The Afroasiatic Languages

710 Pages·2012·5.71 MB·English

THE AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES
Afroasiatic languages are spoken by some 300 million people in Northern,
Central,andEasternAfricaandtheMiddleEast.Thisbookisthefirsttypo-
logicalstudyoftheselanguages,whicharecomprisedofaround375living
andextinctvarieties.Theyareanimportantobjectofstudybecauseoftheir
typological diversity in the areas of phonology (some have tone, others do
not),morphology(somehaveextensiveinflectionalsystems,othersdonot),
positionoftheverbintheclause(someareverb-initial,someareverb-medial,
andsomeareverb-final),andinthesemanticfunctionstheyencode.Thisbook
documents this typological diversity and the typological similarities across
thelanguagesandincludesinformationonendangeredandlittle-knownlan-
guages.Requiringnopreviousknowledgeofthespecificlanguagefamilies,it
willbewelcomedbylinguistsinterestedinlinguistictheory,typology,histor-
icallinguistics,andendangeredlanguages,aswellasscholarsofAfricaand
theMiddleEast.
zygmunt frajzyngierisProfessorandformerChairofLinguisticsatthe
UniversityofColorado,Boulder.
erin shayisAdjunctAssistantProfessorofLinguisticsattheUniversityof
Colorado,Boulder.
CAMBRIDGE LANGUAGE SURVEYS
Generaleditors
P.Austin(UniversityofMelbourne)
J.Bresnan(StanfordUniversity)
B.Comrie(MaxPlanckInstituteforEvolutionaryAnthropology,Leipzig)
S.Crain(UniversityofMaryland)
W.Dressler(UniversityofVienna)
C.J.Ewen(UniversityofLeiden)
R.Lass(UniversityofCapeTown)
D.Lightfoot(UniversityofMaryland)
K.Rice(UniversityofToronto)
I.Roberts(UniversityofCambridge)
S.Romaine(UniversityofOxford)
N.V.Smith(UniversityCollege,London)
Thisseriesoffersgeneralaccountsofthemajorlanguagefamiliesofthe
world,withvolumesorganizedeitheronapurelygeneticbasisorona
geographicalbasis,whicheveryieldsthemostconvenientandintelligible
groupingineachcase.Eachvolumecomparesandcontraststhetypological
featuresofthelanguagesitdealswith.Italsotreatstherelevantgenetic
relationships,historicaldevelopment,andsociolinguisticissuesarisingfrom
theirroleanduseintheworldtoday.Thebooksareintendedforlinguists
fromundergraduatelevelupwards,butnospecialknowledgeofthelanguages
underconsiderationisassumed.VolumessuchasthoseonAustraliaandthe
AmazonBasinarealsoofwiderrelevance,asthefutureofthelanguagesand
theirspeakersraisesimportantsocialandpoliticalissues.
Volumesalreadypublishedinclude
ChineseJerryNorman
TheLanguagesofJapanMasayoshiShibatani
PidginsandCreoles(VolumeI:TheoryandStructure;VolumeII:
ReferenceSurvey)JohnA.Holm
TheIndo-AryanLanguagesColinMasica
TheCelticLanguageseditedbyDonaldMacAulay
TheRomanceLanguagesRebeccaPosner
TheAmazonianLanguageseditedbyR.M.W.Dixonand
AlexandraY.Aikhenvald
TheLanguagesofNativeNorthAmericaMarianneMithun
TheKoreanLanguageHo-HimSohn
AustralianLanguagesR.M.W.Dixon
TheDravidianLanguagesBhadrirajuKrishnamurti
TheLanguagesoftheAndesWillemAdelaarwithPieterMuysken
TheSlavicLanguagesRolandSussexandPaulCubberley
TheGermanicLanguagesWayneHarbert
SignLanguageseditedbyDianeBrentari
TheAfroasiaticLanguageseditedbyZygmuntFrajzyngierandErinShay
THE AFROASIATIC
LANGUAGES
Editedby
ZYGMUNT FRAJZYNGIER
ERIN SHAY
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521865333
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
TheAfroasiaticlanguages/editedbyZygmuntFrajzyngier,ErinShay.
p. cm.–(Cambridgelanguagesurveys)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-521-86533-3
1.Afroasiaticlanguages. I.Frajzyngier,Zygmunt. II.Shay,Erin.
PJ992.A37 2012
492–dc23 2012002683
ISBN978-0-521-86533-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
CONTENTS
Listoffigures pagevii
Listofmaps viii
Listoftables ix
Notesoncontributors xii
Acknowledgements xiv
Listofabbreviations xv
1 Introduction 1
ZygmuntFrajzyngierandErinShay
2 Berber 18
MaartenKossmann
3 AncientEgyptianandCoptic 102
AntonioLoprienoandMatthiasMu¨ller
4 Semitic 145
GeneGraggandRobertHoberman
5 Chadic 236
ZygmuntFrajzyngierandErinShay
6 Cushitic 342
MaartenMous
7 Omotic 423
AzebAmha
v
vi Contents
8 TypologicaloutlineoftheAfroasiaticphylum 505
ZygmuntFrajzyngier
Notes 625
Bibliography 628
Index 676
FIGURES
1.1 Afroasiaticclassification,basedonEhret(1995). page14
3.1 Familyrelations. 143
5.1 Asingletense/aspectsystemwithacontrastingunmarkedform. 313
5.2 TensesysteminMupun. 315
6.1 Cushiticclassificationintheclassicalview(Tosco2000a:89). 346
7.1 ClassificationofOmoticlanguages,basedonFleming(1976). 431
vii
MAPS
1.1 Afroasiaticphylum. page7
2.1 Berberfamily. 19
4.1 ModernSemiticlanguages. 146
5.1a Chadicfamily. 238
5.1b Chadicfamily(insets). 239
6.1 Cushitic,Omotic,andEthio-Semiticlanguages. 344
viii