Shehri, (Arabic: شحرية), also known as Jibbali ("mountain" language in
Omani Arabic
Omani Arabic (also known as Omani Hadari Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken in the Al Hajar Mountains of Oman and in a few neighboring coastal regions. It is the easternmost Arabic dialect. It was formerly spoken by colonists in Kenya and Tanz ...
), is a
Modern South Arabian
The Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs), also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the ...
language. It is spoken by a small native population inhabiting the coastal towns and the mountains and wilderness areas upland from
Salalah
Salalah ( ar, صَلَالَة, Ṣalālah) is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar. Its population in 2009 was about 197,169.
Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city ...
, located in the
Dhofar Governorate
The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Go ...
in southwestern
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
.
Overview
Shehri (Jibbali, Geblet, Sheret, Šehri, Šhauri, Shahari, Jibali, Ehkili, Qarawi, and Garawi) is spoken along a dialect continuum that includes Western Jibbali, Central Jibbali, and Eastern Jibbali. The dialect used by the few inhabitants of
Al-Hallaniyah
Al Hallaniyah ( ara, الحلانية) is the largest and most populated of the Khuriya Muriya Islands, which belong to Oman. It is located in the center of the group, eight kilometers east of ''Al-Sawda'', the closest island, and the second large ...
in the
Khuriya Muriya Islands
The Khuriya Muriya Islands (also ''Kuria Muria'', ''Kooria Mooria'', ''Curia Muria'') ( ar, جزر خوريا موريا; transliterated: ''Juzur Khurīyā Murīyā'' or ''Khūryān Mūryān)'' are a group of five islands in the Arabian Sea, off t ...
is sometimes known as 'Baby' Jibbali. Speakers generally live a semi-nomadic culture, rearing cows and
camel
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...
s in the mountains. The dialects themselves contain only minor variances and are highly intelligible.
Like most Modern South Arabian dialect speakers in
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
and
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, many Shehri speakers are bilingual in local dialects of Arabic especially the Dhofari dialect. In addition, it is primarily a spoken language, and there is no tradition of writing or publishing in the language. Pressure from Arabic has forced many changes in the language, so much so that young speakers use noticeably different grammar.
Phonology
Consonants
* The sound can be palatalized as or in the Central and Eastern Jibbali dialects. In Western Jibbali, it is pronounced as .
* is a rare sound and is an allophone of . It is also typically pronounced as by most speakers of the language.
* occurs only as an allophone of .
* only occurs as an allophone of , and can variously be pronounced as , , or .
* is typically only heard in word-final position, and is not considered as phonemic.
Vowels
* when in stressed positions, can also be realized as .
Grammar
The vowel system is made up of an 8-member set, containing the normal
Semitic ''i-u-a'', along with tense and lax vowels, and a central vowel. The vowel set is: ''i, e, Ó, Í, a, Ã, o, u.'' The difference between the long and short vowels is not always just phonological.
Noun markers are a combination of Arabic, Ethiopian, and unique
Modern South Arabian
The Modern South Arabian languages (MSALs), also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the ...
grammar markers. Nouns have an either masculine or feminine gender. Feminine markers use the endings of ''–(V)t'' or ''–h'', as in Arabic. Unlike Arabic, the dual number marker is not used in nouns, and is instead replaced by a suffix of the numeral 2 itself. Dual pronouns are no longer used by the youth, replaced by plural pronouns.
Simple verb conjugations have two separate classes, with differing conjugations for perfect, imperfect, and subjunctive cases. Verbal clauses always take the order of VSO (
Verb–subject–object
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
) or SVO (
Subject–verb–object). If the subject is an independent pronoun, it is placed before the verb.
Guttural
Guttural speech sounds are those with a primary place of articulation near the back of the oral cavity, especially where it's difficult to distinguish a sound's place of articulation and its phonation. In popular usage it is an imprecise term for s ...
verbs have their own pattern. Verb classifications are intensive-conative, causative, reflexive (with infixed ''-t-''), and causative-reflexive. In future verbs, a preverb ''ha-/h-'' precedes the subjunctive.
The numbers 1 and 2 act as adjectives. Between 3 and 10, masculine numbers enumerate feminine nouns, and feminine numbers enumerate masculine nouns. There is gender agreement between the number and nouns from 11 to 19. Beyond that, the structure is tens, “and”, and the unit. This is similar to Arabic counting. Livestock counting presents a special case that deviates from Arabic, instead using an ancient
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
system. Beyond 13, the noun used is either plural or singular.
References
Further reading
*
*
* Marie-Claude Simeone-Simelle. 1997. The Modern South Arabian Languages. In Robert Hetzron (ed.), The Semitic Languages, 378–423. London &New York: Routledge.
* Moseley, C. (2010). Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages. London: Routledge. Middle East and North Africa
*
External links
* ELAR archive o
Shehri language documentation materialsThe pronunciation of the letters included in the Shehri language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shehri Language
Languages of Oman
Modern South Arabian languages