Unicase
Encyclopedia
A unicase or unicameral alphabet
is one that has no case
for its letters. Tamil, Arabic
, Old Hungarian
, Hebrew
, Georgian
and Hangul
are unicase alphabets, while (modern) Latin
, Greek
, Cyrillic
and Armenian
have two cases for each letter, e.g., B/b, Β/β, Б/б, . Rules for case usage vary — apart from the general rule of capitalizing the first letter of proper nouns, each language has its own rules, e.g., English "Tuesday" vs. French "mardi" and the German rule of capitalizing the first letter of all nouns.
It is believed that all alphabets with case were once unicase . Latin, for example, used to be written without case in imperial Roman times
; it was only later that scribes developed a new set of symbols for running text, which became the lower case of the Latin alphabet, and the letterforms of Ancient Rome became what we now call capitals.
The Georgian alphabet
, in contrast, went the other way: the medieval Georgian alphabet
with its two cases gave in to a unicase set. The ecclesiastical form of the Georgian alphabet, Khutsuri
, had an upper case called Asomtavruli (like the Ancient Roman capitals) and a lower case called Nuskhuri (like the medieval Latin scribal forms). Out of Nuskhuri came a secular alphabet called Mkhedruli, which is the unicase Georgian alphabet in use today.
A unicase version of the Latin alphabet was proposed by Michael Mann and David Dalby in 1982 as a variation of the Niamey African Reference Alphabet. This version has apparently never been actively used. Another example of unicase Latin alphabet is the Initial Teaching Alphabet
.
The International Phonetic Alphabet
only uses lowercase Latin (and Greek) letters and some scaled uppercase letters, effectively making it a unicase alphabet, although it is not used for actual writing of any language.
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
is one that has no case
Letter case
In orthography and typography, letter case is the distinction between the larger majuscule and smaller minuscule letters...
for its letters. Tamil, Arabic
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
, Old Hungarian
Old Hungarian script
The Old Hungarian script is an alphabetic writing system used by the Hungarians before the Middle Ages...
, Hebrew
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
, Georgian
Georgian alphabet
The Georgian alphabet is the writing system used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages , and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetic and Abkhaz during the 1940s...
and Hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
are unicase alphabets, while (modern) Latin
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, Greek
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
, Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
and Armenian
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...
have two cases for each letter, e.g., B/b, Β/β, Б/б, . Rules for case usage vary — apart from the general rule of capitalizing the first letter of proper nouns, each language has its own rules, e.g., English "Tuesday" vs. French "mardi" and the German rule of capitalizing the first letter of all nouns.
It is believed that all alphabets with case were once unicase . Latin, for example, used to be written without case in imperial Roman times
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
; it was only later that scribes developed a new set of symbols for running text, which became the lower case of the Latin alphabet, and the letterforms of Ancient Rome became what we now call capitals.
The Georgian alphabet
Georgian alphabet
The Georgian alphabet is the writing system used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages , and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetic and Abkhaz during the 1940s...
, in contrast, went the other way: the medieval Georgian alphabet
Georgian alphabet
The Georgian alphabet is the writing system used to write the Georgian language and other Kartvelian languages , and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus such as Ossetic and Abkhaz during the 1940s...
with its two cases gave in to a unicase set. The ecclesiastical form of the Georgian alphabet, Khutsuri
Khutsuri
Khutsuri is the writing system composed by the Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri alphabets....
, had an upper case called Asomtavruli (like the Ancient Roman capitals) and a lower case called Nuskhuri (like the medieval Latin scribal forms). Out of Nuskhuri came a secular alphabet called Mkhedruli, which is the unicase Georgian alphabet in use today.
A unicase version of the Latin alphabet was proposed by Michael Mann and David Dalby in 1982 as a variation of the Niamey African Reference Alphabet. This version has apparently never been actively used. Another example of unicase Latin alphabet is the Initial Teaching Alphabet
Initial Teaching Alphabet
The Initial Teaching Alphabet was developed by Sir James Pitman in the early 1960s...
.
The International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
only uses lowercase Latin (and Greek) letters and some scaled uppercase letters, effectively making it a unicase alphabet, although it is not used for actual writing of any language.