Arabic Diacritics - Tashkil (marks Used As Phonetic Guides)

Tashkil (marks Used As Phonetic Guides)

The literal meaning of taškīl is "forming". As the normal Arabic text does not provide enough information about the correct pronunciation, the main purpose of taškīl (and ḥarakāt) is to provide a phonetic guide or a phonetic aid; i.e. show the correct pronunciation. It serves the same purpose as furigana (also called "ruby") in Japanese or pinyin or zhuyin in Mandarin Chinese for children who are learning to read or foreign learners.

The bulk of Arabic script is written without ḥarakāt (or short vowels). However, they are commonly used in some religious texts that demand strict adherence to pronunciation rules such as Qur'an ⟨الْقُرْآن⟩ (al-qurʾān). It is not uncommon to add ḥarakāt to Hadith ⟨الْحْدِيث⟩ (al-ḥadīṯ; plural: ʾaḥādīṯ) as well. Another use is in children's literature. Harakat are also used in ordinary texts when an ambiguity of pronunciation might arise. Vowelled Arabic dictionaries provide information about the correct pronunciation to both native and foreign Arabic speakers.

Short vowels can be included in cases where readers could not easily resolve word ambiguity from context alone, or simply wherever their writing might be considered aesthetically pleasing.

An example of a fully vocalised (vowelised or vowelled) Arabic from the Qur'ān (Al-Fatiha 1:1):

⟨ بِسْمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ⟩

bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi

In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Some Arabic textbooks for foreigners now use ḥarakāt as a phonetic guide to make learning reading Arabic easier. The other method used in textbooks is phonetic romanisation of unvocalised texts. Fully vocalised Arabic texts (i.e. Arabic texts with ḥarakāt/diacritics) are sought after by learners of Arabic. Some online bilingual dictionaries also provide ḥarakāt as a phonetic guide similarly to English dictionaries providing transcription.