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Vol. uy No. 9.] Some Arab Folk Tales from Hazramaut. 399 
[WV.S.] 
5). Some Arab Folk Tales from Hazramaut. ae Lievt.-CoLonet. 
D. C. Parttorr ano Mr. R. F. Azo 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
The following stories are a selection of a number told to me 
Mr. Azoo, Arabic Instructor to the Board of Ex mvertits just as. 
they fell from the lips of the narrator, who, together with Mr. 
Azoo, has more than once revised the wri tten 1C. ese tales 
speech. The peculiarities, ened Peed be observed, are 
not to be condemned as mere illiterate vulgarisms: they belong 
to the idiomatic speech of a aotale and at least fairly edu- 
cated class. 
As regards pronunciation, the following points should be 
note = — 
s pronounced like th in the English word “thin” 
z is pris pronounced like y, but sometimes as a slightly hard % 
as in git—mosque, for instance, being pronounced Ze masyit 
or masgit; (3 isa har as in the English “ i and 
have the same pronunciation, that of th in “ though, af the 19 
of this word is emphasized? ; 4 has the sound of th in “ though,’ 
if the th be softened; w is feausntly changed into J,° and t some- 
3 oe af : a 
times into » , thus d&,J for 4&6 “we take”; occasionally 6 
becomes J, as ¥! for tat; a superfluous | is sometimes inserted, 
8 s 
thus laf for ts “he came”; on the other hand an | is often 
2 a ng oe i a 
omitted, as in US. for UST “he ate,” »& for »&f “brother,” o* 
for oat « one,” le for gli fas my family,” wl for wf “ she- 
donkey,” cass for cai gis “the house”; letters ars some- 
s ” <a a “+ 
times transposed, as Pa for ze “to draw”; be for bes “ to 
swallow.” 
L 
2 Th otongin ik be protruded further forward than when pronoun- 
cing a Se “ though. : 
w of the first person, plural, present tense, is always so changed 
, af for isha! is also common in Baghdad. 
