logha لغة
Algerian Darja · noun
“logha” (لغة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning language, idiom.
Meanings
- language, idiom
- way of speaking
Usage
Logha means a language in the linguistic sense: Arabic, French, English, Tamazight. The word comes from Standard Arabic but is quite common in speech. Typical questions are "wach men logha ?" (which language?) and "ma nfhamch had logha" (I don't understand this language). For the organ, one says lsan, not logha. To refer to the local way of speaking, "derja" or "lahja" is used instead. The word is feminine.
Example
واش من لغة يهدر هادا؟
wach men logha yahdar hada ?
“What language is he speaking, that guy?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “logha” but also “lougha”, “lugha”, “lo8a” and “loura”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.
Type “logha” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “language (idiom)”; “speech, way of speaking”: lou8a in Tunisian.