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{{about||the Latin script as used for the [[Latin language]]|Latin alphabet|Roman typeface|Roman type}}
{{Infobox writing system
|name=Latin<br>Roman
|type=[[Alphabet]]
|languages= {{hlist|list_style=line-height:1.3em; | most [[Indo-European languages]], including [[Latin language|Latin]] | most [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] and [[Eskimo–Aleut languages]] | [[Basque language]] | some [[Languages of Africa|African]], [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] and [[Austroasiatic languages]]}}
|time=~700&nbsp;BC–present
|fam1= [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
|fam2=[[Proto-Sinaitic]]
|fam3=[[Phoenician alphabet]]
|fam4=[[Greek alphabet]]
|fam5=[[Etruscan alphabet#Etruscan alphabet|Etruscan alphabet]]
|sisters=[[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]<br>[[Armenian alphabet|Armenian]]<br>[[Georgian script|Georgian]]<br>[[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]]<br>[[Runic alphabet|Runic/Futhark]]
|children=indirectly, the [[Cherokee syllabary]] and [[Yugtun script]]
|sample=Caslon-schriftmusterblatt.jpeg
|imagesize=200px
|unicode=See [[Latin characters in Unicode]]
|iso15924=Latn
|IPAChartEng=1
}}
'''Latin script''', or '''Roman script''', is a set of [[grapheme]]s based on the letters of the [[classical Latin alphabet]], a form of the [[Cumae alphabet|Cumaean Greek]] version of the [[Greek alphabet]]. It is used as the standard method of writing in most Western and Central European languages, as well as many languages from other parts of the world. Latin script is the basis for the largest number of alphabets of any [[writing system]]<ref>{{harvnb|Haarmann|2004|p=96}}</ref> and is the most [[List of writing systems by adoption|widely adopted]] writing system in the world (commonly used by about 70% of the world's population). It is also the basis of the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]. The 26 most widespread letters are the letters contained in the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet]].

==Name==
The script is either called Roman script or Latin script, in reference to its origin in [[ancient Rome]]. In the context of [[transliteration]] the term "[[romanization]]" or "romanisation" is often found.<ref name="bsigroup">{{cite web|url=http://www.bsigroup.com/en/DualSearch/?q=romanization|title=Search results &#124; BSI Group|publisher=Bsigroup.com|accessdate=2014-05-12}}</ref><ref name="pcgn">{{cite web|url=http://www.pcgn.org.uk/Romanisation_systems.htm|title=Romanisation_systems|publisher=Pcgn.org.uk|accessdate=2014-05-12}}</ref> [[Unicode]] uses the term "Latin"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unicode.org/iso15924/iso15924-en.html |title=ISO 15924 - Code List in English |publisher=Unicode.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-22}}</ref> as does the [[International Organization for Standardization]] (ISO).<ref name="iso">{{cite web|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/home/search.htm?qt=Latin&sort_by=rel&type=simple&published=on|title=Search - ISO|publisher=Iso.org|accessdate=2014-05-12}}</ref> The numerals are called [[Roman numerals]].

==Spread==
{{for|earlier history|Latin alphabet}}
The Latin alphabet spread, along with the [[Latin|Latin language]], from the [[Italian Peninsula]] to the lands surrounding the [[Mediterranean Sea]] with the expansion of the [[Roman Empire]]. The eastern half of the Empire, including [[Greece]], [[Turkey]], the [[Levant]], and [[Egypt]], continued to use [[Greek language|Greek]] as a [[lingua franca]], but Latin was widely spoken in the western half, and as the western [[Romance languages]] evolved out of Latin, they continued to use and adapt the Latin alphabet.

===Middle Ages===
With the spread of [[Western Christianity]] during the [[Middle Ages]], the Latin alphabet was gradually adopted by the peoples of [[Northern Europe]] who spoke [[Insular Celtic languages|Celtic languages]] (displacing the [[Ogham]] alphabet) or [[Germanic languages]] (displacing earlier [[Runic alphabet]]s) or [[Baltic languages]], as well as by the speakers of several [[Uralic languages]], most notably [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Estonian language|Estonian]]. The script also came into use for writing the [[West Slavic languages]] and several [[South Slavic languages]], as the people who spoke them adopted [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]. The speakers of [[East Slavic languages]] generally adopted [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] along with [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]]. The [[Serbian language]] uses both scripts, with Cyrillic predominating in official communication and Latin elsewhere, as determined by the Law on Official Use of the Language and Alphabet.<ref name="ombudsman">{{cite web|url=http://www.ombudsman.rs/pravamanjina/attachments/ZAKON%20o%20sluzbenoj%20upotrebi%20jezika%20i%20pisma.pdf|date=17 May 2010|title=ZAKON  O SLUŽBENOJ UPOTREBI JEZIKA I PISAMA|publisher=Ombudsman.rs|accessdate=2014-07-05}}</ref>

===Since the 1500s===
As late as 1500, the Latin script was limited primarily to the languages spoken in [[Western Europe|Western]], [[Northern Europe|Northern]], and [[Central Europe]]. The [[Orthodox Christian]] Slavs and the of [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]] and [[Southeastern Europe]] mostly used [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]], and the Greek alphabet was in use by Greek-speakers around the eastern Mediterranean. The [[Arabic script]] was widespread within Islam, both among [[Arab]]s and non-Arab nations like the [[Iranian peoples|Iranians]], [[Ethnic groups in Indonesia|Indonesians]], [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malay]]s, and [[Turkic peoples]]. Most of the rest of Asia used a variety of [[Brahmic family|Brahmic alphabets]] or the [[Chinese script]].

[[File:Latin alphabet world distribution.svg|thumb|The distribution of the Latin script. The dark green areas show the countries where the Latin script is the sole main script. Light green shows countries where Latin co-exists with other scripts. Latin-script alphabets are sometimes extensively used in areas coloured grey due to the use of unofficial second languages, such as French in Algeria and English in Egypt, and to Latin transliteration of the official script, such as [[pinyin]] in China.]]

Over the past 500 years, the Latin script has spread around the world, to the [[Americas]], [[Oceania]], and parts of [[Asia]], [[Africa]], and the Pacific with European colonization, along with the [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] languages. It is used for many [[Austronesian languages]], including the [[languages of the Philippines]] and the [[Malaysian language|Malaysian]] and [[Indonesian language]]s, replacing earlier Arabic and indigenous Brahmic alphabets. Latin letters served as the basis for the forms of the [[Cherokee syllabary]] developed by [[Sequoyah]]; however, the sound values are completely different.

===Since 19th century===
[[File:Latinalphabet Former Yugoslavia 2008.png|thumb|left|Map showing the expansion of the use of Latin alphabet in areas of former [[Yugoslavia]].]]

In the late 19th century, the [[Romanians]] returned to the Latin alphabet, which they had used until the [[Council of Florence]] in 1439,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Descriptio_Moldaviae#CAPUT_V_-_DE_LITTERIS_MOLDAVORUM|date=1714|title=Descriptio_Moldaviae|publisher=La.wikisource.org|accessdate=2014-09-14}}</ref> primarily because [[Romanian language|Romanian]] is a [[Romance language]]. The Romanians were (and still are) predominantly [[Orthodox Christian]]s, and their Church, increasingly influenced by Russia after the [[Fall of Constantinople|fall of Byzantine Greek Constantinople]] in 1453 and capture of the Greek [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Orthodox Patriarch]], had begun promoting the Slavic [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]].

Under French rule and Portuguese missionary influence, a Latin alphabet was devised for the [[Vietnamese language]], which had previously used [[Chu nom|Chinese characters]].

In 1928, as part of [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]]'s reforms, the new [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]] adopted a Latin alphabet for the [[Turkish language]], replacing a modified Arabic alphabet. Most of [[Turkic languages|Turkic]]-speaking peoples of the former [[Soviet Union|USSR]], including [[Tartars]], [[Bashkirs]], [[Azeri]], [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]], [[Kyrgyz people|Kyrgyz]] and others, used the Latin-based [[Uniform Turkic alphabet]] in the 1930s, but in the 1940s all were replaced by Cyrillic. After the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] in 1991, several of the newly independent Turkic-speaking republics, namely [[Azerbaijan]], [[Uzbekistan]], and [[Turkmenistan]], as well as Romanian-speaking [[Moldova]], officially adopted Latin alphabets for their languages. [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]], and the breakaway region of [[Transnistria]] kept the Cyrillic alphabet, chiefly due to their close ties with Russia. In the same period of the 1930s and 1940s, the majority of [[Kurds]] replaced the Arabic script with two Latin alphabets. Although the only official [[Kurdistan Regional Government|Kurdish government]] uses an Arabic alphabet for public documents, the Latin Kurdish alphabet remains widely used throughout the region by the majority of [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]-speakers.

==As used by various languages==
{{Main|Latin-script alphabet}}
In the course of its use, the Latin alphabet was adapted for use in new languages, sometimes representing [[phoneme]]s not found in languages that were already written with the Roman characters. To represent these new sounds, extensions were therefore created, be it by adding [[diacritic]]s to existing [[letter (alphabet)|letters]], by joining multiple letters together to make [[ligature (typography)|ligatures]], by creating completely new forms, or by assigning a special function to pairs or triplets of letters. These new forms are given a place in the alphabet by defining an [[collation|alphabetical order]] or collation sequence, which can vary with the particular language.

===Multigraphs===
{{Main|Latin-script multigraph}}
A [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] is a pair of letters used to write one sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters in sequence. Examples are {{angle bracket|[[Ch (digraph)|ch]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[Eng (letter)|ng]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[Rh (digraph)|rh]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[Sh (digraph)|sh]]}} in English, or the {{angle bracket|[[IJ (digraph)|Dutch ij]]}} (note that {{angle bracket|ij}} is capitalized as {{angle bracket|IJ}} or the [[Ligature (typography)|ligature]] {{angle bracket|Ĳ}} and sometimes as the single letter {{angle bracket|Y}} despite it being a different letter, but never as {{angle bracket|Ij}}, and that it often takes the appearance of a ligature {{angle bracket|ĳ}} very similar to the letter {{angle bracket|ÿ}} in [[handwriting]]). A [[trigraph (orthography)|trigraph]] is made up of three letters, like the [[German language|German]] {{angle bracket|[[Sch (trigraph)|sch]]}}, the [[Breton language|Breton]] {{angle bracket|[[C'h (trigraph)|c’h]]}} or the [[Milanese]] {{angle bracket|oeu}}. In the [[orthography|orthographies]] of some languages, digraphs and trigraphs are regarded as independent letters of the alphabet in their own right. The capitalization of digraphs and trigraphs is language-dependent, as only the first letter may be capitalized, or all component letters simultaneously (even for words written in titlecase, where letters after the digraph or trigraph are left in lowercase).

===Ligatures===
{{Main|Ligature (typography)}}
A [[ligature (typography)|ligature]] is a fusion of two or more ordinary letters into a new [[glyph]] or character. Examples are {{angle bracket|[[Æ|Æ/æ]]}} (from {{angle bracket|AE}}, called "ash"), {{angle bracket|[[Œ|Œ/œ]]}} (from {{angle bracket|OE}}, sometimes called "oethel"), the [[abbreviation]] {{angle bracket|[[&]]}} (from [[Latin language|Latin]] ''et'' "and"), and the [[German language|German]] symbol {{angle bracket|[[ß]]}} ("sharp S" or "eszet", from {{angle bracket|ſz}} or {{angle bracket|ſs}}, the [[Long s|archaic medial form of {{angle bracket|s}}]], followed by a {{angle bracket|z}} or {{angle bracket|s}}).

===Wholly new letters===
{{Main|List of Latin letters}}

Some examples of new letters to the standard Latin alphabet are the [[Runic alphabet|Runic]] letters [[wynn]] {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ƿ/ƿ}}}} and [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] {{angle bracket|Þ/þ}}, and the letter [[eth]] {{angle bracket|Ð/ð}}, which were added to the alphabet of [[Old English language|Old English]]. Another Irish letter, the [[Insular G|insular ''g'']], developed into [[yogh]] {{angle bracket|Ȝ/ȝ}}, used in [[Middle English]]. Wynn was later replaced with the new letter {{angle bracket|w}}, eth and thorn with {{angle bracket|[[Pronunciation of English th|th]]}}, and yogh with {{angle bracket|[[Gh (digraph)|gh]]}}. Although the four are no longer part of the English or Irish alphabets, eth and thorn are still used in the modern [[Icelandic orthography|Icelandic]] and [[Faroese alphabet]]s.

Some West, Central and [[Southern Africa]]n languages use a few additional letters which have a similar sound value to their equivalents in the IPA. For example, [[Adangme language|Adangme]] uses the letters {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ɛ/ɛ}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ɔ/ɔ}}}}, and [[Ga language|Ga]] uses {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ɛ/ɛ}}}}, {{angle bracket|Ŋ/ŋ}} and {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ɔ/ɔ}}}}. [[Hausa language|Hausa]] uses {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ɓ/ɓ}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ɗ/ɗ}}}} for [[implosive consonant|implosives]], and {{angle bracket|{{unicode|Ƙ/ƙ}}}} for an [[ejective consonant|ejective]]. [[African studies|Africanists]] have standardized these into the [[African reference alphabet]].

===Diacritics===
[[Image:Small a with acute.svg|thumb|60px|The letter {{angle bracket|[[a]]}} with an [[acute accent|acute]] [[diacritic]].]]
{{Main|Diacritic}}

A diacritic, in some cases also called an accent, is a small symbol which can appear above or below a letter, or in some other position, such as the [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut sign]] used in the German characters {{angle bracket|[[ä]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ö]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ü]]}}. Its main function is to change the phonetic value of the letter to which it is added, but it may also modify the pronunciation of a whole syllable or word, or distinguish between [[homonym|homograph]]s. As with letters, the value of diacritics is language-dependent.

===Collation===
{{Main|Collating sequence}}

Modified letters such as the symbols {{angle bracket|[[å]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ä]]}}, and {{angle bracket|[[ö]]}} may be regarded as new individual letters in themselves, and assigned a specific place in the alphabet for [[collation]] purposes, separate from that of the letter on which they are based, as is done in [[Swedish alphabet|Swedish]]. In other cases, such as with {{angle bracket|[[ä]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ö]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ü]]}} in German, this is not done, letter-diacritic combinations being identified with their base letter. The same applies to digraphs and trigraphs. Different diacritics may be treated differently in collation within a single language. For example, in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] the character {{angle bracket|[[ñ]]}} is considered a letter, and sorted between {{angle bracket|[[n]]}} and {{angle bracket|[[o]]}} in dictionaries, but the accented vowels {{angle bracket|[[á]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[é]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[í]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ó]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[ú]]}} are not separated from the unaccented vowels {{angle bracket|[[a]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[e]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[i]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[o]]}}, {{angle bracket|[[u]]}}.

==Romanization==
{{Main|Romanization}}

Words from languages natively written with other [[Writing system|scripts]], such as [[Romanization of Arabic|Arabic]] or [[Romanization of Chinese|Chinese]], are usually [[transliteration|transliterated]] or [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribed]] when embedded in Latin text or in [[Multilingualism|multilingual]] international communication, a process termed Romanization.

Whilst the Romanization of such languages is used mostly at unofficial levels, it has been especially prominent in computer messaging where only the limited 7-bit [[ASCII]] code is available on older systems. However, with the introduction of [[Unicode]], Romanization is now becoming less necessary. Note that keyboards used to enter such text may still restrict users to Romanized text, as only ASCII or Latin-alphabet characters may be available.

==Latin alphabet and international standards==
{{Main|ISO basic Latin alphabet}}
By the 1960s it became apparent to the computer and [[telecommunication]]s industries in the [[First World]] that a non-proprietary method of encoding characters was needed. The [[International Organization for Standardization]] (ISO) encapsulated the Latin alphabet in their ([[ISO/IEC 646]]) standard. To achieve widespread acceptance, this encapsulation was based on popular usage. As the United States held a preeminent position in both industries during the 1960s the standard was based on the already published ''American Standard Code for Information Interchange'', better known as [[ASCII]], which included in the [[Character encoding|character set]] the 26 × 2 letters of the [[English alphabet]]. Later standards issued by the ISO, for example [[ISO/IEC 10646]] ([[Latin characters in Unicode|Unicode Latin]]), have continued to define the 26 × 2 letters of the English alphabet as the basic Latin alphabet with extensions to handle other letters in other languages.

{{Latin alphabet}}

==See also==
* [[Leet]]
* [[Romic alphabet]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{Citation
 | last = Haarmann
 | first = Harald
 | title = Geschichte der Schrift
 | trans_title = History of Writing
 | language = German
 | publisher = C. H. Beck
 | location = München
 | edition = 2nd
 | year = 2004
 | isbn = 3-406-47998-7
}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Latin alphabet}}
*[http://diacritics.typo.cz Diacritics Project &mdash; All you need to design a font with correct accents]

{{ISO 15924/footer}}

[[Category:Latin script| ]]
[[Category:Scripts encoded in Unicode 1.0]]