Khowar/Alphabet

The Khowar alphabet is derived from the Persian (Farsi) and the Arabic alphabet, where majority of the letters are borrowed from Arabic while only four alphabets are primarily borrowed from Persian. Very seldom, letters may be borrowed from Sanskrit. Even though the letters actually are inherited from these languages. However, Khowar has its own six alphabets, which are "Zhy", "Tsheen", "Tchay", "Tsay", "Tzhay" and "LRay". Below is a table of all the Khowar alphabets along with their names and the phonetic pronunciation of their names. It is also specified as to which language the letter is borrowed from and the respective keys to press on a keyboard. For the purposes of following the text in this book, Latin alternatives are provided with the alphabet. Alphabet Name Phonetic pronunciation Borrowed from KeyboardThe keys as they appear on the keyboard layout for Windows operating systems VoiceThe voice describes the characteristics of the sound produced by the letter of the alphabet. It may be Velar, Palatal, Retroflex, Dental, Labial or Aspirated consonants and vowels. Discuss this ا Aliph əlɪf Arabic J Vowel ب Bay beɪ Arabic I Labial پ Pay peɪ Persian Y Labial ت Tay; with soft ‘t’ θeɪ Arabic U Dental ٹ Tay; with hard ‘T’ teɪ Sanskrit Shift + U Retroflex ث Thay; colloquially ‘say’ s·eɪ Arabic Shift + T Dental ج Jeem dʒ·iːm Arabic O Palatal ج Tjeem; Pronounced as "JhenJher" dʒ·iːm Khowar O Palatal چ Chay tʃ·eɪ Persian Shift + O Palatal چ Tchay; pronounced as "Charvelu" tʃ·eɪ Khowar Shift + O Palatal څ Tsay; Pronounced as "Tseq" tʃ·eɪ Khowar Shift + O Palatal ح Hay heɪ Arabic P Aspirated خ Khay xeɪ Arabic Shift + P Velar د Daal; with soft ‘d’ ðɑːl Arabic R Dental ڈ Daal; with hard ‘D’ dɑːl Sanskrit Shift + R Retroflex ذ Dhaal; colloquially ‘zaal’ zɑːl Arabic Shift + E Aspirated ر Ray reɪ Arabic D Semi-vowel ڑ aRay; with very guttural ‘r’ areɪ Sanskrit Shift + D Hard retroflex ز Zay zeɪ Arabic Shift + S Aspirated ژ Zhay; much like ‘j’ in ‘bonjour’ ʒeɪ Persian Shift + A Aspirated ژ Djay; much like ‘j’ in ‘bonjour’ ʒeɪ Khowar Shift + A Aspirated س Seen siːn Arabic V Dental aspirated ‎‎ش Sheen sh·iːn Arabic B Dental aspirated ‎‎ش Tsheen; Pronounced as "Shapik" sh·iːn Khowar B Dental aspirated ص Suaad sʊ̈·ɑːð Arabic W Velar aspirated ض Dhuaad; colloquially ‘zuaad’ zʊ̈·ɑːð Arabic Shift + W Velar aspirated ط Toay'n θɔɪŋ Arabic Q Dental velar ظ Zoay'n zɔɪŋ Arabic Shift + Q Velar aspirated ع Ain; guttural ‘a’ æn Arabic M Velar vowel غ Ghain; hoarse guttural ‘g’ followed by a hollow ‘h’ ghæn Arabic N Strong velar aspirated ف Fay feɪ Arabic X Aspirated ق Quaaf; ‘Qu’ is pronounced only as ‘k’ gɑːf Arabic Z Velar ک Kaaf kɑːf Arabic K Velar گ Gaaf gɑːf Persian Shift + K Velar ل Laam lɑːm Arabic G Dental م Meem miːm Arabic A Labial ن Noon nuːn Arabic F Palatal ں Noon ghuna; nasal equivalent of ‘noon’ nuːn ghʊ̈nɑː Arabic Shift + F Palatal nasal و Vao; as you'd say “wow” vaʊ Arabic S Vowel/semi-vowel ہ Hay heɪ Arabic H Aspirated ‍‌ء Hamza hʌmzɑː Arabic Shift + H Palatal nasal ی Chhoti yeh; literally meaning ‘small yeh’ yeɪ Arabic L Vowel ے Bari yeh; literally meaning ‘big yeh’ yeɪ Arabic C Vowel khw:حروف تہجی