I was invited to speak about my Kumzari research at Tehran University for their annual conference on Contemporary Iranian Studies — a great honor and joy. I always love speaking at Tehran University — usually twice a year! Kumzari is an endangered language which is spoken mainly in the village of Kumzar (accessible only by boat) in the Sultanate of Oman (where I was a professor for a number of years) and Larak Island in Iran.
I was so fortunate (and grateful) to take an otherworldly voyage to Kumzar — which sent me ’round the bend (that’s where the expression comes from — Telegraph Island where isolated British soldiers went insane). Here is a map to show you Kumzar’s special location in the Strait of Hormuz.
My latest Kumzari research has just been published in an exciting new volume on the many understudied languages spoken on the Arabian Peninsula. I am looking forward to sharing my book link with you soon.
