[3] Its usage is less associated with a specific community or tribe of people, and more related to the geographical area in which it is spoken (the mountainous Dhufar/Yemen border).

[4] Much of the information regarding Hobyot's existence originated through the study of the more dominant, neighboring Modern South Arabian languages like Mehri and Jibbali.

In recent years, individual studies of Hobyot have provided sufficient evidence to prove its linguistic independence, and have given insight into the history and culture of its speakers.

Johnstone hypothesized that it was actually a fusion of the more popular Mehri and Jibbali dialects of the MSAL rather than a definitive language in its own right.

[6] More documentation of the language is anticipated to arrive in the near future, as two modern research groups from the UK and France have been conducting field work in the hopes of shedding greater light on its nature.

The only fluent speakers that are left are older than the child-bearing age, which ultimately makes integration of the language into subsequent generations highly improbable.