Shehri language
| Shehri | |
|---|---|
| Jibbali | |
| Pronunciation | [dʒibbaːli] |
| Native to | Oman |
|
Native speakers
|
25,000 (1993 census) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | sheh1240 |
 |
|
Shehri, also known as Jibbali ("mountain" language in Omani Arabic), is a Modern South Arabian language. It is spoken by a small native population inhabiting the coastal towns and in the mountains and wilderness areas upland from Salalah in Dhofar Province in the southwest of the Sultanate of Oman.
Shehri is sometimes confused as a dialect of Arabic, even by Omani Arabs. In fact, the Modern South Arabian languages belong to their own branch of the West Semitic languages. Within the MSA languages, Shehri is part of the Eastern branch, along with Soqotri.
It had an estimated 25,000 speakers in the 1993 census and is best known as the language of the Dhofari rebels during the Dhofar Rebellion along the border with South Yemen in the 1970s.
Alternative names/spellings for the language are: Jibbali, Geblet, Sheret, Šehri, Šhauri, Shahari, Jibali, Ehkili, Qarawi, and Garawi.
Shehri 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 in the Khuriya Muriya Islands is sometimes known as 'Baby' Jibbali. Speakers generally live a semi-nomadic culture, rearing cows and camels in the mountains. The dialects themselves contain only minor variances and are highly intelligible.
Like most Modern South Arabian dialect speakers in Oman and Yemen, 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.
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.
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