A feature-geometric approach to Amharic verb classes

Abstract It is well known that Ethiopian Semitic languages have different verb classes which determine root shape in different paradigms (Leslau 1995, 2000; Amberber 2002). Thus verbal roots with three consonants (called “triradicals” in the Semitistic literature) in Amharic are traditionally divided into three classes, A, B, and C, which differ by the vowel and gemination patterns in different paradigms.