On Proto-Semitic Consonantism (II)

Abstract

In this article the review of the book by Prof. Gregorio del Olmo Lete, Questions de linguistique sémitique, published in this periodical (54, 2005, pp. 244-260), is continued with special attention paid to chapter III of that book, “Le système consonantique (proto-) sémitique”. The author adds some reflections of his own on question of comparative Semitic phonology raised in more o less recent times such as the `Affricate Hypothesis´, the articulation of `interdentals´ and `laterals´ and other items. At the end a putative reconstruction of the Proto-Semitic (Proto-Afroasiatic) consonantal system is attempted.