1957: Cultural Differences in Alphabets Apr 24, 2020

Alphabets, and what is or isn't included therein, are just as if not more cultural than linguistic in many cases. For instance, English speakers do not consider any combinations of letters separate, even if they regularly make a distinct sound like SH for ʃ, but Spanish speakers do, considering LL, RR, and CH as distinct in the alphabet. Moreover, the Spanish Ñ was created as a sort of shorthand for a double-n, and as such it too is given its own spot in the alphabet. This shouldn't be too strange for even English speakers, since W was originally just a double-V (which was the same as U in Latin for a long time, hence the name), and it has its own place. However, this is not true in the Spanish alphabet for any vowels, and likewise the French Ç is not given its own spot in the French alphabet; it really comes down to history and culture.

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