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►II.9. LONG VOWELS ȗ & ȋ VS. SEMIVOWELS w & y
The letters wȃw و and yȃʔ ي are ambiguous, because they can denote either the long vowels ȗ and ȋ or the semivowel consonants w and y, respectively.
The use of the vowel diacritics eliminates this ambiguity, as can be seen from the following examples:
| Transliteration | Syllable |
| baw | بَوْ |
| buwu | بُوُ |
| buw = bȗ | بُوْ |
| bay | بَيْ |
| biyi | بِيِ |
| biy = bȋ | بِيْ |
From the above examples it can be seen that the letters wȃw و and yȃʔ ي denote the long vowels ȗ and ȋ when two conditions are met:
- Being not followed by a vowel (in Arabic terminology, being “still” سَاْكِنٌ )
- Being preceded by the corresponding short vowel
The short vowel u corresponds to wȃw و , and i corresponds to yȃʔ ي .
uw = ȗ
iy = ȋ
Following are examples of Arabic words with diacritics. My suggestion is to try to read the Arabic words on your own before you look at the Latin transliteration.
| Word | Transliteration | Meaning |
| بَيْتٌ | baytuṋ | house |
| لَوْنٌ | lawnuṋ | color |
| خِيَمٌ | xiyamuṋ | tents |
| دُوَلٌ | duwaluṋ | states (countries) |
| رِيْحٌ | riyħuṋ = rȋħuṋ | wind |
| رُوْحٌ | ruwħuṋ = rȗħuṋ | spirit, soul |
| كَبِيْرٌ | kabiyruṋ = kabȋruṋ | big |
| خُيُوْلٌ | xuyuwluṋ = xuyȗluṋ | horses |
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