Hi! i think what you are doing is brilliant! good luck and i really hope you’ll be successful in promoting this latin system.
xan jadd, bravo xlaykon!
but we need a standard for all the lebanese words. i just read you’re currently building a lebanese dictionary which will do just that! a written standard for the new alphabet.

however, i dont understand the point of some of the letters you gave above, for example:
-in the last example Mażbuṫ: why have a heavy T when the word Mażbut will sound exactly the same! (Mażbuṫ = Mażbut)
-same goes with Bayḋa! (Bayḋa = Bayda) … why have a heavy D ? it will sound the same anyway.
– Ṡura = Sura (no need for heavy S! i dont think anyway)
– Ṫarii` = Tarii` (no need for heavy T!)

i think the heavy sounds on the S, D, T etc are a traditional arabic sound and would be unused in the lebanese language. unless off course i am mistaken. maybe there are more examples you can give me to clarify this?!

finally, why have II when we can have Ï ? badde ruhv la honiik (badde ruhv la honïk) – or – iide w ïdak – Hvabiibe w Hvabïbak ???

brill website in any case
thanks!
J.

Maroun,

I agree with you on this point. While Lebanon is home to many variations on the accent–some softer, some nuance their pronunciation–it is also important–moreover a responsibility of Lebanese speakers–to make this distinction known.
I have many friends who don’t distinguish between what can be called, “heavy letters”, and others who do.

John,consider too that many will be critical of your choosing not do so, dismissing it as “because you are anglophone,” and not because it was intentional. In Linguistics this called a “fault” where native speakers deliberately ignore a prescriptive grammar rule. It is more forgivable for native speakers than for those who are trying to learn the language.

Just so food for thought,

Serena

I see the merit of simplifying the alphabet to a Latin-based system (to help people learn the language, and communicate electronically, and perhaps to allow a smoother integration of foreign proper nouns and other vocabulary).

But choice of alphabet would be influenced by the setting. This seems well-suited to the informal world of web chat rooms, text messaging and facebook (in which case many people already use the Latin alphabet to write Arabic-influenced dialects and languages, though often using numerals to designate additional sounds. But I wonder if this alphabet, or even if the Lebanese vernacular itself, are used much in more formal settings. My understanding is that Modern Standard Arabic, French, and even English dominate formal language in Lebanon. If Lebanese is to seek to upgrade itself as master in its own land, it will need a dignified written and alphabetic convention.

That may be this Latin system, or it may lie in a some other system closer to the history of Lebanon. If not Arabic script, then perhaps in an Aramaic script, such as the Babylonian literary type standard employed in Hebrew, or the Syriac alphabet. Either one would come already well-equipped for the vocalizations present in Lebanese language. Of course the old Phoenician/Canaanite/Ancient Hebrew systems are plausible too, though they were generally replaced by Aramaic alphabets with the rise of formal writing and later press publication, and generally still look like stone carvings.

With new technology there are a few scenarios for languages in the Middle East. Standard Arabic could consolidate its presence over the local dialects and vernaculars with the spread of a common media market. Alternatively French and English could become so widespread in formal settings that Standard Arabic fades, and the lingua franca for international communication between Middle Eastern states may become French or Arabic. Groups could work consciously to make one or the other of this happen. I think local dialects could actually be strengthened by proclaiming their independence from Arabic, and by displacing MSA with French and English to communicate beyond the local region.

In this case, Lebanese could be upgraded within Lebanon, and could potentially replace MSA in national media and culture. To declare its full autonomy from the Arab world an alphabetic switch could be useful, though the Latin alphabet may lose some of the history. A Babylonian alphabet might be controversial or unacceptable given that it is shared by Israeli Hebrew speakers. But a Syriac alphabet is native to the region and not associated with what I assume many see as the enemy.

Dear Sylvie,

Try to add a bookmark in your browser give it a name “libnene” and the following as URL. Once on a page, click on the link of the bookmark and you will be able to write in Lebanese.

javascript:(function(){var script=document.createElement('script');
script.type='text/javascript';
script.src='http://goo.gl/4c0Yu';
document.body.appendChild(script);})();

Hello, please can you clarify the difference between the i and the e? because it’s confusing and they sound the same, for example should I write Enno or Inno? Thank you, and keep up the good work

yaxne or yaxni?

Hi again, I have a question, if I want to say: The Door, do I say lbeb or l beb? lyom or l yom? thank you, w miled majiid 🙂

and what’s the difference between ee and e? thank you

oh and one more thing, is your alphabet inspired by ṡaid Akl’s?

Salam.
As a learner of the lebanese language, I must say this script system is very practical and I hope it was used more widely in the future.
We need more reading materials written in this system. You can create a new blog with only readings in lebanese for lebanese learners in this script.
Or even you must create a new wikipedia, a lebanese language wikipedia. There is already a project of wikipedia in northen levantine but it is inactive. You must create a new project and find people that could help with it until it will be approved and officially we have a new wikipedia in lebanese.nshallah we have a lebanese wikipedia in 2015 🙂

SEE:
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Incubator:Main_Page/ar

THE FAILED PROJECT:
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/apc/Main_Page

wikipedia in marroccan arabic:
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/ary/Main_Page

This is awesome.
I just suggest to use “HEAVY” instead of “HARD”. It just makes more sense, at least for me. It would be easier for a foreigner to imagine the sound.