What would you say are the major differences between Syrian and other forms of Arabic? Could you give some examples?
Norse, you have already been reminded that this is not a political forum, and even if it were I doubt that a statement of such hostility to other nationalities would be tolerated. You have also been advised personally by me, the Moderator of Linguistics, to keep the discourse civil. This is trolling, it is rudeness to the other members, and it is a violation of the rules. Any more posts of this type will be deleted and you will be subject to official action. You have been warned.
S.A.M if you are really interested in knowing what Syrian sounds like you could have checked the link I provided. There are examples there of both Syrian and Iraqi Arabic. http://arabic.tripod.com/SurvivalPhrasesSyrian1.htm
I don't like Lebanese Arabic, it's too twisted and hard to comprehend But about the Morrocans, that's the truth! I once knew a Morrocan, and had a hard time understanding him, too rough and I have no clue wth they are saying.
No personal insults on the linguistics board please. Maybe you're joking, but with such a highly international cross-section of people here, it would be too easy to misinterpret. Thanks. --The Moderator
Yes, Hani, calling people donkeys is inappropriatePlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
There's nothing unique about Arabic having dialects that are difficult to understand. English has lots of them. Set a man from Birmingham, Alabama, down next to a man from Birmingham, West Midlands, and about the only word they'll both understand is "beer." Fortunately that will be enough.
Thanks for the enlightenment Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Actually I had spent some time with an Israeli ex-diplomat a few years back. I took him and his Italian wife to restaurants and sightseeing and we spoke about Hebrew. It seems many words are just different pronunciations of the Arabic ones. Like Basal, Yum, etc...
Surely you guys know that Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and several other languages are all members of the Semitic language family and they all derive from a common Proto-Semitic ancestor about six thousand years ago before the Semites split into so many different tribes. Wikipedia has several very good articles on these topics complete with a comparison of several words in all the languages as well as reconstructed Proto-Semitic. Semitic is just a branch of the Afro-Asiatic superfamily that includes other language families of southwestern Asia and a few from Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as Ancient Egyptian. If you go back far enough, we're all brothers.
We've all taken our turns at it. Just look at the membership roster of the Former Great World Powers Gentlemen's Club: Sumeria, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, Judea, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, Olmec, India, the Huns, Byzantium, the Mongols, the Vikings, the Tatars, Maya, Arabia, Siam, France, Holland, the Moors, Inca, Aztec, Spain, Vietnam, Ethiopia, the Ottomans, Japan, Germany, England, the USSR... who will be next to retire?
Syria will be next to rise, that much I can tell you. And no Hebrew ripped off Arabic......Jews have never had a single empire in all of history, how sad!