Canaanite languages: Difference between revisions
Added Brackets, these populations were linguistically, culturally and religiously Canaanites, not distinct from Canaanites, they belonged to the greater Canaanite ethnicity, and they shared cultural, religious and linguistic ties. |
I added brackets only to the Israelites and Phoenicians, I'm uncertain if the rest of the mentioned populations were Canaanites. |
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The '''Canaanite languages''' are a subfamily of the [[Semitic languages]], which were spoken by the ancient peoples of the [[Canaan]] region, the [[Canaanites]] (including the [[Israelites]] |
The '''Canaanite languages''' are a subfamily of the [[Semitic languages]], which were spoken by the ancient peoples of the [[Canaan]] region, the [[Canaanites]] (including the [[Israelites]] and [[Phoenicians]]), [[Amorites]], [[Ammon|Ammonites]], [[Moabites]] and [[Edomites]]). All of them seem to have become extinct as native languages by the early [[1st millennium]] CE (although it is uncertain how long [[Punic language|Punic]] survived), although distinct forms of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] remained in continuous [[written language|literary]] and [[sacred language|religious use]] among [[Jews]] and [[Samaritans]]. This family of languages has the distinction of being the first group of languages to use an alphabet, derived from the [[Proto-Canaanite alphabet]], to record their writings. |
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The Phoenician and [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] expansion spread the [[Phoenician language]] and its [[Punic language|Punic]] dialect to the [[Western Mediterranean]] for a time, but there too it died out, although it seems to have survived slightly longer than in [[Phoenicia]] itself. |
The Phoenician and [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] expansion spread the [[Phoenician language]] and its [[Punic language|Punic]] dialect to the [[Western Mediterranean]] for a time, but there too it died out, although it seems to have survived slightly longer than in [[Phoenicia]] itself. |
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Revision as of 15:39, 9 July 2014
| Canaanite | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Levant |
| Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | cana1267 |
The Canaanite languages are a subfamily of the Semitic languages, which were spoken by the ancient peoples of the Canaan region, the Canaanites (including the Israelites and Phoenicians), Amorites, Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites). All of them seem to have become extinct as native languages by the early 1st millennium CE (although it is uncertain how long Punic survived), although distinct forms of Hebrew remained in continuous literary and religious use among Jews and Samaritans. This family of languages has the distinction of being the first group of languages to use an alphabet, derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, to record their writings.
The Phoenician and Carthaginian expansion spread the Phoenician language and its Punic dialect to the Western Mediterranean for a time, but there too it died out, although it seems to have survived slightly longer than in Phoenicia itself.
Modern Hebrew as a spoken language is the result of a revival by Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries in an effort spearheaded by Eliezer Ben Yehuda. It is currently spoken as the colloquial language by the majority of the Israeli population.
Classification
- Phoenician – extinct
- Punic – extinct
- Hebrew
- Ammonite – extinct Hebrewic dialect of the Ammonite people mentioned in the Bible (not a distinct language[1])
- Moabite – extinct Hebrewic dialect of the Moabite people mentioned in the Bible (not a distinct language[2])
- Edomite – extinct Hebrewic dialect of the Edomite people mentioned in the Bible (not a distinct language[3])
- Biblical Hebrew – extinct Hebrewic dialect of the ancient Jewish Israelites. Literary, poetical, liturgical; also known as Classical Hebrew, the oldest form of the language attested in writing. The original pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew is only accessible through reconstruction. There are different pronunciations traditions associated with different diaspora groups, influenced by vernacular languages spoken locally, which are listed below.
- Tiberian Hebrew – Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in Palestine c. 750-950 CE.
- Mizrahi Hebrew – Mizrahi Jews, liturgical
- Yemenite Hebrew – Yemenite Jews, liturgical
- Sephardi Hebrew – Sephardi Jews, liturgical
- Ashkenazi Hebrew – Ashkenazi Jews, liturgical
- Mishnaic Hebrew (Rabbinical Hebrew) – Jews, liturgical, rabbinical, any of the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud.
- Medieval Hebrew – Jews, liturgical, poetical, rabbinical, scientific, literary; lingua franca based on Bible, Mishna and neologisms forms created by translators and commentators
- Haskala Hebrew – Jews, scientific, literary and journalistic language based on Biblical but enriched with neologisms created by writers and journalists, a transition to the later
- Modern Hebrew – Transformation and enlargement of the former into a spoken language which, in turn emerged as the new contemporary Israeli Hebrew
- Israeli Hebrew – Israelis (Jews, Samaritans and others), the main language of the State of Israel, revived
- Modern Hebrew – Transformation and enlargement of the former into a spoken language which, in turn emerged as the new contemporary Israeli Hebrew
- Haskala Hebrew – Jews, scientific, literary and journalistic language based on Biblical but enriched with neologisms created by writers and journalists, a transition to the later
- Medieval Hebrew – Jews, liturgical, poetical, rabbinical, scientific, literary; lingua franca based on Bible, Mishna and neologisms forms created by translators and commentators
- Ancient Samaritan Hebrew – extinct dialect spoken by the ancient Samaritan Israelites
- Samaritan Hebrew – Samaritans, liturgical
The main sources for study of Canaanite languages are the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and inscriptions such as:
- in Moabite: Mesha Stele, El-Kerak Stela
- in Biblical Hebrew: Gezer calendar, Khirbet Qeiyafa pottery sherd
- in Phoenician: Ahiram sarcophagus inscription, sarcophagus of Eshmunazar[4], Kilamuwa inscription, the Byblos inscription
- in later Punic: in Plautus' play Poenulus at the beginning of the fifth act.
![[4]](http://www.proel.org/alfabetos/fenicio19.gif){kind=link}
The Deir Alla Inscription is written in a dialect with Aramaic and South Canaanite characteristics, which is classified as Canaanite in Hetzron.
The extra-biblical Canaanite inscriptions are gathered along with Aramaic inscriptions in editions of the book "Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften", from which they may be referenced as KAI n (for a number n); for example, the Mesha Stele is "KAI 181".
Distinctive features
The Canaanite languages, together with the Aramaic languages and Ugaritic, form the Northwest Semitic subgroup. Some distinctive features of Canaanite in relation to Aramaic are:
- The prefix 'h-' used as the definite article (whereas Aramaic has a postfixed -a). This seems to be an innovation of Canaanite.
- The first person pronoun being 'ʼnk' (אנכ – anok(i), versus Aramaic – ʼnʼ/ʼny) – which is similar to Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian and Berber.
- The *ā > ō vowel shift (Canaanite shift).
References
- The Semitic Languages. Routledge Language Family Descriptions. Edited by Robert Hetzron. New York: Routledge, 1997.
- Garnier, Romain; Jacques, Guillaume (2012). "A neglected phonetic law: The assimilation of pretonic yod to a following coronal in North-West Semitic". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 75.1: 135–145.
External links
- Some West Semitic Inscriptions
- How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs Biblical Archaeology Review