Alphabet, Abjad and so forth

[Scott Sadowsky]

On 3/14/2002 13:50, James A. Landau wrote the following:


>Set up the Latin alphabet in the following tableau
>
>       A      B       C          D
>       E      F       G          -  H
>       I              K             L,M,N
>       O      P       Q  R   S   T
>       U      V       X  Y   Z
>
>and you will see that (ignoring the vowels in the first column) the first
>row is voiced stops...

What language is this alphabet supposed to be used with in order for
statements made about the table to be valid?  I was assuming it was Latin,
but with non-Latin letters like <u>, <y>, <k>, and the absence of <j>, I
have my doubts.

Also, you say that "the second row is unvoiced fricatives", but unless I'm
mistaken <h> was silent even in classical Latin (Germanic reinterpretations
to the contrary).

Finally, you state that "the fifth row is voiced", but as far as I know the
Latin <x> had the value of [ks] -- both elements being voiceless.

Cheers,
Scott

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