User:40bus/Lithuanian Arabic alphabet

As with Arabic, Persian and Urdu, texts in the Lithuanian Arabic alphabet are written right to left. The appearance of a letter changes depending on its position in a word:

  • isolated (in a one-letter word);
  • final (in which case it is joined on the right to the preceding letter);
  • medial (joined on both sides); and
  • initial (joined on the left to the following letter).

Some letters cannot be joined to the left and so do not possess separate medial and initial forms. In medial position, the final form is used. In initial position, the isolated form is used.

Isolated Final Medial Initial Latin Name Lithuanian Latin ALA-LC[1] IPA[2]
ا ـا a elif a, e —, ā, ' æ, e, —, (ʔ)
ء hemze —, ' —, ' —, [ʔ]
ب ـب ـبـ بـ b b (p) b b (p)
پ ـپ ـپـ پـ p p p
ت ـت ـتـ تـ t t t t
ث ـث ـثـ ثـ s s
ج ـج ـجـ جـ g cym c c t͡s
چ ـچ ـچـ چـ čym č č t͡ʃ
ح ـح ـحـ حـ h h ɣ
خ ـخ ـخـ خـ h x
د ـد d dąl d d d
ذ ـذ zėl z z
ر ـر r r r r
ز ـز z z z z
ژ ـژ žė ž ž ʒ
س ـس ـسـ سـ s syn s s s
ش ـش ـشـ شـ š šyn š š ʃ
ص ـص ـصـ صـ sąd s s
ض ـض ـضـ ضـ dąd d, z ż z (d)
ط ـط ـطـ طـ t t, d
ظ ـظ ـظـ ظـ z z
ع ـع ـعـ عـ o ajūn ', — —, ʔ
غ ـغ ـغـ غـ gajūn g, ğ, (v) ġ [ɣ → g], ◌ː, (v),
ف ـف ـفـ فـ p f f f
ق ـق ـقـ قـ q kąf k k k
ك ـك ـكـ كـ k kėf k k k
گ ـگ ـگـ گـ gėf (1), kąf-u fąrsy g, ğ, (v) g [g → ɟ], j, (v)
ڭ ـڭ ـڭـ ڭـ l ląm l l l
م ـم ـمـ مـ m mym m m m
ن ـن ـنـ نـ n nūn n n n
و ـو w vąv v, o, u, ų, ū v, ū, aw, avv, ūv v, o, œ, u, y
ه ـه ـهـ هـ e (3) h, e, a h (2) x, æ, e, (t)
ی ـی ـیـ یـ j j, i, į, y y, ī, ay, á, īy j, ɯ, i


Notes edit

  1. In most texts, kef, gef, and sağır kef are written the same way[2] although one Ottoman variant of gef has a "mini-kaf" of as well as the doubled upper stroke of گ. In general, /g/ and /ŋ/ sounds are represented by kef ك.[3]
  2. The Library of Congress recommends for he (هـ‎) in a word in the construct state to be romanised t and when a word ending in he is used adverbially, it should be romanised tan.
  3. Persian and Ottoman use the order vāv, he, ye, though in Arabic, they are he, vāv, ye.[3]
  4. One further sign, which is not considered an actual letter, is the so-called te merbūṭa ('connected t'), which can indicate the Arabic feminine singular ending and which is often also written in Ottoman texts. Te merbūṭa is always at the end

Sound–letter correspondence edit

The orthography of Ottoman Turkish is complex, as many Turkish sounds can be written with several different letters. For example, the phoneme /s/ can be written as ⟨ث⟩, ⟨س⟩, or ⟨ص⟩. Conversely, some letters have more than one value: ⟨ك⟩ k may be /k/, /ɡ/, /n/, /j/, or /ː/ (lengthening the preceding vowel; modern ğ), and vowels are written ambiguously or not at all. For example, the text كورك kwrk can be read as /ɟevɾec/ 'biscuit', /cyɾc/ 'fur', /cyɾec/ 'shovel', /cøryc/ 'bellows', /ɟørek/ 'view', which in modern orthography are written gevrek, kürk, kürek, körük, görek.[2][4]

Arabic and Persian borrowings are written in their original orthography: sabit 'firm' is written as ثابت s̱’bt, with ⟨ث⟩ representing /s/ (in Arabic /θ/), and ⟨ا⟩ representing /aː/ as in Arabic but with no indication of the short /i/. The letters ث ح ذ ض ظ ع are found only in borrowings from Arabic; ژ is only in borrowings from Persian and French. Although the Arabic vowel points (harakat) can be used ثَابِت s̱a’bit, they are generally found only in dictionaries and didactic works, as in Arabic and Persian,[2] and they still do not identify vowel sounds unambiguously.

Consonant letters are classified in three series, based on vowel harmony: soft, hard, and neutral. The soft consonant letters, ت س ك گ ه, are found in front vowel (e, i, ö, ü) contexts; the hard, ح خ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ق, in back vowel (a, ı, o, u) contexts; and the neutral, ب پ ث ج چ د ذ ر ز ژ ش ف ل م ن, in either. In Perso-Arabic borrowings, the vowel used in Turkish depends on the softness of the consonant. Thus, كلب klb 'dog' (Arabic /kalb/) is /kelb/, while قلب ḳlb 'heart' (Arabic /qalb/) is /kalb/. Conversely, in Turkish words, the choice of consonant reflects the native vowel.[2]

Phoneme /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /k/ /ɡ/ /∅/ /h/
Soft (front) ت س ك گ ء ه
Neutral د ث ذ ز
Hard (back) ط ط ض ص ض ظ ق غ ع ح خ

(All other sounds are only written with neutral consonant letters.)

In Turkish words, vowels are sometimes written using the vowel letters as the second letter of a syllable: elif ⟨ا⟩ for /a/; ye ⟨ی⟩ for /i/, /ɯ/; vav ⟨و⟩ for /o/, /œ/, /u/, /y/; he ⟨ه⟩ for /a/, /e/. The corresponding harakat are there: üstün ⟨َ○⟩ (Arabic fatḥah) for /a/, /e/; esre ⟨ِ○⟩ (Arabic kasrah) for /ɯ/, /i/; ötre ⟨ُ○⟩ (Arabic ḍammah) for /o/, /œ/, /u/, /y/. The names of the harakat are also used for the corresponding vowels.[2]

Name Arabic name Point Letter Front reading Back reading
üstün fatḥah َ○ ا elif
ه he
/e/ /a/
esre kasrah ِ○ ی ye /i/ /ɯ/
ötre ḍammah ُ○ و vav /œ/, /y/ /o/, /u/
  1. ^ "Ottoman script" (PDF). Library of Congress. (166 KB), Library of Congress. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f V. H. Hagopian, Ottoman-Turkish Conversation-Grammar, London and Heidelberg, 1907, p. 1-25 full text
  3. ^ a b Buğday, Korkut M. (2009). The Routledge introduction to literary Ottoman. Routledge. ISBN 9780415493383. OCLC 281098978.
  4. ^ Diran Kélékian, Dictionnaire Turc-Français, Constantinople/استانبول, 1911