The phonetic type is divided in 4: alphabetic, abjad, abugida (or alphasyllabic) and syllabic. The alphabetic type is the most common one, in which each consonant or vowel is represented by a letter. It is probably the most logical way to write, but in practice, with the evolution of languages, the alphabetic scripts began having have double letters, accentuation, digraphs, mute letters, more than one letter for the same sound and vice-versa, which makes the script more complex. This is the case of the Latin alphabet, used for the great majority of the current languages.
The abjad type is a similar system, being historically previous to the alphabetic one, since the Ugaritic script is an abjad. In this system, the letters only represent consonants, and the vowels can be optionally represented by little strokes and dots placed above or below the consonants. Normally this vowel punctuation is not used, only for those learning the script. This may seem strange, and it would be very hard to read English or Spanish without vowels, but this type of script fits well to the Semitic languages, like Hebrew and Arabic. In these languages, as the vowels of word roots change when there is word derivation, the roots can remain unchanged if only the consonants are written.
The abugida type is different. In this one, each letter may represent a syllable, composed of a consonant and an inherited vowel, as it is called, which is generally the most common vowel sound (a or o, depending on the language). To modify the inherited vowel, diacritic signs similar to accents are used, placed near the letters. For example, in Hindi, the consonant for the sound d is pronounced da, and if a little left-inclined stroke is put over the letter, it becomes the syllable de. There are also symbols for isolated vowels in a syllable and to nasalize or omit the vowel of the letters. These alphabets are little known in the Western world, but there is a large number of abugidas, used mainly for the several Indian languages and those of South and Southeast Asia, like Hindi and Thai.
The syllabic alphabets are those that work in the most simple way, suitable for languages with little variation of syllables, like Japanese and Cherokee (North Amerindian language). In these alphabets, each letter represents a syllable composed of a consonant and a vowel, or of only a vowel.
Below are 28 of the currently used alphabets, which represent the scripts of almost the whole world. For more detailed information, go to http://www.omniglot.com/, http://www.krysstal.com/ and http://www.geonames.de/.
Click here for how to make the browser display the charcters of the different alphabets correctly.
Notes:
1) The 28 alphabets below are those currently adopted or recommended for writing some language by some form of government in some part of the world. There are many others, used in small localities by a restricted number of people, or in religious texts or traditionally in special occasions, and yet those invented by authors of fiction, besides many extinct alphabets. On the map below, the borders between the alphabets are approximate, because they follow the borders between countries and their subdivisions (states, provinces, etc.).
2) The classification of languages in language groups is disputed, since it usually comprises under one group languages without a clear relation; it is preferable to use the classification in language families, the latter being more accepted. Nevertheless, here the classification in groups was used, once the number of families is extremely larger. The following 10 language groups were considered: Indo-European (includes the Basque language isolate, just for simplicity), Uralo-Altaic (includes Uralic, Altaic (including Japanese and Korean languages, not confirmedly Altaic), Eskimo-Aleut and the several Paleo-Siberian families), Caucasian, Afro-Asiatic, Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan (includes Tai-Kadai family), Austro-Asiatic, Malayo-Polynesian (includes the several Papuan and Australian families), African (includes Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan families) and American (includes the several North and South Amerindian families).
As it can be seen through the map, and also considering the population density of each area, the most used alphabets today are Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese / Japanese and Hindi.
1) Latin, Roman
Latin alphabet: alphabetic script
Languages written with this alphabet, listed by language groups:
Indo-European: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Luxemburgish, Welsh, Galician, Catalan, Basque, Afrikaans;
Uralo-Altaic: Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Turkish, Azeri, Turkmen, Uzbek;
Afro-Asiatic: Maltese, Hausa, Somali;
Austro-Asiatic: Vietnamese;
Malayo-Polynesian: Malagasy, Filipino, Malay, Indonesian, Javanese, Gilbertese, Tuvaluan, Fijian, Tongan, Samoan, Maori, Tahitian, Hawaiian;
African: Ibo, Yoruba, Fulani, Fang, Wolof, Malinka, Mende, Kongo, Swahili, Tswana, Sesoto, Sindebele, Swati, Zulu, Xhosa, Nama;
American: Guarani, Quechua, Aymara, K'iche', Navaho.
Alphabet used in:
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Greek ® Etruscan ® Latin.
2) ελληνικά (elliniká)
Greek alphabet: alphabetic script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Greek.
Alphabet used in: Greece, Cyprus.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Greek.
3) кириллица (kirillitsa)
Cyrillic alphabet: alphabetic script
Languages written with this alphabet, listed by language groups:
Indo-European: Russian, Bielorussian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Tajik;
Uralo-Altaic: Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Nenets, Evenki;
Caucasian: Abkhaz.
Alphabet used in:
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Greek ® Cyrillic.
4) Հայերեն (hayeren)
Armenian alphabet: alphabetic script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Armenian.
Alphabet used in Armenia.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Greek ® Armenian.
5) მხედრული (mkhedruli)
Georgian alphabet: alphabetic script
Language written with this alphabet, Caucasian: Georgian.
Alphabet used in Georgia, except republic of Abkhazia.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Greek ® Georgian.
6) العربية (al-arabiyah)
Arabic alphabet: abjad script
Languages written with this alphabet, listed by language groups:
Indo-European: Persian, Pashto, Balochi, Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmir;
Uralo-Altaic: Uyghur;
Afro-Asiatic: Arabic, Berber.
Alphabet used in:
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Nabatean ® Arabic.
7) עברית (ivrit)
Hebrew alphabet: abjad script
Language written with this alphabet, Afro-Asiatic: Hebrew.
Alphabet used in Israel.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Hebrew.
8) ፊደል (fidel)
Amharic alphabet: abugida script
Languages written with this alphabet, Afro-Asiatic: Amharic, Tigrinya.
Alphabet used in Ethiopia.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Amharic.
9) ތާނަ (thaana)
Divehi alphabet: abjad script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Divehi.
Alphabet used in Maldives.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Nabatean ® Arabic ® Divehi.
10) देवनागरी (devanāgarī)
Hindi alphabet: abugida script
Languages written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Hindi, Nepali, Marathi, Maithili, Bhojpuri.
Alphabet used in: central and northern India, Nepal.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Hindi.
11) বাংলা (bānglā)
Bengali alphabet: abugida script
Languages written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Bengali, Assamese.
Alphabet used in: Bangladesh, Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Tripura.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Bengali.
12) ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ (gurmukhī)
Punjabi alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Punjabi.
Alphabet used in the Indian state of Punjab.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Punjabi.
13) ગુજરાતી (gujarātī)
Gujarati alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Gujarati.
Alphabet used in: Indian state of Gujarat, Indian territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Gujarati.
14) ಕನ್ನಡ (kannada)
Kannada alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Dravidian: Kannada.
Alphabet used in the Indian state of Karnataka.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Kannada.
15) മലയാളം (malayālam)
Malayalam alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Dravidian: Malayalam.
Alphabet used in: Indian state of Kerala, Indian territory of Laccadive Islands.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Malayalam.
16) සිංහල (sinhala)
Sinhala alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Sinhala.
Alphabet used in Sri Lanka.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Sinhala.
17) தமிழ் (tamil)
Tamil alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Dravidian: Tamil.
Alphabet used in: Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Indian territory of Pondicherry.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Tamil.
18) తెలుగు (telugu)
Telugu alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Dravidian: Telugu.
Alphabet used in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Telugu.
19) ଓଡ଼ିଆ (oriyā)
Oriya alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Indo-European: Oriya.
Alphabet used in the Indian state of Orissa.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Oriya.
20) བོད་ཡིག (bodyig)
Tibetan alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Sino-Tibetan: Tibetan.
Alphabet used in: Bhutan, Chinese autonomous region of Tibet, Chinese province of Qinghai.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Tibetan.
| 21) | ᠮᠣᠩᡍᠣᠯ |
(monggol) |
Language written with this alphabet, Uralo-Altaic: Mongolian.
Alphabet used in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Mongolian.
22) ဗမစာ (bama sa)
Burmese alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Sino-Tibetan: Burmese.
Alphabet used in Myanmar.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Burmese.
23) ตัวอักษรไทย (dtuaa aksohn thai)
Thai alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Sino-Tibetan: Thai.
Alphabet used in Thailand.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Thai.
24) ພາສາລາວ (phaasaa laao)
Lao alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Sino-Tibetan: Lao.
Alphabet used in Laos.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Lao.
25) ភាសាខ្មែរ (phéasa khmér)
Khmer alphabet: abugida script
Language written with this alphabet, Austro-Asiatic: Khmer.
Alphabet used in Cambodia.
Origin: cuneiform ® Ugaritic ® Phoenician ® Aramaic ® Brahmi ® Khmer.
26) 中文, 日本語 (zhōng wén, nihongo)
Chinese / Japanese alphabet: ideographic script
Languages written with this alphabet, listed by language groups:
Uralo-Altaic: Japanese;
Sino-Tibetan: Chinese.
Alphabet used in: central and eastern China, Taiwan, Japan.
Note*: ㄅㄆㄇㄈ (bopomofo) - Chinese alphabetic script, used in Taiwan;
ひらがな (hiragana), カタカナ (katakana) - Japanese syllabic scripts, used in Japan.
* These last three scripts are used together with the ideographic script, to show the pronunciation of a hardly known ideogram, in teaching the language or for foreign words.
Origin: pictograms ® Chinese / Japanese.
27) 한글 (hangŭl)
Korean alphabet: alphabetic script
Language written with this alphabet, Uralo-Altaic: Korean.
Alphabet used in: South Korea, North Korea.
Origin: pictograms ® Chinese / Japanese ® Korean.
28) ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ (anishinaabe)
Ojibwe alphabet: abugida script
Languages written with this alphabet, listed by language groups:
Uralo-Altaic: Inuktitut;
American: Ojibwe, Cree.
Alphabet used in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
Origin: Ojibwe.