Biblical Hebrew - Classification

Classification

See also: Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic languages, and Canaanite languages

Reflexes of Proto-Semitic consonants in Hebrew

Proto-Semitic	Hebrew	Aramaic	Arabic	Examples
				Hebrew	Aramaic	Arabic	meaning
*/ð/	*/z/ ז	*/d/ ד	*/ð/ ذ	זהב	דהב	ذهب	'gold'
*/z/1		*/z/ ז	*/z/ ز	מאזנים	מאזניא	موازين	'scale'
*/ʃ/	*/ʃ/ שׁ	*/ʃ/ שׁ	*/s/ س	שׁנה	שׁנה	سنة	'year'
*/θ/		*/t/ ת	*/θ/ ث	שלושה	תלתא	ثلاثة	'three'
*/θʼ/1	*/sˤ/1 צ	*/tˤ/ ט	*/zˤ~ðˤ/ ظ	צל	טלה	ظل	'shadow'
*/ɬʼ/1		*/ʕ/ ע	*/dˤ/ ض	ארץ	ארע	أرض	'land'
*/sʼ/1		*/sˤ/ צ	*/sˤ/ ص	צרח	צרח	صرخ	'shout'

Biblical Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language of the Canaanite subgroup.

As a Northwest Semitic language, Hebrew shows the shift of initial */w/ to /j/, a similar independent pronoun system to the other Northwest Semitic languages (with third person pronouns never containing /ʃ/), some archaic forms, such as /naħnu/ 'we', first person singular pronominal suffix -i or -ya, and /n/ commonly preceding pronominal suffixes. Case endings are found in Northwest Semitic languages in the second millennium BC, but disappear almost totally afterwards. Mimation is absent in singular nouns, but is often retained in the plural, as in Hebrew.

The Northwest Semitic languages formed a dialect continuum in the Iron Age (1200–540 BC), with Phoenician and Aramaic on each extreme. Hebrew is classed with Phoenician in the Canaanite subgroup, which also includes Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite. Moabite might be considered a Hebrew dialect, though it possessed distinctive Aramaic features. Although Ugaritic shows a large degree of affinity to Hebrew in poetic structure, vocabulary, and some grammar, it lacks some Canaanite features (like the Canaanite shift and the shift */ð/ > /z/), and its similarities are more likely a result of either contact or preserved archaism.

Hebrew underwent the Canaanite vowel shift, where Proto-Semitic /aː/ tended to shift to /oː/, perhaps when stressed. Hebrew also shares with the Canaanite languages the shifts */ð/ > /z/, */θʼ/ and */ɬʼ/ > /sʼ/, widespread reduction of diphthongs, and assimilation of non-final /n/ to the following consonant. Typical Canaanite words in Hebrew include: גג 'roof' שלחן 'table' חלון 'window' ישן 'old (thing)' זקן 'old (person)' גרש 'expel'. Morphological Canaanite features in Hebrew include the masculine plural marker -ם, first person singular pronoun אנכי, interrogative pronoun מי, definite article ה- (appearing in the first millennium BC), and third person plural feminine verbal marker ת-‎.

As Biblical Hebrew evolved from Proto-Semitic it underwent a number of consonantal mergers, parallel with those in other Canaanite languages. There is no evidence that these mergers occurred after the adaptation of the Hebrew alphabet.