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Mehri language
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Mehri language
Mehri (endonym: مهريّت, romanized: Mahrīyyt) is a Modern South Arabian language (MSAL) spoken primarily by the Mehri tribes in the Mahra Governorate of Yemen and the Dhofar Governorate of Oman, as well as by smaller diaspora communities in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. It is the most spoken language of the MSAL group, a subgroup of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is one of six distinct languages within the MSAL group, which also includes Shehri, Harsusi, Hobyot, Bathari, and Soqotri.
Mehri and its sister languages were spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula before the spread of Arabic along with Islam in the 7th century CE. Today it is also spoken by Mehri residents in Arab states of the Persian Gulf originally from Yemen, as well as nationals with a Yemeni heritage. Given the dominance of Arabic in the region over the past 1400 years and the frequent bilingualism with Arabic among Mehri speakers, Mehri is at some risk of extinction. Up to the 19th century, speakers lived as far north as the central part of Oman. It is primarily a spoken language, with little existing vernacular literature and almost no literacy in written Mehri among native speakers.
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani noted that "the Mahri speak a barbarous tongue like foreigners". Elsewhere, Hamdani showed extensive knowledge of Arabian dialects, each of which was rated in its distance from classical Arabic.
Today, Mehri exists in two main dialects, Yemeni Mehri (also known as Southern Mehri) and Omani Mehri (also known as Dhofari Mehri and Nagd Mehri). Omani Mehri is spoken by a smaller population and shows no significant variation within itself, but Yemeni Mehri is further divided into western and eastern dialects.
Unlike other ESSLs, Mehri 'emphatic' consonants are not simply ejectives. They may also be pharyngealized, as in Arabic, so it is possible for Mehri to attest to a transition from proto-Semitic ejective consonants to the pharyngealized emphatics that are found in many Semitic languages.
The consonant inventory is as follows:
The vowel inventory is as follows:
Voiced obstruents, or at least voiced stops, devoice in pausa. In this position, both the voiced and emphatic stops are ejective, losing the three-way contrast (/kʼ/ is ejective in all positions). Elsewhere, the emphatic and (optionally) the voiced stops are pharyngealized. Emphatic (but not voiced) fricatives have a similar pattern, and in non-pre-pausal position they are partially voiced.
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Mehri language
Mehri (endonym: مهريّت, romanized: Mahrīyyt) is a Modern South Arabian language (MSAL) spoken primarily by the Mehri tribes in the Mahra Governorate of Yemen and the Dhofar Governorate of Oman, as well as by smaller diaspora communities in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. It is the most spoken language of the MSAL group, a subgroup of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is one of six distinct languages within the MSAL group, which also includes Shehri, Harsusi, Hobyot, Bathari, and Soqotri.
Mehri and its sister languages were spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula before the spread of Arabic along with Islam in the 7th century CE. Today it is also spoken by Mehri residents in Arab states of the Persian Gulf originally from Yemen, as well as nationals with a Yemeni heritage. Given the dominance of Arabic in the region over the past 1400 years and the frequent bilingualism with Arabic among Mehri speakers, Mehri is at some risk of extinction. Up to the 19th century, speakers lived as far north as the central part of Oman. It is primarily a spoken language, with little existing vernacular literature and almost no literacy in written Mehri among native speakers.
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani noted that "the Mahri speak a barbarous tongue like foreigners". Elsewhere, Hamdani showed extensive knowledge of Arabian dialects, each of which was rated in its distance from classical Arabic.
Today, Mehri exists in two main dialects, Yemeni Mehri (also known as Southern Mehri) and Omani Mehri (also known as Dhofari Mehri and Nagd Mehri). Omani Mehri is spoken by a smaller population and shows no significant variation within itself, but Yemeni Mehri is further divided into western and eastern dialects.
Unlike other ESSLs, Mehri 'emphatic' consonants are not simply ejectives. They may also be pharyngealized, as in Arabic, so it is possible for Mehri to attest to a transition from proto-Semitic ejective consonants to the pharyngealized emphatics that are found in many Semitic languages.
The consonant inventory is as follows:
The vowel inventory is as follows:
Voiced obstruents, or at least voiced stops, devoice in pausa. In this position, both the voiced and emphatic stops are ejective, losing the three-way contrast (/kʼ/ is ejective in all positions). Elsewhere, the emphatic and (optionally) the voiced stops are pharyngealized. Emphatic (but not voiced) fricatives have a similar pattern, and in non-pre-pausal position they are partially voiced.
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