Afroasiatic Languages - Similarities in Grammar and Syntax

Similarities in Grammar and Syntax

Verbal paradigms in several Afroasiatic languages:
↓ Number Language → Arabic Coptic Kabyle Soomaali Beja Hausa
Meaning → write die fly come eat drink
singular 1 ʼaktubu timou ttafgeɣ imaadaa tamáni ina shan
2f taktubīna temou tettafgeḍ timaadtaa tamtínii kina shan
2m taktubu kmou tamtíniya kana shan
3f smou tettafeg tamtíni tana shan
3m yaktubu fmou yettafeg yimaadaa tamíni yana shan
dual 2 taktubāni
3f
3m yaktubāni
plural 1 naktubu tənmou nettafeg nimaadnaa támnay muna shan
2m taktubūna tetənmou tettafgem timaadtaan támteena kuna shan
2f taktubna tettafgemt
3m yaktubūna semou ttafgen yimaadaan támeen suna shan
3f yaktubna ttafgent

Widespread (though not universal) features of the Afroasiatic languages include:

  • A set of emphatic consonants, variously realized as glottalized, pharyngealized, or implosive.
  • VSO typology with SVO tendencies.
  • A two-gender system in the singular, with the feminine marked by the sound /t/.
  • All Afroasiatic subfamilies show evidence of a causative affix s.
  • Semitic, Berber, Cushitic (including Beja), and Chadic support possessive suffixes.
  • Morphology in which words inflect by changes within the root (vowel changes or gemination) as well as with prefixes and suffixes.

One of the most remarkable shared features among the Afroasiatic languages is the prefixing verb conjugation (see table above), with a distinctive pattern of prefixes beginning with /ʔ t n y/, and in particular a pattern whereby third-singular masculine /y-/ is opposed to third-singular feminine and second-singular /t-/.

Tonal languages appear in the Omotic, Chadic, and Cushitic branches of Afroasiatic, according to Ehret (1996). The Semitic, Berber, and Egyptian branches do not use tones phonemically.

Read more about this topic:  Afroasiatic Languages

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