Arabic Transliteration of Borrowed English Nouns with /g/ by Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Abstract

This study sought to explore the transliteration of English nouns containing /g/ by Microsoft Copilot (MC) and Google Translate (GT), and find out which Arabic equivalents are transliterated with غ, ج, ق, كـ, which nouns have two or more transliterations, causes of transliteration variations in Arabic, and comparison of AI and human transliteration accuracy. A sample of 140 English nouns containing the letter g pronounced /g/ was collected and transliterated by MC and GT. It was found that MC and GT rendered almost identical Arabic transliterations of English names with /g/ in the sample. Arabic transliterations by MC and GT were almost identical to those of human transliterations. In 61% of the English nouns, MC and GT used غ /ɣ/ to represent /g/, of which غ is pronounced /ɣ/ (17%) as Singapore سنغافورة, Chicago شيكاغو, Ghana  غانا, Congoالكونغو , and غ is pronounced /g/ in 44% (Angola أنغولا, Gambia غامبيا , Gluten غلوتين). In 37%, the Arabic equivalents are transcribed with ج, where ج is pronounced /g/ in 27% (Copenhagen كوبنهاجن, Craig كريج, Godiva جوديفا, Gordon جوردون, Greenland جرينلاند) and ج is pronounced /dʒ/ in 10% (Colgate كولجيت, Cigarettes السجائر, Galaxy جالكسي, Gallon جالون). Use of غ is more common in the Levant whereas ج is more common in Egyptian Arabic. MC and GT gave a single Arabic transliteration to each English noun, whereas human transliterators yielded two or more transliterations to 16% of the sample (Google قوقل جوجل جوجل كوكل غوغل گوگل چوچل; Group غروب جروب، قروب، گرو; English الإنجليزية الأنقليزية الانكليزية; Hashtag هاشتاج هاشتاق هاشتاغ).  Speakers of Saudi Arabic use ق (Goody قودي, Oregano اورقانو, Golf قولف, Grand Store قراند ستور, grammar قرامر, Reading ريدينق). Only one case was transliterated with ق by MC (hashtag هاشتاق), and Guilin قويلين by GT.   Transliteration variations in Arabic are caused by an interplay of factors as regional and dialectal variations, lack of knowledge, widely recognized, old, established transliterations of names, especially in the geopolitical domain (Chicago شيكاغو), lack of standardization and policy in Arab countries, and contextual and pragmatic factors. The article concludes with some recommendations for the accurate Arabic transliteration of foreign names.