Lebanese Arabic

Spoken in

• Afro-Asiatic languages Semitic languages West Semitic languages Arabic

Ar ( Arabic)

Ar -LB

The Lebanese - Arab is an Arab dialect which shares common features with both the Palestinian and also with the Syrian.

Similar to the Egyptian Arabic Lebanese dialect in the Arab world has a large media presence, since Beirut to Cairo is the second most important center of the Arab entertainment industry.

Pronunciation

Vowels

Like all Arabic dialects is the Lebanese initially characterized by the elimination of the short vowels in final position and the resulting simplification of flexion. In addition, there is further debate differences for high- Arab.

• Frequent omission of unstressed short vowels and role of high Arabic syllable structure, after two consecutive consonants in word-initial and Dreierkonsonanzen are impossible. Example: Slaiman Suleiman; btiktbu you write.
• Preference for the short vowel i: Short u (in very many words ) and partly short a turn in addition i occurs as an auxiliary vowel pronunciation relief for part i a. Example: kull > kill everything; ḫubz > ḫibiz bread; Nahnu > we niḥna.
• Conversely ago emphatic consonants sometimes development of i to u Example: Qissa > ʾ USSA history; nisf > walnut half.
• For the well-known from the high- Arab bright variant of ā a very closed pronunciation is used ( almost e as in lake). Example: tani [ ː ni θæ ]> Tani [te ː ni ] second.
• Pronunciation of the feminine ending Tā ʾ marbuta, except after certain consonants, as e ( or even i). Example: ǧarīda > žarīde newspaper; mahabba > maḥabbe love.
• The diphthongs ai and au are traditionally - in contrast to virtually all other dialects - preserved as such. Most of the speakers however, they are now only spoken in an open syllable as diphthongs, while they ē in closed syllable or are contracted ō. Example: Yom day, but: yaumēn two days.

Consonants

In the pronunciation of the consonants is to distinguish between so-called book words and everyday vocabulary. The former corresponds to the debate - although with simplifications - the conditions in the high- Arab. The following rules are applicable to everyday words, ie the vast majority of vocabulary.

• Elimination of tooth or Lispellauten: t ( unvoiced th in Engl thing. ), D and Z ( emphatic counterpart to D) are shifted to t, d and d, respectively ( voiced th in Engl this. ). Example: Talata > tlāte three; Hada > haida this; Zuhr > ḍuhir lunch.
• Soft pronunciation Ǧ ( dsch in jungle) referred to as a French j as in the Journal, in transliteration with ž. Example: ǧāmi ʿ a> Zam ʿ a university. ( This softening assume Lebanese also in the pronunciation of the high- Arab. )
• Simplification of q (a very deep, dark k- sound) to hamza, ie simple voting paragraph as ab'ändern in German. Example: qalb > ʾ alb heart; ḥaqīqa > hA ʾ ī ʾ a truth.
• In turn, eliminates hamza or is replaced by y in the cases where it originates in the high- Arab build vocabulary and does not belong to the root. Example: Masa ʾ > masa evening; ǧarā ʾ id> žarāyid newspapers.
• Simplification of doubled consonants before consonantal endings. Example: kill everything, but: we all Kilna. (In most other dialects will maintain the doubling in the same case and i inserted before the ending, eg Egyptian kullina. )

Vocabulary

A certain number of words has been spoken from the front of the Arabization languages ​​, especially Aramaic obtained in Lebanon. However, the vast majority of the vocabulary is of Arabic origin, and also to find in high Arabic. The dialect, however, does not have such a wealth of vocabulary, so conversely many high- Arabic words have no equivalent. The number of Turkish words is somewhat larger than in the high-level language, but overall rather low.

The Lebanese dialect is heavily interspersed with loan words from Western languages ​​, especially English and French. Many of the Arab neologisms are replaced largely by the Western in the high level language concepts have not been able to put in Lebanon. This is also true for most other Arabic dialects. Typical Lebanese but is also the frequent use of French or English words, which really would be a genuine Arabic equivalent is available, or the interference of whole groups of words. Around is the most common greeting " bon jour", the most common adoption " bye bye " to say thanks to you equally " merci ", " thank you" or " sukran ".

• Culture ( Lebanon)
• Arabic dialect