[oman-l] number of speakers

[A.I.Hofstede]

Hello everyone,

I am doing my PhD research on Jibbali, a Modern South Arabian language, 
spoken in Dhofar.
I am  wondering if someone has an idea about how many people are
speaking that language, because I have found two quite different 
numbers: one of about 5,000 (T.M. Johnstone, Jibbali Lexicon, 1981) 
and one of about 25,000 (info from the internet, based according to 
the editor of Ethnologue, on a 1993 census, published in a Sultanate of Oman
Ministry of Development report 1996).

I haven't been able yet to get hold of this 1996 report and I would be 
very grateful if someone could send me a xerox of it (a xerox of the 
concerned page would suffice).
Also, does someone know about a more recent survey on this?

I hope someone can help me. It is a matter of course, that all help 
will be acknowledged in the thesis.
 
With kind regards,

Anda Hofstede
dept. of Middle Eastern Studies
Univ. of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL, U.K.