LCDE Project Workshop
University of Basel
University of Basel
Findings and Prospects of the LCDE Project
4–5 May 2026 · University of Basel
Organizer: Dr. Marwan Kilani
Dates: 4–5 May 2026
Location: Odelya Hotel - Basel - Room: Lingua Franca
Format: In person and online
Fee: Free of charge / Registration required
Online participants can join via Zoom: Join meeting
Online participants are kindly asked to register in advance to receive the workshop materials.
Register hereHandouts and additional material will be uploaded here:
Handout folderThis workshop presents the results of the four-year Ambizione LCDE project on Egyptian-Coptic linguistics. Initially focused on dialectal variation in Late Egyptian, the project developed into a broader reassessment of linguistic reconstruction, leading to a new model of Proto-Coptic.
The proposed model introduces significant innovations, offering improved internal coherence and new insights into historical development within Afro-Asiatic linguistics.
09:00 – 09:45 Introduction by Prof. Antonio Loprieno
Followed by a brief overview of the workshop, introduction of the speakers, and practical information.
09:45 – 10:15 Coffee break
Phonology & Vocalization
Two-vowel models in Proto-Coptic and related Afro-Asiatic languages.
10:15 – 11:00 Lameen Souag: Two-vowel systems in selected Afro-Asiatic languages
11:00 – 12:00 Marwan Kilani: Reconstructing a two-vowel system in Proto-Coptic
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break at ODELYA Hotel (buffet)
Deverbal Morphology
Word formation in Egyptian and beyond.
13:30 – 14:15 Roman Gundacker: An Overlooked Category: Root Nouns in Ancient Egyptian
14:15 – 15:15 Marwan Kilani: Deverbal morphology in Proto-Coptic: a new model
15:15 – 15:45 Coffee break
15:45 – 16:45 Jean Winand: Toward a Relational Dictionary of Late Egyptian (RDLEg)
16:45 – 17:15 Discussion
19:00 Conference dinner
Sentence Syntax
Nominal constructions as sources of verbal sentences in Egyptian and Cushitic.
09:00 – 10:00 Ahmad Al-Jallad: “Can we reconstruct the pre-Proto-Semitic (Afro-Asiatic) verb phrase?”
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 – 11:15 Maarten Mous, Christian Rapold & Håvard «Haymú» Weiberg-Johansen: On diachronic paths from cleft constructions in Cushitic
11:15 – 12:00 Marwan Kilani: Nominal clause structures and the interpretation of sḏm⸗f forms
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break at ODELYA Hotel (buffet)
Language Contact & Afro-Asiatic Contexts
Multilingualism, language contact, and areal phenomena.
13:30 – 14:30 Roger Blench: Challenges of Egyptian etymologies from an Afro-Asiatic perspective
14:30 – 15:15 Victoria Almansa-Villatoro: Multilingualism in the Old Kingdom
15:15 – 15:45 Coffee break
15:45 – 16:45 Gaëlle Chantrain: Body part based metaphors: Ancient Egyptian in its African context
16:45 – 17:15 Discussion