It is fun as well. The sounds are not only different for me but also for my fellow students. One of them speaks Moroccan Arabic and is also struggling with the difference in pronunciation.
When you are taught about the structure of Arabic, you are taught that the "i" and its associated variations are written under the character it is associated with. In figure 1, it is combined with a "shadda" on a "ya". My teacher explained that he is not able to write it in this way with Microsoft Word and, that you will find it as you can see in figure 2.
The documentation for the Arabic script at Unicode explains: "computer fonts often follow an approach that originated in metal typesetting and combine the kasratan with shadda in a ligature placed above the text".
My teacher wants to control the way the characters show. It makes the study material consistent for his students. Showing the kasratan with shadda above the text is then something that can be taught when the basics are understood. The question is does he need a different font or does he need a different word processor.
Thanks,
GerardM
2 comments:
A different font, not a different word processor.
See the last line here for a demonstration:
http://translatewiki.net/wiki/User:GerardM/Amiri
This issue is somewhat comparable to the issue with Malayalam "orthography", which you described here:
http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-on-same-wikipedia-main-page.html
(Malayalis call it "orthography", but actually it's a matter of different appearance of the same Unicode characters.)
BTW, the practice of putting the kasra/kasratan under the shadda predates metal typesetting by centuries (it was mentioned by al-Qalqashandi, 1356—1418) and it was preferred by the Arabic linguist Ahmad Zaki “to avoid moving the eye to above and to below the letter” which was then followed by Bulaq press (to which he was closely connected) popularizing it (the Bulaq typecase didn’t have a single shadda-kasra or shadda-karatan glyph, so it is was easy for them to put the it either way, and they indeed do so in the copy of Quran they typesetted, which rules out the technical factor).
In Amiri font I didn’t follow that practice because IMO the uniformity of having the kasra always below the letter is more important, and that is the most common in hand writing as well as calligraphy.
Post a Comment