Proto-Semitic
Proper noun
Meaning
Proto-Semitic
The hypothetical protolanguage of Semitic languages.
Examples
Classical Arabic pronunciation is not thoroughly recorded and different reconstructions of the sound system of Proto-Semitic propose different phonetic values.
In Proto-Semitic, as still largely reflected in East Semitic, prefix conjugations are used both for the past and the non-past, with different vocalizations.
Personal names including the stem ʾl are found with similar patterns in both Amorite and South Arabic—which indicates that probably already in Proto-Semitic ʾl was both a generic term for "god" and the common name or title of a single particular god.
Word order The reconstructed default word order in Proto-Semitic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA).
One example is the emphatic consonants, which are pharyngealized in modern pronunciations but may have been velarized in the eighth century and glottalized in Proto-Semitic.