Arabic, Omani Spoken

Primary tabs

A language of Oman

ISO 639-3

acx

Alternate Names

Omani Hadari Arabic

Population

720,000 in Oman (1996). Total users in all countries: 1,090,900.

Location

Widespread, mainly in Hajar mountain highlands and a few coastal regions.

Language Maps

Oman

Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification

Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic

Dialects

A member of macrolanguage Arabic [ara].

Typology

SVO.

Language Use

Used as L2 by Harsusi [hss].

Language Resources

OLAC resources in and about Arabic, Omani Spoken

Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab].

Also spoken in:

Expand All Collapse All

Kenya

Language nameArabic, Omani Spoken

Population

15,000 in Kenya (1995), increasing.

Location

Scattered. Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu, and Tana River counties.

Status

6a (Vigorous).

Language Use

Important for religious practice. Home, religion. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use English [eng], Standard Arabic [arb], Swahili [swh].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L1: Over 80% for religion. Literacy rate in L2: Over 50% in Arabic. Literacy is in Standard Arabic [arb] through Quranic schools.

Other Comments

Non-indigenous. May have come to Kenya as early as A.D. 900, originally from Yemen and Oman. Muslim.

View other languages of Kenya

Tanzania

Language nameArabic, Omani Spoken

Population

No known L1 speakers in Tanzania. Ethnic population: 195,000 (Johnstone 1993).

Location

Zanzibar Central-South, Zanzibar North, and Zanzibar Urban-West regions; Zanzibar island.

Status

9 (Dormant).

Language Use

Most in Tanzania for several generations, originally from Yemen and Oman. Most now use Swahili [swh] as L1.

Language Development

Literacy is in Arabic.

Other Comments

Non-indigenous. Muslim.

View other languages of Tanzania

Ethnologue

Arabic, Omani Spoken

Primary tabs

A language of Oman

Also spoken in:

Browse by

Current Edition

Products

Related Sites

Contact