ḌÄd
ḌÄd | ||||||||||
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Phonemic representation | dˤ (ðˤ) | |||||||||
Position in alphabet | 26 | |||||||||
Numerical value | 800 | |||||||||
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | ||||||||||
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ḌÄd, or á¹£ÌÄd (ض), is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being ṯÄʾ, ḫÄʾ, á¸Äl, ẓÄʾ, Ä¡ayn). In name and shape, it is a variant of á¹£Äd.
The Arabic letter ض is named ضاد á¸Äd. It is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:
Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
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Glyph form: | ض‎ | ـض‎ | ـضـ‎ | ضـ‎ |
Pronunciation
The usual current pronunciation of this letter in modern Standard Arabic is the "emphatic" /d/: pharyngealized voiced alveolar stop [dˤ] , pharyngealized voiced dental stop [d̪ˤ] or velarized voiced dental stop [dÌªË ].[1]
However, based on ancient descriptions of this sound, it is clear that in Qur'anic Arabic Ḡwas some sort of unusual lateral sound.[1][2][3][4][5] Sibawayh, author of the first book on Arabic grammar, explained the letter as being articulated from "between the first part of the side of the tongue and the adjoining molars". It is reconstructed by modern linguists as having been either a pharyngealized voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ɮˤ] or a similar affricated sound [d͡ɮˤ] or [dˡˤ].[2][3] The affricated form is suggested by loans of Ḡinto Akkadian as ld or lṠand into Malaysian as dl.[1] However, not all linguists agree on this; the French orientalist André Roman supposes that the letter was actually a voiced emphatic alveolo-palatal sibilant /ʑˤ/, similar to the Polish ź.[2][3][6]
In most Arabic vernaculars ض á¸Äd and ظ ẓÄʾ have been merged quite early.[2] The outcome depends on the dialect. In those varieties (such as Egyptian and Levantine), where the dental fricatives /θ, ð/ are merged with the dental stops /t, d/, both á¸Äd and ẓÄʾ are pronounced /dˤ/; in the varieties (such as Bedouin and Iraqi), where the dental fricatives are preserved, both the letters are pronounced /ðˤ/.[2][3][5] However, there are dialects in South Arabia and in Mauritania where both the letters are kept different.[2] In loanwords from Classical Arabic ẓÄʾ is often /zˤ/, e.g. Egyptian Ê¿aẓīm (< Classical عظيم Ê¿aá¸Ì£Ä«m) "great".[2][3]
"De-emphaticized" pronunciation of the both letters in the form of the plain /z/ entered into other non-Arabic languages such as Persian, Urdu, Turkish.[2] However, there do exist Arabic borrowings into Ibero-Romance languages as well as Hausa and Malay, where á¸Äd and ẓÄʾ are differentiated.[2]
Writing in the Hebrew alphabet
When representing this sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is either written with ד (the letter for /d/) or צ׳ (tsadi with geresh).
In other Semitic languages
This is an extremely unusual sound, and led the early Arabic grammarians to describe Arabic as the لغة الضاد lughat aá¸-á¸Äd "the language of á¸Äd", since the sound was thought to be unique to Arabic.[1] The emphatic lateral nature of this sound is in fact inherited from Proto-Semitic, and related sounds still occur in some South Semitic languages such as Mehri (where it is usually an ejective lateral fricative). A grapheme for this sound also exists in the South Arabian alphabet ( á¹£Ì) and the Ge'ez alphabet (á¹¢Ìappa á€), although in Ge'ez it merged early on with á¹£. Its numerical value is 800 (see Abjad numerals).
The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic phonology includes an emphatic voiceless alveolar lateral fricative or affricate for á¹£Ì. This sound is considered to be the direct ancestor of Arabic á¸Äd, while merging with á¹£Äd in most other Semitic languages.
Character encodings
Character | ض | |
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Unicode name | ARABIC LETTER DAD | |
Encodings | decimal | hex |
Unicode | 1590 | U+0636 |
UTF-8 | 216 182 | D8 B6 |
Numeric character reference | ض | ض |
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 Versteegh, Kees (2003) [1997]. The Arabic language (Repr. ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780748614363.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Versteegh, Kees (1999). "Loanwords from Arabic and the merfer of á¸/á¸Ì£". In Arazi, Albert; Sadan, Joseph; Wasserstein, David J. Compilation and Creation in Adab and LuÄ¡a: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997). pp. 273–286.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Versteegh, Kees (2000). "Treatise on the pronunciation of the á¸Äd". In Kinberg, Leah; Versteegh, Kees. Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic. Brill. pp. 197–199. ISBN 9004117652.
- ↑ Ferguson, Charles (1959). "The Arabic koine". Language 35 (4): 630. doi:10.2307/410601.
- 1 2 Ferguson, Charles Albert (1997) [1959]. "The Arabic koine". In Belnap, R. Kirk; Haeri, Niloofar. Structuralist studies in Arabic linguistics: Charles A. Ferguson's papers, 1954–1994. Brill. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9004105115.
- ↑ Roman, André (1983). Étude de la phonologie et de la morphologie de la koiné arabe 1. Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence. pp. 162–206.
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