Some Illustrative Examples from Linguata Arabic (1)

(Remember the Arabic reads from right to left!)

The transliterations used in these Linguata articles conform where possible to the usage of dictionaries such as Bennett & Bloom’s Arabic Dictionary and the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. However there are divergences partly because there is no single agreed system for representing spoken Arabic, nor can there be because of the differences in pronunciation and use to be found between speakers from different countries, even when they are communicating in Standard Modern Arabic as opposed to a colloquial variant. The Linguata text is spoken by a native Arabic speaker from Lebanon.

The emphasis in Linguata Arabic is on representing the recorded sound effectively while retaining as far as possible enough of the standard spelling to enable the individual words to be deciphered. Hence in the examples below there will sometimes be differences between the phonetic transliteration and the spelling used in the explanatory notes, as the latter use conventional dictionary-based spelling.

A few points to bear in mind:

Conventionally the consonant pairs th kh dh sh and gh--See Reading Arabic-- are sometimes underlined to emphasise that they represent one sound, to indicate for example where -sh- sounds as in ‘she’, as opposed to the ‘s’ and ‘h’ being sounded separately. Please note that this convention is ignored in Linguata itself: in the majority of occurrences these pairs represent a single Arabic sound, and the occasional exception where the consonant and the ‘h’ are separate sounds will be clearly indicated in the accompanying spoken version.

Consonants with a dot below, such as ṣ and ṭ, belong to the so-called dark sounds in which the upper surface of the tongue sinks downwards. This does not apply to ḥ, which is distinguished from ordinary h by a greater breathiness.

Vowels with a line above them tend to be lengthened and carry a stress.

Nouns and words used adjectivally start with ‘the’ more often in Arabic than in English. ‘The’ is represented by aliph ا and lam ل together, usually appearing as they do in the first example below, i.e. merged onto the beginning of the defined word. ‘The’ is usually transliterated as ‘al’ but the actual pronunciation is often rendered more accurately as ‘ul’ or ‘el’ and the sound is as likely to merge with the preceding word as it is with the word it applies to.

Note also the comments about ‘sun’ letters below.

Good morning... ṣabāḥ al-khayr

صباح الخير

ṣabāḥ = morning (صباح ); khayr = good (خير)

Good evening... masā’ al-khayr

مساء الخير

masā’ = evening

Goodbye (lit. ‘with safety, well-being’)... ma‘as-salama

مع السلامة

maʽa = with (مع); salama = safety, etc. (سلامة).

Note that the definite article al (ال) is pronounced ‘ass’. This is because the following word starts with the ‘sun’ letter ‘s’. A ‘sun’ letter is one whose pronunciation, like that of ‘l’, also involves the tip of the tongue. Their effect is that the ‘l’ of ‘al’ is dropped and the sun letter is doubled: hence as-salama, not al-salama. There are another 12 sun letters. The full list is:

t ت, th ث , d د , dh ذ , r ر , z ز , s س , sh ش , ṣ ص , ḍ ض , ṭ ط , ẓ ظ , l ل , n ن

My name is… ana ismī …

...أنا إسمي

ana = I; ismī = my name: ism (إسم) ‘name’ plus -ī (ي) = my; ismuk = your name (to a man), ismik = your name to a woman, i.e. ism plus –ak or –ik ‘your’ (masculine or feminine ‘attached pronouns’).

What is your name? (m)... mā huwa ismuk(a)?

ماهو إسمك؟

(continued)