Kumzari (, ) is a Southwestern Iranian language that has similarities with

Farsi Persian ( ), also known by its endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoke ...

, Luri, Achomi & Balochi languages. Although vulnerable, it survives today with between 4,000 and 5,000 speakers. It is spoken by Kumzaris on the Kumzar coast of

Musandam Peninsula The Musandam Peninsula (), locally known as Ruus Al Jibal ( Capes of the Mountains), is a peninsula that forms the northeastern point of the Arabian Peninsula. Geography The peninsula lies to the south of the Strait of Hormuz, between the Persia ...

(northern

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

) as well as the Shihuh in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Kumzari speakers can also be found in the towns of Dibba and

Khasab Khasab () is a town and capital of the Musandam Governorate which is an exclave of Oman bordering the United Arab Emirates at the tip of the Musandam Peninsula by the Strait of Hormuz. It has been dubbed the "Norway of Arabia" because of its exten ...

as well as various villages, and on Larak Island. Kumzari is the only Iranian language spoken exclusively in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

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 Strait of Hormuz ( ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' , ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategica ...

: the Shihuh tribe of the

and the Laraki community of Larak Island in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. On the Musandam Peninsula, the Kumzar population is concentrated in Oman, in the village of Kumzar and in a quarter of

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

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i conqueror of

, Malek bin Faham (). Based on linguistic evidence, Kumzari was present in the

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

region before the

Muslim conquest The Muslim conquests, Muslim invasions, Islamic conquests, including Arab conquests, Arab Islamic conquests, also Iranian Muslim conquests, Turkic Muslim conquests etc. *Early Muslim conquests **Ridda Wars **Muslim conquest of Persia ***Muslim conq ...

of the region in the 7th Century A.D.

Alphabet

Kumzari is usually written with the

Perso-Arabic script The Persian alphabet (), also known as the Perso-Arabic script, is the right-to-left script, right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language. It is a variation of the Arabic script with four additional letters: (the sounds 'g', 'zh', ' ...

. The Kumzari alphabet has 33 letters: 28 letters from the alphabet, 3 additional letters, the lam-Alif ligature and

Hamza The hamza ( ') () is an Arabic script character that, in the Arabic alphabet, denotes a glottal stop and, in non-Arabic languages, indicates a diphthong, vowel, or other features, depending on the language. Derived from the letter '' ʿayn'' ( ...

. * ا: الف (alif) - - / ā (no pronunciation or /aː/) * ب: به (ba) - b (/b/ * پ: په (pa) - p (/p/ * ت: ته (ta) - t (/t/) * ث: ثه (sa) - s (/s/) * ج: جيم (jīm) - j (/dʒ/ * چ: چيم (gīm) - g (/g/ * ح: حه (ḥa) - ḥ (/ħ/) * خ: خه (xa) - x (/χ/) * د: دال (dāl) - d (/d/) * ذ: ذال (zāl) - z (/zˠ/) * ر: ره (ra) - r (/ɻ/) * ز: زاي (zāy) - z (zˠ) * س: سين (sīn) - s (/s/) * ش: شين (šīn): š (/ʃ/) * ۺ: ۺين (cīn): c (/tʃ/) * ص: صاد (ṣād) - ṣ (/sˠ/) * ض: ضاد (ḍād) - ḍ (/dˠ/) * ط: طا (ṭā): ṭ (/tˠ/) * ظ: ظا (zā) - z (/zˠ/) * ع: عين (ʔayn) - ʔ (/ʔ/) * غ: غين (ǧayn) - ǧ (/ʁ/) * ف: فه (fa) - f (/f/) * ق: قاف (qāf) - q (/q/) * ك: كاف (kāf) - k (/k/) * ل: لام (lām) - l/ḷ (/l/, /lˠ/) * م: ميم (mīm) - m (/m/) * ن: نون (nūn) - n (/n~ŋ/ * ه: هه (ha) - h, a, i, u (/h/, /a/, /i/, /u/ * و: واو (wāw) - w, ū, o (/w/, /uː/, /oː/) * ي: يه (ya) - y, ī, e (/j/, /iː/, /eː/) * لا: لام الف (lām alif) - lā (/laː/) * ء: همزه (hamza) - ʔ (/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 Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

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 (/aː/), i, ī (/iː/), u, ū (/uː/), e (/eː/) and o (/oː/). The short vowels a, i and u are written with the 3

harakat The Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include consonant pointing known as (, ), and supplementary diacritics known as (, ). The latter include the vowel marks termed (, ; , ', ). The Arabic script is a modified abjad, where all ...

Fatḥa The Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include consonant pointing known as (, ), and supplementary diacritics known as (, ). The latter include the vowel marks termed (, ; , ', ). The Arabic script is a modified abjad, where all ...

, 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 ().

Samples

References

External links

* http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/zum
Audio presentation on Kumzari oral traditionsRare language also under threat in Straits of HormuzTraditional Marriage in Oman: Kumzari Traditional Marriage
{{Iranian languages Languages of Oman Languages of Iran Languages of the United Arab Emirates Endangered Iranian languages Southwestern Iranian languages Musandam Governorate