Languages Spoken in Oman

This is probably not a very reliable source but it does the job of giving an overview of the kinds of languages that are spoken in Oman:

Languages in Oman

Some of these languages are dying and some are extremely endangered. Language is not just spoken or written words, it carries culture and identity and if it dies, then so does the culture with all its beauty. I hope something will be done to save these exotic languages!

Arabizi: Arabic-English Code-Switching

The following is from the documentary Arabizi, which was produced by MBC in 2005. The term 'Arabizi' is used informally to mean one of two linguistic phenomena: either Romanized and 'numeralized' written Arabic which is used in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), such as in this sentence '9aba7 el 5air'. Or, Arabizi could be used to refer to the code-switching between Arabic and English. Code-switching can be defined as "the use by a speaker of more than one language, dialect, or variety during a conversation" (Crystal, 1999: 60). This documentary mostly discusses the latter phenomenon.

To be able to code-switch one needs to be at least bidialectal or bilingual. This documentary gives an interesting insight at how and when Arabic-English bilinguals code-switch and how it became part of their identity. Usually these individuals are exposed to the cultures of both the languages they use. Many would attack this linguistic/social behaviour and suggest that it is a threat to the Arabic language and identity. Many on the other hand, would say that it is a normal product of globalization. I leave the readers to judge for themselves.

Social Sciences in Oman...

“The Arts’ Stream is for those who choose the easy path” would say my mathematics teacher in high school. I was in the Science Stream not because I am more interested in science; on the contrary, I’ve always been more inclined towards Arts. But anyway, that’s beside the point. My point is: this kind of attitude about arts and social sciences in general is very common in Oman and indeed the Arab World. We are constantly told that the ‘big’ sciences like medicine, engineering, IT or even business is what helps a country to grow, develop and prosper.
 

To me these sciences are robotic. One plus one is two, got it? Very factual and hardly opinionated. Everything is proved. And if it’s not, then there’s something wrong. Everything has to be physically proved. Solid facts and answers… is that all we need to build a strong society?

As a person who respects other disciplines, I have nothing against these so-called “big” sciences; in fact I support and like to see Omanis who are enthusiastic about them. My point is, while these sciences are indeed important, so are the social sciences like linguistics for example. The fact that social sciences don’t always prove things does not mean that they are useless.  In fact, that’s even more difficult because you have to look for other explanations and argue about a point. This is also useful because you get to realize that there is more than one side to everything. 

The research culture in Oman is far from blooming. People are not used to being approached with a questionnaire or a request to be interviewed, let alone to record their voice to get some spoken data. What is worse is that while they have hardly heard about the field, they judge and question your research; especially if they studied something that is regarded as highly prestigious in the society (e.g. medicine, engineering). This is like a cat that goes to another animal and asks it “why aren’t you mewing?”… Well because not all animals mew; just like not all fields do research using the same tools and methods of a doctor or an engineer. 

My request is to give social sciences a chance. I know a linguist who studied the language between doctors and patients for years. He came to a conclusion that helped the patients make the most of their visits to their doctors, in the sense that they could have all their questions answered. In other words, he came up with solutions to improve the communication between doctor and patient; which in return results in a better patient-doctor consultation. Tell me that it’s not useful to society. Tell me anyone could have done that; of course not. It takes a discourse/conversation analyst to read between the lines of conversation. 

I am not going to list the ways in which linguistics is useful. I will just quote the American linguistic anthropologist Benjamin Lee Whorf:  “Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” Language is one of many phenomena that we have taken for granted.

Linguistics in Oman

 Linguistics. That neglected science in Oman. That forgotten science that could reveal cultural treasures  It is so neglected in Oman (and the Arab World generally) that people don’t actually know what it is. But they’re not the ones to be blamed; I too, was one of them one day. It’s tempting to blame the other ‘giant’ sciences and fields like medicine, engineering, business and IT. After all, they are the most “needed” sciences for a nation to be modernized and to catch up with the rest of the world. I agree to some extent, but do take a minute and get to know linguistics, I’m sure it’ll open its arms to  you , because every language user is a rich source of data for the field! 

People often confuse linguistics with three other fields: English Language Teaching (ELT), translation or English literature. When I hear this, I usually take the time to explain that linguistics is not any of these. And people generally feel surprised that such a science exists and they feel even more surprised that they didn’t know it before. Linguistics is the one science that studies a phenomenon that most able people take for granted: language! 

Roughly speaking applied linguistics has 6 subfields which branch out into more subfields:

Phonology:  studies the sounds of language. Ever wondered why European can’t pronounce some Arabic sounds? It’s because they don’t realize that sound in their phonological inventory.

Syntax:  concerned with the structure of language.  You need to know enough grammar to work with this one. It is in fact like the mathematics of language. It deals with constructing sentences using grammatical units as building blocks.

Discourse: studies language in context. What that specific utterances mean in that specific context. It looks at conversation as a structured, non-random activity. How is it that people are able to know when to talk and when to stop? What do interruptions mean? What do silences mean? How significant is laughter in a conversation? It explains these things through a system, a system that has an order.  Written language is also studied in discourse (although my impression is that the spoken language has been given more attention).

Psycholinguistics: studies how children acquire and develop language. It also studies how second language learners learn another language. What are the mental and psychological stages involved in this process? How do they learn to construct sentences? Is there any influence from their first language?  

Sociolinguistics: deals with language and society. Do men and women speak the same? Do old and young people speak differently? It looks at social categories like gender, age, religion, ethnicity, race, education, social class, etc. and explains language use in relation to them. It is also concerned with language change, bilingualism and multilingualism, and language and identity.

Semantics: the study of meaning. It studies the different connotations of a words. It also studies the relation between words and symbols.

There are many more branches of linguistics and this is just to give a snapshot. But to name a few:  pragmatics, etymology, philology, historical linguistics, lexicography, evolution linguistics, and the list does not stop here. 

Oman is linguistically diverse and heterogeneous. Ancient languages are spoken in Oman until today, yet they are in danger of extinction. These languages are hardly documented. Think of the cultural loss that would be lost if they are not documented and just extinct instead. Language is not simply a tool for communication nor is it just sound traveling in the air. Language tells a lot about who you are, tells a lot about the society in which it is spoken, their culture, history, present, future aspirations and politics. 

This is an informal description of linguistics and I’m not trying to market the science or claim that it is the best thing that happened to humankind. I am sharing my interest and hope to spread understanding of this ever neglected science in Oman. This blog is dedicated to linguistics and linguistically curious readers; especially in the Omani context. It’s time for linguistics to contribute to Oman just like the other flowering sciences are . It’s time for linguistics to show its face and find its place in Oman.