One hypothesis places it in the Levant, as the language of the Natufian hunter-gatherers who were the first to adopt a farming lifestyle more than 10,000 years ago. [154] In Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, and some Chadic languages, verbs have no inherent vowels at all; the vowels found in a given verb are dependent on the vocalic template. 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. Origins, Migrations, and Language Contacts. [10][11], Friedrich Mller introduced the name "Hamito-Semitic" to describe the family in his Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft, published in 1876. [149], A prefix in m- is the most widely attested affix in AA that is used to derive nouns. shared innovation: *als-/*ils- 'tongue': *a-/*i-attrib. *w: deverbative complement and result suffix: 2. p-Ijaw *y: adjective suffix: 3. ), (Sem., Eg. Map of Afro-Asiatic languages distribution (click to enlarge it) [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. Proto-Afroasiatic is a reconstructed language. [49], There there are also other proposed branches, but none has so far convinced a majority of scholars:[7]. This original biblical genealogy reflected political rather than linguistic realities: thus the Canaanites are descendants of Ham, although their language is closely related to Hebrew, and the Elamites are descendants of Shem, although their language is not related to Hebrew at all. Atlantic (Guinea) Momo 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 . 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. [186] Within the Semitic language family, Lipiski counts four different roots meaning "one". New York: Elsevier, 1977. p-Agaw The results, while confirming some previous views on proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian), revise or overturn many others, and add much that is new. [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. [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. It rigorously applies, throughout, the established canon and techniques of the historical-comparative method. p-Kongo [77] Roger Blench writes that the debate has "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization". p-Ogoni < v. in #918 by V > VV; occurrence of PSC *ee (or *e?) [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. [30] For most branches, the first person pronouns contain a nasal consonant (n, m), whereas the third person displays a sibilant consonant (s, sh). 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. as ELL). Rashad ), (root *-sa-, seen also in #539 preceding, + *w inchoative), (2nd root shape *-caab- seen in PEC v. and Banna (SOm) 'white,' is not as yet satisfactorily accounted for), indefinite pronoun stem (one, someone, somebody), (stem + * iter. . There are approximately 400 Afroasiatic languages, either living or recorded but extinct. [83], A significant minority of scholars supports an Asian origin of Afroasiatic,[78] most of whom are specialists in Semitic or Egyptian studies. [40] Scholars have proposed locations both in the Middle East and in Africa. innovation: stem + *n n. suff. Omotic is the most controversial member of Afro-Asiatic. [128] In most branches, gender is an inherent property of nouns. The reconstruction of Proto-Afroasiatic is problematic and . p-Maban 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'. innovation: to spoil > to sour), (Sem., Eg. derivation by addition of *-u- tr. Kim [183], Another factor making comparisons of AA numeral systems difficult is the possibility of borrowing. [182], Unlike in the Indo-European or Austronesian language families, numerals in AA languages cannot be traced to a proto-system. [144], A second category, which partially overlaps with case, is the AA linguistic category of "state." Since there is written data available from this region, it is easier to reconstruct ancient roots and find common characteristics (ELL, p.51). p-Mande (p-W. Mandep-Mandekanp-Niger-Voltap-S. Mande) [104] Several Omotic languages have "sibilant harmony", meaning that all sibilants (s, sh, z, ts, etc.) >>14700322 >Proto-Semitic language contact with PIE implies the Semitic languages themselves come from J Caucasians. [68] Greenberg also proposed that Hausa was part of a Chadic branch of Afroasiatic, and that Afroasiatic consisted of five main branches, Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, and Semitic. : *itsim-), (2nd root shape: possible old tr. [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]. TV. 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. Whether this proto-language is ancestral to Berber and Semitic only, or also to other branches of Afroasiatic, still remains to be established. Mimi-N 1995. 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 (12 to 18 kya ), that is, between 16,000 and 10,000 BC. [121] This structure is particularly visible in the verbs,[153] and is particularly noticeable in the triliteral Semitic verb. ; semantics: from closed- to open-ended action), to be wrong, bad, ill; do or function wrongly, (Eg., Ch. in *n, as also in #210) 324. p-Nilotic (p-E. Niloticp-S. Nilotic) Dictionary of Languages. 1 Afro-Asiatic Language Family. [8][9] Other proposed names which have not found widespread acceptance among the linguistic community include Erythraic, Lisramic, Noahitic, and Lamekhite. p-Plateau (p-Tarokoid) Proposed specific locations include the Horn of Africa, Egypt, the eastern Sahara, and the Levant. suff. The prefixes ti and it mean she. Linguistic guesstimates or phylogenetic speculation date the proto-language (and thus the homeland) within a wide range, from 15,000 to 6,000 years ago. *kanf-/*kinf-wing: 325. 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). Such evidence may reveal plants known to early Afroasiatic speakers; but it does not diagnose whether they were cultivated or wild. It is, rather, a comparison of Proto-Indo-European with Proto-Afroasiatic. ; short vowel required by derived verb #399), calabash (used as container, utensil, etc. Root Structure Patterning in Proto . innovation: narrowing of application of v. to angry calling out), (Sem., Cush, innovation: > n. 'covering' > 'rind, bark'), (root #447+ * iter. Omotic and Cushitic followed the example and split together, as did Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic in another group. p-Daju 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). 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. Nara [17][18] Victor Porkhomovsky suggests that the label "Hamito-Semitic" is at this point simply convention and no more implies an opposition between Semitic and "Hamitic" languages than "Indo-European" implies a "European" and an Indic branch. ; PS, Eg., Ch. . p-Nilo-Saharan Egyptian is classified as a distinct language and the other sub-groups are: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic, and Semitic (Voegelin, p.12). The name Hamitic originates from Ham, one of the sons of Noah. Both works provide highly divergent reconstructions and have been heavily criticized by other scholars. Gule all catalog, articles, website, & more in one search catalog books, media & more in the Stanford Libraries' collections articles+ journal articles & other e-resources The root form of the verb has only three consonants in common. [40] Coptic is the only stage written alphabetically to show vowels, whereas Egyptian was previously written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, which only represent consonants. p-Maji "[81] The African languages of Afroasiatic are not more closely related to each other than they are to Semitic, as one would expect if only Semitic had remained in an Asian AA homeland while all other branches had spread from there. innovation: 'lift' > 'carry', (Eg., Sem., Cush, shared innovations: *su, *usu 'he'; *si, *isi 'she': see Chap. innovation: 'to rub' > 'to scrape'), (* and *a are reconstructed because they are required in derived root #651 below), (#649 + *r diffus. North of the Sahara and the Ethiopian mountains are the Afro-Asiatic languages. p-Grassfields 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. The "t-stem" may be reflected in some forms in Hausa; however may also derive from a language internal development and has no cognates elsewhere in Chadic. [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. suff. Proto-Afroasiatic) was spoken, most agree that it was located within a region of Northeast Africa. of #724 by adding *-(a)C- where C = preceding stem-final C, is implied in Eg. [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. [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. Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. ), to extend, stretch out (intr. In current scholarship, the most common names used for the family are Afroasiatic (or Afro-Asiatic), Hamito-Semitic, and Semito-Hamitic. Mao [80] Most scholars place the homeland of Afroasiatic near the center of its current distribution,[8] "in the southeastern Sahara or adjacent Horn of Africa. shared innovation: *isin-/*usun- 'they' (originally fem./masc. Semitic and Berber are quite closely related, and both are more distantly connected to Cushitic. [47] Other scholars have questioned whether it is Afroasiatic at all, due its lack of several typical aspects of Afroasiatic morphology. [20], The Berber (or Libyco-Berber) languages are spoken today by perhaps 16 million people. [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. [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. Olukumi Great variety is incorporated in one family and this makes Afro-Asiatic an interesting topic of study. 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-Lower Cross River These three groups are classified as being in Africa while Afro-Asiatic is listed under the term Eurasia (Atlas, p.74). ), (root seen also in #984 + *n non-fin. suff. innovation: generalization of pl. Yendang Archaeology and the study of oral traditions helps linguists find connections between language families. SLEC Som. innovation: derivation of n. for 'hand'), (Eg., Sem. (abbrev. p-North Bauchi Dalby, Andrew. innovation: 'send' > 'direct,' hence 'command, rule'), (Agaw *a allows PAA vowel reconstructions *a, *aa, *o, or *e), (Sem., Eg. p-Yoruboid [169] As there is no evidence for the "prefix conjugation" in Omotic, Chadic, or Egyptian, it is unclear whether this was a Proto-Afroasiatic feature that has been lost in those branches or is a shared innovation among Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic. [7] Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial. [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. [31], A majority of specialists consider Omotic to constitute a sixth branch of Afroasiatic. [29] Eight other Chadic languages have around 100,000 speakers; other Chadic languages often have few speakers and may be endangered of going extinct. [120] Ronny Meyer and H. Ekkehard Wolff instead propose that Proto-Afroasiatic may have had no vowels as such, instead employing various syllabic consonants (*l, *m, *n, *r) and semivowels or semivowel-like consonants (*w, *y, *, *, *, *h, *, *, *, *h) to form syllables. [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. innovation: narrowing of meaning to beating time to music), (Eg., Sem. 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. To the south lay the other language families of Africa: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan (Atlas,p74). [49][48] Arabic, spoken in both Asia and Africa, has around 300 million native speakers, while the Ethiopian Amharic has around 25 million. This great divide has made travel difficult so linguistic boundaries tend to be based on either side.
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