The Persian alphabet, or Perso-Arabic alphabet, is the writing system used for the Persian language. This article will talk about the features and general characteristics of this alphabet. The second name of the Persian language is Farsi.
Features of the alphabet
The replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Persian alphabet for writing Farsi was carried out under the Tahirid dynasty in the 9th century AD. e. Persian writing has many similarities with other writing systems based on the Arabic alphabet. One of the features of the Persian and Arabic alphabets is the consonant writing system, in which only consonants are written. The recording direction is exclusively from right to left. The writing in Persian is cursive. This means that most of the letters in the word connect with each other. When typing in Farsi, the computer automatically appends adjacent alphabetic characters. However, some syllables are not attached, and Persian adds four letters to the basic set. How many letters are in the Persian alphabet? It consists of a total of 32 characters.
Italic writing
Because the letter is italic, the appearance of the letter changes depending on itsprovisions. There are four types of arrangement of letters in Persian writing:
- isolated, in which letters do not join each other;
- initial (letters join on the left);
- middle (connection occurs on both sides);
- final (letters connect to the right).
Seven letters (و, ژ, ز, ر, ذ, د, ا) do not connect with the next, unlike the rest of the letters of the alphabet. These 7 characters have the same form in the isolated and initial position, a different form in the middle and final position. Almost all letters have Arabic names.
History of the Arabic alphabet
The reason for using the Arabic script to write the Persian language was the conquest of the territories of Persia by the Arab Caliphate in the process of Muslim conquests in the 7th century and the spread of Islam among the speakers of the Farsi language. The use of the Pahlavi script in Persia for state needs was banned at the end of the 8th century, and if the adherents of Zoroastrianism continued to use it, then those who converted to Islam were representatives of the poorly educated strata of the people, and to write simple texts they easily used the writing system of the dominant language of the Caliphate - Arabic. The first examples of Farsi verse written in Arabic script appear in the 9th century.
