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Mehri language

Mehri language
Mehri
Spoken in Yemen, Oman
Native speakers 135,800[1]  (date missing)
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gdq
Not to be confused with Meheri tribes

Mehri or Mahri is a Modern South Arabian language, a branch of the greater Semitic language family, and is spoken by minority populations in isolated areas of the eastern part of Yemen and western Oman. It is a remnant of the ancient indigenous language group spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula before the spread of Arabic along with the Muslim religion in the 7th century CE. It is also spoken today in Kuwait by guest workers originally from these areas.

Given the dominance of the Arabic language in the region over the past 1,400 years and the high bilingualism with Arabic among Mehri speakers, Mehri is at some risk of extinction. It is primarily a spoken language with little existing in print and almost no literacy in the written form among native speakers.

Mehri has 70,600 speakers in Yemen, 50,800 in Oman and 14,400 in Kuwait.[2] Population total for all countries is 135,764 (SIL estimate, 2000). Mehri speakers are known in the region as the Mahra tribe.

See also

Notes

References

Rubin, Aaron. 2010. The Mehri Language of Oman. Leiden: Brill.

External links

v · Modern South Arabian languages

Mehri · Shehri · Soqotri · Bathari · Harsusi · Hobyot

Categories:

  • Language articles with undated speaker data
  • South Arabian languages
  • Languages of Oman
  • Languages of Yemen
  • Oman stubs
  • Yemen stubs
  • Afro-Asiatic language stubs

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