Arabic diacritics

Taschkil (Arabic تشكيل, DMG Taškīl ), also known as Harakat ( حركات, Harakat DMG ) is known, refers to the vocalization of the Arabic consonants writing through a series of orthographic auxiliary character.

Since the Arabic alphabet only characters for consonants and long vowels ( ā, ū, ī ) contains, the nominal endings ( nunation ) and some phonetic feature was used to identify the short vowels (i a, u, ) ( as Vokallosigkeit or consonant doubling ) a system smaller auxiliary character developed, which are set in addition above or below the consonants lettering. It is, inter alia, the following characters:

• Fatha a small slash (3) above, is a short A.
• Kasra, a small slash ( 3) below, is a short i
• Damma, a kind of small Vav (5 ) above, is a short and

• Two damma (as ligature: 6), Kasra or Fatha ( Dammatan, Kasratan or Fathatan ) to characterize and nominal endings- un, - in.

Kasra

Damma

Fathatan

Kasratan

Dammatan

• Sukun ( in Wortauslaut also Dschazma ), a small group (2a, 2b also ) above, means that the consonant is not followed by vowel.

Fatha Waw or Ya with Sukun describes the two Arabic diphthongs ai and au.

• (Also called Shadda ) Shadda, a kind of small Sin (1 ) above, marks a doubling ( gemination ) of the consonants.

Fatha and damma be, Kasra placed directly under the Shadda.

• Hamza ( 7) represents the Glottisöffnungs or glottal stop, so a voting paragraph, and has (according to fairly complicated rules ) almost always a support letter (Alif, Waw or Ya)
• Wasla (9 ) stands for the so-called "Connection Hamza " beginning of a word, which (to avoid a Doppelkonsonanz ) is not spoken as a glottal stop. It is always about a Alif.
• Madda (8 ) represents the sequence of sounds ( separation ) Hamza long ā and serves to prevent two successive alifs. It also always standing over a Alif.

• Alif chandschariya ( ʾ alif ḫanǧarīya ), the " Dagger Alif " - scientifically known as perpendikuläres Alif - (4 ) is above set, for a long ā (which is not marked by a normal Alif consonants in writing ).

Shadda

Hamza

Alif with Wasla

Alif Madda with

" Dagger Alif "

These additional characters are, however, used almost exclusively in the Koran texts, poems and books for language learners. In newspapers and books you can find them generally do not (unless as a reading aid with difficult foreign words ). To a normal, ie to read unvokalisierten text, the pronunciation of every word must be so already ( by heart ) know or at least the grammatical structures, the root system and the model structures of the Arabic language proficient.