Editing Moabite language (section)

=== Classification as Canaanite dialects ===
The geography of the dialects of the [[Levant]] has been revised the past few years. Dialects of Canaanite, including Moabite, show differences from one another.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |date=2007 |title=Whence Came the Israelites and Their Language? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927155 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=41–64 |jstor=27927155 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref>

==== Isogloss ====
A lexical isogloss exists between the Northwest Semitic languages Aramaic, Hebrew and Moabite. For example, the verb 'to be', from the root(s) *HWY/HYY. The coastal languages, Phoenician and Ugaritic, both used the root *KWN, and that seems to be the case in the mother tongue of the Amarna scribes from Canaan as well; and it is also standard in Arabic.<ref name=":4" />

==== Syntactic features ====
A syntactic feature that Aramaic, Hebrew and Moabite share is the [[Syntagma (linguistics)|syntagma]] of the narrative preterit. Supported by three inscriptions, prefix preterite narrative sequences are found in Moabite as well as Old Southern Aramaic and Hebrew. First, it was discerned in the Old Aramaic inscription of [[Stele of Zakkur|Zakkur]] by king of Hamath and proclaimed to be of Canaanite influence on an Aramaic text.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millard |first=A.R. |title=The Inscription of Zakkur, King of Hamath |publisher=The Context of Scripture |year=2000 |edition=2nd |location=Leiden; Boston; Cologne}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |title=The Sacred Bridge |publisher=Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World |year=2006 |location=Jerusalem |pages=220–221}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Segert |first=S. |title=Aramäische Grammatik |year=1975 |location=Leipzig}}</ref> Second, it occurred in the [[Deir Alla Inscription]]. Finally the prefix preterite, appeared in the [[Tel Dan stele]] with and without the sequential conjunction. This feature is absent in Phoenician, a language that is certain to be Canaanite, which suggests that the classification of Moabite as a Canaanite dialect does not apply.<ref name=":4" />