The Berbero-Semitic adjective

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 87, pp. 51–67

Abstract

Abstract It has long been recognized that the Semitic suffix conjugation and the Berber adjectival perfective suffix conjugation have striking similarities in their morphology, which has been correctly attributed to be the result of a shared inheritance from Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Nevertheless, the function of these conjugations in the respective language families is quite distinct. This article argues that ultimately this suffix conjugation is a predicative suffix in the common ancestor of Berber and Semitic, and moreover shows that Semitic and Berber have significant overlap in the stem formations of adjectives. It is argued that these formations must likewise be reconstructed for their common ancestor.

Authors 1

1. Marijn van Putten corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands