Semitic and Indo-European

by Saul Levin
Semitic and Indo-European
Author: Saul Levin
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 538
Release: 1995-09-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027276471
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This volume presents the key examples of morphological correspondences between Indo-European and Semitic languages, afforded by nouns, verbal roots, pronouns, prepositions, and numerals. Its focus is on shared morphology embodied in the cognate vocabulary. The facts that are brought out in this volume do not fit comfortably within either the Indo-Europeanists’ or the Semitists’ conception of the prehistoric development of their languages. Nonetheless they are so fundamental that many would take them for evidence of a single original source, ‘Proto-Nostratic’. In this book, however, it is considered unsettled whether proto-IE and proto-Semitic had a common forerunner. But the IE-Semitic combinations testify at least to prehistoric language communities in truly intimate contact.

Semitic and Indo-European

by Saul Levin
Semitic and Indo-European
Author: Saul Levin
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 537
Release: 1995-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027236321
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This volume presents the key examples of morphological correspondences between Indo-European and Semitic languages, afforded by nouns, verbal roots, pronouns, prepositions, and numerals. Its focus is on shared morphology embodied in the cognate vocabulary. The facts that are brought out in this volume do not fit comfortably within either the Indo-Europeanists' or the Semitists' conception of the prehistoric development of their languages. Nonetheless they are so fundamental that many would take them for evidence of a single original source, 'Proto-Nostratic'. In this book, however, it is considered unsettled whether proto-IE and proto-Semitic had a common forerunner. But the IE-Semitic combinations testify at least to prehistoric language communities in truly intimate contact.

Comparative Semitic Linguistics

by Patrick R. Bennett
Comparative Semitic Linguistics
Author: Patrick R. Bennett
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Total Pages: 282
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1575060213
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As the title indicates, this unique resource is a manual on comparative linguistics, with the examples taken exclusively from Semitic languages. It is an innovative volume that recalls the earlier tradition of textbooks of comparative philology, which, however, exclusively treated Indo-European languages. It is suited for students with at least a year of a Semitic language. By far the largest component of the book are the nine wordlists that provide the data to be manipulated by the student. Says reviewer Peter Daniels, the wordlists "constitute a unique resource for all of comparative linguistics--a considerable quantity of uniform data from a host of related languages. They would be useful for any class in comparative linguistics, not just for those interested specifically in Semitic." Scattered throughout the text are 25 exercises based on the wordlists that provide a good introduction to the methods of comparativists. Also included are paradigms of the phonological systems of ten Semitic languages as well as Coptic and a form of Berber. A bibliography that guides the student into further reading in Semitic linguistics completes the volume.

Germania Semitica

by Theo Vennemann gen. Nierfeld
Germania Semitica
Author: Theo Vennemann gen. Nierfeld
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 764
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110301091
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Germania Semitica explores prehistoric language contact in general, and attempts to identify the languages involved in shaping Germanic in particular. The book deals with a topic outside the scope of other disciplines concerned with prehistory, such as archaeology and genetics, drawing its conclusions from the linguistic evidence alone, relying on language typology and areal probability. The data for reconstruction comes from Germanic syntax, phonology, etymology, religious loan names, and the writing system, more precisely from word order, syntactic constructions, word formation, irregularities in phonological form, lexical peculiarities, and the structure and rules of the Germanic runic alphabet. It is demonstrated that common descent is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for reconstruction. Instead, lexical and structural parallels between Germanic and Semitic languages are explored and interpreted in the framework of modern language contact theory.

The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World

by J. P. Mallory
The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World
Author: J. P. Mallory
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 756
Release: 2006-08-24
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0199287910
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The authors introduce Proto-Indo-European describing its construction and revealing the people who spoke it between 5,500 and 8,000 years ago. Using archaeological evidence and natural history they reconstruct the lives, passions, culture, society and mythology of the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

The Indo-European Controversy

by Asya Pereltsvaig
The Indo-European Controversy
Author: Asya Pereltsvaig
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2015-04-30
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1107054532
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This book challenges media-celebrated evolutionary studies linking Indo-European languages to Neolithic Anatolia, instead defending traditional practices in historical linguistics.

Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology

by Joseph Shimron
Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology
Author: Joseph Shimron
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2003-04-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027296685
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This book puts together contributions of linguists and psycholinguists whose main interest here is the representation of Semitic words in the mental lexicon of Semitic language speakers. The central topic of the book confronts two views about the morphology of Semitic words. The point of the argument is: Should we see Semitic words’ morphology as “root-based” or “word-based?” The proponents of the root-based approach, present empirical evidence demonstrating that Semitic language speakers are sensitive to the root and the template as the two basic elements (bound morphemes) of Semitic words. Those supporting the word-based approach, present arguments to the effect that Semitic word formation is not based on the merging of roots and templates, but that Semitic words are comprised of word stems and affixes like we find in Indo-European languages. The variety of evidence and arguments for each claim should force the interested readers to reconsider their views on Semitic morphology.

Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics

by Jared Klein
Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics
Author: Jared Klein
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 1026
Release: 2018-06-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110542439
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This book presents the most comprehensive coverage of the field of Indo-European Linguistics in a century, focusing on the entire Indo-European family and treating each major branch and most minor languages. The collaborative work of 120 scholars from 22 countries, Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics combines the exhaustive coverage of an encyclopedia with the in-depth treatment of individual monographic studies.