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Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language of the Semitic languages. The earliest attestations of a Semitic language are in Akkadian, dating to ca. the 23rd century BC (see Sargon of Akkad). Early inscriptions in the (pre-)Proto-Canaanite alphabet, presumably by speakers of a Semitic language, date to ca. 1800 BC. Proto-Semitic would most probably have been spoken in the 4th millennium BC, roughly contemporaneous to Proto-Indo-European.

Semitic languages seem to have developed first in the Middle East, more specifically, Kienast (2001) advocates the Arabian peninsula as the Semitic Urheimat, based on the fact that the Canaanite, Aramaic, and Arab nomadic tribes are recorded to have emerged from there, and the same area of origin is likely for the Akkadians. South Semitic speakers migrated to Africa before the 8th century BC (see Dʿmt), either via Sinai or the Yemen gap. Alternative scenarios make Ethiopia the Proto-Semitic homeland^[1]. If the Afro-Asiatic hypothesis is accepted, the question of the Proto-Afro-Asiatic homeland is a related debate.

Proto-Semitic is generally reconstructed as having the following phonemes (as usually transcribed in Semitology; tentative IPA values are given in square brackets)^[2]:

Notes:

1. Nowadays it has become more fashionable to reconstruct z, s, ṣ, and sometimes ṣ́ as affricates, i.e. [dz], [ts], [tsʼ], and [tɬʼ]. If these sounds were affricates, many scholars are inclined to think that š was really a simple [s]. This is the reconstruction for other branches of Proto-Afro-Asiatic; suggesting that this was still the case for Proto-Semitic as well would explain ṯ merging in Canaanite with š, rather than s. However, the exact history of these sounds has yet to be worked out.
2. The sounds notated here as "emphatic" sounds occur in nearly all Semitic languages, as well as in most other Afroasiatic languages, are generally reconstructed as glottalized in Proto-Semitic. In modern Semitic languages, they are variously realized as pharyngealized (Arabic, Aramaic) or glottalized (Ethiopian Semitic languages, Modern South Arabian languages); Modern Hebrew and Maltese are exceptions to this general retention, with all emphatics merging into plain consonants.
3. In Aramaic and Hebrew, all non-emphatic stops were softened to fricatives when occurring singly after a vowel, leading to an alternation that was often later phonemicized as a result of the loss of gemination.

Each Proto-Semitic phoneme was reconstructed to explain a certain regular sound correspondence between various Semitic languages:

Proto-Semitic	Akkadian	Arabic		Phoenician		Hebrew		Modern Hebrew	Aramaic		Ge'ez		Modern South Arabian
b	b	ب	b		b	ב	ḇ/b	/v/, /b/	ב	ḇ/b	በ	b	/b/
p	p	ف	f		p	פ	p̄/p	/f/, /p/	פ	p̄/p	ፈ	f	/f/
ḏ [ð]	z	ذ	ḏ [ð]		z	ז	z	/z/	ד	ḏ/d	ዘ	z	/ð/
ṯ [θ]	š	ث	ṯ [θ]		š	שׁ	š	/ʃ/	ת	ṯ/t	ሰ	s	/θ/
ṯ̣ [θʼ]	ṣ	ظ	ẓ [ðˁ] or [zˁ]		ṣ	צ	ṣ	/ts/	ט	ṭ	ጸ	ṣ	/θˁ/
d	d	د	d		d	ד	ḏ/d	/d/	ד	ḏ/d	ደ	d	/d/
t	t	ت	t		t	ת	ṯ/t	/t/	ת	ṯ/t	ተ	t	/t/
ṭ [tˁ]	ṭ	ط	ṭ [tˁ]		ṭ	ט	ṭ	/t/	ט	ṭ	ጠ	ṭ	/tˁ/
š [ʃ]	š	س	s		š	שׁ	š	/ʃ/	שׁ	š	ሰ	s	/ʃ/, /h/
z	z	ز	z		z	ז	z	/z/	ז	z	ዘ	z	/z/
s	s	س	s		s	ס	s	/s/	ס	s	ሰ	s	/s/
ṣ [sˁ]	ṣ	ص	ṣ [sˁ]		ṣ	צ	ṣ	/ts/	צ	ṣ	ጸ	ṣ	/sˁ/
l	l	ل	l		l	ל	l	/l/	ל	l	ለ	l	/l/
ś [ɬ]	š	ش	š [ʃ]		š	שׂ	s	/s/	שׂ	s	ሠ	ś	/ɬ/
ṣ́ [ɬˁ]	ṣ	ض	ḍ [ɮˁ]→[dˁ]		ṣ	צ	ṣ	/ts/	ע	ʻ	ፀ	ṣ́	/ɬˁ/
g [ɡ]	g	ج	ǧ [ɡʲ]→[ʤ]		g	ג	ḡ/g	/ɡ/	ג	ḡ/g	ገ	g	/ɡ/
k	k	ك	k		k	כ	ḵ/k	/χ/, /k/	כ	ḵ/k	ከ	k	/k/
ḳ [kˁ]	q	ق	q		q	ק	q	/k/	ק	q	ቀ	ḳ	/q/
ġ [ɣ]	-	غ	ġ [ɣ]		ʻ	ע	ʻ	/ʔ/, -	ע	ʻ	ዐ	ʻ	/ɣ/
ḫ [x]	ḫ	خ	ḫ [x]		ḥ	ח	ḥ	/χ/	ח	ḥ	ኀ	ḫ	/x/
ʻ [ʕ]	-	ع	ʻ [ʕ]		ʻ	ע	ʻ	/ʔ/, -	ע	ʻ	ዐ	ʻ	/ʕ/
ḥ [ħ]	-	ح	ḥ [ħ]		ḥ	ח	ḥ	/χ/	ח	ḥ	ሐ	ḥ	/ħ/
ʼ [ʔ]	-	ء	ʼ [ʔ]		ʼ	א	ʼ	/ʔ/, -	א	ʼ	አ	ʼ	/ʔ/
h	-	ه	h		h	ה	h	/h/, -	ה	h	ሀ	h	/h/
m	m	م	m		m	מ	m	/m/	מ	m	መ	m	/m/
n	n	ن	n		n	נ	n	/n/	נ ר	n r	ነ	n	/n/
r	r	ر	r		r	ר	r	/ʁ/	ר	r	ረ	r	/r/
w	w	و	w		w y	ו י	w y	/v/ /j/	ו י	w y	ወ	w	/w/
y [j]	y	ي	y [j]		y	י	y	/j/	י	y	የ	y	/j/
Proto-Semitic	Akkadian	Arabic		Phoenician		Hebrew		Modern Hebrew	Aramaic		Ge'ez		Modern South Arabian

Notes:

1. Arabic pronunciation is that of reconstructed Qur'anic Arabic of the 7th and 8th centuries CE. If the pronunciation of Modern Standard Arabic differs, this is indicated (for example, [ɡʲ]→[ʤ]).
2. Proto-Semitic ś appears to have merged with s in Tiberian Hebrew, but is still distinguished graphically.
3. Biblical Hebrew as of the 3rd century BCE apparently still distinguished ġ and ḫ (based on transcriptions in the Septuagint).
4. Although early Aramaic (pre-7th century BCE) had only 22 consonants in its alphabet, it apparently distinguished at least 27 of the original 29 Proto-Semitic phonemes, including ḏ, ṯ, ṱ, ś, ṣ́. This conclusion is based on the shifting representation of words etymologically containing these sounds; in early Aramaic writing, they are merged with z, š, ṣ, š, q, respectively, but later with d, t, ṭ, s, ʻ.^[3]

1. ^ e.g. A. Murtonen; see Fleming, Harold C. (1968), "Ethiopic Language History: Testing Linguistic Hypotheses in an Archaeological and Documentary Context" in Ethnohistory, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Autumn), pp. 353-388
2. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel [1988] (1993). "Hebrew in the context of the Semitic Languages", A History of the Hebrew Language (Historia de la Lengua Hebrea), trans. John Elwolde, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 18-19. ISBN 0-521-55634-1. 
3. ^ [http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/LingWWW/LIN325/Notes/Phonology.pdf LIN325 Introduction to Semitic Languages Chapter 3: Phonology]. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.

• Burkhart Kienast, Historische semitische Sprachwissenschaft (2001).
• Proto Semitic Language and Culture - The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

• List of Proto-Semitic stems
• History of the alphabet
• Afro-Asiatic languages
• Proto-Afro-Asiatic
• Proto-Indo-European language

• Bartleby: American Heritage Dictionary: Semitic Roots Index