On the question of pronunciation
Yesterday I wrote about how Toni Abela needs to be rehearsed in the pronunciation of words like ‘planting’ if he’s going to be using them all over television.
Then last night Joseph Muscat made it clear that he’s been rehearsed in the pronunciation of ‘hacking’. There was a noticeable pause for concentration every time he said the word. The various ‘a’ sounds (and other vowels too) in English are alien to Maltese and so one of the most difficult things for those who grew up monolingually Maltese to learn.
So, good, I thought, that somebody’s teaching him how to do it.
But then why did they feel the need to rehearse him on how to pronounce ‘hacking’ but not in how to pronounce ‘dahhaq’?
Every time he said dahhaK or dahK, I gritted my teeth.
And please let’s not turn this into another rikotta debate.
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Daphne nahseb li l-kelma dahhak jew dahka gejja kif nippronunzjawha u anke niktbuha ahna r-Rabtin.
Ghax jien personali hekk nghidha u hekk niktibha.
Meta staqsejt bniedem espert fil-lingwa Maltija qalli li tista tghidha hekk ghax l-originali il-q kienet tinqara k fil-passat.
Ghawdex hemm post ix-Xewkija li ghadhom jitkellmu bil-K u anke Victoria Ghawdex hemm min jitkellem hekk.
Jigifieri Joseph li gej minn razza Rabtija ma tistax taghtih tort fuq dahka jew dahqa.
Tih ftit tan-nifs, Daphne, ghax dik hi colloquialism. Accent qawwi Rabti – mela meta taqra jew tinzerta tismani nghidha, do not grit your teeth, please. Just smile…
The great rikotta debate must hold the record for the largest number of comments.
Does this mean that the Great Leader’s secret and controversial plans for job creation will change from ‘Izra w Ihhekja ’ u ‘Izra w Ihhackja’?
He WAS rehearsed and coached how to pronounce dahhaK – by Censu Tabone
What a coincidence; I was taking the mick out of him all night pronouncing it in the same way. What a disgrace.
I am just wondering one thing! What was Ms. Agius doing emailing anyone during her work hours? Was/is she being paid to email Joseph Muscat? Was she fired from RTK or just suspended until further notice?
To the best of my knowledge the root (and no, it is not a literal translation) of the verb is d-h-k. It would be interesting to see how this compares with other Semitic languages.
I may also be mistaken for all I know. But probably not.
The root is d-h-q, ghax nghidu “dahaq”.
Daphne, all school children are nowadays thought the “rahli” way of spelling and writing Maltese, without being given the options available.
Originally it was dahak, sriedak, kaghak and caghak. In Valletta, the Ks in these words were changed into Qs in the late 18th century.
So, in reality, those who say sriedak are saying the word in its original form. Vassalli commented about these changes (from Ks to Qs in these words) in his Lexicon.
And it’s not just the Rabat accent that features the k in these words, it’s found in all the accents of the north of Malta, i.e. Mosta northwards.