Alphabets derived from the Latin

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Variants of the Latin alphabet are used by the writing systems of many languages throughout the world. The tables below summarize and compare some of the alphabets known to the various contributors. In this article, the word "alphabet" is intentionally broadened to include letters with tone marks and other diacritics used to represent a wide range of orthographic traditions found in modern and classical literature, without special regard as to whether the modified letters have their own traditional alphabetic place or are interfiled, or whether the letters are in the sequence in the table or elsewhere. Peculiarities of the particular alphabet in question may be noted in footnotes, in referenced Wikipedia articles, or elsewhere on the Internet.

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Contents

[edit] Basic Modern Latin alphabet

The Afrikaans, Basque [4], Breton, Catalan [6], Czech [8], Danish [9], Dutch [10], English [36], Estonian, Filipino [11], Finnish, French [12], German [13], Hungarian [15], Interlingua, Kurdish, Modern Latin, Malay, Norwegian [9], Pan-European, Slovak [24], Spanish [25], Swedish, Võro, Xhosa, and Zulu alphabets include all 26 letters at least in their largest version, according to the references cited here.

Reduced usage of basic Modern Latin letters[1] (A–Z) in various alphabets:
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
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
Classical Latin [2] A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z
Albanian [3] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z
Anglo-Saxon A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U X Y Z
Arbëresh A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z
Azeri A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z
Belarusian [5] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Berber A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Q R S T U W X Y Z
Celtic British A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z
Corsican [31] A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V Z
Crimean Tatar A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V Y Z
Croatian [7] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Dalecarlian A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y
Esperanto A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Faroese A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y
Friulian A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V Z
Galician [33] A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V X Z
Greenlandic A E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
Guaraní [14] A E G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y
Hausa [30] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O R S T U W Y Z
Icelandic A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Y
Irish [16] A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U
Italian [17] A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V Z
Kashubian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Latvian [18] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Lithuanian [19] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Malagasy A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T V Y Z
Maltese [20] A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Z
Māori [34] A E G H I K M N O P R T U W
Mohawk [35] A E H I K N O R S T W Y
Northern Sami A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Pan-Nigerian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Pinyin [32] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W X Y Z
Polish [22] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Portuguese [23] A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V X Z
Romani [29] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Z
Romanian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Z
Sardinian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Z
Scots Gaelic A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U
Serbian [7] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Shona A B C D E F G H I J K M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Sicilian A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V Z
Slovenian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Somali A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O Q R S T U W X Y
Sorbian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Swahili A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Tetum A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Z
Tongan A E F G H I K L M N O P S T U V
Turkish A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Vietnamese [26] A B C D E G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y
Volapük A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Y Z
Walloon [27] A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z
Welsh [28] A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U W Y
Wolof A B C D E F G I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W X Y

The chart above lists a variety of alphabets which do not officially contain all 26 letters of the Modern Latin alphabet. In this list of 53 alphabets, the five letters used by all of them are A, E, I, N, and T. The number of alphabets in the list above using the other basic Modern Latin letters is as follows:

Letter G H M O R S L F P U B D K C J V Z Y X Q W
Number of alphabets 52 52 52 52 52 52 50 49 49 49 48 48 44 42 41 39 39 31 22 20 17

[edit] Extended Latin alphabet

Some languages have extended the Latin alphabet with ligatures, modified letters, or digraphs. These symbols are listed below. The characters in the following tables may not all render, depending on which operating system and browser version are used, and the presence or absence of Unicode fonts.

For the order in which the characters are sorted in each alphabet, see Collating sequence.

[edit] Letters associated with A-G

Derived & Extended Latin letters in various alphabets (A–G)
Alphabet Á À Â Ä Ǎ Ă Ā Ã Å Ǻ Ą Æ Ǽ Ǣ Ɓ Ć Ċ Ĉ Č Ç Ď Ḍ Đ Ɗ Ð É È Ė Ê Ë Ě Ĕ Ē Ę Ẹ Ǝ Ə Ɛ Ġ Ĝ Ǧ Ğ Ģ Ɣ
á à â ä ǎ ă ā ã å ǻ ą æ ǽ ǣ ɓ ć ċ ĉ č ç ď ḍ đ ɗ ð é è ė ê ë ě ĕ ē ę ẹ ǝ ə ɛ ġ ĝ ǧ ğ ģ ɣ
Latin [2] Ă Ā Æ Ĕ Ē
Afrikaans Á É È Ê Ë
Albanian [3] Ç Ë
Alemannic Á À Â Ä Å É È Ê
Anglo-Saxon Ā Æ Ǣ Ð Ē
Arbëresh Á Ç É Ë
Asturian Á É
Austro-Bavarian Á À Â Ä Å É È Ê
Azeri Ç Ə Ğ
Basque [4]
Belarusian [5] Ć Č
Berber Č Ḍ Ɛ Ǧ Ɣ
Breton Â É Ê
Cantabrian Á É
Catalan [6] À Ç É È
Celtic British Ă Ā Æ Ĕ Ē
Corsican [31] À È
Crimean Tatar Â Ç Ğ
Croatian [7] Ć Č Đ
Czech [8] Á Č Ď É Ě
Dalecarlian Ä Å Ą Ð Ę
Danish [9] Å Æ
Dutch [10] Á À Â Ä É È Ê Ë
English [36] À Â Ä Å Æ Ç É È Ê Ë
Esperanto Ĉ Ĝ
Estonian Ä
Extremeduran
Fala
Faroese Á Æ Ð
Filipino [11]
Finnish Ä Å Æ É
French [12] À Â Æ Ç É È Ê Ë
Friulian À Â Ç È Ê
Galician [33] Á É
German [13] Ä
Greenlandic Å Æ
Guaraní [14] Á Ã É
Hän À Â Ä Ǎ Ą È Ê Ë Ě Ę
Hausa [30] Ɓ Ɗ
Hungarian [15] Á É
Icelandic Á Æ Ð É
Irish [16] Á É
Italian [17] À É È
Kashubian à Ą É Ë
Kurdish Ç Ê
Latvian [18] Ā Č Ē Ģ
Leonese É
Lithuanian [19] Ą Č Ė Ę
Luxembourgish Ä É Ë
Malagasy À Â Ê
Maltese [20] À Ċ È Ġ
Māori Ā Ē
Mirandese É
Mohawk Á À É È
Navajo Á À Ą É È Ę
Norn Á Å Æ Ð É
Northern Sami Á Č Đ
Norwegian [9] Á À Â Å Æ É È Ê
Pan-European Á À Â Ä Ă Ā Ã Å Ǻ Ą Æ Ǽ Ć Ċ Ĉ Č Ç Ď Đ Ð É È Ė Ê Ë Ě Ĕ Ē Ę Ġ Ĝ Ğ Ģ
Pan-Nigerian Ɓ Ɗ Ẹ Ǝ
Piedmontese [37] À É È Ë
Pinyin [32] Á À Ǎ Ā É È Ě Ē
Polish [22] Ą Ć Ę
Portuguese [23] Á À Â Ã Ç É Ê
Romani [29] Č
Romanian  Ă
Sardinian Á À È
Scots Gaelic À È
Serbian [7] Ć Č Đ
Sicilian À Â È Ê
Slovak [24] Á Ä Č Ď É
Slovenian Č
Sorbian Ć Č Ě
Spanish [25] Á É
Swedish [21] Á Ä Å É È
Tetum Á É
Tongan Á Ā É Ē
Turkish Â Ç Ğ
Vietnamese [26] Á À Â Ă Ã Đ É È Ê Ẹ
Volapük Ä
Võro Ä
Walloon [27] Â Å Ç É È Ê
Welsh [28] Á À Â Ä É È Ê Ë
Wolof À É Ë
Xhosa Á À Â Ä É È Ê Ë

[edit] Letters associated with H-Q

Derived & Extended Latin letters in various alphabets (H–Q)
Alphabet Ĥ Ḥ Ħ I Í Ì İ Î Ï Ǐ Ĭ Ī Ĩ Į Ị IJ Ĵ Ķ Ƙ (ĸ) Ĺ Ļ Ł Ľ Ŀ ʼN Ń N̈ Ň Ñ Ņ Ŋ Ó Ò Ô Ö Ǒ Ŏ Ō Õ Ő Ọ Ø Ǿ Ơ Œ
ĥ ḥ ħ ı í ì i î ï ǐ ĭ ī ĩ į ị ij ĵ ķ ƙ ĸ ĺ ļ ł ľ ŀ ʼn ń n̈ ň ñ ņ ŋ ó ò ô ö ǒ ŏ ō õ ő ọ ø ǿ ơ œ
Latin [2] Ĭ Ī Ŏ Ō Œ
Afrikaans Í Î Ï Ó Ô
Albanian [3] Î Ô
Alemannic Í Ì Î Ó Ò Ô Ö
Anglo-Saxon Ī Ō
Arbëresh Í Ó Ò
Asturian Í Ñ Ó
Austro-Bavarian Í Ì Î Ó Ò Ô Ö
Azeri ı İ Ö
Basque [4] Ñ
Belarusian [5] Ł Ń
Berber Ḥ
Breton Î Ñ Ô
Cantabrian Ḥ Í Ñ Ó
Catalan [6] Í Ï Ŀ Ó Ò
Celtic British Ĭ Ī Ŏ Ō Œ
Corsican [31] Ì
Crimean Tatar İ Ñ Ö
Croatian [7]
Czech [8] Í Ň Ó
Dalecarlian Į Ö
Danish [9] Ø
Dutch [10] Í Ì Î Ï IJ Ó Ò Ô Ö
English [36] Î Ï Ñ Ó Ô Ö Œ
Esperanto Ĥ Ĵ
Estonian Ö Õ
Extremaduran Ñ
Fala Í
Faroese Í Ó Ø
Filipino [11] Ñ
Finnish Ö Õ Ő Ø Œ
French [12] Î Ï Ô Œ
Friulian Ì Î Ò Ô
Galician [33] Í Ñ Ó
German [13] Ö
Greenlandic Ø
Guaraní [14] Í Ĩ Ñ Ó Õ
Hausa [30] Ƙ
Hungarian [15] Í Ó Ö Ő
Icelandic Í Ó Ö
Irish [16] Í Ó
Italian [17] Ì Î Ò
Kashubian Ł Ń Ó Ò Ô
Kurdish Î
Latvian [18] Ī Ķ Ļ Ņ
Leonese Í Ï Ó
Lithuanian [19] Į
Malagasy N̈ Ñ Ô
Maltese [20] Ħ Ì Ò
Māori Ī Ō
Mirandese
Mohawk Í Ì Ó Ò
Norn Í Ó Ø
Northern Sami Ŋ
Norwegian [9] Í Ì Î Ó Ò Ô Ø
Pan-European Ĥ Ħ I Í Ì İ Î Ï Ĭ Ī Ĩ Į IJ Ĵ Ķ ĸ Ĺ Ļ Ł Ľ Ŀ ʼn Ń Ň Ñ Ņ Ŋ Ó Ò Ô Ö Ŏ Ō Õ Ő Ø Ǿ Œ
Pan-Nigerian Ị Ƙ Ọ
Piedmontese[37] Ì Ò
Pinyin [32] Í Ì Ǐ Ī Ó Ò Ǒ Ō
Polish [22] Ł Ń Ó
Portuguese [23] Í Ó Ô Õ
Romani [29]
Romanian Î
Sardinian Í Ó Ò
Scots Gaelic Ì Ò
Serbian [7]
Sicilian Ì Î Ò Ô
Slovak [24] Í Ň Ó Ô
Slovenian
Sorbian Ł Ń Ó
Spanish [25] Í Ñ Ó
Swedish [21] Ö
Tetum Í Ñ Ó
Tongan Í Ī Ó Ō
Turkish ı İ Î Ö
Vietnamese [26] Í Ì Ĩ Ị Ó Ò Ô Õ Ọ Ơ
Volapük Ö
Võro Ö Õ
Walloon [27] Î Ô
Welsh [28] Í Ì Î Ï Ó Ò Ô Ö
Wolof Ñ Ó
Xhosa Í Ì Î Ï Ó Ò Ô Ö

[edit] Letters associated with R-Z

Derived & Extended Latin letters in various alphabets (R–Z)
Alphabet Ŕ Ř Ŗ Ś Ŝ Š Ş Ș Ṣ (ſ) (ß) Ť Ţ Ṭ Ŧ Þ Ú Ù Û Ü Ǔ Ŭ[32] Ū Ũ Ű Ů Ų Ụ Ư Ẃ Ẁ Ŵ Ẅ Ƿ Ý Ỳ Ŷ Ÿ Ȳ Ỹ Ƴ Ź Ż Ž Ẓ
ŕ ř ŗ ś ŝ š ş ș ṣ ſ ß ť ţ ṭ ŧ þ ú ù û ü ǔ ŭ ū ũ ű ů ų ụ ư ẃ ẁ ŵ ẅ ƿ ý ỳ ŷ ÿ ȳ ỹ ƴ ź ż ž ẓ
Latin [2] Ŭ Ū
Afrikaans Ú Û Ý
Albanian [3] Û Ŷ
Alemannic Ú Ù Û Ü
Anglo-Saxon Þ Ū Ƿ Ȳ
Arbëresh Ú Ù Û
Asturian Ü
Austro-Bavarian Ú Ù Û Ü
Azeri Ş Ü
Basque [4] Ü
Belarusian [5] Ś Š Ŭ Ź Ž
Berber Ṣ Ṭ Ẓ
Breton Ù Û Ü
Cantabrian Ü
Catalan [6] Ú Ü
Celtic British Ŭ Ū
Corsican [31] Ù
Crimean Tatar Ş Ü
Croatian [7] Š Ž
Czech [8] Ř Š Ť Ú Ů Ý Ž
Dalecarlian Ų
Danish [9]
Dutch [10] Ú Ù Û Ü
English [36] Û Ü
Esperanto Ŝ Ŭ
Estonian Š Ü Ž
Extremaduran
Faroese Ú Ý
Filipino [11]
Finnish Š Ü Ű Ž
French [12] Ù Û Ü Ÿ
Friulian Ù Û
Galician [33] Ú Ü
German [13] ß Ü
Greenlandic
Guaraní [14] Ú Ű Ý Ỹ
Hausa [30] Ƴ
Hungarian [15] Ú Ü Ű
Icelandic Þ Ú Ý
Irish [16] Ú
Italian [17] Ù
Kashubian Ù Ż
Kurdish Ş Û
Latvian [18] Š Ū Ž
Leonese
Lithuanian [19] Š Ū Ų Ž
Luxembourgish [13]
Malagasy
Maltese [20] Ù Ż
Māori Ū
Mirandese Ũ
Mohawk
Norn Þ Ú Ý
Northern Sami Š Ŧ Ž
Norwegian [9] Ú Ù Û Ü Ý Ỳ Ŷ
Pan-European Ŕ Ř Ŗ Ś Ŝ Š Ş ſ ß Ť Ţ Ŧ Þ Ú Ù Û Ü Ŭ Ū Ũ Ű Ů Ų Ẃ Ẁ Ŵ Ẅ Ý Ỳ Ŷ Ÿ Ź Ż Ž
Pan-Nigerian Ṣ Ụ
Piedmontese[37]
Pinyin [32] Ú Ù Ü Ǔ Ū
Polish [22] Ś Ź Ż
Portuguese [23] Ú Ü
Romani [29] Š Ž
Romanian Ș Ţ
Sardinian Ú Ù
Scots Gaelic Ù
Serbian [7] Š Ž
Sicilian Ù Û
Slovak [24] Ŕ Š Ť Ú Ý Ž
Slovenian Š Ž
Sorbian Ŕ Ř Ś Š Ź Ž
Spanish [25] Ú Ü
Swedish Ü
Tetum Ú
Tongan Ú Ū
Turkish Ş Û Ü
Vietnamese [26] Ú Ù Ũ Ụ Ư Ý Ỳ Ỹ
Volapük Ü
Võro Š Ü Ž
Walloon [27] Û
Welsh [28] Ú Ù Û Ü Ẃ Ẁ Ŵ Ẅ Ý Ỳ Ŷ Ÿ
Wolof
Xhosa Ú Ù Û Ü

[edit] Notes

  • ↑↑↑↑ In classical Latin, the digraphs CH, PH, RH, TH were used in loanwords from Greek, but they were not included in the alphabet. The ligatures Æ, Œ and W, as well as lowercase letters, were added to the alphabet only in Middle Ages. The letters J and U were used as typographical variants of I and V, respectively, roughly until the Enlightenment.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Albanian officially has the digraphs dh, gj, ll, nj, rr, sh, th, xh, zh, which is sufficient to represent the Tosk dialect. The Gheg dialect supplements the official alphabet with 6 nasal vowels, namely â, ê, î, ô, û, ŷ.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Arbëresh apparently requires the digraphs dh, gj, hj, ll, nj, rr, sh, th, xh, zh. Arbëresh has the distinctive hj, which is considered as a letter in its own right.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Basque has several digraphs: dd, ll, rr, ts, tt, tx, tz. The ü, which is pronounced as /ø/, is required for various words in its Zuberoan dialect.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Belarusian also has several digraphs: ch, dz, dź, dž.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Breton also has the digraphs ch, c'h, zh.
  • ↑↑↑ Catalan also has a large number of digraphs: dz, gu, (gü), ig, ix, ll, l·l, nc, ny, qu, (qü), rr, ss, tz.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Corsican has the trigraphs: chj, ghj.
  • ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ Croatian also has the digraphs: dž, lj, nj. It can also be written with four tone markers above on top of the vowels. Note that Croatian Latin is the same as Serbian Latin and they both map 1:1 to Serbian Cyrillic, where the three digraphs map to Cyrillic letters џ, љ and њ, respectively. Rarely, digraph dj is used instead of đ (Cyrillic ђ).
  • ↑↑↑↑ Czech also has the digraph: ch.
  • ↑↑↑↑↑↑ The Norwegian alphabet is currently identical with the Danish alphabet. C is part of both alphabets and is used in native Danish, but not in native Norwegian. Norwegian and Danish uses é in "én" and more uses, although é is considered a diacritic mark, while å, æ and ø are letters. Q, w, z are not used except for names and some foreign words.
  • ↑↑↑ The status of ij as a letter in Dutch is disputed.
  • ↑↑↑ English generally now uses extended Latin letters only in loan words. Rare publication guides may still use the dieresis on words, such as "coöperate", rather than the now-more-common "cooperate". For a fuller discussion, see articles branching from Lists of English words of international origin, which was used to determine the diacritics needed for more unambiguous English.
  • ↑↑↑ Filipino also uses the digraph ng, even originally with a large tilde that spanned both n and g (though its use is now rare).
  • ↑↑↑ In standard French, uppercase diacritics are never obligatory, but always in good style. Many pairs or triplets are read as digraphs or trigraphs depending on context, but are not treated as such lexicographically: consonants ph, (ng), th, gu/gü, qu, ce, ch/(sh/sch), rh; vocal vowels (ee), ai/ay, ei/ey, eu, au/eau, ou; nasal vowels ain/aim, in/im/ein, un/um/eun, an/am, en/em, om/on; the half-consonant -(i)ll-; half-consonant and vowel pairs oi, oin/ouin, ien, ion. When rules that govern the French orthography are not observed, they are read as separate letters, or using an approximating phonology of a foreign language for loan words, and there are many exceptions. In addition, most final consonants are mute (including those consonants that are part of feminine, plural, and conjugation endings). Accents on uppercase letters are generally obligatory in Canada.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Galician. The standard of 1982 set also the digraphs gu, qu (both always before e and i), ch, ll, nh and rr. In addition, the standard of 2003 added the grapheme ao as an alternative writing of ó. Although not marked (or forgotten) in the list of digraphs, they are used to represent the same sound, so the sequence ao should be considered as a digraph. Note also that nh represents a velar nasal (not a palatal as in Portuguese) and is restricted only to three feminine words, being either demonstrative or pronoun: unha ('a' and 'one'), algunha ('some') and ningunha ('not one'). The Galician reintegracionismo movement uses it as in Portuguese.
  • ↑↑↑ German also retains most original letters in French loan words. Swiss German does not use ß any more. The long s (ſ) was in use until the mid-20th century. Sch is usually not treated like a true trigraph, neither are ch and qu digraphs. Q only appears in the sequence qu, while y is found only (and x almost only) in loan words.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Guaraní also uses tilde over e, i, y, and g (the last one not available precomposed in Unicode), as well as digraphs ch, mb, nd, ng, nt, rr and the glottal stop ' .
  • ↑↑↑↑ Hausa has the digraphs: sh, ts.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Hungarian also has the digraphs: cs, dz, gy, ly, ny, sz, ty, zs; and the trigraph: dzs.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Irish formerly used the dot diacritic in ḃ, ċ, ḋ, ḟ, ġ, ṁ, ṗ, ṡ, ṫ. These have been replaced by the digraphs: bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, th except for in formal instances.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Italian also has the digraphs: ch, gh, gn, gl, sc. J, K, W, X, Y are used in foreign words. X is also used for native words derived from Latin and Greek.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Latvian also has the digraphs: dz, dž, ie, as well as the triphthongal letter o. Dz and dž are occasionally considered separate letters of the alphabet in more archaic examples (which have been published as recently as the 1950s,) however modern alphabets and teachings discourage this due to an ongoing effort to set decisive rules for Latvian (and eliminate barbaric words accumulated during the Soviet occupation.) The digraph "ie" is never considered a separate letter. The Latvian o is also the only single-letter triphthong in any language—in one letter it has the three vowel sounds u, o, and a, which combine into uoa.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Lithuanian also has the digraphs: ch, dz, dž, ie, uo. However, these are not considered separate letters of the alphabet.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Maltese also has the digraphs: ie, għ.
  • ↑ Māori uses g only in ng digraph. Wh is also a digraph.
  • ↑ Some Mohawk speakers use orthographic i in place of the consonant y. The glottal stop is indicated with an apostrophe ’ and long vowels are written with a colon :.
  • ↑ Piedmontese also uses the letter n- to indicate a velar nasal N-sound (pronounced as the gerundive termination in going), which usually precedes a vowel, as in lun-a [moon].
  • ↑↑↑↑ Pinyin has four tone markers that can go on top of the any of the six vowels (a, e, i, o, u, ü); e.g.: macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ǖ), acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú, ǘ), caron (ǎ, ě, ǐ, ǒ, ǔ, ǚ), grave accent (à, è, ì, ò, ù, ǜ). It also uses the digraphs: ch, sh, zh.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Polish also has the digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dż, dź, sz, rz.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Portuguese also uses the digraphs ch, lh, nh, ou, rr, ss. The trema on ü is currently only used in Brazilian Portuguese. Neither the digraphs nor accented letters are considered part of the alphabet.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Romani has the digraphs: čh, dž, kh, ph, th.
  • ↑↑↑ Slovak also has the digraphs: dz, dž, ch and unique letters Ľ/ľ, Ĺ/ĺ.
  • ↑↑↑ Spanish uses several digraphs to represented single sounds: ch, gu (preceding e or i), ll, qu, rr; of these, the digraphs ch and ll were traditionally considered individual letters with their own name (che, elle) and place in the alphabet (after c and l, respectively), but in order to facilitate international compatibility the Royal Spanish Academy decided to cease this practice in 1994 and all digraphs are now collated as combinations of two separate characters. The c-cedilla ç used earlier has been replaced completely by z.
  • ↑ Swedish uses é in well integrated loan words like idé and armé, although é is considered a modified e, while å, ä, ö are letters. á and à are rarely used words. W and z are used in some integrated words like webb and zon. Q, ü, è are used for names only, but exist in Swedish names. For foreign names ó, ë, ñ and more are sometimes used, but usually not. Swedish has many digraphs and some trigraphs. ch, dj, lj, rl, rn, rs, sj, sk, si, ti, sch, skj, stj and others are usually pronounced as one sound.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Vietnamese has five tone markers that can go on top (or below) any of the 12 vowels (a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y); e.g.: grave accent (à, ằ, ầ, è, ề, ì, ò, ồ, ờ, ù, ừ, ỳ), hook above (ả, ẳ, ẩ, ẻ, ể, ỉ, ỏ, ổ, ở, ủ, ử, ỷ), tilde (ã, ẵ, ẫ, ẽ, ễ, ĩ, õ, ỗ, ỡ, ũ, ữ, ỹ), acute accent (á, ắ, ấ, é, ế, í, ó, ố, ớ, ú, ứ, ý), and dot below (ạ, ặ, ậ, ẹ, ệ, ị, ọ, ộ, ợ, ụ, ự, ỵ). It also uses the digraphs and trigraphs: ch, gi, kh, ng, ngh, nh, ph, th, tr, but they are no longer considered letters.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Walloon has the digraphs and trigraphs: ae, ch, dj, ea, jh, oe, oen, oi, sch, sh, tch, xh; the letter x is only used in xh digraph, the letter j is almost only used in dj and jh digraphs
  • ↑↑↑↑ Welsh has the digraphs ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th. It also occasionally uses circumflexes, diaereses, acute accents and grave accents on its seven vowels (a, e, i, o, u, w, y), but accented characters are not regarded as separate letters of the alphabet.
  • ↑↑↑↑ Xhosa has a large number of digraphs, trigraphs, and even one tetragraph are used to represent various phonemes: bh, ch, dl, dy, dz, gc, gq, gr, gx, hh, hl, kh, kr, lh, mb, mf, mh, n', nc, ndl, ndz, ngc, ngh, ngq, ngx, nh, nkc, nkq, nkx, nq, nx, ntl, ny, nyh, ph, qh, rh, sh, th, ths, thsh, thy, ts, tsh, ty, wh, xh, yh, zh. It also occasionally uses acute accents, grave accents, circumflexes, and diaereses on its five vowels (a, e, i, o, u), but accented characters are not regarded as separate letters of the alphabet.

[edit] Miscellanea

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ As defined in ISO/IEC 646 based on ASCII which was based on the 26 letters of the English alphabet and previous telecommunications standards, and used in later ISO standards, see Latin characters in Unicode.

[edit] See also

The ISO basic Latin alphabet
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

history • palaeography • derivations • diacritics • punctuation • numerals • Unicode • list of letters

[edit] Further reading