Hamza Explained

Hamza
Letter:	ء
Script:	Arabic script
Type:	Abjad
Language:	Arabic language
Phonemes:	pronounced as /link/
Unicode:	U+0621
Direction:	Right-to-left

The hamza (Arabic: هَمْزَة ) is an Arabic script character that, in the Arabic alphabet, denotes a glottal stop and, in non-Arabic languages, indicates a diphthong, vowel, or other features, depending on the language. Derived from the letter ʿAyn,^[1] the hamza is written in initial, medial and final positions as an unlinked letter or placed above or under a carrier character. Despite its common usage as a letter in Modern Standard Arabic, it is generally not considered to be one of its letters, although some argue that it should be considered a letter.

The hamza is often romanized as a typewriter apostophe ('), a modifier letter apostrophe (ʼ), a modifier letter right half ring (ʾ), or as the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol ʔ. In Arabizi, it is either written as "2" or not written at all.

In the Phoenician, Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, from which the Arabic alphabet is descended, the glottal stop was expressed by alif (), continued by Alif (ا) in the Arabic alphabet. However, Alif was used to express both a glottal stop and a long vowel pronounced as /link/. In order to indicate that a glottal stop is used and not a mere vowel, it was added to Alif diacritically. In modern orthography, hamza may also appear on the line, under certain circumstances as though it were a full letter, independent of an alif.

Etymology

Hamza is derived from the verb (Arabic: هَمَزَ) meaning 'to prick, goad, drive' or 'to provide (a letter or word) with hamzah'.^[2]

Hamzat al-waṣl (Arabic: ٱ)

See also: Wasla, Arabic definite article and sun and moon letters.

The hamza (Arabic: ء) on its own is (Arabic: هَمْزَة الْقَطْع, "the hamzah which breaks, ceases or halts", i.e. the broken, cessation, halting"), otherwise referred to as (Arabic: قَطْعَة), that is, a phonemic glottal stop unlike the (Arabic: هَمْزَة الوَصْل, "the hamzah which attaches, connects or joins", i.e. the attachment, connection, joining"), a non-phonemic glottal stop produced automatically only if at the beginning of an utterance, otherwise assimilated. Although the can be written as an alif carrying a sign Arabic: ٱ (only in the Quran), it is normally indicated by a plain alif without a hamza.^[3]

Arabic: ٱ occurs in:

• the definite article
• some short words with two of their three-consonant roots apparent: ism Arabic: اسْم, ibn Arabic: ابْن, imru Arabic: امْرُؤ (fem. imra'ah Arabic: امْرَأَة), ithnāni Arabic: اثْنَانِ (fem. ithnatāni Arabic: اثْنَتَانِ)
• the imperative verbs of forms I and VII to X
• the perfective aspect of verb forms VII to X and their verbal nouns
• some borrowed words that start with consonant clusters such as

It is not pronounced following a vowel (Arabic: البَيْتُ الكَبِير, ). This event occurs in the definite article or at the beginning of a noun following a preposition or a verb following a relative pronoun. If the definite article al- is followed by a sun letter, -l- also gives way for the next letter for lām is assimilated.

Orthography

The hamza can be written either alone, as if it were a letter, or with a carrier, when it becomes a diacritic:

• Alone: (only one isolated form):

• By itself:

• High Hamza (used in Kazakh; only one isolated form, but actually used in medial and final positions where it will be non joining), after any Arabic letter (if that letter has an initial or medial form, these forms will be changed to isolated or final forms respectively):

• Three-Quarter High Hamza (used in Malay; only one isolated form, but actually used in medial and final positions where it will be non joining):

Position in word:	Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
Glyph form: (Help)	ء	(none)	(none)	(none)

This form has been proposed for the inclusion to the Unicode Standard,^{[4] [5]} but the Unicode Script Ad Hoc Group stated that it can be unified with the existing . The form above currently being displayed using a standard Arabic Hamza with an altered vertical position.

• Combined with a letter:

• Above or below an :

• Above a :

• Above a dotless, also called Arabic: همزة على نبرة . Joined medially and finally in Arabic, other languages written in Arabic-based script may have it initially as well (or it may take its isolated or initial shape, even in Arabic, after a non-joining letter in the same word):

• Above . In the Persian and Pashto alphabets, not used in Arabic:

• Above . In the Pashto alphabet, not used in Arabic:

• Above . In the Khowar alphabet, not used in Arabic:

• Above a . In the Urdu alphabet, not used in Arabic:

• Above a . In the Urdu alphabet, not used in Arabic

Arabic "seat" rules

The rules for writing hamza differ somewhat between languages even if the writing is based on the Arabic abjad. The following addresses Arabic specifically.

Summary

• Initial hamza is always placed over (أ for or) or under (إ for) an alif.
• Medial hamza will have a seat or be written alone:
  • Surrounding vowels determine the seat of the hamza with preceding long vowels and diphthongs (such as or) being ignored.
  • (ئ) over (ؤ) over (أ) if there are two conflicting vowels that count; on the line (ء) if there are none.
  • As a special case, and require hamza on the line, instead of over an alif as one would expect. (See III.1b below.)
• Final hamza will have a seat or be written alone:
  • Alone on the line when preceded by a long vowel or final consonant.
  • Has a seat matching the final short vowel for words ending in a short vowel.
• Two adjacent alifs are never allowed. If the rules call for this, replace the combination by a single alif maddah.

Detailed description

• Logically, hamza is just like any other letter, but it may be written in different ways. It has no effect on the way other letters are written. In particular, surrounding long vowels are written just as they always are, regardless of the "seat" of the hamza—even if this results in the appearance of two consecutive wāws or yāʾs.
• The hamza can be written in five ways: on its own ("on the line"), under an alif, or over an alif, wāw, or yāʾ, called the "seat" of the hamza. When written over yāʾ, the dots that would normally be written underneath are omitted.
• When according to the rules below, a hamza with an alif seat would occur before an alif which represents the vowel ā, a single alif is instead written with the maddah symbol over it.
• The rules for hamza depend on whether it occurs as the initial, middle, or final letter (not sound) in a word. (Thus, final short inflectional vowels do not count, but is written as alif + nunation, counts, and the hamza is considered medial.)

I. If the hamza is initial:

• If the following letter is a short vowel, (a) (as in ) or (u) (as in ), the hamza is written over a place-holding alif; (i) (as in ) the hamza is written under a place-holding alif and is called "hamza on a wall."
• If the letter following the hamza is an alif itself: (as in ) alif maddah will occur.

II. If the hamza is final:

• If a short vowel precedes, the hamza is written over the letter ( or ) corresponding to the short vowel.
• Otherwise, the hamza is written on the line (as in "thing").

III. If the hamza is medial:

• If a long vowel or diphthong precedes, the seat of the hamza is determined mostly by what follows:

• If or follows, the hamza is written over or, accordingly.

• Otherwise, the hamza would be written on the line. If a precedes, however, that would conflict with the stroke joining the to the following letter, so the hamza is written over . (as in)
• Otherwise, both preceding and following vowels have an effect on the hamza.

• If there is only one vowel (or two of the same kind), that vowel determines the seat ( or ).

• If there are two conflicting vowels, takes precedence over , over so 'hundred' is written, with hamza over the .

• Alif-maddah occurs if appropriate.

Not surprisingly, the complexity of the rules causes some disagreement.

• Barron's 201 Arabic Verbs follows the rules exactly (but the sequence does not occur; see below).
• John Mace's Teach Yourself Arabic Verbs and Essential Grammar presents alternative forms in almost all cases when hamza is followed by a long . The motivation appears to be to avoid two s in a row. Generally, the choice is between the form following the rules here or an alternative form using hamza over yāʾ in all cases. Example forms are masʾūl ([adj: responsible, in charge, accountable]; [noun: official, functionary]), yajīʾūna (verb: jāʾa "to come"), yashāʾūna (verb: shāʾa "to will, to want, to intend, to wish"). Exceptions:

• In the sequence (, verb: sā'a "to act badly, be bad") the alternatives are hamza on the line, or hamza over , when the rules here would call for hamza over . Perhaps, the resulting sequence of three wāws would be especially repugnant.

• In the sequence (verb: qaraʾa "to read, to recite, to review/ study") the alternative form has hamza over alif, not .

• The forms yabṭuʾūna (verb: baṭuʾa "to be or become slow, late or backward, "to come late", "to move slowly") and yaʾūbu (verb: "move to the back", "to return to come back", "to repent") have no alternative form. (Note with the same sequence of vowels.)
• Haywood and Nahmad's A new Arabic Grammar of the Written Language does not write the paradigms out in full, but in general agrees with John Mace's book, including the alternative forms and sometimes lists a third alternative with the entire sequence written as a single hamza over instead of as two letters.
• Al-Kitāb fī Taʿallum... presents paradigms with hamza written the same way throughout, regardless of the rules above. Thus with hamza only over alif, with hamza only over , with hamza only over alif, but that is not allowed in any of the previous three books. (It appears to be an overgeneralization on the part of the al-Kitāb writers.)

Overview tables

The letter (ṭ) stands here for any consonant.

Note: The table shows only potential combinations and their graphic representations according to the spelling rules; not every possible combination exists in Arabic.

first

second
ʾiṭ	ʾuṭ	ʾaṭ	ʾīṭ	ʾūṭ	ʾāṭ
ṭiʾ	ṭiʾiṭ	ṭiʾuṭ	ṭiʾaṭ	ṭiʾīṭ	ṭiʾūṭ	ṭiʾāṭ
ṭuʾ	ṭuʾiṭ	ṭuʾuṭ	ṭuʾaṭ	ṭuʾīṭ	ṭuʾūṭ	ṭuʾāṭ
ṭaʾ	ṭaʾiṭ	ṭaʾuṭ	ṭaʾaṭ	ṭaʾīṭ	ṭaʾūṭ	ṭaʾāṭ
ṭīʾ	ṭīʾiṭ	ṭīʾuṭ	ṭīʾaṭ	ṭīʾīṭ	ṭīʾūṭ	ṭīʾāṭ
ṭayʾ	ṭayʾiṭ	ṭayʾuṭ	ṭayʾaṭ	ṭayʾīṭ	ṭayʾūṭ	ṭayʾāṭ
ṭūʾ	ṭūʾiṭ	ṭūʾuṭ	ṭūʾaṭ	ṭūʾīṭ	ṭūʾūṭ	ṭūʾāṭ
ṭawʾ	ṭawʾiṭ	ṭawʾuṭ	ṭawʾaṭ	ṭawʾīṭ	ṭawʾūṭ	ṭawʾāṭ
ṭāʾ	ṭāʾiṭ	ṭāʾuṭ	ṭāʾaṭ	ṭāʾīṭ	ṭāʾūṭ	ṭāʾāṭ

condition

vowel
i	u	a	ī	ū	ā
_VC	ʾiṭ	ʾuṭ	ʾaṭ	ʾīṭ	ʾūṭ	ʾāṭ
C_VC	ṭʾiṭ	ṭʾuṭ	ṭʾaṭ	ṭʾīṭ	ṭʾūṭ	ṭʾāṭ
CV_C	ṭiʾṭ	ṭuʾṭ	ṭaʾṭ	ṭīʾṭ	ṭūʾṭ	ṭāʾṭ
CV_#	ṭiʾ	ṭuʾ	ṭaʾ	ṭīʾ	ṭūʾ	ṭāʾ

Colours:

Notes:

Hamza in other Arabic-script alphabets

Jawi alphabet

In the Jawi alphabet (Arabic script used to write Malay), hamza is used for various purposes, but is rarely used to denote a glottal stop except in certain Arabic loanwords. The default isolated hamza form (Malay: hamzah setara) is the second least common form of hamza, whereas another form unique to the Jawi script, the three-quarter high hamza (Malay: hamzah tiga suku) is most commonly used in daily Jawi writing. The three-quarter high hamza itself is used in many cases:^[6]

• Separating vowel letters of a diphthongsuch as ai, au, and oi when present in certain positions within words
• Preceding certain suffixes such as (-an) and (-i)
• To write non-Malay single-syllable words (most commonly names) that starts with a vowel other than alif (ا)
• Glottal stops for archaic words (specifically titles and names which have a fixed spelling)
• In some instances Arabic loanwords which change their original spelling may change the hamza to the three-quarter high hamza instead

This exact form is not available in Unicode Standard, as it is unified with ARABIC LETTER HIGH HAMZA, but the common way of writing this form is by using a normal hamza and altering its vertical position.

Hamza above alif is used for prefixed words using the prefixes,, or, where its root word starts with a vowel (such as Malay: {{Script|Arab|د+امبيل (Malay: di+ambil), becomes Malay: {{Script|Arab|دأمبيل (Malay: diambil)). This form as well as hamza below alif are both also in Arabic loanwords where the original spelling has been retained.

The hamza above ya is known as a "housed hamzah" (Malay: hamzah berumah), and is most commonly used in Arabic loanwords. It is also used for words which repeat or combine "i" and "é" vowels like Malay: {{Script|Arab|چميئيه (Malay: cemeeh meaning "taunt") and for denoting a glottal stop in the middle of a word after a consonant such as Malay: {{Script|Arab|سوبئيديتور (subeditor). More commonly, however, it is used for denoting a schwa after the vowels "i", "é", "o", and "u" such as Malay: {{Script|Arab|چندليئر (chandelier).

Hamza above waw is completely removed from the Jawi alphabet, and for Arabic loanwords using the letter, it is replaced with a normal waw followed by a three-quarter high hamza instead.^[7]

Urdu (Shahmukhi) alphabet

In the Urdu alphabet, hamza does not occur at the initial position over alif since alif is not used as a glottal stop in Urdu. In the middle position, if hamza is surrounded by vowels, it indicates a diphthong or syllable break between the two vowels. In the middle position, if hamza is surrounded by only one vowel, it takes the sound of that vowel. In the final position hamza is silent or produces a glottal sound, as in Arabic.

In Urdu, hamza usually represents a diphthong between two vowels. It rarely acts like the Arabic hamza except in a few loanwords from Arabic.

Hamza is also added at the last letter of the first word of ezāfe compound to represent -e- if the first word ends with yeh or with he or over bari yeh if it is added at the end of the first word of the ezāfe compound.

Hamza is always written on the line in the middle position unless in waw if that letter is preceded by a non-joiner letter; then, it is seated above waw. Hamza is also seated when written above baṛi yeh. In the final form, Hamza is written in its full form. In ezāfe, hamza is seated above choṭi he, yeh or baṛi yeh of the first word to represent the -e- of ezāfe compound.

Uyghur alphabet

In the Uyghur Arabic alphabet, the hamza is not a distinct letter and is not generally used to denote the glottal stop, but rather to indicate vowels. The hamza is only depicted with vowels in their initial or isolated forms, and only then when the vowel starts a word. It is also occasionally used when a word has two vowels in a row.^[8]

Kazakh alphabet

In the Kazakh Arabic alphabet, the hamza is used only at the beginning of words, and the only form is high hamza. It is not used to denote any sound, but to indicate that the vowels in the word will be the four front vowels: (ä), (ı), (ö), (ü). However, it is not used for words containing another front vowel (e) or words containing four consonants (g), (ğ), (k), (q).

Wavy hamza in Kashmiri

The Kashmiri language written in Arabic script includes the diacritic or "wavy hamza". In Kashmiri the diacritic is called āmālü mad when used above alif: ٲ to create the vowel pronounced as /link/.^[9] Kashmiri calls the wavy hamza sāȳ when below the alif: اٟ to create the sound pronounced as /link/.^[10]

Latin representations

There are different ways to represent hamza in Latin transliteration:

• In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the sound of the glottal stop is represented by the letter ʔ, resembling a dotless question mark.
• There is a tradition of using, the simple apostrophe; and a grave accent represents `ayn .

ʾ. Others such as ALA-LC use the modifier letter apostrophe ʼ or sometimes substitute the similar-looking Right Single Quotation Mark ’.

• Different unstandardized symbols exist such as 2 in Arabic chat alphabet.

See also

• ʼ and ʾ
• ʻOkina
• Aleph
• Arabic alphabet
• Arabic phonology
• Dagger alif
• Glottal stop (letter)
• Hamza (name)
• Harakat
  • Romanization of Arabic
• Varieties of Arabic

External links

• Interactive lesson for learning hamza

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2024-03-29 . Hamza In Arabic And It's Different Forms - Full Guide . 2024-04-22 . en-US.
2. Book: Wehr, Hans. Cowan. J. M.. The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Arabic. Otto Harrassowitz KG. 1994. همز hamaza. 978-0-87950-003-0. 4th.
3. Book: Wright . W. . Robertson Smith . W. . de Goeje . M. J. . A grammar of the Arabic language. 1996. Cambridge University Press. 484549376.
4. Web site: Shariya Haniz Zulkifli . 2009-07-09 . Submit Jawi character to IANA - final . Malaysia Network Information Center.
5. Web site: Ahmad Ali A. Karim . (Tun) Suzana (Tun) Othman . Dr. Hasanuddin Yusof . 2022-01-11 . Proposal to Encode ARABIC LETTER THREE QUARTER HIGH HAMZA for Jawi . Unicode Technical Committee.
6. Book: Dahaman . Ismail bin . Daftar Kata Bahasa Melayu: Rumi-Sebutan-Jawi (Jilid 1) . Ahmad . Manshoor bin Haji . . 2001 . 9789836246721 . Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) . 129 . ms-MY . Malay Language Word Directory: Rumi-Pronunciation-Jawi (Book 1).
7. Book: Haris bin Kasim, Haji . بوکو تيک‌س جاءيس جاوي تاهون 4 . Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor . 2019 . 9789671650004 . Seri Kembangan (Malaysia) . ms-Arab_MY . Year 4 Jawi JAIS Text Book.
8. Book: Nazarova . Gulnisa . Niyaz . Kurban . Uyghur: An Elementary Textbook . December 2013 . Georgetown University Press . Washington D.C. . 9781589016842 . 5–8 . Bilingual.
9. Web site: Vowel 04: ٲ / ä – (aae) . Kashmiri Dictionary . 11 July 2024 . 31 January 2021.
10. Web site: Vowel07: اٟ / ü (ι) . Kashmiri Dictionary . 11 July 2024 . 6 February 2021.