Letters through articulation, acoustics, writing, emotion and poetry:

The letter A

Codex Aureus 8th century
Probably executed in Canterbury

ARTICULATION

Here are some excerpts from "Voice Spoken and Sung" by Carine Klein-Dallant, Speech Therapist, in: Use of Vowels in the Practice of Rehabilitation of the Voice by Dr. Nicole Charpy, Phoniatre.

The position of the A is obtained from the rest position by opening slightly the jaw, while keeping the tongue flattened (the edges of the tongue in contact with the inner edge of the teeth). This creates a space of the entire anterior and median part of the mouth. While the posterior part the tongue is bombed backwards and downwards, narrowing the pharyngolaryngeal die ... The larynx has a tendency to descend.

The soft palate can behave in two ways:
The a anterior (in 'papa' in french): the a is clear and slamming, the veil rises in its middle under the effect of the azygos muscle, forming an gothic ogive.
The a posterior (in 'âme' in French), called throat, corresponds to a rather inert median veil, the tightening taking place by a bringing together of the pillars of the veil ...

A enluminure
The Psalter of Jean de Berry
(between 1386 and 1400).
National Library of France

ACOUSTIC

Informations from 'Introduction to phonetics of French, by Fernand Carton, Bordas', p 48.

Formants	F1	F2	F3
a anterior	660	1350	2380 Hertz
ɑ posterior	620	1150	2250 Hertz

The formants (F1, F2, F3) are the frequencies particularly reinforced by the resonance of the vocal channel: to the various configurations of the Vocal channel specific to each vowel corresponds to a spectrum with different formants.
Each vowel has a specific intensity and fundamental frequency. The position of the organs that determines the shape of the voice channel remains the same when the frequency of the fundamental sound varies. This is determined by the number of glottic attachments per second, which number in turn determines F0 (fundamental), responsible for the melodic pitch of speech. The formants, they are responsible for the vowel color (we usually say the timbre of vowels).

The spectrum of a is compact and that of i diffuse. The two lowest formants, F1 and F2, are closer to a than to i.

French gothic tiny writing 1396

WRITING

♦ The A, first letter of the alphabet Western, drift of the first protosinaitic letter of the alphabet which is represented by a bull.

The bull is named Alpu in Akkadian, aleph in phoenician and in the Semitic languages.

According to Marc-Alain Ouaknin, in the mysteries of the alphabet, edited Assouline:
The bull is the first sign, because he represents "the strength", the energy useful for life, for the agriculture, for the transport; essential energy which puts the being in movement, which makes pass of the being in existence.

- Egyptian hieroglyph(- 3000):

The drawing of the bull already exists in the Egyptian hieroglyph.

Taureau

The drawing of the bull is the determinant of 'cattle'. Most Egyptian words are endowed, following the phonetic signs used to write them, with a determinative indicating the semantic category to which these words belong.

Cartouche Alexandre

This fragment of water clock dates from the Ptolemaic era (around 330 BC).
This is the royal cartouche containing the name 'Alexander' written from right to left.
It shows how the a is represented.

- Protosinaitic inscriptions(-1500):

The bull is then reduced to its head alone, with mouth and eye or without. This is the graphical form found on Protosinaitic inscriptions.

Tete de taureau

Protosinaïtic inscriptions

Very quickly, the drawing of the head is simplified and becomes:

But most often:

A proto
A proto
Protosinaïtic inscriptions

- Passage to Greek writing(-800):

The Aleph becomes alpha and always presents itself with the stroke of the head and the two horns. But the alpha has changed direction. :

A en grec

The Greek alpha in cursive writing is written with the horns turned to the right.

- Then in Etruscan (-800; - 700), Latin (- 600) and the European alphabet (3th century):

A en etrusque

♦ In Hebrew:

Passage of Aleph (Xth century BC) to the new form of classical Hebrew from the 1st century BC.: א, which derives Aramean forms.

A en hebreu

In the cursive writing of Hebrew, the aleph kept its original form. The two horns of the bull are visible. The letter has been rotated 90°.

♦ In Arabic:

A : Alif is the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. Normally, it is only the support of the sign hamza.


Letter Alif	Hamza

Alif allied to the hamza expresses the sound 'a', long vowel. Hamza is a consonant that corresponds to a glottis, like the one produced in French in the word Attention! Hamza can be associated with another letter, but at the beginning of a word his support is always the letter Alif. But we do not always note the hamza, like other signs that are pronounced but do not write in the Arabic script. Alif therefore often remains alone.

'The alif represents the existence of the essence in its perfection, because it does not need to be moved by a vowel' Ibn Arabi (1165-1240)

Note that in Arabic there are 3 long vowels that are written and three short vowels that can not be written. It is however possible to note these vowels, by means of signs placed above or below the consonant. For the short vowel "a" the sign is an oblique line above the consonant.

Information from "The ABC of Arabic Calligraphy" by Hassan and Isabelle Massoudy and "Discovering Arabic Writing" by Abdeljalil Laamiri.

♦ In Devanagari :

अ

The a in the word apple

आ

The a in the word hat

Missal of Cardinal Jean Rolin XVIth S

EMOTION

According to Carine Klein-Dallant, Speech therapist, in spoken Voice, sung voice p 81 :

- The A approaches the expression of the giggle, of the laughter counterfeited (at the time which the jaw between open lets appear them teeth).
- The yawn in its expiratory time is rather vocalized on an A.
- It is also the vowel of fright, the cry of rage, the open-mouthed fear, open-mouthed crying. Emotions during which the jaw is open and the mouth especially for the fright is in square.
- We also find the fearful surprise and unexpected pain
- Here we find the tonic and aggressive character of this vowel, obviously turned towards the interlocutor in a relationship of self-assertion.
- Dame Sarrasine, Speech Therapist, adds: the extended indicating the satisfaction after a wait.

A enluminure
Piero di Giovanni named Lorenzo Monaco
monk, painter and illuminator(1370-1425)
museum of Louvre-Paris

POESIE

Writing of Arthur Rimbaud

'A, noir corset velu des mouches éclatantes qui bombinent autour des puanteurs cruelles,
Golfes d’ombre ;' Arthur Rimbaud, Voyelles. 1871.
'A, black hairy corset fluttering flies that bomb around cruel stench,
Shade gulfs;' Arthur Rimbaud, Vowels. 1871.

Letter A
Creation of Dame Sarrasine.