Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East

摘要

The evolution of languages provides a unique opportunity to study human population history. The origin ofSemitic and the nature of dispersals by Semitic-speaking populations are of great importance to ourunderstanding of the ancient history of the Middle East and Horn of Africa. Semitic populations areassociated with the oldest written languages and urban civilizations in the region, which gave rise to some ofthe world's first major religious and literary traditions. In this study, we employ Bayesian computationalphylogenetic techniques recently developed in evolutionary biology to analyse Semitic lexical data bymodelling language evolution and explicitly testing alternative hypotheses of Semitic history. We implement arelaxed linguistic clock to date language divergences and use epigraphic evidence for the sampling dates ofextinct Semitic languages to calibrate the rate oflanguage evolution. Our statistical tests of alternative Semitichistories support an initial divergence of Akkadian from ancestral Semitic over competing hypotheses (e.g. anAfrican origin of Semitic). We estimate an Early Bronze Age origin for Semitic approximately 5750 years agoin the Levant, and further propose that contemporary Ethiosemitic languages of Africa reflect a singleintroduction of early Ethiosemitic from southern Arabia approximately 2800 years ago.