View source for Latin script

{{Infobox writing system
| name        = Latin<br />Roman
| type        = [[Letter case|Bicameral]] impure [[Alphabet]]
| languages   = {{hlist|list_style=line-height:1.3em; | Most [[Languages of Europe|western European languages]], including [[Latin language|Latin]] | many [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] and [[Eskimo–Aleut languages]] | [[Basque language]] | [[Polynesian languages]] | some [[Languages of Africa|African]], [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] and [[Austroasiatic languages]]}}
| time        = ~700&nbsp;BC–present
| fam1        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
| fam2        = [[Proto-Sinaitic]]
| fam3        = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam4        = [[Greek alphabet]]
| fam5        = [[Old Italic script]]
| sisters     = [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]<br />[[Armenian alphabet|Armenian]]<br />[[Georgian script|Georgian]]<br />[[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]]<br />[[Runic alphabet|Runic/Futhark]]
| children    = [[Fraser alphabet]] ([[Lisu language|Lisu]])<br>[[Chữ Quốc ngữ]] ([[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]])<br>[[Osage script]]<br />(partially) several [[Phonetic transcription|phonetic alphabet]]s, such as [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]], which have been used to write languages with no native script<br />(partially) [[Pollard script]] (Miao)<br />(partially) [[Woleai script|Caroline Island script (Woleaian)]]<br />(indirectly) [[Cherokee syllabary]]<br />(indirectly, partially) [[Yugtun script]]
| sample      = A Specimen by William Caslon.jpg
| imagesize   = 200px
| unicode     = See [[Latin characters in Unicode]]
| iso15924    = Latn
| IPAChartEng = 1
}}

The '''Latin''' or '''Roman script''' is a [[writing system]] used to write many modern-day [[language]]s including [[English language|English]].  It is the most used writing system in the world today. It is the official script for nearly all the languages of Western Europe and of some Eastern European languages. It is also used by some non-European languages such as [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Malay language|Malay]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Somali language|Somali]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]] and [[Tagalog]]. It is an alternative writing system for languages such as [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Hindi]] and [[Chinese language|Chinese]].

The [[Latin alphabet|alphabet]] is a [[writing system]] which evolved from a western variety of the [[Greek alphabet]]. It was the [[Etruscan]]s who first developed it after borrowing the Greek alphabet, and the Romans developed it further. The sounds of some letters changed, some letters were lost and gained and several writing styles ('hands') developed. Two such styles were combined into one script with upper and lower case letters ('capitals' and 'small letters'). Modern [[Capitalization|capital letters]] differ only slightly from their Roman counterparts. There are few regional variations.
== Letters ==

== Original Latin alphabet ==
The Latin alphabet used by the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]]s:
{| class="wikitable"
|Symbol
|align=center|A||align=center|B||align=center|C||align=center|D||align=center|E||align=center|F||align=center|G|| align="center" |H||align=center|I||align=center|K||align=center|L||align=center|M||align=center|N||align=center|O||align=center|P||align=center|Q||align=center|R||align=center|S||align=center|T||align=center|V||align=center |X|| align=center|Z
|-
|Latin name of letter:|| align="center" |ā|| align="center" |bē||align=center|kē||align=center|dē||align=center|ē||align=center|ef||align=center|gē||align=center|hā||align=center|ī||align=center|kā||align=center|el||align=center|em||en||align=center|ō||align=center|pē||align=center|qū||align=center|er||align=center|es||align=center|tē||align=center|ū||align=center|ex|| align="center" |zēta
|-
|Latin name ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]):||align=center|{{IPA|[aː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[beː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[keː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[deː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[eː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛf]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[geː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[haː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[iː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[kaː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛl]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛm]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛn]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[oː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[peː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[kuː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛr]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛs]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[teː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[uː]}}||align=center|{{IPA|[ɛks]}}|| align="center" |{{IPA|['zeːta]}} 
|}
== New alphabet ==
The modern version of the alphabet is used for writing many languages. [[Indo-European language]]s, especially those of Western Europe, are mostly written with the Latin alphabet. These languages include the [[Germanic languages]] (which includes [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], and others) and the [[Romance languages]] (which includes [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and others). There are of course Indo-European languages that do not use the Latin alphabet, like [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Russian language|Russian]], and [[Persian language|Persian]], as well as non-Indo-European languages that do, like [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]].

Nearly all languages using the Roman alphabet include [[diacritic]]s, which are symbols found above or below the letters. They are used for things such as [[tonal language|tones]] and pronunciation. English is the only major European language that does not have any of these marks, at least not for native words. Words taken from other languages sometimes use diacritics to make clear the correct pronunciation.

The basic alphabet uses the following letters (extra letters in bold):

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Uppercase
|A
|B
|C
|D
|E
|F
|G
|H
|I
|'''J'''
|K
|L
|M
|N
|O
|P
|Q
|R
|S
|T
|'''U'''
|V
|W
|X
|'''Y'''
|Z
|-
| Lowercase
|a
|b
|c
|d
|e
|f
|g
|h
|i
|'''j'''
|k
|l
|m
|n
|o
|p
|q
|r
|s
|t
|'''u'''
|v
|w
|x
|'''y'''
|z
|}
== Other versions ==
[[File:Caçarelhos2.jpg|thumb|Sign in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], which uses '''ç''']]

The Roman script has fewer letters than the [[Phoneme|sounds]] in some of the languages that use it. Some languages make up for the lack of letters by using [[diacritic]] marks, such as '''ă, â, á, à, ä, é, ë, í, î, ó, ö, ô, ẹ, ị, ọ, ụ, ã, ả, ẻ, ỉ, ỏ, ủ, ñ, ç, č, ď, ě, ľ, ł, ň, ř, ŕ, š, ș, ť, ț, ú, ů, ü, ý, ž,''' '''đ''' and other similar. In effect, this increases the number of letters in their alphabet. Languages which use ''some'' of these characters are [[French language|French]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]], [[Filipino language|Tagalog]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Esperanto]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]] and many other. 

Many languages changed their [[writing system]]s to the Latin script. In some [[country|countries]], [[Europe]]ans made [[indigenous peoples|native people]] use it. The Vietnamese language was written in [[Chinese characters]], and in a Vietnamese version called [[Nôm|chu nom]]. However, the governments of [[French Indochina]] switched to the Latin alphabet in the early 20th century to lessen Chinese influence. The Vietnamese kept using the [[Vietnamese alphabet]] based on the Latin alphabet even after independence because it was easier to learn. 

After the [[Russian Revolution]], when the [[Russian Empire]] fell, the [[Latin alphabet in Turkic countries]] was started by [[Azerbaijan]] in 1918. When the [[Soviet Union]] broke up, some of its smaller languages began using the Latin alphabet.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ozy.com/flashback/how-the-latin-alphabet-ended-up-in-vietnam/80731|title=How the Latin Alphabet Ended Up in Vietnam|last=Dall|first=Nick|work=OZY|access-date=2018-03-06|language=en|archive-date=2018-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224171346/http://www.ozy.com/flashback/how-the-latin-alphabet-ended-up-in-vietnam/80731|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is now used in [[Turkmenistan]], [[Uzbekistan]], and [[Azerbaijan]]. [[Kazakhstan]] announced in 2018 that the Latin alphabet would become the [[Kazakh language|Kazakh language']]s main writing system.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/26/kazakhstan-switch-official-alphabet-cyrillic-latin|title=Alphabet soup as Kazakh leader orders switch from Cyrillic to Latin letters|last=Reuters|date=2017-10-26|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2018-01-04|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Changing the way a language is written to Latin letters is called [[romanization]]. Many people who do not speak the language read a romanized version to know roughly how the words will sound, even if that is not the normal way to write the language. Some languages, like [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Japanese language|Japanese]], use the Latin alphabet in their languages so that they can be typed on a computer more easily. In [[mainland China]], [[pinyin]] is the official romanization for [[Mandarin Chinese]], and it is used to type Chinese characters on the computer by typing them phonetically. Even though many Japanese computers have [[kana]] keyboards to type Japanese on the computer, Japanese can also be typed using the Latin alphabet. [[Software]] called IME (input method editor) converts the Latin letters, called [[romaji]] in Japanese, into Japanese kana and [[kanji]].

== Latin Script Media ==
<gallery widths='160px' heights='100%' mode='traditional' caption=''>
File:U+00E1.svg|The letter {{angle bracket|[[a]]}} with an [[acute accent|acute]] [[diacritic]]
</gallery>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== Other websites ==
* [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Roman_alphabet Roman Alphabet] -Citizendium

{{Latin script}}

[[Category:Ancient Rome|Alphabet, Roman]]
[[Category:Latin alphabet| ]]