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Why won arabs admit that their alphabet is effectively 2*28 letters as different letter forms?

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Why won arabs admit that their alphabet is effectively 2*28 letters as different letter forms?

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Perhaps because it is not true. The symbols 2*28 evaluate to 56. The expression 4*28 would be more accurate, as most Arabic letters have at a minimum 4 forms: isolate form, initial, medial and final form. But in most scripts at least some of the letters have more forms, depending on exactly which letter (if any) precedes and which letter (if any) follows. But some letters, for example ẓ appears as ظ in all positions, other than the addition of joiner extensions. This causes no more of a problem than that each letter in the Roman alphabet has two forms, the capital letter form and its small letter form. Arabic writing is calligraphic, like handwriting, and in the Latin alphabet handwriting characters also vary their shape slightly according to what character precedes or follows. A following letter that connects with o will look somewhat different than the same letter connecting with a. And final letters often display a more decorative ending. This is just more standardized in Arabic scr

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