Abstract

Mehri is spoken by approximately 130,000 people (±30,000) in the eastern part of Yemen (al-Mahra province) and southwestern part of Oman (primarily in the Dhofar province), as well as by a small number of speakers in adjacent areas of Saudi Arabia (see Map 11.1). Mehri has no written tradition, and has been known to scholars only since the 1840s. The language has a number of regional dialects, which can be roughly divided into Yemeni and Omani varieties; all dialects are mutually intelligible.