The first letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet; represents a glottal stop /ʔ/ in initial position or a long vowel /aː/. In Harzani, alef functions as a vowel carrier and word-initial glottal onset. Harzani vowel patterns have been influenced by Azerbaijani Turkish contact, distinguishing it from other Northwestern Iranian languages.
Voiced bilabial stop /b/, like "b" in "bed". One of the base letters of the Perso-Arabic abjad. In Harzani, the /b/ sound is stable and appears in native Iranian vocabulary as well as Turkish-origin loanwords absorbed through prolonged contact with Azerbaijani.
Voiceless bilabial stop /p/, like "p" in "pen". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script not found in classical Arabic. In Harzani, /p/ appears in native Northwestern Iranian vocabulary and in Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords, both of which use this sound prominently.
Voiceless alveolar stop /t/, like "t" in "top". In Harzani, both ت and ط are pronounced as plain /t/. The letter ت is highly frequent in Harzani vocabulary of both Iranian and Azerbaijani Turkish origin; Turkish has particularly enriched the Harzani lexicon with /t/-initial words.
Pronounced as /s/ in Harzani, identical to س. In Classical Arabic ث represents /θ/, but Harzani — like all Iranian languages — pronounces this as the alveolar fricative /s/. Retained in writing to preserve Arabic loanword spelling conventions.
Voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/, like "j" in "jam". Consistent across Harzani speech; represents a sound well-integrated into the phonological system of Harzani. The /dʒ/ sound also appears in Azerbaijani Turkish vocabulary absorbed into Harzani.
Voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/, like "ch" in "chair". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script. In Harzani, /tʃ/ appears in both native Iranian vocabulary and Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords, where this sound is also phonemically prominent.
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ in Classical Arabic; in Harzani this letter is typically pronounced as the plain glottal fricative /h/, merging with ه. The pharyngeal quality of Arabic /ħ/ is not systematically maintained in Harzani spoken phonology.
Voiceless velar fricative /x/, like "ch" in Scottish "loch". This sound is well-preserved in Harzani and is also prominent in Azerbaijani Turkish, reinforcing the phoneme through language contact. خ appears in both native Iranian vocabulary and Turkish loanwords.
Voiced alveolar stop /d/, like "d" in "dog". A non-connecting letter in the Perso-Arabic script. Harzani preserves a stable /d/ phoneme; like /t/, the dental stops are well-represented in both the Iranian substrate of Harzani and its Azerbaijani Turkish lexical layer.
Pronounced as /z/ in Harzani, merging with ز. In Classical Arabic ذ represents /ð/ (like "th" in "that"), but Harzani — 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 Harzani, the rhotic may show influence from Azerbaijani Turkish rhotic patterns. Appears frequently in native Northwestern Iranian vocabulary inherited from Old Iranian.
Voiced alveolar fricative /z/, like "z" in "zoo". A non-connecting letter. In Harzani, the letters ز، ذ، ض، and ظ all converge on the /z/ pronunciation, following the Iranian simplification of Arabic emphatic and interdental consonants.
Voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like "s" in "measure". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script. This sound appears in Harzani vocabulary, though the /ʒ/ phoneme may be less productive in Harzani than in Western Persian due to Turkish contact influence.
Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, like "s" in "sun". In Harzani, the three Arabic sibilants ث، س، and ص all merge into this /s/ pronunciation. Highly frequent in both the Iranian vocabulary of Harzani and in Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords.
Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, like "sh" in "ship". Fully preserved in Harzani; ش is prominent in both native Northwestern Iranian vocabulary and in Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords, where /ʃ/ is also a common sound.
Emphatic /sˁ/ in Classical Arabic; in Harzani, this letter is pronounced as plain /s/, merging with س. The pharyngeal emphasis of Arabic ص is not maintained in Iranian pronunciation. Retained in writing Arabic-origin words.
In Harzani, ض is pronounced as /z/, merging with ز. The historically emphatic Arabic /dˁ/ has merged with /z/ in Harzani as in all Iranian languages. Preserved in writing to reflect the etymological spelling of Arabic loanwords.
Emphatic /tˁ/ in Classical Arabic; in Harzani, this letter is pronounced as plain /t/, merging with ت. Retained in writing to preserve the spelling of Arabic loanwords; Harzani speakers do not distinguish ط from ت in spoken speech.
Emphatic consonant in Classical Arabic; in Harzani, 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 Harzani spoken phonology.
Voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ in Arabic; in Harzani, ع is typically realised as a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a simple vowel onset. As a Northwestern Iranian language under Azerbaijani influence, Harzani does not systematically maintain the pharyngeal quality of Arabic ع.
Voiced uvular fricative /ɣ/, produced at the back of the throat. In Harzani, غ appears in Iranian vocabulary; note that Azerbaijani Turkish also has uvular phonemes, so this sound may be reinforced through language contact. Phonemically distinct from /g/ (گ).
Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, like "f" in "fun". Fully preserved in Harzani; ف appears in native Iranian vocabulary. Azerbaijani Turkish lacks the /f/ phoneme natively, so ف in Harzani primarily marks Iranian-origin and Arabic-origin words.
Voiceless uvular stop /q/ in Classical Arabic; in Harzani, ق may be realised as the uvular /q/ or as a glottal stop /ʔ/ depending on register. The uvular stop /q/ is also present in Azerbaijani Turkish, which may preserve the /q/ articulation in Harzani.
Voiceless velar stop /k/, like "k" in "key". Distinct from ق (uvular); consistently represents /k/ in Harzani. The Persian/Dari form ک is used rather than the classical Arabic ك, marking this as an Iranian writing convention. The /k/ phoneme is very frequent in Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords.
Voiced velar stop /g/, like "g" in "go". One of the four letters unique to the Persian/Dari script. In Harzani, /g/ appears in native Iranian vocabulary and is strongly reinforced by the large number of Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords where /g/ is a common initial consonant.
Lateral alveolar approximant /l/, like "l" in "lamp". Fully preserved in Harzani. ل participates in the obligatory lam-alef ligature لا in the Perso-Arabic script. The lateral is phonologically stable in Harzani across its Iranian and Turkish lexical layers.
Bilabial nasal /m/, like "m" in "man". A common consonant in Harzani vocabulary; م appears in both native Northwestern Iranian words and Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords. The bilabial nasal is phonologically stable and present in both the donor languages of the Harzani lexicon.
Alveolar nasal /n/, like "n" in "noon". One of the most frequent consonants in Harzani; ن appears in native Iranian vocabulary and very commonly in Azerbaijani Turkish loanwords. The alveolar nasal is among the most productive consonants in Harzani morphology.
In Harzani, و typically represents /v/ (labiodental approximant) following Iranian convention, though influence from Azerbaijani Turkish — which has a /w/~/v/ alternation — may affect pronunciation. Also serves as the long vowel /uː/ and the diphthong /ow/. A non-connecting letter.
Voiceless glottal fricative /h/, like "h" in "hat". In Harzani, final ه can represent /h/, /a/, or /e/ following Persian orthographic conventions. Azerbaijani Turkish also has /h/, so this sound is reinforced from both the Iranian substrate and the Turkish contact layer.
Palatal approximant /j/ in consonantal position (like "y" in "yes"), or long vowel /iː/ in vocalic position. In Harzani, ی participates in vowel distinctions influenced by both the Northwestern Iranian substratum and Azerbaijani Turkish vowel harmony. The palatal glide /j/ is frequent in both source language families.
Sambhu Raj Singh ·