[oman-l] number of Jebali speakers

[billyboy@gto.net.om]

In a recent e-mail, Anda asked:


> 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.

Hi Anda,

This is a non-expert reply.

The first problem you face is to define what you mean by
'speaking the language'.

People my speak Jebali:

   As their one and only language

   As their preferred language amongst the two or more
   langauages that they speak

   As a language that they can speak (with good fluency) as
   an alternative to their first language of choice.

You would need to read further as to how Johnston came to
his estimate.  I would GUESS that Johnson's figure could
well relate to the number of Jebali people who maintain the
traditional Jebali way life, and use the jebali language as
their first language.

I would further guess that that the Census figures come from
a question such as 'Which languages do you speak'.

Where to get the census details (and questions) from, I
don't know. Try:

	Ministry of Interior
        PO Box 127, Post Code 112 Ruwi

	Ministry of Information
	PO Box 600, Post Code 113, Muacat

	Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
        PO Box 500, Post Code 113 Muscat

Hope this helps

Bill