ew letters were added, thus producing the modern layout of thirty-two letters.</p>
<p>The new letters were:</p>
<ul>
<li>Letter ⟨э⟩ (<small>(CYRILLIC) EH</small>) appeared in the Belarusian texts about the end of the 15th century.</li>
<li>Letter ⟨й⟩ (<small>(CYRILLIC) SHORT I</small>) evolved from ⟨и⟩ (<small>(CYRILLIC) I</small>) combined with diacritical sign by the end of the 16th century (compare: in Russian alphabet since 1735).</li>
<li>Letter ⟨ё⟩ (<small>(CYRILLIC) IO</small>) wa