What was the most recent letter added to the English alphabet? Answer
The most recent letter to be formally added to the English alphabet is "J." While forms of the letter "J" existed previously, it wasn't fully recognized as a distinct letter, separate from "I," until the 17th century. Before this period, the letter "I" was used to represent both the vowel sound we know as /ɪ/ or /aɪ/ and the consonant sound we now associate with "J" (/dʒ/), much like how "U" and "V" were once interchangeable. The eventual differentiation and standardization of "J" marked its official inclusion as the 26th letter of the English alphabet.
This separation and recognition of "J" as a distinct letter largely coincided with the development of printing. Printers found it more efficient and less ambiguous to have separate glyphs for the consonantal and vowel sounds. Over time, the usage of "J" became more consistent, particularly at the beginning of words where the /dʒ/ sound typically occurs. By the mid-17th century, dictionaries and other linguistic resources began to treat "J" as a separate and established letter, solidifying its place as the final addition to the modern English alphabet.
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