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History
Letter (alphabet)
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In a writing system, a letter is a grapheme that generally corresponds to a phoneme—the smallest functional unit of speech—though there is rarely total one-to-one correspondence between the two. An alphabet is a writing system that uses letters.
Ancient inscription on a vase featuring Greek letters
Ancient inscription on a vase featuring Greek letters
The American manual alphabet, an example of letters in fingerspelling
The American manual alphabet, an example of letters in fingerspelling
Engravings of decorated Latin letters, from the 18th century (note the lack of a J and a U)
Engravings of decorated Latin letters, from the 18th century (note the lack of a J and a U)
Image: Decorated Roman alphabet MET DP855610
Image: Decorated Roman alphabet MET DP855610
Writing system
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A writing system comprises a particular set of symbols, called a script, as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. Writing systems can generally be classified according to how symbols function according to these rules, with the most common types being alphabets, syllabaries, and logographies. Alphabets use symbols called letters that correspond to spoken phonemes. Abjads generally only have letters for consonants, while pure alphabets have letters for both consonants and vowels. Abugidas use characters that correspond to consonant–vowel pairs. Syllabaries use symbols called syllabograms to represent syllables or moras. Logographies use characters that represent semantic units, such as words or morphemes.
Written Chinese uses morphosyllabic characters assembled from phonetic and semantic components in order to encode the spoken language
Written Chinese uses morphosyllabic characters assembled from phonetic and semantic components in order to encode the spoken language
A Specimen of typefaces and styles, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia
A Specimen of typefaces and styles, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia
Table of scripts in the introduction to Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier Monier-Williams.
Table of scripts in the introduction to Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier Monier-Williams.
This textbook for Puyi shows the English alphabet. Although the English letters run from left to right, the Chinese explanations run from top to botto
This textbook for Puyi shows the English alphabet. Although the English letters run from left to right, the Chinese explanations run from top to bottom then right to left, as traditionally written.