# Jordanian Arabic: على راسي هاظ



## Muwahid

مرحبا بكم 
In Jordanian, what does this word mean  "هاظ" (hows it pronounced?), also I see them use the phrase '3ala rasee' a lot, I know what  that literally means but does it mean something else? They tend to write it alone although I've seen على راسي هاظ too.
شكرا جزيلا


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## Masjeen

هاظ = this
على راسي هاظ = I respect this (man)

The Arabs have their own expressions so على راسي means I put you on my head (respect)

Contrary (Insulting) أحطك تحت رجلي Put you under my feet.. I am not sure if these expressions are found in English.

This expression are existing in all Arabic dialects.


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## Muwahid

So هاظ is هذا? Pronounced like HaZa? Then what's the feminine of that like هذه?

And thanks for explaining that phrase I hear it so frequently, so if I just say that to someone (for example I see it commented a lot on pictures on facebook) it's like giving your respect to then person like "I respect you/You have my respect"?


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## elroy

Muwahid said:


> So هاظ is هذا? Pronounced like HaZa?


 No, it's pronounced "HaaZ," "Z" being the ظ sound. 





> Then what's the feminine of that like هذه?


 I'm not sure. In Sakhnin, Israel, where they also use هاظ, the feminine is هاي (as elsewhere), but I'm not sure if that's the case in Jordanian Arabic.

As for على راسي, in Palestinian Arabic it's used to mean "I'd be glad to" (when you're asked for a favor). It would only be used to express respect or admiration if there's something before it (إنت على راسي وعيني, for example). On its own, على راسي wouldn't make sense (in Palestinian Arabic) as a comment on someone's photo, unless there was some implication of the person commenting having been asked to do something. 

It may be different in Jordanian, though.


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## Abu Rashid

elroy said:
			
		

> the feminine is هاي (as elsewhere), but I'm not sure if that's the case  in Jordanian Arabic.


Can't say with any authority, but that's how I've heard Jordanians using the feminine.


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## clevermizo

elroy said:


> No, it's pronounced "HaaZ," "Z" being the ظ sound.



Don't they use the "Dh" (interdental fricative) sound for this word typically? (The fus7a pronunciation of ظ.) Or at least that's what I think is the case in Jordan.


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## elroy

clevermizo said:


> Don't they use the "Dh" (interdental fricative) sound for this word typically? (The fus7a pronunciation of ظ.) Or at least that's what I think is the case in Jordan.


 Yes, that's the sound I meant.


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## Abu Rashid

clevermizo said:
			
		

> Don't they use the "Dh" (interdental fricative) sound for this word  typically? (The fus7a pronunciation of ظ.) Or at least that's what I  think is the case in Jordan.



Without wanting to confuse it, I think that they are pronouncing the letter ض but the way they pronounce ض is the way ظ is properly pronounced.


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## abu l-bisse

The term "Jordanian Arabic" is problematic, because the majority of inhabitants of Jordan are of Palestinian origin and speak therefore a Palestinian Dialect. The original Jordanians speak a Bedouin type dialect. 

In The rural dialects of the West Bank the demonstrative pronouns are
Sg. mask. هَاظَ _hāẓa_ (ẓ = ظ emphatic voiced Interdental)
Sg. fem. هَاذِ _hāḏi_ (ḏ = ذ non-emphatic voiced Interdental)
Pl. com. هَذَولَ _haḏōla_.

The final vowel is sometimes dropped: _hāẓ, hāḏ, haḏōl._

هاي _hāy_ is used for "this is" (هاي بيتي "this is my house").


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## Muwahid

abu l-bisse said:


> The term "Jordanian Arabic" is problematic, because the majority of inhabitants of Jordan are of Palestinian origin and speak therefore a Palestinian Dialect. The original Jordanians speak a Bedouin type dialect.
> 
> In The rural dialects of the West Bank the demonstrative pronouns are
> Sg. mask. هَاظَ _hāẓa_ (ẓ = ظ emphatic voiced Interdental)
> Sg. fem. هَاذِ _hāḏi_ (ḏ = ذ non-emphatic voiced Interdental)
> Pl. com. هَذَولَ _haḏōla_.
> 
> The final vowel is sometimes dropped: _hāẓ, hāḏ, haḏōl._
> 
> هاي _hāy_ is used for "this is" (هاي بيتي "this is my house").



Yes, a lot of people associate Jordan with the Shaami dialect which isn't correct albeit there are many similarities. Jordanians are technically a minority I think at this point in Jordan (with some 3 million Palestinians).

But I don't understand what you mean if هاي is used for "This is", what are the other demonstrative pronouns used for, any examples?


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## abu l-bisse

Muwahid said:


> But I don't understand what you mean if هاي is used for "This is", what are the other demonstrative pronouns used for, any examples?



_hāẓa z-zalame_  or  _iz-zalame hāẓa_  "this man"
_hāḏi l-mara_  or  _il-mara hāḏi_  "this woman".


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## elroy

abu l-bisse said:


> g. mask. هَاظَ _hāẓa_ (ẓ = ظ emphatic voiced Interdental)
> Sg. fem. هَاذِ _hāḏi_ (ḏ = ذ non-emphatic voiced Interdental)


 Are the ā's pronounced the same way? Or is the second one the "a" in "cat" (as opposed to the one in "father")? 


> The final vowel is sometimes dropped: _hāẓ, hāḏ, haḏōl._


 Are you sure that applies to the feminine form as well? "il-binet hāḏ" sound totally wrong. 





> هاي _hāy_ is used for "this is" (هاي بيتي "this is my house").


 Even for masculine nouns? هاي بيتي sounds wrong as well.


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## Muwahid

Yeah that's what I meant, it seems in abu l-bisse's examples, هاي is used with non-humans, where as هَاظَ and هَاذِ are used with humans only??


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## clevermizo

Muwahid said:


> Yeah that's what I meant, it seems in abu l-bisse's examples, هاي is used with non-humans, where as هَاظَ and هَاذِ are used with humans only??



No, that's not what was meant by "This is". I think what Abu l-bisse was saying is that you use _haay_ for the expression "This is" or "Here's..."  like "Here's a book for you" or "This is the thing I wanted to tell you about" etc. In other words, it introduces a sentence. _Haay_ is not so much a pronoun, but an impersonal expression here.

If you wanted to say "This book" you would say _haaDHa l-iktaab_ or "This box" _haadhi l-3ulbe_.

At least that's what I think was meant. It's not along human/non-human lines.


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## elroy

The word you're talking about is pronounced "hay" in Palestinian Arabic, and not "hāy."  Is it different in Jordanian?


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## clevermizo

elroy said:


> The word you're talking about is pronounced "hay" in Palestinian Arabic, and not "hāy."  Is it different in Jordanian?



I honestly never noticed whether it was long or not. But I'm not really sure if _ha(a)y beeti_ is right or not (as you questioned earlier).


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## abu l-bisse

Hello Elroy,

you are right, my informations are too short, I should have written more.  The reason for this is, that my active English is very bad, so I hate to write in English.



elroy said:


> Are the ā's pronounced the same way? Or is the second one the "a" in "cat" (as opposed to the one in "father")?



Yes, this is a very important difference. The _ā_ in the masculine _hāẓ(a)_ is very dark, like in "father".  The _ā_ in the feminine _hāḏ(i)_ is very closed articulated, like in "cat".  In German we write the letter "ä" for it.

In the masculine form not only the letter ẓ is emphatic, but more exactly the whole word.  Emphasis can be a demonstrative element in Arabic. Think of the name of god with an emphatic "l", which has also demonstrative character.




> Are you sure that applies to the feminine form as well? "il-binet hāḏ" sound totally wrong.



In rural Palestinian Arabic it is totally correct.  As I wrote, _hāḏ_ is pronounced very light, like _hääḏ_. But more often the form with final vowel is in use _il-binet hāḏi_.



> Even for masculine nouns? هاي بيتي sounds wrong as well.



Yes, it is possible also for masculine nouns.  As clevermizo already wrote, _hāy_ is not only "this is ..." but better "there is ..." You can say _hāy Mḥammad_ "Mḥammad, there he is". _hāy axūy_ "there is my brother" or "that's my brother". It is also a demonstrative particle to catch someones attentiveness, like the English "here" in the sentence "here, take it". Or you can use it like "look!": _hāy l-imʕallim_ "look, there is the teacher".  Instead of _hāy_ you can use in the same function the masculine _hāẓ(a)_ before masculine nouns.  But _hāy_ is also possible.

In very rare cases _hāy_ is used instead of _hāḏi_, for example _hāy is-sayyāra_ or _is-sayyāra hāy_ "this car". clevermizo is totally right when he says, that the difference in meaning "is not along human/non-human lines".



> The word you're talking about is pronounced "hay" in Palestinian Arabic, and not "hāy."



We mean the same word.  But there is a dispute wether it should be written long _hāy_ or short _hay_.  I think it is long, but others hear it short.  I don't know who is right.  What I didn't dare to write, because it is very strange, is my opinion that it should be transcribed correct _hāyy_.  Because in context forms, for example before an article, I hear the "y" long, what means that one should write it doubled. Maybe I am wrong ...


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## Eternal student

It's interesting and surprising (to a historical linguist) that the interdental fricative of these rural Palestinian dialects becomes emphatic just in the masculine demonstrative. Anyone have any explanation for this? And does this (an originally non-emphatic consonant becoming emphatic) happen in any other words in rural Palestinian? What about in any other dialects? What about the reverse: are there any dialects where emphatic consonants are generally preserved but become non-emphatic in a one or more words for some reason?

Don't know if anyone's still monitoring this thread, but I'd love to hear your thoughts if you are.


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