Editing Persian language (section)

===Persian alphabet===
{{Main|Persian alphabet}}

Modern Iranian Persian and Afghan Persian are written using the [[Persian alphabet]] which is a modified variant of the [[Arabic alphabet]], which uses different pronunciation and additional letters not found in Arabic language. After the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab conquest of Persia]], it took approximately 200 years before Persians adopted the Arabic script in place of the older alphabet. Previously, two different scripts were used, [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]], used for Middle Persian, and the [[Avestan alphabet]] (in Persian, Dīndapirak, or Din Dabire—literally: religion script), used for religious purposes, primarily for the [[Avestan]] but sometimes for Middle Persian.

In the modern Persian script, [[vowel length|historically short vowels]] are usually not written, only the historically long ones are represented in the text, so words distinguished from each other only by short vowels are ambiguous in writing: Iranian Persian ''{{Transliteration|fa|kerm}}'' "worm", ''{{Transliteration|fa|karam}}'' "generosity", ''{{Transliteration|fa|kerem}}'' "cream", and ''{{Transliteration|fa|krom}}'' "chrome" are all spelled ''{{Transliteration|fa|krm}}'' ({{lang|fa|کرم}}) in Persian. The reader must determine the word from context. The Arabic system of vocalization marks known as ''[[harakat]]'' is also used in Persian, although some of the symbols have different pronunciations. For example, a ''[[ḍammah]]'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ʊ~u]}}, while in Iranian Persian it is pronounced {{IPA|[o]}}. This system is not used in mainstream Persian literature; it is primarily used for teaching and in some (but not all) dictionaries.
[[File:Persian typewriter keyboard layout.svg|thumb|Persian typewriter keyboard layout]]
[[File:Persian keyboard layout, unshifted.gif|thumb|right|A variant of the Iranian standard ISIRI 9147 keyboard layout for Persian]]
There are several letters generally only used in Arabic loanwords. These letters are pronounced the same as similar Persian letters. For example, there are four functionally identical letters for {{IPAslink|z}} ({{lang|fa|ز ذ ض ظ}}), three letters for {{IPAslink|s}} ({{lang|fa|س ص ث}}), two letters for {{IPAslink|t}} ({{lang|fa|ط ت}}), two letters for {{IPAslink|h}} ({{lang|fa|ح ه}}).
On the other hand, there are four letters that do not exist in Arabic {{lang|fa| پ چ ژ گ}}.

====Additions====
The [[Persian alphabet]] adds four letters to the Arabic alphabet:

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.6;text-align:center"
! Sound
! Isolated form
! Final form
! Medial form
! Initial form
! Name
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/p/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|پ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـپ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـپـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|پـ}}
| ''pe''
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/tʃ/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|چ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـچ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـچـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|چـ}}
| ''če (che)''
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/ʒ/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ژ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـژ}}
| style="font-size: 2em; color: #aaa;" | {{lang|fa|ـژ}}
| style="font-size: 2em; color: #aaa;" | {{lang|fa|ژ}}
| ''že (zhe or jhe)''
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|گ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـگ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـگـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|گـ}}
| ''ge (gāf)''
|}

Historically, there was also a special letter for the sound {{IPA|/β/}}. This letter is no longer used, as the {{IPA|/β/}}-sound changed to {{IPA|/b/}}, e.g. archaic {{lang|fa|زڤان}} {{IPA|/zaβaːn/}} > {{lang|fa|زبان}} {{IPA|/zæbɒn/}} 'language'<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |title=PERSIAN LANGUAGE i. Early New Persian |work=Iranica Online |access-date=18 March 2019 |archive-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317184538/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.6;text-align:center"
! Sound
! Isolated form
! Final form
! Medial form
! Initial form
! Name
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/β/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ڤ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـڤ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـڤـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ڤـ}}
| ''βe''
|}

====Variations====
The Persian alphabet also modifies some letters of the Arabic alphabet. For example, ''alef with hamza below'' ( {{lang|ar|إ}} ) changes to ''[[aleph|alef]]'' ( {{lang|fa|ا}} ); words using various [[hamza]]s get spelled with yet another kind of hamza (so that {{lang|fa|مسؤول}} becomes {{lang|fa|مسئول}}) even though the latter has been accepted in Arabic since the 1980s; and ''[[teh marbuta]]'' ( {{lang|ar|ة}} ) changes to ''[[he (letter)|heh]]'' ( {{lang|fa|ه}} ) or ''[[taw (letter)|teh]]'' ( {{lang|fa|ت}} ).

The letters different in shape are:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; text-align:center;"
! Arabic style letter
! Persian style letter
! Name
|-
|style="font-size: 160%"| ك
|style="font-size: 160%"| ک
| ''ke'' (kāf)
|-
|style="font-size: 160%"| ي
|style="font-size: 160%"| ی
| ''ye''
|}

However, {{lang|ar|ی}} in shape and form is the traditional Arabic style that continues in the Nile Valley, namely, [[Egyptian Arabic|Egypt]], [[Sudanese Arabic|Sudan]], and [[Juba Arabic|South Sudan]].