Silent vāv
Element of Persian, Urdu and Shahmukhi orthography
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The silent wāw or silent vāv[1] (Persian: واو معدوله, romanized: Wāw-i Ma'dūla; Punjabi and Saraiki [Shahmukhi], as well as Urdu: واؤ معدولہ, romanized: Wā'ō-i Ma'dūla) is an element of Persian, Punjabi and Saraiki (Shahmukhi), as well as Urdu orthography resulting when a wāw is preceded by khā and often followed by an alif or yā, forming the combination of خوا or خوی, in which the wāw is silenced.[2][3][4][5] It is always written but not typically spoken, except for in certain eastern Persian dialects wherein it is pronounced.[a][6] If not followed by a long vowel, the wāw following a khā sometimes adopts the [u] (in Iranian Persian [o]) sound of the short vowel damma/pesh.[7] It was also formerly made use of when dealing with Persian loanwords in the Arabic scripts of Turkic languages, particularly in Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Chagatai, etc.[8]
History
Historical development
The silent wāw occurs only in words of Iranian origin, and is not present in any Turkic or Arabic loanwords that entered the language. Words in Middle Persian (as well as in the Early New Persian) containing the labialised voiceless velar fricative [xʷ] preceding a long vowel developed such that the sound underwent delabialization and simply became the voiceless velar fricative [x] (this started around the onset of the Classical Persian). In cases where it preceded the short open front unrounded vowel [a] (in Iranian, Afghan and Tajiki Persian alike, near-open front unrounded vowel [æ]) it delabialised and took on the sound of the close back rounded vowel [u] (in Iranian Persian accent, close-mid back rounded vowel [o]), evolving from [xʷa] to [xu] (and in Iranian Persian, to [xo]). Despite this, the written language continues to reflect the old standards of pronunciation; hence the silent wāw remains written. These linguistic evolutions did not take place in certain areas of Greater Iran (as well as to a certain extent in the Indian subcontinent, usually somewhat preserved in the orthographies of the Indian languages using the Brahmic scripts). Thus, certain dialects do not have the silent wāw as a feature.[7][9]
In poetry
Historically, sometimes poetic usages of the silent wāw did not follow the traditional literary rules and guidelines.[5] This can be seen in the following poem by Sa'adi in his Bustan book:[10]
مخنّث که بیداد بر خود کند
muxannas̱ ki bēdād xwad kunad
از آن به که با دیگری بد کند
az ān bih ki bā dīgarī bad kunad
Phonetic transcription in Early New Persian:[b]
[mu.xan.ˈnaθ ki beː.ˈdaːð baɾ xʷað ˈku.nað]
[az ãː bih ki baː diː.ˈɡaɾiː bað ˈku.nað]
English translation:
- A coward who inflicts on himself wrong
- Is better than the man who harms the throng.
According to the Afghan Persian (Dari) literary rules, خود should be pronounced as [xud] (and in Iranian Persian [xod]); however, as is visible in this poem, it atypically takes on the sound of [xʷað][b] and rhymes with بد [bað][b] in the verse following it. This silent wāw taking on the sound of fatha/zabar [a] (Iranian, Afghan and Tajiki Persian alike [æ]), rather than the [u] (Iranian Persian [o]) of damma/pesh, is a very common feature in the Early New Persian (and even in the Classical Persian as well) poetry, also seen, for example, in the works of Ferdowsi and Nizami Ganjavi.[11][5][12]
Geographical distribution
The standard Iranian form (especially the Tehrani dialect) of Persian, does not pronounce the silent wāw in any situation. Tajiki Persian, which has undergone delabialization in the same way as Iranian Persian, is written in the modified Cyrillic script (based on the Russian letters), and thus does not have the silent wāw as an orthographic feature. However, many Afghan dialects of Persian[a] (commonly known as Dari), as well as the Persian dialects of Kashan and some other (particularly eastern parts) regions of Iran, continue to pronounce the wāw, meaning that the silent wāw is not a feature of the orthography of their dialects.[6][7] In Urdu, as well as Punjabi and Saraiki [Shahmukhi], labialization is retained in some words and not others.[c] In some words, the [x], [xʋ], [xw] and [xʷ] pronunciation variants are allophones in such cases (in Hindi [Devanagari] and Punjabi [Gurmukhi] though; [x] is represented by ख़ and ਖ਼ respectively, and [xʋ]~[xw] by ख़्व and ਖ਼੍ਵ respectively).
Examples
| Persian | Persian IPA transcription[d] | Persian romanization[d] | Urdu, as well as Punjabi and Saraiki (Shahmukhi) IPA transcription[c] | English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| خویش | [xʷeːʃ] ([xiːʃ]) | Xwēš (Xiš) | [x(w)eːʃ] | Oneself |
| خواب | [xʷaːb] ([xɒːb]) | Xwāb (Xâb) | [x(w)ɑːb] | Sleep / Dream |
| خوش | [xʷaʃ] ([xoʃ]) | Xwaš (Xoš) | [xʊʃ] | Good / Happy |
Notes
- Though not all.
- The Early New Persian pronunciation even had the phonemes /β/, /θ/ and /ð/; as well as the nasalizations after long vowels in the final positions. (.)
- The pronunciation (as well as the romanizations) of the words in dialects with the "Silent wāw" (i.e., here, Iranian Persian) as a feature are shown enclosed in brackets.