In Arabic and Maltese, the consonants are divided into two groups, called the sun letters or solar letters (Arabic: حروف شمسية , Maltese: konsonanti xemxin) and moon letters or lunar letters (Arabic: Arabic: حروف قمرية , Maltese: konsonanti qamrin), based on whether they assimilate the letter (Arabic: [[ﻝ]] )[1] of a preceding Arabic definite article al- (Arabic: الـ), which is an important general rule used in Arabic grammar. Phonetically, sun letters are ones pronounced as coronal consonants, and moon letters are ones pronounced as other consonants.
These names come from the fact that the word for 'the Sun', , pronounced ash-shams, assimilates the , while the word for 'the Moon', , does not. This also applies to the Maltese language where they are written as ix-xemx and il-qamar.
When followed by a sun letter, the pronounced as /link/ of the Arabic definite article assimilates to the initial consonant of the following noun, resulting in a doubled consonant. For example, "the Nile" is pronounced, not .
When the Arabic definite article (
Arabic: الْـ) is followed by a moon letter, no assimilation takes place.The sun letters represent the coronal consonants according to the phonology of Classical Arabic, and the moon letters represent all others. The sun and moon letters are as follows:
| Sun letters | Arabic: [[ت]] | Arabic: [[ث]] | Arabic: [[د]] | Arabic: [[ذ]] | Arabic: [[ر]] | Arabic: [[ز]] | Arabic: [[س]] | Arabic: [[ش]] | Arabic: [[ص]] | Arabic: [[ض]] | Arabic: [[ط]] | Arabic: [[ظ]] | Arabic: [[ل]] | Arabic: [[ن]] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Moon letters | Arabic: [[ا]] | Arabic: [[ب]] | Arabic: [[ج]] | Arabic: [[ح]] | Arabic: [[خ]] | Arabic: [[ع]] | Arabic: [[غ]] | Arabic: [[ف]] | Arabic: [[ق]] | Arabic: [[ك]] | Arabic: [[م]] | Arabic: [[ه]] | Arabic: [[و]] | Arabic: [[ي]] |
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
The letter
Arabic: [[Gimel|ج]] is pronounced differently depending on the region of the speaker. In many regions it represents a coronal consonant such as pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/. However, in Classical Arabic, it represented a palatalized voiced velar plosive pronounced as /link/ or a voiced palatal plosive pronounced as /link/. A contemporary pronunciation as pronounced as /link/[2] is retained in Egypt, Oman, and coastal Yemen or pronounced as /link/ in eastern hinterland Yemen, and as a variant in Sudan. As a result, it was classified as a moon letter, and it does not assimilate the article in Classical Arabic. Maltese ġ pronounced as //d͡ʒ// is also considered a moon consonant, whereas its voiceless counterpart ċ pronounced as /link/ is a sun consonant.However, in some varieties of Moroccan, Mesopotamian, and Palestinian Arabic, (often /pronounced as /ʒ//) assimilates, like a sun letter, e.g., 'camel'.[3]
In Arabic dialects, like Palestinian, al before an emphatic consonant only assimilates in place of articulation but not in pharyngealization, hence instead of ('table').[4]
The sun (konsonanti xemxin) and moon (konsonanti qamrin) letters are as follows:
| Sun letters | Maltese: [[ċ]] | Maltese: [[d]] | Maltese: [[l]] | Maltese: [[n]] | Maltese: [[r]] | Maltese: [[s]] | Maltese: [[t]] | Maltese: [[x]] | Maltese: [[ż]] | Maltese: [[z]] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Moon letters | Maltese: [[b]] | Maltese: [[f]] | Maltese: [[ġ]] | Maltese: [[g]] | Maltese: [[għ]] | Maltese: [[h]] | Maltese: [[ħ]] | Maltese: [[j]] | Maltese: [[k]] | Maltese: [[m]] | Maltese: [[p]] | Maltese: [[q]] | Maltese: [[v]] | Maltese: [[w]] | |
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | /pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link// | silent | pronounced as /link/,pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
The sound pronounced as /link/ (represented by the letters Maltese: L and Arabic: ل) function in the same way no matter it is sun or moon letter, e.g. (the meat) is il-laħam in Maltese and Arabic: الْلَحْمْ al-laḥm in Arabic or (the game) is il-logħba in Maltese and Arabic: الْلُعْبَة al-luʿ
In the written language, the ⟨
⟩ is retained regardless of how it is pronounced. When full diacritics are used, assimilation may be expressed by putting a ⟨ ّ⟩ on the consonant after the ⟨⟩. Non-assimilation may be expressed by placing a over the ⟨⟩.Most modern-written Arabic names (including personal names and geographical Arabic names) do not follow the consonant assimilation rule or the shaddah when Latinized in Latin-spelled languages. Sometimes the sun and moon rules are not followed in casual speech. They are also mostly spaced rather than hyphenated.
E.g. personal name:
- Al Rahman or El Rahman instead of Ar-Raḥmāntransliterated geographical name:
- Al Jumhuriyah Al Tunisiyah instead of al-Jumhūrīyatu t-Tūnisīyah| Sun letters | Moon letters | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 'the sun' | 'the moon' | |||||
| 'the confidence' | 'the coral' | |||||
| Moon/Lunar Letters Arabic: حروف قمرية | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | IPA | pronounced as /link/ in the definite article "al" remains | Examples |
| pronounced as /link/ | al-’a.../ al-’u...; al-’i... | al-ʼakh(u) = the brother al-’udhun(u) = the ear al-’ibrīq(u) = the jug | |
| b | pronounced as /link/ | al-b... | al-bayt(u) = the house|-| j|pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/|al-j...| al-jawz(u) = the walnut |
| ḥ | pronounced as /link/ | al-ḥ... | al-Ḥajj(u) = the pilgrimage|-| |pronounced as /link/|al-kh...| al-khawkh(u) = the peach|-| |pronounced as /link/|al-ʻ...| al-‘aql(u) = the mind al-‘ush·b(u) = the grass al-‘id(u) = the holiday, festival|-| |pronounced as /link/| al-gh...| al-gharām(u) = the love, romance, passion|-| f|pronounced as /link/| al-f...| al-fik·r(u) = the thought|-| q|pronounced as /link/| al-q...| al-qird(u) = the monkey|-| k|pronounced as /link/| al-k...| al-kawkab(u) = the planet |
m | pronounced as /link/ | al-m... | al-mat·ḥaf(u) = the museum|-| w|pronounced as /link/| al-w...| al-wafiy(u) = the faithful = the color |
y | pronounced as /link/ | al-y... | al-yānsūn(u) = the anise|-| h|pronounced as /link/| al-h...| al-hawāʼ(u) = the air|} |
| d | pronounced as /link/ | ad-d... | ad-dubb(u) = the bear|-| dh|pronounced as /link/| adh-dh...| adh-dhakar(u) = the male|-| r|pronounced as /link/|ar-r...| ar-Rabb(u) = the Lord|-| z|pronounced as /link/|az-z...| az-zanbaq(u) = the lily|-| s|pronounced as /link/|as-s...| as-samāwāt(u) = the Heavens, firmament, skies|-| |pronounced as /link/| ash-sh...| ash-shar·q(u) = the east |
| pronounced as /link/ | aṣ-ṣ... | aṣ-ṣaḥ·rāʼ(u) = the desert|-| |pronounced as /link/| aḍ-ḍ...| aḍ-ḍabāb(u) = the fog|-| |pronounced as /link/| aṭ-ṭ...| aṭ-ṭāhir(u) = the pure | |
| pronounced as /link/ | aẓ-ẓ... | aẓ-ẓuh·r(u) = the noon|-| n|pronounced as /link/| an-n...| an-nisā(u) = the women|-| l|pronounced as /link/| al-l...| al-lawn(u)= the color|} See alsoReferences | |