Summary
I. Белорусская арабица
Belarusan writings in the Arabic script are linked in their origin with the Tartars who in the 14th and 15th centuries settled in Lithuania and Belarus where their descendants have been living ever since. It is generally assumed that a certain part of the Tartars found their way into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as war prisoners, while others came there as immigrants of their own accord [Kry38Kry38
Kryczyński S. Tatarzy litewscy. Próba monografii historyczno-etnograficznej. — Rocznik Tatarski. Warszawa, 1938, t. 3., 1—20].
These Tartars, while living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, soon forgot their native tongue and began to speak Belarusan and Polish. Evidence concerning the fact can be found in the sources of the 16th and 17th centuries. Hints on the question are found in the report (Risale) of a Lithuanian Tartar (name unknown), a pilgrim of Mecca who visited Turkey in 1557-58 and wrote the report mentioned to the Turkish sultan’s son-in-law Rustem Pasha, where he described the Tartars’ position in Lithuania and Belarus in the middle of the 16th century [Much1858Much1858
Muchliński A. Zdanie Sprawy o Tatarach litewskich. — Teka Wileńska. Wilno, 1958, Nr. 4, 5, 6., 4, 251—252, 260]. Statements about the Tartars losing their native tongue are found in the works of Gvagnin [Gwa1584Gwa1584
Gwagnin A. Rerum Polonicarum tomi tres. Francofurti, 1584., 412], as well as in those of the Turkish historian of the 17th century Ibrahim Pasha [Szap32Szap32
Szapszal H. S. O zatraceniu języka ojczystego przez Tatarów w Polsce. — Rocznik Tatarski. Wilno, 1932, t. 1., 36].
For this reason the Belarusan language became not only the spoken tongue of many of the colonies of the Lithuanian tartars but also the language of certain kinds of Mussulman literature (descriptions or Mussulman ceremonies and rites, catechisms, legends (khadis), etc.) as well as the language of the secular writing of the East (knight stories, adventurous stories, oracles, explanations of dreams, defining happy days of a month, week, etc.). It should be mentioned that the language of divine service and that used for everyday prayers was Arabic and later Turkish [Szy32Szy32
Szynkiewicz J. 1. Dr. Jan Stankievicz. Slavia. Časopis pro slovanskou filologii, Ročnik 12, sešit 3-4. V.Praze, 1933. 2. Dr. Jan Stankievič. Bielaruskija musuĺmanie i bielaruskaja literatura arabskim piśmom. — Hadavik Bielaruskaha navukovaha tavarystva ŭ Viĺni, knižka 1, 1933. [Recenzje]. — Rocznik Tatarski. Zamość, 1932, t. 2., 454].
There also existed interlinear translations of Koran.
A comparatively great number of Tartar-Mussulman manuscripts have reached us as translations into Belarusan. All of them are written in the Arabic script.
The first scientist who in 1838 described a manuscript of the Lithuanian Tartars containing Belarusan texts was the German orientalist O. Fleischer [Fle1838Fle1838
Fleischer H. O., Delitzsch F. Catalogus librorum manu scriptorum. Grimmae, 1838., 450—451]. Many observations regarding the Lithuanian Tartars and their writing in Belarusan and Polish can be found in the works of A.Muchlinski published in 1857 and 1858 [Мух1857Мух1857
Мухлинский А. Исследование о происхождении и состоянии литовских татар. СПб., 1857; Much1858Much1858
Muchliński A. Zdanie Sprawy o Tatarach litewskich. — Teka Wileńska. Wilno, 1958, Nr. 4, 5, 6.].
The information concerning the kitab manuscript discovered by I. Lutskevich in 1915 aroused great interest. This manuscript was studied by J. Stankevich in the course of many years [Ста33Ста33
Станкевіч Я. Беларускія мусульмане і беларуская літаратура арабскім пісьмом. — Гадавік Беларускага Навуковага таварыства, Вільня, 1933, кн. 1.; Stan52Stan52
Stankievič J. Mova rukapisu «Al Kitab» Kryvickaha muzeju Ivana Luckieviča ŭ Vilni. New-York, 1952 [На обложке 1954]. [Фонетика].; Stan33Stan33
Stankievič J. Přispěvky k dějinam běloruskeho jazyka na zakladě rukopisu «Al-Kitab». — Slavia. Praha, 1933—1934, ročnik 12.]. J. Stankevich also published many texts of the manuscript. The scientific value of the works of J.Stankevich has considerably reduced owing to the erroneous dating of the tunuscript. The kitab ЛАН-F21-814 📜ЛАН-F21-814 📜
Китаб первой половины 18 в. Библиотека АН Лит.ССР, сигн. Р21-814. was written not in the 16th, as J.Stankevich believed, but in the first half of the 18th century. The information of I. Lutskevitch was commented on by the famous specialist of the Belarusan language E.F.Yarski. In his article [Кар22бКар22б
Карскі Е. Беларуская мова арабскім пісьмом. — Вестник Нар.Ком. Просв. С.С.Р.Б., 1922, №1.; Кар21Кар21
Карский Е.Ф. Белорусская речь арабским письмом. — Беларусы. Пг., 1921, т. 3, ч. 2, 239—240.; Кар22Кар22
Карский Е.Ф. Белорусская речь арабским письмом. — Учёные записки Высшей школы г. Одессы. Одесса, 1922, т. 2.; Кар62Кар62
Карский Е.Ф. Культурные завоевания русского языка в старину на западной окраине его области. — Труды по белорусскому и другим славянским языкам. Москва, Изд-во АН СССР, 1962 г., 448-463.] Karski made use of the materials which had been mentioned in the article of I. Lutskevitch and the work of A. Muchlinski [Мух1857Мух1857
Мухлинский А. Исследование о происхождении и состоянии литовских татар. СПб., 1857‚ 62—70].
Besides, in the 20s and 30s there appeared in the press several articles and short reports on manuscripts of the Lithuanian Tartars by other authors, such as I.Y.Krachkovski [Кра22Кра22
Крачковский И. Белорусская речь арабским письмом. –Восток, Пб., 1922, №1.; Кра25Кра25
Крачковский И. Заметка о статье Е.Ф.Карского «Белорусская речь арабским письмом» в «Ученых записках высшей школы г.Одессы». Одесса, 1922, 2. –Восток. Пб., 1925, №5.; Кра55Кра55
Крачковский И. Ю. Рукопись Корана в Пскове. Избр. соч., т. 1. М.—Л., 1955.], A.N.Samoylovich [Сам26Сам26
Самойлович А. Н. Литовские татары и арабский алфавит. — Известия общества обследования и изучения Азербайджана. Баку, 1926, № 3.], V.Volski [Вол27Вол27
Вольскі В. Асноўныя прынцыпы арабскай транскрыпцыі беларускага тэксту ў кітабах. — Узвышша. Мінск, 1927, № 6.; Вол33Вол33
Вольскі В. Наконт беларускай мовы мовы ў татарскіх кітабах. — Літаратура і мастацства. Мінск, 1933, № 28.]‚ J Szynkiewicz [Szy35Szy35
Szynkiewicz J. Litaratura religijna Tatarów litewskich i jej pochodznie. — Rocznik Tatarski. Zamość, 1935, t. 2.; Szy32t1Szy32t1
Szynkiewicz J. O kitabie. — Rocznik Tatarski. Wilno, 1932, t. 1.]. A.Woronowicz [Wor37Wor37
Woronowicz A. Język polski w transkrypcji arabskiej. — Žycie Tatarskie. Wilno, 1937. Nr. 1.; Сер67Сер67
Сердюченко Г.П. Русская транскрипция для языков зарубежного Востока. М., Изд-во «Наука», 1967.; Wor35bWor35b
Woronowicz A. Szczątki językowe Tatarów litewskich. — Rocznik Tatarski. Zamość, 1935, t. 2.], S.Szachno-Romanowicz [Sza31Sza31
Szachno-Romanowicz S. Pierścień-amulet z Bliskiego Wschodu. — Rocznik Orientalistyczny. Lwów, 1931, t. 7.; Sza32Sza32
Szachno S. «Rocznik Tatarski», tom 1. [Recenzja] —Sprawy Narodowościowe. Warszawa, 1932, Nr. 4—5.]. A.E.Krymski [Кры30Кры30
Кримський А. Е. Тюркі, їх мови та літератури. I. Тюркські мови. Вип. 2. Київ, 1930., 153—155]‚ L.Tsvetkov [Цвя27Цвя27
Цвяткоў Л. Некалькі слоў аб менскіх татарах. –Наш край. Мінск, 1927, №6–7.]‚ A.Shlubski [Шлю26Шлю26
Шлюбскі А. Беларуская мова арабскай транскрыпцыяй. –Наш край. Мінск, 1926, № 6–7.].
In 1951 A.Zajączkowski described the khamail of 1804 which is kept in Warsaw. In recent years several new manuscripts of the Lithuanian Tartars were discovered by M. Konopacki in Poland [Кан20Кан20
Канапацкі М. Помнікі арабска-беларускай пісьменнасці — Ніва. Беласток, 1963, № 20.; Kon63Kon63
Konopacki M. Elementy folkloru Tatarów na pograniczu polsko-białorusko-litewskim. — Literatura ludowa. Warszawa, 1963, Nr. 1.; Kon62Kon62
Konopacki M. O muzułmanach polskich. —Przegląd Orientalistyczny. Kwartalnik. Warszawa, 1962, Nr. 3.; Kon67Kon67
Konopacki M. O polskich Tatarach. —Mówią wieki. Magazyn historyczny. Warszawa, 1967, Nr. 4.; Kon66Kon66
Konopacki M. Piśminnictwo Tatarów polsko-litewskich w nauce polskiej i obcej. —Przegląd Orientalistyczny. Kwartalnik. Warszawa, 1966, Nr. 3.].
II. Рукописи, их тексты и язык
1. The work of A.Antonovich contains descriptions of 24 manucripts ([Ант68Ант68
Антонович А. К. Белорусские тексты, писанные арабским письмом, и их графико-орфографическая система. — Ротопринт ВГУ, Вильнюс, 1968., p. 50—177]). Among these there are 8 kitabs, 10 khamails, 3 tefsirs, 1 tejwid, a Turkish-Belarusan dictionary-phrase-book and a business document of 1759 (a receipt).
According to centuries the manuscripts are divided as follows: 3 manuscripts of the 17th century, 9 manuscripts of the 18th century, 11 manuscripts of the 19th century and one manuscript of the 20th century. From the 24 manuscripts studied in the present work 10 are dated and 14 are not. The time of writing the manuscripts the direct date of which is not indicated is traced by water marks on the paper, orthography and other things. It goes without saying that the degree of accuracy of this dating varies.
It should be noted that speaking about the dating of the above-mentioned manuscripts the author has in mind only the time of their composition or copying but not the time of the emergence (translation) of their texts. The question regarding the time or the translation of individual texts into Belarusan or Polish still remains to be investigated in detail. At present, however, there is already every reason to suppose that the translation of the majority of Belarusan texts, known to us, into Belarusan, was carried out not later than the middle of the 16th century and that in subsequent ages the texts were only copied. Thus, for example, certain texts or the Kazan kitab (КУ-1446 📜КУ-1446 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Казанского университета, № 1446.) dating back to the first half of the 17th century are also found in kitabs of the 18th and 19th centuries. One of such texts is, for instance, the dialogue of Mohammed and Satan. Besides the Kazan kitab this text also appears in the kitab ЛАН-F21-814 📜ЛАН-F21-814 📜
Китаб первой половины 18 в. Библиотека АН Лит.ССР, сигн. Р21-814. (the first half of the 18th century), in the kitab of Lebedev of 1771 (ВЭМ-35 📜ВЭМ-35 📜
Китаб 1771 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 35.) and in the kitab of Karicki (ЛУ-391 📜ЛУ-391 📜
) dating back to the middle of the 19th century. So far as the texts are concerned, the differences in all the four lists are so slight that their origin from one and the same source is quite obvious. The same holds true of some other texts of the Kazan kitab. A legend (khadis) appearing in five lists (the first half of the 16th century, the year 1815, the year 1837, the middle of the 19th century and the year 1868) and dealing with the ascension of Mohammed can also be traced back to a more ancient original, judging by some slight differences in spelling and other data. The same holds true of many other texts.
2. Besides Belarusan texts, the manuscripts under study also contain Polish and Eastern-Arabic and Tiurk texts. One may also come across texts that can be called Polish-Belarusan or Belarusan-Polish. A typical example of these is the interlinear translation of tejwid in the 19th century.
3. The language of Belarusan texts written in the Arabic script is very close to the people’s spoken tongue. It reflects many a typical feature of the South-West Belarusan dialecs as well as the peculiarities of a narrow belt of the Central-Belarusan dialects and those of the South-West part of the Polock group, directly adjoining the Lithuanian speech territory.
4. As far as one can judge by the statements of A.Muchliński [Мух1857Мух1857
Мухлинский А. Исследование о происхождении и состоянии литовских татар. СПб., 1857, 29] and J.Szynkiewicz [Szy32t1Szy32t1
Szynkiewicz J. O kitabie. — Rocznik Tatarski. Wilno, 1932, t. 1., 29] and by the amount of Belarusan texts in the Arabic script that have reached us the latter constituted in the past a very extensive and rich part of written monuments in translation, which in major part emerged not later than the middle of the 16th century. These written monuments are a very valuable addition to the Belarusan Cyrillic writings of that period. Their comparative study affords a possibility of raising and solving many problems of the history of the Belarusan language, such as the relation of the old Belarusan literary language to the people’s spoken tongue, some aspects of Polish-Belarusan lingual relations, etc. The value of the manuscripts in question is equally great for solving certain questions with regard to the historical dialectology of the Belarusan language. In the author’s opinion, the writing of the Lithuanian Tartars presents considerable interest not only for Slavonic philologists but also for orientalists (arabists and tiurkologists).
III. Звуко-буквенная система
1. In all the Belarusan texts of the 17th to 20th century which are studied in the present work, taken together the author has distinguished 32 symbols which represent the consonant sounds of the Belarusan language end 3 symbols which have independent phonetic meaning (ا, ع, ء).
2. Six symbols of those adduced in the table of symhols (see p. 192) are superfluous. Such symbols are:
-
One of the two letters serving to represent the hard sound z, namely, the letters ض or ظ. In this phonetic meaning the above-mentioned letters are used very consistently in all the Belarusan texts that are known to us. In some of these texts the sound z is represented only by the letter ض (ЛАН-F21-814 📜ЛАН-F21-814 📜
Китаб первой половины 18 в. Библиотека АН Лит.ССР, сигн. Р21-814., ЛУ-868 📜ЛУ-868 📜
Тефсир первой половины 18 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 363., ВЭМ-39 📜ВЭМ-39 📜
Китаб 1837 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 39., ЛУ-867 📜ЛУ-867 📜
Тефсир начала 19 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 867.), while in others only by the letter ظ (ВУ-391 📜ВУ-391 📜
Китаб середины 19 в. Библиотека Вильнюсского университета» № 391., ВЭМ-13 📜ВЭМ-13 📜
Китаб 1868 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 13., ХР 📜ХР 📜
Хамаил 19 в. Зофии Родкевич (дер. Мелегяны Игналинского района Лит.ССР)., ХЯ 📜ХЯ 📜
Хамаил Я.Якубовского (дер. Милькуны Швенчёнского района Лит.ССР).). In the majority of manuscripts the above-mentioned sound is represented by both the letters, one prevailing in some of the manuscripts and the other — in others. -
One of the letters serving to indicate the soft sound z’ i.e. the letters ز or ذ. It should be noted that in the majority of the manuscripts the letter ذ does not occur at all or is only used in rare cases. In the manuscript ВЭМ-25 📜ВЭМ-25 📜
the letter ذ is not consistently used. It represents both the hard and the soft sound z. In some of the manuscripts the ways of writing the letters ز and ذ are very similar. In such cases it is hard to say whether one deals with the letter ز or the letter ذ. -
Two of the three letters which serve to represent the soft sound s’‚ namely, the letters ث, س or ڛ are also superfluous. The latter is only used in the manuscripts КУ-1446 📜КУ-1446 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Казанского университета, № 1446., ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893., Лейпц.-280 📜Лейпц.-280 📜
Хамаил 17 в. Библиотека Лейпцигского университета, сигн. B. OR. 280. and ВЭМ-35 📜ВЭМ-35 📜
Китаб 1771 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 35.. In the manuscripts КУ-1446 📜КУ-1446 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Казанского университета, № 1446. and ВЭМ-35 📜ВЭМ-35 📜
Китаб 1771 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 35. the rate of occurrence of the three letters is almost the same, while in the manuscript ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893. the letter ڛ is prevalent and the letter ث occurs very seldom. Several cases of using the letter ڛ are observed in the manuscript ВУ-391 📜ВУ-391 📜
Китаб середины 19 в. Библиотека Вильнюсского университета» № 391. in the proper names ˁĪş̀ā (Jesus) and Mūş̀ā (Moses). In all the rest of the manuscripts that are known to us at present only the letter ث or س, were used, one being prevalent in some of them (ЛАН-F21-814 📜ЛАН-F21-814 📜
Китаб первой половины 18 в. Библиотека АН Лит.ССР, сигн. Р21-814., ВУ-391 📜ВУ-391 📜
Китаб середины 19 в. Библиотека Вильнюсского университета» № 391.) and the other — in others (ВЭМ-11 📜ВЭМ-11 📜
Хамаил 1765 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 11., ВЭМ-10 📜ВЭМ-10 📜
Китаб 1815 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 10., ВЭМ-13 📜ВЭМ-13 📜
Китаб 1868 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 13.). It should be noted that the letter ڛ is the property of older manuscripts. -
In those Belarusan texts where the sound c’ from t’ is represented by the letters ࢯ or ت one of these letters is superfluous. It should be remarked that in the manuscripts of the 17th century КУ-1446 📜КУ-1446 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Казанского университета, № 1446. and ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893. the substitute for the original t’ is consistently represented by the letter ت. In the manuscript Лейпц.-280 📜Лейпц.-280 📜
Хамаил 17 в. Библиотека Лейпцигского университета, сигн. B. OR. 280. this very sound is in the majority of cases represented by the letter ت‚ although the letter ࢯ is also used in the same function. -
In the manuscript ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893. the letter خ is superfluous. It occurs several times for the sound x. In all the other manuscripts, however, the manuscript ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893. included, the sound x is represented by the letter ح.
3. The hardness and softness of the majority of the Belarusan twin consonants related according to hardness and softness are not reflected in the texts studied in the present work. It is only the pairs d—d͡z’, z—z’, k—k’, s—s’, t—t’(c’) that constitute an exception. Their hardness end softness are represented by the letters د — ࢮ; ض, ظ — ز (ذ); ق — ك; ص — ث, س, ڛ; ط — ت (in the manuscripts КУ-1446 📜КУ-1446 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Казанского университета, № 1446. и ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893.) or ط — ࢯ (in the manuscripts or the 18th to 20th century), respectively.
As for the first pair of the consonants it should he observed that in the manuscripts of the 17th century КУ-1446 📜КУ-1446 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Казанского университета, № 1446. and ЛУ-893 📜ЛУ-893 📜
Рукопись 17 в. Библиотека Ленинградского университета, № 893. and partly in the manuscript Лейпц.-280 📜Лейпц.-280 📜
Хамаил 17 в. Библиотека Лейпцигского университета, сигн. B. OR. 280. both the hard and the soft sound d are represented by the letter د, whereas in the rest of the Belarusan texts, studied here (from the 18th to 20th century)‚ these sounds, as we have seen, are represented by the letters د and ࢮ, respectively.
4. With regard to the usage of the letter ࢯ for the sound c’ from t’ t should be noted that the above-mentioned letter also serves to represent the sound c from c’ and that of any other origin.
5. There are no direct data to judge about the hardness end softness of sibilant consonants and the original sound r’. It is only by indirect data that it is possible to judge about the above-mentioned consonants becoming hard (see p. 274, 295).
6. In the Belarusan texts the letters غ and ف are used only in foreign words (Polish. Arabic, Tiurk). Attention should be paid to the usage of غ in the sound combination —zg— in the Belarusan context in the word forms موَضْغِ mozgi 507/5 (ВЭМ-10 📜ВЭМ-10 📜
Китаб 1815 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 10.), مَاظْغوَوْ mazgov 236/2 (ВЭМ-39 📜ВЭМ-39 📜
Китаб 1837 г. Историко-Этнографический музей АН Лит.ССР, № 39.).
7. The Belarusan fricative sound h is consistently represented by the letter ه (ﻫ, ﻬ).
8. The letter ج is used to represent the sound d͡ž.
9. The sound ŭ from v and from l is equally represented by the symbol و (ضَاوْطْرَا zavtra, دوَوْهْ dovh, بِوْ biv). The prepositions v and u as well as the initial sounds v and u are represented by the letter و and by these graphic mean which are used to represent the sound u at the beginning of the word (وْقَاضُيَ vkazuye — اُقَاضُيَ ukazuye‚ وْ رَایُو v rayū — اُ رَایُو u rayū‚ وْ نَاصْ v nas — اُ نَاصْ u nas).
10. The representation of the sounds e and a of various origin in all the Belarusan texts should be considered to be satisfactory. The sound e in stressed and unstressed position, as a rule, is represented by the fatha (ـــَ). To represent the sound a in all the manuscripts under consideration several clearly distinguished means are used: at the beginning of the word اَ, اَ, عَا and not at the beginning of the word اَ, ـــٰ, ـَي).
In connection with the above considerations it should be noted that the texts at our disposal constitute rather reliable material for studying such phenomena of the Belarusan vocalism as akanje, jakanje and jekanje.
11. The fact that the sounds o and u ere equally represented by the symbols و, ـــُ is a great shortcoming of the texts of the 17th and 18th centuries. Although in some of the manuscripts of the above period alongside with the symbols و, ـــُ the waw with the fatha over it وَ is used to represent the sound o, the letter means, generally speaking, plays but a secondary role in the 17th end 18th centuries. Only from the close of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century did all the scribes start to consistently represent the sound o by the waw with the fatha over it, while the sound u, as in the 17th and 18th centuries, was represented by the letters و and ـــُ.
12. There are no special symbols to represent i and y. Both the sounds are equally represented by the kesra (ـــِ) or the kesra in combination with the letter ــِي (ــِي, ــِيـ). It is necessary to bear in mind, however, that after the letters serving to represent only soft consonants on the one hand and after the letters that represent only hard consonants on the other the sounds i and y actually are reflected in writing (زِمَا źima, سِلَا s̀ila, مَاطْكِ matḱi, ࢯِحَا cikha, ࢮِࢯَا dzica, یِحْ yikh, صِنْ sin, دِمْ dim, ضِیْࢮَ ziydze, طِ ti).
13. It should be noted that unlike the old Belarusan Cyrillic writing, the sound i and the sound combination ji are differentiated very consistently in the texts in question: طْوَايِ tvayi, صْوَايِ svayi, یِحْ yikh, یِمْ yim, but: اِنْشِ inshi, اِنَاچَيْ inachey.
14. As for the redundance of graphic means to represent certain sounds, this phenomenon is much more typical of vocalism than of consonantism. Suffice it to say that for representing the sound a there exist several means (see p. 287). If one takes into consideration the fact that, as has been remarked, the sounds v and u can be represented by the letter و as well as by the characters serving to represent the sound u also the fact that the sound u can be represented by the characters وُ and ـــُ (in the manuscripts of the 17th and 18th centuries), it becomes clear that the word form, for instance, unuku can be represented in 20 different ways of writing:
| وْنُوقُو vnūkū, | وْنُقُو vnukū, | وْنُوقُ vnūku, | وْنُقُ vnuku; |
| اُونُوقُو ūnūkū, | اُونُقُو ūnukū, | اُونُوقُ ūnūku, | اُونُقُ ūnuku; |
| اُنُوقُو unūkū, | اُنُقُو unukū, | اُنُوقُ unūku, | اُنُقُ unuku; |
| عُونُوقُو ʼūnūkū, | عُونُقُو ʼūnukū, | عُونُوقُ ʼūnūku, | عُونُقُ ʼūnuku; |
| عُنُوقُو ʼunūkū, | عُنُقُو ʼunukū, | عُنُوقُ ʼunūku, | عُنُقُ ʼunuku. |
The fact that there exist two ways of representing the sounds o and u can also account for the numerous variants of the spelling of one word.
15. If we compare certain peculiarities of the Turkish graphic means and orthography (before the transition to the Latin script) and especially those of the graphic—orthographic system of Serbian texts in the Arabic script with the some kind of Belarusan texts, it becomes clear that the Tartars strove to adapt the Arabic script for rendering the Belarusan tongue and in this respect proved rather inventive. The following can serve as evidence:
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Invention of the letters ࢮ and ࢯ which are not found in the Arabic and Tiurk alphabets.
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A very consistent representation of the hardness and softness of the sounds d z k s t.
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The consistent usage of the letter ه to represent the Belarusan fricative sound h and the letter غ to represent the plosive sound g in foreign words.
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The exact differentiation of the means to represent the sounds e and a.
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The representation of the sound o by the waw with the fatha over it (وَ) in the manuscripts of the 19th century.
The major shortcomings of the graphic-orthographic system of the Belarusan texts under study, which the Tartar scribes were unable to eliminate, are the absence of means of representing the hardness end softness of the majority of twin consonants related according to hardness and softness and the representation or the sounds i and y by the same symbols.
16. According to the usage of the symbols of phonetic writing for the representation of consonants and according to the means of the representation of vowels there is but a slight difference between the Polish and Belarusan texts. The difference concerning the usage of consonants consists in the fact that in the Polish texts the plosive back sound g is represented by the letter غ‚ whereas in the Belarusan ones the fricative sound h is represented by the letter ه (ﻫ, ﻬ).
It is typical of the Polish texts that both the voiced and the voiceless variant of the sound ž from r’ are represented by the letter ر, i.e. by the same letter which is used to indicate the hard sound r. So far as the representation of vowels is concerned, there is only one difference, namely, the usage if the letter ڭ in some of the Polish texts to represent the Polish nasal sound ǫ at the end of the word (see p. 341).
17. It is distinctive of the orthography of the Belarusan texts in the Arabic script of the 17th to 20th century that in many cases one can witness gradual transition from the morphological to the phonetic principles of orthography.
This general tendency manifested itself in representing the sound o. in unstressed position. If in the manuscripts of the 17th century the above-mentioned sound in the majority of cases is represented by the same graphic means as the sound o in stressed position, its representation by the symbols which serve to represent the stressed sound a predominates in the manuscripts of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The same tendency of gradual change in orthography is observed in representing the original sound l from ъl as well as l at the end of the word in past participles. In the manuscripts of the 17th century their representation by the letter ل prevails (دُلْهْ dôlh, حَاࢮِلْ khadzil). In the course of time the substitute for the sound l of the above-mentioned origin is more and more often represented by the letter و (دُوْهْ dôvh, حَاࢮِوْ khadziv). In the manuscripts of the 18th and 19th centuries this way of spelling is accepted as the general standard.
18. It should be noted that the graphic-orthographic system of the Belarusan texts of the 17th century under study, as compared with that of the old Belarusan Cyrillic writing, is characterized by some essential shortcomings which have been mentioned more than once. The sounds o and u are represented by the same graphic means, there are no separate symbols to represent the sounds i and y, the hardness and softness of the majority of the twin consonants related according to hardness and softness are not represented at all.
In the majority of cases, however, the phonetic peculiarities of the living Belarusan speech are rendered more exactly in the Belarusan texts written in the Arabic script than in the old Belarusan Cyrillic writing. Thus. for instance, as has been mentioned, in all the texts of the period under review at our disposal the sound combination ji, is consistently represented in writing, the softness of the sounds z and s before soft consonants is also consistently represented (s´vet, z´mena, z´ neba). The same holds true of ekanje. In many cases even dialectical phonetic peculiarities are reflected.
Арабские символы на жёлтом фоне требуют переопределения шрифта (три точки должны идти вниз)
rfs: Ант68