Central Semitic languages[1][2]are one of the three groups ofWest Semitic languages,alongsideModern South Arabian languagesandEthiopian Semitic languages.
| Central Semitic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Middle East |
| Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | cent2236 |
Central Semitic can itself be further divided into two groups:ArabicandNorthwest Semitic.Northwest Semitic languages largely fall into theCanaanite languages(such asAmmonite,PhoenicianandHebrew) andAramaic.
Overview
editDistinctive features of Central Semitic languages include the following:[3]
- An innovativenegationmarker *bal, of uncertain origin.
- The generalization oftas the suffix conjugation past tense marker,levellingan earlier alternation between *k in the first person and *t in the second person.
- A new prefix conjugation for the non-past tense, of the formya-qtulu,replacing the inheritedya-qattalform (they are schematic verbal forms, as if derived from an exampletriconsonantal rootq-t-l).
- Pharyngealizationof the emphatic consonants, which were previously articulated asejective.
Different classification systems disagree on the precise structure of the group. The most common approach divides it into Arabic and Northwest Semitic, whileSIL EthnologuehasSouth Central Semitic(including Arabic and Hebrew) vs. Aramaic.
The main distinction between Arabic and the Northwest Semitic languages is the presence ofbroken pluralsin the former. The majority of Arabic nouns (apart fromparticiples) form plurals in this manner, whereas virtually all nouns in the Northwest Semitic languages form their plurals with asuffix.For example, the Arabic بَيْتbayt( "house" ) becomes بُيُوتbuyūt( "houses" ); the Hebrew בַּיִתbayit( "house" ) becomes בָּתִּיםbāttīm( "houses" ).
References
edit- ^Bennett, Patrick R. (1998).Comparative Semitic Linguistics: A Manual.ISBN9781575060217.
- ^Huehnergard, John; Pat-El, Na'ama (2013-10-08).The Semitic Languages.ISBN9781136115882.
- ^Faber, Alice (1997). "Genetic Subgrouping of the Semitic Languages". InHetzron, Robert(ed.).The Semitic Languages.London: Routledge. pp.3–15.ISBN0-415-05767-1.
- Sabatino Moscati (1980).An Introduction to Comparative Grammar of Semitic Languages Phonology and Morphology.Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN3-447-00689-7.
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