Khowar/Alphabet

The Khowar alphabet is derived from the Persian (Farsi) and the Arabic alphabet, where majority of the letters are borrowed from Arabic while only four alphabets are primarily borrowed from Persian. Very seldom, letters may be borrowed from Sanskrit. Even though the letters actually are inherited from these languages. However, Khowar has its own six alphabets, which are "Zhy", "Tsheen", "Tchay", "Tsay", "Tzhay" and "LRay".

Below is a table of all the Khowar alphabets along with their names and the phonetic pronunciation of their names. It is also specified as to which language the letter is borrowed from and the respective keys to press on a keyboard. For the purposes of following the text in this book, Latin alternatives are provided with the alphabet.

Alphabet	Name	Phonetic pronunciation	Borrowed from	Keyboard	Voice
ا	Aliph	pronounced [əlɪf]	Arabic	J	Vowel
ب	Bay	pronounced [beɪ]	Arabic	I	Labial
پ	Pay	pronounced [peɪ]	Persian	Y	Labial
ت	Tay; with soft ‘t’	pronounced [θeɪ]	Arabic	U	Dental
ٹ	Tay; with hard ‘T’	pronounced [teɪ]	Sanskrit	Shift + U	Retroflex
ث	Thay; colloquially ‘say’	pronounced [s·eɪ]	Arabic	Shift + T	Dental
ج	Jeem	pronounced [dʒ·iːm]	Arabic	O	Palatal
ج	Tjeem; Pronounced as "JhenJher"	pronounced [dʒ·iːm]	Khowar	O	Palatal
چ	Chay	pronounced [tʃ·eɪ]	Persian	Shift + O	Palatal
چ	Tchay; pronounced as "Charvelu"	pronounced [tʃ·eɪ]	Khowar	Shift + O	Palatal
څ	Tsay; Pronounced as "Tseq"	pronounced [tʃ·eɪ]	Khowar	Shift + O	Palatal
ح	Hay	pronounced [heɪ]	Arabic	P	Aspirated
خ	Khay	pronounced [xeɪ]	Arabic	Shift + P	Velar
د	Daal; with soft ‘d’	pronounced [ðɑːl]	Arabic	R	Dental
ڈ	Daal; with hard ‘D’	pronounced [dɑːl]	Sanskrit	Shift + R	Retroflex
ذ	Dhaal; colloquially ‘zaal’	pronounced [zɑːl]	Arabic	Shift + E	Aspirated
ر	Ray	pronounced [reɪ]	Arabic	D	Semi-vowel
ڑ	aRay; with very guttural ‘r’	pronounced [areɪ]	Sanskrit	Shift + D	Hard retroflex
ز	Zay	pronounced [zeɪ]	Arabic	Shift + S	Aspirated
ژ	Zhay; much like ‘j’ in ‘bonjour’	pronounced [ʒeɪ]	Persian	Shift + A	Aspirated
ژ	Djay; much like ‘j’ in ‘bonjour’	pronounced [ʒeɪ]	Khowar	Shift + A	Aspirated
س	Seen	pronounced [siːn]	Arabic	V	Dental aspirated
‎‎ش	Sheen	pronounced [sh·iːn]	Arabic	B	Dental aspirated
‎‎ش	Tsheen; Pronounced as "Shapik"	pronounced [sh·iːn]	Khowar	B	Dental aspirated
ص	Suaad	pronounced [sʊ̈·ɑːð]	Arabic	W	Velar aspirated
ض	Dhuaad; colloquially ‘zuaad’	pronounced [zʊ̈·ɑːð]	Arabic	Shift + W	Velar aspirated
ط	Toay'n	pronounced [θɔɪŋ]	Arabic	Q	Dental velar
ظ	Zoay'n	pronounced [zɔɪŋ]	Arabic	Shift + Q	Velar aspirated
ع	Ain; guttural ‘a’	pronounced [æn]	Arabic	M	Velar vowel
غ	Ghain; hoarse guttural ‘g’ followed by a hollow ‘h’	pronounced [ghæn]	Arabic	N	Strong velar aspirated
ف	Fay	pronounced [feɪ]	Arabic	X	Aspirated
ق	Quaaf; ‘Qu’ is pronounced only as ‘k’	pronounced [gɑːf]	Arabic	Z	Velar
ک	Kaaf	pronounced [kɑːf]	Arabic	K	Velar
گ	Gaaf	pronounced [gɑːf]	Persian	Shift + K	Velar
ل	Laam	pronounced [lɑːm]	Arabic	G	Dental
م	Meem	pronounced [miːm]	Arabic	A	Labial
ن	Noon	pronounced [nuːn]	Arabic	F	Palatal
ں	Noon ghuna; nasal equivalent of ‘noon’	pronounced [nuːn ghʊ̈nɑː]	Arabic	Shift + F	Palatal nasal
و	Vao; as you'd say “wow”	pronounced [vaʊ]	Arabic	S	Vowel/semi-vowel
ہ	Hay	pronounced [heɪ]	Arabic	H	Aspirated
‍‌ء	Hamza	pronounced [hʌmzɑː]	Arabic	Shift + H	Palatal nasal
ی	Chhoti yeh; literally meaning ‘small yeh’	pronounced [yeɪ]	Arabic	L	Vowel
ے	Bari yeh; literally meaning ‘big yeh’	pronounced [yeɪ]	Arabic	C	Vowel

---