Old letters and characters

[British Accia]

So, over time, some letters like the thorn (þ/Þ) aye (æ/Æ) and eth (ð/Ð) have fallen out of use. Being replaced by letter combinations, for example thorn, which makes a th sound, was replace by, th. My personal favourite letter is the thorn, and I'd quite like to see it come back into common English. So, NSG, what are your opinions on theses letters?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

The diaeresis, ü, in Spanish. Still in use but slowly fading.

[British Accia]

The diaeresis, ü, in Spanish. Still in use but slowly fading.

I think a lot of countries still use accents, if that's what you mean, but I've never been taught any Spanish, so I'm not 100% sure what your referring to.

[Bezombia]

The recently established standards for German more or less made ß obsolete. Everyone still uses it, but it's now technically incorrect.

[Empire of Narnia]

They are good for getting around swear filters. For example; ßitch

[Avaerilon]

The diaeresis, ü, in Spanish. Still in use but slowly fading.

It's the same in Welsh with ï; you'll see it written-down in more formal situations, but ordinary Welsh wouldn't bother using it.

Speaking of Welsh, K and V haven't been used since the 1600s; C and F fulfil their respective roles today. The reason for this is largely due to the publication of the Bible in Welsh, with William Salesbury, the man who translated it from Latin, eschewing the two due to his own preferences, He reasoned that as C is always the hard sound in Welsh (i.e. like in cake, never celestial), there was no reason to have a K. He also decided that as FF is used to represent the normal F sound, and F was used interchangeably with V, they might as well discontinue using the latter. Although controversial at the time, today you do not see the two letters in Welsh, except where a non-Welsh personal name is used. I don't really like K, so I don;t mind it being missing, though I wouldn't mind seeing V reappear. Although I'm so used to a single F making that same sound, I'm not exactly torn-up over it.

[British Accia]

The recently established standards for German more or less made ß obsolete. Everyone still uses it, but it's now technically incorrect.

So how long do you think it will take for ß to be taken out entirely? Seems like lot a of languages are ditching the non-Latin characters (I guess you call them that?). I guess it's the turn of accents next, though I can't say Ill lose any sleep over them, while I quite like the characters, I'm not fond of accents.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

, The diaeresis, üh. Still in use but slowly fading.

I think a lot of countries still use accents, if that's what you mean, but I've never been taught any Spanish, so I'm not 100% sure what your referring to.

Yes, accents are used. The diaeresis, those two dots placed on top of a vowel, a diacritic sign, used for when there are two vowels together.

[British Accia]

They are good for getting around swear filters. For example; ßitch

That's one way to look at it, also Þorn.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

The diaeresis, ü, in Spanish. Still in use but slowly fading.

It's the same in Welsh with ï; you'll see it written-down in more formal situations, but ordinary Welsh wouldn't bother using it.

Speaking of Welsh, K and V haven't been used since the 1600s; C and F fulfil their respective roles today. The reason for this is largely due to the publication of the Bible in Welsh, with William Salesbury, the man who translated it from Latin, eschewing the two due to his own preferences, He reasoned that as C is always the hard sound in Welsh (i.e. like in cake, never celestial), there was no reason to have a K. He also decided that as FF is used to represent the normal F sound, and F was used interchangeably with V, they might as well discontinue using the latter. Although controversial at the time, today you do not see the two letters in Welsh, except where a non-Welsh personal name is used. I don't really like K, so I don;t mind it being missing, though I wouldn't mind seeing V reappear. Although I'm so used to a single F making that same sound, I'm not exactly torn-up over it.

Exactly like that. Even in orthography, the use of it in Spanish is fading.

[British Accia]

The diaeresis, ü, in Spanish. Still in use but slowly fading.

It's the same in Welsh with ï; you'll see it written-down in more formal situations, but ordinary Welsh wouldn't bother using it.

Speaking of Welsh, K and V haven't been used since the 1600s; C and F fulfil their respective roles today. The reason for this is largely due to the publication of the Bible in Welsh, with William Salesbury, the man who translated it from Latin, eschewing the two due to his own preferences, He reasoned that as C is always the hard sound in Welsh (i.e. like in cake, never celestial), there was no reason to have a K. He also decided that as FF is used to represent the normal F sound, and F was used interchangeably with V, they might as well discontinue using the latter. Although controversial at the time, today you do not see the two letters in Welsh, except where a non-Welsh personal name is used. I don't really like K, so I don;t mind it being missing, though I wouldn't mind seeing V reappear. Although I'm so used to a single F making that same sound, I'm not exactly torn-up over it.

I personally like have C and K as two different letters, it does help as far as I'm concerned. As for V, well, I couldn't imagine using F to represent it, but I guess that's upbringing.

[British Accia]

I think a lot of countries still use accents, if that's what you mean, but I've never been taught any Spanish, so I'm not 100% sure what your referring to.

Yes, accents are used. The diaeresis, those two dots placed on top of a vowel, a diacritic sign, used for when there are two vowels together.

Ah, so different from things like German accents then?

[The Blaatschapen]

I want the Ð!

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Yes, accents are used. The diaeresis, those two dots placed on top of a vowel, a diacritic sign, used for when there are two vowels together.

Ah, so different from things like German accents then?

I believe so.

[Bezombia]

The recently established standards for German more or less made ß obsolete. Everyone still uses it, but it's now technically incorrect.

So how long do you think it will take for ß to be taken out entirely? Seems like lot a of languages are ditching the non-Latin characters (I guess you call them that?). I guess it's the turn of accents next, though I can't say Ill lose any sleep over them, while I quite like the characters, I'm not fond of accents.

Probably a long time. The new standards weren't really well accepted when they were introduced, and most educational institutions still use the old rules (where ß can replace 'ss' in any situation as long as the two s aren't in different syllables), at least from what I can tell.

And I have a feeling that umlauts will never be removed from the language. Unlike English, German is a very literal language - any series of letters can only be pronounced one way, and how it's pronounced can always be induced by how it's spelled. Also, sometimes the presence of an umlaut changes the very definition of a word, unlike ash or œthel which are only calligraphic representations of 'ae' and 'oe', respectively.

[Cetacea]

I thought ae was pronounced "aesch"

Anyway my favourite lost letter is Yogh, the throaty gurgle in "loch" and "cough" which has been replaced by gh. I also think ethel would be useful in spelling things like foetus

As to the others I'm okay with Th and even the Welsh dd although my name features two engs which I'd like to see returned to common use.

[Avaerilon]

I personally like have C and K as two different letters, it does help as far as I'm concerned. As for V, well, I couldn't imagine using F to represent it, but I guess that's upbringing.

Hardly upbringing in my case, seeing as how I only started learning Welsh less than 4 years ago It's simply being used to different languages, really. The sound F makes in English and the sound V makes aren't entirely dissimilar to the ears, so I can easily see the logic there.

[British Accia]

So how long do you think it will take for ß to be taken out entirely? Seems like lot a of languages are ditching the non-Latin characters (I guess you call them that?). I guess it's the turn of accents next, though I can't say Ill lose any sleep over them, while I quite like the characters, I'm not fond of accents.

Probably a long time. The new standards weren't really well accepted when they were introduced, and most educational institutions still use the old rules (where ß can replace 'ss' in any situation as long as the two s aren't in different syllables), at least from what I can tell.

And I have a feeling that umlauts will never be removed from the language. Unlike English, German is a very literal language - any series of letters can only be pronounced one way, and how it's pronounced can always be induced by how it's spelled. Also, sometimes the presence of an umlaut changes the very definition of a word, unlike ash or œthel which are only calligraphic representations of 'ae' and 'oe', respectively.

Yes, I heard somewhere about how missing the umlaut off Dusseldorf means 'town of wallys' or something.

[British Accia]

I thought ae was pronounced "aesch"

Anyway my favourite lost letter is Yogh, the throaty gurgle in "loch" and "cough" which has been replaced by gh. I also think ethel would be useful in spelling things like foetus

As to the others I'm okay with Th and even the Welsh dd although my name features two engs which I'd like to see returned to common use.

I honestly have no idea how æ is pronounced, I just copied it of the Icelandic alphabet, as that's what contains thorn, which is what originally sparked my interest. Certain letters would be useful in some words, if only to shorten them.

[British Accia]

I personally like have C and K as two different letters, it does help as far as I'm concerned. As for V, well, I couldn't imagine using F to represent it, but I guess that's upbringing.

Hardly upbringing in my case, seeing as how I only started learning Welsh less than 4 years ago It's simply being used to different languages, really. The sound F makes in English and the sound V makes aren't entirely dissimilar to the ears, so I can easily see the logic there.

Eh, I guess it's just don't know until you've tried. And I can see what you mean, I sort of pronounce them the same way.

[British Accia]

I want the Ð!

[Sebastianbourg]

I still use Æ/æ in words like encyclopædia and pædiatrics although I occasionally type a and e separately as it is easier.

[Alosteq Diin Nastja]

I thought ae was pronounced "aesch"

Anyway my favourite lost letter is Yogh, the throaty gurgle in "loch" and "cough" which has been replaced by gh. I also think ethel would be useful in spelling things like foetus

As to the others I'm okay with Th and even the Welsh dd although my name features two engs which I'd like to see returned to common use.

I honestly have no idea how æ is pronounced, I just copied it of the Icelandic alphabet, as that's what contains thorn, which is what originally sparked my interest. Certain letters would be useful in some words, if only to shorten them.

The name of Æ is actually Æsc. I personally like it, and would like to see it not restricted to just Danish and Norwegian.

[Sebastianbourg]

The diaeresis, ü, in Spanish. Still in use but slowly fading.

*cries*
I've always loved the diaeresis; it pains me to see it die.
Estoy obligado a declararme un «borracho sinvergüenza» para preservar la diéresis.

[British Accia]

I honestly have no idea how æ is pronounced, I just copied it of the Icelandic alphabet, as that's what contains thorn, which is what originally sparked my interest. Certain letters would be useful in some words, if only to shorten them.

The name of Æ is actually Æsc. I personally like it, and would like to see it not restricted to just Danish and Norwegian.

There you go, learn something new everyday. It might be nice to have it back, I havnt done much research on it, but I take it would replace ee?