Concept
Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include consonant pointing known as ALA (إِعْجَام), and supplementary diacritics known as ALA (تَشْكِيل). The latter include the vowel marks termed ALA (حَرَكَات; singular: حَرَكَة, ALA). The Arabic script is a modified abjad, where short consonants and long vowels are represented by letters but short vowels and consonant length are not generally indicated in writing. ALA is optional to represent missing vowels and consonant length. Modern Arabic is always written with the i‘jām—consonant pointing, but only religious texts, children's books and works for learners are written with the full tashkīl—vowel guides and consonant length. It is however not uncommon for authors to add diacritics to a word or letter when the grammatical case or the meaning is deemed otherwise ambiguous. In addition, classical works and historic documents rendered to the general public are often rendered with the full tashkīl, to compensate for the gap in understanding resulting from stylistic changes over the centuries. The literal meaning of تَشْكِيل ALA is 'forming'. As the normal Arabic text does not provide enough information about the correct pronunciation, the main purpose of ALA (and ALA) is to provide a phonetic guide or a phonetic aid; i.e. show the correct pronunciation for children who are learning to read or foreign learners. The bulk of Arabic script is written without ALA (or short vowels). However, they are commonly used in texts that demand strict adherence to exact pronunciation. This is true, primarily, of the Qur'an (ALA) and poetry. It is also quite common to add ALA to hadiths (ALA; plural: ALA) and the Bible. Another use is in children's literature. Moreover, ALA are used in ordinary texts in individual words when an ambiguity of pronunciation cannot easily be resolved from context alone. Arabic dictionaries with vowel marks provide information about the correct pronunciation to both native and foreign Arabic speakers. In art and calligraphy, ALA might be used simply because their writing is considered aesthetically pleasing.