Among the six MSAL, Soqotri is set apart, and not only for linguistic reasons. Soqotri
was the first MSAL discovered in 1834, 170 years ago. It is the only MSAL to be
spoken exclusively on islands (Soqotra, Abd-al-Kuri, Samha)1 . These islands are
geographically nearer to Africa than to the Arabian coast, where other MSAL are
spoken. In the past, the famous island was very isolated because of its location, its
exposition to the two monsoons and the resulting rough sea for five months of the year,
and the lack of safe bays. Because of the very hard living conditions on the island, many
attempts of occupation came to a sudden end, and only the northern coast was
concerned. The Haghier Central range, culminating at 1525 m., protected the inland.
In the past, there was no pervasive contact with other populations and languages on the
island. The influence of Arabic is recent, and only part of the population, mainly