7.14.2006

A new language in my book

Somali speakers have an accent very closely related to that of Arabic; now I know why. Check this out. There's not a whole lot mentioned about it in the article, but it is an "Afro-Asiatic" language, with more "Afro-" than "Asiatic" qualities from what I can see. The alphabet is a modified Latin one that is modelled after the sounds and even order of the Arabic, and it at one time was written with the Arabic alphabet. From a quick gander at some text, though, it doesn't scream "Semitic," or even "Eastern-ish," like Kurdish, Turkish, or even Swahili (to a degree). Anyway, I met somebody that had an accent, and at the end of our (professional) conversation, asked him what language he spoke, hoping it was something in which I could be involved. That was not the case. It goes without saying that not 2 seconds after I was off the phone, I hit the link above. Anyway...

5 comments:

Affable Olive said...

Here's another comment I can throw your way. You know mom and dad had already asked our waiter on Saturday where he was from before I asked FOR YOU.

Horse N. Buggy said...

There's the problem, Affie. The waiter was a man. If it had been a waitress, our boy would have had no problem asking HER where SHE was from. ;-)

Alan said...

But he still proved our thesis. There exists not a single Turk that is not attractive; if there is, they chuck 'im across the border and claim he's Armenian

Affable Olive said...

Who is "our?" I haven't met enough Turks to form an opinion...if you're talking to me. And plus, I'm sorry, but I didn't find him attractive.

Alan said...

By that I meant he wasn't ugly. Ask Meredith about the Turks.