Cyrillization of Arabic

Cyrillization of Arabic is the conversion of text written in Arabic script into Cyrillic script. Because the Arabic script is an abjad (a writing system without vowels), an accurate transliteration into Cyrillic, an alphabet, would still require prior knowledge of the subject language to read. Instead, systems of transcription have normally been used.

Russian system

Basic alphabet

Vowels

Note: The following tables use the letter hamza (ء) as a carrier to illustrate the use of diacritics. It is not part of these signs.

To record short vowels after a consonant, optional signs (fatḥah, ḍammah, kasrah) are used above this consonant. To write long vowels, the same signs are used plus the corresponding consonant letter.

Hamza

The glottal stop (in Arabic hamza ) has complex notation rules. It can be written as a single character on the line ⟨ﺀ⟩, thus not distinguishing itself from other consonants, but much more often it is written above or below three carrier letters: alif, vav, ya. At the same time, hamza, like any consonant, can be both before and after a vowel. At the beginning of words, the hamza is written exclusively above or below the alif. The combination "alif-hamza + fatha + alif" (that is, أَا) is written in a special way through alif-madda. The absence of a hamza is occasionally recorded with a wasla sign (usually used only before the initial alif). In unvoiced texts, even the complete absence of over- or signed hamza is possible (thus hamza is indistinguishable from vav and ya), which further complicates transcription. Hamza is almost never written over the alif of the definite article.

Definite Article

As with the hamza, there are some difficulties in rendering the Arabic definite article. In neutral position, it is read and transcribed as al- ( el- ). In certain positions, the sound - l - can be assimilated with the subsequent consonant (see more at Sun and moon letters). After vowels, the initial a - ( e -) usually disappears (the so-called wallowing).

Nunation

The term ‘’nunation’’ (or ‘’tanwīn’’ ) in Arabic grammar refers to the case endings of the “indefinite state” (corresponds to the indefinite article in other languages). Sometimes, for historical reasons, after the nunation, the silent letters alif-maksura or a simple alif are additionally written.

Other signs

• sukun over a consonant denotes the absence of any vowel after that consonant (including hamza ). Not transcribed at all.
• shaddah over a consonant denotes the doubling of that consonant. Transcribed accordingly by doubling the letters (special case: дждж → ддж ).

Special Letters and Combinations

Sample Text

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1

References

Further reading

• Гиляревский, Р. С., ed. (2004). Praktičeskaja transkripcija familʹno-imennyx grupp Практическая транскрипция фамильно-именных групп (in Russian). Москва: Физматлит. pp. 46–59. ISBN 9785020337183.
• Савина, В. И.; Цельникер, С. С. (1966). Наджарова, Н. М. (ed.). Instrukcija po peredače na kartax geografičeskix nazvanij arabskix stran Инструкция по передаче на картах географических названий арабских стран (in Russian). Москва: Наука. OCLC 899851736.
• Сердюченко, Г. П. (1967). "Arabskij jazyk" Арабский язык. Russkaja transkripcija dlja jazykov zarubežnovo Vostoka Русская транскрипция для языков зарубежного Востока (in Russian). Москва: Наука. pp. 104–115. OCLC 1906956.
• Юшманов, Н. В. (1928). "Pisʹmo i čtenije" Письмо и чтение. Grammatika literaturnovo arabskovo jazyka Грамматика литературного арабского языка (in Russian). pp. 6–18. OCLC 247994734.

This page was last edited on 6 March 2024, at 20:25