Baṭḥari language
Bathari | |
---|---|
Batahari | |
Pronunciation | [batˤħari] Dhofar Province |
Native speakers | 16 (2016)[2] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bhm |
Glottolog | bath1244 |
ELP | Baṭḥari |
Modern South Arabian Languages |
Baṭḥari (Arabic: اللغة البطحرية "Baṭḥari language") is a nearly extinct
The first westerner to discover the existence of Bathari was Bertram Thomas in 1929.[4]
Name
The name Bathari has been variously rendered: Batahari, Bautahari, Botahari, Bathara. [5]
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'.' [5] Also, it is not Shahri but Bathari which retains (or perhaps has retaken, from Arabic) the Arabic-like 'ain.[6]
Some Bathari words were mentioned in Johnstone's Mehri Lexicon and Jibbali Lexicon (1981). Stroomer affirms that it is a dialect of Mehri (p. xii), whereas Simeone-Senelle considers it a separate language. She does admit, however, that Bathari, along with Harsusi, is closely related to Mehri.[7]
The most important steps towards a comprehensive descriptive grammar of Bathari language were made by Gasparini (2018).[8]
Speakers
In terms of speaker numbers they range from 12 to 20 for Bathari to over 180,000 for Mehri.
Threat of Extinction
In addition to the threat of
References
- ^ Simeone-Senelle, Marie-Claude. "MEHRI AND HOBYOT SPOKEN IN OMAN AND YEMEN".
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(help) - ^ a b Bathari at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- ^ Steska, Mike. "DICE Questionnaire - BHM" (PDF). University of Missouri. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9783447050975.
- ^ a b "Where on earth do they speak Bathari?".
- JSTOR 598276.
- JSTOR 606691.
- ^ Gasparini, Fabio. "The Baṭḥari Language of Oman - Towards a Descriptive Grammar" (PDF). LFSAG - Laboratorio di Fonetica Sperimentale "Arturo Genre". Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ "MSAL Project Information" (PDF). University of Salford. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ Hall, Joe. "The National Newspaper". Vol. 12, no. 220. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
External links
- Bathari Engdangered Languages Profile (Endangered Languages Project).
- Bathari Word List (Bathari Word List of 40 Words).
- Gasparini's PhD Thesis (Laboratorio di Fonetica Sperimentale "Arturo Genre" - Università degli Studi di Torino)