| Cottonera dialect | |
|---|---|
| Kottoneran | |
| Pronunciation | [kɔtːɔnɛˈrɐn] |
| Region | Three Cities and surrounding area |
Native speakers | About 10,000[citation needed] (2014) |
| Maltese alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
One of the dialects of theMaltese language is theCottonera dialect, known to locals asKottoneran.[2][3] Many inhabitants of theThree Cities speak the local dialect, and thus roughly amount to 10,000 speakers.
The most distinctive feature of this dialect is its treatment ofvowelsi andu after the silentconsonantgħ. In Standard Maltese, and other dialects, these vowels are realized asdiphthongs aftergħ. However, in most situations, they remainmonophthongs in the Cottonera dialect.
The voweli aftergħ remains an/i/ as in the Englishfleece, instead of diphthongizing to/ai/ as in the Englishprice.
| English | Standard Maltese | Cottonera dialect |
|---|---|---|
| my/mine | tiegħi [ˈtiɐɪ] | tiegħi [ˈtiːɪ] |
| he curses | jidgħi [ˈjɪdɐɪ] | jidgħi [ˈjɪdɪ] |
| with me | miegħi [ˈmiɐɪ] | miegħi [ˈmiːɪ] |
This dialectal change does not occur with the wordsgħid (easter),erbgħin (forty),sebgħin (seventy), anddisgħin (ninety).
The local poet fromSenglea,Dwardu Cachia (1858–1907), formed part of theXirka 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-linerhyme. Coincidentally, theABCB rhyme of the second stanza only works if read in his Cottonera dialect.[5]
"Ebda ħażż ma jibdel leħnu
fil-fonetiku, qed ingħid:
Ga, Ge, Gi ibsin jinstemgħu
"Għax tgħid", ħadthom bla taħbit"
[ɪˈniːt], not[ɪˈnɐɪt]
[tɐhˈbiːt]
The vowelu aftergħ remains an/u:/ as in the Englishgoose, instead of diphthongizing to/au/ as in the Englishmouth.
| English | Standard Maltese | Cottonera dialect |
|---|---|---|
| his | tiegħu [ˈtiɐu] | tiegħu [ˈtiːʊ] |
| sent (passive participle) | mibgħut [mɪˈbɐʊt] | mibgħut [mɪˈbuːt] |
| a piece of wood | għuda [ˈɐʊdɐ] | għuda [ˈuːdɐ] |
| we can/could | nistgħu [ˈnɪstɐʊ] | nistgħu [ˈnɪstʊ] |
| we sell | nbigħu [mˈbiɐʊ] | nbigħu [mˈbiːʊ] |
| with him | miegħu [ˈmiɐʊ] | miegħu [ˈmiːʊ] |
Although in contemporary Maltese (21st Century), the combinationgħe sometimes produces an/a/ vowel, the Cottonera dialect has widely kept the/e~i/ realization comparable to Standard Maltese.
| English | Standard Maltese | Cottonera dialect | Contemporary Maltese |
|---|---|---|---|
| she remained | baqgħet [ˈbɐʔɛt] | baqgħet [ˈbɐʔɛt] /[ˈbɐqɪt] | baqgħet [ˈbɐʔɐt] |
| she fell | waqgħet [ˈwɐʔɛt] | waqgħet [ˈwɐʔɛt] /[ˈwɐqɪt] | waqgħet [ˈwɐʔɐt] |
| he tired them | għejjiehom [ɛjˈjiːɔm] | għejjiehom [ɛjˈjiːɔm] | għejjiehom [ɐjˈjiːɔm] |
In Cottonera, most notably among the eldest demographic ofSenglea, the consonantq is still pronounced as avoiceless uvular plosive/q/, as its counterpart inClassical Arabic. This sound survived in Modern Maltese only through the Cottonera dialect, instead of being replaced with the Standardglottal stop/ʔ/. However, it is important to note that it is severely in decline.[6][7][8]
| English | Standard Maltese | Cottonera dialect (archaic pronunciation) |
|---|---|---|
| never | qatt [ʔɐtt] | qatt [qɐtt] |
| he told me | qalli [ˈʔɐllɪ] | qalli [ˈqɐllɪ] |
| we reside | noqogħdu [nɔˈʔɔːdʊ] | noqogħdu [nɔˈqɔːdʊ] |
| artichokes | qaqoċċ [ʔɐˈʔɔtʃtʃ] | qaqoċċ [qɐˈqɔtʃtʃ] |
| poverty | faqar [ˈfɐʔɐr] | faqar [ˈfɐqɐr] |
| he reached | laħaq [ˈlɐhɐʔ] | laħaq [ˈlɐhɐq] |