Richard Futrell Reporting from Cairo
Sesquipedicorrespondent Richard Futrell wrote to us from Egypt on February 2. He said, "I am currently stuck in Cairo, not in danger though, but there’s not a whole lot of internet, and evacuating soon". He supplied the following glossed slogans of the anti-government protesters, suggesting "Curious linguists can listen in morpheme-by-morpheme next time the protests are on TV!"
The most common is just:
’i-rħal!
IMP-leave
"Leave!"
Second most common:
aš-ša‘b yurīd isqāT ar-ra‘īs!
the-people want resignation the-president
"The people want the resignation of the president."
Which is sometimes modified:
aš-ša‘b yurīd isqāT an-niZām!
the-people want resignation the-system
"The people want the regime to stand down."
And some in Egyptian Colloquial; though many slogans are in Modern Standard Arabic:
huwwa yi-mšī, miš ha-ni-mšī
3SG.M 3SG.M-go, NEG FUT-1PL-go
"He (Mubarak)’s going, we won’t go!"
There are some amusing rhymes:
ya mubārak ya mubārak aT-Tayār f-intiZār-ak!
VOC M. VOC M. the-airplane in-waiting-you
"Mubarak, Mubarak, the airplane is in a state of waiting for you!"