Basic principles with the Sumerian Grammar 7

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

11 August 2010

This is the 7th dealing with the subject of the Sumerian grammar and we are working on the Sumerian verb. We have seen that when linguists describe the verb, they deny some dead languages the role of tenses (past, present and future) and wish to polarize it with the function of aspect. However, when they do define the perfective and imperfective roles of the verb, suddenly a fusion takes place in which both are present. The only reason they deny the role of tenses, is the unfortunate development of modern linguistics after the focus of Ferdinand de Saussure in the 1920's on the Hindu Sanskrit grammarian Panini's ideas, filled with pantheism and language, and this caused categories of linguistic description to be off track. The criticisms levied against Chomsky and his ideas and various trends, functionalism, structuralism etc. is simply because of the ingredients that were used in the axioms of epistemology that shaped the modus operandi of grammar description. To solve the problem one has to revise and deconstruct the grammarian descriptions and get back on track. It is not just an eratic eclecticism which is the post-modern trend, it is based on a normativism which in post-modernism is absent, since the role of subjective relativism is stressed. Yes, the grammar is just a descriptive tool, but unfortunately people make it a prescriptive tool. So one has to be very careful what one say and find out why one say what one say. The tense (in all modern linguistic descriptions) is the weakest aspect of all grammars. It is the most overlooked or denied aspect of all grammars, simply because of the trends and ideologies adopted in the past. Most modern linguists will laugh at this observation but it is simply because they did not study the role of the Hindu grammar of the Sanskrit of Panini on the modern linguistic theory and changes that resulted from that. It does matter since the views of Panini was pantheistic which is a can of worms by itself.

Rules for analyzing verbal syntax

Daniel Foxvog outlines some principles to be kept in mind in analyzing a verbal sentence:

1. Every Sumerian sentence always contains a subject or patient. Identify the subject or patient before proceeding further (Foxvog 2010: 68)

2. A sentence may contain an agent. You determine this only after you determined the patient or subject of the verbal sentence.

3. To help locate the subject or patient, translate with a virtual guess the transitive verbs passively or in the passive form: it has been build.

Agent prefix i- which is a conjugational prefix

[form: Ø+dù+Ø]ì-dù                I built it  (dù = built)

(agent + root + 3rd singular patient)

(prefix i- + agent + root + 3rd singular patient)

[form: e+dù+Ø]e-dù                 You built it

[form: n+dù+Ø]in-dù                He/she built it

[form: b+dù+Ø]ib-dù                They (collective) built it

[form: n+dù+š]in-dù-uš           They (personal) built it

[ga+b+dù+Ø]ga-ab-dù              I indeed built it

[ga+b+dù+Ø]ga-ab-dù              I indeed built it

(cohortative ga- + agent + root + 3rd singular patient)

[ga+b+dù+Ø]

I indeed built it

[hé+n+dù+Ø]hé-en-dù             He did indeed build it

(precative hé- + agent + root + 3rd singular patient)

[nu+n+dù+šnu-un-dù-uš         They did not build it

(negative nu- + agent + root + 3rd plural patient)

[u+b+dù+š]ub-dù                    When they (collectively) had built it

I and he confusions in the Old Sumerian verbal system

Sometimes in the texts before the Ur III period (2114-2004 BCE), that is 2305 BCE, is leaving out the prefix -n- and then there is a confusion in form between the first person and third persons distinction. Context identified it then.

é ì-dù

I built the house  (agent)

you built the house  (agent)

he built the house  (agent)

she built the house  (agent)

the house was built  (agentless)

Dialectical differences in the prefix added

Old Sumerian texts from Nippur and Šuruppak at the northern border of Sumer, had only ì- as the prosthetic vowel or prefix to the verb but texts at Umma in the middle of Sumer used the prefix e- instead (C. Wilcke AfO 25 [1974-1977]: 85, n. 8; Foxvog 2010: 66).

Example 2: Foxvog gives the example from the Edubba text Scribe and His perverse Son 132 where the Nippur duplicates write the prefix ì- but the duplicate from Ur in the south of Sumer writes the prefix e-.

Example 3: P. Steinkeller notes that for the Fara, Pre-Sargonic and Sargonic periods (2400-2305 BCE), the prefix a- appears in sentences where the agent is not spelled out but implied (Steinkeller, Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts [1992]: 35).

Example 4: Foxvog pointed out that in Presargonic Lagaš texts [2400-2305 BCE], the prefix or preradical /n/ is not added or pronounced. The prefix ì- may be used but no /n/ before the root to help pronunciation as was the custom in later periods [Ur III period 2112-2004 BCE].

Grammatical misnomers

Foxvog is differing with other Sumerian scholars in that he does not adhere to a simple explanation of the conjugation prefix /i/ element as dit Poebel-Falkenstein or followed by Thomsen. Conjugation prefix in his view is not mu-, bí- and ba as well as ì- and it is a misnomer to use this term (see D. Edzard ZA 78, 114 n. 13 op. cit. Foxvog 2010: 67).

Stative prefix al (Thomsen §353-358; Foxvog 2010: 67)

50 ^uruduha-bù-da dúb-ba[UET 3, 311:1]

50 copper hoes, beaten

180 ^uruduha-bù-da al-dúb-ba[UET 3, 396:1]

180 copper hoes, beaten

Order of the verb in sentence syntax

1. In a nominal sentence, the subject precedes the predicate.

2. In a verbal sentence, the verb stands in final position.

3. In an intransitive sentence, the order is subject and then verb.

4. In a transitive sentence, the order is agent - patient - verb.

5. In economic text, they may topicalize the patient by placing it before the agent.

6. Indirect objects and adverbial phrases stands between the nominal element and the final verb.

Syntax of the dimensional prefixes (prepositions)

lugal-e nin-ra iri-a     é          í-na-ni-in-dù

================    **         +++++++++++

dimensional nouns  direct object   verbal

king(by) queen(for) city(in) house it by in for built

There are three aspects here:

Ergative  in which the suffix after the noun for king (by = -e) and the prefix to the verb (it by = -in-) belong together.

Dative  in which the suffix of the noun for queen (for = ra) and the prefix to the verb (it for = -na-) belong together.

Locative  in which the suffix after the noun for city (in = -a) and the prefix to the verb (it in = -ni-) belong together.

Example from a Gudea royal inscription

From a royal inscription from the time of Gudea came the example of a repetition in order to create an overwhelming ablative verbal idea:

ma-da-ra-ta-è      It came out-out-out for me!

ma+*ta+*ta+ta+root+Ø

kur-gal-e sipa ^dur-^dnamma-ra nam-gal mu-ni-in-tar

The Great Mountain (= Enlil) decided a great fate for the shepherd Ur-Namma.

[Text: Ur-Namma Hymn B 37 Old Babylonian Period 1980-1850 BCE]

kur-gal-e   sipa ^dur-^dnamma-ra   nam-gal    mu-ni-in-tar

=======  *** ++++++++  @@@@   $$$$$$$$$$

agent descriptive patient for noun+adjective verb

The Great Mountain (= Enlil) decided a great fate for the shepherd Ur-Namma.

Auxiliary Verbs

A head noun and one of two auxiliary verbs creates a compound verb in Sumerian:

noun + auxiliary verb du₁₁(g) = to do

noun + auxiliary verb a₅(k)     = to do, perform

Source:

P. Attinger, Eléments de linguistique sumérienne (Fribourg, 1993): 319-764 and also "A propos de AK 'faire' I-II," ZA 95 (2005): 46-64, 208-275.

al-du₁₁                                       to desire

inim-du₁₁                                   to do words, speak

in-du₁₁                                       to insult

kaš₄-du₁₁                                  to perform running, run

mí-du₁₁                                      to act/treat gently, take care of nurture

silim(-éš)-du₁₁                          to perform a greeting, greet

še-er-ka-an-du₁₁                     to do decoration, decorate

šu-du₁₁                                      to use the hand, exert oneself

šùd-du₁₁                                    to do a prayer, pray

u₆-du₁₁                                       to wonder at, marvel at

^gišal-a₅                                       to work with the pick-ax or hoe

en-nu-ùĝ-a₅                               to perform the watch

kíĝ-a₅                                          to do work

si-im(-si-im)-a₅                          to do sniffing, sniff, smell

Periphrastic Verbs

Ordinary compound verbs are given an auxiliary verb to form a periphrastic verb:

á-dúb                   to flap the wings

(ordinary compound verb)

á-dúb-a₅                 to perform wing-flapping

(periphrastic verb)

bar-tam                to choose

(ordinary compound verb)

bar-tam-a₅              to do a choosing

ir-si-im                to sniff a scent

ir-si-im-a₅              to do a scent-sniffing, smell

ki-su-ub               to rub the earth (prostrate oneself)

ki-su-ub-a₅             to do an earth-rubbing, prostration

pa-è                     to make resplendent

pa-è-a₅                    to do a making-resplendent

šu-luh                  to clean the hands

šu-luh-a₅                to perform a cleaning (of canals)

šu-tag                  to touch with the hand

šu-tag-du₁₁             to do a hand-touching, adorn

Source:

Daniel A. Foxvog, Introduction to Sumerian Grammar (Revised edition, June 2010). This work is a revised edition of his 1990 Sumerian Grammar (Foxvog 2010: 3). It is online at www.etana.org.