Coming from the United States, we have an alphabet song(to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or Baa Baa Black Sheep). Do other languages also have an alphabet song? Is it a tune independent of the US Version? If there is such a song in your native language, what does it sound like?
And while on the topic, how was alphabetical order decided upon? (I believe the answer has something to do with the Greeks) Is alphabetical order important in other languages? Are they also based upon the Greek order?
I am so sincerely curious about this, any replies are welcome.
That’s very similar to the American English version, I would guess that it’s similar in any language that uses the standard English style of letters.
What about languages that use their own writing systems?
The original melody comes from a French children’s song “Ah vous dirai-me maman.” Mozart is credited with it (incorrectly) because he published variations on it.
I can’t imagine every alphabet uses that piece because the number of letters won’t always fit so easily. Then again, not every language has European influence.
Great question. I’ll give a looksee to the documentary you posted.
My Bulgarian friends in New York made an alphabet song for their students in their school to learn the Cyrillic alphabet for Bulgarian. I think that the song was credited to the singer Vlada Tomova.
In Hebrew, we have a song that has been written a couple of decades ago (it’s not traditional) and isn’t similar to the American/French one. Though it makes sense for Hebrew because it wasn’t used much for speaking until pretty recent times (150 years or so).
Speaking about order - I’ve just checked and Wikipedia says that the alphabet has developed from the Aramic alphabet around 2000 years ago.
