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{{short description|Writing system where each symbol stands for a consonant}}
{{For|the traditional ordering of the letters of the Arabic alphabet|Abjad numerals}}
{{For|the traditional ordering of the letters of the Arabic alphabet|Abjad numerals}}
{{distinguish|Abugida}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{verification|date=September 2022|reason=the article relies in large part on Omniglot, an unreliable source}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Writing systems sidebar}}


An '''abjad''' ({{IPAc-en|'|æ|b|dʒ|æ|d}},<ref>{{OED|abjad}}</ref> {{langx|ar|أبجد}}, [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: אבגד), also '''abgad''',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boyes |first1=Philip J. |last2=Steele |first2=Philippa M. |title=Understanding Relations Between Scripts II |date=10 October 2019 |isbn=978-1-78925-092-3 |page=24 |publisher=Oxbow Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gF3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lehmann |first=Reinhard G. |editor1-last=de Voogt |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Quack |editor2-first=Joachim Friedrich |date=2012 |title=The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, Boston |isbn=9789004215450 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTA6MsEjkPIC&pg=PA46}}</ref> is a [[writing system]] in which only [[consonant]]s are represented, leaving the [[vowel]] sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with [[alphabets]], which provide [[grapheme]]s for both consonants and vowels. The term was introduced in 1990 by [[Peter T. Daniels]].<ref>Daniels, P. (1990). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/602899 Fundamentals of Grammatology]. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 110(4), 727-731. doi:10.2307/602899: "We must recognize that the West Semitic scripts constitute a third fundamental type of script, the kind that denotes individual consonants only. It cannot be subsumed under either of the other terms. A suitable name for this type would be alephbeth, in honor of its Levantine origin, but this term seems too similar to alphabet to be practical; so I propose to call this type an "abjad," ''[Footnote: I.e., the alif-ba-jim order familiar from earlier Semitic alphabets, from which the modern order alif-ba-ta-tha is derived by placing together the letters with similar shapes and differing numbers of dots. The abjad is the order in which numerical values are assigned to the letters (as in Hebrew).]'' from the Arabic word for the traditional order6 of its script, which (unvocalized) of course falls in this category... There is yet a fourth fundamental type of script, a type recognized over forty years ago by James- Germain Fevrier, called by him the "neosyllabary" (1948, 330), and again by Fred Householder thirty years ago, who called it "pseudo-alphabet" (1959, 382). These are the scripts of Ethiopia and "greater India" that use a basic form for the specific syllable consonant + a particular vowel (in practice always the unmarked a) and modify it to denote the syllables with other vowels or with no vowel. Were it not for this existing term, I would propose maintaining the pattern by calling this type an "abugida," from the Ethiopian word for the auxiliary order of consonants in the signary."</ref> Other terms for the same concept include '''partial phonemic script''', '''segmentally linear defective phonographic script''', '''consonantary''', '''consonant writing''', and '''consonantal alphabet'''.<ref>Amalia E. Gnanadesikan (2017) Towards a typology of phonemic scripts, Writing Systems Research, 9:1, 14-35, DOI: 10.1080/17586801.2017.1308239 "Daniels (1990, 1996a) proposes the name abjad for these scripts, and this term has gained considerable popularity. Other terms include partial phonemic script (Hill, 1967), segmentally linear defective phonographic script (Faber, 1992), consonantary (Trigger, 2004), consonant writing (Coulmas, 1989) and consonantal alphabet (Gnanadesikan, 2009; Healey, 1990). "</ref>
An '''abjad''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|æ|b|dʒ|ɑː|d}}<ref>http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/abjad</ref> or {{IPAc-en|'|æ|b|dʒ|æ|d}})<ref>{{OED|abjad}}</ref> is a type of [[writing system]] where each symbol stands for a [[consonant]], leaving the reader to supply the appropriate [[vowel]]. The name ''abjad'' was suggested by [[Peter T. Daniels]]{{sfn|Daniels| Bright|1996}} to replace the common terms "'''consonantary'''", "'''consonantal alphabet'''" or "[[syllabary]]" to refer to the family of scripts called [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]].

'''Impure abjads''' represent vowels with either optional [[diacritic]]s, a limited number of distinct vowel glyphs, or both.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
The name "abjad" (''{{transl|ar|abjad}}'' {{lang|ar|أبجد}}) is derived from pronouncing the first letters of the ''Arabic'' alphabet in order. The ordering (''{{transl|ar|abjadī}}'') of [[Arabic letters]] used to match that of the older [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] and [[Semitic alphabet|Semitic]] alphabets; ''{{transl|sem|ʾ b g d}}''.
The name ''abjad'' is based on the [[Arabic alphabet]]'s first (in its [[Arabic alphabet#Alphabetical order|original order]]) four {{nowrap|letters{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}corresponding to ''a'', ''b'', ''j'', and {{nowrap|''d''{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}to replace the more common terms "consonantary" and "consonantal alphabet" in describing the family of scripts classified as "[[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]]". It is similar to other Semitic languages such as [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] and [[Semitic alphabet|Semitic]] proto-alphabets: specifically, [[aleph]], [[Bet (letter)|bet]], [[gimel]], [[dalet]].

In [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] and [[Malay language|Malay]], the term ''abjad'' is synonymous to [[alphabet]].


==Terminology==
==Terminology==
According to the formulations of Daniels,{{sfn|Daniels| Bright|1996}} abjads differ from [[alphabet]]s in that only consonants, not vowels, are represented among the basic [[grapheme]]s. Abjads differ from [[abugida]]s, another category defined by Daniels, in that in abjads, the vowel sound is ''implied'' by [[phonology]], and where [[Diacritic|vowel marks]] exist for the system, such as [[niqqud|nikkud]] for [[Hebrew]] and [[harakat|ḥarakāt]] for [[Arabic]], their use is optional and not the dominant (or literate) form. Abugidas mark the vowels (other than the "inherent" vowel) with a [[diacritic]], a minor attachment to the letter, or a standalone [[glyph]]. Some abugidas use a special symbol to ''suppress'' the [[inherent vowel]] so that the consonant alone can be properly represented. In a [[syllabary]], a grapheme denotes a complete syllable, that is, either a lone vowel sound or a combination of a vowel sound with one or more consonant sounds.
According to the formulations of [[Peter T. Daniels]],{{sfn|Daniels|Bright|1996}} abjads differ from [[alphabet]]s in that only consonants, not vowels, are represented among the basic [[grapheme]]s. Abjads differ from [[abugida]]s, another category defined by Daniels, in that in abjads, the vowel sound is ''implied'' by [[phonology]], and where [[Diacritic|vowel marks]] exist for the system, such as [[niqqud|nikkud]] for [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[harakat|ḥarakāt]] for [[Arabic]], their use is optional and not the dominant (or literate) form. Abugidas mark all vowels (other than the [[Inherent vowel|"inherent" vowel]]) with a [[diacritic]], a minor attachment to the letter, a standalone [[glyph]], or (in [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]]) by rotation of the letter. Some abugidas use a special symbol to ''suppress'' the inherent vowel so that the consonant alone can be properly represented. In a [[syllabary]], a grapheme denotes a complete syllable, that is, either a lone vowel sound or a combination of a vowel sound with one or more consonant sounds.


The antagonism of abjad versus alphabet, as it was formulated by Daniels, has been rejected by other scholars because abjad is also used as a term not only for the Arabic numeral system but, which is most important in terms of historical grammatology, also as term for the alphabetic device (i.e. letter order) of ancient Northwest Semitic scripts in opposition to the 'south Arabian' order. This caused fatal effects on terminology in general and especially in (ancient) Semitic philology. Also, it suggests that consonantal alphabets, in opposition to for instance the Greek alphabet, were not yet true alphabets and not yet entirely complete, lacking something important to be a fully working script system. It has also been objected that, as a set of letters, an alphabet is not the mirror of what should be there in a language from a phonemic or even phonological point of view, rather, it is the data stock of what provides maximum efficiency with least effort from a semantic point of view.{{sfn|Lehmann|2011}}
The contrast of abjad versus alphabet has been rejected by other scholars because ''abjad'' is also used as a term for the Arabic numeral system. Also, it may be taken as suggesting that consonantal alphabets, in contrast to e.g. the [[Greek alphabet]], were not yet true alphabets.{{sfn|Lehmann|2011}} [[Florian Coulmas]], a critic of Daniels and of the abjad terminology, argues that this terminology can confuse alphabets with "transcription systems", and that there is no reason to relegate the Hebrew, Aramaic or Phoenician alphabets to second-class status as an "incomplete alphabet".<ref>{{cite book|last=Coulmas|first=Florian|title=Writing Systems|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=113|isbn=978-0-521-78737-6}}</ref>
However, Daniels's terminology has found acceptance in the linguistic community.<ref name="omniglot">
[http://omniglot.com/writing/alphabetic.htm "Abjads / Consonant alphabets"],
Omniglot.com, 2009, quote: "Abjads, or consonant alphabets, represent consonants only, or consonants plus some vowels. Full vowel indication (vocalisation) can be added, usually by means of diacritics, but this is not usually done." Accessed 22 May 2009.
</ref><ref>
Rogers, Henry (2005): ''Writing systems: a linguistic approach''. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-23464-0, ISBN 978-0-631-23464-7. See esp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vu3lRLVUta8C&dq=abjad&pg=PA115 Chap. 7, pp. 115ff].
</ref><ref>
[http://www.isca-speech.org/archive/interspeech_2006/i06_1412.html Schone, Patrick (2006)]: "Low-resource autodiacritization of abjads for speech keyword search", In INTERSPEECH-2006, paper 1412-Mon3FoP.13.
</ref>


==Origins==
==Origins==
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{{See also|History of the alphabet#Descendants of the Aramaic abjad}}
{{See also|History of the alphabet#Descendants of the Aramaic abjad}}


The first abjad to gain widespread usage was the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician abjad]]. Unlike other contemporary scripts, such as [[Cuneiform script|Cuneiform]] and [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], the Phoenician script consisted of only about two dozen symbols. This made the script easy to learn, and Phoenician seafaring merchants took the script wherever they went.
The first abjad to gain widespread usage was the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician abjad]]. Unlike other contemporary scripts, such as [[Cuneiform script|cuneiform]] and [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], the Phoenician script consisted of only a few dozen symbols. This made the script easy to learn, and seafaring Phoenician merchants took the script throughout the then-known world.


The Phoenician abjad was a radical simplification of phonetic writing, since hieroglyphics required the writer to pick a hieroglyph starting with the same phoneme that the writer wants to write in order to write phonetically, much like how ''[[Man'yōgana|man'yougana]]'' ([[Chinese characters]], or [[kanji]], used solely for phonetic use) was used to represent [[Japanese language|Japanese]] phonetically before the invention of [[kana]].
The Phoenician abjad was a radical simplification of phonetic writing, since hieroglyphics required the writer to pick a hieroglyph starting with the same sound that the writer wanted to write in order to write phonetically, much as ''[[man'yōgana]]'' ([[kanji]] used solely for phonetic use) was used to represent [[Japanese language|Japanese]] phonetically before the invention of [[kana]].


Phoenician gave way to a number of new writing systems, including the [[Greek alphabet]] and [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]], a widely used abjad. The Greek alphabet evolved into the modern western alphabets, such as [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] and [[Cyrillic]], while Aramaic became the ancestor of many modern abjads and abugidas of Asia.
Phoenician gave rise to a number of new writing systems, including the widely used [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] abjad and the [[Greek alphabet]]. The Greek alphabet evolved into the modern western alphabets, such as [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] and [[Cyrillic]], while Aramaic became the ancestor of many modern abjads and abugidas of Asia.


==The impure abjads==
==Impure abjads==
[[Image:Arabic albayancalligraphy.svg|thumb|upright=1.0|"Al-'Arabiyya", lit. "Arabic." An example of the Arabic script, which is an impure abjad.]]
[[File:Arabic_Language.svg|thumb|''Al-ʻArabiyya'', meaning "Arabic": an example of the Arabic script, which is an impure abjad]]


"Impure" abjads have characters for some vowels, optional vowel diacritics, or both. The term "pure" abjad refers to scripts entirely lacking in vowel indicators.{{sfn|Daniels|2013}} However, most modern abjads, such as [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and [[Pahlavi alphabet|Pahlavi]], are "impure" abjads, that is, they also contain symbols for some of the vowel phonemes, although the said non-diacritic vowel letters are also used to write certain consonants, particularly [[Approximant consonant|approximants]] that sound similar to long vowels. An example of a "pure" abjad is (perhaps) very early forms of ancient [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], though at some point (at least by the 9th century BC) it and most of the contemporary Semitic abjads had begun to overload a few of the consonant symbols with a secondary function as vowel markers, called ''[[mater lectionis|matres lectionis]]''.{{sfn|Lipiński|1994}} This practice was at first rare and limited in scope, but it became increasingly common and more developed in later times.
Impure abjads have characters for some vowels, optional vowel diacritics, or both. The term pure abjad refers to scripts entirely lacking in vowel indicators.{{sfn|Daniels|2013}} However, most modern abjads, such as [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]], [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]], and [[Pahlavi alphabet|Pahlavi]], are "impure" abjads{{snd}}that is, they also contain symbols for some of the vowel phonemes, although the said non-diacritic vowel letters are also used to write certain consonants, particularly [[Approximant consonant|approximants]] that sound similar to long vowels. A "pure" abjad is exemplified (perhaps) by very early forms of ancient [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], though at some point (at least by the 9th century BC) it and most of the contemporary Semitic abjads had begun to overload a few of the consonant symbols with a secondary function as vowel markers, called ''[[mater lectionis|matres lectionis]]''.{{sfn|Lipiński|1994}} This practice was at first rare and limited in scope but became increasingly common and more developed in later times.


===Addition of vowels===
===Addition of vowels===
{{Main|Greek alphabet}}
{{Main|Greek alphabet}}


In the 9th century BC, the Greeks adapted the Phoenician script for use in their own language. The phonetic structure of the Greek language created too many ambiguities when the vowels went unrepresented, so the script was modified. They did not need letters for the [[guttural consonant|guttural]] sounds represented by ''[[aleph]]'', ''[[he (letter)|he]]'', ''[[Heth (letter)|heth]]'' or ''[[ayin]]'', so these symbols were assigned vocalic values. The letters ''[[Waw (letter)|waw]]'' and ''[[Yodh|yod]]'' were also adapted into vowel signs; along with ''he'', these were already used as ''matres lectionis'' in Phoenician. The major innovation of Greek was to dedicate these symbols exclusively and unambiguously to vowel sounds that could be combined arbitrarily with consonants. (As opposed to syllabaries such as [[Linear B]] which usually have vowel symbols but cannot combine them with consonants to form arbitrary syllables.)
In the 9th century BC the Greeks adapted the Phoenician script for use in their own language. The phonetic structure of the Greek language created too many ambiguities when vowels went unrepresented, so the script was modified. They did not need letters for the [[guttural consonant|guttural]] sounds represented by ''[[aleph]]'', ''[[he (letter)|he]]'', ''[[Heth (letter)|heth]]'' or ''[[ayin]]'', so these symbols were assigned vocalic values. The letters ''[[Waw (letter)|waw]]'' and ''[[Yodh|yod]]'' were also adapted into vowel signs; along with ''he'', these were already used as ''[[Mater lectionis|matres lectionis]]'' in Phoenician. The major innovation of Greek was to dedicate these symbols exclusively and unambiguously to vowel sounds that could be combined arbitrarily with consonants (as opposed to syllabaries such as [[Linear B]] which usually have vowel symbols but cannot combine them with consonants to form arbitrary syllables).


[[Abugida]]s developed along a slightly different route. The basic consonantal symbol was considered to have an inherent "a" vowel sound. Hooks or short lines attached to various parts of the basic letter modify the vowel. In this way, the [[South Arabian alphabet]] evolved into the [[Ge'ez alphabet]] between the 5th century BC and the 5th century AD. Similarly, around the 3rd century BC, the [[Brāhmī script]] developed (from the [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic abjad]], it has been hypothesized).
[[Abugida]]s developed along a slightly different route. The basic consonantal symbol was considered to have an inherent "a" vowel sound. Hooks or short lines attached to various parts of the basic letter modify the vowel. In this way, the [[South Arabian script|South Arabian abjad]] evolved into the [[Ge'ez abugida]] of Ethiopia between the 5th century BC and the 5th century AD. Similarly, the [[Brāhmī script| Brāhmī abugida]] of the Indian subcontinent developed around the 3rd century BC (from the [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic abjad]], it has been hypothesized).


The other major family of abugidas, [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], was initially developed in the 1840s by missionary and linguist [[James Evans (linguist)|James Evans]] for the Cree and Ojibwe languages. Evans used features of [[Devanagari script]] and [[Pitman shorthand]] to create his initial abugida. Later in the 19th century, other missionaries adapted Evans' system to other Canadian aboriginal languages. Canadian syllabics differ from other abugidas in that the vowel is indicated by rotation of the consonantal symbol, with each vowel having a consistent orientation.
The other major family of abugidas, [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], was initially developed in the 1840s by missionary and linguist [[James Evans (linguist)|James Evans]] for the Cree and Ojibwe languages. Evans used features of [[Devanagari script]] and [[Pitman shorthand]] to create his initial abugida. Later in the 19th century, other missionaries adapted Evans's system to other Canadian aboriginal languages. Canadian syllabics differ from other abugidas in that the vowel is indicated by rotation of the consonantal symbol, with each vowel having a consistent orientation.


==Abjads and the structure of Semitic languages==
=={{anchor|Semitic abjad|Semitic abjads}}Abjads and the structure of Semitic languages==
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2024}}
The abjad form of writing is well-adapted to the [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] structure of the Semitic languages it was developed to write. This is because words in Semitic languages are formed from [[triliteral|a root consisting of (usually) three consonants]], the vowels being used to indicate inflectional or derived forms. For instance, according to [[Classical Arabic]] and [[Modern Standard Arabic]], from the Arabic root {{lang|ar|ذ&nbsp;ب&nbsp;ح}} ''Dh-B-Ḥ'' (to slaughter) can be derived the forms {{lang|ar|ذَبَح}} ''{{transl|ar|dhabaḥa}}'' (he slaughtered), {{lang|ar|ذَبَحْتَ}} ''{{transl|ar|dhabaḥta}}'' (you (masculine singular) slaughtered), {{lang|ar|ذَبَّحَ}} ''{{transl|ar|dhabbaḥa}}'' (he slaughtered), {{lang|ar|يُذَبِّح}} ''{{transl|ar|yudhabbiḥ}}'' (he slaughters), and {{lang|ar|مَذْبَح}} ''{{transl|ar|madhbaḥ}}'' (slaughterhouse). In most cases, the absence of full glyphs for vowels makes the common root clearer, allowing readers to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from familiar roots (especially in conjunction with [[context (language use)|context]] clues) and improving word recognition{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}{{dubious|date=August 2011}} while reading for practiced readers.<!--extremely exaggerated, there are dozens of Arabic words of different roots which are only distinguished by vowels-->

The abjad form of writing is well-adapted to the [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] structure of the Semitic languages it was developed to write. This is because words in Semitic languages are formed from [[triliteral|a root consisting of (usually) three consonants]], the vowels being used to indicate inflectional or derived forms. For instance, according to [[Classical Arabic]] and [[Modern Standard Arabic]], from the Arabic root {{lang|ar|ك&zwnj;ت&zwnj;ب}} ''K-T-B'' (to write) can be derived the forms {{lang|ar|كَتَبَ}} ''{{transl|ar|kataba}}'' (he wrote), {{lang|ar|كَتَبْتَ}} ''{{transl|ar|katabta}}'' (you (masculine singular) wrote), {{lang|ar|يَكْتُبُ⁩}} ''{{transl|ar|yaktubu}}'' (he writes), and {{lang|ar|مَكْتَبَة⁩}} ''{{transl|ar|maktabah}}'' (library). In most cases, the absence of full glyphs for vowels makes the common root clearer, allowing readers to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from familiar roots (especially in conjunction with [[context (language use)|context]] clues) and improving word recognition{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}{{dubious|date=August 2011}} while reading for practiced readers.<!--extremely exaggerated, there are dozens of Arabic words of different roots which are only distinguished by vowels-->

By contrast, the Arabic and Hebrew scripts sometimes perform the role of [[alphabet|true alphabets]] rather than abjads when used to write certain [[Indo-European languages]], including [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Arebica|Bosnian]], [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], and some [[Aljamiado|Romance languages]] such as [[Andalusi Romance|Mozarabic]], [[Aragonese language|Aragonese]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Judeo-Spanish|Ladino]].


==Comparative chart of Abjads, extinct and extant==
==Comparative chart of Abjads, extinct and extant==
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{|class="wikitable sortable"
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|-
! scope="col" width="20" style="background-color:#cfcfcf;" align="center"|ID
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Name
! scope="col" width="20" | Name
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | In use
! scope="col" width="20" | In use
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Cursive
! scope="col" width="20" | Cursive
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Direction
! scope="col" width="20" | Direction
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | # of letters
! scope="col" width="20" | # of letters
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | [[Matres lectionis]]
! scope="col" width="20" | Area of origin
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Area of origin
! scope="col" width="20" | Used by
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Used by
! scope="col" width="150" |Languages
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Languages
! scope="col" width="20" | Time period (age)
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" data-sort-type=number | Time period (age)
! scope="col" width="20" |Influenced by
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" |Influenced by
! scope="col" width="150" |Writing systems influenced
! scope="col" style="font-size:smaller;" | Writing systems influenced
|-
|-
| [[Syriac abjad|Syriac]] || yes || yes || right-left || 22 consonants || 3 || Middle East || [[Syriac Christianity]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]]||[[Aramaic]]: [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Suret language|Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]], [[Turoyo language|Turoyo]], [[Mlaḥsô language|Mlahso]]|| data-sort-value="-0100" | {{circa| 100}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Aramaic || Nabatean, Palmyran, Mandaic, Parthian, Pahlavi, Sogdian, Avestan and Manichean{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
! style="background-color: white;" |1
| [[Syriac abjad|Syriac]] || yes || yes || right-left || 22 consonants || Middle-East || [[Church of the East]], [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syrian Church]]||Aramaic, Syriac, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic || ~ 100 BC{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Aramaic || Nabatean, Palmyran, Mandaic, Parthian, Pahlavi, Sogdian, Avestan and Manichean{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
|-
| [[Hebrew abjad|Hebrew]] || yes || yes || right-left || 22 consonants + 5 final letters || 4 ||Middle East || [[Israelis]], [[Jewish diaspora]] communities, [[Second Temple period| Second Temple Judea]] ||Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Aramaic, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Italian, [[Yiddish]], [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]], [[Jewish languages#Classification|many others]]|| data-sort-value="-0200" | 2nd century BCE || [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]], Early Aramaic ||
! style="background-color: white;" |2
| [[Hebrew abjad|Hebrew]] || yes ||only in modern Hebrew|| right-left || 22 consonants + 5 final letters || Middle-East || [[Israelis]], Some [[Jewish diaspora]] communities, Ancient Hebrew Tribes ||Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Aramaic || > 1100 BC {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Proto-Hebrew, Early Aramaic ||
|-
|-
| [[Arabic abjad|Arabic]] || yes || yes || right-left || 28 || 3 || Middle East || Over 400 million people || [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Pashto language|Pashto]], [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Arabic script#Languages written with the Arabic script|many others]]{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| 512 CE{{sfn|Ekhtiar|2011|p=21}}{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Nabataean Aramaic|| [[Thaana]]
! style="background-color: white;" |3
| [[Arabic abjad|Arabic]] || yes || yes || right-left || 28 || Middle-East and North Africa || Over 400 million people || Arabic, Bosnian, [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]]'', Malay, Persian/Farsi, Pashto, Balochi, Turkish, Urdu, others{{sfn|Ager|2015}} ''|| ~ AD 500{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Nabataean Aramaic||
|-
|-
| [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic (Imperial)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || 3 || Middle East || Achaemenid, Persian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires || Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew || data-sort-value="-0500" | {{circa|500}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Phoenician || Late Hebrew, Nabataean, Syriac
! style="background-color: white;" |4
| [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic (Imperial)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || Middle-East || Archaemenid, Persian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires || Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew || ~ 500 BC{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Phoenician || Late Hebrew, Nabataean, Syriac
|-
|-
| [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic (Early)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || none || Middle East || Various Semitic Peoples || || data-sort-value="-1000" | {{circa|1000|900}} BCE<br>{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}} || Phoenician || Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic.{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
! style="background-color: white;" |5
| [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic (Early)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || Middle-East || Various Semitic Peoples || || ~ 1000-900 BC|| Phoenician || Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic.{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
|-
| [[Nabataean alphabet|Nabataean]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || none || Middle East || Nabataean Kingdom{{sfn|Lo|2012}} ||Nabataean || data-sort-value="-0200" | 200 BCE{{sfn|Lo|2012}}|| Aramaic || Arabic
! style="background-color: white;" |6
| Ancient Berber || no || no || top-bottom, right-left{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || 22 (right-left) 25 (up-down){{sfn|Lo|2012}} || North Africa{{sfn|Lo|2012}} || Women in Tuareg Society{{sfn|Lo|2012}} || Tifinagh{{sfn|Lo|2012}} || 600 BC || Punic,{{sfn|Lo|2012}} South Arabian{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Tifinagh{{sfn|Lo|2012}}
|-
|-
| [[Pahlavi scripts|Middle Persian, (Pahlavi)]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || 3 || Middle East || [[Sassanian Empire]] || Pahlavi, Middle Persian || data-sort-value="-0200" | {{circa|200 BCE | 700 CE}} || Aramaic || Psalter, Avestan{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
! style="background-color: white;" |7
| [[Nabataean alphabet|Nabataean]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || Middle-East || Nabataean Kingdom{{sfn|Lo|2012}} ||Nabataean || 200 BC{{sfn|Lo|2012}}|| Aramaic || Arabic
|-
|-
| [[Psalter Pahlavi]] || no || yes || right-left || 21 || yes || Northwestern China {{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Persian Script for Paper Writing{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || || {{circa|400|sortable=yes}} CE<ref name="Encyclopædia Iranica">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/pahlavi-psalter|title=PAHLAVI PSALTER – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref>|| Syriac<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} ||
! style="background-color: white;" |8
| Middle Persian, (Pahlavi) || no || no || right-left || 22 || Middle-East || [[Sassanian Empire]] || Pahlavi, Middle Persian || || Aramaic || Psalter, Avestan{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
|-
| [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] || no || no || right-left, [[boustrophedon]] || 22 || none || Byblos{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Canaanites || Phoenician, Punic, [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] || data-sort-value="-1500" | {{circa|1500|1000}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Proto-Canaanite Alphabet{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Punic (variant), Greek, Etruscan, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew
! style="background-color: white;" |9
| [[Mandaic alphabet|Mandaic]] || no || yes || right-left || 24 || Iraq, Iran || Ahvāz, Iran || Mandaic || ~ AD 200|| Aramaic|| Neo-Mandaic
|-
|-
| [[Inscriptional Parthian|Parthian]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || yes || Parthia (modern-day equivalent of Northeastern Iran, Southern Turkmenistan and Northwest Afghanistan){{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Parthian & Sassanian periods of Persian Empire{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Parthian || data-sort-value="-0200" | {{circa|200}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Aramaic ||
! style="background-color: white;" |10
| Psalter || no || yes || right-left || 21 || Northwestern China {{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Persian Script for Paper Writing{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || || ~ AD 400<ref name="Encyclopædia Iranica">[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/pahlavi-psalter [[Encyclopædia Iranica]]]</ref>|| Syriac {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} ||
|-
|-
| [[Ancient South Arabian script|Sabaean]] || no || no || right-left, [[boustrophedon]] || 29 || none || Southern Arabia (Sheba) || Southern Arabians || Sabaean|| data-sort-value="-0500" | {{circa| 500}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Byblos{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Ethiopic (Eritrea & Ethiopia){{sfn|Ager|2015}}
! style="background-color: white;" |11
| [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] || no || no || right-left, [[Boustrophedon]] || 22 || Byblos{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Canaanites || Phoenician, Punic || ~ 1000-1500 BC{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Proto-Canaanite Alphabet{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Punic(variant), Greek, Etruscan, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew
|-
|-
| [[Punic language|Punic]] || no || no || right-left || 22 || none || Carthage (Tunisia), North Africa, Mediterranean{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Punic Culture || Punic, Neo-Punic || || Phoenician<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} ||
! style="background-color: white;" |12
| Parthian || no || no || right-left || 22 || Parthia (modern-day equivalent of Northeastern Iran){{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Parthian & Sassanian periods of Persian Empire{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Parthian || ~ 200 BC{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Aramaic ||
|-
|-
| [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite]] || no || no || left-right || 24 || none || Egypt, Sinai, Canaan || Canaanites || Canaanite || data-sort-value="-1900" | {{circa|1900|1700}} BCE|| In conjunction with Egyptian Hieroglyphs<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Phoenician, Hebrew
! style="background-color: white;" |13
| Sabaean || no || no system || right-left, [[boustrophedon]] || 29 || Southern Arabia (Sheba) || Southern Arabians || Sabaean|| ~ 500 BC{{sfn|Ager|2015}}|| Byblos{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Ethiopic (Eritrea & Ethiopia){{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
|-
| [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]] || no || yes || left-right || 30 || none, 3 characters for [[Glottal stop|gs]]+vowel || Ugarit (modern-day Northern Syria) ||Ugarites || Ugaritic, Hurrian || data-sort-value="-1400" | {{circa| 1400}} BCE{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Proto-Sinaitic ||
! style="background-color: white;" |14
| Punic || no || no || right-left || 22 || Carthage (Tunisia), North Africa, Mediterranean{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Punic Culture || Punic, Neo-Punic || || Phoenician {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} ||
|-
|-
| [[Ancient South Arabian script|South Arabian]] || no || yes ([[South Arabian alphabet#Zabūr script|Zabūr]] - cursive form of the South Arabian script) || right-left, [[Boustrophedon]] || 29 || yes || South-Arabia (Yemen) || D'mt Kingdom || Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre, Semitic, Cushitic, Nilo-Saharan<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || data-sort-value="-0900" | 900 BCE<br>{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Proto-Sinaitic || Ge'ez (Ethiopia and Eritrea)
! style="background-color: white;" |15
| [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite]] || no || no || left-right || 30 || Egypt, Sinai, Canaan || Canaanites || Canaanite || ~ 1900-1700 BC|| In conjunction with Egyptian Hieroglyphs {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Phoenician, Hebrew
|-
|-
| [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian]] || no || no (yes in later versions)|| right-left, left-right (vertical) || 20 || 3 || parts of China (Xinjiang), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan || Buddhists, Manichaens || Sogdian || {{circa| 400|sortable=yes}} CE|| Syriac || [[Old Uyghur alphabet]]{{sfn|Ager|2015}}
! style="background-color: white;" |16
| [[Ugaritic alphabet|Ugaritic]] || no || yes || left-right || 30 || Ugarit (modern-day Northern Syria) ||Ugarites || Ugaritic, Hurrian || ~ 1400 BC{{sfn|Ager|2015}} || Proto-Sinaitic ||
|-
|-
| [[Samaritan alphabet|Samaritan]] || yes (700 people) || no || right-left || 22 || none || Levant || Samaritans (Nablus and Holon) || Samaritan Aramaic, Samaritan Hebrew|| data-sort-value="-0100" | {{circa|100 BCE|1 CE}}|| Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet ||
! style="background-color: white;" |17
| South Arabian || no || yes ([[South Arabian alphabet#Zabūr script|Zabūr]] - cursive form of the South Arabian script) || [[Boustrophedon]] || 29 || South-Arabia (Yemen) || D'mt Kingdom || Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre, Semitic, Chushitic, Nilo-Saharan {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} || 900 BC {{citation needed|date=December 2011}} || Proto-Sinaitic || Ge'ez ((Ethiopia)(Eritrea))
|-
|-
| [[Tifinagh]] || yes || no || bottom-top, right-left, left-right,|| 31 || yes || North Africa || [[Berbers]] || [[Berber languages]] || data-sort-value="-2000" | 2nd millennium BCE<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zBwBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT127|title=Rock Art Studies - News of the World Volume 3|last1=Franklin|first1=Natalie R.|last2=Strecker|first2=Matthias|date=2008-08-05|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=9781782975885|pages=127|language=en}}</ref> || Phoenician, Arabic || Neo-Tifinagh
! style="background-color: white;" |18
| [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian]] || no || no (yes in later versions)|| right-left, left-right(vertical) || 20 || parts of China (Xinjiang), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan || Buddhists, Manichaens || Sogdian || ~ AD 400|| Syriac || [[Old Uyghur alphabet]], Yaqnabi (Tajikistan dialect) {{sfn|Ager|2015}}
|-
! style="background-color: white;" |19
| [[Samaritan alphabet|Samaritan]] || yes (700 people) || no || right-left || 22 || Mesopatamia or Levant (Disputed) || Samaritans (Nablus and Holon) || Samaritan Aramaic, Samaritan Hebrew|| ~ 100-0 BC|| Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet ||
|}
|}


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Abjad numerals]]
* [[Abjad numerals]] (Arabic alphanumeric code)
* [[Abugida]]
* [[Abugida]]
* [[Gematria]] (Hebrew system of mystical numerology)
* [[Gematria]] (Hebrew & English system of alphanumeric code)
* [[Numerology]]
* [[Numerology]]
* [[Shorthand]] (constructed writing systems that are structurally abjads)
* [[Shorthand]] (constructed writing systems that are structurally abjads)


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|40em}}


==Sources==
==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
{{refbegin|40em}}


* {{cite web
* {{cite encyclopedia
| title = Abjads / Consonant alphabets
| title = Abjads / Consonant alphabets
| encyclopedia = Omniglot
| url = http://www.omniglot.com/writing/alphabetic.htm
| url = http://www.omniglot.com/writing/alphabetic.htm
| first1 = Simon
| first1 = Simon
| last1 = Ager
| last1 = Ager
| date = 2015
| date = 2015
| ref = harv
}}
}}

* {{cite book|last1=Daniels|first1=Peter T.|editor1-last=Owens|editor1-first=Jonathan|title=The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=415|chapter=The Arabic Writing system|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last1=Daniels|first1=Peter T.|editor1-last=Owens|editor1-first=Jonathan|title=The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=415|chapter=The Arabic Writing system}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor1-first = Peter T.
|editor1-last = Daniels
| editor-first1 = Peter T.
| editor-last1 = Daniels
|editor-link1 = Peter T. Daniels
|editor2-first = William
| editor-link1 = Peter T. Daniels
|editor2-last = Bright
| editor-first2 = William
|title = The World's Writing Systems
| editor-last2 = Bright
|publisher = OUP
| encyclopedia = The World's Writing Systems
| publisher = OUP
|date = 1996
|page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/4 4]
| date = 1996
| page = 4
|isbn = 978-0195079937
|name-list-style = amp
| isbn = 978-0195079937
|url-access = registration
| last-author-amp = yes
|url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/4
| ref = harv
}}
}}


* {{Cite book| isbn = 9781588394347| last = Ekhtiar| first = Maryam| title = Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|location=New York |page=21 |date = 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vO761l9dgZwC&pg=PA21 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
* {{cite encyclopedia
| first1 = Reinhard G.
| first1 = Reinhard G.
| last1 = Lehmann
| last1 = Lehmann
| volume =
| title = '''Ch 2''' 27-30-22-26. How Many Letters Needs an Alphabet? The Case of Semitic
| title = '''Ch 2''' 27-30-22-26. How Many Letters Needs an Alphabet? The Case of Semitic
| encyclopedia = The idea of writing: Writing across borders
| encyclopedia = The idea of writing: Writing across borders
| editor-first1 = Alex
| editor1-first = Alex
| editor-last1 = de Voogt
| editor1-last = de Voogt
| editor-first2 = Joachim Friedrich
| editor2-first = Joachim Friedrich
| editor-last2 = Quack
| editor2-last = Quack
| location = Leiden
| location = Leiden
| publisher = Brill
| publisher = Brill
Line 170: Line 166:
| pages = 11–52
| pages = 11–52
| isbn = 978-9004215450
| isbn = 978-9004215450
| last-author-amp = yes
| name-list-style = amp
| ref = harv
}}
}}


* {{cite book|last1=Lipiński|first1=Edward|title=Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics II|date=1994|publisher=Peeters Publishers|location=Leuven, Belgium|isbn=9068316109|pages=29–30|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last1=Lipiński|first1=Edward|title=Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics II|date=1994|publisher=Peeters Publishers|location=Leuven, Belgium|isbn=9068316109|pages=29–30}}
* {{cite web
* {{cite web
| title = Berber
|title = Berber
| url = http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html
|url = http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html
| first1 = Lawrence
|first1 = Lawrence
| last1 = Lo
|last1 = Lo
| date = 2012
|date = 2012
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170826045645/http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html
| ref = harv
|archive-date = 26 August 2017
|url-status = dead
|df = dmy-all
}}
}}


Line 195: Line 193:
| volume = 1
| volume = 1
| page = 28
| page = 28
| ref = harv
}}
}}


{{refend}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4wKD0uN0NQ The Science of Arabic Letters, Abjad and Geometry, by Jorge Lupin is dead]

{{Writing systems |expanded=Abjads}}
{{Writing systems |expanded=Abjads}}
{{list of writing systems}}
{{list of writing systems}}
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[[Category:Abjad writing systems| ]]
[[Category:Abjad writing systems| ]]
[[Category:Arabic orthography]]
[[Category:Arabic orthography]]
[[Category:1990s neologisms]]

Latest revision as of 18:11, 14 November 2024

An abjad (/ˈæbæd/,[1] Arabic: أبجد, Hebrew: אבגד), also abgad,[2][3] is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introduced in 1990 by Peter T. Daniels.[4] Other terms for the same concept include partial phonemic script, segmentally linear defective phonographic script, consonantary, consonant writing, and consonantal alphabet.[5]

Impure abjads represent vowels with either optional diacritics, a limited number of distinct vowel glyphs, or both.

Etymology

[edit]

The name abjad is based on the Arabic alphabet's first (in its original order) four letters — corresponding to a, b, j, and d — to replace the more common terms "consonantary" and "consonantal alphabet" in describing the family of scripts classified as "West Semitic". It is similar to other Semitic languages such as Phoenician, Hebrew and Semitic proto-alphabets: specifically, aleph, bet, gimel, dalet.

In Indonesian and Malay, the term abjad is synonymous to alphabet.

Terminology

[edit]

According to the formulations of Peter T. Daniels,[6] abjads differ from alphabets in that only consonants, not vowels, are represented among the basic graphemes. Abjads differ from abugidas, another category defined by Daniels, in that in abjads, the vowel sound is implied by phonology, and where vowel marks exist for the system, such as nikkud for Hebrew and ḥarakāt for Arabic, their use is optional and not the dominant (or literate) form. Abugidas mark all vowels (other than the "inherent" vowel) with a diacritic, a minor attachment to the letter, a standalone glyph, or (in Canadian Aboriginal syllabics) by rotation of the letter. Some abugidas use a special symbol to suppress the inherent vowel so that the consonant alone can be properly represented. In a syllabary, a grapheme denotes a complete syllable, that is, either a lone vowel sound or a combination of a vowel sound with one or more consonant sounds.

The contrast of abjad versus alphabet has been rejected by other scholars because abjad is also used as a term for the Arabic numeral system. Also, it may be taken as suggesting that consonantal alphabets, in contrast to e.g. the Greek alphabet, were not yet true alphabets.[7] Florian Coulmas, a critic of Daniels and of the abjad terminology, argues that this terminology can confuse alphabets with "transcription systems", and that there is no reason to relegate the Hebrew, Aramaic or Phoenician alphabets to second-class status as an "incomplete alphabet".[8] However, Daniels's terminology has found acceptance in the linguistic community.[9][10][11]

Origins

[edit]
A specimen of Proto-Sinaitic script containing a phrase which may mean 'to Baalat'. The line running from the upper left to lower right reads mt l bclt.

The first abjad to gain widespread usage was the Phoenician abjad. Unlike other contemporary scripts, such as cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Phoenician script consisted of only a few dozen symbols. This made the script easy to learn, and seafaring Phoenician merchants took the script throughout the then-known world.

The Phoenician abjad was a radical simplification of phonetic writing, since hieroglyphics required the writer to pick a hieroglyph starting with the same sound that the writer wanted to write in order to write phonetically, much as man'yōgana (kanji used solely for phonetic use) was used to represent Japanese phonetically before the invention of kana.

Phoenician gave rise to a number of new writing systems, including the widely used Aramaic abjad and the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet evolved into the modern western alphabets, such as Latin and Cyrillic, while Aramaic became the ancestor of many modern abjads and abugidas of Asia.

Impure abjads

[edit]
Al-ʻArabiyya, meaning "Arabic": an example of the Arabic script, which is an impure abjad

Impure abjads have characters for some vowels, optional vowel diacritics, or both. The term pure abjad refers to scripts entirely lacking in vowel indicators.[12] However, most modern abjads, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Pahlavi, are "impure" abjads – that is, they also contain symbols for some of the vowel phonemes, although the said non-diacritic vowel letters are also used to write certain consonants, particularly approximants that sound similar to long vowels. A "pure" abjad is exemplified (perhaps) by very early forms of ancient Phoenician, though at some point (at least by the 9th century BC) it and most of the contemporary Semitic abjads had begun to overload a few of the consonant symbols with a secondary function as vowel markers, called matres lectionis.[13] This practice was at first rare and limited in scope but became increasingly common and more developed in later times.

Addition of vowels

[edit]

In the 9th century BC the Greeks adapted the Phoenician script for use in their own language. The phonetic structure of the Greek language created too many ambiguities when vowels went unrepresented, so the script was modified. They did not need letters for the guttural sounds represented by aleph, he, heth or ayin, so these symbols were assigned vocalic values. The letters waw and yod were also adapted into vowel signs; along with he, these were already used as matres lectionis in Phoenician. The major innovation of Greek was to dedicate these symbols exclusively and unambiguously to vowel sounds that could be combined arbitrarily with consonants (as opposed to syllabaries such as Linear B which usually have vowel symbols but cannot combine them with consonants to form arbitrary syllables).

Abugidas developed along a slightly different route. The basic consonantal symbol was considered to have an inherent "a" vowel sound. Hooks or short lines attached to various parts of the basic letter modify the vowel. In this way, the South Arabian abjad evolved into the Ge'ez abugida of Ethiopia between the 5th century BC and the 5th century AD. Similarly, the Brāhmī abugida of the Indian subcontinent developed around the 3rd century BC (from the Aramaic abjad, it has been hypothesized).

The other major family of abugidas, Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, was initially developed in the 1840s by missionary and linguist James Evans for the Cree and Ojibwe languages. Evans used features of Devanagari script and Pitman shorthand to create his initial abugida. Later in the 19th century, other missionaries adapted Evans's system to other Canadian aboriginal languages. Canadian syllabics differ from other abugidas in that the vowel is indicated by rotation of the consonantal symbol, with each vowel having a consistent orientation.

Abjads and the structure of Semitic languages

[edit]

The abjad form of writing is well-adapted to the morphological structure of the Semitic languages it was developed to write. This is because words in Semitic languages are formed from a root consisting of (usually) three consonants, the vowels being used to indicate inflectional or derived forms. For instance, according to Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, from the Arabic root ك‌ت‌ب K-T-B (to write) can be derived the forms كَتَبَ kataba (he wrote), كَتَبْتَ katabta (you (masculine singular) wrote), يَكْتُبُ⁩ yaktubu (he writes), and مَكْتَبَة⁩ maktabah (library). In most cases, the absence of full glyphs for vowels makes the common root clearer, allowing readers to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from familiar roots (especially in conjunction with context clues) and improving word recognition[citation needed][dubiousdiscuss] while reading for practiced readers.

By contrast, the Arabic and Hebrew scripts sometimes perform the role of true alphabets rather than abjads when used to write certain Indo-European languages, including Kurdish, Bosnian, Yiddish, and some Romance languages such as Mozarabic, Aragonese, Portuguese, Spanish and Ladino.

Comparative chart of Abjads, extinct and extant

[edit]
Name In use Cursive Direction # of letters Matres lectionis Area of origin Used by Languages Time period (age) Influenced by Writing systems influenced
Syriac yes yes right-left 22 consonants 3 Middle East Syriac Christianity, Assyrians Aramaic: Syriac, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo, Mlahso c. 100 BCE[14] Aramaic Nabatean, Palmyran, Mandaic, Parthian, Pahlavi, Sogdian, Avestan and Manichean[14]
Hebrew yes yes right-left 22 consonants + 5 final letters 4 Middle East Israelis, Jewish diaspora communities, Second Temple Judea Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Aramaic, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Italian, Yiddish, Ladino, many others 2nd century BCE Paleo-Hebrew, Early Aramaic
Arabic yes yes right-left 28 3 Middle East Over 400 million people Arabic, Kashmiri, Persian, Pashto, Uyghur, Kurdish, Urdu, many others[14] 512 CE[15][14] Nabataean Aramaic Thaana
Aramaic (Imperial) no no right-left 22 3 Middle East Achaemenid, Persian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew c. 500 BCE[14] Phoenician Late Hebrew, Nabataean, Syriac
Aramaic (Early) no no right-left 22 none Middle East Various Semitic Peoples c. 1000 – c. 900 BCE
[citation needed]
Phoenician Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic.[14]
Nabataean no no right-left 22 none Middle East Nabataean Kingdom[16] Nabataean 200 BCE[16] Aramaic Arabic
Middle Persian, (Pahlavi) no no right-left 22 3 Middle East Sassanian Empire Pahlavi, Middle Persian c. 200 BCE – c.  700 CE Aramaic Psalter, Avestan[14]
Psalter Pahlavi no yes right-left 21 yes Northwestern China [14] Persian Script for Paper Writing[14] 0400 c. 400 CE[17] Syriac
[citation needed]
Phoenician no no right-left, boustrophedon 22 none Byblos[14] Canaanites Phoenician, Punic, Hebrew c. 1500 – c. 1000 BCE[14] Proto-Canaanite Alphabet[14] Punic (variant), Greek, Etruscan, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew
Parthian no no right-left 22 yes Parthia (modern-day equivalent of Northeastern Iran, Southern Turkmenistan and Northwest Afghanistan)[14] Parthian & Sassanian periods of Persian Empire[14] Parthian c. 200 BCE[14] Aramaic
Sabaean no no right-left, boustrophedon 29 none Southern Arabia (Sheba) Southern Arabians Sabaean c. 500 BCE[14] Byblos[14] Ethiopic (Eritrea & Ethiopia)[14]
Punic no no right-left 22 none Carthage (Tunisia), North Africa, Mediterranean[14] Punic Culture Punic, Neo-Punic Phoenician
[citation needed]
Proto-Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite no no left-right 24 none Egypt, Sinai, Canaan Canaanites Canaanite c. 1900 – c. 1700 BCE In conjunction with Egyptian Hieroglyphs
[citation needed]
Phoenician, Hebrew
Ugaritic no yes left-right 30 none, 3 characters for gs+vowel Ugarit (modern-day Northern Syria) Ugarites Ugaritic, Hurrian c. 1400 BCE[14] Proto-Sinaitic
South Arabian no yes (Zabūr - cursive form of the South Arabian script) right-left, Boustrophedon 29 yes South-Arabia (Yemen) D'mt Kingdom Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre, Semitic, Cushitic, Nilo-Saharan
[citation needed]
900 BCE
[citation needed]
Proto-Sinaitic Ge'ez (Ethiopia and Eritrea)
Sogdian no no (yes in later versions) right-left, left-right (vertical) 20 3 parts of China (Xinjiang), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan Buddhists, Manichaens Sogdian 0400 c. 400 CE Syriac Old Uyghur alphabet[14]
Samaritan yes (700 people) no right-left 22 none Levant Samaritans (Nablus and Holon) Samaritan Aramaic, Samaritan Hebrew c. 100 BCE – c. 1 CE Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet
Tifinagh yes no bottom-top, right-left, left-right, 31 yes North Africa Berbers Berber languages 2nd millennium BCE[18] Phoenician, Arabic Neo-Tifinagh

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "abjad". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ Boyes, Philip J.; Steele, Philippa M. (10 October 2019). Understanding Relations Between Scripts II. Oxbow Books. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-78925-092-3.
  3. ^ Lehmann, Reinhard G. (2012). de Voogt, Alex; Quack, Joachim Friedrich (eds.). The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders. Leiden, Boston: Brill. p. 35. ISBN 9789004215450.
  4. ^ Daniels, P. (1990). Fundamentals of Grammatology. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 110(4), 727-731. doi:10.2307/602899: "We must recognize that the West Semitic scripts constitute a third fundamental type of script, the kind that denotes individual consonants only. It cannot be subsumed under either of the other terms. A suitable name for this type would be alephbeth, in honor of its Levantine origin, but this term seems too similar to alphabet to be practical; so I propose to call this type an "abjad," [Footnote: I.e., the alif-ba-jim order familiar from earlier Semitic alphabets, from which the modern order alif-ba-ta-tha is derived by placing together the letters with similar shapes and differing numbers of dots. The abjad is the order in which numerical values are assigned to the letters (as in Hebrew).] from the Arabic word for the traditional order6 of its script, which (unvocalized) of course falls in this category... There is yet a fourth fundamental type of script, a type recognized over forty years ago by James- Germain Fevrier, called by him the "neosyllabary" (1948, 330), and again by Fred Householder thirty years ago, who called it "pseudo-alphabet" (1959, 382). These are the scripts of Ethiopia and "greater India" that use a basic form for the specific syllable consonant + a particular vowel (in practice always the unmarked a) and modify it to denote the syllables with other vowels or with no vowel. Were it not for this existing term, I would propose maintaining the pattern by calling this type an "abugida," from the Ethiopian word for the auxiliary order of consonants in the signary."
  5. ^ Amalia E. Gnanadesikan (2017) Towards a typology of phonemic scripts, Writing Systems Research, 9:1, 14-35, DOI: 10.1080/17586801.2017.1308239 "Daniels (1990, 1996a) proposes the name abjad for these scripts, and this term has gained considerable popularity. Other terms include partial phonemic script (Hill, 1967), segmentally linear defective phonographic script (Faber, 1992), consonantary (Trigger, 2004), consonant writing (Coulmas, 1989) and consonantal alphabet (Gnanadesikan, 2009; Healey, 1990). "
  6. ^ Daniels & Bright 1996.
  7. ^ Lehmann 2011.
  8. ^ Coulmas, Florian (2004). Writing Systems. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-521-78737-6.
  9. ^ "Abjads / Consonant alphabets", Omniglot.com, 2009, quote: "Abjads, or consonant alphabets, represent consonants only, or consonants plus some vowels. Full vowel indication (vocalisation) can be added, usually by means of diacritics, but this is not usually done." Accessed 22 May 2009.
  10. ^ Rogers, Henry (2005): Writing systems: a linguistic approach. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-23464-0, ISBN 978-0-631-23464-7. See esp. Chap. 7, pp. 115ff.
  11. ^ Schone, Patrick (2006): "Low-resource autodiacritization of abjads for speech keyword search", In INTERSPEECH-2006, paper 1412-Mon3FoP.13.
  12. ^ Daniels 2013.
  13. ^ Lipiński 1994.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Ager 2015.
  15. ^ Ekhtiar 2011, p. 21.
  16. ^ a b Lo 2012.
  17. ^ "PAHLAVI PSALTER – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org.
  18. ^ Franklin, Natalie R.; Strecker, Matthias (5 August 2008). Rock Art Studies - News of the World Volume 3. Oxbow Books. p. 127. ISBN 9781782975885.

Sources

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  • Lipiński, Edward (1994). Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics II. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers. pp. 29–30. ISBN 9068316109.
  • Lo, Lawrence (2012). "Berber". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017.
  • Wright, W. (1967). A Grammar of the Arabic Language [transl. from the German of Caspari]. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). CUP. p. 28. ISBN 978-0521094559.
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