Hebrew alphabet . The Arabic letters generally (as six of the primary letters can have only two variants) have four forms, according to their place in the word. The same goes with the Mandaic ones, except for three of the 22 letters, which have only one form. In forms of Hebrew older than Modern Hebrew, כ״ף, בי״ת and פ״א can only be read "b", "k" and "p", respectively, at the beginning of a word, while they will have the sole value of "v", "kh" and "f" in a "sofit" (final) position, with few exceptions. In medial positions, both pronunciations are possible. In
Syriac alphabet addition to the sounds of the language, the letters of the Syriac alphabet can be used to represent numbers in a system similar to Hebrew and Greek numerals. Besides Syriac, the alphabet has been used to write other languages. When Arabic began to be the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent after the Islamic conquest, texts were often written in Arabic with the Syriac script as knowledge of the Arabic alphabet was not yet widespread. Such writings are usually called "Karshuni" or "Garshuni" (). Garshuni is often used today in Neo-Aramaic writing, such as letters and fliers. Malayalam was