The first letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet; represents a glottal stop /ʔ/ in initial position or a long vowel /aː/. In Gurani, alef serves primarily as a vowel carrier and word-initial glottal onset. Gurani preserves archaic Northwestern Iranian vowel patterns not found in modern Persian.
Voiced bilabial stop /b/, like "b" in "bed". One of the base letters of the Perso-Arabic abjad; in Gurani the /b/ sound is stable and appears frequently in native Zaza-Gorani vocabulary and in loanwords from Kurdish and Persian.
Voiceless bilabial stop /p/, like "p" in "pen". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script not found in classical Arabic; پ is well-established in Gurani and appears in core Northwestern Iranian vocabulary inherited from Old Iranian.
Voiceless alveolar stop /t/, like "t" in "top". In Gurani, both ت and ط are pronounced as plain /t/. The letter ت appears frequently in Gurani verb endings and nominal suffixes reflecting the Northern Iranian consonant system.
Pronounced as /s/ in Gurani, identical to س. In Classical Arabic ث represents /θ/, but Gurani has merged this sound with /s/, following general Iranian treatment of Arabic loanwords. Retained in writing to preserve the spelling of Arabic-origin words.
Voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/, like "j" in "jam". Consistent across Gurani dialects; represents a sound well-integrated into the Gurani phonological system, common in both native Gorani vocabulary and Arabic-Persian loanwords.
Voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/, like "ch" in "chair". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script; widely used in Gurani native vocabulary, including the name of the language itself (گورانی gorani).
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ in Classical Arabic; in Gurani this letter is typically pronounced as the plain glottal fricative /h/, merging with ه. The pharyngeal quality is preserved only in formal or heavily Arabic-influenced registers of the language.
Voiceless velar fricative /x/, like "ch" in Scottish "loch". This sound is well-preserved in Gurani and appears in both Zaza-Gorani native vocabulary and Arabic/Persian loanwords. It is a phonemically distinct consonant from /h/ and /k/.
Voiced alveolar stop /d/, like "d" in "dog". A non-connecting letter in the Perso-Arabic script. Gurani preserves a stable /d/ phoneme similar to Kurdish and Persian; the letter appears frequently in native Gorani vocabulary.
Pronounced as /z/ in Gurani, merging with ز. In Classical Arabic ذ represents /ð/ (like "th" in "that"), but Gurani — like all modern Iranian languages — pronounces this as the alveolar fricative /z/. Retained in spelling of Arabic loanwords.
Alveolar trill or tap /r/, like a rolled "r". A non-connecting letter; in Gurani the rhotic is generally realised as a flap or light trill, consistent with Northwestern Iranian phonology. Appears frequently in native Zaza-Gorani vocabulary.
Voiced alveolar fricative /z/, like "z" in "zoo". A non-connecting letter; in Gurani, the letters ز، ذ، ض، and ظ all converge on the /z/ pronunciation. Gurani preserves the Iranian simplification of Arabic emphatic consonants.
Voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like "s" in "measure". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script; ژ appears in Gurani vocabulary including loanwords from Kurdish and Persian. Represents a sound found in native Iranian languages.
Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, like "s" in "sun". In Gurani, the three Arabic sibilants ث، س، and ص all merge into this /s/ pronunciation. One of the most frequent consonants in Gurani vocabulary of both Iranian and Arabic origin.
Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, like "sh" in "ship". Fully preserved in Gurani; ش appears frequently in native Zaza-Gorani vocabulary and is one of the most distinctive consonants of the Northwest Iranian language family.
Emphatic /sˁ/ in Classical Arabic; in Gurani, this letter is pronounced as plain /s/, merging with س. The pharyngeal emphasis of Arabic ص is not maintained in Iranian pronunciation; the letter is retained for spelling Arabic loanwords.
In Gurani, ض is pronounced as /z/, merging with ز. The historically emphatic Arabic /dˁ/ has merged with /z/ in Gurani as in all Iranian languages; the letter is preserved in writing Arabic-origin words to reflect etymological spelling.
Emphatic /tˁ/ in Classical Arabic; in Gurani, this letter is pronounced as plain /t/, merging with ت. The letter is retained in writing to preserve the spelling of Arabic loanwords; Gurani speakers do not distinguish ط from ت in spoken speech.
Emphatic consonant in Classical Arabic; in Gurani, ظ is pronounced as /z/ like ذ، ز، and ض. The letter is preserved in writing Arabic-origin vocabulary; the emphatic quality is not maintained in Gurani spoken phonology.
Voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ in Arabic; in Gurani, ع is typically realised as a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a simple vowel onset. Gurani, as a Northwestern Iranian language, does not systematically preserve the pharyngeal quality of Arabic ع in everyday speech.
Voiced uvular fricative /ɣ/, produced at the back of the throat. Fully preserved in Gurani; غ appears in both native Zaza-Gorani vocabulary and Arabic-Persian loanwords and is phonemically distinct from /g/ (گ), marking an important phonological contrast.
Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, like "f" in "fun". Fully preserved in Gurani; ف appears in native Iranian vocabulary and in Arabic loanwords. The /f/ sound is stable across Gurani dialects spoken in both Iran and Iraq.
Voiceless uvular stop /q/ in Classical Arabic; in Gurani, ق may be realised as the uvular /q/ or as a glottal stop /ʔ/ depending on dialect and loanword register. Gurani dialects of Iraq may preserve the uvular articulation differently from those of Iran.
Voiceless velar stop /k/, like "k" in "key". Distinct from ق (uvular); consistently represents /k/ in Gurani. The Persian/Dari form ک uses the distinctive Perso-Arabic letter shape rather than the classical Arabic form ك, marking this as a clearly Iranian writing system.
Voiced velar stop /g/, like "g" in "go". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script; گ is common in Gurani native vocabulary including the name of the language itself — گوران (Guran). The /g/ phoneme is a key feature of the Zaza-Gorani branch.
Lateral alveolar approximant /l/, like "l" in "lamp". Fully preserved in Gurani; ل is one of the most frequent consonants in Zaza-Gorani vocabulary and participates in the obligatory lam-alef ligature لا in the Perso-Arabic script.
Bilabial nasal /m/, like "m" in "man". A very common consonant in Gurani vocabulary; م appears frequently in both native Northwestern Iranian words and Persian-Arabic loanwords. The bilabial nasal is phonologically stable across all Gurani dialect areas.
Alveolar nasal /n/, like "n" in "noon". One of the most frequent consonants in Gurani; ن also appears in tanwin endings in Arabic loanwords used in formal Gurani writing and in the nasal codas of Northwestern Iranian verb forms preserved in Gurani grammar.
In Gurani, و typically represents /w/ (bilabial approximant) in consonantal position, preserving the classical Perso-Arabic pronunciation. Gurani, as a conservative Northwestern Iranian language, retains the archaic /w/ that has shifted to /v/ in modern Western Persian. Also serves as the long vowel /uː/ and the diphthong /ow/.
Voiceless glottal fricative /h/, like "h" in "hat". One of the most variable letters in Perso-Arabic orthography; in Gurani, final ه can represent /h/, /a/, or /e/ depending on the word. Gurani retains the full range of ه functions found in Persian script orthography.
Palatal approximant /j/ in consonantal position (like "y" in "yes"), or long vowel /iː/ in vocalic position. In Gurani, ی participates in vowel distinctions that reflect the language's archaic Northwestern Iranian phonological features. Gurani preserves vowel contrasts lost in modern Western Persian.
Sambhu Raj Singh ·