Abstract
The scholars who first analysed the Armana Letters recognised the significance of the presence of West-Semitic grammatical features. After Bohl (1909), Dhorme (1913-14) and Knudtzon (1915), little progress was made in the way of a systematic analysis of the West-Semitic forms in the Amarna Letters until William L. Moran examined the grammatical system of the Byblian corpus. Moran's work provided the foundation for a number of studies in the nature of West-Semitic languages of the Bronze Age in Syria-Palestine. The emphasis in such studies has always been on examining the linguistic principles of the extant West-Semitic evidence. But such studies, rarely if ever, consider the historical ramifications for the existence of such a linguistically peculiar phenomenon as the Amarna Letters. Only recently has this become a concern for scholars interested in this period of Egyptian and ancient Near Eastern history. Hence, this paper offers an interpretation of the West-Semitic linguistic features in an historical context.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 85-99 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology |
| Volume | 16 |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |