[133], A widespread pattern of gender and number marking in Afroasiatic is a consonant N for masculine, T for feminine, and N for plural. There is no information on whether Egyptian had tones. Temein [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. + stem; PS *lisn 'tongue' is a separate and distinct derivation from the same verb root), (Sem., Eg., Ch. [66], Meinhof's version of the "Hamitic theory" remained prevalent until the 1940s, when it was definitively disproved by Joseph Greenberg. [113] These rules also have a number of exceptions: Similar exceptions can be demonstrated for the other AA branches that have these restrictions to their root formation. [130][164] In Akkadian, Egyptian, Berber, and Cushitic this forms a "stative conjugation", used to express the state or result of an action; the same endings as in Akkadian and Egyptian are also present in the West Semitic perfective verb form. [136] These so-called "internal a" or "broken" plurals are securely attested in Semitic, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic, although it is unclear if the Chadic examples are an independent development. *y: attributive noun and attributive deverbative suffix: 2a. Gule ), #209 + Afroasiatic pl. Ehret's dictionary lists "Proto-South-Cushitic, original homeland of the Afroasiatic family, "The feminine endings *-ay and *-y in Semitic and Berber", "A reconstruction of the system of verb aspects in proto-Berbero-Semitic", Afro-Asiatic and Semitic genealogical trees, short annotations of the talks given there, The prehistory of a dispersal: the Proto-Afrasian (Afroasiatic) farming lexicon, Once More About Glottochronology And The Comparative Method: The Omotic-Afrasian case, Root Extension And Root Formation In Semitic And Afrasian, A comparison of Orel-Stolbova's and Ehret's Afro-Asiatic reconstructions, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Afroasiatic_languages&oldid=1142726919, Linguist H. Fleming proposed that the near-exinct, Harold Fleming (1981) divides non-Omotic Afroasiatic, or "Erythraean", into three groups, Cushitic, Semitic, and Chadic-Berber-Egyptian. PROTO-AFROASIATIC PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM One of the most significant characteristics of Afroasiatic consonantism is the system of triads found in the stops and affri- cates -- each series (except the lateralized affricates) contains three members: a voiceless (aspirated) member, a voiced member, and a glottalized (that is, ejective) member. Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary. [65] In 1844, Theodor Benfey first described the relationship between Semitic and the Egyptian language and connected both to the Berber and the Cushitic languages (which he called "Ethiopic"). [156], There is no agreement about which tenses or aspects Proto-Afroasiatic might have had. Kim Archaeologists and anthropologists have long viewed the Bible as mankind's best guide to prehistoric religion, however, archaeologist Klaus Schmidt had no reason to . London, Bloomsbury, 1998. Additional Proposed PAA Roots; Appendix 4. [91] Typically, syllables only begin with a single consonant. Proto-Afroasiatic is a reconstructed language. p-Plateau (p-Tarokoid) This language family has now been renamed Afro-Asiatic, because this term is less culture specific (Dalby, p.6). to different specific animals), (possible vowel reconstructions: *a, *aa, *e, or *o), (Sem., Ch. [108] Such rules do not always apply for nouns, numerals, or denominal verbs, and do not affect prefixes or suffixes added to the root. Proto-Afroasiatic English gloss Notes 1. p-N. Jos p-Kongo ), (root #695 + *f iter.? [30] A common characteristic of AA languages is the existence of a special set of "independent" pronouns, which are distinct from subject pronouns. [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. Ekoid There is also some evidence from. Thanks for viewing our Ebay listing! Pre-Proto-Semitic Roots (Additional to those presented in Ehret 1989) Appendix 2. innovation: 'knee'; Berber *afud < *puuz), to be finished, come to an end, be used up, (Sem., Cush. [121], As part of these templates, the alternation (apophony) between high vowels (e.g. shared innovation: 'move, take' > 'take hold of'), (Cush., Ch., Eg., Sem. Mimi-D to domestic animals in general, then narrowing in PS and Eg. [77] Roger Blench writes that the debate has "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization". common genetic origin of Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic differ considerably from the assumptions made in other works on . [20], The Berber (or Libyco-Berber) languages are spoken today by perhaps 16 million people. [181] Other commonalities are masculine and feminine forms used in both the second and third persons, except in Cushitic and Omotic. [133][150] It forms agent nouns, place nouns, and instrument nouns. Kunama [34], The Egyptian branch consists of a single language, Ancient Egyptian, which was historically spoken in the lower Nile Valley. (abbrev. of proto-Afroasiatic cultivation. Other Language Families and Fields of Study. [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. [179] However, there is no consensus on what the reconstructed set of Afroasiatic pronouns might have looked like. innovation: addition of * concisive to denote short, concentrated outflow, hence vomiting), (Sem., Eg. [101] The Omotic forms of the personal pronouns differ from the others, with only the plural forms in North Omotic appearing potentially to be cognate. Rashad The construct state is a special, usually reduced form of a noun, which is used when the noun is possessed by another noun (Semitic) or is modified by an adjective or relative clause (Cushitic). 2.12. 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. There are approximately 400 Afroasiatic languages, either living or recorded but extinct. 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. [32] It may have as many as 80 to 100 million first and second language speakers. [137][d] Another common method of forming plurals is reduplication. as denom. suff. A main characteristic of Afro-Asiatic languages is the use of vowel changes in word formation. US$62.00 (softcover). Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. > *itsan-; Omotic innovation: stem + *m n. for expected *ii probably reflects phonetic influence of PC root in #254), (Sem., Eg. p-Jen [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. p-Nubian [76], There is no consensus where the original homeland (Urheimat) of the first Afroasiatic speakers was located. 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). : *itsim-), (2nd root shape: possible old tr. The languages that evolved from Proto-Arabic have around 313 million native speakers, concentrated primarily in the Middle East and North Africa.[5]. 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. Newman suggested a relationship between Semitic and the Hausa language, an idea that was taken up by early scholars of Afroasiatic. Published 1995 Linguistics This work provides the first truly comprehensive and systematic reconstruction of proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian). p-Maban Afro-Asiatic is divided into six branches: Semitic, Berber, Egyptian, Cushitic, Chadic and Omotic. 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. [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). 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. Tiefo innovation: narrowing of application of v. to angry calling out), (Sem., Cush, innovation: > n. 'covering' > 'rind, bark'), (root #447+ * iter. [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. Archaeology and the study of oral traditions helps linguists find connections between language families. Omotic, Cushitic, and Chadic are also spoken north of the Sahara so it must be assumed that the speakers of these "dialects" migrated north likewise, though perhaps separately from the Boreafrasian speakers (Dalby, p.6). 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- . SLEC Som. in *n, as also in #210) 324. p-Central Chadic [189] In some Berber languages, the roots for one and two are also borrowed from Arabic. [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. p-North Bauchi p-Cushitic In current scholarship, the most common names used for the family are Afroasiatic (or Afro-Asiatic), Hamito-Semitic, and Semito-Hamitic. [147][148] Berber instead contrasts between the "free state" and the "annexed state," the latter of which is used for a variety of purposes, including for subjects placed after a verb and after certain prepositions. [74], There is no consensus on when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken. [19] Additionally, a majority of specialists consider the Omotic languages to constitute a sixth branch. [99] In all AA languages, consonants can be bilabial, alveolar, velar, and glottal, with additional places of articulation found in some branches or languages. 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 . Nilo-Saharan [149], A prefix in m- is the most widely attested affix in AA that is used to derive nouns. [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. The Proto-Afroasiatic Vowel System" In The Nostratic Macrofamily: A Study in Distant Linguistic Relationship, 105-108. p-Fula-Sereer crcst test prep; crcst free test questions; paid test; crcst exam prep notes; subscribe ; *m > /n/ ([])/_*x), (Sem., Eg. as EL). [40] Coptic is the only stage written alphabetically to show vowels, whereas Egyptian was previously written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, which only represent consonants. *kanf-/*kinf-wing: 325. Report Save. In An Encyclopedia of Language, Omotic is listed as a sub-set of Cushitic, and Andrew Dalby writes the Egyptian division as "Egyptian-Coptic," even though Coptic is considered to be a sub-set of Egyptian. [103][101] The feminine marker T is one of the most consistent aspects across the different branches of AA;[133] in addition to deriving feminine nouns in many branches, it also functions as a diminutive, pejorative, and/or singulative marker in some languages. [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. innovation: derivation of n. for 'hand'), (Eg., Sem. [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. Allan Bomhard's own reconstructions of Proto-Afroasiatic roots (and phonology) seem to be biased toward Proto-Indo-European and Nostratic roots . In Arabic, ti-ktib means she writes and katab-it means she wrote. Proto-Semitic was a contemporary of PIE. At the same time, linguistic similarities such as vowel changes help show relationships among languages. [30] For most branches, the first person pronouns contain a nasal consonant (n, m), whereas the third person displays a sibilant consonant (s, sh). [128] Proto-Chadic is reconstructed as having verb-initial word order,[80] but most Chadic languages have subject-verb-object word order. Semitic speakers moved into the Fertile Crescent and "emerg[ed] into history" by bringing Akkadian (a Semitic language) into what is now Iraq, a previously Sumerian-speaking area (Dalby ,p6). Proto-Afro-Asiatic is proposed to have been spoken 18,000 years ago near the Horn of Africa (eastern Africa). The only branch that's actually E is Berber. Looking at present languages and going backward helps us know what languages were like anciently (Atlas, p.75). 2.11. Kadu [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. i, u) and a low vowel (a) in verbal forms is usually described as one of the main characteristics of AA languages: this change codes a variety of different functions. suff. shared innovation: n. for 'clay'), great (especially in size but also in number), (Ch., Eg., Sem. In Afro-Asiatic, there are five main families. Ongota Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. suff. ; semantics: egg curves at every point? ), (Berber, Eg. [77][127] Berber, and Egyptian, and most Semitic languages are verb-initial languages, whereas Cushitic, Omotic and some Semitic subgroups are verb-final languages. < v. in #918 by V > VV; occurrence of PSC *ee (or *e?) New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1996. p-Bua in Semitic, Berber, and in Cushitic,[130][166] where it is only found on a small set of frequent verbs. Whether this proto-language is ancestral to Berber and Semitic only, or also to other branches of Afroasiatic, still remains to be established. Greenberg, 1958 D. Cohen,. p-Ukaan innovation: integration of *t dur. p-Upper Cross River p-Ogoni E-V13. [166] There is a general pattern in which n- is used for the first person plural, whereas t- is used for all forms of the second person regardless of plurality or gender, as well as feminine singular. [159] The Egyptian verbal system diverges greatly from that found in the other branches. [92] Diakonoff argues that Proto-Afroasiatic syllables disallowed consonant clusters or vowels at the end of a syllable. 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. [139], Nouns cases are found in the Semitic, Berber, Cushitic, and Omotic. I.2.1. innovation: 'grow' > 'live,' whence Eg. 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. p-Yoruboid Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary. innovation: narrowing of meaning to tr. Root Structure Patterning in Proto . ; possible n. derivation < v. in #1004). Originally Posted by gihanga.rwanda. innovation: n. 'morning' by addition of *r n. stretching out of arms), (Sem, Eg., Ch., Cush, innovation: 'set on top of' > 'cover'), (Sem., Eg. [12] Each component of this term was derived from the name of a Biblical son of Noah as detailed in the Book of Genesis: Semitic from his first-born son Shem, and Hamitic from his second son Ham (Genesis 5:32). C. The Proto-Afroasiatic Vowel System. The results, while confirming some previous views on proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian), revise or overturn many others, and add much that is new. 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. [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. p-Atlantic-Congo [6] To the south lay the other language families of Africa: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan (Atlas,p74). Upload your video About the author [21] They are often considered to constitute a single language with multiple dialects. While this is not the first attempt to demonstrate that Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic are genetically related, it is the first to use the radical revision of the Proto-Indo-European consonantal system proposed by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, Paul J. Hopper, p-Chadic [11], Greenberg reintroduced the name "Afroasiatic" in 1960, a name seemingly coined by Maurice Delafosse (as French afroasiatique) in 1914. Jalaa [183], Another factor making comparisons of AA numeral systems difficult is the possibility of borrowing. NE Sudanic North of the Sahara and the Ethiopian mountains are the Afro-Asiatic languages. New York: Elsevier, 1977. [197], There are two etymological dictionaries of Afroasiatic, one by Christopher Ehret, and one by Vladimir Orel and Olga Stolbova, both from 1995. ), (Sem., Eg. An Encyclopedia of Language. Voegelin, C.F. except for Semitic, which is also spoken in the Middle-East and Malta, all branches of the Pr. [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: 'lift' > 'carry', (Eg., Sem., Cush, shared innovations: *su, *usu 'he'; *si, *isi 'she': see Chap. From the earliest times we have written records from Northern Africa. p-Oti-Volta (p-E. Oti-Voltap-C. Oti-Volta) The Atlas of Languages. p-Nilo-Saharan [112] Greenberg divided Semitic consonants into four types: "back consonants" (glottal, pharyngeal, uvular, laryngeal, and velar consonants), "front consonants" (dental or alveolar consonants), liquid consonants, and labial consonants. [54] However, Christopher Ehret (1979), Harold Fleming (1981), and Joseph Greenberg (1981) all agree that the Omotic branch split from the rest first. [93] Most words end in a vowel in Omotic and Cushitic, making syllable-final consonant clusters rare. [134] A system K (masculine), T (feminine), and H (plural) can be found in Cushitic, Chadic, with masculine K also appearing in Omotic. [124] Other scholars argue that Proto-AA had a pitch accent and some branches subsequently developed tone. ), (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. [29] The Chadic languages are typically divided into three major branches, East Chadic, Central Chadic, and West Chadic. The speakers of Boreafrasian migrated north to an arid Sahara climate, then eventually pushed on west and east. [140] Some languages in AA have a marked nominative alignment, a feature which may date back to Proto-Afroasiatic. [196] Additionally, because Egyptian is written without vowels before the Coptic period, its use for comparative purposes often relies on vocalic reconstructions that themselves depend on comparisons with other Afroasiatic languages. xvii + 557. [117] In the different languages, central vowels are often inserted to break up consonant clusters (a form of epenthesis). [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. [31] They are all spoken in southwest Ethiopia except for the Ganza language, spoken in Sudan. 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. innovation: 'to rub' > 'to scrape'), (* and *a are reconstructed because they are required in derived root #651 below), (#649 + *r diffus. Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. Theodor Benfy found that Egyptian and Semitic languages were similar in 1844, and he classified them under the Semito-Hamitic language family. Meredith Holt * "Revising the Consonant Inventory of Proto-Eastern Cushitic," Studies in African Linguistics 22, 3 (1991): 211-275. FOR SALE! Continue Reading 5 Brian Collins [38] The oldest text in a Cushitic language probably dates from around 1770. n. pref. p-Guang p-Omotic ), to extend, stretch out (intr. [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". [174] It is found in Egyptian, Semitic, and possibly, in some relic forms, Berber. If so, semantics are unclear), (pl. derivation by addition of *-u- tr. Shabo Defaka infix [also tonal shift as found in Chadic cases]), (this root is included because #871 following derives from it), (sing. Atlantic (Guinea) 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! [31], A majority of specialists consider Omotic to constitute a sixth branch of Afroasiatic. [195] Writing in 2004, John Huehnergaard notes the great difficulty in establishing cognate sets across the family. Mimi-N Momo Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 June 2016 Alan S. Kaye Article Metrics Save PDF West Semitic brought forth such languages as Canaanite, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic (EL, p.906). [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]. Retard. >>14700332 [99] In Cushitic, the Ethiopian Semitic language Tigrinya, and some Chadic languages, there is no underlying phoneme [p] at all. [2] With the exception of its Semitic branch, all branches of the Afroasiatic family are exclusively native to the African continent. These are some known features common to more than one branch, though (Hodge 1971; Lecarme, Lowenstamm, and Shlonsky 2000; Frajzyngier and Shay 2012): p-Agaw Proto-Afro-Asiatic is of great antiquity; experts tend to place it in the Mesolithic Period at about 15,000-10,000 bce. redup. [18][11], The alternative name "Lisramic" is based on the AA root *lis- ("tongue") and the Egyptian word rm ("person"). The Semitic line of Afro-Asiatic has the most language sub-sets. [44], The c. 30 Omotic languages are still mostly undescribed by linguists. innovation: stem + *n n. suff. Proto-Afroasiatic phonology has been the subject of several proposals for reconstruction that are not only different from each other, but also very divergent (cf. 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). [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. [30] Most Chadic languages are located in the Chad basin, with the exception of Hausa. A set of constraints, developed originally by Joseph Greenberg on the basis of Arabic, has been claimed to be typical for Afroasiatic languages. [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. [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. >I find it odd how Semitic is still Afroasiatic even though it's tied to a non-E haplogroup Egyptian and Semitic are both J. Cushitic is T and Chadic is J/R1b-V88. p-Central Khoisan [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. El proto-afroasitico , a veces denominado proto-afrasiano , es el proto-lenguaje reconstruido del que descienden todas las lenguas afroasiticas modernas . 2.10. 6), (Eg., Sem., Cush. FOR SALE! The main quality of Afro-Asiatic is that it "cuts across usually perceived racial boundaries" (Dalby, p.6). It rigorously applies, throughout, the established canon and techniques. 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'. [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. The following list of Proto-Afroasiatic reconstructions is from Ehret (1995). . p-Igboid innovation: addition of *t n. ; PS, Eg., Ch. p-Ring [29] Eight other Chadic languages have around 100,000 speakers; other Chadic languages often have few speakers and may be endangered of going extinct. Proto-Chadic and Proto-Cushitic are likely even older. [118], Attempts to reconstruct the vocalic system of Proto-Afroasiatic vary considerably. suff. [7] Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial. [5] It includes languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africaand parts of the Sahel. [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. 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. [191], The Cushitic and Chadic numeral systems appear to have originally been base 5. Olukumi in East Africa. [83], A significant minority of scholars supports an Asian origin of Afroasiatic,[78] most of whom are specialists in Semitic or Egyptian studies. 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. p-Maji ; short vowel required by derived verb #399), calabash (used as container, utensil, etc. [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". 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). [6][7], with the latter two having fallen out of favor in English but still seeing frequent usage in other languages, such as German. Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1994. suff. p-Ron The Berber and Semitic branches share certain grammatical features (e.g. Amdang innovation: narrowing of meaning to beating time to music), (Eg., Sem. p-Lakka This can be found in Semitic, Egyptian, Beja, Berber, and Chadic. Omotic and Cushitic followed the example and split together, as did Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic in another group. Akpes p-Gurunsi Afroasiatic. WCh WOT 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. suff. [106] The most widespread constraint is against two different labial consonants (other than w) occurring together in a root, a constraint which can be found in all branches but Omotic. fort. [121] For Egyptian, evidence for the root-and-template structure exists from Coptic.