Farasan Islands

Farasan Islands
The Farasan Islands (transliterated: ) are a small group of coral islands approximately 40 km off the coast of Jizan in the Red Sea, belonging to Saudi Arabia.
The government provides free ferry rides twice a day to Farasan Islands from Jizan Port. The largest island of the archipelago is Farasan Island; others include Sajid Island and Zufaf Island. The islands are a popular tourist destination. In recent years the Saudi government has tried to increase the tourism quality and worth (as part of a larger tourism drive in the country) of the Islands in order to attract even more visitors.
History
In the 1st century AD, the islands were known as Portus Ferresanus. A Latin inscription dating from 144 AD has been found on the island which attests to the construction of a Roman garrison. It is believed that the islands may have been attached to the province of Arabia Felix, before being transferred to Aegyptus some time before 144 AD. If this is correct, it would make the Farasan Islands the farthest Roman outpost, being nearly from Rome itself. It remained this way up until the Arab Muslim conquest of the islands and subsequent Islamization.
Climate
The climate in the Farasan archipelago is characterised by a long hot season (April–October) and a short mild one (November–March). In the long dry period high temperatures are usually dominant. The mean annual temperature is 30 C. Furthermore, the mean relative humidity in winter ranges from 70% to 80% and in summer between 65% and 78%. The highest rainfall occurs in April and the precipitation is generally unpredictable in the southern part of Red Sea.
Nature
The Farasan Island Marine Sanctuary is a protected area. It is home to the Arabian gazelle, and, in winter, migratory birds from Europe. Oceanic animals include manta rays, whale sharks, and several species of sea turtles including endangered and critically endangered green and hawksbill turtles, dugongs, and several species of dolphins and whales with occasional visits by others such as orcas.
Economy
After a French engineer investigated petroleum seeps on the islands in 1912, a 75-year concession was granted to the Red Sea oilfields. At the time, the Farasan Islands supported a small fishing industry.
Tourism and fishing also play a role in the economy. Farasan Island is connected to Jezan port by ferry.
Language (Farasani)
1. Grammatical Categories in Farasani
Nouns
Nouns in Farasani are words that take definite articles, as well as, number, gender, and plural markers; nouns can be modified with adjectives, and take possessives (Abbas, 2018), all of features will be discussed below with some examples.
Firstly, nouns in Farasani are words that usually are preceded by definite article, such as:
ana ʃuf-t al-ħurmah
1SG.SBJ see-1SG.SBJ DET.woman
‘I saw the woman.’
In this sentence, the word woman, which is a noun, is preceded by the definite article /al/ to demonstrate the definiteness of the noun. Definite nouns in Farasani can occur both in subject and object positions. Indefinite nouns in Farasani can be illustrated by simply omitting the prefix /al/, as in:
ana ʃuf-t ø-ħurmah
1SG.SBJ see-1SG.SBJ DET.woman
‘I saw a woman.’
However, some definite and indefinite noun constructions are ungrammatical in Farasani. In the example below, the noun in the subject position cannot be in indefinite form, and it has to be preceded by an existential construction to fix such ungrammaticality.
*ø-ħurmah ad͡ ʒ-an
IDET.woman come.DEF-3SGF
‘A woman came.’ *Not possible construction
To avoid this ungrammatical construction, the indefinite noun woman can be preceded with /fi:h/, which means there is, as in the following example:
fi:h ħurmah ad͡ ʒ-an
EXIST woman-F come.PFV-3SGF
‘That woman came.’
Next, another characteristic of nouns in Farasani is number. The base noun in Farasani is usually inflected with dual and plural markers. Starting with dual, nouns take the suffix /-e:n/ to express their duality. The dual suffix appears equally on masculine, feminine, animate, and inanimate nouns. To illustrate with an example:
sˤakkra-t tˤa:gt-e:n
close.PFV-1SG.SBJ window-DU
‘I closed two windows.’
When it comes to plural forms, there are some nouns, on the one hand—adjectival— that take /-i:n/ suffix to demonstrate plurality, and on the other hand, there are other nouns that undergo suprasegmental process to be pluralized, known as broken plural. The examples below show the first type of plural nouns:
muhandis-ø muhandis-i:n
engineer-SG engineer-PL
‘an engineer’ ‘engineers’
The third feature that nouns in Farasani are marked for is gender. Gender in Farasani can either be biological or grammatical. Biological gender of human and animate nouns is represented with the feminine suffix /-ah/, and none inflection for masculine nouns, as in the following examples,
/xajja:tˤ/ /xajja:tˤ-ah/
tailor.MS seamstress-FM
Nouns that are classified as having a grammatical gender, on the other hand, do not take gender markers as in the sentence above. Instead, those nouns are inherently masculine or feminine, such as:
Masculine nouns Feminine nouns
daftar ‘notebook’ na:r ‘fire’
kartu:n ‘box’ rid͡ ʒul ‘leg’
Lastly, nouns in Farasani have possessive pronouns that are attached at the end of the nouns. These pronouns can also demonstrate some grammatical properties, such as gender and number. The table below shows all the possessive enclitics in Farasani with respect to person, number, and gender.
Verbs
Verbs in Farasani must take subject markers and object markers, when the verb is transitive, on the perfective aspect. There is subject-verb agreement in Farasani in terms of number and gender, see examples below. Subject and object markers along with number and gender agreement are shown in the table below. The following example illustrates a subject marker of the third singular feminine on an intransitive verb / tˤa:ħ/:
hi tˤa:ħ-an
3SGF fall.PFV-3SGF.SBJ
‘She fell.’
The example given below is a transitive verb that is marked for both subject and object:
xa.maʕ-t-uh
hit.PFV-1SG.SBJ-3SGM.OBJ
‘I hit him.’
Subject and Object Markers in Farasani
The aspect of the verb in Farasani, either perfective or imperfective, determines where the inflections appear. As shown above with perfective aspect, subject and object markers are suffixed to the verb.However, with imperfective aspect, the inflectional affixes on the verb are prefixes. Consider the following examples:
ja-nguz
3SGM-jump. IPVF
‘He jumps.’
ta-nguz
3SGF-jump. IPVF
‘She jumps.’
The future tense verbs in Farasani are marked with the prefix /-ʃ / as in the following example:
ʃ-ja-nguz
FUT-3SGM.SBJ-jump. IPFV
‘He will jump.’
It is evident that verbs in future tense are marked with more than one prefix (tense and subject) unlike non-future verbs (only subject), as in the examples above.
Adjectives
Because of the commonalities between nouns and adjectives in Farasani, adjectives form a sub-category of nouns. Like nouns, adjectives can be prefixed with the definite article /al-/, for example:
ana ʃuf-t al-d͡ ʒe:hul al-kaslan
1SG.SBJ see.PFV-1SG.SBJ DEF-boy DEF-lazy
‘I saw the lazy boy.’
As it is shown in this example, the noun boy as well as the adjective lazy are equally marked with the definite article. Adjectives in Farasani agree with nouns in number and gender. When it comes to number, adjectives, like nouns, are not marked for singular, but to express plurality, they have the suffix /-i:n/, as in:
ʃuf-t al-muhandis-i:n al-kasla:n-i:n
see.PFV-1SG.SBJ DEF-engineer-PL DEF-lazy.PL
‘I saw the lazy engineers.’
As it can be seen in this example, both the noun engineer and the adjective lazy have the plural marker /-i:n/ as a suffix. Adjectives and nouns in Farasani have the gender feature in common; in other words, adjectives and nouns can be marker for gender. The feminine marker /-ah/ can appear as a suffix on nouns as well as adjectives as a gender agreement between the two grammatical categories. To give an example,
al-bnijj-ah al-ʕawi:l-ah takaʕdaf-an
DEF-girl-F DEF-lazy-F fall.PFV-3SGF.SBJ
‘The lazy girl fell.’
As shown in this example, the feminine marker /-ah/ is a suffix on the noun girl and the adjective lazy, which demonstrates the agreement between them.
Adverbs
Adverbs in Farasani are different from nouns and adjectives in terms of not being marked for plurality, gender, number, and the definite article. Adverbs in Farasani are a grammatical category that modifies nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, each of which is illustrated in the following examples respectively:
d͡ ʒab-an [bas ħu:t] l-al-ʁada
bring.PFV-3SGF.SBJ only.ADV fish.N for-DEF-lunch
‘She brought only fish for the dinner.’
In this example, the adverb /bas/, which means only, modifies the noun fish, /ħu:t/. In the following example, the adverb /marrah/ is modifying an adjective.
al-d͡ ʒe:hul ka:n [marrah d͡ ʒazuʕ]
DEF-child COP.PAST very.ADV upset.ADJ
‘The child was very upset.’
hu [ja-d͡ ʒri-ø musruʕ]
3SGM 3SGM-run.IPFV quickly.ADV
‘He runs quickly.’
al-ħurm-ah ad͡ ʒ-an [marra badri]
DEF-woman come.PFV-3SGF very.ADV early.ADV
‘The woman came very early.’
In the last two examples (as illustrated with square brackets) it can be seen that the adverbs, /musruʕ/ and /marra/ modify the verb / jad͡ ʒri/, run, and another adverb /badri/ ‘early’, respectively.
Pronouns
Pronouns in Farasani are free and their distribution in the sentence is flexible; they may appear before or after the verb. In the following examples, the first singular person pronoun precedes the verb in the first example and follows the verb in the second example:
Ana takaʕdaf-t
1SG.SBJ fall.PFV-1SG.SBJ
‘I fell down.’
takaʕdaf-t ana
fall.PFV-1SG.SBJ 1SG.SBJ
‘I fell down.’
The table below shows all the free pronouns in Farasani
Free pronouns in Farasani are not obligatory; in other words, the meaning of the subject is alternatively delivered through the subject markers on the verb, therefore, free pronouns are optional in the sentence, consider the following example:
takaʕdaf-t
fall.PFV-1SG.SBJ
‘I fell down.’
Prepositions
Farasani has a number of prepositions that are used to express time, location and association. Some of the common prepositions in Farasani are illustrated below with their meanings; some of these prepositions have synonyms that are used interchangeably in sentences.
Prepositions in Farasani can either stand on their own independently and followed by a noun phrase as its complement,
or connect to a pronoun, as illustrated respectively in the following examples:
ʃa-gʕud be:n al-ħurrmt-ein
FUT-sit.IPFV- ø.1SG.SBJ between DEF-women-DU
‘I will sit between the two women.’
ʃa-gʕud be:n-hum
FUT-sit.IPFV- ø.1SG.SBJ between-3PL
‘I will sit between them.’
As illustrated in the former example, the preposition /be:n/ is used separately from the noun phrase that follows it; however, it is attached to the pronoun /hum/ in the later example. The pronoun attached to the preposition, in this case, is not a free pronoun, but rather an enclitic. The preposition to in Farasani is strikingly different from the other prepositions in that it does not have a marker preceding the noun phrase, as shown in the example below:
ʃa-ta-ʁdi: Ø al-baga:l-ah
FUT-3SGF-go.IPF to DEF-store-F
‘She will go to the store.’
Numerals
Numerals in Farasani are similar to adjectives in terms of having number and gender agreement with nouns they modify. Numbers 1 and 2 are distinct from the numbers 3-10 in the pattern they follow. To illustrate, the number 1 agrees in gender with the noun; if the noun is masculine, then the number 1 will be unmarked, and if it the noun is feminine, then it will have /-ah/ feminine suffix. Another distinct feature concerning the number 1 is it appears in a different word order from all other numbers. While other numbers precede nouns, the number 1 comes after the noun, as in the
examples below:
rid͡ ʒd͡ ʒa:l wa:ħud- Ø
man one-M
‘one man’
ħurm-ah wa:ħud-ah
woman-F one-F
‘one woman’
The number 2, like 3-10 numbers, precedes nouns, but it takes the dual marker /-e:n/, as illustrated in the following examples:
atn-e:n rd͡ ʒa:l
two-DUL men
‘two men’
tint-e:n ħari:m
two-DUL women
‘two women’
Nouns in these two examples are not marked for dual, instead they in the plural form (broken plural in this case). Therefore, when numbers 2- 10 come before nouns, the nouns are usually marked for plural. The matter of gender agreement is different when it comes to numbers from 3 to 10. These numbers have a reverse gender agreement between the numbers and the nouns that follow them. In other words, if the number ends with the feminine marker /-ah/, the noun that follows it is masculine—unmarked for gender, and vice versa. An example of each is given below:
arba:ʕ-ah rd͡ ʒa:l
four-F men
'four men'
arba:ʕ- Ø ħari:m
four-M women
'four women'
2. Word Order in Farasani
Farasani seems to have more than one word order; the most frequent one is where the verb precedes the object, VO. The common word order in sentences with transitive verbs is SVO, in which the subject initiates the clause, as in:
ʕabi:r ʔkal-an al-burtka:n-ah
Abeer eat.PFV-3SGF.SBJ DET-orange-F
‘Abeer ate the orange.’
Verb initial sentences are also possible in Farasani, where sentences appear in VSO word order, consider the following example:
ʔkal-an ʕabi:r al-burtka:n-ah
eat.PFV-3SGF.SBJ Abeer DET-orange-F
‘Abeer ate the orange.’
In intransitive constructions, predicates with one argument, both VS and SV word orders are used interchangeably in Farasani, and there does not seem to be a preference of one word order over the other. An example of each word order in illustrated below:
silwana ragad-an
silwa:na sleep.PFV-3SGF.SBJ
‘Silwana selpt.’ (SV)
ragad-an Silwana
sleep.PFV-3SGF.SBJ silwa:na
‘Silwana selpt.’ (VS)
There are also some instances in Farasani where sentence constructions start with objects, in particular OVS word order. These constructions though are rare in the language, and they are used for the purpose emphasis, as shown in the following example:
al-burtka:n-ah ʔkal-ann-ha ʕabi:r
DET-orange-F eat.PFV-3SGF.SBJ-3SGF.OBJ Abeer
‘Abeer ate the orange.’
As noted in this example, Farasani could also have verb-medial sentence constructions, but they are not as common compared to subject-initial and verb-initial sentences.
See also
Greater Yemen
References
Sources
External links
Saudi Aramco World: Dreaming of Farasan
Farasan Island, a diver's paradise , Splendid Arabia: A travel site with photos and routes
Archipelagoes of the Indian Ocean
Islands of the Red Sea
Islands of Saudi Arabia
Jizan Province
Protected areas of Jazan Region