The Markers of Person, Gender, and Number in the Prefixes of G-Preformative Conjugations in Semitic

Abstract

As is well known, the preformative conjugations in the individual Semitic languages all operate according to the same basic principles in marking person, gender, and number. Person is usually indicated by a prefix that is attached to the verbal base, while gender and number are marked by the presence or absence of a suffix. The Classical Arabic verbal form yaktub he shall write, for example, can be analyzed as ya-ktub-0, where yamarks the 3rd person masculine and -0 the singular. In Arabic ya-ktub-ii they shall write the same prefix yais used for indicating the third person, and final -it marks the (masculine) plural. In certain forms in which the plural prefix has a different form than the singular, as in the 1st persons, no special suffix is required to mark plurality; compare 'a-ktub-O shall write with na-ktub-0 we shall write. Similarly, masculine and feminine only have to be distinguished by suffixes when the prefixes are ambiguous, as ta-ktub-0 you (ms) shall write versus taktub-i you (fs) shall write. In this case the final -i in the feminine form explicitly distinguishes the 2fs from the 2ms, as opposed to the 3rd person singular forms ya-ktub-0 (ms) and ta-ktub-0 (fs), in which the use of two different prefixes, yaand ta-, is sufficient to distinguish masculine and feminine. Verbal prefixes usually consist of a consonant and a vowel.' While the consonant indicates the person and is consistent through all paradigms, the prefix vowel is dependent on verbal stem and voice.2 The Proto-Semitic form of the prefix vowels is still a matter of dispute. In this article I will suggest a new reconstruction for these vowels in the G active stem based on their derivation from the respective independent pronouns.