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Ẓāʾ

Ẓāʾ

Ẓāʾ, or ḏ̣āʾ (ظ), is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being ṯāʾ, ḫāʾ, ḏāl, ḍād, ġayn). In Classical Arabic, it represents a velarized voiced dental fricative [ðˠ], and in Modern Standard Arabic, it can also be a pharyngealized, [ðˤ] voiced dental fricative or voiced alveolar fricative [zˤ]. In name and shape, it is a variant of ṭāʾ. Its numerical value is 900 (see Abjad numerals).

Ẓāʾ does not change its shape depending on its position in the word:

Position in word:IsolatedFinalMedialInitial
Glyph form:
(Help)		ظ‎ـظ‎ـظـ‎ظـ‎
Ẓāʾ
Ghayn →
Phonemic representationðˤ~zˤ, dˤ
Position in alphabet27
Numerical value900
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Ẓāʾ
ظ
Usage
Writing systemArabic script
TypeAbjad
Language of originArabic language
Phonetic usageðˤ~zˤ,dˤ
History
Development
  • ظ
Other

Pronunciation

In Classical Arabic, it represents a velarized voiced dental fricative [ðˠ], and in Modern Standard Arabic, it can also be a pharyngealized, [ðˤ] voiced dental fricative or voiced alveolar fricative [zˤ].

In most Arabic vernaculars ظ ẓāʾ and ض ḍād have been merged quite early.[1] The outcome depends on the dialect. In those varieties (such as Egyptian, Levantine and Hejazi), where the dental fricatives /θ/, /ð/ are merged with the dental stops /t/, /d/, ẓāʾ is pronounced /dˤ/ or /zˤ/ depending on the word; e.g. ظِل is pronounced /dˤilː/ but ظاهِر is pronounced /zˤaːhir/, In loanwords from Classical Arabic ẓāʾ is often /zˤ/, e.g. Egyptian ʿaẓīm (< Classical عظيم ʿaḏ̣īm) "great".[1][2][3]

in the varieties (such as Bedouin and Iraqi), where the dental fricatives are preserved, both ḍād and ẓāʾ are pronounced /ðˤ/.[1][2][4][5] However, there are dialects in South Arabia and in Mauritania where both the letters are kept different but not consistently.[1]

"De-emphaticized" pronunciation of the both letters in the form of the plain /z/ entered into other non-Arabic languages such as Persian, Urdu, Turkish.[1] However, there do exist Arabic borrowings into Ibero-Romance languages as well as Hausa and Malay, where ḍād and ẓāʾ are differentiated.[1]

Statistics

Ẓāʾ is the rarest phoneme of the Arabic language. Out of 2,967 triliteral roots listed by Hans Wehr in his 1952 dictionary, only 42 (1.4%) contain ظ.[6]

In other Semitic languages

In some reconstructions of Proto-Semitic phonology, there is an emphatic interdental fricative, ṱ ([θˤ] or [ðˤ]), featuring as the direct ancestor of Arabic ẓāʾ, while it merged with ṣ in most other Semitic languages, although the South Arabian alphabet retained a symbol for ẓ.

Writing in the Hebrew alphabet

When representing this sound in transliteration of Arabic into Hebrew, it is written as ט׳.

Character encodings

Characterظ
Unicode nameARABIC LETTER ZAH
Encodingsdecimalhex
Unicode1592U+0638
UTF-8216 184D8 B8
Numeric character referenceظظ

See also

References

[1]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comVersteegh, Kees (1999). "Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣". In Arazi, Albert; Sadan, Joseph; Wasserstein, David J. (eds.). Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997). pp. 273–286.
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[2]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comVersteegh, Kees (2000). "Treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād". In Kinberg, Leah; Versteegh, Kees (eds.). Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic. Brill. pp. 197–199. ISBN 9004117652.
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[3]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comRetsö, Jan (2012). "Classical Arabic". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 785–786. ISBN 978-3-11-025158-6.
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[4]
Citation Link//doi.org/10.2307%2F410601Ferguson, Charles (1959). "The Arabic koine". Language. 35 (4): 630. doi:10.2307/410601.
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[5]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comFerguson, Charles Albert (1997) [1959]. "The Arabic koine". In Belnap, R. Kirk; Haeri, Niloofar (eds.). Structuralist studies in Arabic linguistics: Charles A. Ferguson's papers, 1954–1994. Brill. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9004105115.
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[6]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgWehr, Hans (1952). Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart.
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[7]
Citation Linkbooks.google.com"Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣"
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[8]
Citation Linkbooks.google.com"Treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād"
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[9]
Citation Linkbooks.google.com"Classical Arabic"
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[10]
Citation Linkdoi.org10.2307/410601
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[11]
Citation Linkbooks.google.com"The Arabic koine"
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM
[12]
Citation Linken.wikipedia.orgThe original version of this page is from Wikipedia, you can edit the page right here on Everipedia.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Additional terms may apply.See everipedia.org/everipedia-termsfor further details.Images/media credited individually (click the icon for details).
Sep 22, 2019, 7:44 PM