Wasla

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Wasla auf Alif depicts the so-called connection alif in vocalized texts

Wasla ( Arabic وَصْلَة, DMG waṣla 'case of connecting', noun vicis to the verbوَصَلَ wasala connect ') is an optional characters ( Arabic diacritics ) of the Arabic script , the beginning of a word over alif the Verbindungshamza (هَمْزَةُ ٱلْوَصْلِ, DMG hamzatu 'l-waṣli , DIN hamzat al-waṣl ).

Connection hamza

If a word begins with an alif and a vowel, this initially includes a glottic stroke ( Hamza sound; cf. in German also the sound between e and a in note [bəˈʔaxtə] ). In Arabic it can be a fixed or separating hamza (هَمْزَةُ ٱلْقَطْع hamzatu 'l-qaṭʿ ) or a conditional or connecting hamza (هَمْزَةُ ٱلْوَصْلِ hamzatu 'l-waṣli ) act. While the solid Hamza in words likeأَمَل / amal  / 'hope' orإِخْبَار / iḫbār  / 'report' is always preserved, the conditional hamza occurs only after a pause; if a vowel precedes, it drops out along with its vowel (cf. external Sandhi ). The final vowel of the preceding word then follows directly on to the following consonant, thus connecting both words. The alif with conditional hamza becomes the connecting alif (أَلِفُ ٱلْوَصْلِ alifu 'l-waṣli ) called.

The connection hamza occurs in the following cases:

  1. at the article الـ / al- (Example in spelling with Wasla:ٱلْكِتَاب / al-ki · tāb  / 'the book' →وَٱلْكِتَاب / wa͜-'l-ki · tāb  / 'and the book')
  2. with the imperative of the basic stem (example in writing without Wasla:اُكْتُبْ / uk · tub  / 'write!' →قَالَ اكْتُبْ / qā la͜ k tub  / 'he said: write!')
  3. For perfect , imperative and verbal nouns the verb stems VII to XV, and also the verb stems III and IV of the four-radical verb
  4. for the following eight words:

The following special features apply:

  • If the word ends with a consonant before the connecting hamza, a “prosthetic” auxiliary vowel is required. This is usually a short i . Example:مِنِ ٱبْنِهِ / mi ni͜ b ni hī  / 'from his son' (not min )
  • If the word ends with a long vowel before the connecting hamza, this must be spoken briefly so that the words are not merged in the pronunciation to result in an excessively long syllable. Example:فِي ٱلْبَيْتِ / fi͜ 'l-bai ti  /' in / into the house '(not fī )

Spelling

The connecting hamza is unvocalized as a simple alif (ا) written. There are several options for writing in vocalized text.

  • On the one hand, there is the possibility of distinguishing between the existence and failure of a Hamza sound including vowel. Hamza sound and vowel are then mostly used as Alif with a vowel, but without the Hamza sign (اَ اُ اِ), her failure written as a simple Alif (ا). Advantage: in the former case, the vowel quality remains visible.
  • In addition, there is the option of uniform spelling by Alif with Wasla , which is rarely used, for example in Koran editions (ٱ). Advantage: In cases likeوَٱلـ is the at وَالـpossible but incorrect reading in the context of connection hamza wāl excluded. The Wasla sign is offص For صِلَة / ṣila  / 'connection' emerged.
  • There are also other possibilities, especially in connection with different readings of the Koran .

In some cases of connection, not only the Hamza sound with its vowel is omitted in the pronunciation, but also the connection alif in the spelling, namely:

  • when combining the preposition لِـ / li- or the particleلَـ / la- with the articleالـ / al- . The following noun starts withلthat will too لof the article not written, e.g. B.لِلّٰهِ / li-llāhi  / 'for God'.
  • at ابن 'Son' → بن and ابنة 'Daughter' → بنةif they appear in a genealogical list ( cf.Nasab )
  • at the word اسم in the formula بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ / bi-smi 'l-lāhi  /' in the name of God '

Transcription

In the DMG - transcription of the vowel failure can by apostrophe be reproduced; in the DIN inscription, this only happens for the article.

Example: fi 'l-bait

According to ISO / R 233: 1961, the dropped vowel was provided with a breve .

Example: fī ăl-bayt

A real transcription of the Wasla character only provides for the strict transliteration according to ISO 233: 1984, through the character combination ʾ̄ ( Unicode 02BE modifier letter right half ring & 0304 combining macron ), with the right semicircle for Alif and the macron for Wasla stands.

Example: fiy ʾ̵ l ° bay ° ti

The simplified transcription according to ISO 233-2: 1993 and the ALA-LC transcription do not take vowel dropouts or Wasla characters into account, i.e. always write the possibly dropped vowel.

Example: fī al-bayt

Hamza at the beginning of a word is not reproduced in most transcription systems (exception: strict transliteration according to ISO 233: 1984), because a vowel at the beginning of a word causes a glottic stroke anyway. In some dictionaries, such as the well-known one by Hans Wehr, however, the separation hamza is written as ʾ, while the connection hamza is ignored; the absence of the romanization hamza in the vowel at the beginning of the word thus indicates the connecting hamza.

Wasla in Unicode

Wasla is codified as a separate character in connection with Alif, but in some fonts it is not part of the character inventory.

Unicode codepoint U + 0671 U + FB50 U + FB51
Unicode name ARABIC ALEF WASLA ARABIC LETTER ALEF WASLA ISOLATED FORM ARABIC LETTER ALEF WASLA FINAL FORM
HTML & # 1649; & # 64336; & # 64337;
ISO 8859-6 unavailable

Status: Unicode 13.0 (2020)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tawfik Borg: Modern Standard Arabic. Volume 1. Introduction. The connection alif
  2. ↑ Wolfdietrich Fischer : Grammar of Classical Arabic. § 21
  3. ↑ Wolfdietrich Fischer: Grammar of Classical Arabic. § 20
  4. ^ Katharina Bobzin: Basic Arabic course. 4E
  5. ↑ Azzeddine Lazrek: Proposal to encode some Hamza Quranic marks . Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) Doc № L2 / 17-252
  6. ↑ Wolfdietrich Fischer: Grammar of Classical Arabic. § 22
  7. ↑ The transliteration of the Arabic script in its application to the main literary languages ​​of the Islamic world. Memorandum to the 19th International Congress of Orientalists in Rome, presented by the Transcription Commission of the German Oriental Society. III.4. ( P. 14 )
  8. ↑ DIN 31635: 2011, 6.1.2 d) (p. 5) versus 6.1.3 h) (p. 6)
  9. ↑ ISO / R 233: 1961, № 35, note 9 (with Iʿrāb , p. 7), note 11 (without Iʿrāb , p. 8)
  10. ↑ ISO 233: 1984, № 35 with appendix. This combination is difficult to represent; Alternative: ʾ̵ (02BE & 0335 combining short stroke overlay ).
  11. ↑ ISO 233-2: 1993, № 35 (p. 4)
  12. ↑ ALA-LC romanization Arabic , rule 9
  13. ↑ Hans Wehr: Arabic dictionary for the written language of the present (5th edition 1985), p. XVIII .