Egyptian Self-Taught/The Alphabet
EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE (ARABIC),
PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION.
1.
THE ALPHABET.
The Arabic Alphabet is composed of the 28 following letters, all of which are written, like most Eastern Languages, from the right hand to the left. Each letter assumes a different form according to its position at the beginning, middle or end of the word.
The following characters are written:—
1. when totally unconnected with any other letter.
2. when at the end of a word, or joined only to the letter preceding.
3. when connected with the preceding and following letters.
4. when at the beginning of a word, or joined only to the letter following.
THE FORMS OF THE LETTERS.
| Name. | When unconnected with other characters. | When joined to other letters. | Pronunciation in Egypt. | ||
| Final, joined to preceding only. | Medial, joined to preceding and following. | Initial joined to following only. | |||
| Alif | ﺍ | ﺎ | — | — | a |
| Bey | ﺏ | ﺐ | ﺒ | ﺑ | b |
| Tey | ﺕ | ﺖ | ﺘ | ﺗ | t |
| They | ﺙ | ﺚ | ﺜ | ﺛ | t (Arabic th or s) |
| Gīm | ﺝ | ﺞ | ﺠ | ﺟ | g (Arabic j) |
| Hā | ﺡ | ﺢ | ﺤ | ﺣ | h |
| Khā | ﺥ | ﺦ | ﺨ | ﺧ | kh |
| Dāl | ﺩ | ﺪ | — | — | d |
| Zāl | ﺫ | ﺬ | — | — | z |
| Rey | ﺭ | ﺮ | — | — | r |
| Zeyn | ﺯ | ﺰ | — | — | z |
| Sīn | ﺱ | ﺲ | ﺴ | ﺳ | s |
| Shīn | ﺵ | ﺶ | ﺸ | ﺷ | sh |
| Sād | ﺹ | ﺺ | ﺼ | ﺻ | s |
| Dhād | ﺽ | ﺾ | ﻀ | ﺿ | d |
| Thā | ﻁ | ﻂ | ﻄ | ﻃ | t |
| Zhā (or Dhā) | ﻅ | ﻆ | ﻈ | ﻇ | z |
| 'Ain | ﻉ | ﻊ | ﻌ | ﻋ | aa |
| Ghāin | ﻍ | ﻎ | ﻐ | ﻏ | gh |
| Fey | ﻑ | ﻒ | ﻔ | ﻓ | f |
| Qāf | ﻕ | ﻖ | ﻘ | ﻗ | q (or g) |
| Kāf | ﮎ ﻙ | ﻚ | ﻜ ـڪـ | ﻛ ڪـ | k |
| Lām | ﻝ | ﻞ | ﻠ | ﻟ | l |
| Mīm | ﻡ | ﻢ | ﻤ | ﻣ | m |
| Nūn | ﻥ | ﻦ | ﻨ | ﻧ | n |
| Hey | ﻩ | ﻪ | ﻬ | ﻫ | h |
| Wāu | ﻭ | ﻮ | — | — | w, u. |
| Yey | ﻯ | ﻰ | ﻴ | ﻳ | y |
The forms ا د ذ ر ز and و are used as connecting letters.
From ل and ا Lam-Alif are formed لا or لا, in connection ﻼ.
From ﻧ (n) and ﺧ (kh) is formed the ligature ﳔ.
Many other ligatures are formed, especially in writing.
REMARKS ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ARABIC.
Where in English we have more than one pronunciation for a letter we are content to leave it so, but the Arabic alphabet contains a different letter for every sound in the language. Though Arabic has no p and v, it has two h sounds, two t, two s, two d, two z, and two k sounds, besides the ع and the غ sounds—which last are (as far as English is concerned) peculiar to Arabic. These two are often quoted as the chief difficulties in mastering the Arabic pronunciation; but though strange to our ears, they are soon mastered sufficiently for practical purposes. The real difficulties are more subtle, and very often not recognized until some mastery of the language has been obtained.
The ع, transcribed 'āin, is a sound which is linked with the vowel-sounds of a (long), ee (English), and u, but generally with the a, and can be distinguished from them, even by a not very precise ear. It can be attained by practice, and is a vowel-sound produced far back and down in the throat. Special throat-muscles must be developed to produce it, so that a European can never imitate the sound at the first attempt.
The غ (ghāin) is much more easily acquired, as it is a sound which is approached very nearly in many European tongues—in Northumbrian English, in the r 'grasseye' in French, and in the German r. It requires the muscles of the throat to be in the 'gargling' position whilst pronouncing r.
The خ (khā) represents nearly the sound of the Scotch ch, as in loch, and of ch in the German language. In Egyptian it is rendered harder by placing the muscles of the throat as in clearing it.
The ج (gīm) is, in Egypt, pronounced as a hard g, but the Arab population keep the correct soft g.
The ح (hā) is quite as difficult as the 'āin to master. It is the sound of h in ' hard,' emitted with great force, and is, as a rule, the last difficulty to he overcome, because the importance of the distinction is not at first recognized. This also is made at the back of the throat. In words like sabḥ, 'morning,' it gives an extra syllable, and when it occurs twice in a word (as saḥīḥ, 'true,') it presents a great difficulty.
The ق {qāf) is peculiar to Arabic, and is a throat k which seems to present some trouble even to Arabic-speaking people, because it is generally rendered by the sound of a hard g, and in Cairo is inaudible. Thus قوم qoom ('Get up!') would sound like 'oom in Cairo and goom in the provinces. The lapse of this q in Cairo adds considerably to the difficulty of grasping the words; therefore special attention is called to words in which q is transcribed. Daqīqah, 'a minute,' is pronounced da-ee-a[1]
The ث (th) does not call for much comment. Properly speaking it is like an s when lisped, and is to most Arabs, even in Arabia, as difficult to pronounce as it is to a German or French- man, and consequently is generally given the sound of s in official Arabic, but in colloquial Egyptian it has only the sound of t.
ص , ض , ط and ظ—The subtler distinctions made between the two kinds of s, d, t and z are not very important to a beginner, but as the student advances he will have to make the distinctions, especially when he comes to writing. It may be said that the difference consists in pronouncing the ص, ض, ط and ظ as s, d, t and z far back in the throat, ending the sound by the tongue approaching the palate instead of the front teeth.
To recapitulate, the alphabet is given as follows, in order, stating only the equivalent sounds with regard to the Egyptian language.
ا Alif, most frequently as a in father; sometimes more like the u in but.
ب Bey, like the English b.
ت Tey, like the English t.
ث They like the English t. (See p. 9.)
ج Gim (geem), like the English hard g. Among the Arabs it is called jeem, and pronounced soft, like g in germ.
ح Hā (See p. 8.)
خ Khā (See p. 8.)
د Dāl, like the English d.
د Zāl, like the English z.
رRey, like the English r (or rather rr) in terror.
ز Zeyn, like the English z.
س Sīn (seen), like the English s.
شShīn (sheen), like the English sft.
ص Sād, like the English s.
ض Dhād, like the English d. I
ض Thā, like the English t. (See Page 9,)
ظ Dhā, or Zhā, like the English z. )
ع 'Ain (See p. 8,—and p. 11 for transcription.)
غ Ghain
ف Fey, like the English f.
ق Qāf, like a hard g in the provinces, in Cairo inaudible.
ك Kāf, like the English K. (See p. 9.)
ل Lām, like the English l.
م Mīm (meem), like the English m.
ن Nūn (noon), like the English n.
ه Hey, like the English h. When it has two dots over it ة it becomes a t. In Egyptian, words properly ending in ة are pronounced as if it were ه.
و Wāu (wow), has the sound of to, or of oo as in soon, according to circumstances.
ى Yey, like the English y, and terminally has also the sound of ee in English.
The beginner will do well not to spend too much time in attempting to master the various forms of the letters (pp. G, 7) ; they will be learnt in a practical way by trying to read words, names of stations, streets, &c.
In order to render the pronunciation as given in these pages as concise and as clear as possible without attempting to distinguish the more delicate inflections of sound, which might serve only to confuse the reader—namely, the different kinds of s, d, t, and z,—the following transcription is given, and should he continually referred to by the learner until he is familiar with it.
| a short, | for the | sound of | u in but. |
| ā long, | ,, | ,, | a in father |
| e short, | ,, | ,, | e in met, |
| i short, | ,, | ,, | i in tit-bit. |
| ī long, | ,, | ,, | ee in meet, |
| o short, | ,, | ,, | o in work.[2] |
| ō long, for the sound of o in pole. | |||
| u short, | ,, | ,, | u in put. |
| u long, | ,, | ,, | oo in soon, |
| āi (or āy), | „ | „ | i in wine. |
| ey | ,, | ,, | ai in wain. |
| an | ,, | ,, | ow in cow. |
'a, 'e, 'i, 'o, 'u, for the different vowel-inflections of the غ 'aīn, as bit'a (' belonging to'), sab'īn ('seventy') , and 'amr
| kh | for the sound of ch in loch and German ich, but it is not nearly so soft, and is more raucous. |
| h | for hard h, as in subḥ (' morning'), saḥīḥ ('true'). |
| gh | ar|ghāin), as in Meghagha (station south of Cairo). |
A comma following a letter, as in rā,is ('head,' or ' foreman'), represents the hamza inflection, which is a sort of catch in the voice. The difference in the pronunciation is exemplified by the difference between a nice house and an ice house.
All other letters given will be pronounced as in English. In a few cases the acute accent has been inserted for the accented syllable, as katábna, 'we wrote.'
'Notes on the Tonic Accent.—The tonic accent or stress falls naturally on a syllable containing a vowel marked with along or an acute accent; e.g., tāra, ghorāb, marākbi, talámza, moskówi, alláh.
It is also indicated by the duplication of letters and by the occurrence of the hard ḥ; e.g., makhad'dah, arbag'gi, feluk'kah, eḥ'na, istah'kam.
The غ ('ain), except in the rare case of its being final, re- quiring more effort to pronounce, also indicates the accent ; e.g., bit'ai.
In many instances where the stress is not specially indicated, it falls quite naturally on the right syllable; e.g., heytah, tarabeyzah, dunanmah (hey'tah, tarabey'zah, dunan'mah).
In other cases, where no vowel in a word is accented, the syllables have equal stress laid on them ; e.g., ghada, nafas, ishrab, maksab, sanamat et yamal.
The final ah of nouns and adjectives, representing the aspirate g , must from its nature have less stress than the preceding syllable in two-syllable words: it has not been thought necessary, therefore, to accent such words as labwah, wardah.