ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the most basic information for those who probably are not familiar with the Persian alphabet or phonological system. Those who are familiar with this alphabet through other languages should still learn the differences, both in orthography and in pronunciation. A vowel is a sound produced in spoken language without the tongue touching the lips, the teeth or the roof of the mouth or causing any build-up of air pressure, and it is the sound needed to form a syllable: each vowel forms the peak of a syllable. Persian has only 6 vowels and 2 diphthongs, not hard to produce for English speakers, because approximations can be found for most of them in English. Persian vowels are usually pronounced clearly, with no off-glide. Persian, or Perso-Arabic script, is written cursively, which means that usually all or most of the letters in a word are connected to each other.
