Anybody ever thought about this. Where did the alphabet come from? Why are the letters shaped how they are? Why do they sound like they are suppose to sound? Why are they sounded like it instead of something else?

I have no idea, just wondering if any of you know why.

Ever heard of the Romans and their language latin. Well, English uses the latin alphabet, just as Greek uses the Greek alphabet, and Russian the cyrillic, a modified version of the Greek alphabet supposedly created by Saint Cyril.

And I thought primary education was obligatory in the US.

Ever heard the maxim about leading a horse to water?

Nox

Illustrate me in the matters of that apothegm.

quote:

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Originally posted by NapalmNate505:
Why do they sound like they are suppose to sound?

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Well why? Because of the romans? BS on that

In part yes. If you hear any Latin text read you will notice that the sounds of the letters quite resemble that of the pronounciation of letters in English. Any variations are due to the fact that English developed and assimilated words from such diverse languages as French and old Norse and to the fact that a language develops through time.

Originally, I think Aramaic was the first alphabet, then Hebrew. Aramaic was lost a long time ago and now nobody really knows it, although it is similair to Hebrew and the Gregorian alphabet, from which I think they both derived...hell, I forget.
Hebrew is actually based upon numbers, 1,2,3= A/alef, B/bet, G/gimal. I don't know why they are shaped like they are, creativity I guess. They probably sound like they are supposed to sound because that's how an alphebet works. They are sounded like it because that's the way it is intended to sound.

Messer,

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

ie You can send a child to school, but you can't make him learn.

Nox

um, in the world book encyclopaedia, in the first few pages, shows the evolution of that particular letter and the different shapes and sounds it had through civilisation.take a look at school or whatever, it should be in there.

Thanks Nox.

long ago, in a cave near nowhere philosphers sat and thought of a way to make a person like yourself think... and the alphabet was born!

The latin alphabet was derived from the greek alphabet, which was derived from the phonecian or punic alphabet, which was derived from mycenean linear variants a and b. Thats pretty much the lineage of the english alphabet.

The written language wasn't developed by a troglodite. Systems of writting develop out of need created by societies possesing complex social institutions and diversification of labor sufficient to promote and advance a large volume of trade and exchange.