An
alphabet is a system of symbols (letters) used to represent the phonemes (sounds) of a
language. It is a
writing system.
There are three types of alphabets:
- Abjads only represent consonant sounds; vowel sounds are not shown.
- Abugidas (or alphasyllabaries) have letters to represent consonant sounds; vowel sounds are shown with diacritics (modifiers to the consonant letters).
- True alphabets have letters to represent both consonant and vowel sounds.
List of selected alphabets, abjads and abugidas
