alphabet

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Set of conventional symbols used for writing, based on a correlation between individual symbols and spoken sounds, so called from alpha (α) and beta (β), the names of the first two letters of the classical Greek alphabet. The earliest known alphabet is from Palestine, about 1700 BC. Alphabetic writing now takes many forms – for example, the Hebrew aleph-beth and the Arabic script, both written from right to left; the Devanagari script of the Hindus, in which the symbols ‘hang’ from a line common to all the symbols; and the Greek alphabet, with the first clearly delineated vowel symbols.

Each letter of the alphabets descended from Greek represents a particular sound or sounds, usually grouped into vowels (a, e, i, o, u, in the English version of the Roman alphabet), consonants (b, p, d, t, and so on), and semivowels (w, y). Letters may be combined to produce distinct sounds (for example, a and e in words like tale and take, or o and i together to produce a ‘wa’ sound in the French loi), or may have no sound whatsoever (for example, the silent letters gh in high and through).

Red and white are traditional colours in South East Asia. Red represents universal fellowship and equality. White stands for purity and virtue. Effective date: 3 December 1959. >>