Tasnif Style Guide

Tasnif Style Guide — Page 50

50 TAŞNİF STYLE GUIDE aforementioned Latin abbreviations include: 'meaning that, ‘for example, 'such as, and 'namely. Indefinite Articles Selecting an a or an an as the indefinite article preceding a noun or an adjective is dependent upon the pronunciation of the noun or adjective that it is preceding. Generally, if the noun's or adjec- tive's pronunciation begins with a consonant sound, then it takes an a as its indefinite article, but if the noun's or adjective's pronun- ciation begins with a vowel sound, it is preceded by an an. Words beginning with vowels that are pronounced with a wor y sound—i. e. a consonant sound—take the a article. Words begin- ning with an h were historically pronounced with an unaspirated sound, making them sound like a vowel. They were, therefore, preceded by an an. However, today those words are pronounced with an aspirated h—a consonant sound—so they are preceded by a as their indefinite article. See the following examples: " a UN meeting (here, the pronunciation of UN begins with ay consonant sound) ■ an MTA program " ■ a Muslim Television Ahmadiyya program a historical document (historical is pronounced with an aspirated h; i. e. a consonant sound) an HDTV (HDTV is pronounced with an unaspirated h sound; i. e. a vowel sound) a high-definition television