Children's Rhymes and Nature in Mehri, A Modern South Arabian Language

In many parts of the developed and developing world, traditional children's rhymes are under threat. The disappearance of these traditional rhymes could impact children's phonological development (Di Liberto et al., 2023, Harper, 2011), awareness of their natural environment, and their app...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Al-Qumairi, Saeed (Author)
Contributors: Boom, Andrea ; Watson, Janet C. E. 1959-
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2024
In: Journal of Semitic studies
Year: 2024, Volume: 69, Issue: 2, Pages: 991-1010
Further subjects:B children’s rhymes
B phonological development
B the natural environment
B Modern South Arabian
B Mehri language
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:In many parts of the developed and developing world, traditional children's rhymes are under threat. The disappearance of these traditional rhymes could impact children's phonological development (Di Liberto et al., 2023, Harper, 2011), awareness of their natural environment, and their appreciation (and later composition) of poetry by older speakers. While rhymes in literate societies are often documented and can thus can be retrieved, this is not the case for the Mahrah and other exclusively oral societies. In this paper, we examine traditional children's rhymes in Mehri, an endangered Modern South Arabian language (MSAL), focusing on rhymes and riddles and the significance of their impending loss within al-Mahrah governorate in Yemen. We conclude by suggesting ways in which the Mehri community, in collaboration with native-speaker and non-native-speaker researchers, can revitalize this genre of poetry.
ISSN:1477-8556
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Semitic studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgae022