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The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of ancient Semitic languages. The term was first coined in 1883 by Fritz Hommel. [1] [2] [3] The grouping [4] supported by Semiticists like Robert Hetzron and John Huehnergard divides the Semitic language family into two branches: Eastern and Western. [5]
- Semitic languages - Wikipedia
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic...
- Northwest Semitic languages - Wikipedia
Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages...
- Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples - Wikipedia
Approximate historical distribution of the Semitic languages...
- Central Semitic languages - Wikipedia
Central Semitic languages [1] [2] are one of the three...
- Semitic languages - Simple English Wikipedia, the free ...
The Semitic languages are a branch of Afroasiatic languages...
- West Semitic languages - Simple English Wikipedia, the free ...
The West Semitic languages are a large branch of Semitic...
- Semitic languages - Wikipedia
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic, Hebrew, and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, North Africa, [a] the Horn of Africa, [b] [c] Malta, [d] and in large immigrant and expatriate ...
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- Historical Development
- Phonology
- Grammar
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The time period for the split of Northwest Semitic from Proto-Semitic or from other Semitic groups is uncertain. It has been recently suggested by Richard C. Steiner that the earliest attestation of Northwest Semitic is to be found in snake spells from the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, dating to the mid-third millennium BC. Amorite personal names and wor...
Sound changes
Phonologically, Ugaritic lost the sound *ṣ́, replacing it with /sˁ/ (ṣ) (the same shift occurred in Canaanite and Akkadian). That this same sound became /ʕ/ in Aramaic (although in Ancient Aramaic, it was written with qoph), suggests that Ugaritic is not the parent language of the group. An example of this sound shift can be seen in the word for earth: Ugaritic /ʔarsˁ/ (’arṣ), Punic /ʔarsˁ/ (’arṣ), Tiberian Hebrew /ʔɛrɛsˁ/ (’ereṣ), Biblical Hebrew /ʔarsˁ/ (’arṣ) and Aramaic /ʔarʕaː/ (’ar‘ā’)....
Vowels
Proto-Northwest Semitic had three contrastive vowel qualities and a length distinction, resulting in six vocalic phonemes: *a, *ā, *i, *ī, *u, and *ū. While *aw, *ay, *iw, *iy, *uw, and *uy are often referred to as diphthongs, they do not seem to have had a different status as such, rather being a normal sequence of a short vowel and a glide.
Consonants
Suchard proposes that: "*s, both from original *s and original *ṯ, then shifted further back to a postalveolar *š, while deaffrication of *ts and *dz to *s and *z gave these phonemes their Hebrew values, as well as merging original *dz with original *ḏ. In fact, original *s may have been realized as anything between [s] and [ʃ]; both values are attested in foreign transcriptions of early Northwest Semitic languages".[citation needed]
Nouns
Three cases can be reconstructed for Proto-Northwest Semitic nouns (nominative, accusative, genitive), two genders (masculine, feminine) and three numbers(single, dual, plural).
Pronouns
Proto-Northwest Semitic pronouns had 2 genders and 3 grammatical cases.
Numerals
Reconstruction of Proto-Northwest Semitic numbers.
Blau, J. 1968. "Some Difficulties in the Reconstruction of 'Proto-Hebrew' and 'Proto-Canaanite'," in In Memoriam Paul Kahle. BZAW, 103. pp. 29–43Cross, F. M. 1965. “The Development of the Jewish Scripts,” in The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of W. F. Albright, ed. G. E. Wright. New York. Reprinted 1965, Anchor Book Editio...Cross, F. M. 1967. “The Origin and Early Evolution of the Alphabet,” EI5: 8*-24*.Cross, F. M. 1982. “Alphabets and pots: Reflections on typological method in the dating of human artifacts,” MAARAV3: 121–136.The West Semitic languages are a large branch of Semitic languages. It is the only branch of Semitic languages with languages still spoken. The other branch of Semitic languages was East Semitic. It is extinct. The two branches of West Semitic languages are Central and Southern. Some linguists disagree with the branches.
Central Semitic languages [1] [2] are one of the three groups of West Semitic languages, alongside Modern South Arabian languages and Ethiopian Semitic languages. Central Semitic can itself be further divided into two groups: Arabic and Northwest Semitic. Northwest Semitic languages largely fall into the Canaanite languages (such as Phoenician ...
Approximate historical distribution of the Semitic languages in the Ancient Near East.. Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples or Proto-Semitic people were speakers of Semitic languages who lived throughout the ancient Near East and North Africa, including the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula and Carthage from the 3rd millennium BC until the end of antiquity, with some, such as Arabs ...
The Semitic languages are a branch of Afroasiatic languages spoken in North Africa, Arabia, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family, which originated in the Middle East. Semitic languages are spoken by more than 470 million people across much of Western Asia, North Africa and ...
