It’s a centuries-old language heard only in a pocket of the Middle East, passed down from generation to generation solely through the spoken word — and an Ottawa couple is playing a key role in sustaining it.

Erik Anonby and Christina van der Wal have dedicated nearly a decade to comprehensively documenting the language of Kumzari in a way no one appears to have done before.

Their efforts have seen them spend nearly two years living in the remote village of Kumzar, located on the tip of the Musandam peninsula in northern Oman, immersing themselves and their three young children in the community to study the language now spoken by about 5,000 people. More.

See: CBC News

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