Soqotri people

Soqotri
Flag of the Soqotri/Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra
Total population
71,400[1]
Regions with significant populations
Socotra, Yemen
Languages
Soqotri language
Religion
Islam (Sunni)
Related ethnic groups
Mehri, other Semitic people

The Soqotri people sometimes referred to as Socotran are an ethnic group native to the island of Socotra. They speak the Soqotri language, a Semitic language in the Afroasiatic family.

General

Soqotri men

The Soqotri primarily inhabit the Socotra Archipelago, on Socotra island and the Abd al Kuri, Darsah and Samha districts of the Amanat Al Asimah governorate, Yemen.[1]

According to Ethnologue, there are an estimated 71,400 Soqotri. As of the last 1990 Socotra census, they numbered around 57,000 individuals.[1]

Most Soqotri are Sunni Muslim.[1] Up to approximately the Late Middle Ages, most Soqotri followed Christianity in the form of Nestorianism under the Church of the East.

Language

Soqotri children

The Soqotri speak the Soqotri language (also known as Saqatri, Socotri, Sokotri and Suqutri). It belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family.[1]

Soqotri has several dialects, which consist of ’Abd Al-Kuri, Central Soqotri, Northern Soqotri, Southern Soqotri and Western Soqotri. North Soqotri comprises North Central and Northwest Central (highland) Soqotri.[1]

The language is written using the Naskh variant of the Arabic script. Soqotri is also transcribed with the Latin script.[1]

Genetics

Most Soqotri belong to the paternal haplogroup J, bearing the basal J*(xJ1,J2) clade at its highest frequencies (71.4%). The remaining individuals mainly carry the J1 subclade (14.3%).[2]

Maternally, the Soqotri primarily belong to the haplogroups N (24.3% N*; 6.2% N1a) and R0 (17.8% R0a1b; 13.8% R0a; 6.2% R0a1). The basal N* clade occurs at its highest frequencies among them. The next most common mtDNA lineages borne by Soqotri individuals are the haplogroups J (9.2% J*; 3.1 J1b), T (7.7% T2; 1.2% T*), L3 (4.3% L3*), H (3.1%), and R (1.2 R*).[2]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Soqotri". Ethnologue. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 Černý, Viktor; et al. (2009). "Out of Arabia—the settlement of island Soqotra as revealed by mitochondrial and Y chromosome genetic diversity" (PDF). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 138 (4): 439–447. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20960. PMID 19012329. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2017.

References

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