Description
This book offers a diachronic and synchronic account of the verb morphology and phonology of Aramaic from its initial appearance early in the first millennium B.C.E. until the second millennium C.E.
Aramaic, a subfamily of Semitic, is closely related to Hebrew and the other Canaanite languages; together, the two subfamilies of Aramaic and Canaanite constitute the northwest branch of the Semitic phylum. In this study, Joseph L. Malone focuses on thirteen dialects of Aramaic, chosen from a candidate list of approximately twice that number. The specific varieties of Aramaic examined here are chosen to provide an optimal chronological and geographical range. In a similar vein, the finite verb serves as the subject of this study, based on the assumption that a thorough treatment of the verb will asymptomatically involve most of the patterns and processes that hold for the grammar as a whole. The tools of this study are drawn from standard generative linguistics, though care is taken to explicate these in more traditional terms where it is deemed necessary.
This book is essential reading for linguists who study the Semitic language families, and in particular those interested in Northwest Semitic languages.
Author: Joseph L. Malone
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Published: 09/24/2019
Pages: 688
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.59lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.69d
ISBN13: 9781575069753
ISBN10: 157506975X
BISAC Categories:
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics | Morphology
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics | Historical & Comparative
- Foreign Language Study | Arabic
About the Author
Joseph L. Malone is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at Barnard College and Columbia University. In addition to many articles and essays, he is the author of Tiberian Hebrew Phonology, also published by Eisenbrauns.