Definition:
The letters of a language, arranged in the order fixed by custom. The basic principle of alphabetic writing is to represent a single sound of a spoken language by a single letter. As Johanna Drucker notes in The Alphabetic Labyrinth (1995), "This phonetic writing system is at best an approximation. The orthography of English, for instance, is notoriously plagued by inconsistencies and peculiarities." See also:
- Letter
- Capital Letter
- Lower Case
- From A to Z: A Few Facts About the Alphabet
- NATO Alphabet
- The Alphabet Poem from The Admiral's Caravan by Charles E. Carryl
- Mark Twain on the Rotten English Alphabet
Etymology:
From the Greek, alpha + betaExamples and Observations:
- "While the alphabet is phonetic in nature, this is not true of all other written languages. Writing systems . . . may also be logographic, in which case the written sign represents a single word, or ideographic, in which ideas or concepts are represented directly in the form of glyphs or characters."
(Johanna Drucker, The Alphabetic Labyrinth. Thames, 1995) - "Writers spend three years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet. It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day."
(Richard Price) - "The dual alphabet--the combination of capital letters and small letters in a single system--is first found in a form of writing named after Emperor Charlemagne (742-814), Carolingian minuscule. It was widely acclaimed for its clarity and attractiveness, and exercised great influence on subsequent handwriting styles throughout Europe."
(David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook, 2005) - "Educational television . . . can only lead to unreasonable disappointment when your child discovers that the letters of the alphabet do not leap up out of books and dance around with royal-blue chickens."
(Fran Lebowitz)
Pronunciation: AL-fa-BET
