Re: 'Arabiiya

On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 02:28:10 EDT David Peterson <DigitalScream@...>
writes:
> In a message dated 9/24/01 11:00:01 PM, draqonfayir@JUNO.COM writes:
> << I dunno... the Semitic system seems perfectly logical to me...
>     I never said it wasn't logical--in fact, I find it to be the
> most logical
> ever, which is why I found it so easy to learn, despite the fact
> that it's so
> vastly different from any other language I'd studied up to that
> point.
> However, "logical" isn't something that can often be attributed to
> many of
> the world's languages, especially in such a large way; that's why I
> was suggesting that it was unnatural.
-

Sorry, i think i meant something like "the development of the Semitic
system doesn't seem unnatural to my sense of logic"...  I don't see it
strange that it could come about.

> <<I seem to remember learning recently in Arabic class that like
> Hebrew,
> the word for "father" is _ab_.  I assume that _waalid(a)_ are some
> kind
> of 'technical' term.>>
>     Not so.  "Ab" is the word for "dad"--specifically, what you'd
> use with
> your own dad.  If you were talking about your dad to someone else
> you'd use
> "waalid".  At least, this is the pattern that popped up with the
> tapes of
> native speakers that were played for us.
-

Which is sort of the same difference as i meant - _ab_ is the short,
"baby talk" word, (like "papa" or "dad(dy)"), while _waalid_ is the
longer, derived (but not from the baby talk word) word, also more similar
to the other parent - like "mo-ther" and "fa-ther" in English.

> <<I read once somewhere the theory that originally, Afro-Asiatic
> had
> *bi*consonantal roots - and that plus vowel and affix patterns makes
> it
> not much more 'strange' than Indo-European.  Only afterwards, due
> to
> compounding and addition of third radicals did the Semitic
> triconsonantal pattern emerge.>>
>     Wow!  That would make it make more sense...  Is there anywhere I
> can
> hear/read more about this?
> -David
-

Sorry, i can't remember where i read that... but even with the three
roots, it makes sense to me.  Those crazy 'grades' and other things that
happen to Indo-European roots are pretty similar, from what i've seen -
or at least no more 'natural'.
But maybe this is just a taste issue.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "SabaaH alxayr!  SabaaH annuur!"