Arabizi by Mariam Harraz

Arabizi

CONTENT Introduction 05 Research 06 - 38 Contexts 39 - 53 Experimentation 54- 63 Final Outcome 64-65 Bibliography 66

Introduction My project is about a written language called Arabizi which uses English numbers and letters to write, it began quiet recently and is used mainly by the younger generation. The older generation see it as a threat to the classic Arabic which has been our language for decades and is part of our culture as well. I as an Arab who has lived most of my life outside of own country and barely know how to write in Arabic and only know how to do so in Arabizi began looking at it in more detail and if the new Arabizi language is really taking over the classic Arabic. My final piece is a kinetic typography animation, I made an animation because its something that I always wanted to look into and do and because it worked well with what I was informing people with my project.

Arabizi: Is an Arabic chat alphabet. Its an alphabet used to communicate using the Arabic language over the internet. Its mainly used by the younger generation. It consists of English alphabets and numbers representing the Arabic alphabet

esearch 6

The last few decades have seen a rapid diffusion of technology in the world. Computers became commonplace and quickly evolved, mobile phones soon followed, but it was perhaps the Internet that marked the technological revolution of the age. For quite some time, English, with its Latin (or Roman) character set, was the main language of these innovations. A person with no knowledge of these characters stood little chance of gaining technological literacy. Even as software support for non-Latin scripts became more accessible, technology has hardly lost its association with the English language â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or with Latin script. As the languages of the world came under pressure to meet the urgent demands presented by rapid, English-dominated technological advancements, an apparent trend began to develop: the Latinisation of the characters of many non-Latin script languages and Arabic was one of the many that was latinised.

Latinised Arabic is a written form of Arabic that uses Latin or Roman characters as an alternative orthographic form of Arabic language, which normally employs Arabic script.

‫=ا‬A

‫=د‬D

‫=ض‬D

‫=ك‬K

‫=ب‬B

‫ = ذ‬Z/DH

‫=ط‬T

‫=ل‬L

‫=ت‬T

‫=ر‬R

‫=ظ‬

‫=م‬M

‫ = ث‬TH/S

‫=ز‬Z

‫ = ع‬AA

‫=ن‬N

‫ = ج‬G/J

‫ = س‬S/C

‫ = غ‬GH

‫ = ه‬AH

‫=ح‬H

‫ = ش‬SH

‫ = خ‬KH

‫=ص‬S

‫ = ف‬F/V

‫ = و‬O/W

‫ = ق‬G/Q

‫ = ي‬Y/I

Arabizi was first introduced by Wilhelm Spitta in 1880 in his book “The Rules of Slang Arabic in Egypt” in which he suggested using Latin characters to write the Egyptian Arabic slang, with the overall aim to adopt the slang language instead of classical Arabic. Spitta was followed by many other supporters for this proposal during the following forty years. Among them was Abdul Aziz Fahmi, who proposed a full practical schemein his aim was “easing Arabic writing and grammar.” His proposal was presented in Arabic (while the earlier suggestions were in other languages), and was intended for both slang and classical Arabic. Thus it generated much discussion and, as a result, the proposal for using English characters for Arabic was associated with him. He proposed a combination of Arabic and English characters, and included short vowels within.

Arabizi began in Egypt in 1990 and spread onto the rest of the Arab world, people started using it due to the fact that they did not have Arabic keyboards and the Arabic alphabet was too long, they had to worry about vowels and how it was pronounced, but because Arabizi is being used and it is mainly constructed of English letters and numbers the use of vowels was no longer needed and using Arabizi became much more easier and know more as a “relaxed” slang language.

At the time, the proposal to write Arabic with Latin letters was fought and severely criticized by Arab nationalists and Muslim Enthusiasts, who considered it as a direct attack on the Arabic identity. They also saw it as a threat to the Holy Quran, which is written in classical Arabic using a writing system that has lasted for more than fourteen centuries. Currently, however, due to the advancement of the Internet and the global use of the English language of Latin letters to write Arabic over the Internet and on text-messaging cellular phones is becoming increasingly common and natural.

Algeria Morocco

Tunisia

Syria Libya

Egypt

Iraq

Jordan Palestine

Arabic Alphabet

Numerals

Saudi Arabia ‫ا‬

‫ب‬ ‫ت‬

‫ث‬

‫ج‬

‫ح‬ ‫خ‬ ‫د‬

Yemen

English letters representing Arabic Alphabets

7 7’

h 5

kh d

‫ذ‬

‫ر‬

‫ز‬

‫س‬

‫ش‬

‫ص‬

Arabic Alphabet

Numerals

English letters representing Arabic Alphabets

‫ض‬ ‫ط‬ ‫ظ‬ ‫ع‬ ‫غ‬ ‫ف‬

9’

6’

‫ق‬ ‫ك‬

3’

gh f q

‫ل‬

‫م‬

‫ن‬

‫ه‬

‫و‬

‫ي‬

Sudan All the countries that write in Arabizi

The letter set The Arabizi character set is the same character set for any English typeface. What is meant by the “letter set” is: the English counterparts of the Arabic letters in the Arabizi system. These are shown in Table 1 and 2. Studying the table can deduce the following:

Reasons why young people use Arabizi: - The Arabic language was not supported by the widespread technology, thus Arabizi was the only way possible to talk over the Internet through char, text etc..

1. The Arabic consonants that have their counterparts in English are given their counterpart shapes. 2. Some consonants need compound letters. 3. The consonants that do not have an English counterpart are represented by numerals. This representation is based mostly on the similarity of the shape of the Arabizi original consonant to the numeral. In this context, an apostrophe is added to the numeral simulating the dot added to some Arabic letters in order to differentiate them from those that share that same body. For example, the letters ‫ ح‬and ‫ خ‬are represented by 7 and 7’. The only exception to the similarity of the shape is the letter ‫خ‬ when 5 is used to represent it.

- Students felt more relaxed using it as classical Arabic letters should be used for classical Arabic and not for slang. - With Arabizi you can express things that can’t be expressed, slang letters are pronounced differently depending on the social status and origin of the speaker as QAF ‫ ق‬is pronounced as “GA” “QA” “KA” and “A” depending on the person and their origin.

4. There still is some ambiguity regarding ‫ ظ ذ ث‬where they all share the “th” compound letter;and ‫ د ض‬where they both share “d” In slang Arabic, these letters quite often share the same sound.

- Arabizi supports upper and lower cases thus showing calmness, shouting and other emotions can be expressed but not in classical Arabic.

5. There is more than one alternative for most of the letters. The use of these alternatives is contextual in many cases, but is a matter of choice in many others.

- When texting in English you are allowed to write in 760 letters where as in Arabic your only allowed to write in 330 letters.

6. The Arabizi system does not need any special characters compared to other systems of translating Arabic into English, such as that of the Encyclopedia of Islam, which needs dots below many letters.

- Considered to be cool and free of errors. 16

After reading about the history I had a lot of questions in mind on what ages groups mainly use it and why do they use it, So I made a survey and sent it out to people I know who use this language including myself. I made pictograms of Ladies and Men and depending on their size it represents the amount of people that answered the question.

When did you learn Arabizi?

8 Years ago and less :

Was it difficult for you to understand it and get the hold of it in the beginning? Yes :

+ 10 Years and above :

1 Person

2 People

3 People

4 People

5 People

6 People

7 People

8 People 18

+ No :

If so is that bad for our younger generation who only write in Arabizi?

How old are you?

Yes

13 - 20 :

Do you use Arabizi only when speaking to/on: Friends :

+ 20 - 25

+ Social networks :

Why do you write in Arabizi? No

Because its easy :

30 - 40

Because its a common language :

+ 20

Advantages and Disadvantages of Arabizi:

Does Arabizi affect the Arab identity?

Advantages: 1) Representation of sounds that do not exist in other Latin alphabet by numbers. For example ‫ ع‬is actually pronounced as ayn.

Yes :

2) Tanween - for example the alif ‫ ا‬which is a when it has a ‘ً ‘ the a is pronounced as a long vowel.

3) Vocalization (short vowels). Disadvantages: 1) Inconsistency in the symbols used to represent the same sound.

No :

2) Using the same symbol to emphatic and non-emphatic sounds. 3) Adding apostrophes to some of the newly used symbols.

4) Vocalization (long vowels). 5) It takes longer time to be mentally processed and recognized. 6) It is inappropriate in formal talks, and above all religious discussions.

After I got the results to my research question then became more obvious.

IS ARABIZI REALLY TAKING OVER CLASSICAL ARABIC?

Is Arabizi taking over classical Arabic? Yes

In the past decade, Latinised Arabic (LA), a popular form of writing spoken Arabic online, has made the transition from online applications such as internet chat and text messaging to offline mediums. No longer exclusive to computer mediated communication, the diffusion of LA into everyday life has been reported across the Arab world. Today, LA is a popular form of graffiti and can be found in handwritten notes and advertisements. However, the most interesting development in the career of LA has perhaps been in Egypt, where this form has appeared in a number of edited, printed magazines. Some of these have emerged in the wake of the recent boom in the Egyptian publishing industry; while others had already been on the market for longer.

Movie posters and magazines like these are often aimed at the younger generation, it makes them look “cool” and moving on with the new “trend”. However, the older generation see it as a language that will harm our classic Arabic, a new language that is taking over the classical Arabic, although its only written and can’t be spoken.

Web sites like these prove to be taking over classical Arabic. These web sites donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let you learn Arabic instead they make you get used to writing in Arabizi and they just simply translate it for you to Arabic, Image 2 is a web site that allows you to play scrabble with Arabizi which discourages a person to play with the Arabizi language,

After watching this documentary/ film called Arabizi I picked out a few things like the child who is fond of English more and how the traching cards where in Arabizi as well as Arabic and the teenage girl who has to mix Arabic with English in her sentences because â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;it just has to be done.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Such things prove to be taking over the classic Arabic 31 language.

Arabizi being used on social networks and texts.

Images 1 and 2 also show that the younger generation choose to express themselves in Arabizi rather then classic Arabic after the Egyptian revolution.

1. “Yoskot 7akam el3kr” Down with the military rule - a Arabizi graffiti in Egypt after the revolution 2. “1st die Wahrheit Konkret” First die and then freedom of concrete - a Arabizi graffiti in Egypt after the revolution.

The difference in classic Arabic and Latnised Arabic.

The Arabic we write is not the same as the Arabic we speak. The Arabic language presents one of the classic cases of diglossia, a term given to refer to situations where there is a division of labour between a high (H) and a low (L) variety of the same language. In the case of Arabic, the standard, taught (H) variety of official, religious and highly formal use is Modern Standard Arabic. It is most commonly found in religious sermons, political speeches and in print material, and is predominantly a written variety acquired through formal education. On the other hand, the regional dialects of the Arab countries represent the vernacular, informal (L) variety of casual conversation and everyday use. This is predominantly a spoken variety acquired at home.MSA and spoken Arabic differ in their phonology. In some dialects, certain MSA consonants gain a different phonetic value. For example,generally speaking, the MSA consonant ‫ ج‬is pronounced as /g/ in Egyptian Arabic, / Z/ in other North African countries and Lebanon, and / Ù/ in Gulf Arabic and most of the Levant. Similarly, the MSA consonant ‫ ق‬may be pronounced as /q/, / ʔ / /g/ depending on the speaker’s regional background. Regional variations are not confined to consonants, but also encompass vowel patterns, where the same MSA word may be pronounced differently because of vowel variation even where the consonants are similarly

The terms transcription and transliteration are often used indiscriminately to refer to the latinisation process. However, the two are not the same as Wellisch (1975) points out: Following the established usage of ISO, the term “Transliteration” is employed for “representing the characters (letters or signs) of one alphabet by those of another, in principle letter by letter”, whereas “Transcription” is used for “the operation of representing the elements of a language, either sounds or signs, however they may be written originally, in any other written system of letters or sound signs.” Because one-to-one correspondences are not always present between the Arabic and Latin alphabet, also converting Arabic to Latin script involves encoding additional vowelisation information which is not there in the Arabic script, the term transliteration would not be accurate for describing the latinisation of Arabic.

rendered. These regional variations influence how MSA is read in different parts of the Arab world depending on the reader’s regional background. This ultimately influences how Arabic is latinised as it presents numerous contending possibilities for representation. The lack of phonetic information in written Arabic with no short vowels (i.e.Arabic without diacritics) means that this missing information has to come from elsewhere. The Arabic reader has a choice to resort either to the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) lexicon or that of their spoken Arabic dialect for such information. It would be wrong to assume that Standard Arabic is the automatic lexicon of choice for the Arabic reader, as latinisations of proper nouns and place names indicate the contrary. .The regional variation has a substantial impact on the two-way conversion process between Arabic and English. These issues of representation are quite salient, and oftentimes a conscious decision has to be made when more than one alternative latinisation may be possible. These decisions however, are not without their implications.

C ontexts

The tension in the relationship between latinished Arabic (LA) and the non speaker of Arabic (NAS) on the other hand, and the Arabic speaker (AS) and the Arabic text (AT) on the other hand. 38

Typographic media : is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length etc.. In modern times, typography has been put into motion—in film, television and online broadcasts—to add emotion to mass communication. I chose two contexts which I thought were most relevant to what I was researching on: 1 - Information design 2 - Typographic media

Typography nowadays is used for many things such as: -Typesetting and type design -Handwriting and calligraphy -Graffiti -Inscriptional and architectural lettering -Poster design and other large scale lettering -Labels on maps -Vehicle instrument panels -Kinetic typography in motion picture films and television

I chose information design and typographic media mainly because I wanted to look into Arabic calligraphy and modern English type. Arabizi isn’t well known except in the Arab world and whilst speaking to my friends I realised that this could be one of the ways I can give out information on the language

Traditional typography follows four principles: repetition, contrast, proximity, and alignment.

Arabic calligraphy styles : I began researching into Arabic calligraphy as that is one of the fondest types in the Arab world and has been in our culture for many centuries.

1 - Kufic is a cleaner, more geometric style, with a very visible rhythm and a stress on horizontal lines. Vowels are sometimes noted as red dots; consonants are distinguished with small dashes to make the texts more readable. It remains in use for decorative purposes: In “Flowering Kufi”, In “Geometric Kufi”, this aims at decoration rather than readability.

Arabic calligraphy, is the artistic practice of handwriting, in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. Muslims used it to represent God because they denied representing God with images. Calligraphy is especially revered among Islamic arts since it was the primary means for the preservation of the Qur’an. Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Turkish calligraphy is associated with abstract arabesque motifs on the walls and ceilings of mosques. Contemporary artists in the Islamic world draw on the heritage of calligraphy to use calligraphic inscriptions or abstractions in their work.

Cursive styles as Naskh styles Cursive styles of calligraphy appeared during the 10th century. They were easier to write and read and soon replaced the earlier geometric style, except for decorative purposes.

2 - Nasḫ is a simple cursive writing that was used in correspondence before the calligraphers started using it for Qur’an writing. It is slender and supple, without any particular emphasis, and highly readable. It remains among the most widespread styles. 3 - Ṯuluṯ is a more monumental and energetic writing style, with elongated verticals. 4 - Tawqīʿ appeared under the Abbassid caliphate, when it was used to sign official acts. With elongated verticals and wide curves under the writing line, it remained a little-used script. 5 - Riqʿah was a miniature version of tawqi’. The Ottomans used it for handwriting, and it is largely so used at the present day. 6 - Muḥaqqaq is an ample, alert script. Letter endings are elongated and their curves underline the text.

7 - Rīḥānī or rayḥānī is a miniature version of muḥaqqaq.

6 43

1- kufi

2- Nash

3- Tulut

5- Riq’ah

6- Muhaqqaq

7- Rihani

1- “Guns n’ Roses”, T-shirt design, HADI ALAEDDIN, Amman, Jordan 2- “Maroc”, typography, ZAKARIA AHMED EL AKKAF, Oujda, Morrocco “Asik Veysel”, poster design, KRYS2LOOPER, STREET HAT, Mersin, Turkey 3- NATIVE, Luger, LaForge, Belleville 4- Islamic prayers, SADHU, tattoo, model: Haydar, 2010 5- “Eat shit”, Kaiss Al Kaissy, Bliss street, Beirut, Lebanon 6- “On a circle, a final point is also a beginning point” (Heraclitus), L’ATLAS, La Forge, Paris 2004

‫ظ ظ‬ ‫ظ ظ‬ ‫ل ظ‬ Andalus

I began looking at different Arabic calligraphy styles used in different places to see which style would suit my work best which is more cultural and is used most often when writing or conveying a message and it seemed to be like “Taqwt” and “Muhaqqaq” were being used the most. So I looked at fonts that I can use.

B Esfehan

Al Bayan

Nadeem

B Fantezy

AF Diwani

The font I decided to go with because it is the closest to Arabic calligraphy and plays a good role on classic Arabic. 46

Information Design: The communication of information, data, knowledge and observation through the use of visual media. It enables an audience to understand information by attempting to make the complex simple. In this project I mainly wanted to inform people about the new widespread language. I wanted to show how it is slowly taking over classic Arabic and how similar the english numbers are to the Arabic letters.

This is a Polar Clock, where the time is split up into different rings. The different use of colours makes this clock unique and informing us of timings well and in an interesting way.

After looking at kinetic typography and realising that I wanted to inform people about the â&#x20AC;&#x153;new upcomingâ&#x20AC;? language that is taking over Arabizi, I thought I could look into signs since that is informing people of laws and directions in a language.

After trying it with signs, I realised it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t inform people what I want to clearly. So I began experimenting with screen printing and making little books.

I began with having the letters translated into English and decided to use a calligraphic font and a standard modern font : Helvetica.

‫ﺝ‬

‫ﺥ‬

‫ﺩ‬

‫ﺵ‬

‫ﻁ‬

‫ﻅ‬

‫ﻉ‬

‫ﻕ ﻑ‬

‫ﻙ‬

‫ﺽ‬

dh f

‫ﻥ‬

‫ﻩ‬

‫ﺹ‬ ‫ﻍ‬

‫ﻡ‬

‫ﻝ‬ ‫ﻭ‬

‫ﺫ‬

‫ﺱ‬

‫ﺯ‬

‫ﺡ‬

‫ﺭ‬

xperimentation

‫ﺙ ﺕ ﺏ‬

‫ﺍ‬

‫ﻱ‬ y

English

Arabazi

Hello

Mar7aba

How are you?

kaifa halka‫؟‬

Welcome

2hlan

Good bye

I screen printed it to give it the “old effect” however it didn’t inform how Arabizi was taking over it was clearly an informative piece about how each letter is pronounced in English.

na3m

la2 shukran

You’re welcome

3afwan

Sorry

ana asef

I speak arabizi I don’t know arabic 56

ma3a alsalmah

Yes

Thank you

I started writing all the basic things you would need to know when going to visit an Arabic country and then thought of making a little guide book.

ana baklem Arabizi ana ma a3ref 3arbi 57

‫ﺍ‬ Here I used an Arabic calligraphy font to make up the word “3arabizi” which is Arabizi. When researching I didn’t find any use of Arabizi in calligraphy so I thought I could try making my own. Abou Saeed Eskandari Special Sculpture Congress Zanjan Art Forum, 2010 60

I streamed a few kinetic typography videos and wanted to do my own it was the best way to show typographically as well how Arabizi is taking over classic Arabic.

A few shots of working in key frames and paths in the beginning of working on After affects. I started with a black background and horrible font.

inal Outcome

My final outcome is a Kinetic typography animation done on After effects using an Arabic calligraphic font (B fantezy) and a modern English font (Helvetica). It shows typographically that Arabizi is taking over the classic Arabic because of how similar the English numbers and Arabic letters are.

Bibliography - http://lancaster.academia.edu/MariamAboelezz/Papers/724733/A_Latinised_Arabic_for_All_Issues_of_Representation_purpose_and_audience - http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/pgconference/v03/Aboelezz.pdf - http://lancaster.academia.edu/MariamAboelezz/Papers/1537167/Latinised_ Arabic_in_Printed_Edited_Magazines_in_Egypt - Arabesque 2 Graphic design from the Arab world and Persia - Arabic graffiti / [by Pascal Zoghbi & Stone aka Don Karl ; editor, Joy Hawley - Data flow 2 : visualising information in graphic design / [edited by Robert Klanten

Arabizi By Mariam Harraz

- Data flow : visualising information in graphic design / [edited by Robert Klanten - Animation bible : a guide to everything - from flipbooks to flash / Maureen Furniss. - Rise of Islamic calligraphy / Alain George - Visualizing ideas : from scribbles to storyboards / Gregor Krisztian, Nesrin Schlempp-Ă&#x153;lker