[ Afroasiatic » Semitic ]
Semitic languages
There are some 20 Semitic languages in Africa, including at least 5 different varieties of spoken Arabic. For present purposes, the African Semitic languages can be divided into two main groups (cfr Hayward 2000):
- South Semitic -- comprising some 10-15 Ethio-Semitic languages, spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea
- North Ethiopic, incl. Tigrinya, Tigré, and the extinct Ge'ez
- South Ethiopic, incl. Amharic, West Gurage, East Gurage, and others
- Central Semitic -- including 5-10 varieties of spoken Arabic, distributed across northern Africa, as well as the extinct Punic/Phoenecian language, at one point spoken in North Africa
A SELECTION OF PRINTED SOURCES
Bender, Marvin Lionel; Bowen, J. Donald; Cooper, Robert L.; Ferguson, Charles A. (Eds.) 1976. Language in Ethiopia. Oxford University Press.
Faber, Alice. 1997. Genetic subgrouping of the Semitic languages. In: The Semitic languages (ed. by Robert Hetzron), p. 3-15. Routledge.
Goldenberg, Gideon. 1977. The Semitic languages of Ethiopia and their classification. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 40 (3), p. 461-507.
Hayward, Richard J. 2000. Afroasiatic. In: African languages: an introduction (ed. by Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse), p. 74-98. Cambridge University Press.
Hetzron, Robert; Bender, Marvin Lionel. 1976. The Ethio-Semitic languages. In: Language in Ethiopia (ed. by Marvin Lionel Bender, et al.), p. 23-33. Oxford University Press.
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1981. Die semitischen Sprachen. In: Die Sprachen Afrikas (ed. by Bernd Heine, Thilo C. Schadeberg & Ekkehard Wolff), p. 225-238. Helmut Buske Verlag.
Tucker, Archibald Norman; Bryan, Margaret Arminel. 1956. The non-Bantu languages of north-eastern Africa. Handbook of African languages, part 3. Oxford University Press for the International African Institute (IAI).
Tucker, Archibald Norman; Bryan, Margaret Arminel. 1966. Linguistic analyses: the non-Bantu languages of north-eastern Africa. Oxford University Press for the International African Institute (IAI).
Alexander Militarev
Semitic etymology.
starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/main.cgi?root=config
Edward Ullendorff, 1955
The Semitic languages of Ethiopia: a comparative phonology.
www.etana.org/abzu/abzu-displayentry.pl?RC=17815
Victor Zinkuratire, 1998
Morphological and syntactical similarities between Hebrew and Bantu languages. From: Newsletter on African Old Testament scholarship, May 1998.
www.mhs.no/article_303.shtml
English-Amharic glossary.
www.ethiopic.com/glossary/glossary.htm
Google in Amharic.
www.google.com/intl/am
Thesaurus Linguae Aethiopicae.
www.uni-mainz.de/Organisationen/TLA/index.html
Very Short Amharic Glossary.
www.angelfire.com/ak/sellassie/page30.html
Wikipedia in Amharic.
am.wikipedia.org
Eloi Ficquet, 2001
A la découverte des amhariques: langues et histoires éthiopiennes en regard. From: Cahiers d'études africaines, v. 41.
etudesafricaines.revues.org/document106.html
Peter Ladefoged, Karen Emmorey, 1985
Cross-linguistic issues in the relationship between semi-vowels and vowels (PDF). UCLA working papers in phonetics, v. 61, p. 87-.
repositories.cdlib.org/uclaling/wpp/No61/
Jamal Ouhalla, 1998
Possession in sentences and noun phrases - with examples from Amharic and Moroccan Arabic (PDF). University of Southern California.
www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/linguistics/semitic/pdf/ur.pdf
Weldu Weldeyesus, 2004
Case marking systems in two Ethiopian languages (PDF). From: Colorado research in linguistics (online), v. 17 (1).
www.colorado.edu/ling/CRIL/Volume17_Issue1/paper_WELDEYESUS.pdf
Baye Yimam, 2006
The interaction of tense, aspect and agreement in Amharic syntax (PDF). From: Selected proceedings of the 35th annual conference on African linguistics. Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/35/index.html
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Arabic, Standard Arabic, Qur'an Arabic < Central Semitic
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The NITLE Arab World Project with readings on the Arabic language. Sponsored by the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education.
arabworld.nitle.org/main_menu.php?module_id=1
Lingo24's ContexTrans: Arabic-English, English-Arabic
www.lingo24.com/contextrans.html
Lingo24's Parasaurus Rex Arabic - alternative phrase finder/thesaurus
www.lingo24.com/parasaurus-arabic.html
C. Chanard
Arabe - système alphabétique d'après "Alphabets des langues africaines", Unesco-SIL 1993. LLACAN (Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire).
sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono
Nilofaar Haeri, 2003
Introduction to 'Sacred language, ordinary people'. From: Sacred language, ordinary people. Palgrave Macmillan.
arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1
Yasir Suleiman, 1994
Nationalism and the Arabic language: a historical overview. From: Arabic sociolinguistics. RoutledgeCurzon.
arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1
Kees Versteegh, 1997
Arabic in the pre-Islamic period. From: The Arabic language. Edinburgh University Press.
arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1
Kees Versteegh, 1997
The development of Classical Arabic. From: The Arabic language. Edinburgh University Press.
arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1
Kees Versteegh, 1997
The emergence of Modern Standard Arabic. From: The Arabic language. Edinburgh University Press.
arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1
Kees Versteegh, 1997
Dialects of Arabic. From: The Arabic language. Edinburgh University Press.
arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1
Abderrahim Youssi, 2001
Types of multi-lingualism and multi-dialectalism across the Arabic-speaking communities (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 5, p. 7-28.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=262
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Arabic, Egyptian < Arabic cluster < Central Semitic
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Pimsleur Egyptian Arabic course.
www.watchtvsitcoms.com/Language/eg%20arabic-pims.php
Malcolm Edwards, 2006
Pronouns, agreement and focus in Egyptian Arabic (PDF). SOAS working papers in linguistics, v. 14, p. 51-62.
www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-14/swpl-volume-14.html
Boutheina Lassaadi, 2003
Optional wh-movement in French and Egyptian Arabic (PDF). Ottawa papers in linguistics, v. 31, p. 67-94.
aix1.uottawa.ca/~clo/31
Kjell Norlin, 1989
A preliminary description of Cairo Arabic intonation of statements and questions (PDF). Speech, music, and hearing - quarterly progress and status report (KTH Stockholm), v. 30, p. 47-49.
www.speech.kth.se/qpsr/pdf/1989/1989_30_1_047-049.pdf
Carl Albert Thimm, 1914
Egyptian self-taught (PDF). London.
www.archive.org/details/egyptianselftaug00thim
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Arabic, Hassaniyya < Arabic cluster < Central Semitic
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Jorge Aguadé, 1998
Relatos en hassaniya recogidos en Mhâmîd (valle des Dra, sur de Marruecos) (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 3, p. 203-215.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=97
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Arabic, Judeo-Moroccan < Arabic cluster < Central Semitic
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Simon Lèvy, 1998
Pièges ètymologiques: "bätöto" et "pallebe" en arabe des Juifs du Maroc (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 3, p. 61-63.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=91
Moroccan Arabic: a competency based curriculum (PDF). Peace Corps Morocco.
eric.ed.gov (ED401741)
Moroccan Arabic textbook (PDF). Peace Corps Morocco.
eric.ed.gov (ED353812)
Algerian Dardja-English Dictionary.
www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/3279
Rached ben Abdelkader, others
Tunisian Arabic (PDF). Peace Corps Tunisia.
eric.ed.gov (ED401742)
Jorge Aguadé, 1997
Notas acerca de los preverbios del imperfectivo en arabe dialectal magrebí (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 2, p. 197-213.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=27
Jorge Aguadé, Angeles Vicente, 1997
Un calco semántico del bereber en árabe dialectal magrebí: el uso de la preposición çla en el comparativo (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 2, p. 187-196.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=100
Taoufik ben Amor
A beginner's course in Tunisian Arabic (PDF). Peace Corps Tunisia.
eric.ed.gov (ED402739)
Ouahida Babassi
Procès d'indexicalisation dans le parler bilingue franco-arabe algérien. Université de Paris III.
www.bahdja.com/info/dardja.html
Mark Berlin
Moroccan Language - English-French-Moroccan Arabic glossary.
amfor.com/lang.htm
M.R. Bernouss, 2007
Moroccan Arabic morpho-phonology: a moraic approach (PDF). MorphOn: e-journal of morphology, 14 May 2007, p. 1-12.
www.morphologyonline.com/BankofPapers.aspx
Dominique Caubet, 1996
Approche sociolinguistique de l'expression de la concomitance en arabe marocain (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 1, p. 87-100.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=19
Dominique Caubet, 2001
Questionnaire de dialectologie du Maghreb: d'après les travaux de W. Marçais, M. Cohen, G.S. Colin, J. Cantineau, D. Cohen, Ph. Marçais, S. Lévy, etc. (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 5, p. 73-92.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=266
Abdessalem Choura
Tunisian Arabic: competency based language education curriculum guide (PDF). Peace Corps Tunisia.
eric.ed.gov (ED402755)
Samir Diouny, 2007
Tense/agreement in Moroccan Arabic: the tree-pruning hypothesis (PDF). SKY journal of linguistics, v. 20, p. 141-170.
www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/julkaisut/sky2007.shtml
Simon Lèvy, 1997
De quelques emprunts possibles au portugais dans les parlers du Maroc (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 2, p. 173-180.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=81
Jihane Madouni, 2001
A propos de verbes quadrilitères dans un parler de l'ouest algérien (Sidi-Bel-Abbes) (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 5, p. 243-251.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=270
Mohamed Meouak, Nacera Kouici, 1997
Xurti "khorote", zufri "ouvrier", meryul "mariolle": mots et expressions populaires en arabe algérien (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 2, p. 95-103.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=77
Mohamed Meouak, 1998
Gniyya mtaç Hegg Qiyyum (Alger 1914-1918): notes et commentaires sur le vocabulaire algérien-français (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 3, p. 157-162.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=95
Mohamed Meouak, Nacera Kouici, 2001
Argots, jargons et mots de passe dans l'arabe algérien: notes linguistiques et sociologiques (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 5, p. 61-71.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=265
Leila Messaoudi, 1996
Note sur l'affriquée /g/ dans le parler Jbala (nord du Maroc) (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 1, p. 167-175.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=25
Leila Messaoudi, 1999
Etude de la variation dans le parler des Jbala (nord ouest du Maroc) (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 4, p. 167-176.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=116
Francisco Moscoso, 1999
Estudio lingüístico de un dialecto árabe hilalí del Sûs (Marruecos) (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 4, p. 25-54.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=105
Abdelfattah Nissabouri, 1997
Sur l'hispanisation des mots d'emprunt en arabe marocain (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 2, p. 187-196.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=83
De Lacey O'Leary, 1925
Colloquial Arabic: with notes on the vernacular speech of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, and an appendix on the local characteristics of Algerian dialect (PDF). London.
www.archive.org/details/colloquialarabic00oleauoft
Jamal Ouhalla, 1997
The structure and logical form of negative sentences - with examples from Moroccan Arabic (PDF). University of Southern California.
www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/linguistics/semitic/pdf/neg.pdf
Jamal Ouhalla, 1998
Possession in sentences and noun phrases - with examples from Amharic and Moroccan Arabic (PDF). University of Southern California.
www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/linguistics/semitic/pdf/ur.pdf
Lameen Souag
Grammar of Algerian Darja.
lameen.googlepages.com
Lameen Souag, 2006
Explorations in the syntactic cartography of Algerian Arabic (PDF). MA thesis. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
lameen.googlepages.com
Jalal-Eddin al-Tamimi, Melissa Barkat-Defradas, 2002
Inter-dialectal and inter-individual variability in production and perception: a preliminary study in Jordanian and Moroccan Arabic (PDF). From: Proceedings of the 5th AIDA conference, September 2002.
www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/Al-Tamimi/Al-Tamimi_2002_AIDA.pdf
Mohand Tilmatine, 1999
Substrat et convergences: le berbère et l'arabe nord-africain (PDF). Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí, v. 4, p. 99-119.
www.ieiop.com/publicaciones/detalle.php?idnoticia=110
Georgia Weissman
Moroccan Arabic consonant harmony (PPT + MP3). Paper presented at the CUNY (City University of New York) conference on precedence relations, January 2007.
www.cunyphonologyforum.net/forum.php
Silvia Zaugg-Coretti, 2005
Aspekt im Marokkanischen im Licht der Aspekttheorien von Sasse und Johanson. Arbeitspapiere des Seminars für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Zürich, Bd 12.
www.unizh.ch/spw/publikationen/wp12.pdf
Pierre Nougayrol, 1990
Langues et populations du nort-est centrafricain (PDF). From: Relations interethniques et culture matérielle dans le bassin du lac Tchad. Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer (ORSTOM).
horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/colloques2/31546.pdf
Henri Tourneux, 1984
Vocabulaires comparés des instruments aratoires dans le nord-Cameroun (PDF). From: Cahiers de l'Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer, série sciences humaines, v. 20, p. 597-612.
horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_4/sci_hum/19379.pdf
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Arabic, Sudanese < Arabic cluster < Central Semitic
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Alan S. Kaye, 2003
Book review of 'Spoken Sudanese Arabic" by Elizabeth M. Bergman (PDF). From: California linguistics notes, v. 28, n. 1.
hss.fullerton.edu/linguistics/cln
Zelealem Leyew, Ralph Siebert, 2002
Sociolinguistic survey report of the Argobba language of Ethiopia (PDF). SIL electronic survey report SILESR 2002-026.
www.sil.org/silesr/2002/026
Thesaurus Linguae Aethiopicae.
www.uni-mainz.de/Organisationen/TLA/index.html
Marius Chaine, 1907
Grammaire éthiopienne (PDF). Beyrouth.
www.archive.org/details/grammairethiop00chauoft
Peter T. Daniels
Book review: 'Ethiopic, an African writing system' by Ayele Bekerie, 1997. H-Net book review, March 1999.
www.h-net.org/reviews
Jouni Maho, 1999
Analytic tables of Ge'ez grammar (PDF). Dept of Oriental and African Languages, Göteborg University.
www.african.gu.se/maho/downloads/geeztables.pdf
Jouni Maho, 1999
Three Ge'ez texts, transliterated and translated (PDF). Dept of Oriental and African Languages, Göteborg University.
www.african.gu.se/maho/downloads/geeztexts.pdf
Richard F. Burton, 1856
First footsteps in East Africa: or, an exploration of Harar -- incl. a grammatical outline and vocabulary of the Harari language (PDF). Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans.
books.google.com/books?id=5POdm7UKXP4C
WebVerbix On-Line Conjugator for Nubi.
www.verbix.com/languages/xml/Nubi.html
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Soddo-Gogot, North Gurage < South Ethiopic < South Semitic
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Wikipedia
The Soddo language.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soddo_language
Omar M. Kekia
Dehai Tigre page.
www.people.vcu.edu/~gasmerom/Eritrean_languages/tigre
Google in Tigrinya.
www.google.com/intl/ti
Wikipedia in Tigrinya.
ti.wikipedia.org
Goitom Ahrefom
Dehai Tigrigna page.
www.people.vcu.edu/~gasmerom/Eritrean_languages/tigrigna
Eugene Buckley, 1994
Tigrinya vowel features and vowel coalescence (PS). From: UPenn working papers in linguistics, v. 1, p. 1-28.
ling.upenn.edu/papers/v1-contents.html
Eugene Buckley, 1997
Tigrinya root consonants and the OCP (PS). From: UPenn working papers in linguistics, v. 4(3), p. 19-51.
ling.upenn.edu/papers/v4.3-contents.html
Eugene Buckley, 1997
Againts vowel length in Tigrinya (PDF). From: Studies in African linguistics, v. 26, p. 63-102.
www.ling.upenn.edu/~gene/cv.html
Eugene Buckley, 2000
Alignment and weight in the Tigriniya verb stem (PDF). From: Advances in African linguistics. Edited by Vicky Carstens & Frederick Parkinson. Africa World Press.
www.ling.upenn.edu/~gene/cv.html
Weldu Weldeyesus, 2004
Case marking systems in two Ethiopian languages (PDF). From: Colorado research in linguistics (online), v. 17 (1).
www.colorado.edu/ling/CRIL/Volume17_Issue1/paper_WELDEYESUS.pdf
Sascha Völlmin, 2007
Benefactives in Gumer (PDF). Abstract of a paper presented at the workshop on the typology of benefactives and malefactives, University of Zurich, October 25-26, 2007.
www.unizh.ch/spw/benefact/Abstracts.html
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Zway < East Gurage < South Ethiopic < South Semitic
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Simon Gardner, Ralph Siebert, 2002
Sociolinguistic survey report of the Zay language area (PDF). SIL electronic survey report SILESR 2002-024.
www.sil.org/silesr/2002/024
Klaus Wedekind, Charlotte Wedekind, 2002
Initial SLLE survey of the Zway area (PDF). SIL electronic survey report SILESR 2002-063.
www.sil.org/silesr/abstract.asp?ref=2002-063
