The letter 'A' appeared first in the Phoenician letters as adelp. Which represented a an ox's head. The symbol was then adopted by the Greeks; who altered the letter in the upright position and name (Alpha). The letter is a vowel that depending on the dialect or language out have a short or long sound. This depends on the location the sound is made within the mouth (long sounds are made from deeper in the mouth and short sounds are more towards the front. The letter structure has many variations the general shape is recognizable in both the upper and lower case. There are more variations in the lower case form; the shape can vary from open to closed tops or arcing lines over the base of the letter. The letter has a lack of shape variation because during the creation of letter symbols and literature the people who could write would periodically commune due to their religious beliefs.
The symbol 'a' in its upper case form can represent notes in the musical scale or quality of products. There are also 12 different vowel sounds for the letter 'a' according to the New English Dictionary. The a-sound also helped create other vowel sounds in several dialects.
Links:
http://www.alphabetandletter.com/
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/language/a/A.htm
http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/letters/historya.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A
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