Urdu: (Nastaliq) about the spaces between word segments

[MonsieurGonzalito]

Friends:

Below I am posting a picture of the word naagufta(h) = "unsaid", using the Nastaliq and Naskh styles, first written as if it were one word, an second as if it were two words:

My question is: for the competent Nastaliq reader, is the (in my eyes, minimal) difference between space width in the 2 Nastaliq samples above relevant? Or it is more a question of knowing beforehand that naagufta(h) is one word?

My assumption is that, in order to pick out individual words on a text, the Nastaliq reader processes much information before spaces even become relevant, such as:
- known forms of the words
- final forms of the letters
- the kind of typography used (some are notoriously different from others *, in their treatment of spaces)
... and only then spaces are considered, if at all.

But I am not a competent Nastaliq reader, so I don't know 😊. As a matter of fact, I find Nastaliq texts overwhelming.

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* In this regard, it called my attention in the kind of typography used by the Urdu Lughat, for example, how there is barely any space after baRii ye-ended words, and, inversely, how much space is left between the elongated re and the final baRii ye in pɛhre. Below is the same text in a more standardized typography, which separates the words a little more, and allows some overlapping between the re and the following baRii ye.

So, again, my assumption is that often it is only knowledge of the language what allows the Nastaliq reader to determine that the words above, for example, are 2 and not 3.
Am I right, or there is some secret trove of word parsing skills that i didn't learn yet?

 

[aevynn]

My question is: for the competent Nastaliq reader, is the (in my eyes, minimal) difference between space width in the 2 Nastaliq samples above relevant?
...
But I am not a competent Nastaliq reader, so I don't know 😊. As a matter of fact, I find Nastaliq texts overwhelming.
...
there is some secret trove of word parsing skills that i didn't learn yet?

I also have trouble with this space issue. I hope that someone does have a secret to share, but meanwhile, maybe we can take solace in the fact that we are in very competent company 😅

There is one point, however, and I know that this will somewhat make Qureshpor SaaHib chafe. I strongly disapprove of the Urdu printers hanging on to the outmoded ( or rather, what should be considered outmoded) practice of not leaving an obligatory space between one word and the next. After all, for example, we Tamils never used a period after a sentence and before the next, but we now do, because it adds to clarity.
A space between words too adds to clarity, and is perhaps the most important punctuation mark.

My assumption is that, in order to pick out individual words on a text, the Nastaliq reader processes much information before spaces even become relevant, such as:
- known forms of the words
- final forms of the letters
- the kind of typography used (some are notoriously different from others *, in their treatment of spaces)
... and only then spaces are considered, if at all.

I would add "context" to this list (by which I mean, intuition about what words or sounds might come next based on what you've already read).