Abstract
Semitic morphology has been a “puzzle” for linguists. The aim of this paper is to clarify the morphological nature of Semitic “root” and “pattern, ” and to define them from general linguistic point of view.The main function of the Semitic root is to dynamically mediate between a word and a new word derived from it by carrying over the meaning and consonantal structure of the former to the latter. Linguistically speaking, the element which has this function should be called a base. Hence the Semitic root can be regarded as a sort of base consisting of consonants only.The Semitic pattern has a structure predictable by a phonological rule, i. e. the syllabification rule (Goldsmith 1990). In the CV-skelton formulated by the syllabification rule, consonantal elements, such as radicals (each consonant of the root) and some derivational affixes, and vocalic elements are arranged according to their morphophonemic motives. This method reveals the synthetic structure of derived words, which has been overlooked by the traditional analytic approach.
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