#proto-semitic

[tyrannoninja]

Natufian Shaman in 3D

Another quick Nomad Sculpt project I hashed out in my spare time today. This one depicts a female Natufian shaman from the Syrio-Palestinian region of the Middle East 15,000 to 11,500 years ago. Again, I used one of Nomad Sculpt's built-in presets as a base for the head, modified its features to match that of ancient Natufian skulls, and then added the hair, jewelry, and texture work myself.

Since the Natufians may represent the forerunners of Semitic-speaking peoples in the Middle East, I gave my shaman a forehead tattoo in the form of a hamsa hand symbol associated with pre-Islamic Semitic religions.

[dikleyt]

All of the changes between what many people incorrectly regard as “true Hebrew” (older Hebrew) and Mishnaic Hebrew were caused by the influence of Aramaic, where present participles are used to form the present tense (using suffixed pronouns in Aramaic), and the old proto-Semitic imperfect is used as a future tense.

[jahidmasud]

Phonological History of Arabic Consonants

Of the 29 Proto-Semitic consonants, only one has been lost: */ʃ/, which merged with /s/. Various other consonants have changed their sound too, but have remained distinct. An original */p/ lenited to /f/, and */ɡ/ became palatalized to /ɡʲ/ or /ɟ/ by the time of the Qur'an and /d͡ʒ/, /ɡ/ or /ʒ/ in MSA. An original voiceless alveolar lateral fricative */ɬ/ became /ʃ/. Its emphatic counterpart /ɬˠ~ɮˤ/ was considered by Arabs to be the most unusual sound in Arabic (Hence the Classical Arabic's appellation luġatu ḍ-ḍād or "language of the ḍād"); for most modern dialects, it has become an emphatic stop /dˤ/ with loss of the laterality or with complete loss of any pharyngealization or velarization, /d/. (The classical ḍād pronunciation of pharyngealization /ɮˤ/ still occurs in the Mehri language, and the similar sound without velarization exists in other Modern South Arabian languages.)

*Source: Wikipedia