Click to view table of contents
►II.2. THE ALPHABET
With the dots, the Arabic letters are 28. Originally these letters all stood for consonants.
In the table below:
- The first column to the left shows the Arabic letters in their separate or independent forms. There are no upper and lower cases for Arabic letters.
- The second column shows the Arabic names for the letters. These names have no etymologies in Arabic. They are just corruptions of the original Aramaic names.
- The third column shows the symbols that I am going to be using to transliterate Arabic words. These symbols are mostly the same as the equivalent symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
- The fourth column shows the sounds of the letters in Modern Standard Arabic. Those are not officially defined but represent common pronunciations.
Note: you can hear audio samples of most of the Arabic consonant sounds on this Wikipedia page.
| Letter | Name | Transliteration | MSA sound (IPA) | |
| أ | ʔalifuṋ | أَلِفٌ | ʔ | ʔ
glottal stop |
| ا | ʔ⋅ | |||
| ب | bȃʔuṋ | باءٌ | b | b
voiced bilabial stop |
| ت | tȃʔuṋ | تاءٌ | t | t
voiceless dental stop |
| ة | ⋅t | |||
| ث | θȃʔuṋ | ثاءٌ | θ | θ
voiceless interdental fricative |
| ج | ǵȋmuṋ | جِيْمٌ | ǵ | d͡ʒ
voiced post-alveolar affricate |
| ح | ħȃʔuṋ | حاءٌ | ħ | ħ
voiceless pharyngeal fricative |
| خ | xȃʔuṋ | خاءٌ | x | x
voiceless velar fricative |
| د | dȃluṋ | دالٌ | d | d
voiced dental stop |
| ذ | ðȃluṋ | ذالٌ | ð | ð
voiced interdental fricative |
| ر | rȃʔuṋ | راءٌ | r | r
voiced alveolar trill |
| ز | zȃyuṋ | زايٌ | z | z
voiced alveolar fricative |
| س | sȋnuṋ | سِيْنٌ | s | s
voiceless alveolar sibilant |
| ش | šȋnuṋ | شِيْنٌ | š | ʃ
voiceless post-alveolar sibilant |
| ص | ṣȃduṋ | صادٌ | ṣ | sˁ
pharyngealized voiceless alveolar sibilant |
| ض | ḍȃduṋ | ضادٌ | ḍ | dˁ
pharyngealized voiced dental stop |
| ط | ṭȃʔuṋ | طاءٌ | ṭ | tˁ
pharyngealized voiceless dental stop |
| ظ | ð̣ȃʔuṋ | ظاءٌ | ð̣ | ðˁ
pharyngealized voiced interdental fricative |
| ع | ʕaynuṋ | عَيْنٌ | ʕ | ʕ
voiced pharyngeal fricative |
| غ | ɣaynuṋ | غَيْنٌ | ɣ | ɣ
voiced velar fricative |
| ف | fȃʔuṋ | فاءٌ | f | f
voiceless labiodental fricative |
| ق | qȃfuṋ | قافٌ | q | q
voiced uvular stop |
| ك | kȃfuṋ | كافٌ | k | k
voiceless velar stop |
| ل | lȃmuṋ | لامٌ | l | l
voiced alveolar lateral approximant |
| م | mȋmuṋ | مِيْمٌ | m | m
voiced bilabial nasal |
| ن | nȗnuṋ | نُوْنٌ | n | n
voiced dental nasal |
| ه | hȃʔuṋ | هاءٌ | h | h
voiceless laryngeal fricative |
| و | wȃwuṋ | واوٌ | w | w
voiced labio-velar approximant |
| ي | yȃʔuṋ | ياءٌ | y | j
voiced palatal approximant |
| ى | ⋅y | |||
Note
The letter أ may also be written ئ , ؤ or ء depending on its position in the word and the vowels surrounding it. Since the distribution of these different written forms is governed by automatic rules, there is no need to transliterate them with different symbols. All of them will be transliterated ʔ.
The order of the Arabic letters in the above table is modern. Formerly, the letters had an order similar to other Canaanite-derived alphabets:
أ ب ج د هـ و ز ح ط ي ك ل م ن س ع ف ص ق ر ش ت
ث خ ذ ض ظ غ
►II.2.A. DOT TERMINOLOGY
In Classical Arabic literature the adjective muʕǵamuṋ مُعْجَمٌ describes the dotted letters غ ظ ض ش ز ذ خ . The adjective muhmaluṋ مُهْمَلٌ describes their dotless counterparts ع ط ص س ر د ح . The adjective muwaħħaduṋ مُوَحَّدٌ describes the letter ب , muθannaṋ min fawqiṋ مُثَنًّىْ مِنْ فَوْقٍ describes the letter ت , muθannaṋ min taħtiṋ مُثَنًّىْ مِنْ تَحْتٍ describes the letter ي , and muθallaθuṋ مُثَلَّثٌ describes the letter ث .
الراصد العربي 