A belated Eid Mubarak and Happy New Year to all my readers!
This post is brought to you by the letter G - a sound all too common in many languages, including many dialects of Arabic, yet absent from Classical Arabic, leading to a minor quandary for transcribers, and to substantial regional variation. In Morocco, [g] in names is typically written using a kaf ك with three dots (ڭ), as in this sign. In Algeria and Tunisia, it's typically a qaf ق with three dots (ڨ), a choice reflecting the sound shift q > g common in Bedouin dialects, but unfortunately easily confused with the fa with three dots (ڤ) often used elsewhere in the Arab world for [v]. In Egypt, a jim ج is generally used, since classical j is pronounced g in Egyptian dialect. Elsewhere in the Arab world, a kaf with a line on top (گ), as in Persian or Kurdish, is sometimes used. In adapting foreign loanwords, ghayn (eg بلغاريا Bulgaria) or jiim (eg إنجيليزية English) are usual. In a Qatari mall recently, however, I saw yet another system: Osh Kosh B'Gosh was transcribed as أوش كوش بيڠوش, with a ghayn with three dots (Malay ng). I have no idea what country this may be characteristic of - even here it appears rather unusual. Any thoughts?
Isn't it great how us Unicode weenies ensured that each and every one of these pointless variations is representable? Wasn't easy, let me tell you. :-)
ReplyDeletelameen,
ReplyDelete!كل عام وانت طيب
I'm not sure, but I believe I've seen ڠ used for [g] in some Ajami writings.
john,
we owe you a debt of gratitude. Now if only ڠ would connect left properly...
Mabrouk, hope your eid was restive and festive.:)
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that in classical 'arabic [g] was absent. My morrocan teacher mentioned some sort of rule from the classical linguists (he mentioned no name or source) that said basically anything that is read [jamjam] can be read [gamgam]. But there is no distinctive [g] sound for sure in terms of writing. And in terms of phonetics based on Qurayshi dialect, there is no [g] at all! Anyways, I was wondering if you knew the source of that rule? In Farsi, we just have a seperate letter because we need it in our writing, I'm sure you've seen it and it looks like this [گ].
ReplyDeleteI do not know the source but he is correct. In many countries in North Africa, they don't pronounce ج as J, they pronounce it as G. But it still remains the same letter when it is written.
DeleteOh, and a very late 'Eid Mubaarak!
ReplyDeleteBut Haywood et al in their grammar mention IBn Durayd's dictionary permitting /g/ as alternative to /q/.
ReplyDeleteEid Mabrouk. Interesting the research that you made.
ReplyDeleteI wounder how did you write the ق with three dots in your post. The same question for other characters (from Morrocan dialect and Kurdish language). Thanks.
ڠ is /g/ in some adjami like in Swahili according to http://kevindonnelly.org.uk/swahili/spelling.php
ReplyDeleteAh - there are quite a few ex-Zanzibarians in the Gulf, so that might explain it.
ReplyDeleteMy Arabic was from a Saudi Aramco teacher. Im wondering how to pronounce Khashoggi phonetically. My first name starts with a g and as I remember he used a kaf
ReplyDeleteg should be denoted by ain ع with three dots on top, because between ain, ghain and ga would have similar origin from compressing the throat channel
ReplyDelete