Cham Jawi

Cham Jawi is a variant of the Jawi adaptation of the Arabic script used to write the Cham language, mainly Western Cham. This variation of writing was developed at the beginning of the arrival of Islam in Champa around the 14th to 15th centuries, mainly due to the influence of the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula.

Vowels

Compared to Malay, the language of the parent script of Cham Jawi, Cham has a richer and larger family of vowels. Malay Jawi, like the Arabic script itself, is an impure Abjad, meaning that most, but not all, vowels are unwritten. In Cham Jawi, the emphasis has been to write most vowels, and to differentiate between them. This has been done by the addition of accents and dots on the three ''mater lectionis'' letters, the letters ''alif'' (), ''waw'' (), and ''ya'' (), which act as vowel carriers.

There are some issues however, when it has come to the task of standardizing a script that accurately shows vowels. First is the lack of an enforcement or pedagogical mechanism for any single standard. This is augmented by the fact that Cham people are dispersed in Cambodia, Vietnam, and outside of the Cham homeland, in countries such as Malaysia. Second has been the slow development of Arabic keyboard for computers, specifically the slow incorporation of various accents, diacritics, and unique writing features that have long been a central part of Cham literature. Thus over the years, various parallel conventions have come to be followed by different publications and peoples.

Below table is the most comprehensive agreed-upon convention on vowels for Cham. But for example, the vowels ''ư'' and ''ơ'', are respectively written in the table below with ''alif with three dots'' () and ''alif with an inverted v'' (). But, as the ''three dots'' character wasn't incorporated into keyboards, they also have been commonly been written as ''alif with an inverted v'' () and ''alif with a v'' () respectively. Other sources may write the two vowels with a single letter ''alif with an inverted v'' ()and not differentiate between them.

Below table lists vowel sequences and their representation in Cham Jawi script.

Consonants

In Cham Jawi, additional characters for nasalised stops not found in the Malay Jawi alphabet have been added:
* پ (''nh'' or ''ny'') (instead of Malay )
* څ (nj)
* ڎ (''đ'' or ''nd'')

Maintaining consistency in the use of three-dot letters for nasal stop consonants, the letter ڤ has been reassigned to the sound mb (written as ''pp'' in Latin), and the letter ف reassigned to the sound p. (The f of Malay is absent in Cham.)

Voiceless aspirate consonants are represented as digraphs using ح:
* كح (kh)
* چح (ch)
* تح (th)
* فح (ph)

Voiced aspirate consonants are represented as digraphs using ه:
* ڬه (gh)
* جه (jh)
* ده (dh)
* به (bh)

The table below illustrates the letters of Cham Jawi, followed by notes for their uses.

:Notes
# The letter ''alif'' serves as a vowel, or as a carrier of vowel diacritics. This letter can take various types of diacritics to represent different vowel sounds. Please reffer to the section on vowels for more detailed information.
# At the end of the word, the letter is used. In all other contexts and locations, the letter is used.
# Mainly used in Arabic loanwords.
# The two letters and are homophones, but they are not interchangeable. They can either be standalone consonants, or they can be as part of digpraphs representing aspiration. They follow the following rules:
#* Arabic loanwords are written as is, with no modification.
#* The letter is used for writing of the "h" sound at the beginning of syllables in a multi-syllabic word.
#* The letter is used for writing of the "h" sound at the beginning of a syllable in a one-syllable word.
#* The letter is used for writing of the "h" sound at the end of a syllable in any word.
#* The letter is used as part of a digraph to represent an aspirated consonant, if the leading consonant is a ''voiceless'' letter (k, c, t, p).
#* The letter is used as part of a digraph to represent an aspirated consonant, if the leading consonant is a ''voiced'' letter (g, j, d, b).
# The two letters and are homophones. In Arabic loanwords, they are use unmodified. In every other instance, the letter is preferred, corresponding to the sound . However, there are dialects of Cham where these letters are pronounced as a thrill, . Thus, variations in orthographic convention do exist. The median consonant () corresponding to a mid-syllable sound "CrV" or "CrVC" is written with the letter .
# The letter doesn't represent any sound of its own. But it serves a specific purpose. This letter functions as a leading null letter in syllables that start with a vowel, in "VC" syllables. This applies to beginning of words as well as in the middle of words. In Arabic loanwords, the letter may alternatively be used.
# At the end of a syllable, the latin "-k" is pronounced as a glottal stop, and written as a ''hamza'' . When there is an actual /k/ sound at the end of a syllable, in Latin orthography, an alternative letter may be used, such as "c". In these instances, the word is written with an Arabic ''kaf'' letter, . In other instances, the letter is used.
# The letter ''waw'' serves as a consonant ( , a vowel, or as a carrier of vowel diacritics. This letter can take various types of diacritics to represent different vowel sounds. Please reffer to the section on vowels for more detailed information.
# The letter ''ya'' serves as a consonant ( , a vowel, or as a carrier of vowel diacritics. This letter can take various types of diacritics to represent different vowel sounds. Please reffer to the section on vowels for more detailed information.

Reduplication

In Cham Jawi, Reduplication is done in a manner similar to Jawi script and Pegon script, that is with the use of the numeral "٢" right after the base word.

While suffixed, the numeral "٢" comes in between the base word and the suffix, effectively being in the middle of the word.

Sample text

Below is a sample text in Cham, in Rumi, Jawi, and Cham scripts. This text is the translation of a famous Vietnamese short poetry.

See also

*Cham language
*Cham script

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jawi, Cham

Arabic alphabets