Gaf

One form of gaf

Gaf (Persian: گاف; gāf), is the name of different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing /ɡ/. They are all derived from the letter kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. There are four forms, each used in different alphabets:

  • گ in the Persian alphabet
  • ݢ in the Jawi script
  • ࢴ/ڮ in the Pegon script
  • ګ in Pashto

Use in Arabic

The standard practice in Egypt (for Literary and Egyptian Arabic), as in coastal Yemen and southwestern and eastern Oman, is to use ǧīm (ج‎) for /g/, while in Arabic dialects like Algerian Arabic, Hejazi Arabic and Najdi Arabic it is qāf (ق‎), so the name gāf can be used for the letter when trying to explain a pronunciation or a spelling of a word, whether the word is foreign or dialectal.

If not gāf (گ‎), kāf (ك‎) has been traditionally used in the Levant and Iraq for /g/. In Iraq, gāf (گ‎) is more used. In Morocco, gāf (ݣ‎) or kāf (ك‎) is used. In Tunisia and Algeria, ڨ‎ or qāf ق‎ is used.

Ġayn (غ‎) is preferred in the Levant (nowadays) and by Al Jazeera TV channel to represent /ɡ/, e.g., هونغ كونغ (Hong Kong) and غاندالف (Gandalf). Foreign publications and TV channels in Arabic, e.g. Deutsche Welle[1] and Alhurra,[2] follow this practice.

Variant forms

Kaf with line

The most common form of gāf (گ‎) is based on kāf with an additional line. It is rarely used in Standard Arabic itself but is used to represent the sound /ɡ/ when writing other languages.

Position in word: Isolated Final Medial Initial
Naskh glyph form:
(Help)
گ ـگ ـگـ گـ
Nastaʿlīq glyph form: گ ــــگ ــــگــــ گــــ

It is frequently used in Persian, Pashto, Uyghur, Urdu and Kurdish, and is one of four Perso-Arabic letters not found in Arabic. It is also commonly used in Mesopotamian Arabic.[3]

Kaf with ring

In Pashto, this letter is used for /ɡ/.

Position in word: Isolated Final Medial Initial
Naskh glyph form:
(Help)
ګ ـګ ـګـ ګـ
Nastaʿlīq glyph form: ګ ــــګ ــــګــــ ګــــ

Kaf with single dot above

This gāf (ݢ‎) is derived from a variant form of kāf (ک‎), with the addition of a dot. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Jawi script to represent /ɡ/.

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ݢ ـݢ ـݢـ ݢـ

Unicode includes two forms on this letter: one based on the standard Arabic kāf (ك‎), and one based on the variant form (ک‎). The latter is the preferred form.[4]

Character information
Preview ڬ ݢ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH DOT ABOVE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 1708 U+06AC 1890 U+0762
UTF-8 218 172 DA AC 221 162 DD A2
Numeric character reference ڬ ڬ ݢ ݢ

Kaf with three dots below

This letter (ڮ‎) is derived from a form of kāf (ك‎), with the addition of three dots below. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Pegon script for Indonesian languages to represent /ɡ/.

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ڮ ـڮ ـڮـ ڮـ

Gaf with inverted stroke

In Chechen, Kabardian, and Adyghe, the Arabic character ‎ is used to spell // or /t͡ʃʼ/. In Chechen, ⟨گ‎⟩ is alternatively used as well.

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ـࢰ ـࢰـ ࢰـ

Kaf with a dot below

This letter (‎) is derived from a form of kāf (ك‎), with the addition of three a dot below. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Arwi alphabet for the Tamil language to represent /ɡ/.[5]

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ـࢴ ـࢴـ ࢴـ

Kaf with three dots

The Arabic signage for the Argana cafe in Marrakesh's Jemaa el-Fnaa features a prominent gaf with three dots.

The letter ڭ‎/ݣ‎ was used in Ottoman Turkish for /ŋ/. Both forms are based on variant forms of kāf (ك‎/ک‎), with the addition of three dots.

Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ڭ ـڭ ـڭـ ڭـ
Position in word Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help)
ݣ ـݣ ـݣـ ݣـ

It is used in Berber and Moroccan Arabic to represent /ɡ/.[6] Examples of its use include city names (e.g., Agadir: أݣادير‎) and family names (e.g., El Guerrouj: الݣروج‎). The preferred form is ڭ‎.

Character encoding

Character information
Preview ګ ڬ ڮ گ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH RING ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH DOT ABOVE ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH THREE DOTS BELOW ARABIC LETTER GAF ARABIC LETTER GAF WITH INVERTED STROKE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1707 U+06AB 1708 U+06AC 1710 U+06AE 1711 U+06AF 2224 U+08B0
UTF-8 218 171 DA AB 218 172 DA AC 218 174 DA AE 218 175 DA AF 224 162 176 E0 A2 B0
Numeric character reference ګ ګ ڬ ڬ ڮ ڮ گ گ ࢰ ࢰ
Character information
Preview ݢ ݣ ڭ
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH
DOT ABOVE
ARABIC LETTER KEHEH WITH
THREE DOTS ABOVE
ARABIC LETTER NG ARABIC LETTER KAF WITH
DOT BELOW
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1890 U+0762 1891 U+0763 1709 U+06AD 2228 U+08B4
UTF-8 221 162 DD A2 221 163 DD A3 218 173 DA AD 224 162 180 E0 A2 B4
Numeric character reference ݢ ݢ ݣ ݣ ڭ ڭ ࢴ ࢴ

See also

References

  1. ^ "Leningrad لينينغراد spelled with غ rather than ج". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  2. ^ ""Blogger" بلوغر is spelled with غ, not ج about an article on Egypt quoting an Egyptian official Facebook post spelling it بلوجر with ج". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  3. ^ Alkalesi, Yasin M. (2001) "Modern iraqi arabic: A textbook". Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-0878407880
  4. ^ Jonatha Kew (2003). "Proposal to encode Jawi and Moroccan Arabic GAF characters" (PDF).
  5. ^ Pournader, Roozbeh (June 24, 2013). "Proposal to encode three Arabic characters for Arwi" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Learn Moroccan Arabic". Best Riad Marakkesh. 8 November 2009. واش كتهدر بالإنݣليزية

External links

  • Notes on some Unicode Arabic characters: recommendations for usage (PDF)
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