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Maltese: jiżboq ?

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tina_ch

Hi everybody

In the following sentence I don’t know the "infinitive" (Mamma tal-verb) of jiżboq.

Can anybody help?
Would be great and very much appreciated. Thank you.

L-2012 tagħlaq b' defiċit li jiżboq it-3%.

Tina

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lambada

The 'mamma' is the past tense not the infinitive. To get to it you need to ask yourself "what did he do?". In this case the answer would be "zebaq", however I could neither find "jizboq" nor "zebaq" in my dictionary.

tina_ch

Thank you Mark,

for your help, very much appreciated.

Yes, you are right, “żebaq” seems not to exist, could not find it either.
I'll keep looking and will inform you if I found some solution/explanation.

Toon

it may be a dialect based word - as each village usually has its own words too - much like geordies scots cockneys scousers etc . and may not be found in most hardback or online dictionaries

lambada

'Jizboq' means 'to exceed' and is not dialect-based at all. It's actually quite a 'formal' word used almost exclusively in the media. I've never heard it being used in everyday life.

Toon

i stand corrected

MikeInPoulton

lambada wrote:

'Jizboq' means 'to exceed' and is not dialect-based at all. It's actually quite a 'formal' word used almost exclusively in the media. I've never heard it being used in everyday life.


....and therefore by definition, Mark, it is dialect-based.

Mike

Toon

i saw what you did there Mike.....lol touche - bah humbug wish i had seen it first

tina_ch

Thanks to all of you!
I do appreciate your help and participation. Makes me feel less lost :-))).

In the meantime I found following solution/explanation.
jiżboq is wrongly spelt. It should be jisboq. The mamma being sebaq.

The explanation is following:
This spelling mistake is a typical case of regressive assimilation. Regressive assimilation is the phenomenon that a voiced sound, in this case, / b /, immediately preceding an unvoiced sound turns into a voiced sound (in this case * / s /> / ż /); i.e. the phonetic/pronunciation was (wrongly) transferred into the spelling.

jisboq correct spelling
b (= voiced sound) turns s (= unvoiced sound) into ż (= voiced sound) -> jiżboq wrong spelling

Therefore the correct sentence should be:
L-2012 tagħlaq b' defiċit li jisboq it-3%.

Have a nice day
Tina

lambada

MikeInPoulton wrote:
lambada wrote:

'Jizboq' means 'to exceed' and is not dialect-based at all. It's actually quite a 'formal' word used almost exclusively in the media. I've never heard it being used in everyday life.


....and therefore by definition, Mark, it is dialect-based.

Mike


By 'dialect-based' I thought you meant 'spoken in only certain regions of the country'.

GuestPoster566

tina_ch wrote:

Thanks to all of you!
I do appreciate your help and participation. Makes me feel less lost :-))).

In the meantime I found following solution/explanation.
jiżboq is wrongly spelt. It should be jisboq. The mamma being sebaq.

The explanation is following:
This spelling mistake is a typical case of regressive assimilation. Regressive assimilation is the phenomenon that a voiced sound, in this case, / b /, immediately preceding an unvoiced sound turns into a voiced sound (in this case * / s /> / ż /); i.e. the phonetic/pronunciation was (wrongly) transferred into the spelling.

jisboq correct spelling
b (= voiced sound) turns s (= unvoiced sound) into ż (= voiced sound) -> jiżboq wrong spelling



Therefore the correct sentence should be:
L-2012 tagħlaq b' defiċit li jisboq it-3%.

Have a nice day
Tina


:blink: 'yer wah?'
I just use Google Translator and it was recognised with the original spelling 'jizboq'. Too many daleks around here.
Dr Who, please help!!

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