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user:zeman:transliteration-of-urdu-to-latin-script [2010/11/10 13:53]
zeman Frequent words. 		user:zeman:transliteration-of-urdu-to-latin-script [2010/11/16 08:25] (current)
zeman ~
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 ====== Transliteration of Urdu to Latin Script ====== ====== Transliteration of Urdu to Latin Script ======
 +
 +Copyright © 2010 by Dan Zeman <zeman@ufal.mff.cuni.cz>
 +License: GNU GPL
 +This research has been supported by the grant of the Czech Ministry of Education no. MSM0021620838. 
  
 ===== Transliteration versus Transcription ===== ===== Transliteration versus Transcription =====
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 ===== Consonants ===== ===== Consonants =====
  
-Most of the consonants do not pose any serious problem. I decided to represent the retroflex consonants (ٹ, ڈ, ڑ) by a dot below their dental or other counterparts, as is usual across the Indo-Aryan languages. A dot above a letter distinguishes a two Arabic letters whose Urdu pronunciation is identical to other letters, from transliteration of those other letters (ث, ذ). Similarly, a cedilla below a letter distinguishes other five letters that occur in words of Arabic descent (ح, ص, ض, ط, ظ).+Most of the consonants do not pose any serious problem. I decided to represent the retroflex consonants (ٹ, ڈ, ڑ) by a dot below their dental or other counterparts, as is usual across the Indo-Aryan languages. A dot above a letter distinguishes two Arabic letters whose Urdu pronunciation is identical to other letters, from transliteration of those other letters (ث, ذ). Similarly, a cedilla below a letter distinguishes five other letters that occur in words of Arabic descent (ح, ص, ض, ط, ظ).
  
 Some other notes: //j// is pronounced as in English, not as in Czech or German. //č// and //š// are used in Baltic and Slavic languages (among others) to represent the sounds that are usually written “ch” or “sh”, respectively, in English. Of similar descent is the character //ž//; the corresponding sound is sometimes represented as “zh” in English and corresponds to the French pronunciation of //j//. //x// represents (in accord with phonetic tradition) the same sound as Czech/German/Scottish “ch”. English-oriented transcriptions of Arabic often transcribe this sound as “kh”, a solution that we want to avoid. It would conflict with the aspirated //kh// of Urdu. //ğ// is taken from Turkish and describes the sound that is often transcribed “gh” from Arabic (which we cannot use, again because of the aspirated //gh//). Some other notes: //j// is pronounced as in English, not as in Czech or German. //č// and //š// are used in Baltic and Slavic languages (among others) to represent the sounds that are usually written “ch” or “sh”, respectively, in English. Of similar descent is the character //ž//; the corresponding sound is sometimes represented as “zh” in English and corresponds to the French pronunciation of //j//. //x// represents (in accord with phonetic tradition) the same sound as Czech/German/Scottish “ch”. English-oriented transcriptions of Arabic often transcribe this sound as “kh”, a solution that we want to avoid. It would conflict with the aspirated //kh// of Urdu. //ğ// is taken from Turkish and describes the sound that is often transcribed “gh” from Arabic (which we cannot use, again because of the aspirated //gh//).
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 | 0645 | م | m | m | | 0645 | م | m | m |
 | 0646 | ن | n | n | | 0646 | ن | n | n |
-| 06BA | ں | n | ñ |+| 06BA | ں | ~ | ñ |
 | 0648 | و | v | w | | 0648 | و | v | w |
 | 06C1 | ہ | h | h | | 06C1 | ہ | h | h |
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 | 06CC | ی | j, i:, e: | y, ī, e | | 06CC | ی | j, i:, e: | y, ī, e |
 | 06D2 | ے | e: | e | | 06D2 | ے | e: | e |
-| 0626 | ئ | - | 0 | +| 06D3 | ۓ | e: | e | 
-| 0674 | ٔ (high hamza) | - | 0 |+| 0624 | ؤ | u:, o: | ū, o | 
 +| 0626 | ئ | -, i:, e | 0, ī, e | 
 +| 0654 | (hamza above)ٔ | - | 0 | 
 +| 0674 | (high hamza)ٔ | - | 0 |
  
 The transliteration script should contain a gradually growing vocabulary that would help disambiguate known words. Otherwise there would be a very high number of ambiguous positions in any transliterated string. The transliteration script should contain a gradually growing vocabulary that would help disambiguate known words. Otherwise there would be a very high number of ambiguous positions in any transliterated string.
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 ===== Short Vowels and Diacritics ===== ===== Short Vowels and Diacritics =====
  
-Without diacritics (which is more common), every consonant that is not followed by a long vowel may or may not be followed by a short vowel. I denote this possibility by the character for the neutral character schwa: //ə//.+Without diacritics (which is more common), every consonant that is not followed by a long vowel may or may not be followed by a short vowel. I denote this possibility by the character for the neutral vowel schwa: //ə//.
  
 //Warning! This section is under construction. I am still confused about the exact rules for Urdu vowel representation, so I also expect more errors to occur here.// //Warning! This section is under construction. I am still confused about the exact rules for Urdu vowel representation, so I also expect more errors to occur here.//
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 Some frequent words cannot be disambiguated by character-based rules alone but a vocabulary could identify them as existing unambiguous Urdu words and save much manual work by disambiguating them. Here are some examples: Some frequent words cannot be disambiguated by character-based rules alone but a vocabulary could identify them as existing unambiguous Urdu words and save much manual work by disambiguating them. Here are some examples:
  
-  * ہے => he +  * ہے => he (“is”) 
-  * میں => meñ +  * میں => meñ (“in”) 
-  * ایک => ek +  * ایک => ek (“one”) 
-  * اور => or+  * اور => or (“and”)
  
 Note however that there are inherently ambiguous words that cannot be disambiguated without human intervention (or at least without looking at the neighboring words). Examples: Note however that there are inherently ambiguous words that cannot be disambiguated without human intervention (or at least without looking at the neighboring words). Examples:
  
-  * تو => to | tū +  * تو => to (“so”) | tū (“thou”) 
-  * اس => is | us +  * اس => is (“of this”) | us (“of that”) 
-  * ان => in | un+  * ان => in (“of these”) | un (“of those”)
  
 ===== The Transliteration Script ===== ===== The Transliteration Script =====
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 <code bash>perl translit_urdund.pl < urdu.txt > latin.txt</code> <code bash>perl translit_urdund.pl < urdu.txt > latin.txt</code>
  
-If you happen to sit on the ÚFAL network, you will find the script in ''~zeman/projekty/transliterace''. It should be able to find the library itself; the library is in ''~zeman/lib/translit'' (you will programs and libraries for other writing systems in these two folders as well).+If you happen to sit on the ÚFAL network, you will find the script in ''~zeman/projekty/transliterace''. It should be able to find the library itself; the library is in ''~zeman/lib/translit'' (you will find programs and libraries for other writing systems in these two folders as well). 
 + 
 +I am also attaching the current snapshot of the two folders to this wiki {{:user:zeman:translit.zip|here}}. Note however that it will not be updated regularly.
  
 This is an example of an Urdu sentence and the romanized output by the script: This is an example of an Urdu sentence and the romanized output by the script:
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   * آپ کو پچھلے 182 دنوں میں اپنی بیماری یا معزوری کے سبب مندرجہ ذیل میں سے کوئی ایک ملتا رہا ہے ؟   * آپ کو پچھلے 182 دنوں میں اپنی بیماری یا معزوری کے سبب مندرجہ ذیل میں سے کوئی ایک ملتا رہا ہے ؟
   * āp ko pəčhəle 182 dənoñ meñ əpənī b[yīe]mārī yā məˀəz[wūo]rī ke səbəb mənədərəjəh ż[yīe]l meñ se koī ek mələtā rəhā he ?   * āp ko pəčhəle 182 dənoñ meñ əpənī b[yīe]mārī yā məˀəz[wūo]rī ke səbəb mənədərəjəh ż[yīe]l meñ se koī ek mələtā rəhā he ?
 +
 +Afterwards, a speaker of Urdu is supposed to edit the transliteration and disambiguate all remaining cases:
 +
 +  * āp ko p**ə**čh**ə**le 182 d**ə**noñ meñ **ə**p**ə**nī b**[yīe]**mārī yā m**ə**ˀ**ə**z**[wūo]**rī ke s**ə**b**ə**b m**ə**n**ə**d**ə**r**ə**j**ə**h ż**[yīe]**l meñ se koī ek m**ə**l**ə**tā r**ə**hā he ?
 +    * Of alternatives in brackets, one has to be selected. Sometimes the brackets do not list all possibilities but they are easy to guess. For instance, [yīe] should in fact be [əyə|ī|e].
 +    * The schwa //ə// is a shortcut for [aiu] or an empty string (no vowel here).

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