Who invented our alphabet

Enjoy this article? Articles Featured Facts History Language. How is Public Enemy far from modern English? Brian Obey January 9, am. Best regards as Rablah. The Origin of the English Alphabet This is a very confused and misleading article. EarlyMedievalSerf December 13, pm.

San Aero September 1, pm. Linnea November 8, am. Lee Mr. July 6, am. Prima November 11, am. The busy trading of the Phoenicians meant their inventions quickly spread to their trading partners. People soon realised writing was a good way to keep track of what they bought and sold. Read more: Curious Kids: Who made the alphabet song? Hello, curious kids! Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids theconversation. Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in.

Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. Louise Pryke , Macquarie University. We call each of symbol a letter. Each letter of the alphabet represents one sound in our language. By combining these letters, it's possible to represent an unlimited number of words.

Many different alphabets have been used around the world throughout history. Often, new alphabets are created by modifying the alphabet of another language. The Latin alphabet also called the "Roman alphabet" is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. This is the system on which the English alphabet is based. Are you ready to learn even more about alphabets?

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Does every paragraph in the Wonder talk about that topic? Hi, aretre! Sometimes, our Wonders do not have straightforward answers. This Wonder is an example of this. Thousands of years ago, cave paintings documented the first forms of alphabets.

Hieroglyphics can also be considered one of the earliest forms of the alphabet. The Phoenicians helped create the foundation of our modern alphabet, and we base the English alphabet on the Latin or Roman alphabet. Hi, Carolyn!!

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The following is how you would cite this page:. Accessed 28 Sept. Thanks for sharing your opinion, Lily. Black licorice has a very distinct taste that some people don't like. Do you like the other flavors of licorice, like strawberry?

Hi, Yash! We hope this Wonder was helpful and informational! You can also keep researching about the alphabet at the library and online!

Hello, Krishna! We hope you learned more about the alphabet! You can also keep researching at your library and online! Hi, Subiksha! We encourage you to keep researching at your library and online! Hi, Wonder Friend! It's definitely been around a long time! The Wonder tells us around B. Welcome, Darreus! The alphabet is very convenient and important! We're glad you liked this Wonder! Hi, Abby! Thanks for reading the Wonder so closely.

Bonjour, BellaMonica Loci! That was neat, SurA! This Wonder is full of interesting information! Thank you for commenting, awais! We hope you enjoyed this Wonder! You're very welcome, melina! We're you liked this Wonder! Welcome back, melina! Hi, Varsha! Thanks for joining the discussion! We encourage you to keep researching about the history of the alphabet at your library and online! Hello, Conner! It's always great when we're having fun and learning new things!

We hope you learned some new information about the creation of the alphabet. Thanks for stopping by Wonderopolis and leaving us your comment, Nihal! You got it, Kenzie! Thanks for visiting Wonderopolis! We think you're A wesome, B rilliant and C ool! You are free to express yourself. When humans began developing writing systems, we naturally had to divide our world into a finite number of atomic units which we express using symbols. Any written language can be thought of in this way.

Messages are formed by arranging symbols in specific patterns. Let's return to 3, BC and explore two ancient writing systems. First, in ancient Egypt, we had Hieroglyphics, a priestly form of communication reserved for governmental, fiscal, magical, and religious purposes.

It was practiced by a select few writers known as scribes, and writing was generally unintelligible to the common people. The symbols themselves broadly fall into two categories, word signs, which are symbols that represent a single meaningful concept Woman showing mouth: Back. These symbols represent chunks of sound. Dark haired woman: Be. Boy in red shirt: Ze. Girl in black shirt: Ton. Boy in green shirt: Ca. Brit: Now, the total number of different symbols in common use was over 1,, and if you divide all of these symbols into word signs versus sound signs, we find a much smaller portion of sound signs.

There were around sound signs, and of these, only 33 represented distinct consonants, a tiny fraction of all of the symbols in use. At the time, the medium used to store the symbols was primarily rock, and this was ideal for durable inscriptions, allowing messages to travel into the future. Mobility was not a main concern when communicating messages in this way.

However, a new physical medium for storing symbols was emerging at the time. Along the Nile, silt deposits left from flooding made the surrounding land extremely fertile, and one of the many crops they grew was Papyrus.

It could be sliced into strips, and these strips were then soaked, bell tones Brit: and weaved together and finally pressed, allowing the natural sugars to act as glue.