The Semitic Languages: Five Millenia of Identities, Structures and Relationships

Course Description

Summary

The Semitic language family has the longest documented legacy of any in the world, spanning nearly 5,000 years.  Its dozens of distinct but connected languages – among them Arabic, Ethiopic, Hebrew and Syriac – have animated metropolises from Babylon to Carthage to Dubai; over centuries, they have voiced revelation to billions of Jews, Christians, Muslims and others, and articulated identities of individuals and groups that have been drivers of world events throughout recorded history. 

In this course, we will work to understand these languages’ inner linguistic workings and outer social lives – and what connects the two.  We will engage deeply with structures of the family’s well- and lesser-known languages, examining what unifies them, what makes them unique, and how both interact with broader, cross-linguistic theories of phonology, morphology and syntax.  We will simultaneously learn to apply (and question!) accepted tools of socio- and historical linguistics to explore the identities and communities these languages’ speakers have forged through their use: who speaks these languages, and where, when and why?  How has this changed, and what role has this played in shaping power, conflict and belonging in human lives from ancient Mesopotamia to the Middle East and Africa of the 21st century?