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The feminine endings *-ay and *-āy in Semitic and Berber

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2018

Marijn van Putten
Marijn van Putten*
Affiliation:
Leiden University
*
m.van.putten@hum.leidenuniv.nl
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Abstract

This paper examines the evidence for the marginal feminine endings *-ay- and *-āy- in Proto-Semitic, and the feminine endings *-e and *-a in Proto-Berber. Their similar formation (*CV̆CC-ay/āy), semantics (verbal abstracts, underived concrete feminine nouns) and plural morphology (replacement of the feminine suffix by a plural suffix with -w-) suggest that this feminine formation should be reconstructed to a shared ancestor which may be called Proto-Berbero-Semitic.

Keywords

Berbero-SemiticAfro-AsiaticHistorical linguisticsFeminine suffixSemiticBerber

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Type
Article
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Bulletin of SOAS , Volume 81 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 205 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2018 

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Maarten Kossmann, Benjamin Suchard, Fokelien Kootstra, Ahmad Al-Jallad, Stanly Oomen and Lameen Souag for commenting on an early draft of this paper.

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