Mythologies of the Hobyót Tribe
Hobyót (Arabic: لغة هوبيوت , also known as Hewbyót, Habyot, or Hobi) is one of the six Modern South Arabian languages (MSAL), a group of South Semitic languages spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula. A severely-endangered Semitic language on the verge of extinction, it is spoken in a small area near the Yemen-Oman border. The speaking population is estimated to be about 1000 in Oman and 40 in Yemen, though the true number may be less. Its usage is less associated with a specific community or tribe of people, and more related to the geographical area in which it is spoken (the mountainous Dhufar/Yemen border). Much of the information regarding Hobyot's existence originated through the study of the more dominant, neighboring Modern South Arabian languages like Mehri and Jibbali. A clear linguistic description of Hobyot is difficult, as many speakers mix Mehri into their speech around outsiders. In recent years, individual studies of Hobyot have provided sufficient evidence to prove its linguistic independence, and have given insight into the history and culture of its speakers. Documentation of its complete structure, however, has yet to be completed. Linguists first mentioned Hobyot in 1981 with a publication done by Thomas Muir Johnstone, though he initially discovered it in the 1970s. Johnstone hypothesized that it was actually a fusion of the more popular Mehri and Jibbali dialects of the MSAL rather than a definitive language in its own right. It would not be distinguished as its own language until 1985, when Marie-Claude Simeone-Sinelle published enough evidence to reveal distinction from its MSAL counterparts. It is now widely understood that a sufficient number of individual linguistic features has proved Hobyot's independence as its own language. Some believe that Hobyot speakers consider their language to be a mixture of Shahri and Mehri. More documentation of the language is anticipated to arrive in the near future, as two modern research groups from the UK and France have been conducting field work in the hopes of shedding greater light on its nature. A preliminary detailing of some phonological and grammatical differences between Hobyot can be found in works done by Simeone-Senelle; specifically, in her work on its usage in Yemen and Oman.
Hobyot, called hobyot or weheybyot by its speakers, was spoken by people of different origins on both sides of the Dhufar/Yemen border. It was not the language of a specific community or tribal confederation but of a geographical area. Although it was mainly spoken in the monsoon-affected mountains on both sides of the border, there were also Hobyot-speakers in the desert areas to the north and west, and in fishing communities along the coast. This language combines elements of both Mahri and Jibbali, and thus stands in a class of its own. The language of what might be called Dhufar proper, namely the monsoon- affected mountains and adjacent area is called in OmaniArabic, ‘Jibbali’. Its speakers used to call it ´sheret. (The /´s/ is a sibilant consonant spoken through one side of the mouth, sounding to us rather like the Welsh /ll/; this lateral sibilant is common to all languages of the group, as well as to many of the Semitic languages of Ethiopia, and to Hebrew, for instance). Both Jibbali and sheret have the same meaning: ‘of the mountains’, the Arabic from ‘jabal’, and sheret from sher, also meaning mountain area. However, sheri (plural shero and meaning ‘of the mountains’) was also a term once applied, often pejoratively, to a particular group of people in Dhufar considered to represent the area’s indigenous inhabitants. They were subjugated by incoming groups who then came to control the Dhufar mountains. Like the Batahirah along the coast they were regarded as dha’if, weak or subordinate, and were forbidden to bear arms. Because of these potentially undesirable connotations, many Jibbali speakers themselves call the language Ahkili instead (the name commonly given to the language when spoken by tribal, i. e. non-dha’if, people), or, increasingly, Jibbali, as I shall call it here. Traditionally, Jibbali speakers were semi- nomadic pastoralists, breeding an unique species of small European-type cattle, as well as managing herds of goats and camels. Along the coast they also fished. Like Hobyot, Jibbali is not a language of a specific community or tribal confederation, but of a geographical area. Within this area most, if not all, speak Jibbali as their first or second language. Jibbali is very distinct from Mahri and the two are not mutually comprehensible. Like Mahri, Jibbali also has dialects of its own.
Data from two dialect groups of Hobyot, provisionally named ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ Hobyot. Naturalistic and narrative data were collected. Cultural topics covered included the personal (birth, death, clothing, personal hygiene etc.), animal husbandry, rain-fed cultivation, material culture, stories, poetry, songs, games, environment and trade. Audio data saved in WAV format. The complete collection will include audio transcriptions and translations in ELAN. This material can be compared to that of ‘The documentation and ethnolinguistic analysis of Modern South Arabian: Shehret’; ‘The documentation and ethnolinguistic analysis of Modern South Arabian: Harsusi’; ‘The documentation and ethnolinguistic analysis of Modern South Arabian: Mehri’; and ‘The documentation and ethnolinguistic analysis of Modern South Arabian: Bathari’. Hobyot is spoken in a small area either side of the Yemeni-Omani border. The number of speakers is estimated at under 1,000.
Hobyot (Arabic: لغة هوبيوت , also known as Hewbyót, Habyot, or Hobi) is one of the six Modern South Arabian languages (MSAL), a group of South Semitic languages spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula. A severely-endangered Semitic language on the verge of extinction, it is spoken in a small area between Yemen and neighboring Oman. The speaking population is estimated to be about 1000 in Oman and 40 in Yemen, though the true number may be less. Its usage is less associated with a specific community or tribe of people, and more related to the geographical area in which it is spoken (the mountainous Dhufar/Yemen border). Much of the information regarding Hobyot's existence originated through the study of the more dominant, neighboring Modern South Arabian languages like Mehri and Jibbali. A clear linguistic description of Hobyot is difficult, as many speakers mix Mehri into their speech around outsiders. In recent years, individual studies of Hobyot have provided sufficient evidence to prove its linguistic independence, and have given insight into the history and culture of its speakers. Documentation of its complete structure, however, has yet to be completed. The Hobyot people are also known as the Hoviyot. They are a tribe that lives in Yemen and Oman in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Though they are a small group, they have retained their own language and culture. Their language is Semitic, but distinct from the form of Arabic spoken in this part of the world. It is an endangered language that may not exist in the decades to come because, so few people speak it. There is an effort to preserve their language and culture.
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