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{{Short description|Set of letters used to write a given language}}
{{Redirect|Abcs|other uses|ABCS (disambiguation)}}
{{About|alphabets in general|the English alphabet in particular|English alphabet|the international technology conglomerate|Alphabet Inc.|other uses}}
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An '''alphabet''' is a standard set of  [[letter (alphabet)|letters]] written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to [[phoneme]]s as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from another in a given language.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pulgram |first=Ernst |year=1951 |title=Phoneme and Grapheme: A Parallel |journal=WORD |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=15–20 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1951.11659389 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Not all [[writing system]]s represent language in this way: a [[syllabary]] assigns symbols to spoken [[syllable]]s, while [[logographies]] assign symbols to [[word]]s, [[morpheme]]s, or other semantic units.<ref name="Daniels4">{{Harvnb|Daniels|Bright|1996|p=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-1068-6_5 |chapter=The Korean writing system: An alphabet? A syllabary? A logography? |title=Processing of Visible Language |date=1980 |last1=Taylor |first1=Insup |pages=67–82 |isbn=978-1-4684-1070-9 }}</ref>

The first letters were invented in [[Ancient Egypt]] to serve as an aid in writing [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]s; these are referred to as [[Egyptian uniliteral sign]]s by [[lexicographer]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Himelfarb |first1=Elizabeth J. |title=First Alphabet Found in Egypt |journal=Archaeology |volume=53 |issue=1 |date=2000 |page=21 }}</ref> This system was used until the 5th century&nbsp;AD,<ref name="Houston-2003" /> and fundamentally differed by adding pronunciation hints to existing hieroglyphs that had previously carried no pronunciation information. Later on, these [[phonemic]] symbols also became used to transcribe foreign words.<ref name="Daniels" /> The first fully phonemic script was the [[Proto-Sinaitic script]], also descending from Egyptian hieroglyphs, which was later modified to create the [[Phoenician alphabet]]. The Phoenician system is considered the first true alphabet and is the ultimate ancestor of many modern scripts, including [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Latin alphabet|Latin]], and possibly [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmic]].<ref name="Coulmas 140" /><ref name="Daniels 9296">{{Harvnb|Daniels|Bright|1996|pp=92–96}}</ref><ref name="Goldwasser-2012" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldwasser |first=Orly |year=2010 |title=How the Alphabet was Born from Hieroglyphs |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=40–53}}</ref>

[[File:Phoenician alphabet.svg|thumb|Corresponding letters in the Phoenician and Latin alphabets]]

[[Peter T. Daniels]] distinguishes true alphabets—which use letters to represent both consonants and vowels—from both [[abugida]]s and [[abjad]]s, which only need letters for consonants. Abjads generally lack vowel indicators altogether, while abugidas represent them with [[diacritic]]s added to letters. In this narrower sense, the [[Greek alphabet]] was the first true alphabet;{{sfn|Coulmas|1999|p={{pn|date=November 2024}}}}{{sfn|Millard|1986|p=396}} it was originally derived from the [[Phoenician alphabet]], which was an abjad.{{sfn|Daniels|Bright|1996|pp=3–5, 91, 261–281}}

Alphabets usually have a standard ordering for their letters. This makes alphabets a useful tool in  [[collation]], as words can be listed in a well-defined order—commonly known as [[alphabetical order]]. This also means that letters may be used as a method of "numbering" ordered items. Some systems demonstrate [[acrophony]], a phenomenon where letters have been given names distinct from their pronunciations. Systems with acrophony include Greek, [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], and [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]]; systems without include the [[Latin alphabet]].

== Etymology ==
The English word ''alphabet'' came into [[Middle English]] from the [[Late Latin]] word {{lang|la|alphabetum}}, which in turn originated in the Greek {{lang|grc|ἀλφάβητος}} {{tlit|grc|alphábētos}}; it was made from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ''[[alpha (letter)|alpha]]'' (α) and ''[[beta (letter)|beta]]'' (β).<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2023 |title=alphabet |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alphabet |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster.com]]}}</ref> The names for the Greek letters, in turn, came from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet: ''[[aleph]]'', the word for ''ox'', and ''[[bet (letter)|bet]]'', the word for ''house''.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Alphabet |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/alphabet-writing |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of the alphabet}}

=== Alphabets related to Phoenician ===

==== Ancient Near Eastern alphabets ====
The [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Ancient Egyptian writing system]] had a set of some [[Egyptian uniliteral signs|24 hieroglyphs]] that are called uniliterals,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gnomon |date=2004-04-08 |editor-last=Lynn |editor-first=Bernadette |title=The Development of the Western Alphabet |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2451890 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209231814/https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2451890 |archive-date=Dec 9, 2008 |access-date=2008-08-04 |work=BBC}}</ref> which are glyphs that provide one sound.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uniliteral Signs |url=https://www.bibalex.org/learnhieroglyphs/lesson/LessonDetails_En.aspx?l=54#:~:text=Uniliteral%20signs%20are%20the%20most,They%20represent%20a%20single%20sound |access-date=2023-01-24 |website=Learn Hieroglyphs |publisher=Bibliotheca Alexandrina}}</ref> These glyphs were used as pronunciation guides for [[logogram]]s, to write grammatical inflections, and, later, to transcribe loan words and foreign names.<ref name="Daniels">{{Harvnb|Daniels|Bright|1996|pp=74–75}}</ref> The script was used a fair amount in the 4th century&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=James P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF78Max-h8MC&pg=PA8 |title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-139-48635-4 |edition=2nd}}</ref> However, after pagan temples were closed down, it was forgotten in the 5th century until the discovery of the [[Rosetta Stone]].<ref name="Houston-2003">{{cite journal |last1=Houston |first1=Stephen |last2=Baines |first2=John |last3=Cooper |first3=Jerrold |title=Last Writing: Script Obsolescence in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |date=2003 |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=430–479 |doi=10.1017/S0010417503000227 |doi-broken-date=13 November 2024 |id={{ProQuest|212670035}} |jstor=3879458 }}</ref> There was also [[cuneiform]], primarily used to write several ancient languages, including [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bram |first=Jagersma |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Sumerian |publisher=Universiteit Leiden |year=2010 |page=15}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> The last known use of cuneiform was in 75&nbsp;AD, after which the script fell out of use.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Westenholz |first1=Aage |title=The Graeco-Babyloniaca Once Again |journal=Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie |date=19 January 2007 |volume=97 |issue=2 |doi=10.1515/ZA.2007.014 }}</ref>
In the [[Middle Bronze Age]], an apparently alphabetic system known as the [[Proto-Sinaitic script]] appeared in Egyptian turquoise mines in the [[Sinai Peninsula]] {{circa|1840&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}, apparently left by Canaanite workers. [[Orly Goldwasser]] has connected the illiterate turquoise miner graffiti theory to the origin of the alphabet.<ref name="Goldwasser-2012">{{cite journal |last1=Goldwasser |first1=Orly |title=The Miners Who Invented the Alphabet – A Response to Christopher Rollston |journal=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections |date=12 September 2012 |volume=4 |issue=3 |doi=10.2458/azu_jaei_v04i3_goldwasser |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1999, American Egyptologists [[John Coleman Darnell|John]] and [[Deborah Darnell]] discovered an earlier version of this first alphabet at the [[Wadi el-Hol]] valley. The script dated to {{circa|1800&nbsp;BC|lk=no}} and shows evidence of having been adapted from specific forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs that could be dated to {{circa|2000&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}, strongly suggesting that the first alphabet had developed about that time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Darnell |first1=John Coleman |author-link=John Coleman Darnell |last2=Dobbs-Allsopp |first2=F. W. |author-link2=F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp |last3=Lundberg |first3=Marilyn J. |last4=McCarter |first4=P. Kyle |author-link4=P. Kyle McCarter |last5=Zuckerman |first5=Bruce |last6=Manassa |first6=Colleen |author-link6=Colleen Darnell |year=2005 |title=Two Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi el-Ḥôl: New Evidence for the Origin of the Alphabet from the Western Desert of Egypt |journal=The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=59 |pages=63, 65, 67–71, 73–113, 115–124 |jstor=3768583}}</ref> The script was based on letter appearances and names, believed to be based on Egyptian hieroglyphs.<ref name="Coulmas 140">{{Harvnb|Coulmas|1989|pp=140–141}}</ref> This script had no characters representing vowels. Originally, it probably was a syllabary—a script where syllables are represented with characters—with symbols that were not needed being removed. The best-attested Bronze Age alphabet is [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]], invented in [[Ugarit]] before the 15th century&nbsp;BC. This was an alphabetic [[cuneiform]] script with 30 signs, including three that indicate the following vowel. This script was not used after the destruction of Ugarit in 1178&nbsp;BC.<ref>''Ugaritic Writing'' [http://www.mazzaroth.com/ChapterThree/UgariticWriting.htm online]</ref>
[[File:Ba`alat.png|thumb|left|A specimen of the [[Proto-Sinaitic script]], one of the earliest phonemic scripts]]
The Proto-Sinaitic script eventually developed into the Phoenician alphabet, conventionally called [[Proto-Canaanite alphabet|Proto-Canaanite]], before {{circa|1050&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}.<ref name="Daniels 9296" /> The oldest text in Phoenician script is an inscription on the sarcophagus of King [[Ahiram]] {{circa|1000&nbsp;BC}}. This script is the parent script of all western alphabets. By the 10th century&nbsp;BC, two other forms distinguish themselves, [[Canaanite alphabet|Canaanite]] and [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]]. The Aramaic gave rise to the [[Hebrew alphabet]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Coulmas|1989|p=142}}</ref>

The [[South Arabian alphabet]], a sister script to the Phoenician alphabet, is the script from which the [[Geʽez script]] was descended. Abugidas are writing systems with characters comprising consonant–vowel sequences. Alphabets without obligatory vowels are called ''[[abjad]]s'', with examples being Arabic, Hebrew, and [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]]. The omission of vowels was not always a satisfactory solution due to the need of preserving sacred texts. "Weak" consonants are used to indicate vowels. These letters have a dual function since they can also be used as pure consonants.<ref>{{Harvnb|Coulmas|1989|p=147}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Matres lectionis |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/matres-lectionis |access-date=2023-01-20}}</ref>

The Proto-Sinaitic script and the Ugaritic script were the first scripts with a limited number of signs instead of using many different signs for words, in contrast to cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and [[Linear B]]. The Phoenician script was probably the first phonemic script,<ref name="Coulmas 140" /><ref name="Daniels 9296" /> and it contained only about two dozen distinct letters, making it a script simple enough for traders to learn. Another advantage of the Phoenician alphabet was that it could write different languages since it recorded words phonemically.{{sfn|Hock|Joseph|2009|p=85}}

The Phoenician script was spread across the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians.<ref name="Daniels 9296" /> The Greek alphabet was the first in which vowels had independent letterforms separate from those of consonants. The Greeks chose letters representing sounds that did not exist in Greek to represent vowels. The [[Linear B]] syllabary, used by [[Mycenaean Greeks]] from the 16th century&nbsp;BC, had 87 symbols, including five vowels. In its early years, there were many variants of the Greek alphabet, causing many different alphabets to evolve from it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ventris |first1=Micheal |title=Documents in Mycenaean Greek: Three Hundred Selected Tablets from Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae with Commentary and Vocabulary |last2=Chadwick |first2=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-107-50341-0 |edition=Repr. |page=60}}</ref>

==== European alphabets ====
[[File:Abecedarium_latinum_clasicum.svg|thumb|Abecedarium latinum clasicum, or the Latin alphabet, used to write most languages of modern Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania.]]
The Greek alphabet, in [[Euboean alphabet|Euboean form]], was carried over by Greek colonists to the Italian peninsula {{Circa|800–600&nbsp;BC|lk=no}} giving rise to many different alphabets used to write the [[Italic languages]], like the [[Etruscan alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Etruscology |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-934078-49-5 |editor-last=Naso |editor-first=Alessandro |location=Boston}}</ref> One of these became the Latin alphabet, which spread across Europe as the Romans expanded their republic. After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the alphabet survived in intellectual and religious works. It came to be used for the  [[Romance languages]] that descended from Latin and most of the other languages of western and central Europe. Today, it is the most widely used script in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jeffery |first1=L. H. |title=The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B.C. |last2=Johnston |first2=A. W. |publisher=Clarendon |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-19-814061-0 |edition=Rev. |series=Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology}}</ref>

The Etruscan alphabet remained nearly unchanged for several hundred years. Only evolving once the [[Etruscan language]] changed itself. The letters used for non-existent phonemes were dropped.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bonfante |first=Giuliano |author-link=Giuliano Bonfante |title=The Etruscan language: an introduction |publisher=Manchester University Press |author2=Larissa Bonfante |author2-link=Larissa Bonfante |year=2002 |isbn=0-7190-5539-3 |edition=2nd}}</ref> Afterwards, however, the alphabet went through many different changes. The final classical form of Etruscan contained 20 letters. Four of them are vowels—{{gpm|a, e, i, u}}—six fewer letters than the earlier forms. The script in its classical form was used until the 1st century&nbsp;AD. The Etruscan language itself was not used during the [[Roman Empire]], but the script was used for religious texts.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Etruscan alphabet |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Etruscan-alphabet |access-date=2023-02-08}}</ref>

Some adaptations of the Latin alphabet have [[ligature (typography)|ligatures]], a combination of two letters make one, such as [[æ]] in [[Danish and Norwegian alphabet|Danish]] and [[Icelandic alphabet|Icelandic]] and {{gpm|[[Ou (letter)|Ȣ]]}} in [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]; borrowings from other alphabets, such as the [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] {{gpm|þ}} in [[Old English language|Old English]] and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], which came from the [[Runic alphabet|Futhark]] runes;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knight |first=Sirona |title=Runes |publisher=Sterling |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4027-6006-8 |location=New York}}</ref> and modified existing letters, such as the [[Eth (letter)|eth]] {{gpm|ð}} of Old English and Icelandic, which is a modified ''d''. Other alphabets only use a subset of the Latin alphabet, such as Hawaiian and Italian, which uses the letters ''j, k, x, y,'' and ''w'' only in foreign words.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Robustelli |first1=Cecilia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RszKAgAAQBAJ |title=A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian |last2=Maiden |first2=Martin |date=4 February 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-340-91339-0 |edition=2nd |series=Routledge Reference Grammars |publication-date=May 25, 2007}}</ref>

Another notable script is [[Elder Futhark]], believed to have evolved out of one of the [[Old Italic alphabet]]s. Elder Futhark gave rise to other alphabets known collectively as the [[Runic alphabet]]s. The Runic alphabets were used for Germanic languages from 100&nbsp;AD to the late Middle Ages, being engraved on stone and jewelry, although inscriptions found on bone and wood occasionally appear. These alphabets have since been replaced with the Latin alphabet. The exception was for decorative use, where the runes remained in use until the 20th century.<ref>Stifter, David (2010), "Lepontische Studien: ''Lexicon Leponticum'' und die Funktion von ''san'' im Lepontischen", in Stüber, Karin; et al. (eds.), ''Akten des 5.'' ''Deutschsprachigen Keltologensymposiums. Zürich, 7.–10. September 2009,'' Wien.</ref>
[[File:Old Hungarian alphabet of János Telegdi.jpg|thumb|[[Old Hungarian script]]]]
The [[Old Hungarian script]] was the writing system of the Hungarians. It was in use during the entire history of Hungary, albeit not as an official writing system. From the 19th century, it once again became more and more popular.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maxwell |first=Alexander |year=2004 |title=Contemporary Hungarian Rune-Writing Ideological Linguistic Nationalism within a Homogenous Nation |journal=Anthropos |hdl=10063/674}}</ref>

The [[Glagolitic alphabet]] was the initial script of the liturgical language [[Old Church Slavonic]] and became, together with the Greek uncial script, the basis of the [[Cyrillic script]]. Cyrillic is one of the most widely used modern alphabetic scripts and is notable for its use in Slavic languages and also for other languages within the former [[Soviet Union]]. [[Cyrillic alphabets]] include [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|Serbian]], [[Macedonian alphabet|Macedonian]], [[Bulgarian alphabet|Bulgarian]], [[Russian alphabet|Russian]], [[Belarusian alphabet|Belarusian]], and [[Ukrainian alphabet|Ukrainian]]. The Glagolitic alphabet is believed to have been created by [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]], while the Cyrillic alphabet was created by a circle of their disciples in the [[Preslav Literary School]] including [[Naum of Preslav]], [[Constantine of Preslav]], [[Chernorizets Hrabar]] among others. They feature many letters that appear to have been borrowed from or influenced by Greek and Hebrew.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Glagolitic alphabet |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Glagolitic-alphabet |access-date=2022-11-30}}</ref>

==== Asian alphabets ====
Many phonetic scripts exist in Asia. The [[Arabic alphabet]], [[Hebrew alphabet]], [[Syriac alphabet]], and other [[abjad]]s of the Middle East are developments of the [[Aramaic alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aramaic Alphabet |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/483026807/Aramaic-Alphabet |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=Scribd}}{{bsn|date=September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blau |first=Joshua |title=Phonology and morphology of Biblical Hebrew: an introduction |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-57506-601-1 |location=Winona Lake, IN}}</ref>

Most alphabetic scripts of India and Eastern Asia descend from the [[Brahmi script]], believed to be a descendant of Aramaic.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Brāhmī |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brahmi |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref>

European alphabets, especially Latin and Cyrillic, have been adapted for many languages of Asia. Arabic is also widely used, sometimes as an abjad, as with [[Urdu alphabet|Urdu]] and [[Persian alphabet|Persian]], and sometimes as a complete alphabet, as with [[Kurdish alphabet|Kurdish]] and [[Uyghur alphabet|Uyghur]].<ref>Thackston, W. M. (2006), "—Sorani Kurdish— A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings", ''Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences'', Harvard University, retrieved 10 June 2021</ref>{{sfn|Zhou|2003|p={{pn|date=November 2024}}}}

=== Other alphabets ===

==== Hangul ====
In [[Korea]], [[Sejong the Great]] created the [[Hangul]] alphabet in 1443. Hangul is a unique alphabet: it is a [[featural alphabet]], where the design of many of the letters comes from a sound's place of articulation, like P looking like the widened mouth and L looking like the tongue pulled in.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hitkari |first=Cherry |date=2021-10-06 |title=Alphabet's Epitome: The Invention of Hangul and its Contribution to the Korean Society |url=https://thekootneeti.in/2021/10/06/alphabets-epitome-the-invention-of-hangul-and-its-contribution-to-the-korean-society/ |access-date=2022-11-30}}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}} The creation of Hangul was planned by the government of the day,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Hangul |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hangul-Korean-alphabet |access-date=2022-11-30}}</ref> and it places individual letters in syllable clusters with equal dimensions, in the same way as [[Chinese characters]]. This change allows for mixed-script writing, where one syllable always takes up one type space no matter how many letters get stacked into building that one sound-block.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kolers |first1=Paul A. |title=Processing of visible language |last2=Wrolstad |first2=Merald Ernest |last3=Bouma |first3=Herman |publisher=Plenum |year=1980 |isbn=0-306-40576-8 |location=New York}}{{pn|date=November 2024}}</ref>

==== Bopomofo ====
[[Bopomofo]], also referred to as ''zhuyin'', is a [[semi-syllabary]] used primarily in [[Taiwan]] to transcribe the sounds of [[Standard Chinese]]. Following the  proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and its adoption of [[Hanyu Pinyin]] in 1956, the use of bopomofo on the mainland is limited. Bopomofo developed from a form of Chinese shorthand based on Chinese characters in the early 1900s and has elements of both an alphabet and a syllabary. Like an alphabet, the phonemes of [[syllable onset|syllable initials]] are represented by individual symbols, but like a syllabary, the phonemes of the [[syllable rime|syllable finals]] are not; each possible final (excluding the [[syllable medial|medial glide]]) has its own character, an example being ''luan'' written as ㄌㄨㄢ (''l-u-an''). The last symbol ㄢ takes place as the entire final ''-an''. While bopomofo is not a mainstream writing system, it is still often used in ways similar to a [[romanization]] system, for aiding pronunciation and as an input method for Chinese characters on computers and cellphones.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Definition of the Bopomofo Chinese Phonetic System |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/bopomofo-zhuyin-fuhao-2279518 |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=ThoughtCo}}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}}

== Types ==
{{Alphabet}}
The term "alphabet" is used by [[linguistics|linguists]] and [[paleographer]]s in both a wide and a narrow sense. In a broader sense, an alphabet is a ''segmental'' script at the [[phoneme]] level—that is, it has separate glyphs for individual sounds and not for larger units such as syllables or words. In the narrower sense, some scholars distinguish "true" alphabets from two other types of segmental script, [[abjad]]s, and [[abugida]]s. These three differ in how they treat vowels. Abjads have letters for consonants and leave most vowels unexpressed. Abugidas are also consonant-based but indicate vowels with [[diacritic]]s, a systematic graphic modification of the consonants.<ref>For critics of the abjad-abugida-alphabet distinction, see {{harvnb|Lehmann|2012}}, esp p. 22–27</ref> The earliest known alphabet using this sense is the [[Middle Bronze Age alphabets|Wadi el-Hol script]], believed to be an abjad. Its successor, [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], is the ancestor of modern alphabets, including [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]], [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] (via the [[Old Italic alphabet]]), [[Cyrillic]] (via the Greek alphabet), and [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] (via [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]]).<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Sinaitic inscriptions |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sinaitic-inscriptions |access-date=2022-11-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thamis |title=The Phoenician Alphabet & Language |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/17/the-phoenician-alphabet--language/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=World History Encyclopedia}}</ref>
[[File:Venn diagram gr la ru.svg|left|thumb|263x263px|A [[Venn diagram]] showing the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] (left), [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] (bottom) and [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] (right) alphabets, which share many of the same [[letter (alphabet)|letters]], although they have different pronunciations]]

Examples of present-day abjads are the [[Arabic script|Arabic]] and [[Hebrew script]]s;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lipiński |first=Edward |title=Studies in Aramaic inscriptions and onomastics |publisher=Leuven University Press |year=1975 |isbn=90-6186-019-9}}</ref> true alphabets include [[Latin script|Latin]], Cyrillic, and Korean hangul; and abugidas, used to write [[tigrinya language|Tigrinya]], [[Amharic language|Amharic]], [[Hindi]], and [[Thai language|Thai]]. The [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]] are also an abugida, rather than a syllabary, as their name would imply, because each glyph stands for a consonant and is modified by rotation to represent the following vowel. In a true syllabary, each consonant-vowel combination gets represented by a separate glyph.<ref>Bernard Comrie, 2005, "Writing Systems", in Haspelmath et al. eds, ''The World Atlas of Language Structures'' (p 568 ff). Also Robert Bringhurst, 2004, ''The solid form of language: an essay on writing and meaning''.</ref>

All three types may be augmented with syllabic glyphs. [[Ugaritic script|Ugaritic]], for example, is essentially an abjad but has syllabic letters for {{IPA|/ʔa, ʔi, ʔu/}}<ref>Florian Coulmas, 1991, ''The writing systems of the world''</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schniedewind |first=William M. |title=A primer on Ugaritic: language, culture, and literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Joel H. Hunt |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-511-34933-1 |location=New York}}</ref> These are the only times that vowels are indicated. [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] has a letter for {{IPA|/ti/}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=КОПТСКОЕ ПИСЬМО • Большая российская энциклопедия – электронная версия |url=https://bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/2095533 |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=bigenc.ru}}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}} [[Devanagari]] is typically an abugida augmented with dedicated letters for initial vowels, though some traditions use अ as a [[zero consonant]] as the graphic base for such vowels.<ref name="Indo-Aryan">{{Cite book |last1=Jain |first1=Dhanesh |title=The Indo-Aryan languages |last2=Cardona |first2=George |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-135-79711-9 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Practical Sanskrit Introductory by Charles Wikner |url=https://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/index.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=sanskritdocuments.org}}</ref>

The boundaries between the three types of segmental scripts are not always clear-cut. For example, [[Sorani]] Kurdish is written in the [[Arabic script]], which, when used for other languages, is an abjad. In [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]], writing the vowels is mandatory, and whole letters are used, so the script is a true alphabet. Other languages may use a Semitic abjad with forced vowel diacritics, effectively making them abugidas. On the other hand, the [[ʼPhags-pa script]] of the [[Mongol Empire]] was based closely on the [[Tibetan script|Tibetan abugida]], but vowel marks are written after the preceding consonant rather than as diacritic marks. Although short ''a'' is not written, as in the Indic abugidas, The source of the term "abugida", namely the [[Geʽez script]] now used for [[Amharic language|Amharic]] and [[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]], has assimilated into their consonant modifications. It is no longer systematic and must be learned as a syllabary rather than as a segmental script. Even more extreme, the Pahlavi abjad eventually became [[logogram|logographic]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nyberg |first=Henrik |title=A Manual of Pahlavi: Glossary |publisher=Harrassowitz |year=1964 |isbn=978-3-447-01580-6 |publication-date=December 31, 1974 |language=de}}</ref>
[[File:Ethiopic genesis.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Geʽez script]] of [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]]]]
Thus the primary [[categorisation]] of alphabets reflects how they treat vowels. For [[tone (linguistics)|tonal languages]], further classification can be based on their treatment of tone. Though names do not yet exist to distinguish the various types. Some alphabets disregard tone entirely, especially when it does not carry a heavy functional load,<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1109/ICICICT1.2017.8342752 |chapter=Spectral feature based automatic tonal and non-tonal language classification |title=2017 International Conference on Intelligent Computing, Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT) |date=2017 |last1=Alphonsa |first1=Alice Celin |last2=Bhanja |first2=Chuya China |last3=Laskar |first3=Azharuddin |last4=Laskar |first4=Rabul Hussain |pages=1271–1276 |isbn=978-1-5090-6106-8 }}</ref> as in [[Somali language|Somali]] and many other languages of Africa and the Americas.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Galaal |first1=Muuse Haaji Ismaaʻiil |title=Hikmaad Soomaali |last2=Andrzejewski |first2=Bogumił W. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1956}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> Most commonly, tones are indicated by diacritics, which is how vowels are treated in abugidas, which is the case for [[Vietnamese alphabet|Vietnamese]] (a true alphabet) and [[Thai script|Thai]] (an abugida). In Thai, the tone is determined primarily by a consonant, with diacritics for disambiguation. In the [[Pollard script]], an abugida, vowels are indicated by diacritics. The placing of the diacritic relative to the consonant is modified to indicate the tone.{{sfn|Zhou|2003|p={{pn|date=November 2024}}}} More rarely, a script may have separate letters for tones, as is the case for [[Hmong alphabet|Hmong]] and [[Zhuang alphabet|Zhuang]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Marybeth |title=Deixis and Anaphora and Prelinguistic Universals |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications |date=2000 |pages=46–61 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |jstor=20000140 }}</ref> For many, regardless of whether letters or diacritics get used, the most common tone is not marked, just as the most common vowel is not marked in Indic abugidas. In [[Zhuyin]], not only is one of the tones unmarked; but there is a diacritic to indicate a lack of tone, like the [[virama]] of Indic.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

== Alphabetical order ==
{{Main|Alphabetical order}}
Alphabets often come to be associated with a standard ordering of their letters; this is for [[collation]]—namely, for listing words and other items in ''[[alphabetical order]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Street |first=Julie |date=2020-06-10 |title=From A to Z — the surprising history of alphabetical order -AU |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-11/history-of-alphabetical-order-a-to-z/12320808 |access-date=2023-02-08 |work=ABC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-06-10 |title=Alphabetical order has been around for 800 years. But is it on the way out? |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-11/history-of-alphabetical-order-a-to-z/12320808 |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref>

=== Latin alphabets ===
The ordering of the [[Latin alphabet]] ([[A]] [[B]] [[C]] [[D]] [[E]] [[F]] [[G]] [[H]] [[I]] [[J]] [[K]] [[L]] [[M]] [[N]] [[O]] [[P]] [[Q]] [[R]] [[S]] [[T]] [[U]] [[V]] [[W]] [[X]] [[Y]] [[Z]]), which derives from the Northwest Semitic "Abgad" order,<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004217003_003 |chapter=27–30–22–26 – How Many Letters Needs an Alphabet? The Case of Semitic |title=The Idea of Writing |date=2012 |last1=Lehmann |first1=Reinhard G. |pages=11–52 |isbn=978-90-04-21700-3 }}</ref> is already well established. Although, languages using this alphabet have different conventions for their treatment of modified letters (such as the French ''é'', ''à'', and ''ô'') and certain combinations of letters ([[Multigraph (orthography)|multigraphs]]). In French, these are not considered to be additional letters for collation. However, in [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], the accented letters such as ''á'', ''í'', and ''ö'' are considered distinct letters representing different vowel sounds from sounds represented by their unaccented counterparts. In Spanish, ''ñ'' is considered a separate letter, but accented vowels such as ''á'' and ''é'' are not. The ''ll'' and ''ch'' were also formerly considered single letters and sorted separately after ''l'' and ''c'', but in 1994, the tenth congress of the [[Association of Spanish Language Academies]] changed the collating order so that ''ll'' came to be sorted between ''lk'' and ''lm'' in the dictionary and ''ch'' came to be sorted between ''cg'' and ''ci''; those digraphs were still formally designated as letters, but in 2010 the {{lang|es|[[Real Academia Española]]}} changed it, so they are no longer considered letters at all.<ref>Real Academia Española. [https://www.rae.es/espanol-al-dia/exclusion-de-ch-y-ll-del-abecedario Exclusión de «ch» y «ll» del abecedario.]</ref><ref>"La 'i griega' se llamará 'ye'". Cuba Debate. 2010-11-05. Retrieved 12 December 2010. [http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2010/11/05/la-i-griega-se-llamara-ye-y-la-ch-y-la-ll-desaparecen-por-decreto-de-la-academia-espanola Cubadebate.cu]</ref>

In German, words starting with ''sch-'' (which spells the German phoneme {{IPAslink|ʃ}}) are inserted between words with initial ''sca-'' and ''sci-'' (all incidentally loanwords) instead of appearing after the initial ''sz'', as though it were a single letter, which contrasts several languages such as [[Albanian alphabet|Albanian]], in which ''dh-'', ''ë-'', ''gj-'', ''ll-'', ''rr-'', ''th-'', ''xh-,'' and ''zh-,'' which all represent phonemes and considered separate single letters, would follow the letters {{gpm|d, e, g, l, n, r, t, x, z}} respectively, as well as Hungarian and Welsh. Further, German words with an [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut]] get collated ignoring the umlaut as—contrary to [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]], which adopted the [[grapheme]]s '''ö''' and '''ü''', and where a word like ''tüfek'' would come after ''tuz'', in the dictionary. An exception is the German telephone directory, where umlauts are sorted like ''ä''=''ae'' since names such as ''Jäger'' also appear with the spelling ''Jaeger'' and are not distinguished in the spoken language.<ref>{{Cite book |title=DIN 5007-1:2005-08 Filing of Character Strings – Part 1: General Rules for Processing (ABC Rules) |publisher=German Institute for Standardisation (Deutsches Institut für Normung) |year=2005 |language=de}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

The [[Danish orthography|Danish]] and [[Norwegian orthography|Norwegian]] alphabets end with {{gpm|æ, ø, å}},<ref>{{Cite book |last=WAGmob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-pvAgAAQBAJ |title=Learn Danish (Alphabet and Numbers) |date=December 25, 2013 |publisher=WAGmob}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=WAGmob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Qx2AgAAQBAJ |title=Learn Norwegian (Alphabet and Numbers) |publisher=WAGmob |year=2014}}</ref> whereas the Swedish conventionally put {{gpm|å, ä, ö}} at the end. However, {{gpm|æ}} phonetically corresponds with {{gpm|ä}}, as does {{gpm|ø}} and {{gpm|ö}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holmes |first=Philip |title=Swedish: a comprehensive grammar |publisher=Routledge |others=Ian Hinchliffe |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-27883-6 |edition=2nd |location=London}}</ref>

=== Early alphabets ===
It is unknown whether the earliest alphabets had a defined sequence. Some alphabets today, such as the [[Hanuno'o script]], are learned one letter at a time, in no particular order, and are not used for [[collation]] where a definite order is required.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Conklin |first=Harold C. |title=Fine description: ethnographic and linguistic essays |publisher=Yale University Southeast Asia Studies |others=Joel Corneal Kuipers, Ray McDermott |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-938692-85-0 |location=New Haven, CT |pages=320–342}}</ref> However, a dozen [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]] tablets from the 14th century&nbsp;BC preserve the alphabet in two sequences. One, the ''ABCDE'' order later used in Phoenician, has continued with minor changes in [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]], [[Armenian alphabet|Armenian]], [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]], [[Cyrillic]], and [[Latin alphabet|Latin]]; the other, ''HMĦLQ,'' was used in southern Arabia and is preserved today in [[Geʽez script|Geʽez]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Millard|1986|p=395}}</ref> Both orders have therefore been stable for at least 3000 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ScriptSource – Ethiopic (Geʻez) |url=https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Ethi |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=scriptsource.org}}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}}

[[Runic alphabet|Runic]] used an unrelated [[Elder Futhark|Futhark]] sequence, which got [[Younger Futhark|simplified]] later on.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elliott |first=Ralph Warren Victor |title=Runes, an introduction |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-7190-0787-9}}</ref> [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] usually uses its sequence, although Arabic retains the traditional [[abjadi order]], which is used for numbers.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

The [[Brahmic family]] of alphabets used in India uses a unique order based on [[phonology]]: The letters are arranged according to how and where the sounds get produced in the mouth. This organization is present in Southeast Asia, Tibet, Korean [[hangul]], and even Japanese [[kana]], which is not an alphabet.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frellesvig |first=Bjarke |title=A history of the Japanese language |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-511-93242-7 |pages=177–178}}</ref>

== Acrophony ==
In Phoenician, each letter got associated with a word that begins with that sound. This is called [[acrophony]] and is continuously used to varying degrees in [[Samaritan alphabet|Samaritan]], [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]], [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]], and [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 November 2022 |title=The Samaritan Script |url=https://www.the-samaritans.net/the-samaritan-script/ |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=The Samaritans}} Notice the "Names of the Letters" Section.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=MacLeod |first=Ewan |title=Learn The Aramiac Alphabet |year=2015 |pages=3–4}}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}}

Acrophony was abandoned in [[Latin alphabet|Latin]]. It referred to the letters by adding a vowel—usually {{gpm|e}}, sometimes {{gpm|a}} or {{gpm|u}}—before or after the consonant. Two exceptions were [[Y]] and [[Z]], which were borrowed from the Greek alphabet rather than Etruscan. They were known as ''Y Graeca'' "Greek Y" and ''zeta'' (from Greek)—this discrepancy was inherited by many European languages, as in the term ''zed'' for Z in all forms of English, other than American English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sampson |first=Geoffrey |title=Writing systems: a linguistic introduction |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-8047-1254-9}}</ref> Over time names sometimes shifted or were added, as in ''double U'' for [[W]], or "double V" in French, the English name for Y, and the American ''zee'' for Z. Comparing them in English and French gives a clear reflection of the [[Great Vowel Shift]]: A, B, C, and D are pronounced {{IPA|/eɪ, biː, siː, diː/}} in today's English, but in contemporary French they are {{IPA|/a, be, se, de/}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pedersen |first=Loren E. |title=A simple approach to French pronunciation: a comprehensive guide |publisher=Two Harbors |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-63505-259-6 |location=Minneapolis, MN}}</ref> The French names (from which the English names got derived) preserve the qualities of the English vowels before the Great Vowel Shift. By contrast, the names of F, L, M, N, and S ({{IPA|/ɛf, ɛl, ɛm, ɛn, ɛs/}}) remain the same in both languages because "short" vowels were largely unaffected by the Shift.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Vowel Shift |url=https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/great-vowel-shift |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=chaucer.fas.harvard.edu}} Note how it says short vowels are similar between Middle and Modern English.</ref>

In Cyrillic, originally, acrophony was present using Slavic words. The first three words going, azŭ, buky, vědě, with the Cyrillic collation order being, А, Б, В. However, this was later abandoned in favor of a system similar to Latin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lunt |first=Horace G. |title=Old Church Slavonic grammar |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2001 |isbn=3-11-016284-9 |edition=7th |location=Berlin}}</ref>

== Orthography and pronunciation ==
{{further|Phonemic orthography}}
When an alphabet is adopted or developed to represent a given language, an [[orthography]] generally comes into being, providing rules for [[spelling]] words, following the principle on which alphabets get based. These rules will map letters of the alphabet to the [[phoneme]]s of the spoken language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seidenberg |first=Mark |title=Beyond Orthographic Depth in Reading: Equitable Division of Labor |publisher=Advances in Psychology |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-444-89140-2 |editor-last=Frost |editor-first=Ram |editor-last2=Katz |editor-first2=Leonard}}</ref> In a perfectly [[phonemic orthography]], there would be a consistent one-to-one correspondence between the letters and the phonemes so that a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation, and a speaker would always know the pronunciation of a word given its spelling, and vice versa. However, this ideal is usually never achieved in practice. Languages can come close to it, such as Spanish and [[Finnish language|Finnish]]. Others, such as English, deviate from it to a much larger degree.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nordlund |first=Taru |year=2012 |title=Standardization of Finnish Orthography: From Reformists to National Awakeners |journal=Walter de Gruyter |pages=351–372 |doi=10.1515/9783110288179.351 |isbn=978-3-11-028817-9 |s2cid=156286003 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The pronunciation of a language often evolves independently of its writing system. Writing systems have been borrowed for languages the orthography was not initially made to use. The degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of a language varies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rogers |first=Henry |year=1999 |title=Sociolinguistic factors in borrowed writing systems |url=https://twpl.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/twpl/article/view/6264 |journal=Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=17 }}</ref>

Languages may fail to achieve a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds in any of several ways:
* A language may represent a given phoneme by combinations of letters rather than just a single letter. Two-letter combinations are called [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]], and three-letter groups are called [[trigraph (orthography)|trigraphs]]. German uses the [[tetragraph]]s (four letters) "tsch" for the phoneme {{IPA|de|tʃ}} and (in a few borrowed words) "dsch" for {{IPA|[dʒ]}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reindl |first=Donald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWAeAQAAMAAJ |title=The Effects of Historical German-Slovene Language Contact on the Slovene Language |publisher=Indiana University, Department of Slavic Languages and Literature. |year=2005 |edition=Digitized |page=90}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]] also uses a tetragraph for one of its phonemes, namely "кхъу."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Dictionaries, An International Encyclopedia of Lexicography |publisher=Walter De Gruyter |year=1991 |volume=3rd}}{{ISBN?}}{{pn|date=November 2024}}</ref> Two letters representing one sound occur in several instances in Hungarian as well (where, for instance, ''cs'' stands for [tʃ], ''sz'' for [s], ''zs'' for [ʒ], ''dzs'' for [dʒ]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berecz |first=Ágoston |title=Empty signs, historical imaginaries: the entangled nationalization of names and naming in a late Habsburg borderland |publisher=Berghahn |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78920-635-7 |location=New York |page=211}}</ref>
* A language may represent the same phoneme with two or more different letters or combinations of letters. An example is [[modern Greek]] which may write the phoneme {{IPA|el|i}} in six different ways: {{gpm|ι}}, {{gpm|η}}, {{gpm|υ}}, {{gpm|ει}}, {{gpm|οι}}, and {{gpm|υι}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=George L. |title=The Routledge Concise Compendium of the World's Languages |last2=King |first2=Gareth |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-367-58125-1 |edition=2nd |page=253}}</ref>
* A language may spell some words with unpronounced letters that exist for historical or other reasons. For example, the spelling of the Thai word for 'beer' {{lang|th|เบียร์}} retains a letter for the final consonant /r/ present in the English word it borrows, but silences it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Allyn |first1=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pGJkAAAAMAAJ |title=The Bua Luang What You See is what You Say Thai Phrase Handbook Contemporary Thai-language Phrases in Context, WYSIWYS Easier-to-read Transliteration System |last2=Chaiyana |first2=Samorn |publisher=Bua Luang |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-942777-04-8}}{{pn|date=November 2024}} Note in the pronunciation guide next to "เบียร์" it has it being said as, "Bia"</ref>
* Pronunciation of individual words may change according to the presence of surrounding words in a sentence, for example, in [[sandhi]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Advances in Social Science, Education, and Humanities Research: Proceedings of the 2022 6th international Seminar, on Education, Management, and Social Sciences |publisher=Atlantis |year=2022 |isbn=978-2494069305 |editor-last=Strielkowski |editor-first=Wadim |page=644 |editor-last2=Birkök |editor-first2=Mehmet |editor-last3=Khan |editor-first3=Intakhab}}</ref>
* Different dialects of a language may use different phonemes for the same word.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gasser |first=Micheal |date=April 10, 2021 |title=4.5: English Accents |url=https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Anthropology/Linguistics/Book%3A_How_Language_Works_(Gasser)/04%3A_Word_Forms_-_Processes/4.05%3A_English_Accents |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Social Sci LibreTexts}}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}}
* A language may use different sets of symbols or rules for distinct vocabulary items, typically for foreign words, such as in the Japanese [[katakana]] syllabary is used for foreign words, and there are rules in English for using loanwords from other languages.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Workbook/laboratory manual to accompany Yookoso!: an invitation to contemporary Japanese |publisher=McGraw-Hill |others=Sachiko Fuji, Yasuhiko Tohsaku |year=1994 |isbn=0-07-072293-5 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Durkin |first=Philip |title=Borrowed words: a history of loanwords in English |publisher=Oxford Scholarship Online |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-166706-0}}</ref>

National languages sometimes elect to address the problem of dialects by associating the alphabet with the national standard. Some national languages like [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], Russian, [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]] ([[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], and [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]]), and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] have a very regular spelling system with nearly one-to-one correspondence between letters and phonemes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=R. Malatesha |title=Handbook of Orthography and Literacy |publisher=Taylor & Francis |others=P. G. Aaron |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-78134-6 |location=Hoboken, NJ}}</ref> Similarly, the Italian verb corresponding to 'spell (out),' ''compitare'', is unknown to many Italians because spelling is usually trivial, as Italian spelling is highly phonemic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kambourakis |first=Kristie McCrary |title=Reassessing the role of the syllable in Italian phonology: an experimental study of consonant cluster syllabification, definite article allomorphy and segment duration |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-00-306197-7 |location=New York}}</ref> In standard Spanish, one can tell the pronunciation of a word from its spelling, but not vice versa, as phonemes sometimes can be represented in more than one way, but a given letter is consistently pronounced. French using [[silent letter]]s, [[nasal vowel]]s, and [[elision]], may seem to lack much correspondence between the spelling and pronunciation. However, its rules on pronunciation, though complex, are consistent and predictable with a fair degree of accuracy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rochester |first=Myrna Bell |title=Easy French step-by-step: master high-frequency grammar for French proficiency |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-07-164221-7 |location=New York}}</ref>

At the other extreme are languages such as English, where pronunciations mostly have to be memorized as they do not correspond to the spelling consistently. For English, this is because the [[Great Vowel Shift]] occurred after the orthography got established and because English has acquired a large number of loanwords at different times, retaining their original spelling at varying levels.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Denham |first1=Kristin E. |author-link=Kristin Denham |title=Linguistics for everyone: an introduction |last2=Lobeck |first2=Anne C. |author-link2=Anne Lobeck |publisher=Wadsworth |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4130-1589-8 |location=Boston}}</ref> However, even English has general, albeit complex, rules that predict pronunciation from spelling. Rules like this are usually successful. However, rules to predict spelling from pronunciation have a higher failure rate.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Linstead |first=Stephen |date=2014-12-11 |title=English spellings don't match the sounds they are supposed to represent. It's time to change |url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/dec/11/mind-your-language-english-spelling |access-date=2022-12-13 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Sometimes, countries have the written language undergo a [[spelling reform]] to realign the writing with the contemporary spoken language. These can range from simple spelling changes and word forms to switching the entire writing system. For example, Turkey switched from the Arabic alphabet to a Latin-based [[Turkish alphabet]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zürcher |first=Erik Jan |title=Turkey: a modern history |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2004 |isbn=1-4175-5697-8 |edition=3rd |location=London |pages=188–189}}</ref> and [[Kazakh alphabets|Kazakh]] changed from an Arabic script to a Cyrillic script due to the Soviet Union's influence. In 2021, it made a transition to the Latin alphabet, similar to Turkish.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-06-28 |script-title=kk:Нұрсұлтан Назарбаев. Болашаққа бағдар: рухани жаңғыру |url=https://egemen.kz/article/nursultan-nazarbaev-bolashaqqa-baghdar-rukhani-zhanhghyru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628091133/https://egemen.kz/article/nursultan-nazarbaev-bolashaqqa-baghdar-rukhani-zhanhghyru |archive-date=28 June 2017 |access-date=2022-12-13 |language=kk-Cyrl |newspaper=Egemen.kz }}{{bsn|date=September 2024}}</ref><ref><bdi>[https://www.akorda.kz/ru/legal_acts/decrees/o-perevode-alfavita-kazahskogo-yazyka-s-kirillicy-na-latinskuyu-grafiku О переводе алфавита казахского языка с кириллицы на латинскую графику]</bdi> [On the change of the alphabet of the Kazakh language from the Cyrillic to the Latin script] (in Russian). [[President of the Republic of Kazakhstan]]. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.{{bsn|date=September 2024}}</ref> The Cyrillic script used to be official in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan before they switched to the Latin alphabet. Uzbekistan is reforming the alphabet to use diacritics on the letters that are marked by apostrophes and the letters that are digraphs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ÖZBEK ALIFBOSI |url=https://www.evertype.com/standards/uz/uzlat.html |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=www.evertype.com |language=uz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 February 2021 |title=Uzbekistan Aims For Full Transition To Latin-Based Alphabet By 2023 |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-aims-for-full-transition-to-latin-based-alphabet-by-2023/31099723.html |access-date=2022-12-13 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}{{bsn|date=September 2024}}</ref>

The standard system of symbols used by [[linguist]]s to represent sounds in any language, independently of orthography, is called the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=International Phonetic Association |title=Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: a guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=0-521-65236-7}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Abecedarium]]
* [[Alphabet book]]
* [[Alphabet effect]]
* [[Fingerspelling]]
* [[Pangram]]
* [[Letter symbolism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Coulmas |first=Florian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOywmavmZ3UC |title=The Writing Systems of the World |publisher=Blackwell |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-631-18028-9}}
* {{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781118932667 |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems |date=1999 |last1=Coulmas |first1=Florian |isbn=978-0-631-19446-0 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Peter T. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937 |title=The World's Writing Systems |last2=Bright |first2=William |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Driver |first=Godfrey Rolles |author-link=Godfrey Rolles Driver |title=Semitic Writing (Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology S |title-link=Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-19-725917-7 |edition=3rd}}
* {{Cite book |last=Haarmann |first=Harald |title=Geschichte der Schrift |publisher=C. H. Beck |year=2004 |isbn=978-3-406-47998-4 |edition=2nd |location=München |language=de |trans-title=History of Writing}}
* {{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110214307 |title=Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship |date=2009 |last1=Hock |first1=Hans Henrich |last2=Joseph |first2=Brian D. |isbn=978-3-11-021842-8 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Hoffman |first=Joel M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=momIk7nVNdkC |title=In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language |publisher=NYU Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8147-3654-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Logan |first=Robert K. |title=The Alphabet Effect: A Media Ecology Understanding of the Making of Western Civilization |publisher=Hampton |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57273-523-1}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=McLuhan |first1=Marshall |last2=Logan |first2=Robert K. |year=1977 |title=Alphabet, Mother of Invention |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=373–383 |jstor=42575278}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Millard |first=A. R. |year=1986 |title=The Infancy of the Alphabet |journal=World Archaeology |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=390–398 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1986.9979978 |jstor=124703}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Marc-Alain |first1=Ouaknin |url=https://archive.org/details/mysteriesofalpha00ouak |title=Mysteries of the Alphabet: The Origins of Writing |last2=Josephine |first2=Bacon |publisher=Abbeville |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7892-0521-6 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Powell |first=Barry B. |title=Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-521-58907-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Powell |first=Barry B. |title=Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization |publisher=Blackwell |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4051-6256-2 |location=Oxford |author-mask=3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sacks |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/letterperfect00davi |title=Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of Our Alphabet from A to Z |publisher=Broadway |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7679-1173-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Saggs |first=H. W. F. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300050318 |title=Civilization Before Greece and Rome |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-300-05031-8 |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110924596 |title=Multilingualism in China |date=2003 |last1=Zhou |first1=Minglang |isbn=978-3-11-017896-8 }}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|alphabet}}
{{Commons category|Alphabets}}
* [http://www.uca.edu.ar/esp/sec-ffilosofia/esp/docs-institutos/s-cehao/boletin/damqatum3_eng2007.pdf "Language, Writing and Alphabet: An Interview with Christophe Rico"], ''Damqātum 3'' (2007)
* [[Michael Everson]]'s [http://www.evertype.com/alphabets/index.html Alphabets of Europe]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100429051634/http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=2&ArticleID=6 How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs]—Biblical Archaeology Review
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171001194931/https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=E39B50D7D9EA3235&resid=E39B50D7D9EA3235!126&app=WordPdf An Early Hellenic Alphabet]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160128234751/http://www.jaars.org/museum/alphabet/index.htm Museum of the Alphabet]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0054950 The Alphabet], BBC Radio 4 discussion with Eleanor Robson, Alan Millard and Rosalind Thomas (''In Our Time'', 18 December 2003)

{{Writing systems|expanded=Alphabets}}
{{List of writing systems}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Alphabets| ]]
[[Category:Orthography]]