Mehri is spoken in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, specifically in al-Mahrah, eastern Yemen, Dhofar in southern Oman and eastern parts of Saudi Arabia. This project focusses on the tight human-environment relationship in al-Mahrah through documenting and analysing nature-related texts in Mehri as spoken in Yemen. As al-Mahrah is the one safe enclave in a warring country, migration from non-Mehri speakers from other provinces in Yemen is increasing on a daily basis, exacerbating the endangerment of both local language and ecosystems.
The project engaged trained documenters from southern Oman to train local Yemeni community members including members of the Mehri Center for Studies and Research in documentation, ethical research and archiving. Dr Saeed al-Qumairi also attended a training workshop in Berlin on the documentation of endangered languages in the Middle East and North Africa. Trained community members produced 15 hours of audio/audio-visual recordings, of which c. 70% of the recordings are audio-visual recordings for gesture research.
Community documentation of biocultural diversity in the eastern Yemeni province of al-Mahrah
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