The first person prefixes in South Ethio-Semitic

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21466068
AutoresMaria Bulakh (0000-0001-5490-6674, HSE University, Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies , Moscow , Russia, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume44
Fascículo1
Páginas1-23
Data de publicação2023-05-25
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of African Languages and Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0167-6164 • E-ISSN: 1613-3811
EditoraWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/jall-2023-2003
OpenAlexW4382655596
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas16

South Ethio-Semitic (SES) is a genealogical branch of Ethio-Semitic (ES), a subgroup of Semitic found almost entirely in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The paper considers two features characteristic of several South Ethio-Semitic languages. Firstly, the Prefix Conjugation displays a common 1 sg/ 1 pl prefix in various SES languages. Secondly, an innovative 1 pl suffix is often employed in the Prefix Conjugation. In forms with 1 sg/ 1 pl syncretism, this suffix takes over the functional load of the plural marker. Both features are innovative in SES, and their absence from a number of languages in each of the main subbranches suggests areal diffusion rather than a shared innovation going back to the Proto-SES level. In former studies, it has been suggested that the innovative 1 pl suffix was borrowed from Cushitic and that its introduction has triggered the 1 sg/ 1 pl syncretism. This hypothesis is critically reassessed in the present paper, which considers in detail various patterns of 1 sg/ 1 pl syncretism and various patterns of its interaction with the 1 pl suffix, and offers a tentative reconstruction of their emergence and spread in the languages in question

Arabic · Linguistics · Plural · Prefix · Semitic languages · Suffix · African history and culture analysis · African Studies and Geopolitics · Computer Science · History · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Mathematics · Philosophy