Alphabet all alphabets in the West. The vowels have independent letter forms separate from those of consonants; therefore it was the first true alphabet. The Greeks chose letters representing sounds that did not exist in Greek to represent vowels. Vowels are significant in the Greek language, and the syllabical Linear B script that was used by the Mycenaean Greeks from the 16th century BC had 87 symbols, including 5 vowels. In its early years, there were many variants of the Greek alphabet, a situation that caused many different alphabets to evolve from it. The Greek alphabet, in its Euboean form, was
Phonological history of English high back vowels Old English texts). There was also a pair of back vowels of mid-height, and , written (the longer one often in modern editions). The same four vowels existed in the Middle English system. The short vowels were still spelt and , but long came to be spelt as , and as . Generally the Middle English vowels descended from the corresponding Old English ones, although there were certain alternative developments – see Phonological history of Old English#Changes leading up to Middle and Modern English. Due to Middle English open syllable lengthening, short was mostly lengthened to (an opener back vowel)