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User:Pelagic/sandbox/Extended Arabic characters

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Here I'm trying to make sense of the various derived Arabic characters. If there is a lean towards Indo-Arayan languages here, it's because they have a lot of extra consonants that aren't present in Semitic or English.

Information is mostly taken from the relevant Wikipedia articles

Base letter Variants Retroflex Aspiration Aspiration Implosive Nasal
Arabic Persian Urdu (digraph) Sindhi Sindhi Sindhi
ا ’alif
ب (b)
ba’, be
پ (p)
pe
بھ (bʰ)
پھ (pʰ)
ٿ (bʰ)
For pʰ, see f
ٻ (ɓ)
ت (t)
te
ٹ (Urdu)
ٽ (Sindhi)
ټ (Pashto)
تھ (tʰ)
ٹھ (ṭʰ)
ٿ (tʰ)
ث
(Arabic ṯ, Persian s̱)
[t] or [θ] or [s]
ṯāʾ, sa, s̱e
ج (j ğ dʒ)
jim, jeem
چ
če, che
جھ (jh /dʒʰ/)
چھ (ch /tʃʰ/)
جھ (jh)
ڇ (ch)
ڄ ڃ /ɲ/
ح (h ḥ) /ħ/
ha, ḥāʾ
خ (kh) /x/
kha
د (d) ڈ (Urdu)
ڊ (Sindhi)
دھ (dʰ)
ڈھ (ḍʰ)
ڌ (dʰ)
ڍ (ḍʰ)
ڏ (ɗ)
ذ (dh ḏ ẕ)
ḏāl, ẕal
ر (r)
re
ژ (ž) [ʒ]
že
ڑ (Urdu)
ڙ (Sindhi)
ڑھ (ṛʰ) ڑھ (ṛʰ)
ز (z) ze
س (s) sin
ش (š, ʃ) šin, shin ڜ‎ /t͡ʃ/ in Morocco
ص (ṣ, s)
ṣād
ض (ḍ, ṣ́, z̤, z)
ḍād, ṣ́ād, z̤ād
ط (ṭ, t)
ṭā
ظ (ẓ, z)
ẓāʼ, ẓā
ع ayin
غ
ghayn, ġayn, ghayin
ف fe ڤ‎ Sorani ve /v/
ڤ Arabic vāʾ for /v/ in loanwords
ڤ Jawi for /p/
For pʰ, see b ڦ (pʰ)
ق
, ک (k)
kāf
ݢ‎ (g in Malay)
ݣ‎ (g in Moroccan)
ګ‎ (g in Pashto)
ڳ‎ (g in Saraiki)
گ (g)
gāf
کھ (kʰ), گھ (gʰ) ک (kʰ)
ڪ (k)
گھ (gʰ)
ڳ (ɠ) ڱ (ŋ)
ل
م mim
ن nun ڻ /ɳ/
ہ he
و (w, v, u)
waw, vāv
ي (y, i)
ye

Horizontal list format

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Arabic (28 letters plus hamza): ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ة و ي

Persian adds 4 (32 total): پ چ ژ گ (pe, che, zhe, gaf). But 10 of the original 28 are only used in Arabic loanwords: ث ح ذ ص ض ط ظ ع غ ق (se, he-ye jimi, zaal, saad, zaad, taa, zaa are homophonous with sin, he-ye do-cheshm, ze, sin, ze, te, ze; the sounds for eyn, gheyn, qaaf are not common).

Urdu and Shahmukhi add 3 retroflexes, one letter for aspiration (treating ھ do chasmi he separate from ہ bari he), and a long y for additional vowel sounds at the end of words (bari ye ے as opposed to ی choti ye): ٹ ڈ ڑ ھ ے . This brings the total repertoire to 37 – if hamza (ء) and/or nuun ghunna are counted as separate letters, then the total is 38 or 39.

Saraiki adds 4 implosives ٻ ڄ ݙ ڳ and a retroflex nasal ݨ. Sindhi uses the same two-dotted forms for implosive b, j, g, but the implosive d is not retroflex and is written with three dots above: ڏ. The retroflex n is undotted, ڻ ; and there are two additional nasals ڃ ڱ .

Where Urdu and Shahmukhi have ten digraphs for aspirates, Sindhi has three digraphs and eight unique forms. There are 4 letters with four dots ( ڀ ٿ ڇ ڦ for bʰ, tʰ, cʰ, pʰ), 3 with two ( ٺ ڌ ڍ for ʈʰ, dʰ, ɖʱ), a special form of k ( ڪ for k and ک for kʰ), and three digraphs ( جھ ڙھ گھ for ɟʱ, ɽʱ, ɡʱ). Sindhi is also more variable in the forms of its retroflex consonants. Where Urdu consistently uses a small to'e ( ٹ ڈ ڑ for ʈ, ɖ, ɽ), Sindhi has differing numbers of dots ( ٽ ڊ ڙ for ʈ, ɖ, ɽ). Retroflex s ( ʂ) does not appear to be represented in the Arabic Sindhi script?

Pashto has 8 extra consonants and 4 vowels compared to Persian, for a total of 44 letters. Like Saraiki it has 4 retroflexes (t d r n), but uses a small attached ring below ټ ړ ډ ڼ rather than the small to'e of Saraiki, Urdu, and Shahmukhi ٹ ڈ ڑ . Persian's p, ch, zh have the same form in Pashto, but g is formed with a ring instead of a line ګ . There are two additional affricates څ ځ (/t͡ʃ/ /d͡z/) and two extra fricatives ږ ښ . The added vowels are variants of ي ye: ې ی ۍ ئ .

Horizontal table format

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Here I'm grouping them by type, rather than having a row for each base letter.

Base alphabet ܐ ܒ ܓ ܕ ܗ ܘ ܙ ܚ ܛ ܝ ܟ ܠ ܡ ܢ ܣ ܥ ܦ ܨ ܩ ܪ ܫ ܬ (Syriac)

ا ب ج د ه و ز ح ط ي ك ل م ن (س) ع ف ص ق ر س/ش ت (Arabic)

Arabic additions ش غ ظ ض ذ خ ث