What purpose does capitalization serve in English today?

In another language, case may make a big difference in the interpretation of a sentence, but what about English?

i could understand if it had a semantic meaning, such as important words being capitalized, but we also start sentences with capital letters, suggesting that the first word is somehow important. if that is true, Why Do We Not Write Sentences Like This? all of those words could be used to start a sentence.

acronyms, which are really just special abbreviations anyway, are rendered in all caps, even when the letters themselves in the expanded . the context of a word determines its meaning, right?

the following two sentences use the same word in different contexts:

• i hate aids. (acronym "AIDS" in place of "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome", which i have seen both in Title Case as well as all lowercase)

• she aids him. ("aids" as in "assists")

and what about "she was a cancer with cancer"? why is the zodiac sign treated as a "proper" noun while the ailment is not?

is this just historical practice that has since lost meaning, or is it still useful in some way aside from helping sentences and Supposedly Important Words to stand out a bit more? some other languages get along just fine without it, even having multiple meanings for the same word/character as in my last example sentence, contrived though it may be. is case differentiation in english still relevant today or merely an antiquated practice that should be followed because to not do so would be considered bad form?

Solution 1:

Sometimes it is a matter distinguishing between two uses of the same word. For example:

catholic - all-embracing

Catholic - of the Roman Catholic church

chair - a seat with a backrest

Chair - person who runs the meeting (also chairperson, formerly chairman)

conservative - averse to change, very traditional

Conservative - right-wing political party

deaf - inability to hear

Deaf - a cultural adjective, meaning active within the Deaf community

Further, CamelCase (as it is known) can be useful for separating words when spaces cannot be used, such as in web/email addresses.

Solution 2:

The wiki article on History of the Latin Alphabet seems to answer most of your questions. Capitalization is still used for readability, emphasis, and clarity of meaning, and is as much a part of the written language as emphasis and pronunciation is to the spoken word.