You have a point. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet used before the Norman Invasion was different from the one used for Norman French. What really established the alphabet now used in English was the Norman Invasion. However, scholars were already conversant with this alphabet as the result of an earlier invasion and occupation, that of the Romans. What both English and French are using is the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the letters "k" and "w", present in the Greek alphabet. The Romans, in turn, "borrowed" their alphabet from the Greeks, along with many other things.
I think that there is an argument for saying that the letters "k" and "w" does not properly belong in the French alphabet, as all your "k" and "w" words are foreign words. In Old French "w" (through the influence of the Germanic tribes)was expressed as "gu" -- eg. "guerre", from the German "werra".
Perhaps we should shake hands and say how fortunate it is that one way or another we happen to have the same alphabet!
2007-10-27 06:29:09
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answer #1
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answered by Doethineb 7
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The alphabets are close, but not exactly the same. For example, I know that "I" and "E" are flip-flopped in the two languages.
What you need to consider is that the history of France and England are tied so closely together and that has no doubt affected the language. There was a time in history when the language of the English court was French, and not English.
I think you have your interpretation backwards--we don't have more french words because of the alphabet, but we have a similar alphabet because we have so many French words in our language.
2007-10-27 05:51:42
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answer #2
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answered by Jessica H 3
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You answer your own question. The French alphabet is from Latin and so are all the other European alphabets apart from Cyrillic, i.e., Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia and Greek.
The first people to use alphabets as we know them were the Semites. The Greeks loosely copied the form and sound of some of these letters.
In the Hebrew (Semitic) the first are Alef, Bet, Gimmel. In Greek; Alpha, Beta, Gamma.
The Romans made their own version of the Greek and gave us Latin. Later St Cyrill devised Cyrillic and converted the Slavs to Christianity.
In Hebrew and Arabic, both Semitic, it is common to spell like mobile phone texting, omitting vowels
If you were to were to write 'The dog barked' you'd spell it something like 'Th dg brkd'.
When you read a new word you may understand it but not be able to pronounce it.
2007-10-27 06:29:02
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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The alphabet those suggested languages use is declared as "latin". English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch (and in all probability some greater) all use the comparable alphabet. in spite of the undeniable fact that the languages have some specific indicators (the French has specific accents, the German the Umlauts and so on.)
2016-09-27 23:49:05
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answer #4
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answered by ynez 4
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Un de ces jours tu comprendras...
2007-10-27 05:59:29
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answer #5
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answered by JJ 7
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what is your question?
2007-10-27 05:45:51
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answer #6
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answered by Dmitriy 2
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and the question was.... what?
2007-10-27 05:45:55
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answer #7
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answered by ♥♥♥ 3
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thanks for ur lecture
2007-10-27 05:57:03
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answer #8
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answered by nives 3
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