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Ḍād

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Ḍād
Arabic
ﺽ‎
Phonemic representationdˤ, (ðˤ)
Position in alphabet26
Numerical value800
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Ḍād ضاد
ﺽ
Usage
Writing systemArabic script
TypeAbjad
Language of originArabic language
Sound values
Alphabetical position15
History
Development
Other
Writing directionRight-to-left
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Ḍād (ﺽ) is the fifteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet, one of the six letters not in the twenty-two akin to the Phoenician alphabet (the others being ṯāʾ, ḫāʾ, ḏāl, ẓāʾ, ġayn). In name and shape, it is a variant of ṣād. Its numerical value is 800 (see Abjad numerals). It is related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪓‎‎‎, South Arabian 𐩳.

The letter itself is distinguished a derivation, by addition of a diacritic dot, from ص ṣād (representing /sˤ/).


Position in word: Isolated Final Medial Initial
Glyph form:
(Help) 		ض‎ ـض‎ ـضـ‎ ضـ‎

Origin

[edit]

Based on ancient descriptions of this sound, it is clear that in Qur'anic Arabic ḍ was some sort of unusual lateral sound.[1][2][3][4][5] Sibawayh, author of the first book on Arabic grammar, explained the letter as being articulated from "between the first part of the side of the tongue and the adjoining molars". It is reconstructed by modern linguists as having been either a pharyngealized voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ɮˤ]ⓘ or a similar affricated sound [d͡ɮˤ] or [dˡˤ].[2][3] The affricated form is suggested by loans of ḍ into Akkadian as ld or lṭ and into Malaysian as dl.[1] However, not all linguists agree on this; the French orientalist André Roman supposes that the letter was actually a voiced emphatic alveolo-palatal sibilant /ʑˤ/, similar to the Polish ź.[2][3][6] The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic phonology includes an emphatic voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬʼ] or affricate [t͡ɬʼ] for ṣ́. This sound is considered to be the direct ancestor of Arabic ḍād, while merging with ṣād in most other Semitic languages.

The emphatic lateral nature of this sound is possibly inherited from Proto-Semitic, and is compared to a phoneme in Modern South Arabian languages such as Soqotri, but also in Mehri where it is usually an ejective lateral fricative. In Harsusi the counterpart to ض is mostly pronounced as lateral /ɬˤ/ (and its allophone [ɮˤ]), for example Harsusi /jeɬˤ.ħoːk/ vs. Arabic يضحك /jadˤ.ħak/ "he laughs", and Harsusi /ʔaː.reɬˤ/ vs. Arabic عريض /ʕa.riːdˤ/ "wide" but it also sometimes corresponds to Arabic ظ as in Harsusi /ɬˤa.her/ vs. Arabic ظهر /ðˤahr/ "back".[7] In Shehri (Jibbali) it also corresponds to Arabic ض [mi.rəɬˤ] vs. مرض /ma.ri.dˤa/ "he fell ill", [ʕiɬˤed] vs. عضد /ʕa.dˤud/ "(upper) arm" and [ɛrɬˤ] vs. أرض /ʔardˤ/ "land", but also corresponds to Arabic ظ as in [ɛɬˤ.her] vs. Arabic اظهر /aðˤ.hir/ "show, reveal".[8]

This is an extremely unusual sound, and led the early Arabic grammarians to describe Arabic as the لغة الضاد lughat aḍ-ḍād "the language of the ḍād", since the sound was thought to be unique to Arabic.[1] While other Arabic grammarians like al-Dani have described the letter ẓāʾ ظ as "being unique to Arabs among other nations".[9][10]

The corresponding letter in the Ancient South Arabian alphabet is ḍ ṣ́, and in the Geʽez script Ṣ́appa ፀ), although in Geʽez it merged early on with ṣ Sappa.

Emphatic consonants[11]
Proto-Semitic Old South
Arabian 		Old North
Arabian 		Modern South
Arabian 1 		Standard
Arabic 		Aramaic Modern
Hebrew 		Ge'ez Phoenician Akkadian
ṣ [sʼ] / [tsʼ] 𐩮 𐪎 /sʼ/, rarely /ʃʼ/ ص‎ /sˤ/ צ‎ ṣ צ‎ /t͡s/ ጸ ṣ 𐤑‎ ṣ ṣ
ṯ̣ [θʼ] 𐩼 𐪜 /θʼ ~ ðˤ/ ظ‎ /ðˤ/ צ‎, later ט‎ *ṱ, ṣ,
later ṭ
ṣ́ [ɬʼ] / [tɬʼ] 𐩳 𐪓 /ɬʼ/ ض‎ /dˤ/ ק‎, later ע‎ *ṣ́, q/ḳ,
later ʿ 		ፀ ṣ́
Notes
  1. ṯ [θ], ḏ [ð] and ṯ̣ [θʼ] merge with [t], [d], and [tʼ] in Soqotri

Pronunciation

[edit]
The main pronunciations of written ⟨ض⟩ in Arabic dialects.

The standard pronunciation of this letter in Modern Standard Arabic is the "emphatic" /dˤ/: pharyngealized voiced alveolar stop [dˤ]ⓘ, pharyngealized voiced dental stop [d̪ˤ] or velarized voiced dental stop [d̪ˠ].[1]

In most Arabic vernaculars ض ḍād and ظ ẓāʾ merged quite early;[2] in the varieties where the dental fricatives are preserved such as Najdi, Tunisian and Mesopotamian Arabic dialects, both the letters are pronounced /ðˤ.[12][2][3][5] However, there are dialects in South Arabia and in Mauritania and the Sahrawi where both the letters are kept different but not in all contexts.[2] In other vernaculars such as Egyptian ض ḍād and ظ ẓāʾ contrast; but Classical Arabic ẓāʾ becomes /zˤ/, e.g. ʿaẓīm [ʕɑˈzˤiːm] (< Classical عظيم ʿaḏ̣īm [ʕɑˈðˤiːm]) "great".[2][3][13]

One of the important aspects in some Tihama dialects is the preservation of the emphatic lateral fricative sound [ɮˤ], this sound is likely to be very similar to the original realization of ḍād, but this sound ([ɬˤ~ ɮˤ]) and [ðˤ] are used as two allophones for the two letters ḍād ض and ẓāʾ ظ.[14][15] A study regarding the dialect of Rijal Almaa in southern Saudi Arabia has shown that the de-lateralization is apparent for the majority of speakers and more apparent among the younger speakers, and [ðˤ] is the most prevalent pronunciation for both ḍād ض and ẓāʾ ظ.[16]

"De-emphaticized" pronunciation of both letters in the form of the plain /z/ entered into other non-Semitic languages such as Persian, Urdu, and Turkish.[2] However, there do exist Arabic borrowings into Ibero-Romance languages as well as Hausa and Malay, where ḍād and ẓāʾ are differentiated.[2]

Languages / Countries Pronunciation of the letters
ض ظ
Modern South Arabian languages (Mehri, Shehri, Harsusi) /ɬʼ/ /θʼ ~ ðʼ/
Standard Arabic (full distinction) /dˤ/ /ðˤ/
Most of the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and Tunisia. Partial in: Libya, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine /ðˤ/
Most of Algeria, and Morocco. Partial in: Libya, Tunisia and Yemen /dˤ/
Most of Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. Partial in: Jordan, and Saudi Arabia /dˤ/ /dˤ/, /zˤ/*
Mauritania, Partial in: Morocco /ðˤ/, /dˤ/* /ðˤ/

Notes:

  1. In Mauritania (Hassaniya Arabic), ض is mostly pronounced /ðˤ/ as in /ðˤħak/ ('to laugh'), from */dˤaħika/ ضحك, but /dˤ/ generally appears in the lexemes borrowed from Standard Arabic as in /dˤʕiːf/ ('weak'), from */dˤaʕiːf/ ضعيف.[17]
  2. In Egypt, Lebanon, etc, ظ is mostly pronounced /dˤ/ in inherited words as in /dˤalma/ ('darkness'), from */ðˤulma/ ظلمة; /ʕadˤm/ ('bone'), from /ʕaðˤm/ عظم, but pronounced /zˤ/ in borrowings from Literary Arabic as in /zˤulm/ ('injustice'); from */ðˤulm/ ظلم.
  3. In some accents in Egypt, the emphatic /dˤ/ is pronounced as a plain /d/.

Pronunciation across other languages

[edit]
Pronunciation of ⟨ض⟩ in other languages
Language Alphabet name Pronunciation (IPA)
Malay Jawi /d/*
Javanese Pegon
Swahili Ajami /ð/
Hausa Ajami /l/*
Azeri Arabic script /z/
Brahui
Hindko
Kashmiri
Pashto
Persian
Punjabi Shahmukhi
Saraiki
Sindhi Arabic script
Urdu
Uzbek Arabic script

Note: in Pegon and Jawi scripts ض ḍād is /d/ while ظ ẓāʾ is /z/, and in Hausa ض ḍād is /l/ while ظ ẓāʾ is /z/, but in other languages they merge.

Transliteration

[edit]

ض is transliterated as ḍ (D with underdot) in romanization. The combination ⟨dh⟩ is also sometimes used colloquially. In varieties where the Ḍād has merged with the Ẓāʾ, the symbol for the latter might be used for both (eg. ⟨ظل⟩ 'to stay' and ⟨ضل⟩ 'to be lost' may both be transcribed as ḏ̣al in Gulf Arabic).

When transliterating Arabic in the Hebrew alphabet, it is either written as ד‎ (the letter for /d/) or as צ׳‎ (tsadi with geresh), which is also used to represent the /tʃ/ sound. The Arabic letters ṣād ص and ḍād ض share the same Semitic origin with the Hebrew tsadi.

In Judeo-Arabic orthography, it has been written as צׄ/ץׄ‎(tsade with holam), emulating Arabic orthography, where the letter is created by adding a dot to ṣād ص.

Unicode

[edit]
Character information
Preview ض
Unicode name ARABIC LETTER DAD
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 1590 U+0636
UTF-8 216 182 D8 B6
Numeric character reference &#1590; &#x636;

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Versteegh, Kees (2003) [1997]. The Arabic language (Repr. ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780748614363.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Versteegh, Kees (1999). "Loanwords from Arabic and the merger of ḍ/ḏ̣". In Arazi, Albert; Sadan, Joseph; Wasserstein, David J. (eds.). Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948–1997). Eisenbrauns. pp. 273–286. ISBN 9781575060453.
  3. ^ a b c d e Versteegh, Kees (2000). "Treatise on the pronunciation of the ḍād". In Kinberg, Leah; Versteegh, Kees (eds.). Studies in the Linguistic Structure of Classical Arabic. Brill. pp. 197–199. ISBN 9004117652.
  4. ^ Ferguson, Charles (1959). "The Arabic koine". Language. 35 (4): 630. doi:10.2307/410601. JSTOR 410601.
  5. ^ a b Ferguson, Charles Albert (1997) [1959]. "The Arabic koine". In Belnap, R. Kirk; Haeri, Niloofar (eds.). Structuralist studies in Arabic linguistics: Charles A. Ferguson's papers, 1954–1994. Brill. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9004105115.
  6. ^ Roman, André (1983). Étude de la phonologie et de la morphologie de la koiné arabe. Vol. 1. Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence. pp. 162–206.
  7. ^ Al Balushi, Hammal (2019). "The Phonology of Modern South Arabian Harsusi of Oman". The Phonology of Modern South Arabian Harsusi of Oman: 28, 49.
  8. ^ Rubin, Aaron D. (2014). The Jibbali (Shaḥri) language of Oman (PDF) (in Arabic). pp. 81, 109.
  9. ^ al-Dānī, Abū ʿAmr (1989). الفرق بين الضاد والظاء في كتاب الله عز وجل وفي المشهور من الكلام [The difference between the letters ḍād and ẓāʾ] (in Arabic).
  10. ^ "اللغة العربية ليست لغة الضاد بل لغة حرف آخر.. ما هو؟". العربية (in Arabic). 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2025-03-29.
  11. ^ Schneider, Roey (2024). "The Semitic Sibilants". The Semitic Sibilants: 31, 33, 36.
  12. ^ al Nassir, Abdulmunʿim Abdulamir (1985). Sibawayh the Phonologist (PDF) (in Arabic). University of New York. pp. 40, 85. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  13. ^ Retsö, Jan (2012). "Classical Arabic". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 785–786. ISBN 978-3-11-025158-6.
  14. ^ Alqahtani, Khairiah (June 2015). A sociolinguistic study of the Tihami Qahtani dialect in Asir, Southern Arabia (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Essex. pp. 45, 46.
  15. ^ al-azraqi, Munira; Watson, Janet C.e. (2011). "Lateral fricatives and lateral emphatics in southern Saudi Arabia and Mehri" (PDF). Papers from the Forty-fourth Meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Held at the British Museum, London.
  16. ^ Al-Azraqi, Munira (2019). "Delateralisation in Arabic and Mehri". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  17. ^ Catherine Taine-Cheikh. 2020. Ḥassāniyya Arabic. In Christopher Lucas & Stefano Manfredi (eds.), Arabic and contact-induced change, 245–263. Berlin: Language Sci- ence Press.
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