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UrduVowels

Preliminarynotes
Theopposition"long"and"short"vowelsisverymuchdisputedasfarasmodernIndoAryanlanguages
areconcernedbecausebetweenbothvaritiesthereisadifferenceinqualityandinquantity.Ihave
thereforeputthetermsbetweenquotestoindicatethattheyaresomewhatspurious.

"Short"vowela
Notes
"Short"asoundslikethe"a"intheEnglishword"majority".
Itisindicatedbythediacriticsuperscriptmarkzabar.TheshapeofzabarlooksabitliketheFrench
"accentaigue".Itisnormallywrittenabovetheconsonantbearingthesound,howeverwhen
appearingwordinitially,zabarshouldbecarriedbyanalif.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

"Short"voweli
Notes
"Short"isoundslikethe"i"intheEnglishword"it".
Itisindicatedbythediacriticsubscriptmarkzer.TheshapeofzerisabitliketheFrench"accent
aigue".Itisnormallywrittenundertheconsonantbearingthesound,howeverwhenappearingword
initially,zershouldbewrittenbelowalif.Thesamemarkisalsousedtoindicateizafat,havealook
atthespecialsignspageformoreconcerningthis.

Examples
http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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Initial:

Medial:

"Short"vowelu
Notes
"Short"usoundslikethe"oo"intheEnglishword"book".
Itisindicatedbythediacriticsuperscriptmarkpesh.Itisnormallywrittenabovetheconsonant
bearingthesound,howeverwhenappearingwordinitially,peshshouldbewrittenaboveanalif.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

"Long"vowela
Notes
"Long"asoundslikethe"a"intheGermanword"bahn".
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbyalifmadda,whichisanalifwithatildelikesignabove
it.Whennotusedwordinitiallyanalifwithoutextrasignsisusedtorepresentthissound.
IfyouuseArabTeX,you'llseethatitwillputanextrazabarontheletterprecedingthealifwhen
encodingalongmedialorfinala,thishoweverisunnecessary,youshouldn'tfollowthispractice.

Examples
Initial:
http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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Medial:

Final:

"Long"voweli
Notes
"Long"isoundslikethe"ee"intheEnglishword"see".
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbyzerunderaliffollowedbysmallyai.Whenmedialitis
representedbythemedialshapeofsmallyaiandazerundertheprecedingconsonant.Whenfinalit
isrepresentedbythefinalshapeofsmallyai.
IfyouuseArabTeX,you'llseethatitwillputanextrazerundertheconsonantprecedingafinal
longi,thishoweverisunnecessary,youshouldn'tfollowthispractice.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

Final:

"Long"vowelu
Notes
http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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"Long"usoundslikethe"oo"intheEnglishword"soon".
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbypeshabovealiffollowedbywaw,another
representationisaliffollowedbyawawwhichcarriesaninvertedpeshcalled"ulTaapesh".When
usedmedialorfinalitisrepresentedbywawandapeshabovetheprecedingconsonant,another
representationforthiscasealsoexists:awawcarryinganinvertedpesh.
ArabTeXdoesnothavesupportforulTaapeshatthismoment.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

Final:

"Long"vowele
Notes
"Long"esoundslikethe"ay"intheEnglishword"way",pronouncedhoweverwithoutany
diphtongaloffglide.
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbyalifwithoutanyvowelsignfollowedbyabigyai.
Whenmedialitisrepresentedbythemedialshapeofyaiwithoutanyvowelsign.Whenfinalitis
representedbythefinalshapeofbigyai.

Examples
http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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Initial:

Medial:

Final:

"Long"vowelo
Notes
"Long"osoundslikethe"o"intheEnglishword"home",howeverpronouncedasapurevowel
notasadiphtong.
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbyaliffollowedbywaw,bothwithoutanyvowelsign.
Whenmedialorfinalitisrepresentedbytheshapeofwawalsowithoutanyvowelsign.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

Final:

Vowelae
Notes
http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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Vowelaesoundslikethe"e"intheEnglishword"hen".
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbyalifwithazabar,followedbybigyai.Whenmedialor
finalitisrepresentedbythecorrespondingshapeofyaiandazabarontheprecedingconsonant.
PeoplewithaHindibackgroundwouldrathertransliteratethisvowelas"ai"asisdoneintheItrans
forHindisystem.ArabTeX(forUrdu)usesofcourse"ae".
"ae"isnotarticulatedasadiphtonginUrdu.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

Final:

Vowelao
Notes
Vowelaosoundslikeaveryopen"o"similartothhevowelintheEnglishword"caught".
Whenusedwordinitiallyitisrepresentedbyalifwithazabar,followedbywaw.Whenmedialor
finalitisrepresentedbythecorrespondingshapeofwawandazabarontheprecedingconsonant.
PeoplewithaHindibackgroundwouldrathertransliteratethisvowelas"au"asisdoneintheItrans
forHindisystem,howeverArabTeXforUrduusesalso"ao".
"ao"isnotarticulatedasadiphtonginUrdu.

Examples
Initial:

Medial:

http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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Final:

ToMainUrduAlphabetPage
ToSpecialSignsPage
ToSpecialLigaturesPage

http://users.skynet.be/hugocoolens/newurdu/vowels.html

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