Close Up of Afro-Asiatic Languages
Episode 9 Languages of the Fertile Crescent and Beyond Part 2
Language Families of the World
Dr John McWhorter
Film Review
In this lecture, McWhorter delves more deeply into the Afro-Asiatic languages
Akkadian: language of the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians, once the lingua franca of the entire Near EastAramaic: Ancient language used for much of the Old and New Testament, still spoken in some areas of the Middle EastPhoenician (sub-family of language)Canaanite – (sub-family) of Semitic languages originating in Middle East, rather than AfricaBerber (from Greek word “babbling” for barbarian) – Afro-Asiatic languages spokes in North Africa, containing many words with no vowels at allEgyptian – survives as language used in Coptic religious ritualsChadic (sub-family) – mainly spoken in Niger, Nigeria,* Cameroons and ChadHausa – has 40 million modern native speakers in Niger, Chad, Cameroons, Benin, Togo and Ghana and and written in Arabic script. Became language of trade in 19th century thanks to Sokoto Caliphate .Osmotic languages – spoken in southern Ethiopia, has retroflex consonants,** in addition to six or seven linguistic tones.Cushitic (subfamily) – comprising about 40 languages spoken mainly in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and northwestern KenyaSomali – spoken in Somalia, became written language in 1970s.*Two other major Nigerian languages, Yoruba and Igbo, aren’t Afro-Asiatic.
**Retroflexed consonants are produced by placing underside of tongue touches roof of mouth.
Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.
https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/6120000/6120018
Published on November 22, 2024 10:47
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