[130], The assignment of nouns and pronouns to either masculine or feminine gender is present in all branches - but not all languages - of the Afroasiatic family. Though estimations vary widely, it is believed by scholars to have been spoken as a single language around 12,000 to 18,000 years ago , that is, between 16,000 and 10,000 BC. The following list of Proto-Afroasiatic reconstructions is from Ehret (1995). There is no agreement on the relationships between and subgrouping of the different Afroasiatic branches. 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. Newman suggested a relationship between Semitic and the Hausa language, an idea that was taken up by early scholars of Afroasiatic. There is no consensus regarding the location of the Proto-Semitic Urheimat; scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant, the Sahara, or the Horn of Africa, and the view that it arose in the Arabian Peninsulahas also been common historically. [152], A widely attested feature in AA languages is a consonantal structure into which various vocalic "templates" are placed. [33] Only about 40 Chadic languages have been fully described by linguists. *y: attributive noun and attributive deverbative suffix: 2a. p-Edoid Omotic is the most controversial member of Afro-Asiatic. Gule Dictionary of Languages. p-Upper Cross River Momo The Berber and Semitic branches share certain grammatical features (e.g. Proto-Afroasiatic) was spoken, most agree that it was located within a region of Northeast Africa. [195] Writing in 2004, John Huehnergaard notes the great difficulty in establishing cognate sets across the family. 28 July 1999. [134] A system K (masculine), T (feminine), and H (plural) can be found in Cushitic, Chadic, with masculine K also appearing in Omotic. [130], Many AA languages use prefixes or suffixes (verbal extensions) to encode various pieces of information about the verb. In Afro-Asiatic languages: Origins originated is referred to as Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Afro-Asiatic is a large language family with great diversity. p-Semitic, Khoisan p-Kuliak (Ik) If you are not satisfied with 225345861639 reflex), (root #723 + *x extend. p-Nilo-Saharan NE Sudanic Allan Bomhard's own reconstructions of Proto-Afroasiatic roots (and phonology) seem to be biased toward Proto-Indo-European and Nostratic roots . Among the countries included in this language family are: Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, and Ethiopia. The results, while confirming some previous views on proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian), revise or overturn many others, and add much that is new. innovation: *agaw- 'cooked grain,' stem + *w n. 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). suff. [77] Roger Blench writes that the debate has "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization". Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *abaw/y- Meaning: a k. of plant Semitic: *abVw- 'reed, papyrus' Egyptian: wb 'root', cf. suff. for expected *ii probably reflects phonetic influence of PC root in #254), (Sem., Eg. [23] In the past, Berber languages were spoken throughout North Africa except in Egypt;[24] since the 7th century CE, however, they have been heavily affected by Arabic and have been replaced by it in many places. suff. [15] Mller assumed that there existed a distinct "Hamitic" branch of the family that consisted of Egyptian, Berber, and Cushitic. Originally Posted by gihanga.rwanda. From the earliest times we have written records from Northern Africa. Gemination in particular is one of the typical features of AA. [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). [92], With the exception of some Chadic languages, all AA languages allow both closed and open syllables; many Chadic languages do not allow a syllable to end in a consonant. [83], A significant minority of scholars supports an Asian origin of Afroasiatic,[78] most of whom are specialists in Semitic or Egyptian studies. The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic,or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic subregions of Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara/Sahel. innovation: added meaning 'firm,' hence, figuratively, 'firmly established, strong'), to intertwine, to bind by twining together, to be above, be at the top, form the tip or peak, (Sem., Ch. innovation: 'fold over, bend'), (Eg., Sem. 'be, exist'), (root seen also in #983 + probably *s caus. 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. Olukumi p-Jen In Afro-Asiatic, there are five main families. p-Lower Cross River p-Plateau (p-Tarokoid) Three dialects emerged (Omotic, Cushitic, and Chadic) from the main one and this left Boreafrasian, the source of Berber, Egyptian and Semitic (Dalby ,p. 6). Bariba [99], The majority of AA languages are tonal languages: phonemic tonality is found in Omotic, Chadic, and Cushitic languages, but absent in Berber and Semitic. The Proto-Afroasiatic Consonant System. into stem), to take (bit of food or drink) into the mouth, (* is required by derived noun, root #641 following), (Eg., Sem. 'to come so close as to brush against'), (Eg., Sem. [77], Conjugation of verbs using prefixes that mark person, number, and gender can be found [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". Abstract The paper is a new contribution to revealing the Afro-Asiatic heritage in the lexicon of the Angas-Sura group of Chadic languages by means of interbranch comparison using a.o. It is, rather, a comparison of Proto-Indo-European with Proto-Afroasiatic. [75] Proponents of an African origin of Afroasiatic assume the proto-language to have been spoken by pre-Neolithic African hunter-gatherers,[76] arguing that there is no evidence of words in Proto-Afroasiatic related to agriculture or animal husbandry. [156] It is unclear whether this system is a common AA trait;[157] the Chadic examples, for instance, show signs of originally deriving from affixes, which could explain the origins of the alterations in other languages as well. innovation: to spoil > to sour), (Sem., Eg. ), (root #695 + *f iter.? This name is possibly based upon the root "-b-r" ( . [180] Also common are dependent/affix pronouns (used for direct objects and to mark possession). 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. [173] While some scholars posit an AA origin for this form, it is possible that the Berber and Cushitic forms are independent developments,[130] as they show significant differences from the Egyptian and Semitic forms. FOR SALE! : *itsim-), (2nd root shape: possible old tr. as EL). Voegelin, C.F. [129] Full or partial reduplication of the verb is often used to derive forms showing repeated action (pluractionality), though it is unclear if this is an inherited feature or has been widely borrowed. Beboid [190] Some South Cushitic numerals are borrowed from Nilotic languages, other Cushitic numerals have been borrowed from Ethiopian Semitic languages. [5] It includes languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africaand parts of the Sahel. Semitic and Berber are quite closely related, and both are more distantly connected to Cushitic. [181] Other commonalities are masculine and feminine forms used in both the second and third persons, except in Cushitic and Omotic. [31] They are all spoken in southwest Ethiopia except for the Ganza language, spoken in Sudan. . p-Ijaw [71] In the end, Meinhof's classification included languages from every family in Africa that is recognized by modern linguistics. p-Tuu [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. [109] Additionally, he showed that Proto-Semitic restricted a sequence of two identical consonants in the first and second position of the triliteral root. Thanks for viewing our Ebay listing! A set of constraints, developed originally by Joseph Greenberg on the basis of Arabic, has been claimed to be typical for Afroasiatic languages. [137][d] Another common method of forming plurals is reduplication. Roots Beginning with P and B - Oleg Linkohr 2020-03-15 . SOm stat. p-Mumuye [40] Militarev associates the speakers of Proto-Afroasiatic with the Levantine Post-Natufian Culture, arguing that the reconstructed lexicon of flora and fauna, as well as farming vocabulary indicates that Proto-AA must have been spoken in this area. Cognate Dictionary Studies in Baltic and Indo-European Linguistics The Roots of Hinduism Latin - nus, -na, -nus and -neus Tracing the Indo-Europeans Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo- . ; possible n. derivation < v. in #1004). Afroasiatic (Afro-Asiatic), also known as Afrasian or Hamito-Semitic, Semito-Hamitic, or Erythraean is a large language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel. fort. Proto-Afroasiatic, sometimes also referred to as Proto-Afrasian, is the reconstructed proto-language from which all modern Afroasiatic languages are descended. The results, while confirming some previous views on proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian), revise or overturn many others, and add much that is new. West Semitic brought forth such languages as Canaanite, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic (EL, p.906). They are not found in Chadic languages, and there is no evidence for cases in Egyptian. [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. innovation: n. 'morning' by addition of *r n. p-Ukaan If so, semantics are unclear), (pl. [30] For most branches, the first person pronouns contain a nasal consonant (n, m), whereas the third person displays a sibilant consonant (s, sh). [104] Several Omotic languages have "sibilant harmony", meaning that all sibilants (s, sh, z, ts, etc.) [92] Diakonoff argues that Proto-Afroasiatic syllables disallowed consonant clusters or vowels at the end of a syllable. Mimi-D [89] Igor Diakonoff argues that the requirement to begin with a vowel goes back to Proto-Afroasiatic. Shabo p-Nilotic (p-E. Niloticp-S. Nilotic) innovation: narrowing of meaning to beating time to music), (Eg., Sem. Also, how do roots work? Their range extended from the Benue Trough and Lake Chad, to the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley, and Southern Europe during the African Aqualithic Period. in Semitic, Berber, and in Cushitic,[130][166] where it is only found on a small set of frequent verbs. 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. ), (additional Cushitic alternants *-br- and *-br-), (stem + *r n. ref. [51] The classification within West Semitic remains contested. Some languages have an additional feminine plural form in -t that is not listed here. Amdang Other Language Families and Fields of Study. [54] Greenberg rejected the Afroasiatic classification of languages that Meinhof had classified as "Hamitic" based on racial and anthropological data. There was additional language contact within the Afro-Asiatic family when Arabs invaded Egypt in 640 A.D. Coptic, a daughter language of ancient Egyptian, had flourished until that time but was replaced eventually by Arabic (Voegelin ,p13). suff. p-Omotic Benfys title was later inverted to make Hamito-Semitic but over time racial connotations were applied to this name (Voegelin, p.13). . Looking at present languages and going backward helps us know what languages were like anciently (Atlas, p.75). 2.11. innovation: semantic narrowing to hitting with the hand), (probable *tliiz-, adj. [54][73][9] The reluctance of some scholars to recognize Chadic as a member of Afroasiatic persisted as late as the 1980s. He later added Semitic and Beja to Chadic-Berber-Egyptian and tentatively proposed, Alexander Militarev (2000), on the basis of. [100], All or most branches of AA have a contrast between voiceless, voiced, and "emphatic" consonants. p-Cangin [22] Other scholars, however, argue that they are a group of around twelve languages, about as different from each other as the Romance or Germanic languages. p-Masa Afroasiatic. [186] Within the Semitic language family, Lipiski counts four different roots meaning "one". This great divide has made travel difficult so linguistic boundaries tend to be based on either side. [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-Ogoni Dictionary - Vladimir E. Orel 2015-11-02 This dictionary is a fundamental source of information on the extinct proto-language of the ancient Hamito-Semites, the Proto-Hamito-Semitic language, and . There are approximately 400 Afroasiatic languages, either living or recorded but extinct. [99] In all AA languages, consonants can be bilabial, alveolar, velar, and glottal, with additional places of articulation found in some branches or languages. Proto-Afro-Asiatic is proposed to have been spoken 18,000 years ago near the Horn of Africa (eastern Africa). p-Jukunoid [98] AA languages tend to have pharyngeal fricative consonants, with Egyptian, Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic sharing and . [72] Earlier, the first scholar to question to existence of "Hamitic languages" was Marcel Cohen (1924),[9] while skepticism was also expressed by A. Klingenheben and Dietrich Westermann (1920s and '30s). [64] In the same year T.N. . [103] Igor M. Diakonoff proposed that Proto-AA had a three vowel system of long and short a, i, and u. p-North Bauchi Rashad p-Fali [37][34] Only one Cushitic language, Oromo, has more than 25 million speakers; other languages with more than a million speakers include Somali, Saho-Afar, Hadiyya, and Sidaama. Fifteen are glossed as names of plants or loose categories of plants. sing. [28], Chadic languages number between 150 and 190, making Chadic the largest family in Afroasiatic. The HmongMien languages also known as MiaoYao and rarely as Yangtzean1 are a highly tonal language family of southern China and northern Southeast [192] Thus, it is possible that the numerals in Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic are more closely related, whereas the Cushitic and Chadic numerals are more closely related to each other. Linguistics 450 The system in Berber, Egyptian, and Semitic, however, has independent words for the numbers 6-9. [153][168][h], Some AA branches have what is called a "suffix conjugation", formed by using pronominal suffixes to indicate person, gender, and number and a verbal adjective. Proto-Chadic and Proto-Cushitic are likely even older. [97] All Afroasiatic languages contain stops and fricatives; some branches have additional types of consonants such as affricates and lateral consonants. 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). p-Atlantic-Congo ), #209 + Afroasiatic pl. [146] Coptic and Egyptian grammar also refers to nouns having a "free" (absolute) state, a "construct state," and a "pronominal state." WCh WOT Linguists use the term "state" to refer to different things in different languages. [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. 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. to different specific animals), (possible vowel reconstructions: *a, *aa, *e, or *o), (Sem., Ch. New York: Elsevier, 1977. >>14700332 In the above model, Taforalt draws about half of their ancestry (you can call this ANA) from a population that also (likely through a sister population) contributes the . Central Sudanic (p-Central Sudanicp-Sara-Bongo-BagirmiSinyarBirrip-Mangbetu) Archaeologists and anthropologists have long viewed the Bible as mankind's best guide to prehistoric religion, however, archaeologist Klaus Schmidt had no reason to . [54] The "Hamitic theory" would serve as the basis for Carl Meinhof's highly influential classification of African languages in his book Die Sprache der Hamiten (1912). p-Koman shared innovation: *isin-/*usun- 'they' (originally fem./masc. ; semantics: flow out bit-by-bit), *-man-/*-mun-, *-ma-/*-mu-, *-ma-/*-mu-, (root #572 + *w inchoat. Since there is written data available from this region, it is easier to reconstruct ancient roots and find common characteristics (ELL, p.51). [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. [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". The Egyptian prefix has a middle voice/intransitive/or passive meaning. ; semantics: egg curves at every point? Greenberg, 1958 D. Cohen,. These three groups are classified as being in Africa while Afro-Asiatic is listed under the term Eurasia (Atlas, p.74). US$62.00 (softcover). [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. [183][184] In the Chadic family alone, there are two different roots for "two,"[185] and Berber and Semitic likewise have two different branch-internal roots for "two". [101][a] The emphatic consonants are typically formed deeper in the throat than the others;[99] they can be realized variously as glottalized, pharyngealized, uvularized, ejective, and/or implosive consonants in the different branches. South Bauchi The other three are very closely related and it is not hard for, say, a Dane to learn to understand a Swede. innovation: shift to outflow of water, not from body; root *-sa- seen in #540 + *t dur. p-Akokoid Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. Ayere-Ahan [175] In Egyptian, it takes the forms -j, whereas in Semitic it takes the form -i(y);[138] it thus has the same form in both language families. Tula-Waja S. SC Sem. Three dialects emerged (Omotic, Cushitic, and Chadic) from the main one and this left 'Boreafrasian,' the source of Berber, Egyptian and Semitic (Dalby ,p. 6). [30] A common characteristic of AA languages is the existence of a special set of "independent" pronouns, which are distinct from subject pronouns. [140] Some languages in AA have a marked nominative alignment, a feature which may date back to Proto-Afroasiatic. [121] Besides for Semitic, vocalic templates are well attested for Cushitic and Berber,[154] where, along with Chadic, it is less productive; it is absent in Omotic. [3] The phylum has six branches: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Semitic, and Omotic. It typically comprises Kartvelian, Indo-European, and Uralic languages; some languages from the disputed Altaic family; the Afroasiatic languages spoken in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East; and the Dravidian languages of the Indian Subcontinent (sometimes also Elamo-Dravidian, which connects India and the As the Afroasiatic languages tend to be the tongues with the longest and oldest historical record, there are not many that can beat the Proto-Afroasiatic. The Afroasiatic language family is thought to have originated in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 15,000 years ago. The only group with an African origin is Ethiopian Semitic. [145] Edward Lipiski refers to Semitic nouns as having four states: absolute (free/indeterminate), construct, determinate, and predicate. Consider also the debate over the origins of the Afroasiastic or Afrasan languages and cultures, a linguistic group with a wide geographical distribution covering the Middle East and Northern. [48] The oldest written attestations of Semitic languages come from Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Egypt and date as early as c. 3000 BCE. [189] In some Berber languages, the roots for one and two are also borrowed from Arabic. Sandawe innovation: 'grow' > 'live,' whence Eg. [7] Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial. as denom. suff. suff. The results, while confirming some previous views on proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian), revise or overturn many others, and add much that is new. [116], There is a large variety of vocalic systems in AA. innovation: 'increase' > 'grow in size'), (root #838 + * part. Tivoid Once the Luwian hieroglyphics for God "" and Gate "" were discovered at Gbekli Tepe, this author was able to directly link the site's carved pillars and pillar enclosures to the Abrahamic/Mosaic "Word of God", . suff. The most up to . For these versions, common words found in both Dolgopolsky (2008) and Bomhard (2018) are used, with Nostratic roots shared at least by Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Semitic, whenever possible. Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. [151] Such an etymology is rejected by A. Zaborski and Gbor Takcs, the latter of whom argues for a PAA *ma- that unites all or some of the meanings in the modern languages. TV. [82] Likewise, all Semitic languages are fairly similar to each other, whereas the African branches of Afroasiatic are very diverse; this suggests the rapid spread of Semitic out of Africa. SLEC Som. > *itsan-; Omotic innovation: stem + *m n. >>14700322 >Proto-Semitic language contact with PIE implies the Semitic languages themselves come from J Caucasians. This page was last edited on 28 August 2022, at 11:13. *w: deverbative complement and result suffix: 2. Kim all catalog, articles, website, & more in one search catalog books, media & more in the Stanford Libraries' collections articles+ journal articles & other e-resources [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. Well-known Afroasiatic languages include Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, Somali, Tuareg, and Hausa. Nilo-Saharan Archaeology and the study of oral traditions helps linguists find connections between language families. In current scholarship, the most common names used for the family are Afroasiatic (or Afro-Asiatic), Hamito-Semitic, and Semito-Hamitic. This work provides the first truly comprehensive and systematic reconstruction of proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian). [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. p-Igboid [49][48] Arabic, spoken in both Asia and Africa, has around 300 million native speakers, while the Ethiopian Amharic has around 25 million. An Encyclopedia of Language. 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'. * "Revising the Consonant Inventory of Proto-Eastern Cushitic," Studies in African Linguistics 22, 3 (1991): 211-275. infix [also tonal shift as found in Chadic cases]), (this root is included because #871 following derives from it), (sing. [187] Modern Chadic numeral systems are sometimes decimal, having separate names for the numbers 1-10, and sometimes base-5, deriving the numbers 6-9 from the numbers 1-5 in some way. 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. For other uses, see, Distribution of the Afro-Asiatic languages, Similarities in grammar, syntax, and morphology, Common derivational and morphological processes, Consonantal root structures and verbal forms, Some scholars argue that on the basis of Coptic that Egyptian had neither "emphatic consonants" nor a phonemic distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants. p-Songhay p-Benue-Congo Natioro infix), fruit, seeds, foliage, plant growth in general, (Ch., Sem. [29] Eight other Chadic languages have around 100,000 speakers; other Chadic languages often have few speakers and may be endangered of going extinct. El proto-afroasitico , a veces denominado proto-afrasiano , es el proto-lenguaje reconstruido del que descienden todas las lenguas afroasiticas modernas . Temein *kop-sole (of foot . Proto-Chadic reconstruction is in its infancy, Proto-Cushitic is even less developed, and according to Glottolog it's not demonstrable that Omotic languages are even related to each other, let alone as part of Afro-Asiatic. To the south lay the other language families of Africa: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan (Atlas,p74).