View source for Social:English alphabet

{{Short description|Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name        = English alphabet
| altname     = 
| type        = [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
| languages   = [[Social:English language|English]]
| time        = {{circa}}1500 to present
| fam1        = (Proto-writing)
| fam2        = [[Social:Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
| fam3        = Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
| fam4        = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam5        = Greek alphabet
| fam6        = [[Social:Old Italic script|Old Italic script]]
| fam7        = Latin alphabet
| children    = {{plainlist|
*ISO basic Latin alphabet
*Cherokee syllabary (in part)
*[[Social:Scots language#Orthography|Scots alphabet]]
*[[Social:Osage alphabet|Osage alphabet]]
*Saanich writing system
*Numerous other Latin-based orthographies
}}
| sample      = Dax sample.png
| imagesize   = 200px
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf U+0000 to U+007E] Basic Latin and punctuation
| iso15924    = Latn
| caption     = An English pangram displaying all the characters in context, in FF Dax Regular [[Typeface|typeface]]
}}

The [[Social:Alphabet|alphabet]] for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26&nbsp;[[Social:Letter (alphabet)|letters]], each having an [[Social:Letter case|upper- and lower-case]] form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ''alpha'' and ''beta''. The alphabet originated around the 7th&nbsp;century to write [[Social:Old English|Old English]] from Latin script. Since then, letters have been added or removed to give the current letters:

{{flatlist | indent=1 |
* {{Nowrap|A a}}
* {{Nowrap|B b}}
* {{Nowrap|C c}}
* {{Nowrap|D d}}
* {{Nowrap|E e}}
* {{Nowrap|F f}}
* {{Nowrap|G g}}
* {{Nowrap|H h}}
* {{Nowrap|I i}}
* {{Nowrap|J j}}
* {{Nowrap|K k}}
* {{Nowrap|L l}}
* {{Nowrap|M m}}
* {{Nowrap|N n}}
* {{Nowrap|O o}}
* {{Nowrap|P p}}
* {{Nowrap|Q q}}
* {{Nowrap|R r}}
* {{Nowrap|S s}}
* {{Nowrap|T t}}
* {{Nowrap|U u}}
* {{Nowrap|V v}}
* {{Nowrap|W w}}
* {{Nowrap|X x}}
* {{Nowrap|Y y}}
* {{Nowrap|Z z}}
}}

The exact shape of printed letters varies depending on the [[Typeface|typeface]] (and [[Font|font]]), and the standard printed form may differ significantly from the shape of handwritten letters (which varies between individuals), especially cursive.

The English alphabet has 5 vowels, 19 consonants, and 2 letters (Y and W) that can function as consonants or vowels.

Written English has a large number of digraphs, such as ch, ea, oo, sh, and th. Within the languages used in Europe, English stands out in not normally using diacritics in native words.

==Letter names==
[[File:Chart of the English alphabet from 1740 (from James Hoy, Irish Spelling-Book).png|thumb|English alphabet from 1740, with some unusual letter names.  Note the use of long s.]]
{{anchor|alphabet letter names}}{{Listen
 |filename     = Alphabet.oga
 |title        = English alphabet
 |type         = speech
 |description  = A [[Social:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunciation]] British English speaker reciting the English alphabet
}}
The names of the letters are commonly spelled out in compound words and initialisms (e.g., ''tee-shirt, deejay, emcee, okay,'' etc.), derived forms (e.g., ''exed out, effing, to eff and blind, aitchless'', etc.), and objects named after letters (e.g., ''en'' and ''em'' in printing, and ''wye'' in railroading). The spellings listed below are from the Oxford English Dictionary. Plurals of consonant names are formed by adding ''-s'' (e.g., ''bees'', ''efs'' or ''effs'', ''ems'') or ''-es'' in the cases of ''aitches'', ''esses'', ''exes''. Plurals of vowel names also take ''-es'' (i.e., ''aes'', ''ees'', ''ies'', ''oes'', ''ues''), but these are rare. For a letter as a letter, the letter itself is most commonly used, generally in capitalized form, in which case the plural just takes ''-s'' or ''-'s'' (e.g. ''Cs'' or ''c's'' for ''cees'').

<!-- Note: These are the *names of the letters*, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. They are not pronunciation guides. Please don't change "cee" (the correct spelling) to "see", or "i" to "eye". -->
{| class="wikitable sortable" 
! rowspan="2"|Letter !! colspan="2" | Name !! colspan="4" |Name pronunciation
! rowspan="2" | {{Tooltip|Freq.|Frequency}}
|-
!Modern<br/>English<ref>''The Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition.</ref>
!Latin
!Modern<br/>English
!Latin
!Old<br/>French
!Middle<br/>English
|-
| A || ''a''<!--No, not "ay" and "ai", unless you have a citation--> 
|''ā''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ}}{{efn|often in Hiberno-English, due to the letter's pronunciation in the [[Social:Irish language|Irish language]]}}
|/aː/
|/aː/
|/aː/
|style="text-align:right;"|8.17%
|-
| B || ''bee''
|''bē''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː}}
|/beː/
|/beː/
|/beː/
|style="text-align:right;"|1.49%
|-
| C || ''cee''<!--No, not "see", unless you have a citation--> 
|''cē''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː}}
|/keː/
|/tʃeː/ > /tseː/<br/>> /seː/
|/seː/
|style="text-align:right;"|2.78%
|-
| D || ''dee'' 
|''dē''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|iː}}
|/deː/
|/deː/
|/deː/
|style="text-align:right;"|4.25%
|-
| E || ''e''<!--No, not "ee", unless you have a citation--> 
|''ē''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː}} 
|/eː/
|/eː/
|/eː/
|style="text-align:right;"|12.70%
|-
| F || ''ef'', ''eff''
|''ef''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|f}}
|/ɛf/
|/ɛf/
|/ɛf/
|style="text-align:right;" |2.23%
|-
| G || ''gee'' 
| ''gē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|iː}} 
| /ɡeː/
| /dʒeː/
| /dʒeː/
| style="text-align:right;"|2.02%
|-
| rowspan="2" | H || ''aitch'' 
| rowspan="2" |''hā''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|tʃ}}
| rowspan="2" |/haː/ > /ˈaha/<br/>> /ˈakːa/
| rowspan="2" |/ˈaːtʃə/
| rowspan="2" |/aːtʃ/
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;"|6.09%
|-
| ''haitch''{{efn|The usual form in Hiberno-English and Australian English}}|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|eɪ|tʃ}}
|-
| I || ''i'' 
|''ī''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ}} 
|/iː/
|/iː/
|/iː/
|style="text-align:right;"|6.97%
|-
| rowspan="2" | J || ''jay'' 
| rowspan="2" |–|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|eɪ}}
| rowspan="2" |–
| rowspan="2" |–
| rowspan="2" |{{efn|The letter J did not occur in Old French or Middle English. The Modern French name is ''ji'' /ʒi/, corresponding to Modern English ''jy'' (rhyming with ''i''), which in most areas was later replaced with ''jay'' (rhyming with ''kay'').}}
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;"|0.15%
|-
| ''jy''{{efn|in Scottish English}} || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|aɪ}}
|-
| K || ''kay'' 
|''kā''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|eɪ}}
|/kaː/
|/kaː/
|/kaː/
|style="text-align:right;"|0.77%
|-
| L || ''el'', ''ell''{{efn|In the US, an L-shaped object may be spelled ''ell''.}}
| ''el'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|l}}
| /ɛl/
| /ɛl/
| /ɛl/
| style="text-align:right;" |4.03%
|-
| M || ''em'' 
|''em''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|m}}
|/ɛm/
|/ɛm/
|/ɛm/
|style="text-align:right;"|2.41%
|-
| N || ''en'' 
|''en''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|n}}
|/ɛn/
|/ɛn/
|/ɛn/
|style="text-align:right;"|6.75%
|-
| O || ''o''<!--No, not "oh", unless you have a citation--> 
|''ō''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|oʊ}}
|/oː/
|/oː/
|/oː/
|style="text-align:right;"|7.51%
|-
| P || ''pee'' 
|''pē''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː}}
|/peː/
|/peː/
|/peː/
|style="text-align:right;"|1.93%
|-
| Q || ''cue'', ''kew'',<br/>''kue'', ''que'' 
|''qū''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|j|uː}}
|/kuː/
|/kyː/
|/kiw/
|style="text-align:right;"|0.10%
|-
| rowspan="2" | R || ''ar'' 
| rowspan="2" |''er''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr}}
| rowspan="2" |/ɛr/
| rowspan="2" |/ɛr/
| rowspan="2" |/ɛr/ > /ar/
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" |5.99%
|-
| ''or''{{efn|in Hiberno-English}} || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔr}}
|-
| rowspan="2" | S || ''ess''
| rowspan="2" |''es''|| rowspan="2" | {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|s}}
| rowspan="2" |/ɛs/
| rowspan="2" |/ɛs/
| rowspan="2" |/ɛs/
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" |6.33%
|-
|''es-''{{efn|in compounds such as ''es-hook''}}
|-
| T || ''tee'' 
|''tē''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|iː}}
|/teː/
|/teː/
|/teː/
|style="text-align:right;"|9.06%
|-
| U || ''u''<!--No, not "you", unless you have a citation--> 
|''ū''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|uː}} 
|/uː/
|/yː/
|/iw/
|style="text-align:right;"|2.76%
|-
| V || ''vee'' 
|–|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|iː}}
|–
|–
|–
|style="text-align:right;"|0.98%
|-
| W || ''double-u'' 
|–|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|əl|.|j|uː}}{{efn|Especially in American English, the /l/ is often not pronounced in informal speech. ''(Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'', 10th ed). Common colloquial pronunciations are {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|ə|j|uː}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|ə|j|ə}}, and {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|j|ə}} (as in the nickname "Dubya") or just {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b}}, especially in terms like ''www.''}}
|–
|–
|–
|style="text-align:right;"|2.36%
|-
| rowspan="2" | X || rowspan="2" | ''ex'' 
|''ex''|| rowspan="2" | {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|k|s}}
|/ɛks/
| rowspan="2" |/iks/
| rowspan="2" |/ɛks/
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" |0.15%
|-
|''ix''
|/ɪks/
|-
| rowspan="3" |Y
| rowspan="3" |''wy'', ''wye''
| rowspan="2" |''hȳ''
| rowspan="3" |{{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|aɪ}}
|/hyː/
| rowspan="2" |''ui, gui'' ?
| rowspan="3" |/wiː/
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:right;" |1.97%
|-
|/iː/
|-
|''ī graeca''
|/iː ˈɡraɪka/
|/iː ɡrɛːk/
|-
| rowspan="2" | Z || ''zed''{{efn|in British English, Hiberno-English and Commonwealth English}} 
| rowspan="2" |''zēta''|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|ɛ|d}}
| rowspan="2" |/ˈzeːta/
| rowspan="2" |/ˈzɛːdə/
| rowspan="2" |/zɛd/
| rowspan="2"  style="text-align:right;"|0.07%
|-
| ''zee''{{efn|in American English, Newfoundland English and Philippine English}} || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|iː}}
|}

=== Etymology ===
The names of the letters are for the most part direct descendants, via French, of the Latin (and Etruscan) names. (See Latin alphabet: Origins.)

The regular phonological developments (in rough chronological order) are:
* palatalization before front vowels of Latin {{IPA|/k/}} successively to {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, {{IPA|/ts/}}, and finally to Middle French {{IPA|/s/}}. Affects C.
* palatalization before front vowels of Latin {{IPA|/ɡ/}} to Proto-Romance and Middle French {{IPA|/dʒ/}}. Affects G.
* fronting of Latin {{IPA|/uː/}} to Middle French {{IPA|/yː/}}, becoming Middle English {{IPA|/iw/}} and then Modern English {{IPA|/juː/}}. Affects Q, U.
* the inconsistent lowering of Middle English {{IPA|/ɛr/}} to {{IPA|/ar/}}. Affects R.
* the Great Vowel Shift, shifting all Middle English long vowels. Affects A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, K, O, P, T, and presumably Y.

The novel forms are ''aitch'', a regular development of Medieval Latin ''acca''; ''jay'', a new letter presumably vocalized like neighboring ''kay'' to avoid confusion with established ''gee'' (the other name, ''jy'', was taken from French); ''vee'', a new letter named by analogy with the majority; ''double-u'', a new letter, self-explanatory (the name of Latin V was ''ū''); ''wye'', of obscure origin but with an antecedent in Old French ''wi''; izzard, from the Romance phrase ''i zed'' or ''i zeto'' "and Z" said when reciting the alphabet; and ''zee'', an American levelling of ''zed'' by analogy with other consonants.

Some groups of letters, such as ''pee'' and ''bee'', or ''em'' and ''en'', are easily confused in speech, especially when heard over the telephone or a radio communications link. Spelling alphabets such as the ICAO spelling alphabet, used by [[Engineering:Aircraft|aircraft]] pilots, police and others, are designed to eliminate this potential confusion by giving each letter a name that sounds quite different from any other.

===Ampersand===
The [[Ampersand|ampersand]] (&) has sometimes appeared at the end of the English alphabet, as in Byrhtferð's list of letters in 1011.<ref name="Evertype" /> ''&'' was regarded as the 27th letter of the English alphabet, as taught to children in the US and elsewhere. An example may be seen in M. B. Moore's 1863 book ''The Dixie Primer, for the Little Folks''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/moore/moore.html#moore5|work=Branson, Farrar & Co., Raleigh NC|title=The Dixie Primer, for the Little Folks}}</ref> Historically, the figure is a [[Social:Typographic ligature|ligature]] for the letters ''Et''. In English and many other languages, it is used to represent the word ''and'', plus occasionally the Latin word ''et'', as in the abbreviation ''&c'' (et cetera).<!---and is used for other purposes, too. & is on a normal keyboard with the combo SHIFT + 7--->

===Archaic letters===
[[Social:Old English|Old]] and [[Social:Middle English|Middle English]] had a number of non-Latin letters that have since dropped out of use. These either took the names of the equivalent runes, since there were no Latin names to adopt, or (thorn, wyn) were runes themselves. 
*Æ æ ''ash'' or ''æsc'' {{IPAc-en|'|æ|ʃ}}, used for the vowel {{IPAc-en|æ}}, which disappeared from the language and then reformed. Replaced by ae{{efn|in British English}} and e now.
*Ð ð ''edh''<!--OED spelling first-->, ''eð'' or ''eth'' {{IPAc-en|'|ɛ|ð}}, and Þ þ ''thorn'' or ''þorn'' {{IPAc-en|'|θ|ɔr|n}}, both used for the consonants {{IPAc-en|ð}} and {{IPAc-en|θ}} (which did not become phonemically distinct until after these letters had fallen out of use). Replaced by th now.
*Œ œ ''ethel'', ''ēðel'', ''œ̄þel'', etc. {{IPAc-en|'|ɛ|ð|əl}}, used for the vowel {{IPAslink|œ}}, which disappeared from the language quite early. Replaced by oe{{efn|in British English}} and e now.
*Ƿ ƿ ''wyn''<!--OED spelling first-->, ''ƿen'' or ''wynn'' {{IPAc-en|'|w|ɪ|n}}, used for the consonant {{IPAc-en|w}}. (The letter 'w' had not yet been invented.) Replaced by w now.
*Ȝ ȝ ''[[History:Yogh|yogh]]'', ''ȝogh'' or ''yoch'' {{IPAc-en|'|j|ɒ|g}} or  {{IPAc-en|'|j|ɒ|x}}, used for various sounds derived from {{IPAc-en|g}}, such as {{IPAc-en|j}} and {{IPAc-en|x}}. Replaced by y, j{{efn|in words like ''hallelujah''}} and ch{{efn|in words like ''loch'' in Scottish English}} now.
*ſ long s, an earlier form of the lowercase "s" that continued to be used alongside the modern lowercase s into the 1800s. Replaced by lowercase s now.

== Diacritics ==
The most common diacritic marks seen in English publications are the acute (é), grave (è), circumflex (â, î, or ô), tilde (ñ), umlaut and diaeresis (ü or ï—the same symbol is used for two different purposes), and cedilla (ç).<ref>{{Citation|last=Strizver|first=Ilene|title=Accents & Accented Characters|url=http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/signs-and-symbols/accents|work=Fontology|publisher=Monotype Imaging|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> Diacritics used for [[Social:Tone (linguistics)|tonal languages]] may be replaced with [[Social:Tone number|tonal numbers]] or omitted.

=== Loanwords ===
Diacritic marks mainly appear in loanwords such as ''naïve'' and ''façade''. Informal English writing tends to omit diacritics because of their absence from the keyboard, while professional copywriters and typesetters tend to include them.

As such words become naturalised in English, there is a tendency to drop the diacritics, as has happened with many older borrowings from French, such as ''hôtel''. Words that are still perceived as foreign tend to retain them; for example, the only spelling of ''soupçon'' found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic. However, diacritics are likely to be retained even in naturalised words where they would otherwise be confused with a common native English word (for example, ''résumé'' rather than ''resume'').<ref>{{Citation |publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association |title=MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors and Editors |url=http://www.mhra.org.uk/style |year=2013 |postscript=. |at=Section 2.2 |edition=3rd |location=London |format=pdf |access-date=2019-06-17 |isbn=978-1-78188-009-8}}</ref> Rarely, they may even be added to a loanword for this reason (as in ''maté'', from Spanish ''[[Biology:Yerba mate|yerba mate]]'' but following the pattern of ''café'', from French, to distinguish from ''mate'').

=== Native English words ===
Occasionally, especially in older writing, diacritics are used to indicate the syllables of a word: ''cursed'' (verb) is pronounced with one syllable, while ''cursèd'' (adjective) is pronounced with two. For this, ''è'' is used widely in poetry, e.g., in Shakespeare's sonnets. J. R. R. Tolkien used ''ë'', as in ''O wingëd crown''.

Similarly, while in ''chicken coop'' the letters ''-oo-'' represent a single vowel sound (a digraph), they less often represent two which may be marked with a diaresis as in ''zoölogist''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zoölogist|first=Minnesota Office of the State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_kUAAAAYAAJ&q=%22zo%C3%B6logist%22&pg=PA4|title=Report of the State Zoölogist|date=1892|language=en}}</ref> and ''coöperation''. This use of the diaeresis is rare but found in some well-known publications, such as ''MIT Technology Review'' and ''The New Yorker''. Some publications, particularly in UK usage, have replaced the diaeresis with a hyphen such as in co-operative. {{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

In general, these devices are not used even where they would serve to alleviate some degree of confusion.

== Punctuation marks within words ==

=== Apostrophe ===
The apostrophe (ʼ) is not usually considered part of the English alphabet nor used as a diacritic, even in loanwords. But it is used for two important purposes in written English: to mark the "possessive"{{efn|Linguistic analyses vary on how best to characterise the English possessive morpheme ''-'s'': a noun case inflectional suffix distinct to ''possession'', a ''genitive case'' inflectional suffix equivalent to prepositional periphrastic ''of X'' (or rarely ''for X''), an ''edge inflection'' that uniquely attaches to a noun phrase's final (rather than ''head'') word, or an ''enclitic postposition''.}} and to mark [[Social:Contraction (grammar)|contracted]] words. Current standards require its use for both purposes. Therefore, apostrophes are necessary to spell many words even in isolation, unlike most punctuation marks, which are concerned with indicating sentence structure and other relationships among multiple words.

* It distinguishes (from the otherwise identical regular plural inflection ''-s'') the English possessive morpheme ''<nowiki/>'s'' (apostrophe alone after a regular plural affix, giving ''-s''' as the standard mark for plural + possessive). Practice settled in the 18th century; before then, practices varied but typically all three endings were written ''-s'' (but without cumulation). This meant that only regular nouns bearing neither could be confidently identified, and plural and possessive could be potentially confused (e.g., "the Apostles words"'';'' "those things over there are my husbands"<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21619016-27197,00.html |title=Little Things that Matter |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904080438/www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21619016-27197,00.html |archive-date=2012-09-04 |website=The Courier-Mail |date=2007-04-26 |access-date=2013-04-07 |first1=Jane |last1=Fynes-Clinton }}</ref>)—which undermines the logic of "[[Social:Marker (linguistics)|marked]]" forms.
* Many common contractions have near-homographs from which they are distinguished in writing only by an apostrophe, for example ''it's'' (''it is'' or ''it has'') as opposed to ''its'', the possessive form of "it", or ''she'd'' (''she would'' or ''she had'') as opposed to ''shed''.

In a ''Chronicle of Higher Education'' blog, Geoffrey Pullum argued that apostrophe is the 27th letter of the alphabet, arguing that it does not function as a form of punctuation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pullum |first= Geoffrey K.|title=Being an apostrophe |journal =Lingua Franca |date=March 22, 2013 |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education |url=https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/21/being-an-apostrophe/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013205712/https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/21/being-an-apostrophe/ |archive-date= Oct 13, 2023 }}</ref>

=== Hyphen ===
Hyphens are often used in English compound words. Written compound words may be hyphenated, open or closed, so specifics are guided by [[Style guide|stylistic policy]]. Some writers may use a slash in certain instances.

== Frequencies ==
{{Main|Letter frequency}}
The letter most commonly used in English is E. The least used letter is Z. The frequencies shown in the table may differ in practice according to the type of text.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cipher Systems: The Protection of Communications|last1=Beker|first1=Henry|last2=Piper|first2=Fred|publisher=Wiley-Interscience|year=1982|page=397}} Table also available from
{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyCcRAm7eQMC&pg=PA36|title=Cryptological Mathematics|last=Lewand|first=Robert|publisher=Mathematical Association of America|year=2000|isbn=978-0883857199|page=36}} and {{cite web|url=http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html|title=English letter frequencies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708193159/http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html|archive-date=2008-07-08|url-status=dead|access-date=2008-06-25}}</ref>

== Phonology ==

The letters A, E, I, O, and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they represent vowels, although I and U represent consonants in words such as "onion" and "quail" respectively.

The letter Y sometimes represents a consonant (as in "young") and sometimes a vowel (as in "myth"). Very rarely, W may represent a vowel (as in "cwm", a [[Social:Welsh language|Welsh]] loanword).

The consonant sounds represented by the letters W and Y in English (/w/ and /j/ as in yes /jɛs/ and went /wɛnt/) are referred to as semi-vowels (or ''glides'') by linguists, however this is a description that applies to the ''sounds'' represented by the letters and not to the letters themselves.

The remaining letters are considered consonant letters, since when not silent they generally represent consonants.

== History ==

===Old English===

The [[Social:English language|English language]] itself was first written in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc runic alphabet, in use from the 5th century. This alphabet was brought to what is now England, along with the proto-form of the language itself, by Anglo-Saxon settlers. Very few examples of this form of written Old English have survived, mostly as short inscriptions or fragments.

The Latin script, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc from about the 7th&nbsp;century, although the two continued in parallel for some time. As such, the Old English alphabet began to employ parts of the Roman alphabet in its construction.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Early Medieval Europe |last=Shaw |first=Phillip |date=May 2013 |title=Adapting the Roman alphabet for Writing Old English: Evidence from Coin Epigraphy and Single-Sheet Characters |volume= 21 |issue=2 |pages=115–139|via=Ebscohost |doi=10.1111/emed.12012 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |s2cid=163075636 |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emed.12012}} </ref> Futhorc influenced the emerging English alphabet by providing it with the letters ''thorn'' (Þ þ) and ''wynn'' (Ƿ ƿ). The letter ''eth'' (Ð ð) was later devised as a modification of ''dee'' (D d), and finally ''[[History:Yogh|yogh]]'' ({{lang|ang|Ȝ}} {{lang|ang|ȝ}}) was created by Norman scribes from the [[History:Insular G|insular ''g'']] in Old English and [[Social:Irish language|Irish]], and used alongside their Carolingian ''g''.

The a-e [[Social:Ligature (writing)|ligature]] ''ash'' (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter in its own right, named after a futhorc rune ''æsc''. In very early Old English the o-e ligature ''ethel'' (Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise named after a rune, ''[[Odal (rune)|œðel]]''{{citation_needed|date=March 2014}}. Additionally, the v–v or u-u ligature ''double-u'' (W w) was in use.

In the year&nbsp;1011, a monk named [[Biography:Byrhtferth|Byrhtferð]] recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet.<ref name="Evertype">Michael Everson, Evertype, Baldur Sigurðsson, Íslensk Málstöð, ''[http://www.evertype.com/standards/wynnyogh/thorn.html On the Status of the Latin Letter Þorn and of its Sorting Order]''</ref> He listed the 24&nbsp;letters of the Latin alphabet first, including the [[Ampersand|ampersand]], then 5 additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note ''ond'' (⁊), an insular symbol for ''and'':

{{Block indent
|style=font-family:monospace
|1={{big|A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z & ⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ}}
}}

===Modern English===
In the orthography of Modern English, the letters thorn (þ), eth (ð), wynn (ƿ), [[History:Yogh|yogh]] ({{lang|ang|ȝ}}), ash (æ), and ethel (œ) are obsolete. [[Social:Latin|Latin]] borrowings reintroduced homographs of æ and œ into [[Social:Middle English|Middle English]] and Early Modern English, though they are largely obsolete (see "Ligatures in recent usage" below), and where they are used they are not considered to be separate letters (e.g., for collation purposes), but rather [[Social:Typographic ligature|ligatures]]. Thorn and eth were both replaced by ''th'', though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lowercase form gradually becoming graphically indistinguishable from the minuscule y in most handwriting. ''Y'' for ''th'' can still be seen in pseudo-archaisms such as "Ye Olde Booke Shoppe". The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day [[Social:Icelandic language|Icelandic]] (where they now represent two separate sounds, {{IPA|/θ/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}} having become phonemically-distinct – as indeed also happened in Modern English), while ð is still used in present-day [[Social:Faroese language|Faroese]] (although only as a silent letter). Wynn disappeared from English around the 14th century when it was supplanted by ''uu'', which ultimately developed into the modern ''w''. Yogh disappeared around the 15th&nbsp;century and was typically replaced by ''gh''.

The letters ''u'' and ''j'', as distinct from ''v'' and ''i'', were introduced in the 16th&nbsp;century, and ''w'' assumed the status of an independent letter. The variant lowercase form long s (ſ) lasted into early modern English, and was used in non-final position up to the early 19th&nbsp;century. Today, the English alphabet is considered to consist of the following 26&nbsp;letters:

{{flatlist | indent=1 |
* {{Nowrap|A a}}
* {{Nowrap|B b}}
* {{Nowrap|C c}}
* {{Nowrap|D d}}
* {{Nowrap|E e}}
* {{Nowrap|F f}}
* {{Nowrap|G g}}
* {{Nowrap|H h}}
* {{Nowrap|I i}}
* {{Nowrap|J j}}
* {{Nowrap|K k}}
* {{Nowrap|L l}}
* {{Nowrap|M m}}
* {{Nowrap|N n}}
* {{Nowrap|O o}}
* {{Nowrap|P p}}
* {{Nowrap|Q q}}
* {{Nowrap|R r}}
* {{Nowrap|S s}}
* {{Nowrap|T t}}
* {{Nowrap|U u}}
* {{Nowrap|V v}}
* {{Nowrap|W w}}
* {{Nowrap|X x}}
* {{Nowrap|Y y}}
* {{Nowrap|Z z}}
}}

Written English has a number of digraphs,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.phonicsontheweb.com/digraphs.php|title=Digraphs (Phonics on the Web)|website=phonicsontheweb.com|access-date=2016-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413162011/http://www.phonicsontheweb.com/digraphs.php|archive-date=2016-04-13|url-status=dead}}</ref> but they are not considered separate letters of the alphabet:

{{flatlist | indent=1 |
* ch (usually makes tsh sound)
* ci (makes s sound)
* ck (makes k sound)
* gh (makes f or g sound (also silent))
* ng (makes a voiced velar nasal)
* ph (makes f sound)
* qu (makes kw sound)
* rh (makes r sound)
* sc (makes s sound (also a blend){{clarify|reason=blend of what?|date=March 2023}})
* sh (makes ch sound without t)
* th (makes theta or eth sound)
* ti (makes sh sound)
* wh (makes w sound)
* wr (makes r sound)
* zh (makes j sound without d)
}}

=== Ligatures in recent usage ===
[[File:Caslon Pro Ligatures.svg|thumb|The ligatures of Adobe Caslon Pro]]
Outside of professional papers on specific subjects that traditionally use ligatures in [[Social:Loanword|loanword]]s, ligatures are seldom used in modern English. The ligatures ''æ'' and ''œ'' were until the 19th&nbsp;century (slightly later in American English){{citation needed|date=December 2014}} used in formal writing for certain words of Greek or Latin origin, such as ''encyclopædia'' and ''[[Biology:Coelom|cœlom]]'', although such ligatures were not used in either classical Latin or ancient Greek. These are now usually rendered as "ae" and "oe" in all types of writing,{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} although in American English, a lone ''e'' has mostly supplanted both (for example, ''encyclopedia'' for ''encyclopaedia'', and ''maneuver'' for ''manoeuvre'').

Some [[Typeface|typeface]]s used to typeset English texts contain commonly used ligatures, such as for {{angle bracket|tt}}, {{angle bracket|fi}}, {{angle bracket|fl}}, {{angle bracket|ffi}}, and {{angle bracket|ffl}}. These are not independent letters{{snd}}although in traditional typesetting, each of these ligatures would have its own sort (type element) for practical reasons{{snd}} but simply type design choices created to optimise the legibility of the text.

==Proposed reforms==
There have been a number of proposals to extend or replace the basic English alphabet. These include proposals for the addition of letters to the English alphabet, such as ''eng'' or ''engma'' (Ŋ ŋ), used to replace the digraph "ng" and represent the voiced velar nasal sound with a single letter. Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet, based on the Latin alphabet, introduced a number of new letters as part of a wider proposal to reform English orthography. Other proposals have gone further, proposing entirely new scripts for written English to replace the Latin alphabet such as the [[Social:Deseret alphabet|Deseret alphabet]] and the Shavian alphabet.

==See also==

* {{Annotated link |Alphabet song}}
* {{Annotated link |NATO phonetic alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |English orthography}}
* {{Annotated link |English-language spelling reform}}
* {{Annotated link |American manual alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |Two-handed manual alphabets}}
* {{Annotated link |English Braille}}
* {{Annotated link |American Braille}}
* {{Annotated link |New York Point}}
* {{Annotated link |Chinese respelling of the English alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |Burmese respelling of the English alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |Base36}}

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Further reading===
* {{cite book| title=Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story| author=Michael Rosen |isbn=978-1619027022| year=2015 | publisher=Counterpoint }}
* {{Citation |last1=Upward |first1=Christopher |last2=Davidson |first2=George |title=The History of English Spelling |date=2011 |location=Oxford |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-9024-4 |lccn=2011008794 |postscript=.}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:English Alphabet}}
[[Category:Alphabets]]

{{Sourceattribution|English alphabet}}