some questions about standard and dialectal arabic

[mariu5]

 

Hi, all!

 

I have some questions.

 

1. Which are the root letters of the verbs ستنى ( stanna = to wait ) and نح ( nahhi = to remove ) ? Both have a doubled consonant. These verbs seems strange to me. Have they origins in standard arabic, or are they strictly dialectal ?

 

2. Why in moroccan arabic the present tense is formed with prefix KA (kan-, kat-, kai-), and in algerian dialect it is formed as in standard arabic ( simply n-, t-, i- ) ? Shouldn't be moroccan and algerian similar ?

 

3. Are all the writers writing their novels in standard arabic ? Is there any novel written in dialectal arabic ? I'm talking about moroccan / algerian dialect, especially. So far, I didn't find such writers. For example, the novel الخبز الحافي ("Le pain nu") by محمد شكري (Mohamed Choukri) is written in standard arabic, though the writer is moroccan.

 

4. The same question about the newspapers : is there any newspaper written in algerian dialect (for example) ? Or are all the newspapers written in standard arabic ? Can someone give me an example of online newspaper written in algerian dialect ?

 

 

[mariu5]

For the first question I have found the answer:

ستنى it's a 10 form verb and has the root letters [hamza, N, I]

نح has the root letters [N, H, I]

 

Both are coming from standard arabic.

[mfa12]

Salam,

 

I think that there are no newspaper written in algerian dialect, all are written in standard arabic.

[GoLLuM13]

Hi mariu5,

for the second question, i don't really see what you mean, is it possible to have exemple ?

but you have to know that saying algerian dialect is a little wrong, because in algeria there's many dialect's, in Tlemcen there's a dialect, in Oran another one, also in Algiers, Constantine, there's similarities of course, but there's also a lot of differences between them (and we're only talkin' about arabic dialects)

 

for the third and forth questions, i'll join what mfa12 said, i don't think there's newspaper or novels written in algerian dialect, the reason is in my humble opinion for reachin' a large audience, it's "commercialy" risky to have a book or a newspaper in a dialect which lot of people don't understand

[mariu5]

[mariu5]

Example for the second question:

 

in Morocco they are saying كيكتب kai-ktib "he writes"

in Egypt they say بيكتب bi-ktib "he writes"

 

whereas in my algerian grammar book I have never found such prefixes, but always simply يكتب i-ktib (as in standard arabic).

 

And about the questions 3 and 4, does it mean that I'll never see written something like ستنى , but always استأنى (for example) ?... Does it mean that the algerians always pronounce ستنى (stanna), but always write استأنى (as in standard arabic) ?

 

However, finally it means that I can't practice a dialect, because nobody write it. I'm very disappointed. Though, I have doubts that a son, for example, uses standard writing when he is writing (an e-mail) to his mother, for example.

Edited February 24, 2013 by mariu5

[GoLLuM13]

I've never noticed the "ka" in the morrocan dialect (they also have some dialects)

 

About the 3rd and 4th questions, I can't say never, but it won't be easy to find (if it exists); for the word ستنى I personnaly pronounce استنى (Estena) like i always heard it, so it's a mix between the two forms

 

Of course you can practice it, a personal writing like a letter or an e-mail is very different compared to an official one, I explain my meaning, when you write a book or a newspaper, it's not for one region of a country or one country, but for a larger audience, or else you'll have a thin gain, because if you write a book or a newspaper in the dialect of tlemcen (for example) a lot of algerians (or other arab speaking people) won't understand a lot of words, whereas when you're writing a letter or an e-mail you are targeting a precise person or group of persons and the most important thing you don't do it for the money

[mariu5]

Thank you very much for your detailed answer and for your patience. Shukran.

[GoLLuM13]

you're welcome my friend, it is a pleasure

[HBM]

salam

in algerian dialec we see : rah rahou, rahi as prefix to said that the action will take in the future

following regions we pronounce the h as ح or ه

 

rah, rahou for the man / boy

rahi for girl / woman

 

if h is pronounced as ح is used only for the singular masculine

 

some sport's news peaper writes somes word in dialectecal language, (el-heddaf for exemple)

 

rahoum for plural men or women