العلامات التمييزية في المكتوبات العربية : رؤية لسانية تاريخية = Distinctive Features in Arabic Orthography : A Historical Linguistic Perspective

Abstract

This Study examines the distinctive features in Arabic orthography according to historical linguistics. Thus, the researcher studies these features regardless their function of distinctiveness or any other functions which were developed later to be distinctive. Linguistically, the study concludes that orthography is like language in terms of insisting on the principle of distinctiveness. Therefore, distinctiveness is not exclusive to language; but it is also applicable to its writing system. Some of the most evident distinctive features in this study are: form, dotting, and placement features.