Peter T. Daniels distinguishes an abugida, a set of graphemes that represent consonantal base letters that diacritics modify to represent vowels, like in Devanagari and other South Asian scripts, an abjad, in which letters predominantly or exclusively represent consonants such as the original Phoenician, Hebrew or Arabic, and an alphabet, a set of graphemes that represent both consonants and vowels.
pˈiːɾɚ tˈiː. dˈænjəlz dɪstˈɪŋɡwɪʃᵻz ɐn ɐbjˈuːdʒɪdə, ɐ sˈɛt ʌv ɡɹˈæfiːmz ðæt ɹˌɛpɹᵻzˈɛnt kˈɑːnsənˌæntəl bˈeɪs lˈɛɾɚz ðæt dˌaɪəkɹˈɪɾɪks mˈɑːdᵻfˌaɪ tə ɹˌɛpɹᵻzˈɛnt vˈaʊəlz, lˈaɪk ɪn dˌeɪvənˈɑːɡɚɹi ænd ˈʌðɚ sˈaʊθ ˈeɪʒən skɹˈɪpts, ɐn ɐbdʒˈæd, ɪnwˌɪtʃ lˈɛɾɚz pɹɪdˈɑːmɪnəntli ɔːɹ ɛksklˈuːsɪvli ɹˌɛpɹᵻzˈɛnt kˈɑːnsənənts sˈʌtʃ ɐz ðɪ ɚɹˈɪdʒɪnəl foʊnˈɪʃən, hˈiːbɹuː ɔːɹ ˈæɹɐbˌɪk, ænd ɐn ˈælfəbˌɛt, ɐ sˈɛt ʌv ɡɹˈæfiːmz ðæt ɹˌɛpɹᵻzˈɛnt bˈoʊθ kˈɑːnsənənts ænd vˈaʊəlz.