Full Text

X, x


Subject Linguistics

DOI: 10.1111/b.9780631214816.1999.x


Extract

/∍ks/ The twenty-fourth letter of the English alphabet descended from Semitic tāw , where it had a /t/-like value. The Greeks revalued it to represent a velar fricative or the C cluster /ks/, making it the only letter of the alphabet to represent a combination of sounds which can be denoted by other individual letters, <k> and <s>. The Latin X with this value occurs in final position only, e.g. rex, lex. In English <x> represents three different sounds — [ks] as in excellent , [gz] as in exist , [z] as in xenography — as well as the syllable [∍ks] as in Xmas and Xing , with alternative pronunciations [kris] and [kros]. ... log in or subscribe to read full text

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The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems



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