Proto-Afro-Asiatic
Encyclopedia
Proto–Afroasiatic is the hypothetical proto-language
from which modern Afroasiatic languages are descended.
language area (prior to its expansion in the historic era) has limited the potential areas where that language family's original homeland or Urheimat
could be. Generally speaking, two proposals have been developed: that Afro-Asiatic arose in a Semitic
Urheimat in the Middle East aka Southwest Asia, or that Afro-Asiatic languages arose in northeast Africa (generally, either between Darfur
and Tibesti or in Ethiopia
and the other countries of the Horn of Africa
). The African hypothesis is considered to be rather more likely at the present time, because of the greater diversity of languages with more distant relationships to each other there.
Proto-language
A proto-language in the tree model of historical linguistics is the common ancestor of the languages that form a language family. Occasionally, the German term Ursprache is used instead.Often the proto-language is not known directly...
from which modern Afroasiatic languages are descended.
Consonant correspondences
The following table shows consonant correspondences in Afroasiatic languages, along with some reconstructed consonants for Proto-Afroasiatic.| Proto-Afroasiatic | Proto-Semitic Proto-Semitic language Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language ancestral to historical Semitic languages of the Middle East. Locations which have been proposed for its origination include northern Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant with a 2009 study proposing that it may have originated around... |
Egyptian Egyptian language Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the... |
Berber | East Cushitic | West Chadic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *b | |||||
| *p | |||||
| *f | f | f | |||
| *d | |||||
| *t | |||||
| *ṭ | (~t) | ||||
| 1(=) | |||||
| South Cushitic |
|||||
| *s | 1>2- | ||||
| [zˤ] | |||||
| 2(=) | , Central Chadic: , |
||||
| , ? | , | , SCush. |
, | ||
| , ? | 1 ?, SCush. |
||||
| , | |||||
| , | , ? | ||||
| , | , ? (→ [kˤː]) | ||||
| -, ? | 2 | ||||
| , , | - | -, *-Ø- | *--? | ||
| - | -, *-Ø-ʔ | ||||
| - | -, *-Øː- | ||||
| 1, 2 | - | ||||
| , -Ø- | |||||
| , | -- | ||||
| -, [-], , | -- | ||||
| -, , | , *Ø | , *Ø | -? | ||
| -, -, -Ø- | , , *Ø | , , *Ø | , *Ø | ||
| Proto-Afroasiatic | PS Proto-Semitic language Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language ancestral to historical Semitic languages of the Middle East. Locations which have been proposed for its origination include northern Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant with a 2009 study proposing that it may have originated around... |
Egyptian Egyptian language Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the... |
Berber | East Cushitic | West Chadic |
- under special conditions
Homeland
The limited size of the Afro-AsiaticAfro-Asiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...
language area (prior to its expansion in the historic era) has limited the potential areas where that language family's original homeland or Urheimat
Urheimat
Urheimat is a linguistic term denoting the original homeland of the speakers of a proto-language...
could be. Generally speaking, two proposals have been developed: that Afro-Asiatic arose in a Semitic
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
Urheimat in the Middle East aka Southwest Asia, or that Afro-Asiatic languages arose in northeast Africa (generally, either between Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
and Tibesti or in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and the other countries of the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
). The African hypothesis is considered to be rather more likely at the present time, because of the greater diversity of languages with more distant relationships to each other there.