Das Ablautsystem des B- und D-Typs im Harari und Ostgurage

Abstract

The verbal system of the East Gurage-Harari-Group inside the southern Ethio-Semitic languages, underwent a special development: The lengthening of the second consonant, the characteristic feature of B-type verbs in the other Semitic languages, totally got lost. The consequence was, that the palatal vowel, which we find already in the Gǝʿǝz imperfect yǝfeṣṣǝm , became the only characteristic of the B-type. It spread over all three verbal forms (perfect, imperfect, jussive) and formed a system of ablaut between ē and ī (and in analogy to that, between ō and ū in the D-type). This however, happened in different ways in the three languages: Silṭe, Harari und Zāy. The article tries to explain how the ablaut systems of the three languages came into being.