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Ng or Naf or Gāf (ݣ or ڭ) is an additional letter of the Arabic script, derived from kāf (ك ک) with the addition of three dots above the letter. The letter is used in Uyghur to represent a velar /ŋ/ and is still used for /ŋ/ when writing other Turkic languages, including the obsolete Ottoman Turkish. It's used in Moroccan Arabic to represent the velar /ɡ/.
| Ng or Gāf | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ڭ ݣ | |||
| Usage | |||
| Writing system | Arabic script | ||
| Type | Abjad | ||
| Language of origin | Turkic, Moroccan Arabic or Persian | ||
| Sound values | [ŋ], [g] | ||
| In Unicode | U+0763, U+06AD | ||
| History | |||
| Development |
| ||
| Sisters | |||
| Other | |||
| Writing direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ݣ | ـݣ | ـݣـ | ݣـ |
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڭ | ـڭ | ـڭـ | ڭـ |
Usage
editIn Uyghur, it represented the velar /ŋ/. An example is the word دېڭىز (IPA: [deŋiz], 'sea'). The letter is used or has been used to write /ŋ/ in:
- Kazakh
- Kyrgyz
- Azerbaijani (obsolete in Iran)
- Chagatai
- Ottoman Turkish; e.g. däŋiz (دݣز, 'sea'), deniz in Modern Turkish.
- The Xiao'erjing script variant ݣ is used to spell /ŋ/ in Sinitic languages such as Mandarin (especially the Lanyin, Zhongyuan and Northeastern dialects) and the Dungan language.
The letter is used or has been used to write /g/ in:
- Moroccan Arabic
- It used to appear in older Persian manuscripts for /ɡ/ instead of the common variant گ.[1]
Other characters used to represent /ŋ/
editSoutheast Asian nga
edit| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڠ | ـڠ | ـڠـ | ڠـ |
This letter, derived from ghayn (غ), is used to represent /ŋ/ in:
- the Jawi script,[2] for
- the Pegon script, for
- Arabic Afrikaans, for Afrikaans historically, called ngīn (IPA: [ŋiːn])
Wolof ngōn
edit| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ݝ | ـݝ | ـݝـ | ݝـ |
This letter is also derived from ghayn. Called ngōn (IPA: [ŋɔːn]), it is used in the Wolofal alphabet to represent /ŋ/ in the Wolof language.[3][4] Two variants of kāf were also used: ڭ as in Turkic, and ݤ below.
| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ݤ | ـݤ | ـݤـ | ݤـ |
Sindhi ngāf
edit| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ڱ | ـڱ | ـڱـ | ڱـ |
Derived from the Perso-Arabic gāf (گ) and called ngāf [ŋäːf], is used in Sindhi for /ŋ/ when written in the Arabic script.
Tamil nga
edit| Position in word | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glyph form: (Help) |
ࢳ | ـࢳ | ـࢳـ | ࢳـ |
This letter is also derived from ghayn, with three dots inside the descender, to represent /ŋ/ in the Arwi script used for Tamil.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Orsatti, Paola (2019). "Persian Language in Arabic Script: The Formation of the Orthographic Standard and the Different Graphic Traditions of Iran in the First Centuries of the Islamic Era". Creating Standards (Book).
- ^ Daftar Kata Bahasa Melayu Rumi-Sebutan-Jawi, Dewan Bahasa Pustaka, 5th printing, 2006.
- ^ Priest, Lorna A; Hosken, Martin; SIL International (12 August 2010). "Proposal to add Arabic script characters for African and Asian languages" (PDF). pp. 13–18, 34–37.
- ^ Currah, Galien (26 August 2015) ORTHOGRAPHE WOLOFAL. Link (Archive)