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Since around the 9th century, English has been written in the Latin alphabet, which replaced Anglo-Saxon runes. The spelling system, or {{wpd|orthography}}, is multilayered, with elements of French, Latin and Greek spelling on top of the native Germanic system; it has grown to vary significantly from the {{wpd|phonology}} of the language. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken. | |||
===Written accents=== | |||
Unlike most other Germanic languages, English has almost no {{wpd|diacritic|diacritics}} except in foreign loanwords (like the acute accent in ''café''), and in the uncommon use of a diaeresis mark (often in formal writing) to indicate that two vowels are pronounced separately, rather than as one sound (e.g. ''naïve, Zoë''). Words such as ''décor'', ''café'', ''résumé''/''{{Typo|res|umé}}''<!-- Please do not change this to "résumé/résumé", as it is intended to show that using only one diacritical mark is acceptable. -->, ''entrée'', ''fiancée'' and ''naïve'' are frequently spelled both with or without diacritics. Some accented words are used in both male and female versions, for example ''fiancée'' (female) and ''fiancé'' (male). Both spellings are mostly with the accent, but they may be written without the accent. The female word ''née'' in English refers to "maiden name" or literally "born as". The male version ''né'' is seldom used for a man, unless in rare cases where a man had changed his name by deed poll or on marriage or as an alias. | |||
Some English words retain diacritics to distinguish them from others, such as resumé, exposé, lamé, öre, pâté, piqué, and ''rosé'', though these are sometimes also dropped (for example, melée/melee and ''résumé/{{Typo|res|umé}}''<!-- Please do not change this to "résumé/résumé", as using only one diacritical mark is acceptable, which is what this is illustrating. -->, is often spelt ''resume'' in the United States (as the US equivalent of ''curriculum vitae''). To clarify pronunciation, a small number of loanwords may employ a diacritic that does not appear in the original word, such as ''maté'', from Spanish ''yerba mate'', or ''Malé'', the capital of the [[Maldives]], following the French usage. | |||
==Case comparison== | |||
Here is a comparison of the upper case ({{wpd|majuscule}}) and lower case ({{wpd|minuscule}}) versions of each letter used in the English language. The exact representation will vary according to the {{wpd|font}} used. | |||
{|align="center" | |||
|'''Upper Case:'''||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 | |||
|- | |||
|'''Lower Case:'''||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 | |||
|} | |||
== References == | |||
* {{wpd|English language}} - Wikipedia | |||
[[Category:England]] | [[Category:England]] | ||