sun letter
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English
Etymology
Calque of Arabic حَرْف شَمْسِيّ (ḥarf šamsiyy).
Noun
sun letter (plural sun letters)
- (linguistics) One of fourteen Arabic letters that cause the "L" of a preceding definite article اَل (al-) to be assimilated in pronunciation. The sun letter suppresses the sound of the "L" and then geminates: al + ṣīn = aṣ-ṣīn. The effect of the sun letter is limited to pronunciation and does not affect the spelling, except that a shadda may be written over the sun letter and in the fully vocalised spelling lām lacks any diacritics: الصِّين (aṣ-ṣīn). The fourteen sun letters are ت (t), ث (ṯ), د (d), ذ (ḏ), ر (r), ز (z), س (s), ش (š), ص (ṣ), ض (ḍ), ط (ṭ), ظ (ẓ), ل (l), ن (n). Phonetically, they represent coronal consonants.
- Synonym: solar letter
- Antonym: moon letter
Usage notes
- ج (j) is not traditionally among the sun letters, as its corresponding sound was originally a palatal /ɟ/. However, its pronunciation in Modern Standard Arabic varies per region from /d͡ʒ/, /ʒ/, to /ɡ/, respectively both of which are coronal, and velar. Prescriptively, it should still avoid assimilating the definite article in observance of tradition, but in practice, speakers may apply assimilation regardless.
Translations
sun letter
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