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THE ALPHABET
verbs. These signs represent the vowel-sounds corresponding to those of the letters alif, waw and ya, that is the "weak letters"; and when combined with them, they form the long vowels. Rules for the cases in which these vowel marks retain their original sounds (a, i and u), and for those in which they are modified into è, e, i, o or a, do not exist, because the various dialects of the spoken Arabic differ from one another in these points; and besides, owing to the emphasis with which the consonants are uttered, the vowels are in general somewhat indistinctly pronounced.
Diacritical Points (and Vocalization)
A peculiar characteristic of the Arabic alphabet is the great number of diacritical points; they are employed either to distinguish certain consonants or to represent vowel-sounds. Their origin is uncertain; some scholars believe that the diacritical marks of the consonants may, at least in a few cases, go back to the Nabatean script, but there is no evidence for this theory. As to the system of the points and other marks used as vowels, it is commonly admitted that it has been borrowed from the Syriac script.
The earliest Arabic manuscripts extant are purely consonantal, they are also without marks for division of groups of words and for division of single words (breaking up at the end of a line and the beginning of the next; in later manuscripts such breaking of words was avoided). The consonants alif, tate and ya were used to represent the long a, u, and i. In the course of time, subsidiary and inadequate vowel-representation was introduced, consisting in diacritical marks. In some older manuscripts or fragments, little dashes are employed instead of dots. There are also some old Qur'an manuscripts, in which a very simple diacritical system is used; the vowels are expressed by dots, usually red, one above the consonant for the sounds a or e, one below, for i-y, and one in the middle, or on the line, for u-o.
On the other hand, owing to the degeneration of the cursive script, many letters became similar. In order to avoid ambiguities, it became necessary to distinguish some consonants by diacritical points, the ba, ta, and tha, the jim, and the two variations of kha, the dal and dhal, the ra and za, the sin and shin, the sad and dad, the ta and za, the 'ayin and ghain.
It is generally admitted that the diacritical points were introduced in Basra in the early eighth century A.D., and Arabic traditions attribute this innovation either to Yakhya bin Ya'mar or to Natsr bin 'Atsim.
Adaptation of the Arabic Character to Other Languages
The Arabic script, as already mentioned, has been adapted for many forms of speech, belonging to various linguistic families (Fig. 138); in Europe, particularly for Slavonic (in Bosnia) and for Spanish (aljamiah); in Africa, for Berber, Hausa, Swahili, Malagasy, etc.; and especially in Asia, for Persian, Turkish, Hindustani, Pushtu or Afghan, Malay; and for many other languages of the three continents of the Old World.
When the Arabic script was adapted to the requirements of other languages, sometimes letters changed their pronunciation for instance, the Arabic d is pronounced in Persian ass and the Arabic k as g in Turkish -and sometimes new letters were created by employing diacritical marks: in Turkish, g and ; in Persian, Pushtu and Urdu, p, ch, zh, and g
