240 CultureShock! Egypt
this rule are crossword puzzles and signs in which the
script is written vertically.
The long vowels /a:/, /i:/ and /u:/ are represented by the
letters ’alif, ya ̄’ and wa ̄w respectively.
Vowel diacritics, which are used to mark short vowels, and
other special symbols appear only in the Qur’an. They are
also used, though with less consistency, in other religious
texts, in classical poetry, in textbooks for children and
foreign learners, and occasionally in complex texts to avoid
ambiguity. Sometimes the diacritics are used for decorative
purposes in book titles, letterheads, nameplates, etc.
The letter [jeem] is pronounced as a hard [g] in
most Egyptian dialects (see [gˇı ̃m] in the table), e.g.,
[gabal] for [jabal] (mountain) or [gamil] for [jamil]
(beautiful), and so forth. This pronunciation is considered
typically Egyptian.
The letter [qãf] is pronounced as a glottal stop [?] in Cairo
and the Delta, but as a hard [g] in Upper Egypt (the Sa’id),
which is perhaps due to the Bedouin infl uence. It does,
however, confuse things because the same spoken sound
[g] corresponds to different Arabic letters depending on
whether you are in Upper or Lower Egypt.Latin Name Final Medial Initial Isolated’(a) ’alif É s —— Ì
b bã’ Çs t 7 Í
t tã’ Çs v 8 Ï
t
̃t
̃ã’ Çs w 9 Ð
gˇgˇı ̃m x < Ñ
h. h.ã’ Çs ~ ü Ò
h
̃h
̃ã’ Çs = Ó
d dãl äÌÔ —— Ô
d
̃d
̃