Editing Proto-Semitic language (section)

=== [[Morphophonology]] ===

Proto-Semitic allowed only syllables of the structures ''CVC'', ''CVː'', or ''CV''. It did not permit word-final [[consonant cluster|clusters]] of two or more consonants, clusters of three or more consonants, [[hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] of two or more vowels, or long vowels in closed syllables.<ref>{{cite book|author=Huehnergard J.|title=The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia|chapter=Afro-Asiatic|place=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|pages=231|isbn=978-0-511-39338-9}}</ref>

Most roots consisted of three consonants. However, it appears that historically the three-consonant roots had developed from two-consonant ones (this is suggested by evidence from internal as well as external reconstruction). To construct a given grammatical form, certain vowels were inserted between the consonants of the root.<ref>{{cite book|author=Moscati S., Spitaler A., Ullendorff E., von Soden W.|title=An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages| place=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|year=1980|pages=72–73|isbn=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Weninger S.|title=The Semitic languages|chapter=Reconstructive Morphology|place=Berlin — Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2011|pages=152–153|isbn=978-3-11-018613-0}}</ref> There were certain restrictions on the structure of the root: it was impossible to have roots where the first and second consonants were identical, and roots where the first and third consonants were identical were extremely rare.<ref>{{cite book|author=Huehnergard J.|title=The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia|chapter=Afro-Asiatic|place=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|pages=233|isbn=978-0-511-39338-9}}</ref>