What is the alphabet of a language? What are the alphabets?

We are so accustomed to using the alphabet that we don’t even think about how convenient the order of letters is. Many ancient peoples knew what an alphabet was; the alphabet was modified as written language improved, and the alphabets of various countries acquired their final form in our time.

Definition of alphabet

What is the alphabet? Modern linguists identify three features that distinguish each ordered letter system. This:

A certain order of constructing letters denoting sounds;

A system of diacritics and superscripts that change the reading of the same letter or modify the characteristics of sound;

Names of letters and signs. For example, the letter “A” in the Old Slavonic alphabet was read as “az”, in modern English - as “ey”.

Previously, another feature of the alphabet was the use of letters as numbers when counting. Sometimes we even now use letters instead of serial numbers. But in the vast majority of cases, using numbers is much more convenient.

The number of letters is approximately equal to the number of the most commonly used phonemes in the language. However, language changes and lives its own life, introducing new or foreign words and putting obsolete idioms and expressions out of use. The totality and order of the letters of the alphabet changes extremely rarely.

Religion and the alphabet

According to many religions of the world, writing is a gift from the Gods. For example, the legends of the Phoenicians say that writing was given to them by the god of wisdom Tautu, and the great Anubis taught the ancient Egyptians how to write letters. But even ancient legends cannot answer what the alphabet is and why it arose. To solve the riddle of the alphabet, you need to look for answers from historians and linguists.

The most ancient alphabets

According to scientific data, the first alphabetic letter dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. It arose at the intersection of the most ancient written cultures - Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics. This was an era of great migrations and resettlement - the exodus of the ancient Israeli people from Egypt, the destruction of Troy and the decline of the Hittite kingdom.

The first alphabets used various sound components, which denoted both sound and concept at the same time. The main written signs of the ancient peoples were closely related to their religious and ideological ideas about the world around them. Later, this connection was lost, and the primary letters of the alphabet became the basis for a universal tool for fixing any dialect and language. Thus began the victorious march of the alphabet around the world. The oldest alphabet found belongs to the Phoenicians. It had 22 letters. The language of this forgotten people became the ancestor of Aramaic and Greek writing.

What are the alphabets?

Linguists divide alphabets based on the naming of sounds in a particular language. Thus, there are vocalic, consonantal and neosyllabic alphabets.

The letters of the Russian alphabet, like the letters of most European languages, belong to the vocal group. Here, each sound is represented by one or two letters. For example, the letters “e”, “yu”, “ya” can actually mean individual syllables. But in general, the vocal alphabet clearly reflects the spoken sounds in writing.

The letters of the alphabet of the consonantal group in writing represent only syllables or consonant sounds. Vowel sounds are indicated by various diacritics or so-called matres lectionis - these are letters that indicate semivowels or aspirated sounds. These languages ​​include Arabic, Phoenician and Hebrew.

The alphabet of the language of the Ethiopians or the Indian Devanagari people belongs to the third, neo-syllabic group. The writings of these languages ​​use syllables with the same composition, but with different pronunciation of vowels. The length of the vowel sound and its vowel sound become significant. Neosyllabic writing has a special structure in which each sound is not only read in a certain order, but is also pronounced differently.

Signs of written structure

Any writing system actively uses, in addition to the alphabet, the following techniques:

Graphics. This is the name for the methods of depicting letters and signs when writing;

Punctuation. This is the customary name for systems of signs that separate words from each other and give the written form a finished look and a more complete meaning;

Spelling. This is a collective designation of the correct spelling of certain words, as well as rules and techniques for checking such spelling.

Alphabets based on Greek

Not everyone knows what an alphabet based on the Greek language is. It’s worth saying a few words about this separately. The Greek alphabet was the first to introduce vowel patterns into writing. In the Greek language, a letter order was first proposed, part of which is found in all modern alphabets. Greek writing developed in two directions - eastern, which was used by the inhabitants of Hellas and the city-polices of Asia Minor and the Black Sea region, and western, which was widespread in Italy, Sardinia, on the southern coasts of Spain and France. From Western Greek writing, Etruscan writing first developed, and then Latin, which laid the foundation for all written structures of Western Europe. The eastern part of the Greek alphabet was transformed into Coptic and then into Byzantine writing, on the basis of which the letters of the Russian alphabet were developed. These are the ways of developing written language.

So the question of what an alphabet is includes many interesting points, some of which were outlined in this article. For more serious and scientifically based answers, one should turn to the works of historians of the ancient world and linguists of various countries.

Before learning to write and read, a person masters the alphabet or alphabet. Both of these concepts mean orderly arrangement of letters, which, in turn, are a graphical form of sounds. Their use is acceptable to designate the sound system of absolutely any language, any writing system.

Often children do not immediately remember letters, because it can be very difficult to establish a stable associative connection between a living sound, a fragment of already familiar speech, and a graphic symbol that is still faceless for a child. The compilers of the Russian alphabet knew this and took this fact into account in their work. In the alphabet, on the contrary, the psychological aspect of memorizing letters is not taken into account. So what is the alphabet and alphabet? How are they different?

Alphabet and alphabet: definition of terms

The alphabet is not only the arrangement of the letters of a particular language in accordance with the system, but also book for teaching literacy “from scratch”. The difference between the alphabet is that in it each graphic sign (letter) is endowed with a symbolic meaning, making it easier to assimilate for further reproduction.

Comparison of the alphabet and the alphabet. What's the difference?

The term “alphabet” comes from the names of the first pair of letters of the Russian language: “az” and “buki”, with which they began to study the alphabet in all schools of the Russian Empire of the 19th century.

Initially, in the Russian alphabet, each letter was endowed with its own name. The letter “A”, for example, was written as “Az” (in Old Church Slavonic speech this word was identical to the modern pronoun “I”). The letter "D" was called "Good", which denoted generosity and wealth; the letter “G” was called “Verb”, that is, speech, pronouncing sounds, speaking.

It was much easier for literacy students to remember letters endowed with symbolic names than abstract graphic signs. This fact can be safely attributed to the advantages of using the alphabet. However, sometimes problems arose: when starting to read syllables, children could not immediately identify one single sound from the symbolic semantic term denoting the letter as a whole.

The letters of the modern alphabet are deprived of their ancient names. Their place was taken by poems that accompany pages in a book dedicated to a specific letter, or bright semantic pictures that also facilitate the successful memorization of abstract symbols. This achieves a result without which it is impossible to teach a child to read: the student remembers each letter separately, and does not simply memorize a whole series of them.

The alphabet is essentially the same sequence of graphic symbols denoting letters as the alphabet. Unlike the latter, this dry reference system is not equipped with pictures or poems to make it easier to remember. The alphabet does not contain any information at all, except for the very list of letters of the language in question.

The term "alphabet" comes from Ancient Greece. This name is formed according to the same principle as the Russian “ABC” - from the first pair of letters of the systematic series of sounds of the language. In ancient Greek these were alpha and beta, respectively. Initially, the alphabet was called “alfabetos”. The sound of the term, which is familiar to modern people, is the result of borrowings, simplifications and “adjustment” of a word from someone else’s speech, natural to the history of any language, to the structure, in this case, of Russian speech.

A small conclusion. Similarities and differences between the alphabet and the alphabet

1. Having the same letter composition for a particular language, the alphabet and alphabet each differ in their own history of origin.
2. Developed on the basis of the Old Church Slavonic language that preceded modern Russian, the alphabet was distinguished by the symbolic meaning of each of its letters.
3. The alphabet, in contrast to the alphabet overloaded with associative information, consists of only one list of letters of the language and their corresponding sounds.
4. Today's alphabet is extremely simplified and its structure is close to the alphabet. The alphabet is distinguished as a book for the initial teaching of literacy by illustrations, poems, other visual or other types of materials and techniques that facilitate the memorization of alphabetic symbols and their subsequent correlation with the sounds of living speech. These additions ensure that the student develops stable writing and reading skills, so necessary for every modern person.
5. The words “alphabet” and “alphabet” each have several meanings unique to it. For example, musicians have the term “music alphabet” (but not alphabet!). But the names of students in the class register are arranged alphabetically (but not in alphabetical order!).

ALPHABET

ALPHABET

1. The accepted order of letters in the alphabet. Arrange books alphabetically by author.

|| The set of all letters adopted in the written system of a language. Turkic peoples switched from the Arabic alphabet to the Latin one.

2. A list of words or names arranged in the order of letters adopted in the alphabet; alphabetical index. The book contains an alphabet of proper names.

Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935-1940.

See what "ALPHABET" is in other dictionaries:

It is the latest phenomenon in the history of writing. This name designates a series of written signs arranged in a certain constant order and conveying approximately completely and accurately all the individual sound elements from which a given language is composed... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

ALPHABET. A. is a collection of all the letters (see Letter) of a given writing system, arranged in a certain, generally accepted order. The word A. comes from a combination of the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet α and β (cf. the word “alphabet”, ... ... Literary encyclopedia

- (from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet). 1) all the letters of any language, arranged in an accepted constant, in other words, alphabetical order. 2) a list or list of any items, by capital letters of their names, in... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

A collection of ordered symbols (letters) in a particular language or system. In a language, only alphabetic characters can be used to construct words. See also: Alphabets Symbols Writing Financial Dictionary Finam. Alphabet Alphabet fixed... ... Financial Dictionary

ABC, abevega, initial letter, paleotype, futhark; Latin, Cyrillic Dictionary of Russian synonyms. alphabet see alphabet Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 201... Dictionary of synonyms

alphabet- this is the same as the alphabet: a list of all the letters that are in the language, arranged in order. But the word alphabet is much older than the word alphabet. Even among the ancient Greeks, each letter had its own name. Alpha came first in order, beta second.... ... Entertaining etymological dictionary

alphabet- alphabet, alphabetic (incorrect alphabet, alphabetic) ... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language

alphabet- A code set in which the order relation is established. [GOST 19781 90] alphabet A set of letters used to write words of a given language. Topics: information technology in general. processing systems inform... Technical Translator's Guide

Alphabet- Alphabet ♦ Alphabet Letters arranged in a random order or dictated by custom. Alphabetical order is the same chaos as any other, but its advantageous difference from other chaotic systems is that the appearance of order in... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

- (Greek alphabetos, from the name of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta, modern Greek vita), a system of written signs of a certain language that convey the sound appearance of words through symbols depicting individual sound ... ... Modern encyclopedia

Books

• Alphabet, Pastushenko A.. “Alphabet” is designed for children from 3 to 7 years old. It may also be interesting for older children. It can be read by both parents and the child himself, if he can read. It will be of undoubted benefit...

alphabet), a phonological writing system in which graphic signs (letters) indicate the corresponding sounds of the language. In one type of A., so-called. consonantal, only consonant sounds are indicated by letters, and vowels are represented by diacritics (dots, accent marks and circles above or below the corresponding letter). Languages ​​that use writing based on this principle include Hebrew and Arabic. In other type A., to which most Europeans belong. language, letters denote both consonant and vowel sounds. And although the letters in them are basic. correspond to sounds, and there are diacritics. Almost all of the world's known alphabets (perhaps ind.) were formed more than 4 thousand years ago on the basis of consonantal Semitic writing. One of the variants of the latter, the Phoenician letter, became the source (through Greek A.) of Lat. A. Transition from Phoenician and Greek. to lat. A. occurred between 1000 and 800 BC; the style of the letters has changed, and certain Semitic consonants that have not found application in Greek. phonological system, began to be used to denote vowels. The spread of Christianity in the West. Europe was accompanied by the spread of lat. A. Grech, missionaries brought Greek. A. in the East. Europe, as a result of which the Cyrillic A. (Cyrillic alphabet) arose, used in Russian. letter. In India, A. Devanagari, where Sanskrit was written down in Crimea, developed between the 7th and 9th centuries. Most modern species ind. the letters are based on Devanagari and are designated by this generic name. Phonetic alphabet (phonetics), such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), based on Lat. writing, were designed to give sound systems a distinct languages ​​greater versatility and clarity compared to conventional alphabetic writing. In China, transcription A. in Latin was adopted in 1958. basis, facilitating the pronunciation and understanding of Chinese. hieroglyphs, which are logograms (word symbols).

1. Read letters of the Russian alphabet.

2. Name it write the letters of the Russian alphabet correctly and answer the questions.

1. How many letters are there in the Russian alphabet?
2. What are the letters for?
3. Which two letters do not represent sounds?

3. Read. Write down the proposal.

• Why do you think it is necessary to be able to read well?

X O r O sho

Page for the curious

About the origin of words

Words ABC And alphabet mean the same thing.

Word alphabet came to us from the Greek language. It is derived from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: “alpha” (α) and “vita” (β).

The word alphabet came to us from the Old Slavonic language. It is formed from the names of the first two letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet: “az” () and “buki” ().

4. Read. What letters are missing here? Which letters “mixed up” their places?

• Write all the letters of the Russian alphabet in alphabetical order.

5. Look at the pictures.

• Name each letter correctly. Guess why they descend on different parachutes.
• Write down the letters of any group, placing them in alphabetical order.

6. Read expressively.

In class

What letters do you know? - asked the teacher.
- B-e-e-e! answered Lamb.
- E-and-and! - said Donkey.
- Ha-ha-ha! - answered Goose.
- W-w-w! - said the Beetle.
Only Rybka didn’t say anything. She didn't know a single letter.

(M. Bitny)

• Who pronounced the letters incorrectly? Name these letters correctly.
• Write the names of the two “students” in alphabetical order.

7. Read.

Alphabet - alphabet, meadow - lawn, student - student, work - worker, Olya - Olga, good - good.

• Which word in each pair of words will you write first in alphabetical order? Why?
• Write down two pairs of words, arranging the words of each pair in alphabetical order.
• Compose a sentence orally using one of the words.

uch e nick uch e prostrate

8. Guess word! The first letter comes after the letter “te”, the second - after the letter “tse”, the third - after the letter “ze”, the fourth - after the letter “es”, the fifth - before the letter “e”, the sixth - after the letter “ka”, the seventh - after the letter "s".

• Make up a similar riddle and tell it to your friends.

teaches e l

9. Read in the explanatory dictionary the meaning of words ABC And scarlet, guest And rook. Which of these words has multiple meanings?

• Why the word ABC given in the dictionary before the word scarlet, and the word rook- after the word guest?
• Draw a conclusion: how are the words arranged in the dictionary?

10. Read. Write any three words in alphabetical order, inserting the missing letters.

V..rona, v..r..bey, teach..l, h..rosho, hand..kiy, ..tongue, student..nik, s..baka, s..roka, weight.. oh, p..to, l..sitsa, k..r..ndash.

• Check the spelling of these words in the textbook's spelling dictionary. Indicate the emphasis in them.

11. Decipher words. To do this, arrange the letters in alphabetical order.

• Write down the words you made up. Explain the meaning of each word.

12. Read.

Astra, alphabet, quince
They start with "a".
And they end with "a"
Astra, alphabet, quince.
(N. Kostarev)

• Why do you think the author did not write down the highlighted words in alphabetical order? What does each of these words mean?
• Write the highlighted words in alphabetical order.