Arebica

Arebica (; ) is a variant of the Perso-Arabic script used to write the Serbo-Croatian language. It was used mainly between the 16th and 20th centuries and is frequently categorized as part of Aljamiado literature. During Austro-Hungarian rule, there were unsuccessful efforts by Bosnian Muslims to grant Arebica equal status alongside Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

Apart from literature, Arebica was used in religious schools and administration, though in much less use than other scripts. It originated in the 16th century in Ottoman Bosnia and was significantly reformed in the 20th century by the Bosnian imam Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević.

Origin Arebica was based on the Perso-Arabic script of the Ottoman Empire, with added letters for , and , which are not found in Arabic, Persian or Turkish. Full letters were eventually introduced for all vowels (as with Kurdish Arabic script), making Arebica a true alphabet, unlike its Perso-Arabic base.

Arebica was used by the Bosnian Muslims in Central Bosnia during the Ottoman rule and continued usage during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During that period, they requested that Arebica be given equal status with the Latin and Cyrillic scripts, but the request wasn't granted. The usage of the script, however, continued sporadically even after.

The final version of Arebica was devised by Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević at the beginning of the 20th century. His version is called Reformirana arebica, Matufovica, Matufovača or Mektebica.

The oldest text written in Arebica is called Chirvat-türkisi () from 1588/89, authored by Mehmed of Erdely.

Contemporary use The first literary work to be published in Arebica since 1941 was the comic book "Hadži Šefko i hadži Mefko" in 2005, by authors Amir Al-Zubi and Meliha Čičak-Al-Zubi. The authors made slight modifications to Arebica. The first book in Arebica with an ISBN was "Epohe fonetske misli kod Arapa i arebica" ("The Age of Phonetic Thought of Arabs and Arebica")Foreword to "The Age of Phonetic Thought of Arabs and Arebica" by Aldin Mustafić in April 2013 in Belgrade by Aldin Mustafić, MSc. This book represents the completion of the standardization of Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević's version, and is also a textbook for higher education.

Alphabet The final version of Arebica alphabet was devised at the end of the 19th century by Mehmed Džemaludin Čaušević. The alphabet listed here is a new version made by Aldin Mustafić.

Latin Cyrillic Arebica IPA Contextual forms Isolated Final Medial Initial A a А а /a/ B b Б б /b/ C c Ц ц /ts/ Č č Ч ч /tʃ/ Ć ć Ћ ћ /t͡ɕ/ D d Д д /d/ Dž dž Џ џ /dʒ/ Đ đ Ђ ђ /d͡ʑ/ E e Е е /e/ F f Ф ф /f/ G g Г г /g/ H h Х х /x/ I i И и /i/ J j Ј ј /j/ K k К к /k/ L l Л л /l/ Lj lj Љ љ /ʎ/ M m М м /m/ N n Н н /n/ Nj nj Њ њ /ɲ/ O o О о /o/ P p П п /p/ R r Р р /r/ S s С с /s/ Š š Ш ш /ʃ/ T t Т т /t/ U u У у /u/ V v В в /v/ Z z З з /z/ Ž ž Ж ж /ʒ/

Notes

The diacritic beneath the appears on the letter preceding the . Mustafić uses and instead of and for Ć ć/Ћ ћ and Nj nj/Њ њ . Mustafić uses for Đ đ/Ђ ђ, Al-Zubi and Čičak-Al-Zubi use instead of for Đ đ/Ђ ђ and "ک" instead of "ق" for k/к. Al-Zubi and Čičak Al-Zubi (Harfovica Version) use "ائ" instead of "اٖى" for I/И. And "ـٔه" (isolated form) and "ـه" (final form) instead of "ه" Al-Zubi also only use it in the isolated and standard form.

Ligatures Like the standard Arabic alphabet, when connects to either or a special ligature is used instead.

Latin Cyrillic Arebica Contextual forms Isolated Final Medial Initial la ла lja ља Prior to standardization, the most widespread Arebica conventions were based on Ottoman Turkish conventions, and similar to contemporary aljamiado conventions adopted for Albanian and Greek. Vowels are often written using , with the exception of /e/, which is only represented word-finally, as . /o/ and /u/ are not distinguished. /ɲ/, /ʎ/ and /ts/ were not distinguished from /n/, /l/ and /tʃ/, respectively spelt as , and . Palatal affricates /tɕ/ and /dʑ/ are both typically spelt as , due to the Persian letter not having been widely adopted yet, while velar stops /k/ and /g/ are represented with and .

Text examples

Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Serbo-Croatian (Arebica): Serbo-Croatian (Latin): Serbo-Croatian (Cyrillic): English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Tehran Serbo-Croatian (Arebica): Serbo-Croatian (Latin): Serbo-Croatian (Cyrillic): English: Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, capital of Tehran Province and one of the largest cities in the world.

Arebica

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