@quietstuff.bsky.social
Pinned
semitic linguistics bonanza
root of "name" in arabic; god of the hebrew bible and all that; daughter 🦇; roman jewish guy that proposed a bunch of nations descended from 35 down; farming thing with a bajillion names. baydar, ʔand...
crosshare.org
i made a crossword this year 🫡 i don't think it's solvable but it should be fun
since this post i've found out that
- baxt isn't totally rare across lebanon so it'd be very very possible for someone to actually have a baxt–taxt split in their native language
- there's a word xälle خلة "dell" which is 100% a minimal pair with xâlle خلي "leave"!!!
- baxt isn't totally rare across lebanon so it'd be very very possible for someone to actually have a baxt–taxt split in their native language
- there's a word xälle خلة "dell" which is 100% a minimal pair with xâlle خلي "leave"!!!
super duper secret fucked up marginal /a/ split:
tʌχᵉt "bed"
bæχᵊt "luck" (msa vocab)
χʌlle "leave"
χælle "my vinegar"
šʌffer (imagined denominal verb of šʌfra "knife" -- "make (sth) into a knife!"?)
sæffer (imagined denominal verb of šīfra "cipher")
marginal bc all of these are iffy ofc lol
tʌχᵉt "bed"
bæχᵊt "luck" (msa vocab)
χʌlle "leave"
χælle "my vinegar"
šʌffer (imagined denominal verb of šʌfra "knife" -- "make (sth) into a knife!"?)
sæffer (imagined denominal verb of šīfra "cipher")
marginal bc all of these are iffy ofc lol
December 19, 2025 at 8:42 AM
since this post i've found out that
- baxt isn't totally rare across lebanon so it'd be very very possible for someone to actually have a baxt–taxt split in their native language
- there's a word xälle خلة "dell" which is 100% a minimal pair with xâlle خلي "leave"!!!
- baxt isn't totally rare across lebanon so it'd be very very possible for someone to actually have a baxt–taxt split in their native language
- there's a word xälle خلة "dell" which is 100% a minimal pair with xâlle خلي "leave"!!!
about the first thing there is in fact a huge lebanon-wide debate (constantly revived thanks to the wonders of the internet) over which one exactly this word refers to. no one agrees and everyone is wrong
which unfortunately just made the word sound like /ʃaχχ/ [ʃæx̠x̠] "shit/piss"
• on which topic another good common one is (in hajje's transcription) samǟḥtak "your generosity" for sheikhs, and in christianity (also fus7a) ḡab⁽ᵊ⁾ṭtak "your happiness" for a patriarch (maybe also lower levels? not sure)
• on which topic another good common one is (in hajje's transcription) samǟḥtak "your generosity" for sheikhs, and in christianity (also fus7a) ḡab⁽ᵊ⁾ṭtak "your happiness" for a patriarch (maybe also lower levels? not sure)
December 19, 2025 at 8:39 AM
about the first thing there is in fact a huge lebanon-wide debate (constantly revived thanks to the wonders of the internet) over which one exactly this word refers to. no one agrees and everyone is wrong
i was told once about a life plan,
ma raḥ yoṭlaʕlak menna zmallūṭa
"you're not going to get jack squat out of it"
but what on earth is a zmallūṭa, in context admittedly more like "[the] tiniest thing" than literally "jack squat"?
seems to be this 1883 use of zalaṭa "pebble" augmented w/ random m:
ma raḥ yoṭlaʕlak menna zmallūṭa
"you're not going to get jack squat out of it"
but what on earth is a zmallūṭa, in context admittedly more like "[the] tiniest thing" than literally "jack squat"?
seems to be this 1883 use of zalaṭa "pebble" augmented w/ random m:
December 15, 2025 at 7:42 PM
i was told once about a life plan,
ma raḥ yoṭlaʕlak menna zmallūṭa
"you're not going to get jack squat out of it"
but what on earth is a zmallūṭa, in context admittedly more like "[the] tiniest thing" than literally "jack squat"?
seems to be this 1883 use of zalaṭa "pebble" augmented w/ random m:
ma raḥ yoṭlaʕlak menna zmallūṭa
"you're not going to get jack squat out of it"
but what on earth is a zmallūṭa, in context admittedly more like "[the] tiniest thing" than literally "jack squat"?
seems to be this 1883 use of zalaṭa "pebble" augmented w/ random m:
found the oldest documentation of a 'modern' lebanese dialect that i know of and perversely it ticks me off how rich it is this is gonna need 20 years to get through 😵💫
Proverbes et dictons de la province de Syrie : Landberg, Carlo, 1848-1924 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Book digitized by Google from the library of University of Michigan and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.
archive.org
December 15, 2025 at 8:15 AM
found the oldest documentation of a 'modern' lebanese dialect that i know of and perversely it ticks me off how rich it is this is gonna need 20 years to get through 😵💫
in the 70s jussi aro shared some fun facts about the dialect of a man named ʔaḥmad~ʔaḥmed ʕizzeddīn from a place named deir qanoun, 'near tyre', but the problem we have tracking that down today is that there are two deir qanouns near tyre. what do we do?
in 2014 a lebanese person bought hard drives
in 2014 a lebanese person bought hard drives
December 14, 2025 at 8:08 PM
in the 70s jussi aro shared some fun facts about the dialect of a man named ʔaḥmad~ʔaḥmed ʕizzeddīn from a place named deir qanoun, 'near tyre', but the problem we have tracking that down today is that there are two deir qanouns near tyre. what do we do?
in 2014 a lebanese person bought hard drives
in 2014 a lebanese person bought hard drives
Reposted
القندلفت:
آدو آدو آدوشة - انشالله أتوفقتو بالمَشمُشة
الحرامية:
أتوفقّنا و ما توفقّنا - و أشتهيناك تكون معنا
أكلنا أقتل لتفرّقنا - و أشَّطونا الكدوشة
آدو آدو آدوشة - انشالله أتوفقتو بالمَشمُشة
الحرامية:
أتوفقّنا و ما توفقّنا - و أشتهيناك تكون معنا
أكلنا أقتل لتفرّقنا - و أشَّطونا الكدوشة
December 14, 2025 at 2:04 PM
القندلفت:
آدو آدو آدوشة - انشالله أتوفقتو بالمَشمُشة
الحرامية:
أتوفقّنا و ما توفقّنا - و أشتهيناك تكون معنا
أكلنا أقتل لتفرّقنا - و أشَّطونا الكدوشة
آدو آدو آدوشة - انشالله أتوفقتو بالمَشمُشة
الحرامية:
أتوفقّنا و ما توفقّنا - و أشتهيناك تكون معنا
أكلنا أقتل لتفرّقنا - و أشَّطونا الكدوشة
which is worse for my paper-writing: accidentally reorganizing my circadian rhythm so i fall asleep on the ride home from work and am wide awake at 3:30 am or. having to put my sources into the source manager tool
December 14, 2025 at 11:25 AM
which is worse for my paper-writing: accidentally reorganizing my circadian rhythm so i fall asleep on the ride home from work and am wide awake at 3:30 am or. having to put my sources into the source manager tool
i cant fucking see
December 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
i cant fucking see
(no one will get this) kfarsghab
December 13, 2025 at 2:29 AM
(no one will get this) kfarsghab
...how much is a flight to finland
![screenshot of an email:
kansalliskirjasto 01:29
to me
Dear [my name]
Thank you for the mail. Aro's archive is held in the National Library of Finland. His archive contains 24 boxes. For example Sahban Mroueh is mentiond in the catalogue: "Sahban Mroueh, ez-Zrēriyye ym. (21.C.19) 14 sivua, COLL.481.3."
So, there maybe something you are looking for in the archive.
Aro's archive can be consulted in the special reading room, in NLF. https://www.kansalliskirjasto.fi/en/using-library/special-
collections-reading-room-use
Kind regards
Jouni Ahmajärvi
The National Library of Finland nationallibrary.fi/customer-service
nationallibrary.fi/opening-hours](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreibnpu6photms7q5xjqxs64sqz7ek2vqihohg6qixoiy662qa2utzi@jpeg)
December 12, 2025 at 9:32 AM
...how much is a flight to finland
i actually say ṣō̃dwīše, and when i was a kid i would hypercorrect to ṣō̃drīše not realizing it was at all related to sandwich
(i also used to hypercorrect zēwye "corner" to zērye)
other words for sandwich:
• ʕarūs "bride" (which arayes is the plural of, ʕarāyis, altho curiously my family's actual
(i also used to hypercorrect zēwye "corner" to zērye)
other words for sandwich:
• ʕarūs "bride" (which arayes is the plural of, ʕarāyis, altho curiously my family's actual
sound-wise by the same pathway as ة, but syntax-wise there's also a hint in that some levantine varieties (mine included) can use the 3rd-person pronouns in object position
laffēt sondwīše baddak yēha/hiyye? "i made a sandwich, do you want it?"
badda yēne/*****ʔana? "does she want [eg to see] me?"
laffēt sondwīše baddak yēha/hiyye? "i made a sandwich, do you want it?"
badda yēne/*****ʔana? "does she want [eg to see] me?"
December 12, 2025 at 8:01 AM
i actually say ṣō̃dwīše, and when i was a kid i would hypercorrect to ṣō̃drīše not realizing it was at all related to sandwich
(i also used to hypercorrect zēwye "corner" to zērye)
other words for sandwich:
• ʕarūs "bride" (which arayes is the plural of, ʕarāyis, altho curiously my family's actual
(i also used to hypercorrect zēwye "corner" to zērye)
other words for sandwich:
• ʕarūs "bride" (which arayes is the plural of, ʕarāyis, altho curiously my family's actual
there is so much on southern lebanese arabic that was ALMOST published
• 20 folktales from zrarieh jussi aro never transcribed
• 9 folktales from near tyre he transcribed but waited to publish until he'd finished that^
• possibly some writings entrusted to him by the poet sahban mroueh of zrarieh
⬇️
• 20 folktales from zrarieh jussi aro never transcribed
• 9 folktales from near tyre he transcribed but waited to publish until he'd finished that^
• possibly some writings entrusted to him by the poet sahban mroueh of zrarieh
⬇️
December 12, 2025 at 5:38 AM
there is so much on southern lebanese arabic that was ALMOST published
• 20 folktales from zrarieh jussi aro never transcribed
• 9 folktales from near tyre he transcribed but waited to publish until he'd finished that^
• possibly some writings entrusted to him by the poet sahban mroueh of zrarieh
⬇️
• 20 folktales from zrarieh jussi aro never transcribed
• 9 folktales from near tyre he transcribed but waited to publish until he'd finished that^
• possibly some writings entrusted to him by the poet sahban mroueh of zrarieh
⬇️
the channel has over an hour of other recordings of fleisch's of a folk poet named sleiman saleh nehmeh/sleiman nehmeh سليمان صالح نعمة أو سليمان نعمة that the internet seems to know nothing of, i listened to this and oh my god goosebumps
December 11, 2025 at 7:37 AM
the channel has over an hour of other recordings of fleisch's of a folk poet named sleiman saleh nehmeh/sleiman nehmeh سليمان صالح نعمة أو سليمان نعمة that the internet seems to know nothing of, i listened to this and oh my god goosebumps
Reposted
16 days of grinding later, I have caught a cold, slept in sick every day, skipped offroading, skipped on workouts, missed church, & done like 3 actual days worth of work
December 11, 2025 at 4:52 AM
16 days of grinding later, I have caught a cold, slept in sick every day, skipped offroading, skipped on workouts, missed church, & done like 3 actual days worth of work
sometimes i feel like some "random root infix"-y quadriliterals are rly blends:
ṭaḥbaš "to shatter, destroy": ṭaḥaš "to attack" x ṭabaš "to slam"
& once my mom gave me water to "kaḥrež" some food stuck in my throat, then was like "nah that's not a word i prob accidentally combined karrež x daḥrež"
ṭaḥbaš "to shatter, destroy": ṭaḥaš "to attack" x ṭabaš "to slam"
& once my mom gave me water to "kaḥrež" some food stuck in my throat, then was like "nah that's not a word i prob accidentally combined karrež x daḥrež"
![screenshot of lughatuna:
Word: دَحرَج، يْدَحرِج
to roll (ه = s.th.);
[pronunciation: daḥrɑj، yºdaḥrej]
Examples
لا تْدَحْرِجِ البَرْمِيل [S] Don't roll the barrel
بيْدَحرِجِ البَرمِيْل لَتَحِت [P] he rolls the barrel downhill; {byºdaḥrejᴵ-l-barmīl lataḥᵉt}](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreibjulidbwkqp3c7ukpxy5ifc6fooparigpgwniyk6fu4u6vyica34@jpeg)
December 11, 2025 at 12:46 AM
sometimes i feel like some "random root infix"-y quadriliterals are rly blends:
ṭaḥbaš "to shatter, destroy": ṭaḥaš "to attack" x ṭabaš "to slam"
& once my mom gave me water to "kaḥrež" some food stuck in my throat, then was like "nah that's not a word i prob accidentally combined karrež x daḥrež"
ṭaḥbaš "to shatter, destroy": ṭaḥaš "to attack" x ṭabaš "to slam"
& once my mom gave me water to "kaḥrež" some food stuck in my throat, then was like "nah that's not a word i prob accidentally combined karrež x daḥrež"
Reposted
The first ever monolingual Irish dictionary has been launched www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
Groundbreaking monolingual Irish dictionary launched
A groundbreaking new monolingual dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge that provides people with a new way to understand, use and learn the Irish language, without relying on dictionaries in English or in ot...
www.rte.ie
December 10, 2025 at 8:12 AM
The first ever monolingual Irish dictionary has been launched www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
marie-aimée germanos (2011) on top of being a good paper has something really respectable i've never seen before: an official english translation commissioned by the journal
shs.cairn.info/journal-lang...
shs.cairn.info/journal-lang...
![screenshot of webpage:
[button that says "🌐 English"]
Introduction [1]
En prenant pour cadre théorique la description faite par Trudgill (1986) des mécanismes mis en œuvre pour la formation de variétés intermédiaires dans des situations de contact entre dialectes divergents et les travaux de Labov (1976) relatifs à la différentiation entre variables sur la base de la variation stylistique et de la conscience qu’ont les locuteurs de la variation, on s’intéressera dans cet article aux résultats du contact dialectal à Beyrouth, ville qui a été le théâtre d’un contact entre locuteurs de variétés diverses de l’arabe libanais du fait d’une migration importante et continue au cours des deux derniers siècles.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreifiwrpiqvwsrktzmbjwfo6tkdcvmw5qsxdc7xaiezl4x5aqkdweoq@jpeg)
![screenshot of webpage:
[button that says "French 🌐"]
Introduction [1]
In this article, we will focus on the effects of dialect contact in Beirut, a city which has been a melting pot for speakers of different varieties of Lebanese Arabic owing to significant levels of continuous migration over the past two centuries. Our theoretical framework consists, first, of Trudgill’s (1986) description of the mechanisms that come into play during the formation of intermediate varieties in contact situations between diverging dialects and, second, of Labov’s (1972) work on variable differentiation on the basis of stylistic variation and speaker awareness.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreifpvvqnk4ues6kxfhh5beqejuovibii2cvzzww6sgddyumiuq7ypi@jpeg)
December 10, 2025 at 9:08 AM
marie-aimée germanos (2011) on top of being a good paper has something really respectable i've never seen before: an official english translation commissioned by the journal
shs.cairn.info/journal-lang...
shs.cairn.info/journal-lang...
fida bizri (2013) "linguistic green lines in lebanon"
![screenshot of paper:
(5) ana bāba mūti, ana no sirlanka. ana rūyi kuwēt . mūti bāba. huwi pi tīr salēne ana no sūpi.
(When my father died, I was not in Sri Lanka. It was only when I went to
Kuwait that my father died. He was very sad not to see me [before dying])](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreicj3bve46gw3abofbt2o7aobbax5dg65d5kgurwsalrt7xaxhtvgq@jpeg)
![screenshot of paper:
Linguistic Watchdogs Protecting the Private Language
In spite of its high rate of emigration, Lebanon is also a place where migrants come looking for job opportunities. It is a transit platform on the migration route of semi qualified or unqualified job opportunities linking Asia, the Pacific and Africa with the Middle East, mainly the Gulf area. In the case of the Sri Lankan live-in housemaids, a new language has spontaneously developed in the last 40 years or so, between maids and their local employers. It is referred to in local terms by ʕarabe mkassar (‘broken Arabic’) or ʕarabe serlanke (‘Sri Lankan Arabic’) or ħake ṣennêʕ (‘Maids’ Speech’). However, the study of this language proved it to be an autonomous linguistic system, taking from Arabic the major lexical capital, but reinventing its own grammar according to a set of linguistic rules: systemic simplification relevant of pidginization processes, interference of the substratal Sinhala structures, internal economic strategies and the maximization of the functions of available linguistic tools such as intonation. Because of its structural resemblance to pidgins and because this language’s main function is to ensure communication between employers (mainly “Madams”) and maids, it has been called Pidgin Madam (Bizri, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013). [footnote 22]
i drew on the pic to underline those last four citations, plus add an annotation saying that footnote 22 points to a Bizri (2004), to highlight that there are "5 publications!"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreidputbajd63uiadohnlu2gtv4xro4h3iiynayz6owdzqxpkiov4bi@jpeg)
December 10, 2025 at 8:31 AM
fida bizri (2013) "linguistic green lines in lebanon"
do i know anyone here at the university of chicago who would be willing to spot me a what i think is two pages of a book lmao
book is Mélanges Maspero vol. III (1935? 1937? 1940?? idk) which allegedly contains a "Texte druse" on pp. 94–95 by Michel Feghali
book is Mélanges Maspero vol. III (1935? 1937? 1940?? idk) which allegedly contains a "Texte druse" on pp. 94–95 by Michel Feghali
December 9, 2025 at 9:39 PM
do i know anyone here at the university of chicago who would be willing to spot me a what i think is two pages of a book lmao
book is Mélanges Maspero vol. III (1935? 1937? 1940?? idk) which allegedly contains a "Texte druse" on pp. 94–95 by Michel Feghali
book is Mélanges Maspero vol. III (1935? 1937? 1940?? idk) which allegedly contains a "Texte druse" on pp. 94–95 by Michel Feghali
why is el-rabih makki (1983) "the lebanese dialect of arabic: southern region" teaching me english too
December 8, 2025 at 9:53 AM
why is el-rabih makki (1983) "the lebanese dialect of arabic: southern region" teaching me english too
in 200 years someone on twitter v60 is going to post this excerpt from 1902 and go "wow at the end of the 20th century english hadn't yet lost its interdentals"
December 8, 2025 at 7:23 AM
in 200 years someone on twitter v60 is going to post this excerpt from 1902 and go "wow at the end of the 20th century english hadn't yet lost its interdentals"
feghali 1919 lists a bunch of classical "ž"~y (seems not to have been aware of older pronunciations like ǧ? surprising bc elsewhere he recognizes minutiae like classical ق being distinctly ḳ not q) that can be explained by ancient ɟ but then randomly a vernacular yāleʔ̣ < *gāleq of questionable age??
December 4, 2025 at 12:54 AM
feghali 1919 lists a bunch of classical "ž"~y (seems not to have been aware of older pronunciations like ǧ? surprising bc elsewhere he recognizes minutiae like classical ق being distinctly ḳ not q) that can be explained by ancient ɟ but then randomly a vernacular yāleʔ̣ < *gāleq of questionable age??
f ~ θ weirdness around r...
leb dayfūr 'unripe figs' > dayθūr in 1919 (also modern daytūr)
ca ṭafrah 'cream' > ṭaθrah
rafaʔa 'to darn' > *raθā > leb rata
a while ago i had a crack idea that *rafā > *raθā was bc of assimilation *rafā θ-θiyāb > *raθā θ-θiyāb but i guess it was really *yVrfī > *yVrθī
leb dayfūr 'unripe figs' > dayθūr in 1919 (also modern daytūr)
ca ṭafrah 'cream' > ṭaθrah
rafaʔa 'to darn' > *raθā > leb rata
a while ago i had a crack idea that *rafā > *raθā was bc of assimilation *rafā θ-θiyāb > *raθā θ-θiyāb but i guess it was really *yVrfī > *yVrθī
![picture of book:
Il y a bien aussi ṭáθratuⁿ et ṭáfratuⁿ « crème de lait », mais ici la forme primitive est la seconde, et par conséquent fr a passé à θr par assimilation de « f » à « r » (dentale) [footnote 3]
[footnote 3]: C'est exactement le contraire du phénomène latin θr > fr. Cf. BRUGMANN, Abrégé de gramm. comparée, p. 210.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreidhk4ts75tz3o5rwipabxp5p3y3cascmxvuiks7biyov57vtbupgi@jpeg)
December 4, 2025 at 12:15 AM
f ~ θ weirdness around r...
leb dayfūr 'unripe figs' > dayθūr in 1919 (also modern daytūr)
ca ṭafrah 'cream' > ṭaθrah
rafaʔa 'to darn' > *raθā > leb rata
a while ago i had a crack idea that *rafā > *raθā was bc of assimilation *rafā θ-θiyāb > *raθā θ-θiyāb but i guess it was really *yVrfī > *yVrθī
leb dayfūr 'unripe figs' > dayθūr in 1919 (also modern daytūr)
ca ṭafrah 'cream' > ṭaθrah
rafaʔa 'to darn' > *raθā > leb rata
a while ago i had a crack idea that *rafā > *raθā was bc of assimilation *rafā θ-θiyāb > *raθā θ-θiyāb but i guess it was really *yVrfī > *yVrθī
another syntactic feature of hers: haplogy of complementizer ma+negative ma into one sentence-level-stressed má
*[maṭraḥ ma má betzīḥū] > [maṭraḥ má betzīḥū] "where you.PL don't move it"
kell ma ʔuwe ḍ-ḍaww *[kell ma má menšūf] > [kell má menšūf] "the stronger the light gets the more we don't see"
*[maṭraḥ ma má betzīḥū] > [maṭraḥ má betzīḥū] "where you.PL don't move it"
kell ma ʔuwe ḍ-ḍaww *[kell ma má menšūf] > [kell má menšūf] "the stronger the light gets the more we don't see"
back to ask abt a weird phrasing my mom has used twice ever
1) bas hallaʔ xedret ʔežre meš fiyye metħerrke
"but now my foot's fallen asleep, i can't move"
2) badde ʔelbos ʕwaynēte š-šamsiyye meš fiyye metħemmle ḍ-ḍaww
"i have to wear my sunglasses, i can't stand the light"
1) bas hallaʔ xedret ʔežre meš fiyye metħerrke
"but now my foot's fallen asleep, i can't move"
2) badde ʔelbos ʕwaynēte š-šamsiyye meš fiyye metħemmle ḍ-ḍaww
"i have to wear my sunglasses, i can't stand the light"
December 3, 2025 at 8:27 PM
another syntactic feature of hers: haplogy of complementizer ma+negative ma into one sentence-level-stressed má
*[maṭraḥ ma má betzīḥū] > [maṭraḥ má betzīḥū] "where you.PL don't move it"
kell ma ʔuwe ḍ-ḍaww *[kell ma má menšūf] > [kell má menšūf] "the stronger the light gets the more we don't see"
*[maṭraḥ ma má betzīḥū] > [maṭraḥ má betzīḥū] "where you.PL don't move it"
kell ma ʔuwe ḍ-ḍaww *[kell ma má menšūf] > [kell má menšūf] "the stronger the light gets the more we don't see"