. The other layout is What's called Macedonian Standard, which does include them. There, ѝ is at [`~], to the left of number 1, but è is available to the left of the Z key (З in Macedonian), which is only avalable on 102-key keyboards, and hence, not on most keyboards that are used in Macedonia itself (compare the two here in the drop-down). The one I am using now, which is the standard English US, also hasn't go it, so I have no possibility to use the è as a key, as there is no alphabetical key to the left of the Z on these keyboards (rather, Shift key immediately). This issue has been raised and the relevant people at Microsoft are aware of them, but I am not sure why it still isn't resolved. I have never used Mac OS and don't know how it is, but think I've heard it's ok there, although not totally sure about this.

At mk.wiki we have convenient buttons just below the edit box for these two, but for other places, like translatewiki or Meta, Mediawiki etc, I simply have to copy them. As I said, in daily life, most people don't bother, which isn't good at all, but that's how it is.

The unicode points are as follows:

• ѐ = 0450
• Ѐ = 0400
• ѝ = 045D
• Ѝ = 040D

I am sorry if I flooded you with more information than needed, but I did not the reason for your asking, so I hoped to provide for every eventuality.