Wiktionary:Classical Syriac transliteration

These are the rules concerning transliteration in Classical Syriac entries.

Classical Syriac transliteration

Consonants

Letter/ consonant	Sound					Notes
	Transliteration		IPA
	Wiktionary translit.	Other translit.
			Classical Edessan	Western Syriac	Eastern Syriac
ܐ	ʾ	', ˀ, (null)	[ʔ] or ∅			Silent when not immediately followed by a vowel.
ܒ	hard: b soft: ḇ	soft: bh, v, β	hard: [b] soft: [v]	hard: [b] soft: [w], [b]	hard: [b] soft: [w]	Begadkefat letter.
ܓ	hard: g soft: ḡ	soft: g̱, gh, ġ, γ	hard: [ɡ] soft: [ɣ]			Begadkefat letter.
ܕ	hard: d soft: ḏ	soft: dh, ð, δ	hard: [d] soft: [ð]			Begadkefat letter.
ܗ	h		[h]
ܘ	w		[w]			Also a vowel (see below).
ܙ	z		[z]
ܚ	ḥ	H, kh, x, ħ	[ħ]		[x]
ܛ	ṭ	T, ţ	[tˤ]
ܝ	y		[j]			Also a vowel (see below). The sequence /jə/ is usually realized as [ʔi] .
ܟܟ	hard: k soft: ḵ	soft: kh, x	hard: [k] soft: [x]			Begadkefat letter.
ܠ	l		[l]
ܡܡ	m		[m]
ܢܢ	n		[n]
ܣ	s		[s]
ܥ	ʿ	`, ˁ	[ʕ]
ܦ	hard: p soft: p̄	soft: p̱, ᵽ, ph, f	hard: [p] soft: [f]	hard: [f] soft: [f], [w]	hard: [p] soft: [p], [w]	Begadkefat letter. In later Western and Eastern Syriac, there is generally no difference in their respective sounds between the "hard" and "soft" variants except for a common [w] soft variant that occurs in some words. Sometimes occurs as unaspirated [p˭] (transliterated ṗ) in foreign words (mostly for Greek π (p)).
ܨ	ṣ	S, ş	[sˤ]
ܩ	q	ḳ	[q]
ܪ	r		[r]
ܫ	š	sh	[ʃ]
ܬ	hard: t soft: ṯ	soft: th, θ	hard: [t] soft: [θ]			Begadkefat letter.

Vowels

When adding vowel marks to Classical Syriac entries, the preference on Wiktionary is to use the Eastern system, mainly because it is clearer in differentiating /o/ from /u/ and /i/ from /e/. You can look up Classical Syriac words with their Eastern vowel marks here: Beth Mardutho Dictionary Search. Check the results given under Audo (Toma Audo, Treasure of the Syriac Language: A Dictionary of Classical Syriac).

Ideally we would like to create a module that automatically adds an entry with the Western vowel marks too, but that's for whoever has the knowledge or the time to implement in the future (See discussion: Wiktionary:Beer_parlour/2022/August#Let's_talk_Classical_Syriac_dotting).

Vowel			Sound					Notes
			Transliteration		IPA
Type	Western vowel	Eastern vowel	Wiktionary translit.	Other translit.
					Classical Edessan	Western Syriac	Eastern Syriac
Short	ܰ	ܲ	a		[a]	[ɑ]	[a]	Can only occur in a closed syllable. In Eastern Syraic, becomes [ɑ] immediately before ܘ (w).
Long	ܳ	ܵ	ā	aa, â, å, o	[ɑ]	[o]	[ɑ]
Short	ܶ	ܸ	e	i	[ɛ]	[e]	[ɪ]	Can only occur in a closed syllable.
Long	ܽܘ	ܘܼ	ū	u	/uː/, [u]	[u]		Cannot be reduced.
Short			u	ū	/u/, [u]			Can be reduced.
Long		ܘܿ	ō	o, u	/oː/, [o]	[u]	[o]	Cannot be reduced.
Short			o	ō, u	/o/, [o]			Can be reduced.
Long	ܺܝ	ܝܼ	ī	i	[i]
		ܹ	ē	ī, i	[e]	[i]	[e]
	ܶܝ	ܹܝ	ê	ē	[e̝]
Reduced	(null)	(null)	ə	e̊, e, (null)	[ə]	∅		Can only occur in an open syllable. Later became deleted at some point in the development of Syriac.
	ܰ	ܲ	ă	a	[ă]	[ɑ]	[a]	Can only occur in an open syllable and immediately after ܐ (ʾ).
	ܶ	ܸ	ĕ	e, i	[ɛ̆]	[e]	[ɪ]	Can only occur in an open syllable and immediately after ܐ (ʾ).