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| Countries where the Arabic script is: |
| the sole official script |
| official alongside other scripts |
| official at a provincial level (China, India, Tanzania) or a recognized second script of the official language (Malaysia, Tajikistan) |
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world (after the Latin script),
The script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Quran, the holy book of Islam. With the religion's spread, it came to be used as the primary script for many language families, leading to the addition of new letters and other symbols. Such languages still using it are Arabic language, Persian language (Western Persian and Dari), Urdu, Uyghur language, Kurdish, Pashto, Punjabi language (Shahmukhi), Sindhi language, Azerbaijani (Torki in Iran), Malay language (Jawi alphabet), Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese and Indonesian (Pegon script), Balti language, Balochi language, Luri language, Kashmiri, Cham language (Akhar Srak),[ Cham romanization table background. Library of Congress] Rohingya, Somali language, Mandinka, and Mooré, among others.[Mahinnaz Mirdehghan. 2010. Persian, Urdu, and Pashto: A comparative orthographic analysis. Writing Systems Research Vol. 2, No. 1, 9–23.] Until the 16th century, it was also used for some Aljamiado texts, and—prior to the script reform in 1928—it was the writing system of Turkish language.
The script is written from right to left in a cursive style, in which most of the letters are written in slightly different forms according to whether they stand alone or are joined to a following or preceding letter. The script is unicase and does not have distinct letter case.
History
The Arabic alphabet is derived either from the Nabataean alphabet
or (less widely believed) directly from the
Syriac alphabet,
which are both derived from the
Aramaic alphabet, which, in turn, descended from the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenician script also gave rise to the
Greek alphabet (and, therefore, both the Cyrillic alphabet and the
Latin alphabet used in North and South America and most European countries).
Origins
In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, northern Arab tribes emigrated and founded a kingdom centred around
Petra,
Jordan. This people (now named
Nabataeans from the name of one of the tribes, Nabatu) spoke
Nabataean Arabic, a dialect of the
Arabic language. In the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE,
the first known records of the Nabataean alphabet were written in the
Aramaic (which was the language of communication and trade), but included some Arabic language features: the Nabataeans did not write the language which they spoke. They wrote in a form of the Aramaic alphabet, which continued to evolve; it separated into two forms: one intended for
(known as "monumental Nabataean") and the other, more cursive and hurriedly written and with joined letters, for writing on
papyrus.
This cursive form influenced the monumental form more and more and gradually changed into the Arabic alphabet.
Overview
| the Arabic alphabet |
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| أ | آ | إ | ئ | ؠ | ء | ࢬ |
| alif hamza↑ | alif madda | alif hamza↓ | yā’ hamza↑ | kashmiri yā’ | hamza | rohingya yā’ |
| ى | ٱ | ی | ە | ً | ٌ | ٍ |
| alif maksura | alif wasla | farsi yā’ | ae | fathatan | dammatan | kasratan |
| َ | ُ | ِ | ّ | ْ | ٓ | ۤ |
| fatha | damma | kasra | shadda | sukun | maddah | madda |
| ں | ٹ | ٺ | ٻ | پ | ٿ | ڃ |
| nūn ghunna | ttā’ | ttāhā’ | bāā’ | pā’ | tāhā’ | nyā’ |
| ڄ | چ | ڇ | ڈ | ڌ | ڍ | ڎ |
| dyā’ | tchā’ | tchahā’ | ddāl | dāhāl | ddāhāl | duul |
| ڑ | ژ | ڤ | ڦ | ک | ڭ | گ |
| rrā’ | jā’ | vā’ | pāḥā’ | kāḥā’ | ng | gāf |
| ڳ | ڻ | ھ | ہ | ة | ۃ | ۅ |
| gueh | rnūn | hā’ doachashmee | hā’ goal | tā’ marbuta | tā’ marbuta goal | kirghiz oe |
| ۆ | ۇ | ۈ | ۉ | ۋ | ې | ے |
| oe | u | yu | kirghiz yu | ve | e | yā’ barree |
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The Arabic script has been adapted for use in a wide variety of languages aside from Arabic, including Persian language, Malay language and Urdu language, which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent that do not appear in Arabic phonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks a voiceless bilabial plosive (the sound), therefore many languages add their own letter to represent in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups: Indian and Turkic languages written in the Arabic script tend to use the Persian alphabet, whereas the languages of Indonesia tend to imitate those of Jawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Persian alphabet by scholars.
When the Arabic script is used to write Serbo-Croatian, Sorani, Kashmiri, Mandarin Chinese, or Uyghur language, vowels are mandatory. The Arabic script can, therefore, be used as a true alphabet as well as an abjad, although it is often strongly, if erroneously, connected to the latter due to it being originally used only for Arabic.
Use of the Arabic script in languages, especially in the Sahel, developed with the spread of Islam. To a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb (for instance the position of the dots in the letters and Qoph).[Brustad, K. (2000). The syntax of spoken Arabic: A comparative study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti dialects. Georgetown University Press.] Additional have come into use to facilitate the writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language. The term Ajami script, which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign", has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages.
Table of writing styles
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|
| Naskh | Arabic alphabet,
Pashto alphabet,
& others | Arabic,
Pashto,
Sindhi language,
& others | Every region where Arabic scripts are used | | Sometimes refers to a very specific calligraphic style, but sometimes used to refer more broadly to almost every font that is not Kufic or Nastaliq. |
| Nastaliq | Urdu alphabet,
Shahmukhi,
Persian alphabet,
& others | Urdu,
Punjabi language,
Persian language,
Kashmiri
& others | Southern and Western Asia | Taliq | Used for almost all modern Urdu and Punjabi text, but only occasionally used for Persian. (The term "Nastaliq" is sometimes used by Urdu-speakers to refer to all Perso-Arabic scripts.) |
| Taliq | Persian alphabet | Persian language | | | A predecessor of Nastaliq. |
| Kufic | Arabic alphabet | Arabic | Middle East and parts of North Africa | | |
| Rasm | Restricted Arabic alphabet | Mainly historical | | Omits all diacritics including i'jam. Digital replication usually requires some special characters. See: (links to Wiktionary). |
|
Table of alphabets
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Alphabet
! Letters
! Additional
Characters
! Script or Style
! Languages
! Region
! Derived from:
(or related to)
! Note
|-
|
Arabic alphabet
| 28
|
| Naskh,
Kufic,
Rasm, & others
|
Arabic
| North Africa, West Asia
| Phoenician,
Aramaic alphabet, Nabataean
| style="text-align:left;width:400em;" |
|-
|
Ajami script
| 33
|
| Naskh
|
Hausa language,
Yoruba language,
Swahili language
| West Africa, East Africa
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | Abjad | documented use likely between the 15th to 18th century for Hausa, Mande, Pulaar, Swahili, Wolof, and Yoruba Languages
|-
|
Aljamiado
| 28
|
| Maghrebi, Andalusi variant;
Kufic
|
Old Spanish,
Andalusi Romance,
Judaeo-Spanish, Aragonese, Valencian, Old Galician-Portuguese
| Southwest Europe
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | 8th–13th centuries for Andalusi Romance, 14th–16th centuries for the other languages
|-
|
Arebica
| 30
|
ۆ]]
| Naskh
|
Serbo-Croatian
| Southeastern Europe
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | Latest stage has full vowel marking
|-
|
Arwi alphabet
| 41
|
| Naskh
|
Tamil language
| Southern India, Sri Lanka
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
| Belarusian Arabic alphabet
| 32
|
ࢯ]]
| Naskh
| Belarusian
| Eastern Europe
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | 15th / 16th century
|-
| Balochi Standard Alphabet(s)
| 29
|
ے]]
| Naskh and
Nastaliq
|
Balochi language
| South-West Asia
|
Perso-Arabic, also borrows multiple glyphs from
Urdu alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | This standardization is based on the previous orthography. For more information, see Balochi writing.
|-
| Berber Arabic alphabet(s)
| 33
|
ء]]
|
| Various
Berber languages
| North Africa
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
| Burushaski
| 53
|
(see note)
|
Nastaliq
|
Burushaski
| South-West Asia (Pakistan)
|
Urdu alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | Also uses the additional letters shown for Urdu. Sometimes written with just the Urdu alphabet, or with the
Latin alphabet.
|-
| Chagatai alphabet
| 32
|
ݣ]]
|
Nastaliq and Naskh
| Chagatai
| Central Asia
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | ݣ is interchangeable with نگ and ڭ.
|-
| Dobrujan Tatar
| 32
|
|Naskh
| Dobrujan Tatar
| Southeastern Europe
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
|
Galal alphabet
| 32
|
| Naskh
|
Somali language
| Horn of Africa
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
|
Jawi alphabet
| 36
|
| Naskh
|
Malay language
| Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and part of Borneo
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | Since 1303 AD (Trengganu Stone)
|-
| Kashmiri
| 44
|
|
Nastaliq
| Kashmiri
| South Asia
|
Urdu alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | This orthography is fully voweled. 3 out of the 4 (ۆ, ۄ, ێ) additional glyphs are actually vowels. Not all vowels are listed here since they are not separate letters. For further information, see Kashmiri writing.
|-
| Kazakh Arabic alphabet
| 35
|
ي]]
| Naskh
|
Kazakh language
| Central Asia, China
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China
|-
|
Khowar alphabet
| 45
|
|
Nastaliq
|
Khowar language
| South Asia
|
Urdu alphabet, however, borrows multiple glyphs from
Pashto alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
| Kyrgyz Arabic alphabet
| 33
|
ي]]
| Naskh
|
Kyrgyz language
| Central Asia
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" | In use since 11th century, reformed in the early 20th century, now official only in China
|-
|
Pashto alphabet
| 45
|
ئ]]
| Naskh and occasionally,
Nastaliq
|
Pashto
| South-West Asia,
Afghanistan and
Pakistan
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | ګ is interchangeable with گ. Also, the glyphs ی and ې are often replaced with ے in Pakistan.
|-
|
Pegon script
| 35
|
| Naskh
| Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese
| South-East Asia (Indonesia)
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
|
Persian alphabet
| 32
|
گ]]
| Naskh and
Nastaliq
|
Persian language (Farsi)
| West Asia (Iran etc. )
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | Also known as
Perso-Arabic.
|-
| Shahmukhi
| 41
|
|
Nastaliq
|
Punjabi language
| South Asia (
Pakistan)
|
Persian alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
|
Saraiki alphabet
| 45
|
|
Nastaliq
|
Saraiki language
| South Asia (Pakistan)
|
Urdu alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
|
Sindhi alphabet
| 52
| style="" |
ڊ]]
| Naskh
|
Sindhi language
| South Asia (Pakistan)
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
|
Sorabe alphabet
| 28
|
| Naskh
| Malagasy
| Madagascar
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
| Soranî
| 33
|
ێ]]
| Naskh
| Kurdish languages
| Middle-East
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet
|-
|
Swahili Ajami
| 28
|
| Naskh
|
Swahili language
| Western and Southern Africa
|
Arabic alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
| İske imlâ
| 35
|
ۋ]]
| Naskh
|
Tatar language
| Volga region
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" | Used prior to 1920.
|-
| Ottoman Turkish
| 32
|
ﭖ ﭺ ﮊ ﮒ ﯓ ئە
|
| Ottoman Turkish
|
Ottoman Empire
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" | Official until 1928
|-
|
Urdu alphabet
| 39+
(see notes)
| style="" |
(see notes)
|
Nastaliq
|
Urdu
| South Asia
|
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" | 58 letters including digraphs representing aspirated consonants.
گھ]]
|-
| Uyghur
| 32
|
ئى]]
| Naskh
|
Uyghur language
| China, Central Asia
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" | Reform of older Arabic-script Uyghur orthography that was used prior to the 1950s. Vowels are mandatory, i.e. alphabet
|-
|
Wolofal alphabet
| 33
|
| Naskh
|
Wolof language
| West Africa
|
Arabic alphabet, however, borrows at least one glyph from
Perso-Arabic
| style="text-align:left;" |
|-
| Xiao'erjing
| 36
|
| Naskh
| Sinitic languages
| China, Central Asia
| Chagatai
| style="text-align:left;" | Used to write Chinese languages by Muslims living in China such as the Hui people.
|-
| Yaña imlâ
| 29
|
ھ]]
| Naskh
|
Tatar language
| Volga region
| İske imlâ alphabet
| style="text-align:left;" | 1920–1927 replaced with Cyrillic
|-
|
Arabic alphabet
| 29
|
