Editing Thaana (section)

==Characteristics==
Thaana, like Arabic, is written right to left. It indicates vowels with diacritic marks derived from Arabic. Each letter must carry either a vowel or a ''sukun'' (which indicates "no vowel"). The only exception to this rule is ''nūnu'' which, when written without a diacritic, indicates [[prenasalized stop|prenasalization]] of a following [[plosive consonant|stop]].

For a sample text, see the article on [[Qaumee salaam]], the Maldives' national anthem.

Even though it is not part of the alphabet, Arabic ligature Allah ﷲ is used for writing names in Thaana, for example {{lang|dv|އަބްދުﷲ}} (Abdullah). "Allah" is never written in thaana, with the ligature ﷲ used.

===Consonants===
The letter ''alifu'' (އ) is used for three different purposes other than acting as a normal consonant: it can act as a carrier for a vowel in the second part of a [[diphthong]] (if there is a preceding consonant with a vowel); when it carries a ''[[sukun]]'', it indicates [[gemination]] (lengthening) of the following consonant (even if the consonant is at the beginning of another word); and if ''alifu''+''sukun'' occurs at the end of a word, it indicates that the word ends in a [[glottal stop]]. Gemination of [[nasal consonant]]s, however, is indicated by ''noonu''+''sukun'' preceding the nasal to be geminated. Originally, each letter had the name "consonant+''a''+''viyani''". The suffix -''viyani'' originated from the word ''viyana'' which came from [[Sanskrit]] [[wiktionary:व्यञ्जन#Sanskrit|व्यञ्जन ''vyáñjana'']]. For example, ''haa'' was originally called ''haviyani''.<ref>{{Cite report |last=Pandey |first=Anshuman |date=2018-01-23 |title=Proposal to encode Dives Akuru in Unicode |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4q4356c9 |url-status=live |publisher =Department of Linguistics, UC Berkeley |language=en |pages=108–109 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730135548/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4q4356c9 |archive-date=2021-07-30 |access-date=2021-07-30}}</ref> The names of consonants which had equivalent sounds in [[Arabic]] were changed to the Arabic names for the sounds (excepting ''gaafu'', which is a [[Persian language|Persian]] name).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Geiger |first=Wilhelm |date=1919 |title=Máldivian linguistic studies |url=https://archive.org/details/jornalofceylonbr27wilh |journal=Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=XXVII |issue=Extra}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable letters-table"
|+Consonants
|-
! scope=row | Derived from{{br}}[[Eastern_Arabic_numerals|Eastern Arabic{{br}}digits 1-9]]
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ހ|top=haa|iso=h| ipa=[{{IPAplink|h}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ށ|top=[[Shaviyani (letter)|shaviyani]]|iso=ṣ|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʂ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ނ|top=noonu|iso=n| ipa=[{{IPAplink|n}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ރ|top=raa|iso=r| ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɾ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ބ|top=baa|iso=b| ipa=[{{IPAplink|b}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ޅ|top=lhaviyani|iso=ḷ|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɭ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ކ|top=kaafu|iso=k|ipa=[{{IPAplink|k}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=އ|top=alifu|iso= |ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʔ}}]|note= {{noteTag|name=alif|group=consonants|A null-consonant used as a carrier for a vowel.}}}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|ch=ވ|top=vaavu|iso=v|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʋ}}]}}
|-
! scope=row | Derived from{{br}}[[Dhives_Akuru#Numerals|Dhives akuru{{br}}digits 1-9]]
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=m|ch=މ|top=meemu|ipa=[{{IPAplink|m}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=f|ch=ފ|top=faafu|f|ipa=[{{IPAplink|f}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=d|ch=ދ|top=dhaalu|ipa=[{{IPAplink|d̪}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=t|ch=ތ|top=thaa|ipa=[{{IPAplink|t̪}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=l|ch=ލ|top=laamu|ipa=[{{IPAplink|l}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=g|ch=ގ|top=gaafu|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɡ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ṇ|ch=ޱ|top=ṇaviyani|note={{noteTag|name=gnaviyani|group=consonants}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɳ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=s|ch=ސ|top=seenu|ipa=[{{IPAplink|s̺}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ḍ|ch=ޑ|top=daviyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɖ}}]}}
|-
! Derived from{{br}}other Thaana letters
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=z|ch=ޒ|top=zaviyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|z̺}}]|note=from {{Script|Thaa|ރ}}}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ṭ|ch=ޓ|top=taviyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʈ}}]|note=from {{Script|Thaa|ބ}}}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=y|ch=ޔ|top=yaa|ipa=[{{IPAplink|j}}]|note=possibly{{br}}from {{Script|Thaa|ށ}}}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=p|ch=ޕ|top=paviyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|p}}]|note=from {{Script|Thaa|ފ}}}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=j|ch=ޖ|top=javiyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|dʒ}}]|note=from {{Script|Thaa|ދ}}}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=c|ch=ޗ|top=chaviyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|tʃ}}]|note=from {{Script|Thaa|ތ}}}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ñ|ch=ޏ|top=gnaviyani|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɲ}}]|note=from {{Script|Thaa|ނ}}{{br}}{{noteTag|name=gnaviyani|group=consonants|This letter order is slightly anachronistic. The letter {{angbr|{{Script|Thaa|ޱ}}}}, ṇaviyani, was abolished from Maldivian official documents around 1953 and it was replaced with {{angbr|{{Script|Thaa|ޏ}}}}, gnaviyani, making gnaviyani the sixteenth letter of the alphabet.}}}}
|}
{{noteFoot|group=consonants}}

====''Naviyani''====
Naviyani (ޱ) represents the [[voiced retroflex nasal]] "ṇ" ({{IPA|[ɳ]}}) common to many [[Languages of Indian subcontinent|Indic languages]]. This letter was abolished from Maldivian official documents around 1953.

The letter's former position in the Maldivian alphabet was the sixteenth, between Gaafu and Seenu, instead of Gnaviyani (ޏ). The former position of Gnaviyani (ޏ) was 22nd. It is still seen in reprints of old books like the ''Bodu Tarutheebu,'' and it is used by the people of [[Addu Atoll]] and [[Fuvahmulah]] when writing songs or poetry in their dialects as the sound is still present in their spoken dialects.

====Additional letters====
These additional letters ({{lang|dv|thikijehi thaana}}) were added to the Thaana alphabet by adding a [[Nuqta|{{transliteration|dv|nukuthaa}}]] (dot) to existing letters, to allow for transliteration of Arabic loanwords (except for ޜ že), as previously Arabic loanwords were written using the Arabic script. Their usage is inconsistent, and becoming less frequent as the spelling changes to reflect pronunciation by Maldivians, rather than the original Arabic pronunciation, as the words get absorbed into the Maldivian language.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ ''Thikijehi thaana''
|-
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޙ|top=h̤ā, {{Script|Arab|ح}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ħ}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޚ|top=k͟hā, {{Script|Arab|خ}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|x}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޜ|top=že, {{Script|fa-Arab|ژ}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʒ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޢ|top=‘ainu, {{Script|Arab|ع}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʕ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޣ|top=ġainu, {{Script|Arab|غ}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ɣ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޥ|top=wāvu, {{Script|Arab|و}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|w}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޛ|top=ẕālu, {{Script|Arab|ذ}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ð}}]}}
|-
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޠ|top=t̤ā, {{Script|Arab|ط}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|tˤ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޡ|top=ẓā, {{Script|Arab|ظ}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ðˤ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޘ|top=s̱ā, {{Script|Arab|ث}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|θ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޤ|top=qāfu, {{Script|Arab|ق}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|q}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޞ|top=s̤ādu, {{Script|Arab|ص}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|sˤ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޟ|top=żādu, {{Script|Arab|ض}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|dˤ}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Diak|ch=ޝ|top=śīnu, {{Script|Arab|ش}}|ipa=[{{IPAplink|ʃ}}]}}
|}

===Vowels===
There are five vowel strokes or diacritical signs ({{langx|dv|ފިލި|fili}}) for short vowels (a, i, u, e, o). The first three are derived from the Arabic [[harakat|vowel signs]], ''fatḥah, kasrah'' and ''ḍammah''. The ''ebefili'' looks similar to and is most likely modelled on the Urdu [[baṛī ye]]. Long vowels (aa, ee, oo, ey and oa) are denoted by double ''fili'', with the exception of oa, which is a modification of the short ''obofili''.
{| class="wikitable"
|+'''Vowels''' displayed with an ''alifu'' as a carrier
|-
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=a|ch=އަ|top=abafili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|a}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ā|ch=އާ|top=ābāfili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|aː}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=i|ch=އި|top=ibifili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|i}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ī|ch=އީ|top=ībīfili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|iː}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=u|ch=އު|top=ubufili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|u}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ū|ch=އޫ|top=ūbūfili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|uː}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=e|ch=އެ|top=ebefili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|e}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ē|ch=އޭ|top=ēbēfili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|eː}}]}} 
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=o|ch=އޮ|top=obofili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|o}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=ō|ch=އޯ|top=ōbōfili 
|ipa=[{{IPAplink|oː}}]}}
|{{letter|l=dv|s=Thaa|iso=|ch=އް|top=sukun}} 
|}