Talk:Alphabet

Name Change Suggestion

Perhaps we should change the name of this article to Alphabets; or something along those lines? The article talks about the history, use, and changes of multiple alphabets, not just one singular alphabet. Just a suggestion more than anything else. SomeoneOK (talk) 17:38, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia usually uses the singular form in article titles, even when there are lots of items: Tree rather than Trees. Certes (talk) 18:38, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Ah, Alright. That makes sense. Just thought it might be confusing about how hearing Alphabet would sort of specify, at least on this Wikipedia, the Latin alphabet. SomeoneOK (talk) 14:14, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Also, it is notable that most alphabetic writing ultimately derives from a common ancestor. Remsense ‥ 论 22:52, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Linguistics in the Digital Age

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 August 2023 and 11 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Vberlucchi (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Fedfed2 (talk) 00:53, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

Umm Al Marra

A somewhat new study found that the alphabetical writings found at the archaeological site of Umm el-Marra could be the oldest in the world. I'm kinda shocked that this article doesn't mention them.

https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/07/13/alphabetic-writing-500-years-earlier-glenn-schwartz/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2274831-the-alphabet-may-have-been-invented-500-years-earlier-than-we-thought/

"However, correspondences between the symbols on the cylinders and Early Alphabetic Semitic characters can be noted. It might therefore be hypothesized that the Umm el-Marra cylinders represent a very early manifestation of alphabetic writing."

It is not 100% confirmed yet that these writings were alphabetical.

George Washington University scholarChristopher Rollston, concluded that they were indeed alphabetical writings.

https://www.academia.edu/46910208/Tell_Umm_el_Marra_Syria_and_Early_Alphabetic_in_the_Third_Millennium_Four_Inscribed_Clay_Cylinders_as_a_Potential_Game_Changer

I believe these writings should be included in the article. Whatsupkarren (talk) 16:44, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

It seems this theory has now gained more traction, a more confident interpetation and a new analysis has been presented by Dr. Glenn Schwartz of Johns Hopkins Univeristy to support his theory of the alphabet origins being in Syria.

So many Journal & news outlets have recently reshared this discovery. It seems that more researchers believe now these are indeed alphabetic writings. While others still "hope for more finds."

So now we have several researchers, including: Glenn Schwartz, Christopher Rollston, and Silvia Ferrara, a researcher in early languages at the University of Bologna in Italy, who support this theory.

Check:

-https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/11/21/ancient-alphabet-discovered-syria/

-World's Oldest Alphabet Found on an Ancient Clay Gift Tag

"In 2021 Schwartz described the cylinders in an Italian journal called Pasiphae. The research didn’t get much attention, in part because Schwartz was cautious in pushing his interpretation of the inscriptions as alphabetic letters. “I probably was too timid,” he says.

He presented a more confident interpretation this week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Overseas Research, held in Boston."

Many other sources reported on this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

With all of that, I dont see why this doesn't deserve to be added to the article. Whatsupkarren (talk) 14:03, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

That you need to conclude your addition put directly into the lead (?) concerning extremely bold conclusions based off bleeding edge research with "these are not yet accepted"—should've been reason enough to reconsider their inclusion, surely. I don't understand why popular science magazines were considered additional corroboration of these scholars' work in lieu of reviews by their peers published in academic journals. Remsense ‥ 论 07:21, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

Link Error

The redlink to Ge'ez under Early Alphabets (currently at reference #74) mistakenly uses an open quote mark instead of an apostrophe. Please fix that to turn it into a functioning blue link. 1.126.110.104 (talk) 20:05, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

Fixed. —It's Okkirae.temp ^('Sup?)! 19:36, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

Bopomofo doesn't belong here!

A semi-syllabary is, by definition, not an alphabet. It's a semi-syllabary. 185.113.96.151 (talk) 20:27, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Is there a semi-syllabary page to put it in? Yes, and it's there. It has most of a paragraph dedicated to it. You can be bold and delete it—according to WP:IRI)—but personally I would try to find a way to merge it with the information already present within the proper article. The decision is yours. —It's Okkirae.temp ^('Sup?)! 19:20, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

(Post-send, I might add that I speak generally for whoever is reading this with an auto-confirmed status to execute.) —It's Okkirae.temp ^('Sup?)! 19:32, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

Bram Jagersma

The Sumerian scholar's name is "Bram Jagersma"; the citation incorrectly puts it as "Bram, Jagersma" and should be corrected to "Jagersma, Bram" (last name, first name). (You can check this by searching Wikipedia for "Jagersma".) The page is semi-protected so I can't do this myself. 74.92.140.241 (talk) 16:38, 11 August 2025 (UTC)