| Abstract |
We will build an international partnership of experts in natural resource management, fauna, flora, anthropology, sociology, language documentation & community archiving to examine the relationship between Language & Nature in Southern & Eastern Arabia, an area with significant, rapidly depleting biocultural diversity, but one for which biocultural diversity is little recognised (cf. http://www.unep.org/pdf/Cultural_Spiritual_thebible.pdf). We will focus initially on areas for which most language data is available to the team: Yemen, Dhofar, Jiddat al-Harasis & Musandam (Oman), and exploit the case study to create an interdisciplinary methodology applicable in other areas where both local languages and the environment are threatened. The work is timely because both local languages and ecosystems of the region are at imminent risk, and because of the increasingly fragile political situation in the Middle East. We will assess quantity & quality of our available language & ecosystem data and identify data gaps for future work, to be conducted as far as possible by local community members & academics, & begin comparative investigations further within SE Arabia. Documentation of the Modern South Arabian languages (MSAL) & Kumzari shows that local language and nature enjoy a tight symbiotic relationship. Our earlier work suggests the domains of use in these languages which are disappearing the fastest are those closely bound to the environment and related facets of the economy. Conversely, linguistic knowledge has successfully been used to revive endangered aspects of the ecosystem: the Harasis' indigenous knowledge of the oryx was used to revive the endangered population in Oman. In our area, orientation & direction terms are geocentric, based on topographic terms differing according to both language variety & region. Quantification terms are frequently nature-based: time is described by sun position, verbs of movement differ by time of day, & expressions of animal herd sizes depend on object of description. Figurative language is closely related to nature: in Mehri (MSAL), a tall man with a shock of hair may be described as xaheh simar 'he looks like a simar [tree]'. A brave man may have the epithet KayZar 'leopard'. Kumzari personal name derivations reflect the natural environment, as in: Has Qabobo 'Hassan tuna.fish.species'. Poetry is especially rich in nature-figurative language: the Shahri (MSAL) line hEz min garb / Sarif d-irHasEn 'wind from west, stones he licks' refers to a man from the west, so poor he has to lick stones, who takes another man's wife; Mehri hZawr 'grue [colour]' has the poetic sense 'sea'. Terms are often introduced by semantic extension: Kalifot 'bark [tree]' in Mehri & Bathari (MSAL) has the secondary sense 'spoon'. Its original sense & knowledge that bark was once used as an eating tool is lost on many younger speakers, who are increasingly sedentary and no longer enjoy the close human-nature relationship of their forebears. Scholars will meet through annual workshops, video conferences, Skype & email. Training in research methods & analysis will be shared through academic visits between Leeds & Qatar participants. Collaboration has already been established with several team members: MOOC on Language & Nature at Leeds (2015, Lovett PI), Documentation & Ethnolinguistic Analysis of Modern South Arabian (2013-2016, Watson PI), Endangered Languages workshops Leeds & SOAS (2014, 2015, Seyfeddinipur, Watson), Seasonal navigation & time telling in the Arab Gulf (Varisco PI), interdisciplinary workshops at QU (2015, 2016, Al-Ghanim PI). Representatives of local mobile social groups provide insider perspectives on local languages & ecosystems in their regions. This is the first time all members come together to investigate the complex relationship of Language & Nature in SE Arabia, and the first time such an interdisciplinary team collaborate to address the complex relationship of Language & Nature. |
