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a rule, the last difficulty to he overcome, because the importance of the distinction is not at first recognized. This also is made at the back of the throat. In words like sabḥ, 'morning,' it gives an extra syllable, and when it occurs twice in a word (as saḥīḥ, 'true,') it presents a great difficulty.
The ق {qāf) is peculiar to Arabic, and is a throat k which seems to present some trouble even to Arabic-speaking people, because it is generally rendered by the sound of a hard g, and in Cairo is inaudible. Thus قوم qoom ('Get up!') would sound like 'oom in Cairo and goom in the provinces. The lapse of this q in Cairo adds considerably to the difficulty of grasping the words; therefore special attention is called to words in which q is transcribed. Daqīqah, 'a minute,' is pronounced da-ee-a[1]
The ث (th) does not call for much comment. Properly speaking it is like an s when lisped, and is to most Arabs, even in Arabia, as difficult to pronounce as it is to a German or French- man, and consequently is generally given the sound of s in official Arabic, but in colloquial Egyptian it has only the sound of t.
ص , ض , ط and ظ—The subtler distinctions made between the two kinds of s, d, t and z are not very important to a beginner, but as the student advances he will have to make the distinctions, especially when he comes to writing. It may be said that the difference consists in pronouncing the ص, ض, ط and ظ as s, d, t and z far back in the throat, ending the sound by the tongue approaching the palate instead of the front teeth.
To recapitulate, the alphabet is given as follows, in order, stating only the equivalent sounds with regard to the Egyptian language.
ا Alif, most frequently as a in father; sometimes more like the u in but.
ب Bey, like the English b.
ت Tey, like the English t.
- ↑ As Cairo is the capital and the centre of education, all officials in the country pronounce the Qaf similarly.
