Editing Afroasiatic languages (section)

==Origin==
{{main|Proto-Afroasiatic language}}

===Timeline===
There is no consensus as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=252}} The absolute latest date for when Proto-Afroasiatic could have been extant is {{circa|4000 BCE}}, after which Egyptian and the Semitic languages are firmly attested. However, in all likelihood these languages began to diverge well before this hard boundary.{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=43}} The estimations offered by scholars as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken vary widely, ranging from 18,000{{nbsp}}BCE to 8,000{{nbsp}}BCE.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=252}} An estimate at the youngest end of this range still makes Afroasiatic the oldest proven language family.{{sfn|Nichols|2003|p=300}} Contrasting proposals of an early emergence, Tom Güldemann has argued that less time may have been required for the divergence than is usually assumed, as it is possible for a language to rapidly restructure due to [[language contact|areal contact]], with the evolution of Chadic (and likely also Omotic) serving as pertinent examples.{{sfn|Güldemann|2018|p=311}}

===Location===
{{main|Proto-Afroasiatic homeland}}
Likewise, no consensus exists as to where proto-Afroasiatic originated.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=252}} Scholars have proposed locations for the Afroasiatic homeland across Africa and West Asia.{{sfn|Frajzyngier|Shay|2012|p=13}} Roger Blench writes that the debate possesses "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization".{{sfn|Blench|2006|p=144}} An additional complicating factor is the lack of agreement on the subgroupings of Afroasiatic (see [[#Further subdivisions|Further subdivisions]]) – this makes associating archaeological evidence with the spread of Afroasiatic particularly difficult.{{sfn|Blench|2006|pp=148–150}} Nevertheless, there is a long-accepted link between the speakers of Proto-[[Southern Cushitic languages]] and the East African [[Savanna Pastoral Neolithic]] (5,000 years ago), and archaeological evidence associates the [[Proto-Cushitic]] speakers with economic transformations in the Sahara dating c. 8,500 years ago, as well as the speakers of the [[Zenati languages|Proto-Zenati]] variety of the Berber languages with an expansion across the [[Maghreb]] in the 5th century CE.{{sfn|Ehret et al.|2023|p=270}}

An origin somewhere on the African continent has broad scholarly support,{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=43}} and is seen as being well-supported by the linguistic data.{{sfn|Frajzyngier|2012|p=13}} Most scholars more narrowly place the homeland near the geographic center of its present distribution,{{sfn|Huehnergard|2004|p=138}} "in the southeastern Sahara or adjacent Horn of Africa".{{sfn|Ehret|Keita|Newman|2004|p=1680}} The Afroasiatic languages spoken in Africa are not more closely related to each other than they are to Semitic, as one would expect if only Semitic had remained in a West Asian homeland while all other branches had spread from there.{{sfn|Starostin|2017|p=226}} Likewise, all Semitic languages are fairly similar to each other, whereas the African branches of Afroasiatic are very diverse; this suggests the rapid spread of Semitic out of Africa.{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=43}} Proponents of an origin of Afroasiatic within Africa assume the proto-language to have been spoken by pre-Neolithic [[hunter-gatherers]],{{sfn|Güldemann|2018|p=311}} arguing that there is no evidence of words in Proto-Afroasiatic related to agriculture or animal husbandry.{{sfn|Ehret|Keita|Newman|2004|p=1680}} Christopher Ehret, S.O. Y. Keita, and [[Paul Newman (linguist)|Paul Newman]] also argue that archaeology does not support a spread of migrating farmers into Africa, but rather a gradual incorporation of animal husbandry into indigenous foraging cultures.{{sfn|Ehret|Keita|Newman|2004|pp=1680–1681}} Ehret, in a separate publication, argued that the two principles in linguistic approaches for determining the origin of languages which are the principles of fewest moves and greatest diversity had put “beyond reasonable doubt” that the language family “had originated in the Horn of Africa”.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE |date=20 June 2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-24410-5 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5KjEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

A significant minority of scholars supports an Asian origin of Afroasiatic,{{sfn|Blench|2006|p=144}} most of whom are specialists in Semitic or Egyptian studies.{{sfn|Blench|2006|p=150}} The main proponent of an Asian origin is the linguist [[Alexander Militarev]],{{sfn|Almansa-Villatoro|Štubňová Nigrelli|2023|p=5}} who argues that Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken by early agriculturalists in the [[Levant]] and subsequently spread to Africa.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=252}} Militarev associates the speakers of Proto-Afroasiatic with the Levantine Post-[[Natufian Culture]], arguing that the reconstructed lexicon of flora and fauna, as well as farming and pastoralist vocabulary indicates that Proto-AA must have been spoken in this area.{{sfn|Militarev|2002}}{{sfn|Militarev|2009}} Scholar [[Jared Diamond]] and archaeologist [[Peter Bellwood]] have taken up Militarev's arguments as part of their general argument that the spread of linguistic [[macrofamily|macrofamilies]] (such as Indo-European, Bantu, and Austro-Asiatic) can be associated with the development of agriculture; they argue that there is clear archaeological support for farming spreading from the Levant into Africa via the Nile valley.{{sfn|Diamond|Bellwood|2003|p=601}}