User:Irtapil/Urdu alphabet 1

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Urdu alphabet

refs and resources[edit]

templates[edit]

  • when adding sections to the main article remember to use {{In use}}
  • {{hamza}}
  • {{-}} Template:Clear "It makes content wait until existing content is completed in all columns. It is often used to prevent text from flowing next to unrelated images."

wiki help[edit]

related pages[edit]

Word divider#Vertical arrangement[edit]

00:04, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

Nastaʿlīq used for Urdu

The Nastaʿlīq form of Islamic calligraphy uses vertical arrangement to separate words. The beginning of each word is written higher than the end of the preceding word, so that a line of text takes on a sawtooth appearance. Nastaliq spread from Persia and today is used for Persian, Uyghur, Pashto, and Urdu.

on line resources[edit]

Formatted Reference List[edit]
  1. ^ Egbert, Joy; Ernst-Slavit, Gisela (2017). Views from Inside: Languages, Cultures, and Schooling for K?12 Educators. IAP. ISBN 978-1-64113-021-9. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  2. ^ Egbert, Joy; Ernst-Slavit, Gisela (2017). Views from Inside: Languages, Cultures, and Schooling for K?12 Educators. IAP. ISBN 978-1-64113-021-9. Retrieved 11 May 2020.

Draft content for the Urdu alphabet page[edit]

notes for intro[edit]

It looks like i added حروف and "Urdu harūf tahajī" in this edit
Word examples of other uses
Urdu IPA transliteration translation Urdu
pronunciation translation
حروف ‌تہجی harūf tahajī alphabet (letter sequence) حروف تہجی
[1]
harūf tahajī alphabet

intro[edit]

Urdu alphabet

اردو‌ حروف‌تہجی

Urdu hurūf-e-tahajjī

اردو ‌تہجی

Urdu tahajjī
Example of writing in the Urdu alphabet: Urdu
Script type
Abjad
LanguagesUrdu, Balti[citation needed], infrequent use in Burushaski [2], others
Related scripts
Parent systems
Unicode
U+0600 to U+06FF

U+0750 to U+077F
U+FB50 to U+FDFF

U+FE70 to U+FEFF
 This page contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and  , see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.


The Urdu alphabet (Urdu: اردو‌ حروف‌تہجی simplified script: اردو حروف تہجی, pronunciation: Urdu harūf tahajī, or اردو‌تہجی Urdu tahajī) is the right-to-left alphabet used for the Urdu language. It is a modification of the Persian alphabet, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic alphabet. The Urdu alphabet has 39[3] or 40 letters[4] plus digraphs. The Urdu alphabet has no distinct letter cases, is typically written in the calligraphic Nastaliq script, whereas Arabic is more commonly in the Naskh style.

Usually, bare transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters (called Roman Urdu) omit many phonemic elements that have no equivalent in English or other languages commonly written in the Latin script. The National Language Authority of Pakistan has developed a number of systems with specific notations to signify non-English sounds, but these can only be properly read by someone already familiar with the loan letters.[citation needed]

The standard Urdu script is a modified version of the Perso-Arabic script and has its origins in 13th century Iran. It is closely related to the development of the Nastaʻliq style of Perso-Arabic script. Urdu script in its extended form is known as Shahmukhi script and is used for writing other Indo-Aryan languages of North Indian subcontinent like Punjabi and Saraiki as well.

Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible as spoken languages, or when written in the Latin alphabet. The most obvious distinction between Hindi and Urdu is the script. Both scripts have religious connotations.


,

Geographic distribution[edit]

In addition to Pakistan, the Urdu language is official in five states of India: Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh[citation needed].

Other than the Indian subcontinent, the Urdu script is also used by Pakistan's large diaspora, including in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and other places.[4]

Many Urdu speakers living outside of Pakistan use the Latin alphabet to write Urdu do to limited availability of software for writing Urdu [citation needed].

Nastaliq[edit]

Example showing Nastaʿlīq's (Persian) proportion rules.

Urdu is written in the Nastaliq style (Persian: نستعلیق Nastaʿlīq). The Nastaliq calligraphic writing style began as a Persian mixture of the Naskh and Ta'liq scripts. After the Mughal conquest, Nastaʻliq became the preferred writing style for Urdu. It is the dominant style in Pakistan, and many Urdu writers elsewhere in the world use it. Nastaʿlīq is more cursive and flowing than its Naskh counterpart.

In the Arabic alphabet, and many others derived from it, letters are regarded as having two or three general forms each, based on their position in the word (though obviously Arabic calligraphy can add a great deal of complexity). But the Nastaliq style in which Urdu is written uses more than three general forms for many letters, even for simple non-decorative documents.[5][6]

The names of 10 Urdu letters (see below) to show the variable letter forms in context. Rows 1 and 4: isolated letters. Rows 2 and 5: the names of those letters. Rows 3 and 6: the letter names broken up into individual letters.

Alphabet[edit]

intro text[edit]
currently in Urdu Alphabet[edit]

The Urdu script is an abjad script derived from Perso-Arabic script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. As an abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which does not have the same luxury, hence necessitating more memorisation. The number of letters in the Urdu alphabet is somewhat ambiguous and debated.[7]

messy version[edit]

The Urdu script is an abjad script derived from Perso-Arabic script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. The Urdu alphabet was standardized in 2004 by the National Language Authority, which is responsible for standardizing Urdu in Pakistan. According to the National Language Authority[citation needed], Urdu has 58[3] letters of which 39[3] are basic letters while 18[3] are digraphs to represent aspirated consonants made by attaching basic consonant letters with a variant of He called do chashmi he.[3][7][8][4] Tāʼ marbūṭah is also sometimes considered a letter though it is rarely used except for in certain loan words from Arabic.


The Urdu script is an abjad script derived from Perso-Arabic script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script.

The number of letters is somewhat ambiguous and debated.[7]


Urdu has 39[3] individual letters,

while 18[3] digraphs to represent aspirated consonants made by attaching basic consonant letters with a variant of He called do chashmi he, for a total of 58.

[3]

[8][4] Tāʼ marbūṭah is also sometimes considered a letter though it is rarely used except for in certain loan words from Arabic.

As an abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which does not have the same luxury, hence necessitating more memorization.


As an abjad, the Urdu script only shows consonants and long vowels; short vowels can only be inferred by the consonants' relation to each other. While this type of script is convenient in Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew, whose consonant roots are the key of the sentence, Urdu is an Indo-European language, which does not have the same luxury, hence necessitating more memorization. Urdu uses the vowels represented as full letters ا و ی ے more often than Arabic; there are fewer short vowels to omit. Also, Hamza ئ and the mada on Alif Mada آ are not omitted. Words in Urdu that differ only by ommitted short vowels are rarer in Urdu than Arabic, but the meanings are often far more divergent than Arabic words with the same root.


Letter Names and Phonemes[edit]

  • The number of letters in the Urdu alphabet is more ambiguous than the 26 in the English alphabet, the most commonly quoted numbers are 39[3] or 40 letters[4].
  • The usual letter forms in Urdu Nastaliq are somewhat more diverse than for most Arabic-derived alphabets, see "letter forms" below.
core alphabet[edit]

(see also: Encoding Urdu in Unicode below) See below for written vowels

{{IPAslink}} {{IPAblink}}
an IP changed three letters 12:02, 16 January 2020 [1]
Reference from Hindustani orthography
http://www.cle.org.pk/Downloads/ling_resources/phoneticinventory/UrduPhoneticInventory.pdf

table[edit]

Letter names and phonemes[edit]

Letter [i] Name [9] IPA Romanization Closest Sound in European Languages Unicode No.
[citation needed]
Urdu Roman Urdu ALA-LC
[10]
Hunterian [11]
ا الف alif /ɑː/, /ʔ/, /∅/ ā, – ā, – a as in Aunt. U+0627 1
ب بے /b/ b b b as in Ball. U+0628 2
پ پے /p/ p p p as in Pigeon. U+067E 3
ت تے /t/ t t No full English equivalent. Similar to a soft t in time. U+062A 4
ٹ ٹے ṭē /ʈ/ t T as in Train. U+0679 5
ث ثے s̱ē /s/ s c as in cinema. U+062B 6
ج جيم jīm /d͡ʒ/ j j j in Jug. U+062C 7
چ چے /t͡ʃ/ c ch ch in Chimney. U+0686 8
ح بڑی حے baṛī ḥē /ɦ/ h h as in Happy. U+062D 9
___ hutti hay
خ خے k͟hē /x/ k͟h kh No full equivalent in English. Similar to guttural kh in Khundak. U+062E 10
د دال dāl /d/ d d No full equivalent in English. Similar to soft d in dream. U+062F 11
ڈ ڈال ḍāl /ɖ/ d D as in Dream. U+0688 12
ذ ذال ẕāl /z/ z Z as in zebra. U+0630 13
ر رے /r/ r r r as in Razor. U+0631 14
ڑ ڑے ṛē /ɽ/ [ii] r No full equivalent in English. Similar to hard dh in Raigadh. U+0691 15
ز زے /z/ z z z as in Zebra. U+0632 16
ژ ژے zhē /ʒ/ [iii] zh zh si as in version. U+0698 17
س سین sīn /s/ s s s as in sea. U+0633 18
ش شین shīn /ʃ/ sh sh sh as in shine. U+0634 19
ص صاد ṣwād /s/ s s as in swear. U+0635 20
ض ضاد ẓwād /z/ z z as in gazette. U+0636 21
ط طوے t̤oʼē /t/ t No full equivalent in English. Similar to ta as in Talia. U+0637 22
ظ ظوے z̤oʼē /z/ z No full equivalent in English. Similar to hard z in zoo. U+0638 23
ع عین ʻain /ɑː/, /oː/, /eː/,
/ʔ/, /ʕ/, /∅/
ʻ ʻ
[citation needed]
No full equivalent in English. Similar to harsh guttural a in apple. U+0639 24
غ غین g͟hain /ɣ/ g͟h gh No full equivalent in English. Similar to guttural gh in Ghalib. U+063A 25
ف فے /f/ f f f as in flower. U+0641 26
ق قاف qāf /q/ q q [example needed] U+0642 27
ک کاف kāf /k/ k k k as in Kite. U+06A9 28
گ گاف gāf /ɡ/ g g g as in grass. U+06AF 29
ل لام lām /l/ l l l as in lemon. U+0644 30
م میم mīm /m/ m m m as in Mike. U+0645 31
ن نون nūn /n/, /ɲ/,
/ɳ/, /ŋ/
n n n as in noon. U+0646 32
ں نون غنّہ nūn g͟hunnā / ◌̃ / [ii] n n as in noon. U+06BA U+0658 [iv] 33
و واؤ wāʼo ʋ, uː, ʊ,
oː, ɔː
v,
ū, u, o, au
w,
ū, u, o, au
w as in walet. U+0648 34
ہ گول ہے gōl hē /ɦ/, /ɑː/, /e:/ h, ā, e h, ā, e h as in hot. U+06C1 [v] 35
چھوٹی ہے choṭī hē
ھ دو چشمی ہے do-cashmī hē /ʰ/ or /ʱ/ [ii] h h [example needed] U+06BE 36
ی چھوٹی يے choṭī yē /j/, /iː/, /ɑː/ y, ī, á y, ī, á y as in yellow or ee as in feel. U+06CC 38
ے بڑی يے baṛī yē /ɛː/, /eː/ [ii] ai, e ai, e a as in cat or ay as in day. U+06D2 39
ء ہمزہ hamzā /ʔ/ or /∅/ [vi] ʼ, –, yi ʼ, –, yi [example needed] U+0621 37
[citation needed]
ئ U+0626
Footnotes:

  1. ^ The form shown is the isolated glyph. For other positional forms see: Nastaliq Letter Forms.
  2. ^ a b c d No Urdu word begins with ں, ھ, ڑ, or ے.[citation needed]
  3. ^ Used mainly for Persian loanwords.
  4. ^ The version shown on the left is U+06BA, which is used only at the end of words. When it is used in the middle of a word it is a diacritic U+0658, which is usually omitted (see below for further information on diacritic omission in Urdu).
  5. ^ Sometimes choṭī hē is used to refer to gōl hey but choṭī hē can also refer to the Arabic / Persian variant, a stylistic variation representing an equivalent letter, but Persian and Arabic usually use U+0647 whereas Urdu uses U+06C1 for gōl hey.[12] See also: Urdu in Unicode .
  6. ^ Hamzah: In Urdu, hamzah is silent in all its forms except for when it is used as hamzah-e-izafat. The main use of hamzah in Urdu is to indicate a vowel cluster.
Alternate Romanisations:


my table[edit]

Isolated
Letter
Form [N]
Sound Name [13][12]
[glossary of key words below]
Unicode
[14][15]
number in
alphabet
ALA‑LC [10] Hunterian [11] IPA closest sound in English Nastaliq
[footnote 1]
diacritics
[12]
Romanizations [12][3] [12]
ا /ɑː/ /ā/
/ʔ/ /–/

[citation needed]
[example needed] الف الِف alif[12] / alef[15] U+0627 1 1
ب b /b/ B in "bat" [PB] بے بے [12] / beh[15] U+0628 U+0628 2 2
پ p /p/ [example needed] پے پے [12] / peh[14] U+067E 3 3
ت t /t̪/ [example needed] تے تے [12] / teh[15] U+062A 4 4
ٹ t /ʈ/ [example needed] ٹے ٹے ṭē[12] / tteh[14] U+0679 5 5
ث s /s/ [example needed] ثے ثے [12] / s̱ē U+062B 6 6
ج j /d͡ʒ/ [example needed] جيم جِيم jīm[12] / jeem[15] U+062C U+062C 7 7
چ c ch /t͡ʃ/ [example needed] چے چے čē[12] / [12] / tcheh[14] U+0686 8 8
ح h /ɦ/ [example needed] بڑی حے بَڑی حے baṛī ħē[12] / baṛī ḥē   U+062D 9 9
خ k͟h kh /x/ [example needed] خے خے [12] / khē[12] / khah[15] / k͟hē   U+062E 10 10
د d /d/ [example needed] دال دال dāl[12] / dal[15]   U+062F 11 11
ڈ d /ɖ/ [example needed] ڈال ڈال ḍāl[12] / ddal[14] U+0688 12 12
ذ z /z/ [example needed] ذال ذال zāl[12] / ẕāl U+0630 13 13
ر r /r/ [example needed] رے رے [12] / reh[15]   U+0631 14 14
ڑ r /ɽ/ [example needed] ڑے ڑے ṛē[12] / rreh[14]   U+0691 15 15
ز z /z/ [example needed] زے زے [12] / zey   U+0632 16 16
ژ zh zh /ʒ/ [example needed] ژے ژے žē[12] / zhē[12]   U+0698 17 17
س s /s/ [example needed] سین سِين sīn[12] / seen[15]   U+0633 18 18
ش sh sh /ʃ/ [example needed] شین شِين šīn[12] / shīn[12] / sheen[15]   U+0634 19 19
ص s /s/ [example needed] صاد صْواد  swād[12] / sad[15] / ṣwād   U+0635 20 20
ض z /z/ [example needed] ضاد ضْواد żwād[12] / ẓwād   U+0636 21 21
ط t /t/ [example needed] طوے طوئے tō’ē[12] / tah[15] / tōē / t̤o'ē / toy U+0637 22 22
ظ
[footnote]
z /z/ [example needed] ظوے ظوئے zō’ē[12] / zōē / z̤o'ē   U+0638 23 23
ع ʻ / ‘ / ` / ' / ’ / ʼ
[footnote 3]
/ɑː/ /oː/ /eː/
/ʔ/ /ʕ/ /∅/
[example needed] عین عَيْن ‘ain[12] / ain[15] ayn   U+0639 24 24
غ g͟h gh /ɣ/ [example needed] غین غَيْن ğain[12] / ghain[15] / g͟hain U+063A 25 25
ف f /f/ [example needed] فے فے [12] / feh[15] U+0641 26 26
ق q /q/ [example needed] قاف قاف qāf[12] / qaf[15] U+0642 27 27
ک k /k/ [example needed] کاف کاف kāf[12] / kāf   U+06A9 28 28
گ g /ɡ/ [example needed] گاف گاف gāf[12] / gaf[14]   U+06AF 29 29
ل l /l/ [example needed] لام لام lām[12] / lam[15]   U+0644 30 30
م m /m/ [example needed] میم مِيم mīm[12] / meem[15]   U+0645 31 31
ن n /n/ /ɲ/
/ɳ/ /ŋ/
[example needed] نون نُون nūn[12]noon[15]   U+0646 32 32
ں n / ◌̃ / [example needed] نون غنہ نُونِ غُنّہ nūn-e ğunnah[12]
noon ghunna[14]
nūn g͟hunnah
U+06BA 33
◌٘    ٘   ــ٘ـ U+0658  
و v or
ū/u/o/au
[V/W]
w or
ū/u/o/au
[V/W]
/ʋ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /oː/ /ɔː/ [V/W] [example needed] واؤ واؤ vāō[12] /  wāō[12] / waw[15] / wā'o U+0648 34 33
ہ h / ā / e /ɦ/ /ɑː/ /e:/ [example needed] گول ہے گول ہے gōl hē[12] / heh goal[14] / gol hē U+06C1 35 34
ه چهوٹی هے چهوٹی هے čhōṭī hē [12] U+0647 [12] Arabic
[footnote]
ھ h /ʰ/ or /ʱ/ [example needed] دو چشمی ہے دوچَشْمی ہے dō-čašmī hē[12] /
heh doachashmee[14]
/ do-cashmī hē
U+06BE 36
ی y / ī / á /j/ /iː/ /ɑː/ [example needed] چھوٹی يے چھوٹی يے čhōṭī yē[12] / choṭī yē   U+06CC 38 35
ے ai / e /ɛː/ /eː/ [example needed] بڑی يے بَڑی يے baṛī yē[12] / yeh barree[14] U+06D2 39
ء ء ʼ / – / yi
/ʔ/ /∅/ [footnote 2] ہمزہ ہَمْزه hamzah[12] / hamza[15] U+0621 37 0 or 35
ئ ئ U+0626
Footnotes for letter names and phonemes:[edit]

^ 1. This may display in a different style if you do not have a Nastaliq font installed. [endnote]. Footnote: where two styles are shown, the style on the right is a Naskh or modern Arabic style.

^P and B in English:

^Letters with similar sounds: Some sets of Urdu letters have matching sounds.[16][17]

  • 4 letters ز ذ ض ظ are all ≈ Z [16][17] ^Z. These excess diacritics do not reflect any significant difference in pronunciation between the letters ذ ز ض ظ all shown as "z" in other systems[citation needed].
  • 3 letters س ص ث are all ≈ S [16][17]
  • 2 letters ت ط are both ≈ T [16][17] (a third letter ٹ is also often shown as English T, but is different to the other two Urdu letters, see #retroflex consonants below.)
  • 2 letters ہ ح are both ≈ H [17] but are sometimes regarded s distinct.

^ 2. In Urdu, hamza ء is silent in all its forms except for when it is used as hamza-e-izafat. The main use of hamza ء in Urdu is to indicate a vowel cluster. Sometimes transliterated as "2" in informal Arabic but not in Urdu

In Urdu words, Hamza ء is always attached ئ to a form resembling the Arabic ى alef maksura[citation needed]. Some fonts convert an isolated Hamza in this form to Hamza on the line.

^ 3. Ayn ع in its initial عـ and final ـع position is usually silent in pronunciation and is replaced by the sound of its preceding or succeeding vowel. When it appears in the middle of a word there are a few different, similar looking, characters used to represent it in the Latin alphabet: (`) the grave accent, (‘) the left single quotation mark, (') the apostrophe, or the Pacific (ʻ) okina, or it can be pronounced like Arabic hamza (ʼ) and be transliterated as equivalent marks in the reverse direction such as (’) the right single quotation mark. [citation needed] Sometimes transliterated as "3" in informal Arabic but not in Urdu.

^see also: see also: #Confusable glyphs in Urdu and Arabic script below.

^5. Gol He and do-cashmi-he diverged from the Arabic letter Hā, sometimes choti hey is used too refer to gol hey, while sometimes choti he refers to the Arabic version. The distinction is somewhat artificial, since gol he is an equivalent letter to the Arabic letter, but they have separate unicode characters. Some fonts make the Arabic hé look the same as gol hey or do-cashmi hé. (see also)

^V/W: The consonant pronunciation of و depends on the speaker's regional accent.[18]


Vowel chart[edit]

References to add:
from Hindustani orthography
http://www.cle.org.pk/Downloads/ling_resources/phoneticinventory/UrduPhoneticInventory.pdf

Urdu does not have standalone vowel letters as a characteristic of abjads called mater lectionis. Short vowels (a, i, u), which do not occur word-finally, are represented by optional diacritics (zabar, zer, pesh) upon the preceding consonant or a placeholder consonant (alif, ain, or hamza) if the syllable begins with the vowel, and long vowels by consonants alif, ain, ye, and wa'o, with disambiguating diacritics, some of which are optional (zabar, zer, pesh), whereas some are not (madd, hamza). This is a table of Urdu vowels:

Romanization IPA Final Middle Initial
a /ə/ N/A ـَ اَ
ā /aː/ ـَا ؛ ـَی ؛ ـَہ ـَا آ
i /ɪ/ N/A ــِـ اِ
ī /iː/ ـِى ـِيـ اِی
e /eː/ ـے‬ ـيـ اے
ai /ɛː/ ـَے‬ ـَيـ اَے
u /ʊ/ N/A ـُ اُ
ū /uː/ ـُو اُو
o /oː/ ـو او
au /ɔː/ ـَو اَو


Additional characters and variations[edit]

Arabic Tāʼ marbūṭah[edit]

Tāʼ marbūṭah is also sometimes considered the 40th letter of the Urdu alphabet, though it is rarely used except for in certain loan words from Arabic. Tāʼ marbūṭah is regarded as a form of tā, the Arabic version of Urdu tē, But it is not pronounced as such, and when replaced with an Urdu letter in naturalised loan words it is usually replaced with Gol hē.

Table[edit]
Table of additional characters and variations
Group Letter [A][B] Name (see: Glossary of key words) Unicode [14][15]
Nastaliq [C] with
diacritics
Romanization or name in English [12][3]
Alif آ آ الف مدہ الِف مَدّه [12] alif maddah [12] [D] U+0622
alef with madda above [15]
Hamza [B] ء ء ہمزہ ہَمْزه [12] hamzah U+0621
hamza [15]
___ ___ hamza on the line
ٔ  ٔ  ___ ___ hamza diacritic [D][B]   U+0654
Hamza Above
ئ ئ ہمزہ ہَمْزه [12] hamzah U+0626
yeh with hamza above [15]
___ ___  yē hamza / alif hamza
ۓ ۓ ___ ___  baṛī yē hamza U+06D3
yeh barree with hamza above [14]
ؤ ؤ واوِ مَہْمُوز واوِ مَہْمُوز [12] vāv-e mahmūz [12] U+0624
waw with hamza above [15]
ۂ   ‍ۂ ۂ ـۂ ___ ___ U+06C2
heh goal with hamza above [14]
or U+06C1 + U+0654
Arabic [E] ۃ   ‍ۃ ۃ ـۃ Arabic:
تاء مربوطة
Arabic:
تَاء مَرْبُوطَة
tāʼ marbūṭah
"bound ta"
U+06C3
teh marbuta goal [14]
ة   ‍ة ة ـة U+0629
teh marbuta [15]
ت ت Arabic:
تاء مفتوحة
Arabic:
تَاء مَفْتُوحَة
tāʼ maftūḥah
"open ta"
U+062A
Teh
Footnotes:

  1. ^ a b Left: Urdu Nastaliq. Right: Arabic Naskh or modern style.
  2. ^ a b c See: Hamzah in Nastaliq.
  3. ^ The Nastaliq text will display in a different style if there is not an appropriate font installed on the machine.
  4. ^ a b Most vowel diacritics are omitted in most Urdu writing, but Urdu writing usually does distinguish alif mad, and include hamza over bari ye, gol he, and wow. For example, alif mad and bare alif in آزادی - "āzādī", ɑ:zɑ:d̪i, freedom[19]) are distinguished in most contexts.
  5. ^ see: Arabic Tāʼ marbūṭah above.
Cite error: A list-defined reference named "Oxford_Dictionaries" is not used in the content (see the help page).
Hamza in Nastaliq[edit]

Hamza can be difficult to recognise in Urdu handwriting and fonts designed to replicate it, closely resembling two dots above as featured in ت Té and ق Qaf, whereas in Arabic and Geometric fonts it is more distinct and closely resembles the western form of the numeral 2 two.


junk rows[edit]

Group Letter Name Unicode why it's junk
hamza ۂ   ‍ۂ    ۂ ـۂ ہ  +  ـــٔــ
U+06C1 + U+0654
given i had to resort to the Persian keyboard to find diacritic hamza, i think it's non-standard to build it this way, maybe mention the unicode characters, but no need to show it on the left.
hamzah ٔ  ٔ  ___ ___ hamza diacritic [A]   U+0654 Hamza Above
hamzah ٴ  ٴ  U+0674 "High Hamza" high hamzah fits better in similar unicode characters table

Vowels[edit]

The Urdu language has a total of 10 vowels: 3 short, 5 long and 2 diphthongal. Like in its parent Arabic alphabet, Urdu vowels are represented using a combination of digraphs and diacritics. Alif, Wāʾo, Ye, He and their variants are used to represent vowels.

Alif[edit]

Alif, the first letter of the Urdu alphabet, is a glottal stop consonant but is exclusively used as a vowel except in the syllable-initial position where it alone rather functions as a placeholder for syllable-initial short vowels, for example, اب ab, اسم ism, اڑ uṛ. As a vowel, it represents the long "a" (/ɑː/), for example, بھاگنا bhāgnā but when it follows another alif it takes the form of a tilde-like diacritic called madd on top of that alif, for example, آپ āp.

Waʾo[edit]

Wāʾo is used, as a consonant/semivowel, for "w" (/w/) and its allophonic development, the labiodental approximant (/ʋ/), and, as a vowel, for long "u" (/uː/), long "o" (/oː/) and the monophthongized diphthong "au" (/ɔː/). However, when preceded by a k͟he (خ), wāʾo sometimes renders the short "u" (/ʊ/), for example, in خود k͟hud.

Ye and Bari ye[edit]

Ye has a variant called baṛī ye ("greater ye") for which the regular Perso-Arabic ye (ی) is called choṭī ye ("lesser ye"), which is used, as a consonant/semivowel, for "y" (/j/) and, as a vowel, for long "i" (/iː/), long "e" (/eː/) and the monophthongized diphthong "ai" (/ɛː/).

Baṛī ye (ے) is however used to render the word-final long "e" and "ai" especially to distinguish prepositions and other single syllable words. Baṛī ye is never used as a consonant.

Letter's name Nastaliq Naskh
Final
Form
Middle
Form
Initial
Form
Isolated
Form
Final
Form
Middle
Form
Initial
Form
Isolated
Form
بڑی يے
Baṛī yē
‍ے [none] ے ‍ے [none] ے
چھوٹی يے  
Chotī yē
‍ی ‍ی‍ ی‍ ی ‍ی ‍ی‍ ی‍ ی
يَاء
Arabic Yāʾ
‍ي ‍ي‍ ي‍ ي ‍ي ‍ي‍ ي‍ ي

Nasal Nun[edit]

Vowel nasalization is indicated by placing a nūn (ن) after the vowel and removing the supralinear dot ( ں , always in word-final position) or placing a V-shaped or U-shaped diacritic called maghnoona or ulta jazm on top (ن٘). This is known as nūn g͟hunnā or nūn-e-g͟hunnā ("nūn of nasalization"). For example, the nasalized form of the word ہَے (hai, /ɦɛː/) is written ہَیں (ha͠i, /ɦɛ̃ː/). Word-medially it is also present for the homorganic nasalization in digraphs with velar and retroflex consonants, such as in ٹان٘گ (ṭāṅg, /ʈɑːŋɡ/) or گھن٘ٹہ (ghaṇṭā, /ɡʱəɳʈɑː/), where the maghnoona or ulta jazm is often ignored unless disambiguation is necessary (as with Arabic-script diacritics in general).

Examples:[edit]
Position Urdu Transcription / Transliteration IPA spelling for Hindi equivalent Translation
Nasta'lyq Arial font [A]
Orthography ں ں / ◌̃ / (diacritic on a vowel) e.g. /ɛ̃ː/ /æ̃:/ ँ ं
End
form
مَیں مَیں maiṉ ma͠i /mæ̃:/ [19] /mɛ̃ː/ मैं I (first person singular pronoun) or egotism [19]
میں میں mẽ /mẽ:/ में in / within / among / between / at [19]
ہَیں ہَیں ha͠i /ɦɛ̃ː/ /hæ̃:/ "are" (auxiliary verb) [19]
Middle
form [M]
کن٘ول کن٘ول kaṉwal [citation needed] /kə̃vəl/ [19] Lotus flower [20]
گھن٘ٹہ گھن٘ٹہ ghaṇṭā ɡʱəɳʈɑː घंटा ghanta ritual bell[19], hour[19], clock[19], slang for penis[19], or vague non-specific expletive[21]  
ٹان٘گ ٹان٘گ ṭāṅg /ʈɑːŋɡ/ टांग the leg [19]    
پن٘جابی پن٘جابی Punjabi

Urdu: [pəndʒɑ:bi] [19]
Punjabi: [pənˈdʒaːbːi]

Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Hindi: पंजाबी
PunjabiPanjabi
Footnotes:
^[A] Arial is a popular font for writing Arabic, it is included for readers who are not familiar with the letters in the Nasta'liq style.
^[M] For the medial form, the maghnoona or ulta jazm is often ignored unless disambiguation is necessary.

Vowel Diacritics[edit]

Urdu uses the same subset of diacritics used in Arabic based on Persian conventions. Urdu also uses Persian names of the diacritics instead of Arabic names. Commonly used diacritics are zabar (Arabic fatḥah), zer (Arabic kasrah), pesh (Arabic dammah) which are used to clarify the pronunciation of vowels, as shown above. Jazam (ـْـ , Arabic sukun) is used to indicate a consonant cluster and tashdid (ـّـ, Arabic shaddah) is used to indicate a gemination, although it is never used for verbs, which require double consonants to be spelled out separately. Other diacritics include khari zabar (Arabic dagger alif), do zabar (Arabic fathatan) which are found in some common Arabic loan words. Other Arabic diacritics are also sometimes used though very rarely in loan words from Arabic. Zer-e-izafat and hamzah-e-izafat are described in the next section.

Other than common diacritics, Urdu also has special diacritics, which are often found only in dictionaries for the clarification of irregular pronunciation. These diacritics include kasrah-e-majhool, fathah-e-majhool, dammah-e-majhool, maghnoona, ulta jazam, alif-e-wavi and some other very rare diacritics. Among these, only maghnoona is used commonly in dictionaries and has a Unicode representation at U+0658. Other diacritics are only rarely written in printed form, mainly in some advanced dictionaries.[22]

The two He's[edit]

He has two variants: gol he ("round he") and do-cashmī he ("two-eyed he").

Gol he (ہ) is the primary letter for the "h" (/ɦ/) sound but word-finally is pronounced as a long "a" or "e" (/ɑː/ or /e:/).

Do-cashmī he (ھ), which is written as a looped medial or initial hāʾ, is used to orthographically produce aspiration and breathy voice and sometimes to write Arabic words.

Gol He and do-cashmi-he diverged from the Arabic letter he, sometimes choti hey is used too refer to gol hey, while sometimes choti he refers to the Arabic version. The distinction is somewhat artificial, since gol he is an equivalent letter to the Arabic letter, but they have separate unicode characters. Some fonts make the Arabic he look the same as gol hey or do-cashmi he.

depictions of hey[edit]
He in very different fonts Nastaliq (N), Arial (A), and Tahoma (T) [footnote]
Letter name
and unicode
Isolated Form Final Form Middle Form Initial Form
N A T N A T N A T N A T
گول ہے
Gol he
U+06C1[23]
ہ ہ ہ ‍ہ ـہ ـہ ‍ہ‍ ـہـ ـہـ ہ‍ ہـ ہـ
دو چشمی ہے
Do-cashmī he
U+06BE[24]
ھ ھ ہ ‍ھ ـھ ـہ ‍ھ‍ ـھـ ـہـ ھ‍ ھـ ہـ
Arabic Letter Heh
U+0647[25]
ه ه ه ‍ه ـه ـه ‍ه‍ ـهـ ـهـ ه‍ هـ هـ

Footnotes: ^

  • This may display in different fonts to those listed if you do not have Arial, Tahoma, and a Nastaliq font installed.
  • Nasta'liq is the style used for almost everything written in Urdu, from official documents to web memes. This will only display in Nastaliq if you have a Nastaliq font installed on your system, such as Urdu Typesetting (on Windows), Google's Noto Nastaliq Urdu,[26] or SIL International's Awami Nastaliq.[27]
  • Arial is a font commonly used for Arabic, but it also includes the Urdu letters.
  • Tahoma has an extensive and distinctive Arabic character set, particularly for Hey.

Aspirated and breathy voiced consonants[edit]

Hindi has a very similar phonology to Urdu and they share a lot of vocabulary. Hindi is traditionally written in the Devanagari script. This script is also used to Urdu, particularly when seeking a wider audience for Urdu writing.[28][29]

Devanagari has a very different way of Representing the aspirated consonants.

Table of digraphs:[edit]

notes for below[edit]
"Aspirated sonorants may be represented as conjuncts/ligatures with ह ha ...
म्ह mha, न्ह nha, ण्ह ṇha, व्ह vha, ल्ह lha, ळ्ह ḷha, र्ह rha."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari
References to add:
from Hindustani orthography
http://www.cle.org.pk/Downloads/ling_resources/phoneticinventory/UrduPhoneticInventory.pdf
contribution by User:Ash_wki
19:53, 25 February 2020 (thanked) Ash wki Aspirated consonants:
"Digraphs don't have to include everything single letter in the alphabet. Aspirated consonants are strictly Indic." [2]
19:54, 25 February 2020: added "(not used)" to لھ [lʱ] [3]
an annon contributer said a lot of the digraphs are not used
18:26, 3 February 2020 220.247.131.218 [4]


table[edit]
corresponding single-letters Urdu digraphs
[4][10][12][30][31][32][16]
Urdu
Letter
Devanagari IPA[ə] Urdu
Digraphs
Urdu Name(s)
[12][31]
Romanised
name(s)
Devanagari
[30][12][16]
ALA‑LC
[10]
IPA[ə] Type [33] Usage Examples
ھ [H] ʱ / ʰ (below) دوچَشْمی ہے [12] dō‑čašmī hē (none) [H] h ʱ / ʰ [example needed]
ب [[ | ]] بھ [12] [32] بھے [12] bhē[12] bh bʱ [32] [example needed]
پ [[ | ]] پھ پھے [12] phē[12] ph [32] [example needed]
ت [[ | ]] تھ [12] تھے [12] thē[12] th ʰ [32] [example needed]
ٹ [[ | ]] ٹھ ٹھے [12] ṭhē[12] ṭh ʈʰ [example needed]
ج [[ | ]] جھ [12]
[32]
جھے [12] jhē [12] jh d͡ʒʱ [example needed]
چ [[ | ]] چھ [12] چھے [12] čhē[12] / chhē ch t͡ʃʰ [32] [example needed]
د [[ | ]] دھ [32] دھے [12]
[32]
dhē[12] dh ʱ [32] [example needed]
ڈ [[ | ]] ڈھ [12]
[32]
ڈھے [12] ḍhē[12] ḍh ɖʱ [32] [example needed]
ک [[ | ]] کھ کھے khē [16] kh kʰ [example needed]
گ [[ | ]] گھ [12] گھے [12] ghē [12] gh ɡʱ [32] [example needed]
ڑ ड़ [[ | ]] ڑھ [12]
[32]
ڑھے [12] ṛhē [12] ढ़ ṛh ɽʱ [32] [example needed]
ر [[ | ]] رھ [32] [[ ]] ṛh [32] rʱ [32] [example needed]
ن [[ | ]] نھ [32] न्ह nh nʱ [32] [example needed]
م [[ | ]] مھ [32] म्ह mh mʱ [32] [example needed]
ل [[ | ]] لھ [32] ल्ह lʱ [32] [example needed]
س [[ ]] [[ | ]] سھ [[ ]] [[ | ]] [example needed]
ٮ [[ ]] [[ | ]] ٮھ [[ ]] [[ | ]] [example needed]
ی [[ | ]] یھ [32] य्ह yh [32] jʱ [32] [example needed]
و [[ | ]] وھ व्ह wh [32] ʋʱ [32] [example needed]
ل ا [[ | ]] لا لام الِف [12] lām alif ला [12] la [example needed]
garbage rows[edit]
single-letter digraphs
Urdu
Letter
Devanagari IPA[ə] Urdu Digraphs Urdu Name(s) Romanised
name(s)
Devanagari ALA‑LC IPA[ə]
ه hʱ
Footnotes:[edit]

. The Devanagari equivalents all add a schwa ə vowel to the IPA.

^h . In most cases aspirated digraphs have a single devanagari character in Hindi, but on rare occasions is used.

^Lam Alif: This ligature is much mote prominent in Arabic styles than it is in Urdu's usual Nastaliq.

notes to add[edit]
pre irtapil wiki[edit]
ur: حروف تہجی [edit]
بھ پھ تھ ٹھ جھ چھ دھ ڈھ ڑھ کھ گھ لھ مھ۔ نھ ھ
بھ پھ تھ ٹھ جھ چھ دھ ڈھ ڑھ کھ گھ لھ مھ۔ نھ ھ
بھ پھ تھ ٹھ جھ چھ دھ ڈھ ڑھ کھ گھ لھ مھ۔ نھ ھ
ا ب بھ پ پھ ت تھ ٹ ٹھ ث ج جھ چ چھ ح خ د دھ ڈ ڈھ ذ ر ڑ ڑھ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک کھ گ گھ ل لھ م مھ۔ ن۔ نھ و ہ ھ ء ی ے


= omniglot urdu =[edit]

https://www.omniglot.com/writing/urdu.htm [4]

bʰ بھ [bʱ] [4] pʰ پھ [pʰ] [4] tʰ تھ [tʰ] [4] ṭʰ ٹھ [ʈʰ] [4] jʰ جھ [dʒʱ] [4] cʰ چھ [tʃʰ] [4] dʰ دھ [dʱ] [4] ḍʰ ڈھ [ɖʱ] [4] rʰ رھ [rʱ] [4] ṛʰe ڑھ [ɽʱ] [4] kʰ کھ [kʰ] [4] gʰ گھ [gʱ] [4] lʰ لھ [lʱ] [4] mʰ مھ [mʱ] [4] nʰ نھ [nʱ] [4]

= github =[edit]

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

d̪ʱ dʰ dh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

ʈʰ ʈʰ ṭh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

ɖʱ ɖʰ ḍh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

kʰ kʰ kh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

ɡʱ gʰ gh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

t͡ʃʰ čʰ ch

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

hʱ ـه ʰ hh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

mʱ mʰ mh

[32] IPA - Transliterate - LOC

nʱ nʰ nh

[32]

ɽʱ ɽʰ ṛh

= "Beyond Simple Transliteration" =[edit]
= digraphs =[edit]

[16] ख KHA Kaaf-Hay

[16] घ GHA Gaaf-Hay

[16] छ CHA Chay-Hay

[16] झ JHA Jeem-Hay

[16] ठ TTHA Ttay-Hay

[16] ढ DDHA Ddaal-Hay

[16] थ THA Tay-Hay

[16] ध DHA Daal-Hay

[16] फ PHA Pay-Hay

[16] भ BHA Bay-Hay

Examples of digraph usage:[edit]
corresponding
single-letters
digraphs Example
Urdu
Letter
IPA Urdu
Digraphs
[10][4][31]
IPA Urdu with
diacritics
IPA Latin Alphabet translation
ب بھ bʱ بھارت /bʰɑ:rət̪/
[19]
India [20]
بھالو // bhalo
[31]
[[]]
بھاری bʰɑ:ri heavy / fat / bulky / loud / difficult / important / wealthy [19]
پ پھ پھول [31] / / phul
[31]
[[ ]]
پھول / / [[ ]]
ت تھ tʰ [footnote] تھم / / [[ ]]
تھال [31] / / thal
[31]
[[ ]]
لتھیم [34] / / Lithium Lithium (need a better example, spelling of lithium too variable in the vowels)
ٹ ٹھ ʈʰ ٹھوس /ʈʰo:s/
[19]
solid / compact / firm / true / dull [20]
ٹھیلا [31] / / thela
[31]
[[ ]]
ٹھیس / / [[ ]]
ج جھ d͡ʒʱ جھاڑی / / [[ ]]
/ / [[ ]]
چ چھ t͡ʃʰ چھری [31] / / chhuri
[31]
[[ ]]
چھوکرا / / [[ ]]
د دھ dʱ دھم [31] / / dham
[31]
[[ ]]
گندھک /gənd̪ʰək/
[19]
sulphur / brimstone [20]
دھوبی / / [[ ]]
ڈ ڈھ ɖʱ ڈھال [31] / / dhal
[31]
[[ ]]
ڈھول / / [[ ]]
ر رھ [[ | ]][[ | ]] / / [[ ]]
/ / [[ ]]
ڑ ڑھ ɽʱ گڑھ [31] / / garh
[31]
[[ ]]
کڑھنا / / [[ ]]
ک کھ kʰ کھولنا / / [[ ]]
کھانا [31] /kʰɑ:nɑ:/
[19]
khana
[31]
food / meal / banquet [20]
دکھائی [35] /d̪ɪkʰɑ:i:/
[19]
inspection / appearance / showing / show [20]
گ گھ ɡʱ گھر [31] / / ghar
[31]
[[ ]]
گھبراہٹ / / [[ ]]
ن نھ nʱ ننّھا /nənnʰɑ:/
[19]
small / tiny
[19]
___ / / [[ ]]
م مھ mʱ تمھیں [19] / / [[ ]] (alternative of تُمہیں)
___ / / [[ ]]
و وھ [[ | ]] / / [[ ]]
/ / [[ ]]
ل لھ
[31]
lʰ
[19]
lʱ
[32]
دولھا [31] دُولھا
[19]
/d̪u:lʰɑ:/
[19]
bridegroom [20]
/ / [[ ]]
ل ا لا
[footnote]
خلا [35] /xəlɑ:/
[19]
outer space, vacuum, vacant place, absence [20]
ملاعین [19] /məlɑ:ʔi:n/
[19]
accursed persons [20]
علاج عِلاج /ɪlɑ:dʒ/ [19] cure / remedy / antidote / relief [20]

Iẓāfat[edit]

Iẓāfat is a syntactical construction of two nouns, where the first component is a determined noun, and the second is a determiner. This construction was borrowed from Persian. A short vowel "i" is used to connect these two words, and when pronouncing the newly-formed word the short vowel is connected to the first word. If the first word ends in a consonant or an ʿain (ع), it may be written as zer ( ِ) at the end of the first word, but usually is not written at all. If the first word ends in choṭī he (ہ) or ye (ی or ے) then hamzā (ء) is used above the last letter (ۂ or ئ or ۓ). If the first word ends in a long vowel (ا or و), then baṛī ye (ے) with hamzā on top (ئے) is added at the end of the first word.[36]

Forms Example Transliteration Meaning
ــِ شیرِ پنجاب sher-e Punjāb the lion of Punjab
ئ ولئ کامل walī-ye kāmil perfect saint
ئے روئے زمین -ye zamīn the surface of the Earth
صدائے بلند sadā-ye buland a high voice


Comparison to related languages[edit]

Differences from the Persian alphabet[edit]

Urdu has more letters added to the Persian base to represent sounds not present in Persian, which already has additional letters added to the Arabic base itself to represent sounds not present in Arabic. The letters added include:

Retroflex letters[edit]

^(back)

Old Hindustani used four dots over three Arabic letters to represent retroflex consonants: ٿ, ڐ and ڙ.[37] In handwriting those dots was often written like a small vertical line attached to a small triangle. Subsequently, this shape became identical to a small letter ط.[38] (It is commonly and erroneously assumed that ṭāʾ[citation needed] itself was used to indicate retroflex consonants because of its being an emphatic alveolar consonant that Arabic scribes thought approximated the Hindustani retroflexes. In modern Urdu ط, called to'e is always pronounced as a dental, not a retroflex.


modern Urdu Sindhi retroflex consonant old Urdu form Sindhi
IPA for ٿ ڐ ڙ
alphabet Unicode name IPA alphabet Unicode alphabet Unicode
ٹ U+0679 ٹے ṭē /ʈ/ ٽ U+067D ٿ U+067F // or /t͡ɕʰ/
ڈ U+0688 ڈال ḍāl /ɖ/ ڊ U+068A ڐ U+0690 none
ڑ U+0691 ڑے ṛē /ɽ/ ڙ U+0699 ڙ U+0699 /ɽ/
notes[edit]
U+06BB ڻ‎ rnoon [14]
U+0690 ڐ‎ dal with four dots above [14]
U+0699 ڙ‎ reh with four dots above [14]
U+067F ٿ‎ teheh [14]

Retroflex distinction when converting to and from the Latin alphabet[edit]

Conversion between the Urdu and English alphabets does not work the same way in both directions. In English when converting Urdu script to the Latin alphabet, the letters د and ت are often shown as "d" and "t", respectively. In the international phonetic alphabet, the most precise depiction of these letters is and but even then they are often simplified to d and t. Whereas in the reverse direction, the corresponding retroflexed versions of these letters ڈ and ٹ are the letters most often used for "d" and "t" in European loan words and transliterations of proper nouns. These letters are rarer in Urdu, to the that where European loan words like (doctor) and (tomato) are often the examples given when teaching Children the Urdu alphabet.


Hindi devanagari equivalent [12][16] ड़ ढ़
Urdu letters and digraphs ط ت ٹ تھ ٹھ د ڈ دھ ڈھ ر ڑ ڑھ رھ
Urdu IPA /t/ // /ʈ/ /t̪ʰ/ /ʈʰ/ d / /ɖ/ /d̪ʱ/ /ɖʱ/ /r/ /ɽ/ /ɽʱ/ (i)
English spellings
for Urdu words
ALA‑LC[10] t th ṭh d dh ḍh r ṛh
Hunterian[11] t th d dh r rh
English words and names t th d r
English IPA t θ / ð d (ii)
Urdu for English
words and names
ٹ تھ ڈ ر

^i. rare letter combination in Urdu. ^ii. English R varies by dialect.

Examples:[edit]
Urdu spellings of European words and names
Letters English Spelling
[footnote]
Pronunciation Urdu Spelling Romanisation of Urdu Spelling Origin
D T TH R English Urdu Nastaliq Naskh ref.
D→ڈ
T→ٹ
R→ر
doctor /ˈdɒktə/ /ɖɑːkʈər/ [19] ڈاکٹر ڈاکٹر English [20]
T→ٹ tomato tʰə̥ˈmɑːtʰəʊ ṭamāṭar ٹماٹر ٹماٹر Spanish: tomate
/t̪oˈmat̪e/
Portuguese: tomate
Portugal: /tuˈma.tɨ/
D→ڈ
T→ٹ
R→ر
Donald Trump ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ [39]
TH→تھ Elizabeth II Elizabeth Elizabeth ایلزبتھ دوم ایلزبتھ دوم
TH→تھ
R→ر
Theresa May تھریسا مے تھریسا مے [40]
T→ٹ
R→ر
Brexit /ˈbrɛksɪt/
/ˈbrɛɡzɪt/
[41]
بریگزٹ بریگزٹ [40] English: a portmanteau of "British" and "exit"
D→ڈ
R→ر
T→ٹ
Women Democratic Front ویمن ڈیموکریٹک فرنٹ ویمن ڈیموکریٹک فرنٹ [42] [43] a Pakistani feminist organisation
T→ٹ
R→ر
Australia آسٹریلیا آسٹریلیا
D→ڈ
R→ر
Hydrogen ہائیڈروجن ہائیڈروجن [34]
T→ٹ
R→ر
Nitrogen نائٹروجن نائٹروجن [34]
D→ڈ
T→ٹ
TH→تھ
R→ر
[[___]] ___ ___ ___ ___

Comparison to Hindi Devanagari and Arabic[edit]

Urdu and Hindi are mostly mutually intelligible, to the point that they are sometimes considered to be one language,[44] but this distinction is controversial (Hindi Urdu controversy). One of the biggest differences is the script; Hindi is usually written in Devanagari. Transliteration between the two scripts is neither simple nor unambiguous.[16] There are many cases where one character in Devanagari Hindi corresponds to multiple redundant characters in Persianised Urdu [12] or vice versa [citation needed] (see table below). in many of these cases the letters had different pronunciations in Arabic, from which the Urdu alphabet is derived (via the Persian alphabet). For example, the letters representing the emphatic consonants from Arabic, ط and ص are pronounced the same way as the corresponding non-emphatic consonants ت and س in Urdu. Though, when pronouncing Arabic words, particularly in a religious context, native speakers of Urdu go to great effort to pronounce the Arabic sounds unambiguously [citation needed].

Table comparing to Arabic and Hindi[edit]
Arabic Phoneme for Letter (IPA) [i] Arabic Urdu Devanagari (+ə) [ii] [12][16] Arabic Letter for Urdu Phoneme [iii]
MSA CA Letter
Name
Letter
[iv]
Letter Letter
Name
[12][16]
IPA [4] MSA CA
absent Ttay ٹ ʈ absent
ٹھ [[__]]
تھ [[__]]
t / ta ت Tay ت ت
toh ط Toay ط
ژ [[__]]
ز ز z ज़  
ض ض
ظ ظ
ð ð ذ ذ
θ θ tha ث Saay ث s س
sod ص Suad ص
s sin س Seen س
ش ش [[__]]
د د [[__]]
absent Daal (ḍāl) ڈ ɖ absent
absent
[v]
nūn-e ğunnah ں [[__]]
Chandrabindu
absent ـني
[5]
kaf ك kāf ک [[__]] ك
/j/
[6]
ya ي čhōṭī yē ی [[__]] ي
/w/
[vi]
wow و vāō / wāō و [[__]] ڤ ڥ ف
[vii]
absent
ه [viii]
هـ ـهـ ـه
dō‑čašmī hē ھ
ھـ   ـھـ   ـھ
ʱ / ʰ [ix]
ہ
ہـ   ـہـ   ـہ
[[__]]
ح [[__]]
[[__]]
= current version from urdu alphabet[edit]
Isolated glyph IPA Name [13]
ا /ɑː, ʔ, ∅/ alif
ب /b/
پ /p/
ت /t/
ٹ /ʈ/ ṭē
ث /s/ s̱ē
ج /d͡ʒ/ jīm
چ /t͡ʃ/
ح /ɦ/ baṛī ḥē
خ /x/ k͟hē
د /d/ dāl
ڈ /ɖ/ ḍāl
ذ /z/ ẕāl
ر /r/
ڑ /ɽ/ ṛē
ز /z/
ژ /ʒ/ zhē
س /s/ sīn
ش /ʃ/ shīn
ص /s/ ṣwād
ض /z/ ẓwād
ط /t/ t̤oʼē
ظ /z/ z̤oʼē
ع /ɑː, oː, eː,
ʔ, ʕ, ∅/
ʻain
غ /ɣ/ g͟hain
ف /f/
ق /q/ qāf
ک /k/ kāf
گ /ɡ/ gāf
ل /l/ lām
م /m/ mīm
ن /n, ɲ,
ɳ, ŋ/
nūn
ں /◌̃/ nūn g͟hunnā
و /ʋ, , ʊ,
, ɔː/
wāʼo
ہ /ɦ, ɑː, e:/ choṭī hē
gol hē
ھ /ʰ/ or /ʱ/ do-cashmī hē
ء /ʔ/ or /∅/
(footnote)
hamzā
ی /j, iː, ɑː/ choṭī yē
ے /ɛː, eː/ baṛī yē



g

Footnotes:[edit]

  1. ^ Arabic ⅠPA: The ⅠPA pronunciation of the letter in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic.
  2. ^ Devanagari IPA ə: The Devanagari equivalents all add a schwa ə vowel to the ⅠPA.
  3. ^ Arabic spelling: The spelling for the Urdu phoneme in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic.
  4. ^ Arabic Letter: There are a lot of differences between Arabic and Urdu writing even when there is a direct one to one correspondence between the letters, some of these differences are reflected in different unicode characters - ك ک and ي ی - while sometimes the differences are only reflected in font choice and hand writing styles. See also: similar characters in Unicode below.
  5. ^ Arabic dotless nun: Arabic does sometimes use a dotless nun ں historically in the rasm script, but this is just a different way to write nun ن not historically or phonetically equivalent to Urdu nūn-e ğunnah. The Rasm script omits dots from all other letters (e.g. ٮ ڡ ٯ- qaf, fa, and ba/ta/tha) rendering many letters indistinguishable.
  6. ^ Letters that can be consonants or vowels: This is the IPA for ye ی and wow و as consonants, for their vowel pronunciations, see vowel table below. The Urdu and Arabic ی and و can be a consonant or vowel depending on context like English Y.
  7. ^ W and V: In Arabic و   says W. For the sound V, letters from related alphabets are often used ڤ ڥ   or the Arabic letter ف   (which normally says "F", as it does in Urdu).
  8. ^ Divergence of Arabic Ha:
  9. ^ Devanagari aspirated consonants: For aspirated consonants, see the table of digraphs above .
Cite error: A list-defined reference named "arabic_nasal" is not used in the content (see the help page).
notes to add[edit]
digraph transliteration notes[edit]
Digraphs
Beyond Simple
Transliteration
Hannover
Hindi
Letter
Hindi
Letter
Name
Rom.
Urdu
Name
Rom.
Name
Urdu
Name
Hindi
Letter
Number
[16] KHA [16] Kaaf-Hay [16] khē [12] کھے [12] 28 h
[16] GHA [16] Gaaf-Hay [16] ghē [12] گھے [12] 29 h
[16] CHA [16] Chay-Hay [16] čhē [12] چھے [12] 8 h
[16] JHA [16] Jeem-Hay [16] jhē [12] جھے [12] 7 h
[16] TTHA [16] Ttay-Hay [16] ṭhē [12] ٹھے [12] 5 h
[16] DDHA [16] Ddaal-Hay [16] ḍhē [12] ڈھے [12] 12 h
[16] THA [16] Tay-Hay [16] thē [12] تھے [12] 4 h
[16] DHA [16] Daal-Hay [16] dhē [12] دھے [12] 11 h
[16] PHA [16] Pay-Hay [16] phē [12] پھے [12] 3 h
[16] BHA [16] Bay-Hay [16] bhē [12] بھے بھے [12] 2 h
ṛhē [12] ڑھے ढ़ [12] 15 h
= Beyond Simple Transliteration =[edit]

[16] न NA Noon

[16] ण NNA

[16] ञ NYA

[16] ङ NGA Noon


[16] क KA Kaaf

[16] ख KHA Kaaf-Hay

[16] ग GA Gaaf

[16] घ GHA Gaaf-Hay

[16] ङ NGA Noon

[16] च CA Chay

[16] छ CHA Chay-Hay

[16] ज JA Jeem

[16] झ JHA Jeem-Hay

[16] ञ NYA

[16] ट TTA Ttay

[16] ठ TTHA Ttay-Hay

[16] ड DDA Ddaal

[16] ढ DDHA Ddaal-Hay

[16] ण NNA

[16] त TA Tay/ Toay

[16] थ THA Tay-Hay

[16] द DA Daal

[16] ध DHA Daal-Hay

[16] न NA Noon

[16] प PA Pay

[16] फ PHA Pay-Hay

[16] ब BA Bay

[16] भ BHA Bay-Hay

[16] म MA Meem

[16] य YA Bari-Yeh

[16] र RA Ray

[16] ल LA Laam

[16] व VA Wow

[16] श SHA Sheen

[16] ष SSA Sheen

[16] स SA Seen/ Saay/ Suad

[16] ह HA b Hay


other alphabets[edit]

[16] क KA Kaaf

[16] ख KHA Kaaf-Hay

[16] ग GA Gaaf

[16] घ GHA Gaaf-Hay

[16] ङ NGA Noon

[16] च CA Chay

[16] छ CHA Chay-Hay

[16] ज JA Jeem

[16] झ JHA Jeem-Hay

[16] ञ NYA

[16] ट TTA Ttay

[16] ठ TTHA Ttay-Hay

[16] ड DDA Ddaal

[16] ढ DDHA Ddaal-Hay

[16] ण NNA

[16] त TA Tay/ Toay

[16] थ THA Tay-Hay

[16] द DA Daal

[16] ध DHA Daal-Hay

[16] न NA Noon

[16] प PA Pay

[16] फ PHA Pay-Hay

[16] ब BA Bay

[16] भ BHA Bay-Hay

[16] म MA Meem

[16] य YA Bari-Yeh

[16] र RA Ray

[16] ल LA Laam

[16] व VA Wow

[16] श SHA Sheen

[16] ष SSA Sheen

[16] स SA Seen/ Saay/ Suad

[16] ह HA Ha

unicode notes[edit]
U+0623 أ‎ alef with hamza above [15]
U+0625 إ‎ alef with hamza below [15]
U+06BB ڻ‎ rnoon [14]
U+06A5 ڥ‎ feh with three dots below [14]
U+06A4 ڤ‎ veh [14]
U+0643 ك‎ kaf [15]
U+0690 ڐ‎ dal with four dots above [14]
U+0699 ڙ‎ reh with four dots above [14]
U+067F ٿ‎ teheh [14]

comparison to neighbouring languages[edit]

Romanization standards and systems[edit]

Bibles in Roman Urdu, such as this one published by the Bible Society of India, are used by many Christians from the Indian subcontinent.

There are several romanization standards for writing Urdu with the Latin alphabet, though they are not very popular because most fall short of representing the Urdu language properly. Instead of standard romanization schemes, people on Internet, mobile phones and media often use a non-standard form of romanization which tries to mimic English orthography. The problem with this kind of romanization is that it can only be read by native speakers, and even for them with great difficulty. Among standardized romanization schemes, the most accurate is ALA-LC romanization, which is also supported by National Language Authority. Other romanization schemes are often rejected because either they are unable to represent sounds in Urdu properly, or they often do not take regard of Urdu orthography, and favor pronunciation over orthography.[45]

Roman Urdu also holds significance among the Christians of Pakistan and North India. Urdu was the dominant native language among Christians of Karachi and Lahore in present-day Pakistan and Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan in India, during the early part of the 19th and 20th century, and is still used by Christians in these places. Pakistani and Indian Christians often used the Roman script for writing Urdu. Thus Roman Urdu was a common way of writing among Pakistani and Indian Christians in these areas up to the 1960s. The Bible Society of India publishes Roman Urdū Bibles that enjoyed sale late into the 1960s (though they are still published today). Church songbooks are also common in Roman Urdu. However, the usage of Roman Urdu is declining with the wider use of Hindi and English in these states.

Computers and the Urdu alphabet[edit]

In the early days of computers, Urdu was not properly represented on any code page. One of the earliest code pages to represent Urdu was IBM Code Page 868 which dates back to 1990.[46] Other early code pages which represented Urdu alphabets were Windows-1256 and MacArabic encoding both of which date back to the mid 1990s. In Unicode, Urdu is represented inside the Arabic block. Another code page for Urdu, which is used in India, is Perso-Arabic Script Code for Information Interchange. In Pakistan, the 8-bit code page which is developed by National Language Authority is called Urdu Zabta Takhti (اردو ضابطہ تختی) (UZT) [47] which represents Urdu in its most complete form including some of its specialized diacritics, though UZT is not designed to coexist with the Latin alphabet.

Encoding Urdu in Unicode[edit]

Like other writing systems derived from the Arabic script, Urdu uses the 0600–06FF Unicode range.[48] Certain glyphs in this range appear visually similar (or identical when presented using particular fonts) even though the underlying encoding is different. This presents problems for information storage and retrieval. For example, the University of Chicago's electronic copy of John Shakespear's "A Dictionary, Hindustani, and English"[49] includes the word 'بهارت' (India). Searching for the string "بھارت" returns no results, whereas querying with the (identical-looking in many fonts) string "بهارت" returns the correct entry.[50] This is because the medial form of the Urdu letter do chashmi he (U+06BE)—used to form aspirate digraphs in Urdu—is visually identical in its medial form to the Arabic letter hāʾ (U+0647; phonetic value /h/). In Urdu, the /h/ phoneme is represented by the character U+06C1, called gol he - round he, or chhoti he - small he (see also: "#Stylistic variants between Arabic and Urdu" above).

In 2003, the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP)[51]—a research organisation affiliated with Pakistan's National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences—produced a proposal for mapping from the 1-byte UZT encoding of Urdu characters to the Unicode standard.[52] This proposal suggests a preferred Unicode glyph for each character in the Urdu alphabet.

Similar Characters[edit]
Table of Similar Unicode Characters
Character(s) typically used in Urdu Similar character(s)
N (i) Naskh forms (ii) Unicode [14][15] N (i) Naskh forms (ii) Unicode [14][15] Usage
ک ک کـ ـکـ ـک U+06A9 "keheh" ك ك كـ ـكـ ـك U+0643 "kaf" [15]
ی ی یـ ـیـ ـی U+06CC "Farsi Yeh" ي ي يـ ـيـ ـي U+064A "Yeh"
ى ى ىـ ـىـ ـى U+0649 "Alef Maksura"
ھ   ‍ھ ھ ھـ ـھـ ـھ U+06BE "Heh Doachashmee" ه   ‍ه ه هـ ـهـ ـه U+0647 "Heh"
ہ   ‍ہ ہ ہـ ـہـ ـہ U+06C1 "Heh Goal"
ۃ   ‍ۃ ۃ ـۃ U+06C3 "Teh marbuta Goal" [14] ة   ‍ة ة ـة U+0629 "Teh marbuta" [15]
ۂ   ‍ۂ ۂ ـۂ U+06C2 "Heh Goal with Hamza above" [14] ۀ   ‍ۀ ۀ ـۀ U+06C0 "Heh with Yeh above"
   ٔ        ـــٔــ     U+0654 "Hamza above" ٴ       ٴ    U+0674 "High Hamza" [14]
ئ ئ ئـ ـئـ ـئ U+0626 "Yeh with Hamza above" [15] ٸ ٸ ٸـ ـٸـ ـٸ  U+0678 "High Hamza Yeh"
ؤ ؤ U+0624 "Waw with Hamza above" [15] ٶ ٶ U+0676 "High Hamza Waw" [14]

Footnotes:

^i: N = Nastaliq (This it may not display in Nastaliq style, depending on which fonts are installed locally). Single characters are the isolated form, where two are shown they are the isolated form and end form.

^ii. The other positional forms are shown in Naskh only because Nastaliq has more than four positional forms for many characters, depending on which character they join.[53][6]

junk rows[edit]
Character(s) typically used in Urdu Similar character(s)
N (i) Naskh forms (ii) Unicode N (i) Naskh forms (ii) Unicode Use
ۂ   ‍ۂ   ۂ ـۂ ہ  +  ـــٔــ

U+06C1 + U+0654

هٔ   ‍هٔ  هٔ هٔـ ـهٔـ ـهٔ ه  +  ـــٔــ
U+0647 + U+0654
ۇ ۇ U+06C7 "u" [14]

Software[edit]

The Daily Jang was the first Urdu newspaper to be typeset digitally in Nastaʻliq by computer. There are efforts underway to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Urdu support on computers and on the Internet. Nowadays, nearly all Urdu newspapers, magazines, journals and periodicals are composed on computers via various Urdu software programmes, the most widespread of which is InPage Desktop Publishing package. Microsoft has included Urdu language support in all new versions of Windows and both Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 are available in Urdu through Language Interface Pack[54] support. Most Linux Desktop distributions allow the easy installation of Urdu support and translations as well.[55] Apple implemented the Urdu language keyboard across Mobile devices in its iOS 8 update in September 2014.[56]

Computing and Typesetting[edit]

Despite the invention of the Urdu typewriter in 1911[citation needed], Urdu newspapers continued to publish prints of handwritten scripts by calligraphers known as katibs or khush-navees until the late 1980s [citation needed]. The Pakistani national newspaper Daily Jang was the first Urdu newspaper to use Nastaliq computer-based composition. There are efforts under way to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Urdu support on computers and the internet. Nowadays, nearly all Urdu newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals are composed on computers with Urdu software programs.

Keyboard[edit]

The Urdu keyboard is usually available on all major platforms such as Android, iOS and Windows however they can vary for instance Android and iOS devices usually use the phonetics keyboard whereas Windows machines use the UZT machines, although the Phonetics version is also available for Windows. MacOS machines use the same Phonetics keyboard as iOS devices.

Font[edit]

As of April 2020, iOS and MacOS are the only platforms to use the Nastaliq font as standard for the Urdu language.

Use of Urdu keyboard layout for other languages[edit]

Windows 10 uses the Urdu keyboard for the Arabic script versions of Punjabi and Sindhi languages, despite the Urdu keyboard missing several Sindhi letters - ڪ ڳ ڱ ڦ ٺ ٻ ڀ ڊ ڍ ڌ ڏ ڇ ڄ ڃ ي ڻ ۽ ۾ - and the Urdu versions of - ٹ ڑ - which written as ٿ ڙ in Sindhi (see below). [citation needed]

Variations[edit]

idea: instead of colours, just cut this up into slices and put a long skinny image next to each font name.

The Urdu alphabet isolated forms in 3 styles
Nastaliq [footnote 1]  ے ی و ھ ہ ن ں م ل گ ک ق ف غ ع ظ ط ض ص ش س ژ ز ڑ ر ذ ڈ د خ ح چ ج ث ٹ ت پ ب آ ا ئ ء
simplified [footnote 2] ء ئ ا آ ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ں ہ ھ و ی ے
Naskh [footnote 3] ء ئ ا آ ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ں ہ ھ و ی ے
The Urdu alphabet isolated forms in 17 fonts
Noto Nastaliq Urdu
Urdu Typesetting
Scheherazade
Lateef
Noto Naskh Arabic
Markazi Text
Noto Sans Arabic
Baloo Bhaijaan
El Messiri
Lemonada
Changa
Mada
Noto Kufi Arabic
Reem Kufi
Lalezar
Jomhuria
Rakkas

Footnotes:

^Footnote 1. These styles may display in different styles, depending on which fonts you have installed on your device. Compare to the image, the first two lines of the image are in Nastaliq fonts: "Noto Nastaliq Urdu" from Google's Noto fonts collection and "Urdu Typesetting" from Microsoft.

^Footnote 2. Simplified geometric font styles are rarely used for Urdu, they are more commonly used for other languages such as Arabic and Farsi, but many of these fonts support the full Urdu alphabet, such as "Baloo Bhaijaan" (yellow font in the image) which was specifically designed for Urdu by the India-based typeface foundry Ek Type, and Microsoft's "Tahoma".

^[Footnote 3. Naskh styles are usually not a first choice for Urdu publishing, but Naskh fonts are often used where a more characteristic Urdu font is unavailable. Naskh fonts have been available much longer than Nastaliq fonts, and Naskh fonts than work better than Nastaliq fonts where display sized or processing power are limited, such as on mobile phones or older computers.[citation needed]

Urdu Letter Construction[edit]

Table: Letter construction
diacritics and
modifications (i)
base shapes (ii) types of
diacritics
ء   ا ے ى ں ٮ ح س ص ط ع ڡ ٯ ک ل م د ر و ـھ ـہ ـه
line
above
  گ   extra line
tōē
above
ٹ ڈ ڑ i'jam
1 dot
above
ن خ ض ظ غ ف ذ ز
1 dot
below
ب ج
3 dots
above
ث ش ژ
3 dots
below
پ چ  
2 dots
above
ت ق ـۃ ۃ ـة ة
2 dots
below (iv)
یـ
ـیـ


ـی
ی
 ٘ ــ٘ـ nūn ghūnna
(vi)
  ٘   vowels
none ء ا ے ـں
ں
ح س ص ط ع ک ل م د ر و ھ ہ none
ٴ ــٔـ Hamza (v)   ۓ ئ ؤ ـۂ ۂ vowels
ۤ ۤ madda (v) آ
Rasm
forms
(iii)
start ء ا none ىـ ٮـ حـ سـ صـ طـ عـ ڡـ ٯـ کـ لـ مـ د ر و ھـ ہـ هـ none
shown
middle ـا none ـىـ ـٮـ   ـحـ ـسـ ـصـ ـطـ ـعـ ـڡـ ـٯـ ـکـ ـلـ ـمـ ـد ـر ـو ـھـ ـہـ ـهـ
end ـا ـے ـى ـں ـٮ ـح ـس ـص ـط ـع ـڡ ـٯ ـک ـل ـم ـد ـر ـو ـھ ـہ ـه
isolated ء   ا ے ى ں ٮ ح س ص ط ع ڡ ٯ ک ل م د ر و ھ ہ ه

^i. The i'jam diacritic characters are illustrative only, in most typesetting the combined characters in the middle of the table are used. The characters used to illustrate the consonant diacritics are from Unicode set "Arabic pedagogical symbols"[57].

^ii. Skeleton characters that do not appear in the alphabet are "DOTLESS BEH" U+066E, "DOTLESS QAF" U+066F, and "DOTLESS FEH" U+06A1. These are not used in Urdu but we're used historically in very early versions of Arabic writing[citation needed].

^iii. The "Arabic Tatweel Modifier Letter" U+0640 character used to show the positional forms doesn't work in some Nastaliq fonts.

^iv. Urdu Choti Yē has 2 dots
below in the initial and middle positions only. The standard Arabic version ي يـ ـيـ ـي ]] always has 2 dots
below.

^v. The short vowel diacritics (see below) are usually omitted in Urdu writing, but hamza and madda are usually included.

^vi. Nūn Ghūnna in the middle of a word is often an omitted diacritic.

Endnotes[edit]

^Note: Some of the Nastaliq text on this page will probably show in a different style if you do not have a Nastaliq font installed. If this نستعلیق and this نستعلیق looks like these four نستعلیق نستعلیق نستعلیق نستعلیق then you are probably seeing it written in a modern Arabic style.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "خلا سے زمین پر انگریزی کےحروف تہجی". BBC News اردو (in Urdu). 5 January 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  2. ^ Bashir, Elena; Hussain, Sarmad; Anderson, Deborah (5 May 2006). "N3117: Proposal to add characters needed for Khowar, Torwali, and Burushaski" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Project Fluency (7 October 2016). Urdu: The Complete Urdu Learning Course for Beginners: Start Speaking Basic Urdu Immediately (Kindle ed.). p. Kindle Locations 66–67. ISBN 978-1539047803.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Urdu alphabet, pronunciation and language". www.omniglot.com. Cite error: The named reference "omniglot.com" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ FWP. "Urdu: some thoughts about the script and grammar, and other general notes for students assembled from years of classroom notes by FWP". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b "The chart below gives the different positional variants of some of the significantly different letters. (scanned document)". Linked by www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/urduscript/section00.html#00_01. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b c "Controversy over number of letters in Urdu alphabet". DAWN.COM. 15 June 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Corpus Based Urdu Lexicon Development" (PDF). Cite error: The named reference "alphabets1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ Delacy, Richard (2003). Beginner's Urdu Script. McGraw-Hill. p. XV–XVI.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Urdu romanization" (PDF). The Library of Congress. Cite error: The named reference "LoC" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b c Geographical Names Romanization in Pakistan. UNGEGN, 18th Session. Geneva, 12–23 August 1996. Working Papers No. 85 and No. 85 Add. 1.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm "Urdu Alphabet". www.user.uni-hannover.de. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  13. ^ a b Delacy 2003, p. XV–XVI. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDelacy2003 (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af "Extended Arabic Letter". unicode.org. Retrieved 7 May 1920. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Unicode Extended Arabic" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj "Based on ISO 8859-6". unicode.org. Retrieved 7 May 1920. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) Cite error: The named reference "unicode ISO 8859-6" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq Jawaid, Bushra; Ahmed, Tafseer (2009). "Hindi to Urdu Conversion: Beyond Simple Transliteration" (PDF). Proceedings of the Conference on Language & Technology 2009. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d e Bhatia, Tej K.; Khoul, Ashok; Koul, Ashok (27 August 2015). "Colloquial Urdu: The Complete Course for Beginners". Routledge. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  18. ^ Rediger, Alexander. Urdu Script Primer for Non-Urdu Speakers: اردو.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab "Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries". Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved 14 March 2020. Cite error: The named reference "Oxford_Dictionaries" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries (Urdu to English Translation)". Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved 29 February 2020. Cite error: The named reference "Oxford_Dictionaries_Translation" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  21. ^ "Urban Dictionary: ghanta". Urban Dictionary. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Proposal of Inclusion of Certain Characters in Unicode" (PDF).
  23. ^ "Unicode Utilities: Character Properties 06C1". unicode.org. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  24. ^ "Unicode Utilities: Character Properties 06BE". unicode.org. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Unicode Utilities: Character Properties 0647". unicode.org. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  26. ^ "Google Noto Fonts". www.google.com. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  27. ^ "Awami Nastaliq". software.sil.org. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  28. ^ Rekhta Foundation. "About Us". Rekhta. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  29. ^ Ahmad, Rizwan (24 May 2011). "Urdu in Devanagari: Shifting orthographic practices and Muslim identity in Delhi". Language in Society. 40 (3): 259–284. doi:10.1017/S0047404511000182. hdl:10576/10736. S2CID 55975387. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  30. ^ a b "Hindi alphabet, pronunciation and language". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Kashani, Aabid (2019). Urdu: The Ultimate Beginners Learning Guide: Master The Fundamentals Of The Urdu Language (Kindle ed.). Dirk Alan Llorens?.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an "Urdu writing system summary". r12a.github.io. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  33. ^ Bhatia, Tej K.; Khoul, Ashok; Koul, Ashok (2015). Colloquial Urdu: The Complete Course for Beginners. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-30471-5.
  34. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference biscuitcity Periodic Table was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ a b "خلا سے انڈیا کی فضا الگ کیوں دکھائی دیتی ہے؟". BBC News اردو (in Urdu). 27 June 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  36. ^ Delacy 2003, p. 99–100. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDelacy2003 (help)
  37. ^ Ballantyne, James Robert (1842). A Grammar of the Hindustani Language, with Brief Notices of the Braj and Dakhani Dialects. Madden & Company. p. 11.
  38. ^ Berggren, Olaf (2002). Scripts. Bibliotheca Alexandrina. p. 108.
  39. ^ "ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ". BBC News اردو (in Urdu). Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  40. ^ a b واٹسن (Watson), راب (Rob) (14 January 2019). "بریگزٹ میں کیا ہو رہا ہے، کچھ تو سمجھاؤ!". BBC News اردو (in Urdu). Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  41. ^ Hall, Damien (11 August 2017). "'Breksit' or 'bregzit'? The question that divides a nation". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  42. ^ "عورت آزادی مارچ کا مقصد کیا ہے؟". Independent Urdu (in Urdu). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  43. ^ "ویمن ڈیموکریٹک فرنٹ کا اجتماع کیوں روکا گیا؟". Independent Urdu (in Urdu).
  44. ^ Carreiro, Heather. "Why Hindi-Urdu is one language and Arabic is several - May 28, 2010". Matador Network.
  45. ^ "اردو میں نقل حرفی ۔ ایک ابتدائی تعارف : نبلٰی پیرزادہ". nlpd.gov.pk.
  46. ^ "IBM 868 code page"
  47. ^ "Urdu Zabta Takhti" (PDF).
  48. ^ "Arabic" (PDF). unicode.org. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  49. ^ "A dictionary, Hindustani and English". Dsal.uchicago.edu. 29 September 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  50. ^ "A dictionary, Hindustani and English". Dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  51. ^ "Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing". Crulp.org. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  52. ^ Archive index at the Wayback Machine
  53. ^ FWP. "Urdu: some thoughts about the script and grammar, and other general notes for students assembled from years of classroom notes by FWP". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  54. ^ "مائِیکروسافٹ ڈاؤُن لوڈ مَرکَزWindows". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  55. ^ "Ubuntu in Urdu « Aasim's Web Corner". Aasims.wordpress.com. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  56. ^ "E-Urdu: How one man's plea for Nastaleeq was heard by Apple". The Express Tribune. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  57. ^ "Unicode Utilities: UnicodeSet Arabic pedagogical symbols". unicode.org. Retrieved 20 March 2020]]. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]


Category:Hindustani orthography Category:Urdu Category:Arabic alphabets Category:Arabic alphabets for South Asian languages

already added to main article: Urdu alphabet[edit]

Glossary of key words from letter names[edit]

Translations of key words from Urdu letter names.
Letter Name(s) Urdu Word Examples of other uses
Isolated
form
Urdu
name
Roman Urdu Urdu IPA Roman Urdu
name
English Translation Urdu Roman Urdu or IPA Translation
ح بَڑی حے baṛī ħē بَڑی bəɽi [1] baṛī /
bari
big / elder [1] بڑی آنت large intestine
ے بَڑی يـے baṛī yē آنت intestine
ی چھوٹی یے čhōṭī yē چھوٹی tʃʰoːʈi [1] choti small / minor / junior [1]
ہ چھوٹی ہے čhōṭī hē چھوٹی آنت small intestine
گول ہـے gōl hē گول goːl [1] gōl round / spherical / vague / silly / obese [2] گول گپے gol gappay panipuri
ھ دوچَشْمی ہے dō-čašmī hē دوچَشْمی do-cashmī two-eyed [citation needed] دو چشمی دوربین binoculars
دوربین telescope
دو do 2 / two دو ایوانیت bicameralism
چشم /tʃəʃm/ [1] the eye / hope / expectation [2] چشم eye
ں نُونِ غُنّہ nūn-e ğunnah غُنّہ ɣʊnnɑ [1] ğunnah / g͟hunnah nasal sound or twang [1] [example needed] [[ ]]
آ الِف مَدّه alif maddah مَدّه maddah [example needed] [[ ]]
ؤ واوِ مَہْمُوز vāv-e mahmūz مَہْمُوز mæhmuːz [1] mahmūz defective / improper [1] [example needed] [[ ]]
ء ا آ ب پ ت ٹ ث ب ج چ خ ح د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن ں و ہ ھ ی ے حروف تہجی
[3]
harūf tahajī (alphabet) تہجی tahajī sequence [citation needed] [example needed] [[ ]]
حُرُوف /hʊruːf/ [1] harūf letters (plural) [1]
(often referred to as "alphabets" in informal Pakistani English)
[example needed] [[ ]]
حَرْف /hərf/ [1] "letter of the alphabet" / handwriting / statement / blame / stigma [1] [example needed] [[ ]]
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mad_hamza was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

references[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries". Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries (Urdu to English Translation)". Urdu: Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  3. ^ "خلا سے زمین پر انگریزی کےحروف تہجی". BBC News اردو (in Urdu). 5 January 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2020.

deleted bits[edit]

Distinction from Hindi[edit]

There are conflicting points of view about the division between Hindi and Urdu. (Main article: Hindi Urdu controversy.)

Some people hold the view that the distinction is old and intrinsic to the languages. The Urdu language emerged as a distinct register of Hindustani well before the Partition of India[citation needed]. It is distinguished most by its extensive Persian influences[citation needed]. This stands to reason: Persian was the official language of the Mughal government and the most prominent lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent for several centuries before the rise of the Maratha Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Others claim that the difference is recent, and artificial, and more related to extrinsic cultural factors than it is too the language(s) themselves. The two languages are often collectively referred to as " Hindustani", but generally only by outsiders, and term is regarded by some sources as outdated[citation needed].

Urdu and Hindi, an official federal language of India, are different registers of the same language, and thus they are mutually intelligible and can use each other's script to write the other's language. Usage of script generally signifies the user's faith: Muslims generally use the Urdu (Perso-Arabic) script, while Hindus use the Devanagari script [citation needed].

In addition to Pakistan, the Urdu script [citation needed] is official in five states of India with a substantial percentage of Hindustani-speaking Muslims: Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.

References[edit]

images from wikimedia[edit]

from Aurat March[edit]

Contributors[edit]

after the fork[edit]

that i've integrated[edit]
not integrated[edit]

(might not stay comprehensive)

  • 15:37, 9 May 2020‎ Heyday to you talk contribs‎ 38,672 bytes -16‎ (my note: they removed Urdu name from infobox)
  • 09:40, 9 May 2020‎ user:Aditya Mishra H1N1 39,129 bytes -152‎ →‎Ayn: Removed meaningless paragraph
  • 22:08, 8 May 2020‎ 106.79.211.25 39,162 bytes +152‎ →‎Ayn: Alphabet
  • 22:05, 8 May 2020‎ 106.79.211.25 39,010 bytes +112‎ →‎Differences from Persian alphabet: Alphabet

between rollbacks[edit]

  • rollback: 02:13 - 4 May 2020
  • 14:19, 3 May 2020‎ Ahmedraunaq 38,273 bytes -117‎
  • rollback: 08:40 - 28 April 2020

before the - 08:40 - 28 April 2020 - rollback from[edit]

users[edit]
  • user:Plastikspork
  • user:Ash wki - a fairly extensive contribution (removed the H from the end of a lot of letter names ending in "ah" but i've not restored all of that in the original version because it seems both are acceptable)
  • user:Taimoorahmed11
  • user:Chan-Paton
  • user:Favonian Reverted edits by user:Better Knowledge
  • user:Largoplazo
  • user:Abasit909
  • user:Kbb2
  • user:Largoplazo 38,225 bytes -29‎ Reverted edits by user:1Trevorr
  • user:Malurian123
  • an IP changed three letters 12:02, 16 January 2020 [7]
  • user:MB [8] 17:09, 24 February 2020‎ by MB size after 46,844 bytes +73‎ Adding local short description: "Perso-Arabic-based alphabet for Urdu of 39 letters", overriding Wikidata description "Perso-Arabic-based alphabet for Urdu of 39 letters (incl. hamza and nun ghunnah); in addition to the Persian alphabet contains ٹ‎ ڈ‎ ڑ‎ for retroflex consonants, ں‎ for nasalization, ے‎ for /ɛ:/ or /e:/, and ھ‎ for aspiration or murmure" (Shortdesc helper)
bots[edit]
annon. contributions[edit]

edit notes table[edit]

Rolled Back: at 02:13 on 4 May 2020‎ by Fowler&fowler [9]
new size = 38,390 bytes, -239,925‎ bytes removed
comment: "Reverted to revision 930263664 by Kwamikagami: I am sorry you cannot make these major unencyclopedia edits without previous discussion on the talk page and the garnering of a consensus; per WP:BRD you made the edits, I have reverted them, now you need to discuss them on the talk page first. They seem to be copied from somewhere. They are not in any summary style of Wikipedia (TW)"
that rollback was after i reversed a previous roll-back:
at 08:40 on 28 April 2020 by‎ Fowler&fowler [10]
new size = 38,390 bytes, -247,515‎ bytes removed
comment: "Reverted to revision 930263664 by Kwamikagami: I'm sorry but Wikipedia pages are not sandboxes for anyone to expertiment with their rudimentary knowledge of a topic. Please take to the talk page and gain consensus for your edits (TW)"

working on it[edit]

from Burushaski: Writing system[edit]

Burushaski is a predominantly spoken rather than written language. Occasionally the Urdu alphabet is used,[1], and there are some specific characters in unicode[2], but no fixed orthography exists [citation needed]. Adu Wazir Shafi wrote a book Burushaski Razon using a Latin script.

Tibetan sources record a Bru-śa language of the Gilgit valley, which appears to have been Burushaski, whose script was one of five scripts used to write the extinct Zhang-Zhung language. Although Burushaski may once have been a significant literary language, no Bru-śa manuscripts are known to have survived.[3]

Linguists working on Burushaski use various makeshift transcriptions based on the Latin alphabet, most commonly that by Berger (see below), in their publications.

Burushaski Letter Romanization IPA
ا aa /aː/
ݳ a /a/
ݴ áa /ˈaː/
ب b /b/
پ p /p/
ت t /t/
ٹ /ʈ/
ث s /s/
ج j /dʑ/ʑ/
ݘ ć /tɕ/
ݼ ch /tsʰ/
څ /ʈʂ/
ح h /h/
خ qh /qʰ~qχ~χ/
د d /d/
ڎ c /ts/
ڈ /ɖ/
ذ z /z/
ر r /r/
ڑ /ɖ/
ز z /z/
ژ j /dʐ~ʐ/
س s /s/
ش ś /ɕ/
ݽ /ʂ/
ص s /s/
ڞ c̣h /ʈʂʰ/
ض z /z/
ط t /t/
ظ z /z/
ع /ʔ/
غ ġ /ʁ/
ف ph /pʰ~pf~f/
ق q /q/
ک k /k/
گ g /g/
ݣ /ŋ/
ل l /l/
م m /m/
ن n /n/
ں /˜/
و w/oo /w/oː/
ݸ o /o/
ݹ óo /ˈoː/
ه h /h/
ھ h /ʰ/
ء /ʔ/
ی y /j/
ݶ íi /ˈiː/
ݷ /ɻ/
ے ee /eː/
ݺ e /e/
ݻ ée /ˈeː/

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bashir, Elena; Hussain, Sarmad; Anderson, Deborah (5 May 2006). "N3117: Proposal to add characters needed for Khowar, Torwali, and Burushaski" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
  2. ^ "Shaping behavior of Burushaski characters and other Arabic additions in L2/06-149" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  3. ^ George van Driem, Languages of the Himalayas, Brill 2001:921

References[edit]

alternate versions at User:Irtapil/Urdu_alphabet_2[edit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Irtapil/Urdu_alphabet_2