lou8a لغة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“lou8a” (لغة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning language (idiom).
Meanings
- language (idiom)
- speech, way of speaking
Usage
Logha means a language in the sense of an idiom: logha 3arbiya, logha fransiya, loghet el-om ("the mother tongue"). Before a complement, the form becomes loghet. The plural loghet ("languages") is used for school subjects and skills: yahder barcha loghet ("he speaks several languages"). The word also means a jargon or a way of expressing oneself specific to a group. The tongue as an organ is lsen, never logha.
Example
يحكي ثلاثة لغات.
ye7ki thletha lou8at.
“He speaks three languages.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “lou8a” but also “logha”, “lougha”, “lou8et”, “loughet” and “lou8at”. 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 “lou8a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “language, idiom”; “way of speaking”: logha in Algerian.