Arabic-L:LING/PEDA:jiim/giim

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 10 May 2000
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: jiim/giim

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1)
Date: 10 May 2000
From: mustafa a mughazy <mughazy at students.uiuc.edu>
Subject: jiim/giim

Mr. Troutman wrote:
"It is a shame that some language grumblers and worry worts think it's a
grave transgression to use the ingenious orthography of the
Arabic-speaking world's Persian and Urdu neighbors."

The issue of [giim] and [jiim] was a mere illustration of how MSA is an
ill-defined construct, and how it means different things for different
people. For example, the use of [giim] is accepted in Egypt, but not in
Syria or Lebanon, and the same applies for non-Arabic orthography. If one
uses the name [margaret] in Egypt, it is MSA OK, but in Syria and Lebanon,
it is not. It will have to be [margharet] because /g/ is not an Arabic
sound. What I find interesting is the use of non-Arabic orthography to
represent Arabic sounds as in the case of [jiim].
Mustafa

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End of Arabic-L: 10 May 2000