Semitic languages
The term Semitic languages is the traditional way of refering to those languages which constitute the Northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages. In linguistics, it has gradually come to be realized that "Semetic" is a term of some heated cultural objection and is thus no longer considered perfectly politically correct.
The most common Semitic languages spoken today are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, and Tigrinya.
The Eastern Semitic Languages
The Central Semitic languages
North & West Central Semitic languages
South Central (Arabic) languages
The South Semitic languages
Western (within South Semitic)
Eastern (within South Semitic)
Common characteristics
These languages all exhibit a pattern of words consisting of triconsonantal roots, with vowel changes, prefixes, and suffixes used to inflect them. For instance, in Hebrew:
- gdl means "big" but is no part of speech and not a word, just a root
- gadol means "big" and is an masculine adjective
- gdola means "big" (feminine adjective)
- giddel means "he grew" (transitive verb)
- gadal means "he grew" (intransitive verb)
- higdil means "he magnified" (transitive verb)
- magdelet means "magnifier" (lens)
- spr is the root for "count" or "recount"
- sefer means "book" (containing tales which are recounted)
- sofer means "scribe" (Masoretic scribes counted verses)
- mispar means "number".
Other Afro-Asiatic languages show similar patterns; e.g. in Tamashek Tawa akhluk means "creation" and ikhlakdu "he created".
Referenced By
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