Characteristics of Semitic Languages

Characteristics of Semitic Languages

Similarities among the Semitic languages are especially noticeable in the domains of phonology and morphology:

Phonology

There are only six vowels, three short /a, i, u/ and their long counterparts, in the phonological inventory of Semitic languages. Of course, this does not take into account the dialects, especially the Arabic dialects, which have a more varied vowel inventory.

In addition, Semitic languages have rare consonant phonemes, such as the pharyngeal fricatives /ʕ/ and /x/.
There is a higher proportion of consonants to vowels.

Morphology

Semitic nouns have only two genders (masculine or feminine) but three numbers (singular, plural, and dual).

Semitic languages distinguish gender in both the second and third person. So, for instance, at least in Arabic, "he studies" [yadrusu] is contrasted with "she studies" [tadrusu] and "you study, masculine" [tadrusu] with "you study, feminine" [tadruseen]. So, it is not merely the question of just substituting a pronoun but also the addition of prefixes and suffixes in order to conjugate a verb according to gender and person.
The majority of words are derived from three-consonant roots, in which the vowels are not written. For example, the root /drs/ from /darasa/, "he studied," is used to form, with the addition of affixes, /madrasa/, "school," /diraasa/, "studying," /mudarris/, "male teacher, /dars/, "class," etc.

See also the reply by Daniel Lefkowitz to the query regarding the morphology of Semitic languages.

The following article is also a good resource: Huehnergard, John. "Semitic Languages." Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Eds. Jack M. Sasson, John Baines, etal. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. 2117-2134.

Inquiries into Arabic Linguistics

I would like to thank all of the linguists who have volunteered their time to answer queries posted to the Linguist List. These pages represent a compilation of frequently asked questions about the Arabic language. The HTML of these pages was created by Carmen Cross, a Ph.D. student in Arabic linguistics at Georgetown University. Please e-mail Carmen or the panel of linguists if you have any further questions about linguistics in general or Arabic in particular.