Aljamiado
Aljamiado or Aljamía texts are manuscripts that use the Arabic script for transcribing European languages, especially Romance languages such as Old Spanish or Aragonese. This alphabet is also called the Morisco alphabet.
According to Anwar G. Chejne, Aljamiado or Aljamía is "a corruption of the Arabic word ʿaǧamiyyah and, generally, the Arabic expression ʿaǧam and its derivative ʿaǧamiyyah are applicable to peoples whose ancestry is not of Arabian origin". During the Arab conquest of Persia, the term became a pejorative.
History
The systematic writing of Romance-language texts in Arabic scripts appears to have begun in the fifteenth century, and the overwhelming majority of such texts that can be dated belong to the sixteenth century. A key aljamiado text is the compilation Suma de los principales mandamientos y devediamentos de nuestra santa ley y sunna by the muftī of Segovia, of 1462.In later times, Moriscos were banned from using Arabic as a religious language, and wrote in Spanish on Islamic subjects. Examples are the Coplas del alhichante de Puey Monzón, narrating a Ḥaǧǧ, or the Poema de Yuçuf on the Biblical Joseph.
Aljamiado played a very important role in preserving Islam and the Arabic language in the life of the Moriscos of Castile and Aragon; Valencian and Granadan Moriscos spoke and wrote in Andalusi Arabic. After the fall of the last Muslim kingdom on the Iberian peninsula, the Moriscos were forced to convert to Christianity or leave the peninsula. They were forced to adopt Christian customs and traditions and to attend church services on Sundays. Nevertheless, some of the Moriscos kept their Islamic belief and traditions secretly, and this included the usage of Aljamiado.
In 1567, Philip II of Spain issued a royal decree in Spain, which forced Moriscos to abandon using Arabic on all occasions, formal and informal, speaking and writing. Using Arabic in any sense of the word would be regarded as a crime. They were given three years to learn the language of the Christian Spanish, after which they would have to get rid of all Arabic written material. Moriscos of Castile and Aragon translated all prayers and the into Aljamiado transcriptions of the Spanish language, while keeping all Qurʾānic verses in the original Arabic. Aljamiado scrolls were circulated amongst the Moriscos. Historians came to know about Aljamiado literature only in the early nineteenth century. Some of the Aljamiado scrolls are kept in the Spanish National Library in Madrid.
Alphabet
Letters
| Aljamiado | Latin Equivalent | Ladino Equivalent | IPA |
| ا 1 | - | ||
| ب | B b | ||
| بّ 2 | P p | ||
| ت | T t | ||
| ث 3 | T t | ||
| ج | J j Ge ge 4 Gi gi | 5 | |
| جّ 2 | Ch ch | ||
| ح 3 | H h | ~ | |
| خ 3 | J j H h | ||
| د 6 | D d | ||
| ذ 6 | D d | ||
| ر | R r | ||
| رّ 2 | Rr rr R r | ||
| ز | Z z | ||
| س | Ç ç 4 Ce ce Ci ci S s Ss ss X x7 | ||
| ش | X x7 | ||
| كس | X x7 | ~ | |
| ص 3 | S s | ||
| ض 3 | Ld ld | ||
| ط 3 | T t | ||
| ظ 3 | D d | ||
| ع 3 | ' | ||
| غ | G g Gu gu 4 | ||
| ڢ 8 | F f | ~ | |
| ڧ 3, 8 | K k Qu qu | ~ | |
| ك | K k Qu qu C c 4 | ||
| ل | L l | ||
| لّ 2 | Ll ll | ||
| م | M m | ||
| ن | N n | ||
| نّ 2 | Ñ ñ | ||
| و 9 | W w V v | ||
| هـ ه | H h | ||
| ي 10 | Y y |
Notes:
- The letter alif plays three roles. First as a carrier of vowel at the beginning of a word. Second is for writing the sound in combination with diacritic, and third is for writing vowel hiatus.
- It is not an independent letter, but a special "dongara" consisting of a letter and a consonant to indicate a specific sound.
- These letters are only used in writing Arabic loanwords. The Ladino equivalents for these letters are in accordance with the Judeo-Arabic orthographic traditions.
- This letter has a dual pronunciation, depending on the letter after it. For this reason, both in Aljamiado and in Ladino, two different letters are used to represent it.
- In Ladino, the pronunciation of this letter differs from its equivalent in modern Spanish.
- Whenever the letter "D" is at the beginning of the word, or after a nasal consonant, or after a lateral consonant, pronounced as and written with the letter "d". In all other cases, it is pronounced as and written with the letter "d".
- In old Spanish, the letter "X" was for representing the sound . But in some words, especially those that start with "ex-", the pronunciation of this letter is , or .
- In the writing of Aljamiado, the Mağribī script has been common, in which the placement and number of dot of on letters "fāʾ" and "qāf" are different from the conventional Arabic script, or the so-called "Mašriqī script".
- The letter "wāw" does not correspond to any exact letter in the Spanish Latin alphabet. This letter and its sound are pronounced in certain digraphs and trigraphs. Worded differently, there are diphthongs and triphthongs as result of certain vowel sequences, where the sound is pronounced and the letter "wāw" is used to write it.
- The letter "y" in the Spanish Latin alphabet is equivalent to "yāʾ". But this letter is also used to write some consonant sequences, especially consonant sequences that have a sound similar to in their pronunciation.
Vowels
In the Arabic language and alphabet, however, there are only 3 vowels, , , . In Arabic, these 3 vowels have both a short form, which is represented by diacritics fatʾha, kasra, and ḍamma, and long forms, which are represented by the letters alif, yaʾ, and waw.
In Spanish, however, there is no difference between short and long vowels. In Aljamiado alphabet, 4 vowels are written as follows:
The vowel is represented by the diacritic "◌َ".
The vowel is represented by the diacritic "◌ِ".
The two vowels and are merged and are represented by the diacritic "◌ُ".
The vowel is represented by the combination of fatʾha and alif "ـَـا".
The Hebrew alphabet, like Arabic, has both diacritics, known as niqqud, and the use of three letters alef, vav, and yod. In the Judaeo-Spanish alphabet, niqqud is not used, and only three aforementioned letters are used. Also, in addition to the merger of and , two vowels and are also merged, and thus only three vowels are shown; as follows:
The vowel is represented by alif "א".
The two vowels and are merged and represented by yod "י".
The two vowels and are merged and are represented by vav "ו".
In Aljamiado, similar to Arabic and Persian, when the vowel is at the beginning of the word, alif is used as the vowel carrier, except for the sound. For the sound, a hamza is used as a vowel carrier, followed by alif. In Judaeo-Spanish as in Arabic, alif "א" plays the same role.
No distinction between unstressed or stressed vowels exist in Aljamiado manuscripts.
In the middle of the word, in Aljamiado, only diacritics and in Judaeo-Spanish only one of the three previously mentioned letters are used.
Notes:
- The letter hei is used when the vowel is at the end of the word. This letter is the equivalent to the letter «ه، ـه» or «ة، ـة» in Persian and Arabic.
Vowel Sequences
The pronunciation of vowels and their writing are subject to certain rules in the Spanish Latin Alphabet, as well as in Aljamiado. In Spanish, vowels are divided into two general groups: "strong" and "weak":
- Vowels , , are classified as strong;
- Vowels , are classified as weak.
"Vowel hiatus" occurs when two strong vowels are sequential. In such a case, each vowel is read as part of a separate syllable. "Diphthong" occurs when one vowel is weak and the other is strong. In this case, Stress in pronunciation is on the strong vowel. Of course, there are exceptions to these rules.
Below table outlines the general guidelines and some examples
| Latin | Aljamiado | Ladino | Example |
| ia | Criatura كرِيَتُرَ | ||
| ie | Xavier شَّبِيَارْ | ||
| io | Dios دِيُشْ | ||
| ua | Cuales كُوَلَاشْ | ||
| ue | Pueder بُّوَاذَارْ | ||
| ui | Ruido رُاِذُ | ||
| oé | Poeziya بَُاَازِيَ | ||
| éo | judeoespañol | ||
| áe | Traer تْرَاَارْ | ||
| au | Aunque اَاُنْكَا | ||
| éa | Realidad رَااَلِذَذْ |