4) Hamzah: The hamzah [
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
] is a consonant which is
written this way [
]. It is actually more of a stop (block off the air stream at the top of
the windpipe). The hamzah is not really a letter, and there is no transcription in other
languages for it.
It is often used with the alif, written under the alif [
-
] if the sound is an /i/ [
] or
over it [
-
-
] in the case the vowel sound is an /a/ or an /u/ [
], [
]..
there is no sound to it, and in transcriptions, no Latin letter is used, only an apostrophy.
What the hamzah indicates is a pausal stop in the pronunciation. No sound is uttered,
simply a little stop. However, the hamzah is no big obstacle for the Arabic student. Few
Arabs emphasize the hamzah when they speak themselves.
The hamzah has two major functions:
a)
Either it marks a stop at the end of a word (the vowel is marked by a small
bursting sound like a click of the tongue, but actually it comes from the inside
of the throat; it is a guttural sound.) Example:
= /al maaaa’i/.
b)
Or it announces a stop followed by an /i/ sound (called Kasra) or an /a/ sound
(called Fatha). In this example:
= /'inna/, the [
] is NOT pronounced /a/,
but /i/ because of the diachitic hamzah placed under the alif [
].
Remark that the hamzah usually does not occur in a space between letters; it needs a
letters to sit on it like the alif. However, it cannot use any letter as a 'chair' because it is
an independent sound. Thus, the hamzah uses the letter [
] without dot to sit on in the
middle of a word, or it uses the letter [
] when the precedent letter cannot connect to it
like the letters [
-
-
-
-
-
] and in the case it precedes long alif.
The letters [
-
-
-
-
-
] have this particularity they cannot connect with any
following letters but they can be attached to letters preceding them.
Finally, if the hamzah is preceded by a long vowel and bears the sound /a/ [
] (fatha) on
top of it, it has not chair at all and sits alone between consonants or at the end of the word
after a long alif.
Example:
= /faa'in 'aamanuww/.
THE ALPHABET:
The Consonants:
Most of the Arabic alphabetical letters are pronounced as in English. For instance,
[
] is pronounced as a /m/ in English. The same explanation is true for the letters:
Arabic
Consonants
English
Consonants
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
/b/
/d/
/f/
/h/
/j/
/k/
/l/
/m/
/n/
/s/
/t/
/z/
Arabic
Diphtongues
English
Diphtongues
?
/i
?/
/sh/
/w/
Arabic modern
equivalents
(new letters)
English
equivalents
?
/x/
?
/p/
?
/g/
/v/
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