Perso-Arabic script
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Perso-Arabic script (or Persian/Arabic, or Persian-Arabic, or Arabic/Persian, or Arabo-Persian) is the generic name for the writing systems that are based on the Arabic alphabet as it was used for Arabic and Persian languages.
Originally being used for the Arabic language, the Arabic alphabet was modified to match the demands of being a writing system for the Persian language; see Persian alphabet for the modified variant. It is also the alphabet for Urdu, the language of Pakistan.
The alphabet was taken by other languages to become their writing systems. In order to represent non-Arabic phonemes (sounds) new letters were created by using existing shape forms with a different combination of dots.
In the most narrow sense, Perso-Arabic script should refer to the Persian variant of the Arabic alphabet.
In a broader sense, it can refer, among other variants, to the original Arabic alphabet as it used for Arabic, meaning that the original “pure” alphabet falls into the category of Perso-Arabic scripts (you can see such usage of the terms in some technical papers, for example, at 18th International Unicode Conference).
The word "Arabetics" is also used in this sense. The word "Arabetics" as well as "Perso-Arabic script" refer to the writing system used by Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and other languages. The word was most noteably used by type designer, and systems engineer Saad D. Abulhab.
The Perso-Arabic script is exclusively written cursively. That means that letters in a word will always connect to each other. This is also implemented on computers. Whenever the Perso-Arabic script is typed, the computer will connect the letters to each other. Unconnected letters are illegible, and are a new invention, not yet accepted. The most notable attempt at unconnected "Perso-Arabic" letters is the Mutamathil type style.
The new type style shows promise in teaching Arabic literacy, because it can drastically reduce the number of forms of each letter that a student must be quick at recognizing. It also by not connecting the letters makes text in Perso-Arabic script seem like it is composed of letters instead of scribbles as it does seem to a people not literate in it.