Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 06/07/2005 00:48, Uri Hurwitz wrote:

> "Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu> wrote:
>
> ".... It is my
> understanding of modern Arabic that spoken Arabic
> differs mightily from the written. When two who
> speak the same spoken Arabic dialect write letters
> they still must use the written form, since
> according to my informants, you cannot write the
> spoken form. ...
>
> ...
>   Also, captions in cartoons etc can be written in the colloquial language.
>
>  
In fact the "cannot" in "you cannot write the spoken form" is not a 
linguistic or orthographical issue but a social convention. There may 
have been social conventions in the ancient Near East as well, of course.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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