The Babi and Baha'i Religion — Page 4
THE B Ā B Ī AND BAH Ā ’ Ī RELIGION 4 ظ z , strongly articulated z. ع ‘, a strong guttural, the pronunciation of which must be learnt by the ear. غ gh , a sound approached very nearly in the r ‘ grasseye ’ in French, and in the German r. It re- quires the muscles of the throat to be in the ‘gar- gling’ position whilst pronouncing it. ق q , a deep guttural k sound. ئ ’, a sort of catch in the voice. Short vowels are represented by a for — َ — (like u in ‘bud’); i for — ِ — (like i in ‘bid’); u for — ُ — (like oo in ‘wood’); the long vowels by a for — ٖ — or آ (like a in ‘father’); i for ی — ِ — or — ٖ — (like ee in ‘deep’); ai for ی — َ — (like i in ‘site’) ♦ ; u for و — ُ — (like oo in ‘root’); au for و — َ — (resembling ou in ‘sound’). Please note that in transliterated words the letter ‘e’ is to be pronounced as in ‘prey’ which rhymes with ‘day’; however the pronunciation is flat without the element of English diphthong. If in Urdu and Persian words 'e' is lengthened a bit more it is transliterated as 'ei' to be pronounced as 'ei' in 'feign' ♦ In Arabic words like ﺷ ﻴﺦ (Shaikh) there is an element of diphthong which is missing when the word is pronounced in Urdu.