Arabic ‘Nastaliq’ Script Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Ottoman Turkish all use some variation of the Arabic script Persian and Urdu use a modified version of the Arabic script in order to transliterate sounds that don’t exist in Arabic. Conversely, there are some sounds that Arabic language has but Persian and Urdu do not distinguish, thus some Arabic letters are pronounced in exactly the same way in Persian and Urdu. This lesson presents a modified ‘Arabic alphabet that can be used in the Indian and Persian manner. ‘The modified Arabic script in which both Persian and Urdu are hand-written is called Nastaliq, oF the ‘hanging script.’ In addition to the extra letters that Nastaliq bas created to capture Persian and Indian sounds it also looks visually very different from the unmodified Arabic—its letters do indeed have an elegant hanging, cascading effect hence the ‘hanging script’. I will speak henceforth of the Nastaliq seript. Nastaliq , like all Arabic-based scripts, is read from right to left. It is organized visually. Letters which resemble each other are physically grouped in a series. There are 37 letters in Nastalig and they are organized into 7 series, with some letters which are non-series letters. The easiest way for you to grasp the script is to learn to recognize the physical and behavioral characteristics of each series of letters. Once you realize how each series looks and behaves the individual letters in it become simpler to recognize. This is a bit like recognizing family traits—the Hudsons al] have hooked noses while the Robinsons are characterized by slightly blunt ones. ‘The next step is to recognize the number and pattern of dots (nugtas) which distinguish each individual letter within a series. It’s not just the number of mugtas but the configuration that also matters. Each letter has a name and (roughly) represents the sound with which that letter begins. For example the first letter of the alphabet is “Alif’ and it represents the sound A’, as in ‘bud’, ‘ thud.’ Alif is a unique letter, in other words it is not a part of any series. It takes up the entire line and defines the space within which all other letters my be written, Alif ‘The Be-series letters look like a flat-bottomed boat sitting on a line, Be Pe Te Se (The)Connecters and Non-Connecters ‘There two types of letters: Connecting and Non-Connect e Connecting letters connect with both the preceding letter and the following one. Non-connesting letters accept an incoming letter (from the right) but will not connect to the following letter. In other words, a non-connecting letter will have a space after it— even if iris in the middle of a word. The only non-connecting letters are: Alif, Dal-series letters, Re-series letters, and Vao, A\ll the others are connecting letters. Forms and Behavior of a letter: ‘What do [ mean by how a letter acts? Each Nastalig letter has 4 different forms: Independent, Initial, Medial and Final. The above list only presented the independent form of the Be-series letters. ‘These forms resemble each other visually and are logically related. The independent form of the Letter Be is: The Initial Form is an abbreviated (and sometimes tilted) version of it: <7 ‘The medial form is exactly like the initial: + 7 The final form is long and drawn out, like the Independent: —_— Notice the pattern: Initial and medial forms look alike while Independent and Final forms resemble cach other. Noticing such patterns will help you handie this script. ‘And sinee the letters Be, pe, te and se are in the same series they will have similar changes in all their forms ‘What form a letter takes depends not only in its position in the word, but also on whether or not it is following a non-connector. If a letter in the middle of a word follows a non- connector it will be in its initial form—even if it is in the middle of the word, Nastalig script does not normally show the short vowels: a, i, and u (as in the English ‘words ‘but’ “bit” and “put) except through extra diacritical marks Thus the letters Be+Te could be pronounced as bit, but and but (like put).LETTER SERIES: INDEPENDENT FORMS {ane & =— _ tar —Be Series "2 7 + * Pe BE vu & © simseries kaye HE CHE rin 5 3 2). Dal seri ies Bae oi ies Wout Cent ECr We . + J 4 J Re Series Ze Re he Mev-coumee ripe fy ASE ss Zip Sip Shin sv t b 5 Sto sees Gahan Ain Zoe Tee S I 3 j - Uv Fe Series GhE KA Che FeNON-SERIES LETTERS: INDEPENDENTFORMS HAMZA 4 g Vio NUN 7 Wesco Ung or a Og 2 Bie Ye va 2-6rED a DIACRITICS J LAT ’ SMALL HE