Bathari
| Bathari | |
|---|---|
| Batahari | |
| Pronunciation | [batˤħari] |
| Native to | Oman |
| Region | Dhofar Province |
|
Native speakers
|
Under 100 (2013) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | bath1244 |
Modern South Arabian Languages
|
|
Bathari is an Afro-Asiatic language of Oman, located on the southeast coast facing the Khuriya Muriya Islands (17°40′46″N 55°22′19″E). The language is very similar to Mehri and some members of the Bathari tribe speak Mehri instead of Bathari.
The first westerner to discover the existence of Bathari was Bertram Thomas in 1929.
The stress always falls on the last long syllable in Bathari, unless the stress unit is only composed of short syllables. In this case, the first syllable is stressed. As with other Modern South Arabian languages, Bathari nouns have two genders (masculine and feminine) and three numbers (singular, dual and plural), but the dual is reportedly obsolete. The ending -(v)t marks feminine nouns, apart from loanwords from Arabic that end in -h'.'
The name Bathari has been variously rendered: Batahari, Bautahari, Botahari, Bathara.
The Bathari language is nearly extinct. Estimates are that the number of remaining speakers are under 100. In addition to the threat of Arabic, Mehri also threatens to replace the language due to its less prestigious position.
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Wikipedia