Compiling a list of Semitic transliteration characters

Hi.
From: Robert Wheelock <rwhlk142_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:27:01 -0400

> Hello!

> Please help me to compile a complete list of characters used to
> transliterate (scholarly and popular) the Middle Eastern languages; include

> both encoded and not-as-of-yet-encoded characters. Thank You!

> Robert Lloyd Wheelock
> Augusta, ME U.S.A.
I assume you mean "Romanization," when you say "transliteration." When you say "Middle Eastern" languages do you mean just Semitic or all Middle Eastern languages? (the latter is a tall order as it includes Urdu, Persian . . .)

For Romanization (conversion to Latin characters) of Arabic, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Arabic
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is used to phonetically transcribe Arabic.
The Latin character set is used for the UNGEGN (United Nations) romanization system, including the basic Latin 1 and also exte Latin extended-A;
For Arabic, there's neither a p nor a v sound to transliterate/Romanize, but for Persian there is. Persian has adopted the Arabic alphabet and actually uses several different Arabic characters for a single Persian sound /z/ (depending on the origin of the word, as far as I understand it).
I am not sure for Hebrew but believe there is at least a /v/ (Yom tov, Boker tov -- good day, good morning I believe --but maybe it's only one Hebrew letter for both b and v?? I don't speak Hebrew and can't say).
Sorry I can't help more with this; the Wikipedia info on Arabic looks o.k. to me though.
Best,

--C. E. Whitehead
cewcathar_at_hotmail.com

                                               
Received on Tue Aug 28 2012 - 18:09:59 CDT