Central Semitic languages

Last updated
Central Semitic
Geographic
distribution
Middle East
Linguistic classification Afro-Asiatic
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottolog cent2236
Geographic Distribution of some Ancient Semitic Inscriptions and their Languages.svg

The Central Semitic languages comprise one of the three groups of West Semitic languages, alongside Modern South Arabian languages and Ethiopian Semitic languages. [1] [2] They are therefore of the Semitic phylum of the Afroasiatic language family. The group is spoken across much of the Arabic peninsula and north into the Levant region.

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 Ammonite, Phoenician and Hebrew) and Aramaic.

Overview

Distinctive features of Central Semitic languages include the following: [3]

Different classification systems disagree on the precise structure of the group. The most common approach divides it into Arabic and Northwest Semitic, while SIL Ethnologue has South Central Semitic (including Arabic and Hebrew) vs. Aramaic. [3]

The main distinction between Arabic and the Northwest Semitic languages is the presence of broken plurals in the former. The majority of Arabic nouns (apart from participles) form plurals in this manner, whereas virtually all nouns in the Northwest Semitic languages form their plurals with a suffix. For example, the Arabic بَيْت bayt ("house") becomes بُيُوت buyūt ("houses"); the Hebrew בַּיִת bayit ("house") becomes בָּתִּים bāttīm ("houses"). [3]

References

  1. Bennett, Patrick R. (1998). Comparative Semitic Linguistics: A Manual. ISBN   9781575060217.
  2. Huehnergard, John; Pat-El, Na'ama (2013-10-08). The Semitic Languages. ISBN   9781136115882.
  3. 1 2 3 Faber, Alice (1997). "Genetic Subgrouping of the Semitic Languages". In Hetzron, Robert (ed.). The Semitic Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 3–15. ISBN   0-415-05767-1.