Arabic-L:LING:Transcription

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 21 Jun 2010
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: Transcription

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1)
Date: 21 Jun 2010
From:"Knut S. Vikør" <knut.vikor at ahkr.uib.no>
Subject:Transcription

There is a difference between transcription (representing sounds) and transliteration (representing written letters). Many contributors to the list here are more knowledgeable about the more extended transcription systems, although IPA is am sure very common. As for transliteration, today the choice is often de facto determined by your computer system and fonts and what possibilities they give, or by personal preference. British users may correct me, but I do not think there is much general difference between the UK and US, although continental Europeans may still have some national preferences.

In the US/UK, then, generally the two systems most often used are those of IJMES (Int'l Journal Middle East Studies) and LC (Library of Congress); although one often sees mentioned the "modified Encyclopedia of Islam" system, it is in fact so much modified that it becomes virtually identical to those and in particular IJMES. EI itself has dropped the "EI" system in its new, 3rd edition. More complex systems, like the ISO system, are seldom used in the English-speaking world.

The major differences between IJMES and LC is the ta marbuta, which they write respectively -a and -ah, and the nisba ending: -iyya vs -īya. Thus, Qādiriyya in IJMES is Qādirīyah in LC. There are a number of other minor choices to be made (thus, whether to use "true" ayn and hamza characters or similar-looking "smart quotes" - the former is better, if your computer set-up allows it), but the IJMES / LC system (making your own choice between the options mentioned here) is probably the most commonly used standard in the English-speaking world today.

Knut S. VIkør

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End of Arabic-L:  21 Jun 2010


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