Afroasiatic languages

E11738

Afroasiatic languages are a major language family of Africa and parts of Western Asia that includes languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Hausa.

All labels observed (11)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (64)

Predicate Object
instanceOf language family
macrofamily
alternativeName Afroasiatic languages
surface form: Afrasian languages

Afroasiatic languages
surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages

Hamito-Semitic languages
continent Africa
Asia
estimatedSpeakers more than 400 million
geographicOrigin Northeast Africa
adjacent parts of the Near East
hasAncientMember Akkadian
Ancient Egyptian
Hebrew
surface form: Biblical Hebrew

Ugaritic alphabet
surface form: Ugaritic
hasSubfamily Berber languages
Chadic languages
Afroasiatic languages self-linksurface differs
surface form: Cushitic languages

Egyptian language family
Omotic languages
Semitic languages
historicalImportance includes some of the earliest attested written languages
includesLanguage Akkadian
Amharic
Ancient Egyptian
Arabic
Aramaic
Berber languages
Chadic languages
Coptic language
surface form: Coptic

Ge'ez
surface form: Geʽez

Gurage languages
Hausa
Hebrew
Kabyle
Maltese
Oromo
Sidamo
Somali
Tigre
Tigrinya
Berber languages
surface form: Tuareg languages

Ugaritic alphabet
surface form: Ugaritic

Wolaytta
linguisticTypology mostly fusional
nonconcatenative morphology
majorReligionAssociated Christianity
Islam
Judaism
notableFeature extensive use of root-and-pattern morphology
presence of emphatic consonants in many branches
reconstructionStatus partially reconstructed proto-language (Proto-Afroasiatic)
region East Africa
Horn of Africa
Middle East
North Africa
Sahel
Middle East
surface form: Western Asia
writingSystemUsed Arabic alphabet
surface form: Arabic script

Coptic script
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Geʽez script
Hebrew script
Latin script
Tifinagh

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (439)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Nabataean Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages
Oromo subfamilyOf Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic language family
West Chadic partOf Afroasiatic languages
West Chadic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Coptic language family Afroasiatic languages
Riffians languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Chaoui languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Ge'ez languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Tashelhit languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Shabo language (proposed) languageFamilyHypothesis Afroasiatic languages
subject surface form: Shabo language
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Nilo-Saharian phylum contrastedWith Afroasiatic languages
subject surface form: Nilo-Saharan phylum
Afar languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Maltese family Afroasiatic languages
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Chadian Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Nigerian Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages
Modern South Arabian languages subclassOf Afroasiatic languages
Modern South Arabian languages areaOfStudy Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic linguistics
Sabaic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
South Semitic languages partOf Afroasiatic languages
Tihami Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Yafiʿi Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Razihi Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Northwest Africa hasMajorLanguageFamily Afroasiatic languages
MSA languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages
Fus’ha languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages
Omotic languages subclassOf Afroasiatic languages
Sidamo languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Egyptian language family subclassOf Afroasiatic languages
Egyptian language family branchOf Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic language family
Beja languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Bilen family Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Bilen languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Gurage languages subclassOf Afroasiatic languages
Ancient Egyptian subclassOf Afroasiatic languages
Ancient Egyptian languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Tigre languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Saho languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic
Tigre people languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Sa'idi Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Harold Fleming (linguist) studied Afroasiatic languages
subject surface form: Harold Fleming
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic language family
Somali people languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Akkadians linguisticFamily Afroasiatic languages
Western Neo-Aramaic subgroupOf Afroasiatic languages
Tigray-Tigrinya people languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Sanʽani Arabic languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
Masri languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afro-Asiatic languages
Greater Horn of Africa mainLanguages Afroasiatic languages
Central Atlas Tamazight partOf Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic language family
Central Atlas Tamazight languageFamily Afroasiatic languages
this entity surface form: Afroasiatic