Semitic Languages: Features, Structures, Relations, Processes

by Gideon Goldenberg

Overview

This book offers a thorough, authoritative account of the branches of Semitic. These include some of the world's oldest attested languages, among them Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, and Ethiopic, as well as various modern languages. Gideon Goldenberg describes their history, geographical distribution, writing systems, and genetic classication. He examines their main features and distinctive characteristics, including their phonology, morphemes, derivational morphology, verbal systems, syntactic relationships, and their typological signicance. He also discusses the pioneering work and achievements of medieval Arabic and Hebrew scholars in theoretical and descriptive aspects of grammar, lexicography, and philology. Professor Goldenberg's balanced, undogmatic account presents the fruits of a lifetime of original research: it will be widely welcomed by scholars and advanced students of the Semitic languages and linguistic typology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199644919
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/20/2013
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Gideon Goldenberg is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been a Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities since 1996 and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy since 1999. He has published extensively on Neo-Ethiopian languages, Syriac, Hebrew, and Neo-Aramaic, syntactic relations and typology, and on the history of linguistics in the Middle East.

Table of Contents

Full contentsGlossing Category labels1. Introduction2. The Languages3. Distribution4. Writing Systems and Scripts5. Classification6. Linguistic Traditions7. Phonology8. Closed-Class Morphemes9. Derivational Morphology10. Entity Terms11. Syntactic Relations; Case System12. Predicative Relation13. Verbal System14. Attributive Relation15. Completive Relation16. Existence, Belonging, and PossessionReferencesIndex