Rachid Ridouane, Syllables without Vowels: Phonetic and Phonological Evidence from Tashlhiyt Berber, Phonology, Vol. 25, No. 2 (2008), pp. 321-359 ...

Note: We’ll only be using the commonly accepted, 26-letter English alphabet. Ns with tildes and double Ls and accented vowels are all very cool, but not eligible for this particular ranking.

By mentioning “alphabetic languages”, the questioner is presumably asking why most versions of our alphabet have roughly 20 consonant letters but only five vowel letters.

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. Who created the alphabet and decided its ...