[118], Attempts to reconstruct the vocalic system of Proto-Afroasiatic vary considerably. [50], Most authorities divide Semitic into two branches: East Semitic, which includes the extinct Akkadian language and West Semitic, which includes Arabic, Aramaic, the Canaanite languages, including Hebrew, as well as the Ethiopian Semitic languages such as Ge'ez and Amharic. There is an obvious trend (probably driven by Semitic and Egyptian researchers) to place the Afroasiatic Homeland near one of the many proposed Semitic homelands, i.e. [99] 2.11. Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian) : vowels, tone, consonants, and vocabulary / Christopher Ehret Get this Comments (0) Librarian's View Copyright Status Online In the Library Order a copy Request this item to view in the Library's reading rooms using your library card. US$62.00 (softcover). There are multiple possibilities: Egyptian had already undergone radical changes from Proto-Afroasiatic before it was recorded, the Afroasiatic family has so far been studied with an excessively Semito-centric approach, or Afroasiatic is a typological, not a genetic group of languages. [179] However, there is no consensus on what the reconstructed set of Afroasiatic pronouns might have looked like. [163] Three derivational prefixes can be reconstructed for Proto-Afroasiatic: *s- 'causative', *t- 'middle voice' or 'reflexive', and *n- 'passive'. They can occur together with subject pronouns but cannot fulfill an object function. p-Heiban p-Khoe The construct state is a special, usually reduced form of a noun, which is used when the noun is possessed by another noun (Semitic) or is modified by an adjective or relative clause (Cushitic). Well-known Afroasiatic languages include Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, Somali, Tuareg, and Hausa. innovation: n. 'morning' by addition of *r n. suff. Proto-Afroasiatic is a reconstructed language. ), (Berber, Eg. It is, rather, a comparison of Proto-Indo-European with Proto-Afroasiatic. South Bauchi Bomhard postulates that from Proto-Afroasiatic (henceforth PAA), Chadic was the first to break off. [49], There there are also other proposed branches, but none has so far convinced a majority of scholars:[7]. ), to extend, stretch out (intr. Continue Reading 5 Brian Collins Proto-Afroasiatic phonology has been the subject of several proposals for reconstruction that are not only different from each other, but also very divergent (cf. : *itsim-), (2nd root shape: possible old tr. [45] Omotic is typically split into North Omotic (or Aroid) and South Omotic, with the latter more influenced by the Nilotic languages; it is unclear whether the Dizoid group of Omotic languages belongs to the Northern or Southern group. These three groups are classified as being in Africa while Afro-Asiatic is listed under the term Eurasia (Atlas, p.74). (Though I found no mention of the origin of Semito-, it is possible that this name comes from Shem, another son of Noah). tr. [41] In the Coptic period, there is evidence for six major dialects, which presumably existed previously but are obscured by pre-Coptic writing; additionally, Middle Egyptian appears to be based on a different dialect than Old Egyptian, which in turn shows dialectal similarities to Late Egyptian. BLACK ATHENA: THE Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication, - $16.27. Theodor Benfy found that Egyptian and Semitic languages were similar in 1844, and he classified them under the Semito-Hamitic language family. Adapted from Ruhlen 1987. [20], There are between 40 and 80 languages in the Semitic family. Many of these roots have other proposed cognates that are not included on the table. [94], Several Afroasiatic languages have large numbers of consonants, and it is likely that Proto-Afroasiatic did as well:[95] Vladimir Orel and Olga Stolbova reconstruct 32 consonant phonemes,[96] while Christopher Ehret reconstructs 42. p-Ron as EL). Retard. Mimi-N You guys might disagree with the results form the Shum Laka paper but don't distort their own interpretations of their findings. [164] Christopher Ehret has proposed that Proto-Afroasiatic originally had as many as thirty-seven separate verbal extensions, many of which then became fossilized as third consonants. [109] Roots that may have contained sequences that were possible in Proto-Afroasiatic but are disallowed in the daughter languages are assumed to have undergone consonant dissimilation or assimilation.[110][111]. ), (root #695 + *f iter.? [6], Scholars generally consider Afroasiatic to have at least five and as many as eight separate branches, with the five universally agreed upon branches consisting of the Berber (also called "Libyco-Berber"), Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, and Semitic. Fifteen are glossed as names of plants or loose categories of plants. ; *m > /n/ ([])/_*x), (Sem., Eg. [155], The degree to which the AA verbal root was triliteral (having three consonants) is debated. derivation by addition of *-u- tr. In An Encyclopedia of Language, Omotic is listed as a sub-set of Cushitic, and Andrew Dalby writes the Egyptian division as "Egyptian-Coptic," even though Coptic is considered to be a sub-set of Egyptian. Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1994. in Semitic, Berber, and in Cushitic,[130][166] where it is only found on a small set of frequent verbs. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. All branches of Afroasiatic have a limited number of underlying vowels (between two and seven), but the number of phonetic vowels can be much larger. n. pref. WCh WOT p-Maji ), (root seen also in #984 + *n non-fin. p-Gurunsi Nilo-Saharan PSom-III. These records make it possible to classify and reconstruct many languages. [42] Egyptian was replaced by Arabic as the spoken language of Egypt,[43] but Coptic continues to be the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Central Sudanic (p-Central Sudanicp-Sara-Bongo-BagirmiSinyarBirrip-Mangbetu) >I find it odd how Semitic is still Afroasiatic even though it's tied to a non-E haplogroup Egyptian and Semitic are both J. Cushitic is T and Chadic is J/R1b-V88. North of the Sahara and the Ethiopian mountains are the Afro-Asiatic languages. [140] A common pattern in AA languages with case is for the nominative to marked by -u or -i, and the accusative to be marked by -a. innovation: as synonym for #505), (vowel reconstruction uncertain: PAA *u, *ee, or *oo are also possible here; contrary to earlier views, this is surely a distinct root from #503), (Eg., Sem. A relationship between Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and the Berber languages was perceived as early as the 9th century CE by the Hebrew grammarian and physician Judah ibn Quraysh, who is regarded as a forerunner of Afroasiatic studies. p-Jukunoid of proto-Afroasiatic cultivation. [33] Only about 40 Chadic languages have been fully described by linguists. Tivoid p-Mande (p-W. Mandep-Mandekanp-Niger-Voltap-S. Mande) [101] It is generally agreed that only the obstruents had a contrast between voiceless and voiced forms in Proto-Afroasiatic, whereas continuants were voiceless. Like in the English example, feet foot, vowels make the difference between separate words. p-Oti-Volta (p-E. Oti-Voltap-C. Oti-Volta) Summary of Numbered Sound Shift Rules; Index 1. (abbrev. in a word must match. [21] They are often considered to constitute a single language with multiple dialects. 1995. [40] Egyptian is first attested in writing around 3000 BCE and finally went extinct around 1300 CE, making it the language with the longest written history in the world. p-Aroid Gumuz * "The Origins of Third Consonants in Semitic Roots: An Internal Reconstruction (Applied to Arabic)," Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 3, 2 (1989): 109-202. in *n, as also in #323), (possible V reconstructions: *a, *aa, *e, or *o), (Sem., Eg., Ch. innovation: integration of *t dur. [104] Several Omotic languages have "sibilant harmony", meaning that all sibilants (s, sh, z, ts, etc.) p-Igboid p-Ijaw Gule [11] Because the term "Afroasiatic" could be taken to mean that the family includes all the languages of Africa and Asia, the term "Afrasian" is sometimes used instead; this name was proposed by Igor Diakonoff (1980) and is mostly used by Russian scholars. suff. The languages of what is now Afro-Asiatic occupy a "vast area that stretches from Morocco to Arabia" (Dalby, p.6). Afro-Asiatic is divided into six branches: Semitic, Berber, Egyptian, Cushitic, Chadic and Omotic. [137][d] Another common method of forming plurals is reduplication. [19] Additionally, a majority of specialists consider the Omotic languages to constitute a sixth branch. The Afroasiatic language family is thought to have originated in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 15,000 years ago. There is no general consensus over the location of the Urheimat, the original homeland from which began the migrations into the present locations of the speakers. The Proto-Afrasian Phonological System Unlike the comparative-historical study of the Indo-European languagefamily, which has a long history, the comparative-historical study of the Afrasian language familyis still not far advanced, though enormous progress has been made in recent years. p-Tuu Also, how do roots work? [182], Unlike in the Indo-European or Austronesian language families, numerals in AA languages cannot be traced to a proto-system. p-Surmic innovation: addition of *t n. p-Nilo-Saharan Answer: Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family, which includes over 400 languages spoken across much of Africa and the Middle East. [128] Proto-Chadic is reconstructed as having verb-initial word order,[80] but most Chadic languages have subject-verb-object word order. sing. [147][148] Berber instead contrasts between the "free state" and the "annexed state," the latter of which is used for a variety of purposes, including for subjects placed after a verb and after certain prepositions. p-Chadic Such evidence may reveal plants known to early Afroasiatic speakers; but it does not diagnose whether they were cultivated or wild. into stem), to take (bit of food or drink) into the mouth, (* is required by derived noun, root #641 following), (Eg., Sem. ; *u < *i /#-p_C-#? [159] The Egyptian verbal system diverges greatly from that found in the other branches. Archaeology and the study of oral traditions helps linguists find connections between language families. [131] This sex-based gender system is widely agreed to derive from Proto-Afroasiatic. * "Revising the Consonant Inventory of Proto-Eastern Cushitic," Studies in African Linguistics 22, 3 (1991): 211-275. The reconstruction of Proto-Afroasiatic is problematic and . Of all of the languages in the Afro-Asiatic line, Arabic is the most widely spoken language, stretching from Western Africa to the Middle East (ELL, p.51). The Subclassification of Afroasiatic (Afrasian) Appendix 1. Kunama ; SC semantics: early beads were made of shell), (root of #48 + *c extend. [132] Additionally, even when nouns are not cognates, they tend to have the same gender throughout Afroasiatic ("gender stability"). p-Ogoni [6][7], with the latter two having fallen out of favor in English but still seeing frequent usage in other languages, such as German. [16] Several issues with the label "Hamito-Semitic" have led to its decline in use by later scholars. p-Idomoid Item Weight : 11.2 ounces Dimensions : 5.75 x 0.75 x 9 inches Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,866 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books) #2,811 in Comparative Religion (Books) Customer Reviews: 3 ratings Videos Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! A set of constraints, developed originally by Joseph Greenberg on the basis of Arabic, has been claimed to be typical for Afroasiatic languages. [115] James P. Allen has demonstrated that slightly different rules apply to Egyptian: for instance, Egyptian allows two identical consonants in some roots, and disallows velars from occurring with pharyngeals. [66] Some scholars would continue to regard Hausa as related to the other Afroasiatic languages, but the idea was controversial: many scholars refused to admit that the largely unwritten, "Negroid" Chadic languages were in the same family as the "Caucasian" ancient civilizations of the Egyptians and Semites. Greenberg, 1958 D. Cohen,. [93] Most words end in a vowel in Omotic and Cushitic, making syllable-final consonant clusters rare. In addition to the languages spoken today, Afroasiatic includes many ancient languages, such as Egyptian, which forms a distinct branch of the family; and within the Semitic family, Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician, other Canaanite languages, Amorite, Ugaritic and Aramaic. [105], Restrictions against the co-occurrence of certain, usually similar, consonants in verbal roots can be found in all Afroasiatic branches, though they are only weakly attested in Chadic and Omotic. [76] It may have originally mostly biconsonantal, to which various affixes (verbal extensions) were then added and lexicalized. [78] An additional complicating factor is the lack of agreement on the subgroupings of Afroasiatic (see Subgrouping) - this makes associating archaeological evidence with the spread of Afroasiatic particularly difficult. TV. innovation: 'not want' > 'not need,' hence 'be sated'), (Eg., Sem. Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. ; semantics: flow out bit-by-bit), *-man-/*-mun-, *-ma-/*-mu-, *-ma-/*-mu-, (root #572 + *w inchoat. p-Semitic, Khoisan infix [also tonal shift as found in Chadic cases]), (this root is included because #871 following derives from it), (sing. The following list of Proto-Afroasiatic reconstructions is from Ehret (1995). [178], The forms of the pronouns are very stable throughout the Afroasiatic (excluding Omotic),[127] and they have been used as one of the chief tools for determining whether a language belongs to the family. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 June 2016 Alan S. Kaye Article Metrics Save PDF in *n, as also in #210) 324. Dictionary of Languages. p-North Bauchi *t: . of #724 by adding *-(a)C- where C = preceding stem-final C, is implied in Eg. [117] In the different languages, central vowels are often inserted to break up consonant clusters (a form of epenthesis). Beboid [140] Some languages in AA have a marked nominative alignment, a feature which may date back to Proto-Afroasiatic. [142][143] Zygmont Frajzyngier states that a general characteristic of case marking in AA languages is that it tends to mark roles such as genitive, dative, locative, etc. Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *abaw/y- Meaning: a k. of plant Semitic: *abVw- 'reed, papyrus' Egyptian: wb 'root', cf. [113] These rules also have a number of exceptions: Similar exceptions can be demonstrated for the other AA branches that have these restrictions to their root formation. [90], Syllable weight plays an important role in AA, especially in Chadic; it can affect the form of affixes attached to a word. The Proto-Afroasiatic Consonant System.
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