Romanization of Persian

Romanization of Persian is the representation of the Persian language (Farsi and Dari) with the Latin script. Several different romanization schemes exist, each with its own set of rules driven by its own set of ideological goals.

Romanization paradigms

Because the Perso-Arabic script is an abjad writing system (with a consonant-heavy inventory of letters), many distinct words in standard Persian can have identical spellings, with widely varying pronunciations that differ in their (unwritten) vowel sounds. Thus a romanization paradigm can follow either transliteration (which mirrors spelling and orthography) or transcription (which mirrors pronunciation and phonology).

The Latin script plays in today’s world the role of a second script. For the proof of this assertion it is sufficient to take a look at the city and street signs or the Internet addresses in all countries. On the other hand, experience has shown that efforts to teach millions of Iranian young people abroad in reading and writing Persian mostly prove to be unsuccessful, due to the lack of daily contact with the Persian script. It seems that a way out of this dilemma has been found; and that is the use of the Latin script parallel to the Persian script.

Transliteration

Transliteration (in the strict sense) attempts to be a complete representation of the original writing, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. Transliterations of Persian are used to represent individual Persian words or short quotations, in scholarly texts in English or other languages that do not use the Arabic alphabet.

A transliteration will still have separate representations for different consonants of the Persian alphabet that are pronounced identically in Persian. Therefore, transliterations of Persian are often based on transliterations of Arabic.^[1] The representation of the vowels of the Perso-Arabic alphabet is also complex, and transliterations are based on the written form.

Transliterations commonly used in the English-speaking world include BGN/PCGN romanization and ALA-LC Romanization.

Non-academic English-language quotation of Persian words usually uses a simplification of one of the strict transliteration schemes (typically omitting diacritical marks) and/or unsystematic choices of spellings meant to guide English speakers using English spelling rules towards an approximation of the Persian sounds.

Transcription

Transcriptions of Persian attempt to straightforwardly represent Persian phonology in the Latin script, without requiring a close or reversible correspondence with the Perso-Arabic script, and also without requiring a close correspondence to English phonetic values of Roman letters.

Until recently, there was no official standard for the transcription of the Persian using the Latin script. Fortunately, all ministries and government agencies have now been instructed to implement a standard under the name Transcription procedure for Iranian toponymic items[i]. In this set of rules an attempt has been made to generalize the application of this standard so that one can write any Persian texts on the basis of this standard. Based on this set of rules infrastructure tools for spell checking, transcription of texts, translation of words, and language teaching are under development.^[2]

Main romanization schemes

• DMG (1969), a strict scientific system by the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft). It corresponds to Deutsches Institut für Normung standard DIN 31635.^[3]
• UN (1967), the Iranian national system (1966), that was approved by the UNGEGN in 1967.^[4][5]
• UN (2012), its contemporary modification.^[4][6]
• ALA-LC (1997), the ALA-LC romanization.^[7]
• BGN/PCGN (1958), the BGN/PCGN romanization.^[8]
• EI (1960), the system used in early editions of Encyclopædia Iranica.^[3]
• EI (2012), its contemporary modification.^[9]

Comparison table

Consonants

Unicode	Persian letter	IPA	DMG (1969)	UN (1967)	UN (2012)	ALA-LC (1997)	BGN/PCGN (1958)	EI (1960)	EI (2012)
U+0627	ا	ʔ, ∅[lower-alpha 1]	ʾ, —[lower-alpha 2]	’, —[lower-alpha 2]				ʾ
U+0628	ب	b	b
U+067E	پ	p	p
U+062A	ت	t	t
U+062B	ث	s	s̱	s̄	s	s̱	s̄	t͟h	ṯ
U+062C	ج	dʒ	ǧ	j	j	j	j	d͟j	j
U+0686	چ	tʃ	č	ch	č	ch	ch	č	č
U+062D	ح	h	ḥ	ḩ	h	ḥ	ḩ/ḥ[lower-alpha 3]	ḥ	ḥ
U+062E	خ	x	ḫ	kh	x	kh	kh	k͟h	ḵ
U+062F	د	d	d
U+0630	ذ	z	ẕ	z̄	z	ẕ	z̄	d͟h	ḏ
U+0631	ر	r	r
U+0632	ز	z	z
U+0698	ژ	ʒ	ž	zh	ž	zh	zh	z͟h	ž
U+0633	س	s	s
U+0634	ش	ʃ	š	sh	š	sh	sh	s͟h	š
U+0635	ص	s	ṣ	ş	s	ṣ	ş/ṣ[lower-alpha 3]	ṣ	ṣ
U+0636	ض	z	ż	ẕ	z	z̤	ẕ	ḍ	ż
U+0637	ط	t	ṭ	ţ	t	ṭ	ţ/ṭ[lower-alpha 3]	ṭ	ṭ
U+0638	ظ	z	ẓ	z̧	z	ẓ	z̧/ẓ[lower-alpha 3]	ẓ	ẓ
U+0639	ع	∅	ʿ	‘	’[lower-alpha 2]	‘	‘	ʿ	ʿ
U+063A	غ	ɣ	ġ	gh	q	gh	gh	g͟h	ḡ
U+0641	ف	f	f
U+0642	ق	ɢ~ɣ	q					ḳ	ḳ
U+06A9	ک	k	k
U+06AF	گ	ɡ	g
U+0644	ل	l	l
U+0645	م	m	m
U+0646	ن	n	n
U+0648	و	v~w[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 4]	v				v, w[lower-alpha 5]	v
U+0647	ه	h[lower-alpha 1]	h	h	h[lower-alpha 6]	h	h	h[lower-alpha 6]	h[lower-alpha 6]
U+0629	ة	∅, t	—	h[lower-alpha 7]	—	t[lower-alpha 8]	h[lower-alpha 7]	—	—
U+06CC	ی	j[lower-alpha 1]	y
U+0621	ء	ʔ, ∅	ʾ	’				ʾ
U+0624	ؤ	ʔ, ∅	ʾ	’				ʾ
U+0626	ئ	ʔ, ∅	ʾ	’				ʾ

Vowels^{[lower-alpha 9]}

Unicode	Final	Medial	Initial	Isolated	IPA	DMG (1969)	UN (1967)	UN (2012)	ALA-LC (1997)	BGN/PCGN (1958)	EI (2012)
U+064E	◌َ‎	◌َ‎	اَ‎	◌َ‎	æ	a	a	a	a	a	a
U+064F	◌ُ‎	◌ُ‎	اُ‎	◌ُ‎	o	o	o	o	u	o	o
U+0648 U+064F	◌ﻮَ‎	◌ﻮَ‎	—	◌وَ‎	o[lower-alpha 10]	o	o	o	u	o	o
U+0650	◌ِ‎	◌ِ‎	اِ‎	◌ِ‎	e	e	e	e	i	e	e
U+064E U+0627	◌َا‎	◌َا‎	أ‎	◌َا‎	ɑː~ɒː	ā	ā	ā	ā	ā	ā
U+0622	◌ﺂ‎	◌ﺂ‎	آ‎	◌آ‎	ɑː~ɒː	ā, ʾā[lower-alpha 11]	ā	ā	ā, ’ā[lower-alpha 11]	ā	ā
U+064E U+06CC	◌َﯽ‎	—	—	◌َی‎	ɑː~ɒː	ā	á	ā	á	á	ā
U+06CC U+0670	◌ﯽٰ‎	—	—	◌یٰ‎	ɑː~ɒː	ā	ā	ā	á	á	ā
U+064F U+0648	◌ُﻮ‎	◌ُﻮ‎	اُو‎	◌ُو‎	uː, oː[lower-alpha 5]	ū	ū	u	ū	ū	u, ō[lower-alpha 5]
U+0650 U+06CC	◌ِﯽ‎	◌ِﯿ‎	اِﯾ‎	◌ِی‎	iː, eː[lower-alpha 5]	ī	ī	i	ī	ī	i, ē[lower-alpha 5]
U+064E U+0648	◌َﻮ‎	◌َﻮ‎	اَو‎	◌َو‎	ow~aw[lower-alpha 5]	au	ow	ow	aw	ow	ow, aw[lower-alpha 5]
U+064E U+06CC	◌َﯽ‎	◌َﯿ‎	اَﯾ‎	◌َی‎	ej~aj[lower-alpha 5]	ai	ey	ey	ay	ey	ey, ay[lower-alpha 5]
U+064E U+06CC	◌ﯽ‎	—	—	◌ی‎	–e, –je	–e, –ye	–e, –ye	–e, –ye	–i, –yi	–e, –ye	–e, –ye
U+06C0	◌ﮥ‎	—	—	◌ﮤ‎	–je	–ye	–ye	–ye	–’i	–ye	–ye

Notes:

1. Used as a vowel as well.
2. Not transliterated at the beginning of words.
3. Dot below may be equally used instead of cedilla.
4. At the beginning of words the combination ⟨خو⟩ was pronounced /xw/ or /xʷ/ in Classical Persian. In modern varieties the glide /ʷ/ has been lost, though the spelling has not been changed. It may be still heard in Dari as a relict pronunciation. The combination /xʷa/ was changed to /xo/ (see below).
5. In Dari.
6. Not transliterated at the end of words.
7. In the combination ⟨یة⟩ at the end of words.
8. When used instead of ⟨ت⟩ at the end of words.
9. Diacritical signs (harakat) are rarely written.
10. After ⟨خ⟩ from the earlier /xʷa/. Often transliterated as xwa or xva. E. g. خور /xor/ "sun" was /xʷar/ in Classical Persian.
11. After vowels.

Pre-Islamic period

In the pre-Islamic period Old and Middle Persian employed various scripts including Old Persian cuneiform, Pahlavi and Avestan scripts. For each period there are established transcriptions and transliterations by prominent linguists.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

IPA	Old Persian[lower-roman 1][lower-roman 2]	Middle Persian (Pahlavi)[lower-roman 1]	Avestan[lower-roman 1]
Consonants
p	p
f	f
b	b
β~ʋ~w	—	β	β/w
t	t		t, t̰
θ	θ/ϑ
d	d
ð	—	(δ)	δ
θr	ç/ϑʳ	θʳ/ϑʳ
s	s
z	z
ʃ	š		š, š́, ṣ̌
ʒ	ž
c~tʃ	c/č
ɟ~dʒ	j/ǰ
k	k
x	x		x, x́
xʷ	xʷ/xᵛ
g	g		g, ġ
ɣ	ɣ/γ
h	h
m	m		m, m̨
ŋ	—		ŋ, ŋʷ
ŋʲ	—		ŋ́
n	n		n, ń, ṇ
r	r
l	l
w~ʋ~v	v	w	v
j	y		y, ẏ
Vowels
Short
a	a
ã	—		ą, ą̇
ə	—		ə
e	—	(e)	e
i	i
o	—	(o)	o
u	u
Long
aː	ā
ɑː~ɒː	—		å/ā̊
ə	—		ə̄
əː	—	ē
iː	ī
oː	—	ō
uː	ū

Notes:

1. Slash signifies equal variants.
2. There exist some differences in transcription of Old Persian preferred by different scholars:
   • ā = â
   • ī, ū = i, u
   • x = kh, ḵ, ḥ, ḫ
   • c/č = ǩ
   • j/ǰ = ǧ
   • θ = ϑ, þ, th, ṯ, ṭ
   • ç = tr, θʳ, ϑʳ, ṙ, s͜s, s̀
   • f = p̱
   • y, v = j, w.

Other romanization schemes

Bahá'í Persian romanization

Bahá'ís use a system standardized by Shoghi Effendi, which he initiated in a general letter on March 12, 1923.^[14] The Bahá'í transliteration scheme was based on a standard adopted by the Tenth International Congress of Orientalists which took place in Geneva in September 1894. Shoghi Effendi changed some details of the Congress's system, most notably in the use of digraphs in certain cases (e.g. sh instead of š), and in incorporating the solar letters when writing the definite article al- (Arabic: ال) according to pronunciation (e.g. ar-Rahim, as-Saddiq, instead of al-Rahim, al-Saddiq).

A detailed introduction to the Bahá'í Persian romanization can usually be found at the back of a Bahá'í scripture.

ASCII Internet romanizations

It is common to write Persian language with only English letters especially when commenting in weblogs or when using cellphones to send SMS.

Tajik Latin alphabet

The Tajik language or Tajik Persian is a variety of the Persian language. It was written in Tajik SSR in a standardized Latin script from 1926 until the late 1930s, when the script was officially changed to Cyrillic. However, Tajik phonology differs slightly from that of Persian in Iran. As the result of these two factors romanization schemes of the Tajik Cyrillic script follow rather different principles.^[15]

The Tajik alphabet in Latin

A a	B ʙ	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f	G g	Ƣ ƣ	H h	I i	Ī ī
/a/	/b/	/tʃ/	/dʒ/	/d/	/e/	/f/	/a/	/ʁ/	/h/	/i/	/ˈi/
J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	Ş ş	T t
/j/	/k/	/l/	/m/	/n/	/o/	/p/	/q/	/ɾ/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/
U u	Ū ū	V v	X x	Z z	Ƶ ƶ	'
/u/	/u/	/v/	/χ/	/z/	/ʒ/	/ʔ/

See also

• Persian alphabet
• Persian phonology
• Romanization of Arabic

References

1. Joachim, Martin D. (1993). Languages of the world: cataloging issues and problems. New York: Haworth Press. p. 137. ISBN 1560245204.
2. http://alefbaye2om.org/
3. Pedersen, Thomas T. "Persian (Farsi)" (PDF). http://transliteration.eki.ee/. External link in |website= (help)
4. "Persian" (PDF). UNGEGN.
5. Toponymic Guidelines for map and other editors – Revised edition 1998. Working Paper No. 41. Submitted by the Islamic Republic of Iran. UNGEGN, 20th session. New York, 17–28 January 2000.
6. New Persian Romanization System. E/CONF.101/118/Rev.1*. Tenth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. New York, 31 July – 9 August 2012.
7. "Persian" (PDF). The Library of Congress.
8. "Romanization system for Persian (Dari and Farsi). BGN/PCGN 1958 System" (PDF).
9. "Transliteration". Encyclopædia Iranica.
10. Bartholomae, Christian (1904). Altiranisches Wörterbuch. Strassburg. p. XXIII.
11. Kent, Roland G. (1950). Old Persian. New Heaven, Connecticut. pp. 12–13.
12. MacKenzie, D. N. (1971). "Transcription". A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. London.
13. Hoffmann, Karl; Forssman, Bernhard (1996). Avestische Laut- und Flexionslehre. Innsbruck. p. 41–44. ISBN 3-85124-652-7.
14. Effendi, Shoghi (1974). Bahá'í Administration. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 43. ISBN 0-87743-166-3.
15. Pedersen, Thomas T. "Tajik" (PDF). http://transliteration.eki.ee/. External link in |website= (help)

External links

• Comparison of DMG, UN, ALA-LC, BGN/PCGN, EI, ISO 233-3 transliterations
• Transliteration of Non-Roman Scripts
• A PARALLEL SCRIPT FOR THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE
• Iranian Committee on the Standardization of Geographical Names(ICSGN)