Na'ama Pat-El is a Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Graduate Studies Committee (MELC GSC). She holds a Ph.D. (2008) in Semitic Philology from Harvard University, preceded by studies at Hebrew University under Gideon Goldenberg and Harvard under John Huehnergard. Education: Ph.D., 2008, Harvard University (Semitic Philology) B.A. and M.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem Her research focuses on Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax, and Language Contact , with a particular emphasis on syntactic change and morphological evolution. She investigates phenomena such as the development of verbal paradigms, plural morphemes, and copulae across Semitic languages, including Akkadian, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Recent publications address topics like the nondevelopment of third-person nominative pronouns in Semitic perfect/stative paradigms, the diachronic shift of East Semitic subordination markers into West Semitic indicative markers, and the reevaluation of Hebrew 'sign' terminology through epigraphic and comparative evidence. Her work also challenges assumptions about paired body part gender assignment in Semitic languages. Selected Publications (2025–2020) explore: Proto-Semitic verbal morphology Historical syntax in Akkadian and Neo-Assyrian Plural-gender mismatches in Hebrew Substrate influences in Levantine Arabic Biblical text linguistics










