[48] The oldest written attestations of Semitic languages come from Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Egypt and date as early as c. 3000 BCE. into stem), to take (bit of food or drink) into the mouth, (* is required by derived noun, root #641 following), (Eg., Sem. Jalaa Akpes 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! [54] However, Christopher Ehret (1979), Harold Fleming (1981), and Joseph Greenberg (1981) all agree that the Omotic branch split from the rest first. [167] These prefixes are clearly cognate across the branches, although their use within the verbal systems of the individual languages varies. [17] The name refers to the fact that this is the only major language family with members in both Africa and Asia. The construct state is used when a noun becomes unstressed as the first element of a compound, whereas the pronominal state is used when the noun has a suffixed possessive pronoun. p-Katloid Egyptian is classified as a distinct language and the other sub-groups are: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic, and Semitic (Voegelin, p.12). Africa is divided by geographical features, including the Sahara desert and the Ethiopian mountains. [122] In some Chadic and some Omotic languages every syllable has to have a tone, whereas in most Cushitic languages this is not the case. Afro-Asiatic is a large language family with great diversity. Berta S. SC Sem. The most up to . [76] It may have originally mostly biconsonantal, to which various affixes (verbal extensions) were then added and lexicalized. 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. [133][150] It forms agent nouns, place nouns, and instrument nouns. Therefore the root is considered ktb. When looking for roots it is important to remember that early Semitic only had consonants and vowels had to be inferred from the context (Atlas, p.78-79). [68] On the other hand, the classification relied on anthropological and racial features, such as skin color, hair type, and lifestyle. Among the countries included in this language family are: Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, and Ethiopia. Roots Beginning with P and B - Oleg Linkohr 2020-03-15 . to different specific animals), (possible vowel reconstructions: *a, *aa, *e, or *o), (Sem., Ch. [31] Hausa is the largest Chadic language by native speakers, and is spoken by a large number of people as a lingua franca in Northern Nigeria. innovation: narrowing of meaning to tr. Proto-Afro-Asiatic is proposed to have been spoken 18,000 years ago near the Horn of Africa (eastern Africa). [54] Greenberg rejected the Afroasiatic classification of languages that Meinhof had classified as "Hamitic" based on racial and anthropological data. These records make it possible to classify and reconstruct many languages. p-Nubian *kanf-/*kinf-wing: 325. the ancient Egypto-Semitic evidence. They are not found in Chadic languages, and there is no evidence for cases in Egyptian. [128] In most branches, gender is an inherent property of nouns. [89] In Cushitic and Chadic languages, a glottal stop or glottal or fricative may be inserted to prevent a word from beginning with a vowel. (abbrev. [54] These five or six branches remain the academic consensus on the family. envisaged a tome citing several hundred reconstructed roots; he did manage, however, to publish over a hundred (53 proto-roots were published, for example, in Hodge 1981). shared innovation: n. for 'clay'), great (especially in size but also in number), (Ch., Eg., Sem. Omotic and Cushitic followed the example and split together, as did Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic in another group. [70] On the one hand, the classification of languages as "Hamitic" relied on linguistic features, such as the presence of male and female grammatical gender; thus Meinhof even split the Chadic family into "Hamito-Chadic" and unrelated non-Hamitic Chadic based on which languages possessed gender. Its words and roots are not directly attested in any written works, but have been reconstructed through the comparative method, which finds regular similarities between languages that cannot be explained by coincidence or word-borrowing, and extrapolates ancient forms from these similarities. [103][53] In some branches, it can also derive abstract nouns and participles. [196][164] Such cognates tend to rely on relatively simple sound correspondences. Newman suggested a relationship between Semitic and the Hausa language, an idea that was taken up by early scholars of Afroasiatic. [181] Other commonalities are masculine and feminine forms used in both the second and third persons, except in Cushitic and Omotic. The reconstructed consonants for Proto-Afro-Asiatic are p and b, t and d, and k and g. The Egyptian bw meaning place and the Semitic bi meaning in or from are believed to be from the reconstructed root *b- meaning foot or place (ELL, p.51). [165] This theory has been criticized by some, such as Andrzej Zaborski and Alan Kaye, as being too many extensions to be realistic, though Zygmont Frajzyngier and Erin Shay note that some Chadic languages have as many as twelve extensions. North of the Sahara and the Ethiopian mountains are the Afro-Asiatic languages. ), (Eg., Sem. ), to fit on top of, go above or in front of, (Eg., Sem. p-North Bauchi innovation: 'to rub' > 'to scrape'), (* and *a are reconstructed because they are required in derived root #651 below), (#649 + *r diffus. in Semitic, Berber, and in Cushitic,[130][166] where it is only found on a small set of frequent verbs. [138][177] Christopher Ehret argues for its presence in Proto-Afroasiatic and for its attestation in some form in all branches, with a shape -*ay in addition to -*iy in some cases. p-Grassfields innovation: addition of *w inchoative to stem), (root #866 with *-u- tr. p-Akokoid Tula-Waja (root #311+old Afroasiatic pl. [8][9] Other proposed names which have not found widespread acceptance among the linguistic community include Erythraic, Lisramic, Noahitic, and Lamekhite. suff. [150] Christopher Ehret has argued that this prefix is a later development that was not present in Proto-Afro-Asiatic, but rather derived from a PAA indefinite pronoun *m-. Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. 2.12. [66], Meinhof's version of the "Hamitic theory" remained prevalent until the 1940s, when it was definitively disproved by Joseph Greenberg. innovation: narrowing of meaning to beating time to music), (Eg., Sem. [40] The latest possible date for the existence of Proto-Afroasiatic is c. 4000 BCE, after which Egyptian and the Semitic languages are first attested; however, the languages must have diverged and evolved for some time before this. Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. [79], An African origin has broad scholarly support,[75] and is favored by most linguists on the basis of the linguistic data. [77][127] Berber, and Egyptian, and most Semitic languages are verb-initial languages, whereas Cushitic, Omotic and some Semitic subgroups are verb-final languages. [128] Proto-Chadic is reconstructed as having verb-initial word order,[80] but most Chadic languages have subject-verb-object word order. Anaang Proto-Nostratic would have been spoken between 15,000 and 12,000 BCE, in the Epipaleolithic period, close to the end of the last glacial period. The Cushitic forms in particular may be derived from morphology found in subordinate clauses. Proto-Afroasiatic is a reconstructed language. Report Save. [188] Andrzej Zaborski further notes that the numbers "one," "two," and "five" are particularly susceptible to replacement by new words, with "five" often based on a word meaning "hand". [121] This structure is particularly visible in the verbs,[153] and is particularly noticeable in the triliteral Semitic verb. West Semitic brought forth such languages as Canaanite, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic (EL, p.906). [99] Various Semitic, Cushitic, Berber, and Chadic languages, including Arabic, Amharic, Berber, Somali, and East Dangla, also exhibit various types of vowel harmony. ; SC semantics: early beads were made of shell), (root of #48 + *c extend. p-Gbe (Fongbe) shared innovation: *isin-/*usun- 'they' (originally fem./masc. Proto-Afro-Asiatic is of great antiquity; experts tend to place it in the Mesolithic Period at about 15,000-10,000 bce. >>14700332 . innovation: derivation of v. 'to sleep' by addition of *n non-fin. [67][68], An important development in the history of Afroasiatic scholarship - and the history of African linguistics - was the creation of the "Hamitic theory" or "Hamitic hypothesis" by Lepsius, fellow Egyptologist Christian Bunsen, and linguist Christian Bleek. Greenberg, 1958 D. Cohen,. Lafofa, p-Afroasiatic [34] The Cushitic family is traditionally spit into four branches: the single language of Beja (c. 3 million speakers), the Agaw languages, Eastern Cushitic, and Southern Cushitic. innovation: narrowing of meaning to particular kind of joining, by sewing), to split in two, split one from the other, (proposed source: #502, with regular PAA * > PBA *n; Eg., Berber, Sem. Mao > *itsan-; Omotic innovation: stem + *m n. p-Kongo p-Ron 2.11. [69] This theory connected the "Hamites", the originators of Hamitic languages, with (supposedly cultural superior) "Caucasians", who were assumed to have migrated into Africa and intermixed with indigenous "Negroid" Africans in ancient times. p-Aroid This work provides the first truly comprehensive and systematic reconstruction of proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian). innovation: generalization of pl. p-Lower Cross River [155], The degree to which the AA verbal root was triliteral (having three consonants) is debated. p-Chadic Amdang Traditionally, the Hausa subject pronouns have been compared to the prefix conjugation. Afroasiatic languages have over 500 million native speakers, which is the fourth-largest number of native speakers of any language family (after Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and NigerCongo). [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]. [85][86] Scholar Jared Diamond and archaeologist Peter Bellwood have taken up Militarev's arguments as part of their general argument that the spread of linguistic macrofamilies (such as Indo-European, Bantu, and Austro-Asiatic) can be associated with the development of agriculture; they argue that there is clear archaeological support for farming spreading from the Levant into Africa via the Nile valley. [176], Due to its presence in the oldest attested and best-known AA branches, nisba derivation is often thought of as a "quintessentially Afroasiatic feature". El proto-afroasitico , a veces denominado proto-afrasiano , es el proto-lenguaje reconstruido del que descienden todas las lenguas afroasiticas modernas . 1995. It also fully incorporates the most up-to-date evidence from the distinctive African branches of the family, Cushitic, Chadic, and Omotic. with pre-PAA root *way thus having been a n. or adj. Retard. [98] Additionally, the glottal stop () usually exists as a phoneme, and there tends to be no phonemic contrast between [p] and [f] or [b] and [v]. Other Language Families and Fields of Study. [7] Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial. Linguistics 450 [20] Omotic was formerly considered part of the Cushitic branch;[46] some scholars continue to consider it part of Cushitic. 28 July 1999. The "s-causative" may be reflected in Hausa (as -r), however this may be a language internal development. [130], Many AA languages use prefixes or suffixes (verbal extensions) to encode various pieces of information about the verb. *kop-sole (of foot . 4 This was Hodge's term for the ancestral proto-language of Proto-Afroasiatic and Proto-Indo-European based on Proto-Lislakh *lis- 'language' + *laxwos 'people'. Proto-Afro-Asiatic is of great antiquity; experts tend to place it in the Mesolithic Period at about 15,000-10,000 bce. [100], All or most branches of AA have a contrast between voiceless, voiced, and "emphatic" consonants. Like in the English example, feet foot, vowels make the difference between separate words. Mimi-N In the series University of California Publications in Linguistics 126. [98] AA languages tend to have pharyngeal fricative consonants, with Egyptian, Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic sharing and . infix [also tonal shift as found in Chadic cases]), (this root is included because #871 following derives from it), (sing. 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. Adapted from Ruhlen 1987. [127], Afroasiatic Languages use the processes of reduplication and gemination (which often overlap in meaning) to derive nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs throughout the AA language family. [101] It is generally agreed that only the obstruents had a contrast between voiceless and voiced forms in Proto-Afroasiatic, whereas continuants were voiceless. Ekoid [131] This sex-based gender system is widely agreed to derive from Proto-Afroasiatic. The languages that evolved from Proto-Arabic have around 313 million native speakers, concentrated primarily in the Middle East and North Africa.[5]. [48] Today, Semitic languages are spoken across North Africa, Western Asia, and the Horn of Africa, as well as on the island of Malta, making them the sole Afroasiatic branch with members originating outside Africa. It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham's ancestor, Eber ("Ever" in Hebrew), mentioned in Genesis 10:21. p-Heiban [186] Within the Semitic language family, Lipiski counts four different roots meaning "one". [135] In addition to marking plurals via a number of affixes (with the suffixes -*uu/-*w and -*n(a) widely attested), several AA languages make use of internal vowel change (apophony) and/or insertion (epenthesis). WCh WOT *w: deverbative complement and result suffix: 2. [77], Conjugation of verbs using prefixes that mark person, number, and gender can be found [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. Omotic is the most controversial member of Afro-Asiatic. [44], The c. 30 Omotic languages are still mostly undescribed by linguists. London, Bloomsbury, 1998. [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. [123], Some scholars postulate that Proto-Afroasiatic was a tonal language, with tonality subsequently lost in some branches: Christopher Ehret has postulated a tonal system of at least two tonal phonemes, falling tone, rising tone, and possibly a third tone, level tone. The languages of what is now Afro-Asiatic occupy a "vast area that stretches from Morocco to Arabia" (Dalby, p.6). The Semitic line of Afro-Asiatic has the most language sub-sets. p-Jen These classifications of language sub-sets vary according to different texts. 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. ), to extend, stretch out (intr. Additional Proposed PAA Roots; Appendix 4. Hadza, https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Appendix:Proto-Afroasiatic_reconstructions&oldid=68902118, attributive noun and attributive deverbative suffix, attributive and complement deverbative suffix, noun derivation from verb by stem-vowel lengthening, (Sem., Eg. innovation: added sense, 'to listen to'), (Ch., Sem., Berber innovation: specialized meaning 'tooth'; but note presence of that meaning isolated in single Omotic language), (innovation: Sem., Ch. While there is no consensus among historical linguists concerning the original homeland of the Afroasiatic family or the period when the parent language (i.e. [99] [11], Greenberg reintroduced the name "Afroasiatic" in 1960, a name seemingly coined by Maurice Delafosse (as French afroasiatique) in 1914. A set of constraints, developed originally by Joseph Greenberg on the basis of Arabic, has been claimed to be typical for Afroasiatic languages. In Cushitic and Semitic, nouns exist in the "free state" or the "construct state". Proto-Afroasiatic, sometimes also referred to as Proto-Afrasian, is the reconstructed proto-language from which all modern Afroasiatic languages are descended.