Well, I'm pretty happy right now. In my Arabic class we've learned all 28 letters of the alphabet (which makes Arabic the fourth alphabet that I know) plus a few other 'letters' that aren't officially letters. (Yeah, I don't get it either... I'm still in the beginning of learning so I am accepting what I hear.) This week we are moving on to the definite article "AL" as in Al Jazeera -- the Arab satellite news station. The reason I am so happy is that I've already managed to use some of my linguistics skills to help me do my homework and learn a new language.
Note: The rest of this will still be written in this 'happy with myself' mood that I'm in. If you don't like that sort of thing wait two days for the next entry.
Our professor told us that the AL is sometimes pronounced Al and sometimes the 'L' sound is absorbed by the letter that follows it and that sound is doubled. She said that it happens for "sun letters" and that we can go ahead and pronounce the 'L' if it precedes a "moon letter."
Of course, someone immediately asked if there was an easy way to remember the difference between these two types of letters. Unfortunately for that guy, the teacher gave the old "you just have to memorize the list" statement. I felt that there must be some linguistic phenomenon at work here, and so I set to work. Luckily, it only took me a few minutes to realize that there is a trick.
The trick is that the "sun letters" are all the dental, interdental, and alveolar sounds whereas the "moon letters" are everything else. This means that three minutes of thinking (and highlighting a IPA chart with two different highlighters) saved me a lot of memorization. Now if only I could tell someone who cared. At this hour it is even less likely than it would normally be.
Sun and Moon letters? huh? So what does Al mean?
Posted by: Wei at September 18, 2003 06:27 PM"Al" is a definate article in Arabic. "The" is a definate article in English... so it is kinda like saying "the."
Posted by: David at September 18, 2003 06:30 PMit will save you 1.3 seconds every time you bring it up and help you seem a little more linguistically savvy if you just say "l" assimilates to coronal consonants, (anything you use your tongue for). im doing some research on that right now which is why i found your page. im a linguistics undergraduate too, at the university of massachusetts. the l assimilation is pretty complicated once you get into it, especially for someone like me who doesnt know a tier conflation from an OCP violation!
Posted by: Robin Gordon Leavitt at December 17, 2003 02:14 PMGood notes. You seem to be talented researcher. If you need any help in arabic, feel free to e-mail me. I am a teacher for Islamic studies and Arabic Language in USA.
Posted by: Yasir Mohammad at December 29, 2003 08:44 AMthere is one exeption for these letter which is Jeem. Though it the tongue is assciated with it, yet, it does assimilate or abosrb the letter "Laam" whihc is written in arabic like this ل .
My best wishes
there is one exeption for these letters which is Jeem. Though the tongue is assciated with it, yet, it does not assimilate nor absorb the letter "Laam" whihc is written in arabic like this ل .
My best wishes
Shukruun for taking the time to explain the sun vs moon letters. I have been trying to memorize this information for quite some time and after having read the comments made on this page, I can now explain it to my daughter. Thanks a bunch.
May G_d be with you in your effort to learn Arabic. It is one tough lanugage to comprehend and use.
Sincerely,
Karimah
I really like your entry on shamsi and qamareyya letters. I'm also a student learning arabic and now that I've read your entry I understand it a LOT better!
Thanx!
Hey...Put more on your site man!!!!Its not alot!!!
I need it for my HW~!!!
Posted by: kenneth "Word Life'' Jara at May 5, 2004 11:13 PM