Distinctive features of Central Semitic languages include the following: • An innovative
negation marker *bal, of uncertain origin. • The generalization of
t as the suffix conjugation past tense marker,
levelling an earlier alternation between *k in the first person and *t in the second person. • A new prefix conjugation for the non-past tense, of the form
ya-qtulu, replacing the inherited
ya-qattal form (they are schematic verbal forms, as if derived from an example
triconsonantal root q-t-l). •
Pharyngealization of the
emphatic consonants, which were previously articulated as
ejective. Different classification systems disagree on the precise structure of the group. The most common approach divides it into Arabic and Northwest Semitic, while
SIL Ethnologue has
South Central Semitic (including Arabic and Hebrew) vs. Aramaic. The main distinction between Arabic and the Northwest Semitic languages is the presence of
broken plurals in the former. The majority of Arabic nouns (apart from
participles) form plurals in this manner, whereas virtually all nouns in the Northwest Semitic languages form their plurals with a
suffix. For example, the Arabic بَيْت
bayt ("house") becomes بُيُوت
buyūt ("houses"); the Hebrew בַּיִת
bayit ("house") becomes בָּתִּים
bāttīm ("houses"). == References ==