The Book of Letters

The English language is a fascinating subject and thanks to circumstances in history has possibly travelled the globe more than any other. The very basis of the written language is in the letters used to form words, and this book examines every aspect of the alphabet available for writing English, from the formation of letters to their use in words. Each and every letter of the alphabet used to write down the English language has a story to tell. Often we accept them without a second thought and even believe there are only twenty-six of them, whereas if we look more closely there are at least fifty-two as each of the capital letters has a lower case form. Sometimes they are just smaller versions of the larger, such as C and c, or X and x, but the majority of letters have a different form entirely like A and a, or D and d. They also have more than one sound associated with them, many have three, and the mighty letter R involves itself with around seventeen different sounds. No wonder the language takes some mastering! The Book of Letters looks at global English, which the Oxford Online Dictionary refers to as 'British and World English', and examines each letter in minute detail starting with the shape, to the inferred sounds. Fact-finders, teachers and students should all improve their knowledge from this detailed work.