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The Modern South Arabian languages (Johnstone 1977, 1981, 1987; Leslau 1938, Lonnet 1994), which are still spoken, constitute the substratum for Arabic in the southern part of the Peninsula, as they did for Ancient South Arabian. Their relationship with Arabic has not always been the same, depending on historical circumstances, and in particular it is noteworthy that mere occasional contacts with rival Arabic tribes did not produce the same linguistic result as the inexorable increase in the cultural weight of the language of Islam. The Modern South Arabian language family was …