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Phonemic structure of a language
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- alphabet, set of graphs, or characters, used to represent the phonemic structure of a language. In most alphabets the characters are arranged in a definite order, or sequence (e.g., A, B, C, etc.). In the usual case, each alphabetic character represents either a consonant or a vowel rather than a syllable or a group of consonants and vowels.
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Jan 7, 2024 · What is phonetics? Phonetics examines how we produce and perceive sounds. There are lots of key terms in Phonetics, and different linguists might use them a bit differently. Two of the most...
Alphabetic understanding is knowing that words are made up of letters that represent the sounds of speech. Phonological recoding is knowing how to translate the letters in printed words into the sounds they make to read and pronounce the words accurately. The alphabetic principle is critical in reading and understanding the meaning of text.
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- Theories of the origin of the alphabet
An alphabet is a set of graphs or characters used to represent the phonemic structure of a language. In most alphabets, the characters are arranged in a definite order or sequence (e.g., A, B, C, etc.).
Where does the word alphabet come from?
The word alphabet comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. It was first used, in its Latin form, alphabetum, by Tertullian during the 2nd–3rd century CE and by St. Jerome. The Classical Greeks customarily used the plural of to gramma (“the letter”); the later form alphabētos was probably adopted under Latin influence.
How many letters are there in the Hebrew alphabet?
The Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 letters. All are consonants, though four of them (alef, he, waw, and yod) are also employed to represent long vowels.
When was the Arabic alphabet developed?
The evolution of the alphabet involved two important achievements. The first was the step taken by a group of Semitic-speaking people, perhaps the Phoenicians, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean between 1700 and 1500 bce. This was the invention of a consonantal writing system known as North Semitic. The second was the invention, by the Greeks, of characters for representing vowels. This step occurred between 800 and 700 bce. While some scholars consider the Semitic writing system an unvocalized syllabary and the Greek system the true alphabet, both are treated here as forms of the alphabet.
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Over the centuries, various theories have been advanced to explain the origin of alphabetic writing, and, since Classical times, the problem has been a matter of serious study. The Greeks and Romans considered five different peoples as the possible inventors of the alphabet—the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Cretans, and Hebrews. Among modern theories are some that are not very different from those of ancient days. Every country situated in or more or less near the eastern Mediterranean has been singled out for the honour. Egyptian writing, cuneiform, Cretan, hieroglyphic Hittite, the Cypriot syllabary, and other scripts have all been called prototypes of the alphabet. The Egyptian theory actually subdivides into three separate theories, according to whether the Egyptian hieroglyphic, the hieratic, or the demotic script is regarded as the true parent of alphabetic writing. Similarly, the idea that cuneiform was the precursor of the alphabet may also be subdivided into those singling out Sumerian, Babylonian, or Assyrian cuneiform.
Among the various other theories concerning the alphabet are the hypotheses that the alphabet was taken by the Philistines from Crete to Palestine, that the various ancient scripts of the Mediterranean countries developed from prehistoric geometric symbols employed throughout the Mediterranean area from the earliest times, and that the proto-Sinaitic inscriptions (discovered since 1905 in the Sinai Peninsula) represent a stage of writing intermediate between the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the North Semitic alphabet. Another hypothesis, the Ugaritic theory, evolved after an epoch-making discovery in 1929 (and the years following) at the site of the ancient Ugarit, on the Syrian coast opposite the most easterly cape of Cyprus. Thousands of clay tablets were found there, documents of inestimable value in many fields of research (including epigraphy, philology, and the history of religion). Dating from the 15th and 14th centuries bce, they were written in a cuneiform alphabet of 30 letters.
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What is Phonology? Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages. Put more formally, phonology is the study of the categorical organisation of speech sounds in languages; how speech sounds are organised in the mind and used to convey meaning.
Sep 12, 2024 · International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), an alphabet developed in the 19th century to accurately represent the pronunciation of languages. One aim of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was to provide a unique symbol for each distinctive sound in a language—that is, every sound, or phoneme, that
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The International Phonetic Alphabet (or IPA as it is commonly referred to) is a system set up to give symbols to all of the speech sounds that occur in all languages internationally. It is an alphabetic notation system, as one symbol corresponds to one particular sound.
Alphabetic writing is a conventional system of representation which allows for the generation of not previously learned combinations of elements into meaningful units. Thus its acquisition must be conceived as going beyond response learning and involving knowledge of...
