Kumzari language


Kumzari is a Southwestern Iranian language that has similarities with Farsi, Luri, Achomi and Balochi languages. Although vulnerable, it survives today with between 4,000 and 5,000 speakers. It is spoken by Kumzaris, part of the Shihuh, on the Kumzar coast of Musandam Peninsula. Kumzari speakers can also be found in the towns of Dibba and Khasab as well as various villages, and on Larak Island in Iran.
Kumzari is the only Iranian language spoken exclusively in the Arabian Peninsula.

Location

The Kumzari name derives from the historically rich mountainous village of Kumzar. The language has two main groups of speakers, one on each side of the Strait of Hormuz: the Shihuh tribe of the Musandam Peninsula and the Laraki community of Larak Island in Iran. On the Musandam Peninsula, the Kumzar population is concentrated in Oman, in the village of Kumzar and in a quarter of Khasab known as the Harat al-Kamazirah. In addition, Kumzari is found at Dibba and the coastal villages of Elphinstone and the Malcolm Inlets. It is the mother tongue of fishermen who are descendants of the Yemeni conqueror of Oman, Malek bin Faham. Based on linguistic evidence, Kumzari was present in the Arabia region before the Muslim conquest of the region in the 7th Century A.D.

Alphabet

Kumzari is usually written with the Perso-Arabic script. The Kumzari alphabet has 33 letters: 28 letters from the alphabet, 3 additional letters, the lam-Alif ligature and Hamza.
  • ا: الف - - / ā
  • ب: به - b - p - t
  • ث: ثه - s
  • ج: جيم - j - g - ḥ
  • خ: خه - x
  • د: دال - d
  • ذ: ذال - z
  • ر: ره - r
  • ز: زاي - z
  • س: سين - s
  • ش: شين : š
  • ۺ: ۺين : c
  • ص: صاد - ṣ
  • ض: ضاد - ḍ
  • ط: طا : ṭ
  • ظ: ظا - z
  • ع: عين - ʔ
  • غ: غين - ǧ
  • ف: فه - f
  • ق: قاف - q
  • ك: كاف - k
  • ل: لام - l/ḷ
  • م: ميم - m
  • ن: نون - n - h, a, i, u - w, ū, o
  • ي: يه - y, ī, e
  • لا: لام الف - lā
  • ء: همزه - ʔ
Kumzari uses the letter چ, which in Persian represents tʃ, to represent the /g/ sound. This practice is not unique to Kumzari: it is also used to transliterate Hebrew words in the Arabic script for the ג, and also in Lebanon and Greek Aljamiado. The tʃ sound in Kumzari is written ۺ, which is also used in Arabi Malayalam script for the Malayalam ഷ.
Kumzari has 8 vowels: a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, e and o. The short vowels a, i and u are written with the 3 harakats Fatḥa, Kasra and Ḍamma, and the long vowels with the 3 harakats followed by ا, ي and و. The long ā vowel at the beginning of a word is written آ. Short vowels a i u at the end of word are written with the 3 diacritics followed by ه. The e and o vowels are written withي and و without any diacritics.

Phonology

Consonants

Kumzari has consonants, and all but three also exist as geminates

Vowels

Kumzari has a length distinction in its vowels, with five long vowels and three short vowels. Vowels never occur in direct hiatus; rather, they are separated by either a semivowel such as or /w/, or a glottal stop.
FrontCentralBack
Long high
Short near-close
Long mid
Short near-open
Long low

Samples