Khowar alphabet

Khowar
Khowar;
	Khowar written in the Khowar alphabet inNastaliqstyle.
Script type	Abjad
Time period	Early 20th century - present
Languages	Khowar,Balti,Burushaski,others
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Nabataean Arabic Persian Urdu Khowar; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Unicode
Unicode range	U+0600–U+06FF; U+0750–U+077F
	This article containsphonetic transcriptionsin theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

TheKhowar alphabetis theright-to-left alphabetused for theKhowar language.It is a modification of theUrdu alphabet,which is itself a derivative of thePersian alphabetandArabic alphabetand uses the calligraphicNastaʿlīq script.

History

Khowar-Alphabets

The Khowar language developed during the rule of Mehtar of Chitral State. Since the early twentieth century Khowar has been written in the Khowar alphabet, which is based on the Urdu alphabet and uses the Nasta'liq script. Prior to that, the language was carried on through oral tradition. Today Urdu and English are the official languages and the only major literary usage of Khowar is in both poetry and prose composition. Khowar has also been occasionally written in a version of the Roman script called Roman Khowar since the 1960s. Despite the invention of the Khowar typewriter in 1996, Khowar newsletters and newspapers continued to be published from handwritten scripts by the Khowar authors until the late 1990s. TheMonthly Zhangis the first newsletter was the first Khowarnewspaperto useNasta’liqcomputer-based composition. There are efforts under way to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Khowar support on computers and theinternet.Nowadays, nearly all Khowar newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals are composed on computers via various Khowar software programs.

Nasta'liq

The Nasta'liq calligraphic writing style began as aPersianmixture of scriptsNaskhandTa'liq.Nasta'liq is more cursive and flowing than itsNaskhcounterpart.

Alphabet

A list of the letters of the Khowar alphabet and their pronunciation is given below. Khowar contains many historical spellings from Arabic and Persian, and therefore has many irregularities. The Arabic lettersyaaandhaaboth have two variants in Khowar: one of theyaavariants is used at the ends of words for the sound[i],and one of thehaavariants is used to indicate theaspiratedandbreathy voicedconsonants. Theretroflex consonantsneeded to be added as well; this was accomplished by placing a superscriptط(to'e) above the correspondingdental consonants.Several letters which represent distinct consonants in Arabic are conflated in Persian, and this has carried over to Khowar. Some of the original Arabic letters are not used in Khowar. This is the list of the Khowar letters, giving the consonant pronunciation. Many of these letters also represent vowel sounds.

Name^[1]	Forms				IPA^[2]	Romanization^[3]	Unicode	Example^[2]
Khowar Romanization	Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial	IPA^[2]	Romanization^[3]	Unicode	Khowar Romanization	Meaning
الف alif	ا	ـا			/ɑː/,/ʔ/,silent^[A]	ā,–	U+0627	انگار‎ angár	Fire
بے be	ب	ـب	ـبـ	بـ	/b/	b	U+0628	برار‎ braár	Brother
پے pe	پ	ـپ	ـپـ	پـ	/p/	p	U+067E	پلوغ‎ palóγ	Apple
تے te	ت	ـت	ـتـ	تـ	/t̪/	t	U+062A	تت‎ tat	Father
ٹے ṭe	ٹ	ـٹ	ـٹـ	ٹـ	/ʈ/	ṭ	U+0679	ٹپ‎ ṭip	Full
ثے se	ث	ـث	ـثـ	ثـ	/s/	s	U+062B	توابی‎ saʋabi	Reward
جيم jim	ج	ـج	ـجـ	جـ	/d͡ʒ/	j	U+062C	جم‎ jam	Good
ݮيم j̣im	ݮ	ـݮ	ـݮـ	ݮـ	/ɖ͡ʐ/	j̣	U+076E	ݮنݮیر‎ j̣anj̣ér	Chain
چے če	چ	ـچ	ـچـ	چـ	/t͡ʃ/	č	U+0686	چومر‎ čúmur	Iron
ݯے c̣e	ݯ	ـݯ	ـݯـ	ݯـ	/ʈ͡ʂ/	c̣	U+076F	ݯار‎ c̣at	Dry
حے he	ح	ـح	ـحـ	حـ	/h/	h	U+062D	حاجت‎ haját	Need
خے xe	خ	ـخ	ـخـ	خـ	/x/	x	U+062E	خڑاو‎ xaɫáu	Mouse
څے tse	څ	ـڅ	ـڅـ	څـ	/t͡s/	ts	U+0685	څیق‎ tseq	Small
ځے dze	ځ	ـځ	ـځـ	ځـ	/d͡z/	dz	U+0681	ځاہ‎ dzah	Wet
دال dal	د	ـد			/d̪/	d	U+062F	دروݯ‎ droc̣	Grapes
ڈال ḍal	ڈ	ـڈ			/ɖ/	ḍ	U+0688	ڈانگ‎ ḍaáng	Hearth
ذال zal	ذ	ـذ			/z/	z	U+0630	ذخیره‎ zaxira	Dry fruit
رے re	ر	ـر			/r/	r	U+0631	روئے‎ roi	People
ڑے ɫe	ڑ	ـڑ			/lˠ/	ɫ	U+0691	ڑوو‎ ɫow	Fox
زے ze	ز	ـز			/z/	z	U+0632	زوم‎ zom	Mountain
ژے že	ژ	ـژ			/ʒ/	ž	U+0698	ژور‎ žuúr	Daughter
ݱے ẓe	ݱ	ـݱ			/ʐ/	ẓ	U+0771	ݱوت‎ ẓot	Early
سین sin	س	ـس	ـسـ	سـ	/s/	s	U+0633	سوت‎ sot	Seven
شین šin	ش	ـش	ـشـ	شـ	/ʃ/	š	U+0634	شوت‎ šot	Oath
ݰین ṣin	ݰ	ـݰ	ـݰـ	ݰـ	/ʂ/	ṣ	U+0770	ݰابوک‎ ṣaboók	Bride
صواد swad	ص	ـص	ـصـ	صـ	/s/	s	U+0635	صفا‎ safá	Clean
ضواد zwad	ض	ـض	ـضـ	ضـ	/z/	z	U+0636	ضائع‎ zayá	Wasted
طوئے toʼē	ط	ـط	ـطـ	طـ	/t̪/	t	U+0637	طوطی‎ toti	Parrot
ظوئے zoʼē	ظ	ـظ	ـظـ	ظـ	/z/	z	U+0638	ظالم‎ zaálim	Cruel
عین ʻain	ع	ـع	ـعـ	عـ	/ɑː/,/oː/,/eː/, /ʔ/,/ʕ/,silent ^[B]	ʻ	U+0639	عاشق‎ ašéq	Lover
غین γain	غ	ـغ	ـغـ	غـ	/ɣ/	γ	U+063A	غیژی‎ γéži	Alone
فے fe	ف	ـف	ـفـ	فـ	/f/	f	U+0641	فروخ‎ frox	Mouth
قاف qaf	ق	ـق	ـقـ	قـ	/q/	q	U+0642	قاق‎ qáq	Dry
کاف kaf	ک	ـک	ـکـ	کـ	/k/	k	U+06A9	کانو‎ kánu	Blind
گاف gaf	گ	ـگ	ـگـ	گـ	/ɡ/	g	U+06AF	گونج‎ gonj	Storage
لام lam	ل	ـل	ـلـ	لـ	/l/	l	U+0644	لوٹ‎ loṭ	Big
میم mim	م	ـم	ـمـ	مـ	/m/	m	U+0645	مخ‎ mux	Face
نون nun	ن	ـن	ـنـ	نـ	/n/,/ɲ/, /ɳ/,/ŋ/	n	U+0646	نموتی‎ namúti	Barefoot
واؤ waʼo	و	ـو			/ʋ/,/uː/,/ʊ/, /oː/,/ɔː/	v,w, u,o,au	U+0648	واؤ‎ wau وریݱنو‎ vreẓ̌nú	Old lady Garlic
ہے he	ہ	ـہ	ـہـ	ہـ	/h/,/ɑː/,/eː/	h,a,e	U+06C1 ^[C]	ہوست‎ host	Hand
چھوٹی ہے choṭi he	ہ	ـہ	ـہـ	ہـ	/h/,/ɑː/,/eː/	h,a,e	U+06C1 ^[C]	ہوست‎ host	Hand
دو چشمی ہے do-cashmī hē	ھ	ـھ	ـھـ	ھـ	/ʰ/ ^[D]	-h	U+06BE	پھوست‎ phost	Skin
یے ye	ی	ـی	ـیـ	یـ	/j/,/i/,/e/ ^[E]	y,i,e	U+06CC	یومون‎ yomún میوه‎ mewá لگینی‎ ligíni	Winter Fruit Tongue
بڑی یے baṛi ye	ے	ـے			/e/,/aj/ ^[F]	ai,e	U+06D2	اوچے‎ očé	And
ہمزہ hamzah	ئ	ـئ	ـئـ	ئـ	/ʔ/orsilent ^[G]	ʼ, –,-i,-o,-u	U+0626	نخوئے‎ naxói	Chickpea
	ؤ	ـؤ					U+0624	بوؤ‎ buú	Owl
	ء						U+0621

Footnotes:

^At the beginning of a word it can represent another vowel, holding a vowel diacritic that would normally be held by the consonant preceding the vowel, for exambleاُردو"Urdu".But the diacritic indicating which vowel is often omittedاردوlike other short vowel diacritcs.
^Used mainly forArabicloanwords.
^Similar to Urdu, sometimeschoṭī hēis used to refer toheybutchoṭī hēcan also refer to the Arabic / Persian variant, a stylistic variation representing an equivalent letter, but Persian and Arabic usually useU+0647whereas Khowar usesU+06C1forgōl hey.^{[citation needed]}See also:Urdu in Unicode.
^No word begins with this letter. This letter forms part ofdigraphwith other consonants to representaspiratedvarieties of those consonants
^The letteryecan either represent consonant ([j]) or vowel ([i] or [e]). The letteryecan represent [j] in initial, medial, or final position, or it can represent [i] and [e] occur in medial positions, or [i] in final position. To represent [e] in final position, the letterbaṛi ye(ے) is used.
^The letterbaṛi yeonly occurs in final position. The letterbaṛi yerepresents the vowel [e]. To represent [e] in media position, the letterye(ـیـ) is used.
^In Khowar,hamzahis silent in all its forms except for when it is used ashamzah-e-izafat.The main use ofhamzahin Khowar is to indicate a vowel cluster.

Vowels

Vowelsin Khowar are represented by letters that are also consideredconsonants.Many vowel sounds can be represented by one letter. Confusion can arise, but context is usually enough to figure out the correct sound.

Vowel chart

This is a list of Khowar vowels found in the initial, medial, and final positions.

Romanization	Pronunciation^{[citation needed]}	Final	Medial	Initial
a	/ə/
ā	/ɑː/
i	/ɪ/
ī	/iː/
u	/ʊ/
ū	/uː/
e	/eː/
ai	/ɛ/
o	/oː/
au	/ɔ/

Short vowels

Short vowels( "a", "i", "u" ) are represented by marks above and below a consonant.

Vowel	Name	Transcription	IPA
بَ	zabar	ba	/ə/
بِ	zer	bi	/ɪ/
بُ	pesh	bu	/ʊ/

Alif

Alif (ا) is the first letter of the Khowar alphabet, and it is used exclusively as a vowel. At the beginning of a word, alif can be used to represent any of the short vowels, e.g. ابدار abdar, اسم ism, اردو Urdu. Also at the beginning, an alif (ا) followed by either wā'o (و) or ye (ی) represents a long vowel sound. However, wā'o (و) or ye (ی) alone at the beginning represents a consonant.

Alif also has a variant, callalif madd(آ). It is used to represent a long "ā" at the beginning of a word, e.g. آپک āpak, آدیمزاد ādmzaad. At the middle or end of a word, long ā is represented simply byalif(ا), e.g. باغ bāgh, آرام ārām.

Wā'o

Wā'o is used to render the vowels "ū", "o", and "au". It also renders the consonants "w" and 'v', but many people get confused between these two sounds.

Ye

Ye is divided into two variants:choṭī yeandbaṛī ye.

Choṭī ye(ی) is written in all forms exactly as in Persian. It is used for the long vowel "ī" and the consonant "y".

Baṛī ye(ے) is used to render the vowels "e" and "ai" (/eː/and/æː/respectively).Baṛī yeis distinguished in writing from choṭī ye only when it comes at the end of a word.

Use of specific letters

Retroflex letters

Retroflex consonantswere not present in thePersian alphabet,and therefore had to be created specifically for Khowar. This was accomplished by placing a superscript ط (to'e) above the correspondingdental consonants.^[4]

Letter	Name	IPA
ٹ	ṭe	[ʈ]
ݯ	çe	[ʈ͡ʂ]
ݮ	ǰīm	[ɖ͡ʐ]
ڈ	ḍāl	[ɖ]
ڑ	ɫe	[lˠ]
ݱ	ẓe	[ʐ]
ݰ	ṣin	[ʂ]

Affricate Letters

Affricate consonantswere not present in thePersian alphabeteither. Two letters fromPashto alphabetwere adopted for Khowar orthography to represent affricate consonants.

Letter	Name	IPA
څ	tse	[t͡s]
ځ	dze	[d͡z]

Do chashmī he

The letterdo chashmī he(ھ) is used in native Hindustānī words, for aspiration and breathy voice. The consonants are sometimes classified as separate letters, although they are digraphs.

Transcription	IPA
پھ	ph	[pʰ]
تھ	th	[t̪ʰ]
ٹھ	ṭh	[ʈʰ]
چھ	čh	[t͡ʃʰ]
ݯھ	c̣h	[ʈ͡ʂʰ]
څھ	tsh	[t͡sʰ]
قھ	qh	[qʰ]
کھ	kh	[kʰ]

References

^Ahmadriza, Fareed; Hussain, Mumtaz."Evolution of khowar alphabets"کھوار حروف تہجی کی تاریخ[History of the Khowar Alphabet].Mahraka.
^^a ^bFarid Ahmad Raza,Preliminary Grapheme to Phoneme Khowar Alphabet Chart,Booni Chitral.http://www.mahraka.com/pdf/grapheme_to_phoneme.pdf
^Elena Bashir,A digital Khowar-English dictionary with audio - Organization of the dictionary.University of Chicago.https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/khowar-2nd/frontmatter/frontmatter.pdf
^Bashir, Elena;Hussain, Sarmad; Anderson, Deborah (2006-05-05)."N3117: Proposal to add characters needed for Khowar, Torwali, and Burushaski"(PDF).ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.

[4] At the beginning of a word it can represent another vowel, holding a vowel diacritic that would normally be held by the consonant preceding the vowel, for exambleاُردو"Urdu".But the diacritic indicating which vowel is often omittedاردوlike other short vowel diacritcs.

[5] Used mainly forArabicloanwords.

[6] Similar to Urdu, sometimeschoṭī hēis used to refer toheybutchoṭī hēcan also refer to the Arabic / Persian variant, a stylistic variation representing an equivalent letter, but Persian and Arabic usually useU+0647whereas Khowar usesU+06C1forgōl hey.^{[citation needed]}See also:Urdu in Unicode.

[7] No word begins with this letter. This letter forms part ofdigraphwith other consonants to representaspiratedvarieties of those consonants

[8] The letteryecan either represent consonant ([j]) or vowel ([i] or [e]). The letteryecan represent [j] in initial, medial, or final position, or it can represent [i] and [e] occur in medial positions, or [i] in final position. To represent [e] in final position, the letterbaṛi ye(ے) is used.

[9] The letterbaṛi yeonly occurs in final position. The letterbaṛi yerepresents the vowel [e]. To represent [e] in media position, the letterye(ـیـ) is used.

[10] In Khowar,hamzahis silent in all its forms except for when it is used ashamzah-e-izafat.The main use ofhamzahin Khowar is to indicate a vowel cluster.

[OrthographyHistory-1] Ahmadriza, Fareed; Hussain, Mumtaz."Evolution of khowar alphabets"کھوار حروف تہجی کی تاریخ[History of the Khowar Alphabet].Mahraka.

[grapheme-2] Farid Ahmad Raza,Preliminary Grapheme to Phoneme Khowar Alphabet Chart,Booni Chitral.http://www.mahraka.com/pdf/grapheme_to_phoneme.pdf

[3] Elena Bashir,A digital Khowar-English dictionary with audio - Organization of the dictionary.University of Chicago.https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/khowar-2nd/frontmatter/frontmatter.pdf

[11] Bashir, Elena;Hussain, Sarmad; Anderson, Deborah (2006-05-05)."N3117: Proposal to add characters needed for Khowar, Torwali, and Burushaski"(PDF).ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.

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