Re: Vowel variations in Arabic


Neeraj Mathur wrote:
> "Yusuf B Gursey" <ybg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1138654700.423449.59770@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Neeraj Mathur wrote:
> >> "Harlan Messinger" <hmessinger.removethis@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >> news:446v1mFmfdbU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> > And while in English we write "Kuwait", why is it "Koweït" in French?
> >>
> >> Is this possibly because it's been transliterated from Persian? (In
> >> modern
> >
> >no. arabic /u/ rarely becomes as open as modern iranian farsi /u/ but
> >there are colloquials in which it does tend to be more open then
> >others. romanizations in Egypt with <o> for /u/ seem quite common.
>
> I don't understand the objection. In Farsi, the word is perceived as
> /kuwayt/ and rendered [koveit]. If you were a Frenchman and you learned the
> word from an Iranian, you would spell it [Koweït], wouldn't you?
>

perhaps, but there are other explanations. <w> is a concession to the
english.

tell you the truth, common romanizations of arabic is quite
unsystematic and done by bureaucrats.

> What other routes could there be into the French language? How is /kuwayt/
> rendered in the Maghreb?

usually for a far away place name you woudl use an approximation to the
standard language.

>
> Neeraj Mathur

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Vowel variations in Arabic
    ... > Neeraj Mathur wrote: ... >>> Is this possibly because it's been transliterated from Persian? ... >>> modern ... >>there are colloquials in which it does tend to be more open then ...
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  • Re: Vowel variations in Arabic
    ... Neeraj Mathur wrote: ... >> Is this possibly because it's been transliterated from Persian? ... >there are colloquials in which it does tend to be more open then ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Vowel variations in Arabic
    ... Alan wrote: ... >> Neeraj Mathur wrote: ... in the high register and in some colloquials, ... Prev by Date: ...
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