Editing Afroasiatic languages (section)

====Consonantal root structures====
A widely attested feature in AA languages is a consonantal structure into which various vocalic "templates" are placed.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=265}} This structure is particularly visible in the verbs,{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=36}} and is particularly noticeable in Semitic.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=265}} Besides for Semitic, vocalic templates are well attested for Cushitic and Berber,{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=37}} where, along with Chadic, it is less productive; it is absent in Omotic.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=265}} For Egyptian, evidence for the root-and-template structure exists from Coptic.{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=37}} In Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, verbs have no inherent vowels at all; the vowels found in a given stem are dependent on the vocalic template.{{sfn|Frajzyngier|2012|p=622}} In Chadic, verb stems can include an inherent vowel as well.{{sfn|Frajzyngier|2018}}

Most Semitic verbs are [[Semitic root|triliteral]] (have three consonants), whereas most Chadic, Omotic, and Cushitic verbs are biliteral (having two consonants).{{sfn|Hayward|2000|p=93}} The degree to which the Proto-AA verbal root was triliteral is debated.{{sfn|Güldemann|2018|p=311}} It may have originally been mostly biconsonantal, to which various affixes (such as [[#Verbal extensions|verbal extensions]]) were then added and lexicalized.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=265}} Although any root could theoretically be used to create a noun or a verb, there is evidence for the existence of distinct noun and verb roots, which behave in different ways.{{sfn|Shay|2014|p=576}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:smaller;"
|+ Examples of verbal templates in AA languages, after {{harvnb|Gragg|2019}}
|-
! Language !! Akkadian (Semitic) !! Berber !! Beja (Cushitic) !! Ron/Daffo (Chadic) !! Coptic (Egyptian)
|-
| Root || p-r-s ''to divide'' || k-n-f ''to roast'' || d-b-l ''to gather'' || m-(w)-t ''to die'' || k-t ''to build''
|-
| rowspan="6" | Templates || iprus- (preterite) || ǎknəf (aorist) || -dbil- (past) || mot (perfective) || kôt (infintive)
|-
| iparras- (present) || əknǎf (perfective) || -i:-dbil- (aorist) || mwaát (imperfective) || kêt (qualitative)
|-
| iptaras (perfect) || əkǎnnǎf (imperfective) || i:-dbil- (modal)
|-
| rowspan="3" | || əknəf (neg. perfective) || da:n-bi:l (present sg)
|-
|  əkənnəf (neg. imperfective) || -e:-dbil- (present pl)
|-
| || -dabi:l- (negative)
|}

As part of these templates, the alternation ([[apophony]]) between high vowels (e.g. i, u) and a low vowel (a) in verbal forms is usually described as one of the main characteristics of AA languages: this change codes a variety of different functions.{{sfn|Frajzyngier|2012|p=593}} It is unclear whether this system is a common AA trait;{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=38}} the Chadic examples, for instance, show signs of originally deriving from affixes, which could explain the origins of the alterations in other languages as well.{{sfn|Frajzyngier|2012|p=593}}