The linguistic features that are shared among Horn African languages ""LONG THREAD""

[Aurelian]

Cushitic languages, on the whole, are rather heterogeneous (noticeably more so than Semitic), but there are some features that both generally unify them and distinguish them from other Afro-Asiatic branches:

• Note A: Much of this was sourced from Egyptian and Semito-Hamitic (Afro-Asiatic) Studies in Memoriam Werner Vycichl (Gábor Takács) [1]

Above: Approximate breakdown of the languages of the Horn of Africa (click for greater photo clarity). [2][3]

Cushitic languages generally have gender-marking with pronominals with the following canon: [4]

• masculine: *ku
• feminine: *ti

These are variously used as demonstratives and possessive pronouns, deictics, definite markers, etc.

Examples of this are below: [5]

• Oromo:
  • demonstratives (this, these):
    • masculine: kana (nominative case), kuni (base)
    • feminine: tana (nominative case), tuni (base)
• Somali: [6]
  • demonstratives (this, these):
    • masculine: kan (nominative case), kun (base)
    • feminine: tan (nominative case), tun (base)
  • possessives:
    • masculine: káaga
    • feminine: táaga
• Darasa:
  • demonstratives (this, these):
    • masculine: kunni
    • feminine: tinni

 

[Aurelian]

Cushitic languages generally have the following with regard to grammatical case: [7]

• marked nominative morphosyntactic alignment for masculine nouns:
  • masculine:
    • absolutive case: *-a
    • subject case (aka nominative): *-i (an alternative reconstruction is *-u) [8]
    • genitive case: *-i
  • feminine:
    • absolutive: *-a
    • subject case (nominative): *-a
    • genitive case: *-(a)ti (short vowel) ~ *-Vti (long vowel)
• Examples include the following: [9]
  • Afar: awk- “boy” (masculine):
    • nominative: awki
    • absolutive: áwka
    • genitive: awki
  • Oromo: nam(n)- “man” (masculine):
    • nominative: namni
    • absolutive: nama
    • genitive: namaa
  • Afar: sag- “cow” (feminine):
    • nominative: saga
    • absolutive: saga
    • genitive: sagáh ~ sagáC
    • Note B: C = unspecified consonant

Above: Case-marking languages in East and North Africa. [10]

It’s worth noting, though, not all Cushitic languages have retained this. Then, some Cushitic languages have either shifted to a nominative-accusative alignment (e.g., the result of Ethiosemitic influence on Agaw languages [11]) or, as is the case with South Cushitic languages, have done away with case-marking altogether. [12]

Cushitic languages also exhibit heterogenous noun plural forming patterns: [13]

• suffixes: *-Vt, *-Vw, *-Vn (none are gender-specific):
  • Note C: V = unidentified vowel
  • e.g., Oromo: ‘Barr- (“to write, to inscribe”) [14]
    • Barruu = books
  • Other common noun pluralization markers in Oromo are the following (reflexes of the aforementioned reconstructed roots are in bold): [15]
    • –ootaa/-ota (60.1%)
    • -wwan (30.2%)
    • -lee (9.7%)
• internal modifications (usually (but not always) partial reduplications and sometimes broken plurals):
  • Beja: root: m-k ~ √mk (“donkey”): [16]
    • singular: meːk
    • plural: mak
  • Beja: root: b-k ~ √bk (“he-goat”): [17]
    • singular: boːk
    • plural: bak
  • Somali: [18]
    • singular: af “mouth”
    • plural: afaf “mouths”
  • Saho: [19]
    • singular: af “mouth”
    • plural: áfof “mouths”
  • Bayso: [20]
    • singular: ker “dog”
    • plural: keroor “dogs”
  • Afar: [21]
    • lafá (“bone”) → lafóofi (“bones”)
    • san (“nose”) → sanoona (“noses”)

Most Cushitic languages also show a loss of the distinction between the masculine and feminine in the 2nd person for pronouns and in verbal inflection:

• Beja 2nd person independent pronouns. Note that the original 2nd person is marked with /k/, with there no longer being any vowel distinction that would distinguish the 2nd person masculine and feminine (cf., Hausa 2nd person independent masculine kai and 2nd person independent feminine kē [22] ): [23]
  • nominative:
    • masculine: bar-úuk
    • feminine: bat-úuk
  • accusative:
    • bar-óok
    • bat-óok
• Somali 2nd person pronouns: [24]
  • 2nd person independent: adiga (no gender distinction)
  • 2nd person object: -ku

There are, however, exceptions. There are traces of an original *ku for the masculine and *ki for the feminine, namely in the South Cushitic languages (e.g., Iraqw, Burunge) for 2nd person pronouns, which suggests that the loss of the distinction is a later development that hadn’t affected all Cushitic languages. [25]

• Gorowa language (South Cushitic, Central/Northern Tanzania): [26]
  • kií ar haree an idosir hi'imit
    • PRO.2SG.F ANA.F woman.LFR S.P- AUX -EXPECT manner.LFR -DEM2 -INSTR travel.2.SUBJ
    • “You, woman travel in this way.”
  • kuú, tók aqo an aluqa’wa dog
    • PRO2SG.M PROPOSS.2SG.F EMPH A.P- P.F- AUX -EXPECT after -DEM3 -ABL add.2.SUBJ
    • “You, yours you add after that.”

 

[Aurelian]

For verbal inflection, Cushitic retains a prefix-inflectional system with the pattern of Ɂ-t-y-n. [27]

• Ɂ-: the 1st person singular
• t-: 2nd person singular, 2nd person plural, and 3rd person feminine,
• y-: 3rd person masculine singular and the 3rd person plural
• n-: 1st person plural
• Bonus:→ -n: suffixed element for the 2nd person plural and 3rd person plural

It is thusly called the “Ɂ-t-y-n block pattern.” This is actually an important isogloss that Cushitic languages share only with Semitic and Berber. [28] This is entirely lacking in other Afro-Asiatic branches even at their earliest attestations or reconstructions. However, it is still only rather vestigial in Cushitic languages (only some seem to retain it) :

• Bear in mind that in Cushitic languages (not only Cushitic, but also many other Afro-Asiatic branches, too), syllables must have a consonantal onset (Ɂ- before vowels). That will be noticeable for the examples below.[29]
• Somali (only a few verbs retain this block pattern):
  • yaal- “stay, lie”: [30]
    • 1st person singular: aal (spoken with a Ɂ- before the a-, but it is not written unless using IPA)
    • 2nd person singular: t-aal
    • 3rd person masculine singular: y-aal
    • 3rd person feminine singular: t-aal
    • 1st person singular: n-aal
    • 2nd person plural: t-aall-in
    • 3rd person plural: y-aall-in
• Afar: [31]
  • amaate- “come”:
    • 1st person singular: amaate
    • 2nd person singular: t-amaate
    • 3rd person masculine singular: y-amaate
    • 3rd person feminine singular: t-amaate
    • 1st person singular: n-amaate
    • 2nd person plural: t-amaate
    • 3rd person plural: y-amaate
• Beja: [32]
  • bi(i)s- “bury”:
    • 1st person singular: anbiis
    • 2nd person singular: tin-biis-a (masculine) ~ tin-biis-i (feminine)
    • 3rd person masculine singular: in-biis
    • 3rd person feminine singular: tin-biis
    • 1st person singular: nee-bis
    • 2nd person plural: tee-bisna
    • 3rd person plural: ee-bisna

For suffix conjugations for Cushitic languages, the inflectional pattern is rather innovative relative to other Afro-Asiatic branches. It initially involved a prefix-inflecting auxiliary that became suffxed to the verb base. The suggested reconstruction is *-V(V). [33] [34] Consequently, the suffix conjugation markers are similar in that they share the initial consonants of the block pattern, but the following vowel (previously a conjugated auxiliary) has now been attached.

• Somali: keen- "bring"
  • suffix conjugations → “brought” (perfective):
    • 1st person singular: keen-aa
    • 2nd person singular: keen-taa
    • 3rd person masculine singular: keen-aa
    • 3rd person feminine singular: keen-taa
    • 1st person singular: keen-naa
    • 2nd person plural: keen-taan
    • 3rd person plural: keen-aan
  • compare the following for the imperfective to note the similarity: [35]
    • Note D: Bear in mind that this verb is not conjugated with the block pattern.
    • 1st person singular: keen-ay
    • 2nd person singular: keen-tay
    • 3rd person masculine singular: keen-ay
    • 3rd person feminine singular: keen-tay
    • 1st person singular: keen-nay
    • 2nd person plural: keen-teen
    • 3rd person plural: keen-een

 

[Aurelian]

Cushitic languages also largely show two verbal aspects (imperfective v. perfective). For suffix conjugations, these contrasts in aspect are shown by vowels. This apparently underlies the prefix conjugations. Below are the aspectual markers: [36]

• imperfective *a
• perfective: *i ~ *u

Below are examples in Afar: [37]

• fak- “open”:
  • imperfective:
    • 1st person singular: faka
    • 2nd person singular: fakta
    • 3rd person masculine singular: faka
    • 3rd person feminine singular: fakta
    • 1st person plural: fakna
    • 2nd person plural: faktaana
    • 3rd person plural: fakaana
  • perfective:
    • 1st person singular: fake
    • 2nd person singular: fakte
    • 3rd person masculine singular: fake
    • 3rd person feminine singular: fakte
    • 1st person plural: fakne
    • 2nd person plural: fakteeni
    • 3rd person plural: fakeeni

Cushitic languages are also generally characterized as having an SOV constituent word order. Below are examples to highlight this: [38]

• Kemantnay (aka Kemant/Qemant):
  • yir zaf-ɨs käb-ø-ɨɣʷ
    • man tree-ACC cut-3M.SG-PAST
    • lit., “man tree cut”
    • “the man cut the tree”
• Xamt’aŋa:
  • lämma fitʃirä-yän-ti ki-wu
    • Lemma goat-DEF-ACC killAST-3M.SG
    • lit., “Lemma goat-the killed”
    • “Lemma killed the goat”

 

[Aurelian]

Above: Geographic distribution of Ethiosemitic languages in the Horn of Africa. [39]

As for Ethiosemitic languages, I, unfortunately, don’t have many sources that succinctly note the specific diagnostic features. So, their distinctiveness relative to other Semitic languages seems to be somewhat more abstruse. Nevertheless, Ethiosemitic languages do still have at least a few readily noticeable differences relative to other branches of Semitic that are either unique to itself or are shared with non-Semitic languages in the Horn of Africa.

From a phonological standpoint, the existence of labio-velars (kʷ, gʷ, k’ʷ, xʷ (representative examples in the Ge’ez script (used across Ethiosemitic languages at large) include ኰ, ዀ, ቘ, ጐ, ⶓ )) in Ethiosemitic is commonly seen as the result of Cushitic influence. [40][41]

Additionally, unlike most other Semitic languages, Ethiosemitic languages are SOV languages, which is in stark contrast to just about all Semitic languages except for East Semitic languages like Akkadian (due to strong influence from Sumerian). The main exception is Ge’ez, which largely used a VSO word order and often SVO as well. [42] The shift from common Semitic VSO word order (including the tendency toward the use of SVO (widespread throughout non-Ethiosemitic Semitic languages [43]) to SOV is determined to be due to Cushitic influence. [44]

• Amharic (SOV): [45]
  • astämari-w doro wät’-u-n bälla (አስተማሪው የዶሮውን ወጥ በላ)
    • teacher-DEF chicken stew-DEF-ACC ate.3MS
    • lit., “teacher-the chicken stew-the ate.”
    • “The teacher ate the chicken stew”
• Tigre (SOV(no transcription in the native script)): [46]
  • badir dĭβ ħattɛ ʕad, ʔoro məlĭk ta:yɛr ʕal-a
    • in.old.times in one place/tribe one.MSG king rich.MSG be.PRF-3MSG
    • lit., in old times in one place, king rich there was
    • “A long time ago, in one place, there was a rich king”
• Ge’ez (VSO (no transcription in the native script)): [47]
  • särħ-ä nəguś bet
    • build-3MSG.PAST king house
    • lit., built king house
    • “the/a king built the/a house”
• Ge’ez (SVO (no transcription available in the native script)): [48]
  • əgziʔ-äb-ħer wähäb-ä-kəmu z-ä ʕəlä-ä sänbät
    • God give.past-3msg-obj.2mp this-acc day-acc sabbath
    • lit., God has given you this day Sabbath
    • “God has given you this Sabbath day”

Ethiosemitic languages also show many converbs. Converbs are verbs that often have a reduced inflectional morphology and are used in dependent clauses to express an action preceding the action of a following verb. This an areal feature shared with neighboring Cushitic languages. [49]

In Amharic, for example, there is the unique converb stem CäCC- (CäC(C)ïCC- for 1st person), which then is followed by inflectional morphemes, which indicate the person, number and gender of the subject of the converb. [50]

• Amharic: C₁äC₂C₃ä-SUF. (Type A (there are 3 types (A,B, and C))) [51]
  • root: √s-b-r (meaning: “break,” “destroy”) → imperfective stem: säbr → converb: säbrä-SUF.
    • converb (third person plural): säbrä-w = “they break”

Yet another feature, which is attributed to Cushitic influence, and which spread into many Ethiosemitic and even Omotic languages of Ethiopia, is the use of the verb “say” as an auxiliary following another lexical item, often an ideophone. [52][53]So, compound verbs are formed by an invariable noun-like component, which apparently determines the lexical meaning of the compound, and an inflected form of a what’s called a semantically colorless verb (e.g., the previously mentioned “say” and “do.”). :

• Gurage (South Ethiosemitic): [54]
  • bäy balla
    • all right say
    • meaning = “agree”
  • žaa amännä
    • IDEO do
    • meaning = “drop”
• Harari (South Ethiosemitic):
  • cäf bāya ~
    • IDEO say
    • meaning = “jump”
• Tigre (North Ethiosemitic):
  • koy bela ~ koy wada
    • IDEO say ~ IDEO do
    • meaning = “hurry”
• Amharic (South Ethiosemitic):
  • tuss āllä ~ tuss adärrägä
    • IDEO say ~ IDEO do
    • meaning = “pour”
• Oromo (Lowlands East Cushitic):
  • c’alla yed’a
    • only say
    • meaning = “be silent, remain silent”
  • oddo innii mina śeene yed’u
    • when he house enter say. 3SG.PFT
    • meaning = “when he entered the house”
• Beja (North Cushitic (only representative)):
  • fídig índi
    • to depart 3SG.IMPF.say
    • meaning = “he is going”

 

[Aurelian]

Another feature is that the singular form of nouns is used with all numbers. This is the case even when languages have the category of the plural for nouns. Thus, the plural is not used with numerals or words of quantity: [55][56][57]

• “four dogs”:
  • Amharic:
    • four = arat (አራት); dog = wish (ውሾ); -och (ች) = plural marker
    • ārat wish (አራት ውሾ) → lit., “four dog”
  • Arabic:
    • four = arbe (أربعة); -t = numeral plural marker; killab = dogs (كلاب)
    • arbet killab (أربعة كلاب) → lit., “four dogs”

Independent and subordinate forms of the imperfective. The imperfective has one form to be used in main clauses and a different form for subordinate clauses. In the case of Amharic, the simple imperfective is used for subordinate clauses, while the compound imperfective is used for main clauses for affirmative conjugation. [58] The example below is with the root √s-b-r (meaning: “break,” “destroy”)

• imperfective stem: säbr- = “she breaks ~ she will break”
  • third-person singular simple template: tə__ä__.__i ~ təC₁äC₂C₃i
    • təsäbri (ትሰብር)
  • third-person singular compound template: tə__ä__.__alläčč ~ təC₁äC₂C₃alläčč
    • təsäbralläčč (ትሰብራለች)
    • Note E: “ə” in the romanization = [ɨ/ø] in IPA.

Modern Ethiosemitic languages also follow a pattern whereby the main verb precedes the auxiliary verb, just like in the Cushitic languages of the region, but unlike with Ge’ez or other Semitic languages, whereby the auxiliary verb precedes the main verb. The example below is with the phrase “he is playing.” The auxiliary is in bold: [59]

• Amharic: näw (ነው) = copular auxiliary (i.e., “is, are”)
  • iyetech’awete näw። (እየተጫወተ ነው።)
• Bilin: inikʷikxʷī (እንኵዅ) = auxiliary
  • me‘abekwi inikʷikxʷī። (መዓበኵ እንኵዅ።)

Ethiosemitic languages have also most likely borrowed abstract noun suffixes from Cushitic languages. Below are examples from Amharic: [60]

• -ና ((n)na):
  • tiḥitina (ትሕትና) = “humility” ~ “humbleness”
  • ḥikimina (ሕክምና) = “treatment”
• -ነት((n)nät):
  • ibidinät (እብድነት) = “madness”
• -ታ (ta):
  • desita (ደስታ) = “happiness”
  • yiḵ’ireta (ይቕረታ) = “pride”

Beyond this, there are many words of Cushitic (particularly Agaw (aka Central Cushitic)) origin in Ethiosemitic languages. Below are examples from Amharic: [61][62][63][64][65]

• aggot (አጎት) “uncle” (compare Bilin (Central Cushitic ʾäg))
• doro (ዶሮ) “chicken” (compare Saho-Afar (Central Cushitic) dorho))
• däga (ደጋ) “highlands” (compare Bilin dag “summit, above”)
• aṭe (አጤ) “emperor” (compare Kemant (Central Cushitic) ašena))
• ši(h) (ሺህ) “thousand” (compare Bilin šix)
• dagussa (ዳጉሳ) “finger millet” (compare Künfal dəgusi)
• wuha (ውሃ) “water” (compare Bilin axʷ)
• t͟s’eguri (ፀጉር) “hair” (compare Bilin – šəgʷər (ሽጉር), Proto-East Cushitic *t’ogor, and Proto-Cushitic *t’agʷar) [66]
• demena (ደመና) “cloud” (compare Proto-Agaw *dəmmən/dämmän)) [67]
• ‘asa (ዓሳ) “fish” (compare Bilin ʕas (ዓሳ) and Proto-Agaw *ʕas) [68]

An interesting distinction is that early Ethiosemitic speakers borrowed their agricultural words from pre-existing Cushitic peoples, even if the agricultural words would almost certainly have already been known to the then-recently-arriving (pre-?) Proto-Ethiosemitic speakers. Words for things like t’eff, nug (an Ethiopian oil plant), and finger millet (example above), which would have been new to the early Ethiosemitic speakers were naturally borrowed, but Ethiosemitic even borrowed words for barley, wheat, mashed chickpeas, flax, and plowshare. [69][70] Below are examples for Ethiosemitic:

• Proto-Ethiosemitic *sərnä (ሰርነ) “wheat” < Proto-Agaw *sinra (ሲንራ)
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *tälba (ተልባ) “flax” < Proto-North Agaw *tərba (ተርባ)
• Proto-Ethioesmitic *dagusa (ዳጉሳ) “finger millet” < Proto-Agaw *dagus (ዳጉስ) (cf., Bilin dagus (ዳጉስ), Proto-East Cushitic *dingaws, Proto-Cushitic *dingaws)
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *däro (ደሮ) “chicken, hen” < Proto-Agaw *dirwa (ዲርዋ) (cf., Bilin dirwa (ዲርዋ), Afar dorrahi, Beja ʔandiirho)
• Proto-Ehiosemitic *säk (ሰክ) “barley” < Proto Agaw *säkum (ሰክም) (cf., Bilin sɨkm (ስክም))
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *t’äf (ጣፍ) “teff” < Proto-Agaw *taf (cf., Bilin t’äf (ጣፍ))
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *nəw (ነው) “plow” < Proto-North Agaw *nuw (ኑው) (cf., Bilin niw (ንው))
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *ʔərf (ዓርፍ) “plowshare” < Proto-Agaw *ʔärf (ዓርፍ) (cf., Bilin ʔɨrbana (እርባና))
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *bəgg (በግ) “sheep” < Proto-Agaw *bəga (በጋ) (cf., bägga (በጋ))
• Proto-Ethiosemitic *siga (ሲጋ) “meat” < Proto-Agaw *sixa (ሲኻ) (cf., Bilin sɨxa (ስኻ), Proto-East Cushitic - *so, Beja ša)

the sources

What features are shared among Horn African languages (at least the Semitic and Cushitic languages)? I'm planning on making a conlang for...

Answer (1 of 2): Cushitic languages, on the whole, are rather heterogeneous (noticeably more so than Semitic), but there are some features that both generally unify them and distinguish them from other Afro-Asiatic branches: * Note A: Much of this was sourced from Egyptian and Semito-Hamitic (A...

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