The Historical Linguistics of the Intrusive *-n in Arabic and West Semitic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4847706 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathan Owens (0000-0002-9807-4889, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 133 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Oriental Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0279 • E-ISSN: 2169-2289 |
| Publisher | American Oriental Society (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.7817/jameroriesoci.133.2.0217 |
| OpenAlex | W2504646402 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
A much discussed morpheme in Semitic historical linguistics is the suffix *-n. Its reflexes include the energic in Classical Arabic, the ventive in Akkadian, and many languages with a [V - n - object pronoun] reflex. Explanations of its origins fall broadly into two camps. One sees it originally as a proto-Semitic verbal suffix, while the other derives it from a grammaticalization of an originally independent [deictic/presentative + object pronoun] element. This paper argues for the correctness of the second explanation, to which end a general reconstruction of the historical development of the morpheme in West Semitic is developed, with particular attention given to Arabic. Although a modest and unobtrusive morpheme, it is argued that the linguistics of *-n is of considerable significance for conceptualizations of Arabic and Semitic historical linguistics
Arabic · Deixis · Historical linguistics · Linguistics · Morpheme · Semitic languages · African history and culture analysis · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |