The classification of the Semitic languages remains a matter of debate. In the evaluation of the relationship of one language to another, the information provided by a shared innovation is assigned greater weight than that derived from a shared archaism. Determining whether a feature is an innovation or an archaism can be problematic, however, because it depends upon an understanding of the precursor of the languages to be compared. This can be a relatively straightforward process when the analysis involves a well-attested precursor language but becomes more difficult when it relies on the reconstruction of a protolanguage—the hypothetical ancestor of ...(100 of 5374 words)