Letters
The alphabet consists of thirty upper and lowercase letters:
| Letter | IPA | Letter | IPA | Letter | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A, a | /a/ | G, g | /ɡ/ | O, o | /o/ |
| B, b | /b/ | H, h | /x/ | P, p | /p/ |
| C, c | /ts/ | I, i | /i/ | R, r | /r/ |
| Č, č | /tʃ/ | J, j | /j/ | S, s | /s/ |
| Ć, ć | /tɕ/ | K, k | /k/ | Š, š | /ʃ/ |
| D, d | /d/ | L, l | /l/ | T, t | /t/ |
| Dž, dž | /dʒ/ | Lj, lj | /ʎ/ | U, u | /u/ |
| Đ, đ | /dʑ/ | M, m | /m/ | V, v | /ʋ/ |
| E, e | /e/ | N, n | /n/ | Z, z | /z/ |
| F, f | /f/ | Nj, nj | /ɲ/ | Ž, ž | /ʒ/ |
The original Gaj's alphabet contained a digraph ⟨dj⟩, which was later replaced by the letter ⟨đ⟩.
The letters do not have names, and consonants are normally pronounced as such when spelling is necessary (or followed by a short schwa, e.g. /fə/). When clarity is needed, they are pronounced similar to the German alphabet: a, be, ce, če, će, de, dže, đe, e, ef, ge, ha, i, je, ka, el, elj, em, en, enj, o, pe, er, es, eš, te, u, ve, ze, že. These rules for pronunciation of individual letters are common as far as the 22 letters that match the basic modern Latin alphabet are concerned. The use of others is mostly limited to the context of linguistics, while in mathematics, ⟨j⟩ is commonly pronounced jot, as in German. The missing four letters are pronounced as follows: ⟨q⟩ as ku or kju, ⟨w⟩ as dublve or duplo ve, ⟨x⟩ as iks, ⟨y⟩ as ipsilon.
Read more about this topic: Gaj's Latin Alphabet
Famous quotes containing the word letters:
“It is hard to believe that England is so near as from your letters it appears; and that this identical piece of paper has lately come all the way from there hither, begrimed with the English dust which made you hesitate to use it; from England, which is only historical fairyland to me, to America, which I have put my spade into, and about which there is no doubt.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In one instance, we understood that a woman was the post- mistress, and they said that she made the best one on the road; but we suspected that the letters must be subjected to a very close scrutiny there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Certainly, young children can begin to practice making letters and numbers and solving problems, but this should be done without workbooks. Young children need to learn initiative, autonomy, industry, and competence before they learn that answers can be right or wrong.”
—David Elkind (20th century)