Sun letter
As a sun letter ( Arabic حروف شمسية, DMG ḥurūf šamsiyya ) are those letters of the Arabic alphabet that are used in standard Arabic when they meet a certain Arabic articleال al his / l / assimilate . The assimilation of the article is limited to the pronunciation and is not reflected in the writing. The name “sun letter” is derived from the Arabic word šams “sun”, whose initial / ʃ / is one of the consonants that are assimilated: cf.الشمس aš-šams 'the sun'. Theلof the article is converted into the initial consonant of the following word in the DIN 31635 transcription; in Arabic it remains, but is not pronounced.
The sun letters include the 14 letters that are formed in the same or similar place as the / l / ( front tongue or apical consonants). All other consonants do not assimilate the / l /, they are called " moon letters ": cf.القمر al-qamar 'the moon'.
All sun letters each with an example:
- Tāʾ :التعليم / at-taʿlīm (the formation)
- Ṯāʾ :الثورة / aṯ-ṯaura (the revolution)
- Dāl :الدولة / ad-daula (the state)
- Ḏāl :الذرة / aḏ-ḏarra (the corn, the atom)
- Rāʾ :الرئيس / ar-raʾīs (the president)
- Zāy :الزيت / az-zayt (the oil)
- Sīn :السكر / as-sukkar (the sugar)
- Šīn :الشمس / aš-šams (the sun)
- Ṣād :الصندوق / aṣ-ṣundūq (the box, the box)
- Ḍād :الضيف / aḍ-ḍaif (the guest)
- Ṭāʾ :الطاولة / aṭ-ṭāwila (the table)
- Zā ' :الظهر / aẓ-ẓuhr (the noon, the back)
- Lām :اللغة / al-luġa (the language)
- Nūn :النوم / an-naum (sleep)