Ligatures in Arabic Script

[markwh]

I'm starting to learn some Arabic and have just about got to grips with the basic letter forms. However, there are a large number of ligatures - combinations of 2 or more letters which are represented by their own special symbol.

Does anybody know a good source giving a comprehensive listing of such ligatures? Preferably a web site. I am looking for a simple table if such a thing is possible.

After hours of Googling all I found were sites that had just a few examples, or others which went into details of how to generate Arabic fonts. Maybe the search terms I put into Google are not the best!

Trust this is the best AB category to use - couldn't find a languages section.

Any help appreciated.

Many Thanks.

[Clanad]

See if this site will help. I found it when working on Hebrew and needing to understand some Arabic terms.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/PAF00305/lib/arabic .html

(Scroll to the ligatures section of the Table of Contents).

As you are probably already aware, the issue with font generation becomes a question not unlike the chicken-egg problem. Since the rules under which Arabic ligatures come into being and are used are word place dependant,(among other factors) they become very difficult to display appropriately, especially when converting to another language. This is also true of Hebrew, especially ancient Hebrew with no vowels and even later with the introduction of vowel points. At any rate, best of luck!

[Peter Pedant]

erm I think you might have to ask an Arab.

The initial, medial and final letters are all obligatory, unlike ENglish where in joined up writing, youcan join up where you like or not.

Words like Mohamed which looks a bit like a sandwich are written out in a straight line if writing it on a type writer

a final nun (not counting nunation) instead of the dot has a tag on the end.

r and d are distinguished because the d has to have a jag above the line

but all this stuff you learn in formal teaching.....

sorry...

oh and good luck - it IS a difficult language.

[Peter Pedant]

oh things like the lam-mim

no you get taught that when you are taught writing....

or lam aleph....

no definitely something for the teacher....

[MustafaTickl]

markwh - rahmatullah alayhe!