unctuation marks within words[edit]
Apostrophe[edit]
The apostrophe (ʼ) is not considered part of the English alphabet nor used as a diacritic even in
loanwords. But it is used for two important purposes in written English: to mark the "possessive"[nb
13]
and to mark contracted words. Current standards require its use for both purposes. Therefore,
apostrophes are necessary to spell many words even in isolation, unlike most punctuation marks,
which are concerned with indicating sentence structure and other relationships among multiple
words.
It distinguishes (from the otherwise identical regular plural inflection -s) the
English possessive morpheme 's (apostrophe alone after a regular plural affix, giving -
s' as the standard mark for plural + possessive). Practice settled in the 18th century;
before then, practices varied but typically all three endings were written -s (but without
cumulation). This meant that only regular nouns bearing neither could be confidently
identified, and plural and possessive could be potentially confused (e.g., "the Apostles
words"; "those things over there are my husbands"[6])—which undermines the logic of
"marked" forms.
Most common contractions have near-homographs from which they are distinguished in
writing only by an apostrophe, for example it's (it is or it has), we're (we are),
or she'd (she would or she had).
Hyphen[edit]
Hyphens are often used in English compound words. Writing compound words may be hyphenated,
open or closed, so specifics are guided by stylistic policy. Some writers may use a slash in certain
instances.
Frequencies[edit]
Main article: Letter frequency
The letter most commonly used in English is E. The least used letter is Z. The frequencies shown in
the table may differ in practice according to the type of text.[7]
Phonology[edit]
Main article: English phonology
The letters A, E, I, O, and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they
represent vowels, although I and U represent consonants in words such as "onion" and "quail"
respectively.
The letter Y sometimes represents a consonant (as in "young") and sometimes a vowel (as in
"myth"). Very rarely, W may represent a vowel (as in "cwm")—a Welsh loanword.
The consonant sounds represented by the letters W and Y in English (/w/ and /j/ as in yes /jɛs/ and
went /wɛnt/) are referred to as semi-vowels (or glides) by linguists, however this is a description that
applies to the sounds represented by the letters and not to the letters themselves.
The remaining letters are considered consonant letters, since when not silent they generally
represent consonants.
History[edit]
See also: History of the Latin alphabet and English orthography
Old English[edit]
Main article: Old English Latin alphabet
The English language itself was first written in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc runic alphabet, in use from
the 5th century. This alphabet was brought to what is now England, along with the proto-form of the
language itself, by Anglo-Saxon settlers. Very few examples of this form of written Old English have
survived, mostly as short inscriptions or fragments.
The Latin script, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc
from about the 7th century, although the two continued in parallel for some time. As such, the Old
English alphabet began to employ parts of the Roman alphabet in its construction.[8] Futhorc
influenced the emerging English alphabet by providing it with the letters thorn (Þ þ) and wynn (Ƿ ƿ).
The letter eth (Ð ð) was later devised as a modification of dee (D d), and finally yogh (Ȝ ȝ) was
created by Norman scribes from the insular g in Old English and Irish, and used alongside
their Carolingian g.
The a-e ligature ash (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter in its own right, named after a futhorc rune æsc.
In very early Old English the o-e ligature ethel (Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise
named after a rune, œðel[citation needed]. Additionally, the v-v or u-u ligature double-u (W w) was in use.
In the year 1011, a monk named Byrhtferð recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet.
[2]
He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet first, including the ampersand, then 5 additional
English letters, starting with the Tironian note ond (⁊), an insular symbol for and:
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
Modern English[edit]
In the orthography of Modern English, thorn (þ), eth (ð), wynn (ƿ), yogh (ȝ), ash (æ), and œ are
obsolete. Latin borrowings reintroduced homographs of æ and œ into Middle English and Early
Modern English, though they are largely obsolete (see "Ligatures in recent usage" below), and
where they are used they are not considered to be separate letters (e.g. for collation purposes), but
rather ligatures. Thorn and eth were both replaced by th, though thorn continued in existence for
some time, its lowercase form gradually becoming graphically indistinguishable from
the minuscule y in most handwriting. Y for th can still be seen in pseudo-archaisms such as "Ye
Olde Booke Shoppe". The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day Icelandic, while ð is still used
in present-day Faroese. Wynn disappeared from English around the 14th century when it was
supplanted by uu, which ultimately developed into the modern w. Yogh disappeared around the 15th
century and was typically replaced by gh.
The letters u and j, as distinct from v and i, were introduced in the 16th century, and w assumed the
status of an independent letter. The variant lowercase form long s (ſ) lasted into early modern
English, and was used in non-final position up to the early 19th century. Today, the English alphabet
is considered to consist of the following 26 letters:
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
Written English has a number[9] of digraphs, but they are not considered separate letters of the
alphabet:
ch
ci
ck
gh
ng
ph
qu
rh
sc
sh
th
ti
wh
wr
zh
Ligatures in recent usage[edit]
Outside of professional papers on specific subjects that traditionally use ligatures in loanwords,
ligatures are seldom used in modern English. The ligatures æ and œ were until the 19th century
(slightly later in American English)[citation needed] used in formal writing for certain words of Greek or Latin
origin, such as encyclopædia and cœlom, although such ligatures were not used in either classical
Latin or ancient Greek. These are now usually rendered as "ae" and "oe" in all types of writing,[citation
needed]
although in American English, a lone e has mostly supplanted both (for
example, encyclopedia for encyclopaedia, and maneuver for manoeuvre).
Some fonts for typesetting English contain commonly used ligatures, such as for ⟨tt⟩, ⟨fi⟩, ⟨fl⟩, ⟨ffi⟩,
and ⟨ffl⟩. These are not independent letters, but rather allographs.
Proposed reforms[edit]
Alternative scripts have been proposed for written English—mostly extending or replacing the basic
English alphabet—such as the Deseret alphabet, the Shavian alphabet, Gregg shorthand, etc.
