Alphabetic writing

What is alphabet?

Set of conventional symbols used for writing, based on a correlation between individual symbols and spoken sounds,

Comes from alpha (α) and beta (β), the names of the first two letters of the classical Greek alphabet.

• Each letter of the alphabets descended from Greek represents a particular sound or sounds, usually grouped into

• vowels (a, e, i, o, u, in the English version of

the Roman alphabet),

• consonants (b, p, d, t, and so on),

• semivowels (w, y).

Historical Background

• The earliest known alphabet is from Palestine, about 1700 BC.

• Alphabetic writing now takes many forms – for example, the Hebrew aleph-beth and the Arabic script, both written from right to left; the Devanagari script of the Hindus

• The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today.

• Borrowed and modified by the Etruscanns who ruled early Rome.

• The alphabet was then adapted and further modified by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.

    A B C D E  F Z H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X

     A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z                    ( Y and Z were added)

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                   (J, U and W were added)

• The Latin alphabet is also used for many Austronesian :

– Tagalog and the other languages of the Philippines,

Official Malaysian and Indonesian languages.

Principles that can be applied in alphabetic spelling include:

Phonetic reflects the pronunciation

R-e-c-o-n-s-t-r-u-c-t-

Etymology shows the origin of words and word families

Re-con-struct

Morphemic shows how units of meaning build up into words

Re-con-struct-ing

Historical Tradition may be the only explanation for some spellings.Accidents can spoil anything

veil, gauge,sieve

Advantages of alphabetic writing

• Prevent serious misinterpretations of the message of pictographs

• Merchants and tradesmen could write and read messages and reports that said what they wanted to say

• In a consistent spelling system, any unfamiliar word can be written down

• A writer may misspell, and still communicate .

•       It is easy to acquire and remember visual   spelling patterns

•      Foreigners can learn the spoken and written languages at the same time.

Disadvantages of alphabetic writing

• Alphabetic writing systems cannot communicate across time and space like logographs can, such as airport logos, brand-logos, and Chinese characters

Spoken languages are always changing

• Alphabetic systems cannot cross the boundaries of spoken languages,

The complexities of the English Alphabetic Code.

1.one sound (phoneme) can be represented by one, two, three or

four letters: e.g. K, sh, ng, igh, eigh

2.one sound can be represented by different spellings (graphemes):

e.g. Eer is represented by: deer, ears, adhere, cashier.

3.one spelling can represent multiple sounds: e.g. ‘ough’:

/oa/ though, /or/ thought, /oo/ through, /ou/ plough,

/u/ thorough

THANK YOU