FIRST PERSON PRONOUNS IN ARABIC IN THE LIGHT OF ARABIC AND HAMITO-SEMITIC DIALECTOLOGY

dialectal Arabic forms of pronouns that cannot be traced back to Classical Arabic have been used for comparison with other Semitic languages as well as for the reconstruction of Proto-Semitic, in later studies (e.g. Cesrnlltt¡o 1962, Anpuso 1977, FlscHen, JRsrnow 1980) dialectal variants have been overtly or tacitly considered as innovations in spite of the fact that some of them are recorded very earlyl. In this article a revision of thc traditional approach is undertaken with the use not only of Semitic but also of Berber, Cushitic, Egyptian and Chadic comparative data. One of the principal assumptions is that Proto-semitic and Proto-Hamito-Semitic were composed of dialects with frequently contradictory isoglosses and that in the Proto-Semitic period the Semitic languages constituted a morc or less regular dialect continuum (cf. Znsonsru l99l). For Proto-Hamitosemitic it is possible to reconstruct first person singular variants (cf. Znaonsrr, forthcoming, D¡¡ronorp 1988,72) as