ABSTRACT
The classification of Arabic has occupied a central position in the efforts of Semiticists to understand the evolution of the Semitic language family. Earlier scholars saw Arabic as more closely connected with the languages situated in the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula and Semitic languages of Ethiopia. The relationship between Arabic and the languages attested in the Ancient North Arabian (ANA) inscriptions has been the subject of some debate among scholars. Al-Jallad argues that the linguistic unity of ANA should be demonstrated by the identification of shared innovations, and not assumed. This approach fragmented the ANA corpus into several independent branches, in turn indicating that even North and Central Arabia were home to considerable linguistic diversity in the pre-Islamic period. The epigraphy in the Safaitic and Hismaic scripts, which extends from North Arabia to the Hawran, provides considerable evidence for the earliest stages of Arabic.
