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如果我问你：“英文字母一共有多少个？”你肯定一脸嫌弃的表情告诉我“26个啊”，连刚刚接触英语的小孩子都知道。  But，今天要告诉你一个令人震惊的消息！ No Way: There Used to Be Six More Letters in the English Alphabet! 是的，你没看错！英文字母表除了目前所知的26个之外，还有6个，真的假的？ 大家暂且别急，看完这篇文章你就知道了！ 前情概要 As strange as it sounds, the English alphabet had several more letters in the past few hundred years than it does today. Six more to be exact。 虽然，这听起来很是奇怪，在过去的几百年中，英语字母比现在多出了几个。 确切的来说，是多了6个。  但好端端的字母为什么会消失呢？ 1 Linguistics experts say that modern streamlining and the mixing of the cultures of Northern Europe are to blame for their loss. 语言学专家认为，现代流水线和北欧文化的融合应当为这个损失负责。 2 That's because they've generally been phased out and replaced by letters that do double duty. 那是因为它们逐渐被淘汰了，或是被有双重用途的字母给取代了。 either by already addressing the sounds in question or by making the desired sounds when combined with other standard, existing letters. 原因不是因为发音存在一些问题，就是因为当其他标准、现存的字母结合起来的时候已经发出了预期的音调。 3 Anne Babson, an English instructor at Southeastern Louisiana University with a background in Late Medieval European languages, explains that the letters we no longer see gradually fell out of use as printing presses developed a type-setting system. 安妮.巴布森是东南路易斯安那大学的英语教员，了解中世纪欧洲的语言。她解释道：“这些我们逐渐不使用的字母，是因为我们的印刷机发展出了一套排版系统。” Y → Eth、Thron 所以， 古英语中会使用： Ye Olde English Shoppe 现在演变为： the Old English Shop 也因此Eth、Thron被简化了。 消失的字母 那么，消失的究竟是哪6个字母呢？ Eth (ð) In its original form, eth was pronounced like the th sound in words like this, that or the, or then. 在原型中，eth的发音就像th在单词this,that, 或是the或是then中的发音一样。 Thorn (þ) Thorn was also pronounced with a th sound, but in a softer manner. Imagine using the th sound in the least aggressive way possible, with it rolling smoothly from behind your teeth. Thron也是发th的音，但语调更为柔和。想像一下th的发音，尽可能用不那么激进的方式发音，让它在你的牙后温柔的打转。 Wynn (ƿ) This was the precursor to today's uu; it lost favor when writers and printing presses started smushing two trendier u letters together. 这就是今天我们的uu的先驱了，当作者们和出版社开始采用了两个时髦的uu字母在一起的时候，这个字母便失宠了。 Yogh (ȝ) We can thank the Scots for this letter having existed, however briefly. Think of the ch sound in Loch Ness Monster, or the way you'd pronounce the ch in 'challah bread.' 这个字母的消失我们要感谢的是苏格兰人，大概就这样的。想想ch在Loch Ness Monster中的发音，或是你在 'challah bread'中ch的发音。 Ash (æ) Breaking news: This letter is still used in modern Danish. If you're interested in partying with this antique, head straight to Denmark. 爆炸性新闻：这个字母在现代的丹麦语中仍在使用。如果你对这个老古董有兴趣的话，那么直接去丹麦吧。 Otherwise, just know that it was a short vowel sound in Old English. 不然，你只需要知道在古英语中，它只是一个简短的元音声。 Ethel (œ) Ethel was similar to Ash in that it was a strange hybrid but was pronounced like the 'oi' in 'join.' Ethel的发音就像Ash一样，是个奇怪的混合，但它的发音就像'oi' 在'join.'中的发音。 These are the words that even English majors are likely pronouncing wrong. 有些单词就算是英语专业的学生也会发错音的。 可能这也是一个消失的原因，不然英语真的更难学了、更难念了！
其实，这些消失字母的发音，仍然有一些用语音位图中用语发音的一部分，类似Eth、Ash等。但是，日常生活中我们无法再接触到了。 |
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