Editing Esperanto orthography (section)

=== Names of the letters of the alphabet ===
[[L. L. Zamenhof|Zamenhof]] simply tacked an ''-o'' onto each consonant to create the name of the letter, with the vowels representing themselves: ''a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo,'' etc. The diacritics are frequently mentioned overtly. For instance, ''ĉ'' may be called ''ĉo ĉapela'' or ''co ĉapela,'' from ''ĉapelo'' (a hat), and ''ŭ'' may be called ''ŭo luneta'' or ''u luneta,'' from ''luno'' (a moon) plus the diminutive ''-et-.'' This is the only system that is widely accepted and in practical use.

The letters of the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet]] not found in the Esperanto alphabet have distinct names, much as letters of the Greek alphabet do. {{angbr|q}}, {{angbr|x}}, {{angbr|y}} are ''kuo, ikso, ipsilono''; {{angbr|w}} has been called ''duobla vo'' (double V), ''vavo'' (using Waringhien's name of ''va'' below), ''vuo'' (proposed by Sergio Pokrovskij), ''germana vo'' (German V), and ''ĝermana vo'' ([[Germanic languages|Germanic]] V).<ref>{{cite book|title=Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto|year=2005|publisher=[[Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda]]|isbn=2-9502432-8-2|url=http://vortaro.net/#%C4%9Dermana%20vo|editor=Gaston Waringhien|editor-link=Gaston Waringhien|access-date=23 January 2014|quote='''duobla vo''' aŭ '''ĝermana vo'''. Nomo de neesperanta grafemo, kun la formo W, w, (prononcata v aŭ ŭ, depende de la lingvoj) ''['''double V''' or '''Germanic V'''. Name of a non-Esperanto [[grapheme]], with the form W, w, (pronounced v or ǔ [that is, with the sound of English "v" or "w"], depending on the language)]'' }}</ref>

However, while this is fine for [[initialism]]s such as ''ktp'' [kotopo] for ''etc.,'' it can be problematic when spelling out names. For example, several consonantal distinctions are difficult for many nationalities, who normally rely on the fact that Esperanto seldom uses these sounds to distinguish words (that is, they do not form many [[minimal pair]]s). Thus the pairs of letter names ''ĵo–ĝo, ĥo–ho'' (or ''ĥo–ko), co–ĉo'' (or ''co–so, co–to), lo–ro'', and ''ŭo–vo'' (or ''vo–bo'') are problematic. In addition, over a noisy telephone connection, it quickly becomes apparent that [[phonation|voicing]] distinctions can be difficult to make out: noise confounds the pairs ''po–bo, to–do, ĉo–ĝo, ko–go, fo–vo, so–zo, ŝo–ĵo,'' as well as the nasals ''mo–no.''

There have been several proposals to resolve this problem. [[Gaston Waringhien]] proposed changing the vowel of voiced [[obstruent]]s to ''a'', so that at least voicing is not problematic. Also changed to ''a'' are ''h, n, r'', distinguishing them from ''ĥ, m, l''. The result is perhaps the most common alternative in use:

::''a, ba, co, ĉo, da, e, fo, ga, ĝa, ha, ĥo, i, jo, ĵa, ko, lo, mo, na, o, po, ra, so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, va, za''
However, this still requires overt mention of the diacritics, and even so does not reliably distinguish ''ba–va, co–so, ĉo–ŝo,'' or ''ĝa–ĵa''.

The proposal closest to international norms (and thus the easiest to remember) that clarifies all the above distinctions is a modification of a proposal by [[Kálmán Kalocsay]]. As with Zamenhof, vowels stand for themselves, but it follows the international standard of placing vowel ''e'' after a consonant by default ''(be, ce, de, ge),'' but before [[sonorant]]s ''(el, en)'' and [[voiceless]] [[fricative]]s ''(ef, es).'' The vowel ''a'' is used for {{angbr|h}} and the voiceless [[plosives]] {{angbr|p}}, {{angbr|t}}, {{angbr|k}}, after the international names ''ha'' for {{angbr|h}} and ''ka'' for {{angbr|k}}; the French name ''ĵi'' is used for {{angbr|ĵ}}, the Greek name ''ĥi (chi)'' for {{angbr|ĥ}}, and the English name ''ar'' for {{angbr|r}}. The letter {{angbr|v}} has the ''i'' vowel of ''ĵi,'' distinguishing it from {{angbr|b}}, but the other voiced fricative, {{angbr|z}}, does not, to avoid the problem of it [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalizing]] and being confused with ''ĵi.'' The diphthong offglide {{angbr|ŭ}} is named ''eŭ,'' the only real possibility given Esperanto [[phonotactics]] besides ''aŭ,'' which, as the word for "or", could cause confusion. The letter {{angbr|m}} is called ''om'' to distinguish it from {{angbr|n}}; the vowel ''o'' alliterates well in the alphabetical sequence ''el, om, en, o, pa.'' There are other patterns to the vowels in the [[Alphabet song|ABC rhyme]]: The lines start with ''a i a i'' and finish with ''a a e e.'' The letters with diacritics are placed at the end of the rhyme, taking the place of ''w, x, y'' in other Latin alphabets, so as not to disrupt the pattern of letters many people learned as children. All this makes the system more easily memorized than competing proposals. The modified Kalocsay [[abecedary]] is:

:::::''a, be, ce, de, e, ef, ge, ha,''
:::::''i, je, ka, el, om, en, o, pa,''
:::::''ar, es, ta, u, vi, ĉa, ĝe,''
:::::''ĥi kaj ĵi, eŝ, eŭ kaj ze,''
:::::''plus ku', ikso, ipsilono,''
:::::''jen la abece-kolono.''

''(kaj'' means "and". The last line reads: ''here is the ABC column)''

Where letters are still confused, such as ''es'' vs ''eŝ'' or ''a'' vs ''ha,'' mention can be made of the diacritic ''(eŝ ĉapela),'' or to the manner of articulation of the sound ''(ha brueta'' "breathy aitch"). Quite commonly, however, people will use the ''aitch as in house'' strategy used in English.