Latin script
 | This article includes a list of generalreferences,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(October 2017) |
| Latin Roman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | c. 700 BC– present |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| Languages | SeeList of Latin-script Alpha bets |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems |
|
Sister systems | |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Latn(215),Latin |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Latin |
| SeeLatin characters in Unicode | |
TheLatin script,also known as theRoman script,is awriting systembased on the letters of theclassical Latin Alpha bet,derived from a form of theGreek Alpha betwhich was in use in the ancient Greek city ofCumaeinMagna Graecia.The Greek Alpha bet was altered by theEtruscans,and subsequently their Alpha bet was altered by theAncient Romans.SeveralLatin-script Alpha betsexist, which differ in graphemes, collation and phonetic values from the classical Latin Alpha bet.
The Latin script is the basis of theInternational Phonetic Alphabet,and the 26 most widespread letters are the letters contained in theISO basic Latin Alpha bet,which are the same letters as theEnglish Alpha bet.
Latin script is the basis for the largest number of Alpha bets of anywriting system[1]and is themost widely adoptedwriting system in the world. Latin script is used as the standard method of writing the languages of Western and Central Europe, most of sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and Oceania, as well as many languages in other parts of the world.
Name
[edit]The script is either called Latin script or Roman script, in reference to its origin inancient Rome(though some of the capital letters are Greek in origin). In the context oftransliteration,the term "romanization"(British English:"romanisation" ) is often found.[2][3]Unicodeuses the term "Latin"[4]as does theInternational Organization for Standardization(ISO).[5]
The numeral system is called the Roman numeral system, and the collection of the elements is known as theRoman numerals.The numbers 1, 2, 3... are Latin/Roman script numbers for theHindu–Arabic numeral system.
ISO basic Latin Alpha bet
[edit]| UppercaseLatin Alpha bet | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LowercaseLatin Alpha bet | 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 use of the letters I and V for both consonants and vowels proved inconvenient as the Latin Alpha bet was adapted to Germanic and Romance languages.Woriginated as a doubledV(VV) used to represent the Voiced labial–velar approximant/w/found inOld Englishas early as the 7th century. It came into common use in the later 11th century, replacing the letterwynn⟨Ƿ ƿ⟩,which had been used for the same sound. In the Romance languages, the minuscule form of V was a roundedu;from this was derived a rounded capital U for the vowel in the 16th century, while a new, pointed minusculevwas derived from V for the consonant. In the case of I, a word-finalswashform,j,came to be used for the consonant, with the un-swashed form restricted to vowel use. Such conventions were erratic for centuries. J was introduced into English for the consonant in the 17th century (it had been rare as a vowel), but it was not universally considered a distinct letter in the Alpha betic order until the 19th century.
By the 1960s, it became apparent to the computer andtelecommunicationsindustries in theFirst Worldthat a non-proprietary method of encoding characters was needed. TheInternational Organization for Standardization(ISO) encapsulated the Latin Alpha bet in their (ISO/IEC 646) standard. To achieve widespread acceptance, this encapsulation was based on popular usage. As the United States held a preeminent position in both industries during the 1960s, the standard was based on the already publishedAmerican Standard Code for Information Interchange,better known asASCII,which included in thecharacter setthe 26 × 2 (uppercase and lowercase) letters of theEnglish Alpha bet.Later standards issued by the ISO, for exampleISO/IEC 10646(Unicode Latin), have continued to define the 26 × 2 letters of the English Alpha bet as the basic Latin Alpha bet with extensions to handle other letters in other languages.
Spread
[edit]
Latin-script Alpha bets are sometimes extensively used in areas coloured grey due to the use of unofficial second languages, such as French in Algeria and English in Egypt, and to Latin transliteration of the official script, such aspinyinin China.
The Latin Alpha bet spread, along withLatin,from theItalian Peninsulato the lands surrounding theMediterranean Seawith the expansion of theRoman Empire.The eastern half of the Empire, including Greece, Turkey, theLevant,and Egypt, continued to useGreekas alingua franca,but Latin was widely spoken in the western half, and as the westernRomance languagesevolved out of Latin, they continued to use and adapt the Latin Alpha bet.
Middle Ages
[edit]With the spread ofWestern Christianityduring theMiddle Ages,the Latin Alpha bet was gradually adopted by the peoples ofNorthern Europewho spokeCeltic languages(displacing theOghamAlpha bet) orGermanic languages(displacing earlierRunic Alpha bets) orBaltic languages,as well as by the speakers of severalUralic languages,most notablyHungarian,FinnishandEstonian.
The Latin script also came into use for writing theWest Slavic languagesand severalSouth Slavic languages,as the people who spoke them adoptedRoman Catholicism.The speakers ofEast Slavic languagesgenerally adoptedCyrillicalong withOrthodox Christianity.TheSerbian languageuses both scripts, with Cyrillic predominating in official communication and Latin elsewhere, as determined by the Law on Official Use of the Language and Alphabet.[6]
Since the 16th century
[edit]As late as 1500, the Latin script was limited primarily to the languages spoken inWestern,Northern,andCentral Europe.The Orthodox Christian Slavs ofEasternandSoutheastern Europemostly usedCyrillic,and the Greek Alpha bet was in use by Greek speakers around the eastern Mediterranean. TheArabic scriptwas widespread within Islam, both amongArabsand non-Arab nations like theIranians,Indonesians,Malays,andTurkic peoples.Most of the rest of Asia used a variety ofBrahmic Alpha betsor theChinese script.
ThroughEuropean colonizationthe Latin script has spread to theAmericas,Oceania,parts of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, in forms based on theSpanish,Portuguese,English,French,GermanandDutchAlpha bets.
It is used for manyAustronesian languages,including thelanguages of the Philippinesand theMalaysianandIndonesian languages,replacing earlier Arabic and indigenous Brahmic Alpha bets. Latin letters served as the basis for the forms of theCherokee syllabarydeveloped bySequoyah;however, the sound values are completely different.[citation needed]
Under Portuguese missionary influence, a Latin Alpha bet was devised for theVietnamese language,which had previously usedChinese characters.The Latin-based Alpha bet replaced the Chinese characters in administration in the 19th century with French rule.
Since the 19th century
[edit]In the late 19th century, theRomaniansswitched to using the Latin Alpha bet, dropping theRomanian Cyrillic Alpha bet.Romanianis one of theRomance languages.
Since 20th century
[edit]In 1928, as part ofMustafa Kemal Atatürk's reforms, the newRepublic of Turkeyadopted a Latin Alpha bet for theTurkish language,replacing a modified Arabic Alpha bet. Most of theTurkic-speaking peoples of the formerUSSR,includingTatars,Bashkirs,Azeri,Kazakh,Kyrgyzand others, had their writing systems replaced by the Latin-basedUniform Turkic Alpha betin the 1930s; but, in the 1940s, all were replaced by Cyrillic.
After thecollapse of the Soviet Unionin 1991, three of the newly independent Turkic-speaking republics,Azerbaijan,Uzbekistan,Turkmenistan,as well as Romanian-speakingMoldova,officially adopted Latin Alpha bets for their languages.Kyrgyzstan,Iranian-speakingTajikistan,and the breakaway region ofTransnistriakept the Cyrillic Alpha bet, chiefly due to their close ties with Russia.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the majority ofKurdsreplaced the Arabic script with two Latin Alpha bets. Although only the officialKurdish governmentuses an Arabic Alpha bet for public documents, the Latin Kurdish Alpha bet remains widely used throughout the region by the majority ofKurdish-speakers.
In 1957, thePeople's Republic of Chinaintroduced a script reform to theZhuang language,changing its orthography fromSawndip,a writing system based on Chinese, to a Latin script Alpha bet that used a mixture of Latin, Cyrillic, and IPA letters to represent both the phonemes and tones of the Zhuang language, without the use of diacritics. In 1982 this was further standardised to use only Latin script letters.
With the collapse of theDergand subsequent end of decades ofAmharicassimilation in 1991, various ethnic groups inEthiopiadropped theGeʽez script,which was deemed unsuitable for languages outside of theSemitic branch.[7]In the following years theKafa,[8]Oromo,[9]Sidama,[10]Somali,[10]andWolaitta[10]languages switched to Latin while there is continued debate on whether to follow suit for theHadiyyaandKambaatalanguages.[11]
21st century
[edit]On 15 September 1999 the authorities ofTatarstan,Russia, passed a law to make the Latin script a co-official writing system alongside Cyrillic for theTatar languageby 2011.[12]A year later, however, the Russian government overruled the law and banned Latinization on its territory.[13]
In 2015, thegovernment of Kazakhstanannounced that aKazakh Latin Alpha betwould replace theKazakh Cyrillic Alpha betas the official writing system for theKazakh languageby 2025.[14]There are also talks about switching from the Cyrillic script to Latin in Ukraine,[15]Kyrgyzstan,[16][17]andMongolia.[18]Mongolia, however, has since opted to revive theMongolian scriptinstead of switching to Latin.[19]
In October 2019, the organizationNational Representational Organization for Inuitin Canada (ITK) announced that they will introduce a unified writing system for theInuit languagesin the country. The writing system is based on the Latin Alpha bet and is modeled after the one used in theGreenlandic language.[20]
On 12 February 2021 the government of Uzbekistan announced it will finalize the transition from Cyrillic to Latin for theUzbek languageby 2023. Plans to switch to Latin originally began in 1993 but subsequently stalled and Cyrillic remained in widespread use.[21][22]
At present theCrimean Tatar languageuses both Cyrillic and Latin. The use of Latin was originally approved by Crimean Tatar representatives after the Soviet Union's collapse[23]but was never implemented by the regional government. After Russia'sannexationof Crimea in 2014 the Latin script was dropped entirely. Nevertheless, Crimean Tatars outside of Crimea continue to use Latin and on 22 October 2021 the government of Ukraine approved a proposal endorsed by theMejlis of the Crimean Tatar Peopleto switch the Crimean Tatar language to Latin by 2025.[24]
In July 2020, 2.6 billion people (36% of the world population) use the Latin Alpha bet.[25]
International standards
[edit]By the 1960s, it became apparent to the computer andtelecommunicationsindustries in theFirst Worldthat a non-proprietary method of encoding characters was needed. TheInternational Organization for Standardization(ISO) encapsulated the Latin Alpha bet in their (ISO/IEC 646) standard. To achieve widespread acceptance, this encapsulation was based on popular usage.
As the United States held a preeminent position in both industries during the 1960s, the standard was based on the already publishedAmerican Standard Code for Information Interchange,better known asASCII,which included in thecharacter setthe 26 × 2 (uppercase and lowercase) letters of theEnglish Alpha bet.Later standards issued by the ISO, for exampleISO/IEC 10646(Unicode Latin), have continued to define the 26 × 2 letters of the English Alpha bet as the basic Latin Alpha bet with extensions to handle other letters in other languages.
National standards
[edit]The DIN standardDIN 91379specifies a subset of Unicode letters, special characters, and sequences of letters and diacritic signs to allow the correct representation of names and to simplify data exchange in Europe. This specification supports all official languages ofEuropean UnionandEuropean Free Trade Associationcountries (thus also the Greek andCyrillicscripts), plus theGerman minority languages.[clarification needed]To allow the transliteration of names in other writing systems to the Latin script according to the relevant ISO standards all necessary combinations of base letters and diacritic signs are provided.[26] Efforts are being made to further develop it into a EuropeanCENstandard.[27]
As used by various languages
[edit]In the course of its use, the Latin Alpha bet was adapted for use in new languages, sometimes representingphonemesnot found in languages that were already written with the Roman characters. To represent these new sounds, extensions were therefore created, be it by addingdiacriticsto existingletters,by joining multiple letters together to makeligatures,by creating completely new forms, or by assigning a special function to pairs or triplets of letters. These new forms are given a place in the Alpha bet by defining anAlpha betical orderor collation sequence, which can vary with the particular language.
Letters
[edit]Some examples of new letters to the standard Latin Alpha bet are theRunicletterswynn⟨Ƿ ƿ⟩andthorn⟨Þ þ⟩,and the lettereth⟨Ð/ð⟩,which were added to the Alpha bet ofOld English.Another Irish letter, theinsularg,developed intoyogh⟨Ȝ ȝ⟩,used inMiddle English.Wynn was later replaced with the new letter⟨w⟩,eth and thorn with⟨th⟩,and yogh with⟨gh⟩.Although the four are no longer part of the English or Irish Alpha bets, eth and thorn are still used in the modernIcelandic Alpha bet,while eth is also used by theFaroese Alpha bet.
Some West, Central andSouthern Africanlanguages use a few additional letters that have sound values similar to those of their equivalents in the IPA. For example,Adangmeuses the letters⟨Ɛ ɛ⟩and⟨Ɔ ɔ⟩,andGauses⟨Ɛ ɛ⟩,⟨Ŋ ŋ⟩and⟨Ɔ ɔ⟩.Hausauses⟨Ɓ ɓ⟩and⟨Ɗ ɗ⟩forimplosives,and⟨Ƙ ƙ⟩for anejective.Africanistshave standardized these into theAfrican reference Alpha bet.
Dottedanddotless I—⟨İ i⟩and⟨I ı⟩— are two forms of the letter I used by theTurkish,Azerbaijani,andKazakhAlpha bets.[28]The Azerbaijani language also has⟨Ə ə⟩,which represents thenear-open front unrounded vowel.
Multigraphs
[edit]Adigraphis a pair of letters used to write one sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters in sequence. Examples are⟨ch⟩,⟨ng⟩,⟨rh⟩,⟨sh⟩,⟨ph⟩,⟨th⟩in English, and⟨ij⟩,⟨ee⟩,⟨ch⟩and⟨ei⟩in Dutch. In Dutch the⟨ij⟩is capitalized as⟨IJ⟩or theligature⟨IJ⟩,but never as⟨Ij⟩,and it often takes the appearance of a ligature⟨ij⟩very similar to the letter⟨ÿ⟩inhandwriting.
Atrigraphis made up of three letters, like theGerman⟨sch⟩,theBreton⟨c'h⟩or theMilanese⟨oeu⟩.In theorthographiesof some languages, digraphs and trigraphs are regarded as independent letters of the Alpha bet in their own right. The capitalization of digraphs and trigraphs is language-dependent, as only the first letter may be capitalized, or all component letters simultaneously (even for words written in title case, where letters after the digraph or trigraph are left in lowercase).
Ligatures
[edit]Aligatureis a fusion of two or more ordinary letters into a newglyphor character. Examples are⟨Ææ⟩(from⟨AE⟩,called "ash" ),⟨Œœ⟩(from⟨OE⟩,sometimes called "oethel" ), theabbreviation⟨&⟩(fromLatin:et,lit. 'and', called "ampersand" ), and⟨ẞß⟩(from⟨ſʒ⟩or⟨ſs⟩,thearchaic medial form of⟨s⟩,followed by an⟨ʒ⟩or⟨s⟩,called "sharp S" or "eszett" ).
Diacritics
[edit]
A diacritic, in some cases also called an accent, is a small symbol that can appear above or below a letter, or in some other position, such as theumlaut signused in the German characters⟨ä⟩,⟨ö⟩,⟨ü⟩or the Romanian charactersă,â,î,ș,ț.Its main function is to change the phonetic value of the letter to which it is added, but it may also modify the pronunciation of a whole syllable or word, indicate the start of a new syllable, or distinguish betweenhomographssuch as theDutchwordseen(pronounced[ən]) meaning "a" or "an", andéén,(pronounced[e:n]) meaning "one". As with the pronunciation of letters, the effect of diacritics is language-dependent.
English is the only major modernEuropean languagethat requires no diacritics for its native vocabulary[note 1].Historically, in formal writing, adiaeresiswas sometimes used to indicate the start of a new syllable within a sequence of letters that could otherwise be misinterpreted as being a single vowel (e.g., "coöperative", "reëlect" ), but modern writing styles either omit such marks or use a hyphen to indicate a syllable break (e.g. "co-operative", "re-elect" ).[note 2][29]
Collation
[edit]Some modified letters, such as the symbols⟨å⟩,⟨ä⟩,and⟨ö⟩,may be regarded as new individual letters in themselves, and assigned a specific place in the Alpha bet forcollationpurposes, separate from that of the letter on which they are based, as is done inSwedish.In other cases, such as with⟨ä⟩,⟨ö⟩,⟨ü⟩in German, this is not done; letter-diacritic combinations being identified with their base letter. The same applies to digraphs and trigraphs. Different diacritics may be treated differently in collation within a single language. For example, in Spanish, the character⟨ñ⟩is considered a letter, and sorted between⟨n⟩and⟨o⟩in dictionaries, but the accented vowels⟨á⟩,⟨é⟩,⟨í⟩,⟨ó⟩,⟨ú⟩,⟨ü⟩are not separated from the unaccented vowels⟨a⟩,⟨e⟩,⟨i⟩,⟨o⟩,⟨u⟩.
Capitalization
[edit]The languages that use the Latin script today generally usecapital lettersto begin paragraphs and sentences andproper nouns.The rules forcapitalizationhave changed over time, and different languages have varied in their rules for capitalization.Old English,for example, was rarely written with even proper nouns capitalized; whereasModern Englishof the 18th century had frequently all nouns capitalized, in the same way that ModernGermanis written today, e.g.German:Alle Schwestern der alten Stadt hatten die Vögel gesehen,lit. 'All of the Sisters of the old City had seen the Birds'.
Romanization
[edit]Words from languages natively written with otherscripts,such asArabicorChinese,are usuallytransliteratedortranscribedwhen embedded in Latin-script text or inmultilingualinternational communication, a process termedromanization.
Whilst the romanization of such languages is used mostly at unofficial levels, it has been especially prominent in computer messaging where only the limited seven-bitASCIIcode is available on older systems. However, with the introduction ofUnicode,romanization is now becoming less necessary. Keyboards used to enter such text may still restrict users to romanized text, as only ASCII or Latin- Alpha bet characters may be available.
See also
[edit]- Western Latin character sets (computing)
- European Latin Unicode subset (DIN 91379)
- H with left hook
- Latin letters used in mathematics
- Latin Omega
Notes
[edit]- ^In formal English writing, however, diacritics are often preserved on many loanwords, such as "café", "naïve","façade","jalapeño"or the German prefix"über- ".
- ^As an example, an article containing adiaeresisin "coöperate" and acedillain "façade" as well as acircumflexin the word "crêpe":Grafton, Anthony (23 October 2006)."Books: The Nutty Professors, The history of academic charisma".The New Yorker.
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Haarmann 2004,p. 96.
- ^"Search results | BSI Group".Bsigroup.Retrieved12 May2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^"Romanisation_systems".Pcgn.org.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 27 June 2014.Retrieved12 May2014.
- ^"ISO 15924 – Code List in English".Unicode.org.Archivedfrom the original on 26 May 2013.Retrieved22 July2013.
- ^"Search – ISO".International Organization for Standardization.Archivedfrom the original on 13 May 2014.Retrieved12 May2014.
- ^"Zakon O Službenoj Upotrebi Jezika I Pisama"(PDF).Ombudsman.rs. 17 May 2010. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 14 July 2014.Retrieved5 July2014.
- ^Smith, Lahra (2013)."Review ofMaking Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender, and National Identity in Ethiopia".African Studies.125(3): 542–544.doi:10.1080/00083968.2015.1067017.S2CID148544393.Archivedfrom the original on 16 November 2021.Retrieved16 November2021– via Taylor & Francis.
- ^Pütz, Martin (1997).Language Choices: Conditions, constraints, and consequences.John Benjamins Publishing. p. 216.ISBN9789027275844.
- ^Gemeda, Guluma (18 June 2018)."The History and Politics of the Qubee Alphabet".Ayyaantuu.Archivedfrom the original on 16 November 2021.Retrieved16 November2021.
- ^abcYohannes, Mekonnen (2021)."Language Policy in Ethiopia: The Interplay Between Policy and Practice in Tigray Regional State".Language Policy.24:33.doi:10.1007/978-3-030-63904-4.ISBN978-3-030-63903-7.S2CID234114762.Archivedfrom the original on 22 February 2021.Retrieved16 November2021– via Springer Link.
- ^Pasch, Helma (2008)."Competing scripts: The Introduction of the Roman Alphabet in Africa"(PDF).International Journal of the Sociology of Language(191): 8.Archived(PDF)from the original on 16 November 2021.Retrieved16 November2021– via ResearchGate.
- ^Andrews, Ernest (2018).Language Planning in the Post-Communist Era: The Struggles for Language Control in the New Order in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and China.Springer. p. 132.ISBN978-3-319-70926-0.
- ^Faller, Helen (2011).Nation, Language, Islam: Tatarstan's Sovereignty Movement.Central European University Press. p. 131.ISBN978-963-9776-84-5.
- ^"Kazakh language to be converted to Latin Alpha bet – MCS RK".Kazinform.30 January 2015. Archived fromthe originalon 19 February 2017.Retrieved28 September2015.
- ^"Klimkin welcomes discussion on switching to Latin Alpha bet in Ukraine".UNIAN.27 March 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 3 October 2021.Retrieved5 August2019.
- ^Goble, Paul (12 October 2017)."Moscow Bribes Bishkek to Stop Kyrgyzstan From Changing to Latin Alphabet".Jamestown.Archivedfrom the original on 21 February 2021.Retrieved5 August2019.
- ^Rickleton, Chris (13 September 2019)."Kyrgyzstan: Latin ( Alpha bet) fever takes hold".Eurasianet.Archivedfrom the original on 2 July 2021.Retrieved16 September2019.
- ^Mikovic, Nikola (2 March 2019)."Russian Influence in Mongolia is Declining".Global Security Review.Archivedfrom the original on 24 February 2021.Retrieved5 August2019.
- ^Tang, Didi (20 March 2020)."Mongolia abandons Soviet past by restoring Alpha bet".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Archivedfrom the original on 22 April 2021.Retrieved2 March2021.
- ^"Canadian Inuit Get Common Written Language".High North News (8 October 2019).Archivedfrom the original on 17 August 2021.Retrieved8 October2019.
- ^Sands, David (12 February 2021)."Latin lives! Uzbeks prepare latest switch to Western-based Alpha bet".The Washington Times.Archivedfrom the original on 15 February 2021.Retrieved15 February2021.
- ^"Uzbekistan Aims For Full Transition To Latin-Based Alphabet By 2023".Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.12 February 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 31 December 2022.Retrieved15 February2021.
- ^Kuzio, Taras (2007).Ukraine - Crimea - Russia: Triangle of Conflict.Columbia University Press. p. 106.ISBN978-3-8382-5761-7.
- ^"Cabinet approves Crimean Tatar Alpha bet based on Latin letters".Ukrinform.22 October 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 7 October 2021.Retrieved17 November2021.
- ^"The world's scripts and Alpha bets".WorldStandards.Archivedfrom the original on 9 August 2020.Retrieved11 August2020.
- ^"DIN 91379:2022-08: Characters and defined character sequences in Unicode for the electronic processing of names and data exchange in Europe, with CD-ROM".Beuth Verlag.Archivedfrom the original on 19 August 2022.Retrieved19 August2022.
- ^Koordinierungsstelle für IT-Standards (KoSIT)."String.Latin+ 1.2: eine kommentierte und erweiterte Fassung der DIN SPEC 91379. Inklusive einer umfangreichen Liste häufig gestellter Fragen. Herausgegeben von der Fachgruppe String.Latin. (zip, 1.7 MB)"[String.Latin+ 1.2: Commented and extended version of DIN SPEC 91379.] (in German).Archivedfrom the original on 19 January 2022.Retrieved19 March2022.
- ^"Localize Your Font: Turkish i".Glyphs.Archivedfrom the original on 28 January 2021.Retrieved28 January2021.
- ^"The New Yorker's odd mark — the diaeresis".16 December 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 16 December 2010.Retrieved8 March2022.
Sources
[edit]- Haarmann, Harald (2004).Geschichte der Schrift[History of Writing] (in German) (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck.ISBN978-3-406-47998-4.
Further reading
[edit]- Boyle, Leonard E. 1976. "Optimist and recensionist: 'Common errors' or 'common variations.'"InLatin script and letters A.D. 400–900: Festschrift presented to Ludwig Bieler on the occasion of his 70th birthday.Edited by John J. O'Meara and Bernd Naumann, 264–74. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
- Morison, Stanley. 1972.Politics and script: Aspects of authority and freedom in the development of Graeco-Latin script from the sixth century B.C. to the twentieth century A.D.Oxford: Clarendon.
External links
[edit]
- Unicode collation chart—Latin letters sorted by shape
- Diacritics Project – All you need to design a font with correct accents