[Kde-i18n-fa] Very OT: Do we have the W sound in Farsi?

[Aryan Ameri]

Hi there:

As some of you might have noticed, I am currently busy working on the 
(probably hopless) job of designing a new alphabet for the Farsi 
(persian) language based on Latin alphabet. You have seen some of my 
examples with these alphabet. BTW, the alphabet is called Pelatin 
(Persian-Latin)! 

When I originally designed Pelatin, it consisted of all English 
letters except W. I also added â for long a, š for sh and ž for zh. 
the apastrophie ' is also used to deal with the deep sound which is 
used in some Arabic words (represented by the letter Ein in the 
current Farsi -Arabic script). The accent Grave is also used as a 
sign of repitition (tašdid). 

Anyway, I have gone to great extent on the rules of this alphabet. 
From the basic letters, to rules such as where to capitalize, how to 
write foreign names, and how to deal with traditional Farsi rules 
such as 'qalb-e be mim' (the word šanbe is pronounced like šambe...)

Of course I am not a linguist, and my work certainly needs lots of 
corrections.

But...

There is one aspect of this alphabet that I don't know how to deal 
with. After designing my alphabet, I found out about the works of 
other organisatoins and people who have also designed a latin 
alphabet for Farsi language. In nearly all of them, they use the 
letter W. As much as I think, I really don't see why this sound is 
needed in Farsi. Maybe it's just my pronounciation, but I really 
don't pronounce W in my speaking. let me give you some examples:

Pelatin			Others

Molâ				Mowlâ
No				Now 		(New)
Noruz			Nowruz		
Gohar			Gowhar
Nobar			Nowbar
Nozâd			Nowzâd		(infant)

I have asked many of my friends wether we need the W sound in Farsi or 
not. I haven't been able to come up with a definite answer. As I 
said, I personally don't see the need for the letter W, and I 
personally don't pronounce these words with a W sound. But maybe I am 
mistaking. Please help me clarify my mind. Do we have the W sound in 
Farsi? Do we say Noruz or Nowruz?

I am sure most of you are laughing your a** off, thinking how stupid I 
am to waste my time over such matters. Well, stupid or not, it has 
become an itch for me, and I am determined to finish my job.

All comments are appreciated

Thanks for your help on this very off-topic subject

Cheers
-- 
/* It is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it 
is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a 
Communist dictatorship. People can always be brought to the bidding 
of the leaders. All you have to do is tell them they are being 
attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism
-- Herman Göring, Nürnberg Trials */

Aryan Ameri