Afroasiatic languages: The Semitic Languages

The Semitic languages are believed to have evolved from a hypothetical parent tongue, proto-Semitic. The place of origin of proto-Semitic is still disputed: Africa, Arabia, and Mesopotamia are the most probable locations. The Semitic subfamily may be divided into East, West (or Central), and South (or Ethiopic) Semitic. The best-known representive of the extinct East Semitic division is Akkadian, also called Assyro-Babylonian.

A distinctive feature of the Semitic languages is the triliteral or triconsonantal root, composed of three consonants separated by vowels. The basic meaning of a word is expressed by the consonants, and different shades of this basic meaning are indicated by vowel changes. The plural can be formed either by adding a suffix to the singular or by an internal vowel change, as in Arabic kitab, “book,” and kutub, “books.” Two genders, masculine and feminine, are found in Semitic languages. The feminine is often indicated by the suffixes -t or -at. The Semitic verb is distinguished by its ability to form from the same root a number of derived stems that express new meanings based on the fundamental sense, such as passive, reflexive, causative, and intensive.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Role of Semitic Languages in the Development of Writing Systems
• The Chadic Languages
• The Cushitic and Omotic Languages
• The Berber Languages
• South Semitic Division
• West Semitic Division
• The Semitic Languages
• The Egyptian Languages
• Bibliography

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