Middle Semitic/Orthography
Map
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | (Alv)Pal. | Velar | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m ܡ | n ܢ | |||||
| Voiced | b~v ܒ | d~ð ܕ | z ܐ | g~ɣ ܓ | ʕ ܖ | ||
| Unvoiced | p~f ܦ | t~θ ܬ | s ܣ | š ܫ | k~x ܟ | ḥ ܚ | h ܗ |
| Emphatic | ṭ ܛ | ṣ ܨ | q ܩ | ʔ ܐ | |||
| Approx. | l ܠ | r ܪ | y ܥ | w ܘ |
For purposes of weak conjugations/declensions, all pharyngeals and glottal's are considered "gutturals". For the "begadkepat" letter, they are in free variation between stops and fricatives. However, most people say them as fricatives intervocalically and as stops elsewhere. (When they are doubled, they are always stops.) However, in spelling certain foreign words and in full-spelling, it is possible to distinguish between the sounds by a dot above for the stop, and a dot below for the fricative.
- ܒ̇ is /b/ while ܒ̣ is /v/
- ܓ̇ is /g/ while ܓ̣ is /ɣ/
- ܕ̇ is /d/ while ܕ̣ is /ð/
- ܟ̇ is /k/ while ܟ̣ is /x/
- ܦ̇ is /p/ while ܦ̣ is /f/
- ܬ̇ is /t/ while ܬ̣ is /θ/
Vowels
True vowels are diacritic, written on the table to the right upon a bet to show placement:
| Front | Center | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i ܒܻ / ܒܺ | u ܒܾ / ܒܽ | |
| Middle | e ܒܷ / ܒܶ | o ܒܴ // ܒܳ | |
| Low | a ܒܱ / ܒܰ | ||
Diacritics
a, w, and y are assumed to always be mater lectionis, so when they are consonants (in full spelling), they get a superscript 'alef, which looks like this ܐܑ ܁ ܘܑ ܁ ܝܑ.
