Alternation of phoneme quantity as a method offorming derived verbal stems in Semitic languages

Abstract

This article analyzes the lengthening of certain phonemes as a method of forming derived verbal stems in Semitic, which is put into practice within the framework of transfixal verbal word-formation. The method examined here represents an essential difference in comparison to Indo-European verbal formation, in addition to the established contrast between affixal verbal derivation (Indo-European languages) and. transfixal verbal derivation (Semitic languages). The analysis presented here also explores the relationships between intensive (reflexive-intensive) and conative (reciprocal-conative) verbal stems in terms of their history. The comparison made here indicates that the original stems of the conative type were variants of the intensive type in certain verbal classes - a variation which can be seen as a realization of the general phonemic principle of the
possibility for alternating a long consonant and a long vowel in certain positions in Semitic.

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