So Santa was good to me and got me an Egyptian Arabic grammar and a book on Arabic script. I’m getting the hang of writing, but I have a question about the vowel system.
I’m aware that in printed matter the diacritical marks that represent vowels generally aren’t included, and that readers are able to fill in the missing vowels based on the patterns. But what about the sukuun - the “no vowel” marker? Is that included in printed Arabic or not? I’m guessing it is, since it would help readers out, but I can’t find confirmation one way or the other in the materials I’ve got.
My Arabic is practically nonexistant (I can sort of read and write it, but wouldn’t really know what I was reading or writing, as my vocabulary is so teensy), but based on experience with Hebrew, which has a very similar system of diacritical marks, the sukuun (and any other marks) would only be used if there would otherwise be confusion on what the word is. Try not to think of the sukuun as somehow different from the other markers because it indicates “no vowel”. It marks a sound just as much as the other ones do.