Which ‘That’ Was Amharic Yä-? An Alternative Origin for the Amharic Relative-Genitive Marker

Abstract

Abstract This article re-evaluates arguments regarding the previously proposed origin of the Amharic relative-genitive marker yä-. The traditional proposal relies on the attestation of a ž- form in Tigrinya (Praetorius 1874) and reconstructs a form *zä- (the same as the Ge′ez relative) for yä-. However, no such form is attested in Old Amharic writing (Girma Awgichew 2014), even though it has convenient orthographic conventions for recording palatalized consonants. Based on the attested levelling of l- forms of the relative marker in Ethiopian Semitic and Modern Arabic, I propose deriving the Amharic relative- genitive marker yä- from a levelled plural relative marker containing l, an element visible in the demonstrative paradigms of Ethiopian Semitic. This alternative derivation fits the synchronic Amharic phonology in which the lateral liquid l becomes the palatal glide y. In addition, it follows the cross-linguistically common palatalization process similarly attested for l in the historical phonology of other languages, e.g. Berber, Romance and Chinese.