Roman alphabet

The Roman alphabet or Latin alphabet is the most used writing system today, belonging to the category of alphabets, initially designed for transcribing the Latin language (which was spoken by Roman people), then extended to many other languages across the world.

Some anglophone authors make a distinction between Roman alphabet (in a broad sense, comprising the differing variants of this alphabet, designed for different languages) and Latin alphabet (the more specific variant—or variants—of this alphabet used for the Latin language). Such a distinction is not systematic.

Origins
The original version of this alphabet was used by the Romans for the Latin language. It is derived from, and very similar to, the Greek alphabet. The Romans adopted the alphabet via the Etruscans, who had adopted it from the Greeks who had colonized Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula. The "West Greek" alphabet was slightly different from the East Greek alphabet which evolved into the modern Greek alphabet, which caused some of the letterform changes. The Etruscans had no sound for 'g' (voiced velar stop) in their language, but three different 'k' (voiceless velar stop) sounds, and so adopted the Greek gamma to represent a 'k' sound; but the shape of the West Greek gamma was actually similar to Latin C (instead of being similar to East Greek Γ), and eventually the letter morphed into the modern Latin letter 'C'.

Spread
With some modifications, and more often called the Roman alphabet, this alphabet is the writing system currently used for a great number of languages around the world. It is used by some international languages such as English, Spanish, German, and French, as well as all the other Romance languages, all the other Germanic languages, some Slavic languages, Turkish, Albanian, Hungarian, Finnish, Indonesian, Malay, and Vietnamese. Since the 19th century, it has been used by many languages of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas that have been codified under western European influence. The Roman alphabet is also used as an alternate writing system for Chinese as Pinyin, and for Japanese as Romaji.

Typical version
The most typical variant of the Roman alphabet is now the English alphabet, which is similar to that of other widespread languages such as Malay, Portuguese, German, French or Dutch, with the following twenty-six letters in the following order:


 * {|class="wikitable"; border=0


 * Uppercase:
 * 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
 * Lowercase:
 * 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
 * }
 * z
 * }

Each letter occurs in two shapes:
 * The uppercase (or capital or majuscule) is mandatory at the beginning of sentences and of proper names. Rules for capitalization within sentences vary across languages; for example, in German, all nouns are capitalized. All-uppercase writing may be found in titles and anouncements.
 * The lowercase (or minuscule) is designed for general use.

Other versions
Since the Middle Ages, many languages have added letters like Þ, Ȝ or Ƿ for additional sounds. Some languages have adopted certain digraphs, sometimes considered as letters (such as Spanish Ch and Ll), and added a wide variety of diacritical marks to many of the letters, sometimes considered as new letters (such as Ð, Ē, Ť, Å, Ç and so on). Some languages have also abandoned various letters. Thus, the Roman alphabet has now many variants adapted to the needs of different languages. Here are a few examples:


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 * Typical:
 * 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
 * Italian:
 * A
 * B
 * C
 * D
 * E
 * F
 * G
 * H
 * I
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * O
 * P
 * Q
 * R
 * S
 * T
 * U
 * V
 * Z
 * Norwegian:
 * 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
 * Æ
 * Ø
 * Å
 * Spanish:
 * A
 * B
 * C
 * Ch
 * D
 * E
 * F
 * G
 * H
 * I
 * J
 * K
 * L
 * Ll
 * M
 * N
 * Ñ
 * O
 * P
 * Q
 * R
 * S
 * T
 * U
 * V
 * W
 * X
 * Y
 * Z
 * Yoruba:
 * A
 * B
 * D
 * E
 * Ẹ
 * F
 * G
 * Gb
 * H
 * I
 * J
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * O
 * Ọ
 * P
 * R
 * S
 * Ṣ
 * T
 * U
 * W
 * Y
 * Vietnamese:
 * A
 * Ă
 * Â
 * B
 * C
 * D
 * Đ
 * E
 * Ê
 * G
 * H
 * I
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * O
 * Ô
 * Ơ
 * P
 * Q
 * R
 * S
 * T
 * U
 * Ư
 * V
 * X
 * Y
 * Hungarian:
 * A
 * Á
 * B
 * C
 * Cs
 * D
 * Dz
 * Dzs
 * E
 * É
 * F
 * G
 * Gy
 * H
 * I
 * Í
 * J
 * K
 * L
 * Ly
 * M
 * N
 * Ny
 * O
 * Ó
 * Ö
 * Ő
 * P
 * R
 * S
 * Sz
 * T
 * Ty
 * U
 * Ú
 * Ü
 * Ű
 * V
 * Z
 * Zs
 * Hawaiian:
 * A
 * E
 * I
 * O
 * U
 * Ā
 * Ē
 * Ī
 * Ō
 * Ū
 * H
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * P
 * W
 * Somali:
 * B
 * T
 * J
 * X
 * Kh
 * D
 * R
 * S
 * Sh
 * Dh
 * C
 * G
 * F
 * Q
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * W
 * H
 * Y
 * A
 * E
 * I
 * O
 * U
 * }
 * D
 * Đ
 * E
 * Ê
 * G
 * H
 * I
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * O
 * Ô
 * Ơ
 * P
 * Q
 * R
 * S
 * T
 * U
 * Ư
 * V
 * X
 * Y
 * Hungarian:
 * A
 * Á
 * B
 * C
 * Cs
 * D
 * Dz
 * Dzs
 * E
 * É
 * F
 * G
 * Gy
 * H
 * I
 * Í
 * J
 * K
 * L
 * Ly
 * M
 * N
 * Ny
 * O
 * Ó
 * Ö
 * Ő
 * P
 * R
 * S
 * Sz
 * T
 * Ty
 * U
 * Ú
 * Ü
 * Ű
 * V
 * Z
 * Zs
 * Hawaiian:
 * A
 * E
 * I
 * O
 * U
 * Ā
 * Ē
 * Ī
 * Ō
 * Ū
 * H
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * P
 * W
 * Somali:
 * B
 * T
 * J
 * X
 * Kh
 * D
 * R
 * S
 * Sh
 * Dh
 * C
 * G
 * F
 * Q
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * W
 * H
 * Y
 * A
 * E
 * I
 * O
 * U
 * }
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * P
 * W
 * Somali:
 * B
 * T
 * J
 * X
 * Kh
 * D
 * R
 * S
 * Sh
 * Dh
 * C
 * G
 * F
 * Q
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * W
 * H
 * Y
 * A
 * E
 * I
 * O
 * U
 * }
 * J
 * X
 * Kh
 * D
 * R
 * S
 * Sh
 * Dh
 * C
 * G
 * F
 * Q
 * K
 * L
 * M
 * N
 * W
 * H
 * Y
 * A
 * E
 * I
 * O
 * U
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

Former versions
Initially, the archaic Latin language used only the following, uppercase letters:
 * A B C D E F H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X

Then, classical Latin added G (derived from C) and also Y and Z (in Greek borrowings):
 * A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z

An innovation emerged in Late Antiquitity and at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Each letter was dubbed progressively in two shapes: the classical uppercase and the innovative lowercase.


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

During the Middle Ages, new signs appeared in the Latin writing system. Scribes adopted J as a variant of I and U as a variant of V. The sign W appeared also in the Middle Ages, firstly as a ligature of VV (or UU) in some Germanic borrowings integrated in Latin. The ligatures Æ and Œ were an innovation of Medieval Latin, since Classical Latin used to write AE and OE instead. Thus, the basic collection of signs had become the following in the Middle Ages:


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

Finally, the current, general version of the Roman alphabet emerged during the Modern Era, especially in the 18th century, when grammarians, academics and printers of several European languages accepted to consider J, U and W as independent letters.

Letter names
Each letter bears a name that can vary according to the language in use. Here are examples in some widespread languages (noted here with the phonetic alphabet in square brackets and then with the general spelling conventions, although such notations are rarely seen in general use).

Use as numerals
Some characters of the Latin alphabet (C, D, I, L, M, V, X) are used in the Roman numeral system; unlike the Greek numeral system, not all the letters are used as numbers.