Difference between revisions of "Афроазиятски говоры"

|map=[[Image:Afro-Asiatic.png|center|300px]]<center>Урын афроазиятшыны выказанной жолтым</center>

The '''Afro-Asiatic languages''' constitute a [[language family]] with about 375 languages ([[SIL_International|SIL]] estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout [[North Africa]], [[East Africa]], the [[Sahel]], and [[Southwest Asia]] (including some 200 million speakers of [[Arabic language|Arabic]]). Other names sometimes given to this family include "Afrasian", "Hamito-Semitic" (French and European scholars), "Lisramic" (Hodge 1972), "Erythraean" (Tucker 1966).

The family includes the following language subfamilies:

* [[Berber languages]]

* [[Chadic languages]]

* [[Egyptian language]]s

* [[Semitic languages]]

* [[Cushitic languages]]

* [[Beja language]] (subclassification controversial; widely classified as part of Cushitic)

* [[Omotic languages]]

Many people regard the [[Ongota language|Ongota]] language as Omotic, but its classification within the family remains controversial, partly for lack of data. [[Harold Fleming (scholar)|Harold Fleming]] tentatively suggests treating it as an independent branch of non-Omotic Afro-Asiatic.[http://www.jstor.org/view/00113204/dm991524/99p0046v/0]

== Original homeland ==

No agreement exists on where [[Proto-Afro-Asiatic]] speakers lived, though the language is generally believed to have originated in Northeast Africa[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/citation/306/5702/1680c][http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199802%2939%3A1%3C139%3ATALPAI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J&size=LARGE]. Some scholars (such as [[Igor Diakonoff]] and [[Lionel Bender]], for example) have proposed [[Ethiopia]], because it includes the majority of the diversity of the Afro-Asiatic language family and has very diverse groups in close geographic proximity, often considered a tell-tale sign for a linguistic geographic origin. Other researchers (such as [[Christopher Ehret]], for example) have put forward the western [[Red Sea]] coast and the [[Sahara]]. A minority, such as [[Alexander Militarev]] suggest a linguistic homeland in the [[Levant]] (specifically, he identifies Afro-Asiatic with the [[Natufian culture]]), with Semitic being the only branch to stay put.[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1680c]

The [[Semitic language]]s form the only Afro-Asiatic subfamily extant outside of Africa. Some scholars believe that, in historical or near-historical times, Semitic speakers crossed from South Arabia back into Ethiopia and Eritrea, while others, such as A. Murtonen, dispute this view, suggesting that the Semitic branch may have originated in [[Ethiopia]].

[[Tonal language]]s appear in the Omotic, Chadic, and South and East Cushitic branches of Afro-Asiatic, according to Ehret (1996). The Semitic, Berber, and Egyptian branches do not use tones [[phoneme|phonemically]].

==Common features and cognates==

Common features of the Afro-Asiatic languages include:

* a two-[[grammatical gender|gender]] system in the singular, with the feminine marked by the /t/ sound,

* [[Verb Subject Object|VSO]] [[linguistic typology|typology]] with [[Subject Verb Object|SVO]] tendencies,

* a set of [[emphatic consonant]]s, variously realized as glottalized, pharyngealized, or implosive, and

* a templatic [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] in which words inflect by internal changes as well as with prefixes and suffixes.

Some cognates include:

*''b-n-'' "build" (Ehret: *''bĭn''), attested in Chadic, Semitic (''*bny''), Cushitic (*''mĭn''/*''măn'' "house") and Omotic (Dime ''bin-'' "build, create");

*''m-t'' "die" (Ehret: *''maaw''), attested in Chadic (for example, Hausa ''mutu''), Egyptian (''mwt'' ''*muwt'', ''mt'', Coptic ''mu''), Berber (''mmet'', pr. ''yemmut''), Semitic (*''mwt''), and Cushitic (Proto-Somali *''umaaw''/*''-am-w(t)-'' "die"). (Also similar to the [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] base ''*mor-/mr-''. "die", evidence in favor of both the Afro-Asiatic and Indo-European language families' classification in the hypothetical [[Nostratic]] superfamily.)

*''s-n'' "know", attested in Chadic, Berber, and Egyptian;

*''l-s'' "tongue" (Ehret: ''*lis' '' "to lick"), attested in Semitic (*''lasaan/lisaan''), Egyptian (''ns'' *''ls'', Coptic ''las''), Berber (''ils''), Chadic (for example, Hausa ''harshe''), and possibly Omotic (Dime ''lits'-'' "lick");

*''s-m'' "name" (Ehret: *''sŭm'' / *''sĭm''), attested in Semitic (*''sm''), Berber (''ism''), Chadic (for example, Hausa ''suna''), Cushitic, and Omotic (though some see the Berber form, ''ism'', and the Omotic form, ''sunts'', as Semitic [[loanword]]s.) The Egyptian ''smi'' "report, announce" offers another possible cognate.

* ''d-m'' "blood" (Ehret: *''dîm'' / *''dâm''), attested in Berber (''idammen''), Semitic (*''dam''), Chadic, and arguably Omotic. Compare Cushitic *''dîm''/*''dâm'', "red".

In the verbal system, Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic (including Beja) all provide evidence for a prefix conjugation:

{|

|-

| English || Arabic (Semitic) || Kabyle (Berber)

| Saho (Cushitic; verb is "kill") || Beja (verb is "arrive")

|-

| he dies || ''yamuutu'' || ''yemmut''

| ''yagdifé'' || ''iktim''

|-

| she dies || ''tamuutu'' || ''temmut''

| ''yagdifé'' || ''tiktim''

|-

| they (m.) die || ''yamuutuuna'' || ''mmuten''

| ''yagdifín'' || ''iktimna''

|-

| you (m. sg.) die || ''tamuutu'' || ''temmuteḍ''

| ''tagdifé'' || ''tiktima''

|-

| you (m. pl.) die || ''tamuutuuna'' || ''temmutem''

| ''tagdifín'' || ''tiktimna''

|-

| I die || ''ˀamuutu'' || ''mmuteγ''

| ''agdifé'' || ''aktim''

|-

| we die || ''namuutu'' || ''nemmut'' || ''nagdifé'' || ''niktim''

|}

All Afro-Asiatic subfamilies show evidence of a causative affix ''s'', but a similar suffix also appears in other groups, such as the [[Niger-Congo languages]].

Semitic, Berber, Cushitic (including Beja), and Chadic support [[possessive pronoun]] suffixes.

==Classification history==

Medieval scholars sometimes linked two or more branches of Afro-Asiatic together; as early as the [[9th century]] the Hebrew grammarian [[Judah ibn Quraysh]] of [[Tiaret]] in [[Algeria]] perceived a relationship between Berber and Semitic (the latter group known to him through Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic).

In the course of the 19th century Europeans also began suggesting such relationships; thus in [[1844]] [[Theodor Benfey|Th. Benfey]] suggested a language family containing Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic (calling the latter "Ethiopic"). In the same year, T. N. Newman suggested a relationship between Semitic and Hausa, but this would long remain a topic of dispute and uncertainty. [[Friedrich Müller (linguist)|Friedrich Müller]] named the traditional "Hamito-Semitic" family in [[1876]] in his ''Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft'', and defined it as consisting of a Semitic group plus a "Hamitic" group containing Egyptian, Berber, and Cushitic; he excluded the Chadic group. These classifications relied in part on non-linguistic anthropological and racial arguments. (See also [[Hamitic hypothesis]].)

[[Leo Reinisch]] (1909) proposed to link Cushitic and Chadic, while urging a more distant affinity with Egyptian and Semitic, thus foreshadowing Greenberg; but his suggestion found little resonance. [[Marcel Cohen]] (1924) rejected the idea of a distinct "Hamitic" subgroup, and included Hausa (a Chadic language) in his comparative Hamito-Semitic vocabulary. [[Joseph Greenberg]] (1950) strongly confirmed Cohen's rejection of "Hamitic", added (and sub-classified) the Chadic languages, and proposed the new name Afro-Asiatic for the family; almost all scholars accepted his classification. In 1969 [[Harold Fleming (scholar)|Harold Fleming]] proposed the recognition of [[Omotic]] as a fifth branch, rather than (as previously believed) a subgroup of Cushitic, and this has met with general acceptance. Several scholars, including Harold Fleming and [[Robert Hetzron]], have since questioned the traditional inclusion of Beja in Cushitic, but this view has yet to gain general acceptance.

Little agreement exists on the sub-classification of the five or six branches mentioned; however, [[Christopher Ehret]] (1979), [[Harold Fleming (scholar)|Harold Fleming]] (1981), and [[Joseph Greenberg]] (1981) all agree that the Omotic branch to split from the rest first. Otherwise:

*Ehret groups Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic together in a North Afro-Asiatic subgroup;

*[[Paul Newman (professor)|Paul Newman]] (1980) groups Berber with Chadic and Egyptian with Semitic, while questioning the inclusion of Omotic;

*Fleming (1981) divided non-Omotic Afroasiatic, or "Erythraean", into three groups, Cushitic, Semitic, and Chadic-Berber-Egyptian; he later added Semitic and Beja to the latter, and proposed [[Ongota language|Ongotá]] as a tentative new third branch of Erythraean;

*[[Lionel Bender]] (1997) advocates a "Macro-Cushitic" consisting of Berber, Cushitic, and Semitic, while regarding Chadic and Omotic as the most remote branches;

*[[Vladimir Orel]] and [[Olga Stolbova]] (1995) group Berber with Semitic, group Chadic with Egyptian, and split Cushitic into five or more independent branches of Afro-Asiatic, seeing Cushitic as a [[Sprachbund]] rather than a valid family;

*[[Alexander Militarev]] (2000), on the basis of [[lexicostatistics]], groups Berber with Chadic and both, more distantly, with Semitic, as against Cushitic and Omotic.

==See also==

* [[African languages]]

==Etymological bibliography==

Some of the main sources for Afro-Asiatic etymologies include:

* Marcel Cohen, ''Essai comparatif sur la vocabulaire et la phonétique du chamito-sémitique'', Champion, Paris 1947.

* Igor M. Diakonoff et al., "Historical-Comparative Vocabulary of Afrasian", ''St. Petersburg Journal of African Studies'' Nos. 2-6, 1993-7.

* Christopher Ehret. ''Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary'' (''University of California Publications in Linguistics 126''), California, Berkeley 1996.

* Vladimir E. Orel and Olga V. Stolbova, ''Hamito-Semitic [[Etymological Dictionary]]: Materials for a Reconstruction'', Brill, Leiden 1995. ISBN 90-04-10051-2. [http://www.ilx.nl/blonline/blonlinesearch2.php?ficheid=101010209591]

==Sources==

* Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse, ''African Languages,'' Cambridge University Press, 2000 - Chapter 4

* Merritt Ruhlen, ''A Guide to the World's Languages'', Stanford University Press, Stanford 1991.

* Lionel Bender et al., ''Selected Comparative-Historical Afro-Asiatic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff'', LINCOM 2003.

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=89997 Ethnologue]

* Russell G. Schuh, ''[http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/schuh/Papers/Chadic_overview.pdf Chadic Overview]''.

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roger_blench/Archaeology%20data/Africa%20language%20history%20text.pdf African Language History] (pdf), [[Roger Blench]]

==External links==

*[http://www.nacal.org NACAL] The North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics, now in its 35th year.

* [http://www.tufs.ac.jp/ts/personal/ratcliffe/comp%20&%20method-Ratcliffe.pdf A comparison of Orel-Stolbova's and Ehret's Afro-Asiatic reconstructions]

*[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1680c The Origins of Afroasiatic] by Paul Newman (Requires Science Magazine subscription)

* [http://community.livejournal.com/terra_linguarum/95880.html Afro-Asiatic and Semitic genealogical trees], presented by [[Alexander Militarev]] at his talk “Genealogical classification of Afro-Asiatic languages according to the latest data” (at the conference on the 70th anniversary of [[V.M. Illich-Svitych]], Moscow, 2004; [http://community.livejournal.com/terra_linguarum/95627.html short annotations of the talks given there]{{ru icon}})

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=89997 family tree at ethnologue.com]

[[Category:Afro-Asiatic languages| ]]

[[af:Afro-Asiatiese tale]]

[[ar:لغات أفروآسيوية]]

[[an:Luengas afro-asiaticas]]

[[bs:Afroazijski jezici]]

[[br:Yezhoù afrez-aziatek]]

[[bg:Афро-азиатски езици]]

[[ca:Llengües afroasiàtiques]]

[[cs:Afroasijské jazyky]]

[[de:Afroasiatische Sprachen]]

[[el:Αφροασιατικές γλώσσες]]

[[es:Lenguas afroasiáticas]]

[[eo:Afrikazia lingvaro]]

[[eu:Afroasiar hizkuntzak]]

[[fa:زبان‌های آفریقایی-آسیایی]]

[[fr:Langues afro-asiatiques]]

[[ga:Teangacha Afráiseacha]]

[[ko:아프리카아시아어족]]

[[hi:सामी-हामी भाषा-परिवार]]

[[hr:Afroazijski jezici]]

[[ilo:Pagsasao nga Afro-Asiatica]]

[[id:Bahasa Afro-Asia]]

[[ia:Linguas afro-asiatic]]

[[it:Lingue afro-asiatiche]]

[[he:שפות אפרו-אסיאתיות]]

[[ka:კატეგორია:ქუშიტური ენები]]

[[lt:Semitų-chamitų kalbos]]

[[hu:Afroázsiai nyelvcsalád]]

[[nl:Afro-Aziatische talen]]

[[ja:アフロ・アジア語族]]

[[no:Afroasiatiske språk]]

[[nn:Afroasiatiske språk]]

[[oc:Lengas afroasiaticas]]

[[pl:Języki afroazjatyckie]]

[[pt:Línguas afro-asiáticas]]

[[ru:Афразийские языки]]

[[sk:Semitsko-hamitské jazyky]]

[[sl:Afroazijski jeziki]]

[[sr:Афроазијски језици]]

[[fi:Afroaasialaiset kielet]]

[[sv:Afroasiatiska språk]]

[[ta:ஆபிரிக்க-ஆசிய மொழிகள்]]

[[zh:闪含语系]]