The 3Fs Perfect In Omani Mehri

Abstract

Abstract For Antoine Lonnet In the Mehri language as spoken in Oman, the suffix of the 3fs perfect has the three allomorphs -ōt, -ūt or -ēt. The distribution of these suffixes has never been fully described, in part because, until recently, transcriptions of Mehri often masked the subtle difference between ō and ū. The choice of 3fs suffix depends on the verbal stem and, in some cases, on the nature of certain root consonants. All the 3fs suffixes can be traced to a Proto-Semitic suffix *-at, which has been subjected to several sound rules specific to Omani Mehri, though analogy has also played a role in some verb types.