Editing Beja language (section)

==Classification==
Beja is held by most linguists to be part of the [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] family, constituting the only member of the Northern Cushitic subgroup. As such, Beja contains a number of linguistic innovations that are unique to it, as is also the situation with the other subgroups of Cushitic (e.g. idiosyncratic features in [[Agaw languages|Agaw]] or Central Cushitic). The characteristics of Beja that differ from those of other Cushitic languages are likewise generally acknowledged as normal branch variation.{{sfn|Zaborski|1988|p=491}}

The relation of the Northern Cushitic branch of Cushitic to the other branches is unknown. [[Christopher Ehret]] proposes, based on the devoicing of [[Proto-Cushitic]] voiced velar fricatives, that Northern Cushitic is possibly more closely related to [[Southern Cushitic languages|South Cushitic]] than to the other branches.{{sfn|Ehret|2008|p=159}}

The identification of Beja as an independent branch of Cushitic dates to the work of [[Enrico Cerulli]] between 1925 and 1951.{{sfn|Lamberti|1991|p=553}} Due to Beja's linguistic innovations, [[Robert Hetzron]] argued that it constituted an independent branch of Afroasiatic.{{sfn|Hetzron|1980}} Hetzron's proposal was generally rejected by other linguists, and Cerulli's identification of Beja as the sole member of a North Cushitic branch remains standard today across otherwise divergent proposals for the internal relations of the Cushitic language family.{{sfnm|1a1=Vanhove|1y=2020a|1p=301|2a1=Tosco|2y=2000}}