Re: Vowel variations in Arabic

Harlan Messinger wrote:

> What "standard" Arabic vowel do the "e"s represent in the name of
> Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat? How about the "e"s in Fez, Yemen,
> and Benghazi? Do they reflect the pronunciation used in those locations?

Names are often transliterated using the actual pronunciation instead
of that prescribed by MSA rules.

> while in English we write "Kuwait", why is it "Koweït" in French?

But we pronounce it Kuweit, don't we? (That is, we don't pronounce
"coo-white.") In this case, I think the local pronunciation is with
/ei/ and not /ai/, so we write it according to MSA rules, but pronounce
it according to current local practice. The French are a bit more
consistent in this regard.

As concerns transliteration of Arab names:

http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/magazine/3600483.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,730805,00.html
Marc

.

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