{"id":13865,"date":"2017-03-15T22:45:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T22:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/?p=13865"},"modified":"2017-03-15T22:45:58","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T22:45:58","slug":"arabic-diacritics-important-but-neglected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/arabic-diacritics-important-but-neglected\/","title":{"rendered":"Arabic Diacritics: Important But Neglected"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_13866\" style=\"width: 546px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13866\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13866\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/diacriticized-words-BP1-e1489611779898.png\" alt=\"words with diacritical marks\" width=\"536\" height=\"523\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13866\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1: a diacriticized Arabic word representing 15 variants<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Generally, diacritics are marks that are added to letters and have pronunciation- and\/or meaning-related values as well as grammatical values. In Arabic, diacritical marks are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <em>fatHah<\/em> \u00a0<strong>\u064e<\/strong> , a semi-flat hyphen-like added on top of the letter,<\/li>\n<li>the <em>kasrah<\/em> <strong>\u0650<\/strong> , similar to <em>fatHah, <\/em>but put below the letter,<\/li>\n<li>the <em>Dhammah <\/em><strong>\u064f<\/strong>, a mark somewhat like the letter <em>wow<\/em> \u0648 in Arabic, placed on top of the letter,<\/li>\n<li>the <em>shaddah <\/em>\u0651, a mark like the letter <em>seen <\/em>\u0633\u0640 when it occurs word-initially, and<\/li>\n<li>the <em>sukoon <\/em><strong><em>\u0652<\/em><\/strong> , a mark similar to, and smaller in shape than, the letter \u2018o\u2019 in English, added on top of the letter (see figure 2).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first three marks represent the vowels system in Arabic. The three vowels \/a\/, \/i\/, and \/o\/ are represented by <em>fatHah, kasrah, <\/em>and <em>Dhammah<\/em>, respectively. Meanwhile, the <em>shaddah<\/em> represent a geminated letter, i.e. a sequence of two similar sounds. The <em>sukoon<\/em> indicates that the letter on which it is placed has no vowel<em>.<\/em> Thus, albeit simple, Arabic diacritics have significant values at the sound level, meaning level, and grammar level.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13878\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-2.png\" alt=\"a diacriticized letter\" width=\"1124\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-2.png 1124w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-2-350x152.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-2-768x333.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-2-1024x444.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">As for pronunciation, a letter within the Arabic word can have four different pronunciations. For example, if you take the letter\u0628 \u00a0\/b\/, it is pronounced as \/ba\/, with a <em>fatHah <\/em>\u0628\u064e , as \/bi\/, with a <em>kasrah <\/em>\u0628\u0650 , as \/bu\/, with a <em>Dhammah <\/em>\u0628\u064f, or as \/b\/, with a <em>sukoon <\/em>\u0628\u0652 . These changes in articulation significantly alter the meaning and the grammatical values of words. If you look at Figure 1 above, it is the same word but with 15 different variants, especially in pronunciation. To explain, let\u2019s look at the first five words. The first three words have a single meaning, i.e. <em>flag<\/em>, with three different grammatical values (this will be elaborated upon in another post). The second two words are typographically the same but grammatically different. That is, they are verbs, active and passive, respectively. Similar account applies to other words in the list. Thus, as a learner of Arabic, it is essential that you properly learn these marks from the beginning. Some may say that they are not used in Modern Standard Arabic. This is true; however, native speakers of Arabic know them intuitively from the context. As you learn more and more of the language they will become a common place and you will acquire the ability of guessing the meaning of the intended variant from the context.<\/p>\n<p>Now try reading these words paying attention to the pronunciation values diacritical marks:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13881\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3.png\" alt=\"diacritics and disambiguation\" width=\"796\" height=\"204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3.png 796w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3-350x90.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3-768x197.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Similar to the word in Figure 1, the word \u0633\u0645\u0639 \u00a0has 7 different variants. Using a dictionary of Arabic, try writing them down with full assignment of the diacritical marks.<\/p>\n<p>To sum up, in learning a new language, we first need to learn to articulate its sounds as intelligibly as possible (and letters for purpose of reading and writing) to be able to read words, phrases, sentences, and subsequently produce comprehensible speech in that language, speech through which our ideas are communicated effectively, i.e. without communication breakdown. In some languages, sounds to letters correspondence is pretty straightforward. However, this is not the case in Arabic when we consider diacritics. A letter in a word can have four or five different articulations depending upon the diacritical mark that goes with it. Therefore, it is essential that Arabic diacritical marks be learnt and comprehended well from the very inception of your learning.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"90\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3-350x90.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"diacritics and disambiguation\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3-350x90.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3-768x197.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/03\/Figure-3.png 796w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Generally, diacritics are marks that are added to letters and have pronunciation- and\/or meaning-related values as well as grammatical values. In Arabic, diacritical marks are: the fatHah \u00a0\u064e , a semi-flat hyphen-like added on top of the letter, the kasrah \u0650 , similar to fatHah, but put below the letter, the Dhammah \u064f, a mark&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/arabic-diacritics-important-but-neglected\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":13881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3525,11],"tags":[3531,49757,49762,462536,462535,462540,462537,462539,462538,49759,462541,462545,462546,462543,462542,462544],"class_list":["post-13865","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arabic-language","category-pronunciation","tag-arabic","tag-arabic-diacritics","tag-arabic-tashkeel","tag-dhammah","tag-fathah","tag-importance-of-diacritics","tag-kasrah","tag-shaddah","tag-sukoon","tag-tashkeel-marks","tag-462541","tag-462545","tag-462546","tag-462543","tag-462542","tag-462544"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13865"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13885,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13865\/revisions\/13885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}