Qormi dialect explained

Qormi dialect
Nativename:Maltese: Qurmi
Region:Qormi and surrounding area
Familycolor:Afro-Asiatic
Fam2:Semitic
Fam3:West Semitic
Fam4:Central Semitic
Fam5:Arabic
Fam6:Maghrebi Arabic
Fam7:Pre-Hilalian[1]
Fam9:Maltese
Script:Maltese alphabet
Isoexception:dialect
Ietf:mt-u-sd-mt43
Map:Qormi-map.svg
Mapcaption:Qormi in Malta

The Qormi dialect (Qormi dialect: Maltese: Qurmi, Standard Maltese: Maltese: Qormi) is a dialect of the Maltese language spoken by inhabitants of Qormi. It is affectionately known as Maltese: it-Tuf, or in standard Maltese Maltese: it-Taf, because of the difference in the Maltese word Maltese: taf 'you know'.[2] The most distinctive feature of the Qormi dialect is its treatment of vowels.

Phonology

The Qormi dialect has the following vowels:[3]

Short vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/

Long vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/

Vowels in the first syllables are the ones most often affected, but sometimes medial vowels are changed as well. Final vowels, on the other hand, are usually identical to those of the standard language.

The vowel A

The Maltese vowel a corresponds to the vowel /u/ in the Qormi dialect. If at the end of a word, it is realized as /o/.[4]

English Maltese Qormi dialect
steeple (church tower) kampnar kampnur
seriousness serjetà serjetò
seminary seminarju seminurju
potato patata patuta
fog ċpar ċpur
house dar dur

The vowel O

The vowel o in Maltese often corresponds to /u/ in the Qormi dialect.[4] For example:

English Maltese Qormi dialect
we went morna murna
go (imperative 3rd pers. pl.) morru murru
spring coil molla mulla
car karozza karuzza
glue kolla kulla
postage stamp bolla bulla
St George San Ġorġ San Ġurġ

This form happens to almost all words that have the vowel o in the first syllable, although there may be exceptions.

Vowels after Għ

The vowels after the change their sound as well.

Exceptions

Although there may be exceptions, such as kollha 'all of it', which is pronounced like killha in the dialect, and meta 'when' like mita, one must note that the vowels are almost never lengthened, and their accent remains the normal Maltese one.

Notes and References

  1. Martine Vanhove, « De quelques traits prehilaliens en maltais », in: Peuplement et arabisation au Maghreb cccidental : dialectologie et histoire, Casa Velazquez - Universidad de Zaragoza (1998), pp.97-108
  2. Book: Borg, Albert . Variation and Change. The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society . Lectal variation in Maltese . Akademie Verlag . 2011 . 978-3-05-005720-0 . 10.1524/9783050057200.9 . 9–31.
  3. Book: Hulst . Harry van der . Asymmetries in vowel harmony: a representational account . 2018 . Oxford University Press . Oxford . 9780198813576.
  4. Pascale . Natalie . Maltese dialects: the effects of globalization and Changing attitudes on Malta's linguistic diversity . Omertaa: Journal of Applied Anthropology . 2011 . 2 February 2024 . 1784-3308.