A Musandam Arabic text from Lima (Oman)

Abstract

This paper presents a short unpublished text recorded in the town of Lima, a small settlement located on the eastern shore of the Musandam peninsula (formally an Omani exclave). The text is fully transcribed and glossed, and a discussion follows in which the main phonological and grammatical peculiarities of the informant’s speech are investigated. The analysis confirms the findings of the few existing studies on Musandam Arabic, and adds some previously undocumented features, discussing their possible relations with other dialects of the Gulf Area. In particular, the hypothesis is put forward that some of the traits typically encountered in Musandam Arabic may find their ultimate origin in the southernmost regions of the Arabian Peninsula.