Internal History
The Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in terms of grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages — all maintained in Classical Arabic — include
- The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense.
- The conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense.
- The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms (e.g. a present tense formed by doubling the middle root, a perfect formed by infixing a /t/ after the first root consonant, probably a jussive formed by a stress shift) in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms (e.g. -u for indicate, -a for subjunctive, no ending for jussive, -an or -anna for energetic).
- The development of an internal passive.
Read more about this topic: Arabic Language
Famous quotes containing the words internal and/or history:
“Personal change, growth, development, identity formation—these tasks that once were thought to belong to childhood and adolescence alone now are recognized as part of adult life as well. Gone is the belief that adulthood is, or ought to be, a time of internal peace and comfort, that growing pains belong only to the young; gone the belief that these are marker events—a job, a mate, a child—through which we will pass into a life of relative ease.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)