Dear Tom Milo, dear colleagues, here is some details regarding Arabic script for Balochi. Some additions to the paper by Mark Davis and Kamal Mansour: 3. (two dots above): also used in some Eastern Balochi texts on top of letter d to indicate the fricative dh (Engl. th in the) 5. (two vertical dots above): also used in some other Eastern Balochi texts on top of letter d to indicate the fricative dh (Engl. th in the) For references in both cases, see Carina Jahani: Standardization and Orthography in the Balochi Language. Uppsala 1989 7. (three dots above): also used in Pashto, Malai, Kurdish and Sindhi for some letters 14. (small tah above): also used in Balochi 17. (seven-like sign above): also used in Balochi pronounciation notes over an n to indicate the nasalisation of the preceding vowel Now for additions to that paper as required by Sayad Ganj: The First Balochi Dictionary, Karachi 2000 (Balochi-Balochi, indeed the first and only comprehensive Balochi dictionary (in any language) available), i.e. by the pronounciation notes therein. I have attached some scans from that to illustrate the following points. (The dictionary entries start with a big point, then the word, then the pronounciation in brackets, then the definition.) The eight-like sign above: It is used in the pronounciation notes to indicate vowel-less-ness. ex.: mesh "sheep": pronounciation note m+kasrah, e+eight-like sign, sh+eight-like sign. For further examples as to the shape of the sign, cf. the other ex. In addition to that, one needs an inverted dammah. It is used in the pronounciation notes to differentiate long u from long o. ex. : long u: nun "now", pronounciation note: n+dammah, w, n+eight-like sign long o: nok "new" and compounds, pronounciation note: n+inverted damma, w, k+eight-like sign (For the shape of inverted dammah, cf. the compounds of nok. As the dictionary is hand-written, the shapes of the letters vary a bit, but it seems clear that the form of an inverted dammah is intended.) In case more examples or whatever are needed, please drop me a note. Yours Agnes