Content uploaded by Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle on May 25, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
Dr Marie-Claude SIMEONE-SENELLE
simeone@vjf.cnrs.fr
CNRS - LLACAN (UMR 8135) - France
Soqotri dialectology, and the evaluation of the language endangerment
To the memory of Saad ibn Malek
Second Scientific Symposium on
"The Developing Strategy of Soqotra Archipelago and the other Yemeni Islands".
14-16, Dec. 2003 in Aden.
Keywords : Modern South Arabian languages - Sociolinguistics - Dialectology -
Languages in contact - Endangered languages.
Abstract :
Together with the other Modern South Arabian languages, Soqotri is related to the most
ancient languages spoken in the Arabian peninsula. The study of Soqotri dialects has
allowed to confirm or infirm many hypotheses concerning the evolution of the Semitic
languages, and it has underlined the originality of Soqotri within the Modern South
Arabian set. Moreover, the study of the dialectal situation, and its development are
relevant to evaluate the degree of liveliness of the language today.
First, I shall present a brief overview of the sociolinguistic situation on the island of
Soqotra, and the geographic distribution of the different Soqotri dialects. Then, in the
light of data collected during my surveys (1985-2001) on the island, I shall try to
describe the process of the erasing of dialectal characteristics, not only in vocabulary,
but in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Even though Soqotri people still speak in
Soqotri to each other, their language is affected by contacts with Arabic. Only some
women and old men, in remote settlements, keep the use of their original dialectal
variety. Because this process speeded up during the last years, Soqotri must be
considered as an endangered language. The developing strategy of the Soqotra
Archipelago needs also to include the language which is the means of passing on to
future generations the traditions, arts and technics.
It is a matter of urgency to go on collecting more linguistic data concerning Soqotri, to
enrich the corpus of traditional literature, to set up technical lexicons, in order to save a
part of the Human patrimony in Southern Arabia.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
Author manuscript, published in ""The Developing Strategy of Soqotra Archipelago and the other Yemeni Islands" 14-16,
December 2003, Aden : Yémen (2003)"
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 2
Data and acknowledgements
The data quoted without author's name have been collected during my surveys on the
Soqotri language, on the island of Soqotra (and for few of them on the mainland, in
Aden and in the Hadramawt).
I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Yemenite authorities, and specially to the
Universty of Aden, for having given a very efficient assistance and support to my work,
since 1985. All my linguistic research on Soqotri is above all deeply indebted to the
Soqotri native speakers, women, men and children, who welcomed me, gave their time
and shared their knowledge with kindness and patience. I would like to thank
particularly Abdallah Ghanem, Abdallatif Saad Amer, Said Ali Suleyman, Suleyman
Ali, Saud, Salah 'Isa, Abdillah, and their families. They have shown a great interest in
their language, history and traditional culture, and they have collaborated with
enthusiasm and pedagogy; by this very fact, they have an important part in this research.
Introduction
Soqotri, with Mehri, Hobyot, Harsusi, Bathari, and Jibbali, belongs to the Modern South
Arabian languages (= MSAL). Nowadays these languages are spoken in the Republic of
Yemen and in the sultanate of Oman; they are related to the Southern branch of Western
Semitic, as the Semitic languages of the Horn of Africa (spoken in Eritrea and
Ethiopia). They are unwritten languages, related to the pre-islamic languages spoken in
the Arabian Peninsula, and to the so-called Epigraphic South Arabian (= ESA), the
carved languages on the monuments of the ancient kingdoms of Arabia Felix. However,
the degree of relationship between the former (modern and unwritten languages) and the
latter remains to date a matter of discussion. We ignore if the ancient written languages
correspond to the languages spoken in the past, during the same period.
From a linguistic point of view, concerning the structure of the language, the MSAL are
closer to the Afro-Semitic languages than to Arabic (Central Semitic). Despite historical
contacts and a common culture, there is no mutual understanding between native
speakers of Arabic and native speakers of any MSAL. Moreover, within the MSAL
group, there is no mutual understanding between the native speakers of different
Modern South Arabian mother tongues, and Arabic is the language of communication,
used as a lingua franca.
Among the six MSAL, Soqotri is set apart, and not only for linguistic reasons. Soqotri
was the first MSAL discovered in 1834, 170 years ago. It is the only MSAL to be
spoken exclusively on islands (Soqotra, Abd-al-Kuri, Samha)1. These islands are
geographically nearer to Africa than to the Arabian coast, where other MSAL are
spoken. In the past, the famous island was very isolated because of its location, its
exposition to the two monsoons and the resulting rough sea for five months of the year,
and the lack of safe bays. Because of the very hard living conditions on the island, many
attempts of occupation came to a sudden end, and only the northern coast was
concerned. The Haghier Central range, culminating at 1525 m., protected the inland.
In the past, there was no pervasive contact with other populations and languages on the
island. The influence of Arabic is recent, and only part of the population, mainly
1 In Oman, a Jibbali dialect is spoken on the island of Kuria-Muria.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 3
inhabitants of Hadibo and its area were concerned. It follows that, up to the modern
period, the Soqotri language underwent a specific internal development, without
sizeable external influences. On the mainland, in Yemen and in Oman, for a very long
period, each of the five MSAL has been in contact with another MSAL and with Arabic.
Such a situation influenced the evolution of the concerned languages. Unlike the other
MSAL, the Soqotri language has remained isolated for many centuries. The language
preserved many linguistic features which disappeared from the other MSAL. The study
of Soqotri allows us to know the MSAL group better, its place within Southern Semitic,
and its relationship to Semitic as a whole, particularly to the ESA languages. Moreover,
any language is the reflection of the culture of its native speakers and the means of
passing on to future generations their traditions, arts and technics. It is thus quite logical
that the developing strategy of the Soqotra Archipelago needs to take into account the
language of the natives, and its dialects.
Dialectology
The study of dialects is a way to know better the internal structure of a language and its
evolution. It may explain some obscure linguistic features of other languages within the
same group, or the same family.
The diversity of Soqotri dialectology is surprisingly high when one considers the
surface of the island (3625 km2), and the number of inhabitants (44.000)2.
The topography of the island, and the way of life of inhabitants have favoured the
linguistic diversity. The Soqotri dialectology is very rich. In some parts of the island,
particularly in the remote places like in the Haghier range, the area of Diksam, Ras
Sha'ab, etc., the inhabitants have had minimal contacts with the capital Hadibo and with
the outside world. In rural areas, the speakers have preserved exclusive linguistic
features. The situation is changing very fast, mainly due to the contacts with Arabic.
Whereas Soqotri is not the less investigated language of the MSAL, its very rich
dialectology is hardly studied. It is urgent to carry on a research in this domain, to
collect data on all the island and on Abd-al-Kuri, and save the language and the culture
of which it bears witness.
Study of Soqotri and its dialects, the state of the art.
The situation of Soqotri in the nineteenth century
The first data on Soqotri were collected by James Raimond Wellstedt during his survey
on and around Soqotra, from January, 10 to March, 7, 1834. They were published in
1835. Wellstedt collected toponyms, some tribe names, plant names, figures, but
overall,
[he] "subjoined a copious vocabulary of words in general use among the Bedouins,
by which I trust the scholar may be able to proceed in an inquiry that can scarcely
fail to lead to most interesting results" (Wellstedt, Report: 155, Memoir: 211)
This list of 195 items and expressions in the Report (March 1835) was extended to 236
items in the Memoir (April & May 1835). The words are given in Soqotri (in Arabic
2 Estimation of SAMP (Socotra Archipelago Masterplan project), quoted p. 2 of the booklet Visitor Information.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 4
alphabet, and in Latin transliteration), with Arabic and English translations.3 It is very
difficult to determine the exact origin of the data. Wellstedt surveyed the coasts and the
interior of the island (cf. the map published at the end of the Memoir), but he neither
specified from whom, nor from where he collected his data. We know that he was
working with two guides: Hamed, who had a house in Tamarida (Hadibo), and
Suleyman Muscaty who knew very well the tracks inside the island, and could
communicate with the Bedouins; maybe, he helped to collect and to translate the
vocabulary. Nothing is said about the mother tongue of these guides and language
assistants. We guess only that they were able to speak Arabic, Soqotri and maybe
English.
Wellstedt (Report: 155, Memoir: 211) notes that :
"The Socotran language is in general use even by those who permanently settled
on the island ; and Arabic is only spoken by the merchants when transacting
business with the traders who arrive in their buggalows"
He specifies (Memoir: 214):
"[...] I have preserved the name of Bedouin bestowed on the mountain-tribes, [...] I
shall retain the name of Arabs, with which the remainder [...] have invested
themselves. Under this designation, are included those who occupy Tamarida (=
Hadibo), the villages of Cadhoop (= Qadhub) and Colesseah (= Qalansiya), and
the greater part of the eastern portion of the island".
His classification is not linguistic, and in the same paragraph, he adds that the ‘Socotran
Arabs’, settled here, "have adopted the same language and customs" (as Socotran so-
called Bedouins).
The vocabulary of the word-list was probably collected or corrected with the same
informant.
The words have no characteristics of the western dialects (absence of velar fricatives (P
and x): ¿éyj and not Payj ‘man’, Hararhen and not xárhen ‘a little’). Palatalization of
/g/ occurs in some examples, as in some dialects from Haghier or Diksam: yirbóK for
/gÉrbaK, girbaK/ ‘savage cat’; jemíher for /gémhel/ ‘camels’..., but it is also a
characteristic feature of some Arabic dialects, as in Hadramawt (maybe the mother
tongue of the translator?). No variant is given by Wellstedt.
41 words out of 236 were noted as Arabic loans by Wellstedt. Some are really Arabic as
beïdh (bayD) ‘eggs’ (Kehélihen in Soqotri) or ¿ajúz ‘old woman’ (Soqotri Jíbìb), thob
(Fob) ‘a shirt’ (with interdental, absent from the Soqotri consonant system; tob in
Soqotri means ‘cloth’); many words belong to the old common Semitic vocabulary and
are attested in both Arabic and Soqotri: edahn ‘ears’ (exactly ?ídÊhen), ?aSábi¿
‘fingers’ (?ÊSÂbe¿) etc.
The contact and influence of Arabic in the main coastal villages is obvious; however
these examples could tend to prove that the informant's mother-tongue was an Arabic
3 The 236 words were re-edited with corrections and linguistic and ethnographic commentaries, by Simeone-
Senelle (1991 & 1992).
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 5
dialect and not Soqotri. Unfortunately all the data give us but very few information on
the real linguistic situation on the island.
The end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century
The historical turning point for the knowledge of the MSAL is the Südarabische
Expedition of the Viennese Imperial Academy. 1898 is the beginning of the linguistic
research on Mehri, Šxawri (a dialect of Jibbali, a language spoken in Oman), and
Soqotri. The Viennese scientists began to collect, transcribe, comment, and translate
literary texts. Concerning Soqotri, David-Heinrich Müller recorded texts on the island
(during a survey in the Haghier (in Aduno pass), and on the Gottfried, the ship of the
Expedition, then in Austria.
Müller (1905: vii) announces that the texts gathered in the second volume of Soqotri-
text come from the western region of the island, while those of the first volume (1902)
were from the eastern region. In the first volume, the texts were collected with six
informants. For four of them, he specifies where they are born or living (1902: vii): one
is from Qalansiya and his mother is ‘a Bedouin from the mountain’, one is from Abd-al-
Kuri, and he translated into his dialect the tale der Lebensbrunnen, another is the qadi
of Hawlaf, and he gave to Müller many proverbs and poems in ‘the dialect of the
Bedouins of the Mountain’, finally some poems were dictated by a ‘Negro from
Tamarida’. A young informant whose the origin we ignore translated some excerpts of
the Bible and gave him variants of some texts collected with other speakers. A trader,
‘living the half of the year in Zanzibar’, has aboarded the Gottfried at Pubbet-¸o¿ob for
five weeks, and checked some texts.
The whole collection of the second volume, is in fact based on one idiolect, because it
was gathered from a single informant ¿Ali b. ¿Amer en-NubhÂni. He went with the
scientist to Vienna where he stayed for six months (May-December 1902). Müller in the
presentation of his informant (1905:viii) does not mention his place of origin, but in the
description of the geography of the island (1905: 369), this speaker (l. 27-31) reports
that he was born in Kâm (like his father and grandfather), and after their parents' death,
he went to Dibeni: both neighbouring villages are situated on the northern coast, some
kilometres away to the East of Hawlef.
In the two volumes, many dialectal variants are mentioned, without precise localization.
They are recorded in the Lexique Soqotri (Leslau, 1938) and taken in account by Bittner
(1913-1918) and Wagner (1953, 1959) in their phonetic and grammatical studies.
At this stage, following Müller, two dialectal groups are distinguished on the northern
coast: the western and oriental dialects.
The dialect of Abd-al-Kuri was set apart: it is very different from the other Soqotri
dialects in phonetics, morphology, and syntax (cf. the Soqotri text with its translation
into the dialect of Abd-al-Kuri, in Müller, 1902: 92-111), and this originality is
confirmed by Naumkin (1988: 343) and by the French Linguistic Mission (Simeone-
Senelle 1997: 380, 414). This variety of Soqotri is influenced by Hadrami Arabic,
because of the regular trading of the Abd-al-Kuri fishermen with Hadramawt (QuSa¿ir
area).
In the second mid of the 20th century
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 6
Johnstone published some articles on the phonology and morphology of Soqotri, and he
annotated his personal Lexique Soqotri with many lexical variants (essentially from
Hadibo, Qalansiya, Qadhub). As a matter of fact, from the second half of the 20th
century, and particularly after the 70', new places were investigated on the island. The
new collected data and the works by Naumkin, Porkhomovsky, and the French Mission
highlighted a more complex and diversified dialectology.
Naumkin undertook fieldworks almost everywhere in the island (and in Abd-al-Kuri),
and he worked with informants from the Haghier, particularly from the Di¿rho valley,
and the villages of Dirismoyten and ¿Abub; in the region of Diksam (mountainous area
adjacent to the western Haghier), in the villages of Hagefeno, Dirhemeten; in the
¿Abalhon valley, in the western part of Diksam. Unfortunately, the origin of the
informants or of the data are not always specified, but the linguistic commentaries,
following the transcribed and translated Soqotri text, are very precious for the
evaluation of Soqotri dialectology.
The French Mission4, from 1985 to 1991, collected data on the Southern coast, in
Noged, on the Northern coast in Qadhub, ˆadibo, Šiq, ¿Elha and ˆawlef, in the
piedmont of ˆaghyer, in Ma¿nefo, in the Eastern region, in ras Mºmi, on the western
coast, in Qalansiya. After 1991, I had the opportunity to enlarge the fieldwork and to
collect new dialectal data: in Jyo?, in the eastern part, and in the western part of
Haghyer (area of Diksam), on the northern coast in the region of Mori, and again to
Qadhub, for the recording new texts (tale and poems) and grammatical data. In 1996
and 2001, many data were also recorded in Hadibo, but from different dialects with
informants from the town, from Ša¿b (¬y¿ab), on the western coast, and from Hendak
(ˆendaK) in Noged area. The main purpose of this collection is to compare the Soqotri
dialects and to establish the dialectology of the island. Today, no specific study of this
type has been carried out and my last survey (2001) pointed to the emergency of such a
study, because the process of linguistic change appeared faster than expected few years
ago.
Main results of the last dialectal surveys
As in all languages spoken in the world, the research on newly surveyed dialects
provides important informations about the evolution of the language. This observation
can be checked in Soqotri.
Only some results, among the most salient, are presented.
Phonology and Phonetic
— An exclusive and typical feature of Soqotri is the occurrence of a non-etymological
and non-morphological h (in nouns and very rarely in verbs), called parasite h. This
phenomenon may explain the parasite h attested in Minean, an ancient (epigraphic)
South Arabian language. It is related to two phonetic traits of Soqotri: the rules of
4 The French Mission of Linguistic Survey on the MSAL spoken in Yemen included A. Lonnet and M-Cl.
Simeone-Senelle, from 1985 to 1991, then from 1991 until now, Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle alone.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 7
stress5 with a particular evolution for original long vowels, and the particular
consonantal articulation (with the vocal cords apart at one end), called murmur or
breathy voice, resulting in a [¦] or a full /h/. This feature is confirmed by the data
collected in all the surveyed dialects: Qadhub SalÉlhIn/ SalÍlihOn ‘small valley, small
stream’; Hadibo líbÈhOn ‘white’, Zeriq (Haghyer) Ká¿Ir / Ka¿Íri ‘house (sg. / dual)’,
but plural Ka¿ÍhIr. The same speaker says (in Meyhihe): ¿a‚EtÊn or ¿a‚éhÈtÊn
‘women’, but in Hendaq (Noged) only ¿a‚éhtÊn is recorded.
— The research in the far west part of Soqotra (Naumkin & Porkhomovsky, 1981,
Simeone-Senelle, 1997) revealed phonological features, which lead to the reappraisal of
some conclusion concerning the original consonant system of the ancient Semitic: the
first assumptions were based on dialects studied before 1980. Now, it may be assumed
that the merging of the velar fricatives /x/ and /ª/ with the pharyngeals /©/ and /º/ is
particular to some dialects only; in other dialects the velar fricatives do occur, even in
native words:
Qalansiya xœmÊh (Qadhub HÎmeh) ‘five’; Qalansiya PayG (Hadibo ¿IyG) ‘man’.
A new feature, never attested before, was noted in my data collected in the area of
Diksam in 2001. It points to the predominant unstable status of the pharyngeals in some
Soqotri dialects. The initial /¿/ is articulated as a laryngeal [h], and /H/ > ø:
Diksam hayG ‘man’; h‚Êh ‘woman’; ArírhOn (for HarírhÊn) ‘a little’.
— The spirantization or affrication is a very widespread phonetic feature in many
dialects, and not only in Hadibo (as already noted by the specialists).
Some examples of spirantization:
éfo >é
B
o (cf. Simeone: 1991, Lonnet et Simeone: 1997) in Hadibo; rUGed
>rUyed ‘name of a village’, iGodiHen > iyodiHen ‘he comes’ in Diksam area
(Rujed). In many dialects, included in Haghyer (Zeriq) and Diksam (ˆiloho), one
says megÂ¸Ê ‘boys’, but mÊ‚º¸e in Jyo', and miyº¸e in Rujed.
This phenomenon explains the following shifts: ¿ > h, H > ø (cf. above), and b >ø
in intervocalic position: ¿eGík for /¿eGíbÈk/ ‘I/you (m.sg.) want(ed)’; ¿eGékÊn for
/¿eGébÈkÊn/ ‘you (pl.) want(ed)’ .
The form ¿ik ‘you (m.sg.) want’, in many dialects, is an example of the outcome
of this process of spirantization, from /¿eGibÈk/ to the ultimate stage ¿ìk or ¿i¢, as in
Rujed. We have no attestation of intermediate stages of this process. In Rujed, there are
minimal morphematic pairs, with the opposition ¿iG (1rst sg.) ‘I want(ed)’ vs ¿i¢ ‘you
(m.sg.) want(ed)’, vs ¿i¸ ‘she wants/wanted’.
/l/ > • (also transcribed „): this realisation occurs almost systematically in every
dialect for words such as •Ot ‘when, if’, and, at the beginning of some verbs, with the
negation /al/ > A•/O• (with modification of the vocalic timbre: /a/>A/O). This
5 Stress falls on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable, in S. the unstressed vowel may be preserved by the h
parasite.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 8
lateralisation and weakening of /l/ may be a morphophonogical explanation for the
different negative forms; in some dialects, the loss of l could depend on the initial
phoneme of the verb, and not on the verbal mode (indicative vs prohibitive). So, in these
dialects, there would be only one negative form, with two combinatory/contextual
variants:
ˆiloho: A-yìte ‘he does not eat’; O-ste ‘don't eat!’; Ol ¿Ik lìte <neg./ I want/ I eat
(subj.)>‘I don't want to eat’. Compare with, in Mogar: Ol ¿ìk lÊfJE? ‘I don't want to
eat’, Ol tsE! ‘Don't eat!’. But, in Zeriq (Haghyer): A-t¸emtel! ‘don't speak!’ Al
t¸ÊmÊtol toh ‘you (m.sg.) don't speak with me’.
— Weakening of the nasal final consonant: ¸i-sen > si-sÈ ‘with them (f.pl.)’ (this
phenomenon is recorded in other MSAL, for example in Hobyot).
— Dissimilation of the palateo-alveolar ¸(i)- (‘with’), when the suffix pronoun is f. (sg.
and pl.), -s/-sen: ¸is > sis ‘with her’ (= Müller III, 64, 26, dialect from the
northern coast, east of Hawlef); ¸isÊn >sisÊn/si-sÈ ‘with them (f.)’ (cf. ¸é¸in in
Müller II, 56, 19, in the same dialect of the eastern area of ˆawlef ).
— Assimilation of the dentals (the voiced dental becomes voiceless): d- > t- + pron.
2dual / 2pl., in the possessive construction:
di-ho KA¿R <of-I/ house> ‘my house’, but t-ti < /d-ti/ ‘your (dual)’, t-ten ‘your
(pl.)’.
— The authors have noted the devoicing of the final /¿/, cf. fezaH for feza¿ ‘much,
many’. In the dialect of ˆandaq (Noged), I noted that the same devoicing occurs also
inside the word, in a consonantic cluster: Ko¿ároh ‘small house’, but plural KoHrEtÊn.
Morphology
— Independent Pronouns
It is confirmed that the independent personal pronouns for the 2nd person singular, E
(m.) and ì (f.), are more widespread than het and hit (cf. Leslau 1938: 48). In my data,
het and hit are specific to some dialects spoken in the area of Diksam, and in the far-
western area (Qalansiya, Qafiz). In other places, the 2nd singular, m. and f., are E and ì,
and we note that, in the latter system, the subject pronouns are at the full form (with the
suffix -hOn/hen/hin).
— Connective particle
Another morphological particularity in the far-western dialect of Qafiz is the possessive
construction. It is based, as in all Soqotri dialects, on the connective d-, followed by a
pronoun, but in this dialect, the connective is variable (like the relative pronoun): d-
with a singular, and l- with a plural:
dihet férham <of-pr.2msg./ girl> ‘your(msg.) girl’, des ‘her’..., but lHan, ‘our’,
ltan ‘your (pl.)’, lyihan ‘their (m.)’, lisan ‘their (f.)’.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 9
This variation highlight the link between connective, deictic and relative pronoun. In
other dialects, a grammaticalization process took place and the singular form was frozen
as a connecting invariable particle d-.
— Nominal dual
The nominal dual -in, instead of -i6 is a specific feature to a 15 year old boy7 from
Diksam. It maybe due to his idiolect, but the link with classical Arabic dual is
interesting:
Êsbá¿in ‘two fingers’; ba¿írin ‘two camels’; Êsáfirºtin ‘two birds’; mÊk¸Âmin
‘two boys’; but with colour names: ¿aféri ‘red (dual)’; HÂri ‘black (dual)’.
Syntax
— Agreement
In some dialects, the relative pronoun does not agree with plural:
le-Ÿfœ d-ize¿em bÈfédÊhOn <deictic(pl.)-people/ rel.(sg)-they stay/ in-mountain>
‘this people who stays in the mountain’ (Rujed).
In remote places, old people use the verbal, nominal and pronominal dual:
eTáyherö ho-w-d-eh KaKa Kalansíye <we go (1dual)/I-and-of-me/ brother/
Qalansiya> ‘I and my brother, we go to Qalansiya’,
but many native speakers (young people or people in contact with Arabic) do not use
verbal dual regularly:
¿eGébö tÊThár (for tÊThárö) <they want (3dual)/ go (subj. 3f.sg.) > ‘They (both)
want to go’,
and they use plural pronouns instead of the dual form:
tten férhem <of-your (pl.)/girl>‘your girl’ for /tti férhem/ ‘your girl’ (to you both).
Many people in contact with Arabic tend to use plural in all cases (verb or pronoun).
Only the nominal dual occurs regularly.
— Negation
Cf. above, about the phono-morphological explanation for the two forms of negation. In
many dialects, the verbal negation is the same with indicative and prohibitive.
The present dialectal and sociolinguistic situation
Since the unification of Yemen (1990), the island has considerably developed,
essentially the northern coast with a new airport, a new road from this modern airport to
ˆadibo, a wharf in ˆawlef, and, in ˆadibo, many buildings (public and private) with a
Telephone Center, a new market, new schools, hotels, the new Soqotra Conservation
Project building etc. The island is opened to the outside world. The increasing number
of four-wheel cars makes the contact with the inland easier. The development of
contacts inside and outside the island, the progress of schooling in Arabic, all these
factors of modernisation have influenced, and changed the linguistic landscape of the
6 Except in some words such as colours.
7 I must note that this young did not understand Arabic well,he did never go to school, and he stayed regularly in
Hadibo for short periods.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 10
island. The change is spectacular. Today, the situation described in 1996 (Simeone-
Senelle, 1997: 310) has to be reappraised and updated.
The noticeable differences in the new data allowed to distinguish six dialectal groups on
Soqotra.
Two groups on the northern coast:
1) The urban dialect of the capital ˆadibo, where the permanent contacts are increasing
between Soqotri and other Yemenite citizens (Arabic or Mehri native speakers) or
foreigners from Oman, Saudia Arabia, Africa. Arabic is the language of trading and
communication in this town which was a big village only ten years ago. Many villagers
or Bedouins, from coastal area and from ˆaghier, come regularly there to sell their
products (cattle, dates, aloe, pottery, ...).
From the numerous texts collected in the dialect of ˆadibo since the beginning of the
studies on the Soqotri language, it can be shown that the dialect is unstable because of
the contacts between native speakers of different Soqotri dialects and Arabic. It would
be interesting to describe the Soqotri variety used in this contact situation, and to
evaluate its influence on the variety spoken by Soqotri natives from ˆadibo.
2) The second group includes the dialects of the villages of the northern plain, near the
capital-city. Some villages are inhabited by fishermen and some palm-date farmers, as
in the Eastern part, in Šiq and ˆawlef, and in the western part, in Qadhub. ¿Elha (a few
kilometres to the south-east of ˆadibo), where people are living on date-palms and
market gardening, may be included in this group. Many texts were collected in Qadhub,
but data from other places are limited. The dialect of Qadhub is characterised by many
lexical archaisms. The old people have preserved some pieces of traditional and ancient
literature. Only religious poems show the influence of Arabic with many borrowings
from classical Arabic vocabulary and Coranic expressions.
Then,
3) The mountain dialects, in the range of ˆaghyer, and in Diksam. These regions are not
easy to reach. The people are living in villages, moving around in the same area,
depending on the season (rain, wind); sometimes, they are living temporarily in caves.
They are shepherds and cultivate some date-palms. In the past, they collected the resin
of Dragon's-blood and sold it in ˆadibo. The contacts with the coast are occasional, and
only men are going to ˆadibo. Many old people and women do not speak Arabic, some
have a passive and approximate understanding of this language. Their dialect is famed
as not being understood by other Soqotri speakers. In fact these dialects show many
specific and original features.
4) The rural dialects of the eastern region, in Momi. The texts are relatively rare. The
people are living essentially on date-palms, millet and they breed some cattle. In part of
this area, they produce lime. This dialect has not been the subject of any specific
studies.
5) The rural dialects of the western coast, in the Qalansiya area. The detailed study of
the dialect of the village of Qalansiya by the French Mission revealed linguistic features
unknown and unsuspected in Soqotri. These results (confirmed by my survey in 2001)
contributed undoubtedly to a better knowledge of Soqotri and of the Semitic family as a
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 11
whole. (Simeone-Senelle 1997, Lonnet and Simeone-Senelle 1997). The whole area has
to be investigated more intensively.
6) The Southern coastal dialects of Noged. The villages are scattered in the isolated and
barren plain. The majority of the inhabitants are fishermen. This area has not been much
investigated. The few linguistic data collected show interesting characteristics different
from the other dialects (cf. above): it is essential to carry on the recording of literary
texts and discourse, in order to undertake an accurate description of these dialects.
7) On the two islets, Abd-al-Kuri and Samha.
The data are rare for the dialect of Abd-al-Kuri. One long text was spelled to Müller, the
translation of a tale; the edition on the same page of the two versions (Soqotri from
Soqotra and in the dialect of Abd-al-Kuri) makes the comparison easy (Müller, 1902:
91-111). Naumkin collected some short pieces of poetry, during his 1985' survey, each
word is clear and understood, but the general meaning is obscure (Naumkin, 1988: 271,
1993: 354). Few lexical, and grammatical data were recorded by the French Mission in
1989, in the Hadramawt (cf. Simeone-Senelle 1994), but no text. According to Naumkin
(1988: 343, 344), the dialect of Abd-al-Kuri, ‘does not come from any of the sub-
dialects that are widespread on Socotra’, whereas the dialect of Sam©a, belongs to the
western dialects of Soqotra. Nothing was collected and edited about the dialect of this
islet.
Evolution of the situation
In a short period of 16 years, from my first survey on the island in 1985 until the last
one in 2001, I have noted important changes in the linguistic situation. The progress of
Arabic is obvious, and it was speed up after the 1990-s. It is related to schooling, to
modernisation and to the economic development of the island, without forgetting the
role of television in ˆadibo and in villages like Qalansiya (many old women heard
Arabic for the first time by looking at television).
The influence of Arabic is noticeable in the numeration system: seven years ago,
Soqotri people, from the inland or remote places, used the Soqotri system of numeration
from one to ten in commercial transactions with other Soqotri speakers in ˆadibo. But,
in 2001 in ˆadibo, even old people used Arabic system, and it was very difficult to
obtain the first ten numbers in Soqotri from young people. When they remember
Soqotri, the syntax was often incorrect, and copied from Arabic.
Many young people in the town borrow from Arabic, and code-switch with Arabic; they
do not remember any piece of literature, they ignore the heroes of traditional texts, and
they do not understand any poem.
Changes are not only due to the contact with Arabic. There are also the result of
dialectal contacts, and it is related to a social phenomenon. Some (conservative) dialects
spoken in remote places are said to be uncomprehensible or original. Native speakers,
when they are dealing with speakers of other Soqotri dialects, tend to erase the
originality, the characteristics of their speech. The specific features (phonetic,
morphological, syntactic and lexical) are avoided. It would be very interesting to
evaluate the degree of change (evolution and regression), to determine which domains
are more stable or unstable in the dialects.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 12
Concerning the present situation, there are two possibilities: a new variety of Soqotri
will emerge from this contact situation or the Soqotri langage will not be spoken in big
villages or town, like ˆadibo, and the scope of Soqotri will be narrowing to the remote
inland places before extinction.
Conclusion
It is a matter of urgency to go on collecting more linguistic data by carrying on
extensive and intensive linguistic surveys, to set up a linguistic atlas of Soqotra and of
the two islets. At the same time, it is essential to enrich the corpus of traditional
literature, and to set up technical lexicons. The knowledge of languages gives access to
the culture (scientific, technical, literary, spiritual) of the native speakers, and it is part
of the education of future generations, because of its pedagogical implications. It is well
known that many problems in learning second language (Arabic for Soqotri speakers)
can be avoided if teachers know the structure of the students' mother tongue.
The Soqotri people are conscious of the value of their language, they know that it is a
very important part of the Yemenite and Arabian patrimony. As fauna, flora, arts and
technics, the Soqotri language belongs to the Human patrimony, and as such it must be
saveguarded.
References
BITTNER, M. (1913-18). Vorstudien zur Grammatik und zum Wörterbuche der SoqoTri-
Sprache I. Wien, Alfred Hölder.
—— (1918). Vorstudien zur Grammatik und zum Wörterbuche der SoqoTri-Sprache II.
Das Märchen vom Aschenputtel in den drei Mahra-Sprachen (SoqoTri, Mehri und
Šhauri). Wien, Alfred Hölder.
—— (1918). Vorstudien zur Grammatik und zum Wörterbuche der SoqoTri-Sprache III.
Eine SoqoTri-Version der ersten sechs Kapitel aus dem Marcus-Evangelium. Nach
deb ersten Aufnahmen D.H. von Müllers zum ersten Male herausgegeben, übersetz
und erklärt. Wien, Alfred Hölder.
JOHNSTONE, T. M. (1974). "Folklore and Folk Literature in Oman and Socotra",
Arabian Studies 1: 7-24.
—— (1975). "The Modern South Arabian Languages", Afro-Asiatic Linguistics 1/5: 93-
121.
—— (1975). "Contrasting Articulations in the Modern South Arabian Languages",
Hamito-Semitica. J. & T. Bynon (eds): 155-159.
—— (1982). The System of Enumeration in the South Arabian Languages. Arabian and
Islamic Studies. Articles presented to R.B. Serjeant. R.L. Bidwell & G.R. Smith
(eds). London, New York, Longman: 225-228.
KING, J. S. (1890). "The Aborigenes of Sokotra; an ethnological, religious and
philological Review." The Indian Antiquary, a Journal of Oriental Research xix:
189 - 215.
LESLAU, W. (1938). Lexique soqoTri (sudarabique moderne) avec comparaisons et
explications étymologiques. Paris, Klincksieck.
—— (1946). "Modern South Arabic Languages. A Bibliography", Bulletin of the New
York Library 50/8: 607-633.
—— (1947). "Four Modern South Arabic Languages", Word 3: 180-203.
LONNET, A. (1998). "The Soqotri Language: Past, Present and Future", Soqotra.
Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Soqotra Island: Present &
Future. H. Dumont (ed.). New York, United Nations Publications. 1: 297-308.
MÜLLER, D. H. (1902). Die Mehri- und SoqoTri-Sprache. I. Texte. Wien, Alfred Hölder.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
M.-Cl. SIMEONE-SENELLE Soqotri Dialectology (Aden, Dec. 2003) 13
—— (1905). Die Mehri- und SoqoTri-Sprache. II. SoqoTri-Texte. Wien, Alfred Hölder.
NAKANO, A. (1986). Comparative Vocabulary of Southern Arabic - Mahri, Gibbali and
Soqotri. Tokyo, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and
Africa.
NAUMKIN, V. V. (1988). Sokotrijcy, istoriko-etnograficekij ocerk [The Socotrans: A
Historical and ethnographical Study]. Moscou, Nauka.
—— (1993). Island of the Phoenix. An ethnographic Study of the People of Socotra.
Reading.
—— (2001). "Nominal Particles in Soqotri", Symposium on : Languages and Dialects
of Yaman. Aden 2-3 April 2000: 3-44.
NAUMKIN, V. V. and V. PORKHOMOVSKY.(1981). Ocerki po etnolingvistike sokotry
[Essays on Ethnolinguistics of Socotra]. Moscou, Nauka.
—— (1996). "Sheep and Goat in Socotran Mythology", Proceedings of the Seminar for
Arabian Studies 26: 115-124.
—— (1998). "Personnal pronouns in Socotran folklore texts", Proceedings of the
Seminar for Arabian Studies 28: 229-232.
—— (2000). "The Serpent in the traditional culutre of Mahra and Socotra",
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 30- 2000: 151-156.
SIMEONE-SENELLE, M.-Cl. (1991). "Notes sur le premier vocabulaire soqotri: le Memoir
de Wellsted (1835). (Première partie)", Matériaux Arabes et Sudarabiques
nov.ser.3: 91-135.
—— (1992). "Notes sur le premier vocabulaire soqotri: le Memoir de Wellsted (1835).
Deuxième partie", Matériaux Arabes et Sudarabiques n.s. 4: 13-82.
—— (1994). "La négation dans les langues sudarabiques modernes" Matéraiux Arabes
et Sudarabiques n.s. 6: 249-278.
—— (1997). Sukutra. 3. Language. Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden, Brill: 809-811.
—— (1997). The Modern South Arabian Languages, The Semitic Languages. R.
Hetzron (ed.). London, Routledge: 379-423.
—— (1998). "The soqotri language", Soqotra. Proceedings of the First International
Symposium on Soqotra Island: Present & Future. H. Dumont. New York, United
Nations Publications. 1: 309-321.
—— (1998). Les langues sudarabiques modernes: des langues sémitiques en danger?,
16th International Congress of Linguistics, Paris, 20-25 July 1997. B. Caron (ed.),
Elsevier: CDRom Paper n°044.
—— . (2002). "Une version soqotri de la légende de Abu Shawârib", Studies on Arabia
in Honour of Professor Rex G. Smith. Journal for Semitic Studies. Supplement 14.
J. Healey & V. Porter (eds). Oxford, Oxford University Press/ University of
Manchester: 227-242.
SIMEONE-SENELLE, M.-C. and A. LONNET (1991). Lexique soqotri: les noms des parties
du corps. Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf LESLAU. On the occasion of his eighty-
fifth birthday. November 14th, 1991. A. S. Kaye (ed.). Wiesbaden, Otto
Harrassowitz. 2: 1443-1487.
—— (1992). "Compléments à Lexique soqotri: les noms des parties du corps",
Matériaux Arabes et Sudarabiques nov.ser.4: 85-108.
TESTEN, D. (1992). "The Loss of the Person-marker t- in Jibbali and Socotri"." BSOAS
LV, 3: 445-450.
WAGNER, E. (1959). ""Der Dialekt von 'Abd-el-KUrì", Anthropos 54, 2/3: 475-486.
WELLSTED, J. R. (1835a). "Report on the Island of Socotra", The Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal iv / 39. March 1835: 138-166.
—— (1835b). "Memoir on the Island of Socotra", The Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society of London v: 129-229.
—— (1840). Travels to the City pf the Caliphs. London.
halshs-00338711, version 1 - 14 Nov 2008
