Difference between revisions of "Alphabet"

Revision as of 10:52, June 2, 2007

An alphabet is a series of symbols that enable the spoken word to be recorded for later use and are the foundation stone of writing. The word "alphabet" is a combination of the first two letters (alpha and beta) of the Greek alphabet. Modern alphabets have evolved from ancient pictograms where a spoken sound was represented by small drawing of an object. These pictures eventually developed into formalised graphical symbols. By convention these symbols are written in a specific order (alphabetic order).

Latin Alphabets

Most Western alphabets are based on the script of ancient Rome which comprised the following 23 characters or letters:

Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Kk, LLl, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Vv, Xx, Yy, Zz

English Alphabet

In the English language three characters have been added to the Latin, and the English alphabet comprise the following 26 characters:

Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

Other Languages

Most European languages use the same letters as the English alphabet but often less than the full 26 except in the case of imported words. Other languages have extended the alphabet with diacritics^[1], digraphs^[2] and ligatures ^[3].

Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet comprises the following characters:

1. ↑ Sometimes referred to as accented letter, e.g. á, ç, è, î, ñ, ü
2. ↑ Two letters that represent a single sound and are regarded as distinct from their individual components, such as ll in Welsh or Spanish
3. ↑ Two letters that are combined into one such as the German double-S: ß