Semitic Languages (with Special Reference to the Levant)

Rendsburg, Gary A.

doi:10.5325/j.ctv1bxh52q.15

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Semitic languages comprise one of the most studied language families in the world. Semitic is of particular interest due to its association with the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia (Lloyd 1984), the Levant (Rendsburg 2003) and the Horn of Africa (Connah 2001), which gave rise to several of the world's first major religious traditions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and literary works (e.g. the Akkadian poem The epic of Gilgamesh).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The importance of Semitic dates back at least 4350 years before present ( YBP) to ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia, where the Akkadian language replaced Sumerian (Buccellati 1997). From this time forward, archaeological evidence for Semitic among the Hebrews and Phoenicians in the Levant (Diakonoff 1998;Rendsburg 2003) and the Aksumites in the Horn of Africa (Connah 2001) suggests that Semitic-speaking populations and their languages underwent a complex history of geographical expansion, migration and diffusion tied to the emergence of the earliest urban civilizations in these regions (Lloyd 1984;Connah 2001;Richard 2003b;Nardo 2007). Uncertainties about key details of this history persist despite extensive archaeological, genetic and linguistic studies of Semitic populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East

et al. 2009

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The evolution of languages provides a unique opportunity to study human population history. The origin of Semitic and the nature of dispersals by Semitic-speaking populations are of great importance to our understanding of the ancient history of the Middle East and Horn of Africa. Semitic populations are associated with the oldest written languages and urban civilizations in the region, which gave rise to some of the world's first major religious and literary traditions. In this study, we employ Bayesian computational phylogenetic techniques recently developed in evolutionary biology to analyse Semitic lexical data by modelling language evolution and explicitly testing alternative hypotheses of Semitic history. We implement a relaxed linguistic clock to date language divergences and use epigraphic evidence for the sampling dates of extinct Semitic languages to calibrate the rate of language evolution. Our statistical tests of alternative Semitic histories support an initial divergence of Akkadian from ancestral Semitic over competing hypotheses (e.g. an African origin of Semitic). We estimate an Early Bronze Age origin for Semitic approximately 5750 years ago in the Levant, and further propose that contemporary Ethiosemitic languages of Africa reflect a single introduction of early Ethiosemitic from southern Arabia approximately 2800 years ago.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East

et al. 2009

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Text and the City: How the City Shaped Language

Efrat-Kowalsky

2022

Old World J. Anc. Afr. Eurasia

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This paper presents the first case of dramatic and large-scale loss of linguistic diversity. Language death has been part of our history as long as languages were spoken, but in the fourth millennium bce urbanisation and a growing regional economy caused a decrease in both language and typological diversity on a much larger scale than ever before. The first cities in Mesopotamia had developed writing and administration which centralised power and disseminated its influence. In particular, standard languages that were used for official purposes over large areas emerged. Written standard language slowed down the rate of change and consolidated diverging dialects. The larger areas in which languages were spoken in combination with increased mobility and long-distance contacts increased language contact and decreased typological differentiation. Massive population movements due to natural and human made disasters wiped out whole linguistic lineages through language shifts. In effect, this was a first wave globalisation, resulting in the first extensive linguistic diversity eradication.

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Semitic Languages (with Special Reference to the Levant)

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East

Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East

Text and the City: How the City Shaped Language

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