A Text in the Arabic Dialect of Maṣīra, Oman

In this paper we present and analyze a text we recorded in 2022 on the island of Maṣīra, which is part of Oman’s easternmost region, the Sharqiyah. The text consists of a dialogue between one of our local informants and an elderly fisherman. In sections 1.1 to 1.3 we highlight the main phonological, morpho-syntactical and lexical features of interest that can be observed in the text, sometimes corroborating our findings with other data we collected in the Sharqiyah. Where relevant, we also offer comparative remarks about other dialects from the area. Some of the features displayed by Maṣīra Arabic appear to be rare. These include: occasional palatalization of the velar stops, existential marker šay, aspectual prefix ka-, nominal negators ab and mab, negative imperative marker ʕan, emphatic negator bohō/bahaw, and unusual demonstrative forms (possibly unique to the dialect).