Wikipedia talk:Sandbox

Arabic letters usage in Literary Arabic

Name	Translit.	Value (IPA)	Contextual forms			Isolated
			Final	Medial	Initial
’alif	[’] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help) / ā	various, including /aː/ [a]	ـا	ـا	ا	ا
bā’	b	/b/ (sometimes /p/ in loanwords)[b]	ـب	ـبـ	بـ	ب
tā’	t	/t/	ـت	ـتـ	تـ	ت
thā’	th (also ṯ)	/θ/	ـث	ـثـ	ثـ	ث
jīm	j (also ǧ, g)	[d͡ʒ] ~ [ʒ] ~ [ɡ] [c]	ـج	ـجـ	جـ	ج
ḥā’	ḥ	/ħ/	ـح	ـحـ	حـ	ح
khā’	kh (also ḫ, ḵ)	/x/	ـخ	ـخـ	خـ	خ
dāl	d	/d/	ـد	ـد	د	د
dhāl	dh (also ḏ)	/ð/	ـذ	ـذ	ذ	ذ
rā’	r	/r/	ـر	ـر	ر	ر
zayn / zāy	z	/z/	ـز	ـز	ز	ز
sīn	s	/s/	ـس	ـسـ	سـ	س
shīn	sh (also š)	/ʃ/	ـش	ـشـ	شـ	ش
ṣād	ṣ	/sˤ/	ـص	ـصـ	صـ	ص
ḍād	ḍ	/dˤ/	ـض	ـضـ	ضـ	ض
ṭā’	ṭ	/tˤ/	ـط	ـطـ	طـ	ط
ẓā’	ẓ	[ðˤ] ~ [zˤ]	ـظ	ـظـ	ظـ	ظ
‘ayn	[‘] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help)	/ʕ/	ـع	ـعـ	عـ	ع
ghayn	gh (also ġ, ḡ)	/ɣ/ (sometimes /ɡ/ in loanwords)[c]	ـغ	ـغـ	غـ	غ
fā’	f	/f/ (sometimes /v/ in loanwords)[b]	ـف	ـفـ	فـ	ف [d]
qāf	q	/q/ (sometimes /ɡ/ in loanwords)[c]	ـق	ـقـ	قـ	ق [d]
kāf	k	/k/ (sometimes /ɡ/ in loanwords)[c]	ـك	ـكـ	كـ	ك
lām	l	/l/	ـل	ـلـ	لـ	ل
mīm	m	/m/	ـم	ـمـ	مـ	م
nūn	n	/n/	ـن	ـنـ	نـ	ن
hā’	h	/h/	ـه	ـهـ	هـ	ه
wāw	w / ū / aw	/w/, /uː/, /aw/, sometimes /u/, /o/, and /oː/ in loanwords	ـو	ـو	و	و
yā’	y / ī / ay	/j/, /iː/, /aj/, sometimes /i/, /e/, and /eː/ in loanwords	ـي	ـيـ	يـ	ي [e]

• ^a ’Alif can represent many phonemes in Literary Arabic:
  1. Without diacritics: ا
     • initially: a, i   /a, i/ or sometimes silent in the definite article ال (a)l-
     • medially or finally: ā   /aː/.
  2. ’Alif with hamzah above: أ
     • initially: ’a, ’u   /ʔa, ʔu/
     • medially or finally: ’a   /ʔa/.
  3. ’Alif with hamzah under: إ
     • initially: ’i   /ʔi/; doesn't appear medially or finally (see hamza).
  4. ’Alif with maddah:آ
     • initially, medially or finally: ’ā   /ʔaː/.

• ^b /p/ and /v/ can be represented by پ and ڤ‎/ڥ‎ or if unavailable, ب and ف‎/ڢ‎ are used, respectively.

• ^c For Arabic language speakers, the phoneme /ɡ/ can be represented using different letters, depending on local dialects. ج is normally used in Egypt, also sometimes Yemen and Oman. ق is used where it represents the [ɡ] in local dialects. ك or غ are used where /ɡ/ doesn't exist in local dialects. Other letters such as گ,‎ ݣ‎ or ڨ‎ may also be used, but are not regarded as standard Arabic letters. Likewise, where ج represents [ɡ], it can be also used for /ʒ/~/d͡ʒ/, or the letter چ can be used in Egypt.

• ^d Fā’ and qāf are traditionally written in northwestern Africa as ڢ‎ and ڧـ ـڧـ ـٯ‎, respectively, while the latter's dot is only added initially or medially.

• ^e Yā’ in the isolated and the final forms in handwriting and print in Egypt, Sudan and sometimes other places, is always undotted ى, making it only contextually distinguishable from ’alif maqṣūrah.

See also Additional letters below.

Further notes

• The letter ’alif originated in the Phoenician alphabet as a consonant-sign indicating a glottal stop. Today it has lost its function as a consonant, and, together with ya’ and wāw, is a mater lectionis, a consonant sign standing in for a long vowel (see below), or as support for certain diacritics (maddah and hamzah).

• Arabic currently uses a diacritic sign, ﺀ, called hamzah, to denote the glottal stop [ʔ], written alone or with a carrier:
  • alone: ء ;
  • with a carrier: إ أ (above or under a ’alif), ؤ (above a wāw), ئ (above a dotless yā’ or yā’ hamzah).

In academic work, the hamzah (ء) is transliterated with the modifier letter right half ring (ʾ), while the modifier letter left half ring (ʿ) transliterates the letter ‘ayn (ع), which represents a different sound, not found in English.

• Letters lacking an initial or medial version are never linked to the letter that follows, even within a word. The hamzah has a single form, since it is never linked to a preceding or following letter. However, it is sometimes combined with a wāw, yā’, or ’alif, and in that case the carrier behaves like an ordinary wāw, yā’, or ’alif.

• The shape of the final yā’ is always undotted ى in both print and handwriting in Egypt and Sudan, mainly.

Modified letters

The following are not individual letters, but rather different contextual variants of some of the Arabic letters.

Conditional forms				Name	Translit.	Phonemic Value (IPA)
Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
آ	ـآ	ـآ	آ	’alif maddah	’ā	/ʔaː/
ة	ـة	[] Error: {{Lang}}: no text (help)	[] Error: {{Lang}}: no text (help)	tā’ marbūṭah	h or t / h / ẗ	/a/, /at/
ى	ـى	[] Error: {{Lang}}: no text (help)	[] Error: {{Lang}}: no text (help)	’alif maqṣūrah	ā / ỳ	/aː/

Ligatures

Components of a ligature for "Allah":
1. alif
2. hamzat waṣl (همزة وصل‎‎)
3. lām
4. lām
5. shadda (شدة‎)
6. dagger alif (ألف خنجرية‎‎)
7. hāʾ

The use of ligature in Arabic is common. There is one compulsory ligature, that for lām + ’alif, which exists in two forms. All other ligatures (yā’ + mīm, etc.) are optional.

Contextual forms				Name
Final	Medial	Initial	Isolated
ﻼ		ﻻ		lām + ’alif

A more complex ligature that combines as many as seven distinct components is commonly used to represent the word Allāh.

Gemination

Further information: Shadda

Gemination is the doubling of a consonant. Instead of writing the letter twice, Arabic places a W-shaped sign called shaddah, above it. Note that if a vowel occurs between the two consonants the letter will simply be written twice. The diacritic only appears where the consonant at the end of one syllable is identical to the initial consonant of the following syllable. (The generic term for such diacritical signs is ḥarakāt).

General Unicode	Name	Transliteration
0651 ّ ‎ ّ	shaddah	(consonant doubled)

Nunation

Main article: Nunation

Nunation (Template:Lang-ar tanwīn) is the addition of a final -n  to a noun or adjective. The vowel before it indicates grammatical case. In written Arabic nunation is indicated by doubling the vowel diacritic at the end of the word.

Vowels

Users of Arabic usually write long vowels but omit short ones, so readers must utilize their knowledge of the language in order to supply the missing vowels. However, in the education system and particularly in classes on Arabic grammar these vowels are used since they are crucial to the grammar. An Arabic sentence can have a completely different meaning by a subtle change of the vowels. This is why in an important text such as the Qur’ān the three basic vowel signs (see below) are mandated, like the ḥarakāt and all the other diacritics or other types of marks, for example the cantillation signs.

Short vowels

Further information: Arabic diacritics

In the Arabic handwriting of everyday use, in general publications, and on street signs, short vowels are typically not written. On the other hand, copies of the Qur’ān cannot be endorsed by the religious institutes that review them unless the diacritics are included. Children's books, elementary-school texts, and Arabic-language grammars in general will include diacritics to some degree. These are known as "vocalized" texts.

Short vowels may be written with diacritics placed above or below the consonant that precedes them in the syllable, called ḥarakāt. All Arabic vowels, long and short, follow a consonant; in Arabic, words like "Ali" or "alif", for example, start with a consonant: ‘Aliyy, ’alif.

Short vowels (fully vocalized text)	Name	Trans.	Value
064E َ ‎◌	fatḥah	a	/a/
064F ُ ‎◌	ḍammah	u	/u/
0650 ِ ‎◌	kasrah	i	/i/

Long vowels

In the fully vocalized Arabic text found in texts such as Koran, a long ā following a consonant other than a hamzah is written with a short a sign (fatḥah) on the consonant plus an ’alif after it; long ī is written as a sign for short i (kasrah) plus a yā’ ; and long ū as a sign for short u (ḍammah) plus a wāw. Briefly, ᵃa = ā, ⁱy = ī and ᵘw = ū. Long ā following a hamzah may be represented by an ’alif maddah or by a free hamzah followed by an ’alif.

The table below shows vowels placed above or below a dotted circle replacing a primary consonant letter or a shaddah sign. For clarity in the table, the primary letters on the left used to mark these long vowels are shown only in their isolated form. Please note that most consonants do connect to the left with ’alif, wāw and yā’ written then with their medial or final form. Additionally, the letter yā’ in the last row may connect to the letter on its left, and then will use a medial or initial form. Use the table of primary letters to look at their actual glyph and joining types.

Long vowels (fully vocalised text)	Name	Trans.	Value
064E 0627 َا ‎◌	fatḥah ’alif	ā	/aː/
064E 0649 َى ‎◌	fatḥah ’alif maqṣūrah	ā / á	/aː/
064F 0648 ُو ‎◌	ḍammah wāw	ū	/uː/
0650 064A ِي ‎◌	kasrah yā’	ī	/iː/

In unvocalized text (one in which the short vowels are not marked), the long vowels are represented by the vowel in question: ’alif, ’alif maqṣūrah (or ya’), wāw, or yā’. Long vowels written in the middle of a word of unvocalized text are treated like consonants with a sukūn (see below) in a text that has full diacritics. Here also, the table shows long vowel letters only in isolated form for clarity.

Combinations وا and يا are always pronounced wā and yā respectively, the exception is when وا is the verb ending, where ’alif is silent, resulting in ū.

Long vowels (unvocalized text)	Name	Trans.	Value
0627 ا	(implied fatḥah) ’alif	ā	/aː/
0649 ى	(implied fatḥah) ’alif maqṣūrah	ā / aỳ	/aː/
0648 و	(implied ḍammah) wāw	ū / uw	/uː/
064A ي	(implied kasrah) yā’	ī / iy	/iː/

In addition, when transliterating names and loanwords, Arabic language speakers write out most or all the vowels as long (ā with ا ’alif, ē and ī with ي ya’, and ō and ū with و wāw), meaning it approaches a true alphabet.

Diphthongs

The diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ are represented in vocalized text as follows:

Diphthongs (fully vocalized text)	Name	Trans.	Value
064E 064A َي ‎◌	fatḥah yā’	ay	/aj/
064E 0648 َو ‎◌	fatḥah wāw	aw	/aw/