Small letter alphabets

English Alphabet | Writing | EnglishClub

An alphabet is a set of letters or symbols that we use to represent the basic speech sounds of a language in writing.

This page looks at writing the English alphabet. You can read about pronouncing the English alphabet here.

The English word "alphabet" comes from the Latin word "alphabetum". The Latin word "alphabetum" came from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, "alpha" and "beta".

Letters of the English Alphabet

The English alphabet has 26 letters, starting with a and ending with z. Below you see the whole alphabet.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

The letters above are "small letters". But they can also be written as "large letters" - see below.The letters of the alphabet are also sometimes called "characters".

Small and Large Letters

We can write each letter of the English alphabet as a "small letter" (abc) or as a "large letter" (ABC). Large letters are also called "capital letters" or "capitals".

Below you see the whole alphabet with small letters on the left and capitals on the right:

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

In informal English, we sometimes call capitals just "caps".

Small letters are sometimes called "lower case" and large letters "upper case". This is because in the old days of printing, before computers, the metal blocks for setting type were kept in two different boxes or "cases": small letters in the bottom or lower case, large letters in the top or upper case.

Font Styles

Printed letters of the alphabet come in different styles or designs. Each style is called a "font". This page shows all 26 characters, as small and large letters, in 5 different styles. Each column displays a different font style, in this order:

Serif: with serifs, or little projections, at the end of most strokes
Fixed-width: like old typewriter lettering - each letter is about the same width, so "i" takes up the same space as "w"
Sans-serif: with no serifs
Cursive: like handwriting
Fantasy: fancy, artistic

Alphabetical Order

The English alphabet starts with the letter a and finishes with the letter z. We always write the alphabet in the same order:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

This order is called "alphabetical order". We often write lists in alphabetical order. For example, to write a list of countries in alphabetical order, we start with countries that begin with the letter A, then with countries that begin with B, and so on. For example:

Australia
Brazil
Canada

If more than one word begins with the letter A, we put them in order based on the second letter, and then the third letter, and so on:

Algeria
Argentina
Belgium
Benin
Bermuda

We use alphabetical order for many things, for example:

dictionaries
indexes of books
telephone directories

When you write any list, it is a good idea to use alphabetical order. This makes it easy for your reader to find a particular item in the list.

English Alphabet - Worldometer

W
Languages
English Alphabet

The English alphabet consists of 26 letters. Each letter has an uppercase ("capital letter") and a lowercase ("small letter") form.

#	Capital Letter	Small Letter	Phonic (pronunciation)	Name
1	A	a	/eɪ/, /æ/	a
2	B	b	/biː/	bee
3	C	c	/siː/	cee
4	D	d	/diː/	dee
5	E	e	/iː/	e
6	F	f	/ɛf/	ef
7	G	g	/dʒiː/	gee
8	H	h	/(h)eɪtʃ/	(h)aitch
9	I	i	/aɪ/	i
10	J	j	/dʒeɪ/	jay
11	K	k	/keɪ/	kay
12	L	l	/ɛl/	el
13	M	m	/ɛm/	em
14	N	n	/ɛn/	en
15	O	o	/oʊ/	o
16	P	p	/piː/	pee
17	Q	q	/kjuː/	cue
18	R	r	/ɑːr/	ar
19	S	s	/ɛs/	ess
20	T	t	/tiː/	tee
21	U	u	/juː/	u
22	V	v	/viː/	vee
23	W	w	/ˈdʌbəl. juː/	double-u
24	X	x	/ɛks/	ex
25	Y	y	/waɪ/	wy
26	Z	z	/zi/zɛd/	zee/zed

Notes

Five of the letters in the English Alphabet are vowels: A, E, I, O, U.
The remaining 21 letters are consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Z, and usually W and Y.
Written English includes the digraphs: ch ci ck gh ng ph qu rh sc sh th ti wh wr zh. These are not considered separate letters of the alphabet.
Two letters, “A” and “I,” also constitute words.
Until fairly recently (until 1835), the 27th letter of the alphabet (right after "z") was the ampersand (&).
The English Alphabet is based on the Latin script, which is the basic set of letters common to the various alphabets originating from the classical Latin alphabet.

Old English

The Old English alphabet letters were 29: 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
The Old English alphabet was recorded in the year 1011 by a monk named Byrhtferð and included the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet (including ampersand) and 5 additional English letters: Long S (ſ), Eth (Ð and ð), Thorn (þ), Wynn (ƿ) and Ash (ᚫ; later Æ and æ).
With respect to Modern English, Old English did not include J, U, and W.

Letter designation of sounds and keys

In music, there are two systems for designating pitch - letter and syllabic. Everyone knows syllabic designations, they are familiar to the ear - this is DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI. But there is another way - the designation of sounds using the letters of the Latin alphabet. Moreover, the letter system for designating sounds arose even historically earlier than the syllabic one.

So, according to the letter system, musical sounds are denoted by the following letters of the Latin alphabet: DO - C (ce), RE - D (de), MI - E (e), FA (ef) - F, SALT - G (ge), LA - A (a), SI - H (ha) .

It is interesting that at the time when the letter system was being formed, the musical scale began with the sound LA, and not with the sound DO. That is why, the first letter of the alphabet A corresponds exactly to the sound LA, and not TO. Another feature of this old system is the B-flat sound in the main scale, it is denoted by the letter B. And the letter H was later assigned to the SI note, which is the main step of the modern scale.0003

Sharps and flats according to the letter system

Raised and lowered steps, that is, sharps and flats, can also be represented in the letter system of sounds. In order to say about a sharp, the suffix IS (is) is added to the letter of the note. And for flats, another suffix is \u200b\u200bused - ES (es).

For example, C-SHAPE is CIS (cis), and C-FLAT is CES (ces).

However, there are a few exceptions to these rules that you need to remember. All of them relate to the designation of flat notes. The MI-FLAT sound in the letter system looks like EES, but in practice one, the middle vowel is reduced and thus the designation ES is obtained. Exactly the same story occurs with the sound A-flat, in its designation AES one vowel sound is reduced and the result is simply AS.

And one more exception to the rule is purely for historical reasons. The B-flat sound is usually referred to as B, not HES.

Double sharps and double flats according to the letter system

When it comes to double sharps and double flats, that is, double sharp and double flat signs, the principle of reflecting them in the letter system is very simple and logical. A double sharp is two sharps, which means two suffixes IS - ISIS, a double flat is two flats and, accordingly, two suffixes ES - ESES. Moreover, the rule with double-flats also applies to the sound SI-DOUBLE-FLAT, which is indicated in this case according to the general rule - HESES.

Thus, using the letter system, it is possible to designate not only basic sounds, but also sharps with flats, as well as double sharps and double flats. Let's summarize all these ways of notation in the table:

Table of letter designations of sounds

Note Sharp Double sharp Flat Double Flat TO c cis cisis ces ceses RE d dis disis des deses MI e eis eisis es eses FA f fis fisis fes feses SALT g gis gisis ges geses A a ais aisis as ases SI h his hisis b heses

Letter designation of keys

In the name of any key - major or minor - two elements are always communicated: this is its main sound (tonic) and its modal mood (major or minor). The same structure is always reflected in the letter system. The tonic is designated as a normal sound, with only one feature - for major keys, the tonic is written with a capital, capital letter, and for minor keys, on the contrary, with a small, lowercase letter.

Special words are used to designate the modal mood. For major - the word DUR, which is an abbreviation for the Latin term DURUS (translated means "hard"). For minor keys, the word MOLL is used, translated from Latin, this term means "soft".

Designation of octaves according to the letter system

The observant reader, perhaps from the very beginning, wondered how, in the letter system, to distinguish between the sounds of a small octave and, for example, the second one, or the first and the big one. It turns out that everything is provided for, and there are rules for designating different octaves in the letter system. Only many for some reason forget about them, while others have not heard about it at all. Let's figure it out.

This is actually quite simple. If you still do not know the names of all octaves well, then we recommend that you study the material Arrangement of sounds on the piano keyboard, where this issue is considered in some detail.

So, the rules are as follows:

The sounds of a large octave are written in capital letters.
The sounds of a small octave are written, on the contrary, in lowercase, small letters.
To designate the sounds of the first, second, third and subsequent upper octaves, small letters are used, to which either superscripts with the octave number or dashes located above the letter are added. In this case, the number of strokes corresponds to the octave number (one stroke - the first octave, two strokes - the second, etc.).
To designate the sounds of the counteroctave and subcontroctave, capital letters are used, that is, capital letters, to which are added either the numbers 1 or 2 (1 for the counteroctave and 2 for the subcontroctave) in the subscript, or also dashes-strokes, only naturally below.

In the figure you can see examples of sound LA with different octave designations. By the way, the same octave principle has exactly the same effect in the syllabic system of designating sounds. Therefore, there will be several examples of designation at once.

Dear friends, if you still have questions about this or any other musical-theoretical topic, please write them in the comments to this material.

And now, for a better assimilation of the lesson, we invite you to watch a video on the topic and recommend that you complete the exercises that will be offered there.

katakana and hiragana. What does the Japanese alphabet look like and how is it read in Russian?

The alphabet is the first thing a person who starts learning any foreign language gets acquainted with. Most European languages use the Latin alphabet familiar to us with small inclusions of characteristic letters, so, knowing, for example, the English alphabet, it is not difficult to understand another European one. The situation with Japanese is fundamentally different: it uses not only letters, but also hieroglyphs, which can replace several letters at once. This alone scares those who are just starting to study the language. However, this is not a reason to refuse to get acquainted with such an unusual and interesting language - rather, on the contrary, this is a great chance to learn something new and unusual. And the Capital School Center will help you with this.

Features of the Japanese alphabet

The first and most important feature of the alphabet in this language is that there are two of them. One alphabet is called katakana and the other is called hiragana. In total, both katakana and hiragana have 46 characters each, which are combined into the gojuon table. However, before you start mastering them, you need to understand what is the difference between them.

Both alphabets are read the same way. The difference lies only in their application.

Hiragana is used to write part of prefixes, suffixes and particles. With the help of this alphabet, you can also write down some words in their entirety. As a rule, people who are just starting to learn Japanese use only hiragana because it is easier. This alphabet includes both vowels and consonants, and its signs are easy to write down. Hiragana is also used by little Japanese, because in childhood it is difficult for them to cope with complex hieroglyphs and build full-fledged sentences with their help. You can get an idea of hiragana and its correct pronunciation from the table below.

When hiragana is successfully mastered, students move on to katakana. It is used to write down foreign words or highlight any word. In a sense, it replaces Russian italics. It should not be surprising that a separate alphabet had to be created for foreign borrowings. Its appearance is historically explained by the fact that Western culture had a great influence on Japan for a long time, so the emergence of new symbols to denote unusual sounds is quite natural.

If you look closely at katakana, it is easy to notice borrowings from different languages - English, French, Chinese and others.

Over time, katakana has undergone a number of changes, since in the 20th century many new foreign words appeared, and there were not enough letters to accurately convey them.

Despite the additions that have appeared, a number of words are still read in the Japanese manner.

The overwhelming majority of words in this language have an open syllable, while in foreign ones there are often closed ones. Therefore, the Japanese add "u" to each vowel at the end of the syllable.

For example, "gram" would be read as "gu-ra-mu".

Katakana signs are presented in the table below.

One of the key features of Japanese is that it is a syllabic language, that is, the alphabet does not include letters and sounds, but syllables. For example, in Russian the word "sakura" is written with six letters, while in Japanese it takes only three characters. As a rule, a consonant and a vowel are included in one syllable, so that all syllables are open - remember, for example, the well-known borrowings "tsunami" or "hara-kiri". In Japanese, there are only five characters that represent consonants. The writing system is due to the very phonetic feature of Japanese. Several consonants in a row are a huge rarity for this language.

There are three groups of sounds in Japanese:
- consonants (pronounced as k, g, s, dz, t, d, c, x, f, p, b, m, r, n)
- vowels (a, i, y, e, o)
- and semivowels (й, w)

The combination of these sounds is the phonetic alphabet. It is built very clearly and looks like a matrix. In the gojuon table, which we already mentioned above, syllables with repeated consonants are placed in one row, and syllables with repeated vowels are placed in columns. Moreover, each syllable can be written in both katakana and hiragana.

The syllabary system of the language is not unique to Japanese, but it is fair to say that the popularity of the Japanese syllabary is the highest. By the way, even when talking on the phone, the Japanese will dictate words to the interlocutor by syllables.

Japanese has other features that may seem strange and unusual from the outside. For example, in Japanese there is no letter "l", respectively, you will not hear a similar sound in words. In addition, many words of foreign origin are abbreviated in speech and writing, and sometimes to such an extent that it becomes difficult to recognize a word by ear. Therefore, many Japanese teachers recommend memorizing these abbreviations separately so as not to get lost and confused in practice.

Please note: Hiragana and Katakana are not hieroglyphic alphabets, they are alphabetic. Hieroglyphic characters are also used in Japanese, but outwardly they look different. Usually, such signs are signed on top with the help of hiragana, which helps to read correctly. At the stage of language learning, the Latin alphabet is sometimes used for this.

A great advantage of Japanese over many European and Russian languages is that it is clearly related to phonetics. There are not many discrepancies between spelling and pronunciation. In any case, it is advisable to take up the study of phonetics and sounds in parallel with the development of the alphabet.

Romaji is sometimes found in Japanese, a Latin script used for abbreviations of foreign names. For example, ATM (Automatic Teller Machine, translated from English into Russian - ATM) will be written that way, in Latin.

Are you already confused and learning Japanese is starting to feel impossible? Do not worry! Many people have done it before you. There are even many life hacks and ways to simplify your life and the process of learning Japanese on the Internet. For example, some believe that a number of hiragana letters resemble English or Russian ones, and many others can be remembered with the help of associations. Some people see symbols or even drawings in them that help memorize faster. Another important life hack for those who want to quickly and easily learn Japanese and its seemingly difficult alphabet - contact an experienced Japanese teacher for help!

How to learn hiragana quickly?

Teachers who have been teaching Japanese for years say that hiragana can be mastered easily in five days. However, if you take on the study of this alphabet on your own, it can take you up to several months to complete it. And then at least the same amount to study the second alphabet of katakana, which, by the way, is considered more difficult. Of course, all people are different, and someone catches on the fly, and someone has to sit longer. But it cannot be denied that the help of experienced teachers will not be superfluous in any case, especially when it comes to learning Japanese.

Why is a teacher so necessary to start speaking Japanese? This language is very different from all European and from Russian. If, while studying, say, Spanish after French, you can manage on your own for the time being, then such a thing will not work with Japanese. It is very original, it has many features and specifics that no other has. They appear in everything: from the alphabet to the construction of sentences. Despite the fact that Japanese has not been able to avoid foreign borrowings and even, as we have said, the introduction of the Latin alphabet, it still cannot be compared with those languages that you could learn before.