Qormi dialect
{{Short description|Dialect of Maltese}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Qormi dialect
| altname =
| nativename = {{lang|mt-MT|Qurmi}}
| pronunciation =
| region = Qormi and surrounding area
| speakers =
| ref =
| refname =
| familycolor = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2 = Semitic
| fam3 = West Semitic
| fam4 = Central Semitic
| fam5 = Arabic
| fam6 = Maghrebi Arabic
| fam7 = Pre-HilalianMartine Vanhove, [https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00009708/document « 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
| fam8 = Sicilian Arabic
| fam9 = Maltese
| ancestor =
| ancestor2 =
| ancestor3 =
| script = Maltese alphabet
| isoexception = dialect
| linglist =
| ietf = mt-u-sd-mt43
| map = Qormi-map.svg
| mapcaption = Qormi in Malta
}}
The Qormi dialect (Qormi dialect: {{lang|mt-MT|Qurmi}}, Standard Maltese: {{lang|mt|Qormi}}) is a dialect of the Maltese language spoken by inhabitants of Qormi. It is affectionately known as {{lang|mt-MT|it-Tuf}}, or in standard Maltese {{lang|mt|it-Taf}}, because of the difference in the Maltese word {{lang|mt|taf}} 'you know'.{{cite book | last=Borg | first=Albert | title=Variation and Change. The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society | chapter=Lectal variation in Maltese | publisher=Akademie Verlag | date=2011 | isbn=978-3-05-005720-0 | doi=10.1524/9783050057200.9 | page=9–31}} The most distinctive feature of the Qormi dialect is its treatment of vowels.
Phonology
The Qormi dialect has the following vowels:{{cite book |last1=Hulst |first1=Harry van der |title=Asymmetries in vowel harmony: a representational account |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198813576}}{{rp|24}}
= Short vowels =
= Long vowels =
| class="wikitable"
! ! Front ! Central ! Back | ||
| style="text-align: center;"
! Close | {{IPA link|i|ii}} | {{IPA link|u|uu}} | |
| style="text-align: center;"
! Mid | {{IPA link|e|ee}} | {{IPA link|o|oo}} | |
| style="text-align: center;"
! Open | | {{IPA link|a|aa}} |
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/.{{cite journal |last1=Pascale |first1=Natalie |title=Maltese dialects: the effects of globalization and Changing attitudes on Malta's linguistic diversity |journal=Omertaa: Journal of Applied Anthropology |date=2011 |url=http://www.omertaa.org/archive/omertaa0062.pdf |access-date=2 February 2024 |issn=1784-3308}}
| class="wikitable" | ||
| 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. For example:
| class="wikitable" | ||
| 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 għ change their sound as well.
- The syllable għi, instead of as /aj/, is pronounced as /ej/. For example, in the dialect, għid il-kbir 'Easter' is pronounced like ejd il-kbir instead of ajd il-kbir in the standard.
- The syllable għe, instead of with /e/, is pronounced with /a/. For example, in the dialect, qiegħed 'to stay' is pronounced like qijad instead of qijed in the standard.
- The syllable għu, instead of as /ow/, is pronounced as /ew/. For example, in the dialect, għuda 'piece of wood' is pronounced like ewda instead of owda in the standard.
=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.