proto afroasiatic roots proto afroasiatic roots

This family was formally described and named "Semitic" by August Ludwig von Schlzer in 1781. Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary. In Afro-Asiatic languages: Origins originated is referred to as Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Some languages have an additional feminine plural form in -t that is not listed here. The only branch that's actually E is Berber. Diamond and Bellwood adopt Militarev's ( 2) solitary counterclaim of proto-Afroasiatic cultivation. *kanf-/*kinf-wing: 325. + stem; PS *lisn 'tongue' is a separate and distinct derivation from the same verb root), (Sem., Eg., Ch. as EL). Proto-Afroasiatic is a language and NOT an ethnicity: Proto-Afroasiatic language - Wikipedia There is no proof where the Afroasiatic languages originated, but the oldest Afroasiatic language writing has been found in Egypt and dated 6000 years. ), (additional Cushitic alternants *-br- and *-br-), (stem + *r n. innovation: to spoil > to sour), (Sem., Eg. Anaang [119] Vladimir Orel and Olga Stolbova instead proposed a six vowel system with a, e, o, i, ([y]), and u. Author: Martin Bernal Language: EnglishEdition: 1stBinding: HardcoverPages: 575Publisher: Rutgers Univ PressPublication Date: 304805601149 p-Guang [40] Coptic is the only stage written alphabetically to show vowels, whereas Egyptian was previously written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, which only represent consonants. ), (Berber, Eg. Though estimations vary widely, it is believed by scholars to have been spoken as a single language around 12,000 to 18,000 years ago , that is, between 16,000 and 10,000 BC. p-Yoruboid [8][9] Other proposed names which have not found widespread acceptance among the linguistic community include Erythraic, Lisramic, Noahitic, and Lamekhite. [29], There are about 30,[34] 50,[35] or 70[36] Cushitic languages, spoken around the Horn of Africa and in Sudan and Tanzania. [138][177] Christopher Ehret argues for its presence in Proto-Afroasiatic and for its attestation in some form in all branches, with a shape -*ay in addition to -*iy in some cases. infix [also tonal shift as found in Chadic cases]), (this root is included because #871 following derives from it), (sing. [19] Additionally, a majority of specialists consider the Omotic languages to constitute a sixth branch. < v. in #918 by V > VV; occurrence of PSC *ee (or *e?) Mimi-N [69] This theory connected the "Hamites", the originators of Hamitic languages, with (supposedly cultural superior) "Caucasians", who were assumed to have migrated into Africa and intermixed with indigenous "Negroid" Africans in ancient times. The Cushitic forms in particular may be derived from morphology found in subordinate clauses. innovation: 'knee'; Berber *afud < *puuz), to be finished, come to an end, be used up, (Sem., Cush. The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic,or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic subregions of Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara/Sahel. *t: . [132] Additionally, even when nouns are not cognates, they tend to have the same gender throughout Afroasiatic ("gender stability"). Ekoid The quality of the underlying vowels varies considerably by language; the most common vowel throughout AA is schwa. p-Potou-Akanic [168] Prefixes of - (glottal stop) for the first person singular and y- for the third person masculine can also be reconstructed. Both works provide highly divergent reconstructions and have been heavily criticized by other scholars. From the earliest times we have written records from Northern Africa. However, not one of Militarev's proposed 32 agricultural roots can be considered diagnostic of cultivation. [28], Chadic languages number between 150 and 190, making Chadic the largest family in Afroasiatic. The Afroasiatic language family is thought to have originated in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 15,000 years ago. Proto-Afroasiatic is a reconstructed language. p-Koman [117] Christopher Ehret proposed a five vowel system with long and short a, e, o, i, and u. p-Central Chadic [77] Roger Blench writes that the debate has "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization". (root #311+old Afroasiatic pl. May 29th, 2020 - grammar lithuanian is a richly inflected language that has retained some of the plex morphology of its ancestral proto indo european nouns nouns are marked for gender number and case that are fused into one ending there are two genders masculine and feminine with a few neuter nouns there are three numbers singular dual and plural These records make it possible to classify and reconstruct many languages. [121], As part of these templates, the alternation (apophony) between high vowels (e.g. in a word must match. Nilo-Saharan [181] Other commonalities are masculine and feminine forms used in both the second and third persons, except in Cushitic and Omotic. n. pref. [174] It is found in Egyptian, Semitic, and possibly, in some relic forms, Berber. [104] Several Omotic languages have "sibilant harmony", meaning that all sibilants (s, sh, z, ts, etc.) In the series University of California Publications in Linguistics 126. BLACK ATHENA: THE Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication, - $16.27. Lafofa, p-Afroasiatic Forms that do not follow the pattern are in parentheses. [6], Scholars generally consider Afroasiatic to have at least five and as many as eight separate branches, with the five universally agreed upon branches consisting of the Berber (also called "Libyco-Berber"), Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, and Semitic. Additionally, Joseph Greenberg argued that "Hamitic" has racial connotations, and that the name "Hamito-Semitic" overstates the centrality of the Semitic languages within the family. [144], A second category, which partially overlaps with case, is the AA linguistic category of "state." In Afro-Asiatic, there are five main families. Akpes Allan Bomhard's own reconstructions of Proto-Afroasiatic roots (and phonology) seem to be biased toward Proto-Indo-European and Nostratic roots . [26] Egyptian is usually divided into two major periods, Earlier Egyptian (c. 3000-1300 BCE), which is further subdivided into Old Egyptian and Middle Egyptian, and Later Egyptian (1300 BCE-1300 CE), which is further subdivided into Late Egyptian, Demotic, and Coptic. Afro-Asiatic has been hypothesized to be related to many other language families. Proto-Afro-Asiatic is of great antiquity; experts tend to place it in the Mesolithic Period at about 15,000-10,000 bce. E-V13. [134] A system K (masculine), T (feminine), and H (plural) can be found in Cushitic, Chadic, with masculine K also appearing in Omotic. [4] The most widely spoken modern Afroasiatic language or dialect continuum by far is Arabic, a de facto group of distinct language varieties within the Semitic branch. [105], Restrictions against the co-occurrence of certain, usually similar, consonants in verbal roots can be found in all Afroasiatic branches, though they are only weakly attested in Chadic and Omotic. [11], Greenberg reintroduced the name "Afroasiatic" in 1960, a name seemingly coined by Maurice Delafosse (as French afroasiatique) in 1914. Proto-Cushitic Roots (Additional to those presented in Ehret 1987) Appendix 3. Kunama (abbrev. Omotic is the most controversial member of Afro-Asiatic. He showed that, generally, any consonant from one of these groups could combine with consonants from any other group, but could not be used together with consonants from the same group. Africa is divided by geographical features, including the Sahara desert and the Ethiopian mountains. * "The Origins of Third Consonants in Semitic Roots: An Internal Reconstruction (Applied to Arabic)," Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 3, 2 (1989): 109-202. [93] Most words end in a vowel in Omotic and Cushitic, making syllable-final consonant clusters rare. Afro-Asiatic is a large language family with great diversity. to domestic animals in general, then narrowing in PS and Eg. [89] In Cushitic and Chadic languages, a glottal stop or glottal or fricative may be inserted to prevent a word from beginning with a vowel. p-Ring except for Semitic, which is also spoken in the Middle-East and Malta, all branches of the Bomhard postulates that from Proto-Afroasiatic (henceforth PAA), Chadic was the first to break off. There is no information on whether Egyptian had tones. p-Upper Cross River The languages of what is now Afro-Asiatic occupy a "vast area that stretches from Morocco to Arabia" (Dalby, p.6). Great variety is incorporated in one family and this makes Afro-Asiatic an interesting topic of study. [54] These five or six branches remain the academic consensus on the family. They can occur together with subject pronouns but cannot fulfill an object function. Continue Reading 5 Brian Collins The "s-causative" may be reflected in Hausa (as -r), however this may be a language internal development. Retard. [124] Other scholars argue that Proto-AA had a pitch accent and some branches subsequently developed tone. Linguistic guesstimates or phylogenetic speculation date the proto-language (and thus the homeland) within a wide range, from 15,000 to 6,000 years ago. ; short vowel required by derived verb #399), calabash (used as container, utensil, etc. [71] In the end, Meinhof's classification included languages from every family in Africa that is recognized by modern linguistics. *kop-sole (of foot . The modern word "Hebrew" is derived from the word "Ivri" (plural "Ivrim"; English: Hebrews), one of several names for the Israelite (Jewish and Samaritan) people. Three dialects emerged (Omotic, Cushitic, and Chadic) from the main one and this left Boreafrasian, the source of Berber, Egyptian and Semitic (Dalby ,p. 6). [14], The term Semitic had already been coined in 1781 by August Ludwig von Schlzer, following an earlier suggestion by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1710. ; *u < *i /#-p_C-#? The Berber and Semitic branches share certain grammatical features (e.g. [103][101] The feminine marker T is one of the most consistent aspects across the different branches of AA;[133] in addition to deriving feminine nouns in many branches, it also functions as a diminutive, pejorative, and/or singulative marker in some languages. p-N. Jos innovation: narrowing of meaning to tr. redup. Proto-Afro-Asiatic is generally considered the oldest accepted one, though it's not known exactly how long ago it was spoken. This great divide has made travel difficult so linguistic boundaries tend to be based on either side. [41] In the Coptic period, there is evidence for six major dialects, which presumably existed previously but are obscured by pre-Coptic writing; additionally, Middle Egyptian appears to be based on a different dialect than Old Egyptian, which in turn shows dialectal similarities to Late Egyptian. Pre-Proto-Semitic Roots (Additional to those presented in Ehret 1989) Appendix 2. London: Routledge, 1990. The Atlas of Languages. FOR SALE! Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 2011. . In addition to the languages spoken today, Afroasiatic includes many ancient languages, such as Egyptian, which forms a distinct branch of the family; and within the Semitic family, Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician, other Canaanite languages, Amorite, Ugaritic and Aramaic. The speakers of Boreafrasian migrated north to an arid Sahara climate, then eventually pushed on west and east. Egyptian is classified as a distinct language and the other sub-groups are: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic, and Semitic (Voegelin, p.12). SLEC Som. innovation: 'not want' > 'not need,' hence 'be sated'), (Eg., Sem. p-Gurunsi Each aspect of these reconstructions is substantiated in detail in an extensive etymological vocabulary of more than 1000 roots. innovation: 'increase' > 'grow in size'), (root #838 + * part. In the above model, Taforalt draws about half of their ancestry (you can call this ANA) from a population that also (likely through a sister population) contributes the . Classification and Index of the Worlds Languages. >I find it odd how Semitic is still Afroasiatic even though it's tied to a non-E haplogroup Egyptian and Semitic are both J. Cushitic is T and Chadic is J/R1b-V88. [121] Such scholars postulate that tones developed to compensate for lost or reduced syllables, and note that certain tones are often associated with certain syllable-final consonants.[125]. There are multiple possibilities: Egyptian had already undergone radical changes from Proto-Afroasiatic before it was recorded, the Afroasiatic family has so far been studied with an excessively Semito-centric approach, or Afroasiatic is a typological, not a genetic group of languages. in *n, as also in #323), (possible V reconstructions: *a, *aa, *e, or *o), (Sem., Eg., Ch. [150] Christopher Ehret has argued that this prefix is a later development that was not present in Proto-Afro-Asiatic, but rather derived from a PAA indefinite pronoun *m-. [48] The oldest written attestations of Semitic languages come from Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Egypt and date as early as c. 3000 BCE. The main quality of Afro-Asiatic is that it "cuts across usually perceived racial boundaries" (Dalby, p.6). [108] Such rules do not always apply for nouns, numerals, or denominal verbs, and do not affect prefixes or suffixes added to the root. While this is not the first attempt to demonstrate that Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic are genetically related, it is the first to use the radical revision of the Proto-Indo-European consonantal system proposed by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, Paul J. Hopper, Summary of Numbered Sound Shift Rules; Index 1. . [101] The Omotic forms of the personal pronouns differ from the others, with only the plural forms in North Omotic appearing potentially to be cognate. Proto-Nostratic would have been spoken between 15,000 and 12,000 BCE, in the Epipaleolithic period, close to the end of the last glacial period. These are some known features common to more than one branch, though (Hodge 1971; Lecarme, Lowenstamm, and Shlonsky 2000; Frajzyngier and Shay 2012): [113] These rules also have a number of exceptions: Similar exceptions can be demonstrated for the other AA branches that have these restrictions to their root formation. [7] Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial. crcst test prep; crcst free test questions; paid test; crcst exam prep notes; subscribe Aunque las estimaciones varan ampliamente, los eruditos creen que se hablaba como un solo idioma hace entre 12.000 y 18.000 aos (12 a 18 kya ), es decir, entre 16.000 y 10.000 a . Dictionary of Languages. It also fully incorporates the most up-to-date evidence from the distinctive African branches of the family, Cushitic, Chadic, and Omotic. suff. Under East Semitic rose Akkadian and Babylonian. There is some evidence from Coptic, but this may be unrelated to AA. This work provides the first truly comprehensive and systematic reconstruction of proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian). [27] The first longer written examples of modern Berber varieties only date from the 16th or 17th centuries CE. Adapted from Ruhlen 1987. PROTO-AFROASIATIC PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM One of the most significant characteristics of Afroasiatic consonantism is the system of triads found in the stops and affri- cates -- each series (except the lateralized affricates) contains three members: a voiceless (aspirated) member, a voiced member, and a glottalized (that is, ejective) member. Archaeology and the study of oral traditions helps linguists find connections between language families. A set of constraints, developed originally by Joseph Greenberg on the basis of Arabic, has been claimed to be typical for Afroasiatic languages. This is in part due to Boroafrasian speakers breaking into groups such as Berber and Egyptian in North Africa and Semitic dialects in the Arabian Peninsula. If you are not satisfied with 225345861639 ), (root #695 + *f iter.? [121] Besides for Semitic, vocalic templates are well attested for Cushitic and Berber,[154] where, along with Chadic, it is less productive; it is absent in Omotic. He later added Semitic and Beja to Chadic-Berber-Egyptian and tentatively proposed, Alexander Militarev (2000), on the basis of. [82] Likewise, all Semitic languages are fairly similar to each other, whereas the African branches of Afroasiatic are very diverse; this suggests the rapid spread of Semitic out of Africa. in Semitic, Berber, and in Cushitic,[130][166] where it is only found on a small set of frequent verbs. innovation: stem + *n n. suff. The only group with an African origin is Ethiopian Semitic. Atlantic (Guinea) innovation: meaning shift, from avoiding per se to feeling a need or reason to avoid), to wear out, be used up, cease to function, (Eg., Cush., Ch. [65] He did not include the Chadic languages, though contemporary Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius argued for the relation of Hausa to the Berber languages. Greenberg, 1958 D. Cohen,. [186] Within the Semitic language family, Lipiski counts four different roots meaning "one". Proto-Afro-Asiatic is proposed to have been spoken 18,000 years ago near the Horn of Africa (eastern Africa). [18][11], The alternative name "Lisramic" is based on the AA root *lis- ("tongue") and the Egyptian word rm ("person"). ; SC semantics: early beads were made of shell), (root of #48 + *c extend. [21] They are often considered to constitute a single language with multiple dialects. of proto-Afroasiatic cultivation. innovation: 'fold over, bend'), (Eg., Sem. Item Weight : 11.2 ounces Dimensions : 5.75 x 0.75 x 9 inches Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,866 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books) #2,811 in Comparative Religion (Books) Customer Reviews: 3 ratings Videos Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! innovation: addition of *t n. [152], A widely attested feature in AA languages is a consonantal structure into which various vocalic "templates" are placed. For other uses, see, Distribution of the Afro-Asiatic languages, Similarities in grammar, syntax, and morphology, Common derivational and morphological processes, Consonantal root structures and verbal forms, Some scholars argue that on the basis of Coptic that Egyptian had neither "emphatic consonants" nor a phonemic distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants. innovation: semantic narrowing to hitting with the hand), (probable *tliiz-, adj. They are not found in Chadic languages, and there is no evidence for cases in Egyptian. ; PS, Eg., Ch. [174] The Semitic genitive case in -i is probably related to "nisba" adjective derivation. ; Sem., Eg. [109] Roots that may have contained sequences that were possible in Proto-Afroasiatic but are disallowed in the daughter languages are assumed to have undergone consonant dissimilation or assimilation.[110][111]. [179] However, there is no consensus on what the reconstructed set of Afroasiatic pronouns might have looked like. [75] Proponents of an African origin of Afroasiatic assume the proto-language to have been spoken by pre-Neolithic African hunter-gatherers,[76] arguing that there is no evidence of words in Proto-Afroasiatic related to agriculture or animal husbandry. envisaged a tome citing several hundred reconstructed roots; he did manage, however, to publish over a hundred (53 proto-roots were published, for example, in Hodge 1981). p-Jukunoid [30] A common characteristic of AA languages is the existence of a special set of "independent" pronouns, which are distinct from subject pronouns. Afroasiatic. Map of Afro-Asiatic languages distribution (click to enlarge it) p-Benue-Congo Proto-Afro-Asiatic is of great antiquity; experts tend to place it in the Mesolithic Period at about 15,000-10,000 bce. * "Revising the Consonant Inventory of Proto-Eastern Cushitic," Studies in African Linguistics 22, 3 (1991): 211-275. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1996. Since there is written data available from this region, it is easier to reconstruct ancient roots and find common characteristics (ELL, p.51). You guys might disagree with the results form the Shum Laka paper but don't distort their own interpretations of their findings. [54][73][9] The reluctance of some scholars to recognize Chadic as a member of Afroasiatic persisted as late as the 1980s. [15] The association between Africans and the Biblical Ham dates back to at least Isidore of Seville (6th century CE), and earlier 19th-century scholars had vaguely spoken of "Hamian" or "Hamitish" languages. The following list of Proto-Afroasiatic reconstructions is from Ehret (1995). Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. infix), fruit, seeds, foliage, plant growth in general, (Ch., Sem. Bendi The Egyptian prefix has a middle voice/intransitive/or passive meaning. [129] Full or partial reduplication of the verb is often used to derive forms showing repeated action (pluractionality), though it is unclear if this is an inherited feature or has been widely borrowed. Ongota p-North Bauchi [99] In Cushitic, the Ethiopian Semitic language Tigrinya, and some Chadic languages, there is no underlying phoneme [p] at all. In Arabic, ti-ktib means she writes and katab-it means she wrote. [76] It may have originally mostly biconsonantal, to which various affixes (verbal extensions) were then added and lexicalized. Tivoid [142][143] Zygmont Frajzyngier states that a general characteristic of case marking in AA languages is that it tends to mark roles such as genitive, dative, locative, etc. Pp. [123], Some scholars postulate that Proto-Afroasiatic was a tonal language, with tonality subsequently lost in some branches: Christopher Ehret has postulated a tonal system of at least two tonal phonemes, falling tone, rising tone, and possibly a third tone, level tone. The most up to . [122] In some Chadic and some Omotic languages every syllable has to have a tone, whereas in most Cushitic languages this is not the case. and touches on external evidence from Afroasiatic cognate languages. innovation: integration of *t dur. Beboid For these versions, common words found in both Dolgopolsky (2008) and Bomhard (2018) are used, with Nostratic roots shared at least by Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Semitic, whenever possible. [30] Most Chadic languages are located in the Chad basin, with the exception of Hausa. Kim [54] However, Christopher Ehret (1979), Harold Fleming (1981), and Joseph Greenberg (1981) all agree that the Omotic branch split from the rest first. (abbrev. p-Jen [137][d] Another common method of forming plurals is reduplication. FOR SALE! [188] Andrzej Zaborski further notes that the numbers "one," "two," and "five" are particularly susceptible to replacement by new words, with "five" often based on a word meaning "hand". Central Sudanic (p-Central Sudanicp-Sara-Bongo-BagirmiSinyarBirrip-Mangbetu) One hypothesis places it in the Levant, as the language of the Natufian hunter-gatherers who were the first to adopt a farming lifestyle more than 10,000 years ago. 1 Afro-Asiatic Language Family. !Kung, Bangime p-Jebel innovation: derivation of v. 'to sleep' by addition of *n non-fin. fort. p-Maban derivation by addition of *-u- tr. Also, how do roots work? Once the Luwian hieroglyphics for God "" and Gate "" were discovered at Gbekli Tepe, this author was able to directly link the site's carved pillars and pillar enclosures to the Abrahamic/Mosaic "Word of God", . p-Nilotic (p-E. Niloticp-S. Nilotic) [183][184] In the Chadic family alone, there are two different roots for "two,"[185] and Berber and Semitic likewise have two different branch-internal roots for "two". Three dialects emerged (Omotic, Cushitic, and Chadic) from the main one and this left 'Boreafrasian,' the source of Berber, Egyptian and Semitic (Dalby ,p. 6). p-Omotic [140] Some languages in AA have a marked nominative alignment, a feature which may date back to Proto-Afroasiatic. [81] Christopher Ehret, O. Y. Keita, and Paul Newman also argue that archaeology does not indicate a spread of migrating farmers into Africa, but rather a gradual incorporation of animal husbandry into indigenous foraging cultures. p-Edoid suff. Sumerian- tamil links ( included links with turkish ( said to be closed to sumerian by panturkists which also said dravidian and turkish cognated when we know dravidians were first people of asia coming from black african L3haplogroup), yeniseian ( intermediate between turkish and chinese and member of sino caucasian family that links chinese to north caucesian langages who according to . [92], With the exception of some Chadic languages, all AA languages allow both closed and open syllables; many Chadic languages do not allow a syllable to end in a consonant. The Sumerian and Etruscan languages, usually regarded as language isolates, are thought by some to be Nostratic languages as well. [192] Thus, it is possible that the numerals in Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic are more closely related, whereas the Cushitic and Chadic numerals are more closely related to each other. p-Heiban The results, while confirming some previous views on proto-Afroasiatic (proto-Afrasian), revise or overturn many others, and add much that is new. S. SC Sem. (Though I found no mention of the origin of Semito-, it is possible that this name comes from Shem, another son of Noah). Proto-Chadic reconstruction is in its infancy, Proto-Cushitic is even less developed, and according to Glottolog it's not demonstrable that Omotic languages are even related to each other, let alone as part of Afro-Asiatic. p-Mumuye With the exception of its Semitic branch, all branches of the Afroasiatic family are . Therefore the root is considered ktb. When looking for roots it is important to remember that early Semitic only had consonants and vowels had to be inferred from the context (Atlas, p.78-79). Kadu > *itsan-; Omotic innovation: stem + *m n. [80] Most scholars place the homeland of Afroasiatic near the center of its current distribution,[8] "in the southeastern Sahara or adjacent Horn of Africa. p-Semitic, Khoisan Upload your video About the author For example, the Hamitic component inaccurately suggests the existence of a monophyletic "Hamitic" branch alongside Semitic. Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *abaw/y- Meaning: a k. of plant Semitic: *abVw- 'reed, papyrus' Egyptian: wb 'root', cf. innovation: 'send' > 'direct,' hence 'command, rule'), (Agaw *a allows PAA vowel reconstructions *a, *aa, *o, or *e), (Sem., Eg. [106] The most widespread constraint is against two different labial consonants (other than w) occurring together in a root, a constraint which can be found in all branches but Omotic. 2.10. in East Africa. This can be found in Semitic, Egyptian, Beja, Berber, and Chadic. p-Surmic The root form of the verb has only three consonants in common. suff. Roots Beginning with P and B - Oleg Linkohr 2020-03-15 . [178], The forms of the pronouns are very stable throughout the Afroasiatic (excluding Omotic),[127] and they have been used as one of the chief tools for determining whether a language belongs to the family. [92] Diakonoff argues that Proto-Afroasiatic syllables disallowed consonant clusters or vowels at the end of a syllable. [130], Many AA languages use prefixes or suffixes (verbal extensions) to encode various pieces of information about the verb. p-Khoe [131], Afroasiatic languages have a variety of ways of marking plurals; in some branches, nouns change gender from singular to plural (gender polarity),[133] while in others, plural forms are ungendered.