Arabic Diacritics - Hamza (glottal Stop Semi-consonant)

Hamza (glottal Stop Semi-consonant)

Although often a diacritic is not considered a letter of the alphabet, the hamza هَمْزَة (hamzah, glottal stop), often does stand as a separate letter in writing, is written in unpointed texts, and is not considered a taškīl. It may appear as a letter by itself or as a diacritic over or under an ʾalif, wāw, or yāʾ.

Which letter is to be used to support the hamzah depends on the quality of the adjacent vowels.

• If the syllable occurs at the beginning of the word, the glottal stop is always indicated by hamza on an ʾalif.
• if the syllable occurs in the middle of the word, ʾalif is used only if it is not preceded or followed by /i/ or /u/.
• If /i(ː)/ is before or after the glottal stop, a yāʾ with a hamzah is used (the two dots which are usually beneath the yāʾ disappear in this case): ⟨ئ⟩.
• If /u(ː)/ is before or after the glottal stop, a wāw with a hamzah is used: ⟨ؤ⟩.

Consider the following words: ⟨أَخ⟩ /ʔax/ ("brother"), ⟨إِسْرَائِيل⟩ /ʔisraːʔiːl/ ("Israel"), ⟨أُمّ⟩ /ʔumm/ ("mother"). All three of above words "begin" with a vowel opening the syllable, and in each case, ʾalif is used to designate the initial glottal stop (the actual beginning). But if we consider middle syllables "beginning" with a vowel: ⟨نَشْأَة⟩ /naʃʔa/ ("origin"), ⟨إِسْرَائِيل⟩ /ʔisraːʔiːl/ ("Israel" — notice the /ʔiːl/ syllable), ⟨رُؤُوس⟩ /ruʔuːs/ ("heads", singular ⟨رَأْس⟩ /raʔs/), the situation is different, as noted above. See the comprehensive article on hamzah for more details.