Every Character has a Story - YEH-based letters (Part 1)
The concept of character may have different meanings in different contexts; phonology, computer encoding or writing. These series of articles focuses primarily on computer encoding with the Unicode standard for languages written in Arabic script , with main emphasis on Urdu language . Historical Background The letter yeh , like other Arabic letters, was originally written without dots, ی , in pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods. In classical Arabic orthography, during Ummayad and Abassid standardization , the letter adopted two dots ( ي ) beneath it in its isolated and final positions to distinguish it from other letters, such as alef maksura ( ى ). The use of dots under the isolated and final forms of yeh is compulsory in Modern Standard Arabic (some consider it optional, e.g. in Egypt) but they are not optional in modern writing under the initial and medial forms across all Arabic dialects. There is also an alternate form ے seen in some styles of ...