The Symbiotic Relationship between Language and Nature in Southern and Eastern Arabia

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.

The project has significant potential cultural & societal impact, and directly involves language community members. It will have the following impacts on language communities of Southern & Eastern Arabia.

Language & ecosystem revitalisation
The project aims to promote language & ecosystem revitalisation by encouraging speakers to speak about their natural environment in their local languages. The project hopes to encourage speakers to carry out their own research within their communities and beyond, make presentations, produce YouTube documentaries, and publish their results. The aim is to raise the profile and status of MSAL, Kumzari and Southern & Eastern Arabic dialects and the local environments amongst speakers themselves and also in the wider Arab community.

Documentation of threatened & historical culture & environment
Spotlighting the significance of traditional knowledge & stewardship of the environment will have an impact on formal & non-formal education opportunities to pass down to future generations.
The related Documentation of Modern South Arabian project (Watson PI) through recording of culture- & environment-specific texts has provided a large bank of audio, audio-visual & photographic data relating to threatened & extinct ecosystem elements & practices involving nature: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/homepage/462/modern_south_arabian_languages. This project has revived interest in the languages & cultures of the region among the wider community, particularly among younger speakers. Younger community members are recording their elderly relatives and are gaining insights into the human-nature relationship in the pre-motorised past. This initiative, which translated into a growing pride in the skills & resilience of earlier generations, and an increasing interest in learning about the past, will be extended to our wider region in the project Language & Nature.

Language revitalisation through script
Once lost, a purely oral language can never be replaced. The Documentation of Modern South Arabian developed a script for MSAL based on Arabic, encouraging community members to communicate digitally in the languages using Arabic characters, and to transcribe collected sound files. Language & Nature will extend use of this script, encouraging transcription of texts on nature, to provide written versions of audio & audio-visual texts for community members & the research community.

Dissemination with community members
Language & Nature will produce joint presentations & written & digital outputs with community members. This will raise the value of the project for audiences & local participants. Members of Documentation of Modern South Arabian delivered over 20 presentations to institutions, local schools in Oman & the UK, & various public groups, most of which were co-presented with community members, including lectures & workshops in Europe, UK & the Gulf.

Community training
Community archive training through Yarn (Popple, Leeds) will be available to local community members. An Arabic version of the instruction films will be reversioned at Leeds: https://vimeo.com/15631312. This will provide tools to record aspects of language & nature & develop shared ownership of the project. Local participants in Documentation of MSAL became increasingly involved in recording & archiving audio, audio-visual & photographic material, becoming advocates of preserving the languages. We hope that Language & Nature will also increase the communities' advocacy of the environment. Training in community archiving within the Language & Nature project will heighten local sensitivity about the link between endangered languages & endangered ecosystems.
Capacity building workshops will provide local communities with the tools and confidence to advocate access to their own language instruction in formal schooling, to elaborate initiatives to preserve their languages, & to promote conservation in the wider society.