Harakat
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"Fatha" redirects here. For the jazz pianist, see Earl Hines.
| Arabic alphabet | ||||||
| ﺍ || ﺏ || ﺕ || ﺙ || ﺝ || ﺡ || ﺥ | ||||||
| ﺩ || ﺫ || ﺭ || ﺯ || ﺱ || ﺵ || ﺹ | ||||||
| ﺽ || ﻁ || ﻅ || ﻉ || ﻍ || ﻑ || ﻕ | ||||||
| ﻙ || ﻝ || ﻡ || ﻥ || هـ || ﻭ || ﻱ | ||||||
| History · Transliteration Diacritics · hamza ء Numerals · Numeration |
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In the Arabic script, ḥarakāt (حركات, literally meaning movements; the singular is ḥaraka حركة) are the diacritic marks used to represent vowel sounds. The most concrete meaning of harakat is "movements", e.g. in the context of moving air waves that we produce while pronouncing vowels. In the same way, the Hebrew word tnuá is used - meaning both "movement" and "vowel".
The Arabic script is an abjad rather than an alphabet, and the vowels are often left out; the vowel sounds associated by default with each letter (each of which can function as a consonant, or as a consonant plus that default vowel) are the principal means of representing the vowels when letters are combined to represent words.
[edit] List of harakat
- The fatḥa is a small accent-shaped diacritic. When placed above a letter, it represents a short [a] sound. The word fatḥa itself (فتحة) means opening, and refers to the opening of the mouth when producing the [a] vowel. Example with dāl (henceforth, the base consonant in the following examples): دَ [da].
- When followed by the letter ا (alif), the fatḥa indicates a long [aː] vowel. Example: دَا [dā].
- The same symbol appearing below a letter is called a kasra. It designates a short [ɪ] vowel as in the English word "big". Example: دِ [di].
- In a fashion similar to the fatḥa followed by the alif, the kasra indicates a long [iː] vowel (as in the English word "bead") when followed by the letter ﻱ (yāʼ). Example: دِي [dī].
- The damma is a small curl-like diacritic. It is placed above a letter to represent a short [ʊ] vowel, as that in English word "sugar". Example: دُ [du].
- And the damma may also designate a long [u:] vowel (as in the English word "soon"), when followed by the letter و (wāw). Example: دُو [dū].
- The tanwin ـً ـٍ ـٌ include nunation.
- The sukūn is a circle-shaped diacritic placed above a letter. It indicates that the consonant to which it is attached is not followed by a vowel; this is a necessary symbol for writing CVCC word patterns, which are very common in Arabic. Example: دْ [d].
- The shadda is a diacritic shaped like a small written English "w". It is used to indicate gemination (consonant doubling), which is phonemic in Arabic. It is written above the consonant which is to be doubled. Example: دّ [dd].
- The letter ﻱ (yāʼ) (with the dotted-kasra below) when appearing at the end of a word indicates a long vowel /iː/.
- The hamza diacritic, which indicates a glottal stop, must accompany an alif when appearing in a syllable that "begins"* with a vowel. (*Technically speaking, such a syllable doesn't begin with a vowel, since, in Semitic languages, a glottal onset of a syllable which may otherwise seem to begin with a vowel, is itself considered a consonant. Minor glottal onset is indicated by the letter alef [Arabic: ا, IPA: /ʔ/] and major by ayin [Arabic: ع, IPA: /ʕ/].) In Arabic, however, the letter ayin does not require a hamza to indicate that it begins a syllable, since it is never used to designate a long [aː] vowel, unlike alif. Thus, a hamza accompanying an alif is used merely to indicate that the latter does not serve to lengthen an [a] vowel but rather to begin the syllable. The alif's corresponding haraka is combined with a hamza, both of which are placed above the letter (in the case of fatḥa and damma) or below it (in the case of kasra). Example of hamza for fatḥa with alif: أَ. Example of hamza for kasra with alif: إِ.
- Unlike Hebrew, wherein the syllables beginning with a non-deep glottal stop always begin with an alef (regardless of the following vowel), in Arabic, the type of following vowel determines what letter is to be used for the designation of the aforementioned non-deep glottal stop. If the syllable occurs at the beginning of the word, the stop is always indicated by alif. But if the syllable occurs in the middle of the word, alif is used only if the following vowel is [a]. If [i(ː)] follows the glottal stop, a yāʼ with a hamza is used (the two dots which are usually beneath the yāʼ disappear in this case - ئ). If [u(ː)] follows the glottal stop, a wāw with a hamza is used. Consider the following words: أَخ ([ʡax], brother), ِإِسْرَائِيل ([ʡisrāỷīl], Israel), أُمْ ([ʡumm], mother). All three of above words "begin" with a vowel opening the syllable, and in ease case, alif is used to designate the initial glottal stop (the actual beginning). But if we consider middle syllables "beginning" with a vowel: نَشْأت ([našảt], origin), ِإِسْرَائِيل ([ʡisrāỷīl], Israel - notice the [ỷīl] syllable), ِرَؤُوف ([raw̉ūf], lenient), the situation is different, as noted above. In Hebrew there's no such complexity - all syllables beginning with non-deep glottal stop start with alef, without regard to the position in the word or the type of following vowel: אַח ([ʔaḥ], brother), מֳאוֹר ([măʔōr], luminary), רֱאֵם ([rĕʔēm], oryx). See the comprehensive article on hamza for more information.
- The madda is a tilde-like diacritic. On an alif it indicates a long [aː] following a non-deep glottal stop (see above). It replaces the combination of alif with hamza followed by a silent alif that lengthens the [a] vowel to become long [aː]. Alif is never doubled, unlike ya or waw. Thus, we cannot write such a combination as: *أَا. It must always be written with an alif madda. Example: ﺁ.
- In some African languages such as Hausa, a large dot below a letter represents the vowel /e/.
[edit] See also
- Arabic alphabet
- I`rab
- The Hebrew equivalent Niqqud
