To my point
> > Agreed, but how different is different? Certainly by historic
times,
> > Semitic moved in one direction and Semitic had moved strongly in
> > another. Of all the Afro-Asiatic languages, Egyptian is the one
that
> > is, I believe, closest to Semitic in linguistic structure and
> > morphology.
> >
> > Dennis, am I right here?
Dennis wrote
> I think the opposite is probably the case here. More than 5000
years
of
> close and intimate contact between Egyptian and Semitic speakers,
from
> Naqada to the final extinction of Coptic as a spoken language
(14thC
CE?),
> must have led to a degree of convergence rather than divergence.
> Most linguists give dates ranging from 12000 to 8000BCE for the
split of
> AfroAsiatic languages, and I have seen nothing to suggest that
there
is any
> subgrouping (other than perhaps Cushitic-Omotic) within this group.
> As you say, how different is different?
> Morphologically, it is very difficult to judge, as Egyptian writing
gives no
> clues to internal vowel modification, which is the primary means of
word
> derivation/creation within Semitic. All I can say is that Coptic
seems to
> show no evidence of Semitic style derivational processes.
> Egyptian, again perhaps due to the writing system, and Coptic show
no
> evidence of case endings, which are a feature of Semitic.
> In verb morphology, this really depends on the reconstructed
proto-system,
> and how one analyses Semitic forms such as "yaprus" or "yaktubu",
i.e. is
> this a reduced verbal auxiliary "ya" plus a nominal form "prus",
"ktubu"?
> This
> kind of structure is evidenced in Egyptian and the other AfroAsiatic
> families, e.g. Chadic (Hausa) and Cushitic.
>
> But, judge for yourself. Below are ten common items of vocabulary.
The only
> criterion I have used is that these words appear to have cognates
across
> most of the IE languages, so one would expect a degree of
similarity
between
> Egyptian and Semitic :
>
> 1.two snwy (Copt. Sesnawa) Tny (Ar.
?ithnaani, Ak.
> Sena)
> 2.three xmtw (Copt. Som@...) TlT (Ar.
TalaaTa, Ak.
> SalaS)
> 3.four yfdw (Copt. ftow) rb3 (Ar.
> ?arba3a, Ak. erbe)
> 4.five dyw (Copt. tiw) xms
(Ar.
xamsa,
> Ak. HamiS)
> 5.father ?t (Copt. eio:t) ?b(w)
(Ar.
> ?ab(u))
> 6.sun Sw (Copt. Sa) Sms (Ar.
Sams)
> 7.head d_3d_3 (Copt. go:g) r?s (Ar. ra?s)
> 8.heart ?b/h9ty (Copt. het/he:t) lbb/qlb
(Ar.qalb, Ak.
> libbu)
> 9.eye ?rt (Copt. eier/eiat) 3yn
(Ar.3ayn)
> 10.tooth ?bx (Copt. obhe) snn
(Ar.sinn,
Ak.
> Sinnu)
>
> (Transcription : T, S = fricatives /th/, /sh/, x=guttural
fricative
/kh/,
> d_ = Eg. /djed/, ?='aleph (glottal stop), 3 = voiced laryngeal
/ayin/, H =
> unvoiced laryngeal, 9 = Eg. 'double aleph', q = velar emphatic /k/).
>
> So, all in all, I think that the split between all the AfroAsiatic
> languages, including Egyptian and Semitic, is very deep, of the
same
time
> scale perhaps as Glen's proto-Steppe, if not Eurasiatic.
Hmm... This IS interesting.
A break up of that order is right on the boundary between
Ibero-Maurusian and Capsian cultures. This is very early indeed. It
makes me wonder about a number of factors.
Firstly - a recent history of AfricaI shows the extend of
Afro-Asiatic as determined by the latest research in the period
from 8,000 - 4,000 BCE (Neolithic) and from 4,000 BCE to i,200 BCE
(Bronze Age). It suggests a presence of pre-Semitic Afro-Asiatic in
Palestine and down the Red Sea coast by the end of the first period
which could fit either of our scenarios. By the end of the second it
shows Semitic influence established throughout Mesopotamia and back
into Ethiopia. This makes me wonder if we cannot find a way of
bringing Afro-Asiatic out of Africa earlier than I originally
suggested.
Presumably Kebaran is still too early, but there is a small cultural
hiatus between the Natufian (10,000 - 8,500BCE) in which harvesting
of
wild emmer wheat in semi-natural circumstances allowed the growth of
sedentarism, and the 8,500 - 6,000 appearance of Pre-Pottery
Neolithic
A and B (That I have labelled as Yarmukan after the type site on the
Yarmuk stream in Palestine.) PPNA was associated with the
cultivation
of bread wheat, (a hybrid between emmer and einkorn varieties. Wild
einkorn is only found in the area from Southern and Eastern Turkey,
Northern Syria across to the Zagros mountains in NE Iran (all areas
in
which rain fed agriculture could develop). During this hiatus it has
been suggested that increasing aridity caused a temporary regression
to a nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life in Southern Palestine.
Whilst there is no evidence of any African derived technology at this
cultural hiatus, there is also no reason why an Afro-Asiatic influx
may not have occurred then.
The arrival of PPNA shortly thereafter with clear evidence of a
Eastern Turkey-Northern Mesopotamian origin may have been the
association of a Caucasian language superstrata people over the basis
of the northern Natufian and may have incorporated the hunter
gatherer
nomads of southern Palestine. In this three way linguistic tussle,
perhaps we can argue the following
1. Caucasian contributed many of the words for agricultural terms
2. Afro-Asiatic eventually won out as becoming the dominant language.
3. Proto-Semitic was the ultimate language that was created.
This would give proto-Semitic (Glen's Semitish) a chance to develop
under the Yarmukan culture. Its Afro-Asiatic status would have been
reinforced by another out-of-Africa wave which is clearly shown as I
suggested from 5,800 BCE to 5,300 BCE with the increasing dessication
of the African Sahara of this period and the appearance of African
lithic technologies underneath the rise of Nomadic pastoralism. If
this is the case, the Afro-Asiatic language of the arrivals was
abandonned for the Semitic which had been developing under Yarmukan.
This nomadic pastoralism would have then been spread widely down into
Yemen and across Arabia, as I suggested in my earlier post, and
eventually across the Red Sea into Ethiopia and Somalia, as confirmed
by archaeology.
What we now have is the following (see new Excell sheet
(Cultures.xls)in the files for a possible reconstruction).
Glen, I'd be interested in your ideas on this one too.
Regards
John