Re: And Now... Arabic Rokbeigalmki Transliteration

Sorry for delayed reply...

On Tue, 4 Dec 2001 21:52:12 -0500, Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...> wrote:
>
>Almost... Rokbeigalmki /a/ is represented by fatHa-alif-alif.  So you're
>saying that i should replace that with superscript alif?  Or a
>superscript alif followed by an alif?  And should i then use that in the
>diphthongs /aw/ and /ay/?
I'm not sure I know what you should do ;)

In fact, it's a dificult thing, to fit 10 short vowels (+ long, +
diphthongs) in the Arabic notation.

I just meant that like (most of) the other Semitic scripts, Arabic hates
doubling letters, and especially potential "matres lectionis" like alif. It
seems to me that double alif is forbidden in Arabic (must be substituted
with "madda", in which ligature one of the two alifs normally stands for
the glottal stop).

On the other hand, I wanted to remind of one more diacritic - "alif
maqsura" or superscript alif which is used for [a:] in words like _alla:h_
'God' and _ha:Da:_ 'this'.

With 4 options for superscript diacritics (zero, fatHa, damma and
superscript alif) and 2 options for subscript ones (zero and kasra), you
already have 8 combinations without "matres lectionis"... and if you
add some less traditional lower diacritic (e. g., "lower damma"), even 12
(one of them "zero+zero"). Then "waw", "alif" and "ya" will supply you
with the slots for long vowels and diphthongs.

Just a possibility.


Basilius
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