| Cottonera dialect | |
| Familycolor: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Nativename: | Kottoneran |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /[kɔtːɔnɛˈrɐn]/ |
| Fam1: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Fam2: | Semitic |
| Fam3: | West Semitic |
| Fam4: | Central Semitic |
| Fam5: | Arabic |
| Fam6: | Maghrebi Arabic |
| Fam7: | Pre-Hilalian[1] |
| Fam9: | Maltese |
| Script: | Maltese alphabet |
| Region: | Three Cities and surrounding area |
| Speakers: | About 10,000 |
| Date: | 2014 |
One of the dialects of the Maltese language is the Cottonera dialect, known to locals as Kottoneran.[2] [3] Many inhabitants of the Three Cities speak the local dialect, and thus roughly amount to 10,000 speakers.
The most distinctive feature of this dialect is its treatment of vowels i and u after the silent consonant għ. In Standard Maltese, and other dialects, these vowels are realized as diphthongs after għ. However, in most situations, they remain monophthongs in the Cottonera dialect.
The vowel i after għ remains an pronounced as //i// as in the English, instead of diphthongizing to pronounced as //ai// as in the English .
| my/mine | tiegħipronounced as /[ˈtiɐɪ]/ | tiegħipronounced as /[ˈtiːɪ]/ | |
| he curses | jidgħipronounced as /[ˈjɪdɐɪ]/ | jidgħipronounced as /[ˈjɪdɪ]/ | |
| with me | miegħipronounced as /[ˈmiɐɪ]/ | miegħipronounced as /[ˈmiːɪ]/ |
The local poet from Senglea, Dwardu Cachia (1858–1907), formed part of the Xirka Xemija in 1882, an organization which formulated one of the first standardized versions of written Maltese.[4] Moreover, Cachia wrote a poem about this very alphabet, in which he made use of the 4-line rhyme. Coincidentally, the ABCB rhyme of the second stanza only works if read in his Cottonera dialect.[5]
The vowel u after għ remains an pronounced as //u:// as in the English, instead of diphthongizing to pronounced as //au// as in the English .
| his | tiegħupronounced as /[ˈtiɐu]/ | tiegħupronounced as /[ˈtiːʊ]/ | |
| sent (passive participle) | mibgħutpronounced as /[mɪˈbɐʊt]/ | mibgħutpronounced as /[mɪˈbuːt]/ | |
| a piece of wood | għudapronounced as /[ˈɐʊdɐ]/ | għudapronounced as /[ˈuːdɐ]/ | |
| we can/could | nistgħupronounced as /[ˈnɪstɐʊ]/ | nistgħupronounced as /[ˈnɪstʊ]/ | |
| we sell | nbigħupronounced as /[mˈbiɐʊ]/ | nbigħupronounced as /[mˈbiːʊ]/ | |
| with him | miegħupronounced as /[ˈmiɐʊ]/ | miegħupronounced as /[ˈmiːʊ]/ |
Although in contemporary Maltese (21st Century), the combination għe sometimes produces an pronounced as //a// vowel, the Cottonera dialect has widely kept the pronounced as //e~i// realization comparable to Standard Maltese.
| she remained | baqgħetpronounced as /[ˈbɐʔɛt]/ | baqgħetpronounced as /[ˈbɐʔɛt]/ / pronounced as /[ˈbɐqɪt]/ | baqgħetpronounced as /[ˈbɐʔɐt]/ | |
| she fell | waqgħetpronounced as /[ˈwɐʔɛt]/ | waqgħetpronounced as /[ˈwɐʔɛt]/ / pronounced as /[ˈwɐqɪt]/ | waqgħetpronounced as /[ˈwɐʔɐt]/ | |
| he tired them | għejjiehompronounced as /[ɛjˈjiːɔm]/ | għejjiehompronounced as /[ɛjˈjiːɔm]/ | għejjiehompronounced as /[ɐjˈjiːɔm]/ |
In Cottonera, most notably among the eldest demographic of Senglea, the consonant q is still pronounced as a voiceless uvular plosive pronounced as //q//, as its counterpart in Classical Arabic. This sound survived in Modern Maltese only through the Cottonera dialect, instead of being replaced with the Standard glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ//. However, it is important to note that it is severely in decline.[6] [7] [8]
| never | qattpronounced as /[ʔɐtt]/ | qattpronounced as /[qɐtt]/ | |
| he told me | qallipronounced as /[ˈʔɐllɪ]/ | qallipronounced as /[ˈqɐllɪ]/ | |
| we reside | noqogħdupronounced as /[nɔˈʔɔːdʊ]/ | noqogħdupronounced as /[nɔˈqɔːdʊ]/ | |
| artichokes | qaqoċċpronounced as /[ʔɐˈʔɔtʃtʃ]/ | qaqoċċpronounced as /[qɐˈqɔtʃtʃ]/ | |
| poverty | faqarpronounced as /[ˈfɐʔɐr]/ | faqarpronounced as /[ˈfɐqɐr]/ | |
| he reached | laħaqpronounced as /[ˈlɐhɐʔ]/ | laħaqpronounced as /[ˈlɐhɐq]/ |