Diacritics are also more likely to be kept where there would otherwise be confusion with another word (for example, résumé (or resumé) rather than resume), and, rarely, even added (as in maté, from Spanish yerba mate, but following the pattern of café, from French). Words that are still thought to be foreign tend to keep them for example, the only spelling of soupçon found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic. Informal English writing tends to get rid of diacritics because of their absence from the keyboard, while professional copywriters and typesetters tend to include them, such as Microsoft Word. As such words become a normal part of English vocabulary, there is a tendency to remove the diacritics, as has happened with old borrowings such as hôtel, from French. Proposed reforms ĭifferent alphabets 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.ĭiacritic marks (extra marks to help non-native speakers with pronunciation) mainly appear in loanwords such as naïve and façade. The alternate lowercase form long s (ſ) lasted into early modern English, and was used in non-final position up to the early 19th century. With these changes, the English alphabet now has 26 letters:Ī B C D E F G L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z w also became its own letter, rather than being thought of as 2 different letters. Before thatthe former two letters were just different forms of the latter two letters. In the 16th century, the letters u and j were being written as letters distinct from v and i respectively. Yogh disappeared around the 15th century and was typically replaced by gh. Wynn disappeared from English around the 14th century when it was supplanted by uu, which ultimately developed into the modern w. The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day Icelandic while ð is still used in present-day Faroese.

Y for th can still be seen in pseudo-archaisms (modern writings spelled to look like older words or phrases), such as 'Ye Olde Booke Shoppe'. Thorn and eth were both replaced by th, though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lowercase form becoming more and more difficult to tell from the minuscule y in most handwriting. Latin borrowings reintroduced homographs of ash and ethel into Middle English and Early Modern English, though they are not thought to be the same letters but rather ligatures, and in any case are somewhat old-fashioned. In the alphabet of Modern English, thorn (þ), eth (ð), wynn (ƿ), yogh ( ȝ), ash (æ), and ethel (œ) do not exist.

He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet first (including ampersand), then 5 additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note ond (⁊), an insular symbol for and:Ī 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 In the year 1011, a monk named Byrhtferð recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet. Also, the v-v or u-u ligature double-u (W w) was in use. In very early Old English the o-e ligature ethel (Œ œ) also appeared as its own letter, likewise named after a rune, œðel. The a-e ligature ash (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter in its own right, named after a futhorc rune æsc. The letter eth (Ð ð) was later devised as a rewriting of the letter 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. Futhorc influenced the new Latin-based English alphabet by giving it letters thorn (Þ þ) and wynn (Ƿ ƿ).

The Latin script, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc from about the 7th century, although the two continued to be used alongside each other for some time. Very few examples of this form of written Old English have survived, with most of these being short writings or pieces. This alphabet was brought to what is now England, along with Old English itself, the earliest form of the language, by Anglo-Saxon settlers. The English language was first written in Anglo-Saxon futhorc runes, used since the 5th century. Problems playing this file? See media help.

Alphabet spelling in english