The story of the Alphabets

A detailed Summary of The story of the Alphabets

Some 3500 years ago A, the first letter of our alphabet, has started its long journey. The letter A was created by the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians invented the system in which each sound has a letter that corresponds to it, the system that is for this reason called phonetic. Phoenician alphabet is actually considered to be the first alphabet ever created or at least the first one whose existence is supported with the concrete historical evidence.

Since those early days then A has experienced many changes, both in its form and visual appearance. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is A's position - it has remained the first letter of every alphabet of the Western Hemisphere. Also it has continued to represent the same sound.

There are many historical changes that influenced the style of the alphabets and we shall be able to identify the most of them through the example of the letter A.

As we have already mentioned, the letter A originated in Phoenicia. Allan Haley suggests that the first design for letter A was inspired by an ox head. This becomes obvious if look at the first letter of the alphabet as designed by the Phoenicians (#@$). The reason for such decision, according to Haley, lies in the fact that ox was the mo

After the above mentioned important changes introduced at the beginning the Industrial Revolution the letter styles were continued to be influenced by the many different design movements, from Arts and Crafts to futurism, Art Deco, new functionalism etc...

By looking at "the monuments that the Romans had scattered throughout their conquered territories" Ponot explains how the writing technique further evolved in the Roman Empire: "The inscriptions which were no longer on the eye level, became therefore larger and more deeply cut into the stone. Even when tinted with color the grooves of the letters were rendered legible through the use of light and shade cast at different angles onto the lines. Rainwater gradually removed the color from the vertical parts, leaving these less easily visible, while at the same time the horizontal lines become more pronounced as they caught and retained dirt, which emphasized the effect of the shadow. If the letters were to retain their uniform appearance, some alternations in their proportions had to be made. This was only possible by making the horizontal lines thinner that the verticals. It was also necessary to make the curves broaden as they approached the vertical and the narrow as they curved away. This was a technique of writing with shadows." (Jean, 1992:160) This example is particularly interesting because it indicates how the styles of letters, in this case the Roman capitals, changed due to some practical reasons.

In the period after the fall of Rome until the fifteenth century, the medieval ages, the letter A underwent further changes. Increasing demand for books brought about the need for faster writing. Gradually the lower-case letters

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Approximate Word count = 1146
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English