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Arabic diacritics
Arabic diacritics
Arabic diacritics
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Early written Arabic used only rasm (in black). Later, i‘jām (in red) were added so that letters such as ṣād (ص) and ḍād (ض) could be distinguished. Ḥarakāt (in blue)—which is used in the Qur'an but not in most written Arabic—indicate short vowels, long consonants, and some other vocalizations.
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 ه و ي
Arabic script

The Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include consonant pointing known as iʻjām (إِعْجَام, IPA: [ʔiʕdʒæːm]), and supplementary diacritics known as tashkīl (تَشْكِيل, IPA: [t̪æʃkiːl]). The latter include the vowel marks termed ḥarakāt (حَرَكَات, IPA: [ħæɾækæːt̪]; sg. حَرَكَة, ḥarakah, IPA: [ħæɾækæ]).

The Arabic script is a modified abjad, where all letters are consonants, leaving it up to the reader to fill in the vowel sounds. Short consonants and long vowels are represented by letters, but short vowels and consonant length are not generally indicated in writing. Tashkīl is optional to represent missing vowels and consonant length. Modern Arabic is always written with the i‘jām—consonant pointing—but only religious texts, children's books and works for learners are written with the full tashkīl—vowel guides and consonant length. It is, however, not uncommon for authors to add diacritics to a word or letter when the grammatical case or the meaning is deemed otherwise ambiguous. In addition, classical works and historical documents rendered to the general public are often rendered with the full tashkīl, to compensate for the gap in understanding resulting from stylistic changes over the centuries.

Moreover, tashkīl can change the meaning of the entire word, for example, the words: (دِين), meaning (religion), and (دَين), meaning (debt). Even though they have the same letters, their meanings are different because of the tashkīl. In sentences without tashkīl, readers understand the meaning of the word by simply using context.

Tashkīl

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The literal meaning of تَشْكِيل tashkīl is 'formation'. As the normal Arabic text does not provide enough information about the correct pronunciation, the main purpose of tashkīl (and ḥarakāt) is to provide a phonetic guide or a phonetic aid; i.e. show the correct pronunciation for children who are learning to read or foreign learners.

The bulk of Arabic script is written without ḥarakāt (or short vowels). However, they are commonly used in texts that demand strict adherence to exact pronunciation. This is true, primarily, of the Qur'an ⟨ٱلْقُرْآن⟩ (al-Qurʾān) and poetry. It is also quite common to add ḥarakāt to hadiths ⟨ٱلْحَدِيث⟩ (al-ḥadīth; plural: al-ḥādīth) and the Bible. Another use is in children's literature. Moreover, ḥarakāt are used in ordinary texts in individual words when an ambiguity of pronunciation cannot easily be resolved from context alone. Arabic dictionaries with vowel marks provide information about the correct pronunciation to both native and foreign Arabic speakers. In art and calligraphy, ḥarakāt might be used simply because their writing is considered aesthetically pleasing.

An example of a fully vocalised (vowelised or vowelled) Arabic from the Bismillah:

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
bismi l-lāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm
In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Especially-Merciful.

Some Arabic textbooks for foreigners now use ḥarakāt as a phonetic guide to make learning reading Arabic easier. The other method used in textbooks is phonetic romanisation of unvocalised texts. Fully vocalised Arabic texts (i.e. Arabic texts with ḥarakāt/diacritics) are sought after by learners of Arabic. Some online bilingual dictionaries also provide ḥarakāt as a phonetic guide similarly to English dictionaries providing transcription.

Ḥarakāt (short vowel marks)

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The ḥarakāt حَرَكَات, which literally means 'motions', are the short vowel marks. There is some ambiguity as to which tashkīl are also ḥarakāt; the tanwīn, for example, are markers for both vowels and consonants.

Fatḥah

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ـَ

The fatḥah ⟨فَتْحَة⟩ is a small diagonal line placed above a letter, and represents a short /a/ (like the /a/ sound in the English word "cat"). The word fatḥah itself (فَتْحَة) means opening and refers to the opening of the mouth when producing an /a/. For example, with dāl (henceforth, the base consonant in the following examples): ⟨دَ⟩ /da/.

When a fatḥah is placed before a plain letter ⟨ا⟩ (alif) (i.e. one having no hamza or vowel of its own), it represents a long /aː/ (close to the sound of "a" in the English word "dad", with an open front vowel /æː/, not back /ɑː/ as in "father"). For example: ⟨دَا⟩ /daː/. The fatḥah is not usually written in such cases. When a fathah is placed before the letter ⟨ﻱ⟩ (yā’), it creates an /aj/ (as in "lie"); and when placed before the letter ⟨و⟩ (wāw), it creates an /aw/ (as in "cow").

Although paired with a plain letter creates an open front vowel (/a/), often realized as near-open (/æ/), the standard also allows for variations, especially under certain surrounding conditions. Usually, in order to have the more central (/ä/) or back (/ɑ/) pronunciation, the word features a nearby back consonant, such as the emphatics, as well as qāf, or rā’. A similar "back" quality is undergone by other vowels as well in the presence of such consonants, however not as drastically realized as in the case of fatḥah.[1][2][3]

Fatḥahs are encoded U+0618 ؘ ARABIC SMALL FATHA, U+064E َ ARABIC FATHA, U+FE76 ﹶ ARABIC FATHA ISOLATED FORM, or U+FE77 ﹷ ARABIC FATHA MEDIAL FORM.

Kasrah

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ـِ

A similar diagonal line below a letter is called a kasrah ⟨كَسْرَة⟩ and designates a short /i/ (as in "me", "be") and its allophones [i, ɪ, e, e̞, ɛ] (as in "Tim", "sit"). For example: ⟨دِ⟩ /di/.[4]

When a kasrah is placed before a plain letter ⟨ﻱ⟩ (yā’), it represents a long /iː/ (as in the English word "steed"). For example: ⟨دِي⟩ /diː/. The kasrah is usually not written in such cases, but if yā’ is pronounced as a diphthong /aj/, fatḥah should be written on the preceding letter to avoid mispronunciation. The word kasrah means 'breaking'.[1]

Kasrahs are encoded U+061A ؚ ARABIC SMALL KASRA, U+0650 ِ ARABIC KASRA, U+FE7A ﹺ ARABIC KASRA ISOLATED FORM, or U+FE7B ﹻ ARABIC KASRA MEDIAL FORM.

Ḍammah

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ـُ

The ḍammah ⟨ضَمَّة⟩ is a small curl-like diacritic placed above a letter to represent a short /u/ (as in "duke", shorter "you") and its allophones [u, ʊ, o, o̞, ɔ] (as in "put", or "bull"). For example: ⟨دُ⟩ /du/.[4]

When a ḍammah is placed before a plain letter ⟨و⟩ (wāw), it represents a long /uː/ (like the 'oo' sound in the English word "swoop"). For example: ⟨دُو⟩ /duː/. The ḍammah is usually not written in such cases, but if wāw is pronounced as a diphthong /aw/, fatḥah should be written on the preceding consonant to avoid mispronunciation.[1]

The word ḍammah (ضَمَّة) in this context means rounding, since it is the only rounded vowel in the vowel inventory of Arabic and because its sound is made by rounding the lips in an O shape.

Ḍammahs are encoded U+0619 ؙ ARABIC SMALL DAMMA, U+064F ُ ARABIC DAMMA, U+FE78 ﹸ ARABIC DAMMA ISOLATED FORM, or U+FE79 ﹹ ARABIC DAMMA MEDIAL FORM.

Alif Khanjarīyah

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ــٰ

The dagger alif ⟨أَلِف خَنْجَرِيَّة⟩ (alif khanjarīyah), is written as short vertical stroke on top of a letter. It indicates a long /aː/ sound for which alif is normally not written. For example: ⟨هَٰذَا⟩ (hādhā) or ⟨رَحْمَٰن⟩ (raḥmān).

The dagger alif occurs in only a few words, but they include some common ones; it is seldom written, however, even in fully vocalised texts. Most keyboards do not have dagger alif. The word Allah ⟨الله⟩ (Allāh)(God) is usually produced automatically by entering alif lām lām hāʾ. The word consists of alif + ligature of doubled lām with a shaddah and a dagger alif above lām, followed by ha'.

Maddah

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Not to be confused with Tilde.
ـٓ
آ

The maddah ⟨مَدَّة⟩ is a tilde-shaped diacritic, which can only appear on top of an alif (آ) and indicates a glottal stop /ʔ/ followed by a long /aː/.

In theory, the same sequence /ʔaː/ could also be represented by two alifs, as in *⟨أَا⟩, where a hamza above the first alif represents the /ʔ/ while the second alif represents the /aː/. However, consecutive alifs are never used in the Arabic orthography. Instead, this sequence must always be written as a single alif with a maddah above it, the combination known as an alif maddah. For example: ⟨قُرْآن⟩ /qurˈʔaːn/.

In Quranic writings, a maddah is placed on any other letter to denote the name of the letter, though some letters may take on a dagger alif. For example: ⟨لٓمٓصٓ⟩ (lām-mīm-ṣād) or ⟨يـٰسٓ⟩ (yāʼ-sīn)

Alif waṣlah

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Main article: Wasla (diacritic)
ٱ

The waṣlah ⟨وَصْلَة⟩, alif waṣlah ⟨أَلِف وَصْلَة⟩ or hamzat waṣl ⟨هَمْزَة وَصْل⟩ looks like the head of a small ṣād on top of an alif ⟨ٱ⟩ (also indicated by an alif ⟨ا⟩ without a hamzah). It means that the alif is not pronounced when its word does not begin a sentence. For example: ⟨بِٱسْمِ⟩ (bismi), but ⟨ٱمْشُوا۟⟩ (imshū not mshū). This is because in Arabic, the first consonant in a word must always be followed by a vowel sound: If the second letter from the waṣlah has a kasrah, the alif-waslah makes the sound /i/. However, when the second letter from it has a dammah, it makes the sound /u/.

It occurs only in the beginning of words, but it can occur after prepositions and the definite article. It is commonly found in imperative verbs, the perfective aspect of verb stems VII to X and their verbal nouns (maṣdar). The alif of the definite article is considered a waṣlah.

It occurs in phrases and sentences (connected speech, not isolated/dictionary forms):

  • To replace the elided hamza whose alif-seat has assimilated to the previous vowel. For example: فِي ٱلْيَمَن or في اليمن (fi l-Yaman) 'in Yemen'.
  • In hamza-initial imperative forms following a vowel, especially following the conjunction ⟨و⟩ (wa-) 'and'. For example: َقُمْ وَٱشْرَبِ ٱلْمَاءَ (qum wa-shrab-i l-mā’) 'rise and then drink the water'.

Like the superscript alif, it is not written in fully vocalized scripts, except for sacred texts, like the Quran and Arabized Bible.

Sukūn

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ـْـ

The sukūn ⟨سُكُونْ⟩ is a circle-shaped diacritic placed above a letter ( ْ). It indicates that the letter to which it is attached is not followed by a vowel, i.e., zero-vowel.

It is a necessary symbol for writing consonant-vowel-consonant syllables, which are very common in Arabic. For example: ⟨دَدْ⟩ (dad).

The sukūn may also be used to help represent a diphthong. A fatḥah followed by the letter ⟨ﻱ⟩ (yā’) with a sukūn over it (ـَيْ) indicates the diphthong ay (IPA /aj/). A fatḥah, followed by the letter ⟨ﻭ⟩ (wāw) with a sukūn, (ـَوْ) indicates /aw/.

Sukūns are encoded U+0652 ْ ARABIC SUKUN, U+FE7E ﹾ ARABIC SUKUN ISOLATED FORM, or U+FE7F ﹿ ARABIC SUKUN MEDIAL FORM.

ـۡـ‎

The sukūn may have also an alternative form of the small high head of ḥāʾ (U+06E1 ۡ ARABIC SMALL HIGH DOTLESS HEAD OF KHAH), particularly in some Qurans. Other shapes may exist as well (for example, like a small comma above ⟨ʼ⟩ or like a circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩ in nastaʿlīq).[5]

Tanwīn

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Main article: Nunation
ـٌ
ـٍ
ـً

The three vowel diacritics may be doubled at the end of a word to indicate that the vowel is followed by the consonant n. They may or may not be considered ḥarakāt and are known as tanwīn ⟨تَنْوِين⟩, or nunation. The signs indicate, from left to right, -an, -in, -un.

These endings are used as non-pausal grammatical indefinite case endings in Literary Arabic or classical Arabic (triptotes only). In a vocalised text, they may be written even if they are not pronounced (see pausa). See i‘rāb for more details. In many spoken Arabic dialects, the endings are absent. Many Arabic textbooks introduce standard Arabic without these endings. The grammatical endings may not be written in some vocalized Arabic texts, as knowledge of i‘rāb varies from country to country, and there is a trend towards simplifying Arabic grammar.

The sign ⟨ـً⟩ is most commonly written in combination with alif ⟨ـًا⟩, tā’ marbūṭah ⟨ةً⟩, alif hamzah ⟨أً⟩, or stand-alone hamzah ⟨ءً⟩. Alif should always be written (except for words ending in tā’ marbūṭah, hamzah or diptotes) even if an is not. Grammatical cases and tanwīn endings in indefinite triptote forms:

Shaddah

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Main article: Shaddah
ـّـ

The shadda or shaddah ⟨شَدَّة⟩ (shaddah), or tashdid ⟨تَشْدِيد⟩ (tashdīd), is a diacritic shaped like a small written Latin "w".

It is used to indicate gemination (consonant doubling or extra length), which is phonemic in Arabic. It is written above the consonant which is to be doubled. It is the only ḥarakah that is commonly used in ordinary spelling to avoid ambiguity. For example: ⟨دّ⟩ /dd/; madrasah ⟨مَدْرَسَة⟩ ('school') vs. mudarrisah ⟨مُدَرِّسَة⟩ ('teacher', female). Note that when the doubled letter bears a vowel, it is the shaddah that the vowel is attached to, not the letter itself: ⟨دَّ⟩ /dda/, ⟨دِّ⟩ /ddi/.

Shaddahs are encoded U+0651 ّ ARABIC SHADDA, U+FE7C ﹼ ARABIC SHADDA ISOLATED FORM, or U+FE7D ﹽ ARABIC SHADDA MEDIAL FORM.

I‘jām

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7th-century kufic script without any ḥarakāt or i‘jām.

The i‘jām (إِعْجَام; sometimes also called nuqaṭ)[6] are the diacritic points that distinguish various consonants that have the same form (rasm), such as ⟨ص⟩ /sˤ/, ⟨ض⟩ /dˤ/. Typically i‘jām are not considered diacritics but part of the letter.

Early manuscripts of the Quran did not use diacritics either for vowels or to distinguish the different values of the rasm. Vowel pointing was introduced first, as a red dot placed above, below, or beside the rasm, and later consonant pointing was introduced, as thin, short black single or multiple dashes placed above or below the rasm. These i‘jām became black dots about the same time as the ḥarakāt became small black letters or strokes.

Typically, Egyptians do not use dots under final yā’ (ي), which looks exactly like alif maqsurah (ى) in handwriting and in print. This practice is also used in copies of the muṣḥaf (Qurʾān) scribed by ‘Uthman Ṭāhā. The same unification of yā and alif maqṣūrā has happened in Persian, resulting in what the Unicode Standard calls "Arabic Letter Farsi Yeh", that looks exactly the same as yā in initial and medial forms, but exactly the same as alif maqṣūrah in final and isolated forms.

Isolated kāf with ‘alāmātu-l-ihmāl and without top stroke next to initial kāf with top stroke.
سۡ سۜ سۣ سٚ ڛ

At the time when the i‘jām was optional, unpointed letters were ambiguous. To clarify that a letter would lack i‘jām in pointed text, the letter could be marked with a small v- or seagull-shaped diacritic above, also a superscript semicircle (crescent), a subscript dot (except in the case of ⟨ح⟩; three dots were used with ⟨س⟩), or a subscript miniature of the letter itself. A superscript stroke known as jarrah, resembling a long fatḥah, was used for a contracted (assimilated) sīn. Thus ⟨ڛ سۣ سۡ سٚ⟩ were all used to indicate that the letter in question was truly ⟨س⟩ and not ⟨ش⟩.[7] These signs, collectively known as ‘alāmātu-l-ihmāl, are still occasionally used in modern Arabic calligraphy, either for their original purpose (i.e. marking letters without i‘jām), or often as purely decorative space-fillers. The small ک above the kāf in its final and isolated forms ⟨ك  ـك⟩ was originally an ‘alāmatu-l-ihmāl that became a permanent part of the letter. Previously this sign could also appear above the medial form of kāf, when that letter was written without the stroke on its ascender. When kāf was written without that stroke, it could be mistaken for lām, thus kāf was distinguished with a superscript kāf or a small superscript hamza (nabrah), and lām with a superscript l-a-m (lām-alif-mīm).[8]

Hamza

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Main article: Hamza
ئ  ؤ  إ  أ ء

Although not always considered a letter of the alphabet, the hamza هَمْزة (hamzah, glottal stop), often stands as a separate letter in writing, is written in unpointed texts and is not considered a tashkīl. It may appear as a letter by itself or as a diacritic over or under an alif, wāw, or yā.

Which letter is to be used to support the hamzah depends on the quality of the adjacent vowels and its location in the word;

  • If the glottal stop occurs at the beginning of the word:
    • Indicated by hamza on an alif: above if the following vowel is /a/ or /u/ and below if it is /i/.
      • In order to clarify a starting /a/ or /u/, a respective fatḥah or ḍammah can be used
  • If the glottal stop occurs in the middle of the word the following prioritization of writing qualities are used:
    • First: if hamza is it is preceded or followed by /i/, hamza sits on a tooth; ex: <عَائِلَة>
    • Second: if hamza is preceded or followed by /u/, hamza sits on wāw, <ؤ>
    • Third: else hamza sits on alif, <أ>
  • If the glottal stop occurs at the end of the word (ignoring any grammatical suffixes),
    • First: if hamza follows a short vowel it is written above alif, wāw, or yā the same as for a medial case;
    • Second: if it follows a long vowel, diphthong or consonant, hamza is written on the line <ء>
  • Exception: Two alifs in succession are never allowed: /ʔaː/ is written with alif maddah ⟨آ⟩ and /aːʔ/ is written with a free hamzah on the line ⟨اء⟩.

Consider the following words: ⟨أَخ⟩ /ʔax/ ("brother"), ⟨إسْماعِيل⟩ /ʔismaːʕiːl/ ("Ismael"), ⟨أُمّ⟩ /ʔumm/ ("mother"). All three of above words "begin" with a vowel opening the syllable, and in each case, alif is used to designate the initial glottal stop (the actual beginning). But if we consider middle syllables "beginning" with a vowel: ⟨نَشْأة⟩ /naʃʔa/ ("origin"), ⟨أَفْئِدة⟩ /ʔafʔida/ ("hearts"—notice the /ʔi/ syllable; singular ⟨فُؤاد⟩ /fuʔaːd/), ⟨رُؤُوس⟩ /ruʔuːs/ ("heads", singular ⟨رَأْس⟩ /raʔs/), the situation is different, as noted above. See the comprehensive article on hamzah for more details.

Diacritics not used in Modern Standard Arabic

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Diacritics not used in Modern Standard Arabic but in other languages that use the Arabic script, and sometimes to write Arabic dialects, include (the list is not exhaustive):

Description Unicode Example Language(s) Notes
Bars and lines
diagonal bar above گ Arabic (Iraq), Balti, Burushaski,
Kashmiri, Kazakh,
Khowar, Kurdish,
Kyrgyz, Persian,
Sindhi, Urdu,
Uyghur
  • Diagonal bar above kaf to create gaf: گ (IPA g)
  • When writing Arabic, often used in Iraq to represent the sound /ɡ/. Often used in Iraq to represent the /g/ sound to write foreign words in Arabic script, while in Morocco the variant ݣ is seen.[9]
horizontal bar above ◌ٙ‎ Pashto
vertical line above ئۈ Uyghur
  • the letter ئۈ (IPA /y/) contains a vertical line above the vav
Dots
2 dots (vertical) ݭ‎ ݙ‎ Uyghur
4 dots ڐ‎ ٿ ڐ ڙ Sindhi, Shina, Khariboli
dot below U+065C ٜ ARABIC VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW ٜ   بٜ African languages[10]
  • also used in Quranic text in African and other orthographies[10]
Variants of standard Arabic diacritics
wavy hamza ٲ اٟ Kashmiri
  • The Kashmiri language written in Arabic script includes the diacritic or "wavy hamza".
  • In Kashmiri the diacritic is called āmālü mad when used above alif: ٲ to create the vowel /əː/.[11]
  • Kashmiri calls the wavy hamza sāȳ when below the alif: اٟ to create the sound /ɨː/.[12]
curly dammah above ◌ࣥ‎ Rohingya
  • Latin "ou"
Rohingya
  • Latin "oñ"
double dammah above ◌ࣱ‎ Rohingya
  • Latin "uñ"
inverted and regular curly dammahs above ◌ࣨ‎ Rohingya
  • Latin "ouñ"
Tildes
diagonal tilde shape above ◌ࣤ‎ Rohingya
  • Latin "o"
diagonal tilde shape below ◌ࣦ‎ Rohingya
  • Latin "e"
Arabic letters
miniature Arabic letter hah (initial form) ﺣ above ◌ۡ‎ Rohingya
  • Sukun (zero-vowel)
miniature Arabic letter tah ط above ݲ‎ Urdu
Eastern Arabic numerals[13]
Eastern Arabic numeral 2: ٢ above U+0775, U+0778, U+077A ݵ‎ ݸ‎ ݺ‎ Burushaski
  • Present in the Burushaski letters ݸ‎ and ݺ‎
Eastern Arabic numeral 3: ٣ above U+0776, U+0779, U+077B ݶ‎ ݹ‎ ݻ‎ Burushaski
  • Present in the Burushaski letters ݶ‎, ݹ‎ and ݻ‎
Urdu number 4: ۴ above or below U+0777, U+077C, U+077D ݷ‎ ݼ‎ ݽ‎ Burushaski
  • Present in the Burushaski letters ݼ‎ and ݽ‎
Other shapes
Nūn ġuṇnā, "u" shape above ن٘ Urdu
  • Vowel nasalization is represented by nun ghunna, which in medial form is written as nun with the diacritic maghnoona (also called ulta jazm, Unicode U+0658) above: ن٘.
"v" shape above ۆ ێ ئۆ Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Kurdish, Kazakh, Uyghur، Bosnian (Arebica)
  • used on top of waw: ۆ to represent "o" /oː/ in Kurdish, and "ü" /y/ in Azerbaijani and Turkmen
  • used on top of ye: ێ represents "ê" /eː/ in Kurdish.
  • used on top of waw: ۆ to represent "v" /v/ in Kazakh.
  • In Uyghur it used as part of the letter digraph ئۆ to represent "ö" /ø/.
inverted "v" shape above یٛ Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Bosnian (Arebica)
  • in Azerbaijani, used only on top of ye: یٛ (rarely used) is equivalent to Latin ı, Cyrillic ы, IPA /ɯ/
  • in Turkmen, used only on top of ye: یٛ is equivalent to Latin y, Cyrillic ы, IPA /ɯ/
dotted fatha ◌ࣵ‎ Wolof Latin à
circle with fatha ◌ࣴ‎‎ Wolof Latin ë
less than sign - below ◌ࣹ‎‎ Wolof Latin e
greater than sign - below ◌ࣺ‎‎ Wolof Latin é
less than sign - above ◌ࣷ‎‎ Wolof Latin o
greater than sign - above ◌ࣸ‎‎ Wolof Latin ó
ring ګ Pashto
  • kaf with ring (ګ) is used for IPA /ɡ/
Other shapes
"fish" shape above دࣤ࣬  دࣥ࣬  دࣦ࣯ Rohingya Ṭāna, e.g. دࣤ࣬ / دࣥ࣬ / دࣦ࣯‎ written above or below other diacritics to mark a long rising tone (/˨˦/).[14][15]
Various Urdu
  • Special diacritics usually found only in dictionaries for clarification of irregular pronunciation include kasrah-e-majhool, fathah-e-majhool, dammah-e-majhool, and alif-e-wavi.[16]

Rohingya tone markers

[edit]

Historically Arabic script has been adopted and used by many tonal languages, examples include Xiao'erjing for Mandarin Chinese as well as Ajami script adopted for writing various languages of Western Africa. However, the Arabic script never had an inherent way of representing tones until it was adapted for the Rohingya language. The Rohingya Fonna are 3 tone markers which are part of the standardized and accepted orthographic convention of Rohingya. It remains the only known instance of tone markers within the Arabic script.[14][15]

Tone markers act as "modifiers" of vowel diacritics. In simpler words, they are "diacritics for the diacritics". They are written "outside" of the word, meaning that they are written above the vowel diacritic if the diacritic is written above the word, and they are written below the diacritic if the diacritic is written below the word. They are only ever written where there are vowel diacritics. This is important to note, as without the diacritic present, there is no way to distinguish between tone markers and I‘jām i.e. dots that are used for purpose of phonetic distinctions of consonants.

Hārbāy

◌࣪ / ◌࣭

The Hārbāy as it is called in Rohingya, is a single dot that is placed on top of Fatḥah and Ḍammah, or curly Fatḥah and curly Ḍammah (vowel diacritics unique to Rohinghya), or their respective Fatḥatan and Ḍammatan versions, and it is placed underneath Kasrah or curly Kasrah, or their respective Kasratan version. (e.g. دً࣪ / دٌ࣪ / دࣨ࣪ / دٍ࣭‎) This tone marker indicates a short high tone (/˥/).[14][15]

Ṭelā

◌࣫ / ◌࣮

The Ṭelā as it is called in Rohingya, is two dots that are placed on top of Fatḥah and Ḍammah, or curly Fatḥah and curly Ḍammah, or their respective Fatḥatan and Ḍammatan versions, and it is placed underneath Kasrah or curly Kasrah, or their respective Kasratan version. (e.g. دَ࣫ / دُ࣫ / دِ࣮‎) This tone marker indicates a long falling tone (/˥˩/).[14][15]

Ṭāna

◌࣬ / ◌࣯

The Ṭāna as it is called in Rohingya, is a fish-like looping line that is placed on top of Fatḥah and Ḍammah, or curly Fatḥah and curly Ḍammah, or their respective Fatḥatan and Ḍammatan versions, and it is placed underneath Kasrah or curly Kasrah, or their respective Kasratan version. (e.g. دࣤ࣬ / دࣥ࣬ / دࣦ࣯‎) This tone marker indicates a long rising tone (/˨˦/).[14][15]

History

[edit]
Evolution of early Arabic calligraphy (7th–11th century). The basmala was taken as an example, from Kufic Qur'an manuscripts. (1) Early 7th century, script with no dots or diacritic marks (see image of early Basmala Kufic); (2) and (3) 7th–10th century under Abbasid dynasty, Abu al-Aswad's system established red dots with each arrangement or position indicating a different short vowel; later, a second black-dot system was used to differentiate between letters like fā’ and qāf; (4) 11th century, in al-Farāhídi's system (system we know today) dots were changed into shapes resembling the letters to transcribe the corresponding long vowels.

According to tradition, the first to commission a system of ḥarakāt was Ali who appointed Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali for the task. Abu al-Aswad devised a system of dots to signal the three short vowels (along with their respective allophones) of Arabic. This system of dots predates the i‘jām, dots used to distinguish between different consonants.

  • Early Basmala Kufic
    Early Basmala Kufic
  • Middle Kufic
    Middle Kufic
  • Modern Kufic in Qur'an
    Modern Kufic in Qur'an

Abu al-Aswad's system

[edit]

Abu al-Aswad's system of Harakat was different from the system we know today. The system used red dots with each arrangement or position indicating a different short vowel.

A dot above a letter indicated the vowel a, a dot below indicated the vowel i, a dot on the side of a letter stood for the vowel u, and two dots stood for the tanwīn.

However, the early manuscripts of the Qur'an did not use the vowel signs for every letter requiring them, but only for letters where they were necessary for a correct reading.

Al Farahidi's system

[edit]

The precursor to the system we know today is Al Farahidi's system. al-Farāhīdī found that the task of writing using two different colours was tedious and impractical. Another complication was that the i‘jām had been introduced by then, which, while they were short strokes rather than the round dots seen today, meant that without a color distinction the two could become confused.

Accordingly, he replaced the ḥarakāt with small superscript letters: small alif, yā’, and wāw for the short vowels corresponding to the long vowels written with those letters, a small s(h)īn for shaddah (geminate), a small khā’ for khafīf (short consonant; no longer used). His system is essentially the one we know today.[17]

Automatic diacritization

[edit]

The process of automatically restoring diacritical marks is called diacritization or diacritic restoration. It is useful to avoid ambiguity in applications such as Arabic machine translation, text-to-speech, and information retrieval. Automatic diacritization algorithms have been developed.[18][19] For Modern Standard Arabic, the state-of-the-art algorithm has a word error rate (WER) of 4.79%. The most common mistakes are proper nouns and case endings.[20] Similar algorithms exist for other varieties of Arabic.[21]

See also

[edit]
  • Arabic alphabet:
    • I‘rāb (إِعْرَاب), the case system of Arabic
    • Rasm (رَسْم), the basic system of Arabic consonants
    • Tajwīd (تَجْوِيد), the phonetic rules of recitation of Qur'an in Arabic
  • Hebrew:
    • Hebrew diacritics, the Hebrew equivalent
    • Niqqud, the Hebrew equivalent of ḥarakāt
    • Dagesh, the Hebrew diacritic similar to Arabic i‘jām and shaddah

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Arabic diacritics

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from Grokipedia
Arabic diacritics encompass a system of marks integrated into the to modify letter pronunciation, distinguish consonants, and denote short s, ensuring clarity in reading and writing. These include iʿjām, which uses dots to differentiate consonants sharing the same basic form (such as bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ, and nūn), and tashkīl, which comprises supplementary signs like fatḥah (short /a/), ḍammah (short /u/), kasrah (short /i/), (gemination), and sukūn (absence of ). Together, they address the script's inherent ambiguities, as the Arabic alphabet primarily represents consonants and long s, leaving short s unmarked in standard . The development of these diacritics traces back to the early Islamic era, evolving from pre-Islamic influences like Nabatean and Syriac scripts, with significant advancements in the first century AH (7th–8th century CE) driven by the need for precise Quranic amid linguistic variations. Initially, colored dots served to mark vowels and guide reading, later standardized into the current black diacritical system to resolve interpretive disputes in religious texts. This innovation not only preserved the of the but also facilitated the script's adaptation for diverse dialects and grammatical structures. In contemporary Arabic, iʿjām is obligatory for legibility, while tashkīl remains optional and varies by context, appearing densely in (0.5–0.85 marks per letter), more variably in (mean around 0.26 marks per letter), but sparingly in prose (around 0.02 marks per letter). Their use enhances disambiguation of homographs, supports endings (iʿrāb), and aids non-native learners, though digital typography poses challenges in rendering due to the script's , right-to-left nature and contextual variations. Overall, Arabic diacritics balance aesthetic harmony, phonetic accuracy, and practical utility across religious, educational, and literary domains.

Core Diacritics in Standard Arabic

Short Vowel Marks (Ḥarakāt)

The ḥarakāt, meaning "motions" in Arabic, refer to the three primary diacritical marks used to denote short s in the . These marks—fatḥah, kasrah, and ḍammah—were developed to clarify in a originally consonantal, allowing readers to vocalize words accurately without . They are placed above or below and are essential for distinguishing meanings that differ only in vowel sounds, such as كَتَبَ (kataba, "he wrote") versus كُتِبَ (kutiba, "it was written"). The fatḥah consists of a short horizontal or diagonal line placed above a letter, representing the short vowel /a/ (similar to the "a" in "cat"). For example, when applied to the consonant ب (bāʾ), it forms بَ, pronounced as /ba/. The kasrah is a similar short line positioned below the letter, indicating the short vowel /i/ (as in "sit"), as seen in بِ (/bi/). The ḍammah appears as a small, curved mark resembling a comma or w-shape above the letter, denoting the short vowel /u/ (like "put"), for instance بُ (/bu/). These marks can combine with other diacritics but primarily function to assign vowel sounds to skeletal consonants. In practice, ḥarakāt are optional in most modern Arabic writing, where texts are often presented in unvocalized "skeletal" form relying on reader familiarity for interpretation; however, they are mandatory in vowel-intensive contexts like Quranic recitation (tajwīd) to preserve precise intonation and meaning. Full vocalization aids beginners, religious scholars, and non-native speakers but is omitted in newspapers, books, and to save space and reflect natural reading fluency. A rare variant, the alif khanjariyyah (dagger alif, written as a superscript vertical stroke), occasionally marks a long /ā/ on alif in specific positions, such as where a full alif is omitted (e.g., رَحْمَٰن raḥmān, "the Merciful"), distinguishing it from silent or other vowel uses. These diacritics were introduced in the 8th century CE by the linguist al-Khalil ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī (d. 791) in Basra, building on earlier efforts to systematize Arabic phonology and prevent mispronunciations amid dialectal variations, particularly for preserving the Quran's oral tradition. Al-Farāhīdī's innovations standardized vowel representation, influencing Arabic grammar and literacy across the Islamic world.

Gemination, Silence, and Indefinite Endings (Shaddah, Sukūn, and Tanwīn)

The shaddah (شدّة), sukūn (سُكُون), and tanwīn (تَنْوِين) are essential diacritics in the Arabic script that modify consonant pronunciation and indicate grammatical indefinite endings, playing a key role in clarifying meaning in the predominantly consonantal orthography. These marks, collectively part of the tashkīl system, address ambiguities arising from the omission of short vowels in everyday writing by specifying gemination, silence, and nunation, thereby ensuring precise phonological and morphological interpretation. The shaddah, also known as tashdīd (تَشْدِيد), is a W-shaped mark placed above a consonant to indicate gemination or doubling, where the consonant is pronounced with emphasis as if it were two identical letters—the first vowelless and the second carrying a short vowel (ḥaraka). Etymologically derived from the Arabic root sh-d-d meaning "to strengthen" or "intensify," it reflects the phonetic reinforcement it provides. For instance, in the word حَمَّة (ḥammah, "hot spring"), the shaddah on the mīm doubles the sound to /ḥam.mah/, distinguishing it from حَمَة (ḥamah, "safety") without doubling, thus preventing semantic ambiguity in heterophonic homographs. Shaddah can combine with short vowel marks, such as ḍammah in دُوَّل (duwwal, "countries"), yielding /d uw.wal/ with a geminated wāw, enhancing clarity in morphological patterns like verb forms or plurals. The sukūn is a small circle-shaped (ْ) positioned above a to denote or the absence of a following short , creating a closed and requiring a brief pause or emphasis on the itself. Its name, from the root s-k-n meaning "to be still" or "rest," underscores this vowelless quiescence, which is never used at the start of a word but appears in clusters, such as in كَتَبَ (kataba, "he wrote") where the sukūn on the tāʾ marks /kataba/ with /t/ unvoweled between vowels. This mark is crucial for disambiguating readings in unvocalized text; for example, رِجْل (rijl, "foot") with sukūn on the lām clarifies the /rijl/ versus potential misreadings like /rījala/ without it, aiding in resolving structural ambiguities in verb roots or nouns. Sukūn often pairs with in geminated forms, as the doubled 's first instance is inherently vowelless. Tanwīn refers to the doubling of short vowel marks at the end of a noun or adjective to indicate indefiniteness, pronounced with an added nasal "n" sound (nunation), marking the accusative (-an, ً), nominative (-un, ٌ), or genitive (-in, ٍ) cases. Derived from the root n-w-n meaning "to add a nūn," it functions morphologically to denote "a" or "an" equivalents, as in كِتَابٌ (kitābun, "a book") with ḍammatān for /kitābun/, contrasting with the definite الْكِتَابُ (al-kitābu). This diacritic prevents grammatical ambiguity; for example, in context-dependent phrases, tanwīn on فَتْحَةٍ (fatḥatin, "an opening" genitive) distinguishes it from definite forms, supporting accurate parsing in sentences where case endings alter meaning. Tanwīn builds on basic ḥarakāt but adds the nasal element, and it can interact with shaddah in indefinite geminated nouns like رَجُلٌّ (rajulun, "a man" with doubled lām).

Elongation and Assimilation (Maddah and Alif Waṣlah)

The maddah (مَدَّة) is a tilde-shaped diacritic placed above the letter alif (ا) to indicate a glottal stop (/ʔ/) followed by a long vowel /ā/, typically representing the sequence hamzah + fathah + alif in a more compact form. This mark, often resembling a small "w," serves an orthographic function by distinguishing long /ā/ after hamzah from shorter vowels, as seen in words like قُرْآن (qurʾān, meaning "Qur'an"), where it replaces what would otherwise be two consecutive alifs. Placement is strictly limited to positions following an initial hamzah with fathah, ensuring the elongation applies only in contexts where the glottal stop precedes the long vowel. In Quranic recitation (tajwīd), the maddah signals a natural prolongation (madd ṭabīʿī) of the for two harakat (beats), enhancing rhythmic flow and phonetic clarity without additional emphasis. This elongation contributes to the melodic quality of oral performance, where the /ā/ is extended smoothly after the hamzah, as in سَمَاء (samāʾ, ""). A variant, the dagger alif (أَلِف خَنْجَرِيَّة), appears as a small vertical above a (e.g., ى or a superscript alif) to denote a hidden long /ā/ without an explicit alif, commonly used in final positions for orthographic economy, such as in مَدْرَسَى (madrasā, "" in some dialects or poetic forms). The alif waṣlah (أَلِف وَصْلَة), also known as hamzat al-waṣl (هَمْزَة الْوَصْل), is represented by a bare alif without a hamzah or by a small ṣād-like mark above it (ٱ), indicating an elidable initial alif for vowel assimilation in connected speech. Unlike the full alif, which carries an inherent vowel sound, the alif waṣlah is silent when the word follows another in a sentence, allowing the preceding word's vowel to carry over seamlessly, as in the definite article اَلْ (al-, "the"), pronounced /al/ in isolation but assimilating to /l-/ before sun letters (e.g., اَلشَّمْس /ash-shams/, "the sun"). It appears at word beginnings in specific grammatical categories, including particles like وَ (wa-, "and") and فَ (fa-, "then"), imperatives (e.g., اُكْتُبْ /uktub/, "write!"), and verb forms VII–X, facilitating phonetic continuity by eliding the glottal stop. Pronunciation rules for alif waṣlah emphasize its role in assimilation: it is articulated with a short vowel (typically fathah or kasrah) only at the start of an utterance or after a pause, but dropped otherwise to avoid hiatus, promoting fluid speech. In tajwīd, this elision ensures proper linking (waṣl) during Quranic reading, preventing abrupt stops and aligning with rules for smooth transitions, as in conjunctions like وَالْفَجْر (wa-l-fajr, "and the dawn"). Distinction from the full alif is crucial, as the latter retains a pronounced /ā/ independently, while waṣlah prioritizes connective flow. Rare applications occur in proper names (e.g., اِبْن [ibn, "son of"] in genealogies) and classical poetry, where it aids metrical assimilation without altering core meaning.

Consonant-Distinguishing Marks

I‘jām (Dotting System)

I‘jām refers to the system of diacritical dots added to the consonantal skeleton, or rasm, of Arabic letters to differentiate consonants that share identical unpointed shapes. The Arabic script employs 28 consonants but only 17 basic rasm forms, with i‘jām distinguishing letters through one to three dots placed above, below, or within the base shape. These include groups such as the bāʾ-nūn-tāʾ-thāʾ set (ب ن ت ث), where ب (bāʾ) has a single dot below, ن (nūn) one dot above, ت (tāʾ) two dots above, and ث (thāʾ) three dots above the undotted bāʾ rasm; the jīm-ḥāʾ-khāʾ group (ج ح خ), with ج (jīm) marked by one dot above the undotted ḥāʾ rasm and خ (khāʾ) by one dot below; the dāl-dhāl-zāy group (د ذ ز), with د (dāl) undotted, ذ (dhāl) one dot above, and ز (zāy) one dot below the undotted dāl rasm; the sīn-shīn group (س ش), with س (sīn) undotted and ش (shīn) three dots above the undotted sīn rasm; the ṣād-ḍād group (ص ض), with ص (ṣād) undotted and ض (ḍād) one dot above (often positioned in the curve) the undotted ṣād rasm; the ṭāʾ-ẓāʾ group (ط ظ), with ط (ṭāʾ) undotted and ظ (ẓāʾ) one dot below the undotted ṭāʾ rasm; and the ʿayn-ghayn group (ع غ), with ع (ʿayn) undotted and غ (ghayn) one dot above the undotted ʿayn rasm. Letters like ف (fāʾ, one dot above its unique rasm), ق (qāf, one dot below its unique rasm), and ي (yāʾ, two dots below its unique rasm) also use i‘jām but do not share rasm with others in these sets. The i‘jām system developed during the 7th and 8th centuries CE to address ambiguities in early Arabic scripts, particularly the angular Kufic style used for the Qurʾān, where undotted rasm often led to misreadings of homographic consonants. Initially sporadic in 1st-century AH (7th-century CE) Ḥijāzī manuscripts and papyri, dotting emerged as a practical solution by the end of the 1st Muslim century, with systematic application attributed to scholars like Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar (d. 129/746 CE), who is credited with first dotting Qurʾānic texts using slanted strokes or colored points. By the 2nd century AH (8th century CE), i‘jām became more widespread, influenced by Nabataean and Syriac traditions, to ensure accurate recitation and transmission of religious texts amid expanding Arabic literacy. Placement rules for i‘jām dots follow phonetic and visual conventions, with positions standardized as above for letters like ج (jīm) and ن (nūn), below for ب (bāʾ) and ف (fāʾ), or both for ث (thāʾ) and ش (shīn), ensuring clarity without altering the rasm's baseline. When interacting with the shaddah (gemination mark), dots are typically integrated within or adjacent to the shaddah's curved form to prevent overlap, as seen in forms like تشَدَّد (tashaddad), where the tāʾ's two dots fit inside the shaddah. This system highlights distinctions in minimal pairs, such as جَمَل (jamal, "camel") versus حَمَل (ḥamal, "load"), where the single dot above separates jīm from undotted ḥāʾ, or بَيْت (bayt, "house") versus تَيْت (tayt, a rare form or dialectical variant), and بَرْد (bard, "cold") versus تَرْد (tard, "he followed"). Early manuscripts exhibit variations, including inconsistent dotting, use of colored dots (red for certain distinctions until the 12th century CE), or substitute strokes in regional styles like Maghrebi, where dots might appear as clusters. Standardization occurred during the Abbasid era (8th–10th centuries CE), particularly in the cursive naskh script, through efforts by figures like al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad (d. 175/791 CE) and Ibn Muqlah (d. 328/940 CE), unifying placement and reducing ambiguities for broader scribal use.

Ḥamzah (Glottal Stop Representation)

The ḥamzah (ء) is a diacritic in the Arabic script that represents the glottal stop phoneme /ʔ/, a consonant sound produced by a momentary closure of the vocal cords, akin to the catch in the English "uh-oh." In Classical Arabic, it functions as a full letter, distinct from vowels, and is essential for accurate pronunciation and meaning differentiation, such as in أَكْلَ (ʾakala, "he ate"), where the initial glottal stop is crucial. The ḥamzah can appear standalone or seated on carrier letters—primarily alif (ا), wāw (و), or yāʾ (ي)—chosen based on the surrounding vowels to facilitate smooth articulation and orthographic flow. Orthographic rules for writing ḥamzah, codified in classical grammars, vary by position in the word. Initially, it is always seated on alif: above for ḍammah or fatḥah (e.g., أَكْلَىٰ ʾakala, he ate) and below for kasrah (e.g., إِبْرَاهِيمُ ʾIbrāhīmu). Medially, the seat depends on the preceding short vowel and the following letter's strength: it favors the carrier matching the dominant vowel (e.g., on yāʾ after kasrah, as in يَئِسَ yaʾisa, he despaired) or alif for stability, following principles outlined by in Al-Kitāb, where ḥamzah is treated as a semi-vowel with assimilation rules to avoid clustering. Finally, it may stand alone after a long vowel or sukūn (e.g., جَاءَ jāʾa, he came) or seat on yāʾ if preceded by kasrah (e.g., بِئْرٌ biʾrun, well); assimilation occurs when two ḥamzahs meet, merging into one (e.g., ʾisʾ becomes ʾis), per Sibawayh's phonological analysis emphasizing euphony. Special forms include the maddah (آ), a ḥamzah on alif with a small wāw-like mark above for /ʔāː/ (e.g., آيَةٌ ʾāyah, sign), and alif waṣlah (ا without ḥamzah or with a small waṣl mark ٱ), indicating elided initial ḥamzah in . In pronunciation, ḥamzah follows tajwīd rules in Quranic recitation, where the "cutting" ḥamzah (ḥamzah qaṭʿ) is always articulated fully, while the "joining" type (ḥamzah waṣl) elides after consonants for fluidity (e.g., not pronounced in ibn when following a word). Dialectal variations alter this: in , the is frequently dropped or weakened to a glide, shifting /ʔ/ to /h/ or null (e.g., ʾana becomes ana, I), contrasting with Gulf dialects that retain it more robustly. Common orthographic errors include incorrect seating, such as placing final ḥamzah on wāw instead of standalone after ḍammah, or confusing it with iʿjām dots on carriers like yāʾ, leading to misreadings; classical guidelines from stress to prevent such issues. In digital representation, ḥamzah uses Unicode codepoints like U+0621 (ء, standalone letter) or combining marks such as U+0654 (ٔ, hamzah above), but rendering poses challenges due to and stacking with other diacritics (ḥarakāt), requiring algorithms to position it correctly above or below carriers without overlap, as specified in Unicode's Arabic Mark Rendering guidelines. Modern fonts often normalize forms (e.g., precomposed أ U+0623), yet inconsistencies arise in editors, where decomposed sequences may misalign in non-supporting systems.

Diacritics in Extended and Historical Contexts

Usage in Non-Arabic Languages and Scripts

Arabic diacritics have been adapted in various non-Arabic languages that employ modified versions of the , often to represent phonemes absent in standard . In Persian, for instance, additional dots are added to base Arabic letters to create new consonants: the letter پ (pē) derives from ب (bāʾ) with three dots below, چ (chē) from ج (jīm) with three dots above, and ژ (žē) from ز (zāy) or ر (rāʾ) with three dots above. Similarly, incorporated these Persian modifications while retaining core diacritics like fatḥah, kasrah, and ḍammah for vowel indication, though full vocalization was rare outside religious or pedagogical texts. , drawing from both and Persian traditions, employs the same extra-dotted letters (e.g., پ for /p/, چ for /tʃ/, ژ for /ʒ/) and uses diacritics such as zabar (fatḥah, short /a/), zer (kasrah, short /e/), and pesh (ḍammah, short /o/ or /u/) to mark short vowels, though these are often omitted in everyday writing. In the Hanifi script for Rohingya, an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in and , Arabic-style harakat are modified and supplemented with new diacritics to denote tones, a feature absent in . The script, officially encoded in 12.0 in 2019, uses inverted or modified forms like an upside-down ḍammah (represented as ◌࣪ or similar in early proposals) for high tones, alongside other markers such as ṭelā (◌࣫ for mid tones) and hārbāy (◌࣮ for low tones), placed above vowels to indicate tonal contours in this tonal language. The , used for Malay and Indonesian, retains tashkīl (vowel diacritics) primarily in religious contexts like Quranic recitation, where full vocalization ensures precise , but adds modified letters (e.g., چ for /tʃ/, ڠ for /ŋ/) for local phonemes. In African languages written in , adaptations address tonal and vowel systems: Hausa Ajami uses standard harakat for short s (e.g., fatḥah for /a/, kasrah for /i/) and adds dots or strokes for /e/ and /o/, while tones are sometimes marked with grave or acute accents over vowels; Swahili Ajami similarly employs diacritics to represent its five-vowel system. Digital encoding of these non-Arabic diacritics presents challenges due to Unicode's limitations in handling stacked or non-standard marks, leading to rendering issues in fonts and software for scripts like Hanifi or extended Ajami. Obsolete diacritics from historical adaptations, such as additional points in medieval Sogdian Arabic-script texts (e.g., extra dots for front vowels), are often unsupported in modern systems, complicating of manuscripts. Across these scripts, retention of full tashkīl remains high in Quranic or liturgical contexts to preserve sacred intonation—nearly 100% vocalized—contrasting with secular writing, where diacritics are simplified or omitted to enhance readability and speed.

Historical Origins and Evolution

The early Arabic script, known as rasm, emerged in pre-Islamic Arabia as an undotted and unvocalized consonantal skeleton derived primarily from the Nabataean Aramaic script, with the earliest dated evidence appearing in inscriptions such as the Namārah inscription from 328 CE. This skeletal form, lacking diacritics, relied on readers' familiarity with the language to infer vowels and distinguish similar consonants, reflecting the oral tradition dominant in the Arabian Peninsula during the 4th to 6th centuries CE. Influences from Syriac and Hebrew scripts contributed to its cursive development, particularly in adapting angular forms to more fluid styles suited to pen-based writing on papyrus and parchment. In the late CE, during the early Umayyad period, the grammarian Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali (d. 69/688–689 CE) introduced the first system of diacritical marks to aid Qur'anic recitation and prevent misreadings, using colored dots placed above or below letters: a single red dot for the vowel /a/ (fatha), a yellow dot for /u/ (damma), and a black dot for /i/ (kasra). This innovation, prompted by concerns over linguistic shifts among non-Arab converts and a personal anecdote involving his daughter's mispronunciation, marked the initial step toward vocalization, though the colors were later simplified to shapes for practicality. Al-Du'ali's system also laid groundwork for distinguishing consonants, predating more systematic dotting. By the 8th century CE, under Abbasid patronage in , the scholar Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (d. 170/786 CE) advanced this framework by inventing the modern harakat (vowel marks) in shapes resembling the letters alif, waw, and ya—horizontal line for fatha (/a/), curved for damma (/u/), and oblique for kasra (/i/)—along with the sukun (a circle indicating no vowel) and the i'jam dotting system to differentiate like ba and ta. Al-Farahidi's contributions, integrated into his broader grammatical and lexicographical works like Kitab al-Ayn, established a systematic approach to Arabic morphology and , ensuring precise of the Qur'an amid the empire's linguistic diversity. Subsequent refinements in the CE, notably by Ibn Mujahid (d. 324/936 CE), incorporated diacritics into rules for Qur'anic recitation, standardizing seven canonical readings () and using marks to denote nuances like elongation and assimilation, which spread through Abbasid scholarly networks across the Islamic world. Script styles evolved concurrently: the angular script of the 7th–9th centuries employed minimal diacritics for monumental inscriptions and early Qur'ans, while the more rounded naskh style from the onward supported fuller tashkil (complete diacritization) for everyday and scholarly texts, enhancing legibility. Following the CE, as literacy became widespread among Muslim scholars and elites, diacritics declined in everyday secular writing due to readers' growing familiarity with contextual disambiguation, though they persisted obligatorily in religious texts like the Qur'an to preserve phonetic accuracy. This selective retention reflected the script's maturation into a mature by the , balancing efficiency with precision in core liturgical contexts.

Modern Usage and Technological Aspects

Role in Contemporary Arabic Writing and Education

In contemporary Arabic writing, full tashkīl is predominantly used in children's books to facilitate pronunciation and comprehension for young learners, with studies showing high variation in diacritic density across such genres to support early . The and legal texts are consistently fully diacritized to preserve exact vocalization and meaning, ensuring accurate in religious and judicial contexts. In contrast, newspapers and novels targeted at native speakers largely omit diacritics, relying on contextual to maintain and reduce or typesetting costs. Diacritics play a central role in Arabic education, where they are systematically taught in schools and madrasas to build foundational reading skills, particularly for non-native learners of Modern Standard Arabic in Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose curricula integrate harakat exercises from primary levels. Dialect speakers face unique challenges due to diglossia, as colloquial varieties lack standardized diacritics, complicating the transition to formal written Arabic and slowing acquisition rates. Digital trends have boosted diacritic usage, with Unicode enhancements in the 2010s enabling better rendering and input in platforms like social media and messaging apps, where users increasingly add vocalization for clarity in informal communication, such as WhatsApp exchanges to disambiguate homographs. Regional variations persist in education: diacritics are mandatory in early schooling in and to reinforce standard pronunciation amid multilingual environments, whereas in , they remain optional after initial grades, reflecting a focus on fluency over explicit marking. Post-2020 research highlights challenges in reading acquisition for Arabic-speaking children, where the lack of diacritics in unvoweled orthography contributes to difficulties. Debates on reviving diacritics center on partial diacritization in technological interfaces to mitigate without overwhelming text, with proposals integrating context-aware marking to enhance readability in apps and e-learning tools. These align with education reforms in the Gulf states emphasizing standardized instruction to bridge dialectal gaps. Surveys indicate that the vast majority—over 90%—of everyday Arabic text remains undiacritized, though religious maintains 100% coverage to uphold textual integrity.

Automatic Diacritization Methods

Automatic diacritization methods aim to computationally restore vowel marks and other diacritics to undiacritized text, addressing the ambiguity inherent in the language's script. Traditional approaches rely on rule-based systems that leverage morphology and syntax to predict diacritics. For instance, the Buckwalter Arabic Morphological Analyzer (BAMA), developed in the early , uses lexicon-based matching and compatibility tables for prefixes, stems, and suffixes to generate possible diacritized forms, achieving foundational performance in morphological tagging that includes diacritization. Similarly, MADAMIRA, introduced in 2014, combines rule-based morphological analysis with statistical disambiguation, providing fast tokenization, lemmatization, and diacritization suitable for large-scale processing, with reported case-ending accuracy around 88% on standard benchmarks. These systems, while effective for (MSA), struggle with context-dependent ambiguities and require extensive hand-crafted rules. Machine learning techniques advanced diacritization in the pre-2020 era through statistical models like Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Conditional Random Fields (CRFs). HMM-based methods, such as those proposed in early work, model diacritics as hidden states in sequences, using Viterbi decoding to select the most probable path based on transition probabilities derived from training corpora. CRF models, applied around 2010-2017, improve upon HMMs by incorporating rich feature sets like character n-grams and morphological clues, reducing word error rates (WER) to approximately 10-15% on datasets like the Penn Arabic Treebank. These approaches marked a shift toward data-driven prediction but were limited by their sequential nature and inability to capture long-range dependencies. Recent developments have shifted to deep learning, particularly transformer-based neural networks, yielding state-of-the-art results. Models like the Character-based Arabic Tashkeel Transformer (CATT), introduced in 2024, employ encoder-decoder architectures fine-tuned on morphologically informed data, achieving diacritic error rates (DER) of approximately 3.1% and relative improvements of over 30% on benchmarks such as WikiNews. AraT5, a text-to-text transformer adapted for Arabic tasks in 2022, has been applied to generative diacritization tasks. Large language models (LLMs) have further enhanced capabilities, including dialectal variants; for example, adaptations of GPT-4 evaluated in 2025 benchmarks show robust performance across MSA and dialects, with WER below 5% on diverse corpora, though dialect-specific fine-tuning remains key for accuracy. CAMeL Tools, with enhancements in 2024 for partial diacritization preservation (latest version 1.5.x as of 2025), supports open-source applications with improved handling of noisy inputs. Key datasets underpinning these methods include Tashkeela, a 2017 corpus of over 75 million fully vocalized words spanning classical and modern Arabic, which has trained numerous models and enabled consistent . Challenges persist in resolving ambiguities, particularly for homographs where diacritics determine meaning—error rates for such cases can reach 10-20% even in advanced systems due to contextual reliance. Dialectal variations and integration into real-time tools, like Google's Arabic input methods that employ hybrid diacritizers for , add further complexity. Applications span search engines for better query matching, automated in media, and tools for screen readers, where diacritization enhances accuracy. Open-source projects like CAMeL Tools' 2023-2024 updates facilitate widespread adoption in NLP pipelines. Future trends point toward multimodal AI, combining text with audio inputs; for instance, the 2025 CATT-Whisper model fuses encoders with to boost diacritization accuracy in spoken dialects, as benchmarked in ACL conferences, promising reduced errors in voice-assisted scenarios.

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