Arabic-L:PEDA:Arabic Script vs Transliteration for Dialects Discussion

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Thu 29 Jun 2006
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Arabic Script vs Transliteration for Dialects Discussion

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1)
Date: 29 Jun 2006
From: "Lampe, Gerald" <glampe at nflc.org>
Subject:Arabic Script vs Transliteration for Dialects Discussion

For all of the reasons already stated on Arabic-L by Martha Schulte- 
Nafeh, Karin Ryding, and other colleagues, I am in favor of  
transcribing Arabic dialects via Arabic script rather than one of  
several existing phonetic transcription/transliteration systems,  
especially if the students have already studied Modern Standard  
Arabic. At the NFLC, we have opted to use Arabic transcription for  
the dialectal audio segments on LangNet, our Internet-based language  
learning support system. Thus far, we have encountered no  
difficulties using Persian letters for the consonantal sounds that  
exist in Colloquial but not MSA (e.g. the “g,” the “ch,” and the “p”  
in the Iraqi and other dialects). The process of switching back and  
forth between MSA and Persian is quite simple if one has MS XP. Also,  
we have found that it is necessary to put the vowels and diacritical  
marks on texts since the pronunciation of Colloquial often varies  
considerably from that of MSA, even when the vocabulary uttered is  
the same. The main problems arise when trying to represent the  
vowels, such as the “o” or the allophones of aliph (“aa” vs. “ee”).  
With the increasing interest in studying the Colloquial dialects of  
Arabic, perhaps one can approach Microsoft to make available symbols  
to represent the sounds that exist in dialects but not in MSA. This  
would help us produce more accurate and useful transcriptions of  
Arabic dialects in Arabic.

Jerry Lampe
Deputy Director
National Foreign Language Center
President, American Association of Teachers of Arabic
5201 Paint Branch Parkway, Suite 2132
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-9690
glampe at nflc.org
www.nflc.org


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End of Arabic-L:  29 Jun 2006