Re: Translate from arabic

In a message dated 11/15/01 11:16:17 PM, Fuscian@AOL.COM writes:

<< Oh and why the two different versions - (R)alaykum and al-'ejxam? Is one
classical and one another dialect? I don't remember any k/x alternation in
Arabic.... >>

    Well, first, we were both trying to indicate an 'ayn--we just did it
different ways: I with a /'/, and he with a /R/.  Second, I never learned how
it was spelled (well, not "good"; the other word), so I was just doing it by
how it sounded.  And for /aii/, or fatha yaa diphthongs, there's two ways to
pronounce them: I pronounce them like /ej/ (kind of like the /ai/ in French),
whereas the more traditional way is just to say it just like it looks: /aj/.
I actually was exposed to both, though I was exposed to /ej/ first, so it
stuck.  :)  As for k/x...  I'd wager a dollar to donuts he's right, but it
always sounded like [x] to me.  Hypercorrection, maybe...?

-David

"s&m raSalo SirejsatIm, spAjs Zi v&TIl dZaGagzaZA."
"If it keeps on rainin', the levee's going to break."
        --Led Zeppelin

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