Morphologies of Asia and Africa 9781575065663

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Morphologies of Asia and Africa

Morphologies of Asia and Africa Volume 1

Edited by

Alan S. Kaye

Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns 2007

ç Copyright 2007 by Eisenbrauns. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Morphologies of Asia and Africa / edited by Alan S. Kaye. v. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-1-57506-110-8 (volume 1; hardback : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-57506-111-5 (volume 2; hardback : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-57506-109-2 (set, both volumes; hardback : alk. paper) 1. Asia—Languages—Morphology. 2. Africa—Languages— Morphology. I. Kaye, Alan S. P381.A75M67 2007 409.5—dc22 2007015036

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. †‘

Dedicated to My teachers

Murray B. Emeneau (1904–2005) University of California, Berkeley

Wolf Leslau (1906–2006) University of California, Los Angeles

Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Volume 1 Part 1 Afroasiatic Languages Semitic Languages: Ancient East Semitic 1

Akkadian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 I. M. Diakonoff† and L. E. Kogan

Central Semitic 2

Ugaritic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Dennis Pardee

Northwest Semitic 3

Phoenician and Punic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

4

Ancient Hebrew Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

5

The Morphology of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic . . . . . . . . . . 107

Stanislav Segert† Gary A. Rendsburg Geoffrey Khan

6

Old Aramaic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Stanislav Segert†

7

Syriac Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 T. Muraoka

8

Mandaic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Rainer Voigt

South Semitic 9

Epigraphic South Arabian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

10

Classical Ethiopic (Geºez) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

L. E. Kogan and A. V. Korotayev Rainer Voigt

Semitic Languages: Modern Central Semitic 11

Arabic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Alan S. Kaye

12

Moroccan Arabic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Jeffrey Heath

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Contents 13

Maltese Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Robert D. Hoberman

Northwest Semitic 14

Israeli Hebrew Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

15

The Morphology of Neo-Aramaic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

16

Amharic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Shmuel Bolozky Geoffrey Khan Wolf Leslau†

South Semitic 17

Tigrinya Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 L. E. Kogan

18

Chaha (Gurage) Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 Sharon Rose

Berber Languages 19

Berber Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 Maarten Kossmann

Cushitic Languages 20

Beja Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

21

Bilin Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

22

Gawwada Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

23

Highland East Cushitic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

David L. Appleyard David L. Appleyard Mauro Tosco Grover Hudson

24

Somali Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 John I. Saeed

Chadic Languages 25

Bade Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Russell G. Schuh

26

Glavda Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 Bello Buba and Jonathan Owens

27

Hausa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Paul Newman

28

Mokilko Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 Herrmann Jungraithmayr

Omotic Languages 29

Topics in Omotic Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 M. Lionel Bender

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Volume 2 Part 2 Indo-European Languages Anatolian Languages 30

Hittite Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755 H. Craig Melchert

Indo-Iranian Languages Indo-Aryan Languages: Ancient 31

Sanskrit Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775 George Cardona

Indo-Aryan Languages: Modern 32

Gujarati Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825 P. J. Mistry

Iranian Languages: Ancient 33

Avestan and Old Persian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853 Prods Oktor Skjærvø

34

Pahlavi Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941 Dieter Weber

Iranian Languages: Modern 35

Persian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 John R. Perry

36

Kurdish Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 Ernest M. McCarus

Armenian Subbranch 37

Classical Armenian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051 Jared Klein

Part 3 Nilo-Saharan Languages 38

Kanuri Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 Norbert Cyffer

Part 4 Niger-Congo Languages 39

Swahili Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1129 Ellen Contini-Morava

Part 5 Altaic Languages 40

Turkish Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161 Bernard Comrie

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Part 6 Caucasian Languages 41

Chechen Morphology (with notes on Ingush) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173 Johanna Nichols

42

Tsez (Dido) Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193 Bernard Comrie

Part 7 Malayo-Polynesian Languages 43

Indonesian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1207 Franz Mueller

Part 8 Unaffiliated Languages (Language Isolates) 44

Burushaski Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233 Gregory D. S. Anderson

45

Ket Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277 Edward J. Vajda

46

Sumerian Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1327 Gonzalo Rubio

Preface Readers will immediately draw a parallel between these two Morphology . . . volumes and my previous double volume from the same publisher devoted to the phonologies of Asia and Africa (Phonologies of Asia and Africa [Including the Caucasus], Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997). The major goal of the 1997 publication was to inform general linguists as well as specialists in phonology, or in a specific language or phylum, of the existing varieties of phonological structures, in order to advance the field of phonological typology and language universals. The present two volumes are also intended to reach generalists and specialists. The general linguist, for example, may desire to see how a sampling of Asian and African languages work from the morphological point of view, while the specialist in a particular language or language family may often be curious as to the verbal or nominal structure of a kindred language or dialect. To be more specific, the specialist in Arabic or Semitic/Afroasiatic will learn a great deal while studying the chapter on “Amharic Morphology,” discerning how a Semitic language can retain its “Semiticity” while at the same time adapting and evolving over a period of centuries on African soil—split off, as it were, from the Semitic-speaking territory of the Arabian Peninsula from which Ethio-Semitic speakers had originally come (at least according to the standard hypothesis). Special thanks are due to Gary A. Rendsburg for his fine assistance with the proofs of the two contributions by the late Stanislav Segert of UCLA. Let me now record my gratitude to John A. Cook, the copyeditor and typesetter. Indeed, he has performed his duties most admirably, not only being concerned with the general appearance of the articles, but also with their linguistic substance. We are most grateful to John for his very keen eye! The final product of these two volumes owes much to his careful analytic skills and his scholarly and academic background in linguistics and Semitic studies. It is with great pleasure that I dedicate these two volumes of morphologies to my teachers: Professor Wolf Leslau of UCLA, who passed away in November 2006 at the age of 100 years old, and Professor Murray B. Emeneau of UC Berkeley, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 101. Comments or corrections may be sent to me via email, akaye@fullerton. edu or [email protected], or “snail mail” for inclusion in a revised edition, should such be deemed necessary and advisable. Alan S. Kaye Dept. of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834 and Program in General Linguistics, PO Box 17771 United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE December 2006

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In Memoriam It is with great sadness that we report the death of Alan Kaye on May 31, 2007, while these volumes were in the final stages of preparation for the press. Alan was diagnosed with bone cancer on May 1 while on research leave in the United Arab Emirates and was brought home to Fullerton by his son on May 22. Alan’s enthusiasm for these volumes and their contribution to the field of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies was unbounded. These disciplines are much the poorer for their loss of him. —The Publisher

Abbreviations Supplementary abbreviation lists for Tosco, Skj{rvØ, Weber, Klein, Cyffer, and Vajda appear at the end of their essays. +, :, #, = * ** ?

[] // ÷ 1 2 3 A A, acc. abl. abs. act. ad-abl ad-lat ades. adj. ADV aff. all. an, anim. aor. Ar. art B.C.E. C c. C.E. caus. cl. CNJG

coll. COM

cond cons. COP

cstr. cvb. D, dat. D, du. def.

element boundary clitic boundary reconstucted or hypothetical form; ungrammatical ungrammatical grammatically questionable enclose graphemic transcription enclose phonetic transcription enclose phonemic transcription root first person second person third person agent accusative ablative absolute or absolutive active adablative adlative adessive adjective adverb(ial) affix allative animate aorist Arabic article before the Common Era consonant common (gender) Common Era causative class conjugation collective comitative conditional consonant copula construct converb dative dual definite

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Abbreviations

DO dur. erg. EX, excl. f., fem. fact. FIN

foc. fut. G G, gen. ger. Germ. Gk. GN gr. H HAB Heb. I, ins. IE ill imp, impv. impf. impl. in., incl. inabl inan., inanim. INC, incp inch. ind., indic. indef., indf iness. inf., infin. inj. inter intr. IO IPFV iter juss. L L, loc. lat. lex m., masc. mid. MOD

ms(s). N, nom. n. n., neut.

direct object durative ergative exclusive feminine factitive finite focus future (tense) G-stem genitive gerund German Greek gender-number grade high tone habitual Hebrew instrumental Indo-European illative Imperative imperfect impersonal inclusive inablative inanimate inceptive inchoative indicative indefinite inessive infinitive injunctive interrogative intransitive indirect object imperfective iterative jussive low tone locative lative case lexical masculine (3ms) middle modal manuscript(s) nominative noun neuter

Abbreviations neg. NFIN NMLZ

NP num. O, OJ, obj. obl. opt. P, pl. part., ptc. pass. pcl. Pers. pf., perf. PFV pfx., PREF PIE PN pol. pptc. pres., prs. prev. PRO

prs. prt. PS PS, pers. PST Q R, RED rec. refl. S, sg. S, SJ, SBJ SBJV SEM sfx., SUFF Skt. st. a., st. abs. st. c., st. constr. st. emph. st. p. stat. sup, superess superabl superlat TAM tr. V V, VB voc. X

negative non-finite nominalizer noun phrase number, numeral object (marker) oblique optative plural participle passive extension particle Persian perfect perfective prefix Proto-Indo-European person-number polite past participle present (tense) previous (anaphoric pronoun) pronoun/pronominal person preterite Proto-Semitic person past (tense) question, interrogative reduplicated reciprocal reflexive singular subject (marker) subjunctive semelfactive suffix Sanskrit status absolutus (absolute state) status constructus (construct state) status emphaticus (emphatic state) status predicatus (predicative state) stative superessive superablative superlative tense-aspect-mood transitive vowel verb vocative unspecified segment

xv

13 points long and high

Introduction Over the past three decades, word formation 1 or morphology, a technical term first coined by Wolfgang von Goethe (1949–1832) for biology and first used by Schleicher (1859) for linguistics, has enjoyed a rebirth of interest within general linguistics (especially since the publication of Aronoff 1976). 2 Witness the fact that the Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics series has published Plag (2003) as a sequel to Bauer (1983). Presumably to give the former volume a new essence, they changed Bauer’s title, English WordFormation, to the provocatively fresh label of Plag’s Word Formation in English. Then, too, there is also Carstairs-McCarthy’s An Introduction to English Morphology (2002). One obvious conclusion that emerges from the aforementioned facts is that the role model for an ideal morphological system in general seems to be English. Why, after all, were two books on the same topic published just two decades apart in the same series, if English were not somehow deemed to be the optimal or most significant language? Behrens and Sasse (2003: 4) say this about their book: “We will focus on English because it has been the most thoroughly investigated and the international theoretical linguistic literature is chiefly based on it.” The present publication is meant to broaden the horizons of the overworked emphasis on the morphological strategy of English (see also Kiraz 2001). 3 Morphologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus) has evolved over the course of the past few years and has involved the cooperation of 47 distinguished linguists. Not surprisingly, uniformity in linguistic methodology and terminology proved to be impossible. 4 The achievements, nevertheless, have, in my opinion, proved to be portentous. The major goal of this publication is to provide a narrative of what is currently known about the morphological structure of selected Asian and African languages plus three languages of the Caucasus. 5 What I, as editor, have striven to do here is permit each author leeway to present interesting facts about the word-formation strategies of the language(s) under discussion in 1. Aronoff does not use this term in his work because there are phrasally based lexemes; e.g., ‘stick in the mud’ (1994: 14). He refers to morphology as “lexeme formation.” 2. As Carstairs-McCarthy (1992: 3) so aptly puts it: “The revival of morphology as a subject of study by theoretical linguists has been announced more than once in recent years. In fact, it has become something of a cliché for collections of papers on morphology to begin with an editorial statement hailing the bright new dawn.” See Kaye (2000: 83) for mention of morphology as “the Poland of Linguistics—at the mercy of imperialistically minded neighbors” (i.e., phonology and syntax). 3. Carstairs-McCarthy (1992: 253) alludes to the English bias: “It is not surprising . . . that every morphological study . . . draws on data from only a limited range of languages.” 4. I agree with Haspelsmith (2002: x) that there is not “one single coherent and authoritative view of morphology” and that “debates and opposing viewpoints are so much part of science.” 5. Part V of Spencer and Zwicky (1998) consists of morphological sketches of 10 languages. See Kaye (2000: 86–87) for details. The present work offers much more comprehensive surveys with copious examples than those found in Spencer and Zwicky.

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an informative and typologically relevant way. 6 Of course, the readership will ultimately have to decide the extent to which I have succeeded. I hope to convince the reader at the outset that these volumes are unique, and furthermore, that they yield valuable insights to anyone interested in any type of descriptive morphology or morphological theory, generative or structuralist, since there can be little doubt that morphology is a distinct, autonomous component of grammar, even though generative morphology got a late start in the history of the generative enterprise. 7 When I was an undergraduate taking my first course in linguistics with Harry Hoijer at UCLA, one of our textbooks was Nida (1949). It was just assumed by Hoijer and everyone else that morphology existed on its own turf. If this were not so, as we students thought, why would Nida have written a whole book on the subject? In this connection, Spencer’s (1993: 586) review of Lieber (1992) has this to say: “This book represents an important attempt to do away with morphology, by pushing an extreme line almost to its logical conclusion. However, the conclusion that I for one reach is that morphologists have no reason to fear imminent redundancy and replacement by syntacticians.” In offering both introductory undergraduate as well as graduate courses in this field for 38 years, I have had the opportunity to use a variety of books and articles. Most enjoyable for me and for the great majority of my students (as they have revealed to me, sometimes many semesters later) have been articles from a wide assortment of journals that were devoted to specific languages. 8 These articles were written by linguists who have one thing in common—vast personal experience working on many languages and dialects over the course of many years, often via intensive linguistic fieldwork and active language learning, be it in coursework or through independent study and research. All introduce the reader to a large assortment of different perspectives on word-formation processes with relevant data—a virtual linguistic smorgasbord of gourmet choices. As many have claimed, not everything new or newer is necessarily better, and data-oriented linguistics (and one may add philology in general) can still contribute to the larger picture of the complicated workings of parole, langue, and even langage—to the “grand synthesis” or syntheses, if you will. Nothing similar to the compilation of articles assembled here has ever, to my knowledge, appeared heretofore. 9 The idea for this work came 6. The ultimate goal of this information is the “grand synthesis” of morphological theory and Universal Grammar. As Plag (2003: 165) affirms: “a morphological theory would help us not only understand observed (and yet unobserved) facts concerning complex words, but would also help us to develop hypotheses in order to arrive at general principles of word-formation.” 7. See Aronoff for cogent argumentation in support of a distinct morphological component of a transformational-generative grammar. As he states: “certain delimited aspects of morphology can and should be viewed as an autonomous part of grammar” (1994: xiii). 8. Examples include Lounsbury (1953), Trager (1944), and Trager (1955). 9. In addition to Spencer and Zwicky (1998), already mentioned, I must note the dataoriented (most often using Indo-European languages) journal, Yearbook of Morphology (ed. Booij and Van Marle 1988–; see Kaye 2005b). Then, too, it should be mentioned that an entire issue of Transactions of the Philological Society (99/2, 2001) was devoted to morphology.

Introduction

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about as I searched in vain for a book which would enable my students to gain a solid familiarity with sound morphological work by exposing them to many of today’s (hard-)working linguists, who would concisely describe and comment on the morphological structures of languages which they have carefully scrutinized, both ancient or medieval and modern. 10 As I have repeatedly emphasized in some of my writings and especially in my classes over the years at California State University, Fullerton, linguistics for me is, first and foremost, about languages—real, natural languages with all their messy details, including exceptions to this rule or that. Let me reiterate this position here. This philosophy of science, or perhaps better stated, this philosophy of how to do science, is a premise about how to do linguistics, and what linguistics—at least, this type of linguistics—is and, invariably, is not about. My Weltanschauung has always been that linguists research languages and study their structures—a simple enough supposition, or so it would seem (contra Noam Chomsky [1979: 43], who has repeatedly stated that “linguistics is part of psychology”). My philosophy of education is such that I have always wanted my students to come away from their courses in morphology with dual experiences. First and most important, they should have gained expertise with the morphological structure of real languages, both synchronically and, to a lesser extent, diachronically. 11 How are the words of Language X formed? Theory comes and goes, yet the facts of Arabic morphology, for example, have not changed very much over the past century or more. Wright (1859) is still a valuable contribution to this field and may be read today with great profit. There still is a need, even after all these years, to make reference to the triconsonantal root, no matter what labels are au courant or what types of rules are fashionable. Many morphologists are still writing using an Item-and-Arrangement and/or Item-and-Process framework (Hockett 1954). The first of these involves a distributional approach making extensive use of templates, while the second posits underlying representations deriving surface forms by rules. Others use the framework of the Word-and-Paradigm theories (Matthews 1972). 12 Still other morphological models have been developed, such as Distributed Morphology, first 10. The last time I taught morphology, I used, among other items including articles on specific languages, Bauer (2003), an excellent work (see Kaye 2005a for an evaluation of Bauer 2003). Over the years, I have also used Matthews (1972, 1991), Adams (1973), Bybee (1985), Spencer (1991), Lieber (1992), Katamba (1993), and Pinker (1999). See Kaye (2005a) for an evaluation of Bauer (2003). The next time I teach this course, I shall add Aronoff and Fudeman (2004), Bauer (2001, 2004), and these two volumes. 11. In this connection, the 16 essays in Shimron (2003) prove to be interesting reading (see Kaye 2005c), as is the commentary on the diverse languages presented in Stonham (1994): Nitinat, Nootka, Luo, Kiowa, Shilluk, Diegueño, Yokuts, Sierra Miwok, etc. 12. Lieber (2004: 3) states that her own work has been of the Item-and-Process persuasion, while Aronoff (1976) is of the Item-and-Process kind, and Anderson (1992) of the Word-and-Paradigm model. Stump (2001: 242) calls his theory “Paradigm Function Morphology,” which he asserts is akin to “inferential-realizational theories advocated by Matthews (1972) and Anderson (1992). Stump (1993) reviews much of the literature regarding the goals, aims, and approaches of different morphologists.

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proposed in the early 1990s at MIT by Morris Halle and Alec Marantz. Secondly, students should have become familiar with competing analyses while, at the same time, they should also have remained sensitive to different approaches of linguistic explication. 13 This publication has been designed to allow readers, including seasoned veterans in the field, the opportunity to come to grips with the morphologies of many non-European languages. All the articles which follow, the collaborative efforts of many different schools and morphological traditions, are written by the leadings specialists on these languages (and often the language families to which they belong as well). Let me now comment on the difficulty encountered in the selection of languages. Reviewers will inevitably point out that this language should have been included or that that one was superfluous, and thus could have been omitted. Following my own specialization as a Semitist and an Afroasiaticist, those geographical areas have naturally been emphasized. The present title of this work is somewhat ambiguous, I confess; yet no promise was ever intended by this choice that most major or minor languages of this region would be covered. Rather, the implication was and still is that we would be dealing with selected languages spoken on both of these continents. An additional, more pragmatic factor had to do with the availability of certain authors who could meet our time frame. I apologize in advance to those who expected to find included languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Thai, and so on. Let me now turn to the specifics concerning which languages and dialects have been chosen for inclusion. The reader will surely have become aware of the extensive coverage given to the Semitic languages in these volumes. Since some Arabic dialects (so-called) are, in my opinion, better designated separate and distinct Semitic languages in their own right, I endeavored to recruit one of the leading authorities on Moroccan Arabic ( Jeffrey Heath), so that the contrasts would be noticeable when one compares these with the morphological facts discussed in the articles dealing with Maltese (an Arabic dialect from a historical point of view) and Arabic (Classical, Modern Standard and Egyptian Colloquial [Cairene], among other modern colloquial dialects). The other modern Semitic languages treated herein include some of the most interesting (and most involved) of the diachronic developments from the Proto-Semitic stage. These are: Modern Israeli Hebrew, Modern (or Neo-) Aramaic, really a conglomeration of different languages and dialects, Chaha (one of several distinct Gurage [Ethio-Semitic] languages and dialects), Tigrinya (one of the two 13. Bauer (2003) has chapters on lexicalist morphology, word-and-paradigm morphology, nonlinear approaches to morphology, and natural morphology, with thorough coverage of morphological typology and universals and diachronic morphology. The present work, hopefully, will contribute to the “grand synthesis” of those fields. In this regard, Baker’s remarks are quite perceptive (1993: 587): “One of the problems besetting the study of morphology is that for historical reasons almost no one has been trained as a morphologist. Rather, we are either syntacticians or phonologists who have taken up morphology for one reason or another, and our background colors our analysis.”

Introduction

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languages of the North Ethiopic type spoken in Eritrea), and Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia. The ancient (including medieval) Semitic languages include: Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian); Ugaritic; Phoenician and Punic; Ancient Hebrew; Babylonian Jewish Aramaic; Old Aramaic; Syriac; Mandaic; Old (Epigraphic) South Arabian (also known as Epigraphic South Arabic); and Geºez (Classical Ethiopic). The related Afroasiatic (Hamito-Semitic or Afrasian) languages include: the Berber languages (not dialects); the Omotic languages (also referred to as Western Cushitic); the Cushitic languages—Beja, Bilin, Gawwada, Highland East Cushitic, and Somali; and the Chadic languages—Hausa, Bade, Glavda, and Mokilko. The languages culturally and geographically related to those listed above, but linguistically belonging to different families, include: Sumerian 14 (an isolate); Hittite (Anatolian); Avestan and Old Persian (Old Iranian); Pahlavi (Middle Persian); Persian (Farsi); Kurdish; Armenian (all three Indo-European); and Turkish (Turkic sub-branch of Altaic). Finally, there is a section covering languages which are of interest to typologists: Gujarati (Indo-Aryan sub-branch of Indo-European); Indonesian (Indonesian sub-branch of Malayo-Polynesian); Burushaski (an isolate); Swahili (the Bantu sub-branch of Niger-Congo); Kanuri (Nilo-Saharan); Tzez (Dido); Chechen (as well as Ingush) (North-East and North-Central Caucasian, respectively); and Ket (an isolate). It should be noted that an earnest attempt was made from the outset to ensure that the chapters would be both understandable and useful to a linguist of any persuasion, while simultaneously anticipating that anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and other researchers in the humanities and social sciences could utilize the pages which follow for their own scholarly pursuits. Such was our rationale for the Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus) (1997), and we intend these volumes on morphology to achieve a parallel treatment with the aforementioned work. For any shortcomings in this regard, it is I, as editor, who must assume full responsibility for the articles, including my own. The usual disclaimers apply. Lieber (2004: 12) writes that her book “focus[es] attention on a single language—English.” She goes on to say: So I beg the reader’s indulgence on what might initially seem to be a rather narrow range of analysis. I cannot hope to do such detailed work with languages of which I am not a native speaker. I would hope that native speakers of other languages will eventually help to corroborate or criticize any of the theoretical apparatus that I build here. Reiterating my perspective that linguistics deals with languages and, in particular, should deal more with exotic tongues, is Michael Cahill’s Letter 14. One justification for including this language is that it was the first used to illustrate morphological categories by the ancient Babylonians around 1600 b.c.e. (see Jacobsen 1974).

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to the Editor in Language 80/1 (2004: 1–2). He writes: “I am appealing to professors and instructors not only to allow but also to promote class papers, theses, and dissertations that have to do with undocumented languages, rather than yet another paper on English . . . I like English very much—I have a personal attachment to it!—but surely we can agree that there are interesting phenomena out there that don’t have to do with English.” It is my sincere hope that the chapters which follow, dealing as they do with languages other than the overanalyzed English, contribute to the “grand synthesis” of morphological knowledge. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the contributors for their efforts, and above all, for their extraordinary patience while the book was in production. These collaborative projects often take much more time to complete than originally envisaged; I found this out twice before with two other projects that I edited: Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of His Eighty-Fifth Birthday, two volumes containing approximately 1,800 pages by 134 scholars (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1991), and the two tomes of Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus) (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997). Let me conclude by making reference to a comment in a review of Kaye (1997). Rubio (1999: 141) writes: “Kaye’s introduction (xv–xxi) singles out the main pitfalls of some recent phonological research, somehow overloaded with theoretical frameworks that come and go. In essence, linguistics is not just about LANGUAGE, but mostly about LANGUAGES, and this exceptional book should remind some linguists of this fact.” In my view, linguistics is still very much, as it was during the Bloomfieldian and Sapirian eras, about languages and dialects, and it is within this spirit of curiosity and inquisitiveness that the present collection of essays is made available. 15 15. I wish to express my gratitude to Bob Hoberman, Paul Newman, Jonathan Owens, Gary A. Rendsburg, and Edward J. Vajda for useful comments on a preliminary version of this introduction. Needless to say, the usual disclaimers apply.

References Adams, Valerie 1973 An Introduction to Modern English Word-Formation. London: Longman. Anderson, Stephen A. 1992 A-Morphous Morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aronoff, Mark A. 1976 Word Formation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1994 Morphology by Itself: Stems and Inflectional Classes. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Aronoff, Mark A., and Kirsten Fudeman 2004 What Is Morphology? Oxford: Blackwell. Baker, Mark 1993 Review of A-Morphous Morphology, by Stephen A. Anderson. Language 69: 587–90.

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Bauer, Laurie 1983 English Word-Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001 Morphological Productivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2003 Introducing Linguistic Morphology. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2004 A Glossary of Morphology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Behrens, Leila, and Hans-Jürgen Sasse 2003 The Microstructure of Lexicon-Grammar Interaction: A Study of “Gold” in English and Arabic. Munich: Lincom. Bybee, Joan 1985 Morphology: A Study of the Relation between Meaning and Form. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Booij, Geert and Jaap van Marle, eds. 1988– Yearbook of Morphology. Dordrecht: Foris (1988–1989)/Dodrecht: Kluwer Academic (1990–) [2006– entitled Morphology]. Cahill, Michael 2004 Letter to the Editor. Language 80/1: 1–2. Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew 1992 Current Morphology. London: Routledge. 2002 An Introduction to English Morphology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chomsky, Noam 1979 Language and Responsibility. New York: Pantheon. Haspelsmith, Martin 2002 Understanding Morphology. London: Arnold. Hockett, Charles F. 1954 Two Models of Grammatical Description. Word 10: 210–33. Jacobsen, Thorkild 1974 Very Ancient Linguistics: Babylonian Grammatical Texts. Pp. 41–62 in Studies in the History of Linguistics: Traditions and Paradigms, ed. Dell H. Hymes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Katamba, Francis 1993 Morphology. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Kaye, Alan S. 2000 Review of The Handbook of Morphology, by Andrew Spencer and Arnold M. Zwicky. Word 51/1: 83–87. 2005a Review of Introducing Linguistic Morphology 2nd ed., by Laurie Bauer. Language 81/2: 509. 2005b Review of Yearbook of Morphology, ed. Geert Booij and Jaap van Marle (2003). Language 81/2: 511. 2005c Review of Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology, ed. Joseph Shimron. Language 81/1: 290. Kaye, Alan S., ed. 1991 Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of His Eighty-Fifth Birthday. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1997 Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Kiraz, George Anton 2001 Computational Nonlinear Morphology with Emphasis on Semitic Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Lieber, Rochelle 1992 Deconstructing Morphology: Word Structure in Syntactic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2004 Morphology and Lexical Semantics. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, vol. 104. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lounsbury, Floyd D. 1953 The Method of Descriptive Morphology: Oneida Verb Morphology. Yale University Publications in Anthropology 48. New Haven: Yale University Press. Matthews, Peter H. 1972 Inflectional Morphology: A Theoretical Study Based on Aspects of Latin Verb Conjugation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1991 Morphology. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nida, Eugene A. 1949 Morphology: The Descriptive Analysis of Words. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pinker, Steven 1999 Words and Rules. New York: HarperCollins. Plag, Ingo 2003 Word-Formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rubio, Gonzalo 1999 Review of Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus), ed. Alan S. Kaye. Language 75: 138–42. Schleicher, August 1859 Zur Morphologie der Sprache. St. Petersburg: Eggers. Shimron, Joseph, ed. 2003 Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Spencer, Andrew 1991 Morphological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. 1993 Review of Deconstructing Morphology: Word Structure in Syntactic Theory, by Rochelle Lieber. Language 69: 580–87. Spencer, Andrew, and Arnold M. Zwicky, eds. 1998 The Handbook of Morphology. Oxford: Blackwell. Stronham, John T. 1994 Combinatorial Morphology. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Stump, Gregory T. 1993 Review of Morphological Theory, by Andrew Spencer; An Introduction to English Morphology, by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy; and Morphology, 2nd ed., by Peter H. Matthews. Language 69: 358–63. 2001 Inflectional Morphology: A Theory of Paradigm Structure. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 93. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Trager, George L. 1944 The Verb Morphology of Spoken French. Language 20: 131–41. 1955 French Morphology: Verb Inflection. Language 31: 511–29. Wright, William 1859 A Grammar of the Arabic Language. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 1

Akkadian Morphology I. M. Diakonoff† and L. E. Kogan Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg and Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow

Akkadian (Akk) is the only representative of the eastern branch of the Semitic languages. A comprehensive description of the linguistic history of Akk as well as data on its dialectology and writing system can be found elsewhere in the literature (see, e.g., GAG 1–11, SGB 1–7, GA xxi–xl) and need not be repeated here. The description offered in this essay is based mainly on the Old Babylonian (OB) dialect of Akk (South Mesopotamian texts ca. 1950–1500 b.c.). The reasons for choosing this dialect as a basis for the description of the language are given in GA xxvi, SGB 3–4. Whenever references to other dialects (mostly Old Akkadian and Old Assyrian) are given, these examples are marked with standard Assyriological abbreviations. 1 The only part of the description where forms from other dialects are used systematically is the one dealing with nominal derivation, since the available OB material seems to be somewhat limited in this respect. Basic facts of Akk grammar are presented according to GAG. LAA, GA and SGB were also widely consulted. Forms with nominal inflection are usually quoted with case endings and mimation. Forms of sound verbs and deverbal nouns are exemplified with the consonantal root prs ‘to cut’. Before continuing, a general note about Akk syllable structure is necessary. A fundamental rule here is that sequences (-)CV%CV%- are not permitted, i.e., no open syllable with a short vowel can follow another syllable of this type in word-medial position. In such sequences, the second vowel has been usually elided in the pre-history of Akkadian (Goetze 1947: 240, Greenstein 1977: 43–88, Greenstein 1984: 14). 2 This diachronic rule, which has few exceptions, will be considered automatic, so that changes affected by it, like iptaras (3 sg. pf.) vs. iptarsu (< *ip-ta-ra-su, 3 pl. pf.), will not be mentioned in the corresponding sections of the description. † On May 2, 1999, Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff suddenly passed away in St. Petersburg. He was not able to read the complete manuscript of this essay. It was finished with constant use of his published works on Akkadian and includes most of his oral suggestions. All errors and inconsistencies which appear in the final version are, of course, my own responsibility. L.K. 1. OAkk = Old Akkadian; OA = Old Assyrian; MA = Middle Assyrian; NA = NeoAssyrian; OB = Old Babylonian; MB = Middle Babylonian; NB = Neo-Babylonian; LB = Late Babylonian; SB = Standard Babylonian; LL = lexical lists. 2. Original sequences of three open syllables with short vowels are rare (see the discussion in Greenstein 1977: 72–88).

-3-

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Instead, a few apparent deviations from this rule (e.g., primary nouns of the shapes paras- and piras- or some forms of the Preterite Iw) will be discussed (a list of systematic exceptions may be found in Greenstein 1984: 35). Argumentation in favor of such an approach may also be found in Greenstein 1977: 19. Synchronic in its approach, our description includes diachronic considerations whenever they are helpful for a clearer explanation of a given phenomenon. 3 1. Pronouns 1.1. Personal pronouns Personal pronouns in Akk are inflected for gender (masc. and fem.), number (sg. and pl., no du. forms attested) 4 and case. Unlike nominal inflection, four (not three) cases are distinguished, namely nom., acc., gen., and dat. In oblique cases two sets of forms are attested: independent (where the opposition of gen. and acc. is neutralized) and enclitic (where all four cases are distinguished in most persons). Concrete forms are shown in the table on p. 5 (forms in ( ) are variants, forms in [ ] are reconstructions). Note that atta and atti are transcribed with long final vowel in GAG 51. We follow GA 272 and SGB 206 in transcribing this vowel as short (so, surprisingly enough, does von Soden when he quotes examples in GAG 49), but no conclusive proof for this choice can be given since neither orthography nor etymology supplies a decisive argument in the matter (cf. Arabic ?anta/i vs. Tigrinya ?anta/i [< *?anta/i]). As rightly pointed out in GA 272, forms of independent gen./acc. and dat. pronouns are based mostly on the respective forms of pronominal suffixes with suffixation of -ti in gen./acc. and -sim in dat. (mimation may fall in late OB). The 1 sg. gen. suffix appears as -i with nouns in sg. nom./acc. (bel-i ‘my lord’; nouns in -ûm contracted from *-a?um appear with final -ê, e.g., purussûm ‘decision’ [< purussa?um] + -i becomes purussê). It appears as -ya when added to sg. nouns in gen. and to du. and pl. forms (ana beli-ya ‘to my lord’, epsetu-ya ‘my deeds’, etc.). When the pl. form stands in the nom., 3. It should be stressed that every description of Akk which makes use of standard Assyriological transcription—be it the “traditional” usage of GAG and GA or the modified notation of LAA or SGB—is implicitly diachronic. This becomes especially evident when the notation of vowel length is considered. It is well known that length derived from Proto-Semitic (PS) long vowels and diphthongs (noted with macron in the traditional transcription) is only sporadically (and in some forms and patterns, practically never!) noted in the script. Even when rules of Akk syllable structure are helpful in this respect, exact notation of this type of length still relies exclusively on etymological data. Thus, the length of one of the two root vowels for ‘fox’ (appearing as se-le-bu in the cuneiform) can be ascertained from the fact that no vowel syncope in the second syllable takes place. It is impossible to establish, however, which of the two e’s is to be transcribed as long unless we compare the Akk word with its PS etymon *ta÷lab- (> selebu). 4. Dual forms do occur, albeit rarely, in archaic OB (e.g., 3 du. c. suneti). See Whiting 1987: 9–10 and Whiting 1972 passim (also for other early dialects).

Akkadian Morphology

5

the suffix is usually (but not universally) written with a-sign (ep-se-tu-a, not -ia) and is traditionally transcribed as -?a (epsetu-?a). Sg.1

Nom. anaku

Gen.

Acc. yâti

-i/-ya 2 m.

atta

2 f.

atti

3 m.

su

3 f.

si

-ni

kâti (kâta) -ka kâti -ki suati (suatu, sâtu/i) -su suati (sâti, siati) -sa

Pl. 1

ninu

-si niati

-ni 2 m.

attunu

2 f.

attina

3 m.

sunu

3 f.

sina

-niati kunuti

-kunu

-kunuti kinati

-kina

-kinati sunuti

-sunu

-sunuti sinati

-sina

-sinati

Dat. yâsim -am/-m/-nim kâsim -kum kâsim -kim suasim, sâsu/im -sum suasim, siasim, sâsim -sim niasim -niasim kunusim -kunusim [kinasim] -kinasim sunusim -sunusim sinasim -sinasim

According to GAG 1–4, the gen. case vowel -i is lengthened before pronominal suffixes. Rarely reflected orthographically (cf. Aro 1953: 7), the length of -i- is safely deduced from such forms as i-li-su ‘his god’ (gen.) which, if the second vowel were short, would appear as il-su because of the vowel syncope rule (SGB 205, Greenstein 1984: 39, and especially Greenstein 1977: 79–81 with additional argumentation; see, however, Edzard 1986: 360). For a comprehensive discussion of this problem see now Hecker 2000 (with much convincing evidence for a long vowel). The 1 sg. dat. suffix appears as -am after verbal forms ending in a consonant (iprus-am ‘he cut for me’); after 2 fem. sg. it appears as -m (taprusim); and after pl. forms in -a/-u, as -nim (ßabtu-nim ‘they are caught for me’, taprusa-nim). Both acc. and dat. suffixes are very often added to verbs in the ventive (where -m is assimilated to the first consonant of the suffix, thus iprusakka [< *iprus-am-ka], iprusunikkum [< iprusu-nim-kum], etc.), whereas the 1 sg. acc. suffix is always added to the ventive (iprusanni, iprusuninni). A verbal form may carry acc. and dat. pronominal suffixes simultaneously; the order is dat. (often preceded by the ventive)—acc., e.g., iddinu(-nik)-kus-su ‘they gave him to you’ (< *iddinu(-nim)-kum-su). The use of pronominal suffixes is considerably wider than that of their independent counterparts (cases in which these are used regularly are listed in GA 272–23). Prepositions, however, are almost exclusively used with

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independent forms (ana with dat., other with gen./acc.). Clear exceptions are eli ‘on, above’ and itti ‘with, together with’ (eli-ka ‘on you’, itti-su ‘with him’; -i- before the suffix is usually thought to be long: itti-su, etc.). Several phonetic changes may occur on the boundary between the base and pronominal suffixes. The most consistent of these changes is the shift -Ts- and -Ss- into -ss- (-T standing for any base-final dental, -S, for any basefinal sibilant). Thus, *bit-su ‘his house’ > bissu, *iksud-su ‘he reached him’ > iksussu, *res-su ‘his head’ > ressu, iprus-su ‘he cut him’ > iprussu. For some peculiarities in various OB dialects, cf. Goetze 1958: 141–47. For the reinterpretation of this rule within the so-called “affricate hypothesis,” see Faber 1985: 105–7; Diakonoff 1991–92: 51–52. 1.2. Possessive pronouns Aside from the use of gen. pronominal suffixes (1.1), possession is expressed by a special set of adjectival forms based on these suffixes. Possessive pronouns agree in gender, number and case with the possessed noun and in number only with the possessing. Attested forms exhibit substantial variation (note especially forms with nunation instead of mimation). A summary of attested OB examples is given below (after GA 274):

Possessing

Possessed 1 sg.

masc. sg. yûm

fem. sg. yattum/n

2 sg. 3 sg.

kûm sûm

kattum/n sattum/n

1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

nûm kunûm sunûm

niattum

masc. pl. fem. pl. ya?ut(t)um/n yât(t)um/n yût(t)um/n kûttum/n kâttum/n sûttum/n

Possessive pronouns are used mostly as predicates (wardum su sûm ‘this slave is his’), but occasionally also attributively (ummanam la kâm ˚[atka] ikassad ‘you will defeat an army which is not yours’ [CAD K 480], presumably carrying more emphasis). They may also be used independently (meaning ‘something of mine, yours’, etc.). 1.3. The relative pronoun The only form of the relative pronoun in OB is an indeclinable sa used for all genders and numbers. In OAkk, the triptotic declension is normally preserved (nom. su, gen. si, acc. sa). The form su instead of the regular sa also appears sometimes in hymno-epic OB documents. In OAkk, fem. sg. sat, du. sa, pl. sut are found. For more detail on OAkk and hymno-epic forms, see Gelb 1961: 133–34 and von Soden 1931–33: 194–97. In later periods, these forms rarely serve as true relative pronouns (i.e., they do not introduce relative clauses) but are found exclusively in a specific construction without antecedent (cf. sa resim ‘that of the head’ = ‘high officer’, pl. sut resim).

Akkadian Morphology

7

1.4. Interrogative pronouns The most common interrogative pronouns are mannum ‘who?’, minum ‘what?’ (in OB mostly minûm), ayyum ‘which?’ (fem. ayyitum, masc. pl. ayyutum, fem. ayyatum). The -i- in fem. sg. is likely to imply a transcription ayyûm (so the CAD A/1 234; see also Gelb 1955: 104). All three interrogative words are inflected for case, thus mannam ‘whom?’, ana mannim ‘for whom?’, etc. 1.5. Indefinite pronouns Indefinite pronouns are clearly derived from respective forms of the interrogative pronouns: mamman (< *manman) ‘someone’, mimma (< *min-ma) ‘something’ (both indeclinable), ayyumma ‘whichever’ (acc. ayyamma, fem. ayyitumma, pl. masc. ayyutumma, fem. ayyatumma). In negative sentences the same forms are used as negative pronouns: mamman ul ta†rudam ‘you send to me nobody’. Note a declinable form mimmûm ‘whatever belonging to . . .’ derived from mimma. It is used almost exclusively in st. c., especially before pronominal suffixes (mimmê awilim suati ‘whatever belonging to that man’, mimmû/â/î-su ‘whatever [nom./acc./gen.] belonging to him’).

2. Nouns 2.1. Verbal and nominal roots. Patterns. Primary and derived nouns As in most Semitic languages, verbal and nominal roots are distinguished in Akk. Verbal roots are discontinuous sets of consonants (usually three, rarely four) which carry a semantic invariant proper to all forms derived from them. Patterns are discontinuous sets of vowel (or vowel/consonant) elements which, when joining the root, ascribe to it a particular derivational or inflectional value. Each verbal form can be analyzed in terms of “root” and “pattern.” This is valid for derived nominal bases too, though functions ascribed to patterns are usually somewhat vaguer in this case. In other words, forms produced from verbal roots always have a motivated pattern. E.g., the verbal form purus ‘cut!’ may be analyzed as produced from the root prs ‘to cut’ after the R1-u-R2-u-R3 pattern of the imperative, and the nominal form purussa?- ‘decision’, as produced from the same root and a pattern of deverbal nouns R1-u-R2-u-R3R3-a?-. It is possible, at least in theory, for every root of the language to produce a noun after a given pattern, and every verbal root can, in principle, produce forms after all existent patterns. A vast body of nouns is not derived from verbal roots. These nouns, denoted as “primary nouns” in this essay, of course have at least one vowel in their base (and may have even some clearly detectable prefixes or suffixes). However, the root vocalism in this case is not motivated; there is no verbal root from which such a noun is derived, and its vowel shape,

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though in most cases formally coinciding with some of the derived nominal patterns, has no functional value. It may be suggested that the term “root” should be reserved exclusively for consonantal roots discussed above whereas the whole consonant-vowel base of primary nouns needs to be defined differently (e.g., “unmotivated noun” in SGB 58, 67–73). Yet there is a certain number of denominal nouns and verbs which use only the consonantal set of the primary nouns from which they are derived. Some examples are quoted in SGB 62, 71 (not all of them fully satisfactory; thus, note that dar ‘continuously’ can hardly be derived from durum ‘continuity’, but rather both are produced from the well-known Semitic verbal root *dwr ‘to last’, which was lost in Akk). To these we can add athûm ‘friend’ (< ahum ‘brother’), uppulum ‘to delouse’ (< uplum ‘louse’), râ?u ‘to become friends’ (SB, < ru?um ‘friend, colleague’), ßullulum ‘to roof a building; to provide shade’, ßululum ‘roof, shade’ (< ßillum ‘shade’) and a few other examples. To sum up, hierarchically, consonant and vowel elements of a primary nominal base are not equal. It is true that, in Akk, unlike Arabic or Hebrew, denominal derivation with internal vowel changes is not common (being, as rightly pointed out by Buccellati, productive only for numerals, for which he reserves the term “nominal root”), but it certainly exists, and the reality of consonantal roots in primary nouns is not to be neglected (cf. Fox 2003: 63–65). Accordingly, Gelb’s categorical statement, “the difference between the root of the primary nouns . . . and of the verbs and the verbal nouns . . . is clear and absolute in the older stages of Semitic languages, especially Akk” (1969: 164) is to be taken with caution. While internal patterns are by far the most typical way of nominal derivation from verbal roots, there exist a number of productive suffixes which can be added immediately to nominal bases forming denominal nouns. 2.1.1. Primary nouns Compared to other early Semitic languages, Akk is characterized by an unusual variety of vowel combinations occurring in primary nouns. The most common of them may be listed as follows (Proto-Semitic [PS] reconstructions are given in brackets whenever synchronic considerations do not permit us to establish the vowel quantity of the root vowel[s]): 5

5. For several reasons we try to exemplify the vocalic shapes with examples of Semitic origin, though there are scores of loanwords (chiefly Sumerian) which are fully integrated into Akk morphological structure and in most respects behave like primary nouns inherited from Common Semitic. For similarities and differences between primary nouns of Semitic origin and loanwords see SGB 69–74. The “comparative chart of unmotivated and derived nouns” given in SGB 75 seems to us quite unsatisfactory. Thus, some universally recognized terms of Semitic origin, like ti?amat ‘sea deity’ < *tiham-at- or bur- ‘calf’ < *bV÷Vr-, are classified as “loanwords and unknown,” whereas abull- ‘gate’ or elepp- ‘boat’, for which no convincing etymology has been so far proposed, are treated as “primary nouns,” equivalent to nonborrowed primary nominal lexemes in Buccellati’s terminology).

spread is 12 ponits short

Akkadian Morphology

9

I. Biconsonantal with short root vowel (the quantity of root vowel(s) in monosyllabic primary nominal bases is established mostly on comparative grounds): pas-: ab- ‘father’ (~ *?ab-), dam- ‘blood’ (~ *dam-) pas-t-: dal-t- ‘door’ (~ *dal-t-), sap-t- ‘lip’ (~ *s ^ap-at-) pas-at-: ah-at- ‘sister’ (~ *?ah-at-) pes-: em- ‘father-in-law’ (~ *˙am-), en- ‘lord’ (transcribed with -e- in the CAD E 177) 6 pes-t-: en-t- ‘high priestess’ (transcribed with -e- in the CAD E 172) pes-et-: em-et- ‘mother-in-law’ (~ *˙am-at-) pis-: il- ‘god’ (~ *?il-), bin- ‘son’ (SB, ~ *bin-) pis-t-: im-t- ‘foam, poison’ (~ *˙im-at-), ir-t- ‘breast’ (~ *?ir-at-) pis-at-: is-at- ‘fire’ (~ *?is-at-, cf. Geez ?´s-at, pace Gelb 1955: 105 who believes that “there is no evidence supporting this form in other Semitic languages”) pur-: ru?- ‘friend’ (~ *rV%÷ -), mut- ‘husband’ (~ *mut-) pus-t-: zu?-t- ‘sweat’ (MB, ~ *d¢ V%÷ -at-), bun-t- ‘daughter’ (~ *bV%n-at-) II. Biconsonantal with long root vowel: pas-: bab- ‘door’ (~ *bab-), lab- ‘lion’ (~ *lab?-) pas-t-: sar-t- ‘hair’ (~ *s ^a÷ rat-), bab-t- ‘ward, neighborhood’ (fem. from bab-) pis-: rim- ‘wild bull’ (~ *ri?m-), gid- ‘sinew’ (MB, ~ *gid-) pis-t-: rim-t- ‘wild cow’ (fem. from rim-), dim-t- ‘tear’ (~ *dam÷ -at-) pes-: sen- ‘shoe’ (~ *s ^a?n-), rem- ‘womb’ (~ *ra˙(i)m-) pes-t-: per-t- ‘hair’ (~ *par÷ -at-), nes-t- ‘lioness’ (SB, ~ *na˙s-at-) pus-: sum- ‘garlic’ (~ *tum-), bur- ‘pit, hole’ (~ *bu?r-) pus-t-: bur-t- ‘well, cistern’ (~ *bu?r-at-), tul-t- ‘worm’ (~ *tawli÷ -at-) III. Biconsonantal with second radical geminated: pass-: app- ‘nose’, kapp- ‘wing’ pass-at-: amm-at- ‘forearm, cubit’, parr-at- ‘female lamb’ (SB) pess-: benn- ‘a type of epilepsy’ pess-et-: ßerr-et- ‘nose-rope’ piss-: ßill- ‘shadow’, libb- ‘heart’ piss-at-: zibb-at- ‘tail’, rimm-at- ‘maggot’ puss-: urr- ‘light’, muhh- ‘skull, top of head’ puss-at-: u††-at- ‘corn’, summ-at- ‘dove’

6. Patterns with e-vocalism are usually treated as variants of those with a- or, more seldom, i-vocalism, but since the phonemic status of e in Akk is all but certain, we do not see any obstacle to listing such forms separately when dealing with primary nouns. Positional limitations are not to be neglected, however. While there are plenty of examples like emor sen-, those like benn- are rather exceptional, and a clear opposition to corresponding forms with a or i root-vocalism cannot always be convincingly maintained.

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IV. Triconsonantal with short root vowel(s): pars-: kars- ‘belly, intestines’, ˚arn- ‘horn’ 7 pars-at-: kalam-at- ‘parasite, louse’, wark-at- ‘rear side’ paras-t-: salam-t- ‘corpse’, abatt- ‘stone’ (SB, < *?aban-t-) pers-: e˚b- ‘heel’, ems- ‘hypogastric region’ pers-et-: erß-et- ‘earth’, erp-et- ‘cloud’ peres-t-: eßem-t- ‘bone’ pirs-: nimr- ‘panther’, zi˚n- ‘beard’ pirs-at-: isp-at- ‘quiver’ piris-t-: sinib-t- ‘part of sheep’s lung’ (SB) purs-: upl- ‘louse’, ßupr- ‘nail’ purus-t-: usul-t- ‘artery’, bu†ut-t- (also bu†un-t-, bu†n-at-) ‘pistachio’ paras-: hatan- ‘relative by marriage’ (~ *hatan-) 8 peres-: eper- ‘dust, earth’ (~ *÷ apar-) piras-: sikar- ‘intoxicating drink’ (~ *sV%kar-), zikar- ‘male’ (~ *d¢ V%kar-) parus-t-: nabul-t- ‘corpse’ (SB) V. Triconsonantal with a long root vowel: paris-: arib- ‘crow, raven’ (~ *garib-) paras-: atan- ‘she-ass’ (~ *?atan-) paris-: hasis- ‘ear’ (*˙asis-), nahir- ‘nostril’ (~ *nahir-) parus-: batul- ‘young man’ (MB) parus-t: batul-t- ‘nubile girl’ (MA, SB) perus-: ebur- ‘harvest’ (~ *÷ abur-) piras-: kisad- ‘neck’ (~ *kisad-), lisan- ‘tongue’ (~ *lisan-) piras-t: ti?am-t- ‘sea’ (~ *tiham-at-) pirus-t: sinun-t- ‘swallow’ (MB, ~*sVnun-at-) puras-: uban- ‘finger’ (~ *huban-), buras- ‘juniper’ (~ *burat-) 7. The originally bivocalic nature of the base of some primary nouns of the pV%rs- type can sometimes be established from their st. c. and st. p. forms, but such cases are very rare (cf., e.g., aplum ‘heir’, st. c. apil). Note that waklum (st. c. wakil) ‘overseer’ and saknum (st. c. sakin) ‘official’ quoted in Greenstein 1984: 18 beside aplum hardly belong here since both are obviously substantivised verbal adjectives from *wakalum ‘to trust’ and sakanum ‘to assign’ respectively. Rare examples of the type aplum ~ apil provide little ground for positing bisyllabic prototypes for all primary nominal bases of the shape pV%rs- (so Greenstein loc. cit.). Moreover, some nominal bases whose original bivocalic nature is beyond doubt do not restore it in the st. c. and st. p. but rather copy the vowel of the first syllable: cf., e.g., karsum ‘belly’, st. c. karas < PS *karis ^- (Fox’s assumption that warhu ‘moon’ is not a *paris- because of the st. a. warah [Fox 2003: 132] is thus doubtful). For a convincing critique of Greenstein’s position, see Edzard 1968: 360. 8. Note that the underlying forms *paras-, *peres- and *piras- appear as pars-/pirs-/persin Akk because of the vowel syncope rule. However, several nouns in which the vowel of the second syllable is to be considered short on historical grounds do preserve the vowel of the second syllable (a list of such nouns see, e.g., in Goetze 1946a: 234–45). It is usually assumed that most of such nouns have r as the third radical (Goetze 1946a: 236; GAG 16; Greenstein 1984: 27). It is noteworthy that some of nouns usually transcribed as parasare more likely to have the form of paras- on comparative grounds (e.g., galal- ‘pebble’ [SB] ~ *galal-, garab- ‘leprosy’ ~ *garab-).

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puris-: uriß- ‘buck’ (~ * ÷ urit≥ -), †ulim- ‘spleen’ (~ *†ul˙im-). On this pattern, see von Soden 1991 (where a few derived nouns also discussed). purus-: utun- ‘furnace’ (presumably borrowed from Sumerian UDUN; the length of -u- is proved by Aramaic ?attuna, most probably a loanword from Akk). VI. Triconsonantal with geminated second or third radical: 9 parras-: ayyal- ‘stag’ parras-t-: sappar-t- ‘tip of animal’s horn’ (SB), nakkap-t- ‘temple’ pirris-: sirrim- ‘wild ass’ (MB) pirris-t-: sinnis-t- ‘woman’ pirrus-: ißßur- ‘bird’, bißßur- ‘female genitals’ (as the Arabic cognate bund¢≥ ur- shows, a transcription bißßur- would be preferable) parras-: nahall- ‘wadi’, pahall- ‘thigh’ parrus-: aburr- ‘rear, back’, abull- ‘city gate’ parrus-at-: abunn-at- ‘navel’ perres-: ere˚˚- ‘wagon, cart’, elepp- ‘boat’ pirras-: kißall- ‘ankle bone’ piriss-: kirimm- ‘lap’ (MB), nigißß- ‘crevice’ (SB) purass-: hußann- ‘sash, belt’ (NB) puriss-: urull- ‘foreskin’ (MB), kudurr- ‘boundary’ (MB) VII. Quadriconsonantal Among quadriconsonantal bases, those with reduplicated biradical element are very common; *C1VC2C1VC2- bases often appear as C1VC1C1VC2- (assimilation- C2C1- > -C1C1-). Examples of reduplicated quadriradicals: parpar-: barbar- ‘wolf’; with assimilation kakkar- ‘metal disc’ (Mari), ˚a˚˚ad- ‘head’ parpar-t-: nahnah-t- ‘cartilage’ (NA); with assimilation kakkar-t- ‘round loaf of bread’ purpur-: gudgud- (attested in the pl. gudgud-at-) ‘part of the hind leg of a quadruped’ (MA) parparr-: ba˚ba˚˚- ‘small gnat’ (SB), la˚la˚˚- ‘stork’ (SB) 9. According to Fox 2003: 282, primary nouns with a geminated third radical “are completely nonreconstructible to PS (i.e., a lexeme or root with similar meaning does not exist in other languages).” In this categoric form, this statement is scarcely correct: there are many Akk words of this kind which have convincing Semitic etymologies. Among the lexemes treated presently, consider such generally recognized comparisons as Akk nahallu ‘wadi’ ~ Hebrew na˙al or Akk urullu ‘foreskin’ ~ Hebrew ÷orla (both found in AHw). As for Akk pahallu ‘upper thigh’, there is no need to resort to such phonetically difficult comparisons as that with Akk hallu or West Semitic *pahid¢ - (Fox 1996: 559) since this word may be plausibly compared to terms meaning ‘genitalia’ in Syriac (pa˙lata) and MSA (e.g., Harsusi fe˙l) with a common semantic shift (cf. Akk birku). Only a complete etymological analysis of all nouns belonging to these patterns will show their correspondences in other Semitic languages as well as in PS.

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I. M. Diakonoff† and L. E. Kogan parparr-at-: kamkamm-at- ‘kind of ring’ perperr(-at)-: serserr(-at)- ‘chain’ pirpirr-: kimkimm- ‘wrist’ (SB), liblibb- ‘offspring’ purpurr(-at)-: gulgull(-at)- ‘skull’

Examples of other quadriradicals: arnab- ‘hare’, gisimmar- ‘date palm’, kankall- ‘unbroken soil’, parsik-t- ‘a unit of capacity’. Of interest are a few nominal roots which are obviously to be classified as primary in spite of the fact that, synchronically, they are built after the patterns of derived nouns. See, e.g., ta-rbu?-t- ‘dust’ (~ Hebrew roba÷ ‘dust’), ne-ßbe-tt- ‘finger’ (~ Common Semitic *(?V-)sba÷ -, hardly a WS loan [so the CAD N/2 190] or a derivate from ßabatum ‘to catch’ [AHw 782]), me-sr-êt (pl. t.) ‘limbs’ (~ Arabic ? usru÷ - ‘leg tendon of gazelle’ and especially Soqotri més´rä÷ ‘Achilles’ tendon’). 2.1.2. Derived nouns I. Patterns without external formatives: pars-: ba˚r- ‘legal claim’ (< ba˚arum- ‘to vindicate’), sapl- ‘under part’ (< sapalum ‘to be low’). Cf. Fox 2003: 131–33. 10 paras-t-: alak-t- ‘behavior’ (< alakum ‘to go; to act’), gamar-t- ‘totality; completion’ (< gamarum ‘to finish’). In GAG 75 and Edzard 1982: 68, such forms are treated as derivatives from paras- (i.e., paras-t-); Edzard is aware, however, that no formal proof for such an assumption can be given (ibid.). pirs-: digl- ‘eyesight’ (< dagalum ‘to look’), migr- ‘agreement; person endowed with favor’ (< magarum ‘to agree; to consent’), sip†- ‘judgment’ (< sapa†um ‘to issue orders’). 11 Cf. Fox 2003: 141–42. piris-t-: hibil-t- ‘damage, wrong’ (< habalum ‘to harm’), isih-t- ‘assignment, task’ (< esehum ‘to assign’); note also pirs-at- in ßimd-at- ‘royal decree’ (presumably connected with ßamadum ‘to make ready, to harness, to drive’ and ßimittum (< *ßimid-t-) ‘crosspiece of yoke’, all < PS *ß ^Vmd- ‘yoke’, Akk ßimdum). purs-: hubt- ‘robbery’ (< habatum ‘to rob’), ulß- ‘joy’ (< eleßum ‘to rejoice’), murß- ‘illness’ (< maraßum ‘to fall ill’). Cf. Fox 2003: 149–50. purus-t-: butu˚-t- ‘flood’ (< bata˚um ‘to cut through’), nukur-t- ‘war, hostility’ (< nakarum ‘to become strange, hostile’). 10. Here and elsewhere in this section references to Fox 2003 are also valid for the corresponding shapes of primary nouns discussed above. 11. Verbal roots Iw normally produce abstract nouns after the pattern ris-t-: ßib-t- ‘interest’ (< waßabum ‘to enlarge, add’), sim-t- ‘something or someone fitting, suitable’ (< wasamum ‘to be proper, to fit’). A related pattern rus-t- seems to be attested in sub-t‘dwelling’ (< wasabu ‘to sit, to dwell’) and sut-t- ‘dream’ (< * sun-t-, presumably from the unattested *wsn ‘to sleep’). Note that the last noun is opposed to sittum ‘sleep’ (< * sin-t-). Another pattern of nouns derived from roots Iw is ris-an-: lid-an ‘young of an animal’ (SB, < waladum ‘to bear’), sim-an- ‘season, proper time’ (< wasamum ‘to be proper, to fit’); note also ad-an- (also id-an-, hid-an-) ‘a fixed period of time’ (derived from *w÷d ‘to appoint, fix’, lost in Akk).

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All these patterns are used for nouns of action with various semantic nuances. It may be noted that pirs-/piris-t- are often used for nomina passiva whereas the pattern purs-/purus-t- is frequently associated with verbs of stative meaning. Deverbal nouns of the pars-/paras(-t)- pattern are comparatively rare. On pVrs-at-/pVrVs-t- patterns, see Edzard 1982 (also applicable to the corresponding shapes of primary nouns listed under 2.1.1).

paras-: raps- ‘wide’ (< rapasum ‘to be wide’), wa˚r- ‘rare, scarce’ (< wa˚arum ‘to become scarce’); watar-t- ‘excess’ (substantivized fem. of watr- ‘additional, excessive’). Cf. Fox 2003: 157–59. paris-: magr- ‘favorable’ (< magarum ‘to agree; to consent’), dam˚‘good’ (< dama˚um ‘to be good’); sapil-t- ‘remainder’ (substantivized fem. of sapl- ‘low, small’). Cf. Fox 2003: 166–67. parus-: barm- ‘multicolored’ (< baramum ‘to be speckled, multicolored’), war˚- ‘yellow, green’ (< wara˚um ‘to become green, yellow’); maruß/s-t- ‘trouble’ (< maraßum ‘to fall ill; to become troublesome’). Cf. Fox 2003: 173–76. para/u/is- are the most common adjectival patterns in Akk, often substantivized (especially the fem. forms). In masc. sg. and masc./fem. pl., the vowel of the second syllable of the normal state falls, according to the vowel syncope rule, so that all three patterns are identical (pars-). This vowel reappears, however, in the st. c. and st. p. of masc. sg. as well as in fem. sg. of st. a. (raps- ~ rapas ~ rapas-t-, dam˚- ~ dami˚ ~ dami˚-t-, barm~ barum- ~ barum-t-).

paras-: nadan- ‘gift’ (MB), bala†- ‘life’ Substantivized G infinitives (cf. Fox 2003: 180). On paras-t-, see above (under paras-t-).

paris-: ra? im- ‘beloved’ (< râmum ‘to love’), asir- ‘prisoner of war’ (< eserum ‘to shut in, to enclose’), kanik- ‘sealed document’ (< kanakum ‘to seal’), salim- ‘peace, concord’ (< salamum ‘to become reconciled’), sagim- ‘roar, cry’ (SB) (< sagamum ‘to roar’) paris-t-: harim-t- ‘prostitute’ (possibly < haramu ‘to set apart’ [LL]) Adjectives (often semantically close to passive participles), frequently substantivized; deverbal nouns, usually nomina passiva. These patterns are not very common (cf. Fox 2003: 187–88).

parus-t-: ba?ul- (only in the pl. ba?ul-at-) ‘subjects’ (< bêlum ‘to rule, to have power’), ˚arur- ‘receding of waters’ (SB) (< ˚ararum ‘to flow, to overflow’ [MB]) parus-t-: ra?um-t- ‘beloved’ (fem.) (< râmum ‘to love’), arur-t- ‘hunger cramps’ (< ararum ‘to tremble’) Rare adjectival formation, sometimes substantivized. Cf. Fox 2003: 197–98.

puras-: du˚a˚- ‘very small’ (rare synonym of da˚˚- ‘small’), ßuhar- ‘male child; servant’ (< ßeherum ‘to be small’), su?al- ‘phlegm, cough’ (MB) (< sa?alu- ‘to cough’ [SB]), musal- ‘mirror’ (< masalum ‘to be similar’), supal- ‘depression’ (< sapalum ‘to be low’) puras-t-: ßuhar-t- ‘young woman’ (fem. for ßuhar- above)

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I. M. Diakonoff† and L. E. Kogan Adjectives (often with diminutive value); verbal nouns; concrete nouns derived from verbal roots. Cf. Fox 2003: 229–30.

purus-: bu˚um- ‘wool plucking’ (< ba˚amum ‘to pluck [wool]’), rukub‘transport, travel facility’ (< rakabum ‘to ride’), lubus- ‘clothing’ (< labasum ‘to clothe oneself’) purus-t-: surup- ‘burning material’ (OA, Mari) (< sarapum ‘to burn’) Nouns of action; concrete nouns derived from verbal roots. Cf. Fox 2003: 209.

paris-: nadin- ‘seller’ (< nadanum ‘to give’), sapir- ‘overseer, governor’ (< saparum ‘to send, to order, to administrate’) paris-t-: epis-t- ‘sorceress’ (SB; < epesum ‘to do, make; to practice witchcraft’) Substantivized G-participles. Cf. Fox 2003: 237–38.

parras-: ra˚˚a˚- ‘very thin’ (SB; synonym of ra˚˚- ‘thin’), allak- ‘going, moving’ (SB; < alakum ‘to go’) parris-: habbil- ‘evil’ (SB; < habalum ‘to harm’), sarri˚- ‘thievish’ (< sara˚um ‘to steal’), nappil- ‘battering ram’ (< napalum ‘to dig out; to demolish’) Adjectives, mostly with “intensive” nuance. Parris-adjectives are often close in meaning to G-participles; many of them are substantivized. Note that most of the parras-adjectives listed in GAG 75 are used exclusively in the pl. and should be considered “broken pls.” of the respective pars- singulars (see 2.4). Cf. further Kouwenberg 1997: 49–61.

purrus-: kubbur- ‘thick, fat’ (< kabarum ‘to be thick’), kubbut- ‘heavy’ (< kabatum ‘to be heavy, grave’), gubbuh- ‘bald’, †ummum- ‘deaf’ Adjectives with “intensive meaning” (usually connected with the D-theme), very often denoting bodily defects or peculiarities. Cf. further Kouwenberg 1997: 342–428.

purrus-t-: bussur-t- ‘good news’ (< bussurum ‘to report good news’), suhhur-t- ‘retreat, rout’ (SB; < saharum D ‘to turn back’) Nouns of action of the D-theme.

parras-: gallab- ‘barber’ (< gullubum ‘to shave’), dayyan- ‘judge’ (< dianum ‘to give judgement’), sarra˚- ‘thief’ (< sara˚um ‘to steal’) parras-t-: kassap-t- ‘sorceress’ (< kasapum ‘to practice witchcraft’) Pattern of nouns of profession. Traditionally, words belonging to this group are transcribed with a long vowel in the second syllable. The actual orthography provides no conclusive proof to justify this transcription, whereas comparative evidence is ambiguous on this point (cf. Arabic †abbah- vs. Hebrew †abba˙ < *†abba˙-). Note that, at least in OA, in some of these nouns the vowel in question is subject to vowel harmony (sarru˚um, sarra˚am, sarri˚im), which in principle means that it is short (see discussion in Hecker 1968: 21). Fox suggests the existence of both *˚attal- and *˚attal- in PS as well as in Akk, but admits that in the latter they are hardly distinguishable (Fox 2003: 254–56). See further, Kouwenberg 1997: 61–64.

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purrus-: hubull- ‘obligation, debt’ (< habalum ‘to borrow’ ?), gurunn‘heap’ (< garanum ‘to store, pile up’) piriss-: gimill- ‘favor, mercy’ (< gamalum ‘to perform a kind act’), kiriss‘hair clasp’ (< karasum ‘to tie, fasten’; note that the CAD K 407 treats this noun as a Sumerian loanword, but at the same time relates it to karasum) Rare patterns of verbal nouns without any specific semantic value.

II. Patterns with consonantal infixation: The only consonant which may be infixed is -t- (always between the first and the second radical; see, however, siltah- ‘arrow’ possibly to be connected with PS *sVlV˙- ‘arrow, dart, weapon’). Attested patterns are as follows: pi-t-ras-: mi-t-gar- ‘favorable’ (SB, ~ magr- ‘favorable’ (MB)), si-t-rah‘splendid’ (SB, ~ sarh- ‘splendid’), si-t-mar- ‘strongwilled’ (SB, ~ samr- ‘violent’), gi-t-mal- ‘noble, perfect’ (~ PS *gml ‘to be beautiful, well-shaped’) Adjectives mostly denoting an exceeding degree of a quality (for a comprehensive list of examples see Streck 2003: 99–101 where a relationship between this pattern and Gt stem is emphasized). In CAD, some of these are transcribed with short -a- (mitgar-, sitrah-) thus presuming a separate pattern pi-t-ras-.

pi-t-rus-: mi-t-huß- ‘fight, combat’ (MA, SB, < mahaßum Gt ‘to go to fight’), mi-t-luk- ‘considerate, full of good advice’ (SB, < malakum Gt ‘to deliberate’), i-t-gur- ‘crossed’ (SB, < egerum Gt ‘to cross, be twisted’), si-t-lu†- ‘dominant, pre-eminent’ (SB, < sala†um Gt ‘to prevail’) Substantivized Gt infinitives. Adjectives, often with reciprocal or intensifying connotations.

pi-t-rus-t-: mi-t-luk-t- ‘deliberation’ (SB, < malakum Gt ‘to deliberate’), si-t-nun-t- ‘rivalry’ (SB, < sananum Gt ‘to rivalize’), si-t-˚ul-t- ‘opposition’ (SB, < sa˚alum Gt ‘to be in opposition’) Nomina actionis for Gt, mainly with reciprocal meaning.

III. Patterns with prefixation: Nouns with prefixed i-: i-pris-: i-spik- ‘yield of a field’ (OAkk, < sapakum ‘to pile up, to store’), i-krib- ‘blessing; prayer’ (< karabum ‘to bless, to pray’), i-p†ir- ‘price of redemption’ (< pa†arum ‘to redeem’), i-r? em- ‘beloved’ (OAkk, < râmu ‘to love’) i-pris-: i-rnit-t- (*i-rnin-t-) ‘triumph, victory’ (presumably < PS *rnn ‘to cry joyfully’) Prefixation of i- in nominal derivation is exceptional (practically all reliable examples are quoted above).

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I. M. Diakonoff† and L. E. Kogan Nouns with prefixed mV-: 12 ma-pras-: ma-skan- (OA ma-ás-ku-nu, mas-ki-ni) ‘emplacement; threshing floor; tent’ (< sakanum ‘to place’), ma-s†ar- ‘inscription’ (MB, NA; NA nom. mas†uru) (< sa†arum ‘to write’), ma-ßßar- (< *ma-nßar-) ‘guardian’ (< naßarum ‘to watch’) ma-pras-: ma-nzaz- ‘emplacement, position’ (< izuzzum ‘to stay, to stand’) 13 ma-pras-t-: ma-ltak-t- ‘true, tested measure; testing’ (< latakum ‘to try, test’), ma-skat-t- (< *ma-skan-t-) ‘account, deposit’ (< sakanum ‘to place’) mu-pras-: mu-ßlal- ‘midday’ (according to both AHw and CAD, derived from ßalalum ‘to fall asleep’ [‘siesta-time’], but in fact possibly to be connected with ßillum ‘shadow’?), mu-spal- ‘low-lying place’ (< sapalum ‘to be low’) An exhaustive study of Akkadian nouns with ma-prefixation is Streck 2002. As convincingly demonstrated by Streck, the traditional definition of these substantives as nouns of place, time and instrument is correct in a relatively restricted number of examples. In most cases we are rather faced with a broad variety of abstract meanings (notably, “Verbalinhalt” and “Objekt des Verbalinhalts” in Streck’s terminology).

Nouns with prefixed n- and s- are in most cases substantivized infinitives and verbal adjectives of N and S themes and will not be discussed here. E. A. Speiser suggested that some suprus-adjectives are to be treated as elative formations similar to Arabic ? a-f? al- (e.g., watrum ‘exceeding’ ~ suturum ‘surpassing’, pas˚um ‘difficult’ ~ supsu˚um ‘most difficult’, etc.) rather than verbal adjectives (Speiser 1967: 473–78). It should be noted that this suggestion, even if correct, clearly belongs to historical morphology, since this formation is not productive synchronically. Nouns with prefixed ta-: ta-pras-: ta-phar- ‘property’ (OAkk, OA [gen. ana taphirim]; < paharum ‘to collect’)

12. Whenever one of the radicals is a labial (b, p, m), ma- (me-) shifts to na- (ne-). fi etc., emerge: na-glab- ‘razor’ (< gullubum ‘to Accordingly, secondary patterns napras-, shave’), na-tbak- ‘libation’ (MB; < tabakum ‘to pour out’), na-hlap-t- ‘wrap’ (< halapum ‘to wrap’), na-hbut- ‘razzia’ (< habatum ‘to rob’), na-mkur- ‘possessions’ (< makarum ‘to do business’), na-krim- ‘a leather container for liquids’ (MA, NB; < karamu ‘pile up, to store’ [NA, NB]), na-ship-t- ‘kind of spade, shovel’ (NB; < sahapum ‘to spread; to lay flat’). Note that the shift seems not to take place if the prefix is mu* -, but the evidence is rather scarce (cf. mu-sab- ‘place of dwelling’ < wasabum ‘to sit, to dwell’ and muspalu, below). Cf., however, nusabum ‘cushion’ (Nuzi), derived from wasabum as well. 13. In most cases, it is practically impossible to establish the length of second syllable › tVprV* › s-, › etc., so that its notation as long or short is hypothetvowels in patterns mVprV* › s-, ical. A remarkable exception is offered by mapra* s- and tapra* s- in Assyrian, where the short a is usually subject to vowel harmony (e.g., nom. mVprus-u, acc. mVpras-a, gen. mVpris-i). See, however, the exceptional cases of accommodation of long vowels in Hecker 1968: 21.

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ta-pras-: ta-mhar- ‘battle’ (< maharum Gt ‘to come to close quarters’), ta-rbaß- ‘corral’ (< rabaßum ‘to lie down (animals)’), ta-mkar- ‘trade agent’ (< makarum ‘to do business’, OA), ta-kbar- ‘fattened sheep’ (MA, NA, < kabarum ‘to be thick’). ta-pras-t-: t-amar-tu- (< *ta-?mar-t-) ‘look’ (< amarum ‘to see, look’), tanat-t- (< *ta-nad-t-) ‘glory’ (< nâdum ‘to praise’) Nomina actionis of G and Gt, some concrete nouns and nouns of place (see further Streck 2003: 102).

ta-pris-: ta-ßlil- ‘covering’ (< ßullulum ‘to cover’), ta-psih- ‘relief’ (MB, < pasahum D ‘to calm, relieve’), ta-lmid- ‘pupil’ (< lamadum D ‘to teach’), ta-msil- ‘image’ (< masalum D ‘to make similar’), t-eni˚‘suckling; baby’ (< ene˚um ‘to suck’, S ‘to suckle’) ta-pris-t-: ta-klim-t- ‘sign, indication’ (< kullumum ‘to show’), ta-hsis-t‘mention’ (< hasasum ‘to remind’), ta-slim-t ‘full delivery’ (< salamum D ‘to deliver in full, to make complete’), ta-rbit- (*tarbiy-t-) ‘breeding; adoptive son’ (< rabûm D ‘to breed; to educate’) Mostly nomina actionis of D (cf. Fox 2003: 249). Occasionally they denote persons, but this use may be traced to nomina passiva of D (‘pupil’ < ‘object of teaching’).

ta-prus-: t-aluk- ‘going; way, path’ (< alakum ‘to go’), ta-mhuß- ‘battle’ (SB, < mahaßum Gt ‘to fight’) ta-prus-t-: ta-hlup-t- ‘garment’ (SB, < halapum ‘to cover, dress’), ta-˚rubt- ‘battle’ (MB, SB, < ˚erebum Gt ‘to come close; to fight’), ta-mgur-t‘agreement’ (< magarum Gt ‘to come to agreement’) Abstract nouns to G and Gt.

IV. Patterns with suffixes: There are two types of derivational suffixes in Akk. To the first type belong suffixes that are always (or mostly) used in combination with certain internal vowel patterns (a situation parallel to that of derivation with prefixes). Clearly enough, such formations are to be considered deverbal rather than denominal (SGB 137). Some examples of this type of derivation are: puruss-a?- (appearing as purussûm in OB): purussa?- (OA; OB purussûm) ‘decision’ (< parasum ‘to cut; to decide’), rugumma?- (OA; OB rugummûm) ‘claim, lawsuit’ (< ragamum ‘to shout; to complain, sue’), nudunna?- (MA; OB nudunnûm) ‘gift; dowry’ (< nadanum ‘to give’), ukulla?- MA; OB ukullûm) ‘food allotment’ (< akalum ‘to eat’) Nouns of action, usually describing regular, well-planned activities. Nomina passiva.

parass-i- (appearing as parrassûm in OB): nakkap-i- (nakkapûm) ‘prone to goring’ (< nakapum ‘to gore’), saggas-i- (saggasûm) ‘murderous’ (SB; < sagasum ‘to kill, murder’), sakkar-i- (sakkarûm) ‘drunkard’ (LL; < sakarum ‘to become inebriated’) Adjectives denoting habitual, recurrent qualities.

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Suffixes belonging to the other group may be attached to all nouns, thus producing denominal formations in a strict sense. The most important of such suffixes are: -ut- (suffix of abstract nouns; note the remarkable coincidence with the adjectival masc. pl. marker, 2.4): awil-ut ‘mankind’ (< awilum ‘man’), marut- ‘sonship’ (< marum ‘son’), naspak-ut- ‘storage’ (< naspakum ‘storage house, granary’) -an- (suffix forming abstract nouns; some concrete nouns are also attested): sulm-an- ‘well-being’ (< sulmum ‘peace, safety, well-being’), dulh-an‘confusion’ (SB; from nonattested *dulhum, cf. dalahum ‘to stir up, to disturb’), rabi-an- ‘mayor’ (< rabûm ‘big’), sizb-an- ‘milk-fed lamb’ (SB; < sizbum ‘milk’), sad-ân- (sadu-an-) ‘hematite’ (probably < sadûm ‘mountain’, originally ‘mountain stone’?). On this suffix see Goetze 1946b: 127. This suffix often appears attached to various patterns of nouns of agent (parras-, G and D participles). In certain OB texts we find some traces of its use as a marker of definiteness (appropriately called “particularizing suffix” in GA 198). However, this use is clearly nonproductive. Interestingly enough, in the relevant passages of the Code of Hammurabi, sarra˚um and sarra˚anum ‘thief’ as well as nadinum and nadinanum ‘seller’ are in complementary distribution: forms without -an- are in the st. p. or in the st. c. whereas those with it are in the normal state (cf. SGB 140). Both sarra˚anum and nadinanum do occur with pronominal suffixes, however. -i- (suffix of nisbah-adjectives; appearing in OB as -ûm, fem. -itum): mahr-ûm, fem. mahr-itum ‘first’ (< mahrum ‘front part’), sapl-ûm, fem. saplitum ‘lower’ (< saplum ‘bottom’), assurûm, fem. assur-itum ‘Assyrian’. The last two suffixes are sometimes combined into -an-i- (in OB, -anûm): irt-an-û ‘with a big chest’ (SB; < irtum ‘chest’), huraß-an-ûm ‘golden’ (< huraßum ‘gold’), rem-en-ûm ‘merciful’ (< remum ‘womb; pity’). 2.1.3. Nominal composition Compared to other ancient Semitic languages, Akk is characterized by the relatively high productivity of word composition in nominal derivation. Nevertheless, it is far from frequent, so that only some general trends in the formation of composita may be detected. The most common kind of composita is formed by fossilized construct chains: eßenßerum ‘backbone’ (< *eßem-ßerim ‘bone-of-the-back’; note the unusual *eßmum as the first component of the compositum instead of the eßemtum attested elsewhere); samassammu (plurale tantum) ‘sesame’ (< *saman-sammim ‘oil-of-the-plant’); pethallum ‘rider’ < (*peti-hallim ‘opening-the-thigh’). It is questionable whether such fixed construct chains as mur nis˚i ‘thoroughbred horse’ (SB; murum ‘foal’ + nis˚um ‘choice’) or mar siprim ‘messenger’ (marum ‘son’ + siprum ‘message) are to be included in this group (a stimulating discussion can be found in SGB 46–48). Another, much rarer, way of forming composita is the fossilization of nouns and their appositions: nittamilu ‘burglar’ (SB; < nittu + amilu ‘burglarman’).

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19

Note curious plant names imhur-limu, ipsur-lime, imhur-esra, all formed (or at least analyzed as such by popular etymology) as compounds with prt. verbal forms as the first element and numerals as the second, as well as the bird name ittil-imut (two verbal forms, lit. ‘lay down and died’). 2.2. Gender The two genders are masculine and feminine. Masculine is unmarked, while the marker of the feminine is -t-/-at- (in B also -et- by vowel harmony with -e- vocalism of the base). The general rule of distribution of these allomorphs is that -t- is added to bases ending in a single consonant, and -at- to those ending in a cluster, e.g., mar-t-um ‘daughter’ vs. dann-at-um ‘fortress’, ßerr-et-um ‘halter’. The picture is not as simple as this, since, except for bases ending in a geminated consonant (which always take -at- as in the examples given above), the nature of the base is most often unpredictable and requires diachronic investigation: cf. kalb-at-um ‘bitch’ vs. abat-t-um (< *?aban-t-um) ‘stone, pestle’ derived from kalbum ‘dog’ and abnum ‘stone’ respectively (both synchronically and—at least according to the standard reconstruction— also diachronically ˚atl-) or erß-et-um ‘earth’ vs. eßem-t-um ‘bone’ from PS *?arß-§ and *÷ atm≥ respectively (both ˚atl-). Note isatum ‘fire’, ahatum ‘sister’, and emetum ‘mother-in-law’ with long -a/e- before -t-. A substantial number of nouns exhibit agreement in fem. without having any explicit marker of gender, e.g., ummum ‘mother’ (in ummum banit-um ‘mother the creator’) or matum ‘country’ (in matum rapas-t-um ‘a wide country’). For an attempt to classify such nouns in semantic groups, see GAG 92; Hecker 1968: 90. A small group of nouns permits agreement in both genders (e.g., abnum ‘stone’ in ina NA4 [abni] danni ‘in mighty stone’ [CAD A/1 55] vs. ina abnim rabitim ‘by the heavy weighing stone’ [CAD A/1 59]), but such cases are usually attested in different periods and/or dialects. For gender markers in the pl. and related problems, see 2.4. 2.3. State Three states of the noun are attested in Akk: normal, construct and predicative. A noun which appears in its free form (i.e., is neither the possessed in the gen. construction nor followed by an asyndetic relative clause, nor appears in the “predicative” conjugation) is in the normal state. A noun in the normal state has full declension in all three numbers. In the sg. and in the pl. in -ut- and -at-, it has a special marker, namely -m attached after the case vowel (the so-called mimation). The use of mimation is regular in OAkk and OA, as well as in some OB official documents (e.g., the Code of Hammurabi). It is occasionally dropped in OB (rather seldom; see statistics in SGB 150) and regularly in later dialects (most of the exceptions can be qualified as historical spellings). In the du., the marker of the normal state is -n after the case vowel (nunation).

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A noun which is either the possessed of the gen. construction or is followed by an asyndetic relative clause is in the st. c. A noun in the st. c. loses mimation/nunation and may undergo specific phonetic changes (see below). The most prominent feature of this state, however, is the neutralization of case opposition in the sg. and in the pl. in -utum and -atum. The du. and the pl. in -u preserve full declension. Thus:

N A G

Sg.

Du.

Pl. -u

Pl. -utum

Pl. -atum

bel bel bel ‘lord’

sep-a sep-i sep-i ‘feet’

sarr-u sarr-i sarr-i ‘king’

alik-ut alik-ut alik-ut ‘going’

sarr-at sarr-at sarr-at ‘queens’

The following is a general outline of phonetic developments of the base in st. c. (cf. Greenstein 1977: 33–37): 1. Nouns ending in a single consonant and polysyllabic nouns ending in a geminate appear in their bare form, thus belum ‘lord’, st. c. bel; sarratum ‘queen’, st. c. sarrat; kunukkum ‘seal’, st. c. kunuk (note that this does not apply to fem. nouns in -tt- like ßibittum ‘prison’, for which, see 4 below in this section). Exceptions are abum ‘father’ (st. c. abi) and ahum ‘brother’ (st. c. ahi), as well as, occasionally, other monosyllabic nouns like sumum ‘name’, st. c. sumi, used alongside sum, or ˚atum ‘hand’, st. c. ˚ati, used alongside ˚at. This form of st. c. is typical of nouns derived from roots IIIw/y/H like busum ‘valuables, goods’ (< basûm ‘to be, to exist’) or tibum ‘attack’ (< tebûm ‘to emerge’), st. c. bus(i) and tib(i) respectively. Note also that nouns in -it- in the normal state may change to -iat in the construct (e.g., ta˚tiat palêm ‘end of the reign’ in Yale Oriental Series X 56 II 10 < ta˚titum ‘end’). 2. Monosyllabic nouns ending in a geminate add -i to the base, thus libbum ‘heart’, st. c. libbi, exceptions being sarrum ‘king’, st. c. sar; kakkum ‘weapon’, st. c. kak (also kakki); and muhhum ‘skull, top of the head’, st. c. muh (also muhhi). 3. Nouns ending in a consonantal cluster, where the last consonant is not the fem. marker -t, may follow one of the two types whose choice is synchronically unpredictable. Some of them (diachronically monosyllabic or “segolate”) insert a vowel identical to that of the base between the second and third radicals, thus kalbum ‘dog’, st. c. kalab; ˚erbum ‘middle’, st. c. ˚ereb; siprum ‘work’, st. c. sipir; uznum ‘ear’ st. c. uzun. Others (diachronically bisyllabic) insert that vowel which was dropped because of the syncope rule. Thus, aplum ‘heir’ (< *apilum), st. c. apil, etc. (see however, n. 7). 4. Polysyllabic nouns ending in a consonantal cluster with -t as the last consonant add -i after -t, thus napisti < napistum ‘soul’, narkabti < narkabtum ‘chariot’, ßibitti < ßibittum ‘prison’. Participles, however, regularly insert -a- before -t-, thus nadinat < nadintum ‘giving’, muttabilat < muttabiltum ‘managing’. 5. Monosyllabic nouns ending in a consonantal cluster with -t- as the last consonant have two ways of formation: by adding -i after -t or insert-

Akkadian Morphology

21

ing -a- before it. The choice between these two types of formation is usually thought to be unpredictable and determined lexically (cf., e.g., GA 60). Actually, a clear tendency can be observed: bases with a short vowel form the st. c. with -a- while those with a long vowel form the st. c. with -i. Thus almost all the nouns derived from roots Iw form the st. c. with -a(biltum ‘load’ ~ bilat, siptum ‘incantation’ ~ sipat, simtum ‘something fitting’ ~ simat, etc.) while most nouns derived from IIw/y form the st. c. with -i (˚iptum ‘belief, trust’ ~ ˚ipti, ˚ultum ‘the dead of night’ ~ ˚ulti). See the discussion in Greenstein 1984: 49–50 and Okhotina-Kogan (forthcoming). 6. Bases ending in a vowel (historically, a vowel + ? or w/y) exhibit a complicated picture. The two common cases are the following: Bases ending in -i fi appear in their bare form: nasûm ‘bearing’ (< *nasi-?um) ~ nasi, pûm ‘mouth’ (< *piyum) ~ pi; Bases ending in -a have st. c. in -ê: banûm ‘to build’ (< *banayum) ~ banê, nudunnûm ‘gift’ (< *nudunna? um) ~ nudunnê. For the historical background of such forms, see Huehnergard 1987b: 188–91.

Somewhat different rules of formation of st. c. apply if the possessor of the gen. construction is not a noun but a pronominal suffix (such forms are treated in most Akk grammars as a special pronominal state); then, in the sg., the gen. is opposed to the nom. and acc., which are neutralized as -º, whereas the pl. in -atum and -utum exhibits full declension (the case vowel before the suffix is thought to be lengthened). The du. and the pl. in -u again preserve full declension.

N A G

Sg.

Du.

Pl. -u

Pl. -utum

Pl. -atum

bel-ka bel-ka bel-i-ka

sep-a-ka sep-i-ka sep-i-ka

bel-u-ka bel-i-ka bel-i-ka

alik-ut-u-ka alik-ut-i-ka alik-ut-i-ka

sarr-at-u-ka sarr-at-i-ka sarr-at-i-ka

The 1 sg. suffix -i(ya) is always attached directly to the base of the normal state (belum ‘lord’ ~ bel-i, napistum ‘soul’ ~ napist-i, kalbum ‘dog’ ~ kalb-i, etc.). The sg. base to which other suffixes are attached is usually the same that appears before a noun in the gen. (thus, belum ‘lord’ ~ bel ~ bel-ka, assatum ‘wife’ ~ assat ~ assat-ka, siprum ‘message’ ~ sipir ~ sipir-ka, etc.; note a few exceptions like babtu ‘ward’, st. c. babat, st. p. babta-). The main deviation from this rule is that all nouns ending in a geminate and polysyllabic fem. nouns ending in a cluster formed by the last consonant of the base and -t of the fem. (including participles) insert -a- between the last consonant and the suffix (libb-a-ka ‘your heart’, kunukk-a-ka ‘your seal’, ßibitt-a-ka ‘your prison’, napist-a-ka ‘your soul’, museni˚t-a-ka ‘your wet-nurse’). Monosyllabic fem. nouns with st. c. in -i are also affected by this rule, thus ˚istum ‘gift’ ~ ˚isti ~ ˚ist-a-ka. Several nominal classes preserve full declension before pronominal suffixes. They are:

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1. the nouns abum ‘father’, ahum ‘brother’ and emum ‘father-in-law’ (abu/a/i-ka, ahu/a/i-ka, emu/a/i-ka) 2. nouns produced from roots with the third radical w/y or H (marum ‘son’ ~ maru/a/i-ka, bisum ‘possessions’ ~ bisu/a/i-ka) 3. nouns with bases ending in -a (purussû/â/ê-ka ‘your decision’). Note that nouns with bases ending in -i * may either add the suffixes directly to the base (bani-ka) or preserve full declension (banû/â/î-ka ‘your creator’). The former process is more common in OB, the latter in later dialects. The Akk noun is subject not only to declension, but also to conjugation. A special set of markers is added to the nominal base ascribing to it a predicative force (‘I am king’, ‘you are good’, etc.). The paradigm of a noun in this st. p. is as follows: Sg. 3 m.

Du.

sar

Pl. sarr-u

sarr-a 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1 m.f.

sarr-at sarr-ata sarr-ati sarr-aku

sarr-a a sarr-atunu sarr-atina sarr-anu

a. Note that, unlike the fem. pl. marker of the normal state, -a of the st. p. is not subject to vowel harmony (see Kouwenberg 2000: 57).

For examples of du. forms found almost exclusively in OAkk, see Gelb 1961: 214. The base of the normal state serves for all numbers and persons except for 3 masc. sg. where the base of the st. c. appears as a rule. Before predicative endings, fem. nouns appear without the fem. marker -at (mar-aku ‘I am daughter’ < martum, see SBG 165–66, GAG 125), gender distinction being either neutralized (in 1 sg. pl.) or expressed by the endings alone (in other persons), thus fully corresponding to what we observe in the verbal and pronominal inflection. 14 Aside from their use in predicative constructions, nouns (almost exclusively masc. and fem. sg.) appear in this state in a number of fixed expressions whose precise functions are not sufficiently studied and by now somewhat difficult to specify. These are various adverbial expressions like ßeher rabi ‘small and large’, la sanan ‘without comparison’, asar isten ‘in one place’, occasionally the vocative (sar ‘oh king’), etc. Cases of nonpredicative use of this state are usually treated as a separate category, the socalled absolute state, but we do not see sufficient grounds for such a distinction (Diakonoff 1991: 86; for an opposite opinion, see Greenstein 1977: 30–31 and Greenstein 1984: 20–21; the only formal difference is per14. Kouwenberg’s (2000: 50) suggestion, “here the omission of -t- in the first and the second person makes the stative ambiguous as to the sex of the referent,” is of theoretical value only, since examples of fem. nomination of a male referent (or vice versa) are naturally quite exceptional.

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23

haps observed in 3 fem. pl. where -at in st. a. is opposed to -a in st. p.; cf. GAG 96). For the st. p. of verbal adjectives, see 6.4. 2.4. Number and case There are three numbers (sg., du. and pl.) and three basic cases (nom., gen. and acc.). The nom. is the case of the subject, the acc., that of the direct object (also occurring with adverbial functions, the so-called “adverbial acc.”), while the gen. marks the possessor in the gen. construction and nouns preceded by prepositions. Only the sg. has triptotic declension, while both du. and pl. are inflected for two cases only, namely nom. and gen./acc. (oblique). The sg. is unmarked and the inflection for cases is as follows (sarr- ‘king’ is a sample-base): Nom. Gen. Acc.

-um -im -am

sarr-um sarr-im sarr-am

The du. marker is nom. -an, gen.-acc. -in. Only in OAkk and, less regularly, in OA the du. seems to be productive in both nouns and adjectives (cf. OA 2 [s]u-ri-in dam-˚í-in ‘two good suru-textiles’ [Hecker 1968: 194]). An interesting excursus on “the use and extinction of the dual” in early OB may be found in Whiting 1987: 15–16 (note that several examples of productive du. in OB omina, like ˚arradan ‘two heroes’ [Yale Oriental Series X 31 IX 25] hardly reflect the usage of the epoch and are rather to be considered archaisms). In other dialects and periods, the du. is found exclusively with a limited group of nouns chiefly denoting body parts (both occurring in pairs, like sep-an ‘two feet’, and those that have no pair, like ˚abl-an ‘loins, waist’), as well as certain objects implying duality like sen-an ‘two shoes’. The nouns found in the du., because of their original meanings, often preserve du. endings in their transferred meaning, like en-an ‘two springs’ (OA, originally ‘two eyes’) or isd-an ‘fundaments’ (originally, most probably, ‘two feet, two buttocks’). The agreement is usually fem. pl. (sen-in dam˚-atim ‘a nice pair of shoes [acc.]’), possibly because of the fact that most of such nouns require fem. agreement in the sg. As an interesting example of the opposite, we may quote diksan sina itebbûsum ‘two attacks of pain will strike him’ (Yale Oriental Series X 31 X 50–52)—a productive du. with a masc. pl. agreement. Nouns occurring with the du. ending are also found in contexts implying more than two objects of the kind, so that the contrast between the du. and the pl. for these nouns disappears (cf. LAA 59, where examples of lexical distinction like ˚at-an ‘two or more hands’ vs. ˚at-atu ‘two or more shares’ are discussed). There are four plural markers in Akkadian. The pl. marker -u/-i (sarr-u ‘kings [nom.]’, sarr-i ‘kings’ [gen./acc.]) occurs with masc. substantives. These pl. forms usually have masc. agreement

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(exceptions are very few; cf. nis-u ßalm-at ˚a˚˚adim ‘black-headed people’), so that -u/-i can be defined as masc. pl. marker. The length of -u/-i is only rarely expressed by the scriptio plene, but always so in the pl. of awilum ‘man’ and ßuharum ‘male child, servant’ (a-wi-lu-ú/a-wi-li-e ‘men’ and ßu-haru-ú/ßu-ha-ri-e ‘servants’). See LAA 61 and GA 198 (where it is considered a special pl. marker presumably contracted from -a?u/-a? i), and Gelb 1955: 107, where the existence of such a marker is rejected. An interesting treatment of this phenomenon can be found in Huehnergard 1987b: 188 where it is suggested that these forms are to be treated diachronically as broken pls. comparable to the well-known Arabic patterns fu÷ ala?- and ?af÷ ila?-. The suffix -anu/-ani (sarr-anu ‘kings’ [nom.], sarr-ani ‘kings’ [gen./acc.]) is, according to the traditional descriptions of Akk, another masc. pl. marker, contrasting with -u/-i by its particularizing force (sarr-u ‘kings’ ~ sarr-anu ‘particular kings, the kings in question’; see Goetze 1946b: 122). Nouns in which such a contrast is observed are scarce even in OB (cf. a list of occurrences ibid. 123–25; note that Goetze was able to adduce very few really contrasting examples of -anu vs. -u). In later dialects, -anu is either used as the only pl. marker of several lexemes or appears in free variation with -atum or -u without any functional difference. In some recent studies (e.g., Buccellati 1976), the marker -anu was analyzed as -an-u (i.e., the “particularizing” -an and the normal masc. pl. -u) (see already Gelb 1955: 107). It should be noted that this suggestion is in contradiction with comparative data, from Semitic (first of all Geºez -an; see Goetze 1946b: 126) and Afroasiatic (see examples in Zaborski 1976: 6). The pl. marker -utum/-utim is regularly attached to adjectives which are attributes of masc. nouns in the pl. (sarr-u dam˚-utum ‘good kings’ [nom.], sarr-i dam˚-utim ‘good kings’ [gen./acc.]). It can be labelled the “adjectival masc. pl. marker.” The pl. marker -atum/-atim is usually defined as the “fem. pl. marker.” It is always used with nouns that end in -(a)t in the sg. and their attributes (sarr-atum dami˚-tum ‘good queen’ ~ sarr-atum dam˚-atum ‘good queens’) as well as with nouns without -(a)t- but having fem. agreement in the sg. (ummum rabi-tum ‘great mother’ ~ umm-atum rabi-atum ‘great mothers’). There are, however, many nouns without -(a)t- and masc. agreement in the sg., but with the pl. in -at-, which shows that the use of this marker is much wider than just fem. pl. 15 15. Curiously enough, at least some of these nouns in the pl. exhibit fem. agreement: bit-atum takl-atum ‘reliable tribes’ (CAD B 291, OB), bit-atu-ni kannuk-a ‘our houses are sealed’ (CAD B 283, OA). In both examples bit-atum is the pl. of bitum which is attested elsewhere with masc. agreement in the sg. See further naspak-atum halam illappat-a ‘the granaries will be affected with “black spot”’ (CAD N/2 68; naspak-atum is a pl. of naspakum ‘granary’, attested as masc. elsewhere). More examples can be found, e.g., under suk∫u ‘street’ and su § ‘a kind of stone’ in the CAD. This peculiar situation, in which a noun may have different gender agreement in the sg. and pl., is fundamentally different from what we observe, e.g., in Hebrew (?ab gadol ‘great father’ vs. ?ab-ot g´dol-im ‘great fathers’ and san-a g´dol-a ‘great year’ vs. san-im g´dol-ot ‘great years’, with consistent agreement in masc./fem. respectively in both sg. and pl.). For an interesting cross-linguistic parallel compare Italian oss-o secc-o ‘dry bone’ versus oss-e secch-e ‘dry bones’.

Akkadian Morphology

25

A small group of nouns and some adjectives form the pl. with gemination of the middle radical combined with external pl. markers: abum ‘father’, pl. abb-u/i ahum ‘brother’, pl. ahh-u/i (Note that gemination is also preserved in the derivatives abbutum ‘father’s legal status’ and ahhutum ‘brotherly relationship’.)

ahatum ‘sister’, pl. ahh-atum/-atim ißum ‘tree’, pl. ißß-u/i Triconsonantal stems of the CVCC- type insert -a- after the geminate, presumably to break up the triconsonantal cluster, thus bakru ‘young camel’, pl. bakkaru (SB). For more examples, including adjectives, see LAA 64. 2.5. Adverbial cases In addition to the basic cases discussed above, there are two adverbial markers which are usually treated as cases in Akk grammars: -is (“terminative”) and -um 16 (“locative”). There are several reasons to treat these markers separately from the “basic cases,” or even not to treat them as cases at all (see discussion in SGA 151–52). See also SGA 170–73, where primary cases are correctly qualified as “context bound,” and the secondary cases as “context free.” Both markers appear almost exclusively with nouns in the sg. (some rare occurrences with the pl. in -atum are also attested). When pronominal suffixes are added to the noun in the locative, -m is assimilated by the first consonant of the suffix (loc. ˚erbussu ‘in its middle’ vs. nom. ˚ereb-su ‘its middle’); 1 sg. suffix with the locative appears as -u?a (˚erbu?a ‘in my middle, within me’). The markers -is and -um may be combined (usually appearing as -sum, e.g., OAkk um-s-um ‘daily’). Formations in -isam (presumably combinations of -is with the acc.) are also attested, e.g., satt-is-am ‘yearly’ and warh-is-am ‘monthly’. For more examples of both types of constructions, see GAG 111–12. The functions of both markers are diverse (it can be said that -is roughly corresponds to a noun with the preposition ana ‘to, towards’, and -um, to a noun with the preposition -ina ‘in’). They are often used to produce adverbs from nouns (in this function they are often preceded by -an-: sapl-an-um ‘below’, rim-an-is ‘like a wild bull’) For an exhaustive study of adverbial formations in -is (with important comments on adverbs in -anis, -um, -isam, -sum), see Mayer 1995. 16. Note that Gelb (1969: 87–98), followed by Buccellati (SGB 151–52) transcribes the locative marker as -um, with a long -u- (with a not quite convincing remark “for no other reason than to differentiate it from -um of the nom.” [Gelb 1969: 97]). For the possibility of interpreting the nom. and the loc. as diachronically identical markers within the ergative interpretation of the Proto-Afroasiatic case system, see Diakonoff 1967: 114–15 (for criticism against Diakonoff’s view see Waltisberg 2002: 21–22).

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3. Adjectives Adjectives, though clearly belonging to the same inflectional class as substantives, have significant differences which permit them to be treated as a separate subclass. Their specific features are discussed in LAA 58. The most obvious of these are as follows: 1. The obligatory marking of gender (while a substantive may be fem. in agreement and still lack the explicit marker of this gender, the adjective must follow the gender of the governing noun and always express it overtly). 2. A special marker of masc. pl. (-utum/-utim vs. -u/-i, etc. occurring with substantives). See discussion in LAA 63–64. 3. The impossibility of attaching pronominal suffixes. 17 4. The lack of inflection for the du. (applicable to OB and later periods). For the derivation and inflection of adjectives, see 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 above. 4. Deictics Nearer demonstratives (‘this’): masc.

fem.

Sg.

nom. gen. acc.

annûm annîm anniam

annitum annitim annitam

Pl.

nom. gen./acc.

annûtum annûtim

anniatum anniatim

The base of the remote demonstrative is ulli- (sg. masc. ullûm, sg. fem. ullitum), declined as annûm. Its use in OB is rather limited. Note that at least in some OB texts annûm is also not very common (thus, only a couple of occurrences are found in the Code of Hammurabi). Instead, forms of personal pronouns of the 3rd person are used (masc. nom. awilum su ‘this/ that/the aforementioned man’, masc. acc. awilam suati [the same], fem. nom. sinnistum si ‘this/that/the aforementioned woman’, etc.). 5. Numerals To give a full list of Akk numerals, as well as the rules of their agreement with nouns counted, would go beyond the scope of this essay. In most cases, numbers are written logographically so that both their form and syntax are in many respects problematic. Only forms of the 1–10 sequence will be given below (both “free,” i.e., mimated with case-endings, and absolute); other numerals may be found in relevant sections of standard grammars (e.g., GAG 112–19, GA 235–37). 17. Adjectives also do not appear in the st. c. except for the so-called “gen. of limitation,” e.g., rapas uznim ‘broad of ear’. A peculiar feature of this construction is the frequent use of a special ending -am after the regens (dam˚-am inim ‘good of the eye’); see LAA 125–27 and Reiner 1984 (with references to previous studies).

Akkadian Morphology

27

Forms in parentheses are rare or attested in dialects other than OB. masc. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

isten sina salas erbe/a hamis sedis sebe samane tise eser

(istenum) sina salasum erbûm hamsum sessum sebûm samanûm tisûm es(e)rum

fem. isteat, istet sitta a salasat erbet(ti) hamsat sesset sebet(ti) samanat tisit es(e)ret

(istetum) sitta salastum erbettum hamistum sedistum sebettum samantum tisitum esertum

a. In GAG 113, -a in the number ‘two’ is transcribed short which seems strange since this ending is most probably identical to that of the du.

6. Verbs 6.1. Root and theme Verbal roots are consonantal and usually consist of three, rarely four, radicals (on verbal and nominal roots in general, see 2.1). Root consonants may remain unalterable throughout both derivational and inflectional paradigms and, at the same time, have no influence on the adjacent nonradical morphemes. Such roots are traditionally called sound. Some of the sound roots also exhibit slight phonetic irregularities, which will not be discussed in this essay (for details, see GAG 154, where such verbs are labeled “sound verbs with phonetic peculiarities”). On the other hand, roots containing a consonant which is subject to phonetic changes (assimilation, contraction, elision, etc.) are defined as weak. 18 Aside from these changes, weak radicals may alter substantially 18. We are strongly inclined to think that most verbal forms derived from Akk In and w/y roots are to be explained from triconsonantal prototypes (i.e., from protoforms with weak radicals behaving like the strong ones). It is true that the use of this approach involves admitting a number of somewhat irregular phonetic developments. Note, however, that roots containing H share many of these irregularities (see, e.g., 6.7.3) but nobody—to our knowledge—claims that such roots are historically or synchronically biconsonantal. For synchronic considerations in favor of the “triconsonantal” approach, see SGB 60 (except for some Iw roots which, according to Buccellati, can still be analyzed in terms of biradical roots) and LAA 82–83 (“Any hollow root may, by definition, be rewritten as consisting of three consonants and a short vowel; one of the consonants [in this case the second] is the morphophoneme length”). Tropper 1998 is a comprehensive diachronic treatise defending the “triconsonantal” approach. The classic work advocating the “biconsonantal” hypothesis is Kienast 1963. According to Kienast, originally biconsonantal roots were “augmented” with weak radicals (e.g., an original *PiS may be expanded to wPS or nPS). In the paradigm of a given Iw or In root, some forms are to be analyzed as derived from the original biconsonantal prototype, whereas others are produced from the “augmented” triconsonantal roots (Kienast 1963:

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the shape of adjacent nonradical morphemes. The following classes of weak roots are attested: 1. Verbs with a historical laryngeal (IH, IIH, IIIH) 2. Verbs with the first radical n (In) 3. Verbs with identical second and third radicals (II = III) 4. Verbs with w/y as a radical (Iw/y, IIw/y, IIIw/y) Verbs with four radicals present several peculiarities and will be dealt with in a separate section. A small group of verbs have unpredictable irregularities in their conjugation (irregular verbs, see 6.8). Themes are specific derivational classes produced from consonantal roots by internal inflection (transfixation), in most cases combined with prefixation. Themes reflect various combinations of such notions as causation, passivity, reflexiveness, etc. As in other Semitic languages, themes are often lexicalized so that only general lines of their meaning and functions are traced below. A verbal root usually appears in more than one theme, but practically none of the verbal roots are attested in all themes. Themes may be classified into three series: basic, t- (basic + infixed -ta-) and tn- (basic + infixed -tan-). Accordingly, the most frequent themes of Akk are: G (abbreviation of German Grundstamm)—the basic theme, formally and semantically unmarked. D (abbreviation of German Doppelungsstamm)—besides G, the only theme formed without prefixes. Its most salient formal feature, reflected in its name, is the gemination of the second radical throughout the paradigm. Its meaning is traditionally defined as “intensive,” a rather vague notion encompassing factitivity, causation, and plurality of objects/subjects. A comprehensive discussion on meaning and functions of D can be found in Kouwenberg 1997. S—the theme formed by the prefixation of (-)sV-. Its main function is causative to G. N—the theme formed by the prefixation of (-)n-. Its main function is passive, middle or, occasionally, reflexive to G. Gt—the theme formed by the infixation of -t-. This theme is rather rare and its main function is difficult to establish. Grammars usually define it as expressive of reciprocal and separative nuances of G, but for most roots the difference is, of course, purely lexical. It should be stressed that Gt is not used as passive to G. A recent study extensively occupied with the functions of Gt is Streck 2003 (cf. also Kouwenberg 2005). Dt—the theme formed by the infixation of -t- combined with the gemination of the second radical. Its main function is passive to D. 41). It is the “biconsonantal” theory that denominates the description of weak verbs in the basic grammar of Akk (GAG passim, especially p. 167). Note that the treatment of Akk weak roots as synchronically triconsonantal by no means excludes the possibility of postulating biconsonantal prototypes for some Akk weak roots on the PS (or even pre-PS) level.

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29

St—the theme formed by the prefixation of (-)s(u)ta-. This theme splits in two both semantically and (in the prs. only) formally. The first type is used as passive of S (often called “St-passive”); it has a shorter form of the prs. (ustapras). The second type, with a longer form of the prs. (ustaparras), is sometimes called “St-lexical” since its meaning for a given root is most often unpredictable and is determined lexically. Its typical functions include the causative of the reciprocal Gt and the reflexive of S. See further Streck 1994; 2003: 115–29. Gtn, Dtn, Stn and Ntn—themes formed by the infixation of -tan- that are usually iteratives for the respective basic themes (cf. Edzard 1996; Kouwenberg 1997: 69–88). Concrete examples of semantic opposition between the basic themes of Akk are found in Edzard 1965: 112–14, followed by a discussion on their productivity and lexicalization. Several rare and nonproductive themes are attested in Akk. Among them are SD (theme combining the causative prefix with the internal shape of the D-theme), Ntn and R (theme with reduplicated last radical, for which, see Kienast 1957, 1961; Whiting 1981; Groneberg 1989; and Charpin-Durand 1998). 6.2. Tenses Every theme may be represented by one of the three conjugational classes. Each is formed by adding personal prefixes (combined with suffixes in 2 sg. and 2/3 pl.) to respective bases. As in the nominal paradigm, the opposition of two genders (masc. ~ fem.) and three numbers (sg. ~ du. ~ pl.) is maintained. Finite verbal forms are of one of the three persons. Two sets of morphemes are attested, namely: sg.

du.

pl.

3

i-/u-

i-/u- . . . -a

i-/u- . . . -u (m.) ta-/tu- . . . a (f.)

2

ta-/tu- (m.) ta-/tu- . . . -i (f.) a-/u-

1

ni-/nu-

The first set of morphemes (“syllabic,” i.e., both consonant and vowel elements are distinctive) is used with G and N (and N-derived) themes while the second (“consonantal,” in which only the consonantal element is distinctive), with S and D (also S- and D-derived) themes. A more economical description may be found in Izre'el 1991: 42–46 where only one (the “syllabic”) set of prefixes is posited while the -u- vowel is regarded as part of the base of the respective themes and the prefix-vowel is thought to be elided before it (a phonetic rule otherwise confirmed by the conjugation of verbs Iw; see below). It is also noteworthy that the two sets usually occur in different phonetic environments: before a consonantal cluster in N and two of the three tenses of G, and before a single consonant in two of the three tenses of D and S.

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The du., quite regular in OAkk and OA, appears rarely in OB and later periods. In OB, the opposition of gender is neutralized in 3 sg. (masc. prefixes are used for both genders), but is preserved in OAkk and, with an animate subject, usually in OA (thus i-/u- vs. ta-/tu-). 19 These morphemes are added to three types of bases forming three conjugational classes which will be called here, traditionally, Preterite (prt.), Present (prs.), and Perfect (pf.), though alternative designations like “punctual” and “cursive” (or “durative”) are sometimes found in the literature. Comprehensive discussion of Akkadian verbal morphosyntax is beyond the scope of the present description; the interested reader may consult Loesov 2004, 2005 for the history of research and an extensive bibliography of studies pertinent to this problem, which has attracted much scholarly attention in recent decades. In G-theme, four types of vowel combinations are distinguished in the bases: I. II. III. IV.

prt. u / prs. a prt. i / prs. i a prt. a / prs. a prt. u / prs. u

-prus- / -parras-p˚id- / -pa˚˚id-lmad- / -lammad-rpud- / -rappud-

‘to cut’ ‘to appoint’ ‘to be accustomed’ ‘to run’

a. A specific feature of Babylonian is the appearance of e * instead of the expected a* in most forms of the paradigm of some verbs belonging to this type (e.g., te-sebber ‘you break’ vs. ta-pa˚˚id ‘you appoint’); the thematic vowel -i- may also shift to -e-. For a systematic list of nonradical morphemes subject to this shift, see LAA 84, where it is called “stem determinant” (note that SGB 92 is obviously incorrect in stating that “the general vowel shift a > e . . . applies to all syllables of the core, but not to affixes”). Most such verbs have r or l as one of the radicals. Note that for many such e-verbs “a-forms” are also attested (on some manifestations of this phenomenon see now Kouwenberg 2000: 227–32 and passim; forms of the present of D and S- are mostly dealt with).

In all four types, the contrast is expressed by the gemination of the second radical and the insertion of -a- before it in the prs.; in addition, in the first type (called “apophonic,” “Ablautklasse”) an apophonic change u ~ a is observed. The vocalism of the base of the pf. coincides with that of the prs., but without gemination of the second radical and with insertion of -ta- after the first radical (-p-ta-ras-, -p-ta-˚id-, -l-ta-mad-, -r-ta-pud-). As in other Semitic languages, vocalism of the base in D and S themes is fixed and does not depend on the vocalism of the respective verbal root in G. The forms are D prt. -parris-, prs. -parras-, pf. -p-ta-rris-; S prt. -sa-pris-, prs. -sa-pras-, pf. -s-ta-pris- (note that in both cases the thematic vowel of the pf. is identical to that of the prt., not the prs. as in G!). A peculiar feature of the Akk verbal system is that the thematic vowel of Gt, Gtn, N and Ntn does depend on the thematic vowel of G (unlike Arabic or Hebrew). In nonapophonic classes, the vowel of the last syllable in G is present in all forms of these themes, whereas in the apophonic class, the thematic vowel of Gt, Gtn and Ntn is -a-, and in N an apophony prs., pf. -a- vs. prt. -i- is observed. Concrete forms are as follows: nonapophonic Gt prt. -ptarVs-, prs. -ptarrVs-, pf. -ptatrVs-; Gtn prt. -ptarrVs-, prs. -ptanarrVs-, pf. -pta19. For tV-forms in the archaic OB, see Whiting 1987: 11–12.

spread is 12 points long

Akkadian Morphology

31

tarrVs-; N prt. -pparVs-, prs. -pparrVs-, pf. -ttaprVs-; Ntn prt. -ttaprVs-, prs. -ttanaprVs-, pf. -ttataprVs- (V is the thematic vowel of G); apophonic Gt prt. -ptaras-, prs. -ptarras-, pf. -ptatras-; Gtn prt. -ptarras-, prs. -ptanarras-, pf. -ptatarras-; N prt. -pparis-, prs. -pparras-, pf. -ttapras-; Ntn prt. -ttapras-, prs. -pparras-, pf. -ttapras-. As rightly pointed out in Edzard 1965: 116, it is only in the prs. that all themes have different forms. In other tenses (as well as moods and nominal forms) various themes are partly overlapping in their conjugation. 6.3. Moods We follow SGB 178 in treating a number of heterogeneous classes of verbal forms under the general heading “moods.” 20 A different approach may be found in Edzard 1973 where the author, after an exhaustive discussion of the existing works on this topic, tries to give a stricter list of verbal categories to be regarded as moods. According to Edzard, the subjunctive and the ventive are not to be regarded as modal forms (1973: 127–28). 6.3.1. The imperative The existing forms of the imperative are 2 masc. sg. and fem. sg. and 2 c. pl.; they are formed by the addition of suffixes identical to those of the respective forms of prefixal conjugations (-º, -i, -a). The base of G-imperative coincides with that of the prt. but has an epenthetic vowel between the first and the second radicals. For most verbs, this vowel copies the thematic vowel: parasum ~ i-prus ~ purus, purs-i/-a; pa˚adum ~ i-p˚id ~ pi˚id, pi˚d-i/a; tabalum ~ i-tbal ~ tabal, tabl-i/a. Some exceptional cases of verbs with the thematic -a- but inserting -i- are attested, however: lamadum ‘to learn’ ~ i-lmad ~ limad, limad-i/a (other verbs of this type are rakabum ‘to mount’, pasahum ‘to become appeased’, takalum ‘to trust’, palahum ‘to fear’). It was observed by R.-M. Voigt (1988: 109–10) that such forms are associated with verbs with stative meaning whereas the tabal-imperatives are typical of active-transmitive verbs. Imperative bases of the derived themes are as follows: Gt Gtn D Dt

pitrVs a pitarrVs purris putarris

S St Stn N Ntn

supris sutapris sutapris napris itaprVs

a. V is the thematic vowel of the prs. G.

The imperative is used to express positive commands only. For negative commands, see below, 6.3.5. 20. The existence of one more modal form, the so-called “i-Modus” was posited by some authors (see references in Kraus 1973). Several dozen verbal forms in various tenses and moods are attested with word-final -i (often with a nonparadigmatic gemination of the last consonant: i-ma-ad-da-di, prs. of madadum ‘to measure’, as-ku-un-ni, prt. of sakanum ‘to put’ etc.). Whatever the function of this -i may be (it most probably reflects a kind of affectional, chiefly pausal, intonation) it can hardly be considered a marker of mood. Moreover, it does not seem to be connected with verbal forms: see such examples as sa-ni-tum-mi < sanitum ‘second’, or ma-am-ma-an-ni < mamman ‘whoever’ (all examples from Kraus 1973: 258–59; see also Edzard 1973: 127–28).

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6.3.2. The subjunctive A finite verbal form appearing in the subordinate clause has a special marker, traditionally called subjunctive. In OB, this marker is -u added to all forms ending in a consonant (iprus-u, iparras-u, iptars-u, pars-u), forms ending in a vowel being unmarked. In the stative, only 3 sg. masc. is regularly inflected for the subjunctive. For the subjunctive marker -(u)na- in archaic OB, see Whiting 1987: 13, 43–44. 6.3.3. The ventive The dat. pronominal suffixes attached to verbal forms (-am, -m, -nim, see 1.1) may have a special deictic function, usually called the ventive. With verbs of motion, such forms indicate the direction to the speaker (e.g., illik ‘he went’ vs. illik-am ‘he came (here)’. This and other functions of the ventive have been extensively studied in Kouwenberg 2002. 21 The use of the ventive with other verbs is rather unpredictable and cannot be described adequately. In the stative, only 3 sg. masc. is regularly inflected for the ventive. The ventive marker is not compatible with the subjunctive and replaces it whenever a verb in the ventive appears in a syntactic environment requiring the subjunctive: sa illik-u ‘who went’ vs. sa illik-am ‘who came’. 22 6.3.4. The precative The precative is a verbal form expressing indirect command (‘let him do something!’). Traditional descriptions of Akk recognize precative forms for 1 sg. and 3 sg./pl. only. They are formed by adding lu- (1 sg.) and li- (all 3 sg. forms) to the prt. bases: 1 sg. G lu-prus, D lu-parris, S lu-sapris, etc.; 3 sg./ pl. G li-prus(u), D li-parris(u), S li-sapris(u). 23 21. From the historical point of view, Kouwenberg believes, the dative function of the ventive marker is a secondary development from its allative function (and not vice versa as usually assumed). This suggestion is cross-linguistically appealing but scarcely compatible with the existence of a fully developed system of enclitic and independent dative pronominal forms in Akkadian. Kouwenberg’s hypothesis according to which “the paradigmatic relationship between -am on the one hand, and -kum, -sum, etc. on the other hand, results from a secondary association of two originally disparate categories” (2002: 238) does not convince us, first of all because of the obvious correlation between -m and the dative meaning in each of the three forms. 22. For a unique ki tadammik∫ -u-nim ‘as you prosper for me here’ (translation by T. Jacobsen; cf. Kouwenberg 1998: 182) in which the markers of the ventive and the subjunctive do co-occur, see Gelb 1969: 105. Gelb is right that there is no formal obstacle for the co-occurrence of the two markers, since the ventive marker is nothing but a dat. pronominal suffix of 1 sg., and forms like sa iddin-u-sum ‘which he gave to him’ (a verb in the subjunctive + a dat. pronominal suffix of 3 sg.) are not uncommon. At the same time, forms like *iddin-u-am (or even *iddin-a-am, with a very rare allomorph of the subjunctive marker discussed in Gelb 1969: 101–2) would have yielded iddin-a m § , with an -a -§ that should be reflected in plene spelling at least in some periods or dialects of Akk, which is not the case (SGB 185). It may be observed that it is the ventive allomorph -nim, not -am which is expected after a vowel ending (the subjunctive marker -u in particular) and it is exactly -nim which appears in the unique example quoted above. 23. It is not impossible that these l-prefixes originate from the asseverative particle lu (note that lu + stative is often used with precative force: lu bal†ata ‘let you be alive!’). However, we would carefully distinguish forms of the precative from asseverative constructions

Akkadian Morphology

33

Functionally analogous forms for 1 pl. are built by adding the particle i to 1 pl. prt.: i niprus ‘let us cut’. Such forms are called “cohortatives” in traditional grammars (see GAG 132), but integrated into the paradigm of the precative in modern descriptions (GA 144–46 and especially SGB 181 where this marker is treated as a long i attached to the verbal form, thus i-niprus). The precative expresses positive wishes only. For negative wishes, see the next section. 6.3.5. The prohibitive and the vetitive These are forms expressing negative commands and negative wishes respectively. Negative commands are expressed by the negative particle la with the prs.: la taparras ‘do not cut!’ (also with 3rd person, meaning ‘let him not do something!’). Negative wishes are expressed by the vetitive particle with the prt. The particle has two allomorphs: e- before consonants, ayy- before vowels (e-taprus ‘you should not cut’, ayy-iprus ‘he should not cut’). 6.4. The stative As stated in 2.3, a noun in Akk can be conjugated (sarr-aku ‘I am king’, etc.). Most often such conjugated forms are based on the verbal adjective paris-. 24 Traditional grammars of Akk treat the conjugated verbal adjective as a special verbal category, the so-called permansive or stative. The meaning of the stative is usually passive for active-transitive verbs (paris ‘he is cut’ < parasum ‘to cut’), resultative for active-intransitive verbs (wasib ‘he is sitting’ < wasabum ‘to sit’) and descriptive for stative verbs (dami˚ ‘he is good’ < dama˚um ‘to be good’) (terminology of GA 27). In a number of active-transitive verbs (mostly those denoting taking, keeping, seizing), the stative may have both active and passive meaning depending on the context (thus, ßabtaku can be translated as ‘I am taken’ or ‘I have taken’). 25 According to some recent studies, parsaku is not to be considered a part of the verbal paradigm but rather a kind of syntactic construction, namely a type of nominal sentence with pronominal subject (see Buccellati 1968, lu + finite verbal forms (mostly preterites), such as lu epus ‘certainly I made’, where lu is obviously a separate word, not a modal prefix. For an attempt to explain the difference between lu epus and lupus as a continuation of a PS accentual opposition, see Hetzron 1969: 3–5; for a convincing critique of Hetzron’s hypothesis, see Greenstein 1977: 51. 24. According to Kraus 1984: 14–16, only 20 cases of conjugated nouns are attested among 1,200 occurrences of the predicative construction found by him in a large corpus of OB letters. All other examples are verbal adjectives. This fact led Kraus to the plausible conclusion that conjugation of nouns may be a secondary (and relatively late) development of the originally purely verbal category of the stative. See also Huehnergard 1987a: 217–18, 223; Kouwenberg 2000: 32, 55. 25. Huehnergard’s attempt to treat such examples as built on two different bases (“the base of these forms [active parsaku] is not the verbal adjective” [GA 394]) is not convincing since it is not clear either synchronically or diachronically on which base (other than that of the verbal adjective) the active stative could have been built. See Kouwenberg 2000: 63–68 for a valuable discussion on this subject with opposite conclusions.

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1988; Huehnergard 1986, 1987a). This approach, though very influential, arouses serious objections. First of all, there are several specifically verbal features of parsaku, namely: 1. it may carry pronominal suffixes of the direct and indirect objects 2. the ventive marker may be added to it (the use of the ventive as a feature “linking the stative with the verb” was noted as early as Gelb 1969: 213) 3. when appearing in a subordinate clause, 3 masc. sg. (occasionally also 3 fem. sg. [GAG 135]) of parsaku has the obligatory marker of the subjunctive. 26 Huehnergard is aware of this difficulty and notes that these features cannot be explained by assuming that the verbal adjective just preserves its verbal character: another verbal noun, namely the active participle paris-, when appearing in the st. p. never behaves in this manner. He concludes that “a fuller explanation is warranted” (Huehnergard 1987a: 226–27). An excellent study of defending the verbal nature of the stative is Kouwenberg 2000. Kouwenberg adds to the verbal categories shared by the stative (see Huehnergard 1987a: 226–27 and Kouwenberg 2000: 24–25) its typically verbal syntactic behavior (the use of the paronomastic infinitive and the possibility of governing a noun in the adverbial acc. [Kouwenberg 2000: 29]) and emphasizes the nonclitic character of stative suffixes (Kouwenberg 2000: 27), which alone is sufficient to invalidate completely the interpretation of the stative as an independent (nominal) sentence. The present authors agree with Kouwenberg that synchronically, a high degree of verbalization of parsaku is unquestionable, however problematic the origin of this process may be. As for Kouwenberg’s assertion that, diachronically, the nominal character of the stative is beyond doubt (expressed passim in Kouwenberg 2000), it is hardly correct either for ProtoAkk or for PS, or even for Proto-Afrasian; forms very similar both formally and functionally to the Akk stative are found in Egyptian and Berber (cf. Voigt 1988: 121; Diakonoff 1988: 94ff. and, recently, Waltisberg 2002: 38), in both cases fully integrated into the verbal paradigm. Accordingly, the nominal nature of the stative can be suggested for a rather remote stage of Pre-Proto-Afrasian as a result of internal reconstruction. 6.5. Nominal forms of the verb Nominal forms of the verb are the infinitive and the (active) participle. The concrete forms of basic and derived themes are as follows: 26. Although it may be observed that even the stative of nouns and nonverbal adjectives may occasionally appear with the subjunctive marker as, e.g., in the Code of Hammurabi §251: 53ff., summa alap awilim na-ak-ka-pí-[m]a kima na-ak-ka-pu-ú babtasu usedisumma ‘if a man’s ox is prone to goring, and his ward has informed him that it is prone to goring’, where the nonverbal adjective nakkapu§m is evidently in the stative in both main and subordinative clauses, and the latter form, in view of the consistent use of mimation in the Code, cannot but be a nominal stative in the subjunctive (a similar example is quoted in Kouwenberg 2000: 46).

Akkadian Morphology

G D Gt Gtn D Dtn S St Stn N Ntn

Infinitive

Participle

parasum purrusum pitrusum pitarrusum purrusum putarrusum suprusum sutaprusum sutaprusum naprusum naprusum

parisum muparrisum muptarsum muptarrisum muparrisum muptarrisum musaprisum mustaprisum mustaprisum mupparsum mupparsum

35

Note that the participial pattern of D is occasionally found with some verbs in G (musimum < siamum ‘to put, assign’, mudikum < dâkum ‘to kill’, mudûm < idûm ‘to know’). For verbal adjectives, see 2.1.2 and 6.4. 6.6. Conjugation of weak roots In most classes of weak verbs, there are a few which do not share the peculiarities of a given class but rather behave as strong verbs. Such verbs will not be discussed in the relevant sections below. 6.6.1. Verbs with identical second and third radicals (II = III) Conjugation of verbs II = III differs from that of the sound verbs only in that some verbs belonging to this class form the 3 masc. sg. of the stative after the pattern CaC (dan ‘he is strong’ < dananum, sar ‘he is false’ < sararum; in GAG 168–69, the vowel is thought to be lengthened, e.g., dan, which is difficult to accept; see Huehnergard 1997: 443). Other verbs are regular, however: madid ‘he is measured’ (< madadum). Monosyllabic formation is typical for verbs with nonactive meaning. (On the irregular formation of N from some roots of this class, see GAG 169–70, GA 461–62.) 6.6.2. Verbs In In Verbs In (exemplified by na˚arum ‘to tear out, to demolish’, nakasum ‘to cut’, naßarum ‘to watch’) the first radical is assimilated to the following consonant: i˚˚ur (< *in˚ur), usa˚˚ir (< *usan˚ir) with the exception of the N-pf. and all forms of Ntn, where it is not assimilated (ittan˚ar, etc.). In the imperative, infinitive and verbal adjective of N, assimilation is optional: nan˚urum/na˚˚urum, nankis/nakkis, etc. In the G-imperative, n- is dropped, and a prosthetic vowel identical to the root vowel appears instead (thus, ikis < nakasum, ußur < naßarum, etc.). The n- is also dropped in Gt, Gtn and Ntn infinitives, imperatives and verbal adjectives (itan˚urum < *nitan˚urum, etc.). The verb nadanum ‘to give’ has several peculiarities in the various dialects of Akk (see GAG 172). For OB, forms of the prt. in the ventive deserve attention. These are often written i-din-nam instead of the much rarer id-di-nam. This form, traditionally explained by a kind of gemination shift (thus to be transcribed [idinnam], see GAG 172), has been reinterpreted as

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a kind of pseudo-logographic writing where -nam is a phonetic complement to the “logogram” iddin written defectively (see GAG 172 note; Kraus 1957; SGB 248). 6.6.3. Verbs IH According to the commonly accepted point of view, five of the six laryngeal phonemes of PS are regularly dropped in Akk. Two of them (*? and *h, marked here as H1) disappeared without leaving a trace, whereas the remaining three (*÷ , *˙ and *g, marked as H2) change a neighboring a/a into an e/e. Due to vowel harmony operative in Babylonian, this vowel shift extends to the whole base as well as to most affixes (some deviations from this rule are thoroughly studied in Kouwenberg 2001, especially pp. 227– 32). The fall of laryngeals leads to the appearance of several irregular verbal classes. Only verbs with first laryngeal are to be treated individually whereas verbs with second and third laryngeal can be adequately described together with verbs IIw/y and IIIw/y. The main peculiarities of IH verbs are the following: 1. Word-initial *H is dropped (inf. G akalum ‘to eat’ < *?akalum, etc.). 2. Syllable-closing *H disappears and the preceding vowel is lengthened in all forms of G, D and S (and related themes): prt. G ikul (< *i-?kul), part. Dt. mutakkil- (< *mu?takkil-), pf. S ustakil (< *usta?kil), etc. Important exceptions are prs. S and St as well as all forms of Stn, where gemination of the second radical appears instead of vowel lengthening (usakkal, ustakkal, ustakkil, ustanakkil instead of the expected *usakal, *ustakal, *ustakil, *ustanakil). 3. Intervocalic *H in all forms of G and D (and related themes) disappears together with the vowel which follows it: prs. G ikkal (< *i?akkal), part. D mukkil- (< *mu?akkil-), etc. A specific feature of the OB orthography is that such forms are often written plene (i-ik-kal, ú-up-pí-is), a phenomenon which has not yet been explained satisfactorily (see discussion in Kouwenberg 2003–4; Aro 1953: 4; Knudsen 1980: 11 and LAA 87; Reiner notes that, among defective spellings of such forms, only those of the type i-kaal are found, never ik-ka-al). 4. In the imperative of G, word-initial *u/*i shifts to a (akul < *?ukul, ~ purus). This a- may, however, be explained alternatively as prosthetic (a-kul; cf. Arabic kul). Similar shift of *i- into a- occurs in the imperatives, infinitives and statives of Gt and Gtn (inf. Gt atkul- < *?itkul-, ~ pitrus-). 5. In the N-theme *-nH- shifts to -nn- (prt. innakil, prs. innakkal < *in?akil, *in?akkal). 27 Two verbs (abatum ‘to destroy’ and adarum ‘to be afraid’) behave as strong: prs. i??abbat, i??addar. For N-theme forms with ninsertion before the second radical (perfect, imperative, stative, infinitive) like nanmurum, nenpusum, see Kouwenberg 2004: 342–43. 27. See Kouwenberg 2004: 336–37 for the OB forms of nabutum and nerubum ‘to flee’, apparently with a long vowel after n (in-na-bi-tam /innabitam/ etc., with no vocalic syncope). Kouwenberg (2004: 339) is most probably right that there is scarcely any basis for the traditional normalization of such forms as /innabittam/ etc. (with the third radical geminated).

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6. In verbs with IH2, all thematic, prefixal and suffixal (except for the pl. marker -a) a-vowels shift to e (epesum ‘to do’ vs. akalum, erub vs. akul, eps-et vs. akl-at, etc.). 6.6.4. Verbs Iw/y Verbs belonging to this class may follow one of the two sets of forms in the G-theme. Forms of the first set are typical for most Iw verbs; those of the second, for a smaller group of Iw verbs and all Iy verbs. It is commonly assumed that there exists a correlation between the meaning of Iw verbs and the choice of one of the two sets, namely verbs whose meaning may be conventionally defined as active choose the first set while those with stative meaning follow the second. 28 Basic forms of the two sets are as follows: I wasabum ‘to sit’ 3 sg. 2 sg. m. 2 sg. f. 1 sg. 3 pl. m. 3 pl. f. 2 pl. 1 pl.

Prs.

Pf.

Prt.

ussab tussab tussabi ussab ussabu ussaba tussaba nussab

ittasab tattasab tattasbi attasab ittasbu ittasba tattasba nittabal

usib tusib tusbi usib usbu usba usba nusib

Impv. sib sibi

siba

28. This may be regarded as the only remnant of “Barth’s Law” in Akk, which, taken in its widest sense, postulates a correlation between the active/stative meaning of a verbal root and the choice of prefix vocalism in its conjugation. Applied to West Semitic, Barth’s Law is usually understood as a correlation between the thematic vowel of the base of the imperfect and that of the conjugational prefixes (-u/i- ~ a, -a- ~ i), i.e., just as a case of vowel dissimilation. The situation in Akk is different, since the thematic vowel of both types of Iw verbs is -i-, so a phonetic explanation seems quite unlikely. A plausible reconstruction of the relevant forms in Proto-Akk would be *yi-wsim (> *yisim), *ti-wsim (> *tisim), *?i-wsim (>*?isim), *ni-wsim (> *nisim) vs. *ya-(w)sib, *ta-(w)sib, *?a-(w)sib, *na-(w)sib with a subsequent leveling of *ti, *i and *ni of the first set to te-, e-, and ne- under the influence of the almost identical Iy paradigm. However, the necessity to recur to the latter hypothesis is not obvious since forms of Iw stative verbs with prefixes other than 3 masc. sg./pl. are virtually unattested (we were able to find only one example from a rather late text: sa . . . napsassu panussun te-˚ir-u-ma ‘whose life was precious (wa˚aru) for them’ [CAD A/2 206]). To sum up, Akk evidence favors semantic, not phonetic (dissimilatory) grounds for Barth’s Law in the earliest stages of Semitic. This approach is different from that proposed in Testen 1992: 133 where, in order to reconcile Akk and West Semitic evidence, Testen postulates a complicated chain of phonetic changes rather difficult to prove (*?iwCaC > *?i-yCaC > *?a-yCaC > *?e CaC > ? eCiC). Note that even if in Iw stative verbs “the stem vowel was replaced by i, doubtless on the analogy of the I-y class, for which the stem vowel is characteristic” (1992: 133), the situation in Akk is still essentially different from that observed in West Semitic, since the normal thematic vowel of Iy verbs both in Hebrew and, with minor exceptions, in Arabic is a-, not -i-. Note further that Testen is apparently not aware of the fact that in some persons of verbs Iy it is not e but rather i that appears as the prefix vowel. His reconstruction of the personal prefixes as *?a-, *ta-, *ya- (1992: 132) instead of *?a-, *ta-, *yi- (and *ni-), as proposed in Hetzron 1973–74: 38–40, is also unacceptable. For a fuller examination of this problem, see Kogan 2004.

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II ene˚um ‘to suck’, same forms for wara˚um ‘to be green/yellow’ 3 sg. 2 sg. m. 2 sg. f. 1 sg. 3 pl. m. 3 pl. f. 2 pl. 1 pl.

Prs.

Pf.

Prt.

inni˚ tenni˚ tenni˚i enni˚ inni˚u inni˚a tenni˚a ninni˚

iteni˚ teteni˚ teteni˚i eteni˚ iten˚u iten˚a teten˚a niteni˚

ini˚ teni˚ teni˚i eni˚ ini˚u ini˚a teni˚a nini˚

Impv. eni˚ en˚i

en˚a

The main formal differences between the two types may be summarized as follows: 1. Apophony i/a in I versus fixed root vowel in II. 2. u-vocalism of the prefix in prs. and prt. in I versus i/e vocalism in II (i-* /e*- correspond to i/a in the prefixes of the sound verb). 29 3. Monosyllabic base of the imperative in I versus bisyllabic forms in e- in II. 4. Syncope of the thematic vowel in the prt. of I vs. its preservation in II. It is usually assumed that the prefixal vowels in such forms are shortened (thus ubil ~ ublu). Some scholars believe, however, that this vowel has never been long (i.e., *yu-bil, not *ya-wbil is posited as the protoform; cf. Arabic ya-˚if- and especially Hebrew ye-led < *yi-lid) (Kienast 1963: 145; GA 78). This assumption is apparently in contradiction to the fact that forms without syncope are found sporadically in OAkk and OB and, in principle, we have every reason to believe that these forms are archaisms, not analogical innovations. However, according to Huehnergard 1987b: 191–93, early examples of this kind are exclusively restricted to the verb wabalum ‘to bring’ whereas similar forms from other verbs are late analogical innovations (cf. Kouwenberg 2003–4: 101). Note that according to W. Sommerfeld (1999: 21), the OAkk orthography seems to distinguish between tu- in verbal forms from roots Iw (written with TU as in tu-¶a-bu ‘you will [not] sit down’) and in other cases where DU (= tù) is used (as in tù-kúl-tum ‘support’). This evidence possibly points to some specific feature (quantity or quality?) making the vowel under discussion different from the normal short u. Problematic aspects of synchronical and diachronical morphology of this verbal class are studied in Gelb 1961: 111; Greenstein 1984: 36; Izre'el 1991: 41; Testen 1994. For an interpretation of Iw as a biconsonantal conjugation vs. Iy as a triconsonantal, see, e.g., SGB 249. 5. Short prefix vowel and gemination of -t- in the pf. of I vs. long vowel and single -t- in II. A different formation in I, namely, i-t-bal is common in OAkk and OB. 30 29. Note that e in te- etc. is diachronically irregular, since *ay normally yields i, not e in Babylonian (cf. GAG 175). 30. It was probably from such t-forms of G-perfect (or, even more likely, Gt preterite) that secondary verbal roots having t instead of w- emerged: tabalum ‘to carry off’ (~ wabalum ‘to bring’), taru§m ‘to bring forth’ (~ waru§m ‘to lead’) and a few others.

spread is 3 points long

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39

Several observations are to be made on the conjugation of derived themes: 1. In the D-theme, Iw verbs behave as strong verbs (u-wassir, etc.), whereas Iy have weak conjugation (unna˚, unni˚, etc.). 2. In the S-theme, su + w/y > su in all Iw/y verbs whereas sa + w/y may shift into either su or sa (also se). Lexical, chronological and dialectal distribution of these types is not fully investigated. In OB, se- forms are typical for verbs Iy as well as for waradum ‘to go down’ and wasabum ‘to sit (u-se-rid, u-se-sib, etc.). Most other verbs have sa- (su- forms are found only in poetic texts). For a fuller description, see GAG 177–78; see also discussion in Kienast 1963: 143. 3. In the prs. and the pf. of the S-theme, gemination of the second radical appears instead of the expected vowel length (usabbal, ustabbal, etc.). 4. In the N-theme, the conjugation of I is regular (iwwasib, etc.) whereas verbs belonging to II assimilate the first radical to the themeprefix: inneni˚, etc. 6.6.5. Verbs IIw/y/H Verbs of this group may be classified in four types according to the root vowel of the prt. G: I. II. III. IV.

u-verbs: kânum ‘to stay firm’, prt. i-kun i-verbs: râbum ‘to compensate’, prt. i-rib a-verbs: sâmum ‘to buy’, prt. i-sam e-verbs: bêlum ‘to have power’, prt. i-bel

In most cases, this root vowel depends on the etymological second radical (u-verbs usually have medial -w-, i ~ y, a ~ H1, e ~ H2). Exceptions are rare (thus, bâsum ‘to be ashamed’ is an a-verb whose root is thought to be bws (GAG 179); cf. Hebrew bws id.; note that in the CAD B 5 the infinitive of this verb is transcribed as ba?asu thus presuming a root b?s). The root vowel appears unchanged in most forms of G (prt. above, pf. iktun, irtib, istam, ibtel; impv. kun, rib, sam, bel, etc.). It is ousted by â/ê in prs. forms without suffixes (i-kân, i-râb, i-sâm, i-bêl). In forms with suffixes the root vowel reappears, shortened, and the third radical is geminated (i-kunn-u, i-ribb-u, i-samm-u, i-bell-u). The infinitive and the participle of all four classes are identical (kânum, râbum, sâmum, bêlum; ka?inum, ra?ibum, sa?imum; in e-verbs, participles are not attested). This symmetrical pattern typical of later dialects (e.g., MB and NB) is violated in OB where i-verbs usually have noncontracted forms in the prs. and the inf. (i-riab, riabum). In OAkk and OA, forms without contraction are normal for u-verbs too (i-kuan, kuanum). In archaic OB such forms are also quite regular (see Whiting 1987: 12). Among derived themes, only D and S will be treated here (other themes—poorly exemplified, for the most part—are discussed in GAG 180–82). The conjugation of both themes is identical for all four classes. According to the current point of view (e.g., GAG 181–82), all forms of the two themes in B are weak, i.e., prt. and prs. bases are differentiated by

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an apophonic change i:a without insertion of -a- typical for prs. G. Basic forms are D prt. u-kin, u-kin-u; prs. u-kan, u-kann-u; pf. u-ktin, u-ktinn-u; impv. kin, kinn-a; part. mukinnum; inf. kunnum; S prt. u-skin, pl. u-skinn-u; prs. u-skan, pl. u-skann-u; pf. u-stakin; impv. sukin; part. muskinnum; inf. sukunum. Forms with the inserted -a- in the prs. D are, however, actually attested in OB (see examples in GAG 181) and are quite regular in the prs. S in OA (see examples in Hecker 1968: 160). Accordingly, it would perhaps be more reasonable to treat the relevant OB forms as u-kân, u-skân (see Diakonoff 1991: 99). 6.6.6. Verbs IIIw/y/H The same four classes of verbs are distinguished, namely i-, u-, a- and everbs. All verbs of this type have an identical thematic vowel in the prt., the prs. and the pf., the last radical being dropped. Basic forms are as follows: I. II. III. IV.

Prt.

Prs.

Pf.

Inf.

ibni imnu ikla il˚e

ibanni imannu ikalla ile˚˚e

ibtani imtanu iktala ilte˚e

banûm manûm kalûm le˚ûm

‘to build’ ‘to count’ ‘to detain’ ‘to take’

Occasionally, forms without vowel harmony are attested for verbs belonging to group IV. For a detailed analysis of such cases see Kouwenberg 2002: 233 and elsewhere in this study. As established by Kouwenberg, the a-forms usually appear if the base is followed by a formative beginning with a long or short a (thus ele˚˚e but ala˚˚e-am). The exact relationship between the thematic vowel and the historical third radical is not always clear. In many cases -i corresponds to *y, -u to *w, -a to *H1 and -e to *H2, but it is certainly a simplification to assume that, for instance, all roots with the third radical *H1 yield -a verbs in Akk (so, GAG 166, 183; see Huehnergard 1999: 88–93, where several examples, such as inassi/issi ‘to carry’ (< Common Semitic *ns?§ ), are quoted). 31 Imperatives are bisyllabic with the root vowel in both syllables (bini, munu, le˚e), except for III (kila < kalûm; so also sime, used alongside seme < semûm ‘to hear’). The final vowel in all these forms is traditionally thought to be short (this notation adopted, e.g., in GAG and GA). See, however, argumentation in favor of its interpretation as long (thus ibni ~ ibanni, etc.) in SGB 261. It is true that, according to the rules of contraction adopted by most Assyriologists *-iy, *-uw and -aH have to yield long vowels (iprus : *ibniy > ibni, etc.). We cannot agree, however, that there is some conclusive internal evidence for such transcription. Buccellati’s argument that a form like bani-tu (< *baniy-t-) can have only a long vowel in the second syllable, since 31. A similar case is †ebûm ‘to sink down’, obviously derived from PS *†b÷ (cf. at least Hebrew and Aramaic) but still considered a †bu verb (in von Soden’s terminology, identical to our IIIw) in AHw 1382, certainly because of u as the thematic vowel.

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otherwise this vowel would drop (yielding *bantu), is by no means convincing, since a finite verbal form does not necessarily behave like a nominal one. Moreover, in the forms in question we treat word-final positions, whereas in Buccellati’s example the -i- is word-medial. Diachronic evidence regarding this point is ambiguous (cf. Arabic yabni vs. Geºez y´bni). When vowel endings appear after the final vowel, regular contraction rules are operative (-V% + a > -â [ibn-â < ibni-a]; -V% + i > -î (tabn-î < tabni-i]; -V% + u > -û [ibn-û < ibni-u]). In OB, -e/-i + a usually remain uncontracted (ibnia, il˚ea, etc.). Patterns of the participle and the infinitive of I–III are identical (banûm, fem. banitum; banûm); in IV they are le˚ûm, le˚ûm. Conjugation of derived themes poses no difficulty: vocalism of the base is usually the same as in the strong verb, whereas vowel endings are added in accordance with the contraction rules described above. 6.6.7. Doubly weak roots Phonetic peculiarities of Akk (the loss of the laryngeals, the contraction of w/y) led to the appearance of an extraordinarily large number of verbs combining two (or even three) of the irregularities discussed above. As in other Semitic languages, most forms of doubly and triply weak verbs simply combine the peculiarities of the respective classes of “normal” weak verbs. See a detailed survey in GAG 187–92. 6.7. Quadriradical verbs The classic work on Akk quadriradical verbs is Heidel 1949, whose main lines will be followed here. A recent, mostly diachronically oriented study is Gensler 2000. The only example of nonprefixal quadriradical verb in Akk seems to be NA parsumu ‘to outlive’ (denominative from pursumu ‘grey’), though it is considered a “WS Bildung” in AHw 836. 32 All other quadriradicals are found only in prefixal conjugations. The following are the basic types: I. su-C1aC2C2uC2um: Attested examples are suharrurum ‘to become dazed, numb; to abate’, suparrurum ‘to spread’, su˚allulum ‘to be suspended; to suspend’, su˚ammumum ‘to become still; to cause silence’, sukênum ‘to prostrate oneself; to make submit’, supêlum ‘to change’. Formally, the conjugation of these verbs is identical to that of the triconsonantal verbs in the SD theme (usharrir, etc.) so that they may be regarded theoretically as SD for the respective triconsonantal roots. However, as demonstrated in Whiting 1981: 5ff., the u-vocalism of the prefixes in suharrurum, su˚allulum and su˚ammumum is typical of later dialects while the earliest evidence points to an i/a-vocalism (isharrir etc.). This is an important argument for dissociating these three verbs from SD (and, according to Whiting, regarding them as belonging to the R-stem). Another reason not to treat s as the causative marker is that the presumably original 32. Note also palkû ‘wide’ (MB, NB) connected with nepelkû ‘to become wide’ and some other examples in GAG 199 note.

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triconsonantal root is either not attested or clearly different semantically: cf. su˚allulum ‘to be suspended; to suspend’ vs. ˚alalum ‘to become thin, light’ or suharrurum ‘to become dazed’ vs. hararum ‘to dig’. Diachronic evidence is ambiguous (see Heidel 1949: 95 with bibliographic references): while it is tempting to connect su˚allulum with sa˚alum ‘to weigh; to suspend’ (PS *t˚l, see especially Geºez sa˚ala ‘to hang’) and su˚ammumum with Arabic s˚m ‘to be ill’ (in both cases assuming s is part of the root and not the prefix), sukênum is likely to be related to Hebrew and Arabic kn÷ ‘to bend, humble, submit’, thus supporting the interpretation of s- as prefixal. II. na-C1aC2C3uC4um: This class, much better exemplified (dozens of lexemes are attested), is sometimes called “N-class” since most verbs belonging to it are attested in the N-theme, though the S-theme is frequent enough, and Ntn and Stn are also attested. A striking feature of these verbs is that they all have l or r as the second radical. 33 Basic forms of these verbs in N and S—in most features similar to their triconsonantal counterparts—are as follows (exemplified by naparsudum ‘to flee, to escape’). Inf. Prt. Prs. Pf. Impv. Part.

N-theme

S-theme

naparsudum ipparsid ipparassad ittaparsad naparsid mupparsidum

suparsudum usparsid usparassad ustaparsid suparsid musparsidum

6.8. Irregular verbs Unlike doubly weak verbs, irregular verbs do not share their peculiarities with any of the weak classes; rather, their specific features are determined lexically. In Akk, such verbs are very few. I. The verb izuzzum (also uzuzzum) ‘to stay’ has the following basic forms in G: Prs. Prt. Pf. Impv. Part.

i-zzaz, i-zziz, i-ttaziz, iziz, muzzizum

pl. i-zzazz-u pl. i-zziz(z)-u pl. i-ttazizz-u pl. izizz-a

33. The diachronic background of this verbal class remains obscure. According to Kouwenberg 2004: 346, such verbs originate from a fusion of expressive non-verbal elements and an n-prefix functioning as a verbalizer. The expressive nature of such verbs as napardu § ‘to shine’ or naparsudu ‘to excape’ is, however, far from evident (as recognized by Kouwenberg). In any case, an ex nihilo creation of some 25 lexical items would be quite surprising and it is not impossible that a deeper etymological inquiry (to the best of our knowledge, never undertaken) will reveal Semitic cognates for at least some of the Akkadian roots in question.

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If analyzed as belonging to G-theme, this verb appears to share some peculiarities with In and IIy verbs, but other features of its conjugation are unique (especially the gemination of the last radical in prt., pf., and impv.). According to A. Poebel (Poebel 1939: 75–196), most of these irregularities can be plausibly explained if this verb is interpreted as the N-theme of the root *zyz. Poebel’s view was sharply criticized by von Soden who defended the traditional opinion, according to which izuzzum neither belongs to any of the established classes of weak verbs nor has a convincing Semitic etymology (von Soden 1950: 163–69) A recent attempt to uphold Poebel’s theory is Huehnergard 2002. 34 This verb is common not only in G, but also in S, Gt, Gtn. Basic forms of S are the following: Inf. Prs. Prt. Pf. Impv. Part.

suzuzzum u-szaz, u-sziz, u-staziz, suziz, muszizzum

pl. u-szazz-u pl. u-szizz-u pl. u-stazizz-u pl. suzizz-a

Forms of izuzzum are to be carefully distinguished from those of the middle weak verb zâzum ‘to divide into shares’ (prt. i-zuz, i-zuz-u; prs. i-zâz, i-zuzz-u). II. The verb itulum (utulum) ‘to lie down’ seems to be originally a Gt theme of nialum ‘to lie down’ (so, GA 511 and, with much detail, Huehnergard 2002: 178–84), but is traditionally treated as a separate lexeme (see von Soden 1950: 169–72). Its basic forms are prt. ittil, pf. ittatil, prs. ittêl (Mari), ittâl (SB). III. The verb alakum shows a sharp contrast to other verbs IH: prs. and prt. are distinguished by the apophony i:a (as in Iw), whereas the second radical is geminated: prs. illik, prt. illak, pf. ittalak. IV. The verb nadanum behaves like a regular In in B, but has a remarkable peculiarity in Assyrian, namely the prs. iddan (instead of B inaddin) and the imperative din (instead of idin). Cf. von Soden 1950: 174. V. The verbs idûm (edûm) ‘to know’ and isûm ‘to have’ have only one set of prefixal forms with a remarkable coincidence of 1 sg. and 3 sg. (ide and isu). 35 These forms function for all tenses and the stative. The participle of idûm is mudûm; isûm has no participle. Note that idûm is also used 34. As suggested by Huehnergard, izuzzu is an N stem of a second weak a-verb, a verbal class otherwise represented by bas§ um ‘to be ashamed’ and ba?§ um ‘to come’ (2002: 164). Possible etymological evidence (Post-Biblical Hebrew zwz ‘to move away’, Ugaritic n-dd ‘to stand’) is discussed in 2002: 177 (with references to earlier studies). 35. In the precative, idum § and isum § normally appear as lu ide and lu isu (not *lide, *lisu) which is an important feature linking such forms to the stative (which is commonly used in the lu paris precative construction). This fact is rightly stressed in Rainey 1996: 213, 324 but apparently overlooked in SGB 265 and Testen 2000: 81 where von Soden’s definition of these forms as prefixed statives is criticized.

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in D, where it behaves, however, as a regular doubly weak verb (root consonants wdH2: prt. uweddi, etc.). For diachronical considerations on the two verbs, see Testen 2000.

References AHw = Soden, Wolfram von 1965–81 Akkadischen Handwörterbuch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Aro, Jussi 1953 Abnormal Plene Writings in Akkadian Texts. Studia Orientalia 19. Helsinki. Buccellati, Giorgio 1968 An Interpretation of the Stative as a Nominal Sentence. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 21: 1–12. 1976 The Case against the Alleged Akkadian Plural Morpheme -anu. Afroasiatic Linguistics 3: 28–30. 1988 The State of the “Stative.” Pp. 158–89 in Fucus: A Semitic/Afrasian Gathering in Remembrance of Albert Ehrman, ed. Yoël L. Arbeitman. Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Sciences 58. Amsterdam: Benjamins. CAD = Oppenheim, A. Leo, et al., eds. 1956– The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Charpin, Dominique, and Jean-Marie Durand 1998 Nouveaux exemples de ‘R Stem(s)’. Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires 17. Diakonoff, Igor M. 1967 Ergativnaja konstrukcija i subjektno-objektnyje otnosenija (na materiale jazykov Drevnego Vostoka) [Ergative Construction and SubjectObject Relations: Evidence from Languages of the Ancient Near East]. Pp. 95–115 in Ergativnaja konstrukcija predlozenija v jazykakh razlicnykh tipov [The Ergative Syntactic Construction in Languages of Different Types]. Leningrad: Nauka. 1988 The Afrasian Languages. Moscow: Nauka. 1991 Akkadskij Yazyk [The Akkadian Language]. Pp. 70–109 in Jazyki Azii i Afriki 4/1. Moscow: Nauka. 1991–92 Proto-Afrasian and Old Akkadian. A Study in Historical Phonetics. With contributions by O. Stolbova and A. Militarev. Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 4/1–2. Edzard, Dietz Otto 1965 Die Stämme des altbabylonischen Verbums in ihrem Oppositionssystem. Pp. 111–20 in Studies in Honor of Benno Landsberger, ed. H. Güterbock and T. Jacobsen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1973 Die Modi beim älteren akkadischen Verbum. Orientalia 42: 121–41. 1982 Zu den akkadischen Nominalformen parsat-, pirsat-, und pursat-. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 72: 68–88. 1986 Review of Greenstein 1984. Journal of the American Oriental Society 106: 359–62. 1996 Die Iterativstämme beim akkadischen Verbum. Die Frage ihrer Entstehung; ihre Funktion; ihre Verbreitung. Bayerische Akademie der Wissen-

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schaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte Jahrgang 1996, Heft 2. München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Faber, Alice 1985 Akkadian Evidence for Proto-Semitic Affricates. Journal of Cunieform Studies 37: 101–7. GA = Huehnergard, John 2005 A Grammar of Akkadian. 2nd ed. Harvard Semitic Museum Studies 45. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. GAG = von Soden, Wolfram 1995 Grundriss der Akkadischen Grammatik. 3rd ed. Analecta Orientalia 33. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. Gelb, Ignace J. 1955 Notes on von Soden’s Grammar of Akkadian. Bibliotheca Orientalis 12: 93–111. 1961 Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar. Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1969 Sequential Reconstruction of Proto-Akkadian. Assyriological Studies 18. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gensler, Orin 1997 Reconstructing Quadriliteral Verb Inflection: Ethiopic, Akkadian, ProtoSemitic. Journal of Semitic Studies 42/2: 229–57. Goetze, Albrecht 1946a Sequence of Two Short Syllables in Akkadian. Orientalia 15: 233–38. 1946b The Akkadian Masculine Plural in -anu/i and Its Semitic Background. Language 22: 21–30. 1947 Short or Long a? (Notes on Some Akkadian Words). Orientalia 16: 239– 50. 1958 The Sibilants of Old Babylonian. Revue d’Assyriologie 52: 137–49. Greenstein, Edward L. 1977 Phonological Studies in Akkadian. Ph.D. diss., Columbia University. 1984 The Phonology of Akkadian Syllable Structure. Afroasiatic Linguistics 9/1. Groneberg, Brigitte 1989 Reduplication of Consonants and ‘R’-Stems. Revue d’Assyriologie 83: 27–34. Hecker, Karl 1968 Grammatik der Kültepe-Texte. Analecta Orientalia 44. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. 2000 i oder i im Status constructus? Altorientalische Forschungen 27/2: 260–68. Heidel, Alexander 1949 The System of the Quadriliteral Verb in Akkadian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hetzron, Robert 1969 The Evidence for Perfect *y’aqtul and Jussive *yaqt’ul in Proto-Semitic. Journal of Semitic Studies 14: 1–21. 1973–74 The Vocalization of Prefixes in Semitic Active and Passive Verbs. Mélanges de l’Université St.-Joseph 48: 35–48. Huehnergard, John 1986 On Verbless Clauses in Akkadian. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 76: 218–49.

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1987a “Stative,” Predicative, Pseudo-Verb. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 46: 215–32. 1987b Three Notes on Akkadian Morphology. Pp. 181–93 in Working with No Data. Semitic and Egyptian Studies Presented to Thomas O. Lambdin, ed. D. M. Golomb. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. 1997 Akkadian Grammar (Review article of GAG). Orientalia 66: 434–44. 1999 On the Etymology and Meaning of Hebrew nabî?. Eretz-Israel 26: 88– 93. 2002 izuzzum and itulum. Pp. 161–85 in Riches Hidden in Secret Places. Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen, ed. T. Abusch. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Izre'el, Shlomo 1991 On the Person Prefixes of the Akkadian Verb. Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 20: 35–56. Kienast, Burkhardt 1957 Verbalformen mit Reduplikation im Akkadischen. Orientalia 26: 44–50. 1961 Weiteres zum R-Stamm des Akkadischen. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 15: 59–61. 1963 Das System der zweiradikaligen Verben im Akkadischen. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 55: 138–55. Knudsen, Ebbe Egede 1980 Stress in Akkadian. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 32: 3–16. Kogan, Leonid 2004 Notes on Barth’s Law in Akkadian (with an excursus on the history of Semitic verbs Iy). Pp. 343–48 in Babel und Bibel 1, ed. Leonid Kogan. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities. Kouwenberg, N. J. C. 1997 Gemination in the Akkadian Verb. Assen: Van Gorcum. 1998 Review of SGB. Bibliotheca Orientalis 55, 1/2: 172–85. 2000 Nouns as Verbs: The Verbal Nature of the Akkadian Stative. Orientalia 69: 21–71. 2001 The Interchange of e and a in Old Babylonian. Pp. 225–49 in Veenhof Anniversary Volume, ed. W. H. van Soldt. Leiden: Netherlands Institute for the Near East. 2002 Ventive, Dative and Allative in Old Babylonian. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 92: 200–240. 2003–4 Initial Plene Writing and the Conjugation of the First Weak Verbs in Akkadian. Jaarbericht “Ex Oriente Lux” 38: 81–103. 2004 Assyrian Light on the History of the N-Stem. Pp. 333–52 in Assyria and Beyond. Studies Presented to Mogens Trolle Larsen. Leiden: Netherlands Institute for the Near East. 2005 Reflections on the Gt-stem in Akkadian. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 95: 77–103. Kraus, F. R. 1957 Eine Besonderheit der älteren akkadischen Orthographie. Rivista degli studi orientali 32: 103–8. 1973 Ein altbabylonischer “i-Modus”? Pp. 253–65 in Symbolae Biblicae et Mesopotamicae F. M. T. de Liagre Böhl Dedicatae, ed. M. A. Beet et al. Leiden: Netherlands Institute for the Near East.

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1984 Nominalsätze im altbabylonischen Briefen und der Stativ. Amsterdam. LAA = Reiner, Erica 1966 A Linguistic Analysis of Akkadian. Janua Linguarum, Series Practica 21. The Hague: Mouton. Loesov, Sergey 2004 T-Perfect in Old Babylonian: The Debate and a Thesis. Pp. 83–101 in Babel und Bibel 1, ed. Leonid Kogan. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities. 2005 Akkadian Sentences about the Present Time. Part One. Pp. 101–48 in Memoriae Igor M. Diakonoff, ed. L. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov, and S. Tischenenko. Babel und Bibel 2; Orientalia et Classica 8. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006. Mayer, Werner R. 1995 Zum Terminativ-Adverbialis im Akkadischen: Die Modaladverbien auf -is. Orientalia 64: 161–68. Okhotina, Alexandra, and Leonid Kogan forthcoming Status constructus of Monosyllabic Feminine Nouns in Akkadian Reconsidered. Poebel, Arno 1939 Studies in Akkadian Grammar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Reiner, Erica 1984 Damqam-inim Revisited. In Studia orientalia memoriae Jussi Aro dedicata. Studia Orientalia 55: 177–82. SGB = Buccellati, Giorgio 1996 A Structural Grammar of Babylonian. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Soden, Wolfram von 1932–33 Der hymnisch-epische Diakelt des Akkadischen. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 40: 163–227; 41: 90–183. 1950 Unregelmässige Verben im Akkadischen. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 50: 162–81. 1991 Deminutiva nach der Form qutail > qutil und Vergleichbare vierkonsonantige Bildungen im Akkadischen. Pp. 1488–92 in Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau, on the Occasion of His Eighty-Fifth Birthday. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Sommerfeld, Walter 1999 Die Texte der Akkade-Zeit. 1. Das Dijala-Gebiet: Tutub. Münster: Rhema. Speiser, Ephraim A. 1967 The “Elative” in West-Semitic and Akkadian. Pp. 465–93 in Oriental and Biblical Studies. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Streck, Michael P. 1994 Funktionsanalyse des akkadischen St2-Stamms. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 84: 161–97. 2002 Die Nominalformen maPRaS(t), maPRaS und maPRiS(t) im Akkadischen. Pp. 223–57 in Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 2003 Die akkadischen Verbalstämme mit ta-Infix. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 303. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

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Testen, David 1992 A Trace of Barth’s Preradical *i in Akkadian. Journal of the Near Eastern Society 51/2: 131–34. 1994 The I-w Verbal Class and the Reconstruction of the Early Semitic Preradical Vocalism. Journal of the American Oriental Society 114/3: 426–34. 2000 Conjugating the “Prefixed Stative” Verbs in Akkadian. Journal of the Near Eastern Society 59/2: 81–92. Tropper, Josef 1998 Die infirmen Verben des Akkadischen. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 148/1: 7–34. Voigt, Rainer-Maria 1988 Die infirmen Verbaltypen des Arabischen und das Biradikalismus-Problem. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. Waltisberg, Michael 2002 Zur Ergativitäthypothese im Semitischen. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 152/1: 11–62. Whiting, Robert M. 1972 The Dual Personal Pronouns in Akkadian. Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 31: 331–37. 1984 The R Stem(s) in Akkadian. Orientalia 50: 1–39. 1987 Old Babylonian Letters from Tell-Asmar. Assyriological Studies 22. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Zaborski, Andrzej 1976 The Semitic External Plural in an Afroasiatic Perspective. Afroasiatic Linguistics 3/6: 1–7.

Central Semitic

Chapter 2

Ugaritic Morphology Dennis Pardee The University of Chicago

1. Introduction Ugaritic is the best attested representative known today of the West Semitic languages spoken in Syria-Palestine during the second half of the 2nd millennium b.c.e. (on the “Canaanite” of the period, see Rainey 1996). The language is written in an alphabetic cuneiform script principally on clay tablets, though a few examples are known of brief texts inscribed in stone and metal. This writing system is unique in that it takes the cuneiform principle (wedges inscribed in clay) used throughout the ancient Near East for the syllabic notation of various languages and adapts it to represent graphemes of an alphabetic type for the purpose of writing a West Semitic language. The vowels of the language may be known (1) from transcriptions in syllabic cuneiform (Huehnergard 1987) and (2) from a peculiarity of the Ugaritic writing system itself, viz., the presence of three alif-signs ({™,¡,§}), used at least in part to represent the consonant /ª/ and a following vowel. Though much can, therefore, be said about the consonantal skeleton of a given form, the vocalic elements must usually be at least partially reconstructed. The language is of the West-Semitic type and is variously classified as a separate branch of the West-Semitic or Central-Semitic languages (Kaye 1991), as a western remnant of old Amorite (Pardee 1997a, 1997b, 1997c [a view that is similar to the preceding one if it be accepted that Amorite represents early West Semitic]), or as northern Canaanite (Tropper 1994a, 2000: 3–5). Culturally, the speakers of Ugarit saw themselves as belonging to a line going back to the Middle Bronze Age with strong ties to the peoples we know as the Amorites (Pardee 1988a: ch. V). Literarily, the poetic texts in particular show strong formal, lexical, and thematic affinities to Biblical Hebrew poetry; the formal structure provided by poetic parallelism broadly defined (Pardee 1988b) is particularly striking. Linguistically, the personal names are of the Amorite type though with Ugaritic but nonCanaanite innovations, while phonology and morphology show affinities with Arabic and with the various known forms of West Semitic. Ugaritic shares certain important isoglosses with Northwest Semitic as opposed to Arabic (e.g., roots Iw § Iy), with Amorite/Aramaic/Arabic as opposed to Canaanite (absence of the /a/ § /o/ shift), and with Canaanite as opposed to Aramaic (e.g., /Î/ § /ß/). A case may be made for Arabic, Aramaic, and Ugaritic/Canaanite representing the principal branches of early West Semitic (or Amorite), with Ugaritic and Canaanite seen as sub-branches of the

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westernmost branch. Because Canaanite is already well attested in the 14th century b.c.e., the latter split must have occured no later than in the first half of the 2nd millennium and may date considerably earlier. Though the fame of the city of Ugarit is known to have been widespread as early as the 18th century b.c.e. (Villard 1986), the local language is attested only for the last part of the Late Bronze Age and in a relatively small area, that of the territory controlled by the kingdom of Ugarit on the north coast of Syria (perhaps some 2,500 square kilometers). The language was unknown before 1929, when excavations began at the site, of which the modern name is Ras Shamra (Yon 1997a, 1997b, and 2006; Pardee 1997b, 1997d). The cuneiform writing system in which the known Ugaritic texts are inscribed was devised relatively shortly before the end of the Late Bronze Age, probably in the first half of the 13th century, and disappeared almost entirely with the destruction of the city of Ugarit early in the 12th century. The greatest number of texts date from the last few decades of the site. Though there are some texts that seem to represent peripheral usages (e.g., RS [= text discovered at Ras Shamra] 15.007, RS 17.063, RS 17.117), while a few others reflect a reduced graphemic/phonetic inventory (e.g., RS 5.197+, RS 22.003, RS 26.135), the only well-attested strata of the language are the poetic dialect in which most of the mythological texts are written and the prose dialect used for everyday communication and administration. For overviews of Ugaritic grammar, see Pardee 1997c (brief), 2004a (more details), Bordreuil and Pardee 2004 (many more examples); for reference grammars, see Gordon 1965; Segert 1984; Sivan 1997; Tropper 2000. Like the other Semitic languages, Ugaritic morphology is of the inflecting type. There is considerable merit to the traditional view according to which a Semitic word consists of a consonantal “root” + internal vowel(s) + additional morphemes. There are roots of a nominal type which may be considered to include a vocalic element (e.g., ªarß ‘earth’) and verbal roots in which vocalic variation is the rule; both types of roots generate derivatives. Morphology thus consists of an abstract entity known as a root, which exists in concrete form as a set of consonants, usually two or three, which in a nominal root may include a vowel, and which is modified by internal vowel change (“Ablaut”), by affixation, and/or by prefixation. A Semitic text may be analyzed according to the grammatical categories commonly used for the modern languages of scholarship, but many words so analyzed have more than one function, e.g., either as a preposition or as a conjunction. A descriptive analysis may be based on three primary categories of words: nouns, verbs, and particles (this presentation was adopted in Pardee 2004a and in Bordreuil and Pardee 2004 and is maintained here). This view, which lies behind the organization of some of the classic grammars of Arabic, is not without its own problems, for one encounters significant overlap between these categories (e.g., verbal nouns and particles derived from nouns) and there are clearly definable subcategories (e.g., adjectives and adverbs). The description according to three principal categories is nonetheless useful, for the elements belonging to

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overlapping categories and to subcategories are themselves clearly definable according to one or the other of the primary categories (e.g., verbal nouns will have nominal morphology along with certain syntactic and lexical features of verbs, adjectives will have nominal morphology not verbal morphology, verbal adjectives will have nominal morphology along with certain syntactic and lexical features of verbs, etc.). Nouns and adjectives are marked for gender, number, and case, but not for definiteness and only partially for state. These grammatical categories are expressed by affixation. Prefixation and internal vowel variation function primarily in nouns to mark lexical categories rather than grammatical ones. Verbs are marked for aspect/tense, for person, for voice, and for mood. There are two aspects, perfective and imperfective, the first marked only by suffixation, the second by prefixation and suffixation; three voices, active, middle, and passive, marked by internal vowel change and by prefixed consonantal morphemes; and five moods, all marked by suffixation to the imperfective verb. The position of the person markers indicates aspect/ tense, i.e., person is expressed by suffixation in the perfective, by prefixation in the imperfective. Particles are characterized by the absence of the morphological markers of nouns and verbs. This formulation applies precisely, however, only to the most basic particles, for many of the particles are secondarily derived from nouns or pronouns and may thus include markers characteristic of the nominal system. The following presentation of the morphological categories is according to the three principal categories just described, with an attempt to delineate clearly the overlapping elements and the subcategories. In the following discussions and tables “º” is used to indicate forms that are expected to exist but that are not attested in the texts presently extant, while “-º” is used for forms without a consonantal indicator of a morpheme otherwise indicated consonantally in the paradigm or for a form ending with hypothetical “zero” vowel. 2. Nominal categories 2.1. Nouns Case markers are suffixed and consist of a combination of vocalic and consonantal elements. The expression of grammatical number is coterminous with the case system: a triptotic case system is used in the singular, a diptotic one in the dual and plural. The case markers are in all instances affixed to the nominal stem. Singular: nominative /-u/, genitive /-i/, accusative /-a/ Dual: nominative /-a + mV/, oblique /-ê (< ay) + mV/ Plural: nominative /-u + mV/, oblique /-i + mV/ (the vowel is in each case the lengthened singular vowel, with the genitive providing the oblique case)

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This system is consistent with case systems known from fully vocalized Semitic languages and is demonstrated internally by the reasonably consistent use of the appropriate alif sign in writing nouns of which /ª/ is the final consonant. The demonstration provided by the following forms is a classic one, going back to the first important treatments of Ugaritic grammar (e.g., Gordon 1940 §7): sg. m. nom. {ks§} = /kussaªu/, sg. m. gen. {ks¡} = /kussaªi/, sg. m. acc. {ks™} = /kussaªa/; pl. m. nom. {rp§m} = /rapaªuma/, pl. m. obl. {rp¡m} = /rapaªima/. There is not a separate case for the expression of the vocative. There are two lexical vocative markers, l and y (cognate with Arabic ya), but a noun may be used vocatively without the use of a lexical marker. There is some evidence that the oblique case was used in the plural (Singer 1948) and one datum (ks¡ ‘O throne’) for the genitive in the singular, perhaps by analogy with the case that normally follows the preposition l (Bordreuil and Pardee 1991: 158). The accusative case is used both for the object(s) of transitive verbs and for various adverbial notions (e.g., smm /samîma/ ‘to the heavens’, occurring in complementary distribution with the locative/directive form smmh—see §4.5 below on the particle -h). There are some nouns, particularly those bearing a nominal suffix containing a long vowel (e.g., /-an/, /-it/), that have a diptotic singular case system: /-u/ nominative, /-a/ oblique (Liverani 1963; Huehnergard 1987: 299; Tropper 2000: 304–5). Gender is marked by suffixed morphemes that overlap partially with the case markers: sg. m. -º (i.e., case vowel only) sg. f. -t = /-(a)t-/ followed by the case vowel pl. m. -º (i.e., case ending only) pl. f. -t = /-at-/ (i.e., by lengthening of the /a/ of the singular) followed by the case vowel The dual case morpheme was probably attached to the singular stem, masculine or feminine: du. m. -º (i.e., singular stem + dual case morpheme) du. f. -t = /-(a)t-/ followed by the dual case morpheme. Several nouns that have feminine agreement marking do not bear the /-(a)t-/ morpheme (e.g., §m ‘mother’), while the plural morphemes do not correspond in every case to the sex/gender of the entity denoted (e.g., grnt [pl. of grn ‘threshing-floor’]). Singular, dual, and plural are productive number categories, marked by variations in the case vowel, with affixation of -m to the dual and plural. As is clear from the distributions of the elements -m and -n among the various Semitic languages, the function of the -m was not historically that of a pluralization marker. For the problem of the quality of the vowel after this -m on the dual, see Huehnergard 1987: 298, who posits that the element was originally /mi/ in the dual, /ma/ in the plural. Of those who dare

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to vocalize Ugaritic texts, some indicate /-ma/ everywhere while awaiting more evidence. There is no quasi-lexical marker of definiteness in Ugaritic (cf. h- in Hebrew), though the unusually frequent use of hn in a very small number of texts may be a precursor of such a development (Liverani 1964: 181–82; Pardee 1984a: 218 n. 23). In RS 29.093:16, one finds {hbt} which, unless emended, consists of deictic h + bt, ‘house’ (perhaps /han/ or /hal/ + /bêt-/ § /habbêt-/); and in RS 29.095:14, one finds deictic h prefixed to the indefinite pronoun mhkm (on the first text, see Pardee 1979–80: 28; Bordreuil and Pardee 2004: text 28 in the Choix de textes); these usages may represent the initial stages of what became the definite article in Hebrew and, less consistently, in Phoenician. In any case, the definite article was certainly not a feature of standard Ugaritic. In modern translation it must, therefore, be expressed according to context. For comparison with other ancient Semitic languages, a fifth grammatical category, state, is useful in describing morpho-syntax. There are two primary states, absolute and construct; a third, the pronominal state, is useful in describing some of the later Northwest Semitic languages where vowel reduction is prevalent, and it will be referred to briefly here. “Absolute” describes a noun in unbound form, “construct” a noun bound to a following one in the genitive relationship, and “pronominal” to a noun bound to a following pronoun also in the genitive relationship. In Ugaritic, the case vowel is preserved in the first word(s) of genitive phrases, the nomen regens in traditional terminology (Huehnergard 1987: 300–301). Thus in the singular, the genitive relationship is marked only by the genitive case vowel on the second element of the phrase. This feature is shared with, for example, classical Arabic, whereas in other Semitic languages the first word may also show some form of modification (e.g., Akkadian /libbu/ § /lib/ in construct, Hebrew /nahar/ § /n@har/ in construct). In the dual and the plural the -m of the nomen regens is usually dropped in the construct state. The case vowel is also preserved in the pronominal state: {ks¡h} = /kussaªihu/, ‘his throne’, genitive case. This is again in contrast with Akkadian, where the case vowel drops (/sarratu + su/ § /sarrat + su/ § /sarrassu/). In this instance, Hebrew shows remnants of a system similar to the Ugaritic one (/d@bar@ka/ < /dabar + V + ka/). Examples of typical masculine and feminine nouns indicating the markers of case, gender, number, and state: Absolute state Nom. Sg. m. Gen. Sg. m. Acc. Sg. m. Nom. Sg. f. Gen. Sg. f. Acc. Sg. f. */ê/ < /ay/

/malku/ /malki/ /malka/ /malkatu/ /malkati/ /malkata/

Nom. Du. m. /malkama/ Obl. Du. m. /malkêma/*

Nom. Pl. m. /malakuma/ Obl. Pl. m. /malakima/

Nom. Du. f. /malkatama/ Nom. Pl. f. Obl. Du. f. /malkatêma/* Obl. Pl. f.

/malakatu/ /malakati/

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/malku qarîti/, ‘The/A king (Nom.) of the/a city’ /malka qarîti/, ‘(The) two kings (Nom.) of the/a city’ /malaku qarîti/, ‘(The) kings (Nom.) of the/a city’

Pronominal state

/malkuhu/, ‘his king’ (Nom.) /malkahu/, ‘his two kings’ (Nom.) /malakuhu/, ‘his (three or more) kings’ (Nom.)

Nominal forms may consist of: (1) root + internal vowel(s) (e.g., /MaLK-/, ‘king’, /DaKaR-/ ‘male’); (2) nominal prefix + root + internal vowel(s) (e.g., /maLªaK-/ ‘messenger’); (3) root + internal vowel(s) + nominal suffix (e.g., /ªuLMaN-/ ‘widowhood’); (4) combinations of 2 and 3 (e.g., /ªaLªiYan-/ ‘mighty’). There are also a certain number of reduplicated (e.g., qdqd ‘top of head’, ysmsm, ‘beauteous’) and quadriconsonantal (e.g., ºrgz ‘walnut’) nominal forms. The most common nominal prefixes are m- (concrete entities), t- (abstract entities); much rarer are ª- and y- (both for concrete entities). The most common nominal suffixes are -n (/-an-/, more rarely /-an-/) and -t (perhaps, as in the later Northwest Semitic languages, /-it-/ and /-ut-/ for abstracts). The data are inconsistent on the matter of whether nouns of the qatl/qitl/qutl types had monosyllabic or bisyllabic stems in the plural (as in Hebrew: sg., /melek/ < /malk/; pl., /m@lakim/ < /malak-/). Either the bisyllabic plural base was in process of development from an originally monosyllabic one (Sivan 1982), or else the plural stem was already bisyllabic in proto-Ugaritic and the second vowel was inconsistently elided in Ugaritic (Huehnergard 1987: 304–7). Because both protoHebrew and proto-Aramaic showed the bisyllabic stem in plural forms, the data that show the same phenomenon in Ugaritic must be privileged; the contrary data reflect either a problem of true phonetic elision or one of interface between pronunciation and representation thereof in syllabic script. (One encounters a similar problem with the writing {sa-an-tu} for the noun meaning ‘year’: see Pardee 2004b: 77–78.) 2.2. Adjectives Adjectival morphology is identical to that of nouns. An adjective used independently (“substantivally”), i.e., not as a modifier of a noun, functions as a noun. When an adjective modifies a noun, it agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun. It is by this morpho-syntactic feature that adjectives are most clearly differentiated from nouns, for a noun used to modify another noun does not vary in gender: §dm ytnt ¡l §sn ™b ™dm, ‘ªUdmu was given of ªIlu, (it is) a present of the father of mankind’ (where the feminine city name §dm is followed by the feminine adjectival predicate ytnt, then the masculine nominal predicate §sn [RS 2.[003]+ vi 277–78]). Attributive adjectives normally follow the noun they modify; predicate adjectives either precede or follow the noun. The primary adjectival suffix is the so-called gentilic or nisbe ending consisting of vowel +-y (/-yy-/) + case vowel. The quality of the first vowel

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is uncertain. The only apparently explicit indication shows /u/, qn§ym, ‘people who work with royal purple dye or with lapis lazuli’ (RS 17.434+: 39u; see Pardee 1983–84) but /i/ is attested in syllabic transcriptions (Tropper 2000: 273). The -n ending may also appear on adjectives, as well as on nouns. Comparative and superlative adjectival markers do not exist and such notions must thus be expressed lexically (e.g., by forms of the root MªD ‘much’) or syntactically (e.g., nºmt snt ¡l /naºimati sanati ªili/ ‘the best years of El’ [RS 24.252: 27u; see Pardee 1988a: 81, 116–17], a substantified adjective in construct with a noun, literally ‘the good ones of the years of El’). A nominal genitive formation is often used in place of an adjectival one, e.g., ™tt ßdqh /ªattatu ßidqihu/ ‘the wife of his legitimacy’ = ‘his legitimate wife’ (RS 2.[003]+ i 12 [Gordon 1965: 113, §13.22]). 2.3. Numerals Numerals are nominal categories: cardinal numbers are nouns, ordinals adjectives. Numbers in texts may either be fully written out or be expressed symbolically, using the same system as is used in Akkadian texts (a single vertical wedge = ‘1’ or ‘60’, a single oblique wedge = ‘10’, etc.). The Ugaritic repertory of numerals is largely similar to the standard West Semitic inventory: Cardinals Ordinals (where written differently) 1 ™˙d/™˙t and ºsty ? 2 tn/tt 3 tlt/tltt 4 ™rbº/™rbºt rbº 5 hms/hmst 6 tt/ttt tdt 7 sbº/sbºt 8 tmn(y)/tmnt 9 tsº/tsºt 10 ºsr/ºsrt 11 ºsty ºsr/ºsrh 12 tn ºsr/ºsrh etc. 20 ºsrm (from the root ‘10’, hence perhaps the dual /ºasrama/) 30 tltm (probably the plural /talatuma/) etc. 100 m¡t (sg.)/m™t (pl.) 1000 ™lp 10000 rbt With the exception of words containing an alif sign, the vocalism can only be reconstructed from comparative data. The primary distinctive feature of the Ugaritic numbers is in their morpho-syntax: as opposed to the other ancient Semitic languages, where the numerals 3 through 10 observe “chiastic concord” (i.e., incongruent

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gender agreement, feminine-looking numbers with masculine nouns and vice versa), the distribution of numbers marked with -º vs. -(a)t shows less regularity. Other features deserving special comment: • ºsty is used for the number ‘1’, as in Akkadian, not just in the number ‘eleven’ as in Hebrew (e.g., RS 34.126: 27 ºsty, followed by tn, tlt, etc). • The only attested forms of the absolute case of the number ‘2’ are tn and tt (tnm is an adverbial meaning ‘twice’ in RS 3.340 iv 22, 33; RS 3.322+ ii 78; RS 24.248: 18, 20). Examples: tn b gt mzln ‘two in (the village) gt mzln’ (RS 17.384: 1); tn l ºsrm ‘twenty-two’ (on this use of l, see §4.4 below). This form constitutes an isogloss with Akkadian (sine) against the other West Semitic languages (e.g., Hebrew s@nayim). See Pardee 2000: 195; Tropper 2000: 345–46. • The alternate form with -h of the word for ‘ten’ in the cardinal numbers for the teens is not used only to modify feminine nouns as in Hebrew (e.g., RS 15.094: 2 tmn ºsrh mrynm ‘18 maryannu-personnel’). Moreover, the presence of the {h} in the Ugaritic writing system shows that the origin of the element was consonantal, though its form (i.e., the vowel(s) with which the consonant is associated), its origin, and its function are uncertain. • The ordinals had a long vowel, either between the second and third radicals on the Hebrew/Aramaic pattern (/qatil-/) or between the first and second on the Arabic pattern (/qatil-/); hence the orthographic difference between ‘6’ and ‘6th’, respectively /tittu/ ( *mo > /mu/). 2.6. Indefinite pronouns The form mnm ‘anything’ is cognate with the Ugaritic indefinite pronoun. 3. Nouns Nominal forms are inflected for number, gender and state; only traces of cases can be observed. Masculine singular forms are unmarked, while dual and plural have suffixes. Feminine nouns have the morpheme /-t/ (/-tem/ for dual). Forms in the absolute state and those in the construct state are distinct only in the masculine dual and plural. Nouns can occur with the definite article. Remnants of the case system can be observed directly, in transcriptions, and indirectly, in some forms with suffixed pronouns (see below, this section). Substantive nouns and the adjectives depending on them are declined according to the same rules. Nouns are formed by the combination of roots, consisting mostly of three consonants, and nominal patterns, as illustrated by the following examples: one consonant: s ‘sheep’; two consonants: A-b(i), Ab-, /ªab/ ‘father’; three consonants: Ab-d(i), Abd- /ºabd-/ ‘servant’; sls, salus ‘three’. Nouns with prefixes: /m-/: MUTTUN, mtn (root n-t-n) ‘gift’; /t-/: tklªt ‘inside’(?), ‘addition’(?), thuulech ‘hospitality’; with afformatives: *-an > /-on/ > /-un/: donni, ADOYN ‘lord’. Adjectives with the derivative afformative *iy: ßdny (from ßdn) ‘Sidonian’. The name of Carthage, ‘New City’, consists of a noun and an adjective both with feminine markers: qrt˙dst, Qar-ti-hada-as-ti. Declension of nouns Gender

State

masculine

absolute construct absolute construct

feminine

Number singular -º -º /-(o)t/ *-at /-(o)t/ *-at

dual /-em/ /-e/ /-tem/

plural /-im/ /-e/ /-ut/ < *-at /-ut/ < *-at

Examples: Masculine: du. sa-me-me ‘heavens’, IADEM ‘hands’; pl. abs. gubulim ‘boundaries’; cstr. PhANE, PhENE ‘face’. Feminine: sing. abs. -milku-ut-ti ‘queen’; cstr. AMOT- ‘maid-servant’; pl. abs. alonuth ‘goddesses’. Canaanite case endings were nominative /-u/, genitive /-i/, and accusative /-a/. They are attested in old Phoenician personal names: Ma-ti-nu-baª-li ‘Gift of Baal’, 9th c. b.c.e. However, in the 7th c. b.c.e., this name was written without case endings: Ma-ta-an-ba-ªa-al. Case endings are reflected in the forms of suffixed pronouns: 1 sg., genitive ªby /ªabiya/ ‘of my father’ versus nominative ªb /ªabi/ ‘my father’. Examples of nouns with suffixed

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pronouns: donni ‘my lord’, bynuthi ‘my daughters’, KOYLO ‘his voice’, RYBAThON ‘our mistress’, BUNOM ‘their son’. The definite article *ha- was written as h-, and also in Pu ª-, º-. The first consonant of the defined noun was doubled; cf. ºmmqm ‘the place’. Cf. hmzb˙ ‘the altar’ with h-, and transcriptions beginning with the vowel; e.g., aelichot ‘the hospitality’. 4. Numerals The cardinal numeral 1 is an adjective, 2 a noun in the dual. Numerals 3– 10 distinguish gender with feminine morpheme /-t/. The numerals for tens have masculine plural endings. Cardinal numerals 1–10 with feminine marker tens ª˙d ª˙t abs. snm, snn, (L)ISNIM ºsrm, YSRIM cstr. sn, ªsn 3 sls, salus slst slsm 4 ªrbº ªrbºt ªrbºm 5 ˙ms ˙mst ˙msm 6 ss sst ssm 7 sbº sbºt sbºm, sbºm 8 smn, smnh smnm 9 tsº tsºm 10 ºsr, ºsºr, ªsr ºsrt 100 mªt (f. noun); 200 mªtm (du.); 300 sls mªt; 1000 ªlp 1 2

Ordinal numerals, which are derived adjectives, are rare: ‘second’ sny; ‘fourth’ ªrbºy; ‘fifth’ ˙msy. Only one fraction is attested: rbº ‘1/4’. 5. Verbs Categories characterizing finite verbal forms are person, gender, number, tense, and mood; manner of action and voice are indicated in verbal patterns. Concerning verbal nouns, infinitives are inflected like nouns, participles like adjectives. 5.1. Verbal patterns The system of verbal patterns presented in the chart below, with the help of the numerals 1, 2, 3 for three root consonants, expresses both manner of action and voice. (The term ‘verbal stem’ is not appropriate, as the term ‘stem’ indicates only parts of words.) The abbreviations for these patterns are based on the manner of the action (G[round], C[ausative]), morphological shape (D[oubled], N[-prefixed], t[-infix]), and indications of voice (p[assive]). (For verbal patterns Hebrew terms formed from the verb p-º-l ‘to make’ are also used; e.g, Piºel, Niphºal, and Qal for the simple active pattern.)

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Verbal patterns simple factitive causative

active 1–2–3 G 1–22–3 D yi-1–2–3 C

passive reflexive reciprocal 1–2–3 with /u/ Gp n-1–2–3 N 1u-22–3 (?) Dp 1–t-22–3 tD yu-1–2–3 (?) Cp

Passive patterns are characterized by the vowel /u/; however, this vowel is only rarely indicated in the basically consonantal Phoenician script; cf. qybr /qübar/ < *qu- ‘he was buried’. 5.2. Verbal conjugations Two sets of finite verbal forms are clearly distinguished: one has conjugational morphemes only at the end of the forms, the other both at the beginning and at the end. The first set, commonly called Perfect, serves as the past tense, the other, Imperfect, as present and future. These functions can be observed in Phoenician prose texts. The former function of these forms, aspect, which can be seen in Ugaritic poetry, is not attested in Phoenician. Formally related to the indicative Imperfect are volitive moods, the jussive, the energetic mood, and the imperative, which has no preformatives. The jussive forms are not distinguished in the script from indicative forms; they can be recognized only by their function. The energetic mood is marked by /n/ before the afformatives. Examples: jussive: tªkl ‘it may eat’; energetic mood 1 sg.—or cohortative?—ªpqn ‘may I get’. Masculine and feminine genders are distinguished for the second and third person; the first person forms are common gender. Singular and pluarl forms exist; no dual is attested. Conjugational morphemes Perfect

Imperfect

-t /ti/ -t -t -º -t, -º /-o/

ª-...-º t-...-º t-...-y y-...-º t-...-º

Sg. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f. Pl. 1 -n 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. -º /-u/ 3 f.

t-.../-u/, -ª t-...-n y-.../-u/

Examples: Perfect: sg. 1 corathi ‘I invoked’; NADOR ‘he vowed’; 3 m. FELU ‘they made’. Imperfect: Sg. 1 ythmum ‘I shall accomplish’; 2 m. thyfel (?) ‘you make’; 3 m. YNIM ‘he is good’; plur. 3 m. ibarcu (D) ‘they may

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bless’. Suffixed pronouns can be added to finite forms as objects, for example, BARAChO ‘he blessed him’ The sufformatives of the imperative are: sg. m. -º lech ‘go!’; f. -º /-i/ (?); plur. -º /-u/. 5.3. Verbal nouns There are two kinds of infinitives, absolute (e.g., pºl ‘to make’) and construct, which can be prefixed with prepositions (e.g., lpºl, liful, ‘to make’) and suffixed by pronouns: for example, sibitthim ‘his dwelling’. The active participle form /supe†/ < *sapi† ‘judging’, ‘judge’ can be seen in SUFES, pl. SUFETES. Cf. pl. dobrim ‘saying ones’. The passive participle is attested as brk, BURUC-, BARIC /baruk/ ‘blessed’, f. BYRYCTH. 5.4. Derived patterns Forms of derived patterns deviate from the simple active pattern (G) in the following ways. Simple passive pattern (Gp): The marker /u/ can be observed only in a few forms; e.g., qybr /qübar/ < * qu- ‘he was buried’. Simple reciprocal pattern (N): The consonant /n/ is assimilated to the immediately following consonant; e.g., -*nq- > /-iqqa-/ yqbr ‘they may be buried’. The prefix /n-/ remains at the beginning of forms; e.g., nºns ‘he was fined’ and also in participles; e.g., fem. nskbt ‘laid down’. The simple reflexive pattern with infixed /-t/ is attested only in Old Byblian; e.g., thtpk ‘she may be turned over’. Factitive active pattern (D): Characterized by the doubling of the middle root consonant; e.g., BAALSILLECh ‘Baal saved (?)’. Participles have prefix /m-/; e.g., mªr˙, MERRE ‘guiding’, also in other derived patterns. Factitive passive patterns (Dp): Forms can be recognized only by their function; e.g., ksy ‘he was covered’. Factitive reflexive pattern (tD): The cluster of /-t-/ and the immediately following first root consonant is preceded by a vowel; e.g., ªtkd /ªitk-/ ‘he decided (for himself)’, htqds ‘he sanctified (on behalf of himself)’. Causative active pattern (C): The prefix /yi-/ developed from *hi-; e.g., ytqdst ‘I consecrated’. Causative passive pattern (Cp): E.g., ypqd ‘they were commissioned’. 5.5. Verbal classes Strong verbs are those with three stable root consonants which remain during the inflection. Some laryngeals and pharyngeals were weakened or lost in Late Punic; e.g., in FELU ‘they made’, from the verb p-º-l. In some classes of weak verbs, only minor differences from strong verbs can be observed. Major differences appear in those with /w/ or /y/ as the middle root consonant and in those with identical second and third root consonants. In verbs with /n/ as the first or third root consonants, the /n/ is assimilated to the immediately following consonant; e.g., *-ns- > /-ss-/ ysº ‘he

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pulls out’. Similar assimilation occurs in some forms of the verb l-q-˙ ‘to take’, e.g., yq˙ /-qq-/ ‘he takes’. Verbs with /y/ as the first root consonant retain it at the beginning of forms and eliminate it after preformatives (e.g., ttn ‘she may give’, from y-t-n—and in some other forms; e.g., infinitive sibbitthim, from y-s-b, ‘his dwelling’. Verbs with /y/ as the third root consonant retain it in Old Byblian; e.g., bny ‘he built’. In later dialects, this consonant was mostly eliminated; e.g., bnª ‘he built’, AVO ‘he lived’. Verbs usually characterized as those with /w/ or /y/ as the middle root consonant have long vowels between the first and third root consonants; e.g., chon /-o-/ < -a- ‘he was’, from k-w-n. Verbs with identical second and third root consonants show both in some forms; e.g., ythmum ‘I accomplish’. In other forms, these root consonants are joined into a doubled consonant; e.g., t˙n(ª) /-nn-/ ‘she may grace (him)’. In factitive forms, this class is treated similarly to Hebrew Polel (cf. Nahum 2:8); e.g., participle mtpp ‘drumming’, ‘drummer’. 6. Particles Words other than nouns and verbs are indicated by the term particles. They are traditionally divided according to their syntactic functions: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. 6.1. Adverbs Some adverbs were formed from nouns in the accusative case, with the ending *-a; cf. mtª ‘below’. Some adverbs are short; e.g., kª, cho ‘here’, sm ‘there’, chen ‘so’. Adverbs of negation are general, as in ‘not’, bl, ªy, or dynamic, as in ªl. The original nominal character can be seen on particles of existence and nonexistence, which can occur with suffixed pronouns. Cf. ynny ‘he is not’; (b)odi ‘while I am’, from ºd ‘being yet’. 6.2. Prepositions Prepositions have one, two, or three consonants. They can occur with suffixed pronouns. One consonant base: b-, BI-, BY-, B- ‘in’; l-, L-, LI-, LA- ‘to’; k- ‘as, like’, extended form km. Two consonant base: ªt ‘with’; mn, min, mon, m- ‘from’ (with assimilated n). With the feminine type ending: pnt ‘before’. Two consonant base and *-ay: ºd ‘until’ to’; ºl, aly, also ºlt ‘upon’. Originally three consonants: nota accusativi, introducing objects: ªyt, later ªt, Th, th-. Three consonant base: ª˙r ‘after’; t˙t ‘below’; *b-y-n bn ‘between. Compound prepositions: b- + *d ‘hand’ > ‘through’; mn + ªt > mªt ‘from (with)’; l- + mn + b- > -lmb- ‘during’. 6.3. Conjunctions The coordinating conjunction w- ‘and’ was in Late Punic indicated as OY, u-. The coordinating conjunction ‘also’ was written as ªp and as p- in Late Punic. The determinative and causal conjunction, ‘that, because’: k-, kª, chy. The desiderative conjunction *lu- > llu-, li, l-; e.g. lypt˙ ‘may he open’.

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The conditional conjunction, ‘if’: ªm. Compound conjunctions: l- + m = lm ‘lest’; with relative ªs ; e.g., kmªs ‘like, as’. 6.4. Interjections Introducing vocative: l-; e.g., lºptª ‘O Flying one!’ Directing attention: hn ‘behold’. Greeting: ˙wª, AVO, precative perfect, ‘may he live!’.

Select Bibliography Amadasi Guzzo, M. G., and W. Röllig 1995 La langue. Pp. 185–92 in La civilisation phénicienne et punique, ed. V. Krings. Leiden: Brill. Benz, F. L. 1972 Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. Branden, A. van den 1969 Grammaire phénicienne. Beyrouth: Université Saint-Esprit. Cunchilos, J. L., and J. A. Zamora 1997 Gramática Fenicia Elemental. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Fuentes Estañol, M. J. 1980 Vocabulario Fenicio. Barcelona: Biblioteca Fenica. Friedrich, J., and W. Röllig 1999 Phönizisch-punische Grammatik. 2nd ed. Analecta Orientalia 55. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. Harris, Z. S. 1936 A Grammar of the Phoenician Language. New Haven: American Oriental Society. Hoftijzer, J., and K. Jongeling 1995 Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill. Krahmalkov, C. R. 1992 Phoenician. Pp. 222–23 in vol. 4 of The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday. 2000 Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 90. Leuven: Peeters. 2001 A Phoenician-Punic Grammar. Handbook of Oriental Studies, Part I: Ancient Near East and Middle East 54. Leiden: Brill. Segert, S. 1976 A Grammar of Phoenician and Punic. München: Beck. 1995 Phoenician Names. Pp. 866–70 in vol. 1 of Namenforschung: Ein internationales Handbuch zur Onomastik, ed. E. Eichler et al. Berlin: de Gruyter. 1997 Phoenician and Punic Phonology. Pp. 55–64 in Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus), ed. A. Kaye. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. 1998 Phoenician and the Eastern Canaanite Languages. Pp. 174–86 in The Semitic Languages, ed. R. Hetzron. London: Routledge. Veenhof, K. R. 1973 Phoenician-Punic. Pp. 146–71 in vol. 1 of A Basic Bibliography for the Study of the Semitic Languages, ed. J. H. Hospers. Leiden: Brill.

Chapter 4

Ancient Hebrew Morphology Gary A. Rendsburg Rutgers University

1. Hebrew and the Semitic languages Hebrew is a Semitic language, attested since ca. 1100 b.c.e. as the language of the Israelites (also called Hebrews, later Jews). Ancient Hebrew died out as a spoken language in the 3rd century c.e., though it was retained in an unbroken chain for liturgical and literary purposes into the modern era. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, Hebrew was revived as a spoken language. It is used today as the national language of Israel. This chapter is devoted to ancient Hebrew, defined here as the period of ca. 1100 b.c.e. to ca. 300 c.e., with a particular emphasis on historical matters. Semitists continue to debate the classification of the individual Semitic languages, but all agree that Hebrew falls within the Northwest Semitic (sometimes called West Semitic) group. In essence, Hebrew is but a dialect of Canaanite. Other dialects include Phoenician, Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, etc., though Hebrew is by far the best attested. For further details, see my companion article, “Ancient Hebrew Phonology” (Rendsburg 1997). 2. Variation within ancient Hebrew The preceding comments imply that ancient Hebrew is a monolith, but in fact there is much variation within ancient Hebrew. Note especially the following: A. Diachronically, we may distinguish Archaic Biblical Hebrew (ca. 1100–1000 b.c.e.), Standard Biblical Hebrew (ca. 1000–550 b.c.e.), and Late Biblical Hebrew (550–200 b.c.e.). The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, known also as Qumran Hebrew, is a continuation of Late Biblical Hebrew, and is attested ca. 200 b.c.e.–70 c.e. B. Ancient Hebrew had various regional dialects. Here we may distinguish Judahite Hebrew, used in Judah, whose capital is Jerusalem, versus Israelian Hebrew, an umbrella term that incorporates a variety of subdialects (Samarian, Galilean, Gileadite, etc.). C. Ancient Hebrew also was characterized by diglossia. The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in the literary standard. But departures Author’s Note: I am indebted to Gregg Serene and Clinton Moyer for their careful reading of an earlier draft of this article and for their corrections and suggestions that have been incorporated into this final version.

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from the classical norm appear in the texts, and these phenomena serve as evidence for the spoken or colloquial variety of ancient Hebrew. In late antiquity, the colloquial dialect was utilized to record texts such as the Mishna and related works, so that the term Mishnaic Hebrew is utilized for the main written sources of the 3rd century c.e. D. In addition to the above varieties of Hebrew attested in Jewish sources, we should mention Samaritan Hebrew, used by the Samaritans, an offshoot of the Jews attested since about the 5th century b.c.e., centered around Shechem in the central hill country of Israel. In presenting the morphology of ancient Hebrew, in the main I refer to Standard Judahite literary Hebrew, i.e., the literary variety used in Judah ca. 1000–550 b.c.e. But where the data permit us to witness distinct usages in other varieties of ancient Hebrew, these will be noted. 1 Extremely rare morphological variants are not discussed herein; instead, the standard reference grammars should be consulted. Again, the reader is asked to consult the companion article for further details (Rendsburg 1997). In what follows, note the following abbreviations: BH SBH QH JH MH

Biblical Hebrew Standard Biblical Hebrew Qumran Hebrew Judahite Hebrew Mishnaic Hebrew

ABH LBH DSS IH SH

Archaic Biblical Hebrew Late Biblical Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls Israelian Hebrew Samaritan Hebrew

3. Pronouns 3.1. Personal pronouns Like all Semitic languages, Hebrew has two sets of pronouns: free or independent forms, and bound or suffixed forms. The former are used for the grammatical subject, e.g., hwhy yna ªånî YHWH ‘I am Yahweh’. The latter are suffixed to verbs as direct objects (e.g., whkh hikkahû ‘he hit him’), to nouns to indicate possession (e.g., wnb b´nô his son’), to prepositions as indirect objects or as objects of the preposition (e.g., wl lô ‘to him’), and to various adverbials (e.g., wdbl l´badô ‘he alone’). 2 3.1.1 Independent personal pronouns The paradigm of the standard forms in BH is as follows:

1. We shall not, however, deal with Samaritan Hebrew in this article, except in one instance for the sake of comparison. For a full description of Samaritan Hebrew, see BenHayyim 2000. 2. Throughout this article, for the sake of ease of production, I generally have dispensed with the vowel signs within the Hebrew text; the Hebraist will know how to read the material without the vowels. The vowels are given in my transliteration of the Hebrew forms, but note that I have used the standard system employed by Hebraists, and not the IPA system (this is true for the consonants as well as the vowels).

Ancient Hebrew Morphology

1st common 2nd masculine 2nd feminine 3rd masculine 3rd feminine

Singular yna ªånî; ykna ªanôkî hta ªatta h ta ªatt awh hûª ayh hîª

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Plural wnjna ªåna˙nû øµta ªattem hnta ªattenah hmh hemma h; µh hem hnh hennah

General comments: • Hebrew is most unusual (not only within Semitic, but within languages of the world in general) in having two 1st common singular independent pronouns. In standard BH narrative prose, one can detect syntactic or stylistic criteria that determined which form was to be used (see Revell 1995). From a diachronic perspective, of the two forms, ykna ªanôkî is considered by most scholars to be the older; eventually it was replaced by yna ªånî. Indeed, in the later biblical books and in the DSS, yna ªånî predominates, and it is the only form attested in MH. • A shorter form of the 1st common plural form occurs as wna ªånû, apparently modeled after the singular form yna ªånî. This form is attested once in the Ketiv (that is, the written form of the text) in the Bible in Jer 42:6, though the Qeri (that is, the manner in which the text is read, based on the oral reading tradition) uses the standard form wnjna ªåna˙nû. This shorter form predominates in QH and is the only form attested in MH. • All of the 2nd person forms, both singular and plural, reflect the assimilation of n—attested in other Semitic languages and reconstructed for proto-Semitic—to the following t. Thus, for example, proto-Semitic 2nd masculine singular ªanta (as in Arabic and Geºez) > ªattah. • The 2nd feminine singular ta ªatt derives from older yta ªattî, attested in the Bible 7x in the Ketiv, especially in IH texts. We see here the force of morphological economy at work, since the manner of distinguishing the masculine and the feminine in proto-Semitic—the former with -a and the latter with -i—was deemed superfluous. One of the forms could do without the distinguishing final syllable; thus it was dropped in the feminine form (though vestiges remain, as indicated). Note that in Aramaic the opposite occurred, with the masculine -a dropping to create the form ta ªatt for the masculine. MH utilizes the form ta ªatt for the masculine, presumably under Aramaic influence. • QH uses a longer form for the 2nd masculine plural, namely, hmta ªattema h. 3 • The Torah (or Pentateuch) regularly uses awh for the 3rd feminine singular, in the Ketiv, suggesting a form hûª identical with the 3rd masculine singular, though it is read in the Qeri as hîª in line with 3. Note that Qumran Hebrew does not include a Masorah or oral reading tradition indicating the pronunciation of the vowels. In vocalizing Qumran Hebrew herein, I simply have transferred the Masoretic system used in the Bible to the Dead Sea Scrolls texts, with all due recognition of the hazards inherent in such a practice.

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the 3rd feminine singular form ayh attested elsewhere. From the evidence of the Ketiv we postulate an original epicene form hûª. Later Hebrew speakers distinguished the two genders as they came in more regular contact with the neighboring dialects in Canaan (see Rendsburg 1982b). • QH attests to the forms hawh and hayh for the 3rd singular forms, masculine and feminine respectively. I would vocalize these as hûwa h and hîya h (and explain the spelling with ªaleph as an influence from the orthographic tradition represented by BH). These forms recall the proto-Semitic forms, attested in Ugaritic hw /huwa/ and hy /hiya/, Arabic huwa and hiya, etc. These DSS forms serve as an important reminder as to how variegated ancient Hebrew actually was. Moreover, notwithstanding what was stated above about the relationship between QH and LBH (2), we also must reckon with the former retaining some very archaic forms and/or reflecting a totally independent tradition from that presented by BH (see Morag 1988). • In MH, the longer forms of the 2nd and 3rd plural pronouns do not occur. Instead, one encounters only the shorter forms µta ªattem, ˆta ªatten, µh hem, ˆh hen. • In colloquial Hebrew, gender neutralization occurs in the 2nd plural and 3rd plural forms, thus µta ªattem and hmh/µh hemmah/hem appear for the feminine in various instances in the Bible. This gender neutralization is visible especially in MH, though there the forms with nun, that is, ˆta ªatten and ˆh hen, occur more frequently, being used for both masculine and feminine. The usage of the forms with nun is most likely due to Aramaic influence. • Although I have not included the forms in the chart, note that BH attests to a vestigial use of common dual pronouns when the antecedent is ‘two’ of something (see Rendsburg 1982a). 3.1.2. Suffixed personal pronouns The paradigm of the standard forms in BH is as follows:

1st common 2nd masculine 2nd feminine 3rd masculine 3rd feminine

Singular y- -î; yn- -nî ˚- -ka ˚- -ek, -ak wh- -hû; w- -ô; wy- -aw; wn- -nnû h- -ah, -ha; hn- -nna

Plural wn- -nû µk- -kem ˆk- -ken µh- -hem; µ- -am ˆh- -hen; ˆ- -an

General comments: • The two 1st common singular forms are distributed in the following manner: y- -î is suffixed to nouns and certain prepositions; yn- -nî is suffixed to verbs and certain prepositions. • The two 2nd feminine singular forms, the two 3rd masculine plural forms, and the two 3rd feminine plural forms are phonetic variants originating from the same proto-forms.

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• By contrast, the 3rd masculine singular forms and the 3rd feminine singular forms contain true allomorphs. One set has forms with h, viz., masculine wh- -h; w- -ô; wy- -aw (the latter two having evolved through elision of /h/); and feminine h- -ah, -ha. The other set has forms with n, viz., masculine wn- -nnû; feminine hn- -nna. Set rules govern which of the forms, those with h or those with n, are utilized. Most striking is the fact that these allomorphs appear in some South Ethiopian languages as well, demonstrating that Hebrew inherited these forms from protoSemitic (see Hetzron 1969). • In QH, alongside the standard 2nd masculine plural and 3rd masculine plural appear the longer forms hmk- , and hmh- , perhaps pronounced -kimma and -himma, respectively. Similar forms are attested in SH. • The same gender neutralization noted above in colloquial Hebrew for the independent 2nd plural and 3rd plural forms occurs with the pronominal suffixes as well, with µk- -kem and µh- -hem (also µ- -am where appropriate) appearing for the feminine in various instances in the Bible. Again, this gender neutralization is visible especially in MH, though once more the forms with nun predominate; that is, ˆk- -ken and ˆh- -hen (also ˆ- -an where appropriate) are used for both masculine and feminine. • As with the independent pronouns above, so with the pronominal suffixes here: I have not included the forms in the chart, but note that BH attests to a vestigial use of common dual pronouns when the antecedent is ‘two’ of something (see Rendsburg 1982a). 3.2. Demonstrative pronouns The main set of Hebrew demonstrative pronouns, used for near deixis, distinguishes gender in the singular, but not in the plural. Accordingly, there are three forms: masculine singular hz ze h ‘this’, feminine singular taz zôªt ‘this’, common plural hla ªelle h ‘these’, attested in BH and QH. 4 A second feminine singular form, spelled either hz zôh or wz zô ‘this’ occurs sporadically in the Bible and regularly in MH. This form is apparently the older of the two feminine singular forms; with the addition of the feminine suffix -t the newer form taz zôªt was created (with the ªaleph serving as vowel letter in the orthographic convention). Based on both comparative evidence (cf. Phoenician z ) and the distribution of the form in the Bible (see 2 Kings 6:19, Hosea 7:16), one may conclude that hz zô h / wz zô was retained especially in northern Israel. MH attests to another common plural form, wla ªellû ‘these’. The form is most likely an analogical creation, the ending û having been imported from the verbal system, where it serves to mark the plural in various forms. The 3rd person independent pronouns are used as far demonstratives, that is, the equivalent of English ‘that’ and ‘those’. Thus, for example, 4. In QH the feminine singular demonstrative typically appears with variant spellings, the most common of which is tawz , but this is simply an orthographic difference; the form and the pronunciation are the same.

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awhh çyah haªîs hahûª ‘that man’ (with the definite article [see 3.5] attached to both the noun and the demonstrative pronoun). An entirely different set of pronouns is also attested, sporadically in BH, more commonly in MH, in all likelihood as colloquialisms: masculine singular hzlh hallaze h, feminine singular wzlh hallezû, both of which can be shortened to zlh hallaz and in MH further are shortened to hlh halla h. The plural form of this set is attested only in MH: wllh hallalû. Nevertheless, this set must be quite old, as the forms are closely aligned with the Arabic determinative-relative pronoun series ªallaqi (masculine singular), etc. 3.3. Relative pronouns ABH attests to two related relative markers hz ze h and wz zû, more or less equivalent to ‘the one of’. At one time, these forms may have been distinguished by case (the former as genitive, the latter as nominative), but in the few actual occurrences of these forms no such distinction can be detected. These relatives clearly are related to the demonstrative pronouns (see above, 3.2). SBH and QH utilize the indeclinable form rça ªåser ‘that, which’ for the relative pronoun. Its etymological meaning is ‘place’, as determined by cognates in Akkadian and Aramaic. A second form attested in the Bible is the prefixed form -ç se- ‘that, which’, also indeclinable (though at one time it most likely was declined for case, as suggested by the Old Akkadian cognate and by the occasional alternate pronunciation sa- in several biblical occurrences). From its distribution in the Bible, we may conclude that this form was characteristic of IH at first; later it penetrated to Judah and became commonly used in LBH. It occurs occasionally in QH and regularly in MH. 3.4. Interrogative pronouns BH morphology includes two indeclinable interrogative pronouns: hm mah ‘what’ for inanimate subjects, and ym mî ‘who’ for animate subjects. 3.5. Definite article The definite article is han- (according to some scholars, hal-), derived from an old demonstrative element. 5 It is prefixed to the noun. However, since vowelless nun regularly assimilates to the following consonant, the actual form han- is nowhere directly attested. Accordingly, the resulting forms show gemination in the following consonant, e.g., *handelet > tldh haddelet ‘the door.’ In cases where a laryngeal, pharyngeal, or /r/ follows, in which gemination cannot occur (see Rendsburg 1997: 70, 72), typically the quantity or quality of the vowel is affected, e.g., *hanºam > µ[h haºam ‘the people.’ When a uniconsonantal preposition (on which see below 6.2) precedes the definite article, the /h/ is elided, thus, e.g., with the preposition l´- ‘to,’ *l´hammayim > µyml lammayim ‘to the water.’ 5. Thus, for example, it occurs at the beginning of the hallaz forms discussed above at 3.2, with the /n/ assimilated.

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4. Nouns 4.1. Gender, number, case Nouns in Hebrew are distinguished for gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular and plural, and in some instances dual). The old Semitic case system has broken down. Masculine singular nouns are unmarked, e.g., rp par ‘bull’. Feminine singular nouns typically are marked by one of two endings: -a h (< -at) or -t. As noted, the former ending derives from an earlier form -at, retained in a few scattered nouns in the Bible. As for the latter ending, because Hebrew phonology disallows consonant clusters at the end of a word, the suffixed -t is always preceded by an anaptyctic vowel. Most feminine nouns in the Hebrew lexis use only one of the two endings, e.g., hrp parah ‘cow’ (with the first ending), trfq q´†oret ‘incense’ (with the second ending, with -e- as anaptyctic vowel). But in many cases the two endings co-exist in free variation with no apparent difference in meaning, e.g., hrdg g´dera h (standard) and trdg g´deret (Ezekiel 42:12 only), both meaning ‘wall, hedge’. Note, however, that many feminine singular nouns, especially those belonging to the basic vocabulary, also are unmarked, e.g., ≈ra ªereß ‘earth’, çmç semes ‘sun’, dty yated ‘tent-peg’, etc. Most masculine plural nouns take the ending µy- -îm, e.g., µyrp parîm ‘bulls’; most feminine plural nouns take the ending tw- -ôt, e.g., twrp parôt ‘cows’. But there are many exceptions to this rule, e.g., twba ªabôt ‘fathers’, which naturally is masculine, and µyçn nasîm ‘women’, which naturally is feminine. Apparently, the two plural endings originally designated classes of nouns, one of which came to be identified mainly with the masculine and one of which came to be identified mainly with the feminine. There is an absolute correspondence of these gendered suffixes when attached to adjectives; thus, for example, twpy µyçn nasîm yapôt ‘beautiful women’ ( Job 42:15). The dual ending µy- -ayim is suffixed to nouns standing for items that naturally occur in pairs, especially body parts, e.g., µydy yadayim ‘hands’ (singular dy yad ‘hand’), and to nouns used for measurements of time, distance, etc., e.g., µymwy yômayim ‘two days’ (singular µwy yôm ‘day’). We may also note that adjectives in Hebrew behave like nouns, that is, they too are marked for gender and number (see above for an example). 4.2. Definite and indefinite As intimated above (see 3.5), the prefixed definite article ha- (with gemination of the first consonant in the noun, except where Hebrew phonological rules prohibit the gemination) indicates definiteness. There is no indefinite article, so that, for example, dy yad can mean either simply ‘hand’ or ‘a hand’. Sporadically in the Bible, especially in IH material, and more regularly in MH, the numeral ‘1’, masc. dja ªe˙ad, fem. tja ªa˙at (see below 7), serves as the indefinite article, thus, e.g., dja çya ªîs ªe˙ad, either ‘one man’ or ‘a man’, depending on the context.

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4.3. Construct phrase A very common usage in Hebrew is the construct phrase, in which two nouns are adjoined to express a genitive relationship, e.g., µyhla çya ªîs ªélohîm ‘man of God’ (used as a synonym, apparently, of aybn nabîª ‘prophet’). The first of the nouns is called by the Latin term nomen regens and the second is called the nomen rectum. Often the specific form of the nomen regens changes, as reflected in the slight alteration of dy; yad ‘hand’ to dy' yad in the expression ˚lmh dy yad hammelek ‘the hand of the king’ (vowel shortening). More significant is the retention of the ending -at on feminine singular nouns in construct (that is, the usual shift to -a h [see above 4.1] does not occur); thus, for example, hklm malka h ‘queen’ but abç tklm malkat s´baª ‘queen of Sheba’. When a construct phrase is definite, the second element receives the definite article, thus, e.g., to use the above illustration once more, ˚lmh dy yad hammelek ‘the hand of the king’. When the construct phrase expresses the plural, it is the first element that appears in the plural form, though typically in modified form. Thus, for example, masculine plural nouns do not end in -îm in the construct (cf. 4.1), but rather in -ê (derived from the old dual oblique ending -ay, and then imported for use with the masculine plural as well), e.g., larçy ynb b´nê yi¶raªel ‘sons of Israel’. Feminine plural nouns in construct end in -ôt, like the non-construct form (see 4.1), but vowel reduction typically occurs in the first syllable, e.g., t/nB: banôt ‘daughters’, but t/nB} b´nôt in ˚lmh twnb b´nôt hammelek ‘daughters of the king’ = ‘princesses’. Oftentimes the construct phrase is used where other languages, such as English, might use the combination of noun plus modifier, thus, for example, çdqh rh har haqqodes, ‘the mountain of holiness’, the functional equivalent of ‘the holy mountain’. When a construct phrase is modified by a possessive pronoun, the pronominal element is attached to the nomen rectum, e.g., wçdq rh har qodsô ‘mountain of his holiness’ = ‘his holy mountain’. 4.4. Noun patterns Nouns appear in Hebrew, as in all the Semitic languages, in a variety of set patterns. The most basic vocabulary items (body parts, etc.) have two consonants, e.g., dy yad ‘hand’, bl leb ‘heart’, ˆç sen ‘tooth’, lwq qôl ‘voice’, çya ªîs ‘man’, etc. A few nouns have only one consonant, e.g., hp pe h ‘mouth’, hç ¶e h ‘sheep’. Most nouns, however, appear in patterns that include three root letters. The basic patterns have no afformatives (prefixed or suffixed). Common patterns of this ilk include: • CaCa ⁄C, e.g., rqb baqar ‘cattle, herd’, rbd dabar ‘word, thing’ ⁄ , e.g., dty yated ‘tent-peg’, dbk kabed ‘liver’ • CaCeC • CéCeC, e.g., ˆpg gepen ‘vine’, ˚lm melek ‘king’ Some patterns carry semantic weight, for example:

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• CaCCa ⁄C is used to denote professions, e.g., jbf tabba˙ ‘cook, butcher’, tçq qassat ‘archer, bowman’ ⁄ is used to denote bodily defects, e.g., µla ªillem ‘dumb person • CiCCeC (one unable to speak)’, ˆbg gibben ‘hunchback’ More complex patterns are created by the use of preformatives and sufformatives. Some of these patterns are associated with specific semantic domains as well. • For example, the related patterns CaCCéCet and CaCCáCat/CaCáCat, feminine in gender as seen through the presence of the suffixed -t (preceded by the anaptyctic vowel, either -e- or -a-), connote diseases, e.g., trw[ ºawweret ‘blindness’, tlby yabbelet ‘wart’, tply yallepet ‘ringworm’, tjps sappa˙at ‘rash’, t[rx ßaraºat ‘leprosy’, 6 etc. • Or as another illustration, many nouns with prefixed -m mV- denote a place or a location, e.g., rxbm mibßar ‘fortress’, ldgm migdal ‘tower’, çdqm miqdas ‘holy place, sanctuary’, jbzm mizbea˙ ‘altar’, ˆwlm malôn ‘lodging place’, µwqm maqôm ‘place’, etc. The number of such noun patterns is extensive; only a sampling has been presented here (for more detailed information see the standard reference grammars). 5. Verbs 5.1. General introduction The vast majority of verbs in Biblical Hebrew are built from a lexical root consisting of three consonants, to which are added prefixes and suffixes indicating person, number, and gender. Many of the most basic verbal roots show clear indications of a biconsonantal origin, though over time they have been accommodated to the triconsonantal norm. Such verbs include ˆtn n-t-n ‘give’, jql l-q-˙ ‘take’, awb b-w-ª ‘come’, etc. The verb appears in two conjugations, known as the suffix conjugation (SC) and the prefix conjugation (PC). As these terms indicate, the former is constructed by adding suffixes to the verbal root, while the latter is constructed by adding prefixes to the verbal root (though in some forms prefixes and suffixes are added). 7 These verbal roots, in turn, may appear in various verbal patterns expressing different meanings. For example, the root dml l-m-d means ‘learn’ in the basic pattern, known as Qal or Paºal, but ‘teach’ in a derived pattern known as the Piºel (see below 5.7 for details). 6. I hasten to add that ‘leprosy’ is but a conventional rendering of t[rx ßaraºat. Epidemiologists inform us that true leprosy—Hanson’s disease—was unknown in the ancient Near East. The Hebrew term most likely refers to a variety of skin ailments. 7. Most BH grammars refer to the SC as the ‘perfect’ and to the PC as the ‘imperfect’. These designations imply that the BH verbal system is aspectual and not tensed. I prefer to see tense operative in the BH verbal system, but until this hotly debated question is settled, it seems preferable to use the designations SC and PC, which describe the form of the verb, regardless of the actual usage of the individual conjugations.

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5.2. Suffix conjugation The following chart presents the data for the SC of the basic stem or Qal stem, using the root rmç s-m-r ‘guard, watch’ in the paradigm. Since the SC often indicates the past tense, I have glossed the individual forms accordingly. Singular 1st com. 2nd masc. 2nd fem. 3rd masc. 3rd fem.

ytrmç trmç trmç rmç hrmç

samartî samarta samart samar sam´ra h

Plural ‘I guarded’ ‘you guarded’ ‘you guarded’ ‘he guarded’ ‘she guarded’

wnrmç µtrmç ˆtrmç wrmç wrmç

samarnû s´martem s´marten sam´rû sam´rû

‘we guarded’ ‘you guarded’ ‘you guarded’ ‘they guarded’ ‘they guarded’

Note that the 3rd masculine singular has no suffixes attached to it, thus it is simply rmç samar ‘he guarded’. This form often is used as the citation form in dictionaries, etc. From the diachronic perspective, employing our knowledge of comparative Semitic, we can make the following comments. The original 1st common singular form most likely was -tû, whereas the original 2nd feminine singular form was -tî, a few vestiges of which still may be found in the Bible (see, for example, qamtî ‘you arose’, occurring twice in Judges 5:7). On the analogy of the 1st common singular pronoun forms (see above 3.1.1 and 3.1.2), which end in -î, the -tû suffix shifted to -tî. This created an ambiguity, since -tî now represented both 1st common singular and 2nd feminine singular. The latter accordingly shifted to -t, especially in light of the rule of morphological economy, since both 2nd singular forms do not require a final vowel to distinguish them (see above 3.1.1 regarding the independent pronoun). In addition, the original 3rd feminine singular suffix was -at, while the original 3rd feminine plural suffix was -a h. The former shifted to -a h due to a phonological rule in Hebrew, which once more resulted in an ambiguity, since both the 3rd feminine and 3rd plural forms were now the same. The situation was resolved when the 3rd masculine plural form ending in -û came to serve for the feminine as well. Accordingly, wrmç sam´rû ‘they guarded’ became an epicene form. Note, however, that vestiges of both of the earlier forms appear in the Bible. The 3rd feminine singular suffix -at (also vocalized as -at) occurs sporadically in IH, especially with the weak verbs of the IIIy class (see below 5.6). Furthermore, this is the standard form in MH, e.g., tyh hayat ‘she was’ (the SBH form is htyh hay´ta h ‘she was’). Similarly, the old 3rd feminine plural suffix -ah occurs sporadically in the Bible, especially in the Ketiv, as in 1 Kings 22:49 twyna hrbçn nisb´ra h ªøniyyôt ‘(the) ships broke’, with the Qeri reading the SBH 3rd feminine plural SC form nisb´rû (note the ending -û). A number of points made above concerning the personal pronouns (3.1.1) are relevant here as well. • As noted above, the case of the two 2nd singular SC forms parallels the situation of the two 2nd singular independent pronoun forms discussed

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above (3.1.1). That is to say, the masculine form ends in -ta, and the feminine form ends simply in -t, without a vowel following, a distinction that suffices for distinguishing gender. • QH uses a longer form for the 2nd masculine plural, namely, the suffix hmt- attached to the root, parallel to the QH 2nd masculine plural independent pronoun hmta ªattema h. Presumably this was true for the corresponding 2nd feminine plural form as well, posited *hnt*, but examples are wanting in the DSS corpus. • In colloquial Hebrew, gender neutralization occurs in the 2nd plural forms (as noted, it occurs in the 3rd plural forms throughout ancient Hebrew), thus the suffix µt- -tem appears for the feminine in various instances in the Bible. This gender neutralization is visible especially in MH, though here it is the form with nun, that is, ˆt- -ten, which predominates, being used for both masculine and feminine. The usage of the form with nun is most likely due to Aramaic influence (as was noted above with the pronoun forms; see 3.1). • Dual forms occur vestigially with the SC verbs as well, though once more I have not included them in the paradigm (see Rendsburg 1982a). 5.3. Prefix conjugation The following chart presents the data for the PC of the basic stem or Qal stem, once more using the root rmç s-m-r ‘guard, watch’ in the paradigm. The PC is used in a variety of settings in BH prose and poetry; for simplicity’s sake, I have glossed the individual forms with the present tense. Singular 1st com. 2nd masc. 2nd fem. 3rd masc. 3rd fem.

rmça rmçt yrmçt rmçy rmçt

ªesmor tismor tism´rî yismor tismor

Plural ‘I guard’ ‘you guard’ ‘you guard’ ‘he guards’ ‘she guards’

rmçn wrmçt hnrmçt wrmçy hnrmçt

nismor tism´rû tismorna h yism´rû tismorna h

‘we guard’ ‘you guard’ ‘you guard’ ‘they guard’ ‘they guard’

Note that the 2nd masculine singular and 3rd feminine singular forms are identical. This ambiguity is found in proto-Semitic as well. Three points may be noted: • The 3rd feminine plural form was originally hnrmçy yismorna h ‘they guard’, as may be determined from the comparative Semitic evidence, of which three examples remain in the Bible (Genesis 30:36, 1 Samuel 6:12; Daniel 8:22). Otherwise, the 2nd feminine plural form hnrmçt tismorna h was imported, taking over the function of the 3rd person as well as the 2nd person. • In colloquial Hebrew, as we have seen above with the personal pronouns (3.1.1) and the SC verb (5.2), gender neutralization occurs in the 2nd and 3rd plural, with wrmçt tism´rû and wrmçy yism´rû serving respectively for both masculine and feminine. This is seen most clearly in MH, in which the hnrmçt tismorna h form never occurs.

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• As with the SC verbs, so with the PC verbs as well: the Bible attests to a vestigial use of dual forms, though I have not presented the data in the paradigm (see Rendsburg 1982a). 5.4. Prefix conjugation modal forms Hebrew also includes certain modal forms distinguished by slight changes in the above PC paradigm forms. The first person utilizes cohortative or coaxing forms with the addition of a suffixed h- -a h, thus, hrmça ªesm´ra h ‘let me guard’, ‘may I guard’, ‘I wish to guard’, etc., and hrmçn nism´ra h ‘let us guard, ‘may we guard’, ‘we wish to guard’, etc. The third person utilizes a special jussive form created by shortening the standard PC, but only where such forms allow for shortening. Such instances are limited to the Qal of certain weak verbs (see below 5.6), e.g., lgy yigel ‘may it be swept away’ ( Job 20:28), shortened from the standard PC form hlgy yigle h ‘he/it is exiled/swept away’, and to the Hiphºil (see below 5.7), e.g., trky yakret ‘may he cut off’ (Psalms 12:4), shortened from the standard PC form tyrky yakrît ‘he cuts off’. These forms also may be preceded by the negative particle la ªal ‘not’ to express a negative desire, e.g., yht la ªal t´hî ‘may (our hand) not be (upon him)’ (Genesis 37:27); cf. the standard PC form hyht al lôª tihye h ‘she/it is not’. The corresponding second person jussive forms are used for negative commands after the particle la ªal ‘not’, e.g., tjçt la ªal tas˙et ‘do not destroy’ (Deuteronomy 9:26), with the verbal form shortened from the standard PC form tyjçt tas˙ît ‘you destroy’. These modal forms are characteristic of SBH, the system begins to deteriorate in LBH and QH (that is, there is confusion between the modal forms and the standard PC forms), and the modal forms all but disappear in MH. 5.5. Imperative Imperative forms occur in the 2nd person, and have the same pattern as the 2nd person PC forms, minus the prefixed -t tV-, with necessary vowel readjustment. The paradigm for the Qal is as follows: Singular masculine feminine

rmç s´mor yrmç sim´rî

Plural ‘guard!’ ‘guard!’

wrmç sim´rû hnrmç s´morna h

‘guard!’ ‘guard!’

As was the case with the PC, also in the imperative: gender neutralization arises in colloquial Hebrew in the plural, so that wrmç sim´rû comes to serve for both the masculine and the feminine. In MH the form hnrmç s´morna h does not occur. 5.6. Verbal roots As noted above (5.1), most verbs in Hebrew, as in all of Semitic, are built from roots comprised of three consonants. An example is the verb that we have used in the paradigms above, rmç s-m-r ‘guard, watch’.

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Hebrew also includes a large number of weak verbs, in which one of the three root letters does not appear in all of the various individual forms. As noted above (5.1), many of these verbs are among the most basic vocabulary items of the language, suggesting biconsonantal origins; the same has been noted in the other Semitic languages. The weak patterns are as follows: 1. 1st root letter nun , e.g., [sn n-s-º ‘travel’, abbreviated as In. In verbs of this class, (a) the nun assimilates to the following consonant in the PC (resulting in the gemination of the second root consonant), e.g., *yinsaº > [sy yissaº ‘he travels’; and (b) the nun elides in the imperative, e.g., çg gas ‘approach!’, from the root çgn n-g-s. 2. 1st root letter yod , e.g., bçy y-s-b ‘sit, dwell’, abbreviated as Iy. In verbs of this class, the yod elides (a) in the PC, e.g., bça ªeseb ‘I sit’, and (b) in the imperative, e.g., bç seb ‘sit!’ 3. 2nd root letter yod , e.g., ryç s-y-r ‘sing’, abbreviated as IIy. In verbs of this class the yod is non-consonantal; in most forms of the verb belonging to this class, it serves only to mark the long î vowel between the first and last consonants. For example, note the PC form ryçy yasîr ‘he sings’. 4. 2nd root letter waw , e.g., µwq q-w-m ‘arise’, abbreviated as IIw. In verbs of this class the waw is non-consonantal; in most forms of the verb belonging to this class, it serves only to mark the long û vowel between the first and last consonants. For example, note the PC form µwqy yaqûm ‘he arises’. 5. 3rd root letter yod (commonly but incorrectly called 3rd root letter he ), e.g., ykb b-k-y ‘cry’, abbreviated as IIIy. In verbs of this class the yod does not appear in any of the standard forms, having been dropped via syncope. As an example note the 3rd common plural SC form *bakayû > wkb bakû ‘they cried’. 6. Geminate verbs, in which the 2nd and 3rd root letter is the same consonant, e.g., bbs s-b-b ‘go around’, abbreviated as IIgem. In verbs of this class, the 2nd and 3rd root consonant usually appears as a single long (geminated) consonant, e.g., the plural imperative form wbs sôbbû ‘go around!’; though at times both consonants appear, e.g., the SC form wbbs sab´bû ‘they went around’. 7. Wholly anomalous verbs, such as ˚lh h-l-k ‘go’, with he as the first root letter but which patterns as if it were a Iy verb; and jql l-q-˙ ‘take’, with lamed as the first root letter but which patterns as if it were a In verb. The above descriptions of these weak verbs serve for SBH. Note the following developments in other varieties of ancient Hebrew. a. IIy and IIw verbs typically do not appear in the traditional Piºel and Hitpaºel conjugations (for these designations, see below 5.7). The reason for this is that these conjugations require the gemination of the second root letter, which formally does not exist in verbs such as

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ryç s-y-r ‘sing’ and µwq q-w-m ‘arise’. In isolated cases in LBH and regularly in MH, however, these two verb classes do generate forms in the Piºel and Hitpaºel conjugations. In such cases the consonant yod serves as the middle root letter (not only for the IIy class, but also for IIw class). An especially productive root in this regard is µyq q-y-m ‘establish’, derived from the previously cited root µwq q-w-m ‘arise’, with such specific forms as µyq qiyyem ‘he established’ (= the 3rd masculine singular SC Piºel form) and µyqty yitqayyem ‘it must be confirmed’ (= the 3rd masculine singular PC Hitpaºel form). b. As noted above (5.2), the 3rd feminine singular SC form of the IIIy class retains the original ending -at/-at sporadically in the Bible, especially in IH, and this form appears as the standard one in MH, e.g., tyh hayat ‘she was’ (= the 3rd feminine singular SC Qal form). c. In colloquial Hebrew in ancient times, verbs with third root letter ªaleph , abbreviated as IIIª, that is, with glottal stop as the third root consonant, merged with IIIy verbs. This can be seen in several dozen cases in the Bible, and regularly in MH. Thus, for example, instead of SBH wnarq qaraªnû ‘we read’ (= the 1st common plural SC form), in MH one encounters wnyrq qarînû. The same phenomenon is known in colloquial Arabic, suggesting a parallel development in spoken Semitic languages (Rendsburg 1991). 5.7. Verbal patterns The Hebrew verb appears in a variety of set patterns, known as µynynb binyanim, literally ‘constructions’, in Hebrew grammatical terminology. We have alluded to these patterns several times above. The names of the binyanim derive from the 3rd masculine singular SC form of the specific pattern, with the root l[p p-º-l ‘do, make’ serving in the paradigm (as per Hebrew and ultimately Arabic grammatological tradition reaching back to the Middle Ages). There are seven main binyanim, as follows: 1. Paºal, also known as the Qal, literally ‘light, simple’, serving as the most basic verbal pattern in the language. 2. Niphºal, a form that originally had reflexive meaning, but which came to be used as the passive of the Qal. Its main characteristic is the letter nun prefixed to the root, visible in the SC, assimilated to the first root consonant in the PC. 3. Piºel, a second basic verbal pattern, often with a semantic nuance different from the corresponding Paºal or Qal form, including, for example, factitive and denominative functions. Its main characteristic is the gemination or lengthening of the middle root letter. 4. Puºal, the passive of the Piºel. It also bears the gemination or lengthening of the middle root letter, but has a characteristic u-vowel in the first syllable to mark the passive. 5. Hiphºil, the causative stem. Its main characteristic is the letter he prefixed to the root, visible in the SC, elided between two vowels in the PC.

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6. Hophºal or Huphºal, the passive of the Hiphºil. It bears the same traits as the Hiphºil, except that it has a rounded vowel, either o or u, to mark the passive voice. 7. Hitpaºel, the reflexive stem, serving especially as the reflexive of verbs in the Piºel. Its two main characteristics are (a) the prefix hit-, visible in the SC, though the he is elided in the PC, and (b) the gemination or lengthening of the middle root letter, as with the Piºel and Puºal. Some verbal roots are attested in only one verbal pattern, for example, the Qal/Paºal or the Piºel. Most verbal roots, however, are attested in several verbal patterns. An example of a verbal root that is attested in six binyanim in the Bible is the root çdq q-d-s ‘be holy’. The only verbal pattern in which this root fails to appear in BH is the Hophºal/Huphºal; but since this pattern serves as the passive of the Hiphºil, one can safely assume that such a form existed in the Hebrew of biblical times, its absence from the corpus notwithstanding. Indeed, the Hophºal/Huphºal of the root çdq q-d-s ‘be holy’ does occur in MH texts. Note the following meanings of the seven verbal patterns of this root, which can serve to illustrate the morphological and semantic distinctions indicated in the above list. The cited forms are the 3rd masculine singular SC ones: Paºal Niphºal Piºel Puºal Hiphºil Huphºal Hitpaºel

çdq çdqn çdq çdq çydqh çdqwh çdqth

qadas niqdas qiddes quddas hiqdîs huqdas hitqaddes

‘be holy, be set apart’ ‘reveal oneself as holy’ ‘sanctify, set apart as sacred’ ‘be sanctified’ ‘cause something to be holy’ = ‘devote, consecrate’ ‘be devoted, be consecrated’ ‘sanctify oneself, consecrate oneself’

Admittedly it often is hard to distinguish the meanings of the Piºel and the Hiphºil of this root, notwithstanding the different English definitions presented above. In MH one may note the following developments. The Puºal pattern virtually disappeared, while the Hitpaºel SC was replaced in the main by a new pattern called the Nitpaºal. An example of the latter usage is hlbqtn htbtk nitqabb´lah k´tubbatah ‘her wedding-contract was received’, with the verb in the Nitpaºal 3rd feminine singular SC (Mishna Ketubbot 11:4). 5.8. Wayyiqtol and w´qatal forms The term wayyiqtol refers to a specific form of the Hebrew verb that serves as the standard narrative tense to relate action that occurred in the past. It is built from the PC form, as may be seen from the inclusion of yiqtol in wayyiqtol, with the addition of the particle wa- (otherwise this is the conjunction ‘and’) and the gemination or lengthening of the pronoun marker (in this case the 3rd masculine singular -y-, thus -yy-). The origin of this form is debated by scholars, but a close parallel with the Egyptian iw sd2 m-n-f form used to narrate past action has been noted (Young 1953). If this relationship is accepted, then most likely the gemination or length-

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ening of the pronoun marker is the result of a nun that has assimilated to the following consonant. Note that in Egyptian n serves to mark the past tense, as, for example, in the simple past form sd2 m-n-f and in the previously cited iw sd2 m-n-f form. The wayyiqtol form is especially prominent in prose texts, in which most storytelling in the Bible is narrated (poetry is reserved for other genres, such as hymns, laments, prophecy, proverbs, etc.). Thus, for example, note the following passage, one of thousands in the Bible that could be presented: tazh hrwth ta hçm btkyw wayyiktob môse h ªet hattôra h hazzôªt ‘(and) Moses wrote this Torah’ (Deuteronomy 31:9). The w´qatal form serves the opposite function: it refers to future time, especially a future action subsequent to another future action. A sample usage is hqçhw axy hwhy tybm ˆy[mw ûmaºyan mibbêt YHWH yeßeª w´hisqa h ‘and a spring from the house of Yahweh will come forth and will water’ ( Joel 4:18), with the first verb in the regular PC with future indication and with the second verb in the w´qatal form also pointing to the future. Note that both the wayyiqtol and w´qatal forms can only occur in sentence-initial or clause-initial position. Finally, note that Hebraists disagree on what to call these forms, with waw consecutive, waw conversive, waw inversive, and waw relative among the common designations. 5.9. Infinitives Hebrew has two infinitive forms, known as the infinitive absolute and the infinitive construct. The Qal forms are, respectively, rmç samôr and rmç s´mor, both meaning ‘to guard’ (once more using the root rmç s-m-r ‘guard’). The infinitive absolute appears only in this specific form and is used in only a few selected contexts, for example, to give emphasis to a following PC verb, e.g., rmçy rmç samôr yismor ‘he shall surely guard’. The infinitive construct is more frequent and operates more like the English infinitive. In addition, its form is variable; thus, it occurs frequently with uniconsonantal prepositions (on which see below 6.2) prefixed to it, e.g., rmçl lismor ‘to guard’, and with suffixed personal pronouns, e.g., yrmç som´rî ‘my guarding’. 5.10. Participles Hebrew participles formally are nouns, since they are declined only for gender (masculine, feminine) and number (singular, plural), but they tend to function mainly as verbs in various syntactic environments. In MH the active participle serves as a true present tense verb, though its morphology is unchanged. The participle appears in two separate forms, one active and one passive. The paradigm for the active participle of the Qal is as follows: masc. sg. fem. sg. masc. pl. fem. pl.

rmwç hrmwç/trmwç µyrmwç twrmwç

sômer sôm´ra h/sômeret sôm´rîm sôm´rôt

‘guarding’ ‘guarding’ ‘guarding’ ‘guarding’

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The two feminine forms are free variants in BH, while MH prefers the second form given. The paradigm for the passive participle of the Qal is as follows: masc. sg. fem. sg. masc. pl. fem. pl.

rwmç hrwmç µyrmwç twrmwç

samûr semûra h s´mûrîm s´mûrôt

‘guarded’ ‘guarded’ ‘guarded’ ‘guarded’

The participles of the other verbal patterns, or binyanim, are marked with prefixed mem , e.g., Piºel masculine singular rbdm m´dabber ‘speaking’. The only exception to this rule is the Niphºal, in which the prefixed nun of the SC is imported into the participle, e.g., Niphºal masculine singular btkn niktab ‘written’ (in passive voice because the Niphºal generally serves as the passive). 6. Particles 6.1. Conjunctions Hebrew has very few conjunctions. By far the most common is the form -w w´- (thus the standard realization, though it is subject to change depending on the specific phonetic environment), which is attached as a proclitic to the main word, e.g., b[rhw w´haraºab ‘and the famine’. It serves a wide variety of coordinating functions, not only ‘and’ but also ‘but’, etc. Additional conjunctions are µg gam ‘also’, wa ªô ‘or’, and yk kî ‘because, that’. 6.2. Prepositions The main prepositions in Hebrew are proclitic uniconsonantal forms, namely, -l l´- ‘to, for’, -b b´- ‘in, with, by’, and -k k´- ‘as, like’. Other frequently occurring prepositions are ˆm min ‘from’, µ[ ºim ‘with’, ta ªet ‘with’, l[ ºal ‘on, upon’, d[ ºad ‘until’, and la ªel ‘to, towards’. This last form is clearly related to the uniconsonantal prefixed form -l l´- ‘to, for’. A second form of ta ªet occurs as the nota accusativi, or marker of the accusative, used especially when the direct object is definite, e.g., µyhla aryw rwah ta wayyarª ªélôhîm ªet haªôr ‘and God saw the light’ (Genesis 1:3). This morpheme typically takes the form ªôt- before pronoun suffixes, e.g., ytwa ªôtî ‘me’, suggesting that it derives from an earlier form *ªat. The pronunciation of the absolute form ta ªet presumably has been influenced by the preposition ta ªet ‘with’, mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 6.3. Particle of existence Hebrew has a special particle of existence, namely, çy yes ‘there is, there are’. The form is indeclinable, though it can take suffixed personal pronouns. Sample usages are: larçyb aybn çy yes nabîª b´yi¶raªel ‘there is a prophet in Israel’ (2 Kings 5:8); and dsj µyç[ µkçy µa ªim yeskem ºô¶îm ˙esed

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‘if you (pl.) are doers of kindness’ = ‘if you (pl.) are to do kindness’ (Genesis 24:49). 6.4. Negative particles The main negative particle in Hebrew is al lôª ‘no’, used in a variety of contexts, including legal prohibitions, e.g., jxrt al lôª tirßa˙ ‘you shall not murder’ (Exodus 20:13). Two other negatives are la ªal ‘(do) not’, used especially before jussive verbs to indicate a negative command, e.g., ˚dy jlçt la ªal tisla˙ yad´ka ‘do not send forth your hand’ (Genesis 22:12; see 5.4 above); and ˆya ªên ‘(there is) not’ used to indicate the absence of something, e.g., µym wb ˆya ªên bô mayim ‘there-was-not in-it water’ (Genesis 37:24). The latter form serves as the negative counterpart for the particle of existence çy yes ‘there is, there are’ treated above (6.3). 6.5. Possessive particle -lç sel- ‘of ’ Possession is normally expressed by means of the construct phrase (see above 4.3). But Hebrew also developed a possessive particle -lç sel-, more or less the semantic equivalent of English ‘of’, produced by combining the relative pronoun -ç se- ‘that, which’ (see above 3.3) and the preposition -l l´- (see above 6.2). This form is attested several times in the Bible and is standard in MH. The form can be prefixed to the following noun, e.g., ˚lmlç sellamelek ‘of the king’, or it can take the pronoun suffixes, thus, ylç sellî ‘my’, ˚lç sell´ka ‘your’ (masculine singular), etc. 6.6. Adverbs Hebrew has very few real adverbs. Among the basic ones we may point to za ªaz ‘then’, ht[ ºattah ‘now’, and µç sam ‘there’. A suffixed mem , with one of two vowels, is attested as an adverbial ending when attached to selected nouns. The following forms take -am: µnma ªomnam ‘in truth’ (from ˆma ªomen ‘truth, trustworthiness’), µnj ˙innam ‘for nothing, in vain’ (from ˆj ˙en ‘grace’; cf. Latin gratis), µmwy yômam ‘by day’ (from µwy yôm ‘day’), and µqyr rêqam ‘empty-handed’ (from qyr rêq ‘empty’). The following forms take -ôm: µatp pitªôm ‘suddenly’ (no noun *atp petaª is attested, but cf. [tp petaº ‘instant’, which most likely is the source of the adverbial form, with weakening of the ºayin to ªaleph), and µwçlç silsôm ‘day before yesterday’ (from çlç salôs ‘three’; that is, today = day one, yesterday = day two, and the day before yesterday = day three). Another postpositive element is the adverbial suffix h- -a h (unaccented), which functions mainly like the preposition ‘to’ when suffixed to nouns indicating places, but also is used in conjunction with other nouns. Examples of the former include hxra ªarßa h ‘to the land’, hbgn negba h ‘to the southland’, and hlwaç s´ªôla h ‘to Sheol’ (i.e., the netherworld). Examples of the latter are hnma ªomna h ‘in truth’ (cf. µnma ªomnam ‘in truth’ above); hlylj ˙alîla h ‘to profanity’ (cf. Latin ad profanum), with the sense of ‘heaven forbid’; and hlyl layla h ‘tonight’ (though at a very early stage in the history of the Hebrew language this form came to mean simply ‘night’, thus throughout BH, with the original form lyl layil ‘night’ restricted to poetry).

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7. Numerals Numerals are marked for gender (masculine, feminine) and agree with the noun being counted. However, as with most Semitic languages, for the numerals 3–10, the base forms serve for the feminine, and the forms with the feminine ending -ah (< -at) serve for the masculine. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as “gender polarity.” The individual forms are as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Masculine dja ªe˙ad µynç snayim hçlç s´lôsa h h[bra ªarbaºa h hçmj ˙amissa h hçç sissa h h[bç sibºa h hnmç s´môna h h[çt tisºa h hrç[ ºå¶ara h

Feminine tja ªa˙at µytç stayim çlç salôs [bra ªarbaº çmj ˙ames çç ses [bç sebaº hnmç s´mône h [çt tesaº rç[ ºe¶er

Note the following specific points: • The feminine form for ‘1’ is a rare instance of a d assimilating to the following consonant, though in this case it is the voiceless dental t, so the phenomenon is explicable. That is to say, feminine ‘1’ is formed by suffixing the feminine nominal ending -t to the masculine form for ‘1’ (actually the construct form, see further below), with the resultant development ªa˙ad + -t = *ªa˙adt > *ªa˙att > ªa˙at (with mandatory simplification of consonantal gemination in word-final position). • The words for ‘2’ are the only words in the language that commence with an initial consonant cluster, permissible because of the sibilant + sonorant combination in snayim and the sibilant + stop in stayim (see Hoberman 1989). In addition, note that both forms include the nominal dual ending -ayim discussed above (4.1). • Comparative Semitic suggests that the proto-Hebrew form of ‘5’ was ˙ams- (cf. Babylonian ˙amsat, Aramaic ˙amsa, Arabic ˙amsa). Apparently the vowels of the attested Hebrew forms ˙åmissa h and ˙ames have been influenced by the vowels of the following forms for ‘6’, sissa h and ses, with which they now “rhyme.” The numeral ‘1’ functions as an adjective and therefore follows the noun that it modifies, e.g., dja rp par ªe˙ad ‘one bull’. The numerals 2–10 listed above occur in apposition to the item counted, and can appear either before or after the item, e.g., µyrp hçlç s´lôsa h parîm ‘three bulls’ or hçlç µyrp parîm s´lôsa h ‘three bulls’. But in certain settings, for example, when the item counted is definite, the numerals appear in the construct form. The entire paradigm is not provided here; instead a single illustration will suffice: µyrph tçlç s´lôset happarîm ‘the three bulls’.

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The numerals from 11–19 are formed by combining the unit with special forms of the numeral ‘10’, e.g., rç[ hçlç s´lôsa h ºa¶ar ‘13’ (masculine), hrç[ çlç s´lôs ºe¶reh ‘13’ (feminine). The decades do not distinguish gender. The numeral 20 appears as the “plural” of the numeral ‘10’, thus, µyrç[ ºe¶rîm ‘20’. The forms of 30–90 appear as the “plural” of the respective units: µyçlç s´lôsîm ‘30’, µy[bra ªarbaºîm ‘40’, etc. Forms such as 25, 36, 47, etc., are created by combining the decade form, the conjunction -w w´- ‘and’ (6.1), and the unit form. The unit form agrees with the gender of the item counted. A sample illustration is hçmjw µyrç[ ºe¶rîm wa˙amissa h ‘25’ (masculine), literally ‘twenty and five’. The higher numerals in Hebrew are ham meªa h ‘100’, πla ªelep ‘1000’, and either wbr ribbô or hbbr r´baba h, both meaning ‘10,000’. These numbers similarly are epicene. Hebrew possesses ordinal numbers only for the numerals 1–10. They serve as adjectives, and therefore follow the noun, and do not reflect the so-called “gender polarity” visible for the cardinal numerals 3–10. The words for ‘first’ are built from the word çar rôªs ‘head’, thus ˆwçar rîªsôn ‘first’ (masculine), hnwçar rîªsônah ‘first’ (feminine). The forms for ‘second’ through ‘tenth’ are built from the corresponding cardinal nominal/adjectival form: Masculine 2nd ynç senî 3rd yçylç s´lîsî and so on through: 10th yryç[ ºå¶îrî

Feminine tynç senît tyçylç s´lîsît tyryç[ ºå¶îrît

Bibliography Works cited in the article Ben-Hayyim, Z. 2000 A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew. Jerusalem: Magnes / Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Hetzron, R. 1969 Third Person Singular Pronoun Suffixes in Proto-Semitic. Orientalia Suecana 18: 101–27. Hoberman, R. D. 1989 Initial Consonant Clusters in Hebrew and Aramaic. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 48: 25–29. Morag, S. 1988 Qumran Hebrew: Some Typological Observations. Vetus Testamentum 38: 148–64. Rendsburg, G. A. 1982a Dual Personal Pronouns and Dual Verbs in Hebrew. Jewish Quarterly Review 73: 38–58. 1982b A New Look at Pentateuchal HWª. Biblica 63: 351–69.

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1991 Parallel Developments in Mishnaic Hebrew, Colloquial Arabic, and Other Varieties of Spoken Semitic. Pp. 1265–77 in vol. 2 of Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau, ed. A. S. Kaye. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1997 Ancient Hebrew Phonology. Pp. 65–83 in Phonologies of Asia and Africa, ed. A. S. Kaye. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Revell, E. J. 1995 The Two Forms of First Person Singular Pronoun in Biblical Hebrew: Redundancy or Expressive Contrast? Journal of Semitic Studies 40: 199– 217. Young, G. D. 1953 The Origin of the Waw Conversive. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 12: 248–52.

Basic reference works Blau, J. 1976 A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1976. Muraoka, T., trans. and rev. 1991 Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, by P. Joüon. Subsidia Biblica 14/1–2. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. Kutscher, E. Y. 1982 A History of the Hebrew Language, ed. R. Kutscher. Jerusalem: Magnes / Leiden: Brill. Pérez Fernández, M. 1999 An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew, trans. J. Elwolde. Leiden: Brill. Qimron, E. 1986 The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Sáenz-Badillos, A. 1993 A History of the Hebrew Language, trans. J. Elwolde. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Waldman, N. M. 1989 The Recent Study of Hebrew. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press / Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Waltke, B. K., and O’Connor, M. 1990 An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

Chapter 5

The Morphology of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic Geoffrey Khan University of Cambridge

1. Introduction The term Babylonian Jewish Aramaic (BJA) is generally used to refer to the Aramaic of the Jewish communities in the Mesopotamian region during the 1st millennium c.e. that has come down to us in various literary records. The most extensive one is the Babylonian Talmud, which was composed between the 3rd and 6th centuries c.e. Dating from the same period are a number of Jewish Aramaic texts that were written on incantation bowls from Mesopotamia. In the second half of the millennium the Babylonian Geonim used Aramaic in their writings, many of which have been preserved. The Aramaic of these texts is by no means uniform. The language of the incantation bowls and the writings of the Geonim are in some respects more conservative than that of the Babylonian Talmud. Within the Babylonian Talmud itself, however, there is no uniformity. The language of the tractate Nedarim has many conservative features parallel to those in incantation bowls and Geonic writings. There appear to have been two main types of literary Jewish Aramaic in the first millennium, one being represented by tractate Nedarim, the incantation bowls and the Geonic texts and the other by the main body of the Babylonian Talmud (see Harviainen 1983; Goshen-Gottstein 1978). The language used in the Babylonian Talmud, although less conservative, was, nevertheless, not a faithful record of the contemporary vernacular form of Aramaic. It was a supra-dialectal literary language, which contained a mixture of classical and vernacular features. This is reflected by the fact that a variety of alternative forms appear in its morphology (see Morag 1969: 186; 1981: 141–45; 1988a: 37–40). During the 1st millennium c.e. there was almost certainly a continuum of spoken Aramaic dialects across Mesopotamia (see Boyarin 1981). By the 2nd millennium c.e. many of these had been displaced by Arabic, but a group of spoken Aramaic dialects survived to modern times in the northern part of the region. This group of spoken Neo-Aramaic dialects, known as North Eastern NeoAramaic (NENA), included several that were the vernacular of Jewish communities (see Khan, in this volume, 309–327). In this paper I shall focus on the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud. It is not my intention to present a systematic overview of the morphology of the language, but rather to concentrate on a few selected areas of morphology in comparison with corresponding structures in the surviving

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Neo-Aramaic dialects of northern Mesopotamia. Such comparison often throws light on historical changes in morphology that are in their embryonic stages in BJA but have reached completion in the later spoken dialects. It also clarifies the supra-dialectal nature of the language of the Babylonian Talmud, since none of the individual spoken dialects exhibits the morphological diversity that is attested in the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud. It should be pointed out that there are various reading traditions of the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud. The most archaic and reliable ones are those reflected in early vocalized manuscripts (see Morag 1988b) and the orally transmitted tradition of the Yemenite Jewish communities (see Morag 1969, 1998a; Morag and Kara 2002). The Yemenite reading tradition is a direct descendant of the Jewish Aramaic of medieval Babylonia. Less reliable are the reading traditions of the Talmud that are reflected by the European printed editions. Unfortunately, there is no systematic grammar of the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud based on the early, reliable sources. 1 In this article I have adopted a transcription that reflects the earlier traditions, where this has been possible. 2. Pronouns Pronouns occur in a variety of forms. They may be divided broadly into those that express the grammatical subject and those that express some other grammatical relationship. 2.1 Independent subject pronouns The subject pronouns are used in an independent form and an enclitic form that is suffixed to the predicate of the clause. Some of the pronouns in each of these two categories have alternative forms. In the following paradigms the alternative forms that are of relatively rare occurrence have been put in parentheses. 1st pers. 2nd pers.

3rd pers.

sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl.

ªana ªannan (ªana˙na) ªatt (ªant) ªatt (ªant) ªattun, ªattu (ªantu, ªatt, ªant) hu, ªihu hi, ªihi ªinhu (ªinnun) ªinhi

The third person pronouns exhibit the greatest degree of historical change compared with earlier forms of Aramaic. The earlier singular forms are hu (3ms) and hi (3fs), which are still in use in the JBA. These forms are commonly extended, however, by the prefix ªi-, which may be identified as 1. The available grammars such as Levias (1900), Margolis (1910), Epstein (1960) are based for the most part on late printed editions and manuscripts.

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a deictic element. The third plural pronouns are regularly extended by an addition of a deictic element. The original forms may be reconstructed as *hun (3mpl) and *hin (3fpl). The deictic element ªin- has been added to these and the final /n/ of the original pronoun has been elided by a regular phonetic development in the dialect. This strengthening of the third person pronouns by further deictic elements reflects the onset of a trend in the Eastern Aramaic dialects. In the Modern Eastern Aramaic dialects the original third person pronouns have been replaced by demonstrative pronouns or transformed by the attachment of a variety of deictic elements. This has resulted in a very diverse range of third person pronouns in the NENA dialects. In some dialects, for example, the 3ms pronoun has the form ªaw, which has developed from *ha-hu, i.e. the combination of the pronoun *hu (3ms) with the deictic element *ha. In other dialects this is extended by further elements, for example, ªawa (< *ha-hu-ha), ªawin (< *ha-hu-in). In Modern Mandaic the original third person singular pronouns of Classical Mandaic hu and hi have been replaced by the demonstrative particle hak (Macuch 1965: 154). 2.2 Enclitic pronouns In addition to the regular third person pronouns, BJA also has a series of third person pronouns that have the specialized function of expressing the copula nexus between subject and predicate in a clause. These have the following form: Third person enclitic pronouns 3rd pers.

m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl.

nihu nihi ninhu ninhi

Example: kulhu ˙åqa mina ninhu ‘They are all one kind’ (Babylonian Talmud, Óullin 79a). These copula pronouns have been formed by the attachment of the additional deictic element n- to the personal pronouns ªihu, ªihi, ªinhu and ªinhi. This morphological element is used to extend various pronouns in the NENA dialects, for example, ªawin ‘he’ (< *ha-hu-in), ªatin ‘you (sing.)’ (< *ªat-in), and is also used to extend the existential particle ªit ‘there is’, resulting in the form ªit-in. A special copula pronoun is used in BJA only in the third person. In the NENA dialects, by contrast, copula forms have developed for all persons. It should be pointed out, however, that the paradigm of the copula in this dialect group arose by extending morphological elements of the third person to the first and second persons, which suggests that the third person copula is more original (Khan, in this volume, 309–327). The shortened enclitic pronouns, which are only attested in the first and second persons, are used mainly as suffixes on active participles when they are used predicatively to express the present tense. The participles are inflected for gender and number, for example, qa†el (ms), qa†la (fs), qa†lin

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sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl.

2nd pers.

-na -na, -nnan -at -at -ttun

(mp). When combined with the enclitic pronouns the resulting forms are as follows: Participle with enclitic pronouns 1st pers.

2nd pers.

m. sg. f. sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl.

qa†el-na qa†la-na qa†li-na, qa†li-nnan qa†l-at qa†l-at qa†li-ttu

‘I kill’ ‘I kill’ ‘We kill’ ‘You kill’ ‘You kill’ ‘You kill’

When the participle is from a root ending in the weak radical /y/, the paradigm is as follows: Third weak root participle with enclitic pronouns 1st pers.

2nd pers.

m. sg. f. sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl.

ma†e-na ma†ya-na ma†e-na, ma†e-nnan ma†e-t ma†ya-t ma†e-ttun

‘I arrive’ ‘I arrive’ ‘We arrive’ ‘You arrive’ ‘You arrive’ ‘You arrive’

The propensity to use these enclitics with participial predicates reflects a historical change in progress from the category of enclitic pronoun to verbal inflection, which has reached completion in the NENA dialects. In NENA the descendants of these enclitic pronouns are only used as verbal inflection. The erstwhile active participles, moreover, are treated syntactically as verbs. It should be pointed out, however, that some small differences are found between the form of the BJA enclitic pronouns and the NENA verbal inflectional suffixes. Consider the paradigm of the Jewish NENA dialect of Arbel in the following table. Participle with enclitic pronouns ( Jewish Arbel) 1st pers.

2nd pers.

m. sg. f. sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl.

qa†len qa†lan qa†lex qa†let qa†lat qa†letun

‘I kill’ ‘I kill’ ‘We kill’ ‘You kill’ ‘You kill’ ‘You kill’

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It can be seen that in this dialect, which is typical of many others of the group, the inflectional suffixes that are added to a verbal root with strong radicals are based on those that were originally added to roots with the final weak radical /y/, as in the BJA paradigm of ma†e given above. The advantage of this is that the ambiguity between the 2ms and 2fs of the BJA strong verb paradigm (i.e., qa†l-at for 2ms and 2fs) has been resolved, since a morphological distinction is made in the final weak paradigm (cf. BJA ma†e-t 2ms versus ma†ya-t 2fs). The NENA dialects have resolved another ambiguity in the morphology of the BJA, namely that between the 1ms and 1pl forms, which are sometimes identical in final weak verbs (cf. BJA ma†e-na ‘I arrive’ or ‘We arrive’). This has been adjusted in the NENA dialect by adopting the 1pl inflectional suffix -ex, by analogy, it seems, with the independent 1pl pronoun ªaxnan, ªaxni (cf. BJA ªana˙na). It would appear, therefore, that the enclitic pronouns are used in BJA as an embryonic form of verbal inflection and that this became fully developed in the NENA dialects where various morphological ambiguities were resolved. 2.3. Pronominal suffixes The pronominal suffixes are added to nouns to express, broadly, a genitive relationship, and to verbs to express pronominal objects. The forms of pronominal suffixes that are attached to nouns differ in some persons according to whether the noun is singular or plural. In addition, some suffixes are attested in a variety of alternative forms. The following paradigm gives some of the more common forms of pronominal suffixes attached to nouns, though it is not exhaustive.

1st pers. 2nd pers.

3rd pers.

sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl. m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl.

Singular nouns -i, -ay -in, -an, -ana -ak -ik -ku not attested -eh, -e -ah, -a, -ha -hu, -hon, -hi

Plural nouns -ay -in, -nan -ak -ayik, -ek -ayku -eki -eh, -ahu, -ohi -ah, -aha -ayhu, -ehon, -ehen -ehi

Amid this diversity of forms for the pronominal suffixes one may discern certain trends that have been developed further in the NENA dialects. In a number of the suffixes, for example, there is a tendency to level the distinction between those that are attached to singular nouns and those that are attached to plural ones. This is seen in the 1s, 1pl, 2ms, 3ms and 3fs. In most of these, alternative forms still exist that maintain the distinction, but in the 2ms the distinction has been totally levelled with no vestige of distinct forms. In the NENA dialects the tendency towards the

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levelling of these distinctions has been carried further to the extent that most dialects have a single set of pronouns that are attached to both singular and plural nouns. The only known dialect to preserve any such distinction is that of the village of Qaraqosh on the Mosul plain. In the Qaraqosh dialect there are distinct pronominal suffixes for the 1pl, 2pl and 3pl on plural nouns. There is, however, only one set of suffixes for the 1s, 2s and 3s. The tendency to reduce the distinction does, in fact, seem to be more advanced with the singular suffixes also in BJA. Another observation that can be made when comparing the forms of suffixes attested in BJA with those of the NENA dialects is that in individual dialects the diverse range of alternative forms has been reduced to a single form, although differences in the form of the suffixes exist across the dialects. One may, in fact, explain the different suffixes that are found across the dialects as being derived from different forms of suffixes corresponding to many of the types that are found in BJA. The form of the 2pl and 3pl suffixes in some NENA dialects, such as Jewish Arbel, correspond to the form of the corresponding BJA suffixes that are attached to singular nouns: 2 pl. 3 pl.

-xun -u

cf. BJA -ku cf. BJA -hu

In other NENA dialects, such as Aradhin, the forms for these suffixes correspond to the form of the corresponding BJA suffixes that are attached to plural nouns: 2 pl. 3 pl.

-Exun -Ehin

cf. BJA -ayku cf. BJA -ehen

The diversity of the forms of suffixes attested in the Babylonian Talmud corpus seems rather perplexing when one compares it to the uniformity of the individual spoken NENA dialects. This diversity is likely to reflect a conflation of different dialects in the various layers of the corpus, some differences being attributable, perhaps, to different regional dialects and others to the distinction between vernacular spoken dialects and conservative literary dialects. 2.4 Demonstratives As with the pronominal suffixes, BJA contains a diverse range of demonstrative pronouns. The table below presents a selection of some of these. The pronouns may be categorized into those expressing near deixis and those expressing far deixis. Near deixis m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl.

haqen, hay haqa, hay hanhu, halen hanne, halen

The Morphology of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic Far deixis m. sg. f. sg. pl.

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hahu, haªik, ªiqak hahi, hak, ªiqak hannak, ªinak

These diverse demonstrative pronouns are formed from a variety of deictic elements. Many contain the prefix ha-. The deictic element i can be identified in some forms, for example, ha-y, ªi-dak. Some of the far deixis forms contain the element k, which may be identified with the 2ms pronominal suffix. In the Yemenite tradition the demonstrative hay is pronounced haye and the corresponding far deixis form hayek (see Morag 1969: 184; Morag and Kara 2002: 342). As is the case with the pronominal suffixes, this diversity has been reduced in the individual spoken NENA dialects. In the dialects on the Mosul plain (e.g., Qaraqosh) the singular near deixis forms are related to the haqen series of BJA, whereas the singular far deixis forms are derived from the forms *hahu and *hahi: Near deixis m. sg. f. sg.

ªaqa ªaqi

Far deixis m. sg. f. sg.

ªawa ªaya

< *ha-hu-ha < *ha-hi-ha

In many dialects the set of demonstrative pronouns is levelled still further in that all singular demonstratives are derived from the forms *hahu and *hahi, the other series being lost. In such dialects these forms are usually extended by further additions of the ha element, as in En Nune: Absent deixis m. sg. ªaw f. sg. ªay

< *ha-hu < *ha-hi

Near deixis m. sg. f. sg.

ªawwa ªayya

< *ha-hu-ha < *ha-hi-ha

Far deixis m. sg. f. sg.

ªawaha ªayaha

< *ha-hu-ha-ha < *ha-hi-ha-ha

Some NENA dialects have near deixis forms corresponding to the BJA forms with the i deictic element. Such dialects also exhibit a levelling in gender, as is the case with BJA hay, e.g., Jewish Arbel:

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Near deixis m. sg. f. sg.

ªiyya ªiyya

< *ªi-ha < *ªi-ha

Far deixis m. sg. f. sg.

ªo ªo

< *ha-hu < *ha-hu

The series of demonstratives in BJA with the k element does not have any corresponding forms in NENA. The diversity of demonstrative forms in the Talmudic corpus contrasting with the greater uniformity and symmetry of the individual spoken NENA dialects, as with the diversity of pronominal suffixes, is likely to have arisen due to the conflation of various different dialects within the corpus of the Babylonian Talmud. 3. Verbs BJA has three basic conjugations of verbs, which are normally referred to as Perfect, Imperfect and Present. The inflection of these conjugations in several cases exhibits alternative forms. The most commonly attested forms are shown in the table on the following page. As was remarked above, the Present conjugation is formed from the base of the active participle. The third person forms are the basic participial forms inflected for gender and number. In the first and second person forms the participle is combined with enclitic subject pronouns, which are shortened forms of the independent subject pronouns. Some of the inflections of the Present conjugation have been extended to the other conjugations by analogy. In the Perfect the original 3mp for q†alu is sometimes replaced by q†ali, which has the inflection of the 3mp Present qa†li. The alternative forms of the 2pl and 1pl of the Perfect q†alitu and q†alinan also have the inflection of the Present. We may note, furthermore, that the alternative form of the Perfect 3fs q†ala, has the inflection of the Present, though in this case the ending -a probably arose by a phonetic process, in which the final -t was elided. The Imperfect first person forms sometimes have the Present inflectional endings -na (sg.) and -inan (pl.). Note also the 3fp Imperfect inflection -an, which is identical with the Present inflection. There are sporadic cases of the Present conjugation being influenced by the inflection of other conjugations, as in the rare alternative form of the 3mp Present qa†lu, which has the ending of the Perfect q†alu. In general, however, the Present conjugation is the dominant one with regard to inflection, in that the inflection of the Present tends to be extended analogically to the other conjugations rather than vice versa. This inflectional dominance of the Present conjugation may be a harbinger of what was to come in the later NENA dialects, in which the Present conjugation survived but the Perfect and Imperfect conjugations were lost.

The Morphology of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic

Perfect 3rd pers.

2nd pers.

1st pers. Imperfect 3rd pers.

2nd pers.

1st pers. Present 3rd pers.

2nd pers.

1st pers.

m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl. sg. pl.

q†al q†alat, q†ala, q†alu, q†ul, q†ali q†alan, q†ala q†alt q†alit q†altu, q†alitu q†alit, q†ali q†alna, q†alnan, q†alinan

m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl. sg. pl.

liq†ol, niq†ol tiq†ol liq†lu, niq†lu liq†lan tiq†ol tiq†oli tiq†lu ªeq†ol, ªeq†olna niq†ol, liq†ol, liq†olinan

m. sg. f. sg. m. pl. f. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl. m. sg. f. sg. pl.

qa†el qa†la qa†li, qa†lu qa†lan qa†lat qa†lat qa†littu qa†elna qa†lana qa†linan

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Another factor that brought about the loss of the Perfect and Imperfect was the infringement on their functional domains by other conjugations. In very broad terms, the BJA Perfect expressed the past tense, the Imperfect the future or modal (irrealis), and the Present the progressive or habitual. When the Present expressed the progressive, it was often preceded by the particle qa, which is generally thought to be derived historically from the active participle qaªem (‘rising, undertaking’), for example, qa saleq ‘he is ascending’. In NENA this particle, which has been attentuated phonetically to k-, has come to be interpreted as an indicative marker, with the result that the modal irrealis is expressed by the Present conjugation without the prefixed particle, which made the old Imperfect conjugation redundant. In addition to the Perfect, BJA occasionally expressed the past also by a construction formed from the passive participle with the agent expressed by a pronominal suffix attached to the preposition l-, for example, smiº li

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‘I have heard’, literally: ‘(It) was heard by me’. It is likely that this form tended to be used initially in BJA for the present perfect, expressing a past action the effect of which extended into the present. In conformity with a common development in languages, this present perfect became extended with the passage of time to include also the preterite and in the NENA dialects we find that the smiº li construction has totally replaced the old Perfect q†al form. The Present conjugation of BJA was, in fact, often used with past time reference as historical present. This was a further factor that gradually made the Perfect conjugation redundant. This functional overlap between the Present and the Perfect conjugations led, in fact, to a morphological levelling between the two in the Yemenite reading tradition of BJA. This is reflected by the fact that in the Yemenite tradition the initial vowel of the singular Present forms is elided, as it is in the Perfect, for example, sqelnå ‘I take’ < saqelna. In the plural of the Present conjugation, by contrast, a secondary morphological distinction has arisen in the Yemenite tradition in that Present conjugation forms that have present time reference tend to have a qameß vowel /å/ after the first radical, whereas forms with past time reference tend to have a pata˙ vowel in this position, for example, nåféqe ‘They go out’, nafqe ‘They went out’. In this tradition the final -i of the 3pl Present conjugation has shifted to -e by analogy with the mpl. of nouns. 2 Furthermore the syllable structure of the Perfect forms has become assimilated in some cases to that of the Present conjugation, for example, qa†lu ‘They killed’ (rather than q†alu), qa†la ‘she killed’ (rather than q†ala) (Morag 1969: 186–87; 1988a: 123–29). The past progressive or habitual in BJA was expressed by combining the Present with the Perfect of the verb ‘to be’ hwa. On some occasions this auxiliary verb hwa is inflected in agreement with the verb, for example, hwu yatb4 i ‘They were sitting’. In many cases, however, it is fossalized and remains in the basic 3ms form hwa irrespective of the inflection of the main verb, for example, hwa yatb4 a ‘She was sitting’, hwa qaªemna ‘I was rising’. This reflects a historical change that has reached completion in the NENA dialects, in which the auxiliary is totally fossilized and never inflected. Five verbal stems are commonly used in BJA, these being the 1. p ´ºal, 2. paººel, 3. ªap$ºel, 4. ªitp ´ ºel and 5. ªitpaººal. The t in the last two stems, which characteristically express passive, reflexive or otherwise intransitive actions, is usually assimilated to the first consonant of the root, for example, ªinn´qeb4 (< *ªitn´qeb4 ) ‘it was pierced’ (Babylonian Talmud, Óullin 46a), la ªizzabban (< *ªitzabban) ‘it was not sold’ (Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 31b). The participles of the four derived stems (stems 2–5 above) have an initial m-: paººel stem: ªap$ºel stem: ªitp ´ ºel stem: ªitpaººal stem:

m´qa††el map$ºel miqq´†el miqqa††al

2. For these aspects of the Yemenite tradition see Morag (1969: 186; 1988a: 131–35).

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Since the t is assimilated in the ªitp ´ ºel and ªitpaººal stems there is a close phonetic resemblance between the participles of these stems, on the one hand, and the participles of the paººel and ªap$ºel stems, on the other. This resemblance paved the way for a levelling of the morphological distinction between these two sets of stems. This levelling has come about in the NENA dialects, which lack the ªitp ´ ºel and ªitpaººal stems. In the NENA dialects the meaning of the ªitp ´ ºel and ªitpaººal stems has been absorbed by stems corresponding to the p ´ ºal and paººel stems of BJA, for example, Qaraqosh k´-msak´r ‘he loses’ (transitive = BJA qa m´qa††el) or ‘he becomes lost’ (intransitive = BJA qa miqq´†el, qa miqqa††al) (Khan 2002: 132). The infinitives of verbs exhibit a large diversity of morphological forms in BJA. We present here a selection of these. p ´ ºal stem: paººel stem: ªap$ºel stem:

miq†al, q†ala, q†ole, qa†loye qa††ole, qa††aloye ªaq†ole, maq†ole, ªaq†aloye

In some medieval manuscripts and in the Yemenite reading tradition of BJA, the o vowel in these infinitive forms is pronounced as a diphthong aw, which seems to be a secondary phonetic development (see Morag 1988a: 110–12). 3 Such diversity is not found in the individual NENA dialects, which have one fixed form of infinitive for each stem (see Khan, in this volume, 309–327). As with other areas of morphology, the diversity of morphological forms in the corpus of the Babylonian Talmud is likely to reflect a conflation of different dialects or different historical layers of the language. The weak verbal roots in BJA include the categories of final geminate and middle weak. There are, however, incipient signs of levelling between these categories. The final geminate verbs are given the form of middle weak verbs in the p ´ ºal participles: Active participle m. sg. f. sg. Passive participle m. sg. f. sg.

ºll ‘to enter’ (final geminate) ºayel ºayla

qwm ‘to rise’ (middle weak) qayem qayma

ºil ºila

qim qima

In the rest of the paradigm the two categories of verb have distinct forms in the p ´ ºal, though in the paººel final geminate roots are treated like middle weak roots throughout the paradigm. In the NENA dialects this levelling between the two categories of weak verb is complete, since the category of final geminate verbs has been lost and most verbal roots that belonged 3. For the historical background of the infinitives with o see Nöldeke (1875: 142–43).

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historically to this have changed to middle weak roots. This process was no doubt facilitated by the fact that the participles, in which the levelling had already taken place in the BJA basic p ´ ºal conjugation, came to dominate the verbal system of NENA. It should be noted that in the Yemenite tradition some final geminate verbs are treated as medial y even in the perfect p ´ ºal, for example, ºéyel ‘He entered’ (Morag 1969: 187; 1988a: 233). In BJA the category of middle weak verbs included those with medial y and those with medial w. These have distinct forms in some parts of the paradigm, for example, Imperfect lequm ‘he rises’ (root qwm), lekil ‘he measures’ (root kyl). In the participles, however, both types of root are treated as medial y: Active participle: qayem, kayel Passive participle: qim, kil This incipient levelling in BJA has reached completion in the NENA dialects, since verbs that are historically medial w are all treated as medial y. As with the levelling of final geminate and middle weak verbs, the fact that the levelling of medial y and medial w verbs had already taken place in the participles of BJA and participles dominate the verbal system of NENA no doubt accelerated the morphological change.

References Boyarin, D. 1981 An Inquiry into the Formation of the Middle Aramaic Dialects. Pp. 613– 49 in part 2 of Bono Homini Donum: Essays in Historical Linguistics in Memory of J. Alexander Kerns, ed. Y. L. Arbeitman and A. R. Bombhard. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Epstein, J. N. 1960 A Grammar of Babylonian Aramaic. Jerusalem: Magnes. [Hebrew] Goshen-Gottstein, M. H. 1978 The Language of Targum Onqelos and the Model of Literary Diglossia in Aramaic. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37: 169–79. Harviainen, T. 1983 Diglossia in Jewish Eastern Aramaic. Studia Orientalia 55/2: 97–113. Khan, G. 2002 The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh. Leiden: Brill. Levias, C. 1900 A Grammar of the Aramaic Idiom Contained in the Babylonian Talmud. Cincinnati: Bloch. Macuch, R. 1965 Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic. Berlin: de Gruyter. Margolis, M. L. 1910 A Manual of the Aramaic Language of the Babylonian Talmud. Munich: Oskar Beck. Morag, S., 1969 Oral Traditions and Dialects: Towards a Methodology for Evaluating the Evidence of an Oral Tradition. Pp. 180–89 in Proceedings of the Inter-

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national Conference on Semitic Studies Held in Jerusalem, 19–23 July 1965. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Morag, S. 1981 On the Background of the Tradition of Babylonian Aramaic in the Yemenite Community. Pp. 137–71 in Studies in Geniza and Sephardi Heritage Presented to Shelomo Dov Goitein, ed. S. Morag and I. Ben-Ami. Jerusalem: Magnes. [Hebrew] 1988a Babylonian Aramaic: The Yemenite Tradition. Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute. 1988b Vocalised Talmudic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Morag, S., and Kara, Y. 2002 Babylonian Aramaic in Yemenite Tradition: The Noun. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University. Nöldeke, T. 1875 Mandäische Grammatik. Halle: Waisenhaus.

Chapter 6

Old Aramaic Morphology Stanislav Segert† University of California, Los Angeles

1. Introduction Aramaic languages comprise one branch of the Northwest Semitic group, of which Canaanite languages are the other major branch. The term Old Aramaic indicates the languages preserved in texts from the period between the beginning of the 1st millennium b.c.e. and the middle of the 2nd century b.c.e. For the older part of this period, from the 10th century b.c.e. to 612 b.c.e. (the end of the Assyrian Empire), the term Early Aramaic is applied. The language used in the Persian Empire, which conquered Babylon in 539 b.c.e., is called Imperial Aramaic. This period of a relatively uniform Old Aramaic ends as differences between eastern and western dialects begin to emerge. Different terms appear in the scholarly literature. Instead of Old Aramaic, the term Ancient Aramaic appears; Old Aramaic is used more narrowly for what is here called Early Aramaic. Instead of Imperial Aramaic the term Official Aramaic is sometimes used for the Aramaic of the Persian Empire. During the 1st millennium b.c.e., Aramaic was spoken in the area which is now Syria and Iraq and adjacent regions. Due to its relative “simplicity,” Aramaic also became a medium of communication for speakers of other languages. It was widely used in the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and it became the official language of the Persian Empire. Aramaic texts have been found in a large area, from Anatolia to western India, and from Egypt to the Caucasus. Even after the end of the Persian Empire in 331 b.c.e., Aramaic continued to be widely used throughout the Near East. 1.1. Dialects While Aramaic was used in a large area and in different periods, some specific dialects developed. The term Samalian is used for the dialect attested in three inscriptions from the 8th century b.c.e. excavated at the village of Zincirli, Turkey, northeast of the northeastern bay of the Mediterranean Sea and north of Antioch. Two ancient names of the city are attested: yªdy and Semitic smªl—‡amªal ‘North’. In the ruins of this city, one Phoenician inscription and several inscriptions in “standard” Early Aramaic were discovered. The Samalian dialect can be characterized as “conservative.” The dialect of Deir Alla is named after the archeological site near the eastern shore of the river Jordan, halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Fragments of religious poetic texts written on the plaster

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walls of a sanctuary, from about 700 b.c.e., are in Aramaic, with some features that can be explained as taken from a conservative Northwest Semitic poetic language. 1 Also the Aramaic version of the bilingual inscription in Akkadian, on a statue (probably from the 9th century b.c.e.) found in Tell Fekheriye at the Khabur River in northern Syria is representative of a special dialect belonging to the eastern, Mesopotamian branch of Early Aramaic. Among Early Aramaic texts, some slight differences between eastern and western dialects can be seen. The eastern dialect, attested in texts from Mesopotamia, was influenced by Akkadian. The western dialect is attested in inscriptions from western Syria. The inscription from the 9th century b.c.e., discovered in Tel Dan in northern Israel, also belongs to this dialect. Imperial Aramaic developed from the eastern dialect used in Babylonia. The official texts are mostly uniform, due to the schooling of scribes. In the literary texts and in private documents, some variation can be observed. Biblical Aramaic in the book of Ezra closely follows the conventions of Imperial Aramaic. Narratives and visions in the book of Daniel are also based on Imperial Aramaic, while their genre and style required a more informal language. The poetic language in some passages of the book of Daniel and in Egyptian demotic texts require special analytic and comparative studies. This will be possible as soon as the demotic texts on Egyptian papyri are accessible. 1.2. Sources Old Aramaic texts are written, with few exceptions, in the Aramaic alphabet of 22 consonant letters, which was taken over from the Phoenician alphabet. In Aramaic texts, some consonant letters were also used for indicating long vowels: w—/u/, y—/i/, ª—/a/. For inscriptions, a monumental kind of script was used; for writing on papyri, the cursive style was developed. An Aramaic text from about 300 B.C.E., written in Babylonian cuneiform syllabary, was discovered at Uruk in Mesopotamia. Aramaic names are contained in some Akkadian texts in syllabic cuneiform script. Aramaic poetic texts in Demotic Egyptian are preserved in the Amherst 63 papyrus. The complete edition is being prepared by R. C. Steiner. In the glossary, some entries from documents in hieratic script are also included. These texts were written in the later period of Imperial Arabic. Until the end of the 19th century, Biblical Aramaic was the only Old Aramaic dialect readily accessible. Its grammar and vocabulary have been 1. Note that many scholars now reject the view that the Deir Alla inscriptions were written in Old Aramaic. Segert’s inclusion of the Deir Alla material with the Old Aramaic corpus appears to be his basis for positing a reciprocal N-stem in this essay (see 5.2 and 5.5 below). In his earlier grammar, written before the Deir Alla discovery, he stated that the sporadic N-stem forms in Old Aramaic are “Phoenicianisms” and that the tG-stem regularly served as the reflexive of the G-stem in Old Aramaic (1975: 257)—editor.

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and still are carefully studied; now, material from newly accessible texts is also used for this purpose. Since the end of the first millennium c.e., the Hebrew Old Testament has been preserved using special vowel and accent signs. This is also true for the Aramaic passages, which are about one percent of the Old Testament canon. Although the vocalization reflects in some respects the influence of later Aramaic pronunciation, it is an important source of Old Aramaic. The edition of the Old Testament used most, including in this survey, is based on the Masoretic manuscript from 1008 c.e., cited in the literature as “Codex Leningradensis.” The vocalization system is that created in Tiberias. The alternate Babylonian vocalization system is attested in some shorter Aramaic texts. Some fragments of Aramaic passages containing only consonants from around the beginning of the Christian era were found in the Qumran (Dead Sea) caves. The Aramaic passages in the book of Ezra (4:8–6:18; 7:12–26) mostly consist of documents in Imperial Aramaic from the Achaemenid period: 4:8–16, 17–22; 5:7b–17; 6:2b–12; 7:12–26. The book of Daniel contains narratives in 2:4b–6:29 and vision reports in 7:1–28 written in Aramaic. It also contains Aramaic poetic passages: 2:20–23; 3:33; 4:7–9, 11–14, 31b, 32b; 6:27–28; 7:9–10, 13–14, 23–28. This book was completed around 164 b.c.e. Aramaic also occurs in Genesis 31:47 and in Jeremiah 10:11. Early Aramaic is preserved in inscriptions of the kings of Damascus, of Hiamat, of Samªal, and on the stelas of Sefire and of Nerab. These texts from Syria and vicinity—Tel Dan south of Damascus, Deir Alla fragments—exhibit local dialects. From this period, only a few texts from Mesopotamia are preserved, such as the ostracon from Assur. Imperial Aramaic is also represented by inscriptions found in many countries, such as Anatolia, Syria, Arabia, the Caucasus region, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, etc. Because of dry weather, texts on papyrus and leather have also been preserved in Egypt. Several collections of texts were found and published; they are named after the places where they were discovered, as with Hermopolis and Saqqara, or after the person of correspondence, as with the letters of the Persian governor of Egypt, Arshama. The most important depository is the Nile island near Aswan in Upper Egypt, known as Yeb in Egyptian and Elephantine in Greek. The colony of Jewish mercenaries in the service of the Persian Empire in the 5th century b.c.e. left many texts there, including letters, contracts, and religious documents. A literary text, a story and proverbs of A˙iqar, were discovered there. Aramaic continued to be used in Egypt and elsewhere after the end of the Persian Empire in the 4th century b.c.e. For sources and dialects, the following abbreviations are used: BA—Biblical Aramaic; EA—Early Aramaic; IA—Imperial (Official) Aramaic; SA—Samalian; DA—Deir Alla; DP—Demotic papyrus; TF—Tell Fekheriye inscriptions; UT—Uruk tablet. Old Aramaic words and BA words with vocalization are in italics. Words from other languages are in roman letters. Reconstructed forms are in slashes / /. The BA forms marked as Kethiv (abbr. K) ‘to be written’ reflect the older stage, while the vocalized forms with Qere (abbr. Q) ‘to be read’ mark the later pronunciation.

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1.3. General overview Words are formed by the combination of roots, consisting mostly of three consonants, and of nominal or verbal patterns using vowels and sometimes additional consonants. In the declension of nouns, inflectional morphemes indicate number, gender, and state. In the conjugation of verbs, inflectional morphemes indicate number, gender, and person. The evidence in consonantal texts is supplemented by vocalization in BA and syllabic script in the UT. The following survey is arranged according to traditional categories: pronouns, nouns, numerals, verbs, and particles (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections). 2. Pronouns 2.1. Personal pronouns Masculine and feminine gender are distinguished in forms of the second and third person. Forms of the first person are common gender. Independent personal pronouns Sg.

Pl.

SA l ªnk, ªnky 2 m. ªt 2 f. 3 m. hª 3 f. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

EA ªnh ªt hª

hm, hmw

IA ªnh ªnt ªnty hw hy ªn˙n, ªn˙nh ªntm

BA ªana(h) ªnth (K), ªant (Q)

hm, hmw

himmo, himmon, ªinnun ªinnen

huª hiª ªana˙naª ªantun

Suffixed personal pronouns Sg.

Pl.

SA 1 -y 2 m. -k 2 f. 3 m. -h 3f 1 2m 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

EA IA -y -y; -iª (UT) -k; -ky (DA) -k -ky -h -h, -hy -h -n -n, -nª -km -km -kn -hm; -m -hm, -hwm -n

BA -i -k, -ak -hi, -eh -ah -ana -kom; -kon -hom; -hon -hwn (K); -hen (Q)

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If the suffixed pronouns are attached to nouns in the dual and plural, and to some particles and to some verbal forms, they are modified: sg. 1 -ay; 2 m. -yk; 2 f. -yky; 3 m. -wh, -ohi; 3 f. -yh; pl. 1 -ynª(K), -ana; 2 m. -ekon; 3 m. -ehom; 3 f. yhwn (K), -e(y)hen (Q). 2.2. Demonstrative pronouns The basic element of singular forms was *d; it was written as z in older dialects, and then it changed into d. The base of plural forms is ªl. Pointing to close objects, ‘this, these’ Sg. Pl.

SA m. znh f. zª ªl

EA znh z; zh, zªt ªl, ªlh, ªln

IA zn, znh, dnh zª ªlh, ªln

BA dena ªellæ; ªillen

Pointing to distant objects, ‘that, those’ SA Sg.

m.

Pl.

m. f.(?)

EA

IA znk, zk, dk zky, dky, dk

BA dek dak ªillek ªlky

Forms extended by -n: sg. m. and f. dikken; pl. ªillen. Forms extended by -m mean ‘the same’: IA pl. zkm, dkm. 2.3. Relative pronouns The Old Aramaic relative pronoun developed from what was originally the demonstrative pronoun, the base of which was *d; the meaning is ‘which’. SA, EA z, zy; IA zy, dy, diª; BA di. The relative pronoun s- in the EA stelas from Nerab in Northern Syria is taken over from Akkadian sa-. 2.4. Interrogative pronouns Personal ‘who?’: EA and IA mn; UT man-nu; DP my; BA man. Inanimate ‘what?’: EA, IA mh; BA ma(h). Indefinite pronoun ‘something’: TF mn; IA mndº, mndºm, mdºm.

3. Nouns Nouns and adjectives are formed from roots, consisting mostly of three consonants, plus nominal patterns. Masculine nouns are not marked; the original feminine marker is -t.

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Declension categories are number—singular, dual, plural—and state— absolute, construct, determined. A few remnants of the case system occur. BA Nominal endings corresponding to IA and EA State absolute construct determined

Masculine sg. du. -º -ay(i)n -º (*-ay) -e -a -ayya

pl. -in (*-ay) -e -ayya

Feminine sg. du. -a -táy(i)n -at (-tay) -te -eta -tayya

pl. -an -at -ata

Examples: Masc.: ‘god’ sg. abs. and cstr. ªælah, det. ªælaha, suff. l sg. ªælahi ‘my god’, pl. abs. ªælahin, cstr. ªælahe, det. ªælahayya, suff. 1 sg. (le)ªlahay ‘(to) my gods’; ‘king’ sg. abs. and cstr. mælæk det. malka, pl. abs. malkin, det. malkayya. Fem.: ‘animal’ abs. ˙e(y)wa(h), cstr. ˙e(y)wat, det. ˙e(y)weta, pl. abs. ˙e(y)wan, det. ˙e(y)wata. UT: m. det. is-sa-ª ‘fire’; f. det. ha-gi-ir-ta-ª ‘paralyzed’. Feminine nouns with long vowel after the last root consonant: ‘royalty’ sg. abs. malku, cstr. malkut, det. malkuta, pl. det. malkewata. Differences between singular and plural: Masc.: ‘house’ sg. DA byt, TF bt, cstr. be(y)t; det. bayta; pl. det. IA btyª, suff. 2 pl. m. (u)b4 ate(y)kon ‘(and) your houses’; ‘son’, sg. with r: br, bar, suff. 3 sg. m. bereh; pl. with n: abs. bnn, suff. 3 sg. m. benohi. Fem.: ‘wife’ sg. ªnth, suff. 3 sg. m. ªntth, ªnsth; pl. abs. nsyn, TF nswn, det. nsyª, suff. 3 pl. m. nesehom. Plural extended by -h-: ‘father’ sg. ªab4 ; pl. with suff. 1 pl. IA ªbhyn, ª ab4 ahatá4 na; ‘name’ sg. sm, suff. 3 sg. m. semeh; pl. cstr. semahat. Case differences can be observed in SA: pl. abs. has nominative with -w /-u/, genitive-accusative with -y /-i/; e.g., ªlhw, ªlhy ‘gods’. 4. Numerals 4.1. Cardinal numerals Cardinal numerals appear in absolute, construct and determined states. Numerals 1 and 2 are adjectives; the higher ones substantive nouns. Numerals 3–10 have a masculine form or a form with the feminine marker. no marker Num. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

abs. ˙aq tryn (IA) telat ªarbaº sit, set; ss (IA) sbº (EA, IA)

with fem. marker cstr. abs. cstr. ˙d (EA) ˙aqa(h) try (IA), (tere) tarte(y)n slsh (DA), telata(h) ªarbeºa(h) ˙msh (IA) IA ˙mst sth (IA) sibºa(h) sibºat tmnyh (IA)

Old Aramaic Morphology

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 1000

no marker ºa¶ar ºæ¶rin slsn (EA), telatin ªrbºy (IA det.) ˙msn (IA) stn, (IA) sittin sbºy (SA), sbºyn (IA) tmnyn (IA)

with fem. marker ºa¶ra(h)

127

(ºsrtª, IA det.)

mªh, (IA) meªa(h) matáyin abs. ªalap$, cstr. ªælæp$, det. ªalpa; pl. cstr. IA ªlpy

4.2. Ordinal numerals Ordinal numerals are adjectives. The ordinals ‘first’ and ‘second’ are formed according to the pattern 1a23+ay. first second third

sg. fem. det. qaqmayeta; pl. cstr. qaqmaye fem. tinyana(h) fem. det. tlytyh (K) telitaªa(h) (Q)

4.3. Fractions Attested in EA: 1/4 ªrbº and 1/5 ˙ms. 5. Verbs 5.1. Verbal categories Verbal categories can be classified on different levels. They indicate both manner of action and voice. Finite forms express person, gender—in forms of second and third persons—and number. The category of aspect/tense is realized in two sets of forms, called Perfect and Imperfect. Volitive moods, jussive, energetic, and also imperative are related to the Imperfect. Two kinds of verbal nouns are formed and declined according to nominal principles: infinitives like nouns, and participles like adjectives. The term verbal class is used for verbs that are classified according to the quality of root consonants. Thematic vowels between root consonants distinguish between verbs of state and verbs of action. 5.2. Verbal patterns The term verbal pattern indicates the category expressing both manner of action (simple, factitive, or causative) and voice (active or passive). The abbreviations for these patterns are based on the manner of the action (G[round], C[ausative]), morphological shape (D[oubled], N[-prefix], 2 2. On the N-stem in Old Aramaic, see note 1 above.

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t[-infix]), and indications of voice (p[assive]). (For verbal patterns Hebrew terms formed from the verb p-º-l ‘to make’ are also used; e.g, Piºel.) In the survey, three root consonants are expressed by numerals. Verbal patterns simple factitive causative

active 1–2–3 G 1–22–3 D h/ª-1–2–3 C

passive 1–2–i-3 Gp h/ª-u-1–2–3 (?) Cp

reflexive reciprocal t-1–2–3 tG n-1–2–3 N t-1–22–3 tD h/ª-t-1–2–3 tC

Vowels between the second and third root consonants point to the character of verbs. Verbs of action have -a- in the Perfect, -u- in the Imperfect; e.g., resamta—tirsum ‘you wrote’—‘you write’. A quality can be expressed by -i-, also changed to -e-, in the Perfect, -a- in the Imperfect; e.g., selet—yislat, both ‘he is mighty’. Passive voice was originally indicated by *-u-. It changed into -i-; e.g., qe†ilat ‘she/it was killed’. 5.3. Aspect/tense The verbal aspect is a category expressing the subjective approach to actions; they can be viewed as accomplished or not accomplished. Traces of aspect can be seen only in older texts and in poetry. The function of this category, as tense prevailed, was that the Perfect indicated the past and the Imperfect the present or future. Person, gender, and number are indicated by sufformatives in the Perfect conjugation and preformatives (combined with sufformatives for some forms) in the Imperfect conjugation. In the survey of forms, the verb k-t-b ‘to write’ is used, as all three root consonants can indicate plosive or spirant pronunciations, as attested in BA texts. Only attested forms in BA are printed in italics; forms reliably reconstructed according to other BA verbs are printed in roman letters, while forms reconstructed without this evidence are included in slashes. Simple active pattern (G) Singular 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

Perfect kitbet ketáb4 te /ketab4 ti/ ketab4 kitb4 at

Plural Imperfect ªæktubõ tiktubõ /tikteb4 in/ yiktub44 tiktub4

Perfect ketáb4 na ketab4 tun /ketab4 ten/ ketáb4 u ketáb4 a

Imperfect niktub4 tikteb4 un /tikteb4 an/ yikteb4 un yikteb4 an

Some forms with -i- are Perfect, -a- in Imperfect: Perfect 3 sg. m. seg¢ iq ‘he bowed down’, 2 sg. m. yekélta ‘you have been able’; Imperfect: 2 sg. m. tisla† ‘you will rule’.

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Samples from UT: Perfect: 1 sg. na-sa-a-a-tú ‘I took’, 2 sg. m. ha-as-si-irta-a ‘you lack’, 3 sg. m. a-ma-ar ‘he said’. Jussive: Formed like those of the indicative Imperfect, but they lack final -n after long vowels, e.g., pl. 3 m. ye(ª)b4 áqu ‘they may perish’. The form ª˙rªh D 1 sg. in DA corresponds to the Hebrew cohortative, ‘I want to kindle’. Imperative: Forms do not occur with preformatives; endings correspond to those of second persons of the jussive. Examples: sg. m. peruq ‘relieve!’, sg. f. ªakúli ‘eat!’. 5.4. Nominal forms Infinitives are verbal nouns; participles are verbal adjectives. In SA and some EA texts, there are infinitives without preformatives; e.g., EA sl˙ ‘to send’. In EA, IA, and BA, the preformative is m(i)-: TF (l)mlq˙ ‘to take’, EA, IA msl˙ ‘to send’, BA l(e)mintan ‘to give’. Participles of the simple active pattern (G) are formed with -a- in the first syllable and -ior secondary -e- in the second syllable; e.g., daliq ‘burning’, qa†el ‘killing’; fem. kateb4 a ‘writing’. 5.5. Verbal forms with suffixed pronouns Suffixed pronouns indicate the object; only with some infinitives do they have possessive meaning. Forms of suffixed pronouns attached to verbal forms correspond mostly to those attached to nouns, e.g., ˙atmah ‘he sealed her/it’, IA sbqtky ‘I released you (fem.)’, yisªalænkon ‘he will ask you’. The main exception is with the first person singular, where -ni occurs (instead of i), e.g., hoqaºutáni ‘you let me know’, IA yzkrny ‘he remembers me’; infinitive (le)hoqaºutáni ‘to let me know’. But in EA and IA, the form of the pronoun of first person singular is the same as that attached to nouns, -y /-i/; e.g., EA hmtty ‘to let me kill’. Some Imperfect forms with suffixed pronouns have -n- (the energetic mood); e.g., yehoqunnáni ‘you let me know’. 5.6. Derived patterns The simple passive pattern (Gp) is characterized by -i-, developed from *-u- through *-ü-: Perfect ketib4 ‘it was written’, q†ylw IA ‘they were killed’; participle pl. fem. peti˙an ‘opened’. Simple reflexive pattern (tG): Perfect with prefixed hi-, ª-: hitre˙ißu ‘they relied (on him)’; Imperfect yityehib4 ‘it will be given’; participle mityeheb4 ‘given’. The simple reciprocal pattern (N) is attested in DA: participle nªn˙ ‘sighing’. The factitive participle (D) has the middle root consonant doubled: Perfect qa††il, qa††el ‘he killed’; Imperfect teqabbelun ‘you (pl.) will receive’; infinitive qa††ala ‘to kill’; participle mesabba˙ ‘praising’. The factitive reflexive pattern (tD) has Perfect hitnaddáb4 u ‘they offered’; Imperfect tit˙abbal ‘she/it shall be destroyed’; infinitive hitnaddabut ‘to offer’; participle mitnaddab4 ‘offered’.

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The causative active pattern (C) has prefix ha-, rarely ª-; the prefix sawas taken from Akkadian, e.g., saklel ‘he completed’. Perfect hanpeq ‘he took out’, IA ªtbw ‘they returned’; Imperfect tehanziq ‘you will damage’; participle mehaqreb4 in ‘entering (pl.)’ Causative reflexive pattern (tC): Perfect (root y-s-p) ªwtsp ‘he was added’. Causative passive pattern (Cp): preformative *hu-: Perfect håtqenat ‘she/ it was reestablished’ (?). 5.7. Verbal classes 5.7.1. Strong verbs All three consonants remain stable during the conjugation. Verbs with laryngeal h, pharyngeals ˙ or º, or with r as root consonant exhibit some shared characteristics. These consonants cannot be doubled; cf. Dp participle meb4 arak ‘blessed’. Some vowels in the vicinity of these consonants change in the direction of a: taºab4 qun ‘you will do’; ºab4 aqu ‘they made’; haska˙at ‘I found’. 5.7.2. Weak verbs Verbs with ª as the first root consonant (I ª): The glottal stop ª is not pronounced, and sometimes it is not written: ye(ª)mar ‘he says’; me(ª)mar, memar ‘to say’. Verbs with ª as the third root consonant (III ª): The glottal stop ª is often eliminated: IA m†ªt, m†t, me†at ‘she/it has reached’. Verbs with n as the first root consonant (I n): The consonant n is often assimilated to the consonant immediately following: e.g., root n-p-l, Imperfect yippel ‘he will fall down’. The n is not assimilated in yinten ‘he will give’. Imperative forms: do not have n-: pl. m. puqu ‘go out!’ Similarly, the first consonant l– of l–q-˙ ‘to take’ is often assimilated: DA yq˙, but TF ylq˙. Verbs with y as the first root consonant (I y): Verbs with the original *w- are also included, as this initial consonant changed into y-. With *y-: ye(y)tab4 ‘it will seem good’; with *w-: Perfect yetib4 ‘he sat down’, C Perfect hoteb4 ‘he settled’. In some Imperfect forms, the middle root consonant is doubled: e.g., yittib4 ‘he will sit’; the doubled consonant can be dissimilated, with n as the first element: y-d-º: tindaº ‘you will know’. Imperative forms do not have the first root consonant, e.g., hab4 ‘give!’, root y-h-b. Verbs with y as the third root consonant (III y): In many forms, y between vowels was eliminated and the vowels contracted: Perfect 3 pl. m., root b-n-y, beno (< *-ayu) ‘they built’, 3 sg. m. with suffixed pronoun benohi (*-aya+hu) ‘he built it’; Imperfect 3 pl. m. yib4 non (< *-ayu) ‘they will build’; Gp participle bene ‘built’. The consonant y remains in some forms; e.g., infinitive mib4 neya(h) ‘to build’. If y is preceded by a short vowel, it can form a long vowel, *-ay- § -e-, *-iy- § -i-, e.g., root r-m-y reme(y)na ‘we threw’; root s-t-y ªistiw ‘they drank’. Verbs with w or y as the second root consonant (II w/y): In many forms, instead of the middle consonant, there are long vowels. Examples: ¶-y-m ‘to put’, Perfect sg. 1 ¶a ¤met, 2 m. ¶a ¤mta, 3 m. ¶am; q-w-m ‘to stand up’, Perfect sg. 3 m. qam, Imperfect sg. 3 f. tequm, C Perfect sg. 3 m. haqim, Imper-

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fect sg. 3 m. yeqim. The middle consonant appears in some forms of D: infinitive qayyama. The original middle consonant is eliminated in participles; e.g., qaªem. Verbs with identical second and third root consonant (II=III): In some forms, the identical consonants are separated; in others, they are contracted into a double consonant. In some forms, especially in C, the first root consonant is doubled, while the other one is simple. Both consonants: G Perfect sg. 3 f. ºllt (K) ‘she entered’ (but ºallat Q); D: m-l-l ‘to speak’, Perfect mallil, Imperfect yemallil. Doubling of the first root consonant: C, root d-q-q, haddiqu ‘they crushed’.

6. Particles Particles are categorized according to their syntactic function: adverbs— adverbial modifiers; prepositions—adapting following nominal forms to context; conjunctions—expressing syntactic connections; interjections—mostly outside clause structures. 6.1. Adverbs Some adverbs are derived from nouns which originally were in the accusative in *-a: e.g., IA brª ‘out’; yattira(ª) ‘much’, yaßßib4 a ‘true’. Others are derived from adjectives: ¶aggiª ‘much’; ªaramit ‘in Aramaic’. Some adverbs are formed from short bases: EA kh, kª, ka(h) ‘here’; kan ‘thus’; EA tnh ‘here’; EA sm, IA tmh, tamma ‘there’; SA ªz, EA ªzy, IA ªdyn, ªædáyin ‘then’. Adverbs of negation: EA l-, IA lª; la(ª) ‘not’; prohibitive EA, IA ªl, ªal Affirmative adverb: IA lm ‘indeed’ Indication of request: SA l-, ltgmrw ‘you may complete’ Interrogative: DA h-, BA ha-, ha- ‘?’ Expression of existence: IA ªyty, ªitay ‘there is’, with suffixed pronoun ªitohi ‘he is’ 6.2. Prepositions The most frequently used prepositions have one consonant. There are prepositions with two and three consonants. Some prepositions are in some forms extended by *-ay. Prepositions can occur with suffixed pronouns. One-consonant prepositions: b-, be-, bi-, ‘in’; l-, le-, li- ‘to’; k-, ke-, ki- ‘as, like’. Two-consonant prepositions: ºim ‘with’; mn, UT mi-in, BA min, mi- + doubled consonant ‘from’; nota accusativi introducing object, EA ªyt, BA yat. Three-consonant prepositions: nægæd ‘against’; qobel ‘for’. Prepositions which have pluralic *-ay before suffixed pronouns: EA, IA ºl, ºal, suff. sg. 1 ºalay, 3 m. ºalohi, pl. 3 m. ºale(y)hun ‘upon’; BA t˙t, te˙ot, suff. sg. 3 m. te˙otohi ‘below’; EA, IA qdm, qoqam, suff. sg. 1 qoqamay ‘before’; ªa˙are(y) ‘after’; be(y)n, suff. pl. 1 bynyn ‘between’. Compound prepositions: e.g., lå-qob4 el ‘consequently’.

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6.3. Conjunctions The conjunctions w- and we- ‘and’ are pronounced as a long vowel, u-, before labials and initial syllables with reduced vowels: u-min ‘and from’; u-ke-ºænæt ‘and now’. Coordinating conjunction *pa-: SA pª; EA p-; related to it: ªap ‘also’; cf. SA gm ‘also’ Adversative conjunction: beram ‘but’. Disjunctive conjunction: EA, IA ªw ‘or’ Causal conjunction: EA, IA ky; IA kzy, keqi ‘because’ Hypothetic conjunction: EA, IA hn, hen; IA ªn ‘if’ 6.4. Interjections Some interjections developed from imperatives: hlw, ºalu, ºaru ‘behold!’. Some interjections of the same function were originally deictic particles: IA hn; IA hª; haª. 6.5. Introducing vocatives DA y-, IA yh ‘O!’

Selective Bibliography Abou-Assaf, A., P. Bordreuil, and A. R. Millard, eds. 1982 La statue de Tell Fekherye et son inscription bilingue assyro-araméenne. Paris: Recherche sur les civilisations. Bauer, H., and P. Leander 1927 Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen. Halle/Saale: Niemeyer. Folmer, M. L. 1995 The Aramaic Language in the Achaemenid Period. Leuven: Peeters. Gropp, D. M. 1990 The Language of the Samaria Papyri: A Preliminary Study. Pp. 169–87 in Sopher Mahir: Northwest Semitic Studies Presented to Stanislav Segert, ed. E. M. Cook. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Hoftijzer, J., and G. van der Kooij 1976 Aramaic Texts from Deir ºAlla. Leiden: Brill. Hoftijzer, J., and K. Jongeling 1995 Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill. Kaufman, S. A. 1992 Aramaic. Pp. 173–78 in vol. 4 of The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday. 1997 Aramaic. Pp. 114–30 in The Semitic Languages, ed. R. Hetzron. London: Routledge. Koehler, L., and W. Baumgartner 2000 The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Vol. 5: Aramaic. Leiden: Brill. Kutscher, E. Y. 1970 Aramaic. Pp. 347–412 in vol. 6 of Current Trends in Linguistics, ed. T. A. Sebeok. The Hague: Mouton.

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Muraoka, T., and B. Porten 1998 A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic. Leiden: Brill. Rosenthal, F. 1961 A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Segert, S. 1975 Altaramäische Grammatik. 4th ed. Leipzig: Enzyklopadie, 1990. 1997 Old Aramaic Phonology. Pp. 115–25 in Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus), ed. A. S. Kaye. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Steiner, R., and A. Mosak Moshavi 1995 A Selective Glossary of Northwest Semitic Texts in Egyptian Scripts. Pp. 1249–1266 in Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions, by J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling. Leiden: Brill. Tropper, J. 1993 Die Inschriften von Zincirli. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. Vinnikov, I. N. 1958–62 Slovar aramejskich nadpisej [Dictionary of the Aramaic inscriptions]. Palestinskij sbornik 3 (1958): 171–216; 4 (1959): 196–240; 7 (1962): 192–237; 9 (1962): 141–58; 11 (1964) 189–232; 13 (1965) 217– 62. Vogt, E. 1971 Lexicon Linguae Aramaicae Veteris Testamenti Documentis Antiquis Illustratum. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute.

Chapter 7

Syriac Morphology T. Muraoka Leiden

1. Introduction 1.1. Preliminary remarks Classical Syriac is an ancient representative of the Aramaic language family, attested first in inscriptions from the first few centuries of the Christian era and then largely as the language of the Syriac speaking church, which produced an enormous amount of literature, both original compositions and translations (largely from Greek). Along with Mandaic and the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud, it is a form of Eastern Aramaic. A divisive Christological controversy in the 5th century brought along with it a gradual, separate development of the language, Western ( Jacobite) and Eastern (Nestorian) Syriac. There are some dialectal differences in phonology, though differences in other domains of the language structure are yet to be investigated. 1 As in Semitic languages in general, the notion of root consisting of a fixed sequence of consonants, mostly three in number, is an integral part of the description of Syriac linguistic structure. Hence we shall use a shorthand such as R1, namely the first radical or consonant of a given root, and First-Yodh verbs, namely verbs whose R1 is yodh. 1.2 Basic rules of Syriac phonology Some knowledge of Syriac phonology is indispensable for understanding the morphology of the language. 2 1. Each of the six plosives, namely /b g d k p t/ (Begadkefat) has a corresponding positional allophone. They are pronounced “soft,” namely as fricatives /v g$ q k f t/ when immediately preceded (a) by a vowel within a word, (b) by a syllable-initial vowelless consonant, or (c) by a vowel ending a word which forms a close meaning-unit with the immediately following word. For example: a. /bet/ ‘the house of’ versus /bayta/, to be syllabified as /bay-ta/ ‘a/the house’ b. /lvayta/ ‘to a/the house’ c. /˙qa vayta/ ‘the only house’. 1. The transliteration in the description here largely follows the Eastern Syriac tradition. 2. In the following description, not too much attention is to be given to actual phonetics, namely how certain phonemes actually sounded. There remains a high degree of uncertainty in this regard. What matters is phonological opposition.

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There are, however, signs of phonematisation of these allophones as shown by, for instance, an opposition between /dakkit/ ‘you (singular) cleansed’ and /dakkit/ ‘I cleansed’. 2. A syllable-final consonantal cluster C1C2 where C1 = C2, is simplifed to C1: e.g., /dakkyat/ ‘she cleansed’ > /dakyat/. 3 3. The vowels /a/, /e/, and /o/ which in the course of inflection come to stand in an unaccented open syllable, namely a syllable ending in a vowel, are regularly deleted. E.g., /bar/ ‘a son’ or ‘the son of’ > /bra/ ‘the son’; /katev/ ‘writing’ (masculine singular) > /katba/ (feminine singular); /nektov/ ‘he will write’ > /nektvun/ ‘they will write’. 4. /e/ > /a/ when immediately followed by a /r/ or a guttural: e.g., /saddar/ ‘he sent’ for the expected /sadder/; /*sabba˙/ ‘he praised’ for the expected /*sabbe˙/. 5. The glottal stop is elided between a consonant and a vowel in the environments and : e.g., /*mªasse/ ‘curing’ > /masse/; /*saªla/ ‘begging’ > /sala/. 6. A word-initial ªalaf /ª/ invariably carries a secondary vowel. The nature of such a vowel is conditioned partly grammatically, and partly lexically. Thus /ªemar/ ‘he said’ versus /ªamir/ ‘said’ (passive participle); /ªemmar/ ‘lamb’. 7. A word-initial cluster /yC-/ changes to /iC-/, and such a vowel /i/ might be spelled as . Thus /(ª)iqaº/ ‘he knew’ instead of /*yqaº/, but /yaqºat/ ‘she knew’. Cf. /sqal/ ‘he carried’ and /saqlat/ ‘she carried’. 8. The dental /t/ of the prefix [ªet-] in the verb conjugation metathesizes with, and partially assimilates to, the R1 of a verb when it is a sibilant, one of the series /s, z, s, ß/. Thus [*ªets-] > [ªest-]; [*ªetz-] > [ªezd-]; [*ªets-] > [ªest-]; [*ªetß-] > [ªe߆-]. 9. A syllable-closing /n/ when followed by no vowel assimilates to the following consonant, unless the latter is /h/ or /˙/. E.g., /nfaq/ ‘he exited/ but /neppoq/ for /*nenpoq/ ‘he shall exit’. 10. A proclitic such as /b-/ ‘in’, /l-/ ‘to’, /w-/ ‘and’, /d-/ (conjunction and relative pronoun) takes a secondary /a/ when attached to an initial consonantal cluster: e.g., /lelya/ ‘night’ versus /blelya/ ‘at night’, but /sfarhon/ ‘their book’ versus /basfarhon/ ‘in their book’. 2. Nominal forms 2.1. Independent personal pronouns These are pronouns used mostly as subjects or predicates. Most of them have a corresponding shortened, enclitic form. The forms in the righthand column of the following table form a close phonetic unit with the immediately preceding word, with which it is often run together in writing. Their main functions are (a) a marker of the pronominal subject of a nominal clause, (b) to highlight the immediately preceding word or 3. This is, incidentally, another example of the above-mentioned phonematisation process, for one would have expected */dakyat/.

Syriac Morphology

sg. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f. pl. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

Separate /ªena/ /ªat/ /ªat/ /hu/ /hi/ /˙nan/ /ªatton/ /ªatten/ /hennon/ /hennen/

137

Enclitic /-na/ /-t/ /-t/ /-w/ or /-u/ /-y/ or /-i/ /-nan/ /-tton/ /-tten/ /ªennon/ /ªennen/

phrase, in which latter function the third person singular forms are common. In addition, (c) the third person plural forms are also used when they mark the direct object of a verb other than a participle. For example, a. /tamman na/ ‘I am there’ b. /tammanu ªitay/ ‘it’s there that I am’; /ªenaw sadret/ ‘it’s I that sent’ c. /saddar ªennon/ ‘he sent them’. 2.2. Suffixed personal pronouns Possessive pronouns and pronouns which complement prepositions are attached directly to the latter. The forms which follow vowels slightly differ from those which follow consonants. 4 after consonants sg. 1 ºa 2 m. /-ak/ 2 f. /-ek/ 3 m. /-eh/ 3 f. /-ah/ pl. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

after vowels /-y/b /-k/ /-k/ /-y/ /-h/ /-an/ /-kon/ /-ken/ /-hon/ /-hen/

a. Spelled with a silent yodh, which with two of the prepositions and the noun /kul/ ‘all’ is pronounced: /bi/ ‘in me’; /li/ ‘to me’ (but not /dil/ ‘mine, my’); /kulli/ ‘all of me’. b. E.g., from the noun /ªav/: /ªav/; /ªavuk/; /ªavuk/; /ªavuy/; /ªavuh/; /ªavun/. 4. The forms attached to masculine plural/dual nouns and some prepositions are slightly different. They may be found in 2.8.

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In addition we also have /dil-/ with an appropriate suffixed pronoun as an analytical possessive pronoun: e.g., /bayta dileh/ ‘his house’ in lieu of /bayteh/. 2.3. Personal pronouns attached to verbs These differ from the above-given forms only in respect of the 1 sg., 3 m. sg., and 3 pl. after consonants after vowels sg. 1 /-an/ /-n/ 2 m. /-ak/ /-k/ 2 f. /-ek/ /-k/ 3 m. /-eh/ /-y/; /-w/a 3 f. /-ah/ /-h/ pl. 1 /-an/ /-n/ 2 m. /-kon/ 2 f. /-ken/ 3 m., f. the enclitics /’ennon/ and /’ennen/ are used (see 2.1). a. For details, see below 4.6.

The direct object of the 1 sg. with an infinitive may take the form (silent) as well as /-n/: e.g., Matthew 8:2 /meska˙ ªat lamqakkayut/ ‘you can cleanse me’. 2.4. Reflexive pronouns The noun /nafsa/ ‘soul’ in conjunction with an appropriate suffix pronoun is used like a reflexive pronoun: e.g., Matthew 8:4 /˙awwa nafsak lkahne/ ‘Show yourself to the priests’. Similar, though less frequent, is the use of /qnoma/. 2.5. Reciprocal pronouns The notion of “each other, one another” is expressed by the repetition of the numeral /˙aq/ ‘one’: Matthew 24:10 /wnesnon ˙aq l˙aq wnaslmun ˙aq l˙aq/ ‘they will hate one another and betray one another’ (the preposition l indicates the direct object). 2.6. Demonstrative pronouns For that which is near, ‘this, these’: sg. m. /hana/ (rarely /han/) f. /haqe/ pl. /hallen/ In conjunction with the enclitic , the demonstrative changes its form: /haqay/. The m. form with an enclitic becomes /hanaw/.

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For that which is far, ‘that, those’: sg. m. f. pl. m. f.

/haw/ /hay/ /hanon/ /hanen/

2.7. Declension of the noun The Syriac noun is declined through the addition of inflectional endings with respect to three grammatical categories: gender, number, and state. The gender and number show a binary opposition: masculine and feminine, singular and plural. 5 The state is threefold: absolute, emphatic (or: determined), and construct. Taking the adjective /bis/ √yB used substantivally in the sense of ‘the evil one’, 6 its declension is as follows:

st. abs. m. /bis/ f. /bis-a/

sg. cst. /bis/ /bis-at/

emph. /bis-a/ /bis-ta/b

pl. abs. /bis-in/ /bis-an/

cst. /bis-ay/ /bis-at/

emph. /bis-e/a /bis-ata/

a. A closed set of mostly short nouns has preserved the archaic m. pl. emph. ending /ayya/: e.g., /bnayya/ ‘the sons’. Here also belong nouns and adjectives with a /y/ as its R3: m. sg. emph. /gaqya/ ‘goat’, pl. emph. /gqayya/; /qse/ < */qsay/ ‘hard’, pl. m. emph. /qsayya/. b. With some lexemes, the morpheme is /-ta/.

The absolute state is, in terms of function, the unmarked form; the construct is a form of dependence where a noun is logically dependent on the following as in /bisat ˙ezwa/ ‘bad of look, bad-looking, ugly’; the emphatic state, historically roughly equivalent to the form with the definite article, is now the normal form of the noun. As a result, /bisa/ can mean either ‘an evil man’ or ‘the evil man’. A fair number of masculine nouns with /y/ as the third (and final) root consonant form their emphatic plural by means of the ending /-awata/, e.g., sg. emph. /ªarya/ ‘lion’ > /ªaryawata/. But also without such a final /y/: e.g., /lebba/ ‘heart’ > /lebbawata/. The emphatic plural of some other nouns also shows an incremental /w/ or /h/ as the third consonant, but without the preceding additional /a/: e.g., /sefta/ ‘lip’ > /sefwata/; /ªemma/ ‘mother’ > /ªemhata/, and with an extra /a/ as in /sma/ ‘name’ > /smahata/. Feminine nouns ending with /i/ or /u/ spelled with a yodh or a waw respectively convert the vowels to /y/ and /w/ respectively in their plural 5. The dual is virtually extinct, preserved only in a closed list of three numerals: masculine /tren/ ‘two’, feminine /tarten/, and /maten/ ‘two hundred’ (see 3.1 below). 6. Like in all Semitic languages, Syriac has substantives that show a mismatch between morphological gender and morphosyntactic gender. For instance, /ªarºa/ ‘the land’ is morphologically m. sg. emph., but morphosyntactically feminine as shown by /ªarºa sappirta/ ‘the beautiful land’. Conversely, /ªaryawata sappire/ ‘the beautiful lions’.

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forms: e.g., /tasºi/ ‘story’ > sg. cst. /tasºyit/, emph. /tasºyita/, pl. /tasºyan/, /tasºyat/, /tas‘yata/; /malku/ ‘kingdom’ > sg. cst. /malkut/, emph. /malkuta/, pl. /malkwan/, /malkwat/, /malkwata/. The underlying form of the sg. stem can be affected by the vowel deletion rule (1.2 [3]). Thus m. sg. abs./cst. /bar/ ‘son’ > emph. /bra/; m. sg. abs./cst. */sefar/ ‘book’ > /sfar/, but emph. /sefra/, pl. /sefrin/, /sefray/, /sefre/. In terms of declensional morphemes and their morphophonological behaviour there is no basic difference between the noun and the adjective except that most nouns are either masculine or feminine, whereas every adjective is declinable in both genders. 2.8. Attaching suffix pronouns to nouns and prepositions

Sg. noun Sg. suff.

Pl. suff.

Pl. noun Sg. suff.

Pl. suff.

1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

Masculine stem /bis-/ /bis/a /bisak/ /bisek/ /biseh/ /bisah/ /bisan/ /biskon/ /bisken/ /bishon/ /bishen/

Feminine stem /bist-/ /bist/a /bistak/ /bistek/ /bisteh/ /bistah/ /bistan/ /bisatkon/ /bisatken/ /bisathon/ /bisathen/

1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f. 1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

cst. /bisay/ /bisay/ /bisayk/ /bisayk/a /bisaw/b /biseh/c /bisayn/ /bisaykon/ /bisayken/ /bisayhon/ /bisayhen/

stem /bisat-/ /bisat/a /bisatak/ /bisatek/ /bisateh/ /bisatah/ /bisatan/ /bisatkon/ /bisatken/ /bisathon/ /bisathen/

a. Spelled with a silent final yodh. b. Spelled with a silent he and yodh. c. Phonetically identical with ‘his evil one’, but spelled differently: ‘his evil one’ versus ‘her evil ones (= men)’.

a. In the case of nouns, the addition of possessive pronouns occurs in two slightly different manners. On the one hand, nouns in the singular, whether masculine or feminine, and plural feminine nouns have possessive pronouns attached to their stem, obtained by dropping the emphatic ending a: Series A. On the other hand, masculine plural nouns use their

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construct form for the addition of possessive pronouns, while modifying their construct suffix /ay/ when adding the 3 m. sg. and 3 f. sg. pronouns: Series B. b. The vowel deletion rule (1.2 [3]) plays a role here. Thus /bistan/ < */bisatan/ ‘our evil woman’ as against /bisathon/ ‘their evil woman’. Likewise /breh/ ‘his son’ (cst. /bar/) versus /barhon/ ‘their son’. c. Suffixes are added to the underlying stem, the form of which may not always be directly attested due to vowel deletion. In some cases, the stem can be deduced from various forms: e.g., the sg. emph. /sefra/ and the sg. cst. /sfar/ evidence an underlying stem /sefar/. Thus /sefran/ ‘our book’ < */sefaran/ (vowel deletion rule), and not /sfaran/, = /sfar/ + /-an/. In other cases, the stem is recoverable on diachronic or comparative, dialectological grounds. d. Most prepositions use the Series A forms. Thus /beh/ ‘in him’, /batrah/ ‘after her’, /batarhon/ ‘after them’. But unlike nouns, the proclitic prepositions /b-/ and /l-/ retain the archaic /-i/ for ‘me’: /li/ ‘to me’ and /bi/ ‘in me’. Only the following prepositions use the Series B forms: /ºal/ ‘on’, /t˙ot/ ‘under’, /belºaq/ ‘without’, /˙laf/ ‘instead of’, /ßeq/ ‘beside’, /lºen/ ‘in front of’, and /qqam/ ‘before’. Thus /qqam malka/ ‘before the king’ as against /qqamaw/ ‘before him’. An existential and copulaic particle /ªit/ also uses Series B forms: /malka ªitaw tamman/ ‘the king is there’.

3. Numerals 3.1. Cardinals Cardinal numerals from one to nineteen occur in two series, masculine and feminine (see table on next page). Those from three to ten show a characteristic mismatch between morphology and morphosyntax in that unmarked forms are used with a noun of feminine gender and forms typically marked as feminine with a suffix /-a/ are used with a noun of masculine gender. The numerals for tens are obtained by adding the m. pl. abs. ending /-in/ to the stem of the unit cardinal: 20 /ºesrin/, 30 /tlatin/, 40 /ªarbºin/, 50 /˙amsin/, 60 /stin, ªestin/, 70 /savºin/, 80 /tmanin/, 90 /tesºin/. 100 is /ma/, 200 /maten/ (a rare, archaic dual). From 300 to 900 the unit cardinal of feminine gender is followed by /ma/, spelled together: e.g., 300 /tlatma/. 1,000 /ªalef/; for 2,000 to 9,000 the unit cardinal of masculine gender is followed by the plural /ªalfin/, e.g., 3,000 /tlata ªalfin/. 3.2. Ordinals ‘First’ /qaqmaya/, /qaqma/; ‘second’ m. /trayana/, f. /trayanita/, also /tenyana/, f. /tenyanta/. The forms for ‘third’ to ‘tenth’ show the pattern /R1R2iR3aya/: e.g., ‘fourth’ /rviºaya/. Note /stitaya/ ‘sixth’ from the root STT. An alternative and favorite mode is the use of the particle /d-/ followed by a cardinal numeral, which must agree in gender with the noun concerned: /yawma darbºa/ ‘fourth day’, /bsatta datlat/ ‘in the third year’.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Masculine /˙aq/ /tren/ /tlata/ /ªarbºa/ /˙amsa/ /sta/, /ªesta/ /savºa/ /tmanya/ /tesºa/ /ºesra/ /˙qaºsar/ /treºsar/ /tlataºsar/ /ªarbtaºsar/, /ªarbaºsar/ /˙amsaºsar/, /˙amestaºsar/ /settaºsar/, /staºsar/ /svaºtaºsar/, /svattaºsar/ /tmantaºsar/ /tsaºsar/, /tsaºtaºsar/

Feminine /˙qa/ /tarten/ /tlat/ /ªarbaº/ /˙ames/ /set/ /svaº/ /tmane/ /tsaº/ /ºsar/ /˙qaºsre/, /˙qaºesre/ /tartaºsre/, /tartaºesre/ /tlataºsre/, /tlataºesre/ /ªarbaºsre/, /ªarbaºesre/ /˙amsaºsre/, /˙amsaºesre/ /settaºsre/, /settaºesre/ /svaºsre/, /svaºesre/ /tmanaºsre/, /tmanaºesre/ /tsaºsre/, /tsaºesre/

4. The verb The principal parameters of the Syriac verb conjugation are the binyan (pl. binyanim), roughly equivalent to voice and tense. 4.1. Binyan The main binyanim are the following six: Peal Pael Afel

Ethpeel Ethpaal Ettafal

In addition there are Shafel/Safel, Eshtafal/Estafal, Polel, Ethpolal, which are far less common than the above six. Peal is the unmarked binyan, both morphologically and morphosyntactically. Afel is often causative in function in relation to Peal or Pael, whilst the precise function of Pael is still disputed; if it corresponds to a Peal of a stative verb, it has a factitive function: e.g., Peal /dki/ ‘to be pure’ versus Pael /dakki/ ‘to purify’. The three Eth-binyanim are reflexive, passive or ingressive of their respective non–Eth-binyan. Shafel/Safel is a variant of Afel. Pael and Ethpaal are characterised by the doubling of the R2. 4.2. Tense Syriac has two “tenses,” traditionally known as Perfect (Perf.) and Imperfect (Impf.), besides which it also has an imperative (Impv.), a participle (Ptc.), and an infinitive (Inf.).

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The set of conjugational prefixes and suffixes as applied to a Peal verb /sqal/ ‘to carry’, presented below, are identical for all the binyanim with minor variations in verbs whose last radical is a semi-vocalic /y/.

Singular

Plural

1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

-et -t -t º -at

seqlet sqalt sqalt sqal seqlat

-n -ton -ten º º

sqaln sqalton sqalten sqal sqal

1 2 m. 2 f. 3 m. 3 f.

ªtt-in nt-

ªesqol tesqol tesqlin nesqol tesqol

nt-un t-an n-un n-an

nesqol tesqlun tesqlan nesqlun nesqlan

º º

sqol sqol

º

sqol sqolen

-in -an

saqlin saqlan

Perfect

Imperfect

Imperative 2 m. 2 f. Participle (active) m. f. Infinitive

º saqel -a saqla lmesqal

The initial ªalaf (/ª/) of the three Eth-binyanim is elided in the Imperfect, the Participle and the Infinitive (1.2 [5]): Perf. /ªetqabbal/ ‘he was received’ versus Impf. /netqabbal/, Ptc. /metqabbal/, Inf. /metqabbalu/. The rule of metathesis (1.2 [8]) applies when a verb has a sibilant as its R1: e.g., Peal /sqal/ ‘to lift’ versus Ethpeel /ªestqel/ ‘to be carried’ instead of /ªetsqel/. 4.3. Participle The participle of the three non–Eth-binyanim is conjugated in two voices, active and passive. The Peal passive participle forms of the root SQL are /sqil/, /sqila/, /sqilin/, /sqilan/. Those of Pael and Afel show a vowel opposition: active /-e-/, passive /-a-/. Thus Pael /mºammeq/ ‘deepening’ versus /mºammaq/ ‘being deepened’, an opposition which is neutralised with the addition of an inflectional ending because of the vowel deletion rule: /mºamqa/ can be either active or passive whether f. sg. abs. or m. sg. det. Affiliated with the participle is the so-called nomen agentis, which is derived by adding /-an/ to the m. sg. participle, while the Peal nomen agentis has its own pattern: CaCol, e.g., /saqol/ ‘carrier’ as against Pael /mºamqan/ ‘one who deepens’. The feminine form has an additional morpheme /-ya/, thus /mºamqanya/, emph. /mºamqanita/.

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4.4. Infinitive The infinitive is prefixed with /lm-/ in all the binyanim: Peal /lmesqal/ ‘to carry’. That of the remaining binyanim shows /lm . . . R2aR3u/: e.g., Pael /lamqabbalu/ ‘to accept’; Ethpaal /lmetqabbalu/ ‘to be accepted’. 4.5. Diversity of the verb conjugation The outline of the verb conjugation as given above is departed from when one or more radicals of a verb is “weak,” namely /ª, w, y, n/ or the last two radicals are identical. 1. The stem vowel between the R2 and R3 of a triconsonantal root excepting those with /y/ can be either /a/ or /e/ in the Perf. where the R3 is not followed by a vowel as in the 1 sg. and 3 f. sg. Thus /sleq/ ‘to ascend’ as against /sqal/ ‘to carry’. 2. Peal verbs may be classified into the following subpatterns in accordance with the stem vowel: Perf. / Impf. a/o a/e a/a e/a e/o e/e o/o

Examples sqal / nesqol ‘to carry’ ºvaq / neºbeq ‘to make’ smaº / nesmaº ‘to hear’ slem / neslam ‘to be at peace’ qrev / neqrov ‘to be near’ yitev / nettev ‘to sit’ qfoq / neqpoq ‘to bristle’

3. The Peal Imperfect stem vowel is identical with that of its Imperative. 4. Second-Alaf verbs. One of the phonological rules [5] (1.2) applies: e.g., Peal Perf. 3 m. sg. /sel/ < /*sªel/ ‘he demanded’; Ethpeel Perf. 3 m. sg. /ªestel/ < /*ªestªel/. 5. First-Nun verbs. The assimilation rule [9] (1.2) applies here. Such an /n/ is absent in the Impv. of most of these verbs. E.g., Peal /nfaq/ ‘he went out’; Impf. /neppoq/, Impv. /poq/. 6. First-Alaf verbs. The phonological rule [6] (1.2) applies here. The secondary vowel is /e/ in Peal Perf. and the whole of Ethpeel, /a/ in Peal Ptc. pass. and Pael Impf. 1 sg.: e.g., /ªemar/ ‘he said’, /ªetemar/ ‘it was said’, /ªamir/ ‘said’. The prefix vowel /e/ of the Peal Impf. coalesces with /ª/ as R1 to become /e/: e.g., /nemar/ ‘he shall say’. In Afel and Ettafal the /ª/ as R1 appears as /w/: e.g., /ªawkel/ ‘he fed’ < /ªekal/ ‘he ate’. 7. First-Yodh verbs. Here the phonological rule [7] (1.2) applies: thus /iqaº/ ‘he knew’ versus /yeqºat/ ‘she knew’. In their Peal Impf., two important verbs of this type show a secondary doubling of a plosive as R2: /nettev/ ‘he shall sit’ < /itev/, /neddaº/ ‘he shall know’ < /iqaº/. In Afel and Ettafal the /ª/ as R1 appears as /w/: e.g., /ªawtev/ ‘he made to sit’. Two verbs show /ªay-/ instead of /ªaw-/ in their Afel: /ªayneq/ ‘to suckle’; /ªaylel/ ‘to bemoan’. 8. Third-Yodh verbs. The conjugational suffixes of this class of verbs differ considerably from all other verb classes. The following table gives the

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distinctive shapes following the R2 of two verbs, rm- ‘to throw’ and dk- ‘to be pure’: Singular

Plural

Perfect 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1

/-a/ rma; /-i/ dki /-at/ rmat; /-yat/ dekyat /-ayt/ rmayt; /-it/ dkit /-ayt/ rmayt; /-it/ dkit /-et/ rmet; /-it/ dkit

/-aw/ rmaw; /-iw/ dkiw /-ay/ rmay; /-i/ dki /-ayton/ rmayton; /-iton/ dkiton /-ayten/ rmayten; /-iten/ dkiten /-ayn/ rmayn; /-in/ dkin

Imperfect 3m. 3 f. 2 f.

/n- . . . -e/ nerme; neqke /n- . . . -on/ nermon; neqkon /t- . . . -e/ terme; teqke /n- . . . -yan/ nermyan; neqkyan /t- . . . -en/ termen; teqken /t- . . . -yan/ termyan; teqkyan

Imperative 2 m. /-i/ rmi; dki 2 f. /-ay/ rmay; dkay

/-aw/ rmaw; dkaw /-ayen/ rmayen; dkayen

Participle m. f.

/-e/ rame; dake -/ya/ ramya; dakya

/-en/ ramen; daken /-yan/ ramyan; dakyan

Infinitve

lmerma; lqekya

In the Peal Perf., and only then, this class of verbs is conjugated in two subpatterns as shown above: rma versus dka. The binyanim other than Peal are all conjugated analogously to the subpattern dki, as far as the shape following the R2 is concerned: thus Peal Perf. /dki/ ‘he was pure’ and Pael Perf. /dakki/ ‘he purified’; Peal Impf. 3 m. sg. /neqke/, Pael /nqakke/. 9. Second-Waw/Yodh verbs. These verbs show, in most of their conjugational categories, only R1 and R2, between which there appears either a vowel or a /y/: /a/ in Peal Perf. (/qam/ ‘he arose’), Inf. (/lamqam/, also Afel /lamqamu/ ‘to raise’ and Ethpeel /lmetqamu/); /u/ in Peal Impf. and Impv. (/nqum/, /qum/); /i/ Peal Perf. (/mit/ ‘he died’), Impf. (/nsim/ ‘he will put’), Impv. (/sim/), most of Afel (Perf. /ªaqim/ ‘he raised’, Ptc. /mqim/), most of Ethpeel (= Ettafal) (Perf. /ªetqim/) /y/ Peal Ptc. (m. pl. /qaymin/ except m. sg. /qaªem/); the whole of Pael and Ethpaal (Perf. /qayyem/; Ethpaal /ªetqayyam/). 10. Geminate verbs (with a root in which R2 = R3). In Pael and Ethpaal the conjugation is regular. In Peal Impf. and Inf., the whole of Afel and Ettafal, these verbs are conjugated as if their R1 were /n/, resulting in its doubling: Peal Impf. /nebboz/ ‘he will plunder’; Afel /ªaººel/ ‘he introduced, brought in’ (ºLL ‘to enter’).

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4.6. Verbs with object suffixes Pronominal direct—occasionally also indirect—objects are directly and synthetically suffixed to verbs with the exception of participles, which require the mediation of the preposition /l-/. The morphophonological rules involved are rather complicated. The following presents some salient points. a. The vowel deletion rule [3] (1.2) is much in evidence: e.g., /qabbeltan/ ‘you (m. sg.) received me’ but /qablah/ ‘he received her’. b. The personal endings of the verb in the Perfect, to which object pronouns are attached, often differ from those of their free-standing equivalents: 2 m. sg. ending /-ta/ as in /saddartan/ ‘you sent me’ 2 f. sg. ending /-ti/ as in /saddartin/ ‘you sent us’ 3 m. pl. ending /-u/ as in /sadruh/ ‘they sent her’ 3 f. pl. ending /-a/ as in /sadrak/ ‘they sent you (m. sg.)’ 1 sg. with hard /t/ as against 3 f. sg. with soft /t/ as in Afel /ªappeqteh/ ‘I took him out’ versus /ªappeqteh/ ‘she took him out’ the initial vowel /a/ of Peal as in /parqan/ ‘he saved me’. c. The plural ‘them’ is expressed by means of a free-standing enclitic form: m. /ªennon/ and f. /ªennen/. A participle requires, however, /lhon/ and /lhen/ respectively. e.g., /sadret ªennon/ ‘I sent them’ versus /msaddar na lhon/ ‘I send them’. d. When a verb form itself ends in /n/, this consonant is followed by /a/ before the suffix with the exception of the 2 f. sg. suffix /-ek/. This happens in Perf. 1 pl., 2 pl.; Impf. 2 f. sg., and 3 pl.; longer Impv. pl. with /n/. E.g., /qabbelnah/ ‘we received her’; /qabbeltonan/ ‘you (m. pl.) received us’; /tqabbelinan/ ‘you (f. sg.) shall receive me’; /ªarimunah/ ‘Raise (m. pl.) her!’ e. The 3 m. sg. suffix is realised in a variety of ways. If a verb form ends in a consonant, the suffix itself is /-eh/. If the former ends in a vowel, the suffix is uniformly spelled with a Heh, which, however, is pronounced in various ways: after /-a/—/-ay/ as in /qabbeltay/ ‘you (m. sg.) accepted him’ after /-i/—/-iw/ as in /saddartiw/ ‘you (f. sg.) sent him’ after /-u/—/-uy/ as in /sadruy/ ‘they sent him’ after /-e/—/-ew/ as in /na˙˙ew/ ‘we shall restore him to life’. f. The Imperfect forms ending in a consonantal radical, namely 3 m./f. sg., 2 m. sg., and 1 sg./pl., insert an /-i/ before the 3 sg. suffixes: e.g., /ªasqiw/ ‘I shall bring him up’ (with the combination of the rule given above, [d]); /tapqih/ ‘you (m. sg.) [or: she] will bring her out’. g. The Impv. 2 m. sg., if ending in a consonantal radical, shows three allomorphs: /-ay/ with a 1 sg./pl. suffix as in /simayn/ ‘Place me!’ /-a/ with a 3 m.s g. suffix as in /simay/ ‘Place him!’ (with the rule [e] also at work) /-e/ with a 3 f. sg. suffix as in /simeh/ ‘Place her!’

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h. Third-Yodh verbs retain in Peal the vowel /-a/ of the 3m. sg., but without a merely graphic ªalaf: e.g., /bºa/ ‘he sought’ versus /bºak/ ‘he sought you (m. sg.)’. Likewise with the vowel endings of the root in the Impf. and Impv.: e.g., /nevºe/ versus /nevºen/ ‘he will seek us’; /bºi/ Impv. Peal m. sg. versus /bºin/ ‘Seek me!’; Pael /galla/ ‘Reveal!’ versus /gallay/ ‘Reveal him!’ (with rule [e] also at work). i. The /-i/ of the Perf. 3 m. sg. in Pael and Afel and the /-a/ of the Peal Inf. change to /-y/ except before the 2 pl. suffixes, /kon/ and /ken/: e.g., /galli/ ‘he revealed’, but /galyan/ ‘he revealed me’ and /gallikon/ ‘he revealed you (m. pl.)’; /lmeg$la/ ‘to reveal’ but /lmeg$lak/ ‘to reveal you’. j. Note the shift of the /-aw/ in Perf. 3 m. pl. and the Impv. 2 m. pl. to /-aªu/, and the /-iw/ of Pael and Afel Perf. 3. m. pl. and Impv. 2 m. pl. to /-yu/, and the /-ay/ of the Impv. 2 f. sg. to /-aªi/. E.g., /rmaªuh/ ‘they threw her’ or ‘Throw her!’; /˙adyun/ ‘they gladdened me’ or ‘Gladden me!’; /rmaªin/ ‘Throw (2 f. sg.) us!’ k. The Inf. in the derived patterns, i.e. pattern other than Peal, takes an object suffix after having changed its ending /-u/ to /-ut/: e.g., /lamg$al– layu/, but /lamg$allayuteh/ ‘to reveal him’.

dropped 12 points

Chapter 8

Mandaic Rainer Voigt Freie Universität, Berlin

1. The Mandaeans Mandaic is the most Southeastern Aramaic dialect. It emerged as the literary language of the Mandaean religious community. This gnostic religion has its origin in the gnostic movements of the first centuries c.e. A part of its considerably large literature was probably already written down before the rise of Islam as the Mandaeans are, according to the communis opinio, referred to in the Qur?an as ?ahl al-kitab ‘owners of the book’. The aßÍabi?un of the Qur?an are said to designate the Mandaeans (ßabi?at alba†a?iÓ ‘the Sabians of the swamps’) as well as the Harranians (the ßabi?at al-Óarran). The evidence for identifying Qur?anic Sabians with the Mandaeans (already proposed by Chwolson 1856) derives from the etymological connection with the Mandaic root ÍBA ‘baptize’. It is, however, difficult to assume that this small gnostic Baptistic sect would have become wellknown in Mecca at the time of MuÓammad and would have been mentioned in one Surah (5:69) in a catalogue of religions even before the Christians. It would be astonishing not to see a reference in the Qur?an to the adherents of another world-wide missionary religion (beside the Christians), i.e., the Manichaeans. With their emphasis on the literary transmission of their doctrine, they fit better the designation of the ?ahl al-kitab. Accordingly, Fr. de Blois (1995) has equated the Qur?anic Sabians with the Manichaeans, and proposed another etymology for ßabi?, i.e., < ßabi ‘convert’. The origin of the baptizing sect has been looked for in the West, as one might conclude from the Mandaic word iardna /yardna:/ ‘( Jordan >) running water (used for baptism)’. For most of their history—if not throughout it—they lived in Southern Mesopotamia, in the borderland between present-day Iraq and Khuzistan (Persia). The occurrence of Babylonian gods in Mandaic texts (Müller-Kessler and Kessler 1999) points to a Mesopotamian origin. Some groups still exist in this area, although many of them have migrated to the West (and Australia). The interest in the Mandaeans and their language and literature is evident: For the historian of religion, the Mandaeans are the only old

Author’s Note: I am grateful to Alan Kaye, B. Burtea, and Yoël Arbeitman for comments on a previous version of the paper.

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gnostic sect (manda = gnw~siÍ) still existing today. See the concise survey of K. Rudolph (1970). For theologians, the gospel of John shows some traits very similar to the doctrine of the Mandaeans (see R. Bultmann 1982). The similarity between Greek Nazwrai~oÍ and Mandaic naßuraia /na:ßo:ra:ya:/ ‘Naßoraean’ has been discussed very controversially (see Schaeder 1942). For Aramaists, Mandaic is the most southeastern dialect of Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic dialect that does not show a strong Greek influence in terms of both vocabulary and syntax. The Aramaic idiom that comes closest to Mandaic is not Syriac but Babylonian ( Jewish) Aramaic. Modern Mandaic survived until the 20th century (see the text collection in Macuch 1989 and 1993). At present, no speaker of that language is actually known. Mandaic is written using a consonantal script that makes extended use—more than any other Semitic language—of plene writing, i.e., the use of the consonants ª, w, y and º for indicating vowels (e.g., bisuta ‘evil’). 2. Phonology, orthography, and transliteration of Mandaic Mandaic has been transliterated by Western scholars mainly with the (a) Hebrew and (b) Latin alphabets. Th. Nöldeke in his masterpiece Mandäische Grammatik (1875) used Hebrew characters. R. Macuch in his comprehensive Handbook (1965), based to a large extent on Nöldeke’s work, developed a new system of transliteration (c) in which the traditional matres lectionis ª, w and j/y are replaced by a, u, and i, respectively: a. a b g d h w z j f y k l m n s [ p x q r ç t - d^ b. ª b g d h w z h † j/y k l m n s º p ß q r s t - q c. a b g d h u z hõ † i k l m n s e p ß q r s t - q In this synopsis Macuch’s º (ºayin) has been replaced by e in order to transliterate the old consonants, which in most cases have lost their consonantal value (i.e., ª and º), consistently by vowel characters, as in abahata ‘fathers’, ebibia ‘fruits’ (traditional Latin transliterations appear in angle brackets). In later texts, e is used to represent ºayin in words derived from Arabic (e.g., eilim ‘knowledge’ < ºilm). There are two characters that represent morphemes. The grapheme q- /aq/ is an abbreviation of the old particle /di:/. It occurs only as relative particle (see 3.3.). The grapheme hõ does not represent /h/ but /h/. It stands for the final long vowel of the possessive suffix 3 m. and f. sg.; cf. napshõ ‘*his soul > he himself’ with Syriac napõseh ‘he himself’. The consonantal phonological system (apart from h, s, the resonants r and l, the nasals m and n, and the vowels) can briefly be presented in the following chart. The spirantization of the non-emphatic occlusives (the so-called bg¢ aqkpõat) is very probable and in fact supported by the traditional pronunciation of Mandaic. In fact the so-called traditional pronunciation of Mandaic

Mandaic

labials dentals alveolars velars

voiceless p [p, põ] t [t, t] s k [k, k]

emphatic – † ß q

151

voiced b [b, bõ ] d [d, q] z g [g, g¢ ]

is not well-known; it will be referred to only rarely (cf. the particle q- which is pronounced and rendered here as /aq/). Not all of these consonants correspond quite strictly to their etymological equivalents in other Aramaic dialects. For example, we have g†al ‘he killed’ instead of Jewish Aramaic, Syr. q†al and lga† ‘he grasped’ instead of Syr. lqa† and Jewish Aramaic nqa† (cf. Akkadian laqatum). This dissimilation continues a phonetic law of Akkadian according to which two emphatics in the root are dissimilated. Compare Akkadian kaßaßum, gaßaßum ‘grind off’ with Arabic qaßßa ‘cut off, shear’, Syriac qaß, etc. In Akkadian laqatum the dental has been deemphasized (*† > t) whereas in Mandaic g (< *q) is affected. Proto-Semitic D (= Arabic D) is, as in other Aramaic dialects, represented by d; cf. KDB (*kDb) ‘lie’, AHD (*?hD) ‘close, hold’. Sometimes z appears instead of and besides d, as in DKR, ZKR (*Dkr) ‘recite’, dahba, zahba (*Dahab) ‘gold’, haza, hada ‘this (f.)’, ziqna, diqna (*Daqan) ‘beard’. The orthography with z can be seen as a remnant from Old Aramaic or as influence of another Semitic language; cf. zqn ‘be old’, zª ‘this (f.)’. In some cases z does not reflect *D but *d, as in dma, zma, ezma (*dam) ‘blood’. Deciphering the representation of vowels is difficult although Mandaic is known for its extensive plene (i.e., full) writing. Despite the use of (= a), (= u), (= i), and (= e) for writing vowels, understanding the system of vocalization is not made easier since the number of distinct (phonemic) vowels in Mandaic is controversial. One might think of a rich seven-vowel system as in Syriac (i e≥ eø a å o u) or of a reduced vowel system with not more (or even less) vowels than those differentiated in the script (i e a u). Among these four characters, i and u function as consonants too: iura /yu:ra:/ ‘light’, aiar /ayar/ ‘air’, uarda /warda:/ ‘flower’, atrauata /atrawa:ta:/ ‘places’. Before i and u, (*º >) e appears to indicate vowel-initial words: eil /i(:)l/ ‘god’, eit /i(:)t/ ‘there is’ (both with non-etymological º), eutra /utra:/ ‘spirit’ (cf. Syriac ºutrå ‘wealth’). Words with initial a and e do not need such an additional mark: armla /armla:/ ‘widower’, atra /atra:/ ‘place’, engirta /engirta:/ ‘letter’, el /el/ ‘on, upon’. It is not clear whether the opposition between short and long is still being maintained in the language. Possibly, vowels were short in closed and long in open syllables. a marks short and long /a/: malka /malka:/ ‘king’, malkuta /malku:ta:/ ‘kingdom’. au and ai are either diphthongs or sequences of a vowel plus consonantal /w/ and /y/: aupa /awpa:/ ‘branch’, baita /bayta:/ ‘house’. Sometimes, au appears to mark word-initial /u/, as in aubra, eubra ‘mouse’.

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e marks /e/ and /i/ without a clear borderline between them: eda /i:qa:/ ‘hand’, edana /ed:a:na:/ ‘time’, ela /el:a:/ ‘if not’, beiia /be:ye:/, biia /bi:ye:/ ‘eggs’ (pl. of bita). At the beginning of a word, e () and rarely a () are sometimes remnants of the old orthography which does not allow a vowel at the beginning of a word, e.g., eit /i:t/ ‘there is’, aitak /i:ta:k/ ‘you are there’ (in the phonemic representation, the initial glottal stop is not given). The variants eiit and aiit are difficult to explain. Could we consider the initial e and a as markers of the initial vowel, which thus yields a kind of diphthongized pronunciation /e~ayit/? If the initial e and a are thought to be markers of a vowel-initial word, the vocalization of the forms becomes strange /iyt/ (?). In some other cases a word-initial e appears to stand for *ei, as in eda /i:qa:/ ‘hand’. The use of º as a vowel marker in Manichaean Iranian is similar to that in Mandaic. º (= Mandaic e) is used at the beginning of a word to mark a short /i/, ºstwn [istu:n] ‘pillar, column’, ºstªn [ista:n] ‘take (away)’ (these words would appear in a Mandaeological transliteration as estun and estan). At the beginning of a word in most cases ºy marks [e:], as in Persian ºyrªn [e:ra:n] ‘Persia’, but also [i:], as in Persian ºy(g) [i:(g)] ‘relative particle, izafet’ (see Boyce 1977). In word-medial position ºy marks [e:], as in dºyn, dyn ‘(Manichaean) religion’, as well as [i:], as in Persian zºyg ‘rope’. An initial [o(:)~u] is written with ª, as in ªwhrmyzd [ohrmezd] ‘Ohrmezd’, whereas Mandaic uses (ºw=) eu in this case (eulßana ‘privation, oppression’; cf. Syriac ulßånå). i seems to mark long and short /i/ and /e/ (?): ziua /zi:wa:/ ‘light, brilliance’, sipta /sipõta:/ ‘lip’ (= Jewish Aramaic). ia (traditional pronunciation [i:]) stands for long word-final /i:/ and /e:/, as in dilia /di:li:/ ‘mine’, amria /amre:/ (pl. emph.) ‘saying’, mandaiia /manda:ye:/ (pl. emph.) ‘Mandaeans’. u seems to represent both /u/ and /o/: iulpana /yulpa:na:/ ‘doctrine’, eudna /uqna:/ ‘ear’ (= Jewish Aramaic), iuma /yo:ma:/ ‘day’. It cannot be excluded that both vowels have coalesced in Mandaic. -hõ () stands exclusively for the 3 person (m. and f.) singular pronominal suffix. In the masculine form it represents a final long /-i:/ (< *-e/ih), bnaps-hõ , b-naps-ihõ /abõ -napõs-i:/ ‘in his soul’, but in the feminine /-a/ (< *-ah), b-naps-hõ /abõ -napõs-a:/ ‘in her soul’. In the script often -hõ cannot be distinguished from final -a. The most characteristic features include the addition of a prothetic vowel to a word with two initial consonants: bra, abra ‘son’, tsa, etsa ‘nine’, smala, esmala, asmala ‘left’, luat, aluat, eluat ‘towards’. Sometimes in other cases a vowel is prefixed as well: sumia, esumia ‘heavens’, ramata, aramata ‘heights’. According to the traditional pronunciation, the prefixed relative pronoun q- is rendered as /aq/. Very similar to this process is the insertion of a vowel after a consonant followed by two further consonants, as in etiqria /etiqri:/ (< /etqri:/) ‘it was called’, nilig†un (< *nilg†un) ‘they grasp’. Another characteristic feature of Mandaic is the dissimilation of long voiced occlusives:

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b: > mb; *sabbrå > sambra ‘road’, *qubbå (cf. Syriac qubbtå, pl. qubbeø) > qumba ‘vault’; g: > ng; (Syriac) nag:årå > nagara, nangara ‘carpenter’, *HGR Pael > HNGR Pael ‘repress’; d: > nd; (Syriac) mad:ºå > manda ‘gnwÅsiÍ’, (Syriac) slad:å > slanda ‘corpse’, (Syriac) gud:å > gunda ‘army’. Worth mentioning is the metathesis that occurs in forms where the second radical is followed by h as third radical: *pithat > pihtat ‘she opened’ (PHT), *nipithhõ > nipihthõ /nipõiht-e:~i:/ ‘she opens him’; *iarha > iahra, iihra ‘month’; (Syriac) magghå > mahga ‘dawn’. Without metathesis h as third radical would be lost, as in the root PTA, a variant of PHT; e.g., pta (< *ptah) ‘he opened’, (*pthu- > ptu- >) eptu-lia /-li:/ ‘they opened me’. 3. Nominal morphology In the following paradigms a transliteration, often with an accompanying phonemic transcription, of the Classical Mandaic (Class. M.) words is given. Modern Mandaic (Mod. M.) forms are taken from Macuch 1965, 1989, and 1993. 3.1. Personal pronouns

sg. 3 m. 3 f. 2 1 pl. 3 m. 3 f. 2 (2 f.) 1

Class. M. hu he anat ana hinun hinin, hinen anatun anatin anin, anen

/hu:/ /he:/

/hin:u/o:n/ /hin:i/e:n/

Mod. M. hu(y), huy, hay, hax hid, hay, hax at, at an, an hanni, hannox hanni , hannex at(t)on, oton at(t)en ani, eni

The strange forms anat, anatun, and anatin have been explained by Nöldeke (1875: 86) by analogy with ana and anin. The personal pronouns show an enclitic form as subject in the position after the nominal predicate, e.g., zu†a-na /zu:†a:-na:/ ‘I am small (f.)’, rb-it /rab:-et/ ‘you are great (m.)’ (rb is a defective writing for rab). In Modern Mandaic: qarib-ye ‘it is little’, kefnin-ni ‘we are hungry’, gabaran-yat ‘you are our commander (gabara)’. For each of the possessive suffixes an example is given in the table on p. 154. The forms with -ai- which were originally used with plural nouns are now used also with singular nouns (here a junctural shift *-ai-hun > -aihun has taken place). In this case, the opposition between singular and plural of the noun possessed is reduced. A clear difference is made with other plural types, as abahat-an ‘our fathers’.

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Class. M. sg. 3 m. -(i)hõ /i:/ -ia 3 f. -hõ /a:/ -º -a 2 m. -ak -k 2 f. -ik 1 -ai /ay/ -º

(naps-(i)hõ ‘he himself’) (abu-ia /abõ u:i:/ [abõ u:y] ‘his father’) (naps-hõ ‘she herself’) (abu ‘her father’) (rare) (bna-k ‘your sons’) (abu-k ‘your father’) (ris-ik ‘your head’) (br-ai ‘my son’) (brat ‘my daughter’, em ‘my mother’, ab ‘my father’) pl. 3m. -(h)un (sipt-un ‘their lip’), -ai(h)un (em-aihun ‘their mother’) 3 f. -(h)in -ai(h)in (bn-aiin ‘her sons’) 2 m. -kun (bnat-kun ‘your daughters’) -aikun (mnat-(ai)kun ‘your part’) 2 f. = m., -kin, -aikin 1 -an (atr-an ‘our place(s)’) -aian (kul-(ai)an ‘all of us’) -n (abu-n ‘our father’)

Mod. M. -i -a -ax (-ex) -e(y) -u -e -xon (-xen) -an

In modern Mandaic -an- is regularly added to the plural noun (e.g., k@dabõ -an-u ‘their books’). Some verbal forms with accusative objects will be given below. 3.2. Demonstratives Only the most common demonstratives are mentioned here. ‘this, these’ Class. M. sg. m. hazin f. haza pl. halin

Mod. M. a, (a)ha – ahni, hanni

‘that, those’ Class. M. hak – hanik

Mod. M. (h)ax – m. hannox, f. hannex

Cf. hahu q- ‘that which’, hanatia q- ‘that who’, hanatun q- ‘those who’. 3.3. Relative and interrogative pronouns The Mandaic letter q is used only as relative particle q- /aq-/ (sliha q-nhura /sli:ha: (a)q-anhu:ra:/ ‘apostle of light’) and in the conjunction kq /kaq/ ‘when’. With other prepositions d is written instead: alma l-d- ‘until’, l-diatbia /el-aq-ya:tbe~i:/ ‘to those who are sitting’, u-d-tlat-ma /u-adõ-tla:tma:/ ‘and of 300’. Some interrogative pronouns are man, manu q-, Mod. M. man ‘who?’; ma, mahu q-, Mod. M. mu ‘what?’; alma, Mod. M. qamu ‘why?’; lia, elia, alia /e~alya:/, Mod. M. elya ‘where?’.

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3.4. Nominal inflection Mandaic has two genders (m. and f.), two numbers (sg. and pl.), and three types of status (st. abs., st. constr., and st. emph.). The status emphaticus is the normal form of a substantive. The status absolutus is mainly used with adjectives as predicate in nominal sentences (msabin hiia /msab:i:n hay:e:/ ‘Life (hiia, a defective writing for haiia) be praised (sg. msaba)!’) and with substantives in fixed expressions (kul ium ‘every day (iuma)’, sna sna ‘year (sidta, sita) by year’). The status constructus occurs only as part of a ‘genitival’ phrase that consists of a noun in this status and a following noun in the status emphaticus, e.g., simat ‡ hiia /si:mat ‡ hay:e:/ ‘treasure (simta) of life’, bit ‡ alahia /bi:t ‡ alahe:/ ‘house (baita) of Gods’. Class. M. sg. m. st. abs. -º (rab ‘master’, mlik ‘king’, bit ‘house’, dur ‘dwelling’) st. -º (milk ‡ malkia constr. ‘king of kings’) st. -a (rba, malka, emph. baita, daura)

f. -a (mdin[a] ‘town’), -º (†abu ‘goodness’) -at (mdinat ‡ eutria ‘town of ºUthras’), -t (†abut ‡ ‘goodness of’) -ta (mdinta ‘town’, †abuta ‘goodness’)

Mod. M. m. f. -º (gabõ er -a (sbõ ira ‘man’) ‘nice’) -(e)

-t(e)

-a (gabõ ra -ta (zabõ anta ‘man’) ‘sale’)

Adjectives have sometimes an expanded status emphaticus form feminine singular -tia; e.g., rabta, rabtia, raptia ‘great’. This form represents /-tya:/ (note the traditional pronunciation is [-ti]). With nouns of final weak roots, the ending -ia is used for all three states: e.g., maria st. constr. /ma:re:/, st. emph. /ma:rya:/ ‘Lord’; cf. however st. abs. dkia /aqke:/, st. emph. dakia /dakya:/, f. dakita ‘clean’. Class. M. m. -in (qaiamin ‘constant’, msabin ‘praised’), -ia /i:/ (mitkipria ‘bound’) st. constr. -ia /e:/ (rare) st. emph. -ia /e:/ (malkia ‘kings’, hauia /hå:we:/ ‘beings’, gadiia /gaqye:/ ‘goats’, kasiia /kasye:/ ‘occulti’) pl. st. abs.

Mod. M. f. m. -an (hauian -ani ‘being’), -a (mihidra ‘turned back’) -at (rare) -ata (napsata ‘souls’, malkau-ata ‘kingdoms’, pl. of malkuta)

-an(e) -ana (ga/obr-ana ‘men’)

f. -at(i), -at(i) (minellat ‘words’) -at(e) -ata (hevenyata ‘animals’)

An active participle form hauia (from HUA ‘be’) can represent six different morphological forms: /ha:wya:/ sg. m. st. emph., sg. f. st. abs., and pl. f. st. abs. (< hauian); /ha:we:/ sg. m. st. abs., pl. m. st. abs. (< hauin /ha:we:n/), /ha:way:a:/ pl. m. st. emph. (see Nöldeke 1875: 166).

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There are many feminine plural forms with -iata as mdinta, pl. mdiniata /mdõi:nya:ta:/ ‘town’, and tarmida, pl. tarmidiata ‘women of priestly cast’. Participles used as predicate in a nominal sentence stand in the status absolutus, thus the simplified paradigm of the part. active of the verb NPQ ‘go out’: st. abs. sg. pl.

m. npiq napqin

f. napqa napqan

There are many archaic or irregular pairs of singular and plural forms: e.g., sidta, sita, pl. (e)snia /esne:/ ‘year’; bita, pl. biia, beiia ‘egg’; bra, pl. bnia ‘son’; riha, pl. rihania ‘breath, smell’ (note the plural expanded by -an); mi†ra, pl. mi†raria ‘rain’ (with a repeated last radical); dukta, pl. duktata ‘place’ (with the repetition of the feminine ending which was problaby interpreted as third radical); rba, pl. rbia, rurbia, rurbania ‘great’ (with a repeated first radical); suma, pl. sum(a)hata ‘name’ (with an epenthetic h). 3.5. Nominal formation Apart from old biradical nouns (as eda, st. constr. iad ‘hand’; mai, pl. mia [defective writing for maia, meia] ‘water’) Mandaic has many nominal forms. Some of them will be given here without offering a historical derivation (cf. the problematic *Dahab > dahba, zahba ‘gold’). In accordance with Semitic scholarly practice, I am using a dummy root GˇL ‘kill’ (cf. Hebrew q†l, Arabic qtl) to demonstrate nominal and verbal patterns. ga†la: kalba ‘dog’, †ama /†a:ma:/ ‘taste’(ˇAM), ama /amma:/, pl. amamia ‘people’ ga†alta: malakta ‘queen’ gi†la: ligra ‘foot’; sipra, st. abs./constr. (a)spar, espar ‘book’; emra ‘speech’, liba /libba:/ ‘heart’ gi†ilta: nisimta, st. constr. nismat ‘soul’; birikta, bir(u)kta ‘blessing’, gi†ulta: nißubta, niß(i)bta ‘plant(ation)’ gu†la: dubsa ‘honey’; nura /nu:ra:/ ‘fire’; eumqa /umqa:/ ‘depth’; gu†ulta: hukumta, hikumta, hukmta; st. constr. huk(u)mat ‘wisdom’ gu†alta: bukarta ‘first-born (f.)’ g†il (st. abs.), f. -t(i)a (part. pass.): brik ‘blessed’; bßir ‘short’; g†il ‘killed’; bis ‘bad’; st. emph. klila ‘crown’ ga†il (st. abs.), f. -t(i)a (adj.): zadiq /zad:i:q/ ‘righteous’; qalil ‘little’; sagia /saggi:/ ‘much’ ga†ula: paruqa ‘redeemer’; baruia ‘creator’; kaluza ‘acclamation’; in some words the second vowel is elided: nahra, st. abs. nahur ‘light-giving’; ianqa, st. abs. ianuq ‘infant’ g†ula, f. g†ulta: †rusa ‘deaf’; lbusa ‘dress’; ptulta ‘virgin’ ga†ala f. ga†alt(i)a (nomen agentis): kadaba /kad:a:bõ a:/, f. kadabt(i)a ‘thief’; zakaia /zak:a:ya:/ ‘pure’ ga†alta: hasabta ‘thought’; sabasta ‘confusion’

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mag†la: maskna ‘Mandaean temple’; manda ‘knowledge’ (IDA); mamla (< *mamlla), mamlala ‘word’ tVg†Vl(t)a: tusbihta ‘praise’; tarmida ‘(*pupil >) Mandaean priest’ The participles of the different verb stems are treated in §4.2. Among the very productive suffixes are: -aia /a:ya:/, pl. aiia /a:ye:/: mandaia ‘Mandaean’, iahu†aiia ‘Jews’ (a derogatory folk-etymology connecting the word with iah†a ‘abortion’ and ha†ia ‘sinner’), naßuraiia ‘Naßoraeans’, -ana: (subst.) riuiana /riwya:na:/ ‘mind’, qurbana ‘sacrifice’, (adj.) salmana ‘righteous’, kus†ana ‘truthful’, msauiana /msaw:ya:na:/ ‘maker’, -uta: asuta u-zakuta ‘health and vindication’ (roots ASA and ZKA), suta ‘talk’ (root SAA), dakiuta ‘cleanliness’ (root DKA). 3.6. Numerals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

m. had, hda trin, etrin tlata arba hamsa sita suba tmania tsa, etsa asra

f. hda tartin, -ia tlat arbia, arba hamis sit saba, suba = m. = m. asar

11 - 19 h(a)di-sar tri-sar tla-sar arba-sar hami-sar sita-sar suba-sar tmana-sar (e)tsa-sar –

20 - 90 – srin, esrin tlatin arbin hamsin sitin subin tmanan tsin, etsin (ma, ama ‘100’)

Some examples: trin malakia ‘both angels’, b-tartin ed-hõ ‘with both his hands’ (eda is f.), hamis dmauata ‘five figures’, hamsa u-trisar ‘the Five (planets) and the Twelve (signs of the Zodiac)’. The modern forms are quite near to the classical ones, e.g., 1 ehda, heda, 2 tren, etre, tarta, 3 tlata, klata (!), 4 arba, 5 hamsa, 6 sitta, 7 sobõ bõ a, 8 tmanya, 9 ecca, 10 asra, 11 hed-assar, etc. 3.7. Prepositions and conjunctions The most common prepostions are: b- /abõ / ‘in, by, with’; b-la ‘without’; l-, al-, el(-) /el/ ‘to, for, at’ (in most cases the old prepositions *l- and *¿al are fused together); luat, aluat, eluat /alwa:t/ ‘towards, with’; mn, min-[suff.] ‘from’; amin†ul, amin†ulat-[suff.] ‘because of’; qudam, (a)qam ([(aq)qa:m] < *qda:m), Mod. M. qam ‘before’ (cf. Jewish Aramaic (l-)qammey). Some prepositions with personal suffixes are shown in the table on the top of p. 158. The prepositions b- and l- also appear suffixed to the verb with suffixed pronouns. They are called suffixes of the -B- and -L- series respectively (see 4.4). The most common conjunctions are: q- /aq/ ‘who, which; so that’; u‘and’; ap ‘also’; hin, eu ‘if’; ela ‘if not’; eu . . . eu . . . ‘either . . . or . . .’; ad ‘while, until’; ad-la ‘before’.

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Rainer Voigt Classical M. /i:~e:/ bhõ , lhõ , minhõ , aqamhõ /a:/ bha, lhõ , qudamhõ /ak/ (e~a)lak; abatrak ‘after thee’ = m. /ik/ bik, lik, amin†ulatik 1 /i:/ bia, lia ~ le /ay/ luatai, qudamai; abihdai ‘with me’ /º/ luat, aluat, l-qudam ‘before me’ pl. 3 m. /(h)un/ l(h)un, bun, /ay(h)un/ minai(h)un, qudamaihun 3 f. = m. /(h)in/ l(h)in, /ay(h)in/ minaiin, qudamai(h)in 2 m. /kun/ (e)lkun, bkun, luatkun /aykun/ haslaikun ‘far be it from you’ 2 f. = m. /kin/ lkin /aykin/ minaikin, qudamaikin 1 /an/ (e/a)lan, minan, atutan ‘under us’ /ayan/ bin(at)aian ‘between us’, elauaian ‘upon us’ sg. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f.

4. Verbal morphology 4.1. Verbal roots Most verbal roots contain three radicals. Apart from the strong type with three ‘strong’ consonants (as GˇL ‘kill’, SBQ ‘let, leave’, PRT ‘break’, RUZ ‘rejoice’), there are many weak root classes. Weak roots contain semivowels or former laryngeals that have disappeared but leave traces in the vowel patterning. These classes are denoted using the numbers 123 for the root consonants, with the appropriate weak letter in its place. 4.1.1. Hollow roots (1U3), i.e., the triradical root 123 with U as second radical These roots contain a vowel as second radical. In many forms, they fuse with geminate roots (133). Thus, some forms of the root KUN (~ KNN) ‘be, exist’ are identical with forms of the geminate root KNN ‘wrap, veil’ so that one can resolve their ambiguity only by the context and by etymological considerations. See the following identical forms of both verbal classes:

perf. sg. 3 m. impf. sg. 3 m. part. act. inf.

QUM qam ‘he stood’ niqum ‘he stands’ qaiim miqam /miqqa:m/

= = = =

MKK, PSS mak ‘he lowered’ nimuk ‘he lowers’ maiik mipas H /mippa:s/ ‘destroy’

In the case of qam /qa:m/ versus mak /mak/ < */makk/ one can still propose a difference in pronunciation between both verb classes. In other

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forms there may be a total merger of both classes: /qa:yim/ = /ma:yik/, /miqqam/ = /mippas/. The lengthening of the first root radical in these latter forms is due to a morphological analogy with the verbal class that has n as its first radical (mippa:s as if < *minpa:s). Graphically different forms are maintained in the following: Pael perf. Etipeel perf.

qaiim /qay:im/ ‘he raised’ (QUM) etnihat ‘she was appeased’ (NUH)

: malil /mal:il/ ‘he spoke’ (MLL) : etin†i† ‘he became sad’ (Nˇˇ)

4.1.2. Roots with final vowel (12A, 12I) This is a very common type, e.g., qra ‘he called’, suma ‘he heard’ (SMA), niqria /niqre:/ ‘he calls’ (QRA), Pael sania /san:i:/ ‘he removed’ (SNA). ‘A’ is a morphophonemic symbol for the final root vowel or the lost laryngeal consonant (SNA < *sny, SMA < *sm¿, QRA < *qr?) that has left its traces in the vocalization structure. The realizations of this morphophoneme are: • i [y] in saniu-n /san:yu:-n/ ‘they transferred me (-n)’; • a, i.e., vowel length in niqria /niqre:/, Pael sania /san:i:/; • zero in qra or vowel length if we consider the pronunciation [qra:]. Instead of A (as given in Drower and Macuch 1963) it would be better to have I as a symbol for the third weak radical since its realizations can be derived better synchronically from I than from A. The vowel length in forms with final ia, as in /niqre:/ and /san:i:/, is identical with the palatal element [y]. Therefore these forms could be represented as /niqrey/ (with the rule ey > e:) and /san:iy/ (with the rule iy > i:) respectively as well. A palatal element is required too in forms as smit ‘you (sg.) heard’ which corresponds to the strong form sbaqt ‘you left’. In forms as ßibit ‘I baptized’ which corresponds to the strong form rih†it ‘I ran’ the third radical I seems to be realized as zero (< *ßibºit), but a derivation from *ßibyit (= ÍiBIit) is more in line with the historical derivation. The roots with originally final laryngeal have almost totally merged with the vowel-final roots (henceforth rendered with a final I). Nevertheless there are some differences between vowel-final roots and roots with a laryngeal as third radical: 12A impf. nisma /nisma(:)/ ‘he hears’ part. act. st. emph. m. sama /sa:ma:/ inf. masma ‘hearing’ (SMA)

: : : :

12I nihzia /nihze:/ ‘he looks’ hazia /ha:zya:/ (HZI) miqria, miqra ‘calling’ (QRI)

In Macuch’s system both verbal classes are represented in the same way with A as third radical). Instead, I should like to propose the establishment of an opposition between I (as in HZI) and A (as in SMA) as last radicals. By that means it will be possible to disambiguate partially homonymous roots. Macuch’s roots ÍBA I ‘will, wish’ and II ‘baptize’ can now be given as ÍBI (with act. part. ßabia) versus ÍBA (with act. part. ßaba).

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Many shifts from roots 1U3 to 133 and vice versa are attested (see KUN ~ KNN above). Some of them are already found in other Aramaic dialects: cf. LUP ~ LPP ‘join’ with Syriac låpõ (LUP)/ lapõ (< *lapp) ‘he bound together’. Even rarer are shifts that lead from roots with final vowel to geminate root (12I > 122); cf. gla ‘he revealed’ (GLI) with Pael perf. galil ‘he revealed’, impf. nigalil (GLL). Another type very close to 12I as well as to 12A consists of verbs like pta ‘he opened’ and dna ‘he appeared’ which go back to roots with final ˙ (and h). This h surfaces as a result of metathesis in some forms as in pihtat (< *pithat) ‘she opened’, part. act. st. emph. pahta (< *patha) ‘opening’, and part. pass. st. emph. dniha ‘risen’. The metathesis is quite regular here; cf. the forms of the triple root DNH ~ DNA ~ DHN. Probably it would be preferable to have only the primary root DNH with the variants DNA and— due to metathesis—DHN. The rules for the loss of h (in word-final position, but see the archaic form dnih) and the metathesis (*2h > h2) have to be determined (see Malone 1971). In addition to the root variant DNA, the root DNI (= Macuch’s DNA II) ‘be low’ (part. act. dania /da:nya:/ ‘humble’) has to be distinguished. A special type is double weak roots as 1UH, that is, 1U3 with H as third radical. The primary root NUH ‘raise’ (anih ‘he calmed’; cf. aqim ‘he raised’ from QUM) shows a shift to the root *NHH which is realized as NHA (nha ‘he was at ease’, Apõel anha ‘he calmed’). Rarely the h is deleted, as in the part. pass. ne (< nhe, nhia [nhe:]). 4.1.3. Roots with a weak first radical A weak first radical can be A, E, I or N: A– The verbal forms of roots with initial *? (A23 ~ (>) E23) and *¿ (E23 ~ (>) A23) are mostly identical. They differ only in the Apõel where the first radical of verbs A23 shifts to u (or rarely to i) as if derived from a root with initial *i (I23): E23 Peal abad ‘he did’ (EBD ~ ABD) abdat, ebdat ‘she did’

A23 = amar ‘he said’ (AMR) = atat ‘she came’, etit-lhõ ‘I came to him’ (ATI ~ ETI) Apõel adia ‘he brought over’ (EDI ~ ADI) : aukil ‘he fed’ (AKL) abra-n ‘he brought me across’ (ABR) : aitia ‘he brought’ E– Roots with an initial e (E23) are either variants of roots with initial i (I23) or a (A23): IHB ~ EHB (i.e., Macuch’s YHB ~ ºHB) ‘give’: iahab-lan ‘he gave us’, but ehab ‘he gave’; IDL (< metathesis of ILD) ~ EDL ‘bear a child’: iadlat ‘she brought forth’, but edalt-hõ ‘she brought him (-hõ ) forth’, edil-na ‘I was born’. ABD ~ EBD ‘do’: abad ‘he did’, but ebdu-ia ‘they made him, they did it’. I– Nearly all roots with I as first radical show forms that hint at a root with initial E: IMA ~ EMA ‘swear’: ema ‘he swore’, impf. nemia ‘he swears’, apõ. aumia ‘he adjured’.

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N– The first radical can only be elided in the imperative, e.g., sab ‘take!’ (from NSB). The classification of the verbal class types as done in Drower and Macuch 1963 is not in all cases clear. There are some quadriradical roots (1234) as BSQR ‘search’, DNDM ‘whisper’ (< DMDM < DMM ‘stand’), HMBB (= pa. HBB) ‘grow hot’, NKRA (better represented as NKRI) ‘estrange’ (denom. from nukraia ‘strange’, NKR). They are conjugated like three-radical roots in Pael and Etpaal, e.g., basqar /basqar/ ‘he searched’ shows the same vowel pattern as sadar /sad:ar/ ‘he sent’; thus 1234 corresponds to 12:3. 4.2. Verb stems The fundamental verb stems are, as in other Aramaic dialects, Peal (p¿al, p¿il), Pael (pa¿:il), Apõel (apõ¿il) and their reflexives Etipel (etip¿il and epõ¿il or epp¿il), Etpaal (etpa¿:al and epa¿:al or eppa¿:al), and Ettapõal (ettapõ¿al). In the reflexive stems epõ¿il and epa¿:al the dental element is elided or assimilated. The verb stems correspond to each other in the following way: stem basic intens., denom. causative s causative

non-reflexive Peal Pael Apõel Sapõ¿el

reflexive Etipel Etpaal Ettapõal Estapõ¿al

refl. without t ep(p)¿il ep(p)a¿:al – –

The rare s causative stem has been added here, e.g., sasqil ‘he raised’ (SQL), estabad ‘he became slave’ (ABD ~ EBD). In estauzab ‘he was saved’ the root is rather quadriradical (loan from Akkadian). The most important inflectional forms, that is, perfect, imperfect and participle active/passive of the strong verb (with three radicals), are given below; the forms of the root LGˇ ‘hold’ but not all forms of the verb GˇL ‘kill’ are really attested: sg. 3 m. Peal Pael

Perf.

Impf.

Part. act. st. abs. g†al, lgi† nig†ul, nilga† ga†il ga†il /ga†:il/ niga†il mga†il /niga†:il/ /mga†:il/ Apõel ag†il nag†il mag†il E(ti)peel etig†il,a eg†il nitig†il, nig†il mitig†il, mig†il E(t)paal etga†al, ega†al nitga†al, niga†al mitga†al /e(t)ga†:al/ /ni(t)ga†:al/ /mitga†:al/ Ettapõel etag†al nitag†al mitag†al

Part. pass. st. abs. g†il mga†al /mga†:al/ mag†al – – –

a. Instead of this regular form (cf. etinsib ‘he was taken’), from this root etig†al and eg†il ‘he was slain’ are attested.

Note the new syllabification in Etipel perf. etig†il (< *etg†il, i.e., .e.tig.†il. < *.et.g.†il.), f. etgi†lat, Impf. nitig†il (< *nitg†il).

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The consonant lengthening in Pael /ga†:il/ and Etpaal /etga†:al/ is a relevant feature of these two stems. Sometimes the second radical is dissimilated, as with the root HBL (Peal perf. hbal) that becomes HMBL in the Pael: hambil (< *habbil) ‘he destroyed’ and Etpaal ethambal (< *ethabbal) ‘he was spoiled’. If not lengthened, as in Ettapõel ettag†al, the reflexive element of the T stems including the following vowel can be elided in post-vocalic position (*ti/V__ > º), e.g., ehidrit (< *ehqrit < etihqrit < *ethqrit) ‘I returned’, epsiq (< etipsiq < *etpsiq) ‘I shall be cut off’, ehaial (< ethai:al) ‘he became strong’. Another explanation, according to Nöldeke (1875: 213), is that the dental has been assimilated to the first radical of the root (epsiq /eppsiq/ < *etpsiq). The loss of the dental is also found in the modern language, e.g., e(t)p. eg†el ‘he was killed’, egel†at ‘she was killed’, e(t)pa. ekammar ‘he returned’, ekamaryon ‘they returned’. 4.3. Verbal inflection The two main classes of the basic stem are the “transitive” g†al ‘he killed’ and the “intransitive” lgi† ‘he grasped’ (with the transitive variant lga†). The perfect forms show two synchronic bases, one where the difference between the two classes is neutralized (in sg. 3 f. and 1: gi†l-, lig†-) and another one with the characteristic vowel (in all other forms: g†al- versus lgi†-). The extended plural forms with -iun and -ian have been taken over from the verbs with weak third radical. The imperfect forms show a difference between the two classes only in forms without personal suffixes (-g†ul- versus-lga†-). Plural forms contain a uniform basis (-gi†l-, -lig†-). There are some exceptions to the correspondence of the character vowels perf. a / impf. u and perf. i / impf. a, as perf. b†il / impf. nib†ul ‘be useless’, perf. nsib, nsab / impf. nisab /nissab/, ninsab, ninsib ‘take’. The two main classes are maintained in the modern language (ge†al ‘he killed’ : dehel ‘he feared’). The prefix-conjugation (Imperfect) is no longer in use in Modern Mandaic. Its morphological pattern is retained in the Imperative (see below). Peal

Class. M. Perf. sg. 3 m. g†al, lgi† 3 f. gi†lat, lig†at 2 g†alt 1 gi†lit pl. 3 m. g†al, g†aliun 3 f. –, g†alian 2 m. g†altun 2 f. g†altin 1 g†alnin

Impf. nig†ul, nilga† tig†ul, tilga† – eg†ul, elga† nigi†lun nigi†la(n) tigi†lun – nig†ul, nilga†

Mod. M. Perf. ge†al, dehel ge†lat, dehlat ge†alt, dehelt ge†lit, dehlit ge†alyon, dehelyon ge†alyan, dehelyan ge†alton, dehelton ge†alten, dehelten ge†alni, dehelni

The paradigm of the verbs with medial vowel (e.g., QUM ‘stand’, MUT ‘die’) is quite regular:

Mandaic Peal sg. 3m. 3 f. 2 1 pl. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1

Perf. qam qamat qamt qamit qam, qamiun – qamtun – qamnin

163

Impf. niqum, nimut tiqum _ equm niqmun, nimitun niqma tiqmun tiqma niqum

Compare the paradigm of the verbs with final vowel (e.g., QRI ‘call’) in the basic stem Peal (trans.): Pael sg. 3 m. 3 f. 2 1 pl. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1

Perf. qra qrat qrit – qrun – qritun, qraitun – qrainin, qrin

Impf. niqria /niqre:/ tiqria – eqria niqrun (nibeian ‘they seek’) tiqrun – niqria

A special intransitive form is sge, sgia ‘he increased’ (Apõel asgia ‘he increased’), as in Syriac sgî ‘he increased’. In Modern Mandaic, the imperfect of the classical language has been replaced by the present participle. This form is composed of a chain of qa(< qaiim act. part. of QUM ‘stand, begin’) and the active (or passive) participle in the status absolutus. In the first and second persons an enclitic form of the personal pronoun is added. Peal sg. 3m. 3 f. 2 1 m. 1 f. pl. 3 m. 3 f. 2 1

Class. M. ga†il ga†la ga†l-it ga†il-na –, ga†la-na ga†lin ga†la(n)4 ga†li-tun ga†li-nin

Mod. M qa-ga†el qa-ga†la qa-ga†l-et qa-ga†el-na –, (qa-ga†la-na) qa-ga†len qa-ga†le-tton qa-ga†le-tten qa-ga†len-ni

A specific passive construction is used in Modern Mandaic with the passive participle followed by another enclitic form of the personal pronoun (Macuch 1989: 65):

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Rainer Voigt Peal sg. 3m. 3 f. 2 1 pl. 3 2. 1

Mod. M. ge†el-ye ‘I was killed’ ge†il-i ge†il-yat ge†el-nan ge†el-ennon ge†el-etton (or ge†ele-tton) ge†elen-ni(n)

An alternative construction is ge†el exti, ge†ila exta with the new existential particle exti ‘he is’, exta ‘she is’, extax ‘you (m.) are’, etc., which probably goes back to classical eka ‘there is’ + ait /i(i)t/ ‘existence’ + suffixes. The morphology of the imperative is based on that of the imperfect.

Peal Pael Apõel Etipeel Etpael Ettapõel

Imperfect sg. 3 m. nig†ul, nilga†, nilgu†, niga†il nag†il nitig†il nitga†al nitag†al

Imperative sg. m. g†ul, lgu†, lga† ga†il ag†il etig†il etga†al etag†al

The imperative is formed by dropping the personal prefixes of the imperfect. In the basic stems Peal and Pael the personal prefix of the second persons including the following vowel (ti-) is elided. The characteristic a vowel in the Apõel stem remains. In all T stems the prefix vowel is e. 4.4. Verbs with object suffixes Mandaic is the only Semitic language except Amharic that has three different series of object suffixes that may be added to the verb. Apart from the accusative set of suffixes (the º series) the language has developed a B series (with suffixes introduced by the preposition b-) and an L series (with suffixes introduced by the preposition l-). Most regularly, the B and L suffixes occur with the existential substantive et-, neg. lit- (see table on p. 165). The forms with suffixes are not synchronically based on those without suffixes but on an older underlying form. Thus lig†-hõ /lig†i:/ ‘he grasped him’ does not go back to lga† ‘he grasped’ plus personal suffix -hõ ‘him’. The same with sihl-an ‘he sent me’, which is not synchronically derived from slah ‘he sent’ plus personal suffix -an ‘me’. The forms with and without suffix have to be derived diachronically from underlying forms, i.e., *laga†a and *salaha respectively. The dental element of perfect forms can be elided before object suffixes: qri-lhõ ‘I called him’ (the fuller form is qrit-ilhõ ), ema-lhõ ‘she swore him’ (cf. the fuller form h†ata-bhõ ‘she sinned against him’).

Mandaic

+ suffix -º- series sg. 3 m. lig†-hõ /lig†i:/ ‘he grasped him’, algi†u-ia /-i:/ ‘they let him grasp’

-B- series saipi-bhõ ‘they have nothing more to do with him/it’, e߆ba-bhõ ‘he was baptized in it’ 3 f. – , lig†u ‘they took sahib-bhõ ‘he is (lga†u) her (*-a)’ proud of her’ 2 edu-k et-bak haila ‘you ‘they knew you’ have strength’ 1 sihl-an (< *slah + -an) e߆bat-bia ‘you ‘he sent me’, were baptized in lig†u-n it’ ‘they grasped me’ pl. 3 m. lga†-in(h)un et-bun ‘they have’ ‘he grasped them’, ehabu-nun ‘they gave them’ 3 f. —, -(i)n(h)in lit-baihin ‘they (f.) have not’ 2 m. esauzb-inkun et-baikun ‘I saved you’, ‘you have’ -nkun 2 f. — , -(i)nkin 1 psaq-inan lit-ban ‘we have ‘he cut us off’, not’ -nan

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-L- series masip-lhõ ‘they put an end to it’, msadrina-lhõ ‘we send him’, etit-lhõ ‘I came to him’ nihui-lhõ ‘it shall be for her’ qrina-lak ‘we called you’ qru-lia /qru:-li:/ ‘they called me’ qri-lun (< *qrit-lun) ‘I called them’, lit-laihun ‘you have not’ qriti-lkun ‘I called you’

lit-lan ‘we have not’

For Modern Mandaic only the paradigm of the periphrastic expression for ‘have’ (eh-, neg. l-eh- + suffixes of the L series) is given here: sg. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. (2 f. 1

eh-li (< et-lhõ ) eh-la eh-lax eh-lex) eh-le

pl. 3

eh-lu

2 m. eh-loxon 2 f. eh-lexen 1 eh-lan

For verbs with suffixes it must suffice to mention some examples as emal-le ‘he said to me’ (< emar-le), q-aheb-na-x ‘I give (it) to thee (-x)’, and hezy-i ‘he saw (heza) him/it’. With some verbs two objects are used, e.g., haft-éllu-hi ‘I gave it to them’, q-aheb-lax-i ‘he gives it to you (m.)’.

References Boyce, Mary 1977 A Word-List of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Leiden: Brill. Bultmann, R. 1925 Die Bedeutung der neuerschlossenen mandäischen und manichäischen Quellen für das Verständnis des Johannesevangeliums. Zeitschrift für Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 24: 100–147. Reprinted, pp.

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265–316 in Der Mandäismus, ed. Geo Widengren. Wege der Forschung 167. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982. Chwolsohn, D. 1856 Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus. 2 vols. St. Petersburg: Buchdruckerei der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Reprinted, Amsterdam: Oriental Press, 1965. de Blois, Fr. 1995 The “Sabians” (Íabi?un) in Pre-Islamic Arabia. Acta Orientalia 41: 39– 61. Drower, E. S., and R. Macuch 1963 A Mandaic Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon. Macuch, R. 1965 Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic. Berlin: de Gruyter. 1989 Neumandäische Chrestomathie mit grammatischer Skizze, kommentierter Übersetzung und Glossar. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1993 Neumandäische Texte im Dialekt von Ahwaz. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Malone, J. L. 1968 A Morphological Grammar of the Classical Mandaic Verb. Ph.D. diss. University of California, Berkeley. 1971 Sytematic Metathesis in Mandaic. Language 47: 394–415. Müller-Kessler, C., and K. Kessler 1999 Spätbabylonische Gottheiten in spätantiken mandäischen Texten. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 89: 65–87. Nöldeke, T. 1875 Mandäische Grammatik. Halle: Waisenhouses. 2nd ed., ed. Anton Schall. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1964. Rudolph, K. 1970 Die Religion der Mandäer. Pp. 403–62 in Die Religionen Altsyriens, Altarabiens und der Mandäer. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Schaeder, H. H. 1942 Nazarhnovı, Nazwrai~oÍ. Pp. 879–84 in vol. 4 of Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Abbreviated version, pp. 161–65 in Der Mandäismus, ed. Geo Widengren. Wege der Forschung 167. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982. Widengren, Geo, ed. 1982 Der Mandäismus. Wege der Forschung 167. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

South Semitic top dropped 12 points

Chapter 9

Epigraphic South Arabian Morphology L. E. Kogan and A. V. Korotayev Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow

The group of languages known through numerous inscriptions and graffiti from South Arabia is traditionally called Epigraphic South Arabian (ESA). A. F. L. Beeston proposed to name them Sayhadic, from Íayhad, the name used by medieval Islamic geographers for the desert now called Ramlat alSab÷atayn. It was along the edge of this desert that most of the earliest attestations of these languages were found. This group is usually thought of as consisting of four languages: Sabaic (Sab.), Qatabanic (Qat.), Hadramitic (Hadr.) and Minaic (Min.). The latter is now also called Madhabic, as it was used not only by the Minaeans, but also by other communities of the Wadi Madhab. The earliest documents date from the beginning of the 1st millennium b.c.e. Some sherds with South Arabian letters have been found in Raybun (ÓaÎramawt), which can be dated by radiocarbon techniques to the 12th c. b.c.e. A considerable amount of informative ESA (Sab. and Min.) textual material is attested from the 8th c. b.c.e. In the 7th c. b.c.e., the number of Sab. inscriptions rapidly increases. In this period Sab. was used not only in the Sabaeans’ mainland (i.e., in the region of Marib), but also throughout the Íayhad region and even outside of it, e.g., in the Wadi ÓaÎramawt, near the Red Sea coast and in Ethiopia. The end of Sabaean control over most Íayhad regions led to the growing use of the local ESA languages (Min., Qat., Hadr.) retaining for a time some Sab. influence. A recent overview of linguistic variety in Sabaic, including both chronological and geographical differences, is Stein 2004a. 1 The Minaean mainland was situated in the Wadi Madhab. However, Min. was also used in the other kingdoms of this wadi. The fact that the Minaeans were heavily engaged in the incense trade with the Mediterranean world led to the appearance of Min. texts in areas quite distant from the Minaean mainland itself, for example, in ancient Didan (modern al÷Ula) as well as in Egypt and on the island of Delos. The Qat. mainland was originally the area of the Wadis Bay˙an and Óarib at the edge of the inner Íayhad desert. In the second half of the 1st millennium b.c.e. the area under the control of the Qatabanian kings Supplemental abbreviations unique to this essay are found on p. 192. 1. Close attention to regional and chronological variety is a welcome characteristic of Stein’s Sabaic grammar (2003), too.

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expanded. As a result, the Qat. language area included the southern highlands adjacent to the Qat. mainland. Hadr. was used in the Wadi ÓaÎramawt, as well as in the surroundings of the capital, Shabwah, outside the wadi. The Hadrami kingdom controlled the main frankincense production area in Dhofar (Oman), where an important Hadrami colony S1mhrm (Khor Rori) was established. At the end of the 1st c. b.c.e., most of the western part of South Arabia was unified within the “empire” of the kings of Saba? and Dhu-Raydan. Its founders were most likely the Himyarites (Ómyrm of the inscriptions), a tribe in the southern highlands which at that time began to play an important role in South Arabian history. Sab. became the official language of the Himyarites, and its use was expanded to most parts of the southern highlands. There is no doubt, however, that Sab. was not the Himyarites’ vernacular. The late 1st century b.c. saw the decline of Min., which is to be connected with the fall of the Minaean kingdom. We can observe the formation, in the former Min. linguistic domain (mainly in the area of Haram), of a specific dialect of Sab. with a weak influence from the Min. substratum and a stronger North Arabian influence. By the end of the 2nd c. c.e. the use of Qat. also ceased due to the destruction of the Qatabanian kingdom by the Himyarites, Sabaeans and Hadramis. In the 4th c., the Hadrami kingdom ceased to exist, having been conquered by the Himyarites, who brought with them their official language, Sab., to the area. In the second half of the 1st millennium b.c., beside the monumental script of the inscriptions, another, “cursive” (or “minuscule,” abbreviated below as minusc.), script of everyday documents such as private letters, contracts, and magic texts developed. Discovered in 1973, this script was difficult to decipher. Only thirty minuscule documents have been published, out of an estimated number of several thousand. Almost all published minuscule texts are Sab. and date from the 2nd–3rd centuries c.e., most of them coming from the city of Nashshan in the Wadi Madhab. In the late 4th c. c.e. the monotheistic period started. Since the pagan practice of dedications to the temples ceased, the available documentation from the 5th–6th centuries is considerably reduced in comparison with earlier periods. The lexicon of monotheistic (mainly Judaic and Christian) texts exhibits foreign influences, mainly Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek. The most recent ESA (Sab.) documents were produced in the second half of the 6th c., the last dated Sab. inscription (C 325) being from 559 c.e. Sab. is the only ESA language for which a widely acknowledged periodization was established. Its history may be subdivided into archaic (1st millennium b.c.e.), middle (1st c. b.c.e.–late 4th c. c.e.), and late or monotheistic, up to late 6th c. c.e. Since Sab. is by far the best documented among ESA languages, we thought it best to take Sab. as the basis of our description. Accordingly, linguistic phenomena quoted below without any special notation belong to Sab. monumental texts; otherwise they are marked as Min., Qat., Hadr. or minusc.

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1. Pronouns 1.1. Personal pronouns 1.1.1. Independent forms First person independent personal pronouns are doubtfully attested in the texts: ‘I’ ?n in bn=hw ?n, bn=hw ?n ‘I am his son, I am his son’ (Gl 1782), br? k=h ? n ‘it was myself who built it’ ( J 2353:3); see Robin 1996: 1217. 2 1st person pl. possibly occurs in s1†rw qn ms3nd=n ?n ? brh ‘we, Abraha, wrote this inscription’ (C 541:3–4). 3 Forms of the 2nd person are rare in monumental inscriptions: see perhaps ? t in R˙mn=n r˙mk mr? ? t ‘Oh Ra˙man! You are merciful; you are the lord!’ in Ry 508:11. They are frequent, however, in minuscule documents. Forms attested in published texts are as follows: masc. sg. ?nt (variant ?t): w=?nt f=s3hln ÷ bd q=dwrm ‘and you, take care of the client of [the clan] qDwrm’ (RMA 6:2); w=? t s3hln l=Fr÷n n˚t=hw ‘and you, take care about Fr÷n, his she-camel’ (RMA 5:3–5); masc. pl. ?ntmw: w=?ntmw f=l=ts1t÷ddnn l=hmw ‘and you (pl.), you should verify the calculations for them’ (RMA 8:3); dual (presumably feminine) ? tmy: w=? tmy ߆rn l=h ‘as for you two, write to her’ ‘Abdallah: 3–4 (see Stein 2003: 187). Forms of the 3rd person are identical to the nom. forms of remote deictics (see below, 4): w=t?wlw b=wfy=m hw? w=kl s2w÷=hmw ‘and they returned in safety, he (himself) and all their companions’ ( J 631:13–4); w=hmw f=ntr∫ w mw÷d ?gr=n ‘as for them, they remembered the promise of the Najranites’ ( J 577:10). 1.1.2. Attested forms of pronominal enclitics (see table p. 170) In Qat. the suffixes =s1ww and =s1wy are added to du. and external pl. nominal forms; the suffix =s1 is used with sg. and broken pl. as well as with verbal forms. According to Beeston (1984: 69), the same rule in Hadr. is applicable to masc. =s1/=s1ww whereas “the two fem. forms [-s3/t] are used indifferently.” In fact, in the last case we deal with a purely phonetic shift t > s3 well known from Hadr. texts from Wadi ÓaÎramawt (but not from the capital Shabwa) dated to the second half of the 1st millennium b.c.e. (Bauer 1995: 126–27). As for the distribution of short and long forms of the fem. 3 sg. pronominal enclitic, it is exactly the same as we observe in Qat. (cf. r÷ bt=s3 ‘her healing spirit’ in Rb I/84 no. 196:9 versus ÷ yn=s3yw ‘her eyes’ in Rb I/83 no. 30:5). A number of 2nd person pronominal enclitics are attested in minuscule documents: sg. =k (?h=k ‘your [sg.] brother’ in RMA 5:2), pl. =kmw (see 2. Enclitics (pronominal suffixes; nunation and mimation on sg., sound pl. f. and broken pl.) and proclitics (those prepositions, conjunctions and gen. particles which are written together with the respective nouns or verbs) are separated by (=) throughout this paper; derivational and inflectional elements are separated by (-) when necessary. 3. So SD:6. Note that such a form is very difficult to reconcile with the evidence from other Semitic languages where this pronoun usually appears with an initial or middle ˙ (comparison to Mishnaic Hebrew ? anu is of course too far-fetched).

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Sab.

masc. fem. Min. masc. fem. Qat. masc. fem. Hadr. masc. fem.

Singular =hw, =h =h, =hwa =s1, =s1w =s1 =s1, =s1ww =s1, =s1yw =s1, =s1ww =t, =tyw (=s3, =s3yw)

Dual =hmy =s1mn =s1my =s1mn, =s1myn, =s1my =s1my

Plural =hmw, =hm =hn =s1m =s1n =s1m =s1n =s1m

a. Stein (2003: 135–37) brings attention to the fact that -hw for the female referent is observed almost exclusively in Middle Sab. dedicatory inscriptions (notably from Marib) and makes a plausible suggestion that this practice reflects a conscious use of the masc. form (possibly due to ritual reasons) rather than a phonological or morphological mixture.

examples below). The sg. =k is probably found in monumental Qat. also: ÷ bd=k ‘your (sg.) servant’, ?qn=k ‘your (sg.) authority’ ( J 367; 2439:1), the dual (presumably fem.) =kmy (l=ts1m÷ n=kmy ‘let her inform both of you’, ÷ m-n=kmy ‘from both of you’, l=? lbb=kmy ‘for the hearts of both of you’, all three in ‘Abdallah: 2–3 with reference to two female addressees named in line 1; for this passage, see further Stein 2003: 132). The suffix =n in a number of theophoric names may be regarded as the object enclitic of 1st person sg. pronoun; e.g., Óm=n-ns1r, which probably means ‘Protect-me-Nasr’ (impv. sg. or pf. 3rd masc. sg. from ˙my ‘to protect’ + =n; see J. Ryckmans 1975). Enclitic pronouns attached to nouns denote possession: ?ht=hn ‘their (fem.) sisters’, minusc. bt=k ‘your (sg.) house’, etc. Enclitic pronouns attached to verbal forms denote the direct object (mt÷=hmw ‘he has saved them’, Min. l=ys1ßfd=s1 ttf† ‘let the judgement bind him’ in R 4728:1), but they are also widely used for the indirect object: qb˙=hw qb˙=m ‘he offered him (i.e., the god) a sacrifice’ (e.g., C 461:2), f=hmr=hmw qnm=m ‘he (a deity) granted them a rain’ ( J 653:11–2). Pronominal enclitics are extensively employed with prepositions: b=÷m=hmw ‘with them’, Min. b=÷br=s1mn ‘regarding them both’; minusc. l=k ‘for you’, ÷brn=kmw ‘to you (pl.). 1.1.3. Excursus on h-forms in non-Sab. ESA Cases of -h pronominal forms are attested in other ESA forms besides the usual -s1 forms (the same is true for h-causatives; see 6.2). This phenomenon, which is especially frequent in Qat., is discussed in Avanzini 1992, where more than 20 examples are considered. Avanzini argues convincingly that h- forms are to be viewed neither as genuine Qat. doublets nor as a result of “linguistic mixture” between Qat. and Sab. Occurring in a stylistically limited group of texts (and even with a limited group of nouns), h- forms reflect a kind of cultural influence of Sab. literary style on Qat.

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Even more obvious is the Sab. influence in the use of h-forms in Hadr. (R 4223, CT 16 quoted in Beeston 1962: 10); see further h˚ny in SOYCE 633:2; 636+637; 777, etc.; yhws3b ‘he will make abundant’ (SOYCE 591); for the suffix -h(w) in earliest Hadr. inscriptions from Raybun, see Bauer 1995: 126 (note, however, that many of these inscriptions may well be classified as Sab.; e.g., SOYCE 673a–b). On a few Min. h-forms, see Arbach 1993b: 10, 19, 25. Note that both verbal forms quoted by Arbach—h-qr < nqr (MAFRAY-al-Kafir 1:1–2; MAFRAY-Kamna 7:1), and yhtwb < twb (M 464:1)—are not reliable, since the first inscription is very likely Sabaic, whereas no such form can be found in MAFRAY-Kamna 7:1 published in Robin 1992: 176–77, pl. 51 a et b; as for the third inscription, the relevant fragment is broken and the restoration of yh is by no means certain. 1.2. Relative particles The attested forms of relative particles are given in the the following table. Sab.

masc. fem. Min. masc. fem. Qat. masc. fem. Hadr. masc. fem.

Singular q= qt, t= q= qt q(m)=, qw qt(m)= q= qt

Dual qy qty qy qtyn qw, qn (?)

Plural ?lw, ?ly,a ?lht, ?l ?lt, ?lht ?hl, hl qtw, ?wlw qtw (?)

a. These two forms are opposed as nominative and oblique (see below, 2.5).

The particles are used to introduce relative clauses and in periphrastic gen. constructions: bkrt=n qt qhb=n ‘the bronze young she-camel’ (C 579:4–5); ?mtl=n ?ly qhb=n ‘the bronze images’ ( J 558:2); fnwt=hw qt ts1˚yn=hw ‘his canal which irrigates it [the palmgrove]’ (C 657:3). They may agree in gender and number with the antecedent, but q= is often generalized: ?bdt=m q=kwnw byn hms1nhn ‘irregulars who were between the two armies’ ( J 633:7–8), ßlmt=n . . . q=s2ftt mr?=hmw ‘the statuette . . . which she promised to their lord’ ( J 706:3–4). Some nouns with q= may be used without antecedent, such as q=?÷qr ‘distant relatives’, q=gb?n ‘document of property transfer’, q=?mnt ‘person or thing under protection’ (cf. G´÷´z za=manfas ‘spiritual’, za=lamß ‘leprous’, Akkadian sa=resim ‘high officer’ [lit., “that of the head”], sa=libbim ‘embryo’ [lit., “that of the inside”], etc.). 1.3. Indefinite pronouns mn (q= . . .) ‘someone’, mhn ‘something’, ?hnn (?hnm) ‘whatever, whenever, wherever’. Cf., e.g., w=mn=mw ys2tr=hw ‘whoever destroys it . . .’ (R 4091:1–3, with enclitic -mw).

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2. Nouns 2.1. Primary nouns and nominal derivation Nouns fall into primary (i.e., not produced from verbal roots) and derived (mostly deverbative, sometimes denominative). Derived nouns are produced through internal patterns which may be combined with prefixation, suffixation and infixation. Exact patterns of nominal derivatives are, unfortunately, almost totally unknown due to the absence of vocalization. 2.1.1. Examples of primary nouns Monoradical: f ‘voice, authority’ Biradical: s2h ‘sheep’, gw ‘community, group’, ?b ‘father’ Triradical: rgl ‘foot’, b?r ‘well’, s2ms1 ‘sun’ From “geminated” roots: ÷m ‘uncle’ (pl. ?÷mm), ÷r ‘mountain, hillfortress’ (pl. ?÷rr) From “hollow” roots: ywm/ym ‘day’ (pl. ?ywm), twr/tr ‘bull’ (pl. ?twr), byt/bt ‘house’ (pl. ? byt), ˚yt∫ ‘summer season’ Quadriradical non-reduplicated: ?rby ‘locusts’, ÷glm-t ‘diversion mole’, kwkb ‘star’. Many of these nouns are loanwords, such as ?fklt ‘kind of priest’ (pl.?) < Akkadian apkallu, ˙ykl ‘type of building’ < Akkadian ekallu, dglmt (pl.) ‘ornamental rings’ < Geºez d´gw´lma (see Müller 1983: 278; Beeston 1994 passim). Quadriradical reduplicated: glgl=n ‘sesame’ (minusc.), krkr ‘kind of measure’, kmkm ‘cancamon’; with -n affixed glgln=m ‘sesame’ (minusc.). Neither type of quadriradicals is very frequent. Primary nouns formed through the addition of prefixes, suffixes or (consonantal) infixes are unlikely to be attested (Min. ˚l-y-m-t=n ‘calamus’ treated as a noun formed after the f÷yl-t pattern in Arbach 1993b: 9 is most probably a broken pl. since the context reads s1÷rb ?mrr=n w=˚lymt=n k=?bytt ?l?lt mßr ‘he imported [various kinds of] myrrh and calamus for the temples of gods of Egypt’. 2.1.2. Examples of derived nouns The following types of derived nouns occur (ß˙f ‘to write’ is the sampleroot): ß˙f: s2r˙ ‘safety, deliverance’ < s2r˙ ‘to deliver’, qb˙ ‘victim’ < qb˙ ‘to slay’, etc. This pattern is often augmented with -t: nfl-t ‘accident’ < nfl ‘to fall in battle’, blw-t ‘funerary monument’ < blw ‘to construct a tomb’. From geminated roots: Îr (pl. ?Îrr) ‘war’ < Îrr ‘to wage war’, Îll ‘sickness’ < Îll ‘to fall sick’, ÷z-t ‘strength’ < *÷zz (cf. h-÷zz ‘to uphold’). From weak roots: Îw÷ ‘alarm’ < Îw÷ ‘to face an emergency’, mwt-t ‘fatal disease’ < mwt ‘to die’, ßyd ‘hunt’ < ßyd ‘to hunt’, ˚ny ‘possessions’ < ˚ny ‘to acquire’, rÎw ‘goodwill, satisfaction’ < rÎw ‘to please, satisfy’. It is possible that forms with “full” spelling of the weak or geminated radical and those written defectively actually belong to different patterns distinguished by the vocalism (e.g., ˙r ‘free’ /*˙urr-/ versus ˚ll ‘little’

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/*˚alil-/ ?), but nothing in particular can be said about this problem at the present stage of research. In nouns derived from roots with the first radical w this consonant may be dropped, and -t is usually added: z÷ ‘control’ < *wz÷ (cf. wz÷ ‘a title of commander’), ˚h/˚h-t ‘order, command’ < w˚h ‘to command’, hb-t ‘gift’ < whb ‘to give, to grant’, s1y-t ‘assignment’ < *ws1y (cf. h-ws1y ‘to assign’). ß-y-˙f: h-y-tm ‘seal’ in h-y-tm-n ‘two seals’ (minusc., Ghul A:10), Hadr. ß-y-dm=n ‘earthquake’ (cf. Arabic ßdm ‘to strike’). ß˙-y-f(-t): ßl-y-m ‘statuette’, probably a diminutive [*ßu˙ayf-] from ßlm ‘statue’ (so Beeston 1984: 25). t-ß˙f(-t): some verbal nouns (presumably from the themes *ßa˙˙afa and *ta-ßa˙˙afa). Examples: t-˙rm ‘ritual prohibition’ < ˙rm ‘to prohibit’, t-twb ‘completion of a work’ < twb ‘to complete’, t-˚dm ‘attack’ < t-˚dm ‘to attack’, t-nhy(-t) ‘confession’ < t-nhy ‘to confess’. Note, however, some concrete nouns, such as t-b˚l (t-b˚l-t) ‘plantation’ < b˚l ‘to lay out’, t-?nt ‘women’ (a collective, denominative from ?nt-t ‘woman’), Min. t-˚r ‘hewn stone’ (cf. Sab. w˚r ‘inscribed stone’), Qat. t-˙my ‘wall’ < ˙my ‘to protect’, ∫ r ‘wall’ (pl. t-tw ∫ r-t) minusc. t-ld ‘progeny’ < wld ‘to give birth’, Min. t-tw ∫ wr ‘to wall’. < tw h-ß˙f-t (Sab.), s1-ß˙f-t (Min.)—verbal nouns from the causative theme: Sab. h-˚ny-t, Min. s1-˚ny-t ‘dedication’ (< h/s1-˚ny ‘to dedicate’), h-rw˙-t ‘enlargement’ (< h-rw˙ ‘to enlarge, increase’). On h-forms in Min., see 1.1.3. Note an interesting form ?-˚ny-t ‘dedication’ found in C 95:2–3 and C 343:12 with ?-causative unattested elsewhere in ESA. Similar forms without -t (h/s1-˚ny) may also be interpreted as verbal nouns, but they are difficult to tell from the infinitives (6.6.1.) and will not be treated here. n-ß˙f: n-˙˚l ‘specially’ (presumably, a nominal form used adverbially). m-ß˙f(-t)—conveys a wide range of meanings (place, time, instrument, etc.): m-s1?l ‘oracle’ < s1?l ‘to ask’, m-ßd˚ ‘documentary proof of ownership’ < ßd˚ ‘to claim proprietorial rights over something’, m-qb˙-t ‘altar’ < qb˙ ‘to slay’. From weak roots: m-wd ‘friend’ (Min. pl. mwddt) < *wdd ‘to be friendly’ (attested in s1t-wdd ‘to agree’), m-wtb ‘seat, residence’ < wtb ‘to seat, reside’, m-˙r(t) ‘decree, command’ < ˙wr ‘to be ordained, issued’, ms1˚y ‘irrigation’ < s1˚y ‘to irrigate’, Min. mrÎw ‘satisfaction’ < rÎw ‘to please’. Active and passive participles of various themes are also formed after this pattern; e.g., m-nßf ‘servant, temple personnel’ < nßf ‘to perform rites’, etc. ß˙f-n(-t) (since the st. abs. of these nouns is not distinguishable from ß˙f-nouns with the definite article -n, only forms of construct and determined states as well as those with mimation may be considered secure attestations of this pattern). It is used for nouns of action (active and passive) such as hmr-n=m ‘concession, gift’ < hmr ‘to grant’, Min. nhy-n=n ‘confession (of a sin)’ < nhy ‘to confess’, hm†-n=m/n ‘disorder’, bdl-n ‘sickness’ (in st. c. bdl-n b÷r ‘a disease of camels’), ?hw-n=n ‘alliance’ (denominative from ?h ‘brother’), rÎw-n ‘satisfaction’ (in st. c. rÎw-n ?lbb=hmw ‘satisfaction of their hearts’) < rÎw ‘to satisfy’, gb?-n=m ‘the transfer of property’ < gb? ‘to return’, possibly nouns of agents such as ßyd-n=n

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‘hunter’ (< ßyd ‘to hunt’) and other nouns without regular semantic correlation: ˚rb-n-t ‘devotee’ (?), Min. rgl-n-yhn (du. det.) ‘time(s) [multiplied]’, presumably < rgl ‘foot’ (cf. Hebrew pa÷am ‘foot; time’ < Common Semitic *pa÷m- ‘foot’), ˚s2b-n=m ‘new construction’ (< ˚s2b ‘to construct’). Cf. also Min. kltny ‘totality’ (not quite certain) < kl ‘all’. ß˙f-y: difficult to distinguish from substantivized nisbahs (see 3). Cf. ?nty, ?ty ‘female’ (cf. Arabic ?untà), ?˙dy ‘one’ (f.) (cf. Arabic ?i˙dà), probably also ghmy ‘last part of the night’. ß˙f-yt: presumably a substantivized fem. nisbah with abstract meaning comparable to Arabic ˙urr-iyyat- ‘freedom’. Found in kl-yt=hm ‘unanimousness’, Qat. ywm-yt ‘date’. ß˙f-?: qfr-?=n ‘ill-smelling plants’ (in J 720 = Bron/MB 2:8–10: ys1tßyn bn qfr-?=n w=bn bßl=n ‘he was stinking of ill-smelling plants and onions’; cf. Arabic qfr ‘to emit a bad smell’), possibly z?d?=m ‘payment, fulfilment’ (J 750: 7; cf. Beeston et al. 1981: 169; Stein 2003: 62). 2.2. Gender The two genders are masc. and fem. The masc. is usually unmarked, while the most common fem. ending is -t. It is used, in particular, for deriving nouns denoting female beings from the respective masc.: ?bl-t ‘she-camel’ < ?bl ‘he-camel’, ?l-t ‘goddess’ < ?l ‘god’, bn-t ‘daughter’ < bn ‘son’, etc. A number of nouns with fem. agreement have no -t: yd ‘hand’, ÷yn ‘eye’, hgr ‘city’, b?r ‘well’, etc. (e.g., mrÎ-t ÷yn=hw ‘her eye was ill’ in J 706:6–7). Among these, nouns applied exclusively to females (˙yÎ ‘menstruating woman’, nfs1 ‘woman in childbed’) are of interest. For a masc. noun with the ending -t, see hlf-t ‘viceroy’, which may be a loanword from Arabic halifat-. For the possibility of masculine agreement with nouns in -t derived from roots Iw, see Stein 2003: 68. Masc. or fem. agreement with a given noun is very stable. Few nouns are suspected to be attested in both genders: nhl ‘palmgrove’, nfs1 ‘soul’ (attested mostly as fem., but apparently masc. in Ra 42:13: l=ymtn nfs1=hw ‘let him die’ 4). The word frs1, meaning both ‘horse’ and ‘mare’ (ymtn frs1=hw ‘his horse would die’ in J 649:21–22 versus frs1=m qt qhb=m ‘a mare of bronze’ in J 752:7–8), belongs to the same group. 5 In Qat., ywm ‘day’ and ÷m ‘year’ may be used as fem.: †t (fem.!) ywm=m ‘one day’ (e.g., R 3854:6–7), ÷m=m s2lt-t=m ‘third year’ (Bron/BM 8:2). 2.3. State Three states of noun are attested: absolute, construct and determinate. 2.3.1. Absolute state A noun which is neither the possessed in the genitive construction nor determined by the article is in the absolute state. In the singular, the fem. 4. Attested examples for both nhl and nfs1 are contested in Stein 2003: 69. 5. A similar approach is possible for lb?, possibly denoting both ‘lion’ and ‘lioness’ (Sima 2000: 111), although no example with explicit masc. agreement for this term has been discovered so far.

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plural as well as in the broken plural forms, nouns in the absolute state are usually marked with -m, “mimation” (slm=m ‘statue’). The lack of consistency in the use of mimation is noticeable in Min., where forms with and without -m are found in identical contexts (see Arbach 1993b: 11; examples in Beeston 1984: 62). In Sab., mimation is often lacking in names of the seasons of the year: n?d ?tmr=m . . . b=k∫yt ∫ w=dt? w=ßrb (but w=mly=m!) ‘abundance of crops in summer, and spring, and autumn and winter’ ∫ m w=ßrb=m ‘abundance of summer and autumn har(C 174: 3); cf. n?d k∫yt= vests’ ( J 651: 48). 6 Numerous adverbial expressions derived from nouns may exhibit =m (e.g., dwm=m ‘forever’, qr=m ‘to saturation’, s2b÷=m ‘abundantly’, etc.). 2.3.2. Construct state A noun which is either the possessed of the gen. construction or followed by a pronominal suffix appears in its bare form, the construct state: ?b÷l byt=hmw ‘the lords of their house’ (e.g., R 3991:21–2), Qat. rd? s2ms1=s1 ‘the help of his Sun-goddess’ (R 3856:4), Hadr. wld=t ‘her children’ in Rb 645:3. Min. possibly had a special marker for the possessed, namely -h: b=?mr-h Nkr˙ ‘by the order of [the deity] Nkr˙’ (MAFRAY/Darb aß-Íabi 1:5), b=?wtn-h m˙rm-h Îl÷n ‘(with)in the boundary stones of the sacred enclave of (= for) the ill people’ (MAFRAY/Darb aß-Íabi 1:6–7), minusc. l=Mrtdm Rmln w=?h-h=s1 ‘to Mrtdm Rmln and his brother’ (RyLu 1). In such cases the possessed stands in the genitival position as above; cf. in the same text ykwn ?wtn [without -h!] m˙rm=n ‘the boundary stones of the sacred enclave are established’ (MAFRAY/Darb aß-Íabi 2–3). For more details, see Beeston 1962: 38. Nouns in the construct state also appear before relative clauses; e.g., ?ml? s1tml?w b=÷m=hw ‘favors which they sought from him’ ( J 561bis:16). Unlike Classical Arabic, a possessing noun can be preceded by more than one possessed one; e.g., hl w=m˚m T?lb ‘the strength and the power of T?lb’ (C 2:8), Hadr. ?lhy w=?lhty hgr=hn S2bwt ‘gods and goddesses of the city of Shabwa’ (R 2693:6). 2.3.3. Determinate state A noun that has the marker of definiteness is in the determinate state. For sg. nouns, broken pls. and fem. external pls., the marker of definiteness is the postpositive article =n (in Hadr. mainly =hn): hgr=n ‘the city’, Hadr. ÷˚bt=hn ‘the fortification’. Nouns in the determinate state are used independently (b=wtn=n ‘at the border-stone’), after deictics, before relative clauses introduced by relative particles, and before proper names (Hadr. s1r=hn ÷rmw ‘the valley ÷rmw’ in Ingrams 1:2). Note that nominal subjects are usually determinate, whereas nominal predicates are in the absolute state. 6. For a few other positions where nouns, although not in the construct state, lack mimation, see Stein 2003: 86–88. For Stein, such examples reflect a special morphological category, the absolute state in his terminology (nouns with mimation are thus described as belonging to the indeterminate state).

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2.4. Number ESA has three numbers: singular, dual, and plural, which may be external or internal (broken). 2.4.1. Forms of the dual Absolute state: Sab. -n (-yn): (tny) ?s1-n, ?s1-yn ‘two men’; Min. -ny: ß˙ft-ny ‘two curtain walls’; Qat. -myw: ywm-myw ‘two days’; Hadr. -nyw: fhd-nyw ‘two cheetahs’. Construct state: Sab. -y: 7 mlk-y s1b? ‘two kings of Saba?’, Min. -hy: rs2w-y ?lh=n ‘two priests of the deity’; Qat. -w, -y, -h (?): mlk-w qtbn ‘two kings of Qataban’, b˙t-y bl˚=m ‘two votive phalli of limestone’, (?) nfs1-h=s1yw ‘two funerary monuments of hers’; ÓaÎr -y, -hy: ˚tb-y mlk=n ‘two camel-riders of the king’, gs1m-hy gn? K∫ lt ‘two constructions of the wall of K∫ lt’. Note an interesting form ?-s1wd-y ‘two commanders’ attested in J 665:31 where the du. marker -y is added to a pl. base *?-s1wd (from non-attested *s1wd) unless a sg. ?s1wd ‘commander’ is to be postulated, which is unlikely in view of the small productivity of ?- prefixation in ESA nominal derivation. The -y may disappear when pronominal suffixes are added: bn=hw X w-Y ‘his two sons X and Y’, Hadr. ÷ yn=s1ww ‘his two eyes’. Determinate state: Sab. -nhn, -ynn, -nn, -ynhn, -nhyn: hgr-nhn ‘the two cities’, ßlm-ynn ‘the two statues’ ( J 574: 2), byt-nn ‘the two houses’, s2÷ bynhn, s2÷ b-ynhyn ‘the two communities’; Min. -nhn, -nyhn: ÷ yn-nhn ‘the two eyes’, s2w÷-nyhn ‘the two (temple) servitors’; Qat. -nyhn: m˚m-nyhn ‘the two meetings’; Hadr. -yhn, -yn: hndy-yhn ‘the two Indians’, ÷rbyt-yn ‘the two Arab women’. 2.4.2. The external plural The masc. external pl. is very rare. In Sab., relatively safe cases are restricted to the construct state; e.g., bn-w/bn-y ‘sons of . . .’, ?h-y ‘brothers of . . .’, hrf-y ‘years [in which] . . .’; possibly also ˙wr-w ‘citizens of . . .’, ÷hrw ‘nobles of . . .’ (the last two may be regarded, alternatively, as broken pls.). Forms of the absolute and determinate state are less certain, partly because they often formally coincide with the respective forms of the du. (e.g., bn-n ‘sons’, ?m-n ‘cubits’ < sg. ?mt, ?rb÷t=n m?-nhn ‘the four hundred’ < sg. m?t). There is no syntactic reason to treat mw-nhn in Gl 1138:6–7 and J 635:37 as a du. form (as done, e.g., in Beeston et al. 1982: 88) and not as a determinate state of the external pl.; cf. Hebrew mayim ‘water’ rightly considered pl., not du. tantum in Muraoka 1993: 274. Masc. external pl. is more common in Min.: absolute ywm-hn ‘days’, hrf-hn ‘the years’; construct ?b-hw/?b-hy ‘fathers of . . .’, hlf-hy ‘gates of . . .’ (cf. Qat. rfd-hy=s1m ‘their (of parts of the house) supports’ in Q 265:3 and nfs1h(y)=s1m/s1ww ‘their/its roof-terraces’ in Q 99:5; 265:3; 266:3; 790:3). Note Qat. bn-w/bn-y ‘sons of . . .’, ?lh-w/?lh-y ‘gods of . . .’, ?h-y/?h-h ‘brothers of . . .’, Hadr. ?lh-y ‘gods of . . .’. 7. According to Stein 2003: 92, the dual construct ends in -º in the nominative in the earliest Sab. texts (÷mfrs2 w=hk∫m ?l bn y÷q r?l . . . ÷ bd krb?l h˚ny ‘÷mfrs2 and Hkm?l, the two sons of Y÷d¢ r?l, the two servants of Krb?l have dedicated’ in Garbini 1: 1–4). No pertinent oblique forms are attested so far in Sab. texts of this period.

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The Sab. fem. external pl. suffix, attested also in Qat, is -t (graphically identical to the sg. and presumably differentiated by the quantity of the vowel, *-at- versus *-at- or *-t-): ?nt-t ‘woman’ ~ pl. ?nt-t, t˚dm ‘attack’ ~ pl. t˚dm-t, etc. It is -ht (abs. and det.) in Min. and Hadr. (ßr˙-ht=m ‘upper parts of buildings’, b˙-ht=m ‘votive phalli’, ?nt-ht=n ‘the women’) and -hty (constr.) in Min., Qat. and Hadr. (?rÎ-hty ‘lands of . . .’). Also note a curious pl. construct form ˙rtw in both parts of Sab.-Qat. bilingua (YMN 1:6; 2:5) for *˙rt ‘free woman’ (beside ?˙rrt for which see 2.4.3) and external pl. ˙r-t (Höfner 1994 N 3:5). 2.4.3. The broken plural The following forms of the broken plurals are attested (the respective singular forms are quoted whenever known): ß˙f < ß˙f, ß˙ft. The first form is homographous with the sg., but may have had a different vocalism; e.g., *ßV˙af- or *ßi˙af-: ?hl < ?hl ‘a kind of cistern’, ?lm < ?lm ‘feast’; fnw < fnwt ‘secondary canal’. Note ?mm, a pl. of ?mt ‘cubit’, which points to an apophonic change, such as *?ammatu ~ *?amamu. ß˙ft < ß˙f: ÷˚b-t < ÷˚b ‘governor, deputy, administrator’ (cf. such pairs as †alib- ‘student’, pl. †alab-at- in Classical Arabic). In a few other cases, addition of -t can rather be interpreted as the external fem. plural marker, possibly with an a-insertion in the base (?rÎ ‘land’, pl. ?rÎ-t; cf. Arabic ?arÎ-, pl. ?araÎ-at-). ß˙f-w: ˙wr-w (< ˙wr ‘members of city community’, coll.), ÷hr-w ‘nobles’ (cf. Qat. sg. ÷hr). At least some of these forms may be considered external pls. ß-w-˙f(-t): ?-w-mr ‘signal-stations’, Qat. h-w-ll-t ‘orders’ ß-y-˙f(-t): h-y-tm-t ‘plots of cultivated land’ ß˙-w-f: qk-w-r < qkr ‘male’; more frequent in Qat: hd-w-r < hdr ‘place of business’, hr-w-f < hrf ‘year’ ß˙-w-f-t: ?d-w-m-t ‘groups of serfs, dependant persons’; Min. kb-w-d-t ‘taxes’ ß˙-y-f: hm-y-s1 < hms1 ‘main army force’, h†-y-? < h†? ‘sin’, hr-y-f < hrf ‘year’, Îb-y-? < Îb?t ‘battle’ ß˙-y-f-t: hr-y-f-t ‘autumn seasons’, ?d-y-m-t ‘groups of dependent persons’ ?-ß˙f: the most widespread pattern of broken pls. This consonantal form probably disguises several patterns (e.g., *?aß˙af-, *?aß˙uf-, *?aß˙uf-, *?aßa˙if-, etc.). Examples: ?-hgr < hgr ‘city’, ?-mlk < mlk ‘king’, ?-nmr < nmr ‘leopard’ For forms with a geminated root, see, e.g., Min. ?-˙l (also ?-˙ll) < ˙l ‘possession’ (?) ?-ß˙f-t: ?-s1b?-t < s1b?t ‘enterprise, military expedition’, ?-hrf-t < hrf ‘year’ ?-ß˙f-w: ?-qkr-w < qkr ‘male’ mß˙f: most often from mß˙ft, e.g., mƒbb < mƒbt ‘defensive works’, mßd˚ < mßd˚t ‘documentary proof’; also from mß˙f: ms1b? < ms1b? ‘way, road’ mß˙f-t: from mß˙f – m˙fÎ-t < m˙fÎ ‘tower’, m˚br-t < m˚br ‘grave, tomb’, Min. mrtd-t < mrtd ‘dedication’

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∫ r-t < ttw ∫ r ‘part of the tß˙f-t: from tß˙f – t˚dm-t < t˚dm ‘attack’, Min. ttw city wall’, Min. twtb-t < twtb ‘banquette’ (however, all these forms may be interpreted as external fem. pls.) External and internal pl. markers may be combined as in ?-˙rr-t ‘freeborn women’ < *˙r-t (only masc. sg. ˙r ‘free-born person’ is attested), (?) ?-mlk-t ‘queens’ < mlk-t ‘queen’. A noun often has two or more broken pls. Thus, as least five forms of broken pl. for hrf ‘year’ are adduced in Beeston et al. 1982: 62 (for a list of nouns with several broken pl. forms, see Stein 2003: 73). A few nouns are thought to have suppletive pls. (?dm – ÷ bd ‘client’, possibly ?s1d – ?s1/?ys1 ‘man’). Some cases of “plural of plurals” are probably attested: cf. ÷bd ‘client’ ~ ?dm ‘clients’ ~ ?d-y-m-t/?d-w-m-t ‘groups of clients’. 2.5. Case The case system remains practically unknown since in most cases the writing system did not mark case endings. We believe that -w of the Sab. external pl. construct bn-w ‘sons’ is usually a nom. marker, while the -y in bn-y (when not followed by a pronominal suffix) marks the oblique case: bn-w Grt . . . h˚nyw ‘the sons of (the clan) Grt . . . have dedicated’ ( J 561:12) versus (in the same inscription) wfy ?dm=hw bn-y Grt ‘the well-being of his servants, the sons of (the clan) Grt’ (ll. 14–15). Approximately 10 percent of exceptions are attested, but most of these seem either to come from peripheral areas or to be relatively late (not earlier than the 3rd c. c.e.). The same distribution may be suspected in Qat. for ?lh-w/?lh-y (constr.) ‘gods of’. A systematic case distinction is also observed in the pl. form of the relative particle ?lw for the nominative, ?ly for the oblique (Stein 2003: 147). Several cases are attested in Min. and Hadr. where -hm (occasionally -h) possibly stands for a kind of adverbial acc. (e.g., Min. w=ymt÷=s1m w=?˚ny=s1m ÷ ttr q=K∫ bÎm s1lm-hm w=wfy-h ‘and ÷ttr q=K∫ bÎm saved them and their possessions in peace and flourishing (?)’ (M 247 = R 3022 = Gr 313:3), Hadr. ˚rn-hm ‘guarding against an enemy’, gs1m-hm ‘in solid construction’; cf. Beeston 1962: 38–39; Arbach 1993b: 12. This ending never occurs as the acc. of the direct object. 2.6. Nouns with peculiar morphological features The noun ?l ‘god’ has a reduplicated pl. ?l?l-t in Sab. and Min. In Min., the nouns bn ‘son’ and bnt ‘daughter’ have pl. forms with inserted -h- (bhn, bhny and bhnt, respectively; Arbach 1993b: 15), similar to the forms with an apophonic change found for this nominal base in other Semitic languages (Hebrew ben ‘son’, pl. ban-im, Arabic bint- ‘daughter’, pl. ban-at-). In Sab., the noun bn occasionally appears as bny (in very late texts also bnw) in the st. constr. (usually with pronominal suffixes); similar forms are also attested for ?h ‘brother’ (?hy). Several nouns have broken pls. with a non-etymological -h: e.g., mwy ‘water’ – ?mwh (Min. mhy, mh=s1m /?/, Hadr. mhyhn), ?mt ‘bondwoman’ –

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?mh, ?b ‘father’ – ?bh (in Min. ?bhw/y), Min. ?mt ‘cubit’ – ?mh, Min. ?h ‘brother’ – ?hh. The same feature is observed in the pls. (presumably external) of ?m ‘mother’ (?mht), ?hl ‘folk’ (?hlht, Min. ?hlhn), ?lt ‘goddess’ (?lht), Qat. ?l ‘god’ (?lhn; note the sg. ?lh ‘god’ in Sab.). 3. Adjectives The most frequent adjectival pattern is ß˙f; e.g., r˙˚ ‘far’, †hr ‘pure’, fs2? ‘contagious, epidemic’. It is relatively uncommon. Nisbahs in -y, derived from common nouns, toponyms and ethnonyms, are much more frequent: ˚yl-y ‘that belonging to ˚ayls’ < ˚yl, m÷rb-y ‘western’ < m÷rb ‘West’, S1b?-y ‘Sabaean’ < S1b? ‘Saba?’. Note also mlyk-y=m ‘royal’ in Ist 7608bis = R 3904:4. Nisbahs in -ny are rare: see possibly ?lw-ny ‘Alwanite’ (< ?lw), Hadr. S2bw-ny ‘Shabwanite’ (< s2bwt). Cf. also †m˙-ny ‘upstream direction’ (< †m˙ ‘upper (valley)’). The adjectival sg. fem. marker -t is attested mostly in nisbahs: s2ms1=hw ms2r˚y-t=n ‘his Sun-goddess, the Eastern One’ (C 572:2–3), but cf. ˚dm-t in b=÷t-∫ t=hmw ˚dm-t=n ‘according to their previous demand’ (C 541:94). Both external and broken masc. pls. are attested for adjectives, e.g., ?wld=m hn?=m in C 352:10 versus ?wld=m hn?-n in F 88:4 both meaning ‘healthy children’ (hn?=m presumably a broken pl. and hn?-n, an external pl. of the type *hani?-un(a)). Broken pls. from nisbahs are very widespread, most of them employing triconsonantal roots even when the adjective has more than three consonants: ?-˙mr ‘Himyarites’ < ˙myry, ?-ßr˙ ‘Sirwahites’ < ßrw˙y and even ?-?qn ‘Ma?dhinites’ < m?qny. A fem. external pl. in -t is probably attested in hn?-t bn ? tr∫ b=hmw ‘pleasing [crops] from their lands’ (R 3966:9; however, the adjective here is clearly substantivized). Forms of gradation are not found, with the possible exception of Min. ?-ßn÷ ‘the strongest’ in kwnt qt gzyt=n ?ßn÷ kl gz[. . .] ‘this decree is the strongest among all the de[crees]’ (R 3307:3). For this pattern, cf. also ?-?hr ‘other’ > ‘another time’, ?-˚dm ‘previous’ (beside ˚dm), ?-s1fl ‘lower, less’, and ?-s2y˙ ‘complete’. 4. Deictics Nearer demonstratives:

Sab.

masc. fem. Min. masc. fem. Qat masc. fem.

Singular qn qt

Dual qyn, qn, ?ln (?) qn

qn qt

Plural ?ln ?lt ?hlt qtn, qtw

There are two sets of forms for remote demonstratives. The first set is used when the noun is syntactically in the nom. position.

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Sab.

masc. fem. Qat. masc. fem. Min. masc. fem.

Singular h?, hw? h?, hy? s1w s1 s1w-t (? oblique)

Dual hmy hmy s1my

Plural hmw hn s1m s1m s1mt (?)

In non-nom. positions, a -t ending appears (thus, hw-t, hy-t, hm(y)-t, hm(w)-t, hn-t); e.g., hgb?y l=?lm˚h hy-t ?rÎ=n ‘they (du.) handed over to [the god] ?lm˚˙ that land’ (C 376:10–11), bn hw-t brt=n ‘from that campaign’ ( J 636:38–9), Qat. b=s1my-t m˚mnyhn ‘at those two meetings’ (R 3566:10). Demonstratives precede the definite nouns they qualify: h? tyl=n ‘that lava-flow’ (C 323:3), Qat. qtn ?s1†r=n ‘these inscriptions’ (e.g., in R 3856:5). They can function as subjects in nominal clauses (the nominal predicate is normally in the absolute state): ?lt ?hgr=m w=?bÎ÷=m gn? . . . Krb?l ‘these are the towns and territories which Krb?l walled’ (R 3946:1), Qat. w=qn ?byt w=?rÎt ˚ny w=÷s1y w=s2?m Yqmrmlk ‘and these are houses and lands, which Yqmrmlk has acquired, and took into possession and bought’ (R 3858:5–6). 5. Numerals Detailed recent studies of formal and syntactic peculiarities of Sab. numerals are Wagner 2002; Stein 2003: 98–127. 5.1. Cardinals ESA cardinal numerals from 1 to 10 exhibit two forms, namely with the -t ending and without it; in the list below, the former comes first. 1 – ?˙d/?˙-t, ?˙d-y. In Qat. †d/†-t and ÷s1tn=m, in Min. ÷s1t (used beside ?˙d but interpreted as 11 by some scholars) 2 – tny/tn-ty, t-ty; Qat. tnw. Note also kl?y (kly), fem. kl?-ty, e.g., kly t?dmynhn ‘the two rebellions’ (t?dm in the du. det.) 3 – s2lt/s2lt-t (archaic Sab., Qat.; fem. s2hlt-t in Min.); the rest of Sab. tlt/tlt-t; Hadr. s2lt(s2ls3)/s2lt-t(s2ls3-t) 4 – ?rb÷/?rb÷-t 5 – hms1/hms1-t 6 – s1dt/s1dt-t (archaic Sab., Min. and Qat.; s1t/s1t-t the rest of Sab., s1t in Hadr. and a few late Sab. inscriptions from the ÓaÎrami area) 7 – s1b÷/s1b÷-t 8 – tmny/tmny-t (archaic Sab.); tmn/tmn-t, tm-t (the rest of Sab.) 8 9 – ts1÷/ts1÷-t 10 – ÷s2r/÷s2r-t 11 – ?˙d ÷s2r, 12 – tny ÷s2r (with masc. counted noun; examples with fem. counted nouns are practically unattested). 8. A few forms in -w- (tmnw/tmnw-t) are attested in middle Sab. inscriptions from the Radmanite area.

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The numbers from 13 to 19 are attested almost exclusively with the masc. counted noun and consist of the fem. form of the unit and ÷s2r (tlt-t ÷s2r ‘13’). 9 While ÷s2r in the latter forms is invariable, the second element has the same gender forms as the respective units (e.g., ?rb÷ ÷s2r and ?rb÷-t ÷s2r). Twenty is ÷s2ry; the rest of decades is formed by adding -y to the respective form in the first decade (tlt-y 30, hms1-y 50), etc. In Min. forms, endings in -hy are also attested; e.g., ?rb÷-hy 40; cf. also Hadr. ts1÷-hy 90. The order of the elements in compound numerals (each preceded by w=) is usually ascending from units to thousands (see examples below). Forms with -t occur with masc. nouns, forms with zero-ending, with fem. nouns (exceptions are 1, 2, 11 and 12). The noun counted appears after the numeral, always in the pl., except for 1 and 2. As a general rule, numerals up to 100 are in the construct state, while the noun is in the absolute with mimation: tlt-t ?wrh=m ‘three months’, tlt ?br˚=m ‘three rainy seasons’ < br˚ (fem.), Qat. †d ÷s2r ?nhl=m ‘eleven palmgroves’; the noun without -m: Min. hms1 ?mh ‘five cubits’ (sg. ?mt), Hadr. tmnw-t ?fhd ‘eight cheetahs’. In the rare cases of definite nouns, the numeral has a suffixed =n: tlt-t=n ?ßlm=n ‘the 3 statues’. The word 100 is m?t (pl. m?, m?n, m?t, m?nhn; 10 Min. m?t, m?h, Hadr. m?h, Qat. m?t); 1,000 is ?lf (pl. ??lf ). When isolated, the form m?t is in the st. constr. (hms1 w=÷s2ry w=m?t ?frs1=m ‘125 horsemen’ in J 665:30-31), when forming part of higher hundreds, it is usually in the st. abs. with mimation (÷s2ry w=?rb÷ m?t=m s1by=m ‘240 captives’ in J 649:38-39). The form ?lf usually appears in the st. abs. with mimation (hms1 m?n=m w=?lf=m ?s1d=m ‘1,500 soldiers’ in J 576:15). For further details, see Stein 2003: 113–16. In most cases, hundreds and thousands are in the absolute state with mimation, so that the numeral should not be regarded as the possessed, but rather as an apposition: hms1 m?t=m w-tlt-t ??lf=m ?s1d=m ‘3,500 men’ ( J 665:2930). An opposite case (100—as well as other numbers—in the construct state) is observed in hms1 w=÷s2ry w=m?t ?frs1=m ‘125 horsemen’ ( J 665:30–31). 5.2. Ordinals The syntax of ordinals, which in most cases look like the corresponding cardinals (i.e., s2lt/-t, hms1/-t, etc.; ‘1st’ [˚dm] is an exception), is in all respects identical to that of adjectives. However, they may precede the noun they qualify (especially if it is in the absolute state); cf. tny=m/tlt=m ywm=m ‘2nd/3rd day’ versus hms1=n rb÷=n ‘the 4th district’ (C 435:3–4), hrf Wdd?l . . . s1dtn ‘the 6th year of [the eponym] Wdd?l’ (NNAG 11:11–2). 5.3. Fractions and distributives ‘Half’ is attested as f˚˙ (e.g., f˚˙=m w=tlt bl†=m q=rÎy=m ‘three and a half bl†-coins of full weight’ Gl 1361:2). Other fractions are extensively used; 9. Important observations on these numerals are to be found in Stein 2003: 102–5 (see also the summary in Nebes and Stein 2003: 469). 10. Chronological distribution of these forms is discussed in Stein 2003: 108–9.

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their pattern is ß˙f from the consonantal root of the respective cardinal: rb÷ ‘one-fourth’, s1b÷ ‘one-seventh’, etc. (note Min. s2lwt in ÷d s2lwt hgr=n ‘up to one-third of the city’ (?) in R 2774:2). In Sab. the pl. of this pattern does not differ from the singular (s2lt rb÷ ‘three-fourths’); for the plural pattern ?ß˙f in Qat., see s2ltt ?hms1=m ‘three-fifths’ in J 343A:3–4. It seems that fractions may agree both as masc. and fem.: contrast ?˙t ÷s2r ‘onetenth’ (R 4995:1) and Qat. s2ltt ?hms1=m ‘three-fifths’ above. A peculiar way of expressing fractions is the use of ?ßb÷ ‘finger’: ?ßb÷=m bn tmny ?ßb÷ ‘1 finger of 8 fingers’, i.e., ‘1/8’ (C 640:2) and yd ‘hand’: l=Ómnm s2lt mwnhn w=l=Ys2hrmlk tty ydy mwnhn ‘for Ómnm—1/3 of the waters, and for Ys2hrmlk—2/3 of the waters’ (Gl 1138:5–7). Distributives are expressed by the repetition of cardinals: Qat. ÷s2r ÷s2r hbßt=m mß?=m l=†t †t ywm=m ‘10 coins of full value for each day’ (R 3854:6–7). Note s2ltt-?q ‘for the 3rd time’ (e.g., in C 366, cf. Arab ˙ina-?iqin ‘at that time’). 6. The verb 6.1. Root Consonantal roots may be classified as “sound” and “weak.” “Sound” verbs have three permanent radicals, though a few have four (Qat. fdfd ‘to expand, improve’). Weak verbs contain w or y as one of the radicals, namely Iw/y, IIw/y and IIIw/y. Verbs In and verbs with identical second and third radicals also exhibit some special features. A few doubly weak roots are attested; e.g., ws1y ‘assign a job to someone’, wrw ‘to attack’, etc. 6.2. Themes Of course, neither *ßa˙˙afa nor *ßa˙afa themes can be distinguished in writing from the basic theme ß˙f. The existence of at least one of these themes can easily be proved by numerous semantically contrasting pairs, such as yf÷ ‘to raise up, to set up’ versus yf÷ ‘to go up, rise’, h†? ‘to commit a sin, an offense’ versus h†? ‘to pay amend for a sin’, kwn ‘to be, to exist’ versus kwn ‘to go to help’ (although, admittedly, in some of these cases vocalically expressed diathetic oppositions within the basic stem cannot be excluded; for a convenient selection of examples from various Semitic languages, see Joosten 1998: 209). Furthermore, the intensive stem can be recognized by the regular use of n-infinitives (6.6.1) as well as the behavior of the weak radicals if they form part of the root (Stein 2003: 155–56, with interesting examples of correlation between semantic and morphological features of the intensive theme as opposed to the basic one). A ß˙˙f theme is attested in Min.: ?hhr ‘to impose’ (also ?hr), ÷lly ‘to raise, to lift’, fnnw ‘to send, to credit goods’, frr÷ ‘to lift’, s1˚˚y ‘to irrigate fields’, ∫ wr ‘to wall something’, impf. ymhhr- ‘to fix a payment’ (all forms are tw quoted from Arbach 1993b: 24; note that the form mtt÷, also quoted there, is most probably a theme with the infixed -t- from mt÷, whereas [br]ry is hardly a convincing example). This theme is sometimes compared to the Arabic 2nd theme (kattaba, reconstructed also for ESA; see above); if so, the

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graphic doubling of the second radical possibly reflects its phonetic gemination, as in Arabic. On the other hand, compare the Ethiopian theme katataba (kätatäbä, the so-called “frequentative”). In any case, the scarcity of Min. examples makes it impossible to be sure of the precise nature of ß˙˙f (see discussion in Beeston 1962: 20–21). Min. has also two strange forms ttn ‘to double’ and ttb ‘to dispose’ (from the roots tny and twb respectively). Their attribution to a f-t-÷l theme (so Arbach 1993b: 25) is somewhat difficult in view of their active meaning. On ttn, see also Robin, Breton, and Ryckmans 1988: 104, where it is treated as a verbal noun rather than a finite verbal form (the comparison to Arabic ?ittina? proposed there seems hardly tenable). Note that identical forms from twb ‘to return’ are attested in Ugaritic. They are explained in Sivan 1997: 29 by an assimilation yatatibu < *yasatibu ‘he returns’, which might be a plausible solution for Min. too. The basic meaning of the h-theme (s1- in non-Sab. ESA; on h-causatives in these languages, see 1.1.3) is the causative: h-s1†r ‘to commit to writing’ – s1†r ‘to write’, h-wrd ‘to bring troops into a field’ – wrd ‘to go down; to fall upon the enemy’, Qat. s1-gzm ‘to cause to swear an oath’ – gzm ‘to swear an oath’. If a root in the basic theme denotes a state, the h-theme may have a resultative-causative meaning: h-tlf ‘to destroy’ – tlf ‘to be struck dead, to perish’, Min. s1-mlk ‘to make/proclaim king’ – Qat. mlk ‘to rule, to be king’. Two t-themes are attested, namely ß-t-˙f and t-ß˙f. Their primary significance is reflexive and passive, presumably for *ßa˙afa and *ßa˙˙afa, respectively. Reflexive: ˙-t-my ‘to protect oneself’ – ˙my ‘to protect’, ƒ-t-s1l ‘to wash oneself’, t-ßn÷ ‘to fortify oneself’ – ßn÷ ‘to fortify’, s1-t-˚y ‘to quench one’s thirst’ – s1˚y ‘to irrigate’. Passive: s2-t-r˙ ‘to be saved’ – s2r˙ ‘to deliver, to save’, t-?tm/?-t-tm ‘to be mustered’ – ?tm ‘to bring together’, s1-t-my ‘to be named’ – s1my ‘to name’. These themes often appear as medial: h-t-dm ‘to get fields cultivated’, t-s2ym ‘to appoint someone (direct object) for oneself’ – s2ym ‘to appoint’, t-s1†r/s1-t-†r ‘to write an inscription (direct object) for oneself’ – s1†r ‘to write’. Sometimes the meaning only slightly differs from that of the basic theme: s1-t-˚f ‘to build a roof [for oneself]’ – s1˚f ‘to roof’. Some t-ß˙f and ß-t-˙f forms are reciprocal and may represent a *taßa˙afa theme: t-hrg (also h-t-rg) ‘to beat one another, to fight’ – hrg ‘to kill’, t-÷ßr ‘struggle with one another’. Note that the exceptional t-s2m ‘to appoint’ in Gl 1209 = C 338:6 (< s2ym) can hardly be used as an argument for postulating a ta˚atla stem of the G´÷´z type (so Beeston 1962: 20). The original, causative-reflexive meaning of the s1t- theme is found in Min. s1t-ß÷˚ ‘to inform oneself’ – s1-ß÷˚ ‘to announce’. Much more often, however, this theme denotes seeking, asking for something: s1t-yd÷ ‘to seek oracular knowledge’ – h-yd÷ ‘to make known’, s1t-ws2÷ ‘to seek favor’ – h-ws2÷ ‘to grant favor’, s1t-ml? ‘to demand [divine] favor’ – h-ml? ‘to grant a request’. 6.3. Voice Since the active-passive distinction must have been expressed by apophonic changes, it is not reflected in writing. It is easily detected in the

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syntax, however: m˚†r s1r˚ bn m˙rm=n ‘incense-altar which was stolen from the temple’ (C 30:4–5) versus q=ys1r˚n m˙rm=hw ‘one who robs his temple’ (C 522:2), wld l=hmw bn=m qkr=m ‘a male child was born to them’ ( J 669:8–9) versus ƒlm wldt=hw Mgd?lt ‘a boy to whom Mgd?lt gave birth’ (C 19:7–8). For the causative stem, see, e.g., minusc. ÷bd q=Dwr=m q=hys1r b=÷m S1b÷m ‘a client of q = Dwrm who was sent with S1b÷m’ (RMA 6:2–3). 6.4. Tenses There are two basic types of conjugation, prefixal and suffixal, traditionally called “Imperfect” and “Perfect.” Only the 3rd person forms are found in monumental texts; some 2nd person forms are attested in minuscule documents. The 3rd person forms are presented in the table below (on Nimperfects, see 6.5). Sing. Dual Plural pf. impf. N-impf. pf. impf. N-impf. pf. impf. N-impf. masc. -º yy-...-n -ya y-...-y y-...-nn -w y-...-w y-...-nn -w y-...-wn (in Qat.) (in Qat. and Hadr.) fem. -t tt-...-n -ty t-...-y t-...-nn -n t-...-n (?) t-...-nn (-tw) (in Qat.)b a. As suggested in Stein 2003: 169–70, the masc. du. form ended in -º in archaic Sab. b. For a critical analysis of a few hypothetical fem. pl. forms in -n in Sab., see Stein 2003: 173. As pointed out by Stein (2003: 172), the regular ending of pl. fem. in the perfect was likely -y as in Dhln÷tt w=?yys2f w=[..]ys2f w=bnt=hn S2fnns1r ?lt Grhm=m ?mh Rs2yn h˚ny-y ‘Dhln÷tt and ?yys2f and [..]ys2f and their daughter S2fnns1r, female members of (the clan) Grhm=m, female clients of (the clan) Rs2yn dedicated’ (E 34:1–3).

Note that Min. wlt (MAFRAY-Darb-aß-Íabi 1:12) may suggest a vocalization (*walad-t(V)) for the 3 sg. fem. of the Perfect but this hapax may well be a scribal error. Plural and du. endings of the Perfect are extremely rare in Min., so that the respective forms most often coincide with the sg. The prefixal y- is occasionally dropped before l=: minusc. l=hßl˙nn ‘may they both put in order . . .’ (RMA 7:2–3); note l=yhßl˙nn (RMA 8:2) in a completely identical context. There is no secure attestation of 1st person verbal forms. See, however, br?-k=h ?n ‘it is myself who built it’, b˚l-k N÷mn . . . wtwb-k ?r˙b ‘I have planted [the field] N÷mn . . . and restored [the construction] ?r˙b’ in a peculiar (Sab. ?) inscription from the Wadi Shirjan ( J 2353:5–6), where a number of similar forms in -k are attested (see Robin 1996: 1217; Stein 2003: 176). A number of 2nd person verbal forms are attested in published minuscule texts: perf. s1†r-k ‘you wrote’, ÷wd-k ‘you brought’ (RMA 7:5), ÷lmkmw ‘you know’ (Stein 2004b: 331, l. 5), imperf. t-ml? ‘you pay’; with -n: t-s1tn˙r-n ‘you make a sacrifice’, t-s1t÷dd-n-n ‘you (pl.) check your calculations’.

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The Perfect denotes both immediate and historical past actions: Yhd? Ykf . . . br? . . . byt=hw ‘Yhd Ykf has built his house’ (B.Aswal 1:1), ˙lt∫ . . . b=wrh q=mlyt q=hrf Wdd?l ‘he was ill in the month q=Mlyt of the year of [the eponym] Wdd?l’ ( J 613:9–10); a durative action in the past: hws1y=hmw b=ml?t s1b÷t hryft=m ‘they gave [Fr. donnaient] them assignments during seven years’ ( J 647:26–27); seldom, a state without restriction of time: r˙˚t b?r=m qt bn=hw ys1t?bnn ‘the well from which they take water is far’ (Hakir 2 = Gr 40:2). A possible example of optative perfect is found in w=nkr=m kwn qn mßd˚=n ‘and let this document be annulled’ (Gl 1533:11–12). The Imperfect denotes actions in the future: w=yz?n hwfyn ?ßlm=m ‘and he will continue giving statues’ ( J 736:11); future in the past: w=s2ft=hmw ?lm˚h thwn k=y÷thdn brwy=hw ‘and ?lm˚˙ thwn promised them that he would protect his two sons’ ( J 716:6–7); actions without restriction of time: s1†rnhn yrmyn b?rn ‘the two inscriptions overlook the well’ ( J 539:4– 5). The Imperfect preceded by w= is widely used to describe actions in the past which are regarded as consequences of other past actions (the socalled “consecutive construction”): w=b÷ww b=lly=n ˙yrt ?˙bs2=n w=yhrgn bn ?˙bs2=n ?rb÷ m?n=m ?s1d=m ‘they attacked the camp of the Habashites on this night and killed of the Habashites 400 men’ ( J 631:29–31). In middle Sab., the Imperfect without w= sometimes denotes nonconsecutive past actions: w=l=tlt=m ywm=m ybrrn ‘and on the 3rd day [some of the tribe . . .] came into the open [to fight]’ ( J 631:28). In Qat., the indicative Imperfect is usually preceded by b=: b=ys1fd hr[f]myw ‘he will complete two years [in office]’ (R 3688:3–4). There are several occurrences of b-imperfects in Min.: b=ybnyn w=s1÷qb ßlwt=n ‘and they will build and put in order the facade’ (R 2814:4; for further examples, see Arbach 1993b: 26–27). 6.5. Moods Monumental texts yield no imperative forms (a possible exception may be t˚ß-w in t˚ß-w ÷br=m wtn=n ‘avoid surpassing the boundary stone’ in R 4088:1–2). A few sing. imperative forms (sometimes augmented with -n) may be found in minuscule documents: f=hmy hfn=k f=t÷lm-n b=hmy ‘as for these two [documents], sign them both [t÷lm-n b=hmy] as soon as they reach you’ (RMA 14:2); w=?nt f=s3hl-n ÷bd q=Dwrm ‘and you, take care about the client of q=Dwrm’ (RMA 6:2); minusc Min. w=?ntmw rÎ-n Óyw=m ‘and you (pl.), gratify Óyw’ (RyLu 3). In Sab., the Imperfect is often augmented with -n (for concrete forms see the table above). The exact distribution of N-forms and simple imperfects is still disputable. A special study dealing with this difficult problem is Nebes 1994a. 11 11. Among the 950 examples studied by Nebes, the 762 n-forms clearly predominate. As for the 187 examples of non-augmented forms, no less than 100 of them are found in contexts describing actions in the past whereas only some 30 examples of n-forms are attested with this function (the picture in the oldest Sab. bustrophedon-inscriptions is even more striking: 17 non-augmented forms in narrative contexts are opposed to only

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The prefix conjugation (alone or preceded by l= [k= in Min., l= or h= in Hadr.]) is often used as jussive-optative: w=b=qt ys3fn=hmw ?lm˚hw wld=m ‘and because of that, may ?lm˚hw grant them more children’ ( J 558:4), w=l=yz?n ?lm˚h hwfyn=hmw ‘and may ?lm˚h continue protecting them’ ( J 584:4), w=l=yr÷y twr=m ‘let the bulls be pastured’ (Gr/Óada˚an 1 = Gr 114:1). For an example of negative imperative (?l + N-impf.), see minusc. w=?l t÷yr-n ? ys1-n ‘do not do harm to this man’ (RMA 6:3). On the possibility of reconstructing two different bases of prefixal conjugation (bisyllabic indicative -CVCCVC- versus monosyllabic jussive -CCVC-), see 6.7. 6.6. Infinitives and participles 6.6.1. Infinitives The infinitive usually looks like the 3 sg. masc. of the Perfect (ß˙f, hß˙f, tßhf, etc.), with the possible exception of *ßa˙˙afa-theme, whose infinitive may be tß˙f(-t). In Sab., -n is sometimes added to this bare stem. Note that this -n is not identical to the nunation found in nominal inflection since it is compatible with pronominal enclitics, as in hwfy-n=hmw ‘to grant them’ ( J 626:13). 12 Until recently, the distribution of non-augmented and augmented forms of the infinitive has been generally considered optional but as demonstrated in Stein 2002, n-infinitives are regular for derived themes only (hß˙f-n, tß˙f-n, etc.). Moreover, when -n is added to a base without prefixes, there are reasons to believe that we are faced with an intensive rather than a basic theme. 13 Mimated infinitives are attested in Qat: bn wfr w=÷s2˚ w=s1˚˙=m w=s1÷hd=m tr∫ bt=s1 ‘. . . from cultivating, and tilling, and setting in order, and taking care of his field’ (R 3854:4–5). The infinitive may appear in the position of a direct object (hmr=hw ?lm˚h hrg lb?=n ‘?lm˚h allowed him to kill the lion’ in Ry 538:28) and with one n-form, Nebes 1994a: 203). A further domain of use of non-augmented forms is modal (jussive, precative, prohibitive), although n-forms are also attested with these functions (but not with the prohibitive particle ?l which is combined with non-augmented forms only). A comparative-historical analysis of the evidence collected by Nebes has been undertaken in Tropper 1997. For Tropper, non-augmented forms represent the Proto-Semitic preterite-jussive in -º/-u. When n-forms appear in modal (and, probably, also in narrative) contexts, they are analysed as the same preterite-jussive base with an addition of the energetic marker (-an[na]/-nin in Tropper’ reconstruction). As for the n-forms denoting presentfuture, they are thought to represent the Proto-Central Semitic imperfect in -u/ -una, again augmented with the energetic endings. Critical remarks on Tropper’ reconstruction see in Stein 2003: 166. 12. Nebes’ hypothesis according to which this marker is related to the affix -n attached to imperfect forms in Sab. (see 6.5 above) is attractive for two reasons: as rightly stressed by Nebes (1994b: 193), both markers are attested in Sab. but not in other ESA and both of them become widely used from the middle Sabaic period on. 13. Chronological and geographical restrictions applied to this rule are extensively discussed in Stein’s study. Thus, n-infinitives are not attested before the Middle Sabaic period within which the greatest regularity of their use is observed in texts from Marib and the Central Yemenite plateau.

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prepositions (often with l= to denote purpose: w=yns2? ?s1=m l=mt÷ ˚ny=hw ‘and every man rose in order to protect his property’ in R 3945:2). Much more often, however, the infinitive functions as a finite verbal form. In this case the (nominal or pronominal) subject following it seems to be in the nom.: hmr1=hmw2 ?tw3 w=s1twfy-n4 hw? 5 br˚=n6 b=wfy=m7 ‘he [the deity] granted1 them2 the coming3 and the taking place4 of that5 monsoon6 without accidents7’ (E 22:1); s1t?wl-n hw? w=?˚wl=hw ‘the return of him and his qayls’ ( J 577:15; lit., ‘the returning-he-and . . .’). The infinitive is used in the so-called “infinitive chain”—a series of homogeneous verbal predicates, in which only the first member is a finite verbal form. The remaining verbs are in the infinitive, with or without -n (the last member of the infinitive chain usually has -n). Examples: tnhyt w=tnqr-n l=?lh=h ‘she confessed and did penance to her god’ (R 3957:2–4), w=y˚m÷w w=hb÷l-n hgrnhn ‘and they overthrew and seized the two cities’ ( J 576:8), w=tbrw w=hb÷l-n w=˚m÷ w=hs1b÷-n ‘and they destroyed, seized, overthrew and forced to capitulate’ ( J 576:4). 6.6.2. Participles The patterns of active and passive participles of the basic theme are ß˙f and mß˙f respectively: s1b?=m l=s1m R˙mnn ‘fighting for the name of [the god] Ra˙man’ (Ry 520:8), ?nhl=hw . . . w=M†r=n b=Ys1r=n mfl˚=n w=Rdm=n b=Ys1r=n m˙my=n ‘his palm groves . . . Ma†rân in Yasrân, irrigated by the sluice-ways, and Radmân in Yasrân, irrigated by the deflector-dam’ ( J 550:1; translation from Jamme 1962: 9). For a passive participle of ß˙f, see probably ?hq in [ƒn]m=m ?hq=m ‘seized booty’ (YM 349:12), s1f˙ in Hadr. qb˙=m s1f˙=m ‘ordered sacrifice’ (Chantier V, 1975: 5–6; cf. Sab. s1f˙ ‘to summon, place under the orders of’), Hadr. m÷l-t in s1b÷ b˙ht=m w=÷r˚-t=m m÷l-t=m ‘7 [votive] phalli with torn out testicles’ (Rb I/84 no. 253ae: 2–4; cf. Arab m÷l ‘to castrate’). Both active and passive participles of derived themes are poorly attested. For the causative theme, see Qat. m-s1-nkr=m bn brt=s1 ‘one moving [the object] from its place’ ( J 350:4), Min. m-s1-mt÷=m W[n˙]s1†b w=˚ny=s1w k=Wd ‘consecrating Wn˙s1†b and his property to Wadd’ (R 3602:6–7). The form mtr˙m in R˙mn=n mtr˙m=n ‘the Merciful Ra˙man’ (F 74:3), can be treated as a participle of the t-theme, but seems to be a Hebrew or Aramaic loan. 6.7. Verbal forms from weak roots In the Imperfect of the basic theme from Iw roots, the first radical is dropped: yhb < whb ‘to give’, yrd < wrd ‘to go down’, etc. In corresponding forms from y-roots, the first radical may be preserved (yyf÷ < yf÷ ‘to go up’). As for the derived themes, in which we deal with contraction rather than with simple deletion, forms with and without w are attested indiscriminately, forms preserving w being far more frequent: hwfy/hfy ‘to grant’, hwt˚/ht˚ ‘to guarantee’, etc. In verbal forms from IIw/y roots, the weak radical may be preserved or may be dropped. The distribution of these forms is still under review. Those with w/y dropped are more common: gz ‘to flow, pass’ (contrast Sg. 3 f. gwzt); h-˚˙ (also h-˚w˙) ‘to finish off’; t-˚wm ‘to rise with a claim’,

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t-s2m ‘to appoint’ (the root s2ym); s1t-÷n ‘to seek help’ (the root ÷wn). Non-contracted forms occur in the Imperfect of the basic theme (ykwn ‘to be’, ymwt ‘to die’), but not in the causative theme (see, however, Min. y-s1-˙wr ‘to ordain’). For an Imperfect of the theme with -t infixed, see, e.g., Min. y-h-t-yr ‘he authorizes’ (< hyr, with -y- preserved). Weak consonants are usually preserved in verbal forms from IIIw/y roots: perf. ?tw (pl. masc. ?tww) ‘to come’, ˚ny (f. ˚nyt, pl. masc. ˚nyw) ‘to acquire’; impf. y?tw, y˚ny; h-theme: perf. h-?tw, imperf. y-h-?tw ‘to bring’, perf. h-˚ny, impf. y-h-˚ny ‘to dedicate’. Forms with the last radical dropped are relatively rare: see y?t (beside y?tw), hrÎ (beside hrÎw) ‘to satisfy’, hgd ‘to make a grant of land’ < gdy (cf. gdyt ‘grant of land’). A few doubly weak roots are attested: ws1y ‘assign a job to someone’, ˙yw ‘to live’, etc. Variation in the spelling of forms having weak roots led some scholars to think that two bases of prefixal conjugation existed (a bisyllabic indicative -CVCCVC- versus a monosyllabic jussive -CCVC-), i.e., to reconstruct for ESA a picture similar to that observed in Akkadian, Ethiopic, and Modern South Arabian (see discussion in Bauer 1966: 78–82.). Alleged bisyllabic bases from Iw/y, IIw/y, In and II=III roots can only be written plene (i.e., fully) since no contraction/assimilation can occur if the second radical is geminated (as in Akkadian iparras or Geez y´nagg´r) or a long vowel stands between the second and the third radicals (as in Mehri y´tub´r). As was convincingly shown by N. Nebes (Nebes 1994b: 66–8, 70–4), defective writing in the prefixal conjugation of the above-mentioned verbal classes is quite common in contexts requiring both “indicative” and “jussive,” so that reconstruction of a bisyllabic base for the prefixal conjugation is unlikely. This conclusion, derived primarily from Sab. data, was applied by Nebes also to Min. and Qat, while Hadr. data are not informative in this regard. 7. Adverbs and other parts of speech Nouns used as adverbs (presumably in the acc. with =m) are discussed in 2.3.1. Non-derived adverbs are very rare (probably tmt ‘there’). The following is a list of the most common prepositions: l= ‘for, to, until’ (corresponds to k= in Min., h= in Hadr.), b= ‘in (local, temporal), by, with’, bn ‘from’, byn ‘between’, ÷m ‘(together) with’, ÷ly ‘on, above’, ˙(n)g ‘according to’, ÷d(y) ‘until, in’, ÷br ‘towards’. Compound prepositions (mostly with b= and bn) are widespread, e.g., b=÷ly ‘above’, bn=÷m ‘from’, etc. In Sab. -n is often added to some prepositions causing no discernible shift in meaning: ÷m-n, ˙(n)g-n, ÷br-n, etc. Forms in -w in Qat. generally correspond to those in -y in Sab., thus ÷l-w, ÷d-w. Some enclitic particles are attested (mostly in Qat.): -mw (-m), Min., Qat. -?y. Though in most cases their exact function remains obscure, some examples of evident semantic contrast between forms with and without enclitics may be quoted: b-mw hwt wrh=n ‘in that very month’ (in J 653:13–14 versus b=hwt wrhn ‘in that month’ in J 627:8). A detailed analysis of this problem may be found in Nebes 1991.

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Postscript This essay is a substantially revised version of the authors’ article “Sayhadic (Epigraphic South Arabian)” published in The Semitic Languages (ed. R. Hetzron), London, Routledge, 1997. The first version of this essay, submitted to the editor in 1999, mainly relied on Beeston’s Descriptive Grammar and Sabaic Grammar, the standard reference tools in that time. Since 2000, a considerable amount of new publications dealing with ESA grammar have appeared, first and foremost a fundamental grammar of Sabaic by Peter Stein. These recent studies have been widely used at the latter stages of preparation of this essay even if a truly comprehensive analysis of them was impossible due to imitations of time and space.

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Nebes, Norbert 1991 Die enklitischen Partikeln des Altsüdarabischen. Pp. 133–51 in Études sudarabes: Recueil offert à Jacques Ryckmans, ed. Ch. Robin. Publications de l’Institute Orientaliste de Louvain 39. Louvain-la-Neuve. 1994a Verwendung und Funktion der Präfixkonjugation im Sabäischen. Pp. 191–211 in Arabia Felix. Beiträge zur Sprache und Kultur des vorislamischen Arabien: Festschrift Walter W. Müller zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Norbert Nebes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1994b Zur Form der Imperfektbasis des unvermehrten Grundstammes im Altsüdarabischen. Pp. 59–80 in Semitische Studien unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Südsemitistik. Vol. 1 of Festschrift Ewald Wagner zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. W. Heinrichs and G. Schöler. Beiruter Texte und Studien 54. Beirut: Franz Steiner. Nebes, Norbert, ed. 1994a Arabia Felix. Beiträge zur Sprache und Kultur des vorislamischen Arabien: Festschrift Walter W. Müller zum 60. Geburtstag. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Nebes, Norbert, and Peter Stein 2003 Ancient South Arabian. Pp. 454–87 in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages, ed. R. D. Woodard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pirenne, Jacqueline 1990 Fouilles de Shabwa I: Les témoins écrits de la région de Shabwa et l’histoire. Bibliothèque Archéologique et historique 34. Paris: Paul Geuther. Ricks, Stephen D. 1989 Lexicon of Inscriptional Qatabanian. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Instutite. Robin, Christian J. 1992 Les documents. Fasc. A of Inabba?, Haram, al-Kafir, Kamna et al-Óarashif. Vol. 1 of Inventaire des Inscriptions Sudarabiques. Paris-Rome, 1992. 1996 Sheba dans les inscriptions d’Arabie du Sud. Pp. 1047–1254 in Supplément au dictionnaire de la Bible. Paris: Letouzey & Ané. Robin, Christian J., François Breton, and Jacques Ryckmans 1988 Le sanctuaire minéen de NKRÓ à Darb-aß-Íabi (environs de Baraqis). Rapport préliminaire (seconde partie). Raydan 5: 91–158. Ryckmans, Jacques 1975 First Evidence on a Form of the First Person. Proceedings of the Seminar of Arabian Studies 5: 61–4. 1993 Les deux bâtonnets sud-arabes déchiffrés par Mahmoud Ghul. Pp. 41– 48 in Studies in Oriental Culture and History: Festschrift for Walter Dostal, ed. A. Gingrich et al. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Ryckmans, Jacques, and Avraam G. Lundin 1997 Un pétiole de palme inscrit en minéen. Pp. 171–81 in Südarabien, ed. R. G. Stiegner. Graz: Leykam. Ryckmans, Jacques, Walter W. Müller, and Yusuf ‘Abdallah 1994 Textes du Yémen Antique inscrits sur bois. Publications de l’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain 43. Louvain-la-Neuve: Université catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste.

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Sima, Alexander 2000 Tiere, Pflanzen, Steine und Metalle in den altsüdarabischen Inschriften. Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz 46. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Sivan, Daniel 1997 A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language. Leiden: Brill. Stein, Peter 2002a Gibt es Kasus im Sabäischen? Pp. 201–22 in Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik, ed. Norbert Nebes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 2002b Zur Morphologie des Sabäischen Infinitivs. Orientalia 71: 393–414. 2003 Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel 3. Rahden: Marie Leidor. 2004a Zur Dialektgeographie des Sabäischen. Journal of Semitic Studies 49: 225–45. 2004b A Sabaic Proverb: The Sabaic minuscule inscription Mon.script.sab. 129. Pp. 331–41 in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 34. Oxford: Archeopress. Tropper, Josef 1997 Subvarianten und Funktionen der sabäischen Präfixkonjugation. Orientalia 66: 34–57. Wagner, Esther-Miriam 2002 Zahl und Gezähltes im Sabäischen. Pp. 259–79 in Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik, ed. Norbert Nebes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Sigla of the Documents Cited (not included in the list of sigla in Beeston et al. 1982; Ricks 1989; and Arbach 1993a) ‘Abdallah = ‘Abdallah 1996 Bron/BM = Bron, François 1987 Bron/MB = Bron, François 1988 Chantier V/1975 = Pirenne 1990: 76 CT = Caton Thompson 1944 Garbini = Garbini 1978 Ghul A = Beeston 1989; Ryckmans 1993 Gr = Bauer and Lundin 1998 Ingrams 1 = Pirenne 1990: 91–93 Rb = Frantsouzoff 1995 RMA = Ryckmans, Müller, and ‘Abdallah 1994 RyLu = Ryckmans and Lundin 1997 SOYCE = Bauer 1995

Chapter 10

Classical Ethiopic (Geºez) Rainer Voigt Freie Universität Berlin

1. The people and their language Classical Ethiopic (or g@¿@z(@) ‘Geºez’, hereafter G.) emerged as the language of South Arabian immigrants (among them many Sabaeans) and their semitized Cushitic co-denizens in present-day Ethiopia and Erythraea (Eritrea). It was the language of the inhabitants of the Aksumite Empire which flourished in the 1st millenium a.d. Their country was called b@Óeerä ‡?ag¿a:zi: ‘land of the free (Agºazi)’. This language with its different dialects became the ancestor of all modern Ethio-Semitic languages, i.e., Tigre [t@gre] and Tigrinya [t@gr@ñña] (or Tigray) in the North as direct successor languages and Amharic, Argobba, Gurage, and others in the South. 2. Phonology and transliteration 2.1. Consonant system The phonological system of consonants is characterized by a triadic organization (voiceless, voiceless “emphatic,” and voiced). The “emphatic” consonants are glottalized as are their proto-Semitic cognates. The velarization or pharyngealization of these sounds in Arabic is the result of a later development. All consonants of one series are realized at the same place of articulation. In the following scheme three occlusive columns are in opposition to one fricative column. From a historical point of view, some voiceless occlusives have become fricatives in the prehistory of Old Ethiopic; the shift of these fricatives from proto-Semitic occulsives is marked with ∞.

labial dental alveolar lateral velar labiovelar pharyngeal glottal

fricative voiceless f s ¶ [¬] h hw Ó h

voiceless p t ∞[*ts] ∞ [*t¬] k kw ∞[?] -

occlusive glottalized p˘ [p’] † [t’] ß [ts’] ß 2 (Î) [t¬’] ˚ (q) [k’] ˚w (qw) [k’w] ?

voiced b d z g gw ¿ -

Author’s Note: I am grateful to Dr. Bogdan Burtea and Dr. Wilfried Günther, for comments on a previous version of the paper.

- 193 -

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The remaining consonants outside of this array are the nasals m, n, the liquids l, r, and the semivowels w, y. The traditional pronunciation of G. reflects in many cases the current Amharic pronunciation. In Amharic (and G.) pronunciation no difference is made between ¶ [s] and s; ß 2 [ß] and ß; h [h], Ó [h], and h; ¿ and ? (both unrealized). The orthography of medieval G. texts can reflect this weakening process. As to consonant lengthening which is not expressed in the script, the traditional pronunciation does not coincide with the current Amharic usage. There are cases of consonant lengthening that are strange with respect to Neo-Ethiopic and other Semitic languages, such as the lengthening of the first consonant in the 2nd m. pl. pronominal suffix kk@muu which is transcribed by most scholars as -k@mmu. This kind of secondary consonant lengthening will be represented as in ß@geekk@muu ‘your flower’. The spirantization of a non-lengthened b after a vowel and sometimes also after a consonant (as in Ó@zb [h@zı] ‘people’) will not be noted in the transcription. However, a difference is made between a morphological consonant lengthening (C: as in yäÓat:@t ‘he investigates’) in opposition to a sequence of identical consonants (CC as in yäÓatt=äkkä ‘he investigates thou (m.)’) which is often the result of an assimilation (as in f. ?aÓattii < *?aÓad-tii ‘one’). CC is the unmarked representation of a long consonant. 2.2. Vowel system It has been maintained that the Proto-Semitic opposition between short and long vowels has been transformed to the opposition between centralized and short vowels (see Voigt 1983) resulting in a development /long/ > /short/ > /centralized/. Contrary to this view I consider the etymologically long vowels as still being long whereas the short vowels have been centralized. In this sketch, for the first time the open central vowel which is traditionally transcribed as a (versus ä) or a (versus a) is split into a /ä/, as a result of the “laryngeal” rule L1 (see 2.5.), aa, as the unmarked representation of a long vowel and as a result of the “laryngeal” rule L2, and a:, as a morphologically lengthened vowel. Note the opposition between a (in ham@stuu ‘five’), a: (a morphologically lengthened vowel as in ha:m@st=uu ‘his fifth (f.)’ and y@ba:r@k ‘he shall bless’), and aa (in kämaa=haa ‘like her’). The three vowels a, aa, and a: which are distinguished at a morphological level are realized as a long vowel [a:]. In the same way, the vowels u: and i: are distinguished from uu and ii respectively. The morphological opposition between C: and CC has already been mentioned (2.1).

close

open

front ii, i: ee

ª

central @ [ˆ] ä [@] º a aa, a:

ª

back uu, u: oo

Classical Ethiopic (Geºez)

195

The opposition between centralized ä versus long aa (and a:) has been so far represented in the literature by a versus a (i.e., short versus long) or ä versus a (i.e., centralized versus short). The double arrow marks the morphological relationship between the vowels (see 2.6.). A special interrelation takes place between @ and ä (2.5.). In the traditional pronunciation the long vowels ee and oo tend to palatalize or labialize the preceding consonant: [yee, woo]. An auxiliary vowel [@] so far not recognized in the literature is introduced here in order to indicate a non-phonemic vowel realized according to the traditional pronunciation (as in mäß@Óaf@ ‘book’). In connection with a lost laryngeal the combination [aa´] (in IPA transcription [aaˆ]) is sometimes realized as [aay] with the shwa loosing its syllabicity, as in sämaa¿@kuu [sämaaykuu] ‘I heard’. 2.3. Syllable types The following three traditional Semitic syllable types can be recognized in one formula .CV(V/C). (periods denote boundaries of syllable in question): a. .CV.: .˚ä.tä.lä. ‘he killed’, [email protected]ä.suu ‘dress yourselves!’, .w@[email protected] ‘he’; b. .CVV. (and .CV:.): .wa:.r@s@ ‘heir’, [email protected]:.we:. ‘existence’, .ba:.räkä ‘he blessed’; c. .CVC.: .mäm.h@r@ ‘teacher’, .?am.la:k@ ‘God’. d. The double closed syllable, .CVVC. (and .CV:C.), is restricted to some morphological cases, as: 1. imperfect forms: [email protected]:r.:@k ‘he blesses’ (03), [email protected]ß.:@m ‘he completes’ (02), .yaas.tänäg:@r ‘he lets speak to one another’ (Ast1); 2. verbal forms of roots II w/y: .noom.kä ‘you (m.) slept’, .˚uum. ‘stand, rise!’; 3. as the result of a ‘laryngeal’ rule: .maah.räkä ‘he loots’, .?aah.guur@ ‘towns’; 4. e.g., in [email protected] ‘they’, [email protected] ‘these (m.)’. e. The syllable type (e) .CVCC. is marginal: .?ant.t@muu ‘you (m. pl.)’. In contrast to previous descriptions and the Amharic style of reading G. words, traditionally transcribed nouns as “bet” and “l@bs” are not given as monosyllabic words .beet. and .l@bs. In this description, the nouns traditionally considered as ending in a consonant bear the final inflectional vowel, i.e., nom.(/“gen.”) -@ (.bee.t@. ‘house’, [email protected]@. ‘clothes’) and acc. -ä (i.e., .bee.tä., [email protected]ä.). The final vowel -@ is assumed on the basis of the traditional reading and singing of the monks (contradictory to the traditional pronunciation) and the consistent appearance of this vowel in forms with personal suffixes (beet@=kä ‘your house’, l@bs@=kä ‘your clothes’). The inflectional vowels -@ and -ä are stressed. 2.4. Junctures The following junctures are used in the transcription: ‚, i.e., the strongest juncture between obligatory prefixes and suffixes and the kernel morpheme, as in y‚@beel‚uu ‘they (m.) said’, ?aw¶@?‚a ‘he answered’. Instead of ‚º (i.e., an obligatory zero suffix) I sometimes write

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‚,

and instead of ‚º= (i.e., a zero suffix plus a facultative suffix) = is sometimes used. If two vowels have merged into one long vowel both junctures should be given, e.g., sg. 3rd m. person suffix to nouns in the accusative, beet‚=oo which goes back to *beet‚ä=huu ‘his house’ (acc.). =, i.e., the juncture for (facultative) object and possessive suffixes, as in (y‚@beel‚º=a or) y‚@beel=a ‘he said to her’ (acc.), beet‚ä=kä ‘your (m. sg.) house’. -, i.e., the weak juncture which connects the proclitic and enclitic elements to the more central morpheme, as in zä-?‚@beel‚ä=kk@muu ‘of whom I have spoken to you’, wä-m@dr‚@-ssä ‘as to the earth’. Sometimes ‘-’ serves as an unspecified hyphen. ‡ , i.e., a juncture compounding nouns in a genitival function, e.g., beet‚ä ‡ n´gu:¶‚´ ‘house of the king’. #, i.e., word juncture.

2.5. Laryngeal rules The “laryngeals” (L = h, Ó, h; ?, ¿ ) trigger some phonological processes in connection with the two (centralized) vowels ä and @. The result of these processes is expressed in the orthography. In the traditional pronunciation, h, Ó, and h are realized as [h], and ?, ¿ as º, in some cases accompanied by an auxiliary vowel [´] which ultimately yields [y]. Consider the following rules: L0: The reduction of a lengthened laryngeal (LL and L: > L) may serve as the initial rule on which the following rules are based. L1: ä/L___ > a, e.g., *?äbt@r‚@ > ?abt@r‚@ ‘sticks’, *säÓä˚‚ät > säÓa˚‚ät ‘she laughed’ (in early manuscripts La is written later also ), L2: ä/___L > aa, e.g., *y‚@mßä?‚ > y‚@mßaa?‚ ‘may he come’, *mä?käl‚ä > *maa?@käl‚ä [maaykälä]‘among’, L3: @/___Lä > ä, e.g., *m@Óär‚ > mäÓar‚ ‘have (m.) mercy!’, *y‚@¿a˚:@b‚ > y‚ä¿a˚:@b‚ ‘he guards’, L4: ä/___LV[≠a] > @, e.g., *räÓib‚@ > r@Óib‚@ ‘wide’, *rä?@y‚ä > r@?@y‚ä ‘he saw’. L1 and L2 lead to an opening of the vowel ä before and after a laryngeal. In L3 and L4 the phonological opposition between the two centralized vowels @ and ä is reduced through a kind of vowel assimilation. The vowel before the laryngeal is partly assimilated to the vowel afterwards. 2.6. Shortening rules The long vowels *u: and *i: are shortened to @ in a closed syllable, e.g., *lahi:˚‚u/i > *lahi:˚‚@ > l@hi:˚‚@, f. *lahi:˚‚tu/i > *lahi:˚‚t@ > l@h@˚‚t@ ‘old, senior’, ˚@d:u:s‚@, f. *˚@d:u:s‚t@ > ˚@d:@s‚t@ ‘holy’. The related shortening of a:/___C.C > ä is much rarer, e.g., ¶älla:s@, m. *¶äla:stuu > ¶älästuu ‘three’. 3. Nominal morphology 3.1. Personal pronouns The personal pronouns of the third persons are derived from a base m. w@?@-, f. y@?@-, pl. ?@m- which correspond etymologically to Hebr. hû?, hî?, he≥m, and Arab. huw-a, hiy-a, hum(uu) (see table on p. 197).

Classical Ethiopic (Geºez)

3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1

sg. w@?@tuu, (acc.) w@?@tä y@?@tii, (acc.) y@?@tä ?antä ?antii ?anä

197

pl. ?@muuntuu, w@?@toomuu ?@maantuu, w@?@toon ?antt@muu ◊ ?an(t)t@n √ (?a)nn@Ó(@)nä ∫

The possessive suffixes are given here with nouns ending in a consonant (nom. beet‚@=, acc. beet‚ä= ‘house’) as well as in a vowel (nom./acc. ß@gee= which stands for ß@gee‚º= ‘flower’):

sg. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1 pl. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1

C‚/= nom. beet‚=uu (< *beet‚@=huu) beet‚=aa (< *beet‚@=haa) beet‚@=kä beet‚@=kii beet‚@=yä beet‚=oomuu beet‚=oon beet‚@=kk@muu beet‚@=(k)k@n beet‚@=nä

acc. beet‚=oo (< *beet‚ä=huu) beet‚=aa (< *beet‚ä=haa) beet‚ä=kä beet‚ä=kii beet=@=yä beet‚=oomuu beet‚=oon beet‚ä=kk@muu beet‚ä=(k)k@n beet‚ä=nä

V= nom./acc. ß@gee=huu ß@gee=haa ß@gee=kä ß@gee=kii ß@gee=yä ß@gee=hoomuu ß@gee=hoon ß@gee=kk@muu ß@gee=(k)k@n ß@gee=nä

The forms with =h are the original ones. Note the rules *h/V___V > º and *äuu > oo, *äaa > aa, *äoo > oo. With the 1st sg. suffix no difference is made between nominative and accusative. Nouns terminating in -i: (acc. -ee) sometimes do not show the accusative ending, e.g., (nom./acc.) fä†a:ri:=nä ‘our creator’. The plural suffixes (‚aan, ‚aat) and the dental ending of broken plurals (. . .‚t) become ‚aanii=, ‚aatii= and . . .‚tii= respectively when personal suffixes are added. Verbal object suffixes show a different (nasal) form in the 1st sg. (e.g., nägär‚ä=nnii ‘he spoke to me’) and some other peculiarities; see §4.8. 3.2. Demonstratives and relatives The demonstrative pronouns are sg. m. z@, f. zaa, pl. m. ?@lluu, f. ?@llaa. These forms can be expanded by the deictic elements -ntuu, f. -ttii (< *-ntii). The remote demonstratives are based on the demonstratives sg. m. z@, f. *?@nt@, pl. *?@ll@ to which the deictic elements -k(k)uu, -k(w)tuu, or -ktii are added (see table on p. 198). The relative pronouns are sg. m. zä-, f. ?@ntä-, pl. ?@llä-; e.g., zä-mäß?‚a, pl. ?´llä-mäß?uu ‘who came’. The possessive adjectives are formed on the basis of the demonstrative adjectives m. zii?a=, f. ?@ntii?a=, pl. ?@llii?a=, to which the suffixed personal pronouns are attached; e.g., zii?a=yä ‘mine’, ?@llii?a=haa ‘those belonging to her’.

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sg. m. z@, (acc.) zä f. zaa

pl. m. ?@lluu f.

?@llaa

‘this, these’ z@ntuu, (acc.) zäntä zaattii, (acc.) zaattä ?@lloontuu, (acc.) ?@lloontä ?@llaantuu, (acc.) ?@llaantä

z@kkuu, (acc.) z@kkwä ?@nt@kkuu, (acc.) ?@nt@kkwä, ?@ntäkkuu ?@ll@kuu ?@ll@kuu

‘that, those’ z@k(w)tuu, (acc.) z@k(w)tä ?@ntaaktii

?@ll@k(w)tuu, (acc.) ?@ll@k(w)tä ?@llaaktuu

3.3. Nominal inflection G. has two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), two cases (nominative/“genitive” and accusative), and two statuses (status absolutus and status constructus). With regard to the lack of a distinct grammatical category genitive, the designation “nom./gen.” appears to be unfortunate although historically the genitive (*-i) merged with the nominative (*-u). Instead of the more correct “non-accusative” here the traditional name “nominative” will be used. The st. constr. form is characterized by an element ‚ä that links the nomen regens with the following dependent noun in the st. abs., as in (nom./acc.) beet‚ä ‡n@gu:¶‚@ ‘the house of the king’. The maximal array of forms appears in the inflection of adjectives. nom. st. abs. sg. m. ˚@d:u:s‚@ ‘holy’ f. ˚@d:@s‚t@ m. ˚@d:u:s‚aan@ f. ˚@d:u:s‚aat@

st. constr. ‚ä ‚tä ‚aanä ‚aatä

acc. st. abs. = nom. = nom. = nom. = nom.

st. constr. = nom. = nom. = nom. = nom.

It is evident that the plural endings m. ‚aan@, f. ‚aat@ are added to the basic form ˚@d:u:s‚. As to ˚@d:@s‚t@ (< *˚@d:u:s‚t@), note the shortening of the vowel *u: (> @) in a closed syllable. Another example for the shortening of a long vowel is ?@k:u:y‚@, f. (*?@k:u:y‚t@ > ?@k:@y‚t@ >) ?@k:ii‚t@ ‘bad’. The existence of the final inflectional vowel is proven by the traditional pronunciation as well as by the existence of forms such as ˚@d:u:s@ and ?@k:u:y‚@ since, without final vowel, such forms should have been reduced to *˚@d:@s and *?@k:ii. A slightly different paradigm pertains to adjectives that terminate in –i: (here a nomen agentis form with mä- prefix). nom. st. abs. sg. m. mäf˚äri: ‘lover’ f. mäf˚äri:‚t@ pl. m. mäf˚är@y‚aan@ (*i: > @y) f. mäf˚är@y‚aat@ spread is 12 points long

st. constr. mäf˚äree mäf˚äri:‚tä ‚aanä ‚aatä

acc. st. abs. = nom. = nom. = nom. = nom.

st. constr. = nom. = nom. = nom. = nom.

Classical Ethiopic (Geºez)

199

Some adjectives show an internal feminine formation as well as a broken plural. The consonantal length may be missing (according to the traditional pronunciation) in the m. sg.; e.g., ¿abi:y‚@, f. ¿ab:a:y‚@, pl. ¿ab:äyt‚@ ‘great’. nom. st. abs. sg. m. Óad:i:s‚@ ‘new’ f. Óad:a:s‚@ pl. m. Óad:äs‚t@, Óad:i:s‚aan@ f. Óad:äs‚t@, Óad:i:s‚aat@, Óad:a:s‚aat@

st. constr. ‚ä ‚ä ‚tä, ‚aanä ‚tä, ‚aatä, ‚aatä

acc. st. abs. = nom. = nom. = nom. = nom.

st. constr. = nom. = nom. = nom. = nom.

In the inflection of substantives the paradigm appears to be restricted. A noun that terminates in a consonant takes the inflectional endings nom. ‚@, acc. ‚ä. Nouns terminating in -aa, -ee, -oo do not add any case-indicating vowels in nom. or acc. But nouns with final -i: and -ii do exhibit this difference. One has to distinguish between an original -i:, acc. –ee (< *-i:ä) and an -ii that is the result of a vowel contraction (< *-@y‚@, acc. -@y‚ä). The plural of substantives is formed either by the plural affix ‚aat@ (with the phonetically conditioned variants ‚t@ and ‚yaat@) or by internal ablaut (plus prefixation of ?a- or the suffixation of ‚t@; see 3.5.). A (rare) final -oo‚ can be decomposed into -äw‚ (gäboo‚, pl. gäbäw‚aat@ ‘side’). A final -aa fuses with the long vowel of the plural affix: dämänaa‚, pl. dämän‚aat@ or dämänaa‚t@ ‘cloud’. A final -ee is either retained (ß@gee‚, pl. ß@gee‚yaat@ ‘flower’) or decomposed into -@y (m@s:a:lee‚, pl. m@s:a:l@y‚aat@ ‘proverb’) although one would expect *-äy. nom. st. abs. sg. beet‚@ (< *bäyt‚@) ‘house’ ˚aal‚@ ‘voice’ b@?@si:‚ ‘man’ baaÓrii‚, () ¿@ß‚@, pl. ¿@ßäw‚@ ‘wood’;

Classical Ethiopic (Geºez)

201

1ä2ä3‚@, pl. of 1ä23‚@, e.g., (*?abw‚@ >) ?ab‚@, pl. ?abäw‚@ ‘father’; 1ä2ä3‚t@, pl. of the basic stem part. 1ä2a:3i:‚ (and 1ä2i:3‚@); e.g., ßäÓa:fi:‚, pl. ßäÓaf‚t@ ‘writer, scribe’; (*näga:¶i: ‚ replaced by) n@gu:¶‚@, pl. näg䶂t@ ‘king’; ?a12a:3‚@, pl. of the basic nouns 1ä23‚@, 1@23‚@ and 1ä2ä3‚@; e.g., ¿amd‚@, pl. ?aa¿@ma:d‚@ ‘column’; beet‚@, pl. ?abya:t‚@ ‘house’; ß 2ärr‚@, pl. ?aßra:r‚@ ‘enemy’; l@bs‚@, pl. ?alba:s‚@ ‘clothes’; färäs‚@, pl. ?afra:s‚@ ‘horse’; biradical nouns may add a formant -t: see s@m‚@, ?asma:t‚@ ‘name’ (the form seems to be understood as ?asm‚aat@); ?a1a:2@3‚(t)@, pl. of an unattested pl. with initial ?a-; e.g., bäg¿‚@ (trad. pron. bägg@¿), pl. ?aba:g@¿‚@ ‘sheep’; wälät‚t@ (< *wäläd‚t@, pl. of *wäli:d‚@), pl. ?awa:l@d‚d@ (< *?awa:l@d‚t@) ‘daughter’; ?a12u:3‚@, e.g., hagär‚@, pl. ?aahgu:r‚@ ‘town’; ?adg‚@, pl. ?aa?@du:g‚@ ‘donkey’; ?a12@3‚(t)@, e.g., ˚wäßl‚@, pl. ?a˚wß@l‚@ ‘leaf’; r@?@s‚@, pl. ?ar@?@s‚t@ ‘head’; lahm‚@, pl. ?alh@m‚t@ ‘cow’. All quadriradical nouns including those with a prefixed m- or t- form their plural according to the 1ä2a:3@4‚(t)@ pattern: d@ng@l‚@, pl. däna:g@l‚@ ‘virgin’, mäkwänn@n‚@, pl. mäkwa:n@n‚t@ ‘ruler, governor’; (*mäw¿al‚t@ >) moo¿al‚t@, mä¿al‚t@, pl. mäwa:¿@l‚t@ ‘day’; (*mäskäw‚t@ >) mäskoo‚t@, pl. mäsa:k@w‚@ ‘window’. In ˚äsi:s‚@, pl. ˚äsa:w@s‚t@ ‘priest’ the quadriradical basic form *˚äsiys‚ has been considered by the speaker of the language as going back to *˚äsiws‚ which is, however, historically not the case. The same explanation applies to (*buÓaiwir > *b@Óayr‚@ >) b@Óeer‚@, pl. bäÓa:w@r‚t@ ‘land’. 3.6. Numerals The masculine form of all cardinal numbers shows (except ?aÓad‚uu ‘one’) an ending ‚tuu (or –ätuu), whereas the feminine is characterized by the lack of this ending or by an element ‚tii or ‚uu. There are further differences between m. and f. The final vowels -uu and -ii become -ä in the acc. The ordinal numbers are based on the same roots, but show the pattern m. 1a:2@3‚@ (acc. ‚ä), f. 1a:2@3‚t@ (acc. ‚tä): e.g., ha:m@s‚@, f. ha:m@s‚t@ ‘fifth’; but ˚äda:mi:‚, f. ˚äda:mi:‚t@ ‘first’. m. 1 ?aÓaduu, (acc.) ?aÓadä 2 k@l@?ee(tuu) 3 ¶älästuu 4 ?arbaa¿@tuu 5 ham@stuu 6 s@d@stuu 7 säb¿atuu, säbaa¿tuu 8 säma:n(i:)tuu, sämäntuu 9 t@s¿atuu, täs¿atuu 10 ¿a¶ärtuu

f. ?aÓattii (< *?aÓad-tii), (acc.) ?aÓattä k@l@?ee(tii) ¶älla:s@ ?arbaa¿@ hams@ s@ssuu (< *s@dsuu) säb¿uu säma:ni:

20–100

¿@¶raa ¶älla:saa ?arb@¿aa hamsaa s@ssaa säb¿aa säma:nyaa

t@s¿uu, täs¿uu ¿a¶ruu

t@s¿aa, täs¿aa m@?@t@, (acc.) m@?@tä

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3.7. Prepositions and conjunctions The only prepositions that are written together with the following nouns are: lä- ‘to’, bä- ‘in’, and ?@m- (a shortened form of ?@m@nnä ‡) ‘from’. Bätakes the form b@= or bä= before personal suffixes (b@=kä ‘in you(m.)’, but *bä=huu > boo(-ttu) ‘in him’). In this respect lä- is more regular (lä=kä ‘(to) you (m.)’ and loo-ttuu ‘(to) him’)—except lii-tä ‘(to) me’ (cf. b@=yä ‘in me’). Before suffixes ?@m- is replaced by ?@m@nnee=. Most prepositions are nouns (or were once nouns) standing in the acc. and st. constr. with ‚ä ‡. This ‚ä changes to ‚ee before a personal suffix; e.g., ˚@dm‚ä ‡yoom‚´ ‘before today’, ˚@dm‚ee=yä ‘before me’. The preposition w@st‚ä ‡ ‘in’ shows the prepronominal form w@st‚eet=, e.g., w@st‚eet=uu ‘in him/it’. Kämä ‡ (kämä ‡z@ ‘like this, in the same way’) has the form kämaa‚ before suffix, e.g., kämaa‚huu ‘like him/it’. Prepositions are often combined with each other, e.g., ?@m-˚@dm‚ee=hoomuu ‘(from) before them’, bäw@st‚ä ‡ ‘(with)in . . .’. The most common conjunctions are: wä- ‘and’, ?@smä ‘because, since’, (bä-)kämä ‘that, in order that’, ?@nzä ‘while, when’, and ?@m(ä) ‘if’. 4. Verbal morphology 4.1. Verbal roots The great majority of verbal roots contain three radicals. The most regular type is with three strong consonants, such as ÷sbr ‘to break’, ÷˚tl ‘to kill’, which are often used as sample verbs in grammars. Here 123 will serve as the abstract sample verbal root with three radicals. If one of the three radicals is a semi-vowel (w, y) or a laryngeal (L), it triggers some sound changes; these verbs require further comment. The respective root classes are: • ÷L23, ÷1L3, ÷12L, i.e., roots with a laryngeal as first, second, or third radical. Here the laryngeal rules (L0, 1–4) apply. ÷L23, e.g., y‚ä?am:@n‚ (< *y‚@?äm:@n‚) ‘he believes’ (L2, 3), ÷1L3, e.g., l@h@˚‚ä (< *läh@˚‚ä) ‘he grew old’ (L4), y‚@l@h@˚ ( oo (rules W1–2), @w/C___. and w@/C___ > uu (rules W3–4). ÷w23, roots of this type lose their first radical in the jussive and infinitive, e.g., t‚@läd‚ ‘may she bear (a child)’ (instead of *t‚@wläd‚), l´dät ( ee (rules Y1–2), @y/C___. and y@/C___ > ii (rules Y3–4). ÷y23: the first radical in roots of this type is, contrary to expectations, always strong. ÷1y3, i.e., a hollow root with y as second radical, e.g., ¶ee†‚ä (< *¶äy䆂ä) ‘he sold’ (Y1), y‚@¶ii†‚ (< *y‚@¶y@†‚) ‘may he sell’ (Y4). ÷12y, e.g., y‚@sät:ii‚ (< *y‚@sät:@y‚) ‘he drinks’ (Y3), but y‚@sät:@y‚uu ‘they drink’, and sätäy‚kä ‘thou (m.) drank’ with strong perfect conjugation. • Roots that share properties of different verb classes (as ÷L2y): impf. y‚ä¿ab:ii‚ < *y‚@¿äb:ii‚ < *y‚@¿äb:@y‚ ‘he is big’ (L2, 3, Y3). • ÷122: roots with identical second and third radicals are nearly regular as long as their orthographic representation is not considered: the perfect form nädd‚ä ‘he burned’ is written only with two CV characters. Forms as y‚@nädd‚uu besides the more regular y‚@nädd@d‚uu ‘they burn (intr.)’ demonstrate that the consonant lengthening of the imperfect shows already in old times a tendency to reduction. 4.2. Verb stems The verb stems are organized in a way different from that which is known from Asian Semitic languages. A verb stem is characterized through two morphological features: (a) the verbal stem prefix, e.g., zero, a-, t- or ast-, hence 0, A, T, and Ast stem respectively, and (b) the kind of internal modifications: X3 with vowel lengthening, X2 with consonant lengthening, and X1 with none of these. In the following scheme, Dillmann’s notations (as used in his 1865 Lexicon) are given in parentheses.

0 A T Ast

1 01a, b, c, d (I ,1) A1 (II, 1) T1(a, b) (III, 1) Ast1(a, b) (IV, 1)

2 02 (I, 2) A2 (II, 2) T2 (III, 2) Ast2 (IV, 2)

3 03 (I, 3) A3 (II, 3) T3 (III, 3) Ast3 (IV, 3)

The a and b etc. types of the 01, T1, and Ast1 stems differ in the vowel after the second radical in the perfect form. This difference is most important in the 01 stem where the vowel of the jussive and the imperative is also affected (see 4.3.). 01–3 are the basic stems. Only very rarely a 02 stem can be derived from 01, e.g., (01) mäsl‚ä, mäsäl‚ä ‘he resembled’—(02) mäs:äl‚ä ‘he compared’. 02 is frequently used in the formation of denominatives, as in ¶äl:äs‚ä ‘he did something for the third time; he was the third (¶a:l@s‚)’. A1–3 are causative stems belonging to the respective 01–3 stems, e.g.: (01) r@?@y‚ä ‘he saw’—(A1) ?ar@?ay‚ä ‘he showed’, (02) ¶än:äy‚ä ‘he was beautiful’—(A2) ?a¶än:äy‚ä ‘he made beautiful’.

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T1–3 are passive-reflexive stems: e.g., (01) ˚ätäl‚ä ‘he killed’—(T1) tä˚ätl‚ä ‘he was killed’, (02) fän:äw‚ä ‘he sent’—(T2) täfän:äw‚ä ‘he was sent’, (03) ba:räk‚ä ‘he blessed’—(T3) täba:räk‚ä ‘he was blessed’. In most cases T3 has a reflexive stem meaning; e.g., ?af˚är‚ä ‘he loved’—täfa:˚är‚uu ‘they loved one another’, 01 käfäl‚ä ‘he shared’—03 is missing—T3 täka:fäl‚uu ‘they shared something among themselves’. Ast1–3 are causative stems belonging to the respective reflexive stems, e.g., T1 täß 2ämd‚ä ‘he served’—Ast1 ?astäß 2mäd‚ä ‘he accustomed someone to serve’. In many cases the original relationship between stems as stated above is obscured by the semantic development and the loss of verb stems. 4.3. Aspectual categories The relevant morphological categories for expressing time, aspect, and mood are: perfect, imperfect (present), jussive, imperative, converb (gerund), active participle, and infinitive. The most important are the suffix conjugation (the “Perfect” form) and the two prefix conjugations (“Imperfect”/ present and jussive with the closely related imperative). They can (partly) be distinguished through the junctures involved: |PERF|‚, e.g., säbär‚uu ‘they broke’, ‚|IMPF|‚, e.g., y‚@säb:@r‚uu ‘they (shall) break’, y‚@säb:@r‚ ‘he breaks, he shall break’; there is only one verb y‚@bee‚ ‘he said’ with a Perfect meaning, ‚|JUSS|‚, e.g., y‚@sb@r‚uu ‘may they break’, y‚@sb@r‚ ‘may he break’, (‚)|IMPV|‚, e.g., ‚s@b@r‚uu ‘break (pl.)’, ‚s@b@r‚ ‘break (m. sg.)’: the imperative, morphologically closely related to the jussive, has the same suffixes as the jussive, but no prefixes. These four forms will be given in all major stems of the triradical verb ÷123: 1a / b / c / d (a / c) 1ä2ä3‚ / (b / d) 1ä2(ä)3‚ ‚@1ä2:@3‚ (a / d) ‚@12@3‚ / (b / c) ‚@12ä3‚ (a / d) 1@2@3‚ / (b/ c) 1@2ä3‚ A ?a12ä3‚ ‚aa1ä2:@3‚ ‚aa12@3‚ ?a12@3‚ T (a) tä1ä2ä3‚ / (b) tä1ä23‚ ‚@t1ä2:ä3‚ ‚@t1ä2ä3‚ tä1ä2ä3‚ Ast (a) ?astä1ä2ä3‚ / (b) ?astä12ä3‚ ‚aastä1ä2:@3‚ ‚aastä12@3‚ ?astä12@3‚ 0

2 1ä2:ä3‚ ‚@1ee2:@3‚ ‚@1ä2:@3‚ 1ä2:@3‚ ?a1ä2:ä3‚ ‚aa1ee2:@3‚ ‚aa1ä2(:)@3‚ ?a1ä2(:)@3‚ tä1ä2:ä3‚ ‚@t1ee2:ä3‚ ‚@t1ä2(:)ä3‚ tä1ä2(:)ä3‚ ?astä1ä2:ä3‚ ‚aastä1ee2:@3‚ ‚aastä1ä2(:)@3‚ ?astä1ä2(:)@3‚

3 1a:2ä3‚ ‚@1a:2:@3‚ ‚@1a:2@3‚ 1a:2@3‚ ?a1a:2ä3‚ ‚aa1a:2:@3‚ ‚aa1a:2@3‚ ?a1a:2@3‚ tä1a:2ä3‚ ‚@t1a:2:ä3‚ ‚@t1a:2ä3‚ tä1a:2ä3‚ ?astä1a:2ä3‚ ‚aastä1a:2:@3‚aa stä1a:2@3‚ ?astä1a:2@3‚

The kernel morphemes of these four verbal categories are defined through the strongest juncture (‚) and the word juncture (# or lacuna) which can be replaced by the weak juncture ‘-’ when an element (as wä‘and’) is prefixed. To illustrate, note the two kernel morphemes #täfäß:äm‚

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and -täb@h@l‚ in the sample sentence ?amee=haa # täfäß:äm‚ä # zätäb@h@l‚ä # bä-X ‘then was fulfilled that which was spoken by X’. According to the traditional pronunciation, jussive and imperative of A2, T2, and Ast2 do not show a lengthened second radical although this is a characteristic feature of all X2 stems. This non-realized consonant length is represented here with (:). As to A2 and Ast2, the length of the second radical is not needed in order to maintain the opposition to A1 and Ast1 respectively which show a different vocalization; cf. jussive A1 yaa12@3 : A2 yaa1ä2(:)@3 and imperative A1 ?a12@3 : A2 ?aa1ä2(:)@3. At least the lacking opposition between T1 and T2 jussive and imperative must be attributed to Amharic influence. The consonant length covered by the traditional pronunciation in cases such as (T2) y@tnäb:äy ‘may he prophesy’ proves the original character of the consonant length, since the simple realization of b would involve its spirantization which traditionally appears not to be acceptable. In all T stems the dental element is assimilated in contact with a dental (t-†-d), sibilant (s-ß-z), or lateral (¶-ß 2-) as first radical, e.g., wä-?ii-t‚@¶¶eennäy‚ (< *-t‚@t¶eennäy‚º) ‘and you do not (?ii-) beautify yourself’. Not included in the list of verbal forms are the more nominal forms such as participle, infinitive, and converb (gerund). The active participle (nomen agentis) shows a pattern that is characterized by a: before and i: after the last radical (. . . a:3i:) with preservation of the characteristic consonant lengthening in X2 and the long a: vowel in X3, e.g., (01) 1ä2a:3i:, (03) 1a:2a:3i:, (T1) tä1ä2a:3i:, (Ast2) ?astä1ä2:a:3i:. All infinitives have a pattern with ´ before and the nominal ending -oo(t) after the last radical (. . . @3oo[t]), with the exception of 01 1ä2i:3(oot). The converb (gerund) is a specific Ethio-Semitic development. It has the form (3 m. sg.) . . . i:3–oo, e.g., (01) 1ä2i:3=oo, (A3) ?a1a:2i:3=oo, (T2) tä1ä2:i:3=oo. The suffix =oo is the possessive personal suffix added to nouns in the accusative, as in n@gu:¶=oo ‘his king (acc.)’ < *n@gu:¶‚ä=huu. The converb (or gerund) designates an action previous or simultaneous to the action expressed by the main verb, e.g., wä-sämi:¿ ‚=oo n@gu:¶‚@ dängäß 2‚ä ‘and by his hearing (sämi:¿ ‚=oo < acc. *sämi:¿‚ä=huu) the king was frightened’. 4.4. Kernel morpheme of the perfect In general the kernel morphemes of strong verbal roots are invariable. The remarkable exception occurs in the formation of the perfect. The most relevant is the perfect 01b / d 1ä2(ä)3‚ which has the two variants 1ä2@3‚V (traditionally pronounced as 1ä23‚) and 1ä2ä3‚C. This type of 01 is generally called “intransitive” since many verbs do have this meaning, e.g., läb@s‚ä > traditionally pronounced läb4 s‚ä [läısä] ‘he got dressed (intr.)’, but gäbr‚ä ‘he created (e.g., God, the heaven and the earth)’. See the paradigm of 01b läbs‚ä (p. 206). The variant 1ä2ä3‚ of type 01b / d is identical with the kernel morpheme of 01a, e.g., säbär‚ä, ‚kä ‘he, you (m.) broke’ which is traditionally called the transitive type. Both types differ not only in the perfect form but also—as given above—in the jussive (01a y‚@sb@r‚ versus 01b y‚@lbäs‚) and

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perfect sg. 3 m. läbs‚ä 3 f. läbs‚ät

pl. läbs‚uu läbs‚aa

“intransitive” “transitive” läb@s‚V Œ œ > läbs‚V säbär‚V /___‚V

2 m. 2 f. 1

läbäs‚kk@muu läbäs‚k@n läbäs‚nä

◊ √ läbäs‚C ∫

läbäs‚kä läbäs‚kii läbäs‚kuu

säbär‚C

/___‚C

imperative (01a s@b@r‚ versus 01b l@bäs‚). Thus the distinctive vowel pairs perf. / juss. (impv.) are in 01a ä / @ and in 01b @ / ä. Other verbs are characterized by the vowel pairs ä / ä and @ / @; they constitute the verbal classes 01c and 01d respectively. Cf. the examples 01c perf. mäsäl‚ä, juss. y‚@msäl‚ (impv. m@säl‚) ‘be/look like’ and 01d perf. näg¶‚ä, juss. y‚@ng@¶‚ (impv. n@g@¶‚) ‘become king/ruler’.

01a 01b 01c 01d

characteristic vowel ä/@ @/ä ä/ä @/@

perfect

jussive

imperative imperfect

säbär‚ä läbs‚ä mäsäl‚ä näg¶‚ä

y‚@sb@r‚ y‚@lbäs‚ y‚@msäl‚ y‚@ng@¶‚

s@b@r‚ l@bäs‚ m@säl‚ n@g@¶‚

y‚@säb:@r‚ y‚@läb:@s‚ y‚@mäs:@l‚ y‚@näg:@¶‚

There is some fluctuation between these four verb classes, e.g., perf. säkäb‚ä / säkb‚ä, juss. y‚@sk@b‚ / y‚@skäb‚ ‘lie (down)’. This morpheme variation in the perfect forms occurs—much rarer— in T1 and Ast1 as well. Contrary to 01, the more common type is that with @ (traditionally not pronounced) and no difference in meaning can be detected: e.g., (T1) tägäbr‚ä, pass. of 01b gäbr‚ä ‘do, work’; tä¿a˚äb‚ä/ tä¿a˚b‚ä, pass. of 01a ¿a˚äb‚ä ‘guard, watch’. 4.5. Weak verb forms Weak verb forms exhibit the result of several phonetic rules. The most important (the laryngeal rules and the rules with w and y) have been presented above in brief (4.1.). Some examples of the weak verb classes: perf. ¿asäb‚ä r@Ó@˚‚ä säm¿‚a wäläd‚ä moot‚ä fätäw‚ä, ‚kä/ fätoo‚kä y23 yäbs‚ä 1y3 mee†‚ä 12y säty‚ä L23 1L3 12L w23 1w3 12w

impf. y‚ä¿as:@b‚ y‚@r@Ó@˚‚ y‚@säm:@¿‚ y‚@wäl:@d‚ y‚@mäw:@t‚ y‚@fät:uu‚, y‚@fät:@w‚uu y‚@yäb:@s‚ y‚@mäy:@†‚ y‚@sät:ii‚, y‚@sät:@y‚uu

juss. y‚@¿s@b‚ y‚@rÓa˚‚ y‚@smaa¿‚ y‚@läd‚ y‚@muut‚ y‚@ftäw‚/y‚@ftoo‚, y‚@ftäw‚uu y‚@ybäs‚ y‚@mii†‚ y‚@stäy‚

gloss ‘hire, engage’ ‘be distant’ ‘hear’ ‘give birth’ ‘die’ ‘desire’ ‘be dry’ ‘turn’ ‘drink’

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Most derived stems do not offer many problems. The causative stem of roots with w as second radical (÷1w3) show in some forms a loss of this labial element; cf. A1 perf. ?a˚äm‚ä (< *?a˚wäm‚ä < *?a˚wäm‚ä) and impv. ?a˚@m‚ (< *?a˚w@m‚ < *?a˚w@m‚), but (regular) yaa˚äw:@m‚ ‘he places’. If a verbal root shows any combination of w, y, laryngeal, then the result may be difficult to identify, as impf. y‚@w@¿ii‚ < *y‚@wä¿ii‚ < *y‚@wä¿@y‚ (< *y‚@wä¿:@y‚) ‘he burns, will burn’ and juss. y‚ä¿ay‚ < *y‚@¿ay‚ (instead of *y‚@w¿äy‚) ‘may he burn’ from w@¿@y‚ä ‘he burned’. The jussive of a verb with two laryngeals (01 perf. ?ahaz‚ä ‘he took’) is y‚ä?ahaz‚ ‘may he take’. This form shows a multiple application of the laryngeal rules (see 2.5): *y‚@?häz‚ (vowel insertion) > *y‚@?@häz‚ (L3) > *y‚@?ähäz‚ > (L3) *y‚ä?ähäz‚ (L1 twice) > y‚ä?ahaz‚. In the imperfect forms of roots with medial laryngeal (?, ¿, and h) a long ee vowel has been developed before the laryngeal: y‚@ree?ii‚ ‘he sees’ (÷r?y), y‚@ree¿ii‚ ‘he herds’ (÷r¿y). This is an attempt of the language to compensate for the fact that the lengthening of the laryngeal has been given up. The other way is to accept the laryngeal reduction and to apply the relevant laryngeal rule. With some verbs both forms are possible: besides y‚@ree¿ii ‘he herds’ the form y‚@r@¿ii‚ (< *y‚@rä¿ii‚ < *y‚@rä¿:@y‚) is attested. As second radical, h tends to be elided. The imperfect form of k@h@l‚ä ‘he could’ is y‚@k@l‚ (< *y‚@k@h@l‚ < *y‚@käh@l‚ < *y‚@käh:@l‚), but juss. y‚@khal‚. From the root ÷bhl ‘say’ some forms without the second radical are attested: 01 juss. y‚@bäl‚ (< *y‚@bhäl‚), A1 perf. ?abäl‚ä (< *?abhäl‚ä), i.e., causative of 01 (rare) b@h@l‚ä ‘he said’, but T1 perf. täb@h@l‚ä (< *tä+bäh@l‚ä) ‘it was said’. A very special case is y‚@bee‚ (< *y‚@bäh@l‚) ‘he said’, y‚@beel‚ä=nnii ‘he said to me’, y‚@beel‚uu ‘they said’, etc. It is the only imperfect form that has a preterite meaning; its historical derivation is controversial (see Voigt 1997, 2000). 4.6. The quadriradical verb With four-radical roots, the verbal stem scheme appears in a somewhat different form. There are no verb stems (X2) with a penultimate radical generally lengthened. An “An” stem is only attested with quadriradical verbs (as ?ansoosäw‚ä ‘he walked’ < *?an+säwsäw‚ä, ÷swsw). 0 A T Ast An

1 01 A1 T1 Ast1 An1

3 03 A3 T3 -

The conjugation of the quadriradical verb is structurally identical with that of the triradical X3 stems which are characterized by a long vowel after the first radical. The equivalence becomes transparent if the verbal root in X3 stem is interpreted as quadriradical verb ÷1A23. Then the long [a:] vowel in all verb forms appears to be a merger of *aA and *aAa. However,

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this structural comparison which could be extended to the 02 stem is not to be interpreted as a historical derivation. In the following arrangement the abstract roots are replaced by the real roots (03) ba:räk‚ä ‘he blessed’, dängäß‚2 ä ‘he was stupified’, and seesäy‚ä ‘he nourished’ (note the rules *äy(ä) > ee and *@y > ii). *÷bArk > 03 ÷brk *baAräk‚ä > ba:räk‚ä impf. *y‚@baAar:@k‚ > y‚@ba:r:@k‚ juss. *y‚@baAr@k‚ > y‚@ba:r@k‚ impv. *baAr@k‚ > ba:r@k‚ conv. *baAri:k=oo > ba:ri:k=oo inf. *baAr@koo(t)= > ba:r@koo(t)= perf.

÷dngß 2 dängäß 2‚ä y‚@dänäg:@ß‚2 y‚@däng@ß‚2 däng@ß‚2 dängi:ß 2=oo däng@ß 2oo(t)=

÷sysy *säysäy‚ä > seesäy‚ä *y‚@säyäs:@y‚ > y‚@sees:ii‚ *y‚@säys@y‚ > y‚@seesii‚ *säys@y‚ > seesii *säysi:y=oo > seesi:y=oo *säys@yoo(t)= > sees@yoo(t)=

There are quadriradical roots with laryngeals, such as 01 perf. maahräk‚ä, impf. y‚@mähar:@k‚, juss. y‚@maahr@k‚ ‘loot’, 01 perf. baahwb@hw‚a, impf. y‚@bähwäb:@hw‚, juss. y‚@baahwb@hw‚ ‘decay, rot’, A1 perf. ?amaaÓß 2än‚ä, impf. y‚aamäÓaß 2:@n‚, juss. y‚aamäÓß 2@n‚ ‘entrust’. 4.7. Verbal inflection There are basically two sets of personal affixes which are added to the kernel morphemes given above: the suffixes of the perfect conjugation and the prefixes and suffixes of the imperfect (= present) and jussive conjugations. The t‚ prefixes are missing in the (second persons of the) imperative. The set of personal elements used with the converb is presented too. This form is used as a verbal form although the kernel morpheme and the junctures involved reveal its nominal origin and structure. The converb is a verbal noun in the accusative (‚ä=) with an added suffix pronoun (e.g., sg. 2 m. =kä, f. =kii). In the third persons a vowel fusion has taken place, e.g., sg. 3 m. *‚ä=huu > ‚=oo. |PERF|‚ ‚|IMPF|‚ sg. 3 m. |. . .|‚ä y‚|. . .|‚º(/ä=) 3 f. |. . .|‚ät t‚|. . .|‚º(/ä=) 2 m. |. . .|‚kä t‚|. . .|‚º(/ä=) 2 f. |. . .|‚kii t‚|. . .|‚ii 1 |. . .|‚kuu ?‚|. . .|‚º(/ä=) pl. 3 m. |. . .|‚uu y‚|. . .|‚uu 3 f. |. . .|‚aa y‚|. . .|‚aa 2 m. |. . .|‚kk@muu t‚|. . .|‚uu 2 f. |. . .|‚k@n t‚|. . .|‚aa 1 |. . .|‚nä n‚|. . .|‚º(/ä=)

‚|JUSS|‚ y‚|. . .|‚º t‚|. . .|‚º t‚|. . .|‚º t‚|. . .|‚ii ?‚|. . .|‚º y‚|. . .|‚uu y‚|. . .|‚aa t‚|. . .|‚uu t‚|. . .|‚aa n‚|. . .|‚º

º‚|IMPV|‚ – – º‚|. . .|‚º º‚|. . .|‚ii – – – º‚|. . .|‚uu º‚|. . .|‚aa –

|CONV|= |. . .|‚=oo |. . .|‚=aa |. . .|‚ä=kä |. . .|‚ä=kii |. . .|‚@=yä |. . .|‚=oomuu |. . .|‚=oon |. . .|‚ä=kk@muu |. . .|‚ä=(k)k@n |. . .|‚ä=nä

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All imperfect forms without ending (‚º) exhibit an ä (i.e., ‚ä=) before suffixed object pronouns (4.8.). 4.8. Object suffixes Some personal affixes of the perfect forms show a different shape with an object suffix added: |PERF|‚ sg. 3 m. ‚ä=C:a 3 f. ‚ättä=C:a 2 m. ‚kkä=, ‚kkaa=C:a 2 f. ‚kii=C:a 1 ‚kuu=

pl. ‚uu= ‚aa= ‚kk@muu= ‚k@naa=, (>) ‚kaa= ‚naa=

a. The consonant after the juncture is lengthened.

The object pronouns are attached to perfect, imperfect (present), and jussive. As to the suffixes attached to perfect and imperfect forms, the table of forms given in 4.7. should be referenced. According to the word-final element of the verbal form the suffixed pronouns are slightly different.

sg. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1 pl. 3 m. 3 f. 2 m. 2 f. 1

. . .C= C:=oo C:=aa C=kä C=kii C=ännii C:=oomuu C:=oon C=kk@muu C=k@n C=ännä

‚ä= ‚=oo ‚=aa =kkä =kkii =nnii ‚=oomuu ‚=oon =kk@muu =k(k)@n =nnä

. . .aa= =huu =haa =kä =kii =nii =hoomuu =hoon =kk@muu =k(k)@n =nä

. . .ii= =yoo =yaa – – @=nnii =yoomuu =yoon – – @=nnä

. . .uu= =woo =waa =kä =kii =nii =woomuu =woon =kk@muu =k(k)@n =nä

Some examples: nägär‚ä=kkä ‘he said to thee (m.)’, nägär‚ättä=nnii ‘she said to me’, nägär‚kuu=woo, nägär‚k@=wwoo [-küw(w)oo] ‘I said to him’, nägär‚kaa=huu ‘you (m. sg. = f. pl.) said to him’. In adding object suffixes to the imperfect forms ending in ‚º, the element ‚ä= is added before object pronouns, e.g., ?‚@näg:@r‚ä=kkä ‘I (shall) say to thee (m.)’, but y‚@ng@r(‚º)=kä ‘may he say to thee (m.)’. A further feature of the jussive (and imperative) not found in the imperfect is the lengthening of the last radical when a third person suffix is added, e.g., y‚@ng@r‚:=oo ‘may he say to him’ as opposed to y‚@näg:@r‚=oo ‘he says to him’, n@g@r‚:=aa ‘say to her!’

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Literature Conti Rossini, C. 1941 Grammatica elementare della lingua etiopica. Rome: Istituto per l’oriente. Dillmann, Chr. Fr. August 1865 Lexicon linguae aethiopicae, cum indice latino. Leipzig: Weigel. Reprint, New York: Ungar, 1955. 1899 Grammatik der äthiopischen Sprache. 2nd ed., enlarged and improved, by Carl Bezold. Leipzig: Tauchnitz. Trans. J. A. Crichton, Ethiopic grammar. London: Williams & Norgate, 1907. Grébaut, S. 1952 Supplement au Lexicon linguae aethiopicae de August Dillmann (1865) et Edition du lexique de Juste d’Urbin (1850–1855). Paris. Lambdin, T. O. 1978 Introduction to Classical Ethiopic (Geºez). Harvard Semitic Studies 24. Missoula, MT: Scholars. Reprint, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006. Leslau, W. 1987 Comparative dictionary of Geºez (Classical Ethiopic). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Makonnen, Argaw 1984 Matériaux pour l’étude de la prononciation traditionelle du guèze. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations. Mittwoch, E. 1926 Die traditionelle Aussprache des Äthiopischen. Berlin/Leipzig: de Gruyter. Praetorius, A. 1886 Äthiopische Grammatik. Karlsruhe-Leipzig: Reuter. Ségéral, Ph. 1996 L’apophonie en Geºez. Pp. 360–91 in Studies in Afroasiatic Grammar. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics. Voigt, R. 1983 The vowel system of G@ºz. Pp. 355–62 in Ethiopian Studies dedicated to Wolf Leslau, ed. S. Segert and A. J. E. Bodrogligeti. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. [The name of the language is given in a phonemic way as G@¿z in order to distinguish it from the phonetic realization [g@¿@z], in the traditional pronunciation [g@(’)@z]. A combination of both is G@¿@z, with the inflectional ending: G@¿@z@. The phonemic vowel @ is here in contrast to the phonetic vowel @.] 1990 The gemination of the present-imperfect forms in Old Ethiopic. Journal of Semitic Studies 35: 1–18. 1997 On the irregular form y@be in Classical Ethiopic [I]. Pp. 583–95 in vol. 1 of Ethiopia in Broader Perspective: Papers of the XIIIth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. K. E. Fukui and M. Shigeta. Kyoto: Shokado Book Sellers. 2000 Über die ‘unregelmäßige’ Form y@be im Altäthiopischen, II. Aethiopica 3: 120–31.

Semitic Languages: Modern Central Semitic

Chapter 11

Arabic Morphology Alan S. Kaye California State University, Fullerton 1. Introduction 1 Arabic is famous among the world’s languages for its algebraic root-andpattern morphology (Watson 2002: 125–26) or, as Bauer (2003: 30–31) refers to it, transfixation (see also Mugdan 1994: 5.2549). In essence, this process involves discontinuous affixes and discontinuous bases. A transfix is usually defined as a discontinuous affix which interlocks with a discontinuous base. This system is also known as nonconcatenative morphology (see McCarthy 1981). Harrisean structural linguistics set up a morphemic long component to explain the root-and-pattern system. Zellig S. Harris (Noam Chomsky’s teacher at the University of Pennsylvania) put it as follows in his magnum opus of the structuralist era (1951: 302): In Semitic, members of the class v (Modern Hebrew -a-a- indicating action, -i-e- indicating transitive action, etc.) never occur without members of the class R (spr ‘tell’, lmd ‘learn’, etc.), nor do members of n (-é-e- ‘object’, -i-u- ‘object of -i-e- action, etc.) occur without R. R never occurs without either v or n: safar ‘he counted’, siper ‘he told’, séfer ‘book’, sipur ‘story’, lamad ‘he studied’, limed ‘he taught’, limud ‘a subject of study’.

For further details, see Chapter 17 of Harris (1951), “Morphemic Long Components” (1951: 299–324). Most general linguists know that CA kataba ‘he wrote’ is derived from the root ktb meaning ‘write’ or ‘to write’ (see n. 2). This traditional approach to the verb and other parts of speech of CA and MSA will be utilized here, even though it has recently come under attack from a variety of theoretical perspectives (see Kaye 2004). The rationale behind this decision Author’s note: I wish to express my appreciation to the following linguists for useful comments and suggestions on a preliminary version of this essay, not all of which I have been able to follow: Hussein Abdul-Raof; Robert D. Angus; David L. Appleyard; M. Lionel Bender; Bernard Comrie; George Grigore; Bob Hoberman; Geoffrey Khan; John McWhorter; Adrian Måcelaru; T. Muraoka; Paul Newman; Jonathan Owens; William Pickett; JeanFrançois Prunet; Gary A. Rendsburg; Jan Retsö; Judith Rosenhouse; Gonzalo Rubio; Waheed Samy; Hayim Sheynin; Avihai Shivtiel; Laurence (Tawfiq) Surfas; Edward J. Vajda; and Stefan Weninger. Needless to say, the usual disclaimers apply. 1. The following abbreviations are used in this essay: CA = Classical Arabic; dial. = dialect; ECA = Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (= Cairene); MSA = Modern Standard Arabic. A note on the Arabic transcription employed: I use symbols in accordance with IPA and common Semitist usage. A macron over a vowel indicates vocalic length. A dot underneath a consonant marks it as an emphatic, i.e., pharyngealized-velarized, with the exception of [˙], which is a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, IPA [Ó]. The symbol [j] is IPA [D] and [y] is IPA [j].

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is that it explains, in all of its elegant simplicity and economy, numerous consistencies and regularities in the word-formation strategies of the language. The triconsonantal root is, as is well known, a sine qua non of the Semitic languages, 2 and many publications deal with this phenomenon in Biblical and Modern Hebrew, Aramaic, etc. For those who may not be familiar with the system, the basic idea of Semitic triconsonantality is that the root covers a semantic sphere (or sometimes several related or, in fact, completely different semantic spheres, which would be indicative of homonymy). Consider, as illustrative, words such as subbak ‘window’ and ?istibak ‘clash, skirmish’ related to sabaka or sibak ‘net’, and sabaka (Form I), which means ‘to mix’, thus the idea of fighters mixing it up or clashing. Yet there are seemingly unrelated roots, such as malla ‘to be bored’, malla ‘hot ashes’, milla ‘religious community’, and mulla ‘tacking stitch, spring mattress’. The vowels or templates map out grammatical features superimposed on the root. Thus, ktb means ‘to write’, whereas the three interdigitated /a/ vowels in kataba 3 mark the third person masc. sg. of the pf. or perfective aspect. 4 It should be noted that many roots have variants, sometimes with no difference in meaning, but often with different nuances, and at other times with different meanings altogether; e.g., faÎala, impf. yafÎulu = faÎila, impf. yafÎalu ‘to be surplus’, and faÎala, impf. yafÎulu ‘to excel’ (Wehr 1974: 717). Often, too, there are derivatives of a root with far-reaching semantic connections; e.g., faÎila ‘virtue’ can be related to ‘excel’. Cf. also faÎil ‘outstanding’, ?afÎaliyya ‘priority, preference’. However, consider fuÎul ‘curiosity, meddling’ without any apparent or obvious (direct or indirect) semantic connection. 2. Traditional linguistic notions which have been around down through the ages from the days of the medieval Arab and Hebrew grammarians and even before have survived, in my opinion, simply because they epitomize what is usually referred to as descriptive adequacy and economy. To put it in analogical terms, whether the phoneme, for example, really exists or not (on any level) is immaterial. The significant advantage of this term as an explanatory tool surely justifies its existence and its continuing utilization. The same applies to the notion of the triconsonantal root. It provides the key to understanding the structure of the classical Semitic nominal and verbal systems, strong versus weak roots, and a myriad of other interrelated morphological facts and analyses of these closely related languages. Prunet (2006) and Idrissi, Prunet, and Béland (n.d.) discuss all the evidence, psycholinguistic and otherwise, in favor of the abstract characteristics of the Semitic root. See further Rubio (2005). It should be noted that there is a built-in assumption that the basic meaning of a verbal root is its Form I meaning, from which basis the derived forms may be analyzed (see 5.0). It is much more difficult, to be sure, to gloss a verbal root when it does not occur in Form I. 3. When kataba (or any similar word) occurs in sentence-final position or at the end of a breath group, the speaker is required to use its pausal form in which the final vowel is deleted, i.e., katab. 4. Many linguists, in order to avoid jumping into the murky waters of the controversy of tense versus aspect in Arabic and the classical Semitic languages in general, have termed this the “suffix” conjugation, while the impf. (as in ya-ktubu ‘he writes’) is known as the “prefix” conjugation, since suffixes and prefixes respectively are among the basic characteristics involved.

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Background information on Arabic as a Semitic language may be found in Kaye (1987) and Kaye (1997). There is no need to repeat all that information here; rather, the reader is referred to those publications for linguistic material on aspects of the structure of Arabic. 5 I propose to explain and illustrate here the basics of CA (which for the purpose of this essay is more or less equivalent to its modern counterpart, usually called MSA 6) nominal and verbal morphology among other interrelated topics, such as the pronoun, the definite article, number, gender, case, etc. Occasionally, data from colloquial ( = spoken vernacular) Arabic dials., especially ECA, probably the most widely spoken, known, and studied colloquial, will be utilized for comparative purposes. Before delving directly into the topic per se, it will be useful to examine the root ktb in its various verbal and nominal formations, so that those not familiar with the root-and-pattern morphological system of Arabic and the Semitic languages as a whole will gain a broad, albeit rudimentary, understanding of how this mathematical (or formal) wonder generally functions. It should be kept in mind, as mentioned earlier, that not all identical roots have the same or even similar semantic spheres, and there are many such roots where it would take an ingenious sophistication—that is, proficiency in advanced semantic gymnastics—to even try to relate some of the various meanings (e.g., mi?sar ‘saw’ and ta?sira ‘visa’, both from the root ?sr ‘to file; sharpen’; or the root ˙ßr: ˙aßr ‘encirclement’; ˙ußr ‘retention [of urine]; constipation’; and ˙aßr ‘dyslogia’, and ˙aßira ‘mat’; or jadd ‘grandfather’ and jadid ‘new’ from the root jdd [jadda] ‘to be new’). To put it in a nutshell, there are homophonous roots which, at least from the synchronic viewpoint, have no apparent semantic connection whatsoever. 7 Ingham (1994: 21) cites an excellent example of root polysemy in Najdi Arabic: ¿ind ‘beside’, ¿anid ‘obstinate’, and ¿anud ‘gazelle’. It must be admitted, however, that there might have been, at one time, a semantic connection among some polysemous roots which has been lost or obscured over time. Some roots have surely fallen together via the process of linguistic borrowing. While it may be an exciting academic endeavor to seek such protomeanings, it must be admitted that this pursuit may occasionally result in pure conjecture. Such speculation will not be entertained here. 5. Kaye and Rosenhouse (1997) is a thorough survey of comparative Arabic dialectology; however, Fischer and Jastrow (1980) is the most comprehensive treatment of this subject to date. 6. Haeri (2003: xi) rejects the term MSA and substitutes in its place the (quasi-?) synonymous “Contemporary Classical Arabic” (2003: 156). For further details, see Kaye (2005). There are differences between CA and MSA in grammar and vocabulary. An example of the latter can be seen in CA words such as ta¿ib ‘tired’ versus MSA ta¿ban. Although ta¿ib can also be used in MSA, ta¿ban is not found in CA. 7. There is a parallel here with English (and, of course, the lexical ambiguity found in other languages) in that a word like bank (for money), for example, has nothing to do with bank (land or ground), as in river bank, or the verb bank as in ‘the plane banked to the right’ (meaning ‘inclined’). More difficult to appreciate typologically are the two lexemes broke which are homophonous in English: ‘He broke the dish’ and ‘The dish broke’.

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To reiterate, if we supply the interdigitated a-a-a vowels to the root ktb, we obtain CA or MSA kataba ‘to write’. 8 Linguists refer to the /k/ as C1, the /t/ as C2, and the /b/ as C3 of the root. Keeping the form /C1aC2aC3a/ as the basis (or base), 9 we can geminate C2, thus generating kattaba ‘he made someone write’. This is called Form II, the so-called intensive. (In Sanºani Arabic, kattab means ‘to write continually, keep writing, write all over’ [Watson 2002: 139], while in Biblical Hebrew, the cognate kitteb [Isaiah 10:1] means ‘to inscribe’.) The intensive is comparable to what many Africanists now call pluractionals; for example, in Hausa (Paul Newman, pers. comm.). 10 Inserting a long vowel a after C1 yields kataba ‘to correspond’ (called Form III, the so-called conative). 11 By prefixing a glottal stop and interdigitating /a/ with the exception of the first vowel after C1, the pf. form ?aktaba ‘to dictate’ (Form IV, the causative) is generated. Form V of the verb contains the prefix ta- + Form II, the geminated form cited earlier; however, it is not used (i.e., it does not exist) in this particular case (theoretically, the form would be *takattaba, which would mean [if it existed] something like ‘to be(come) written down/inscribed’). Similar to Form V, Form VI uses the same prefix ta- with Form III, ‘to correspond’, thus creating the reciprocal takataba ‘to write to each other; to correspond with each other’. The difference between Forms III and VI often involves the notion of reciprocity. Form VII of the verb prefixes ?in- 12 giving ?inkataba ‘he subscribed’, while Form VIII infixes -ta-: ?iktataba ‘to make a copy; to subscribe; to be recorded; to be registered’. Form IX, which is very rare due to its extremely narrow semantic focus, is restricted basically to processes 8. This verb (the simple or basic form of the verb or Form I = the Biblical Hebrew qal ‘light; easy, simple’ kOtab ‘to write’; the other stems are ‘heavy’ in that they show different kinds of morphological additions) literally means ‘he wrote’; however, its citation form is traditionally cited as ‘to write’ (the dictionary form or the equivalent to an infinitival citation form in numerous other languages, such as Spanish escribir or French écrire ‘to write’). 9. The verbal system, the heart and soul of Arabic morphology, and the meanings of the Forms will be discussed in greater detail with further examples in 5.0. Wright (1967: 1.29–104) discusses the verb before the noun, which serves to emphasize its significance and centrality. The Wrightian tradition is carried on here. 10. Form II, a Semitic innovation within Afroasiatic according to Joseph H. Greenberg, has the idea of verbal plurality (Greenberg 1991: 578). Greenberg’s essay offers rich typological parallels with non-Semitic languages. Adrian Måcelaru notes (pers. comm.) that intensive is a subtype of pluractional, and that (apud Herrmann Junggraithmayr) similar formations occur in Chadic. M. Lionel Bender comments (pers. comm.) that “pluractional is a type of intensive, which is basic.” 11. Macdonald (1963: 108), quoting Thornton (1943), states concerning the conative: “when effort is necessarily or accidentally a mutual one,” and illustrates with sabaqa ‘to precede’ versus sabaqa ‘to compete with’. 12. The initial glottal stops regularly elide in noninitial position in Forms VII, VIII, IX, and X. This type of glottal stop is referred to in Arabic as a hamzatu lwaßl. It is transcribed herein, since we consider it to be in initial position. This glottal stop is not normally written in Arabic books, magazines, and newspapers, although it must be admitted that one is apt to see it more and more in MSA (see Badawi, Carter, and Gully 2004: 12)—even in places where it is wrong in CA.

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dealing with colors and defects; the form *?iktabba is thus a theoretical construct only: it does not occur, of course, since its root has nothing to do with a color or defect. Finally, Form X, denoting requests, among other meanings, prefixes ?ista- with no vowel after C1 of the root, yielding ?istaktaba ‘to ask to write; to dictate; to have a copy made by someone’. 13 A root typically gives rise to numerous nominal forms and ktb is no exception. For instance, the word ‘writing’ may be translated in three ways: katb, kitba, and kitaba. 14 Further, we can cite kitab ‘book’ (alkitab means ‘the Koran’ or ‘the Bible’, lit., ‘the [Good or Holy] Book’), pl. kutub; kutubi ‘bookseller’; kitabxana ~ kutubxana ‘library; bookstore’ 15 (also daru lkutub, lit., ‘house of the books’ 16); kuttab, pl. katatib ‘Koran school’; kutayyib ‘booklet’ 17 (utilizing the diminutive form CuCayyiC, an allomorph of the more common CuCayC, on which see 6.13); ?ismu lkitaba ‘pen name’; ?alatu lkitaba ‘typewriter’ (lit., ‘instrument of writing’; also ?ala katiba, lit., ‘writing instrument’); kitabi ‘clerical, literary, scriptural’; katiba ‘record, document’; maktab, pl. makatib ‘office, desk’; maktaba, pl. maktabat ~ makatib ‘library, bookstore’; miktab ‘typewriter’; 18 mukataba 13. This system of the ten derived stems of the verb, as previously stated, will be explained below with copious examples. CA also has Forms XI–XV, which are rare and need not concern us in this discussion, since they do not occur in MSA (with the exception of Form XII [e.g., ?i˙dawdaba ‘to be hunchbacked’]). Macdonald (1963) uses another system, namely, G for ground form (= Form I), D for double form (= Form II), etc.—a system wellknown to Assyriologists and Semitists with East Semitic interests. It should be stressed that the noted meanings of the forms as presented in this essay are not exhaustive, and there are many exceptions. Retsö (1983) adopts this system (see 1983: 59 for details). 14. In this article, we usually cite nouns in their pausal forms, i.e., without the nunation or tanwin (generally the mark of indefiniteness in MSA), or if a diptote (see 6.3), with the final short vowel in the nom. case for clarity’s sake, unless otherwise indicated. The nom. may be considered the default case (kitabun ‘a book’), and the indicative is the default mode (yaktubu ‘he writes’). The reader should be aware of the fact that spoken Arabic, that is, the colloquials, lose the CA case endings and mood markings (except for the jussive, which is marked by zero vowel, that is, yaktub, which looks like many a colloquial’s yiktib). We shall not be concerned with the various nuances of these three nouns meaning ‘writing.’ Fem. pausal forms (kitabah) are cited without final -h as well, which conforms to almost all MSA pronunciations, despite the fact that the -h even survives in some colloquial Arabic dials., the most noteworthy of which is Yemeni Arabic (see Qafisheh 1992 and Qafisheh 2000). 15. The word xana is Persifor ‘house’, Modern Persian xané = Arabic dar. As a suffix, it is not productive, yet it does survive in words such as ?agzaxana ‘pharmacy’, more common in Egypt and the Sudan than (MSA) ßaydaliyya, which can be seen in, for example, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. 16. This is a construct state (status constructus = Arabic ?iÎafa-construction). The l- is the definite article. See 6.2 for a thorough treatment. There is no need to segment it morphologically in the discussion here. 17. Haywood and Nahmad (1962: 341, 343) list kutayb ‘booklet’. This is probably an error for MSA, since it is not given in Wehr (1974). 18. This word, based on the pattern miCCaC, usually denoting an instrument or device, such as minD8 ar ‘telescope’ ∞ naD8 ara ‘to view’, seems at present not to be in use. I have not met any native speaker who recalled using it, and very few consulted could

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‘correspondence’; ?iktitab ‘enrollment, registration, subscription’; ?istiktab ‘dictation’ (?ala ?istiktabiyya ‘dictaphone’ [lit., ‘dictating instrument’]); katib, pl. kuttab ~ kataba 19 ‘writer, clerk, scribe, secretary, registrar, actuary’; katiba ‘authoress’; maktub ‘written, a letter, recorded, destined’ (Nigerian Arabic maktub ‘book’ for kitab in all [?] other dials.); mukatib ‘reporter’; and finally, muktatib ‘subscriber’. 20 Mention should be made of biradical consonantal roots which also occur, albeit rarely. Interestingly enough, several basic nouns are biradical and are certainly very old Semitic formations as well; e.g., ?ab ‘father’, (?)ibn ‘son’, ?ax ‘brother’, ˙am ‘father-in-law’, yad ‘hand’, dam ‘blood’, fam (fu, nom., fa, acc., fi, gen.) ‘mouth’, etc. Some originally biradical roots have been squeezed into the triradical system via Systemzwang; e.g., ?abawani ‘parents’, ?ubuwwa ‘fatherhood, paternity’, and ?abawi ‘paternal, fatherly’. 2. Parts of speech The medieval Arab grammarians divided Arabic parts of speech into a tripartite system of nouns, verbs, and particles. We will begin with the most complicated of this set, viz., the verb, which is, in many ways, more regular and predictable than the noun, especially when considering the broken pls. (for which see 6.5) thereof. Indeed, it is safe to conclude that having a solid command of Arabic verbal morphology enables one to have a firm understanding of the complexities of the structure of the language (both internally and for comparative Semitic purposes). This is why I follow Ingham (1994) and Wright (1967: vol. 1) in presenting the intricacies of verbal morphology before nominal morphology. Ingham asserts that verbs have the “most elaborate morphology, marking number, gender, person, tense and aspect and transitivity type” (1994: 21). Particles include everything other than verbs, nouns, and adjectives, the latter of which are subsumed under nouns. The entire verbal conjugational system may be broken down into the forms (stems or conjugations) themselves. These forms, as we have already seen, numbered by Western linguists in the Orientalist tradition with the Roman numerals I through XV, ideally express nuances of the quantity, quality, or manner of the action or state expressed by the verb. Forms XI–

vouch for its apparent authenticity, thinking it rather to be an artificial coinage by one of the Arabic language academies in Cairo, Damascus, or Baghdad. 19. The word kataba, which is to be pronounced katabah in CA is in nonpausal (i.e., anywhere but the end of a breath group, including final position) form katabatun with nunation, whereas the pf. of the Form I verb is kataba, the pausal form of which is katab, which corresponds to the form occurring in many colloquial dials., although vowels may differ or even be deleted. Thus, kataba ‘he wrote; writers’ may appear to be accidentally homophonous. Cf. Iraqi Arabic kitab ‘to write’ (Alkalesi 2001: 84). 20. Whether the noun katiba ‘squadron; battalion; corps’ (as in katibatu ssalam ‘Peace Corps’) is related to the basic idea of ‘writing’ is highly doubtful (e.g., there is a lot of paperwork and writing involved in any military unit). It seems safe to conclude that this word is derived from a homophonous root ktb, not from the ktb root dealing with ‘writing’.

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XV, as we have previously remarked, are too rare to be included in the discussion herein. Besides, they just add more complexity to the system and need not concern the linguist interested in the overall features of Arabic morphology. 21 Table 1. Verbal forms and verbal nouns of root QTL ‘to kill’a Form Voice

Perfect

I

qatala qutila qattala quttila qatala qutila ?aqtala ?uqtila taqattala tuquttila taqatala tuqutila inqatala iqtatala uqtutila iqtalla istaqtala ustuqtila

II III 1V V VI VII VIII IX X

active passive active passive active passive active passive active passive active passive active active passive active active passive

Imperfect

Imperative

Participle

Verbal Noun yaqtulu uqtul qatil qatl, etc.b yuqtalu ---maqtul ---yuqattilu qattil muqattil taqtil yuqattalu ---muqattal ---yuqatilu qatil muqatil muqatala yuqatalu ---muqatal ---yuqtilu ?aqtil muqtil ?iqtal yuqtalu ---muqtal ---yataqattalu taqattal mutaqattil taqattul yutaqattalu ---mutaqattal ---yataqatalu taqatal mutaqatil taqatul yutaqatalu ---mutaqatal ---yanqatilu inqatil munqatil inqital yaqtatilu iqtatil muqtatil iqtital yuqtatalu ---muqtatal ---yaqtallu iqtalil~iqtalla muqtall iqtilal yastaqtilu istaqtil mustaqtil istiqtal yustaqtalu ---mustaqtal ----

a. The hamzatu lwaßl (‘eliding glottal stop’) is not marked in the table. Not all glottal stops in the table, therefore, elide (those which do not belong to the class of glottal stops known as hamzatu lqa†¿). b. It should be noted that the passive of Form VII, already a passive corresponding to the Hebrew nif¿al, is extremely rare and thus can be left out of the account. Forms IX and XI are intransitive and are also devoid of the passive. See further 6.18.

Person, aspect, and mode, in addition to gender and number, are marked by affixes. The ten common derived forms of the verb each have an active and passive participle associated with them (with the exception of Form IX, and for practical purposes, Form VII), in addition to verbal nouns, most of which tend to be fairly predictable in form (see table 1 using the Semitic paradigm verb par excellence—qtl ‘to kill’, usually 21. For example, Form XI is a variant of Form IX with little or no difference in meaning, used only for colors and defects (although, according to Watson 2002: 133 n. 4, Hinds and Badawi 1986 record 13 Form IX verbs which have to do with neither color nor defect), with one major difference: a long vowel a is inserted between C2 and C3 of the root. These were originally, in all likelihood, dialectal variants. Form XI occurs (e.g., ˙mar ‘to be[come] red’) in the Jewish dial. of Algiers (Fischer and Jastrow 1980: 69, quoted by Watson 2000: 133). Data like these point to one vast Arabic language continuum with a considerable degree of variation (see Kaye 1994 for details).

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pronounced qatala [using the contextual form and not the pausal form]). (The root f¿l ‘to do; make’ is even more common as the Semitic paradigm verb, owing its origins to the medieval Arabic and then Hebrew grammarians.) Active and passive verbs are marked by internal vocalic change: e.g., kataba ‘he wrote’ versus kutiba ‘it (masc.) was written’; yaktubu ‘he writes/will write’ versus yuktabu ‘it (masc.) is/will be written’. The /u/ vowel is a marker of the passive throughout the forms: (-u-)u-i for the pf. and -u-a-a for the impf. The forms are found in table 1. 3. Verbal inflection MSA has two major sets of verbal forms: the perfect(ive) and imperfect(ive) (or suffix and prefix stem or conjugation, as previously stated). The pf. generally refers to the past or completed (or regarded by the speaker as completed) action, while the impf. generally refers to the present/future or incompleted (or regarded by the speaker as incompleted) action or state. This is why we have translated kataba as ‘he wrote’—it will be recalled that the citation form used earlier was ‘[to] write’—but it could also be translated ‘he has/had written’ or ‘he did write’ (and other translations are possible as well), depending on the context. The impf. yaktubu ends with the indicative ending -u, and is usually translated ‘he writes, he is writing, he will write’, or ‘he does write’. The impf. has another set of mode endings (jussive and subjunctive) which do not occur with the pf. For both pf. and impf., gender and number are marked categories, but not for all persons (first persons, sg. and pl., for example, are neutralized for gender). There is a dual marked by a long a added to the masc. and fem. third person sg. in both aspects. Thus ‘they [both] (masc.) wrote’ is kataba (kataba + -a § kataba), while its fem. counterpart is katabata (katabat + -a). 22 It is very important to note that stress in the aforementioned MSA forms may occur on any of the three or four syllables by native speakers of Arabic (in both masc. and fem. forms) because of the significant correlation between the stress rules of the native colloquial Arabic dial. (i.e., the mother tongue) and those superimposed on the artificial MSA system. 23 In other words, the stress rules of MSA are directly dependent on those found in the native’s colloquial dial. Thus, the MSA spoken by a native Cairene is noticeably different in stress, vowel allophonics, the pronunciation of consonants such as the jim, 24 and other (narrow transcription) details from that spoken by a Damascene, or a native of Riyadh, Tunis, Baghdad, Algiers, or

22. See 3.1 for the other dual forms. 23. There are numerous varieties and subvarieties of spoken or pronounced MSA (an artificial, superposed system) which are interrelated with the varieties found in the native colloquial dial. of the speaker. All of this contributes to making MSA an ill-defined system (see Kaye 1972b and 1994 for further details and Kaye 1997 for phonology in general). 24. In Egypt, MSA /j/ is often pronounced /g/ in reading and in speech, as is typical in the MSA of Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt. See Kaye (1972a) and (1997) for all the details.

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Rabat. This narrow, phonetic variation throughout the Arab world has yet to receive the book-length investigation it so richly deserves. 3.1. Perfect and imperfect The verb kataba, which is typical of a strong root without any morphophonemic alternation, is conjugated as follows: Pf. katabtu ‘I wrote’ katabta ‘you wrote (masc. sg.)’ katabti ‘you wrote (fem. sg.)’ kataba ‘he wrote’ katabat ‘she wrote’ katabna ‘we wrote’ katabtum ‘you wrote (masc. pl.)’ katabtuma ‘you wrote (dual)’ katabtunna ‘you wrote (fem. pl.)’ katabu ‘they wrote (masc.)’ katabna ‘they wrote (fem.)’ kataba ‘they wrote (masc. dual)’ katabata ‘they wrote (fem. dual)’

Impf. (active indicative mood) ?aktubu ‘I write’ taktubu ‘you write (masc. sg.)’ taktubina ‘you write (fem. sg.)’ yaktubu ‘he writes’ taktubu ‘she writes’a naktubu ‘we write’ taktubuna ‘you write (masc. pl.)’ taktubani ‘you write (dual)’ taktubna ‘you write (fem. pl.)’ yaktubuna ‘they write (masc. pl.)’ yaktubani ‘they write (masc. dual)’ yaktubna ‘they write (fem.)’

a. One of the most famous characteristics of Semitic verbal morphology is that the forms of the 2nd masc. sg. and the 3rd fem. sg. of the impf. are identical. Cf. Biblical Hebrew tiktob ‘you (masc. sg.)/she will write’.

In the pf. base of Form I verbs, any of the three short vowels may occur after C2 of the root. Many C2 -i- verbs (in the pf.) are stative (marking temporary states, such as salima ‘to be safe and sound’ on which see below), but not all (e.g., sariba ‘to drink’), whereas C2 -u- verbs denote permanent states (˙asuna ‘to be good’). Sanºani Arabic, a very conservative dial. from many points of view, has four major types of Form I verbs: xatan ‘to circumcise’, niki¿ ‘to fall down’, wugif ‘to stop’, and ¿u†us ‘to sneeze’ (Qafisheh 1992: 44). According to Holes (1995: 82–83), quoting the work of Henri Fleisch, the stative pattern CaCiCa may also denote an action which “affects itself in some way by the performance of its action,” including bodily functions (bali¿a ‘to swallow’), bodily movement (tabi¿a ‘to follow’), and mental verbs (xasiya min ‘to fear’; ƒaÎiba ¿ala ‘to feel angry’). Let us consider the derivatives of a typical Form I stative verb, salima ‘to be safe and sound’: II

sallama ‘to preserve, protect from harm, (it can also mean ‘to greet’, i.e., to say ?assalamu ¿alaykum ‘peace be upon you’, a common Semitic greeting), to deliver’ III salama ‘to keep the peace’ IV ?aslama ‘to become a Muslim’ V tasallama ‘to take over, to receive’ VI tasalama ‘to make peace with one another’ VII non-applicable, but theoretically *insalama

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VIII ?istalama 25 ‘to take over, to take possession, to receive, to take possession’ IX non-applicable, but theoretically *?islamma X ?istaslama ‘to surrender, to capitulate’ Note the following nominal formations from this root (slm): salm ~ silm ‘peace’ silmi ‘pacifist, peaceful’ salam ‘peace’ salama ‘security, health’ salim, pl. sulama?u ‘safe, secure, healthy’ salim ‘safe, secure’ taslim ‘submission, surrender’ tasallum ‘receipt, assumption’ ?aslamu ‘safer’ ?islam ‘submission to the will of God’ (lit.); ‘Islam’ ?islami ‘Islamic’ ?istilam ‘acceptance, receipt’ ?istislam ‘surrender, resignation’ musallam ‘unimpaired’ musalim ‘peace-loving’ musalama ‘conciliation, pacification’ muslim ‘Moslem (Muslim)’ 3.2. Active and passive participles The active participial forms for the roots ktb and slm are: katib ‘writer, writing, clerk, etc.’; katiba; katibun(a); katibat (fem. masc. pl., fem. pl.) salim ‘safe, secure, etc.’ salima; salimun(a); salimat (fem. sg., masc. fem. pl.) The passive participial forms for the roots ktb and slm are: maktub ‘written’; maktuba; maktubun(a); maktubat (fem. sg., masc. fem. pl.) maslum; masluma; maslumun(a); maslumat (fem. sg., masc. pl., fem. (theoretical only, since the verb salima is already intransitive) Note that there are broken pls. for many participles in addition to sound pls. given above (see 6.5 for details).

sg., pl.,

pl., pl.) the

3.3. Mode According to Badawi, Carter, and Gully (2004: 59), “verb morphology encodes five grammatical categories: stem, aspect, voice, mood and agent, some being interlocking.” MSA distinguishes the indicative from the sub25. It should be remembered, and thus worthy of repetition, that the initial glottal stops (hamzatu lwaßl) in the pf. of Forms VII, VIII, IX, and X elide in noninitial position. This is quite different from the hamzatu lqa†¿ of Form IV, which does not elide. See further n. 12 above.

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junctive and the jussive (an indirect imperative, among other usages, occurring in, for example, Turkish gelsin ‘let him come’ or English ‘let them eat cake!’). None of the colloquial dials. makes these distinctions in precisely the same manner (many eastern dialects have oppositions of the band non-b-impf., for example, ECA biyiktib ‘he writes’, but a noteworthy exception is Iraqi Arabic [and its closely related dials.], which has da- [and other particles] as a present progressive marker [Alkalesi 2001: 133]). Typically, the indicative is the default mode (mood) for the impf. Thus, yaktubu would be the normal, unmarked rendering (i.e., reading) of , while the subjunctive yaktuba ‘that he (should) write’, and the jussive yaktub ‘let him write’ occur in restricted but defined (conditioned) environments. It is the latter, also known as the apocopated impf., which is the basis for the affirmative imp. (at least descriptively speaking). Cf. yaktub ‘let him write; may he write’ and ?uktub ‘write (masc. sg.)!’, both with zero endings. The masc. pl. ending -una and fem. sg. -ina apocopate to -u and -i respectively in the jussive and subjunctive, i.e., the ending -na is dropped. The -na remains, however, in the 2nd and 3rd fem. pl. With the dual ending -ani, the last syllable is apocopated in the subjunctive and jussive. Thus, from yaktubani ‘they (masc. dual) write’, the corresponding subjunctive and jussive are yaktuba ‘may they write (masc. dual)’. 4. The weak verb The weak verb may be defined in general as having w or y as a radical of the root, or a root whose C2 and C3 are the same (the so-called 122 26 or doubled roots). Also, roots with glottal stops pose irregularities, more so in the dials. than in MSA. Ingham (1994: 25) notes “the weakness of these verbs is apparent in all forms if the initial consonant is ? (hamzah) since this is realized as zero in the Perfective and as a in the Imperfective and Imperative.” There are numerous morphophonemic rules which apply to the weak verb, or perhaps better phrased, the distinct classes of weak verbs. So far, our illustrative paradigm verbs have been strong, that is, roots without any morphophonemic alternation. The reader is cautioned not to confuse the Indo-European taxonomy of “weak” and “strong” verbs. For patterning of root consonants, see the often quoted, classic paper by Greenberg (1950). 4.1. The doubled verb (C2 = C3) 27 The doubled or 122 roots constitute evidence in favor of a Proto-Semitic biconsonantal root theory (see Macdonald 1966 as a typical publication in this field of inquiry). As we have seen previously, the triconsonantal verb is the norm, and the usual state of triconsonantality is for the three radicals 26. The triconsonantal root may be symbolized as 123 involving three different consonants. The 122 designation symbolizes a root whose second and third radicals are identical. 27. The discussion of the various types of weak verbs follows the presentation of Haywood and Nahmad (1962).

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of the root to be different. 28 A typical example of a 122 root is radda ‘to reply’, impf. yaruddu for *yardudu. The verb malla, yamallu ‘to be bored’ is originally of the CaCiCa type. Thus, one notes maliltu ‘I was bored’, with /i/ as the middle vowel. The verb dalla, impf. yadullu ‘to show’, has subjunctive yadulla and four possible jussives for the 3rd masc. sg.: yadulla ~ yadullu ~ yadulli ~ yadlul. Similarly, the masc. sg. imp. has four possible variations: ?udlul ~ dulla ~ dulli ~ dullu. The cause of such free variation has to do with phonological constraints in the strategy of avoiding triple consonant clusters. The aforementioned are rare forms, to be sure, and probably originally reflect different dialectal usages. The masc. sg. active participle has gemination: dall, whereas the corresponding passive participle splits up the geminated consonant: madlul. The passive, as one might expect, is marked with u in the initial syllable: perf. dulla, impf. yudallu, jussive yudlal, in which the l’s are split up. The derived forms are quite regular, except that Form III is dalla, impf. yudallu, but passive perf. dulila and yudallu; Form IV is ?adalla, yudillu; Form V is tadallala, yatadallalu. The above commentary is not meant to be exhaustive, merely illustrative. This statement applies to the other classes of weak verbs as well. 4.2. The hamzated verb (verbs with glottal stop as radical) Since hamza in Arabic refers to the glottal stop (lit., ‘compression’ [of the vocal folds]), a hamzated verb is one which contains a glottal stop as a radical. The irregularity of this type of verb has more to do with orthography than morphophonology. In sa?ala ‘to ask’, the hamza is written on ?alif, whereas in ba?usa ‘to be brave’, the kursi (‘seat’) of the hamza is waw (following the traditional analysis and terminology laid down by the medieval Arab grammarians). In the verb sa?ima ‘to be disgusted at, to be weary, to be fed up with’ and xa†i?a ‘to transgress’, the seat of the hamza is the letter ya? () without the two dots underneath. This article will not enter further into the orthographic details of how the hamza is written, which can be quite a complicated subject and is not of concern to us here. The glottal stop may be deleted in some environments. Thus, the masc. sg. imps. of ?axaDa ‘to take’, ?amara ‘to command’, and ?akala ‘to eat’ are xuD, mur, and kul, respectively. 29 The masc. sg. imp. of ?alifa ‘to be accustomed to’ is ?ilaf for *?i?laf. 30 Similarly, the active participle is ?alif; Form IV is ?alafa (not in Wehr 28. We may note the rare exceptions. Roots in which C1 and C2 are the same are very rare; e.g., babƒa?u ‘parrot’, originally a loanword from Malay. Greenberg (1950: 167) notes Arabic dadan ‘plaything’, saying it is “probably a nursery word.” I agree with Greenberg’s assertion that Proto-Semitic does not have any 112 verbal roots. Roots in which C1 = C3 are also very rare; e.g., bab ∞ bwb ‘door, gate’; qaliqa ‘to be restless, to be anxious’; or natana ‘to stink’. 29. There is no need to list the other forms here (or elsewhere in comparable situations). Many colloquial dials. preserve this old phenomenon; e.g., ECA xud ‘take!’ and kul ‘eat!’, but ?u?mur ‘command!’ (all masc. sg.) and even hu?mur for ?u?mur via dissimilation. 30. CA goes to great lengths to avoid two successive glottal stops in this type of environment; however, in similar situations free variations are to be noted.

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1974), Form VI is ta?alafa ‘to harmonize with’, and Form VIII is ?italafa ~ ?i?talafa ‘to be united, linked, connected’, but cf. ?i?tilaf ‘coalition’ (Wehr 1974: 23). Cf. Form IV ?uminu ‘I believe’ but mu?min ‘believer (masc. sg.)’. The verb sa?ala ‘to ask’ has a number of irregularities in phonology, morphology, and orthography. One should note ?is?al ~ sal as the imp. masc. sg. It should be kept in mind that the initial glottal stop elides, as well as the following /i/, when it is no longer in initial position. This could thus be written (?)is?al (cf. was?al ‘and ask [masc. sg.]!’). 4.3. The hollow verb (C2 = w or y) The hollow verb is so designated because it has as the middle radical a semi-vowel w or y, which contracts into a long vowel in most of its conjugational forms. Thus, we have kana ‘he was’ < *kawana, and the underlying w surfaces in the impf. ‘he will be’ yakunu < *yakwunu, as well as in pf. forms, such as kuntu ‘I was’ and kunna ‘we were’ < *kun- + -na. From the medial y type, we note ba¿a ‘he sold’ < *baya¿a, impf. yabi¿u ‘he will sell’, and bi¿tu ‘I sold’. We also note statives, such as xafa ‘he was afraid’ < *xawifa, impf. yaxafu ‘he is afraid’. The imps. derive from the jussives, which undergo vowel shortening in closed syllables. From the root qwl ‘to say’, the imp. is qul, but fem. quli and masc. pl. qulu, but fem. pl. qulna. From ba¿a ‘to sell’, the forms are: bi¿, bi¿i, bi¿u, bi¿na. 31 The active participle replaces the w or y by a glottal stop: qa?il < *qawil ‘saying’ and ba?i¿ < *bayi¿ ‘selling’. A form such as bayi¿ occurs in many a colloquial dial., however. The three types of passive participles are: mabi¿ ‘sold’, maqul ‘said’, and maxuf ‘feared’. The passive is qila ‘it was said’ < *quwila, impf. yuqalu < *yuqwalu, jussive yuqal. Similarly, ßira ‘it has become’, impf. yußaru, jussive yußar; xifa ‘it was feared’, impf. yuxafu, jussive yuxaf. The derived forms II, III, V, VI, and IX treat the semi-vowel radical as regular. “Hollowness” still remains in the remainder of the forms with neutralization of w and y. There is a compensatory ta? marbu†a (fem. marker -t) in the verbal nouns of Forms IV, VII, VIII, and X. Form III has two possibilities; e.g., mulaqat ~ liqa? ‘meeting’. There are morphophonemic developments in some forms, often due to assimilation; e.g., *ßiwana § ßiyana ‘maintenance; protection’. 4.4. The final weak verb (C3 = w or y) The final weak verb has a weak final radical (w or y). As with the hollow verb, *qawama > qama ‘he got up’, *da¿awa > da¿a ‘he called’, impf. yad¿u < *yad¿uwu, *ramaya > rama ‘he threw’, impf. yarmi; and laqiya ‘he met’ (type CaCiCa) remains, impf. yalqa. What has transpired here is that *awa and *aya > a. There is a neutralization in the passive, and thus all forms are of the same type: du¿iya ‘to be called’, impf. yud¿a; rumiya ‘to be thrown’, impf. yurma; and luqiya ‘to be met’, impf. yulqa. 31. Due to space considerations, I do not list the dual imps. here, nor for the root qwl, which preceded in the discussion.

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It should be noted that the weak final radical surfaces as a short vowel in the masc. sg. jussive and imp. forms. Thus, ?irmi ‘throw!’, ?ud¿u ‘call!’, ?ilqa ~ ?iltaqi (the form with -t- is Form VIII) ‘meet!’, and so on. The short vowel -i in the preceding forms becomes a long /i/ in the fem. The verbal noun of Forms III-X (excluding V and VI) have a glottal stop for the w or y. The active participle is da¿in ‘calling’ for nom. and gen. sg., but da¿iyan for the acc. sg., paralleling ramin ‘throwing’ for nom. and gen. and ramiyan ‘throwing’ (acc. sg.). The passive participles are mad¿uww ‘invited’ and marmiyy ‘thrown’ respectively. There are further intricate details concerning the conjugation of the weak verb which need not concern us in this article (see Haywood and Nahmad 1962: 243–45). We will also not discuss the doubly and trebly weak verbs, that is, verbs whose roots have glottal stops, 32 w’s, or y’s in any position, such as ˙ayiya or ˙ayya ‘to live’ (Haywood and Nahmad 1962: 250–57). A discussion of these types of verbs would only serve to further complicate an already complex situation. 4.5. The quadiliteral verb 33 Haywood and Nahmad (1962: 261) remark that the medieval Arab grammarians noted as far back as the ninth century A.D. that CA roots could be biliteral, triliteral, quadriliteral, or quinquiliteral. 34 An example of a quadriliteral is da˙raja ‘to roll’, the conjugation of which is similar to Form II of a triliteral. The two verbal nouns are unique: da˙raja or di˙raj. There are many examples of quadriliterals being derived from biliterals by reduplication, often involving onomatopoeia; e.g., tamtama ‘to stammer’ or ƒarƒara ‘to gargle’. Besides this, quadriliterals often denote multiplicative events (event-internal verbal plurality); e.g., rafrafa ‘to flutter’, zalzala ‘to shake, to rock’. There are also denominatives; e.g., ¿awlama ‘to globalize’ and xaßxaßa ~ xawßaßa ‘to privatize’. There are also examples of triradical root expansion; e.g., xaraqa § xarqala ‘to cross the desert’. 4.6. The unorthodox verb Several verbs are highly irregular or unorthodox (Haywood and Nahmad’s term 1962: 268; Badawi, Carter, and Gully 2004: 75 call them “anomalous”). They are: The verb laysa ‘not to be’, which is conjugated as follows: lastu ‘I am not’, lasta, lasti ‘you are not (masc., fem.)’, laysa ‘he is not’, laysat ‘she is not’, lasna ‘we are not’, lastum ‘you are not (masc. pl.)’, lastunna ‘you are not (fem. pl.)’, laysu ‘they are not (masc.)’, lasna ‘they are not (fem.)’. The 32. There are phonotactic restrictions; for example, no root consists of three glottal stops or w’s, but there is yayya ‘to write a beautiful letter ya?’, the root of which is yyy (Haywood and Nahmad 1962: 251). 33. When talking of Semitic roots, the term quadriradical is synonymous with quadriliteral; triradical = triliteral, and so on. Of course, one can make a distinction if speaking of Semitic words: mifta˙ ‘key’ is quadriliteral (i.e., mft˙), but its root is triradical (i.e., ft˙ ‘to open’). 34. There are no quinquiliteral verbal roots—only nominal ones, such as ¿ankabut ‘spider’ or ¿andalib ‘nightingale’.

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dual forms are: lastuma (2nd masc. and fem.), laysa (3rd masc.), and laysata (3rd fem.). An anomaly of this verb is that it is perfective in form, yet its time reference is not past, going hand in hand with a syntactic peculiarity, namely, that the predicative noun of laysa is either in the acc. or in the gen. with the prep. bi- ‘in’. Thus, ‘I am not a teacher’ (masc.) is lastu mu¿allim(an) or lastu bimu¿allim(in) (with the acc. and gen. case markers, respectively, being deleted in pause). The verbs ni¿ma ‘to be good’ and bi?sa ‘to be bad’, resembling laysa, occur only in the pf., but have an impf. meaning. In addition, they occur only in the third persons. There is an important parallel between laysa and the verb kana ‘to be’, impf. yakunu, and its so-called sisters. Like laysa, they govern a predicative noun in the acc. case. Thus, ‘I was a teacher’ (masc.) is kuntu mu¿alliman. Some other verbs belonging to this class are (the following “sisters”): baqiya ‘to remain’, dama ‘to last; continue’, zala ‘to cease’, and ßara, ?aßba˙a, ?amsa, etc. ‘to become’. 5. The semantics of the derived forms of the verb As has been noted previously, the Arabic verbal system is more regular than its nominal system, although the semantics of the verbal system do not attain an ideal, complete predictability. Holes (1995: 82) has examined a large corpus of literary texts containing 3,127 different verbs. Of the 474 commonest verbs, about half were Form I, with the other half being distributed among the other Forms. It must be noted that the major uses of the Forms which follow are just that, and many verbs do not easily fit into these taxonomies. Form II verbs fit into four basic categories: 1. intensive or repeated (or iterative) action; e.g., qattala ‘to massacre’; 2. causative; e.g., ¿allama ‘to teach’ (i.e., ‘cause to learn’); sarrafa ‘to honor’ (i.e., ‘cause to be noble’); 3. believe something is the case (“estimative” or “ascriptive,” according to Holes [1995: 83]); e.g., kabbara ‘to praise’; ßaddaqa ‘to believe’ (‘ascribe truth’); 4. delocutive; e.g., kabbara ‘to say ?allahu ?akbar “God is great”’ (Badawi, Carter and Gully 2004: 60); 5. factitive; e.g., saƒƒala ‘to employ’ (i.e., to make someone masƒul ‘busy’). Holes (1995: 83) also points out the denominative use of Form II, used heavily in MSA, which is related to the fact that Form II makes intransitive verbs transitive: ¿aqqama ‘sterilize’ ∞ ¿aqama ‘be sterile’ and ¿a/uqm ~ ¿aqam ‘sterility’; qa††ara ‘to distill’ ∞ qa†ara ‘to drip’ and qa†ra ‘drop’. Consider as an example of an intransitive verb becoming transitive the following: mata ‘to die’ and mawwata ‘to kill’; also sami¿a ‘to hear’ and samma¿a ‘to make/let hear’. Adrian Måcelaru (pers. comm.) notes that Form II can also be used as a transitivizer with transitives as long as these latter do not

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have in their lexical schema a CAUSE predicate; e.g., kataba ‘to write’ § kattaba ‘to make someone write’. See also 1. Form III verbs involve: (1) endeavoring to do something; e.g., qatala ‘to try to kill’ or ‘to fight with’, and (2) applying an action or quality towards someone (hence the idea of reciprocity); e.g., kataba ‘to write to; to correspond’. Holes (1995: 83) mentions ¿amila ‘to do’ versus ¿amala ‘to treat’; qabila ‘to receive; move forward’ and qabala ‘to meet’, and masa ‘to go; walk’ and masa ‘to keep up with’. It is noteworthy that in Proto-Afroasiatic, Form III was intensive and a variant of Form II (see Watson 2002: 138, quoting Andrzej Zaborski), although this view is not universally accepted by specialists. Form IV is the causative par excellence, although not all Form IV verbs are causative: e.g., ?afla˙a ‘to succeed, be successful’, ?aÎraba ‘to go on strike’, or ?aqbala ‘to approach’; ?a¿lama ‘to inform’, i.e., ‘to cause to know’; ?akDaba ‘to cause to lie’; ?afra˙a ‘to gladden’, i.e., ‘to cause to be happy’. For a few roots, Form II causatives = Form IV ones with little or no difference in meaning: xabbara ~ ?axbara ‘to notify’. Often, there are slightly different nuances to the causative nature of Form II and Form IV; e.g., from ßalu˙a ‘to be sound/healthy’, ßalla˙a (II) means ‘to fix, repair’, while ?aßla˙a (IV) designates ‘to reform, improve’. Form IV also has the meaning of believing something is the case: ?akDaba ‘to call someone a liar’. Holes (1995: 84) points out inchoative denominatives: ?am†ara ‘to rain’ ∞ ma†ar ‘rain’. Other verbs, such as ?abxala ‘to find someone stingy’ (∞ baxil ‘stingy’), are similar to Form II estimatives. Form V has the basic meaning of entering a state dictated by the meaning of Form II of the same root, i.e., its reflexive, such as ta¿allama ‘to become learned, to learn’, or ta˙assana ‘to improve, to become better’. Holes (1995: 84) also suggests “an additional overtone of potentiality,” so from kassara ‘to smash’, one can derive takassara ‘to be smashed/smashable’. A typical root which displays the default semantic settings may be seen in xaffa ‘to be light’, xaffafa ‘to lighten’, and taxaffafa ‘to unburden oneself’. Form VI is generally the reflexive of Form III and often involves a reciprocal action, such as taqatala ‘to fight with someone’ (∞ qatala ‘to kill’) and takataba ‘to correspond’ (∞ kataba ‘to write’). It may also involve a pretense or simulative meaning; e.g., tasaƒala ‘to pretend to be busy’ (∞ saƒala ‘to occupy, busy somebody with’); tamaraÎa ‘to pretend to be sick’ (∞ mariÎa ‘to be[come] sick’); tajahala ‘to feign ignorance’ (∞ jahila ‘to be[come] ignorant’) and taD8 ahara ‘to pretend’ (∞ D8 ahara ‘to be[come] visible’). For some roots, there is a durative meaning; e.g., tasaqa†a ‘to fall continuously’ (∞ saqa†a ‘to fall’). As is true with almost all the derived forms, there is sometimes just a simple action expressed; e.g., taTa?aba ‘to yawn’. The latter type is impossible to predict. Form VII is often the passive or reflexive of Form I; e.g., kasara ‘to break’ versus ?inkasara ‘to be(come) broken’. Consider ?inkasarat saquhu ‘he broke his leg’ or ‘his leg broke/was broken’. Form VII is formed by prefixing an n- to Form I, which, it should be remembered, requires an ?i- before it via automatic morphophonological rules. Another example is qalaba ‘to

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overturn’ and ?inqalaba ‘to become overturned’; qa†a¿a ‘to cut’ versus ?inqa†a¿a ‘to end’; qala ‘to say’ versus ?inqala ‘to be said’. It is this form which becomes widespread as the passive par excellence in colloquial Arabic dials.; e.g., ECA wilid ‘to give birth’ and ?itwalad ‘to be born’. It is important to note the difference between a Form I passive futi˙a ‘to be opened’ and its corresponding Form VII ?infata˙a ‘to be opened’. The latter does not imply that there is an agent, being neutral in this respect. 35 Verbs with semi-vowel or liquid C1 do not have this Form due to phonological constraints. They often resort to internal passives or must employ Form VIII. Form VIII is made by infixing a -t- (or -ta-) in between C1 and C2. Since C1 has no vowel, it must be preceded by /?i/. Form VIII is often the reflexive of Form I; however, with some verbs there is little or no difference between Forms I and VIII; e.g., Form I sara ‘to buy’ (Wehr 1974: 470, admittedly rare) and Form VIII ?istara ‘to buy’. A more typical case, however, is saƒala ‘to be busy’ versus ?istaƒala ‘to be occupied; to be kept busy’ (= also Form VII ?insaƒala [Wehr 1974: 476]). If C1 is /d/, /D/, or /z/, the -t- > -d- via assimilation; ?izdada ‘to increase (intr.)’ < *?iztada. If C1 is one of the emphatics /ß/, /Î/, and /†/, the infix assimilates to an emphatic /†/; e.g., †ala¿a ‘to ascend’ but ?i††ala¿a ¿ala ‘to have knowledge of, to become cognizant or aware of’. First radical waw roots assimilate to the infix; e.g., wakala ‘to entrust’ but ?ittakala ¿ala ‘to rely on’. Many other examples of this assimilatory process could easily be listed. Note that Sanºani Arabic uses Form VIII to generate passives (also occurs in CA and MSA in prepositional constructions); e.g., ba¿ ‘to sell’, bta¿ ‘to be sold’ (Watson 2002: 134 and Retsö 1983: 79 and passim). Furthermore, it is relatively rare in Cairene (Watson 2002: 134) Form IX is the verbal form designating processes related to adjectives which denote colors and defects, such as ?a˙maru ‘red’ and ?i˙marra ‘to be(come)/go red, to blush’ or ?a¿waju ‘bent, crooked, twisted’ and ?i¿wajja ‘to be(come) bent’. There is a striking similarity between Form IX verbs and quadriliterals in which C3 is geminated, such as †am?ana ‘to reassure’ and ?i†ma?anna ‘to be tranquil’. Form X prefixes ?ista- to the root, thereby making C1 vowelless. It is often the reflexive of Form IV; e.g., ?a¿lama ‘to inform’ and ?ista¿lama ‘to inquire’. It also has the meaning of asking someone to do something; e.g., ?istaktaba ‘to ask someone to write’. Further, it has a considerative meaning; e.g., ˙asuna ‘to be good’ and ?ista˙sana ‘to consider good, to approve’ or ?aDina ‘to permit’ versus ?ista?Dana ‘to ask permission’. It can also express inchoativity; e.g., ista˙jara ‘to petrify’ (intransitive). 35. Retsö (1983: 29) disagreeing with the standard viewpoint asserts: “Since there exists no systematic investigation of this, it cannot be determined to what extent the t-nforms are exchangeable with majhul forms in passive constructions; but it is clear that they are so in many cases and that the distinction between them in such cases is purely artificial.” According to Restö (pers. comm.), “futi˙a is used in passive constructions only whereas infata˙a is found (as a rule) with process verbs with non-agentive inanimate subjects; e.g., infajara ‘to explode’ and infata˙a ‘to open (by itself)’.”

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5.1. Passive verbs Form I and the derived forms, with the exceptions of Forms VII and IX, have passives. In the pf., the vowel sequence is /u/ followed by /i/ and /a/. Using the root ktb ‘to write’, we thus note kutiba ‘to be written’. Form II, passive, third person sg., would yield kuttiba; Form III: kutiba; Form IV: ?uktiba; Form V: tukuttiba; Form VI: tukutiba; Form VIII ?uktutiba; Form X: ?ustuktiba. Impf. passives normally have the vowel sequence /u/ for the personal prefix and /a/ or /a/. Form I: yuktabu; Form II: yukattabu; Form III: yukatabu; Form IV: yuktabu; Form V: yutakattabu; Form VI: yutakatabu; Form VIII: yuktatabu; Form X: yustaktabu. Cf. table 1 for parallel forms. The internal passive (e.g., kutiba) has disappeared in most contemporary Arabic dials.; however, it survives in the dials. of the Arabian peninsula and in some Saharan ones (Ingham 1997: 27): Najdi Arabic sarag ‘he robbed’ versus srig ~ sirj ‘he was robbed’. Cf. sam¿ ‘he heard’ versus simi¿ ‘it (masc.) was heard’. Ingham (ibid.) notes further that “in the related dialects of the Gulf and Southern Iraq it remains either as relic forms or in a much reduced condition . . . [and in the] . . . speech of Gulf groups with strong central Arabian connotations such as the bedouin and some others show the internal passive more fully.” It is interesting to note that in Sanºani Arabic, the internal passive is more common in the impf. than the pf. (see Watson 2002: 133 n. 7). 6. The nominal system Let us now consider the noun and the adjective, which resemble each other in many ways and have the same inflections. Thus, the adjective kabir ‘big, old’ also means ‘old man’, a noun. Among the patterns for adjectives, in addition to CaCiC, are the following: CaCaC (˙asan ‘good’) and CaCiC (kaDib ‘lying’). See 6.10 and 6.14. There is no distinct part of speech called adverb. However, it is possible to consider words such as ba¿du ‘afterwards’, qablu ‘before’, qa††u ‘ever’, etc. (which look like nouns in -u) as adverbials on which see further in 6.15. Wright (1967: 1.282–90) has a section called “adverbs,” but refers to them as “adverbial particles.” 6.1. The noun A noun is inflected for case, definiteness, gender, and number. 6.2. Case and definiteness CA and MSA have three cases: nom., gen., and acc. Thus kitabun ‘a book’ is the nom. indefinite; kitabin is gen., while kitaban is acc. The -n, known as nunation (tanwin in Arabic) is a redundant marking of what is usually translated as indefiniteness in English. 36 With the absence of the definite 36. The “non-bound” state of the noun in Akkadian is marked by -m, called mimation. Thus, sarru(m) can be ‘a/the king’. Also, as in Arabic, mimation drops in the construct state: sar matim ‘the king of the land’. This is paralleled by nunation in Arabic. Adrian

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article or pronominal suffix or in a construct state, the word kitab can only be indefinite. In pausal pronunciations, nouns with nom. and gen. case endings are pronounced without their endings, viz., as kitab, while the acc. is pronounced with a long a, viz., as kitaba. The definite article al- marks nouns and adjectives as definite; however, there are other conditions under which a noun can become definite: if it is the first noun in a construct phrase (also known as “construct state,” a special form of a head noun with a dependent genitive), it is definite without the presence of the definite article. Thus alkitabu ‘the book (nom.)’ is definite, as is kitabu lmalik(i) ‘the book of the king’ (*alkitabu lmalik[i] is ungrammatical). A noun with a suffixed pronoun is also definite by implication; e.g., kitabi ‘my book’. The l- 37 of the definite article assimilates before a noun beginning with an apical (= coronal) consonant, namely, t d T D s z † Î ß ˛ n l r s. Thus, we have attajir(u) ‘the merchant’ (nom.) and a††alib(u) ‘the student’ (nom.). 38 The assimilatory rule is known in virtually all Arabic dials. (Watson 2002: 217). It is this l- which is so obvious in Arabic loanwords in English (algebra, alchemy, alcohol, etc.), Spanish, Portuguese, etc. See Cannon and Kaye (1994) for the full list as well as an etymological analysis of the 2,000+ loanwords collected. There are morphophonemic alternations with weak roots. Thus, one notes qaÎin ‘a judge’ (< qÎy ‘to judge’) (nom.) and ‘a judge’ (gen.), but qaÎiyan ‘a judge’ (acc.). With the definite article, the declension is as follows: alqaÎi ‘the judge’ (nom.) and (gen.), but alqaÎiy(a) (acc.). Thus far, all the aforementioned nouns have taken the three case endings with nunation. These kinds of nouns are known as triptotes. However, there is another class of nouns, called diptotes, which do not take nunation Måcelaru (pers. comm.) informs me that mimation/nunation are better described as nondependency. Although there are remnants of case endings in other Semitic languages, Arabic , Akkadian, and Ugaritic are the only languages to preserve the Proto-Semitic system of the tripartite case system in -u, -a, and -i for nom., acc., and gen., respectively. Badawi, Carter, and Gully note that the original function of tanwin or nunation was not to mark indefiniteness, “but is now so interpreted” (2004: 96). This is not the theory of Chaim Rabin, however, who argues that nunation was a mark of indefiniteness from the very beginning (1951: 34–36). Moscati et al. (1964: 96) assert: “In Akkadian all nouns, whether definite or indefinite, have the ending -m (mimation) in the masculine singular and in the feminine singular and plural, the ending -n (nunation) in the dual, and neither mimation nor nunation in the masculine plural.” Concerning Ugaritic, they go on to say (1964: 97): “Ugaritic shows neither mimation nor nunation in the singular or in the feminine plural.” Further, I agree with Moscati et al. (1964: 96) that it is impossible to reconstruct Proto-Semitic forms for definiteness or indefiniteness. (This note has profited from discussions with Jonathan Owens and Gonzalo Rubio.) 37. The colloquial ?imbari˙ ‘yesterday’ has been considered by some a survival of mimation (< Old South Arabian). In my view, this is merely a result of regressive labial assimilation (cf. MSA albari˙a) where l § m/-b. 38. In Cairene, the l- also assimilates optionally before a velar stop. This happens more in allegro speech than in lento speech.

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(on which see 6.2.1), such as mißru 39 ‘Egypt’ in the nom., but mißra in the gen. and acc. (both subsumed under the cover term obl.). There are also invariable nouns which are not inflected; e.g., ¿aßan ‘stick’, which is ¿aßa in pause and al¿aßa in its definite form. 6.2.1. Diptotes Types of diptotic 40 nouns are presented in the following list, which is not exhaustive (Haywood and Nahmad 1952: 386–88): 1. Broken plurals of many types, such as wuzara?u ‘ministers’; marÎa ‘sick persons’ 41; mada?inu 42 ‘cities’ (cf. mudun[un] ‘cities’, a triptote); xanaziru ‘pigs’; yatama ‘orphans’; darahimu ‘dirhems’; ?asya?u ‘things’ 43 2. The following fem. forms: sawda?u ‘black’; ƒaÎba ‘angry’; Dikra ‘remembrance’; kubra ‘greatest’ 3. The masc. sg. elative and color-and-defect adjectives of the form ?a†walu ‘taller, tallest’; ?aswadu ‘black’ 4. Most proper names; e.g., farisu ‘Persia’; ?a˙madu ‘Ahmad’ (although some names can be both triptotic and diptotic, e.g., hindun ~ hindu ‘Hind’ [a female’s name]). Most foreign names are diptotic; e.g., barisu ‘Paris’. Note that mu˙ammad(un) ‘Muhammad’ literally means ‘a praised one’ in addition to being a proper name. Consider also the adjectival meaning of ˙asan(un) ‘good, nice’, etc. in addition to being a proper noun, and its diminutive ˙usayn ‘Hussein’ (‘little Hasan’). The last three examples are triptotes. Diptotes become triptotes if made definite in any way; e.g., fi lmada?ini ‘in the cities’ (gen.). 6.2.2. Summary of diptotic and triptotic declensions Diptote Indefinite (Masc. Sg.) ?aswadu ‘black’ (nom.) ?aswada ‘black’ (acc.) ?aswada ‘black’ (gen.) Plural sud(un)a (nom. common) sud(an) (acc. common) sud(in) (gen. common)

Fem. Sg. sawda?u ‘black’ (nom.) sawda?a ‘black’ (acc.) sawda?a ‘black’ (gen.)

39. It is possible to contrast this with mißrun ‘an Egypt’; e.g., ‘an Egypt of long ago’ (see Badawi, Carter, and Gully 2004: 96). 40. Bob Hoberman (pers. comm.) states that this could be stated in morphophonemic terms to include all words that have the suffixes -a?u and -a, including some sgs., such as ßa˙ra?u ‘desert’. If a noun ends with either of the two aforementioned which is part of the pattern but not analyzable as a suffix, then it is triptotic; e.g., sifa?[un] ‘cure’. Diptotes, which have only two endings, are marked with a superscript 2 in Wehr (1974)—an excellent system. 41. Since these types of words show no inflection at all, Stefan Weninger (pers. comm.) comments that we should call them monoptotes rather than diptotes. 42. The types CaCaCiCu and CaCaCiCu are quite common. 43. This is the only exception to the triptotic pattern ?aCCaC.

Arabic Morphology Diptote Definite (Masc. Sg.) al?aswadu ‘black’ (nom.) al?aswada ‘black’ (acc.) al?aswadi ‘black’ (gen.)

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Fem. Sg. assawda?u ‘black’ (nom.) assawda?a ‘black’ (acc.) assawda?i ‘black’ (gen.)

a. The pl. ‘black’ is triptotic. See 6.4 for forms such as kubrayat(un) ‘greatest’ (fem. pl.) and ˙amrawat(un) ‘red ones’ (fem. pl.).

The duals and pls. are regular (see triptotic declension below); e.g., ?aswadani (masc.) and sawdawani (fem.). Triptote Indefinite Masc. mu¿allimun ‘a teacher’ (nom.) mu¿alliman ‘a teacher’ (acc.) mu¿allimin ‘a teacher’ (gen.) mu¿allimani ‘two teachers’ (nom. dual) mu¿allimayni ‘two teachers’ (obl. dual) mu¿allimuna ‘teachers’ (nom. pl.) mu¿allimina ‘teachers’ (obl. pl.)

Fem. mu¿allimatun ‘a teacher’ (nom.) mu¿allimatan ‘a teacher’ (acc.) mu¿allimatin ‘a teacher’ (gen.) mu¿allimatani ‘two teachers’ (nom. dual) mu¿allimatayni ‘two teachers’ (obl. dual) mu¿allimatun ‘teachers’ (nom. pl.) mu¿allimatin ‘teachers’ (obl. pl.)

Triptote Definite Masc. almu¿allimu ‘a teacher’ (nom.) almu¿allima ‘a teacher’ (acc.) almu¿allimi ‘a teacher’ (gen.) almu¿allimani ‘two teachers’ (nom. dual) almu¿allimayni ‘two teachers’ (obl. dual) almu¿allimuna ‘teachers’ (nom. pl.) almu¿allimina ‘teachers’ (obl. pl.) almu¿allimina ‘teachers’ (obl. pl.)

Fem. almu¿allimatu ‘a teacher’ (nom.) almu¿allimata ‘a teacher’ (acc.) almu¿allimati ‘a teacher’ (gen.) almu¿allimatani ‘two teachers’ (nom. dual) almu¿allimatayni ‘two teachers’ (obl. dual) almu¿allimatu ‘teachers’ (nom. pl.) almu¿allimati ‘teachers’ (obl. pl.) almu¿allimati ‘teachers’ (obl. pl.)

Triptote Construct Masc. mu¿allimu ‘teacher of’ (nom.) mu¿allima ‘teacher of’ (acc.) mu¿allimi ‘teacher of’ (gen.) mu¿allima ‘two teachers of’ (nom.) mu¿allimay ‘two teachers of’ (obl.) mu¿allimu ‘teachers of’ (nom. pl.) mu¿allimi ‘teachers of’ (obl. pl.)

Fem. mu¿allimatu ‘teacher of’ (nom.) mu¿allimata ‘teacher of’ (acc.) mu¿allimati ‘teacher of’ (gen.) mu¿allimata ‘two teachers of’ (nom.) mu¿allimatay ‘two teachers of’ (obl.) mu¿allimatu ‘teachers of’ (nom. pl.) mu¿allimati ‘teachers of’ (obl. pl.)

6.3. Gender Arabic has two morphological gender categories: masc. and fem. Most fem. nouns are fem. in form (mu¿allim ‘male teacher’, and mu¿allima ‘female teacher’ [mu¿allimatun with the nom. case ending -un] and the fem. -t or -at [ta? marbu†a]). Two other endings are fem.: -a?u and -a; e.g., ßa˙ra?u ‘desert’ and Dikra ‘memory’. Some nouns are grammatically fem. without

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any overt marking; e.g., many body parts which occur in pairs—yad ‘hand’, rijl ‘foot’, etc.; words that indicate fem. beings; e.g., ¿ajuz ‘old woman’; the names of most countries and cities, and collective and broken pls. not referring to rational beings. Fem. nouns govern fem. concord in adjectives, demonstratives, relatives, pronouns, and verbs. Some nouns have either gender; e.g., suq ‘market’. 6.4. Number CA and MSA have three numbers: sg., dual, and pl. for nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs (Haywood and Nahmad 1952: 372–79). 44 The masc. sound pl. (nom.) is -una; 45 e.g., mu¿allimun ‘teacher’, pl. mu¿allimuna (nom.), obl. mu¿allimina. This ending may be added to the diminutives of proper names or of class names; e.g., ¿umayruna ‘little Omars’ and rujaylun ‘little man’, pl. rujayluna. It may also be added to participles that refer to male humans, e.g., mu?minuna ‘believers’; to profession forms, e.g., najjarun ‘carpenter’, pl. najjaruna; to relative (nisba) adjectives, e.g., mißriyyun, pl. mißriyyuna ‘Egyptian’ (there are exceptions); to elative adjectives of the form ?akbaru ‘greatest’, e.g., al?akbaruna (there is also a broken pl. possible: al?akabiru). Avi Shivtiel (pers. comm.) reminds me that some participles which turn into nouns take broken pls.: katibun ‘clerk’, pl. kuttabun; sakinun ‘inhabitant’, pl. sukkanun; and maktubun ‘letter’, pl. makatibu. According to Versteegh (1997: 83), “the sound pl. 46 is used almost exclusively for animate pls. and certain adjectives, as well as for the participles.” Although the broken pl. is more common than the sound pl., the following sound masc. pls. are common: banuna (also broken pl. ?abna?un) ‘sons’; ¿alamuna ‘worlds’; ?araÎuna ~ ?araÎatun ‘lands’ (rare; more common is broken pl. ?araÎin); ?ahluna ‘families’ (also broken pl. ?ahalin). Quite exceptionally, sanatun 47 ‘year’ takes a sound masc. pl. sinuna (also sound fem. pl., sanawatun). Many nouns have more than one pl., as one can see from the aforementioned examples, sometimes with a different meaning and somtimes without. The sound fem. pl. ending is -atun. It is used for: fem. proper names, e.g., hindun, pl. hindatun ‘Hinds’ (‘Hind’ is a female’s name); masc. proper names (exceptionally) ending in fem. -t (ta? marbu†a), e.g., †arafatu ‘Tarafa’, pl. †arafatun; many words ending in ta? marbu†a, e.g., ˙aratun ‘city quarters’; the fem. of adjectives whose masc. governs the sound masc. pl., e.g., katibatun ‘female writers’; certain fem. adjectives, e.g., kubrayatun ‘greatest’ or ˙amrawatun ‘red ones’; verbal nouns of the derived forms, e.g., (?)isti¿malatun ‘uses’ (from verbal nouns of Forms II and IV there are also broken pls. in use, e.g., taßwiratun ~ taßawiru ‘pictures’ 48); diminu44. There is also a singulative (nomen unitatis) for which see 6.7. 45. For the sake of accuracy, I use the nonpausal forms in this section. 46. “Sound” pl. has nothing to do with sounds of the language. Rather, sound means the stem remains to which a suffix is attached. “Broken” pl. involves an internal vocalic change, with or without an affix. I am indebted to Bernard Comrie (pers. comm.) for this as well as other comments. 47. This is paralleled by Biblical Hebrew sOnO(h), pl. sOnim ‘year’. 48. MSA has many parallel examples, such as masru¿ ‘project’, pl. masru¿at ~ masari¿u.

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tives denoting things and nonrational beings, e.g., kutayyibatun ‘booklets’ (wulaydatun ‘children’ is an exception); many foreign words, e.g., basawatun ‘pashas’. The dual is used with adjectives, verbs, pronouns, demonstratives, and relative pronouns. (The parentheses in this paragraph mark the deletion of the final vowel in pause.) The endings are -an(i) for the nom. masc. and -ayn(i) for the obl., and -atan(i) (nom. fem.) and -atayn(i) (obl.); e.g., kitabani ˙asanan(i) ‘two good books’ and mudarrisatani mumtazatan(i) ‘two outstanding teachers (fem.)’. In the construct state of the dual, the endings are -a and -ata for masc. and fem. nom., respectively, and -ay and -atay for masc. and fem. obl., respectively; e.g., kitaba lmudarris(i) ‘the two books of the teacher’. For the sound masc. and fem. pl., the endings are -u and -i for the masc. nom. and obl., respectively, and -atu and -ati for the fem. nom. and obl., respectively; e.g., mudarrisu mißr(a) ‘the teachers (masc.) of Egypt’ and mudarrisatu mißr(a) ‘the teachers (fem.) of Egypt’. 6.5. Broken plurals Arabic, along with Modern South Arabian and Ethiopic, has broken pls., and many see vestiges of this system in Biblical Hebrew. It is safe to say that most pls. of Arabic nouns and adjectives are broken. By this is meant a vowel gradation (Ablaut or Umlaut, such as English dive-dove, opaqueopacity, or man-men) type by which there is internal modification with or without an affix. It is possible to make some good guesses as to pls.; however, it is impossible to state that the pl. allomorphs are as predictable as those of English -s, -z, or -@z—far from it. I agree with Versteegh (1997: 84), who asserts: “Of all Semitic languages, Arabic exhibits the largest expansion of the system of broken plurals. . . . There are more than thirty-six patterns for plurals, and, while it is sometimes possible to guess which plural pattern belongs to which singular pattern, one is as often wrong as right.” Regarding the system as a whole, there is much literature. The reader is referred to Murtonen (1964), Corriente (1971), McCarthy and Prince (1990), Ratcliffe (1998a), Ratcliffe (1998b), and Kaye (1999). The most common patterns are (following Cowan 1958: 23–27): 1. ?aCCaC qalam ‘pen’, pl. ?aqlam suq ‘market’, pl. ?aswaq walad ‘boy’, pl. ?awlad 2. CuCuC sayf ‘sword’, pl. suyuf bayt ‘house’, pl. buyut qalb ‘heart’, pl. qulub Note at this point that a sg. may have two (or more) pls., each with a different meaning; e.g., ?amr ‘thing, matter; command’, pl. ?umur ‘things, matters’, but ?awamir ‘commands’. Also, bayt ‘house’, pl. buyut, but bayt

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‘verse of poetry’, pl. ?abyat. It is best to regard ?amr and bayt as distinct lexemes. 3. CuCuC kitab ‘book’, pl. kutub rasul ‘apostle’, pl. rusul †ariq ‘road’, pl. †uruq 4. CiCaC r≥ajul ‘man’, pl. rijal (colloquial Arabic dials. can be very different; cf. ECA r≥agil, pl. riggala) ba˙r ‘sea’, pl. bi˙ar jabal ‘mountain’, pl. jibal 5. ?aCCuC ¿ayn ‘eye’, pl. ?a¿yuna rijl ‘foot’, pl. ?arjul sahr ‘month’, pl. ?ashur (?ashur is used when accompanying a numeral 3–10; suhur is used when unspecified) sahm ‘share’, pl. ?ashumb 6. CuCaCa?u xalifa ‘successor, Caliph’, pl. xulafa?u safir ‘ambassdor’, pl. sufara?u mudir ‘director’, pl. mudara?uc 7. ?aCCiCa?u qarib ‘relative’, pl. ?aqriba?u ßadiq ‘friend’, pl. ?aßdiqa?u ƒaniy ‘rich’, pl. ?aƒniya?u 8. CuCCan faris ‘horseman’, pl. fursan qaÎib ‘rod; rail’, pl. quÎban suja¿ ‘brave’, pl. suj¿an a. There are many nouns with two or more pl. variants without any difference in meaning. Thus, ¿ayn has another pl.: ¿uyun. However, there is also the type represented by pl. ?a¿yan ‘important people’. b. The pl. siham has another meaning, viz., ‘arrows, pointers, cosines (math.)’. c. This diptotic pl. refers only to the masc. There are also sound pls. of mudir(a) ‘director’, viz., mudirun(a) and mudirat(un) respectively.

From quadriradical roots or triradicals with an affix, the following are the most common types (9, 10, and 11): 9. CaCaCiCu maktab ‘office’, pl. makatibu jadwal ‘list, stream’, pl. jadawilu tajriba ‘trial, experiment’, pl. tajaribu From words of four radicals designating persons, we note the following type:

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10. CaCaCiCa tilmiD ‘pupil’, pl. talamiDa (also talamiDu) ?ustaD ‘professor’, pl. ?asatiDa duktur ‘doctor’, pl. dakatira From quadriradical roots or triradicals with an affix containing a long vowel (with few exceptions), the pl. is of the following type: 11. CaCaCiCu ßunduq (also ßanduq) ‘box, chest’, pl. ßanadiqu majnun ‘crazy’, pl. majaninu fanus ‘lamp’, pl. fawanisu Appendix I of Cowan (1958: 200–202) lists 30 broken pl. types with examples of each. Some of these are rare and are used especially in poetry; e.g., the type CaCC as in ßa˙b ‘friends’ or tajr ‘merchants’. Far more common in MSA are ?aß˙ab (sg. ßa˙ib) and tujjar (sg. tajir) respectively. The word sariq ‘thief’ has sound pls. (sariqun and sariqat) and three broken pls.: saraqa, surraq, and sawariqu, all of which contribute to making a description cumbersome. Note that some broken pls. are suppletive; e.g., (?)imra?t(un) ‘woman’, nisa?(un) ~ niswan(un) ~ niswat(un) ‘women’. Cowan (1958: 26) also refers the reader to Wright (1967: 1.199–233) for a more comprehensive survey. 6.6. Nominal patterns 6.6.1. CaCCaC for professions or occupations One of the most recognizable Semitic nominal patterns is CaCCaC for professions or occupations (also intensive meanings with respect to the verbal root); e.g., xabbaz ‘baker’ ∞ xubz ‘bread’, xayya† ‘tailor’ ∞ xa†a ‘to sew’ and xay† ‘thread’, ˙arraT ‘plowman’ ∞ ˙araTa ‘to plow’, and ßarraf ‘moneychanger’ ∞ ßarafa ‘to circulate (money)’. To appreciate the nuances of the intensive meanings, consider ?akkal ‘glutton’ (i.e., ‘one who eats a lot’) ∞ ?akala ‘to eat’ and kaDDab ‘big liar’ (i.e., ‘habitual liar’) ∞ kaDaba ‘to lie’. The latter two terms may be viewed as professions, only without salary. In MSA, this pattern plus fem. -a can be used as a free variant of the pattern (although this is not a productive formation); e.g., ra˙˙al ~ ra˙˙ala ‘great traveler’ or ¿allam ~ ¿allama ‘great scholar’. However, this very pattern has also been used for inanimate instrumental nouns or machines (see Wright 1967: 1.176 for CA formations); e.g., barrada ‘vessel for cooling water’; ˙arraqa ‘fire-ship’; dabbaba ‘tank’; †arrada ‘spear’; jarrara ‘tractor’; dabbasa ‘stapler’; xarrama ‘paper-punch’; sayyara ‘car’ (lit., ‘[the machine that] goes’); and Tallaja ‘refrigerator’. 49 49. Other nominal patterns with gemination of the second consonant express an intensive meaning, as in kurram ‘very noble’ (Watson 2002: 139 quoting Wolfdietrich Fischer). She also mentions Cairene ?atil ‘murderer; killer’ vs. ?attal ‘a hardened murderer’ (Watson 2002: 139). For MSA, Wehr (1974: 743) lists only ‘murderous; deadly; lethal’ for qattal = ECA ?attal.

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6.7. Nouns of instance The fem. -a may be added to some nouns to make them sg. or nomina unitatis (nouns of one instance); e.g., Îarba ‘a blow’ and Îarb ‘hitting’. Consider also: sajara ‘a/one tree’ ∞ sajar ‘trees’ (collective); samaka ‘a/one fish’ ∞ samak ‘fish (in general)’ (collective), and tamra ‘a/one date’ ∞ tamr ‘dates’ (collective). The broken pl. ?asjar means ‘kinds of trees’ and ?asmak ‘species of fish(es)’. There is also the pattern CiCCa meaning a small piece of something (Wright 1967: 1.175); e.g., qi†¿a ‘a piece’; firqa ‘a sect’; ˙ißßa ‘a portion’; ˙i††a ‘a piece of land’. There seems to be an assimilatory rule producing CuCCa in words containing bilabials; e.g., qubÎa ‘a handful’; luqma ‘a morsel’; and bul¿a ‘a gulp’. 6.8. Nouns of place and time An m- prefix marks nouns of place and time. The patterns are: maCCaC, maCCiC, and maCCaCa. Thus, we have words like maktab ‘desk, office’ (both are places for writing, and it should be recalled that the meaning of the root ktb is ‘write’) and maktaba ‘library, bookstore’ (i.e., places for writings to be stored). We also note from the root ßn¿ ‘to make’, maßna¿ ‘factory’, and from jls ‘to sit’, there is majlis ‘parliament, council’ (i.e., a place where one sits). Consider also manzil ‘house’ pl., manazilu ∞ nazala ‘to alight’; however, manzila, pl. manazil is more opaque: ‘degree, grade, rank, position, status, standing, dignity’. Illustrating nouns of time, we have maƒrib ‘sunset’ ∞ ƒaraba ‘to set’ (but also ‘place of sunset’; ‘west’ or ‘occident’) and maw¿id ‘appointment’ (lit., ‘time of promise’ ∞ w¿d ‘to promise’). The reader should note the allomorph miCCal, 50 especially from roots beginning with w or y: mi¿ad ‘appointment’ (∞ w¿d ‘to promise’) and milad ‘birth’ (∞ wld ‘to give birth to’). Some words in this category, e.g., mußallan ‘place for prayer’, are derived forms identical with a Form IV passive participle. 6.9. Nouns of instrument There are three common patterns for nouns of instrument: miCCaC, miCCaC, and miCCaCa. Thus, we have the noun mibrad ‘file’ ∞ brd ‘to file’, mifta˙ ‘key’ ∞ ft˙ ‘to open’, miknasa ‘broom’ ∞ kns ‘to sweep’. In ECA, the MSA mikwan ‘iron (for clothes)’ is pronounced makwa (with the loss of -n), and the MSA mirwa˙a ‘fan (for moving air)’ is pronounced marwa˙a in ECA, both, in all likelihood, due to assimilation. 6.9.1. Vessels and implements according to the pattern CiCaC Wright (1967: 1.175) lists the following: wi¿a? ‘a vessel’; ˙ilab ‘a milk-pail’; siqa? ‘a water skin’; libas ‘a garment’. 50. This pattern is an intensive one as well; for example, from ßdq ‘to tell the truth’, we note mißdaq ‘very truthful’, and from zwj ‘to marry’, one notes mizwaj ‘someone who marries often’.

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6.10. Nouns and adjectives of states and qualities The following patterns can be related to stative or inchoative verbs (see Holes 1995: 129): CaCC ßa¿b ‘difficult’ ∞ ßa¿uba ‘to be difficult’ CaCaC ˙asan ‘good’ ∞ ˙asuna ‘to be good’ CaCiC fari˙ ‘happy’ ∞ fari˙a ‘to be happy’ CuCC ßulb ‘solid’ ∞ ßalu/iba ‘to be solid’ CaCaC jaban ‘coward(ly)’ ∞ jabuna ‘to be a coward’ CuCaC suja¿ ‘brave’ ∞ saju¿a ‘to be brave’ CaCiC kabir ‘big; old’ ∞ kabura ‘to be(come) big’, but kabara ‘to be old(er)’ CaCul ?akul ‘glutton’ ∞ ?akala ‘to eat’ CaCCan sakran ‘drunk’ ∞ sakira ‘to be drunk’ ?aCCaC ?aswad ‘black’ ∞ (?)iswadda ‘to be(come) black’ 6.10.1. Maladies according to the pattern CuCaC Wright (1967: 1.175–76) lists ‘maladies’ according to the pattern CuCaC: ˙umam ‘a fever’; zukam ‘a cold’; ßuda¿ ‘a headache’; kubad ‘liver disease’; and su¿al ‘a cough’. 6.11. The patterns CaCiC and CaCCan The pattern CaCiC is (more or less) equivalent to a passive participle; e.g., qatil ‘killed (one)’ = maqtul, or jari˙ = majru˙ ‘wounded (one)’. In MSA, the CaCCan adjective is derived mainly from CaCiCa intr. verbs; ¿a†sanu ‘thirsty’ (= ¿a†is) ∞ ¿a†isa ‘to be(come) thirsty’, ƒaÎbanu ‘angry’ ( = ƒaÎib) ∞ ƒaÎiba ‘to be(come) angry’. In Cairene and Sanºani, there are several adjectives of this pattern; e.g., ta¿ban ‘tired’ (Watson 2002: 136, and nn. 34–35). ECA has only ta¿ban ‘tired; sick’—not ta¿ib, a CA/MSA form. 6.12. Elative Elative is a cover term used in Arabic linguistics for the comparative and superlative. The pattern ?aCCaC, as in ?aswad ‘black’, in addition to being the pattern for colors and defects in general, is also the form for the elative. The masc. form ?aCCaC has a fem. CuCCa. Thus, ?akbaru ‘bigger, biggest’ has as its fem. counterpart kubra. One of the best-known examples of the elative occurs in the Muslim call to prayer: ?allahu ?akbar ‘God is (incomparably) great’. There are masc. and fem. pl. forms, but these are very rare. They are: ?akabiru (masc.) and kubrayatun ~ kubaru (fem.). From doubled roots, the forms have a geminated third radical: ?ajaddu ‘newer’, related to jadid ‘new’, and ?aqallu ‘fewer, less’, related to qalil ‘little’. The word ?awwalu ‘first’ is also elative in form; cf., however, ?awwalan ‘firstly’. The nouns xayr and sarr, ‘good’ and ‘evil’ respectively, do not have elative forms and are used as elatives (xayr/sarr min ‘better/worse than’). 51 51. Post-CA has, via analogy, ?axyaru and ?asarru respectively.

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6.13. Diminutive A diminutive can be formed from almost any noun. In addition to expressing smallness, it may also be used to indicate contempt. From triradicals, the basic form is CuCayC. If quadriradical or more, the form is CuCayCiC. Consider the following examples: kalb ‘dog’ § kulayb ‘puppy’; rajul ‘man’ § rujayl ‘little man’; bab ‘door, gate’ § buwayb ‘little door, gate’; kitab ‘book’ § kutayyib 52 ‘booklet’. The fem. ending remains in words such as sajara ‘tree’ § sujayra ‘little tree’. In fem. nouns which are not overtly marked, the fem. marker appears in the diminutive; e.g., sams ‘sun’ § sumaysa ‘little sun’. Quinquiradicals usually lose the last consonant; e.g., ¿andalib ‘nightingale’ § ¿unaydilu ‘little nightingale’ and ¿ankabut ‘spider’ § ¿unaykibu ‘little spider’. 53 One should note qubayla ‘a little before’ ∞ qabla ‘before’ and bu¿ayda ‘a little after’ ∞ ba¿da ‘after’. A diminutive can become lexicalized in its own right; e.g., ba˙r ‘sea’ § bu˙ayra ‘lake’; jubayl ‘hill’ ∞ jabal ‘mountain’; sujayra ‘bush; shrub’ ∞ sajara ‘tree’. 6.14. Nisba (relational adjective) The most common Arabic affix borrowed by English is the ending -y ([i]), as in Iraq-Iraqi, Kuwait-Kuwaiti. In MSA, the forms are al-¿iraq, ¿iraqi, alkuwayt, kuwayti respectively. This ending -i, fem. -iyya, is called the nisba (‘relationship’). It indicates membership in a group or class. Thus, as a typical example, consider malaki ‘royal’ ∞ malik ‘king’. Also from qawm ‘nation’, one can form qawmi ‘national’ and qawmiyya ‘nationalism’. Further, consider jaww ‘air’ and jawwi ‘aerial’; sams ‘sun’ and samsi ‘solar’; ¿ilm ‘science’ and ¿ilmi ‘scientific’; ¿aql ‘intellect’ and ¿aqli ‘intellectual’; sar¿ ‘law’ and sar¿i ‘legal’; and ?arÎ ‘earth’ and ?arÎi ‘earthly’. Two variations of -i are common. They are -awi (tanmawi ‘developmental’ ∞ tanmiya ‘development’) and -awi (ma?sawi ‘tragic’ ∞ ma?sah ‘tragedy’) (see Badawi, Carter, and Gully 2004: 55). The -w- is, however, part of the root. There are several irregular nisba adjectives; e.g., qurasi ‘a member of the tribe of Quraysh’; and madani ‘civil’ ∞ madina ‘city’. 6.15. Adverbials Since Arabic does not have a part of speech ‘adverb’ per se (see 6), I follow Badawi, Carter, and Gully (2004: 56) in positing a class known as adverbials. They state that “the following are now more or less fossilized equivalents of Western ‘adverbs’ . . .”: ?abadan ‘ever; never’; ?ayÎan ‘also’; yawman ‘daily’; da?iman ‘always’; mu†laqan ‘absolutely’; jiddan ‘very’; jami¿an ‘wholly’; xaßßatan ‘specially’; sari¿an ‘swiftly’; and ba†i?an ‘slowly’. The words fi¿lan ‘indeed’ and ˙aqiqatan ‘really’ may also be added (also bi lfi¿l 52. There is no MSA diminutive kutayb ‘booklet’, as far as I know. On the allomorph CuCayyiC, see Wright (1967: 1.167), who lists ƒulayyim ‘youth’ and ƒuzayyil ‘a fawn’, with cognates in Aramaic and Hebrew. 53. Jean-François Prunet notes (pers. comm.) that it has been suggested that sonority and not position determines which consonant gets deleted.

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‘indeed’ and fi l˙aqiqa ‘really’ respectively, both of which are prepositional phrases which have become lexicalized). These are all nouns or adjectives in the indefinite acc.; however, a few with the definite article also occur: albattata ‘absolutely’ (with negatives), alyawma ‘today’, albari˙a ~ albari˙ata ‘yesterday’, etc. All of the aforementioned accs. belong to the general class of adverbial accs., which also include nisba adjectives, such as nisbiyyan ‘relatively’ and (?)iqtißadiyyan ‘economically’. There are also analogical formations, such as ma¿an ‘together’, ?awwalan ‘firstly’, etc. Several adverbials have a frozen -u, as has been previously mentioned; e.g., ba¿du ‘later’or min fawqu ‘above’ (see 6). Arabic also uses the so-called Semitic “cognate acc.” to form adverbials. This term refers to the verbal noun of the corresponding verb: rakaÎa rakÎan sari¿an ‘He ran a swift running’ = ‘He ran swiftly’. Finally, mention may be made of phrasal adverbials; e.g., bisur¿a ‘quickly’, lit., ‘with speed’. 6.16. Prepositions Badawi, Carter, and Gully (2004: 57) are quite right to distinguish “true” prepositions from “nouns with adverbial inflection.” Examples of the former are bi- and fi ‘in’, and min ‘from’. The latter may be exemplified by ta˙ta ‘under’ and daxila ‘inside’. See Fischer (2002: 152) for a comprehensive list. Many of these can be combined with min ‘from’ or ?ila ‘to’; e.g., min ba¿di ‘after completion of’, etc. Prepositions are followed by the gen. case; e.g., fi lbayt(i) ‘in the house’. Some prepositions exhibit morphophonemic alternation; e.g., li- ‘to; for’ becomes la- before pronominal suffixes (e.g., lahu ‘to him’), and the stems of ¿ala ‘on’, ?ila ‘to’, etc. end with -ay (e.g., ¿alaykum ‘on you (masc. pl.)’ before pronominal suffixes. In CA, the conjunction wa- can also function as a preposition; e.g., sirna wannila ‘We travelled along the Nile’ (Fischer 2002: 175). 6.17. Compound and quasi-compound nouns 54 Badawi, Carter, and Gully (2004: 58) note that Arabic does not have many compounds. Among the most prominent are the numbers 13–19 (see 6.20) and a few place-names; e.g., bayt la˙m, lit., ‘the house of bread’ (based on Hebrew lE˙Em ‘bread’ and not Arabic la˙m ‘flesh’) = ‘Bethlehem’. Other examples include many with la ‘no(t)’: alla?adriyyuna ‘the sceptics’, lit., ‘the I don’t knows’; la?adriyya ‘agnosticism’; ?alla?ana ‘the non-ego’; lasilki ‘wireless, radio’; lasami ‘anti-Semitic’; lajinsiyya ‘statelessness’; ladini ‘irreligious’; allasu¿ur ‘unconsciousness’; lasay? ‘nonentity’; lamarkaziyya ‘decentralization’; lamas?uliyya ‘irresponsibility’; laniD8 am ‘confusion’; laniha?i ‘infinite’; lamubalah ~ lamubaliyya ‘indifference’; ra?sumal ‘capital’, lit., ‘the head of money’, pl. ru?us ?amwal; ra?sumali ‘capitalistic’; ¿arÎu l˙al ‘petition’, lit., ‘showing of the state’, etc. Some compounds are fusions; e.g., from bayna ‘between’ + Taqafi ‘cultural’, one fuses bayr≥aaqafi ‘intercultural’. 54. There are also compound adjectives (Cowan 1958: 44); e.g., qalilu l¿aql ‘stupid’, lit., ‘little of intelligence’. This looks like any other construct phrase, however.

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Quasi-compounds include ‘quasi-’ sibhu, ‘trans-’ ¿abra, and ‘-able’ qabilu. Examples include: sibhu jumla ‘quasi-sentence’; sibhu ˙arbi ‘semimilitary’; sibhu rasmi ‘semi-official’; munaD8 D8amatun ¿abra qawmiyya ‘transnational organizations’, and ƒayru qabilin littaksir ‘unbreakable’. Many of the aforementioned examples can be found in Badawi, Carter, and Gully (2004: 58–59). 6.18. Verbal noun (maßdar) The verbal noun (maßdar ‘source’) is frequently used and is often translated in English as a gerund. An illustration of its usage can be seen in the following: ?uridu DDahab(a) ‘I want to go’, lit., ‘I want the going’. The same thought may be expressed by using the subjunctive of Dahaba ‘to go’: ?uridu ?an ?aDhab(a), lit., ‘I want that I go’. Form I verbal noun patterns are not predictable. Badawi, Carter, and Gully (2004: 88) illustrate with the following: CaCC Îarb ‘striking’; qawl ‘saying’; ßayd ‘hunting’ CuCuC wußul ‘arriving’ CiCaCa kitaba ‘writing’ CiCa? sifa? ‘cure’ CaCaCan jarayan ‘running, flow’ (also jary ‘running’) They also mention that some verbs have more than one verbal noun. From laqiya ‘to meet’, four are cited: liqa?, luqyan, luqya, and luqan. Form II has four patterns, with taCCiC (e.g., ta¿lim ‘education, instruction’) being the most productive; Form III has two, and Forms IV–X each have one predictable pattern. These forms may be found in Haywood and Nahmad (1962) or Wright (1967: vol. 1). For some significant differences between CA and MSA and the colloquial dialects, see Rosenhouse (2004). 6.19. Agent and patient nouns Agent and patient nouns (or active and passive participles) are predictable for most derived Forms (see table 1 for the forms). 6.20. Numerals 55 The cardinal numbers 3–10 have masc. and fem. forms according to a system known as polarity. 56 Thus TalaTa ‘three’, which looks like a fem., is really masc., and TalaT looks masc. but is really fem. Thus, one says TalaTatu rijalin ‘three men’ but TalaTu banatin ‘three girls’. (One should note the gen. pl. concord.) However, most native speakers do not follow this usage in their spoken MSA, and the influence of the native colloquial dial. is the norm in speech. The cardinal numbers from 1–19 are presented in the tables on p. 241. The ordinal numbers are regular in that the fem. has -t from 1–10 (these work like normal adjectives; i.e., there is no polarity); see table on bottom p. 241. 55. I use number and numeral interchangeably for ease of presentation. 56. The feature of polarity (term invented by Carl Meinhof) is Proto-Semitic, and Hetzron (1967) has postulated its existence in Proto-Cushitic and Proto-Afroasiatic as well.

Arabic Morphology Masc. wa˙ida (?)iTnan(i)b TalaTa ?arba¿a xamsa sitta sab¿a Tamaniya tis¿a ¿asara

Fem. wa˙ida (?)iTnatan(i) ~ Tintan(i) TalaT ?arba¿ xams sitt sab¿ Taman(in) tis¿ ¿asr

a. When used substantively, the allomorph ?a˙ad (masc.) and ?i˙da (fem.) are used. b. The numeral for ‘two’ does not normally occur with a noun since the dual is used in that situation (contra Holes [1995: 173]). I have usually listed the pausal forms since Arabs count with the masc. cardinal numbers. The numeral for ‘two’ in counting (in colloquial Arabic) uses the obl. form.

Masc. ?a˙ada ¿asara (?)iTna ¿asaraa TalaTata ¿asara ?arba¿ata ¿asara xamsata ¿asara sittata ¿asara sab¿ata ¿asara Tamaniyata ¿asara tis¿ata ¿asara

Fem. ?i˙da ¿asrata (?)iTnata ¿asrata TalaTa ¿asrata ?arba¿a ¿asrata xamsa ¿asrata sitta ¿asrata sab¿a ¿asrata Tamaniya ¿asrata tis¿a ¿asrata

a. The obl. forms of 12 are: (?)iTnay ¿asara (masc.) and (?)iTnatay ¿asrata (fem.) respectively. The other numbers from 11–19 are indeclinable.

Masc. ?awwalu Tani(n)a TaliT rabi¿ xamis sadis sabi¿ Tamin tasi¿ ¿asir

Fem. ?ula Taniya TaliTa rabi¿a xamisa sadisa sabi¿a Tamina tasi¿a ¿asira

a. The ordinals from 1–10 and the unit component of 11–19 follow the active participle pattern: CaCiC. I realize it is inconsistent to write the tanwin here in Tanin (note that the root is Tny). Thanks to Bernard Comrie (pers. comm.) for his helping me clarify my description here.

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The ordinal numbers 11–19 are indeclinable (like the cardinals with the exception of 12). Masc. ˙adiya ¿asara Taniya ¿asara TaliTa ¿asara rabi¿a ¿asara xamisa ¿asara sadisa ¿asara sabi¿a ¿asara Tamina ¿asara tasi¿a ¿asara

Fem. ˙adiyata ¿asrata Taniyata ¿asrata TaliTata ¿asrata rabi¿ata ¿asrata xamisata ¿asrata sadisata ¿asrata sabi¿ata ¿asrata Taminata ¿asrata tasi¿ata ¿asrata

The numbers ‘one’ and ‘two’ are adjectives and follow the noun, agreeing with it in gender and number; e.g., rajul wa˙id ‘one man’ and bint wa˙ida ‘one girl’. 57 The cardinal numbers 11–19 display polarity in the digits, but the ‘teen’ part agrees with the noun; e.g., ¿asara ‘ten’ (masc.) and ¿asr ‘ten’ (fem.). These numbers are also indeclinable; e.g., TalaTata ¿asara ‘thirteen’ (masc.) and TalaTa ¿asrata ‘thirteen’ (fem.). The number ‘twenty’ is ¿isrun(a) (nom.) for the expected *¿asrun(a) (via assimilation to the high vowel in the second syllable), but all the other multiples of ten are the sound masc. pls. of the digits; e.g., ?arba¿un(a) ‘forty’, xamsun(a) ‘fifty’, etc. without any difference in gender. In general, the units come before the tens, and the noun counted follows in the acc. sg. indefinite. Different cases on the governed noun are used with different numbers; however, these are syntactic matters and will not be elaborated on here. The numeral system has been greatly simplified 58 in the colloquial dials., going hand in hand with the loss of final short vowels, the use of the obl. endings caused by the loss of the nom., in addition to a general reduction in inflectional categories. As illustrative of the development, consider the disappearance of the dual (except for some nouns, such as sahren ‘two months’), and the reduction of weak verbs (e.g., the merger of third radical w, y, and ? roots). 59 57. George Grigore (pers. comm.) reminds me of the fascinating development in Mardin Arabic (Turkey), namely, that we˙ad ‘one’ becomes the indefinite article with common gender; e.g., we˙ad bint ‘one/a girl’ and we˙ad walad ‘one/a boy’. CA and MSA do not have an indefinite article, but there are ways of expressing indefiniteness. This development in Mardin Arabic is the result of the superstrate languages of the area: Turkish and Kurdish. The parallels with Semitic (e.g., Amharic), Germanic and Romance are striking (e.g., German ein[e]; French un[e] ‘a, one’). 58. Although this is a diachronic matter not germane to the present discussion, the simplification of the numeral system is strong evidence of colloquial influence on MSA. 59. The reader may consult Kaye (1972b) and (1976) for further details on the differences between MSA and the colloquials, especially when viewed diachronically.

spread 12 points short

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7. Personal pronouns The following table lists the independent nom. personal pronouns and the pronominal suffixes (used in the obl. cases). The latter are identical in case marking, except in the first person sg. The pf. and impf. verbal markers are also listed for comparative purposes. Table 2. Personal pronouns Person

Independent Noun Suffixes

Perfect

Imperfect (Form I)

Sg. 1st common 2nd masc. 2nd fem. 3rd masc. 3rd fem.

?anaa ?anta ?anti huwa hiya

-ni (acc.), -i, -ya -ka -ki -hu (-hi[i])b -ha

-tu -ta -ti -a -at

?atata . . . ina yata-

Dual 2nd common 3rd masc. 3rd fem.

?antuma huma huma

-kuma -huma -huma

-tuma -a -ata

ta . . . ani ya . . . ani ta . . . ani

Pl. lst common 2nd masc. 2nd fem. 3rd masc. 3rd fem.

na˙nu ?antum ?antunna hum(u) hunna

-na -kum(u) -kunna -hum(u) -hunna

-na -tum(u) -tunna -u -na

nata . . . una ta . . . na ya . . . una ya . . . na

a. Actually, the long /a/ is an orthographic Aramaism. It is really a short /a/, which is confirmed by its usage in poetry and in Koranic tajwid. Thanks to Stefan Weninger for this information (pers. comm.). b. This is an allomorph which is conditioned by genitival usage, in which case an -i precedes.

The independent personal pronouns (table 2) express the subject of a nominal sentence; e.g., ?ana †alib ‘I am a student (masc.)’. The pronominal suffixes express the object of a transitive verb; e.g., Îarabtuka ‘I hit you’ (masc. sg.). The nom. personal pronouns ?ana, etc. are redundant before a verb, but may be used for emphasis; e.g., ?ana Îarabtuka ‘I hit you’ (masc. sg.). The -ka may also express the possessive pronoun ‘your’, as is true for the parallel forms in the table; e.g., kitabuka ‘your (masc. sg.) book’. It is only in the first person sg. that there are different allomorphs; e.g., Îarabani ‘he hit me’, but kitabi ‘my book’ and ¿aßaya ‘my stick’, dunyaya ‘my world’, ¿alayya ‘on me’. It is important to note such irregular forms as pl. mu¿allimiyya ‘my teachers’ (masc., all three cases), that is, the combination of sound pl. -in plus the first person sg. to give -iyya.

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The pan-Arabic colloquial independent pronouns have some differences from the MSA forms presented here; e.g., ‘we’ is ?i˙na, ‘you’ (common pl.) is ?intu(m), and so on. 7.1. Demonstrative pronouns Table 3. Demonstrative pronouns (from Yushmanov 1961: 31) MSA 1 haDa 2 haDihi 3 ha?ula?i 4 Dalika 5 tilka 6 ?ula?ika

Syrian hada hadi hadol

Egyptian da di dol

Iraqi Arabian haDa haDa ha(D)i haDi haDole (masc.) haDu haDenni (fem.) hadak dikha (ha)Dak haDak hadik dikha (ha)Di haDik hadolik dikhum(ma) haDolak haDuk

Moroccan had(a) had(i) hadum

Maltese dan din dawn

(ha)dak (ha)dik (ha)duk

dak dik dawk

The forms in table 3 above are glossed as follows: (1) ‘this’ (masc.), (2) ‘this’ (fem.), (3) ‘these’ (common), (4) ‘that’ (masc.), (5) ‘that’ (fem.), (6) ‘those’ (common). The duals do not survive in the modern spoken dials. The MSA forms are nom. haDan(i) for masc. and hatan(i) for fem. ‘these’, and Danik(a) and tanik(a) for masc. and fem. ‘those’, respectively. There are variant forms for the demonstratives which occur occasionally, especially in ECA. 7.2. Relative pronouns The relative pronouns ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘whom’, ‘that’ are expressed by the following series: allaDi masc. sg., allati fem. sg., allaDani masc. nom. dual ~ allaDayni (obl.), allatani fem. nom. dual ~ allatayni (obl.), and allaDina masc. pl., allawati fem. pl. Only the dual forms distinguish case. A variant of the latter form is allati. 60 Most of the dials. have greatly simplified the situation by using illi ~ alli as an all-purpose form. 7.3. Interrogative pronouns The most common interrogative pronouns are: man ‘who?’, ma(Da) ‘what?’, lima(Da) ‘why?’, ?ayna ‘where?’, kayfa ‘how?’, mata ‘when?’, and kam ‘how much/many?’. These are all indeclinable. 7.4. Reflexive The reflexive is expressed by nafs, lit., ‘soul’ plus the pronominal suffixes; e.g., ‘he killed himself’ = qatala nafsahu. Reflexivity can also be expressed by Forms VI and VIII. 8. Conjunctions According to Fischer (2002: 182), “the following may function sometimes as prepositions and at other times as conjunctions: li- ‘so that, in order to’, ˙atta ‘until, so that’, munDu ~ muD ‘since’, ladun, min ladun ‘since’.” The 60. I have not written the initial glottal stop for these forms, since it elides in noninitial position.

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following are used only as conjunctions: kay, li-kay ‘so that, in order to’, ˙ayTu ‘where, inasmuch as’. 9. Interjections Interjections include the vocative particles: ya and wa ‘Oh’; also the oath particles: hallahi ‘O God’ and (ya) ?ayyuha ‘Oh’. There are also interjections bemoaning misfortune: way and way˙a ‘woe’. Further information may be found in Fischer (2002: 182–84).

References Alkalesi, Yasin M. 2001 Modern Iraqi Arabic. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Badawi, Elsaid, Michael G. Carter, and Adrian Gully 2004 Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar. London and New York: Routledge. Bauer, Laurie 2003 Introducing Linguistic Morphology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Cannon, Garland, and Alan S. Kaye, collaborator 1994 The Arabic Contributions to the English Language. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Corriente, Federico 1971 Problemática de la pluralidad en semítico: El plural fracto. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Cowan, David 1958 An Introduction to Modern Literary Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fischer, Wolfdietrich 2002 A Grammar of Classical Arabic, trans. Jonathan Rodgers. 3rd revised ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. Fischer, Wolfdietrich, and Otto Jastrow, eds. 1980 Handbuch der arabischen Dialekte. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1950 The Patterning of Root Morphemes in Semitic. Word 6: 162–80. 1991 The Semitic ‘Intensive’ as Verbal Plurality. Pp. 577–87 in vol. 1 of Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of His Eighty-Fifth Birthday, ed. Alan S. Kaye. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Haeri, Niloofar 2003 Sacred Language, Ordinary People. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Harris, Zellig S. 1951 Structural Linguistics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Haywood, J. A., and H. M. Nahmad 1962 A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language. London and Bradford: Percy Lund, Humphries. Hetzron, Robert 1967 Agaw Numerals and Incongruence in Semitic. Journal of Semitic Studies 112/2: 169–97.

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Hinds, Martin, and El-Said Badawi 1986 A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic. Beirut: Librairie du Liban. Holes, Clive 1995 Modern Arabic: Structure, Functions and Varieties. London: Longman. Idrissi, Ali, John-François Prunet, and Renée Béland n.d. On the Mental Representation of Arabic Roots. Unpublished manuscript. Ingham, Bruce 1994 Najdi Arabic. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Kaye, Alan S. 1972a Arabic /ziim/: A Synchronic and Diachronic Study. In Linguistics 79: 31–72. 1972b Remarks on Diglossia in Arabic: Well-Defined vs. Ill-Defined. Linguistics 81: 32–48. 1976 Chadian and Sudanese Arabic in the Light of Comparative Arabic Dialectology. The Hague: Mouton. 1987 Arabic. Pp. 664–85 in The World’s Major Languages, ed. Bernard Comrie. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1994 Formal vs. Informal in Arabic: Diglossia, Triglossia, Tetraglossia, etc., Polyglossia-Multiglossia Viewed as a Continuum. Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik 27: 47–66. 1997 Arabic Phonology. Pp. 187–204 in Phonologies of Asia and Africa, ed., Alan S. Kaye. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. 1999 Review of Ratcliffe (1998a). Canadian Journal of Linguistics 44: 302–6. 2004 Review of Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology, ed. Joseph Shimron. Language 80: 290–91. 2005 Review of Sacred Language, Ordinary People, by Niloofar Haeri. Word 56 (1): 88–92. Kaye, Alan S., and Judith Rosenhouse 1997 Arabic Dialects and Maltese. Pp. 263–311 in The Semitic Languages, ed. Robert Hetzron. London: Routledge. Macdonald, John 1963 The Arabic Derived Verb Themes: A Study on Form and Meaning. The Islamic Quarterly 7/3–4: 96–116. 1966 New Thoughts on a Biliteral Origin for the Semitic Verb. The Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society 5: 63–85. McCarthy, John J. 1981 A Prosodic Theory of Nonconcatenative Morphology. Linguistic Inquiry 12: 373–418. McCarthy, John J., and Alan S. Prince 1990 Foot and Word in Prosodic Morphology: The Arabic Broken Plural. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 8: 209–83. Moscati, Sabatino, et al. 1964 An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages: Phonology and Morphology. Porta Linguarum Orientalium n.s. 6. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Mugdan, J. 1994 Morphological Units. Pp. 2543–53 in vol. 5 of The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, ed. R. E. Asher. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

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Murtonen, A. 1964 Broken Plurals. Leiden: Brill. Prunet, John-François 2006 External Evidence and the Semitic Root. Morphology 16/1: 41-67. Qafisheh, Hamdi A. 1992 Yemeni Arabic Reference Grammar. Kensington, MD: Dunwoody. 2000 Yemeni Arabic–English Dictionary. Chicago: NTC. Rabin, Chaim 1951 Ancient West-Arabian. London: Taylor’s. Ratcliffe, Robert R 1998a The ‘Broken’ Plural Problem in Arabic and Comparative Semitic. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1998b Defining Morphological Isoglosses: The ‘Broken’ Plural and Semitic Subclassification. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 57: 81–123. Retsö, Jan 1983 The Finite Passive Voice in Modern Arabic Dialects. Gothenburg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Rosenhouse, Judith 2004 On Verbal Nouns in Colloquial and Literary Arabic. Pp. 275–89 in Approaches to Arabic Dialects: A Collection of Articles Presented to Manfred Woidich on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday, ed. Martine Haak, Rudolf De Jong, and Kees Versteegh. Leiden: Brill. Rubio, Gonzalo 2005 Chasing the Semitic Root: The Skeleton in the Closet. Aula Orientalis 23: 45-63. Thornton, F. du Pré 1943 Elementary Arabic, ed. R. A. Nicholson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Versteegh, Kees 1997 The Arabic Language. New York: Columbia University Press. Wehr, Hans 1974 A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, ed. J Milton Cowan. Itahca: Spoken Language Services. Watson, Janet C. E. 2002 The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wright, William [1896–98] 1967 A Grammar of the Arabic Language. 2 vols. Repr. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Yushmanov, N. V. 1961 The Structure of the Arabic Language, trans. Moshe Perlmann. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Chapter 12

Moroccan Arabic Morphology Jeffrey Heath University of Michigan

1. Derivational ablaut There are few languages whose phonologies and morphologies are so richly intertwined as in Moroccan Colloquial Arabic (MCA), as I suggested in my essay on of Moroccan Arabic phonology (Heath 1997). This is because MCA has a rich system of derivational ablaut, each ablaut pattern taking an input stem and mapping it onto a template containing C positions (mostly as-yet unfilled) and pre-specified vowels. An example of a rigid template is Agentive CCCaC, which forces input stems of various shapes to fill out its four C positions, if necessary repeating (geminating) an internal C and/or adding a (probably) nonlexical semivowel. Thus nsa ‘forget’ has agentive nssay ‘forgetful one’. Other grammatical categories have more flexible templates than the agentive. The (nominal and adjectival) plural and the verbal noun are sensitive to the size and shape of the input stem, though once this input stem has been “classified” its ablaut derivations are predictable (except for some lexicalized forms). For example, the regular plurals of input (singular) nouns of various shapes are shown in (1), where “V” is any full vowel {i a u}. (1) a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k.

singular CC´C, C´CC CaC CuC CiC CCu CCi CCC-a CCC-i CCVC CCC´C CCCVC

plural CCuCa (less often CCaC, CCuC) CiC-an CwaC CyaC CCw-an (and other shapes) CCy-an (and other shapes) CCaCi CCaCa CCay(´)C CCaC(´)C CCaC(´)C (in pre-Saharan dialects CCaCiC)

An input ´ (schwa) is disregarded by the ablaut system, and an input short ü is only marginally relevant (its rounding feature is sometimes retained in some form in ablaut outputs). On the other hand, input full vowels (which reflect Classical Arabic diphthongs or long vowels) are definitely relevant to the selection of a plural pattern, though they are not carried over in their original form into the output. The main break is between the triliteral inputs (1a-d), each consisting of exactly three full segments (consonants and full vowels), and the longer inputs of (1g-k).

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Moreover, of the four triliteral patterns, only CwaC and CyaC can be unified (as CCaC), with the proviso that the input high vowel u or i is mapped directly onto the ablaut C2 position, becoming the homorganic semivowel. There is no way to integrate CiC-an or CCuCa into this CCaC pattern, so we have at least three productive triliteral plural patterns. These observations on nominal plurals and wider consideration of other morphological patterns force us to distinguish the following basic triliteral stem types, where “V” represents any full vowel and “v%” any short vowel: hollow CVC stems, weak CCV stems, geminate Cv%CxCx stems, and strong Cv% CC or CCv% C stems (with C2 distinct from C3). Examples are bir ‘(water) well’, dlu ‘bucket’, müxx ‘brain’ or ‘marrow’, and k´lb ‘dog’. The distinction between strong and geminate triliterals is not important for the nominal plural, which has an ablaut vowel intervening between C2 and C3, whether or not the two constitute a geminate cluster in the input. However, the strong/geminate distinction is crucial in verbal morphology. Strong triliteral verbs have a fixed shape CC´C or CCüC and a verbal noun CCiC (occasionally CCaC or CCuC), as in sk´t ~ sküt ‘be silent’ (verbal noun swkat). By contrast, if C2 = C3 we get a geminate triliteral verb C´CxCx or CüCxCx and a verbal noun C´CxCx-an or CüCxCx-an, as in s´mm ‘smell’ (verbal noun s´mm-an). Quadriliteral stems have four full segments, and the few stems with five segments are generally treated in the same way. We can see in (1g-k) that the plurals of all quadriliteral nouns begin with CCaC-. Whereas triliteral stems must be broken up into several subclasses with distinct morphological properties, quadriliterals are more uniform. It is useful to distinguish weak (V-final) from strong (C-final) stems for certain purposes, and verbs (often themselves derived by ablaut) of the shape C(´)CxCx´C have a slightly different verbal noun than do other quadriliteral verbs. However, there is a basic uniformity among quadriliteral stems. The plurals in (1g-k) all begin with CCaC, and contain at least one further segment. We can unify them under the formula CCaCX*, where X* denotes a variable tail consisting of one or two segments. There are, to be sure, formal challenges in getting the correct outputs. For example, in (1gh) we need a supplementary rule switching final i and a vowels in the X* tail, and (1g) shows that the input-to-template mapping rule transfers a stem-final input C3 onto X* rather than onto the C3 of CCVCX*, leaving a blank C3 that must be filled by a nonlexical semivowel. However, these complexities do not seriously undermine the uniform plural ablaut of quadriliteral stems. For a complete model of ablaut in the mainstream MCA dialect, see Heath (1987). 2. Categories The basic categories marked in MCA by affixation and/or ablaut are in (2). Parentheses around “÷” under a column heading indicate that the process is sometimes but not always involved. For fuller discussion of the syntax and semantics of these categories, see Caubet (1993) or Youssi (1992); nonfrancophone readers will find Harrell (1962) useful.

Moroccan Arabic Morphology (2) prefix a. nouns and adjectives Definite ÷ Feminine Plural Feminine Plural (of nouns) Elative (comparative adjective) b. verbal inflection aspect (Perfective/Imperfective) Imperfective subject agreement ÷ Perfective subject agreement pronominal Object Dative plus pronominal complement Durative ÷ Negative ÷ c. verbal derivation Passive ÷ Reciprocal ÷ Factitive-Causative d. nominalizations Active Participle (÷) Passive Participle ÷ Agentive Verbal Noun (÷)

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suffix

ablaut

÷ (÷) ÷

(÷) ÷ ÷

(÷) ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷

(÷)

÷ ÷ ÷ ÷

The (positive) imperative is expressed as the imperfective minus the latter’s usual second person subject prefix: bki! ‘weep!’ (t-bki ‘[that] you weep’) In comparison with Classical Arabic (CA), there is some trimming of verbal derivation. Gone are the CA case endings on nouns and the modal endings on imperfective verbs, both of which were expressed chiefly by word-final CA short vowels. CA verb forms III (imperfective -u-CaaCiC-), IV (-u-CCiC-), and X (-staCCiC-) have gone out of use; surviving vestiges have been folded into other, more broadly defined types. Another important simplification is the loss of the morphological dual, an important CA category (in nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbal agreement), now confined to a handful of high-frequency, commonly counted nouns like ‘time (instance)’, ‘day’, ‘month’, and ‘year’. The feminine plural category of CA is also largely gone, except in nominalized adjectives (l-kbir-at ‘the big ones [feminine]’) and some other nouns. In general, there has been a modest reduction in the inventory of inflectional and derivational categories. In the three following sections we illustrate the themes of formal renewal after disruptive phonetic attrition (‘eat’), consolidation of multiple morphological patterns into a simpler system (passive verbs), and the partial shift from morphological to analytic (phrasal) expression of certain categories (elative adjectives).

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3. ‘eat’ CA, which for present purposes can be taken as the proto-language, had a verb with perfective ?akal- and imperfective -?kul-. The CA glottal stop phoneme *? was dropped in MCA, as in other vernacular Arabics. CA stems, particularly verbs, that had the misfortune to have a glottal stop had to be reshaped to reintegrate themselves into acceptable MCA formal patterns. ‘Eat’ (CA root ÷?kl) and ‘take’ (CA ÷?xD) were the two major ?-initial verbs, and they have a basically parallel history in MCA (a few dialects lack reflexes of ÷?xD). Using ÷?kl as our focus, CA imperfectives like 3msg ya-?kul ‘he eats’ and 2msg ta-?kul ‘you eat’ were inherited as MCA y-akül ~ y-ak´l and t-akül ~ t-ak´l. (In both CA and MCA, one can argue about the location of the morpheme break.) Although these imperfective forms, with their stem-initial full a, do not fit into established MCA stem patterns, they have not been reshaped. Counting the a as part of the stem, -akül ~ -ak´l at least verges on regularity, since it has two consonants and one full vowel, and in this respect it stays within the bounds of triliteral decency. CA perfective ?akal-, as in 3msg ?akal-a ‘he ate’ and 1sg ?akal-tu ‘I ate’, was inherited initially as 3msg k´l and 1sg k´l-t. These forms are still preserved in some (chiefly Jewish) MCA dialects. While k´l is perfectly pronounceable, morphologically it is (along with reflexes of *?axaD- ‘take’) a unique and therefore anomalous “strong biliteral” stem. In most (Muslim) MCA dialects, the perfective paradigm has been reshaped either as kla, kli-t (weak triliteral), as kal, k´l-t (hollow triliteral), or as k´ll, k´ll-i-t (geminate triliteral). Such reshapings are striking evidence of the continuing “psychological reality” of these abstract formal patterns. They reveal the fragility of the core system of stem shapes, which requires three or four full segments and can be disrupted (temporarily) by low-level phonetic processes. But they also show how the system can reconstitute itself after such a disruption. 4. Passives CA had several ways by which transitive and (passive-like) intransitive verb stems could be paired. Quadriliteral transitive stems, including ablauted form II factitive-causative verbs, added a prefix -ta- just before the stem to create the passive (form V) -ta-CaCCaC-, hence form II -xarrij- ‘remove, take out’ (causative of -xruj- ‘go out’) and its passive form V -ta-xarraj- ‘be removed’ (semantically specialized as, e.g., ‘graduate’ from school). The same -ta- prefix was added to verbs of form III to constitute the basically reciprocal form VI, -ta-CaaCaC-. For triliteral transitives, the passive was usually either form VII, characterized by prefix -n- (-q†a¿- ‘cut’, passive -n-qa†i¿-), or form VIII, with infix -t- (perhaps actually -ta-, but the segmentation is opaque) following the first stem consonant (-nquÎ- ‘destroy’, passive -ntaqiÎ-). MCA dialects continue the quadriliteral passive form V with only regular sound changes, e.g., -t-xrr´z ‘graduate’. However, the dialects differ from each other significantly in the passivization of triliteral transitives.

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Some dialects preserve the (form VII) n-passive (generally alongside tpassives, on which see below). This occurs with many Jewish dialects, and with some archaic northern, Jebli, and urban Muslim dialects. This “coalition” of dialects is a recurring theme in MCA dialectology. However, npassives are also common in Muslim dialects of the pre-Saharan oases, and around Oujda in northeastern Morocco near the Algerian border. These dialects belong to a distinct dialectal grouping that is usually sharply opposed to the Jewish dialects and to the archaic Muslim dialects mentioned above. That n-passives occur in both dialectal groups would suggest independent retention from a proto-language even if CA were not preserved. The chief alternative in MCA to the inherited n-passive is a t-passive, hence n-qt´¿ or t(t)-qt´¿ ‘it was cut’. In one sense, the t-passive is a phonological transformation of the old form VIII, which formerly had a *-t(a)formative infixed after the stem’s C1 (as in -ntaqiÎ-). In MCA, the t- is now prefixed to the stem, parallel to the n- prefix of the n-passive and to the tprefix of the quadriliteral form V (t-CCC´C). In the mainstream Muslim dialects that are the basis for the emerging national koine, the t-passive has completely ousted the old n-passive. The effect is an appreciable morphological simplification, by which both triand quadriliteral stems are passivized by a single basic t(t)- prefix, rather than by three distinct mechanisms (prefix -n-, infix -ta-, and prefix -ta-) as in CA.

5. Elative (comparative) adjectives While CA relied very heavily on nominal, verbal, and adjectival morphology to express grammatical categories, MCA and many other modern Arabic vernaculars have shifted some of the burden onto phrasal syntax. Among Arabists, the best-known example of this is the rise of the analytic genitive (like English of genitives), partially replacing the inherited “construct” genitive (roughly like English ’s genitives but more compoundlike). In this paper, we make the general point using a different CA morphological pattern, the “elative” adjectives in their comparative function (e.g., ‘bigger than X’). In CA, adjectives and even many verbs (perhaps actually their participles) have elative forms, e.g., ?akbar- ‘bigger’ from kabiir- ‘big’ and ?a†wal- ‘longer’ from †awiil- ‘long’. There are special fsg forms like kubr-aa ‘bigger’ and special plural forms. Even adjectives already of ?aCCaCshape, including the important “color and defect” class of adjectives that denote surface features, have ?aCCaC- elatives even though it may be difficult to distinguish simple from elative terms: ?a†ras- ‘deaf’ or ‘deafer (than . . .)’. This is not as serious as it might seem, since color/defect adjectives lend themselves to comparison (‘redder’, ‘deafer’) less readily than do CaCiiC- adjectives (‘bigger’, ‘smaller’, ‘more’, ‘less’, etc.). Moreover, there is little likelihood of real ambiguity in discourse context, since elatives in comparative function are normally followed by ‘than . . .’ phrases.

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By the same logic, the ?aCCaC- elative of CaCiiC- adjectives could also be abandoned. One could add a ‘than . . .’ phrase to the simple CaCiiC- adjective, and it would be understood as a comparative construction. In the most archaic Muslim dialects, such as those of the far northern cities (Tangiers, Tetuan), there are indeed only a handful of highfrequency ablauted elative forms left. These include kbar≥ ‘bigger’ (pronounced kb´r≥ farther south) and others meaning ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘smaller’, ‘better’, and ‘worse’, three of the six being suppletive. Other adjectives lack morphological elatives in this dialect area, and even these six sometimes allow analytic comparatives based on the simple adjectival form, e.g., huwa kbir min-na ‘he [is] bigger than us’. As one goes south, through the major cities of central Morocco, then on to Marrakesh and then to the pre-Saharan oases, the frequency of the morphological elative progressively increases. By the time one reaches Mauritania we are back to a CAlike degree of productivity. Since MCA, even in the archaic northern Muslim dialects, has not undergone a radical slashing of its morphology, it would be circular to “explain” the shift from morphology to syntax in the elative as a specific case of a broad typological shift. In the archaic northern Muslim dialects where the elative has lost the most ground, the relevant forms may have been problematic. These dialects show surface mergers of long and short vowels in such positions as CC_C, so a CA elative *?aCCaC- would appear either as CCaC or CCiC, depending on the consonantism (pharyngealized, pharyngeal, and uvular consonants favoring a). Whether CCaC or CCiC, such an elative would very likely be homophonous to a non-elative form of the primary adjectival class (continuing the CA CaCiiC- class), namely, either singular CCiC or plural CCaC (kbir ‘big’, Pl. kbar≥ ). This confusing homonymy, now with the non-elative singular and now with the non-elative plural, may well have been partly responsible for the loss of morphological elatives in these dialects. While it lasted, the homonymy may also have been partly responsible for some puzzling innovations affecting the nonelative adjective plural in these dialects, where Plural suffix -in (taken from participial morphology) can be superimposed on the already plural ablaut form CCaC to give CCaC-in, or added directly to the singular to give plural CCiC-in (kbar≥ ~ kbar≥ -in ~ kbir-in ‘big [Pl]’). 6. Conclusion Morocco is an excellent laboratory for a grammatically sophisticated historical dialectology. The three immediately preceding sections, though severely simplified, give an inkling of the possibilities. The particular attraction of MCA is that the basic morphological structures of the dialects have been largely unaffected by diglossic mixing or other forms of standardization. Moreover, we can still gather grammatical data from speakers of some 25 Jewish community dialects (for the most part resettled in Israel since the early 1950s) in addition to a wide range of interesting Muslim dialects. This two-tier array has no parallel in other Arab countries (except

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potentially Yemen). I have published a substantial MCA Jewish and Muslim dialectology (Heath 2002), but nearly every grammatical topic raised therein deserves much more thorough study, and the possibilities for future study are as endless as the Sahara and as sublime as the towering peaks of the Atlas.

References Caubet, Dominique. 1993 L’arabe marocain. 2 vols. Paris-Louvain: Peeters. Harrell, Richard 1962 A short reference grammar of Moroccan Arabic. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Heath, Jeffrey 1987 Ablaut and ambiguity. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1997 Moroccan Arabic Phonology. Pp. 205–17 in Phonologies of Africa and Asia, ed. Alan S. Kaye. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. 2002 Jewish and Muslim Dialects of Moroccan Arabic. London: Curzon. Youssi, Abderrahim 1992 Grammaire et lexique de l’arabe marocain moderne. Casablanca: Wallada.

Chapter 13

Maltese Morphology Robert D. Hoberman Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY

1. Introduction Two-and-a-half centuries of Arab rule (about 870 to 1127) sufficed to establish Arabic as the language of the Maltese islands, and the following nine centuries of European Christian political and cultural dominance have not seen it replaced by another language (Wettinger 1986; Cremona 1994). Malta is culturally European but linguistically basically Arabic (Randân, from Arabic ramaÎaan, means ‘Lent’). Maltese has inherited the bulk of its vocabulary and morphology from Arabic, North African vernacular Arabic to be precise. Most descriptions of Maltese morphology therefore describe it as if it were in fact Arabic, and treat the more recent layers of vocabulary and morphology, acquired through subsequent contact with Sicilian, Italian, and, in the last fifty years or so, English, as discrete embellishments on a basically Arabic system. I will try to avoid this temptation by focusing on those morphological features that are productive, or at least pervasive, in Maltese, especially in the open-list lexical classes (nouns, adjectives, and verbs), while slighting pronouns, adverbs, numerals, the definite article, and the like. This means paying little attention to what would be especially significant to the historical linguist: isolated, fossilized, relic features that show a particular affinity with Arabic. In viewing modern Maltese synchronically, and in order to avoid the etymology-is-destiny fallacy, I prefer to err on the side of assuming the homogeneity of Maltese as a language “où tout se tient.” 1 In no aspect of the Maltese language is its Arabic foundation more obvious than in its morphology, yet it is in its morphology that Maltese also shows the most elaborate and deeply embedded influence from the Romance languages, Sicilian and Italian, with which it has long been in Author’s Note: I am grateful for many ideas and insights to Mark Aronoff. Several parts of this essay are based on work we did together, which has been presented at the Fourth Conference on Afro-Asiatic Languages, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 1998; the Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin, 1998 and 2001; the Second Mediterranean Morphology Conference, University of Malta, 1999; and the Conference on the Morpho-Syntax of Chamito-Semitic Languages, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fès, Morocco, 1999; and some of which is published as Hoberman and Aronoff (2003). 1. In addition to the sources that are cited in the relevant places in this essay, I have obtained much useful information from the following sources: Ambros 1998; Aquilina 1959, [1965] 1995; Borg and Azzopardi-Alexander 1997; Schabert 1976; Vanhove 1993; and the Colour Image dictionary.

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intimate contact. (From here on I will use the term “Romance” as an abbreviation for “Sicilian and Italian.”) The disparate elements are to a large extent integrated in a single system, in which Romance and English vocabulary items are manipulated within a framework of Semitic origin, while the Semitic framework itself is influenced by the borrowings. As a result Maltese is unique and different from Arabic and other Semitic languages. The role of non-concatenative, prosodic morphology is much reduced, though still present and somewhat productive, while new morphological structures, not found in Arabic, Romance, or English, have arisen. Though Maltese is deviant from the point of view of Arabic, it provides one of the most important bodies of data for the linguistic study of Arabic. Almost all other varieties of Arabic exist in a situation of diglossia: each speaker’s mother tongue is a variety of colloquial, vernacular Arabic quite different from Modern Standard Arabic, which is almost identical to the Classical Arabic of over a thousand years ago. Naturally some colloquial dialects confer much more prestige on their speakers than others, but no colloquial dialect is respected as a model of correctness. Standard or Classical Arabic provides the sole acknowledged norm: it is the only written form, its grammar and vocabulary are studied in school, and elements of Standard Arabic exist in the colloquial speech of every individual, even illiterates. As a result, a linguist examining Arabic speech usually finds variation between more vernacular and more classical patterns, and when examining processes of historical change one wonders how the language might have changed had it not had constant input from Classical Arabic. Maltese is the chief exception: Classical or Standard Arabic is irrelevant in the Maltese linguistic community and there is no diglossia. (Dialectal differences within Maltese are relatively minor.) In Maltese the Arabist finds a kind of experimental control on the diglossic history of mainstream Arabic dialects and can examine colloquial developments independently of the influence of Classical Arabic norms. 2. Orthography and transcription Ordinary Maltese orthography represents the phonology of the language admirably. 2 The letters are pronounced more or less with their IPA values (e.g., j [j]), except for c ˘ [tS], g ˘ [dZ], q [?], x [S], x [z], z [ts, dz]. The orthography is abstract in that it ignores the effects of several automatic phonological processes, among them final-consonant devoicing and voicing 2. Where necessary I add a broad phonetic (surface-phonemic) transcription, using symbols with their IPA values and selecting, when options exist, those that match or at least do not conflict with conventional Maltese orthography. For example, the phoneme represented in Maltese orthography by the letter Ó has the variants [h], [Ó], and [x]. Transcribing it as [Ó] (rather than h or x, which have different roles in the orthography) has the advantage of matching the orthography and so avoiding ambiguity and confusion. Similarly, for the phoneme [i@ ª I:], which is represented orthographically by the digraph ie, I use [ie]. I part with IPA conventions in indicating stress with an acute accent and pharyngealization with an underdot.

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assimilation, but on the other hand there are processes, such as vowel syncope and epenthesis, for which the orthography shows the phonetic output rather than an abstract underlying form. For these and all other aspects of the phonology of Maltese, see the descriptions of Borg 1997 and Schabert 1976. Three important aspects of the phonology, however, are not indicated in the ordinary orthography: 1. Vowel quantity is phonemic but is mostly not indicated. I will supplement the orthography by marking long vowels with a circumflex, making systematic use of a convention that is used but rarely and inconsistently in ordinary writing and dictionaries. Thus I will write qâleb for [?áalep] ‘wicker basket’, as opposed to qaleb for [?álep] ‘he overturned’, both of which are normally written qaleb. 2. Word-stress is generally predictable from syllable structure: a final superheavy syllable is stressed; otherwise word stress is on the penultimate syllable. Thus stress is on the final syllable in nadîf ‘clean’, og˘g˘ett ‘object’, oÓrajn ‘others’, but penultimate in kiteb ‘he wrote’, difnitu ‘she buried him’, jiddispjacîni ˘ ‘it displeases me, I’m sorry!’. Exceptions are marked: virtù ‘virtue’, elèttriku ‘electric’. Unstressed vowels are always short, and when an underlyingly long vowel loses the stress because of the addition of a suffix it is shortened: jûm [júum] ‘day’, jumejn [juméjn] ‘two days’. Therefore vowels marked with a circumflex are both long and stressed. 3. The letter h and the digraph gÓ can be considered “virtual consonants”: depending on the environment, they mark length of an adjacent vowel or represent [Ó] (the same sound as the letter Ó) or have no phonetic realization at all. The letters h and gÓ are the ghosts of Arabic h, ¿ and ƒ, and are the crux of some complex morphophonological problems which will be discussed in 7 below. 3. Affixes of Arabic origin In any Maltese text most of the morphological work is done by affixes of Arabic origin, not by templatic processes or by Romance or English affixes, and most Arabic-origin affixes apply to Maltese words regardless of their etymology. This is especially prominent in verbs: all verbs are inflected for the gender, number, and person of the subject with prefixes and suffixes of Arabic origin. Here, for example, is the conjugation of the recently borrowed verb iddawnlowdja ‘download’. (Arabists will recognize specifically North African vernacular innovations in the paradigm.) Sg. 1 2 3 m. 3 f. Pl. 1 2 3

Perfect iddawnlowdjajt iddawnlowdjajt iddawnlowdja iddawnlowdjat iddawnlowdjajna iddawnlowdjajtu iddawnlowdjaw

Imperfect niddawnlowdja tiddawnlowdja jiddawnlowdja tiddawnlowdja niddawnlowdjaw tiddawnlowdjaw jiddawnlowdjaw

Imperative iddawnlowdja

iddawnlowdjaw

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Many other Arabic affixes are fully productive. The definite article has the underlying form /l/ (with automatic epenthesis of i in many environments): l-oÓt ‘the sister’, il-bidu ‘the beginning’, talbidu (ta’ + l-bidu) ‘of the beginning’, il-karozza ‘the car’. The /l/ assimilates to coronal consonants, just as in Arabic: ix-xmien ‘the time’, ir-repubblika ‘the republic’, it-terrorixmu ‘the terrorism’, ix-xîÓ [iSSíeÓ] ‘the old man’. However, Comrie (1980) pointed out an odd asymmetry: although this /l/ assimilates to the coronal fricative /S/ (ix-xîÓ) and affricate /tS/ (ic-c ˘ ertifikaz˘ zjôni ‘the certification’, huma c-champions ˘ ‘they are the champions’), it does not assimilate to /dZ/ (il-g ˘ustizzja ‘the justice’). Pronominal suffixes are affixed to nouns to mark a possessor (isem ‘name’, ismek ‘your name’; missier ‘father’, missierek ‘your father’; dâr ‘house’, dârna ‘our house’; ziju ‘uncle’, zijuna ‘our uncle’), to prepositions (kontra ‘against’, kontrih ‘against him’), and to verbs marking a direct or indirect object (saqsu ‘ask [pl.]’, saqsûh ‘ask [pl.] him’; kitbu ‘they wrote’, kitbûlha ‘they wrote to her [fem.], kitbuhielha ‘they wrote it to her’; indentjahieli ‘he dented it for me’; Bovingdon 2001: 85). The full set of pronominal suffixes, together with the independent (free word) pronouns are listed here:

Sg. 1

Free forms Basic Negative jien(a) m’iniex

2 int(i) 3 m. hu(wa)

m’intîx m’huwiex, m’hûx

3 f.

m’hijiex, m’hîx m’aÓniex m’intomx m’humiex

Pl. 1 2 3

hi(ja) aÓna intom huma

Suffixeda +ni +i +ek +u +h +hu +ha

object of verb elsewhere /C___ /V___ /___ indirect object suffix

+na +kom +hom

a. Minor phonologically conditioned variants are ignored here.

Examples of the suffixed pronouns affixed to nouns and prepositions: missier ‘father’ Sg. 1 missieri ‘my father’ 2 missierek 3 m. missieru 3 f. missierha Pl. 1 missierna 2 missierkom 3 missierhom

spread 12 points short

ta’ ‘of’

gÓand ‘at’

m’gÓand- . . . -x (negative) tiegÓi gÓandi m’gÓandîx ‘my, mine’ ‘I have’ ‘I don’t have’ tiegÓek gÓandek m’gÓandekx tiegÓu gÓandu m’gÓandûx tagÓha gÓandha m’gÓandhiex tagÓna gÓandna m’gÓandniex tagÓkom gÓandkom m’gÓandkomx tagÓhom gÓandhom m’gÓandhomx

fi ‘in’ fîja ‘in me’ fîk fîh fîha fîna fîkom fîhom

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Suffixes on verbs mark direct objects; preceded by l the suffixes mark indirect objects: jagÓti ‘he gives’ Sg. 1 jagÓtîni ‘he gives me’ 2 jagÓtîk 3 m. jagÓtîh 3 f. jagÓtîha Pl. 1 jagÓtîna 2 jagÓtîkom 2 jagÓtîhom

jiftakar ‘he remembers’ niftakarni ‘I remember myself’ tiftakrek jiftakru tiftakarha niftakarna tiftakrûkom jiftakrûhom

kiteb ‘he wrote’ kitibli ‘he wrote to me’ kitiblek kitiblu kitbilha kitbilna kitbilkom kitbilhom

Direct and indirect object suffixes may co-occur: kitibhûli ‘he wrote it to me’, kitbuhielha ‘they wrote it to her’, tibgÓathomlna ‘you will send them to us’, ma sraqnihilhiex (sraq-na-ha-l-ha-x) ‘we did not steal it from (‘to’) her’ (Borg 1997: 272), indentjahieli ‘he dented it for me’ (Bovingdon 2001: 85). The other Arabic affixes that apply regardless of the etymology of the stem are these: • the negative ma . . . -x (e.g., kitbitlu ‘she wrote to him’, ma kitbitlûx ‘she didn’t write to him’; ikanta ‘he sings’, ma jkantâx ‘he doesn’t sing’), ma jsaqsihx (j-saqsi-h-x) ‘he doesn’t ask him’. 3 • the “construct state” marker +(e)t, which marks the bound form of a feminine noun when followed by a pronominal suffix or another noun in a construct phrase: lejla ‘night’, lejlet il-kuncert ˘ ‘the night of the concert’; mara ‘wife’, martu ‘his wife’; zija ‘aunt’, zitu ‘his aunt’; spalla ‘shoulder’, spalltu ‘his shoulder’. • the suffix +a which forms individuated count nouns from collective or mass noun bases: tuffieÓ ‘apple (as a material, or generically)’, tuffieÓa ‘an apple’; g ˘obon ‘cheese’, g ˘obna ‘a piece of cheese’; injâm ‘wood’, injâma ‘a piece of wood’ (pl. injamiet ‘pieces of wood’); masc. sg. sig ˘ar ‘tree(s)’, fem. sig ˘ra ‘a tree’ (pl. sig ˘riet ‘trees’); frott ‘fruit’, frotta ‘a (piece of) fruit’; fjûr ‘flowers’, fjûra ‘a flower’. • There is a large variety of plural suffixes in the Arabic Maltese component; which suffix any particular noun takes must be lexically specified, though there are some prevalent tendencies. Some examples are given in the table on p. 262. Some of these suffixes also occur on Romance and English nouns; see the second table on p. 262. Most Romance and English nouns, however, either have templatic “broken” plurals or Romance or English plural suffixes. These are discussed in the relevant sections below. 3. This is not a true circumfix because ma and -x can each occur without the other, in specific syntactic environments.

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Suffix în

at iet ijiet ejn ajn a ien (with stem ablaut)

an (with stem ablaut) Suffix ijiet a iet

Singular maÓbûb tajjeb Mâlti werqa mÓadda mgÓaxqa art isem rig ˘el sieq sajjied g ˘ar bieb sabi Óasi qiegÓ Óajt

Plural maÓbubîn tajbîn Maltîn werqât mÓaddiet mgÓaxqiet artijiet ismijiet rig ˘lejn (also rg ˘ûl) saqajn sajjieda g ˘irien bibien subien Óosjien qigÓan Óitan

Gloss ‘beloved’ ‘good’ ‘Maltese’ ‘leaf’ ‘pillow’ ‘spade’ ‘land’ ‘name’ ‘leg’ ‘foot’ ‘fisherman’ ‘neighbor’ ‘door’ ‘lad’ ‘capon’ ‘bottom’ ‘wall’

Singular missier tîm xufier frotta

Plural missierijiet timijiet xufiera frottiet

Gloss ‘father(s)’ ‘team(s)’ ‘chauffeur(s)’ ‘piece(s) of fruit’

4. Templatic morphology and ablaut 4.1. The impact of historical phonological changes on templatic morphology in Maltese Templatic morphology of the typical Semitic kind remains productive in Maltese. By “templatic morphology” I mean word-formation processes that effect regular, patterned changes in stems (and not merely automatic phonological changes): they impose prosody (the number or weight of syllables) and/or vocalism (vowel quality). In Maltese, several templatic processes impose both prosody and vocalism. Others impose prosody alone, with the vocalism of the base stem remaining invariant, and in this respect Maltese is quite different from Arabic. In Arabic, most templates impose both prosody and vocalism. For example, one broken plural pattern is CaCaaCi(i)C, as in sg. †aadZin, pl. †awaadZin ‘frying pan(s)’; kawkab, kawaakib ‘star(s)’; qir†aas, qaraa†iis ‘paper bag(s)’. Historical sound changes in Maltese have had the effect of loosening the rigidity of the vocalism in every surviving template, so that the same three plurals in Maltese have a single prosody but different vocalisms: twâg ˘en, kwiekeb, qrâtas). 4 The main sound change that led to this diversity of vocalism was the loss of the pharyngealization feature of cer4. The two Arabic templates CaCaaCiC and CaCaaCiiC have collapsed into one (CCVVCVC) in Maltese as in North African colloquial Arabic.

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tain Arabic consonants. Old Arabic had four pharyngealized consonants, and the set of pharyngealized consonants varies somewhat among the different Arabic dialects; proto-Maltese had *†, *Î, and *ß, plus marginal *l≥ and *r≥ (Schabert 1976: 50–52). In Arabic, vowels in the vicinity of pharyngealized consonants are backed or lowered, so that the phonetic difference between /†a/ and /ta/, for example, is located in both the consonant and the vowel, approximately as [†A] versus [tæ] respectively. In Maltese the pharyngeal articulation of these consonants has been lost while the associated vowel differences have become phonemic: the Arabic front allophones [æ, ææ] have become Maltese e, ie, respectively, and the back allophones [A, AA] have become Maltese a, aa. Thus Arabic Îamm [ÎAm≥ m≥ ] ‘gather’ and dam [dæm] ‘blood’ have become Maltese damm, demm, respectively. Moreover, the Arabic short high vowels i and u lowered to e and o in many environments. These changes were supported by the importation of numerous words from Romance, in which e and o were distinct phonemes, so that Maltese ended up with five short vowel phonemes (i, e, a, o, u) and six long ones (ii, ie, ee, aa, oo, uu), in place of the three long and three short of Old Arabic. This expansion of the vowel inventory has had profound consequences for Maltese morphology, in that the stringent constraints of the Arabic templatic system were considerably loosened and stems borrowed from Romance or English could be integrated complete with their original vowels. Templatic morphology operates productively in the formation of comparative adjectives, causative/transitive verbs, gerunds, and the plurals of many nouns and adjectives. Furthermore, in verbs of Theme I, which is the most numerous form-class of verbs though perhaps not a productive one, the marking of aspect and the formation of gerunds and participles is templatic. A few additional templatic processes that are no longer productive are nonetheless well enough represented in the existing vocabulary that the patterning is salient: diminutives, deverbal agent nouns, and gender and number marking for a small class of adjectives that refer to color and undesirable personal features. 4.2. Adjectives of colors and defects As an illustration of the historical factors that made Maltese templatic morphology quite different from that of Arabic we will deviate from our plan to focus on productive morphology and examine the closed set of adjectives that denote colors and undesirable personal characteristics, traditionally termed “colors and defects.” These have three templates, marking gender and number: in Arabic they are masculine singular ?aCCaC, feminine singular CaCCaa?, plural CuCC, for example ?aÓmar, Óamraa?, Óumr ‘red’ corresponding to Maltese aÓmar, Óamra, Óomor. But compare the Arabic and Maltese forms in the table on p. 264 (focusing only on the masculine singular). In this template Maltese has a near consonants that in Arabic were pharyngealized, uvular, pharyngeal, or laryngeal (though not initial ?), otherwise e in final closed syllables and i elsewhere (plus sporadic, unexplained

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Maltese abjad iswed ikÓal oÓxon iblah

Gloss ‘white’ ‘black’ ‘dark blue’ ‘stout’ ‘foolish’

shifts to o). Where Arabic has only one pattern, ?aCCaC, Maltese has four, aCCaC, iCCeC, iCCaC, oCCoC. Synchronic phonological conditioning within modern Maltese (the consonants Ó, q, and r select a, rather than i or e) accounts for only part of the variation. This is typical of the fragmentation, or loosening, of templatic patterns in Maltese. Add to this the huge influx of Romance vocabulary, in which vowels have no special morphological status but are distributed freely. These two factors, which were undoubtedly not independent of each other, have led to a reduction in the extent to which productive templatic processes impose vocalism. 4.3. Comparative adjectives Many adjectives have comparative forms of the shape VCCVC. The default vocalism is iCCeC, but Ó, q, and r tend to lower adjacent vowels. Here are some examples of Arabic origin: Base adjective smîn qarîb fqîr qawwi dejjaq tajjeb g ˘dîd gÓani gÓaxîx Óafîf Óelu nadîf rÓîs gÓoli nieqes Óaxîn kbîr qasîr

Comparative ismen eqreb, aqreb ifqar aqwa idjaq itjeb ig ˘ded ogÓna egÓxex eÓfef oÓla indaf irÓas, orÓos ogÓla anqas, inqas aÓxen, eÓxen akbar iqsar

Gloss ‘fat’ ‘near’ ‘poor’ ‘strong’ ‘narrow’ ‘good’ ‘new’ ‘rich’ ‘dear’ ‘light’ ‘sweet’ ‘clean’ ‘cheap’ ‘high’ ‘lacking’ ‘bad’ ‘big’ ‘short’

A few adjectives of Romance origin form comparatives in the same way: Base adjective ckejken ˘ câr ˘ brâvu

Comparative icken ˘ icar ˘ ibrav

Gloss ‘small’ ‘clear’ ‘capable, clever’

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This process is still quite productive. In the non-standard Maltese spoken by emigrés in Australia, described by Bovingdon (2001), comparatives are formed from English adjectives: English adjective dear quiet polite smart sneaky cheap cheeky

Maltese comparative idjer ikwet iplet ismart isnek ic(j)ep ˘ ic(j)ek ˘

The pattern ?aCCaC is shared by comparatives and color and defect adjectives, and in Arabic some items are ambiguous: ?abjaÎ ‘white, whiter’, ?aÓmaq ‘stupid, stupider’ (Wright [1896–98] 1967: 1.143). But Maltese takes advantage of its liberal vocalism to distinguish them in some cases: Base adjective aÓrax oÓxon abjad agÓmi

Gloss ‘fierce’ ‘stout’ ‘white’ ‘blind’

Comparative eÓrex eÓxen ibjad agÓma

Gloss ‘fiercer’ ‘stouter’ ‘whiter’ ‘blinder’

4.4. Broken plurals Noun plurals are formed either by suffixation, which was discussed above, or by the imposition of a “broken plural” template. Both types are frequent and productive, and it is not possible to predict for a given noun whether its plural will be suffixed or broken, and if suffixed with which suffix, or if broken which of several available broken plural templates. In most cases it is, however, possible to narrow down the possibilities: for a given noun, taking into account its prosodic shape, any suffixes that are present, and some aspects of its meaning (especially whether it is inanimate, animate, or human), usually only one or two suffixes or one or two broken plural patterns would be productively available. All this is essentially similar to pluralization in Arabic. What is noteworthy is that in Maltese broken plurals are quite common in the Romance vocabulary. Here are a few examples: Singular forn ‘oven’ vers ‘verse’ serp ‘snake’ kitla ‘kettle’ banda ‘band’ borsa ‘purse’ birra ‘beer’

Plural frân vrûs sriep ktieli baned boros birer

Singular birra ‘beer’ katîna ‘chain’ vers ‘verse’ cerna ˘ ‘grouper (fish)’ villa ‘villa’ nicc˘ a˘ ‘niche’

Plural birer ktajjen vrejjes ceren, ˘ cerni, ˘ cerniet ˘ vilel nicec ˘ ˘

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The plural pattern CCVVCVC is particularly frequent (cf. Borg 1997: 272–73): Singular furketta ‘fork’ cavetta ˘ ‘key’ kappell ‘hat’ dublett ‘skirt’ kamra ‘room’ fardâl ‘apron’ sunnâra ‘fishing hook’ bastûn ‘walking stick’ kaxxûn ‘drawer’ xâbla ‘sword’

Plural frieket cwievet ˘ kpiepel dbielet kmâmar frâdal snânar bsâten kxâxen xwâbel

Maltese nouns borrowed from English, unlike some of those from Romance, virtually always form their plurals by suffixation. It is not simply that English nouns take the English plural suffix, however; English Maltese nouns may have plural suffixes of Arabic, Romance, or English origin: Singular buldogg buldowxer buli briks ‘brick’ drednot xeff stejk cekk ˘ kowt xutt ‘shot’ tajpist dranag ˘g ˘ ‘drainage’ daga ‘dagger’ bobin bust ‘bust’

Plural buldoggjiet buldowxrijiet bulijiet briksijiet drednotijiet xeffijiet stejkijiet cekkijiet ˘ kowtijiet xuttijiet tajpisti dranag ˘g ˘i dagi bobini busti

Singular brigadier bankier brakit stejg ˘ cermen ˘ dami lejn lejxer skôr suvenîr carg ˘ ˘ swicc˘ ˘ kuxin bankier ‘banker’ bankûn ‘big bench’

Plural brigadieri bankieri brakits stejg ˘is cermens ˘ damis lejns lejxers skôrs suvenîrs carg ˘ ˘is swicc˘ ijiet, ˘ swicis˘ kuxins bankieri bankûni

The following items highlight the largely lexical nature of plural formation: Singular Óajt ‘wall’ Óajt, Óajta ‘thread’ (mass, count) bank ‘bench’ bank ‘(savings) bank’ banka ‘stool’

Plural Óitan Ójut, Óajtiet bankijiet banek banek

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Most descriptions of Maltese state that broken plurals do not occur in the English-origin vocabulary. However, there are a couple in standard Maltese: kitla ‘kettle’; pl. ktieli, skûna ‘schooner’, pl. skejjen (Aquilina 1959: 310–11; Drewes 1994: 91); and in the Maltese spoken by immigrants to Australia: bordûra ‘boundary’, pl. brieder; fens ‘fence’, pl. fniesi; farma ‘farmer’, pl. friema (Bovingdon 2001: 127). 4.5. Verb stems All verbs are inflected with Arabic affixes, as was illustrated above. In terms of their stem shapes and derivational potential, however, Maltese verbs can be divided synchronically into two classes, templatic and non-templatic. The templatic verbs are more Arabic-like in several ways, and all verbs of Arabic origin are templatic, but in addition a great many verbs of Romance origin are fully assimilated to the templatic class. The differences between templatic and non-templatic verbs are as follows: Templatic verbs Non-templatic verbs stem shape limited to a small num- may be of any (prosody and vocalism) ber of canonical shapes phonologically permitted shape passive participle formed by prefix m+ formed by suffix +ât, +ût, +ît gerund formed by templatic borrowed infinitives or change, the particular nominalizations, template determined by formed by suffixation prosodic type of stem present participle exists for a small num- no ber of verbs, mainly verbs of motion causative formation by yes no prosodic change intransitive/passive for- yes no mation by prefix t+, n+, st+ or infix +t+ Templatic verbs are limited (with a few exceptions) to a small set of canonical stem shapes, which are classified in a smaller number of “themes.” 5 The themes are listed in the table on p. 268, with the Roman numeral labels that are traditionally used for Arabic. (The Arabic theme IV does not occur in Maltese except for a few fossilized forms.) In each stem template, a C slot may be filled by one consonant or may be empty. Most of these examples are verbs of Romance origin which have assimilated to the Arabic templatic types. The perfect stem is illustrated. 5. For what I call theme, various other words have been used in the linguistic literature on Semitic languages: form, pattern, conjugation, stem, binyan. I choose theme as the least polysemous. Aronoff (1994) has demonstrated that the Semitic themes are inflectional classes analogous to the “conjugations” of European languages such as Latin, so if my use of theme brings to mind the “thematic” vowels characteristic of the “conjugations” of European languages the association is appropriate, not pernicious.

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Theme I

Prosody CVCVC

II

CVCCVC

Vocalism i-e, a-a, a-e, e-e, e-a, o-o a-a, a-e, e-a, e-e, i-e

Romance examples ziden ‘undo a knot’, faga ‘choke’

bicc˘ er ˘ ‘slaughter’, sefter ‘wait upon someone in a servile manner’, kecc˘ a˘ ‘chase away’, gawda ‘enjoy’ III CVVCVC ie-e, ie-a, ciegÓek ˘ ‘pave with stones’, aa-e, aa-a kâva ‘hollow out’ V tCVCCVC a-a, a-e, i-e tbicc˘ er ˘ ‘be slaughtered’, tfacc˘ a˘ ‘appear suddenly’ VI tCVVCVC ie-e, aa-a cc˘ iegÓek ˘ (/t+ciegÓek/) ˘ ‘be paved with stones’ VII nCVCVC a-a, e-a, i-e nbarag ˘ ‘be piled up’ VIII CtVCVC aa, ee, ea ftaqar ‘become poor’, xteÓet ‘throw oneself’ VII/VIII hybrid nCtVCVC a-a, e-a instama’ ‘be heard’, insteraq ‘be stolen’ IX CCVVC aa, ie flâz ‘become false’, qrâb ‘approach’, qriegÓ ‘be bald’, ckien ˘ ‘become small’ X stVCCVC a-e, stenbaÓ ‘wake up’, stag ˘na ‘stagnate’ II/X hybrid stCVCCVC e-a stkerrah ‘loathe’, stÓarreg ˘ ‘investigate’

Romance-origin verbs have somewhat more diverse possibilities of vocalism than Arabic-origin ones: pog ˘g ˘a ‘put, sit down’, vîra ‘tack (in sailing)’. Theme I is different from the other themes in three ways. (1) Most theme I verbs are basic, underived stems, while nearly all the verbs of the other themes are derived, either from nouns or as the passive or causative of basic verbs. (2) A theme I verb has three stems (perfect, imperfect, and participle) which are different in prosody and in some cases also in vocalism (the perfect stem is what is indicated in the table), while in the other themes a verb generally has just one stem for all three functions. (3) Theme I has a greater variety of vocalisms than the other themes, at least superficially. Although six vocalisms are listed in the table for theme I (aa, ae, ee, ea, ie, oo), this is deceptive. Three of them (ae, ee, ea) occur only in the neighborhood of the gutturals gÓ, Ó, h, q, and one (oo) occurs almost exclusively with gutturals. This leaves only two vowel patterns, aa and ie, freely available for verbs that contain none of the guttural consonants. (This is true of verbs that have all three C positions filled; for verbs with unfilled C positions, or those in which the second and third C are identical, the sets of possible vocalisms are slightly different but similarly restrictive.) As a fair approximation we can say that a basic templatic verb (triconsonantal, without a guttural consonant) has a perfect stem with one of two shapes: CaCaC or CiCeC. The exceptions are few.

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4.6. Aspect in Theme I verbs The bare imperfect stem is the imperative, and with person/gender prefixes it forms the imperfect aspect. While the perfect stem of a Theme I verb has the shape CVCVC, the imperfect stem has the shape VCCVC (e.g. perfect nixel ‘he descended’, imperfect stem [= imperative] inxel ‘descend!’, imperfect jinxel ‘he descends’). Looking next at the vocalism, the first vowel of any stem is predictable, given the second stem vowel and the consonants (thus, given a lexical representation /sraq/ ‘steal’, we can correctly predict the stems seraq, israq). We will therefore ignore the first stem vowel in the following discussion and focus on the second vowel. For most verbs, the two stems have the same second vowel: nixel inxel ‘descend’, fadal ifdal ‘remain’, Óotof oÓtof ‘become empty’, sebaÓ isbaÓ ‘dawn’. Some verbs exhibit ablaut, but there is only one common ablaut pattern: perfect CVCaC, imperfect VCCoC, as in daÓal idÓol ‘enter’. To summarize, in Theme I verbs, aspect is marked templatically by a change of prosody and in some cases by ablaut, but not by imposition of templatically-determined vocalism. In all other verbs, both templatic verbs of Themes II–X and non-templatic verbs, aspect is marked only by the fact that the perfect and imperfect take different affixes to mark person, number, and gender. 4.7. Participles of Theme I verbs Most or all verbs have a passive/stative participle, and a few also have an active participle. In the themes other than Theme I the participles are formed by prefixing m- to the verb stem (with automatic epenthesis of i in many cases: siefer ‘travel abroad’, imsiefer ‘gone abroad’; kisser ‘smash’, imkisser ‘smashed’). In Theme I the participle stems differ from the stems of the finite verb: Gloss ‘get dressed’ ‘free, be freed’ template

Perfect libes Óeles CVCVC

Imperfect ilbes eÓles VCCVC

Active participle liebes Óieles CieCeC, CieCaC

Passive participle milbûs meÓlûs mVCCuuC

4.8. Gerunds Each Maltese verb has an associated gerund, a noun with the same reference as the verb. The gerunds of Theme I verbs have stem shapes that are templatically different from the verb stem; there are a variety of such patterns, inherited from Arabic, so the gerund for each verb must be listed lexically, and they often acquire lexicalized meanings as well. For Theme II the inherited gerund pattern is tVCCîC, where the first vowel is almost always the same as the corresponding vowel in the verb stem (see table on p. 270). For the remaining themes, the specific Arabic gerund shapes have been lost, and gerunds are formed in a uniform manner: the second stem vowel of the verb stem is replaced with /ii/ (entailing stress shift and shortening of a long first vowel), and a prefix /t/ is added to all verbs that do not have a theme-prefix (i.e., Theme III). Verbs of Theme VII, VIII, and IX do not have gerunds (Aquilina 1965: 160–63, Schabert 1976: 140; see table on p. 270).

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Theme Imperfect I ji-dÓol ji-nxel j-bîgÓ j-dûr ji-mxi ji-bki ja-Óxi

Gerund dÓûl nxûl bejgÓ dawran mixi biki Óaxu

Gloss ‘enter’ ‘descend, set’ ‘sell’ ‘turn’ ‘walk’ ‘cry’ ‘stuff’

II

taqsîm tiksîr tehdîd tilqîm tasjîm tibdîl tafdîl tagÓrîf tisqîja teÓg ˘îg ˘ tagÓbîja

‘distribute’ ‘break’ ‘threaten’ ‘graft, inject’ ‘cook’ ‘change’ ‘save’ ‘notify’ ‘irrigate’ ‘ignite’ ‘load’

Theme Imperfect III j-bierek j-wieled j-qiegÓed j-biegÓed j-bata j-g ˘iegÓel

Innovative Gerund tberîk twelîd tqegÓîd tbegÓîd tbatîja g ˘g ˘egÓîl (/t+g ˘iegÓîl/)

Gloss ‘bless’ ‘give birth’ ‘set, seat’ ‘remove’ ‘suffer’ ‘compel’

V

ji-tkabbar ji-tÓeg ˘g ˘eg ˘ ji-tmelles ji-tkisser ji-tfisser ji-tqabad ji-tmiegÓek ji-tniehed ji-triegÓed

tkabbîr tÓeg ˘g ˘îg ˘ tmellîs tkissîr tfissîr tqabîd tmegÓîk tnehîd tregÓîd

‘grow proud’ ‘be stimulated’ ‘be caressed’ ‘be broken’ ‘be explained’ ‘oppose’ ‘wallow’ ‘sigh’ ‘tremble’

X

ji-stenbaÓ ji-stieden ji-stenna ji-stagÓg ˘eb

stenbîÓ stedîn stennîja stagÓg ˘îb

‘wake up’ ‘invite’ ‘wait’ ‘be amazed’

X/II

ji-stÓarreg ˘ ji-stkerraÓ ji-stÓajjel

stÓarrîg ˘ stkerrîÓ stÓajjîl

‘investigate’ ‘loathe’ ‘imagine’

VI

j-qassam j-kisser j-hedded j-laqqam j-sajjar j-biddel j-faddal j-gÓarref j-saqqa j-Óeg ˘g ˘eg ˘ j-gÓabba

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This innovative gerund formation process—replacement of the second stem vowel by /ii/ and prefixing /t/—was clearly abstracted from the original Theme II gerund (tVCCiiC). The same innovative process applies to many Theme II verbs as well, and for some verbs both the conservative and the innovative gerunds exist. Theme Imperfect II

j-qassam j-kisser j-hedded j-laqqam j-Óaddem j-laqqam j-rabba

Conservative Gerund taqsîm tiksîr tehdîd tilqîm

Innovative Gerund tqassîm tkissîr theddîd

Gloss

‘distribute’ ‘break’ ‘threaten’ ‘graft, inject’ tÓaddîm ‘utilize’ tlaqqîm ‘nickname’ trobbîja / trabbîja ‘raise (a child)’

Finally, gerunds with /ii/ have spread to some Theme I verbs too. In the following table, the column labeled Conservative Gerund includes examples, marked with an asterisk, of the expected, but non-occurring, Maltese gerund that would be the direct descendent of the Arabic gerunds: Theme Imperfect I

ji-nxel ji-xhed ji-dfen ja-qbad ji-sma’

Conservative Gerund nxûl xhûd *defen *qabad *sema’, *smiegÓ, *smiegÓa, *misma’

Innovative Gerund nxîl xhîd dfîn qbîd smîgÓ

Gloss ‘descend’ ‘testify’ ‘bury’ ‘take’ ‘hear’

Non-templatic verbs, which are all borrowings from Romance or English, form their gerunds by affixation (see section 5.3). 4.9. Causative/transitive formation Theme I verbs frequently form causatives (or if the basic verb is intransitive, transitives), and sometimes intensives, by conversion to Theme II. This entails a change of prosody, from perfect CVCVC, imperfect VCCVC, to CVCCVC, but not, in general, a change in vocalism. (Here, as before, our focus is on the second stem vowel.) i § i (no change) nixel ‘descend’ kiser ‘break’

nixxel ‘cause to descend’ kisser ‘smash’

e § e (no change) deber (imp. jidbor) ‘negotiate’ bexaq (imp. jobxoq) ‘spit’ hebex ‘go backward’

debber ‘order’ bexxaq ‘spit often’ hebbex ‘cause to recede’

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a § a (no change) daÓak ‘laugh’ sabar ‘bear with patience’ fetaÓ jiftaÓ ‘open’ fetaq joftoq ‘rip, unstitch’

daÓÓak ‘make someone laugh, amuse’ sabbar ‘console’ fettaÓ ‘enlarge, keep opening’ fettaq ‘rend’

Incidentally, the same is true of derivation of Theme II verbs from nominals: xemx ‘sun’ baÓar ‘sea’

xemmex ‘expose to sun’ baÓÓar ‘navigate’

In some cases the base vowels are not retained. In all such cases the change is from a higher vowel in the base (Theme I or nominal) to a lower vowel in the derived Theme II verb: the derived form shows lowering following the hierarchies i > e > a and o > a. The vowels o and u do not occur in verbs of themes other than Theme I, so all verbs derived from bases with o or u must show vowel lowering or fronting. i§e firex ‘spread’ dilek ‘smear’ xifen ‘dance’ fitel ‘become tepid; twist coarsely’

ferrex ‘scatter’ dellek ‘cause to smear’ xeffen ‘make one dance’ fettel ‘make lukewarm; twist’

siker ‘get drunk’ gÓereq jegÓreq ‘sweat, sink’

sakkar ‘cause to get drunk’ gÓarraq ‘cause to sweat or sink’ Óabbel ‘confuse’ waÓÓal ‘stick, join together’

e§a

Óebel jeÓbel ‘become confused’ weÓel jeÓel ‘be joined, get stuck’ o § a or e Óolom ‘dream’ boloq ‘grow old’ qorob ‘approach’ xorob ‘drink’ gÓoxa ‘faint’ gÓola ‘rise (price)’

Óallem ‘cause to dream’ bellaq ‘ripen’ qarrab ‘bring near’ xarrab ‘cause to drink’ gÓaxxa ‘cause to faint’ gÓalla ‘raise (price)’

Denominals: g ˘dîd ‘new’ iebes ‘hard’ sadîd ‘rust’ tqîl ‘heavy’ qasîr ‘short’ saddieq ‘just’ Óoxba ‘beam’

g ˘edded ‘renew’ webbes ‘harden’ saddad ‘cause to get rusty’ taqqal or taqqel ‘make heavy’ qassar ‘shorten’ saddaq or seddaq ‘make just’ Óaxxeb ‘make thick and long’

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4.10. Integrated loan-verbs Maltese has a huge number of verbs of Romance and English origin. Some are integrated into the system of templatic verbs, and others are non-templatic; on the whole the non-templatic ones are historically more recent than the templatic loan-verbs. The processes of borrowing and integration have been treated exhaustively by Mifsud (1995), and re-examined by Hoberman and Aronoff (2003). Loan-verbs integrated into the templatic system have been exemplified above. In most cases what was borrowed from Romance was a noun or adjective, and the verb was derived from it within Maltese (Mifsud 1995: 58). These are thoroughly integrated into the templatic system in most respects, and they participate in the derivational processes available to native verbs: • • • •

pîpa ‘pipe’ > pejjep ‘smoke’ > tpejjep ‘be smoked’ pog ˘g ˘a ‘place’ > tpog ˘g ˘a ‘be placed’ ping ˘a ‘draw, paint’ > tping ˘a ‘be painted’ ziek ‘subject someone to oblique, annoying remarks’ > nziek ‘be subjected to . . .’ • pittûr ‘painter’ > pitter ‘paint (pictures)’ > gerund tpittîr ‘painting’, tpitter ‘be painted’ • perca˘ ‘perch, washing-line’ > perrec ˘ ‘exhibit, air’ > gerund tperrîc,˘ agent noun perriec,˘ tperrec ˘ ‘expose oneself to a draft’ • fond ‘bottom, deep’ > fannad ‘dig deep’ > tfannad ‘be deepened’, fnâd ‘become deep’ (Theme IX) There are, however, some limits to their integration. Few loan-verbs are of the Theme I; Mifsud’s exhaustive corpus includes only eight (plus a few more that are dialectal or obsolete), for example, garr ‘hurl (stones)’, gexx ‘milk’, leqq ‘shine’, ziek or ciek ˘ ‘subject someone to oblique, annoying remarks’, fada ‘trust’, rama ‘set up’, gaxa ‘accuse’, faga ‘choke’. Only two Theme I loan-verbs are triconsonantal, and both are non-standard: rexaq ‘strike off excess at top of a grain measure’ and xiden or xodon ‘undo a knot in a fishing-line’. Some Theme II loan-verbs have vowel patterns that are not found in the Arabic-Maltese vocabulary, such as korra ‘be injured’, pog ˘g ˘a ‘sit down, put, place’; plus a few items labeled as vulgar: pixxa ‘urinate’, fotta ‘cheat’; and a few items of child language: cic˘ c˘ a˘ ‘sit’, ninna ‘sleep’, xoxxa ‘blow one’s nose’. Finally, among the closed set of verbs that have active participles there are no loan-verbs (Mifsud 1995: 70). 4.11. Diminutives There are a fair number of templatically-formed diminutives, both nouns and adjectives. The sources disagree as to whether diminutive formation is productive: Schabert (1976: 165) states that it is fully productive, while Ambros (1998: 207) denies it: fqajjar ‘pitifully poor’ g ˘nejna ‘small garden’

fqir ‘poor g ˘nien ‘garden’

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dar ‘house’ dgÓif ‘thin, lean’ xatt ‘shore’ baÓar ‘sea’ tifel ‘boy’

5. Affixal morphology of Romance and English origin Romance and English affixes as a rule occur only with borrowed stems, and to a large extent these represent not processes productive in Maltese but rather the borrowing of related pairs of words. Clearly, a set of words like bilanc ˘ ‘balance’ (noun), xbilanc ˘ ‘unbalance’, bilancjât ˘ ‘balanced’, xbilancjât ˘ ‘unbalanced’ does not show that there is a Maltese negative prefix x+, since the words could have been borrowed individually from Italian bilàncio, sbilàncio, bilanciato, sbilanciato, just as the set galvanòmetru, galvanoplàstika, galvàniku, galvanist, galvanixmu, galvanizzat, galvanizzazzjoni is evidence neither for compounding in Maltese nor for derivational processes involving the suffixes +iku, +ist, +ixmu, +izz, +azzjoni, even though compounds and words with x+, +iku, +ist, +ixmu, +izz, +azzjoni, are plentiful in Maltese. (On the other hand, the verb iggalvanizza is the product of a truly Maltese, productive process; see 5.2.) 5.1. Romance derivational affixation There are, however, a few items in which Romance derivational affixes appear on Arabic stems: Affix +âta

+ûx +ûn

+ût +erîja +azz +u +nett

Derived word xemxâta ‘sunstroke’ bluhâta ‘an act of folly’ kruhâta ‘an ugly deed’ g ˘ennâta ‘act of folly’ mig ˘nunâta ‘an act of folly’ fenkâta ‘cooked rabbit’ nkejjûx ‘annoying, spiteful’ gÓajdûn ‘rigmarole’ Ómarûn ‘a great ass (fool)’ g ˘ibjûn ‘reservoir’ ghajdût ‘saying, rumor’ Óbiberîja ‘friendship’ sakranazz ‘drunkard’ Óamiemu ‘a dove’ wixxu ‘a gander’ l-ewwelnett ‘in the first place’

Base xemx ‘sun’ blûha ‘foolishness’ krûha ‘ugliness’ g ˘enn ‘madness’ mig ˘nûn ‘crazy’ fenek ‘rabbit’ nkejja ‘vexation’ gÓîd ‘say’ Ómâr ‘donkey’ g ˘iebja ‘cistern’ gÓîd ‘say’ Óabîb, pl. Óbieb ‘friend’ sakrân ‘drunk’ Óamiem ‘doves’ (collective) wixx ‘geese’ (collective) l-ewwel ‘the first’

Note also macurità ˘ ‘maturity’ and opporcunità ˘ ‘opportunity’, attested in Maltese in Australia (Bovingdon 2001), where the -c-˘ reflects English influence on the stems (/tj/§[tS]) but the suffix is Romance.

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One or two Arabic-Maltese words take a Romance-Maltese plural suffix: nkejja ‘vexation, teasing’, pl. nkejji (a stem which also takes a Romance derivational suffix in nkejjux ‘annoying, spiteful’), mistoqsija ‘question’, pl. mistoqsiji. 5.2. Nontemplatic verbs 6 Of the Maltese verbs of Romance origin, those which are integrated into the templatic system are, as we have said, generally those which were derived within Maltese from nouns or adjectives that had been borrowed at a relatively early period of history. There is also a large stock of loan-verbs that are either relatively late or borrowed directly as verbs, and these are nontemplatic. Nontemplatic loan-verbs “are in fact the most numerous class of M[altese] verbs, . . . [and] represent the only really productive channels for the integration of verbs into modern M[altese]” (Mifsud 1995: 141). All non-templatic stems end in -a, but they may otherwise be of any phonotactically licit shape (xviluppa ‘develop’, standarizza ‘standardize’, approfondixxa ‘deepen’) and may have lexically marked location of stress (ippènetra ‘penetrate’, ig ˘g ˘ustìfika ‘justify’, ikkoàgula ‘coagulate’). They are inflected for gender, number, and person with the native Maltese prefixes and suffixes, and in particular the suffixes have the allomorphs that are found with vowel-final verb stems. Here is the conjugation of studja ‘study’ (Ambros 1998: 154):

sg. 1 2 3 m. 3 f. pl. 1 2 3

Perfect studjajt studjajt studja

Imperfect nistudja tistudja jistudja

studjât studjajna studjajtu studjàw

tistudja nistudjàw tistudjàw jistudjàw

Italian verbs with the -isc- [-isk- ~ -SS-] augment are generally borrowed into Maltese with -ixx- [-iSS-]. Many of these verbs have -isc- or -ixx-, respectively, in some but not all of their conjugational forms, and what is especially interesting is the conditioning. In Italian, -isc- appears just on those forms which would otherwise have stress on the stem, i.e., where the suffix is unstressed, as in these imperfect forms: 1 sg. suggerìsco, 2 sg. suggerìsci [-iSSi], but 1 pl. suggeriàmo. The same rule determines when -ixx- appears in Maltese: Perfect 1 sg. issug ˘g ˘erèjt, 3 m. sg. issug ˘g ˘erìxxa, 3 pl. issug ˘g ˘erèw, Imperfect 1 sg. nissug ˘g ˘erìxxi, 1 pl. nissug ˘g ˘erìxxu (Mifsud 1995: 176). Suffixes that affect stress, such as those marking pronominal objects and negation, similarly condition -ixx-, though with less consistency: issug ˘g ˘erìxxa ‘he suggested’, ma ssug ˘g ˘erîx ‘he did not suggest’, issug ˘g ˘erîk ‘he suggested you’ 6. This section is based on Hoberman and Aronoff (2003).

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(Mifsud 1995: 180). Mifsud’s extensive treatment of -ixx- (1995: 169–81) is no longer than it needs to be to explore the many interesting aspects of the lexical and phonological distribution of -ixx- and the channels through which it was borrowed. Typical of non-templatic verb stems is gemination of an initial consonant. (This does not apply to stems beginning in a vowel or a consonant cluster.) Gemination frequently distinguishes a verb from the Maltese noun or adjective it is derived from: facilità ˘ ‘ease, facility’, iffacilita ˘ ‘to facilitate’; differenti ‘different’, iddifferixxa ‘to differ’; divrenzja ‘difference’, iddivrenzja ‘to discriminate against’; sensja ‘permission, discharge’, issensja ‘to discharge from work’; rapport ‘report’, irrapporta ‘to report’ (the initial i is epenthetic). Initial gemination, which evidently arose from phonological gemination common in Sicilian and southern Italian dialects, has in Maltese the morphological function of forming denominal and deadjectival verbs. Verbs of English origin are characterized not only by initial gemination but also by another morphological feature: the derivational suffix -ja: iddawnlowdja ‘download’, illandja ‘land (airplane)’, igglajdja ‘glide’, ipparkja ‘park (a car)’, ixxutja ‘shoot’, ittajpja ‘type(write), iwwocc˘ ja ˘ ‘watch’. This derivational process is quite productive in the non-standard Maltese of emigrants in Australia (Bovingdon 2001): ibbeltappja ‘belt up (seat-belt)’, ibblowdrajja ‘blow-dry’, icc˘ ejsja ˘ ‘chase’ (note the gerund cejsjatûra ˘ with a Romance suffix but without gemination), ibbajja ‘buy’, ibbulxittja ‘bluff’, ixxavilja ‘tell lies’. These are fully inflected: tiwwippjaha ‘you whip it’, tixxittjanîx (t-ixxitt-ja-ni-x) ‘don’t get on my nerves’, jiwwornjawlek ‘they will get worn out on you’, jissnuxjâx ‘he doesn’t snooze’, ikkensiljahûli ‘cancel it for me’, ma kkompensejtjawni ‘they didn’t compensate me’. 5.3. Romance gerunds and participles The gerunds and (passive) participles of non-templatic verbs are formed not with the native Arabic Maltese morphology (partly templatic and partly affixal) but with Romance affixes. The participles are formed with the suffixes +ât, +ît, or +ût (fem. +âta, +îta, +ûta, pl. +âti, +îti, +ûti): studja ‘study’, studjât; ittajpja ‘type’, (it)tajpjât; ittradixxa ‘betray’, (it)tradût; stabilixxa ‘stabilize’, stabilît. The gerunds are more varied, corresponding to the variety of verbal nouns in Romance: studjâr, (it)tajpâr, vjag ˘g ˘âr, ippumpjâr, skidjâr, salvazzjoni, ubbidjenza, trattament. As some of these examples show, the Romance sufixes are applied to English-origin verbs as well; additional examples are smexxjatûra ‘car crash’, kikkjatûra ‘kick’ (cf. the verb ikkikkja) (Bovingdon 2001). The same Romance suffixes form gerunds and participles of many verbs which are in other respects assimilated to the templatic system, and some verbs have both types: falla ‘go bankrupt’, imperfect jfalli, participle mfalli or fallût, gerund tfallîja or falliment or fallâr. Sporadically, gerunds and participles are formed with both the Arabic and Romance affixes simultaneously (mping ˘ût ‘painted’ from ping ˘a jping ˘i, trang ˘âr ‘arranging’ from irrang ˘a jirrang ˘a); according to Mifsud (1995: 135) these are judged nonstandard (“ungrammatical”) but are nonetheless frequent.

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6. Innovations in the numeral system Though the focus of this essay is on productive morphology, some interesting aspects of the numeral system are worth mentioning. The numeral ‘one’ has gender-specific forms: masc. wieÓed, fem. waÓda, while the other cardinal numerals do not vary for gender. On the other hand ‘two’ through ‘nineteen’ have two or three forms each, distinguished by syntactic environment. The short form appears before a counted noun (Óames persuni ‘five people’), the long form otherwise (Kemm persuni? H$ a$ msa. ‘How many people? Five.’). 7 Long form ‘two’ ‘three’ ‘four’ ‘five’ ‘six’ ‘seven’ ‘eight’ ‘nine’ ‘ten’ ‘eleven’ ‘twelve’ ‘thirteen’ ‘fourteen’ ‘fifteen’ ‘sixteen’ ‘seventeen’ ‘eighteen’ ‘nineteen’

tnejn tlieta erbgÓa Óamsa sitta sebgÓa tmienja disgÓa gÓaxra Ódâx tnâx tlettâx erbatâx Ómistâx sittâx sbatâx tmintâx dsatâx

Short form Base xewg ˘ tliet erba’ Óames sitt seba’ tmien disa’ gÓaxar Ódâx-il tnâx-il

Base + t xewg ˘t tlitt, tlett erbat Óamest sitt sebat tmint disat gÓaxart

tlettâx-il erbatâx-il Ómistâx-il sittâx-il sbatâx-il tmintâx-il dsatâx-il

The short-form numerals from ‘three’ through ‘ten’ have variants with a final t, which appear before nouns of a certain class. Membership in the class is somewhat variable. Core members of the class are Arabic vowelinitial dissyllabics, like ilsna ‘tongues’, aÓwa ‘brothers/sisters’ (Óamest ilsna, Óamest aÓwa), and this includes those in which the first vowel is epenthetic, conditioned by a sonorant-initial consonant cluster (rg ˘iel ‘men’, tmint irg ˘iel ‘eight men’). Monosyllabic plurals also take the t-form numeral; though the phonetic conditions for epenthesis are lacking they acquire an initial i, which renders these words vowel-initial and hence appropriate for selecting the t-form numeral: djâr ‘houses’, xewg ˘t idjâr ‘two houses’; bniet ‘daughters’, erbat ibniet ‘five daughters’; jiem ‘days’, Óamest ijiem ‘five days’. The same applies, though optionally, to dissyllabic plurals beginning with consonant clusters: ‘five horses’ may be Óames xwiemel or Óamest ixwiemel, 7. For ‘four’, ‘seven’, and ‘nine’, the short and long forms are identical in the standard, urban pronunciation: [érba, séba, dísa].

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and ‘ten rooms’ is disa’ kmâmar or disat ikmamar; in a single paragraph one finds xewg ˘t imqadef ‘two oars’ and erba’ mqâdef ‘four oars’. A quick search of Maltese internet documents turns up additional instances of t-forms that do not match these conditions: xewg ˘t appearing before isqfijiet ‘bishops’, naÓat ‘sides’, and pajjixi ‘two countries’. Though the added t is written as a suffix to the numeral, Schabert (1976: 204) treats it as the onset of following noun: [Óames tartaal] ‘five ratals’ (ratal, pl. rtâl, is a native unit of weight); the difference is in the location of stress: Óamest implies [Óamést], while Óames implies [Óámes]. Schabert’s representation gains support from novel spellings one finds on the internet, even in official documents: xewg ˘ t’itfal ‘two children’ (for normative xewg ˘t itfâl), erbgÓa t’elef ‘four thousand’ (for normative erbat elef), seba’ tijiem, sebat t’ijiem, and even seba’t t’ijiem ‘seven days’ (for normative sebat ijiem). 7. The ghost consonant gÓ The digraph gÓ (called gÓajn [aajn]) represents the Maltese reflex of Arabic ¿ and ƒ. For modern Maltese viewed synchronically, one could describe gÓ as the orthographic flag for an elaborate set of regular, systematic phonological and morphological peculiarities. The phonological status of gÓ in modern Maltese is controversial: grammars invariably treat it as an abstract consonant, which Brame (1972) showed must be a voiced sonorant pharyngeal consonant /¿/, thereby simplifying the morphophonology, while Comrie (1986) has argued that the properties peculiar to words with gÓ are better understood as lexically listed morphological idiosyncrasies. 8 The phonetic realizations of gÓ vary by phonological environment and dialect and will only be sketched here. In most positions gÓ has no sound itself but indicates that the adjacent vowel is long: gÓag ˘g ˘eb [áaddZep] ‘he astonished’, gÓanqbûta [aan?búuta] ‘cobweb’, gÓoqda [óo?da] ‘knot’, gÓeneb [éenep] ‘grapes’, xagÓxûgÓa [zaazúua(a)] ‘young woman’. At the end of a word gÓ is [Ó]: xagÓxûgÓ [zaazúuÓ] ‘young man’, pl. xgÓâxagÓ [záazaÓ], xebagÓ [zébaÓ] ‘he painted’. In some environments gÓ also changes the quality of an adjacent vowel, in ways which are not all indicated in Maltese orthography, for example, semgÓu [sémoow] ‘they heard’ (cf. lemÓu [lémÓu] ‘they perceived’), disgÓîn [diséejn] ‘ninety’ (cf. Óamsîn [Óamsíin] ‘fifty’; disgÓa [dísa] ‘ten’, Óamsa [Óámsa] ‘five’). The preceding description is for normative, standard Maltese. In many dialects, including some which are in other respects representative of standard Maltese, the vowel 8. Many of the anomalies associated with gÓ appear also in words spelled with h, though there are some differences (Schabert 1976: 48–50). These facts point to a stage of early Maltese in which there were two consonants, *¿ and *h, which conditioned similar vowel changes and subsequently elided. However, even if one adopts the underlying-/¿/ analysis for gÓ in modern Maltese, there is no need to posit yet another abstract underlying consonant corresponding to h. The deviations of the h-class words from the gÓ-class can be treated as lexical exceptions, especially as the number of words with h is relatively small.

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whose length is indicated by gÓ is also pharyngealized: xagÓxûgÓa [za`a`zúua`a`], semgÓu [séma`a`w] (Schabert 1976: 9–10). Brame (1972) showed that a wide variety of phonological and morphological anomalies, which are exceptions to otherwise pervasive phonological patterns in Maltese, can be subsumed under regular phonological processes if one postulates an underlying /¿/. Take for example these forms: tilgÓab [tílaap] ‘you (sg.) play’, tilagÓbu [tiláabu] ‘you (pl.) play’, ma tilagÓbûx [matilaabúuS] ‘you (pl.) do not play’, ilgÓabt [iláapt] ‘I played’. These exhibit the following apparent exceptions to regular Maltese phonology: the unstressed long vowels in [tílaap] and [matilaabúuS] (unstressed vowels normally shorten), the vowel in the open syllable after the t prefix in [tílaap], [tiláabu], and [matilaabúuS] (cf. the corresponding forms for ‘want’: trîd, trîdu, ma tridûx), and the epenthetic i in [iláapt] (epenthesis is regular before a consonant cluster if the first consonant is a sonorant; cf. ilÓaqt ‘I reached’, bgÓadt [baatt] ‘I hated’). All these anomalies can be seen as derived by automatic phonological processes from the underlying or intermediate forms /til¿ab/, /til¿abuu(S)/, /l¿abt/. A slightly different set of anomalies appear in words where the /¿/ is stem-final; compare the following: 9 /jisma¿/ ‘hear’ jisma’ [jísma] ‘he hears’ jismagÓhom [jismáÓÓom] ‘he hears them’ jisimgÓu [jisímoow] ‘they hear’

/jilmaÓ/ ‘perceive’ jilmaÓ [jílmaÓ] jilmaÓhom [jilmáÓÓom] jilimÓu [jilímÓu]

/jitÓan/ ‘grind’ jitÓan [jítÓan] jitÓanhom [jitÓánom] jitÓnu [jítÓnu]

Words like jilgÓab ‘play’ and jisma’ ‘hear’ are not marginal items; the same alternations characterize a great many verbs and also nouns, such as the words for ‘young (wo)man/men’ mentioned above. The phonologically anomalous forms could certainly be treated, as Comrie proposed, as simply lexically listed forms, but the cost is that stress placement, epenthesis, syncope, unstressed vowel shortening, and several other phonological patterns, which are otherwise exceptionless (or nearly so, at least in native words) must be morphologically or lexically specified in a large number of items. Note especially the failure of long vowels to shorten when unstressed; the long vowel in [tríidu] ‘you (pl.) want’ is shortened in [matridúuÚ ] ‘ you (pl.) don’t want’ but the long vowel in [tiláabu] ‘ you (pl.) play’ is not shortened in [matilaabúuÚ ] (ma tilagÓbux, /ma til¿abuuÚ /) ‘ you (pl.) don’t play’. This failure to shorten would probably be the strongest evidence for underlying /¿/ because shortening is phonetically simple, natural, transparent, and otherwise exceptionless (though it may be variable, Borg 1997: 266). On the other hand, at least some speakers do shorten the vowels that are lengthened by the hypothetical /¿/ 9. When word-final underlying /¿/ is silent, the orthography requires an apostrophe instead of gÓ, so [jísma] is jisma’ rather than *jismagÓ.

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(Hume and Venditti 1998), so the lexical approach may well be more reflective of the contemporary language. Borg’s brief discussion of these issues (1997: 261–62) contains many important observations.

References Ambros, Arne A. ˘ kif int? Einführung in die maltesische Sprache. Wiesbaden: 1998 Bongornu, Reichert. Aquilina, Joseph [1965] 1995 Maltese: A Complete Course for Beginners. Teach Yourself Books. Chicago: NTC. 1959 The Structure of Maltese: A Study in Mixed Grammar and Vocabulary. Malta: The Royal University of Malta. Aronoff, Mark 1994 Morphology by Itself: Stems and Inflectional Classes. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Borg, Albert, and Azzopardi-Alexander, Marie 1997 Maltese. Descriptive Grammars. London and New York: Routledge. Borg, Alexander 1997 Maltese phonology. Pp. 245–85 in Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus), ed. Alan S. Kaye. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Bovingdon, Roderick 2001 The Maltese Language of Australia: Maltraljan. Languages of the World 16. Munich: Lincom. Brame, Michael K. 1972 On the Abstractness of Phonology: Maltese ¿. Pp. 22–61 in Contributions to Generative Phonology, ed. Michael K. Brame. Austin: University of Texas Press. Colour Image ˘ Malta: 1998 Dictionary Dizzionariu Maltese-English English-Maltese. Mgarr, Colour Image. Comrie, Bernard 1980 The Sun Letters in Maltese: Between Morphophonemics and Phonetics. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 10/2: 25–37. 1986 The Maltese Pharyngeal. Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft, und Kommunikationsforschung 39: 12–18. Cremona, Joseph 1994 The Survival of Arabic in Malta: The Sicilian Centuries. Pp. 281–94 in The Changing Voices of Europe: Papers in Honour of Professor Glanville Price, ed. M. M. Parry et al. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Drewes, A. J. 1994 Borrowing in Maltese. Pp. 83–111 in Mixed languages: 15 Case Studies in Language Intertwining, ed. Peter Bakker and Maarten Mous. Studies in Language and Language Use 13. Amsterdam: IFOTT (Institute for Functional Research into Language and Language Use). Falzon, Grazio 1998 Maltese-English English-Maltese Dictionary and Phrasebook. New York: Hippocrene.

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Hoberman, Robert D., and Mark Aronoff 2003 The Verbal Morphology of Maltese: From Semitic to Romance. Pp. 61– 78 in Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, RootBased, Morphology, ed. Joseph Shimron. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Hume, Elizabeth, and Jennifer Venditti 1998 (Some of) the phonetics of Maltese /¿/ (‘gÓ’). Handout for lecture at the meeting of the Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe (AIDA), University of Malta. Mifsud, Manwel 1995 Loan Verbs in Maltese: A Descriptive and Comparative Study. Leiden: Brill. Schabert, Peter 1976 Laut- und Formenlehre des Maltesischen anhand zweier Mundarten. Erlanger Studien, Band 16. Erlangen: Palm & Enke. Vanhove, Martine 1993 La langue maltaise: Etudes syntaxiques d’un dialecte arabe “périphérique.” Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Wettinger, Godfrey 1986 The Arabs in Malta. Pp. 87–104 in Malta: Studies of its Heritage and History. Malta: Mid-Med Bank. Wright, W. [1896–98] 1967 A grammar of the Arabic language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Northwest Semitic

Chapter 14

Israeli Hebrew Morphology Shmuel Bolozky University of Massachusetts, Amherst

1. The phonological word Although Israeli Hebrew is not as highly inflected as Classical Hebrew, it is still sufficiently synthetic for clitics to play a role in the description of the Israeli Hebrew word. Beyond the lexeme 1 and inflected as well as derived morphemes, the Hebrew “phonological word” includes proclitics such as ha ‘the’, ve/u ‘and’, se ‘that, who, which’, le ‘to’, be ‘in’, mi ‘from’, and enclitics such as the possessive endings attached to prepositions and occurring in frequently used N + possessive pronoun configurations. Furthermore, although particles like the definite accusative marker et are represented orthographically as independent words, they are still part of the stress domain that can be characterized as a phonological word, if the criteria are “degree of boundedness,” and dependent stress status. Here are a few illustrations: (1) ve- le- ke- se- ti+ t+ ragel +u > ulixsetitraglu and to as that you will reflexive marker (get) used pl. ‘when you (pl.) will get used’ (2) ve- mi- dod +a(t) o > umidodato and from uncle f. his ‘and from his aunt’ (3) ve- le- ha- xalon +ot > velaxalonot and to the window pl. ‘and to the windows’ (4) et ha- yéled +ut +i +ut > (e)tayaldutiyut acc. the child abst. N adj. abst. N ‘(acc.) the childishness’ 2. Inflectional morphology Verbs are inflected for number and gender in the present tense, and for number, gender and person in the past and future tense and the imperative: 2 1. A lexeme is an uninflected form belonging to a major syntactic category that is an item of vocabulary, but not necessarily a free form and which may even be only potential. 2. The imperative, which appears to be derived from the future-used-imperatively, as shown in Bolozky (1979), is applicable to the second person only; the classical object pronoun enclitics are obsolete. Stress falls on the final vowel, unless marked otherwise.

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(5) Inflectional affixes in the verb system Present Tense Prefix Tense=mV+/0 (the realization of V determined by the stem) e.g., medaber ‘speak’, maskim ‘agree’, mevin ‘understand’, kotev ‘write’ Suffix Singular: Masc.=0 Fem.=+et/+a Plural: Masc.=+im Fem.=+ot e.g., kotev ‘write’ ~ kotévet ~ kotvim ~ kotvot Past Tense Suffix 1st Person: Sing.=+ti Plural=+nu 2nd Person: Singular: Masc.=+ta Plural: Masc.=+tem 3rd Person: Singular: Masc.=0 Plural=+u e.g., katávti ‘I wrote’ ~ katávta ~ katávt k(a)tavten ~ katav ~ katva ~ katvu

Fem.=+t Fem.=+ten Fem.=+a ~ k(a)tavtem ~

Future Tense 1st Person: Sg. Pref.=V+ Pl. Pref.=nV+ 2nd Person: Singular: Prefix=tV+ Suffix (Fem. only)=+i Plural: Prefix=tV+ Suffix=+u (Fem. Lit.=+na) 3rd Person: Singular: Masc.=yV+ Fem.=tV+ Plural: Prefix=yV+ Suffix=+u (Fem. (Fem. Lit.=tV+) Lit.=+na) e.g., extov ‘I’ll write’ ~ nixtov ~ tixtov ~ tixtevi ~ tixtevu (~ tixtóvna) ~ yixtov ~ tixtov ~ yixtevu (~ tixtóvna) Imperative (only 2nd person)

Sg. Suffix: Masc.=0 Fem.=+i Pl. Suffix=+u (Fem. Lit=+na) e.g., stok ‘shut up!’ ~ sitki (coll. steki) ~ sitku (coll. steku) (~ stókna)

Nouns and adjectives are inflected for gender and number: (6) Inflectional affixes in nouns and adjectives Suffix: Singular: Masc.=0 Fem.=+a/+it/ +et/+at/+t Plural: Masc.=+im, Fem.=+ot occasionally +áim e.g., xaver ‘friend’ ~ xavera ~ xaverim ~ xaverot

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However, while adjective inflection is quite regular, there are many exceptions to the marking of gender and number in nouns. In a fairly sizable group of nouns, +ot signals the plural of masculine ones (e.g., sulxanot ‘tables’, xalonot ‘windows’), and in another +im marks the plural of feminine nouns (e.g., milim ‘words’, nasim ‘women’). In a third group, the feminine is not marked at all (e.g., régel ‘foot’, cfardéa ‘frog’), etc. There is also a handful of masculine nouns ending with a: láyla ‘night’, sulya ‘apprentice.’ The dual +aim usually refers to instruments consisting of two component parts (e.g., misparáim ‘scissors’, miskafáim ‘eyeglasses’), to dual time units (e.g., yomáim ‘two days’, snatáim ‘two years’), to the originally-dual and eventually plural of body parts (e.g., ragláim ‘feet’, eynáim ‘eyes’) and articles of clothing (e.g., naaláim ‘shoes’, mixnasáim ‘pants’). In Israeli Hebrew, the possessive pronoun suffixes of Classical Hebrew have generally been replaced by free-standing possessive pronouns, except for commonly used items such as kinship terms (isti ‘my wife’, axoto ‘his sister’). However, the sets of possessive pronoun suffixes, one for singular bases, the other for plural bases, are used as pronominal enclitics attached to prepositions, as in (7) Pronominal enclitics attached to prepositions a. based on possessive pronoun suffixes attached to singular stems bisvil ‘for’ 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person ‘for me, for Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine you . . .’ Singular: bisvil+i bisvil+xa bisvil+ex bisvil+o bisvil+a Plural: bisvil+énu bisvil+xem bisvil+xen bisvil+am bisvil+an b. based on possessive pronoun suffixes attached to plural stems al ‘on’ 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person ‘on me, on Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine you . . .’ Singular: al+ay al+éxa al+áix al+av al+éa Plural: al+éynu al+eyxem al+eyxen al+eyhem al+eyhen 3. Derivational morphology There are either five or seven verb patterns (binyanim) in Hebrew, depending on whether quasi-automatic passives associated with two of them count as independent binyanim. Each binyan is named by the third person singular masculine past tense form of a prototypical root; typically, the root pºl ‘act, do’ is used for this purpose. The seven binyanim (in whose names p, º, and l stand for the first, second, and third elements of the root, respectively) are thus called: paºal (sometimes referred to as qal ‘light’), nifºal, piºel, puºal, hitpaºel, hifºil, and hufºal. The third person singular masculine past tense form is also used as a citation form to represent each binyan conjugation of a particular root (e.g., the root gmr is cited in paºal as gamar ‘finish’, in nifºal as nigmar ‘end [intr.]’, etc.) There are roots whose conjugations are completely regular, but many involve deviations from the norm. Deviations are caused by the presence in the root of a guttural,

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a glide (w or y) that has been weakened to a vowel, a syllable-final n that assimilates, identical second and third consonants that merge, etc. The verb system is thus, rigorously defined, limited to discontinuous derivation that can be effected by a small number of patterns, whose phonological structure is relatively fixed and therefore highly restrictive. Consequently, no foreign verbs can be borrowed directly. Consonants must be extracted out of existing foreign nouns, adjectives or verbs, then applied onto one of the seven patterns. But once that happens, such verbs behave essentially like native ones do. The derivational system for nouns and adjectives is far less constrained than that of verbs. There exist a few hundred non-linear nominal and adjectival patterns, a number of linear ones, and a sizeable number of nouns and adjectives that do not fit into any pattern at all. The noun/adjective system is also more open to borrowing, and some of the patterns, be they continuous or linear, are quite productive. Linear patterns are particularly amenable to borrowing, since they leave the base essentially unaffected, and thus transparent. Many nouns are borrowed as they are, stress pattern included, regardless of whether they belong to an existing pattern or not. 3.1. The “mechanical” aspects of the derivational mechanism It is very difficult to attribute psychological reality to any linguistic model, derivational morphology included. However, one can make reasonable assumptions regarding processes occurring at the point of innovation, when a word is coined for the first time. So even if no specific claims are made regarding the total lexicon, one can safely argue that when innovating, speakers of Hebrew have to make two simultaneous choices. One is “mechanical”: speakers need to determine whether the derivation should be discontinuous or linear, and in the case of the former, what the actual phonological configuration would be. The other is the substantive choice of selecting a specific derivation pattern. Since a new verb must be realized in a binyan, which is discontinuous by definition, new Hebrew verbs can only be formed non-linearly. In verb formation, discontinuous derivation is normally a mechanical process, in which consonant sequences are extracted out of existing words (see Rosén 1977; Ornan 1983; Bat-El 1989), then reapplied unto discontinuous patterns, regardless of whether they correspond to traditional roots: (8) Illustrating extraction regardless of traditional root Denom. Verb Gloss Source N/Adj misger frame (V) misgéret mixzer recycle max(a)zor timrec give incentive tamric tikcev apportion (in budget) takciv

Gloss frame (N) cycle incentive budget

In misger and timrec, for instance, the etymological roots of the source nouns are s.g.r ‘close (and related concepts)’ and m.r.c ‘energy (and related concepts)’, respectively, and the m and t are prefixal. Had the new form

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been derived from historical root and pattern, only the root would have been extracted, without the prefix. One view is that the roots were restructured into m.s.g.r and t.m.r.c. In any case, we are no longer dealing here with the traditional root. Rather, speakers seem to extract whatever consonants they find in the source word while maintaining the original order, and if possible, the original consonant clustering as well. This also fits with the claim that speakers derive new words from existing words rather than from morphemes (Aronoff 1976; Bat-El 1986, 1989 for Hebrew). The general tendency to preserve as much as possible of the structure of the derivation base, primarily by maintaining the original consonant clustering, may also be used as an argument for the word rather than a root being the base for derivation. For example, a borrowed noun like faks ‘facsimile’, whose expected realization as a verb is in piºel, should have been transformed into the form *fikes. Instead, the final s is reduplicated, resulting in fikses ‘faxed.’ A similar argument can be made regarding the following (see Bolozky 1978): (9) Original consonant clustering maintained by reduplication Source Noun Gloss Possible Form Actual Form Gloss flirt flirt (N) *filret flirtet flirt (V) sifra digit siper/sifer sifrer assign digits toxnit plan (N) tiken/tixen tixnen plan (V) or (no redup.) tixnet program (V) Cluster preservation also suggests selection among potential realizations once the derivation pattern has been chosen (see also Bat-El 1994): (10) Consonant cluster preservation through choice of syllable division Base Gloss Possible Actual Gloss spric squirt (N) *hispirc hispric squirt (V) sandlar shoemaker *snidler sindler make shoes praklit lawyer *pirklet priklet practice law nostálgya nostalgia *nistleg nistelg be nostalgic Since the derivation process must reference the base in order to form the denominative verb without breaking the base clusters, Bat-El (1994) concludes that it is necessary to derive new verb forms from existing words rather than from roots, and that there is no justification for an independent level at which an entity such as a consonantal root can be argued to exist. Extraction encompasses derivational affixes but not inflectional ones. There are some cases in which derivational affixes may be disregarded by extraction as well. When a new verb form is derived from an existing verb, it affects the stem proper, ignoring binyan as well as tense marking affixes (like hi+ or mV+). Occasionally, affixes in nouns may be skipped over as well, as in misgéret ‘frame (N)’ > misger ‘frame (V)’. The explanation may lie in the bond between the stem and the affix, and that the more inflectionlike the affix is (as is the suffix +et, compared with the prefix mi+), the more likely it will be ignored by extraction (see also Bat-El 1986, 1989).

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As noted above, derivation of nouns and adjectives is not as strictly constrained as verb formation is. New nouns and adjectives may be formed in numerous discontinuous patterns, as well as linearly. Some linear nominal/adjectival patterns will be discussed below: most adjectives ending with +i, some +an nouns/adjectives, some abstract +ut nouns, nouns ending with +iya, most diminutives ending with +on or +it, agent nouns ending with +ay, etc. Modern Hebrew also makes increased use of linear derivation such as lexemic prefix compounding (Kutscher 1982; Nir 1984; Ravid 1990), as in: (11) Illustrating lexemic prefix compounding Prefix Gloss Form Gloss xad+ one, single xad-mosavi single-seat (e.g., plane) rav+ multirav-taxliti multi-purpose batar+ postbatar-konpost-congress gres al+ superal-koli super-sonic and through appending foreign suffixes to stems, as in: (12) Illustrating appended foreign suffixes Prefix Gloss Form napolyon Napoleon napolyóncik fat; fat man saméncik tank tankist disorder balaganist

samen tank balagan

Gloss one with a superiority complex roundish, fat (affectionate) member of tank crew disorderly person

Compounds and blends, whose use in Modern Hebrew is also on the increase, are also derived linearly. Blends involve merging of two independent lexical items into a new blended word (see Berman 1989; Berman and Ravid 1986; Ravid 1990; Bat-El 1996). They are distinguished from compounds in that while blends tend to be regarded as a single unit for the purpose of inflection or cliticization, compounds usually are not. Thus, for instance, kadur ‘ball’ + régel ‘foot’ yields kadurégel ‘soccer; soccer ball’, whose definite alternant is ha-kadurégel ‘the soccer(ball)’, and rarely ??kadur ha-régel, whereas kadur zxuxit ‘crystal ball’ becomes kadur ha-zxuxit ‘the crystal ball’ when definite. Some blends have been part of the lexicon for quite a while, as in: (13) Illustrating well-established blends Stem Gloss Stem Gloss xay alive, living dak small, thin kat small nóa movement pas

strip

kol

sound

Blend xaydak katnóa paskol

Gloss germ motor scooter sound track

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Other blends are more recent, and many of them are ‘clipped’, i.e., with part of each (or part of only one) base being lost in the compounding process, as in: (14) Illustrating well-established blends Stem Gloss Stem Gloss maxaze play zémer song buba puppet, doll teatron theater arafel fog píax soot

Blend maxazémer bubatron arpíax

Gloss musical (N) puppet theater smog

This tendency seems to have gained considerable popularity in the media, particularly in commercial brand names used in advertizing, as in: (15) Illustrating commercial blends generated by the media Stem Gloss Stem Gloss Blend Gloss késef money otomat automat(on) kaspomat ATM machine tapúax apple/potato metugan fried tapugan fried potato While compounding will continue to increase owing to its inherent transparency (Nir 1990), clipped blend formation is not as productive, since it is not structure-preserving (Ravid 1990), and consequently partially opaque. Clipped blends often arise through the ingenuity of linguists or clever advertisers, and thus are not always easily analyzable. The common pronunciation of normative rakével ‘cable car’ (< rakévet ‘train’ + kével ‘cable’) as raxval or raxbal is a case in point. Instead of combining morphemes, most speakers simply realize the consonant sequence rkvl in the discontinuous pattern CaCCaC . . . Although linear derivation, compounding included, is clearly on the rise in Modern Hebrew, its expanded use does not affect the continued productivity of discontinuous derivation. To demonstrate that non-linear word-formation continues to be (very) productive, Bolozky (1999: chap. 2) discusses three derivation patterns which at first glance appear to be predominantly linear, but which on methodological grounds may be argued to be at least 50% discontinuous in nature, possibly more. The first pattern comprises nouns ending with the agentive suffix +an, the second nouns with the nominalizing suffix +ut, and the third the so-called segolate nouns. The +an pattern allows both discontinuous (CaCC+an) and linear (N+an) derivation, e.g., kablan ‘contractor’ (cf. kibel ‘receive’) versus alxut+an ‘wireless operator’ (alxut ‘wireless’+an), which are essentially identical (beyond the morphophonological difference). Both tend to be agentive, and the choice of device is not affected by semantic considerations; see (16) on p. 290. Typically, the CaCCan form reflects a transparent verb base, while N+an, by virtue of the linear derivation process, transparently preserves the source noun or adjective. When CaCCan forms are related to verbs, the relationship is generally either to paºal or to piºel. Although one might be

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(16) CaCCan N+an batlan ‘idler, loafer’ (< batel ‘idle’) alxutan ‘radio operator’ ( < al ‘no’+xut ‘wire’+an ) kablan ‘contractor’ ( < kibel mikcoan ‘professional’ (< mikcóa ‘receive’) ‘profession’+an) baxyan ‘weeper, cry-baby’ ( < baxa rexusan ‘capitalist’ ( < rexus ‘prop‘cry’) erty’+an) xamcan ‘oxygen’ ( < xamac ‘be meyman ‘hydrogen’ ( < máyim/ sour’) meym ‘water’+an) mazgan ‘air conditioner’ ( < mazag potxan ‘opener’ ( < potéax ‘mix’) ‘open’+an) lavyan ‘satelite’ ( < liva ‘accomroxsan ‘zipper’ ( < roxes ‘zip’+an) pany’) tempted to derive such CaCCan forms linearly from their related paºal or piºel bases, such derivation is not appropriate, for methodological reasons. A CaCCan form like dabran ‘talkative, verbose’ is clearly related, at least synchronically, to diber ‘talk’ (a piºel stem), and axlan ‘glutton’ to axal ‘eat’ (a paºal stem), as indicated by the differences and similarities in stop/fricative realization. Though quite possible, this type of linear derivation of a CaCCan form from its related verb is not very probable, particularly not in MH. In general, agentive nouns formed from verbs are derived from (or are identical to) the benoni, the present tense or the present participle. In the paºal-related and piºel-related CaCCan cases, however, it would be difficult to argue for linear derivation from the respective paºal or piºel benoni bases. In paºal-related forms, linear derivation would necessitate deriving from the past stem. In piºel-related ones, the present/imperfect stem would be the correct one, but without the prefix me+, which is required for distinguishing the present/present participle benoni from the future/imperfect stem, and which can be shown to be essential by derivations like histagel ~ mistagel ‘adapt’ > mistaglan ‘opportunist’ or hicxik ~ macxik ‘make laugh’ > macxikan ‘funny one’. In other words, since CaCCan forms cannot be claimed to be derived by linear affixation of +an to a benoni stem, as required for agents/agent attributes, they can only be generated discontinuously, in the CaCCan miskal. From formation of nouns with the suffix +ut, discussed in Bolozky and Schwarzwald (1992), one can also learn of the interplay between discontinuous and linear derivation. In general, formation of abstract nouns with the +ut suffix has been viewed as linear derivation; Bolozky and Schwarz– wald (1992) demonstrate that by lexical counts (based on Even-Shoshan 1970), there are strong methodological reasons to suggest that discontinuously-derived nouns with +ut outnumber linearly-derived ones by a ratio of almost 2:1. Their main argument is methodological. They show, for instance, that in order to derive all realizations of CCiCut linearly, one would require a variety of ad hoc processes, since a variety of bases is involved; see (17) on p. 291: The stems that underlie CCiCut are quite varied (the pakid, patúax, and arox types, at least, as well as some other minor ones), and cannot all be

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(17) Bases required if linear derivation of CCiCut is assumed CaCiC pakid ‘clerk’ > pkidut salíax ‘messenger’ > slixut gamis ‘flexible’ > gmisut dalil ‘thin’ > dlilut CaCuC patúax ‘open’ > ptixut racuf ‘successive’ > recifut xaruc ‘diligent’ > xaricut kaful ‘double’ > kfilut CaCoC~CaCuC arox (~aruk+) ‘long’ > agol (~agul+) ‘round’ arixut > agilut matok (~metuk+) ‘sweet ratov (~ratuv+) ‘wet’ > reti> metikut vut CoCeC boded ‘lonely’ > bdidut naCoC nafoc ‘widespread’ (but also nafic ‘explosive’ > neficut > neficut) muCCaC musxat ‘corrupt’ > sxitut No clearlysrirut ‘arbitrariness’ (sarir ‘valid’ is unrelated) identifiable base kritut ‘divorce’ (karat ‘chop off’ is only remotely related) derived by phonetically motivated processes. Nevertheless, in spite of the wide variation in stems underlying CCiCut, one would still want to capture the native speaker’s intuition that all of these sub-groups are related by attributing them to one canonical pattern. The obvious solution is to derive them all non-linearly in a discontinuous CCiCut pattern, rather than by appending +ut linearly to a variety of stems and arriving at the correct output by applying an array of ad hoc rules. Similarly, linear derivation of all CaCCut would also require a variety of underlying bases (including alternants of segolate nouns), and the same type of argument can be made regarding CiCCut, whose realizations will have to be derived from a variety of basetypes if it is claimed that they are to be derived linearly. Finally, in Bolozky (1995) it is argued that in Israeli Hebrew, the segolates and segolate derivatives should be described not on the basis of their historical underlying stems, but rather by the surface regularities that characterize them. For methodological reasons, regularities describing the majority of segolates and segolate derivatives must be stated not as linearlyderived forms, but in terms of canonical discontinuous noun formation patterns (miskalim). Deriving mélex from /malk/, to account for related malka ‘queen’, malxut ‘kingdom’, or séfer from /sipr/, to capture the relationship to sifrut ‘literature’, sifriya ‘library’, and so on, is rather complex; it is very unlikely that a native speaker literally converts from base to output in this fashion. The processes required to do this would be ad hoc and without independent phonetic or phonological justification. What is most likely to capture speakers’ intuitions is a pairing relationship between surface segolate patterns and alternating stem patterns involving suffixes, both expressed in discontinuous canonical form (the gutturals add some complexity to surface segolate sequences, which will not be dealt with here); see (18) on p. 292. The argument against linear derivation of the segolate plural is even more compelling. Regular plural formation typically involves linear affixation of +im or +ot, with possible subsequent reduction. The plural of

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(18) Surface generalizations describing the segolates a. Nouns ending in . . . CeCeC# or . . . CoCeC# that are not derived directly from the verb are penultimately stressed b. They often have alternants in the form of . . . CaCC . . . (malka, miflacti), and sometimes CiCC . . . (sifrut), . . . CoCC . . . (xodsi, tizmorti), . . . CuCC . . . (kumco, maskurto), or CeCC . . . (nexda; alternants with e are the rarest) c. If the word ends with +et, a benoni (present participle) form will also be penultimately stressed (i.e., not only miktéret, but kotévet as well) segolate nouns is different. While a basic o at the end of a stem followed by +et may be regarded as linear derivation (e.g., tizmóret ‘orchestra’, pl. tizmorot), the majority of plurals in the huge segolate class is realized in a pattern resembling Arabic ‘broken plural’, i.e., constitutes a kind of discontinuous miskal of its own, CCaCim/ot, e.g., mélex ‘king’ ~ pl. mlaxim, kélev ‘dog’ ~ pl. klavim. A sub-pattern CoCaCim for a basic stem-initial o is also an option (sóres ‘root’ ~ pl. sorasim), as well as . . .aCim/ot, when the unstressed e constituting part of the feminine suffix +et, in which case the plural a corresponds to the basic, stem-final é (mazkéret ‘souvenir’, pl. mazkarot). So the vast majority of segolate nouns have corresponding . . .aCim/ ot plural form, and the relationship is not arrived at by derivation, but by associating between pairs of discontinuous patterns. The generalization involved could be something like: (19) Surface generalizations regarding segolate plurals a. The plural of segolate forms is . . . aCim/ot b. The plural of the largest subgroup, CéCeC, is CCaCim/ot c. The plural of CóCeC is either CCaCim/ot or CoCaCim/ot d. When ó is stem-final, the plural is . . . oCot (which probably constitutes linear derivation) Thus, the majority of segolate forms should be derived discontinuously, for methodological reasons. It can been shown, then, that discontinuous derivation continues to exist productively alongside linear formation in both +an-related and +ut-related forms, as well as in the large segolate class. Since there is no significant communicative distinction associated with choice of derivational device, there is little reason to believe that MH is gradually losing the Semitic (non-linear) character of its word-formation component. This is not to say that linear suffixation is unimportant. On the contrary, there is no doubt that a linear suffix increases the productivity of patterns like +an and +ut. Still, the miskal itself has not weakened. The preference for discontinuous miskal derivation is independently supported by Berman’s (1987) findings in productivity tests. Of all forms whose mechanical derivation strategy could be determined in open-ended productivity tests, 60% were discontinuous and 40% linear, i.e., a 3:2 ratio in favor of non-linear derivation.

spread is 12 points short

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3.2. Selecting a derivation pattern 3.2.1. Selecting a verb pattern The typical Hebrew grammar textbook characterizes each of the binyanim has having some meaning (or meanings) associated with it. When the total verb system is considered, it immediately becomes obvious that binyan-to-meaning correspondence is relevant only to a small minority of verbs. So why the common perception that binyanim have meanings? Schwarzwald (1981, 1982) attributes this to the fact that those verbs in which regular semantic relationships exist are high frequency ones, which makes them prominent beyond their proportion in the lexicon. Bolozky (1978, 1982, 1986) shows that one can actually characterize semantic regularities associated with the binyanim, except that they are not the “traditional” ones, and their scopes are different. In recent word-formation, as well as when productive innovation is induced by productivity tests, speakers first scan the newly formed component of the lexicon, looking for the broadest and most transparent generalizations observable in it. Based on those, their binyan choice is not arbitrary, and confirms that lexical formation is first and foremost concept driven (see Baayen and Renouf 1996; Clark 1993). This is an intuitive, classificatory-global strategy. Relatively recent neologisms suggest that the majority of speakers first make the most general dichotomy between ‘focus on the theme (or patient)’ and ‘focus on the agent.’ If the focus is on the theme, and the target meaning is a true passive, the default passive counterparts of the relevant active binyanim are selected, i.e., piºel > puºal and hifºil > hufºal, as in (20) mimen ‘finance (V)’ > muman ‘be financed’ tiyek ‘file (V)’ > tuyak ‘be filed’ hifnim ‘internalize’ > hufnam ‘be internalized’ hincíax ‘eternalize’ > huncax ‘be eternalized’ Based on dictionary comparison (new dictionaries with older ones, as well as supplements to dictionaries; see Bolozky 1999: chap. 3), 78% of all new passive verbs recorded between the early ’70s and the early ’90 are in puºal. So are 52%–53% of passive verbs in productivity tests, in which native speakers were asked to coin new verbs based on some target meaning in a given context, or to select from an array of invented forms what they believe best captures a target meaning in a given context. The tests were conducted in 1995–96, and are reported in Bolozky (1999: chap. 3). 3 By dictionary comparison, 13% of new passives are realized in hufºal, as were 23%–28% in the productivity tests. In all other theme-centered neologisms, be they inchoative (i.e., ‘become . . .’, or ‘begin a new state’), reflexive, or reciprocal, hitpaºel is chosen; see (21) on p. 294. 3. In each particular case of dictionary comparison or productivity tests, the percentages refer to the semantic category concerned.

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(21) hitazréax ‘become citizen’ hitpager ‘die’ hitgamed ‘become tiny’ hitmames ‘become real’ hitrakez ‘concen- hizdayen ‘copulate’ trate’ (intr.) hitpalmes ‘argue (about)’ In productivity tests, 69%–85% opted for hitpaºel for potential verb forms focusing on the theme (e.g., sérif ‘sheriff’ > histaref ‘become sheriff’); by dictionary comparison, 96%–100% of recent theme-centered verb forms were realized in hitpaºel. If the focus is on the agent (the ‘instigator of the action’), speakers usually opt for piºel: (22) biyel ‘stamp (an envelope)’ viset ‘regulate’ flirtet ‘flirt’

siveg ‘assort’ nitev ‘mark route’ fikses ‘send by fax’

bilef ‘bluff’ xiyeg ‘dial’ divax ‘report’

Piºel was chosen 78%–79% of the time in productivity tests (e.g., sérif ‘sheriff’ > seref ‘serve as sheriff’), and 75% of agentive verbs were realized in piºel in dictionary comparison data. The largest body of innovated verb forms is that of piºel realizations. Phonetic considerations are responsible for this in part, since piºel, which maintains bisyllabic stems throughout the paradigm, may incorporate the largest number of consonants (e.g., torpédo ‘torpedo (N)’ > tirped, since *hitrpid or *yitrpod are unpronounceable). This, however, is not the primary reason. Piºel is the most productive binyan simply because semanticallyagentive verbs constitute a huge class. Actually, a sub-class of agentive verbs, the causative ones, may also be realized in hifºil. In a sense, all agentive verbs are causative, since they cause new situations that affect the patient/theme, but for our purposes, a causative verb will mean causing the patient to do something (e.g., hilbis ‘dress [tr.]’), or causing an entity to be (or become) something (e.g., yiser ‘straighten’, hirxiv ‘widen [tr.]’, the socalled ‘factitives’), or causing a change-of-state (e.g., hirdim ‘cause to fall asleep’.) In productivity tests conducted in the 1970s (Bolozky 1978) such causatives showed relative preference for hifºil (43%–45%, e.g., sérif ‘sheriff’ > hisrif ‘make someone sheriff’), and the same was true of innovations observed at that time: (23) himxis ‘make real’ himxiz ‘make into a play’

hitpil ‘desalinate’ hifnim ‘internalize’

hincíax ‘eternalize’ hikvic ‘squeeze (child lang.)’

Most causatives of this kind were factitive, because the commonest base for new verbs is existing nouns and adjectives. However, more recent productivity tests from the 1990s, as well as tendencies emerging from innovations compiled through dictionary comparison (Bolozky 1999: chap. 3), suggest a dichotomy in causative verb realization that is highly correlated with register. While hifºil is still the preferred causative pattern in literary Hebrew, piºel is taking over for all agentive verbs, including causatives, in

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colloquial Hebrew. Thus, recent slang dictionaries contain a significant number of recent causatives in piºel (79% of all new causatives based on dictionary comparison, compared with 20% only in hifºil): (24) Illustrating recent causative realization in piºel Form Gloss Source Gloss mistel cause to be drunk mastul intoxicated, drugged (Ar.) pindrek spoil a lot (child, etc.) mefunak+drek spoilt+disgusting thing/person (Ger.) fidéax embarrass fadí˙a misfortune, calamity (Ar.) sifcer improve, strengthen siper+bicer improve+ fortify Similar distribution emerges from the 1995–96 productivity tests (72%– 74% of causatives realized in piºel, 21%–25% in hifºil). To the extent that colloquial non-causative agentives are realized in hifºil rather than in the expected piºel, it is usually to preserve the initial consonant cluster in the source stem, and in some cases the whole stem: (25) Form hispric hisvic hiknis hisnif

Gloss squirt brag; sweat fine snuff in cocain

Source spric svic knas snaf

Gloss squirt (N) (Yid.) bragging; sweat (Yid.) fine (N) snuff (N) (Eng.)

Although hitpaºel focuses on the theme, it may occasionally also be agentive. New hitpaºel agentives are found mostly in the slang dictionaries. This is not unexpected. While piºel is almost exclusively agentive, hitpaºel’s focus on the theme also incorporates reflexives and reciprocals, which involve the theme as well as an agentive element, though one that is not distinct from the patient/theme. Reflexives incorporate an agent that is one and the same as the patient/theme, and reciprocals involve two arguments with shifting agent and patient roles (or possibly even two agents, one of which is “more patient-like”). The development of hitpaºel agentives is thus natural: a verb like hitfaléax ‘sneak in without paying’, for instance, may be viewed as a basic reflexive, ‘sneaking oneself in’, which has developed from an agent=patient predicate to a fully agentive verb. Hizdangef ‘walk around on Dizengoff St.’ can be regarded as ‘bringing oneself to be on Dizengoff St.’, subsequently acquiring full agentive status. Most of these agentive hitpaºel verbs involve adopting some behavior, like hitparper ‘shirk work; be unfaithful to wife’, hitbardek ‘be messy; shirk work’, hitagner ‘ignore’, hitgases ‘use foul language.’ They may all have started with a reflexive-type verb, meaning something like ‘causing oneself to behave in a certain way’, whose agentive aspect took over (i.e., the focus is no longer on the patient). So while hitpaºel agentives are still a small minority, their number might be expected to increase.

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3.2.2. Selecting adjectival patterns Adjectives may be formed linearly as well as by discontinuous derivation. One common way is to linearly append the attributive suffix +i, often referred to by the Arabic term nísba. The new form normally means ‘having the characteristic of . . .’. Adjectives ending with +i are generally derived from nominal bases (Ravid and Shlesinger 1987; Mor 1996), occasionally from adverbial bases (e.g., miyadi ‘immediate’ from miyad ‘immediately’), and even from adjectives (e.g., xiconi ‘external’ from xicon ‘external’), but derivations of the latter type are rare, since it would be tautological. Adjectives ending with +i and derived from borrowed bases may appear to be adjective-based from a speaker of English’s point of view, but in Hebrew they are actually derived from nominal bases; e.g., normal in normal > normáli, or puritan in puritan > puritáni are regarded as nouns. Derivation of +i adjectives is usually linear. Suppletion may be involved (e.g., mikre ‘event’ > mikri ‘accidental’), reduction (e.g., slila ‘negation’ > slili ‘negative’), or reduplication (e.g., xag ‘holiday, celebration’ > xagigi ‘festive’), but there are very few discontinuous miskalim ending with the adjectival +i. Also, the base stem may not always be a free-standing word (e.g., cémax ‘plant’ + on > *cimxon > cimxoni ‘vegetarian’). If the form is directly related to a particular verb, adjectives are likely to be realized in discontinuous patterns that are identical to the participial benoni forms. Active participial forms can function as adjectives, but since those tend to be agentive adjectives, and are sometimes indistinguishable from their agentive noun counterparts, they can be regarded as agents for the purpose of this discussion. More typically among verb-related adjectives, one encounters endstate “resultative” ones, like closed, written, etc., in English, which are identical to the passive participle: CaCuC (< paºal), niCCaC (< nifºal), meCuCaC (< puºal) and muCCaC (< hufºal). Of the nondeverbal miskalim, one salient pattern is CaCiC, used primarily for ‘+able’type adjectives. According to productivity tests (cf. Bolozky 1999: chap 4), when the suggested adjectival meaning includes a verb, the preferred choice is the resultative meCuCaC (75% of all occurrences, e.g., xóken ‘enema’ > mexukan ‘one to whom an enema has been administered’), since its verbal source, puºal, is the automatic counterpart of the very productive piºel. The other endstate resultatives, muCCaC and CaCuC, follow far behind (5%– 7% each). It appears that if the target meaning involves a verb, the innovator first transforms the nominal base from which s/he is requested to form an adjective into an intermediate, unrealized passive verb stage, e.g., xóken ‘enema’ > xukan ‘be administered enema’, which is then transformed into the passive participial adjectival resultative form (mexukan). When the suggested gloss of the form to be derived does not involve a verb, the default attributive adjectival form ending with +i is the first choice, as predicted (65%–72%, e.g., misada ‘restaurant’ > misadi/misadati ‘of restaurant’), followed by +ai (4%–11%), but resultatives occur as well, again with meCuCaC as the preferred option (15%–19%), and muCCaC and CaCuC quite marginal (0.4%–2%). One can look at this dichotomy of verb-based

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and non-verb based adjectives in two ways: semantically, as a choice between adjectives expressing the result of a process and mere attributive formation; or morphologically, between derivation from essentially verbal bases and truly nominal ones. Some recent illustrations arrived at by dictionary comparison: (26) Some recent adjectives, identified by dictionary comparison Form Gloss Source Gloss +i Adjectives cahali of the Israeli cáhal I.D.F (Israel army Defense Force) (acronym of cva hagana le-yisrael) davkai stubborn dávka in spite of, on the contrary btixuti of safety b(e)tixut safety mimsadi of the establish- mimsad establishment ment meCuCaC memuna mobile (with manóa motor, engine car) mevoas depressed bá(ª)asa misery, distress (Ar. baªsaª) mevurdak disorganized bardak brothel (Trk.) mepluntar entangled plónter a tangle muCCaC mutraf exceptional, hitrif drive crazy exciting (< metoraf ‘crazy’) mustan humiliated; séten/histin urine/urinate of little value mulhat red hot hilhit/lohet make very hot/red hot CaCuC savuz devastated, dis- savur+záyin broken+penis gusted dafuy imperfect, dófi fault, flaw flawed CaCiC axif enforceable axaf enforce hafix reversible hafax turn over, reverse

3.2.3. Selecting nominal patterns 3.2.3.1. Selection of abstract nominalization patterns The most common realization of abstract nominalization is the +ut pattern, and there are many more cases ending with +ut that involve a miskal than one might expect. Two of the binyanim, hitpaºel and nifºal, have +ut as part of their nominalization pattern, and there are also patterns involving the present participle followed by +ut; see (27) on p. 298.

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(27) hitpaºel: nifºal: or paºal: piºel: puºal: hifºil: hufºal:

Nominalizations ending with +ut hitCaCCut: hitparec ‘burst’ (intr.) > hitkparcut niCCaCut: nifkad ‘(be) absent’ > nifkadut hiCaCCut: (le)himana ‘abstain’ > himanut CoCCut: soter ‘policeman’ > sotrut meCaCCut: meyaled ‘obstetrician’ > meyaldut meCuCaCut: meyuxad ‘special’ > meyuxadut maCCiCut: mazkir ‘secretary’ > mazkirut muCCaCut: murkav ‘complex’ > murkavut

hitganev ‘steal in’ > hitganvut nivdal ‘(be) separate’ > nivdalut (le)hikasel ‘fail’ (intr.) > hikaslut rokéax ‘pharmacist’ > rokxut mefaked ‘commander’ > mefakdut meyuman ‘proficient’ > meyumanut manhig ‘leader’ > manhigut muslam ‘perfect’ > muslamut

The default nominalizations for binyanim that do not end with +ut are: (28) Default nominalizations not ending with +ut paºal: CCiCa: patax ‘open’ > ptixa savar ‘break’ > svira piºel: CiCuC: siper ‘improve’ > sipur bitel ‘cancel’ > bitul hifºil: haCCaCa: hisbir ‘explain’ > hirkiv ‘set up, hasbara compose’ > harkava [or less commonly heCCeC: hisbir ‘explain’ > hesber ‘explanation’ hirkiv ‘set up, compose’ > herkev ‘composition’] As in the case of adjectives, data from productivity tests on abstract nominalization depend on whether an underlying verb is implied by the proposed base. When a verb is implied in the definition of the target meaning, preference is given to the default nominalization associated with that potential verb (or its related resultative adjective). Take, for instance, ‘covering with panels’. The most likely verb form for ‘cover with panels’ would have been pinel, piºel being the preferred realization for agentives. Therefore, the nominalization pattern opted for is CiCuC, the default nominalization of piºel, i.e., pinul. And since piºel is a productive verb pattern, so is the related nominalization pattern CiCuC. The same would apply to hitCCaCut, related to productive hitpaºel, and to meCuCaCut, since the participial resultative adjective in the meCuCaC pattern is derived through puºal, the somewhat automatic passive counterpart of the productive piºel, and so on. When the target meaning does not involve a verb base, realizations ending with +ut prevail. Other options are CiCuC or +izm. Some illustrations for the most productive nominalization patterns based on dictionary comparison appear in (29) on p. 299: +ut, meCuCaC, and +izm.

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(29) Some recent nominalizations, identified by dictionary comparison: Form Gloss Source Gloss +ut fáyteriyut being a fighter fáyter fighter (Eng.) póciyut arrogance poc(i) arrogant person, arrogant xelmaut stupidity xelmai stupid (< xelm ‘town notorious for fools’) menumasut being polite menumas polite CiCuC beus disgust, despair mevoas in despair (< bása ‘misery’ [Ar.]) fistun urinating fisten urinate (< histin ‘urinate’) fisfus missing fisfes miss xirbun shitting; xirben shit (V)/mess up ruin(ing) +izm bitxonízm emphasis on bitaxon security security elitízm elitism elit/ilit elite stalinízm Stalinism stálin Stalin

3.2.3.2. Selection of agent (and agent attribute) patterns Many agent nouns and agent attributes are identical to the active participle, and the popular consensus is that the pattern for professionals is CaCaC (historically CaCiCiaC). Occasionally, agents may also be realized in nominal patterns like CaCiC (e.g., pakid ‘clerk’), and by (originallyborrowed) +ist and +er suffixation. In the colloquial, the normally-diminutive (see below) +cik may mark agents as well. But the most frequent realization for agents or agent attributes seems to be the +an pattern, followed by N+ai (normatively N+ay for agents, e.g., xaklay ‘farmer’, N+ai for attributes, e.g., xaklai ‘agricultural’). 4 Unlike the other patterns, which mostly refer to agents/occupations, +an and +ay/+ai denote agent attributes just as often as they refer to agent nouns. When the borders between the agent and the adjectival agent attribute are blurred (as in sakran ‘liar’), the semantic scope is expanded to a broader and more coherent agentive field, and hence its increased openness to innovation. Because of their semantic transparency, +an and +ay/+ai have an advantage as agent markers over competing active participles, which ‘hover’ between the verb and the nominal agent. Thus, at the global level of the productive lexicon, +an is preferred to all alternatives by children as well as by adults. 4. In the colloquial, +ai is often used for both agents and agent attributes. Occasionally, +ay may also be used for either an agent noun or an adjective.

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The five most common agentive realizations in productivity tests (Bolozky 1999: chap. 5) were +an (21%–37%, e.g., omlet ‘omelette’ > omletan/amletan ‘one making omelettes’), +ay/+ai (22%–31%, e.g., básta ‘vendor stall’ > bastai/bastay ‘stall vendor’), +ist (8%–14%, e.g., carter ‘charter’ > carterist ‘charter flights specialist’), +er (7%–10%, e.g., gril ‘grill’ > gríler ‘one who grills’), meCaCeC (6%–10%, e.g., omlet ‘omelette’ > meamlet ‘one making omelettes’). Some illustrations from dictionary comparison: (30) Some recent agents and agent attributes identified by dictionary comparison Form Gloss Source Gloss +an balyan always having bila have a good time a good time barzelan officer (army barzel iron (here in insigslang) nia) maskian one who maskía invest (pr. part.) invests great effort +ay/ +ai seynkinai Israeli yuppie séynkin name of a trendy (N/Adj) Tel Aviv street dugrai straightfordúgri straight, frankly ward, very (< Ar. dúƒri) frank mikvai from Mikve mikve yisrael name of agriculIsrael (N/Adj) tural school +ist bitxonist security-conbitaxon security, safety scious person sekemist P.X. worker sékem Israel’s P.X. +er siryoner soldier in siryon armor armor corps bizyoner one responsi- bizayon disgrace ble for disgrace meCaCeC metamtem wonderful timtem make stupid, stupefy (senses) megaméret reaching gimer finish, conclude orgasm (f.) 3.2.3.3. Selection of patterns for instruments Hebrew textbooks identify maCCeC and maCCeCa as designating instrumentals, but the typically-agentive meCaCeC and +an can also be instrumental. Actually, most of the patterns denoting agent nouns may also have an instrumental reading. Speakers apparently feel that both agents and instruments constitute the same ‘performer’ category, and that

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whether the performer is animate or inanimate makes no difference (see Bolozky and Jiyad 1989, 1990; Schlesinger 1989; Berman and Sagi 1981; Clark 1993). Instruments can function syntactically as agents when attention is drawn to the instrument by means of which an action is performed and away from its animate instigator. In production tests reported in Berman (1987), there were more instrumentals realized in +an than in either maCCeC, maCCeCa or meCaCeC (25%–19%–15%–7%, respectively). This reflects the status of +an as the unmarked agentive pattern, or perhaps as the “performer” category, including both instruments and agents. Only in judgment tasks, where other options were available, did maCCeC emerge at the head in Berman’s tests (e.g., in dugma ‘sample’ > madgem ‘a sampling instrument’) with about a third of the realizations (32% versus 14% in meCaCeC, 11% in maCCeCa—e.g., in rasam ‘write, draw’ > marsema ‘a writing tool’—and 11% in +an). When subjects were requested to list any instruments that came to mind, maCCeC and maCCeCa together came up in 28.5% of the instances, and meCaCeC in 25.5%. Productivity tests reported in Bolozky (1999: chap. 5) suggest that +iya is also productive for instruments, e.g., kúskus ‘couscous’ > kuskusiya ‘couscous-making instrument’, kótej ‘cottage cheese’ > kotejiya ‘instrument for producing cottage cheese’, and to a degree +er as well, e.g., kúskus ‘couscous’ > kúskuser ‘couscous-making instrument.’ Some recent data from dictionary comparison: (31) Some recent instruments identified by dictionary comparison Form Gloss Source Gloss +an xaygan dialer xiyeg dial (V) (< xug ‘circle’) sadxan stapler sadxan matchmaker (sidex ‘make a match’) meCaCeC mefaléset grader; snow plough piles level (V), smooth flat mexacec rock crusher (to xacac gravel gravel) +er kvécer stapler kvec squeeze (Yid.) sprícer water-spraying spric squirt, spray (Yid.) device +on mesivon answering machine mesiv answer (Pres. Part.)

3.2.3.4. Selection of location patterns It has been traditionally assumed that location nouns are realized in miCCaC and miCCaCa, but any survey of locatives would reveal that this generalization is overstated. In particular, the status of miCCaC as a locative pattern is made opaque by a huge number of abstract nouns, and the colloquial tendency to shift locatives from miCCaCa to maCCeCa. The use of +iya as a location marker is on the increase, particularly in the colloquial

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register. Another location marker is +iyáda. Productivity tests clearly establish +iya as the most productive locative pattern today (see Bolozky 1999: chap. 5), e.g., omlet ‘omelette’ > omletiya ‘place where they make omelettes’. Some relevant recent innovations: (32) Some recent instruments identified by dictionary comparison Form Gloss Source Gloss +iya kambaciya operations kambac operations officer officer’s post (acronym for kcin ‘officer of’+mivcaim ‘operations’) maadaniya delicatessen maadan delicacy shop steykiya steak house steyk steak +iyáda steykiyáda steak house steyk steak tremp(i)yáda arranged hitch- tremp a ride hiking spot miCCaCa mizlala small restaurant zalal devour 3.2.3.5. Selection of patterns for collection/group/system Productivity tests (Bolozky 1999: chap. 5) suggest that there are currently three productive patterns for groups/collections: +iya (32%–38%, e.g., xérek ‘insect’ > xarakiya ‘insect collection’), +iyáda (17%–22%, e.g., xatul ‘cat’ > xatuliyáda ‘group of cats’), +on (10%, e.g., matbéa ‘coin’ > matbeon ‘coin collection’). Some relevant recent innovations: (33) Some recent groups/collections identified by dictionary comparison Form Gloss Source Gloss +iya kackiya group of girls kácke duck (Yid.) chattering (or their location) makabiya convention of makabi Jewish sports orgaMakabi teams nization +iyáda caxcaxiyáda the underprivicáxcax North African leged in Israel Israeli Jew kackiyáda group of girls kácke duck (Yid.) chattering (or their location) +on taarifon price list taarif price eruon list of events (in erúa event program)

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3.2.3.6. Selection of diminutive patterns There are a number of ways of forming diminutives in Israeli Hebrew, such as reduplication: (34) Diminution of nouns through reduplication: illustrations from everyday usage Noun Gloss Redupl. Noun Gloss Redupl. kélev dog klavlav xatul cat xataltul xazir pig xazarzir dag fish dagig géver man gvarbar zakan beard zkankan (coll. gvarvar) adom red adamdam kaxol blue kxalxal +it suffixation: (35) Diminution through +it suffixation Noun Gloss Noun+it Gloss kaf tablekapit teaspoon spoon kos glass kosit wineglass mapa tablecloth mapit napkin, small tablecloth kar pillow karit small pillow pax can, tin paxit small can +iya suffixation: (36) Diminution through +iya suffixation Noun Gloss Noun+iya Gloss naknik sausage naknikiya frankfurter, hot dog uga cake ugiya cookie maca unleavmaciya cracker ened bread +cik suffixation (borrowed from Russian/Yiddish): (37) Diminution through +cik suffixation Form Gloss Form+cik Gloss baxur young baxúrcik nice man young man katan small katáncik very small samen fat saméncik affectionate/forgiving modification of ‘fat’

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or even +íko (borrowed from Judeo-Spanish): (38) Diminution through +íko suffixation Base Gloss Base+íko Gloss xaver friend xaveríko friend (affectionate) kof monkey kofíko little monkey (affectionate) xayal soldier xayalíko young/little soldier (affectionate) As shown in Bolozky (1994), however, the productivity of these devices is rather limited in current Israeli Hebrew (except, to some extent, for +cik at the colloquial register). As can be seen in productivity tests, +on suffixation is by far the most productive diminution device in the language (67%-76%, e.g., mexdal ‘criminal negligence’ > mexdalon ‘minor act of negligence’). The strongest evidence for the productivity of the +on diminutive suffix is its distribution in forms that have already incorporated other diminutive morphemes. Even though the reduplicated forms below have alternants with +on appended directly to the base, it is also possible to add +on/+ónet to the reduplicated forms themselves, particularly in animate nouns, as in: (39) Diminutive +on affixed to forms diminutivized by reduplication Base Gloss Redup. Base+on Redup.+on Redup.+ónet kélev dog klavlav kalbon klavlavon klavlavónet xatul cat xataltul xatulon xataltulon xataltulónet xazir pig xazarzir xaziron xazarziron xazarirónet It is also possible to add +on to (inanimate) forms ending with the diminutive suffix +it. Since nouns ending with +it are all feminine, so are the further diminutions, which all end with +ón+et: (40) Diminutive +on affixed to forms diminutivized by +it Base Gloss Base+it Base+i(t)+ón+et pax can paxit paxiyónet kar pillow karit kariyónet kaf tablespoon kapit kapiyónet mapa tablecloth mapit mapiyónet The same applies to +iya diminution: (41) Diminutive +on affixed to forms diminutivized by +iya Base Gloss Base+iya Base+iy+ón+et naknik sausage naknikiya naknikiyónet uga cake ugiya ugiyónet maca unleavened maciya maciyónet bread maase deed, tale maasiya maasiyónet

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Below are some recent diminutives identified by dictionary comparison: (42)

Form +on(+et) pargiyónet

Gloss

Source

Gloss

pargit

young chicken

tiptipónet

young, inexperienced girl a very tiny bit

tiptipa

ekdaxon maklon misadónet

small pistol small stick little restaurant

ekdax makel misada

a tiny bit (< tipa ‘drop’) pistol, handgun staff, stick restaurant

napolyóncik

with superiority napolyon Napoleon complex (‘a little Napoleon’) inexperienced novice; Yid. useless person

+cik

pisalóncik +ík: xayalíko

young soldier (affectionate)

xayal

soldier

3.3. Derivational morphology in Israeli Hebrew: Conclusion It can be shown that insofar as the actual mechanism of derivation is concerned, discontinuous derivation is still the mainstay of the word formation mechanism, in spite of the fact that linear derivation is on the increase. The typically-Semitic process of discontinuous derivation, based on the fusion of extracted consonants (or original consonant clusters) from an existing lexeme and a ‘canonical’ miskal, is as strong as ever. The two derivational strategies operate quite productively alongside each other, sometimes even within (essentially) the same morphological pattern. Choice of derivation pattern is first and foremost semantically-based. Speakers tend to look for the most prominent and the most-readily-available pattern they observe in the everyday lexicon. A derivation pattern may be used widely enough to function as the default pattern for some category, but even then is still associated with some broad semantic feature. Generally, the broader the semantic category, the more likely is the default pattern to be selected: puºal for passive verbs, hitpaºel for all other non-agentive verbs, piºel for agentive ones; +i for attributive adjectives, meCuCaC for verb-related ones; CiCuC for verb-related abstract nominalizations, +ut for other nominalizations; +on for diminutives, +an for agentives/instrumentals, +iya for locatives. There are other patterns, ranked below the default ones on the productivity scale, but nevertheless significantly productive: +ay/+ai for agents and agent attributes, CaCiC for +abletype adjectives, etc. Beyond these primary choices, a number of other general factors may also play a role, resulting in additional adjustments and shifts. Maintaining a degree of transparency for the base within the neologism is one such factor. It is often manifest in preservation of the original

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consonant clustering of the base. The prominence of a pattern in the new lexicon is determined not only by size, but also by semantic saliency and coherence, as well as by pattern transparency. Often, pattern transparency is enhanced by transparent suffixation. Other factors affecting pattern choice are pronounceability and preemption. Generally, however, such factors are subordinate to the primary semantic choice, and if they must cause a deviation from it (e.g., if the neologism will be unprounceable in the semantically-predicted pattern, or an identical form already occupies the slot aimed at), the next-best, or nearest, semantically related pattern will be chosen.

References Ariel, Shlomo 1972 The Functions of the Conjugations in Colloquial Israeli Hebrew. Bulletin of the School of the Oriental and African Studies 35: 514–30. Aronoff, Mark 1976 Word Formation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge: MIT Press. Avineri, Yitzhak 1976 Heyxal ha-miskalim [The Temple of the Miskalim]. Tel Aviv: Yizreel. Baayen, R. Harald, and Antoinette Renouf 1996 Chronicling the Times: Productive Lexical Innovations in an English Newspaper. Language 72: 69–96. Bat-El, Outi 1986 Extraction in Modern Hebrew Morphology. MA thesis, UCLA. 1989 Phonology and Word Structure in Modern Hebrew. Ph.D. diss., UCLA. 1994 Stem Modification and Cluster Transfer in Modern Hebrew. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 12: 571–96. 1996 Phonologically-Based Word Formation: Modern Hebrew Blends. Pp. 231–50 in Interfaces in Phonology, ed. U. Kleinhenz. Studia Grammatica 41. Berlin: Akademie. Berman, Ruth A. 1987 Productivity in the Lexicon: New-Word Formation in Modern Hebrew. Folia Linguistica 21: 425–61. 1989 The role of blends in Modern Hebrew word formation. Pp. 45–61 in Studia Linguistica et Orientalia: Haim Blanc Memorial Volume, ed. Paul Wexler, Alexander Borg, and Sason Somekh. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Berman, Ruth A., and Dorit Ravid 1986 Al dargat ha-milun sel cerufey smixut [The Degree of Lexicalization of Structures with the Construct State]. Hebrew Computational Linguistics 24: 5–22. Berman, Ruth A., and Yisrael Sagi 1981 Al darxey tecurat ha-milim ve-xidusan be-gil cair [Word Formation and Neologisms at a Young Age]. Hebrew Computational Linguistics 18: 31– 62.

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Bolozky, Shmuel 1978 Word Formation Strategies in the Hebrew Verb System: Denominative Verbs. Afroasiatic Linguistics 5: 111–36. 1979 On the New Imperative in Colloquial Hebrew. Hebrew Annual Review 3: 17–24. 1982 Strategies of Modern Hebrew Verb Formation. Hebrew Annual Review 6: 69–79. 1986 Semantic Productivity and Word Frequency in Modern Hebrew Verb Formation. Hebrew Studies 27: 38–46. 1994 On The Formation of Diminutives in Modern Hebrew Morphology. Hebrew Studies 35: 47–63. 1995 Hasegoliyim—gzira qavit o mesoréget? [The Segolates—Linear or Discontinuous Derivation?] Pp. 17–26 in Hadassah Kantor Jubilee Book, ed. Ora R. Schwarzwald and Yitzhak Schlesinger. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University. 1999 Measuring Productivity in Word Formation: The Case of Israeli Hebrew. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 27. Leiden: Brill. Bolozky, Shmuel, and Mohammed, Jiyad 1989 Partial Mergers of Morphological Patterns in Modern Hebrew and in Some Dialects of Arabic. Paper read at the North American Conference of Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, New York, March 15–16. 1990 More on Agentives, Instrumentals and Locatives in Modern Hebrew and in Southern Iraqi Arabic. Paper read at the North American Conference of Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, Atlanta, March 28–31. Bolozky, Shmuel, and Ora R. Schwarzwald 1992 On the Derivation of Hebrew Forms with the +ut Suffix. Hebrew Studies 33: 51–69. Clark, Eve V. 1993 The Lexicon in Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ephratt, Michal 1997 The Psychological Status of the Root in Modern Hebrew. Folia Linguistica 31: 77–103. Even-Shoshan, Avraham 1970 Ha-milon he-xadas [The New Dictionary]. Jerusalem: Kiryat Sefer. Glinert, Lewis 1989 The Grammar of Modern Hebrew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Goldenberg, Gideon 1994 Principles of Semitic Word-Structure. Pp. 29–63 in Semitic and Cushitic Studies, ed. G. Goldenberg and S. Raz. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Goshen-Gottstein, Moshe 1964 Semitic morphological structures—the basic morphological structure of Biblical Hebrew. Pp. 104–16 in Studies in Egyptology and Linguistics in Honor of H. J. Polotsky, ed. H. B. Rosén. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1950 The Patterning of Root Morphemes in Semitic. Word 6: 162–81.

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Junger, Judith 1987 Predicate Formation in the Verbal System of Modern Hebrew. Dordrecht: Foris. Kutscher, Eduard Yechezkel 1982 A History of the Hebrew Language. Jerusalem: Magnes / Leiden: Brill. Mor, Galila 1996 Ma metaer sem ha-toar gzur sem ecem +i? [What Do Adjectives Derived from Noun Plus i Describe?] Paper read at the meeting of the Israeli Branch of the European Linguistic Society, Tel Aviv. Nir, Raphael 1978 New Trends of Word Fomation in Hebrew. Pp. 447–50 in Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Linguists, ed. W. U. Dressler and W. Meid. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck. 1984 Lason, medyum u-meser [Language, Medium and Message]. Jerusalem: Posner. 1990 The Hebrew Language towards the Twentieth Century. Ariel 81: 4–19. 1993 Darxey ha-yecira ha-milonit be-ivrit bat yameynu [Lexical Formation Strategies in Modern Hebrew]. Tel Aviv: The Open University. Ornan, Uzzi 1971 Binyanim u-vsisim, netiyot u-gzirot [Binyanim and Bases, Inflections and Derivations]. Ha-universita 16: 15–22. 1983 Tecurat ha-mila ha-ivrit keycad? [How Do We Build a Hebrew Word?] Pp. 13–42 in Hebrew Language Studies Presented to Zeev Ben-Hayyim, ed. M. Bar-Asher et al. Jerusalem: Magnes. Ravid, Dorit 1990 Internal Structure Constraints and New-Word Formation Devices in Modern Hebrew. Folia Linguistica 24: 289–347. Ravid, Dorit, and Yitzhak Schlesinger 1987 Al miyunam ve-al darxey gziratam sel smot toar baaley sofit i ba-ivrit haxadasa [Regarding the classification and derivation of adjectives with the suffix i in Modern Hebrew]. Hebrew Computational Linguiustics 25: 59–70. Rosén, Haiim B. 1977 Contemporary Hebrew. The Hague: Mouton. Schlesinger, Izchak M. 1989 Instrumentals as Agents: On the Nature of Semantic Relations. Journal of Linguistics 25: 189–210. Schwarzwald, Ora R. 1974 Sorasim, bsisim, u-mivne ha-morfémot [Roots, Bases, and the Structure of Morphemes]. Lesonenu 38: 131–36. 1981 Frequency Factors as Determinants in the Binyanim Meanings. Hebrew Studies 22: 131–37. 1982 Sxixut usdirut ba-lason: iyunim ve-haslaxot [Frequency and Regularity in Language: Observations and Implications]. Iyunim ba-xinux 35: 163–74.

Chapter 15

The Morphology of Neo-Aramaic Geoffrey Khan University of Cambridge

1. Introduction The Neo-Aramaic dialects can be divided into four main subfamilies. These include (1) the western group spoken in Maºlula and various other villages in the region of Damascus, (2) the ˇuroyo group, spoken in ˇur ºAbdin in southeastern Turkey and in the village of Mla˙so in southern Turkey, (3) Mandaic, spoken in the city of Ahwaz, Iran, and the surrounding region, and (4) the northeastern group. Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), 1 which will be the main focus of this paper, contains a far greater diversity of dialects than any of the other groups. These were spoken across a wide area encompassing northern Iraq, northwest Iran, southeastern Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. A large proportion of the speakers of these dialects, however, have been supplanted from their original places of residence due to political events during the last century and now live in a diaspora of émigré communities in various parts of the world. On account of this, many of the dialects are now facing extinction. The NENA group include dialects spoken by both Jews and Christians. The Jewish dialects in all cases differ from the Christian dialects, even where the Jews and Christians lived in the same town or region. There are considerable differences, for example, between the Jewish dialect and Christian dialect in the towns of Urmia, 2 Salamas, and Sanandaj, in which the two communities lived side by side. In other geographical areas, such as Zakho and the surrounding region, the differences between the dialects of the two communities are of a lesser degree (see Hopkins 1993: 65). In some areas only one of these confessional communities spoke Aramaic. This applies, for example, to the town of Aqra, where the Christians spoke Aramaic whereas the Jews spoke Arabic. The NENA dialects are the descendants of the Aramaic that was spoken throughout the Mesopotamian region until approximately the 10th century c.e. One should be cautious of assuming, however, that the literary forms of eastern Aramaic that have been preserved from earlier periods, such as Syriac and Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic, represent the direct forebears of the modern spoken dialects. Already at the time of the use of these 1. The term was coined by Hoberman (1988: 557) to replace “Eastern Neo-Aramaic” of earlier classifications (see Socin 1882: v; Duval 1896: 125; Tsereteli 1977, 1978). This was necessary in order to distinguish the northeastern dialects from modern Mandaic, which is as distant typologically from them as the western Neo-Aramaic dialects. 2. Also known as Urmi or Urumia. The official name of the town in now Rizaiye.

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literary languages there was diglossia between the written and the spoken form of the language. There was undoubtedly a greater linguistic variety of Aramaic dialects in the Mesopotamian region than is reflected by the literary languages. In this paper, I shall examine the diversity exhibited by dialects of the NENA group in some selected areas of morphology, namely, the pronouns, 3 the verbal bases and the copula. 4 It will be shown that much of this diversity can be explained as being the result of innovations arising from (i) analogical formations and (ii) new distinctions made in response to morphological convergence. Such processes are assumed to be operating on proto-forms that would have been common to the majority of the dialects of the group. It is difficult, however, to reconstruct at any historical period a stage of total morphological uniformity. It is easier to explain the existence of some morphological features as the reflection of some degree of morphological diversity in the past in the ancestor dialects of the group. A further factor that appears to have stimulated morphological innovation is the influence of the morphology of languages with which the NENA dialects have been in contact, especially the Iranian language Kurdish. 2. Pronouns 2.1. Independent pronouns 2.1.1. Third-person independent pronouns Table 1 Qaraqosh

En Nune Aqra

Jewish Dohok

Jewish Arbel

Jewish Sulemaniyya

ªaw ªay ªani

ªawin ªayin ªani

ªawa ªaya ªani

ªo ªo ªoni

ªo ªo ªoni

3ms ªaqa 3fs ªaqi 3pl ªan´

ªawa ªaya ªanna

ªawa ªaya ªanna

ªoha ªeha ªanna

ªiyya ªiyya ªanne

ªaya ªaya ªonye

3ms ªawa 3fs ªaya 3pl ªane

ªawaha ªawaha ªayaha ªayaha ªannaha ªannaha

ªawaha ªayaha ªannaha

ªo ªo ªanne

ªawa ªawa ªanye

Neutral 3ms ªahu 3fs ªahi 3pl ªanh´n Near

Far

3. For previous studies of the historical background of the NENA pronouns, see in particular Hoberman (1988, 1990). 4. Some aspects of the history of the NENA copula have been examined already in Khan (2001).

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Table 1 presents a selection of the third person independent pronouns that are found across the NENA group. They have been divided into ‘neutral’, ‘near’ and ‘far’. The neutral form is the default form that is used when no deixis is intended, in that the speaker does not point out a particular referent in the environment. Such forms are typically used when the referent is absent from the environment of the interlocutors. The ‘near’ and ‘far’ forms are deictic forms that are used to point to a particular referent in the environment and indicate its proximity to the interlocutors. The third singular neutral forms across the dialects can be regarded as developments of the proto-forms ha-hu (ms) and ha-hi (fs). The ha is a deictic element that is found in the demonstrative pronouns of earlier literary dialects of Aramaic. The Qaraqosh dialect has preserved the pronoun in the most conservative manner. The dialects of En Nune, Aqra, and Jewish Dohok exhibit the phonetic contractions ªahu > ªaw and ªahi > ªay. The Aqra dialect has the innovation whereby the forms are expanded by adding the suffix -in. The motivation for this innovation may have been the extension of the forms to a bisyllabic structure by analogy with that of the third plural pronoun. The Jewish Dohok forms have been extended by the suffix -a, which is likely to be derived historically from the deictic element ha. In Jewish Arbel and Sulemaniyya the 3ms ªaw has contracted further to ªo. This 3ms form has, furthermore, replaced the 3fs form in these dialects. The levelling of the genders may have arisen under the influence of Kurdish, which does not express this distinction. The third plural consists of the initial element ªan- in most dialects. This is probably to be identified historically with the element han- that is found in the third plural demonstrative pronouns of Syriac (hanon 3mp, hanen 3fp) and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (hane). The ending of the pronoun in most dialects is -i, whereas Qaraqosh has the ending -h´n, which has been taken from the paradigm of pronominal suffixes. In the form ªoni of Jewish Arbel and Sulemaniyya the ªo- is an innovation arising by analogy with the singular form ªo. In the singular near deixis forms only Qaraqosh has the element q, which can be identified historically with various forms of demonstrative pronouns in earlier Aramaic, e.g., Jewish Babylonian Aramaic den, haqen, dnan, ªiqi (3ms), da, hada (3fs). In En Nune and Aqra the forms have the same base as the far deixis and neutral forms, namely, ªaw- (m.) and ªay(f.), which have been extended by the suffix -a (< *ha) to distinguish them from the neutral form. The Jewish Dohok forms ªoha (m.) and ªeha (f.) appear to be doublets of the neutral forms ªawa and ªaya, both sets deriving historically from *ªawha and ªayha. The motivation for this different phonetic development is no doubt a desire to express formally a semantic distinction and avoid morphological convergence. The Jewish Arbel form ªiyya has the element i as its base and so cannot be traced historically to the same proto-forms as the pronouns in the dialects just discussed. This i is a deictic element that can be identified in several demonstrative forms of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, e.g., ha-i, ªi-qi, ªi-qax. It has been extended by suffixing the deictic element *ha. The Jewish Sulemaniyya form ªaya

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further extends the form by also prefixing *ha. The gender distinction has been levelled as in the neutral forms of the pronoun. The plural near deixis form in most dialects has the base ªan-. In Jewish Arbel the ending is -e and this is the historical origin also of the ending of the Qaraqosh form ªan´, since final -e shifts to -´ in this dialect. The En Nune, Aqra and Jewish Dohok dialects have forms ending in -a, which may have arisen by analogy with the ending of the singular forms. The Jewish Sulemaniyya form ªonye has arisen by analogy with the neutral form ªoni. The singular far demonstrative pronouns in Qaraqosh have been formed from the base ªaw- (m. < *ha-hu) and ªay- (f. < *ha-hi), to which the deictic element *ha has been suffixed, resulting in the forms ªawa and ªaya. Jewish Sulemaniyya ªawa is formed in the same way, though this has come to be used for both masculine and feminine genders as is the case with the neutral pronoun. Since forms with the deictic suffix -ha are already used to express the near demonstrative in En Nune, Aqra and Jewish Dohok, a distinct form for the far demonstrative has been created by adding a further -ha suffix. The Jewish Arbel forms are the same as those used for the neutral pronoun. The plural far demonstratives have in most cases arisen by extending the near forms with the deictic suffix -ha. In En Nune, Aqra and Jewish Dohok this is added to an already existing -ha suffix (ªawaha < *ha-hu-haha). In the Qaraqosh form ªane the -ha has been contracted (< ªane-he < *ªane-ha; contrast ªan´ < *ªane). In Jewish Arbel the distinction between the near and far forms has been levelled. The Jewish Sulemaniyya form ªanye could perhaps be explained as having developed from ªanne by analogy with the near deixis form ªonye. 2.1.2. Second-person independent pronouns Table 2 Qaraqosh 2ms ªah´t

Christian Aqra Urmiah ªatin ªati

2fs 2pl

ªatin ªaxtun

ªahat ªaxtun

Jewish Dohok ªahit

Jewish Dobe ªati

Jewish Arbel ªat ªati ªati ªahat ªati ªat ªaxtum ªaxtoxun ªatoxun ªatxun

Jewish Sulemaniyya ªat ªat ªaxtun ªaxnaxun

The second person singular pronoun in Jewish Sulemaniyya, ªat, appears to be the most archaic form, since this corresponds to the form that is found in earlier forms of eastern Aramaic such as Syriac and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. The -in suffix that is added to the forms in Christian Urmiah is a secondary expansion. This can be identified with the -in suffix that is found attached to the neutral third person pronoun ªawin (m.) and ªayin (f.) in the Aqra dialect. The motivation for the addition of the suffix may have been to make the pronoun bi-syllabic, in conformity with the

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rest of the paradigm of independent pronouns. In Aqra, Jewish Dobe and Jewish Arbel the -in ending is shortened to -i. In Qaraqosh and Jewish Dohok there is also a morphological innovation to make the pronoun bisyllabic, this time by splitting the syllable with the inserted consonant /h/. The morphological distinction between the 2ms and 2fs forms in these dialects is likely to be a secondary development by analogy with the forms of the second person subject inflectional endings of verbs (ªah-´t : qa†l-´t, ªah-at : qa†l-at). All the forms of the second person plural pronoun appear to have undergone analogical change. The form of this pronoun that is found in earlier types of eastern Aramaic has no /x/ element, e.g., Syriac ªatton (3mp), ªatten (3fp), Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ªattun, ªattu, ªantu (3mp). The endings -oxun, -axun and -xun in the forms of the pronoun in Jewish Dobe, Jewish Sulemaniyya and Jewish Arbel are likely to have arisen by analogy with the second plural pronominal suffixes, which are identical to these in form in the respective dialects. The presence of the /x/ before the /t/ in the form found in many dialects could be explained as an innovation based on the analogy of the 1pl pronoun ªaxni/ªaxnan. The 2pl pronoun ªaxnaxun in Jewish Sulemaniyya is, in fact, very close in form to the 1pl form. 2.1.3. First-person independent pronouns Table 3 Qaraqosh En Nune Aqra 1 sg ªana 1 pl ªaxni

ªana ªaxni

ªana ªaxni ªaxnan

Jewish Dohok ªana ªaxni

Jewish Arbel ªana ªaxnan ªatxan

Jewish Sulemaniyya ªana ªaxni ªaxnan ªaxnani

The Jewish Arbel form of the 1pl pronoun ªatxan is clearly an innovation formed on the analogy of the 2pl form ªatxun. The form ªaxnani in Jewish Sulemaniyya represents a blend between the two alternative forms ªaxnan and ªaxni. 2.2. Pronominal suffixes attached to nouns 2.2.1. Third-person suffixes Table 4 Qaraqosh 3ms -´˙ 3fs -a˙ 3pl

Aradhin

En Nune Aqra

-e -a

-e -a -ey

-h´n -Ehin (sg. noun) -eh´n (pl. noun)

-e -a

Jewish Dohok -eh -ah

Jewish Arbel -eu -aw

-u

-ohun

-u

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In earlier forms of Aramaic the suffixes generally had different forms according to whether the noun to which the suffix was attached was singular or plural. This distinction has been levelled throughout NENA, with the exception of the dialect of Qaraqosh, where it has been preserved with the 3pl pronominal suffix. The Jewish Dohok forms of the 3ms (-eh) and the 3fs (-ah) preserve conservatively the forms that are found in earlier Aramaic. In some dialects, such as Aradhin, En Nune and Aqra, the final /h/ is not pronounced. This results in morphological convergence, since -a and -e are also the nominal endings for masculine singular and plural nouns respectively, e.g., En Nune ktawa ‘the book’ or ‘her book’, ktawe ‘the books’ or ‘his book’. This ambiguity is usually counteracted in these dialects by using an alternative independent genitive pronoun, e.g., En Nune ktawa diye ‘his book’, ktawa diya ‘her book’. In Qaraqosh the morphological convergence has been prevented by strengthening the final /h/ to the pharyngal /˙/. The 3ms form -eu in Jewish Arbel is the reflex of *-ayhu, which is the form of the pronoun that was originally added only to plural nouns. In this dialect its use has been extended also to singular nouns. The 3fs ending -aw has arisen, it appears, by adding a /u/ element to an original -a by analogy with the 3ms form. The 3pl suffix -Ehin in Aradhin is a reflex of the form that was originally attached to plural nouns, but now has become extended also to singular nouns. This is likely to be derived historically from -ayhun. The form -ey in En Nune is a contraction of this. The form -u in Aqra and Jewish Arbel are apparently reflexes of *-hun, which was the form that was originally attached to singular nouns. The /o/ element in the form -ohun of Jewish Dohok may have arisen by analogy with the 2pl form -oxun. 2.2.2. Second-person suffixes Table 5 Qaraqosh 2ms -ux 2fs -ax 2pl -xun (sg. noun) -exun (pl. noun)

En Nune Aqra -ux -ax -Exu

-ox -ax -oxun -axum

Jewish Dohok -ox -ax -oxun

Jewish Arbel -ox -ax -xun

Jewish Sulemaniyya -ox -ax -axun

The 2ms and 2fs suffixes are distinguished by the vowel quality before the final /x/. It appears that the vowel quality /u/ or /o/ in the 2ms is an innovation to counteract morphological convergence. It is likely that both forms are derived historically from *-ax. 5 Ultimately the distinctive feature between the two was probably in the length of the a vowel; see Onqelos 5. For a different explanation of the origin of the 2ms suffix -ox, see Nöldeke (1868: 79–80) and Hoberman (1988: 571).

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and Jonathan Targumic Aramaic –ak (2ms) and -ak (2fs on plural nouns). Long *a does not usually shift to the qualities /o/ or /u/ in NENA, but here the shift has taken place to maintain a morphological distinction. The Qaraqosh dialect retains the distinction between 2pl pronominal suffixes on singular and plural nouns, whereas this distinction has been levelled in the other dialects. In En Nune the form that was originally suffixed to plural nouns has been extended also to singular nouns (-Exu < *-ayxun). In Jewish Arbel the opposite process has taken place in that the form -xun, which was originally restricted to singular nouns, has been extended also to plural nouns. The /o/ vowel in the form -oxun, which is used in Jewish Dohok and Aqra, is likely to have arisen by analogy with the 2ms form. The /a/ vowel in the form -axun of Jewish Sulemaniyya and -axum of Aqra may have arisen by analogy with the 2fs form -ax or could possibly be based on the analogy of the 2ms proto-form *-ax before the vowel shifted quality. 2.2.3. First-person suffixes Table 6 Qaraqosh 1 sg -i 1 pl -an (sg. noun) -enan (pl. noun)

En Nune -i -in -Eni

Jewish Dohok -i -eni

Christian Urmiah -i -an -eni

The form of the 1pl suffix -an, which is found in Qaraqosh and Christian Urmiah, preserves the form of the suffix that is attached to singular nouns in earlier eastern Aramaic. In Qaraqosh the form attached to plural nouns is -enan. The forms -eni in Jewish Dohok and Christian Urmiah and -Eni in En Nune are related to this, except that the ending has been replaced by final -i by analogy with the ending of the independent 1pl pronoun ªaxni. Christian Urmiah has preserved both -an, which was originally attached to singular nouns, and -eni, which is a reflex of the form that was originally attached to plural nouns. In this dialect, however, each one may be attached to both singular and plural nouns and a new semantic distinction between them has arisen, in that -eni is an exclusive 1pl suffix (not including the addressee) whereas -an is inclusive. The form -in in En Nune has arisen by phonetic attenuation of the /a/ in -an. 3. Inflection of the present base of verbs The present form of the verb is derived historically from the active participle of earlier Aramaic with the first and second person subjects being expressed by an inflection that originates in cliticized forms of pronouns. The inflectional endings are slightly different depending on whether the verbal root ends in a strong or weak consonant. Paradigms of the strong

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verb q†l (‘to kill’) and the final weak verb sty (‘to drink’) are given below (tables 7 and 8). Table 7: Q†l ‘to kill’

3ms 3fs 3pl

2ms 2fs 2pl

1ms

1fs 1pl

Qaraqosh

En Nune

Aqra qa†il

Jewish Dohok qa†il

Jewish Arbel qa†il

Jewish Sulemaniyya qa†il

qa†´l ‘He kills’ qa†la ‘She kills’ qa†li ‘They kill’

qa†il qa†la

qa†la

qa†la

qa†la

qa†la

qa†li

qa†li

qa†li

qa†li

qa†li

qa†l´t ‘You (m.) kill’ qa†lat ‘You (f.) kill’ qa†litu ‘You (pl.) kill’

qa†lit qa†leti qa†lit qa†lati qa†litu

qa†lit

qa†lit

qa†let

qa†let

qa†lat

qa†lat

qa†lat

qa†lat

qa†litum

qa†letun

qa†letun

qa†letun

qa†l´n qa†´lna ‘I (m.) kill’ qa†lan ‘I (f.) kill’ qa†lax ‘We (m.) kill’

qa†lin qa†lena

qa†lin

qa†lin

qa†len qa†lena

qa†ilna

qa†lin qa†lana qa†lix

qa†lan

qa†lan

qa†lan

qa†lax

qa†lax

qa†lan qa†lana qa†lex

qa†lex

Table 8: Sty ‘to drink’

sate

Jewish Dohok sate

Jewish Arbel sate

Jewish Sulemaniyya sate

satya

satya

satya

satya

satya

sati

sati

sate

sateni

saten

sat´t ‘You (m.) drink’ satyat ‘You (f.) drink’

satit sateti satyit satyati

satit

satit

satet

satet

satyat

satyat

satyat

satyat

2pl

satetu ‘You (pl.) drink’

satitu

satitum

satitu

satetun

satetun

1ms

sat´n ‘I (m.) drink’ satyan ‘I (f.) drink’ satax ‘We drink’

satin satena satyin satyana satix

satin

satin

saten

satena

satyan

satyan

satyan

satyan

satax

satax

satex

satex

3ms 3fs 3pl

2ms 2fs

1fs 1pl

Qaraqosh

En Nune

Aqra

sat´ ‘He drinks’ satya ‘She drinks’ sate ‘They drink’

sate

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The first thing to be observed is that some of the inflectional endings of the strong verb have changed their morphological form by analogy with the corresponding endings of the final weak verb. This applies to some of the first and second person singular endings. This can be seen if we compare the equivalent inflection of the strong and weak verbs with enclitic pronouns in Syriac, an earlier form of eastern Aramaic (table 9): Table 9 q†l 2ms qa†lat ‘You (m.) kill’ 2fs qa†lat ‘You (f.) kill’ 2pl qa†litton ‘You (pl.) kill’

sty satet

1ms qa†ilna ‘I (m.) kill’ 1fs qa†lana ‘I (f.) kill’ 1pl qa†linnan ‘We (m.) kill’

satena

satyat satetton

satyana satyennan

In the NENA paradigm of q†l the 1ms endings -in, -en and -ena and the 2ms singular endings -it and -et are have clearly been formed by analogy with those of the weak verb. The motivation for this may have been, in the case of the 2ms at least, to counteract morphological convergence, since in the Syriac paradigm the 2ms and 2fs inflections have the same form. The Jewish Sulemaniyya 1ms form qa†ilna preserves the original form of the strong verb inflection. In En Nune and Jewish Arbel the 1ms and 1fs endings -ena and -ana with a final vowel are preserved as conservative optional alternative forms. By comparing the Syriac paradigm, it appears that the /x/ element in the 1pl NENA inflection is an innovation. This is likely to have been formed by analogy with the /x/ element in the independent pronoun ªaxni/ªaxnan. The motivation for this innovation seems again to be an effort to counteract morphological convergence, since the original 1pl ending -innan could be confused with the first person ending in NENA. The dialects of Qaraqosh, Aqra and Jewish Dohok in tables 7 and 8 have a long a vowel in the 3ms form. This conforms to the usual phonetic rule that a vowel in a penultimate open syllable is pronounced long. The vowel elsewhere in the paradigm is short since it occurs in a closed syllable. In Jewish Arbel and Jewish Sulemaniyya, however, the rule has been overridden and the vowel in the first syllable of the 3ms form is pronounced short. This is no doubt by analogy with the shortness of the vowel in the rest of the paradigm.

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Turning now to the final weak paradigm (table 8, p. 316), various innovations can be seen to have taken place in the 3pl form to counteract morphological convergence. Originally the 3pl would have been distinguished from the 3ms by the presence of final -n, e.g., Syriac sate : saten, these being the masculine singular and masculine plural inflections of the active participle, respectively. As a general rule, final -n in nominal plural inflections was lost in NENA. This would result in an ambiguity in the final weak paradigm. This ambiguity remains unadapted in the Jewish Dohok dialect, in that both the 3ms and the 3pl have the form sate. Most other dialects, however, have counteracted this morphological convergence in some way. The Aqra and En Nune dialects have taken over the 3pl inflection of the strong verb paradigm -i. Jewish Sulemaniyya has preserved the final -n ending and thus resisted the usual phonetic development. Jewish Arbel has combined the two processes, resulting in the ending -eni. The 1pl ending -ax with the vowel /a/ in the final weak paradigm of Qaraqosh, Aqra and Jewish Dohok has been formed by analogy with the paradigm of the strong verb.

4. Verbal bases The NENA dialects have preserved three verbal stems from earlier Aramaic. Stem I is equivalent to the basic p´ºal form. Stem II corresponds to the paººel form and also, in some dialects, the ªitp´ºel and ªitpaººal forms (see Khan 2002: 132). Stem III corresponds to the ªap$ºel stem. Table 10 below indicates the morphological bases of the present, imperative, and infinitive forms of the the various stems.

Table 10 Qaraqosh

En Nune

Jewish Arbel Jewish Sulemaniyya

Stem I Present Imperative Infinitive

qa†´l q†ol q†ala

qa†il q†ul q†ala

qa†il q†ol q†ala

qa†il qa†il qa†ole

Stem II Present Imperative Infinitive

mqa†´l qa†´l qa†ol´

mqa†il mqa†il mqa†ole

— — —

— — —

Stem III Present Imperative Infinitive

maq†´l ªaq†´l ªaq†ol´

maq†il maq†il maq†ole

maq†il maq†il maq†ole

maq†il maq†il maq†ole

spread is 12 points long

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A comparison of the forms in this table shows that several morphological innovations have taken place in the dialects. These have come about by analogy between the formation of the different stems, which has resulted in considerable morphological convergence. The Qaraqosh dialect has preserved the most conservative forms of the bases in the various stems. In the other dialects the initial m- element of the present base in stems II and III has been extended by analogy to the imperative and the infinitive forms in these stems. In Jewish Arbel and Jewish Sulemaniyya stem II form has been levelled with stem III and as a result stem II verbs are inflected like stem III. In Jewish Sulemaniyya the levelling across the stems extends also to stem I, in that the vocalic patterns of the imperative and infinitive bases of stem I have been changed to those of stem III. 5. Present enclitic copula The NENA dialects have an enlitic copula which is inflected like a verb with personal subject endings. It has various forms across the dialects, a selection of which are present below in table 11. Table 11 Qaraqosh Alqosh En Nune 3ms -il´ -ile -ile 3fs -ila -ila -ila 3pl -ina -ilE -ila

Jewish Arbel -ile -ila -ilu

Jewish Urmiah -ile -ila -ilu

Jewish Sulemaniyya -y, -ye -ya -yen

2ms -iy´t 2fs -iyat 2pl -iyetu

-iwet -iwit -wet -iwat -iwit -wat -iwotun -iwitu -wetun

-ilet -ilat -iletun

-yet -yat -yetu

1ms -iy´n 1fs -iyan 1pl -iyax

-iwen -iwan -iwex

-ilen -ilan -ilex

-yena -yan -yex

-iwin -iwin -iwix

-wen -wan -wex

The NENA dialects also use the verb hwy, which is the descendant of the verb ‘to be’ in earlier Aramaic. This verb, however, is restricted to certain functions. It is suppletive to the copula. Broadly speaking, the copula expresses the indicative present of the verb ‘to be’, whereas forms of the verb hwy express the future, subjunctive and imperative. The verb hwy is sometimes also used in the sphere of the present indicative to express a generic property of the subject, e.g., Jewish Arbel: ˙asis yaruqa k-awe (= the indicative marker k- + hawe) ‘grass is green’, as opposed to a contingent property that exists in one particular situation, which is always expressed by the copula, e.g., Jewish Arbel: zaqara ga-belan-ile ‘the weaver is in our house’).

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The paradigm of the verb hwy has the regular inflection of final weak verbs, e.g., Jewish Arbel subjunctive: 3rd pers. ms fs pl 2nd pers. ms fs pl 1st pers. ms fs pl

hawe hawya haweni hawet hawyat hawetun hawen hawyan hawex

In ˇuroyo and modern Mandaic, which are the Neo-Aramaic dialect groups adjacent to NENA, the present copula is clearly a pronominal element rather than a verb: ˇuroyo (see Ritter 1990: 1, 7): 3rd pers. ms fs pl 2nd pers. ms fs pl 1st pers. ms fs pl

Independent pronoun huwe hiya hinne hat hat hatu ªuno ªuno ªa˙na

Enclitic copula -yo -yo -ne -hat -hat -hatu -no -no -na

These are the forms that are used in the urban center of Midyat. In the variety of ˇuroyo that is spoken in the surrounding villages the 3ms pronoun is hiye. The third person singular enclitic forms do not appear to be directly related to the independent forms of the pronoun that are in use today, but rather are reflexes of an enclitic 3ms form of earlier Aramaic. Compare Syriac -u, -yu, which is the enclitic form of hu ‘he’ ( Jastrow 1985: 33). Modern Mandaic (see Macuch 1989: 50; 1993: 52–53): 3rd pers. ms fs pl 2nd pers. ms fs mpl fpl 1st pers. ms pl

Independent pronoun huy hid honni at at atton atten an, ana ani

Enclitic copula -ye -i -non -at -at,-et -ton -ten -na, nan -ni

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The situation in ˇuroyo and modern Mandaic corresponds to what is found in the earlier forms of literary eastern Aramaic, such as Syriac and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, in which the present tense copula is pronominal, e.g., Syriac: ªalaha zaddik-u ‘God is righteous’ (literally: God righteoushe), ªur˙a da-srara ªalißa-y ‘The road of truth is painful’ (literally: the-road of-truth painful-it; Nöldeke 1904: 246; Duval 1969: 362). The conjugation of the copula as a verb in NENA, therefore, is due to a historical linguistic change. The stimulus for this may have been the influence of the non-Semitic substrate of NENA. In Kurdish, for example, which was the major substrate language of the NENA group, the element corresponding to the Aramaic copula is a verb (bun ‘to be’). In predications this is generally suffixed to the predicate in enclitic form. It has the following form in some of the Sorani Kurdish dialects, which are spoken in the area of many of the Neo-Aramaic dialects that are mentioned in table 11 (the second forms of the enclitic occur after a vowel; see MacKenzie 1961: 90–92): 3rd pers. sg pl 2nd pers. sg pl 1st pers. sg pl

Full form da-bi da-bin da-bi da-bin da-bim da-bin

Enclitic -a, -ya -in, -na -i, -y -in, -na -im, -ma -in, -yna

If we look at the paradigms of the NENA copula in table 11, we can identify in the stem of the forms the elements /l/, /w/ and /i/. These elements have a different distribution in the copula forms across the various dialects. The /l/ element at first sight seems curious in a copula form. In some NENA dialects, such as Jewish Urmia this element has been generalized throughout the paradigm of the present copula and occurs in all persons. It is possible to identify this /l/ element with the /l/ that occurs in the NENA dialects as a marker of the direct object and is found before pronominal direct objects, e.g., Jewish Arbel: g ˘aze-le ‘He sees him’, g ˘aze-la ‘He sees her’, g ˘aze-lu ‘He sees them’, etc. The explanation as to why this object marker should appear in a copula paradigm is apparently that such forms were in origin presentative constructions, i.e., ‘behold him, behold he is . . .’. Some NENA dialects have a separate presentative series with object suffixes containing the object marker /l/, e.g., Alqosh: holi ‘behold me’, holox ‘behold you’, hole ‘behold him’, etc. It should be noted that a morphological convergence has taken place between the 3fs and 3pl enclitic copulas in En Nune, both of which have the form -ila. This has arisen due to the lowering of the final vowel to /a/ in the 3pl form. The reconstructed development would be something like *-ilayhin > -ilE (see Alqosh) > -ila. The Qaraqosh dialect has counteracted this convergence by means of a phonetic change, whereby the 3pl form *-ila has shifted to -ina.

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The /i/ element appears to be in origin a third person singular pronominal form. Compare ˇuroyo –yo and modern Mandaic –ye, -i. This third person pronominal element has in some dialects been generalized throughout the paradigm and acts as the base for inflections taken over from the present verbal paradigm. The /w/ element, which we see in the first and and second person forms in many of the dialects, is likely to have entered the copula paradigm by analogy with the paradigm of the suppletive verb hwy. Indeed the assimilation of the inflectional endings of the copula in all dialects to those of verbal paradigms is likely to be specifically to the inflectional ending of the verb hwy. In the dialects with copula paradigms containing the element /w/ the assimilation to the verb hwy goes one stage further, in that, in the first and second person forms at least, not only are the inflectional endings of hwy taken over, but also the /w/ of the base. The NENA copula, therefore, although pronominal in origin, is in the process of being reinterpreted as a cliticized form of the verb hwy. This would parallel the situation in Kurdish, where, as we have seen, the verb ‘to be’ is used in either an independent or cliticized form. 6. Genitive particle In earlier forms of Aramaic preserved in literary texts, a genitive relationship between two nouns is expressed by the particle di or its shortened form d. This is prefixed to the possessor, e.g., Syriac ktawa d-malka ‘the book of the king’. The particle is derived historically from a deictic element with an original initial interdental *q that has cognates in other Semitic languages. It was originally inflected for case, as shown by Classical Arabic qu (nominative), qa (accusative), qi (genitive). The early Aramaic form di appears to be a fossilized form of the originally genitive inflection *qi. In some NENA dialects this particle is still used as in earlier Aramaic, in that it has the form d and is prefixed to the noun expressing the possessor. This is the case, for example, in the dialect of Qaraqosh, which is one of the most archaic NENA dialects, e.g., ktawa d-malka ‘the book of the king’. In fast speech, however, the particle d is frequently syllabified with the possessee in the phrase, with a resultant attenuation of the final vowel, e.g., ktaw´-d malka (see Khan 2002: 207–9). This reflects a trend in the NENA dialects to reanalyze the d genitive element as an inflection of the possessee rather than as an independent particle. In some NENA dialects this trend is typologically more advanced. In the Jewish Arbel dialect, for example, the erstwhile genitive particle regularly appears as an inflection of the possessee noun with the form -it, e.g., belit babi ‘The house of my father’ (< *beta d-babi). The /t/ of the ending is a devoiced form of the particle d and the /i/ element is best interpreted as an attenuated form of the final vowel of the possessee noun. There is evidence, however, that the ending -it is now treated as a productive nominal inflection. This is shown, for example, by the fact that it is attached to loan-words that end in a consonant, e.g., sarukit baxti ‘the headscarf (saruk)

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of my wife’. In some cases, furthermore, the final /t/ of the ending is elided, e.g., beli babi ‘The house of my father’. This can be explained as having arisen by a phonetic process. Another factor, however, is likely to be the influence of the substrate language Kurdish, in which the genitive relationship is expressed by the particle -i. In fact the annexation inflection -it is sometimes combined with the the element -i, e.g., belit-i babi ‘The house of my father’ (see Khan 1999: 168–70). 7. The feminine ending of nouns Nouns of feminine gender in NENA usually have the feminine suffix -ta or its variant -ta. In some dialects the fricative in the suffix -ta undergoes further phonetic shifts. In principle the feminine ending -ta with the stop /t/ is attached to bases ending in a consonant and the ending -ta with the fricative /t/ to bases ending in a vowel. This is a reflex of the stop and fricative allophones of *t in earlier Aramaic. Subsequent developments in the phonology of the language, however, have sometimes resulted in a number of deviations from this principle, in which -ta occurs after vowels and -ta after consonants. In most of these cases, nevertheless, the -ta ending occurs in words that ended in a consonant at some earlier historical period and, likewise, -ta occurs where at some earlier historical period it was preceded by a vowel. Since the consonants /t/ and /t/ became phonemicized in the NENA dialects and ceased to be allophones conditioned by context, they became fossilized in the feminine endings of words irrespective of subsequent phonological development. By way of illustration, we shall examine this phenomenon in the Qaraqosh dialect. 6 Cases of -ta occurring after vowels fall into the following categories: a. Where the /t/ of the ending was originally geminated, usually on account of having assimilated a preceding consonant: sata ªita brata mqita

‘year’ ‘church’ ‘daughter’ ‘town’

< *satta < *ªitta < *bratta < *mqitta

b. Where the stop /t/ was originally preceded by the consonant *b4 , which has subsequently become contracted: sota swota katota ªaruta

‘grandmother’ ‘neighbour’ (f.) ‘writer’ (f.) ‘Friday’

< *sab4 ta < *sb4 ab4 ta < *katab4 ta (cf. katawa m.) < *ºarub4 ta

6. For further details, see Khan (2002: 174–80).

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Most cases of -ta that occur after a consonant can be explained as having originally followed an epenthetic vowel that has now been lost. The occurrences may be classified as follows: a. The preceding consonant was originally geminated but subsequently the gemination was weakened and the epenthetic vowel following it was elided: dukta s´kta sabta

‘place’ ‘peg’ ‘week’

< *dukk´ta < *sikk´ta < *sabb´ta

b. An epenthetic originally preceded the feminine ending but was subsequently moved before the preceding consonant by a process of resyllabification: daq´nta ßub´ªta sar´xta xwarta

‘small beard’ ‘finger’ ‘heifer’ ‘friend (f.)’

< *daqn´ta < *ßub4 º´ta < *sarx´ta < *˙ab4 r´ta

c. An epenthetic has been elided after a long vowel and the long vowel shortened: s´ªta

‘hour’

< *saºeta

In the Jewish NENA dialects of southern and eastern Kurdistan the interdental fricatives t and q shift to the lateral l and so the reflex of the feminine ending -ta is -la, e.g., Jewish Arbel xmala ‘mother-in-law’ (Qaraqosh: xmata). In some cases the /l/ has come to be interpreted as a root letter of the word rather than a component of the feminine suffix, no doubt because the relationship between the endings -la and -ta is more opaque than between -ta and -ta. As a result of this reinterpretation, a second feminine ending has been added to some words, e.g., Jewish Arbel klelta ‘chicken’ (see Qaraqosh kteta). When a corresponding masculine form of a word exists, the addition of a feminine ending serves various functions in the NENA dialects. This is illustrated below by the Qaraqosh dialect. i. In the case of animate referents, it may designate the female counterpart of the masculine form: zaqara (m.) samaªa (m.) banaya (m.)

zaqarta (f.) samaªta (f.) baneta (f.)

‘weaver’ ‘listener’ ‘builder’

ii. In some cases, the feminine ending expresses singularity. The addition of the feminine ending to the infinitive form of a verb, for example, expresses a single event or specific performance of the activity referred to by the verb, or even some concrete entity that results from the perfor-

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mance of the action. The infinitive without the feminine ending, on the other hand, expresses the abstraction of the activity: ª´tawa ª´xala gyaja hwaya qwara rqaqa

‘sitting’ ‘eating ‘aching (head)’ ‘being’ ‘burying’ ‘dancing’

ª´tota ª´xalta gyajta hweta qwarta rqaqta

‘a session, party’ ‘meal’ ‘headache’ ‘birth’ ‘burial’ ‘a dance’

We should also include here the use of the feminine ending to express a single item of an entity that is usually referred to as a collectivity in the plural: ªar´ªn´ ªarmon´ ba†ix´ biª´ d´mª´ qalp´

‘mallows’ ‘pomegranates’ ‘watermelons’ ‘eggs’ ‘tears’ ‘leaves’

ªarª´nta ªarmonta ba†´xta b´ªta d´m´ªta qal´pta

‘a mallow’ ‘a pomegranate’ ‘a watermelon’ ‘an egg’ ‘a tear’ ‘a leaf’

A few words that use a plural form ending in the inflection -ata as the normal, unmarked form, form the singular by attaching the feminine -ta without replacing the plural ending: ªapsata ‘raisins’ bedata ‘sleeves’ natyata ‘ears’

ªapsatta bedatta natyatta

‘a raisin’ ‘a sleeve’ ‘an ear’

iii. The addition of the feminine ending sometimes denotes a diminutive of the corresponding masculine form: daqna magla qarªa sarada talma

‘(full) beard’ ‘scythe’ ‘pumpkin’ ‘large sieve’ ‘big jug’

daq´nta mag´lta qar´ªta saratta tal´mta

‘small beard’ ‘sickle’ ‘courgette’ ‘small sieve’ ‘little jug’

8. Concluding remarks We have seen in the foregoing comparison of morphological forms across various NENA dialects that numerous innovations have taken place. Many of these are the result of analogical developments. On some occasions these have taken place as a response to the need to indicate a semantic distinction where two originally distinct morphological forms have become homophonous. Morphological convergence is also counteracted by other means, such as phonetic shifts, the use of doublets and the preservation of

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archaic elements. The phonetic shifts that are stimulated by the morphological system are generally quite natural on articulatory grounds (e.g., l > n). Conversely, phonetic shifts may make the relationship between two allomorphs opaque and lead to their being dissassociated, as in the feminine endings -la and -ta in some Jewish NENA dialects, which are reflexes of original *-ta and *-ta. Sporadically morphological convergence is prevented by assigning new functions to two forms, as is the case with the 1pl suffixes -an (inclusive) and -eni (exclusive) in Christian Urmiah. Finally the substrate languages, especially Kurdish, can sometimes be identified as one of the stimuli for morphological change. In the vast majority of cases, nonetheless, there is no direct transfer of morphological elements into the Neo-Aramaic dialects, but rather they draw on their own morphological sources. In such cases, moreover, the changes can also be attributed to internal causes such as analogy and the counteraction of morphological convergence. Language substrate influence, therefore, must be considered to be only one of multiple causes of change.

References Duval, R. 1896 Notice sur les dialectes néo-araméens. Mémoires de la société de linguistique de Paris 9: 125–35. 1969 Traité de Grammaire Syriaque. Repr. Amsterdam: Philo. Hobermann, R. D. 1988 The History of the Modern Aramaic Pronouns and Pronominal Suffixes. Journal of the American Oriental Society 104: 221–31. 1990 Reconstructing Pre-modern Aramaic Morphology: The Independent Pronouns. Pp. 79–88 in Studies in Neo-Aramaic, ed. W. Heinrichs. Harvard Semitic Series. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Hopkins, S. 1993 The Jews of Kurdistan in Eretz Israel and Their Language. Peºamim: Studies in Oriental Jewry 56: 50–74. Jastrow, O. 1985 Laut- und Formenlehre des neuaramäischen Dialekts von Midin im ˇur ºAbdin. 3rd ed. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Khan, G. 2001 Quelques aspects de l’expression d’“être” en néo-araméen, in Langues de Diaspora. Langues en Contact, ed. Anaïd Donabédian. Faits de Langues. Revue de Linguistique 18: 139–48. 2002 The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh. Leiden: Brill. MacKenzie, D. N. 1961 Kurdish Dialect Studies I. London: Oxford University Press. Macuch, R. 1989 Neumandäische Chrestomathie mit Grammatischer Skizze, Kommentierter Übersetzung und Glossar. In collaboration with Klaus Boekels. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1993 Neumandäische Texte im Dialekt von Ahwaz. In collaboration with Guido Dankwarth. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

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Nöldeke, T. 1868 Grammatik der neusyrischen Sprache am Urmia-See und in Kurdistan. Leipzig: Weigel. 1904 Compendious Syriac Grammar. Trans. J. A. Crichton. London: Williams and Norgate. Reprinted, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2001. Ritter, H. 1990 ˇuroyo: Die Volkssprache der Syrischen Christen des ˇur ºAbdin. C: Grammatik. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. Socin, A. 1882 Die neu-aramäischen Dialekte von Urmia bis Mosul: Texte und Übersetzungen. Tübingen: Laupp. Tsereteli, K. G. 1977 Zur Frage der Klassifikation der neuaramäischen Dialekte. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 127: 244–53. 1978 The Modern Assyrian Language. Moscow: Nauka.

South Semitic

Chapter 16

Amharic Wolf Leslau† University of California, Los Angeles

Introduction Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, belongs to the Semitic language family. Other Ethiopian Semitic languages are: G@º@z (the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church), Tigre and Tigrigna, closely related to G@º@z. The languages of the center and the south are: Amharic, Argobba, Harari (or Adare, spoken only in the city of Harar), Gurage (a cluster of at least twelve dialects), and Gafat (for which the present writer found only four speakers in 1946). The earliest documents written in Amharic are the Imperial Songs written in the 14th century. In the early 17th century Portuguese used Amharic for religious writings. The first royal chronicles were written in the 19th century at the time of Emperor Theodoros II. As far back as the 17th century Amharic became the lingua franca in Ethiopia. The consonants are: Labials Dentals Palatals Velars (Post-)Velar and Glottals Stops Voiceless p t c k ª Voiced b d ƒ g Glottalized p∫ † c≥ q Rounded k+, g+, q+ Fricatives Voiceless f s s h Voiced z z Glottalized ß Rounded h+ Nasals Voiced m n n^ Liquids Voiceless Voiced l, r Semivowels w y Pronunciation of the Amharic consonants The Amharic consonants whose phonetic transcription correponds to that of the English consonants are: b d f g (as in ‘gold’) h k l m n p r s t w y z. In additon to those, there are sounds which are the same or nearly the same as the English sounds, but are rendered for Amharic by special phonetic symbols. These are given in the table at the top of p. 330. The sounds that are characteristic of Amharic and are not found in English are: †, c≥, p∫ , q and ß. These sounds are called ‘glottalized’ or ‘ejectives’.

- 329 -

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Wolf Leslau† c corresponding to ch in ‘church’ s corresponding to sh in ‘shoe’ ƒ corresponding to j in ‘joke’ z corresponding to s in ‘pleasure’ n^ corresponding to ni in ‘onion’

In pronouncing the glottalized consonants, the stream of air coming from the lungs is shut off by the closure of the glottis, and the air above is then forced out through a stricture formed in the vocal organ. The stricture is at the lips for p∫ , at the teeth for †, ß, at the palate for c≥, and at the velum for q.

Pronoun 1. Independent personal pronouns Sg. 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f.

@ne antä anci @ssu @rsu @ss+a @rs+a

Respect 2c. @ss@wo @rs@wo 3c. @ssaccäw @rsaccäw

‘I’ ‘you’ ‘you’ ‘he’

Pl. 1c. @n^na^ 2c. @nnantä 3c. @nnässu @nnärsu

‘we’ ‘you’ ‘they’

‘she’ ‘You’ (also antu in rural Amharic) ‘He, She’

The form of respect is used with the plural of the verb or of the copula: @ssaccäw m䆆u ‘He/She came’ (lit., ‘they-came’); @ssaccäw t@ll@q säw naccäw ‘He is an important man’ (lit., ‘they important man they-are’). 1.1. The personal pronoun preceded by yä- ‘of’ expresses possession; e.g., yäne (< yä-@ne) bet ‘my house’ (lit., ‘of-I house’), yantä (for yä-antä) bet ‘your house’ (lit., ‘of-you house’). For the possessive suffix pronouns, see 2. 1.2. In the contact between the final vowel of yä ‘of’ and the initial vowel of the personal pronoun, the following cases of elision occur: ä-@ > ä (as in yäne from yä-@ne ‘my’, lit., ‘of-I’), ä-a > a (as in yantä from yä-antä ‘your’, lit., ‘of you’). The forms are given in the table at the top of p. 331. 1.3. Note that yä is omitted if the complex of yä + personal pronoun is preceded by a preposition; bantä (for bä-[yä]antä) mäkina m䆆a ‘he came in your car’ (lit., ‘in-of-you car he-came’). 1.4. The possessive pronoun or the possessive adjective may also take the marker -n to express the direct object: yäne (for yä-@ne) mäßhaf aroge näw s@läzzih yantän (for yä-antä-n) wässädä ‘my book is old; therefore he took yours’ (lit., ‘of-I book old it-is therefore of-you-n [direct object marker] hetook’).

Amharic Sg. 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f.

yäne yantä yanci yässu yärsu yäss+a yärs+a

‘my, mine’ ‘your, yours’ ‘your, yours’ ‘his’

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Pl. 1c. yän^na^ ‘our, ours’ 2c. yännantä ‘your, yours’ 3c. yännässu ‘their, theirs’ yännärsu

‘her, hers’

Respect 2c. yärs+o ‘Your, Yours’ 3c. yärsaccäw ‘His, Her, Hers’ 2. Possessive suffix pronouns 2.1. Possession is also expressed by possessive suffix pronouns attached to the noun. Slight differences occur depending on whether the noun ends in a consonant (such as bet ‘house’) or in a vowel (such as w@ssa ‘dog’). 2.2. If the noun ends in a consonant the forms of the suffix pronouns are as follows: Sg. 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f. Pl. 1c. 2c. 3c. Respect 2c. 3c.

-e -@h -@s -u -wa -acc@n -acc@hu -accäw

(bet-e ‘my house’) (bet-@h ‘your house’) (bet-@s ‘your house’) (bet-u ‘his house’) (bet-wa ‘her house’) (bet-acc@n ‘our house’) (bet-acc@hu ‘your [pl.] house’) (bet-accäw ‘their house’)

-wo, -wot -accäw

(bet-wo, bet-wot ‘Your house’) (bet-accäw ‘His house’)

2.3. If the noun ends in a vowel (e.g., bäqlo ‘mule’), the suffixes have the following form: Sg. 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f. Pl. 1c. 2c. 3c.

-ye -h -s -w -wa -cc@n -cc@hu -ccäw

(bäqlo-ye ‘my mule’) (bäqlo-h) (bäqlo-s) (bäqlo-w) (bäqlo-wa) (bäqlo-cc@n) (bäqlo-cc@hu) (bäqlo-ccäw)

2.4. The suffix pronoun may also be rendered by ‘of’: †@ru wädaƒ-e näw ‘he is a good friend of mine’ (lit., ‘good my-friend he-is’). In combination with man ‘who?’: mann-accäw (note the geminated -nn) ‘who of them?’

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3. Reflexive pronouns 3.1. ‘Myself, himself’ The reflexive pronoun as subject is expressed by ras-, lit., ‘head’ with possessive suffix pronouns; e.g., @ssu ras-u t@lant@nna m䆆a ‘he himself came yesterday’ (lit., ‘he himself yesterday he-came’). 3.2. ‘My own’ The possessive ‘my own, his own’, and so on, is expressed by yä-ras(lit., ‘of head’) with suffix pronouns followed by the possessed object. Example yä-ras-e bet näw ‘it is my own house’ (lit., ‘of-my-own [of-my-head] house it-is’). 4. Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives 4.1. For near objects 4.1.1. ‘This’, sg. masc. y@h. As an adjective: y@h säw †@ru näw ‘this man is good’ (lit., ‘this man good he-is’). As a pronoun: y@h †@ru näw ‘this-one is good’ (lit., ‘this-one good he-is’). With the suffix -(@)n^na^ w in y@h@n^na^ w ‘this-one’ (masc.): e.g., y@h@n^na^ w w@ssa näw ‘this-one is a dog’ (lit., ‘this-one dog he-is’). Whenever the demonstrative y@h is preceded by a preposition it takes the base -zzih (with geminated -zz): thus, s@lä-zzih ‘because of this, therefore’, @ndä-zzih ‘like this, thus’, @-zzih ‘here’. 4.1.2. ‘This’, sg. fem. y@h@cc, y@cc; e.g., y@h@cc set mälkam nat ‘this woman is pretty’ (lit., ‘this woman pretty she-is’). With the suffix -n^na^ wa in y@c@n^na^ wa ‘this-one’ (fem.); e.g., y@cc-@n^na^ wa d@mmät näcc ‘this one is a cat’ (lit., ‘this-one cat she-is’). When preceded by a preposition, the form is -zzicc; e.g., @ndä-zzicc set ‘like-this woman’ (note the geminated -zz). 4.1.3. ‘These, these ones’, masc. and fem. @nnäzzih (from the plural marker @nnä- and -zzih [see 4.1.1]. As an adjective: @nnäzzih säw-occ †@ru naccäw ‘these men are good’ (lit., ‘these men good they-are’). As a pronoun: @nnäzzih †@ru naccäw ‘these-ones are good’ (lit., ‘these-ones good they-are’). 4.2. For distant objects 4.2.1. ‘That’, masc. ya; e.g., ya säw dägg(@) näw ‘that man is good’ (lit., ‘that man good he-is’). When preceded by a preposition it takes the form -zziya; e.g., bä-zziya bota ‘in that place’ (note the geminated -zz), @-zziya ‘here’ (lit., ‘in-that’), @ndäzziya ‘that way, thus’ (lit., ‘like-that’). ‘That’, fem. yacc, yacci; e.g., yacc set dägg(@) nat ‘that woman is good’ (lit., ‘that woman good she-is’). When preceded by a preposition it takes the form -zziyyacc; e.g., lä-zziyyacc set ‘to that woman’. 4.2.2. ‘That one’, masc. ya-n^na^ -w; e.g., yan^na^ w färäs näw ‘that one is a horse’ (lit., ‘that-one horse he/it is’). ‘That one’, fem. yacc-@n^na^ -wa; e.g., yacc@n^na^ wa bäqlo näcc ‘that one is a mule’ (lit., ‘that-one mule she-is’).

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4.2.3. ‘Those, those ones’, masc. and fem. @nnä-zziyya, @nniya; e.g., @nnäziyya l@ƒocc dägg(@) naccäw ‘those children are nice’ (lit., ‘those children nice they-are’). 5. Interrogative pronouns and adjectives 5.1. ‘Who?’ man; e.g., man m䆆a? ‘who came?’; man näw? ‘who is it?’ Plural, man, or man man, or @nnä-man; e.g., @nnäzziya säwocc @nnä-man naccäw? ‘who are those people?’ (lit., ‘those persons who they-are?’). Note man in the expression s@m-@h man näw? ‘what’s your name?’ (lit., ‘your-name who it-is?’). As a direct object (‘whom’) the form is mann-@n, as in mann-@n t@lant@nna ayyä? ‘whom did he see yesterday?’ (lit., ‘whom yesterday he-saw?’). With prepositions: lä-man ‘to whom?’ ‘Whose?’ yä-man (lit., ‘of who?’); e.g., y@h mäßhaf yä-man näw? ‘whose is this book?’ (lit., ‘this book of-who it-is?’). 5.2. ‘What?’ m@n; e.g., m@n honä ‘what happened?’; m@nnäw (for m@n näw) ‘what is it?’; m@n aynät ‘what kind?’. Plural m@n m@n, or m@n-@nna m@n (lit., ‘what-and what?’); e.g., lä-bäºalu m@n m@n gäzza? ‘what items did he buy for the holiday?’ (lit., ‘for-theholiday what what did-he-buy?’). With prepositions: lä-m@n ‘why?’ (lit., ‘for what?’); s@lä m@n ‘why?’ (lit., ‘because of what?’); bä-m@n gize ‘when?’ (lit., ‘at-what time?’). lela m@n? ‘what other?’ (lit., ‘other what?), what else?’, which other?’; e.g., lela m@n mäßhaf gäzza? ‘which other book did he buy?’; lela m@n fällägä? ‘what else did he want?’. m@nd@n, m@nd@r ‘what?, what kind?’; m@nd@n näw? ‘what is it?’. With prepositions: @ndä-m@nd@n näh? ‘how are you?’ (lit., ‘like-what you-are?’). 5.3. ‘Which?’ yät (originally ‘where?’); when preceded by yä ‘of which?’, as in yä-yät agär säw näh? ‘where are you from?’ (lit., ‘of-which country man you-are?’). yät-@n^na^ -w ‘which?, which one?’ (that is, yät with the adjectival suffix -@n^na^ + article -w); e.g., t@k@kk@l-@n^na^ -w yät-@n^na^ -w näw? ‘which is the correct one?’ (lit., ‘the-correct-one which-one he/it-is’?). mann-@n^na^ -w ‘which?, which one?’ (composed of man ‘who?’, an adjectival suffix -@n^na^ , and the article -w); e.g., man-@n^na^ -w l@ƒ m䆆a? ‘which child came?’ 6. Relative pronouns The relative perfect is formed with yä + perfect; the relative imperfect is formed with yämm@- with the imperfect. For a detailed treatment of the relative pronoun, see 18.5. 7. Indefinite pronouns and adjectives The indefinite pronouns are arranged in alphabetical order.

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7.1. ‘All’ 7.1.1. Without a noun hullu, hullum ‘all’; e.g., hullu m䆆a ‘all came’. The noun connected with hullu may precede or follow; thus, hullu säw m䆆a, or säw hullu m䆆a ‘all the people came’ (lit., ‘all people came’). 7.1.2. The noun may also be in the plural; thus, hullu säwocc m䆆u ‘all [the] persons (people) came’. With suffix pronouns: hull-acc@n ‘all of us’, hull-accäw ‘all of them’. For hullu, see also ‘every, everybody, every thing’. 7.2. ‘Alone, by oneself’ 7.2.1. b@cca (originally of nominal origin); e.g., bet-u yäne (for yä-@ne) b@cca näw ‘the house is mine alone’ (lit., ‘the-house of-I alone it-is’). 7.2.2. With suffix pronouns followed by -n; e.g., lä-g@bza-w b@cca-w-@n (or lä-b@cca-w) m䆆a ‘he came to the party alone’ (lit., ‘to-the-party by-himself he-came’); b@cca-wa-n wädä addis abäba hedäcc ‘she went alone (or ‘by herself’) to Addis Abäba’ (lit., ‘by-herself to Addis Abäba she-went’). 7.3. ‘Any’ 7.3.1. mann@mm, m@n@mm; e.g., yalä m@n@mm @rdata särra-w ‘he did it without any help’ (lit., ‘without any help he-did-it’). In the negative: m@n@mm dabbo yällä-n^n-^ @mm ‘I don’t have any bread’ (lit., ‘any bread there-is-not-to-me’). 7.3.2. ‘Any other, another’ lela; e.g., lela †@yyaqe allä-h? ‘do you have another question?’ (lit., ‘another question is-to-you?’). 7.3.3. ‘(Any) more’ lela; e.g., lela bärbärre allä-h? ‘do you have more pepper?’ (lit., ‘any-more pepper is-there-to-you?’). 7.3.4. ‘Without any’ yalandacc (from yä-alä andacc); e.g., s@ra-w-@n yalandacc c@gg@r fäßßämä ‘he accomplished his work without any difficulty’ (lit., ‘his-work-n without-any difficulty he-finished’). 7.4. ‘Anybody, anyone’ 7.4.1. säw (lit., ‘person’), mann-@mm (lit., ‘any’), mann-@mm säw (lit., ‘any person’); e.g., bärr-u-n lä-mann-@mm (or lä-mann-@mm säw) käffätä ‘he opened the door to anyone’ (lit., ‘the-door-n to-anyone [or ‘to-anyperson’] he-opened’). 7.4.2. ‘Anybody else’ lela säw (lit., ‘another person’); e.g., @zzih lela säw allä? ‘is there anybody else here?’ (lit., ‘here [lit., ‘in-this’] another person there-is?’). 7.5. ‘Anything’ 7.5.1. nägär (lit., ‘thing’), m@n-@mm, m@n-@mm nägär (lit., ‘whatever thing’); e.g., yä-tärräfä nägär allä? ‘is there anything that is left?’ (lit., ‘thatwas-left thing there-is?’). 7.5.2. ‘Anything else’ lela nägär (lit., ‘another thing’), lela m@n (lit., ‘another what?’); e.g., lela yä-tä-rässa m@n allä? ‘is there anything else that was forgotten?’ (lit., ‘another that-was-forgotten what there-is?’).

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7.6. ‘Certain, a certain’ 7.6.1. ‘A certain person (man)’ is expressed by and(@) säw, lit., ‘one person (man)’; e.g., and(@) säw m䆆a ‘a certain man came’ (lit., ‘one [masc.] person he-came’). 7.6.2. ‘A certain woman’ andit set, lit., ‘one (fem.) woman’; e.g., andit set m䆆acc ‘a certain woman came’ (lit., ‘one [fem.] woman she-came’). 7.7. ‘Each, each one’ 7.7.1. ‘Each, each one’ is rendered by the repetition of one of the elements of the sentence or by @yyä + noun. Examples: †+at †+at bä-s@mm@nt säat tänässa ‘he got up every morning at eight o’clock’ (lit., ‘morning morning at-eight hour he-got-up’); bä-qän bä-qän atak@lt am䆆a ‘he brought vegetables every day’ (lit., ‘at-day at-day vegetables he-brought’); tämari hullu @yyagäru (for @yyä-agär-u) hedä ‘each student went (each) to his country’ (lit., ‘student[s] all , each-[to]-his-country he-went’). 7.7.2. ‘Each one’ is also expressed by @yyandand-u (from @yyä + repeated and ‘one’ with the article); e.g., @yyandand-u bet-u-n as-ge†ä ‘each one decorated his house’ (lit., ‘each-one-of-him his-house-n he-decorated’). See also ‘every’ (7.10). 7.8. ‘Each other, one another’ @rs bärs- (from bä-@rs going back to ras ‘head’) with suffix pronouns, or @rs bä-ras- with suffix pronouns + reduplicative stem (for which, see 30); e.g., säw-occ-u @rs-bärs-accäw täsädaddäbu ‘the people insulted each other’ (lit., ‘the-people each-other-of-them they-insulted-one-another’); @rs bä-rasacc@n ann@††ala ‘let us not fight among ourselves’ (or ‘each other’), lit., ‘with-one-another-of-us let-us-not-fight’ (from †älla). 7.9. ‘Either, either one, neither’ 7.9.1. mann@n^na^ -w-@mm ‘each-one-indeed, every-one-indeed’, or hulätt-umm ‘the-two-indeed’, or and-u-mm ‘the-one-indeed’; e.g., mann@n^na^ -w@mm mäßhaf †@ru näw ‘either book is good’ (lit., ‘either book good is’); hulätt-u-mm l@kk näw ‘either one is correct’ (lit., ‘the-two-indeed correct is/ are’); hulätt mäkina-wocc ayyä g@n and-u-n-@mm al-gäzza ‘he looked at two cars but did not buy either’ (lit., ‘two cars he-saw but the-one-indeed hedid-not-buy’). 7.9.2. ‘Neither of’ and-u-mm (lit., ‘the-one-indeed’), and-än^na^ -w-@mm (lit., ‘the-first-indeed’), and-accäw-@-mm (lit., ‘one-of-them-indeed’) with the verb in the negative; e.g., kännäzzih (from kä-@nnäzzih) mängäd-occ andän^na^ -w-@mm wädä harär aywäsd@mm ‘neither of these roads leads to Harar’ (lit., ‘of-these roads either-one to Harar it-does-not-take’). 7.10. ‘Every’ 7.10.1. The notion of the distributive ‘every’ is expressed by hullu (lit., ‘all’) or by @yyandandu (for @yyä-and-and-u) or by mann-@n^na^ -w-@mm. Examples: tämari-w hullu däbtär-u-n bä-†äräp∫ p∫ eza-w-lay agän^nä^ ‘every student found his notebook on his table’ (lit., ‘student[s] all his-notebook-n on-his-

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table he-found’); läyyandandu (for lä-@yyä-and-and-u) l@ƒ andand (for andand) b@rr s@† ‘give every child one dollar!’ (lit., ‘to-every child each-one adollar give!’); mann-@n^na^ -w-@mm särratän^na^ s@ra-w-@n c≥ärräsä ‘every worker finished his work’ (lit., ‘every worker his-work he-finished’). See also ‘each’ (7.7). 7.10.2. ‘Every’ is also expressed by the repetition of the noun: mata mata y@zänball ‘it rains every evening’ (lit., ‘evening evening it-rains’). Note bäyyäqänu (for bä-@yyä-qän-u) ‘every day’; bäyyamätu (for bä-@yyäamät-u) ‘every year’. 7.11. ‘Everybody, everyone’ 7.11.1. säw hullu, hullu säw (lit., ‘all person[s]’), hullu-mm, mann-@n^na^ -w@mm säw. Examples: säw hullu m䆆a, or hullu säw m䆆a ‘everybody came’ (lit., ‘all person[s] he-came’); hullu-mm @yyä-mahbär-u hedä ‘everybody went to his respective association’ (lit., ‘all-indeed each-(to)-his association he-went’). 7.11.2. ‘Everybody else’ lela-w hullu (lit., ‘the-other[s] all’), lela-w säw hullu (lit., ‘the-other person[s] all’); e.g., lela-w hullu hedä ‘everybody else has gone’ (lit., ‘the-other all he-went’). 7.12. ‘Everything’ 7.12.1. hullu-mm, hullu nägär, nägär hullu (lit., ‘all thing[s]’-mm), mann@n^na^ -w-@mm nägär (lit., ‘each thing’). With the direct complement: hullu-n-@mm wässädä ‘he took everything’ (lit., ‘everything-n he-took’). 7.12.2. ‘Everything else’ yä-tärräfä-w hullu (lit., ‘that-it-was-left all’), yä-tärräfä-w-@n hullu (lit., ‘that-it-was-left-n all’); e.g., yä-tärräfä-w-@n hullu @ssu wässädä ‘he took everything else’ (lit., ‘that-was-left-n all he he-took’). 7.13. ‘Nobody, no one, not any’ 7.13.1. säw ‘man, person’, and-@mm ‘one-indeed’, mann-@mm ‘any’, mann@mm säw ‘any person’, the verb being in the negative. Examples: säw alm䆆a-mm or säw-@mm alm䆆a ‘nobody came’ (lit., ‘a-person did-notcome’); @zzih samm@nt betä-kr@stiyan mann-@mm (or mann-@mm säw) alhedä-mm ‘nobody went to church this week’ (lit., ‘in-this week [to]-church anyone [or ‘any person’] he-did-not-go’). 7.13.2. ‘Nobody else’ lela mann-@mm säw (‘another/any person’), lela mann@mm (‘another/any’) with the verb in the negative; e.g., @zzih samm@nt t@mh@rt-bet lela mann-@mm al-hedä ‘nobody else went to school this week’ (lit., ‘in-this week [to]-school another any-person he-did-not-go’). 7.14. ‘Nothing, nothing else, not anything, not any’ 7.14.1. m@n-@mm ‘any’, m@n-@mm nägär ‘any thing’, and-@mm ‘one-indeed’, and-@mm nägär ‘one-indeed thing’, with the verb in the negative; e.g., @-bet m@n-@mm dabbo yällä-mm ‘there is not any bread in the house’ (lit., ‘in-[the] house any bread there-is-not’).

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7.14.2. ‘Nothing else’ lela nägär ‘another thing’, lela m@n-@mm ‘anotheranything’, lela m@n-@mm nägär, with the verb in the negative; e.g., lela m@n-@mm nägär al-s䆆ä-n^n ^ ‘he gave me nothing else’ (lit., ‘another any thing he-did-not-give-me’). 7.15. ‘One—the other, the ones—the others’ These meanings are expressed by (1) and-u—and-u (fem. and-+a—and-+a) ‘the one—the one’; (2) and-u lela-w ‘the-one the-other’; (3) and-än^na^ -w— lela-n^na^ -w ‘the-first—the other’. Examples: ‘One says “I saw it”, and the other says “I did not see it’’ (1) and-u ayyähu-t and-u al-ayyä-hu-t-@mm y@lall (lit., ‘the-one I-saw-it the[other]-one I-did-not-see-it he-says’); (2) and-u ayyähu-t lela-w al-ayyähu-t@mm y@lall (lit.,‘the-one I-saw-it the-other-one I-did-not-see-it he-says’); (3) and-än^na^ -w ayyähu-t lela-n^na^ -w al-ayyähu-t-@mm y@lall (lit., ‘the-firstone I-saw-it the-other-one I-did-not-see-it he-says’). 7.16. ‘Other, another’ lela, pl. lel-occ, lela-w ‘the other, the other one’. Examples: lela mäßhaf alläh? ‘do you have another book?’ (lit., ‘another book there-is-to-you?’); y@h yäne (for yä-@ne) näw lela-w g@n yä-@h@t-e näw ‘this is mine, but the other one is my sister’s’ (lit., ‘this of-I it-is the-other-one but of-my-sister it-is’); lel-occ g+addän^n-^ occ-u g@na t@mh@rt-bet naccäw ‘his other friends are still in school’ (lit., ‘others his-friends still [in]-school they-are’). ‘Any other’, see ‘Any’ (7.3). 7.17. ‘Several’ 7.17.1. and-and (lit., ‘one-one’), l@yyu l@yyu (lit., ‘another another’), b@zu (lit., ‘many’). Examples: bambag+aro-w (from bä-ambag+aro-w) and-and (or l@yyu l@yyu) säw-occ q+ässälu ‘several people were wounded in the brawl’ (lit., ‘in-the-brawl several people were-wounded’); bet-u-n b@zu gize ayyä ‘he looked at the house several times’ (lit., ‘the-house-n several time(s) helooked-at’ [or ‘he saw’]’). 7.17.2. ‘Several of’ b@zu-wocc-u; e.g., bäzziya (for bä-@zziya) mändär b@zuwocc-u bet-occ näc≥c≥ naccäw ‘in that village, several of the houses are white’ (lit., ‘in-that village several-of-it houses white they-are’). 7.18. ‘So-and-so, such-and-such’ 7.18.1. ‘So-and-so, such-and-such, what’s his name’ or when one does not wish to mention the name of a person or of a thing is expressed by mannäw s@m-u, lit., ‘what-is his/its name?’, @nt@n, @ntän. Examples: s@mag@lle-w man-näw s@m-u motä ‘the-old-man what-is his-name died’; bä-zziya-n gize bä-@nt@n kätäma näbbärä ‘at that time he was in such-and-such city’(lit., ‘at-that-n time in-such-and-such city he-was’). 7.18.2. ‘So-and-so’ is also expressed by @gäle, @käle; e.g., @gäle @nk+a yämmibbal säw aydälläm ‘he is a person of no account’ (lit., ‘so-and-so even who-is-called person he-is-not’).

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7.19. ‘Some, some of’ 7.19.1. and-and (lit., ‘one-one’), and-and-occ (with the plural marker -occ), g@mmas-occ. Note that ‘some of . . .’ is used with suffix pronouns. Examples: and-and gize ‘sometimes’; and-and (or and-and-occ) säw-occ c≥ac≥ata aywädd-mm ‘some people do not like commotion’ (lit., ‘some people commotion they-do-not-like’); g@mmas-occ-acc@n bä-babur g@mmas-occ-acc@n bä-ƒälba hed@n ‘some of us went (lit., ‘we-went’) by train and some of us by boat’ (lit., ‘some-of-us bytrain some-of-us by-boat we-went’). 7.19.2. ‘Some—some’ g@mmas-occ-u—g@mmas-occ-u; and-and-occ-u—andand-occ-u; e.g., g@mmas-occ-u (or and-and-occ-u) c≥äwata g@mmas-occ-u (or and-and-occ-u) betä-kr@stiyan hedu ‘some went (to the) game, some went (to) church’ (lit., ‘the-some-of [to]-game, the-some-of [to]-church theywent’). See also ‘Several’ (7.17). 7.20. ‘Someone, somebody’ 7.20.1. säw (lit., ‘person’), and(@) säw (lit., ‘a/one person’); e.g., säw (or and[@] säw) bärr-u lay qomä ‘someone stood at the door’ (lit., ‘someone [somebody] the-door at [on] he-stood’). 7.20.2. ‘Someone else’ lela säw (lit., ‘another person’), yä-säw ‘someone else’s’ (lit., ‘of-a-person’); e.g., lela säw @zzih allä? ‘is someone else here?’ (lit., ‘another person here there-is?’); y@h maßhaf yä-säw näw ‘this book is someone else’s’ (lit., ‘this book of-a-person it-is’). 7.21. ‘Something’ 7.21.1. and(@) nägär (lit., ‘a/one thing’); e.g., and(@) nägär s@†äw ‘give him something’ (lit., ‘a/one thing give-him!’). 7.21.2. ‘Something else’ lela nägär (lit., ‘another thing’); and(@) nägär (lit., ‘one thing’); e.g., lela/and nägär s@†äw ‘give him something else!’ (lit., ‘another/one thing give-him!’). 7.22. ‘Such, such a, such as’ @ndä-zzih ‘like this’, @ndä-zzih yallä (for yä-allä), lit., ‘like-this who/what-is’, @ndih (for @ndä y@h) yallä (for yä-allä), lit., ‘like-this who/what-is’. Examples: @ndä-zzih färi att@hun ‘don’t be such a coward!’ (lit., ‘like-this coward don’t be’); @ndih yallä (for yä-allä) s@ra b@zu gize ayfäƒ-@mm ‘such a job will not require much time’ (lit., ‘like-this that-is job much time it-willnot-consume’). ‘Such-and-such’, see ‘So-and-so’ (7.18). 7.23. ‘Whatever, whatsoever’ 7.23.1. m@n-@mm; e.g., m@n-@mm gänzäb yällä-n^n-^ @mm ‘I have no money whatever/whatsoever’ (lit., ‘whatever money there-is-not-to-me’). 7.23.2. yä-honä bihon (from b@-y@hon), lit., ‘that-was if-it-is’; e.g., yä-honä bihon räga-bäl ‘keep calm whatever happens’ (lit., ‘that-happened if-ithappens keep-calm’).

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7.24. ‘Whichever’ mann-@n^na^ -w-@mm, lit., ‘which-one-of-it’; e.g., mann-@n^na^ -w-@mm w@säd ‘take whichever you like!’ (lit., ‘whichever-of-it take!’). 7.25. ‘Whoever’ 7.25.1. mann-@mm bihon (from b@-y@hon), lit., ‘whoever if-it-is’; e.g., mann@mm bihon bärr-u-n att@kfät ‘whoever it may be don’t open the door’ (lit., ‘whoever if-it-is the-door-n do-not-open’). 7.25.2. mann-@mm (säw) y@hun with a relative verb; e.g., yä-näggärä-h mann-@mm (säw) y@hun w@sät-u-n näw ‘whoever told you (that) is lying’ (lit., ‘he-who-told-you whoever [person] it-may-be his-lie it-is’). 7.26. ‘Whole, the whole’ mulu, bä-mulu; e.g., qän mulu c≥äffärä ‘he danced all day’ (lit., ‘day whole [full] he-danced’); kätäma-w bä-mulu liqqäbbäl-äw m䆆a ‘the whole city came to receive him’ (lit., ‘the-city in-entirety in-order-that-it-receives-him it-came’).

Noun 8. General observations Amharic nouns are either primary or derived. They are primary if they are not formed from verbs or other nouns. They are derived if they are related in their root consonants (radicals) and meaning to verbs, adjectives, other nouns, or other parts of speech. A noun such as @g@r ‘foot’ is primary, but @gr-än^na^ ‘pedestrian’ is derived from the nominal base @g@r by adding the nominalizing morpheme -än^na^ . The noun is marked for gender, number, determination (expressed either by the article or by the suffix pronouns), and the direct object. All these morphemes are suffixal. When there is more than one such morpheme in a word, the sequence of the markers is: noun-gender-numberdeterminer (article or suffix pronouns)-direct object marker. Thus, from aroge ‘old’ we have for ‘the old women’ as direct object arog-it-occ-u-n where -it is the feminine marker, -occ is the plural marker, -u is the article, -n is the direct object marker. 8.1. Article 8.1.1. A noun may be either indetermined or determined. Indetermination has no special marker; thus, färäs ‘horse, a horse’, geta ‘master, a master’. 8.1.2. The determination of the noun is expressed by a suffixed element. In the singular, a distinction is made between a noun treated as masculine or feminine. There is no gender distinction in the plural (see table p. 340). Examples: Sg. masc. ending in consonant as in färäs ‘horse’: färäs-u ‘the horse’; ending in a vowel as in bäre ‘ox’: bäre-w ‘the ox’. Sg. fem. ending in a consonant as in gäräd ‘maid servant’: gäräd-wa, gäräd-itu, gäräd-itwa; ending in a vowel as in mus@rra ‘bride’: mus@rra-wa, mus@rra-y@tu, mus@rra-y@twa.

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Consonant -u -wa, -itu, -itwa -u

V -w -wa, -y@tu, -y@twa

Plural. Since the plural -occ or -wocc (see 10) ends in a consonant the article is -u; thus, n@g@st-occ ‘queens’: n@g@stocc-u ‘the queens’; w@ssa-wocc ‘dogs’: w@ssa-wocc-u ‘the dogs’. 8.1.3. If an adjective-noun complex is determined by the article, it is the adjective that takes the article; thus, t@ll@q-u bet ‘the big house’. 8.1.4. The article is also used with adjectives (without a noun), pronouns and numerals. Examples: t@ll@q-u yäne (for yä-@ne) näw ‘the big one is mine’ (lit., ‘the-big-one mine it-is’); hulätt-u gon lä-gon täsälläfu ‘the two were lined up side by side’ (lit., ‘the-two side by-side they-were-lined-up’). 8.1.5. The collective nouns säw ‘man, person’ and set ‘woman’ as well as other terms of kinship use the suffixes -@yye for a specific male, -@yyo for a specific female; thus, säw-@yye ‘an inividual man, a certain man’, set-@yyo ‘a particular woman, a certain woman’. 9. Gender Amharic nouns are treated as masculine and feminine. There is a feminine marker -t, but this marker is limited only to certain patterns and to isolateds nouns. Nouns and adjectives ending in -awi normally form the feminine by suffixing -t. Examples: sämayawi ‘heavenly’: fem. sämayawit; mänfäsawi ‘spiritual’: fem. mänfäsawit. Some active participles likewise use the feminine -t; thus, aqqabi ‘custodian’: fem. aqqabit; mäggabi ‘monk responsible for the administration of food in a monastery’; fem. mäggabit. The feminine -t is also preserved in the nouns and adjectives of the pattern q@t(t)ul; e.g., q@ddus ‘holy’: fem. q@dd@st; k@bur ‘honored’: fem. k@b@rt. Some nouns and adjectives have the feminine -it, as in l@ƒ ‘child, boy’: fem. l@ƒ-it ‘girl’; s@mag@lle ‘elder, old man’: s@mag@llit ‘old woman’. Adjectives: dägg ‘generous’: fem. däggit; †@qur ‘black’: †@qurit. On the other hand a number of nouns ending in -t, -it are treated as masculine: särarit ‘spider’, azurit ‘whirlpool’. Note that the verb referring to a noun reveals the gender of the noun; thus, bäqlo t@raggä†all-äcc ‘a mule kicks’ reveals that bäqlo is a feminine. 9.1. Gender specifier Amharic also has gender specifiers for the male and female sex of human beings and animals. The specifiers for human beings are: wänd for males, set for females; thus, wänd l@ƒ ‘boy’: set l@ƒ ‘girl’; wänd hakim ‘male doctor’: set hakim ‘female doctor’.

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The specifiers for animals are: täbat, awra or wänd for males; an@st, set for females; thus, täbat †@ƒa ‘he-calf’: an@st †@ƒa ‘she-calf’; awra doro ‘rooster’: set doro ‘hen’. 9.2. Different roots for gender Differentiation between male and female in reference to human beings or animals is often expressed by different roots: säw ‘man’: set ‘woman’ bal ‘husband’: m@st ‘wife’ abbat ‘father’: @nnat ‘mother’ wänd@mm ‘brother’: @h@t, @t ‘sister’ bäre ‘ox’: lam ‘cow’ färäs ‘horse, stallion’: bazra ‘mare’. 9.3. Other meanings of the gender marker 9.4.1. The feminine marker it with nouns or verbs has meanings other than that of gender. It may be used to express small size or diminutiveness. Thus, bet-it-u ‘the small house’; mändär-it-u ‘the small village’; and-it mängäd ‘a small lane’. 9.4.2. The feminine marker also expresses endearment or affection. Examples: alämu g+äbäz l@ƒ näcc ‘Alämu (a man’s name) is a clever child’ (lit., ‘Alämu clever child she-is’); anci leba (when said to a boy) ‘Oh you (fem.) little rascal’. 9.4.3. Admiration for males is sometimes expressed by use of the feminine: yäne (for yä-@ne) l@ƒ c≥olle nat ‘my boy is smart’ (lit., ‘my child smart she-is’).

Plural 10. External plural No distinction is made between the masculine and the feminine in the formation of the plural. If a noun ends in a consonant, the plural is formed by suffixing -occ; thus bet ‘house’: plural bet-occ. If a noun ends in a vowel, the plural may be formed in either of two ways: 1. The final vowel of the noun may be omitted and the plural marker -occ is added to the last consonant; thus tämari ‘student’: pl. tämar-occ ‘students’. 2. The final vowel may be retained. In this instance a distinction must be made depending on the quality of the vowel. In nouns ending with final vowel -a, -u, or -o, the plural is formed by the ending -wocc; thus, w@ssa ‘dog’: pl. w@ssa-wocc ‘dogs’; käbäro ‘drum’: käbäro-wocc ‘drums’. In nouns with final -i or -e, the plural is formed by either the ending -wocc or -yocc; thus, ßähafi ‘scribe’: pl. ßähafi-wocc or ßähafi-yocc; m@ssale ‘proverb’: m@ssale-wocc or m@ssale-yocc.

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Archaic plural 10.1. External archaic plural 10.1.1. Some nouns have retained the plural formation of Classical Ethiopic. The external plural consists in suffixing -an or -at to the singular. The internal plural consists in a vocalic change, for which compare English man : men (see 10.2). Masculine nouns with the suffix -an: mamh@r ‘teacher’: pl. mamh@ran. Nouns with the suffix -at for both the masculine and the feminine: kah@n ‘priest’: pl. kahnat; amät ‘year’: pl. amätat. 10.1.2. Some adjectives also use -an for the masculine and -at for the feminine plural: k@bur ‘honored’: pl. masc. k@bur-an, fem. k@bur-at. Adjectives and nouns ending in -awi form the plural by adding -yan for the masculine, -yat for the feminine: mänfäsawi ‘spiritual’: pl. masc. mänfäsawiyan, fem. mänfäsawiyat. 10.2. Internal archaic plural Some nouns have retained from Classical Ethiopic the internal plural with vocalic changes and even, in addition, external plural markers: d@ng@l ‘virgin’: pl. dänag@l; hagär ‘country’: pl. ahgur; n@gus ‘king’: pl. nägäst; liq ‘learned man’: pl. liqaw@nt. 10.3. Plural with partial reduplication 10.3.1. Nouns as well as adjectives may form their plural with reduplication of one of the radicals in addition to the external plural. Nouns: wäyzäro ‘lady’: pl. wäyzär-occ and wäyzaz@r; sum ‘official’: pl. sum-occ, sumam@t, sumam@nt. 10.3.2. Adjectives: t@ll@q ‘big’: pl. t@ll@q-occ, t@l@ll@q; addis ‘new’: pl., adadd@s; näc≥c≥ ‘white’: pl. näc≥c≥-occ, näc≥c≥ac≥c≥. 10.4. Plural of compound nouns In compound nouns the plural marker is added to the second noun; thus, mäkina näƒi-wocc ‘drivers’; bunna bet-occ ‘bars’, but also betä kr@stiyan ‘church’, pl. betä kr@stiyan-at, abyatä kr@stiyanat. 10.5. Marker of plurality @nnä-, @lläThe elements @nnä- and @llä- prefixed to a proper noun have the meaning ‘X and his followers, including, together with’; e.g., @nnä-ras Yohann@s ‘Ras Yohannes and his followers’; @nnä-iraq @nnä-kuwet-@nna @nnä-iran naccäw ‘they are the likes of Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran’; yännato (for yä-@nnä-ato) käbbädä hotel ‘the hotel of Mr. Käbbädä and his associates’. 11. Direct object 11.1. If the direct object is a pronoun, it is expressed by the object suffix pronouns; e.g., mätta-h ‘he hit you’; ayyu-n^n ^ ‘they saw me’. 11.2. If the direct object is a noun, the presence or absence of a direct object marker depends on whether the noun is determined or not. If the direct object is not determined, it has no special marker and is indicated

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by the word order. The order is normally: subject-direct object-verb; thus, in w@ssa bäqlo näkkäsä ‘a dog bit a mule’, bäqlo is the direct object. 11.3. If the direct object is determined either by the article, by a possessive pronoun, by an adjective, and so on, it is expressed by the suffixed element -@n when following a consonant, -n when following a vowel; e.g., addan^-u anbässa-w-@n gäddälä ‘the hunter killed the lion’ (lit., ‘the-hunter the-lion-n he-killed’); g+äräbet-e bet-u-n sä†ä ‘my neighbor sold his house’ (lit., my-neighbor his-house-n he-sold’. Note that in the literal translation the direct object is marked by -n. 11.4. In a qualifier-qualified complex, the marker -n is placed with the qualifier, that is, either with the adjective, the demonstrative, the relative qualifier, and so on. Example for the adjective: w@ssa-w t@ll@q-u-n bäqlo näkkäsä ‘the dog bit the big mule’, (lit., ‘the-dog the-big-n mule he-bit’). With the demonstrative: y@h-@n mäßhaf yä-ßafä-w man-näw? ‘who wrote this book?’ (lit., ‘this-n book he-who-wrote-it who-is-it?’). 11.5. Indirect object 11.5.1. The indirect object is expressed by lä ‘to’. Examples: däbdabbe lägäbäre-w ßafku ‘I wrote a letter to the farmer’ (lit., ‘letter to-the-farmer Iwrote’); mäßhaf-u-n lä-man s䆆ä? ‘to whom did he give the book?’ (lit., ‘the-book-n to-whom he-gave?’. 11.5.2. Certain verbs express pronominal indirect objects by using the direct object suffix set; e.g., näggärä-n^n ^ ‘he told me, he said to me’ (where n^n ^ is the suffix of the direct object); abäddärä-h ‘he lent you’ (where -h is the suffix of the direct object). 12. Various meanings of the yä-structure The structure of yä + noun + noun has different meanings. Some of the meanings are: possession, material, time, measure, and so on. 12.1. Expression of possession Possession is expressed by the element yä- followed by the possessor. The yä + possessor structure functions as a qualifier and as such it precedes the possessed; thus, yä-tämari mäßhaf ‘a book of a student’ (lit., ‘of-student book’). 12.1.1. If the possessor-possessed complex is determined, the yä + possessor takes the article; e.g., yä-gäbäre-w l@ƒ ‘the farmer’s son’ (lit., ‘of-thefarmer son’). 12.1.2. If the complex yä + possessor + possessed is preceded by a preposition, yä- is omitted; e.g., bätäsfaye (for bä-yä-täsfaye) mäkina hedä ‘he went in Tesfaye’s car’ (lit., ‘in-of-Tesfaye car he-went’). 12.2. Expression of material The structure of yä- designating material followed by a noun indicating an object expresses the material from which the object is made; e.g., yä-brät m@†ad ‘a griddle made of iron’ or ‘an iron griddle’ (lit., ‘of-iron griddle’).

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12.3. Expression of place where a commodity is made or sold. The structure of yä + noun designating a commodity (e.g., tea, grain, coffee) followed by a noun designating a specific place where the commodity is sold or made. However, in these cases yä may be omitted. Examples: yäbunna bet (or bunna bet) ‘bar’, that is, ‘place where coffee is made or sold’; yä-wä† bet (more commonly wä† bet) ‘kitchen’, that is, ‘a place where stew is made’. 12.4. Expression of time and duration. The structure yä + noun designates a period of time followed by a particular task or place in which the action is performed. Examples: yä-sost qän mängäd ‘a three day journey’ (lit., ‘of-three day[s] journey’); yä-hulätt säat s@ra näw ‘it is a two-hour job’ (lit., ‘of-two hour[s] job it-is’).

Adjective 13.1. There are a few primary adjectives such as dägg ‘good’, d@da ‘dumb, mute’, b@c≥a ‘yellow’. Most adjectives are derived from nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech. Adjectives without prefixes or suffixes: käbbad ‘heavy’, läggas ‘generous’; märir ‘bitter’, addis ‘new’; säbara ‘broken down’, lämmada ‘tamed, trained’; @bd ‘foolish’, b@l@h ‘intelligent’, d@bb@q ‘hidden’, and others. 13.2. The adjectival patterns that follow express a quality or a characteristic. Nominalizer -än^na^ : hayl-än^na^ ‘strong’ (from hayl ‘strength’), @wnät-än^na^ ‘truthful’ (from @wnät ‘truth’). Nominalizer -tän^na^ , as in aläm-tän^na^ ‘secular’ (from aläm ‘world’), wäsän-tän^na^ ‘one who shares a boundary’ (from wäsän ‘boundary’). Nominalizer -awi expresses a quality or characteristics: l@bb-awi ‘intelligent’ (from l@bb ‘heart’), m@dr-awi ‘earthly’ (from m@dr ‘earth’). Nominalizer -am with the meaning of possessing the quality of the base noun: märz-am ‘poisonous’ (from märz ‘poison’), habt-am ‘rich’ (from habt ‘wealth’). 13.3. Adjectives may be formed by prefixed yä- ‘of’, as in yä-kätäma ‘urban’ (lit., ‘of the city’), yä-w@sät ‘false’ (of w@sät ‘lie’). Likewise a relative perfect or imperfect may be used as an adjective by prefixing yä-. Examples of yä + perfect: yä-bässälä ‘ripe, cooked’ (lit., ‘that was cooked’), yä-qoyyä ‘old, long-standing’ (lit., ‘that lasted’). Examples of the relative imperfect: yämmikkättäl ‘following’, lit., ‘that which follows’ (from tä-kättälä ‘follow’), yämmittay ‘visible’, lit., ‘thatwhich-is-seen’ (from tayyä ‘be seen’, from ayyä ‘see’). 13.4. Adjectives may be nominalized by suffixing the article; thus, t@ll@q-u yäne (from yä-@ne) näw ‘the big one is mine’ (lit., ‘the-big-one mine it-is’). 13.5. If the adjective + noun complex is determined by the article, the article is suffixed to the adjective and not to the noun; thus, t@ll@q-u bet ‘the big house’.

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If the adjectives are connected by -nna ‘and’, both adjectives take the article: qonƒo-wa-nna astäway-wa l@ƒ m䆆acc ‘the pretty and intelligent girl came’. 13.6. The adjective being a qualifier precedes the noun. Examples: k@fu geta ‘a wicked master’; t@ll@q bet särra ‘he built a big house’ (lit., ‘big house he-built’).

Numerals 14.1. Cardinal numerals 14.1.1. Only a limited number of the numerals will be given. The numerals from 1 to 10 are: and 1, hulätt 2, sost 3, aratt 4, amm@st 5, s@dd@st 6, säbat 7, s@mm@nt 8, zä†än^n ^ 9, ass@r 10; mäto 100, si 1000. The numeral and ‘one’ is the only one that has a feminine form, namely, and-it. Numerals are placed before the noun: and säw ‘one man’ (also ‘someone’). Counted objects or persons may be in the singular or in the plural: ‘two men’ hulätt säw (sg.) or hulätt säwocc (pl.). 14.1.2. The verb agrees with the noun: thus, ‘two people came’ hulätt säw m䆆a (sg.), or hulätt säwocc m䆆u (pl.). Numerals may be used with possessive suffix pronouns of the plural to indicate possession or ‘totality of’. The verb agrees in number with the suffix pronouns attached to the plural. Examples: sost-acc@hu m䆆acc@hu ‘(the) three of you came’ (lit., ‘three-of-you you-came’); aratt-acc@n hed-@n ‘the four of us went’ (lit., ‘four-of-us we-went’). Numerals may be combined with the enclitic -mm: e.g., sost-u-mm ‘the three of them’. 14.2. Ordinal numerals Ordinal numerals are formed by the addition of -än^na^ to numerals ending in a consonant, and of -n^na^ to numerals ending in a vowel. Thus, hulättän^na^ ‘second’ (from hulätt ‘two’), sälasa-n^na^ ‘thirtieth’ (from sälasa ‘thirty’). In titles, the archaic ordinal numerals that end in -awi are used. Thus, qädam-awi haylä s@llase ‘Haile Sellasse I’, dagm-awi m@nil@k ‘Menelik II’.

Copula 15.1. Affirmative copula 15.1.1. The copula, the equivalent of the verb ‘to be’ is formed by the particle *n used with various suffixes indicating person, gender, and number. The copula expresses quality and identity (see table at top of p. 346). 15.1.2. The copula, which is placed at the end of the sentence, agrees in number and gender with the explicit subject. When there is no explicit subject, the subject is inherent in the form of the copula. Examples: @ssu

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‘he is, it is’ ‘she is’ ‘you are’ ‘you are’ ‘I am’ ‘they are’ ‘you are’ ‘we are’ ‘He is, She is’ ‘You are’

a. Pronounced naccuh

g+äbäz näw ‘he is a smart fellow’; @ss+a däg nat ‘she is kind’; @n^na^ bal-@nna mist nän ‘we are husband and wife’. The copula is used in forms of greeting: @ndäm@n (or @ndet) näwot? dähna nän^n ^ ‘how are You? I am fine’. In the expression ‘it is I, it is you’, and so on, there is agreement between the copula and the pronoun; e.g., ‘it is I’ @ne nän^n ^ (lit., ‘I I am’); ‘it is you’ antä näh (lit., ‘you you-are’). 15.1.3. The conjugated forms of näw may be used in answer to a question in which näw is involved to mean ‘yes’: wänd@mmamacc nacc@hu wäy? nän ‘are you brothers? Yes’ (lit., ‘we are’). The conjugated näw may be combined with the suffix -a to express emphasis: näw-a ‘it is indeed, it certainly is’; y@h-@n wä† man särra-w? @ne nän^n-^ a ‘who made this stew? I of course’ (lit., ‘this-n stew who made it? I I-am-of-course’). 15.2. Negative copula 15.2.1. The negative copula of näw is aydällä-mm, aydollä-mm. As for aydällä, aydollä, it has the suffix pronouns of the verb allä (see 41). The forms are: Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 2c. 1c. Respect 3c. 2c.

aydällä-mm aydälläcc-@mm aydälläh-@mm aydälläs-@mm aydällähu-mm aydällu-mm aydällacc@hu-mm aydällän-@mm

‘he /it is not’ ‘she is not’ ‘you are not’ ‘you are not’ ‘I am not’ ‘they are not’ ‘you are not’ ‘we are not’

aydällu-mm aydällu-mm

‘He/She is not’ ‘You are not’

Note that the form of respect has the appearance of the third plural. 15.2.2. The past is expressed by the regular triradical verb näbbärä/näbbär ‘he was’: @ssu bä†am dägg näbbär ‘he was very kind’ (lit., ‘very kind he-was’). spread is 12 points long

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The future is expressed by the imperfect of honä; e.g., y@h l@ƒ siyad@g hakim y@honall ‘when this boy grows up, he will be a doctor’ (lit., ‘this boy when-he-grow-up doctor he-will-be’). The negative future is expressed by the negative imperfect of honä; e.g., @ssu hakim ayhon@mm ‘he will not be a doctor’ (lit., ‘he doctor hewill-not-be’).

Verb 16. Survey The basic meaning of any verb is expressed by consonants called radicals, the vowels serving to define the various shades of meaning. The Amharic verb includes the following classes of verb types: triradicals (16.1); abbreviated triradicals called biradicals (42); quadriradicals (51); abbreviated quadriradicals (53), and composite verbs (57). The masculine, singular, third person perfect, commonly used for reference is translated by the English infinitive without ‘to’: säbbärä ‘break’. Examples for two, three, and four radicals: sämma ‘hear’, gäddälä ‘kill’, mäsäkkärä ‘testify’. 16.1. Type A: säbbärä ‘break’ This type is characterized by the vowel ä after the 1st and 2nd radicals. The vowel ä after the 3rd radical is a marker of person, gender, and number, and is the same in all the types of the triradicals. The 2nd radical is geminated in the perfect only. Verbs of this type may be transitive, intransitive, or stative. Transitive: säbbärä ‘break’; intransitive zällälä ‘jump’; stative räzzämä ‘be long’. 16.2. Type B: fällägä ‘desire, wish’ This type is characterized by the vowel ä after the 1st and 2nd radical and by the gemination of the 2nd radical in all the verb forms. Whereas most of the triradical verbs of type B are transitive, there are intransitive and stative verbs. Transitive: märräqä ‘bless’ Intransitive and stative: c≥ällämä ‘get dark’, täkkäzä ‘be sad’ 16.3. Type C: marräkä ‘take prisoner’ This type is characterized by the vowel a after the 1st radical. The 2nd radical is geminated only in the perfect and the imperfect. Transitive: gaggärä ‘bake’ Intransitive and stative verbs: massänä ‘become exhausted’, mallädä ‘rise early’

Verb forms 17. Perfect The perfect has only suffixes. They serve for the expression of person, gender, and number. They are the same for all three types. The suffixes of the perfect are given in the first table on p. 348.

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Wolf Leslau† Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c.

-ä -äcc -k, -h -s -ku, -hu

Pl. 3c. -u 2c. -acc@hu 1c. -(@)n

The forms of the A verb in the perfect are: Sg. 3m. säbbär-ä 3f. säbbär-äcc 2m. säbbär-k säbbär-h 2f. säbbär-s 1c. säbbär-kua säbbär-hua Pl. 3c. säbbär-u 2c. säbbär-acc@hub 1c. säbbär-n

‘he broke’ ‘she broke’ ‘you broke’ ‘you broke’ ‘I broke’ ‘they broke’ ‘you broke’ ‘we broke’

a. Pronounced also säbbärk+, säbbärh+. b. Pronounced also säbbäraccuh.

17.1. Meanings of the perfect The perfect normally expresses the past: l@ƒ-u @rsas wässädä ‘the boy took a pencil’. With certain intransitive verbs the perfect may express the present; thus, m䆆ahu ‘I am coming’, †äggäbhu ‘I am satiated’. 17.2. Negative perfect 17.2.1. The negative perfect is expressed by prefixing the negative element al- and suffixing -(@)mm to the affirmative perfect regardless of person, gender, and number. The vowel @ is used only when the verbal form ends in a consonant; thus, al-säbbäräcc-@mm ‘she did not break’. If the verbal form ends in a vowel, the suffix is -mm, as in al-säbbärä-mm ‘he did not break’. The forms of the negative perfect are as follows: Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 2c. 1c.

alsäbbär-ä-mm alsäbbär-äcc-@mm alsäbbär-k-@mm alsäbbär-s-@mm alsäbbär-ku-mm alsäbbär-u-mm alsäbbär-acc@hu-mm alsäbbär-n-@mm

‘he did not break’ ‘she did not break’ ‘you did not break’ ‘you did not break’ ‘I did not break’ ‘they did not break’ ‘you did not break’ ‘we did not break’

The l of al- may be assimilated to a following r in pronunciation and in writing; thus, alrädda-mm may be pronounced arrädda-mm. 17.2.2. The final -mm is omitted in a subordinate clause introduced by a conjunction or by a relative marker; e.g., kiray-u-n kalkäffälä (for kä-alkäffälä, without final -mm) bet-u-n y@lqäq ‘since he did not pay rent, let

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him vacate the house’ (lit., ‘the-rent-n since-he-did-not-pay the-house-n let-him-vacate’); yalm䆆a (for yä-al-m䆆a) tämari fätäna-w-@n ayalf-@mm ‘a student who did not show up will not pass the test’ (lit., ‘who-did-notcome student the-test-@n he will-not-pass’). 17.3. Relative perfect 17.3.1. The form of the relative perfect in the affirmative is yä-säbbärä ‘he who broke’, that is, the relative marker yä- prefixed to the perfect. The marker yä- is invariable in person, gender, and number. The relative perfect being a qualifier precedes the qualified (see 13.4); thus, yä-särräqä säw ‘a man who stole’ (lit., ‘who-he-stole a-man’); yä-särräqä-cc set ‘a woman who stole’ (lit., ‘who-she-stole a-woman’); yä-särräq-u säwocc ‘men (or ‘people’) who stole’ (lit., ‘who-they-stole men’). 17.3.2. The negative relative perfect is formed by yä + negative particle al-: yalsärräqä (from yä-al-särräqä) säw ‘a man who did not steal’ (lit., ‘whodid-not-steal a-man’). 17.4. Perfect with object suffix pronouns If the direct object, occasionally the indirect object, is a pronoun, it is recalled by suffixes attached to the verb. These suffixes are called “object suffix pronouns.” Object suffix pronouns are used mainly to express the direct object: säbbärä-w ‘he broke it’. With certain verbs, however, the object suffix pronouns also express what in English would be an indirect object. Thus, for instance, näggärä-n^n ^ ‘he told (to) me’, s䆆ä-n^n ^ ‘he gave (to) me’; mässälän^n ^ ‘it seemed to me’. The suffix pronouns attached to the 3rd person, masculine, singular are: Sg. 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f. Pl. 1c. 2c. 3c.

näggärä-n^n ^ näggärä-h näggärä-s näggärä-w näggär-ata näggärä-n näggär-acc@hub näggär-accäwc

‘he told me’ ‘he told you’ ‘he told you’ ‘he told him’ ‘he told her’ ‘he told us’ ‘he told you’ ‘he told them’

a. From näggärä-at b. From näggärä-acc@hu c. From näggärä-accäw

With the verb forms ending in -u, as in the 3pl. näggäru, 2pl. näggäracc@hu, the object suffix pronoun of the forms ending in -u is -t; thus, näggäru-t, näggäracc@hu-t. 18. Imperfect There is a simple imperfect and a compound imperfect. Both the simple imperfect and the compound imperfect are formed with prefixes and

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suffixes for the expression of person, gender and number. The bases of the various types are different (see 26). 18.1. Simple affirmative imperfect 18.1.1. The bases are: -SäB(@)R- for type A; -FäLL@G- for type B; -MaRR@Kfor type C. Note that in type A verbs the 2nd radical is simple whereas in type B and in type C, the 2nd radical is geminated and followed by the vowel @. In type A the vowel @ may not appear after the 2nd radical, depending on the nature of the 2nd and 3rd radicals. Thus, y@räg@m (also y@rägm), y@säb@r (also y@säbr), but y@bäl†. 18.1.2. The simple imperfect expresses the present and the future in the main negative clause (see 18.2); for the relative clause, see 18.5; for the present-future in the main affirmative clause, see 20.1; for the various conjunctions used with the simple imperfect, see 18.3. The prefixes and suffixes of the simple imperfect are as follows: Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c.

y@t@t@t@- -i @-

Pl. 3c. y@- -u 2c. t@- -u 1c. @nn@-, or @n-

The 3rd plural is also used as the form of respect for the 2nd and 3rd persons, that is, regardless of whether one addresses the person or whether one speaks about him. The forms are:

Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl 3c. 2c. 1c.

Type A y@säbra t@säbr t@säbr t@säbri @säbr y@säbru t@säbru @nn@säbr

Type B y@fäll@g t@fäll@g t@fäll@g t@fäll@gi @fäll@g y@fäll@gu t@fäll@gu @nn@fäll@g

Type C y@marr@k t@marr@k t@marr@k t@marr@ki @marr@k y@marr@ku t@marr@ku @nn@marr@k

a. säbbärä ‘break’, fällägä ‘desire, wish’, marräkä ‘take prisoner’.

18.1.3. The final vowel -i brings about the palatalization of any final dental, sibilant, l or n. The palatal sound may either preserve the final -i (-si instead of -si) or the vowel i may be absorbed by the palatal sound in pronunciation as well as in writing (thus, -s). The palatalizable consonants are: di > ƒi or ƒ; ti becoming ci or c; †i > c≥i or c≥; ni > n^i or n^; li > yi or y; si > si or s; zi > zi or z. Examples: t@wälƒi or t@wälƒ, from wällädä ‘give birth’; t@mäll@si or t@mäll@s, from mälläsä ‘give back’; t@käfci or t@käfc, from käffätä ‘open’.

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18.2. Main negative imperfect The negative imperfect expresses the present and the future in the main negative clause. The negation of the imperfect is formed by prefixing aand by suffixing -(@)mm. The suffix is -mm whenever the form of the simple imperfect ends in a vowel; it is -@mm whenever the simple imperfect ends in a consonant; thus, atsäbri-mm ‘you (fem.) will not break’, but atsäbr-@mm ‘you (masc.) will not break’. The forms are: Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 2c. 1c.

aysäbr@mm ‘he does not (will not) break’ atsäbr@mm/att@säbr@mm atsäbr@mm/att@säbr@mm atsäbrimm/att@säbrimm alsäbr@mm (from al-@säbr-@mm) aysäbrumm atsäbrumm/att@säbrumm ansäbr@mm/ann@säbr@mm

The forms B and C are distinguished only by the gemination of the 2nd radical; thus, type B, sg. 3m. ayfäll@g@mm; type C, pl. 1c. anmarr@k@mm or ann@marr@k@mm. 18.3. Subordinate affirmative imperfect 18.3.1. The subordinate imperfect for the present-future is expressed by the simple imperfect. The subordination is brought about by the prefixed relative marker yämm@- (18.5) as well as by prefixed conjunctions, such as s@- ‘while, when’, b@- ‘if, when, even though’, l@- ‘in order that, so that’, @nd@- ‘in order that, so that’, @sk@- ‘until’, and others. In the combination of the final @ of the conjunctions and of the initial @ of the 1st singular and plural of the imperfect, one @ is elided; thus, *s@@säb@r ‘while I break’ becomes s@säb@r. The combination of the final @ of the conjunction and of the initial prefix y@- of the singular and plural of the 3rd person results in -i; thus, *s@y@säb@r ‘while he breaks’ becomes sisäb@r. The forms are (with conjunctions): Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c.

sisäb@ra s@tsäbr or s@tt@säbr s@tsäbr or s@tt@säbr s@tsäbri or s@tt@säbri s@säbr

Pl. 3c. sisäbrub 2c. s@tsäbru or s@tt@säbru 1c. s@nsäb@r or s@nn@säb@r

a. From s@y@säb@r b. From s@y@säbru

18.3.2. The subordinate clause precedes the main clause. Examples: z@nab sizänb (for s@y@zänb) surrab ayläbs@mm ‘when it rains he does not put on a sweater’ (lit., ‘rain when-it-rains sweater he-doesn’t-put-on’); leba-w @qa lisärq (for l@y@särq) mäskot säbbärä ‘the thief broke a window in order to

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steal things’ (lit., ‘the-thief things in-order-that-he steals a-window hebroke’). 18.4. Subordinate negative imperfect 18.4.1. The subordinate negative imperfect is used with a conjunction or with a relative marker. The suffix -mm that is used in the main negative imperfect (aysäbr-@mm) is omitted in the negative subordinate imperfect (saysäb@r). The vowel @ of the conjunction coming in contact with the vowel a- of the negative element of the imperfect is elided; thus, *s@-aysäb@r>saysäb@r. 18.4.2. The forms of the subordinate negative imperfect with the conjunction s@- are as follows. Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c.

saysäb@r satsäb@r or satt@säbr satsäb@r or satt@säbr satsäbri or satt@säbri salsäb@r

Pl. 3c. saysäbru 2c. satsäbru or satt@säbru 1c. sansäb@r or sann@säb@r

Examples: s@ra-w-@n sayc≥ärr@s (for s@-ayc≥ärr@s) dämoz-u-n wässädä ‘he took his wages without finishing his work’ (lit., ‘his-work-n without-hefinishes his-wages-n he-took’); leba lay@käb@r (for l@-aykäb@r) y@särqall ‘a thief steals without ever becoming rich’ (lit., ‘thief without-[that]-he-everbecomes-rich he-steals’). 18.5. Relative imperfect 18.5.1. The relative imperfect ‘who, that, which’ is expressed by the relative marker yämm@- or @mm@- with the simple imperfect for the expression of the present-future. The relative qualifier yämm@- or @mm@- is used for all the persons except the singular 3m. and the plural 3c. where the form is yämmi- resulting from the contraction of the final @ of yämm@- and the initial y@- of these forms (thus, *yämm@y@säbr > yämmisäbr) . 18.5.2. The relative imperfect being a qualifier precedes the qualified. Examples: yämm@-t@mä†a set ‘a woman who comes’ (lit., ‘who-comes awoman’), yämmimä†a (for yämm@-y@mä†a) säw ‘a man who comes’ (lit., ‘who-comes a-man’). 18.5.3. The negative relative qualifier is yämma- with all the persons coming from yämm@- combined with the negative element a-: yämmay@mä†a (from yämm@-ay@mä†a) säw ‘man who does not come’. For the singular 1st person note yämmalsäb@r for yämm@-alsäb@r ‘I who do not break’. 18.5.4. If the relative verb is preceded by a preposition, the marker yä- is omitted. With the perfect: s@ra-ccäw-@n läc≥ärräsu-t (for lä-yä-c≥ärräsu-t) särratän^n-^ occ dämoz k@fäl ‘pay the wages to the workers who have finished their work’ (lit., ‘their-work-n to-[who]-have-finished-the workers salary pay!’).

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19. Simple imperfect with auxiliaries 19.1. Imperfect + näbbärä/näbbär 19.1.1. The simple imperfect followed by näbbärä/näbbär expresses a habitual or durative action in the past. Note that näbbär is a fixed form, that is to say, there is no agreement between näbbär and the principal verb; thus, bä-†@nt gize bä-mäqa b@@r y@ß@fu näbbär ‘they used to write with reed in the old days’ (lit., ‘in-[of]-old time with-(of)-reed pen they-wouldwrite’). 19.1.2. In a subordinate clause, the conjunctions are used with näbbärä; thus, y@särq s@lä-näbbärä assärut ‘because he was stealing, they imprisoned him’ (lit., ‘he-steals because-he-was they-imprisoned-him’). 19.2. l@@ + imperfect + näw/näbbär 19.2.1. This structure expresses an action that is about to be accomplished with the meaning ‘be about to, be at the point of, going to, nearly, almost’. In the present: ya aroge bet lifärs-näw ‘this old house is about to be demolished’; s@dd@st säat lihon-näw ‘it is nearly (or ‘close to’) six’ (lit., ‘six hour[s] it-is-about-to-be’). 19.2.2. Imminence in the past is expressed by l@ + imperfect + näbbär; e.g., astämari-w sänäf-u-n tämari ligärf-äw (for l@y@gärf-äw)-näbbär ‘the teacher was about to whip the lazy student’ (lit., ‘the-teacher the-lazy-n student he-was-about-to-whip-him’). 19.3. s@@ + imperfect + näbbär/näw 19.3.1. The simple imperfect preceded by the conjunction s@ and followed by näbbärä/näbbär expresses a continuous or a durative action in the past; e.g., †+at s@däww@l (for s@-@däww@l) qurs s@-tt@bäla-näbbär ‘when I phoned [you] this morning, you were eating breakfast’ (lit., ‘this-morning when-Iphone[d] breakfast you-were-eating’). 19.3.2. s@ + imperfect + näw has the meaning of the present; e.g., färäs-u @nk+an läne (for lä-@ne) lässu-mm (for lä-@ssu-mm) sifä†@n (for s@-y@fä†@n)näw ‘the horse is too fast even for me, let alone for him’ (lit., ‘the-horse even for-me, for-him-indeed while-he-is-fast it-is’). @honall/y@@hon 19.4. Imperfect + y@ The simple imperfect followed by y@honall expresses possibility or probability; e.g., y@h märz y@gädl-äw-y@honall ‘this poison might kill him’. In an interrogative clause: kä-säat-bäh+ala y@zänb-y@hon? ‘might it rain this afternoon?’ (lit., ‘afternoon might-it-rain?’). 20. Compound imperfect 20.1. The compound imperfect is formed by combining the simple imperfect with the verb allä ‘he is’. The bases of types A, B, and C are the same as those of the simple imperfect, that is, SäB(@)R- for type A, FäLL@G- for type B, and MaRR@K- for type C. In the singular 3m. the original allä is abbreviated to all.

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The prefixes and suffixes are: Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. or 1c.

y@-. . .-all t@-. . .-alläcc t@-. . .-alläh t@-. . .-iyalläs t@-. . .-@yalläs @-. . .-allähu (pronounced -allä+h)

Pl. 3c. y@-. . .-allu 2c. t@-. . .-allacc@hu (pronounced -allaccuh) 1c. @nn@-. . .-allän

The 3rd plural common is also used as the form of respect for the 2nd and 3rd persons. 20.2. The compound imperfect expresses the present or the future; e.g., y@säbrall ‘he breaks’ or ‘he will break’. The forms of the compound imperfect are as follows: Sg.

Pl.

y@säbralla t@säbralläcc t@säbralläh t@säbriyalläs or t@säbr@yalläs 1c. @säbrallähu or @säbrallä+h Respect 2/3 y@säbrallu 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f.

3c. y@säbrallu 2c. t@säbrallacc@hu, t@säbrallaccuh

1c. @nsäbrallän, @nn@säbrallän

a. ‘He breaks; he will break’.

20.3. Types B and C have the same pattern as type A except for the gemination of the 2nd radical in both types; thus, type B y@fäll@gall, pl. y@fäll@gallu; type C y@marr@kall, pl. y@marr@kallu. As with the simple imperfect, in the singular 2f., a final dental, sibilant, l or n of the root being followed by i is palatalized. Examples: t@wälƒiyalläs from wällädä ‘give birth’, t@käfciyalläs from käffätä ‘open’. 20.4. Meanings of the compound imperfect 20.4.1. The compound imperfect expresses the present or future in the main clause. Examples: t@nn@s-u l@ƒ @qa y@säbrall ‘the little child will break things’ (lit., ‘the-little child things he-will-break’); s@mag@lle-wocc l@ƒ-occ-un y@märr@qallu ‘old men bless the children’ (lit., ‘old-men the-children-n they-bless’). 20.4.2. Conjugated y@fäll@gall may mean ‘he would like (to have)’; e.g., addis mäkina @fäll@gallä+h nägär-g@n gänzäb yällän^n@^ mm ‘I would like to have a new car, but I have no money’ (lit., ‘new car I-would-like-to-have but money there-is-not-to-me’).

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21. Jussive and imperative For the expression of a command or a prohibition, Amharic uses two forms: the jussive and the imperative. The jussive is formed with prefixes and suffixes; the imperative has suffixes only. 21.1. Jussive 21.1.1. The affirmative jussive expresses a command or an order for the 1st and 3rd persons (translated in English by ‘let + verb’; e.g., ‘let him break, let me break’). The prefixes and suffixes are the same as those of the simple imperfect except for the 1st singular which has the prefix l@ instead of @. As for the base of the root, it is -SBäR- for type A, -Fäll@G- for type B, and -MaR(@)Kfor type C. 21.1.2. The prefixes and suffixes are: Sg. 3m. y@3f. t@1c. l@-

Pl. 3c. y@-. . .-u 1c. @nn@-, or -@n-

The 3rd person plural is also used as a form of respect. 21.1.3. The forms are as follows:

Sg. 3m. 3f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 1c.

Type A y@sbär t@sbär l@sbär y@sbäru @nn@sbär

Type B y@fäll@g t@fäll@g l@fäll@g y@fäll@gu @nn@fäll@g

Type C y@mark t@mark l@mark y@marku @nn@mark

As in the imperfect, a final dental, sibilant, l, or n in the 2nd fem. is palatalized. 21.2. Negative jussive 21.2.1. The negative jussive is used to express a prohibition or a negative command for all persons. The negative element is a- for all persons. While in type A the prefixes t and n are geminated, they occur both in a geminated or in a non-geminated form in types B and C. Unlike the negative imperfect, the negative jussive does not have a final -m. 21.2.2. The forms of the negative jussive are given in the table at the top of p. 356. 21.3. Meanings and usages of the jussive 21.3.1. As stated above, the affirmative jussive expresses an affirmative command or order for the 1st and 3rd persons, whereas the negative jussive expresses a prohibition for all the persons. Examples: mäßhaf-u-n wädä mäßah@ft-bet y@mäll@s ‘let him return the book to the library’ (lit., ‘thebook-n to library let-him-return’); s@ra-w-@n ahun @nn@ƒämm@r ‘let us start

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att@sbäri

1c. al@sbär Pl. 3c. ay@sbäru 2c. att@sbäru 1c. ann@sbär

Type B ayfäll@g att@fäll@g atfäll@g att@fäll@g atfäll@g att@fäll@gi atfäll@gi alfäll@g ayfäll@gu att@fäll@gu atfäll@gu ann@fäll@g anfäll@g

Type C aymark att@mark atmark att@mark atmark att@marki atmarki almark aymarku att@marku atmarku ann@mark anmark

the work now!’ (lit., ‘the-work-n now let-us-start’); mäskot-u-n att@sbär ‘don’t break the window’! (lit., ‘the-window-n do-not-break’!). 21.3.2. The jussive is also used to express ‘should, would’ in an affirmative and negative clause; in an interrogative clause it is rendered by ‘may, should, would, can’. Examples: gänzäb-u-n ahun l@wsäd wäy-@ss h+ala? ‘should I take the money now or later?’ (lit., ‘the-money-n now should-Itake or later?’); bärr-u-n y@kfät? ‘should he open the door?’ (lit., ‘the-doorn should-he-open?’). 21.3.3. A negative clause is expressed by the negative jussive; e.g., l@ƒ-occ awaqi-wocc-@n ay@sdäbu ‘children should not insult elders’ (lit., ‘children elders-n they-should-not-insult’). 22. Imperative 22.1. The imperative expresses an order or a command in the 2nd person, both singular and plural. The bases of the imperative are: S@Bär for type A; FäLL@G for type B; MaR(@)K for type C. The imperative has no prefixes and its suffixes are the same as those of the simple imperfect or of the negative jussive. The forms are: Type A Sg. 2m. s@bär 2f. s@bäri Pl. 2c. s@bäru

Type B fäll@g fäll@gi fäll@gu

Type C mar@k marki marku

A final dental, sibilant, l, or n is palatalized in the singular 2nd feminine: l@bäsi or l@bäs ‘get dressed!’ 22.2. The imperative expresses an affirmative order: mäßhaf-u-n mäll@s ‘return (m.) the book!’; surrab-u-n l@bäsi ‘put on (f.) the sweater!’ The prohibition is expressed by the negative jussive (see 21.3).

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A polite command is expressed by the 3rd plural jussive: y@gbu ‘come in, please!’ 23. Gerund 23.1 The English meaning that comes the closest to that of the Amharic gerund is expressed by the ending -ing in sentences like ‘he came running’, or ‘after eating his lunch he went to the market’. The bases of the gerund are: type A: SäBR- for all persons except for the 1st singular where the base is Säb@RR-, with the gemination of the last radical; type B: FäLL@g-, 1st person, sg. FäLL@GG-; type C: MaRK-, 1st sg. MaR@KK-. For the forms, see 23.2. The gerund has no negative form except in the speech of the provinces of Begemder and Godjam. 23.2 The subject of the gerund clause is expressed by suffix pronouns. Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Respect

-o -a -äh -äs -e -äw

Pl. 3c. -äw

Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 2c. Respect

Type A säbro säbra säbräh säbräs säb@rre säbräw säbracc@hu säbräw

2c. -acc@hu (pronounced -accuh) -än Type B fäll@go fäll@ga fäll@gäh fäll@gäs fäll@gge fäll@gäw fäll@gacc@hu fäll@gäw

Type C marko marka markäh markäs mar@kke markäw markacc@hu markäw

The vowel e of the 1st common singular causes palatalization of a dental, sibilant, l or n; thus, där@sse from därräsä ‘arrive’, käf@cce from käffätä ‘open’. As all the other verb forms, the gerund takes the object suffix pronouns: fäll@go-n^n ^ ‘he having wanted me’. 21.3. The gerund expresses an action that precedes that of the verb of the main clause. Examples: lemat-u-n käfto dabbo-w-@n wässädä ‘having uncovered the basket he took the bread’ (lit., ‘the-basket-n he-having-opened the-bread-n he-took’); lemat-u-n käfto dabbo-w-@n y@wäsdall ‘having uncovered the basket he will take the bread’ (lit., ‘the-basket-n he-having-opened the-bread-n he-will-take’). 23.4. Another function of the gerund is that of circumstantial or adverbial usage; thus, ru†o hedä ‘he went running’ (lit., ‘running he-went’); zällo gäbba ‘he entered unexpectedly’ (lit., ‘he-having- jumped he-entered’).

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23.5. Gerund + näbbärä The combination of the gerund and näbbärä (or näbbär) expresses the pluperfect; thus, s@mä†a (for s@-@mä†a) mäßhaf-u-n wäsdo-näbbär ‘when I came he had taken the book’ (lit., ‘when-I-come the-book-n he-had-taken’). 23.6. Compound gerund 23.6.1. The compound gerund is formed by the combination of the gerund with the verb allä ‘he is’. In this combination allä is conjugated only in the 1st common singular (allähu > allä+h) and in the 3rd feminine singular (alläcc). In all the other forms it has the shortened form -all. The forms of the compound gerund:

Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 2c. 1c.

Type A säbr+all säbralläcc säbrähall säbräsall säb@rreyalläh+ säbräwall säbracc@h+all säbränall

Type B fäll@g+all fäll@galläcc fäll@gähall fäll@gäsall fäll@ggeyalläh+ (for fäll@geyallähu) fäll@gäwall fäll@gacc@h+all fäll@gänall

Type C is conjugated in the same way as type A except for the vowel a after the 1st radical. 23.6.2. Both the compound gerund and the perfect refer to an action in the past, but whereas the perfect expresses an action in the past at a definite time, the compound gerund expresses an action that may have started in the past at a definite time, but whose action continues into the present. Thus, for instance, in a sentence such as wänd@mm-e yä-zare samm@nt addis abäba därräsä ‘my brother arrived in Addis Abäba a week ago’ (lit., ‘mybrother of-today a-week-[in] Addis Abäba he-arrived’), the perfect därräsä indicates that the action took place a week ago without any implication for the present. In the sentence wänd@mm-e addis abäba därs+all, the compound gerund indicates that the results of the action in the past are still evident at the time of speaking, that is to say, ‘my brother has arrived (and is still) in Addis Abäba’. 23.6.3. The compound gerund is also used with object suffix pronouns that are placed between the simple gerund and allä; e.g., säbrotall (from säbro-t-all) ‘he has broken him/it’. 24. Verbals Some forms derived from the Amharic verb take nominal affixes. The forms are called verbals. The verbals are: the active participle (or simply participle), the verbal noun, and the instrumental.

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24.1. Participle 24.1.1. The participle is formed from the basic stem as well as from the derived stems. The form of the participle of the triradicals for type A of the basic stem is SäBaRi; for type B it is FäLLaGi; for type C it is MaRaKi. The vowel i of the 3rd radical causes palatalization of a final dental, sibilant, l, or n. This vowel is usually absorbed in the palatal: käsas from *käsasi ‘plaintiff’; käfac from *käfati ‘who opens’; azaz from *azazi ‘commander’. 24.1.2. The participle may be rendered as an adjective (fäsas w@ha ‘running water’), or as a noun (fä†ari ‘creator’). 24.2. Verbal noun 24.2.1. The verbal noun is formed with the prefix mä-.The base of type A is -SBäR; of type B -FäLLäG; of type C -MaRäK. Thus, from säbbärä (type A) the verbal noun is mäsbär ‘breaking’, or ‘act of breaking’; from fällägä (type B) it is mäfälläg; from marräkä (type C) it is mämaräk. 24.2.2. The verbal noun may also be translated by the infinitive, as is the case in mähed allä-bb-ät ‘he must go’ (lit., ‘to-go [or going] is-upon-him’). In its function as a noun, the verbal noun may serve as a subject or as a direct object. As a subject: mägdäl ha†iat näw ‘killing is a sin’, or, ‘it is a sin to kill’. As a direct object with -n: zare bä-†+at männäsat-u-n al-fälläghu-mm ‘I didn’t want to get up early today’ (lit., ‘today in-[the]-morning the-gettingup-n I-did-not-want’). 24.3. Prepositions + verbal noun 24.3.1. bä + verbal noun expresses cause: leba-w b@zu käbt bä-mäsräq-u dan^na^ -w färrädä-bbä-t ‘because of the thief’s stealing many cattle, the judge convicted him’ (lit., ‘the-thief many cattle because-of-his-stealing thejudge pronounced-sentence-against-him’). 24.3.2. With kä- ‘rather than’: geta-ccäw-@n kä-mäkad (from kadä) mot-@n märrä†u ‘they preferred death to betraying their master’ (lit., ‘their-mastern rather-than-betraying death-n they-preferred’). 24.3.3. lä + verbal noun expresses purpose ‘in order that, with the intention of’; y@q@rta lä-mälämmän tän-bäräkkäkä ‘he dropped to his knees to beg forgiveness’ (lit., ‘forgiveness to-beg he-dropped-to-his-knees’). 25. Instrumental Another verbal is the instrumental. In the majority of cases the instrumental expresses the instrument or means with which one performs an action. It may also express the place where or the time when the action occurs. The instrumental is formed from the base of the verbal noun to which -iya is suffixed. Thus, from the verb of type A: mä†rägiya (also mä†rägya) ‘broom’ from the base mä†räg, from †ärrägä ‘sweep’; mälqämiya ‘any object used for picking up things’ from the base mälqäm, from läqqämä ‘pick up things’.

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From type B: mädäbbäqiya ‘hiding place’ from the base mädäbbäq, from däbbäqä ‘hide’. From type C: mämaräkiya ‘means, or place, or time of taking prisoners’, from the base mämaräk, from marräkä ‘take prisoners’. The final -(i)ya causes palatalization of a preceding dental, sibilant, l, or n. Examples; mäkfäca ‘key’ for mäkfätiya, from käffätä ‘open’; mädräsa ‘time or place of arrival’, for mädräsiya, from därräsä ‘arrive’; mänqäya ‘instrument for pulling out things’, for mänqäliya, from näqqälä ‘pull out’. 26. Meaning and usage of the instrumental 26.1. The instrumental denotes both specialized instruments with which one performs an action and any object that serves as a means of performing an action. Examples for specialized instrumentals: mäkdän^a ‘lid’ (from käddänä ‘cover’), mä†bäsa ‘frying pan’ (from †äbbäsä ‘fry’). 26.2. The instrumental also expresses the place where or the time when an action occurs: mäwc≥a ‘exit, time of leaving’ (from w䆆a ‘go out’); mägbiya ‘entrance, introduction, time of entering, place of entering’ (from gäbba ‘enter’); mädräsa ‘time or place of arrival’ (from därräsä ‘arrive’). 26.3. The instrumental behaves like a noun. It may take the article (mäwc≥a-w ‘the exit’), the possessive pronouns (mämmäriya-ye ‘my policy’), the direct object marker (mämmäriya-w-@n tä-kättälä ‘he followed the directions’), the yä-marker (yä-mänƒa fäqad ‘driver’s license’), and so on. Table of the main verb forms Perfect Imperfect Compound impf. Jussive Imperative Gerund Compound gerund Participle Verbal noun Instrumental

Type A säbbärä y@säb@r y@säbrall y@sbär s@bär säbro säbr+all säbari mäsbär mäsbäriya

Type B fällägä y@fäll@g y@fäll@gall y@fäll@g fäll@g fäll@go fäll@g+all fällagi mäfälläg mäfällägiya

Type C marräkä y@marr@k y@marr@kall y@mar@k mar@k marko mark+all maraki mämaräk mämaräkiya

27. Impersonal verb ‘it’ There is a series of verbs that is used only in the 3rd person masculine singular. The grammatical subject of these verbs is ‘it’ and the logical subject is expressed by object suffix pronouns (17.4); e.g., rabä-n^n ^ ‘I am hungry’ (lit., ‘it hungered me’); ammämä-w ‘he is sick’ (lit., ‘it pained him’). Verbs of this kind are called “impersonal verbs.” Verbs that are used both as regular and impersonal verbs: gäbba ‘enter’, as impersonal it means ‘understand’; e.g., gäbba-n^n ^ ‘I understood’ (lit., ‘it

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entered into me’). Other verbs are: däkkämä- ‘be tired’, ammämä- ‘be sick’, †ämma- ‘be thirsty’. 28. Prepositional suffix pronouns The prepositions lä and bä are the only prepositions that are used with suffix pronouns. They are placed after the verb. The main meaning of these prepositions is: lä- ‘to the advantage of, in favor of’; bä- ‘to the disadvantage of’. When used with suffix pronouns, the consonants of lä and bä are geminated; thus, färrädä-ll-ät ‘he acquitted him’ (lit., ‘he judged in his favor’), färrädä-bb-ät ‘he convicted him’ (lit., ‘he judged to his disadvantage’). In a verb form ending in a consonant, there is a connecting vowel @ between the verb and the prepositional suffix pronouns; thus y@fräd-@bb-ät ‘may he convict him’ (lit., ‘may he judge to his disadvantage’), y@fräd-@llät ‘may he acquit him’ (lit., ‘may he judge to his advantage’). The prepositional suffix pronouns are: Sg. 1c. 2m. 2f. 3m. 3f.

-@n^n ^ -@h -@s -ät -at

Pl. 1c. -@n 2c. -acc@hu 3c. -accäw

Thus, with färrädä ‘he judged’: färrädä-ll-@n^n ^ ‘he judged in my favor’, but y@fräd-@ll-@n^n ^ ‘may he judge in my favor’. 29. Expressions of the verb ‘to have’ Amharic has no specific verb ‘to have’. Possession is expressed by various verbs of existence combined with object suffix pronouns. For the present, the verb allä ‘there is’ is used; for the past, it is the verb näbbärä ‘it was’; for the future, it is y@norall (the imperfect of norä ‘exist’), all of them with the object suffix pronouns. For the present: wänd(@)-l@ƒ allä-n^n ^ ‘I have a son’ (lit., ‘son there-is-tome’). For the past: t@nant@nna ass@r b@rr b@cca näbbärä-n^n ^ ‘yesterday I had only ten dollars’ (lit., ‘yesterday ten dollar[s] only there-was-to-me’). For the future: nägä gänzäb y@nor-än^n-^ all ‘I will have money tomorrow’ (lit., ‘tomorrow money there-will-be-to-me’). 29.1. Expressions of the verb ‘not to have’ 29.1.1. The idea of ‘not to have’ in the present is expressed by yällä-mm ‘there is not, it is not present’ (the negative of allä ‘there is’) combined with the object suffix pronouns mentioned above. Note that the object suffix pronouns are placed between yällä and -mm; thus, bet yällä-n^n-^ @mm ‘I don’t have a house’ (lit., ‘house there-is-not-to-me’). 29.1.2. The past is expressed by al-näbbärä-mm ‘it was not’; thus, t@lant@nna gänzäb al-näbbärä-n^n-^ @mm ‘I didn’t have money yesterday’ (lit., ‘yesterday money there-was-not-to-me’).

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29.1.3. The future is expressed by the negative imperfect of conjugated norä ‘exist’ with object suffix pronouns: nägä gänzäb aynor-än^n-^ @mm ‘I will not have money tomorrow’ (lit., ‘tomorrow money it-will-not-be-to-me’).

Derived stems The derived stems are the reduplicative stem and the stems with prefixes tä-, a-, as- and at(t)- for the expression of the passive, reflexive, causative, reciprocal, and various other meanings. 30. Reduplicative stem 30.1. The reduplicative stem consists of the repetition of the 2nd radical. Its form in the triradical verbs is säbabbärä for types A, B, and C. The reduplicative stem expresses an intensive action, reduplication, repetition, frequency, or attenuated action. The forms of the triradicals are: Perfect nägaggärä, imperfect y@nägagg@r, jussive y@nägag@r, imperative nägag@r, gerund nägagro, verbal noun mänägagär. 30.2. Example for an intensive action: †@yy@t-u mästawät-u-n säbabbärä-w ‘the bullet shattered the glass’ (lit., ‘the-bullet the-glass-n it-shattered-it’). Performing an action thoroughly: nägade-w käsasr+all ‘the merchant has gone completely bankrupt’. Dispersing and scattering in various places: mäßhaf-occ-u-n bä-wäläl-ulay bätatno-näbbär ‘he had scattered the books all over the floor’ (lit., ‘thebooks-n on-the-floor he-had scattered-all-over’). Attenuated action: zare mata ayyälä säkakr+all ‘Ayyälä is somewhat tipsy this evening’ (lit., ‘today evening Ayyälä is-somewhat-tipsy’). 31. tä-stem 31.1. The tä-stem is the normal expression of the passive of transitive verbs; thus, gäddälä ‘he killed’: tägäddälä ‘he was killed’; in type C tä-marräkä ‘be taken prisoner’. In the forms in which the t of the prefix is in contact with the 1st radical, it is assimilated. As a result, the 1st radical is geminated. This occurs in the imperfect y@nnäggär for *y@tnäggär, in the jussive y@nnägär for *y@tnägär. 31.2. The tä-prefix may change a transitive verb into an intransitive one. Thus, mäßhaf-u-n mälläsä ‘he returned the book’ (lit., ‘the-book-n hereturned’), but kä-tämari-bet tä-mälläsä ‘he returned from school’ (lit., ‘from-school he-returned’). The tä-stem also has a reflexive meaning; thus läyyä ‘he separated’ (trans.): tä-läyyä ‘he dissociated himself’. 31.3. There is a series of verbs for which the basic meaning is expressed by the tä-stem only: tä-säkkämä ‘carry a load’, tä-qämmä†ä ‘sit down’; type C, as in tä-saggärä ‘cross over’, tä-gaddämä ‘lie down’. Any verb in type A or B may be converted into a type C to express reciprocity or participation, as in tä-gaddälu ‘they killed each other’, tämakkäru ‘they consulted one another’.

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Conjugation of tä-stem Perfect Imperfect Jusssive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

Type A tänäggäräa y@nnäggär y@nnägär tänägär tänägro tänägari männägär

Type B täfällägäb y@ffälläg y@ffäläg täfäläg täfäll@go täfällagi mäffäläg

Type C tämarräkäc y@mmarräk y@mmaräk tämaräk tämarko tämaraki mämmaräk

a. From näggärä ‘say, speak’ b. From fällägä ‘seek, want’ c. From marräkä ‘take prisoner’

32. a-stem 32.1. The a-stem serves mainly to express the causative; thus, bäqqälä ‘grow’: abäqqälä ‘make or cause to grow’; qämmäsä ‘taste’: aqämmäsä ‘give to taste’; biradical bälla ‘eat’: abälla ‘feed’ (that is, ‘cause to eat’). Verbs of state may become transitive in the a-stem; q+ässälä ‘be wounded’: aq+ässälä ‘wound’; färräsä ‘be demolished’: afärräsä ‘demolish’. 32.2. The a-stem occurring with verbs denoting time of the day has the meaning ‘to spend the particular time of the day’; thus nägga ‘to dawn’: anägga ‘stay up until dawn doing something’; räffädä ‘become late in the morning’: aräffädä ‘stay up a good part of the morning’. 32.3. Some of the verbs occurring with a- only are denominatives: aq䆆älä ‘send out leaves’ (from q@†äl ‘leaf’); akällälä ‘crown someone’ (from aklil ‘crown’). 32.4. There are verbs whose basic meaning is expressed by the a-stem: aläqqäsä ‘mourn’; adärrägä ‘make’; ab䆆ärä ‘winnow’. Conjugation of a-stem Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Participle Verbal noun

Type A adäkkämäa yadäk@m yadk@m adk@m adkami madkäm

Type B abäddäräb yabädd@r yabädd@r abädd@r abäddari mabädd@r

Type C amassänäc yamass@n yamas@n amas@n amasan^ (from amasani) mamasän

a. ‘Weaken, exhaust’ (from däkkämä ‘be tired’) b. ‘Lend’ (tä-bäddärä ‘borrow’) c. ‘Exhaust’ (from massänä ‘be exhausted’)

33. as-stem 33.1. The as-stem expresses the causative of transitive verbs and occasionally of intransitive verbs. Examples for transitive verbs of type A are:

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wässädä ‘take’: aswässädä ‘cause to take’; q+ärrä†ä ‘cut’: asq+ärrä†ä ‘cause to cut’. Example of intransitive verbs, type B: kässämä ‘wither’: askässämä ‘cause to wither’. 33.2. The as-stem also conveys the meaning of forcing, or of making someone do something that he doesn’t like: tämari-bet askedkut ‘I made him go to school’. Types A and B have the same conjugation. The 2nd radical is geminated throughout, thus behaving like a type B. Conjugation of as-stem Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Participle Verbal noun

Type A, B asnäggäräa yasnägg@r yasnägg@r asnägg@r asnäggari masnaggär

Type C asmarräkäb yasmarr@k yasmark asmark asmaraki masmaräk

a. From näggärä ‘say, tell, speak’ b. From marräkä ‘take prisoner’

34. *at-stem 34.1. The actual form of this stem is aqqattälä with appearance of a type C and with the gemination of the 1st radical. The *at-stem is formed from täqattälä>*a-tä-qattälä>*atqattälä (with the loss of the vowel ä of tä)>aqqattälä. 34.2. This stem expresses the causative of reciprocity; e.g., akkassäsä ‘bring suit against each other’; käbbädä hulätt-u-n g+addän^n-^ occ aggaddäl-accäw ‘Käbbädä caused the two friends to kill each other’ (lit., ‘Käbbädä the-twon friends he-caused-them-to-kill-one-another’). A frequent meaning of the aqqattälä stem is the adjutative, that is, help to perform the action of the basic stem; e.g., yä-†äffa-w-@n mäßhafe affallägä-n^n ^ ‘he helped me look for my (lost) misplaced book’ (lit., ‘that-waslost-n my-book he-helped-me-look-for’). 34.3. Conjugation There is only one type for the at-stem. Perfect annaggärä, imperfect yannagg@r, jussive yannag@r, imperative annag@r, participle annagari, verbal noun mannagär. Reduplicative: annägaggärä. Noun of manner. The base of the reduplicative of the at-stem is used for the expression of a noun of manner, that is, ‘manner of . . . , way of . . .’, the form being aqqätatäl. The concept of this noun may be active or passive. Thus, from läqqämä ‘pick’ it is alläqaqäm ‘way of picking, way of being picked’. From tänaggärä ‘speak’, annägagär ‘manner of speaking’.

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35. Verbs with an-, tän35.1. There is a series of verbs in Amharic that have the prefix tän- or anor both. These prefixes are not productive—meaning that one cannot use them automatically from any verb in the basic stem. They denote expressivity of movement (walk in a special way, run, pace about, creep), of noise (shout, cry, sob, hiss), of light (glitter, blaze, burn), of space (width, length), and so on. While they occur with a limited number of triradicals that have the appearance of types A and B, they are used most frequently with triradicals of type C. As for the quadriradicals, the above-mentioned prefixes occur most normally with 1-2-1-2 or 1-2-3-3 roots. 35.2. In the verbs that occur with prefixes an- and/or tän-, the verb with the prefix an- marks most often the active and the prefix tän- marks the passive or intransitive. Examples: ankärabbätä ‘mistreat’: tänkärabbätä ‘be mistreated’. With verbs of type C: tän†allälä ‘be spread out’, tänk+arräfä ‘snore’. With 4–radicals of the 1-2-1-2 pattern: tänqä†äqqä†ä ‘tremble’. Conjugation of verbs with an-, tänPerfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Verbal noun

Prefix täntän†äl䆆äläa y@n†äl䆆äl y@n†äl†äl tän†äl†äl män†äl†äl

Prefix anan†äl䆆äläb yan†äl䆆@l yan†äl†@l an†äl†@l man†äl†äl

a. ‘Be suspended’ b. ‘Suspend’

Verbal classes 36. Triradical verbs with initial a This verbal class has two types only: type A and type B. Indeed, a verb of type C such as *affärä would, for phonetic reasons, be pronounced affärä like assärä (type A) or aqqädä (type B). Some verbs of type A are: alläfä ‘pass’, alläqä ‘come to an end’, awwäqä ‘know’. Verbs of type B: allämä ‘dream’, arrämä ‘weed, correct’, assäbä ‘think’. Conjugation Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Participle Verbal noun

Type A alläfä yalf y@läf @läf alafi maläf

Type B assäbä yass@b yass@b ass@b assabi massäb

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36.1. tä-stem The perfect is tassärä from tä-assärä, with tä-a becoming ta. Contrary to the regular triradical verbs in which the initial t of the tä-stem is no longer preserved in verbal forms that have prefixes (such as y@nnägäral for y@tnäggäral), the initial ta of tassärä is preserved throughout; thus, y@ttassärall. The forms are:

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Participle Verbal noun

Type A tassäräa y@ttassär y@ttasär tasär tasari mättasär

Type B tarrämäb y@ttarräm y@ttaräm taräm/tarräm tarrami mättaräm

a. From assärä ‘bind, tie’ b. arrämä ‘weed, correct’

36.2. a-stem The verbs that begin with a have no a-stem since *aªassärä would result in *aassärä > assärä in conformity with the Amharic pattern. The function of the a-stem was taken over by the as-stem. 36.3 as-stem 36.3.1. Intransitive verbs beginning with a form their causative with asand a form such as *as-addägä results in asaddägä. It may be rendered by ‘cause to, let’, or by various expressions going back to ‘cause to’. Examples: abbä†ä ‘swell’: asabbä†ä ‘cause to swell’; alläfä ‘pass’: asalläfä ‘let pass’. Verbs of state in the basic stem may become transitive; thus, azzänä ‘be sad’: asazzänä ‘cause sadness, sadden’; a††ärä ‘be short’: asa††ärä ‘shorten’ (lit., ‘cause to be short’). 36.3.2. The as-stem may also have an adjutative meaning: azzälä ‘carry a baby on the back’: asazzälä ‘help to carry on the back’. 36.3.3. Conjugation: perfect asawwäqä ‘acquaint, inform’, imperfect yasaww@q, jussive yasaww@q, imperative asaww@q, participle asawwaqi. 36.4. astä-stem 36.4.1. The astä-stem is normally used with verbs beginning with a. The meanings are those of the causative of the basic stem, of the causative of the passive, and of the causative of the reciprocal. Example for the causative of the basic stem: astaqqäfä ‘cause to hug’, from aqqäfä ‘hug’. Causative of the passive: astawwäkä ‘cause to be disturbed’, from tawwäkä ‘be disturbed’, from awwäkä ‘disturb’. Causative of the reciprocal: astarräqä ‘reconcile’, from tarräqu ‘they were reconciled with each other’.

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36.4.2. This stem also expresses the adjutative: asta††äbä ‘help to wash, bring water to elders before meals’, from a††äbä ‘wash’. Conjugation: perfect astarräqä, imperfect yastarr@q, jussive yastarq, imperative astarq, participle astaraqi. 36.5. Reduplicative stem The following stems are used for the reduplicative of the a-verbs. Basic stem: asassärä. tä-stem: täsassärä expresses reciprocity: tämammänu ‘they trusted each other’. at-stem: attämammänä ‘cause people to have confidence in one another’. astä-stem: astäwawwäqä ‘cause to be acquainted with each other’ (from awwäqä ‘know’). The reduplicative has no a- nor as-stem. 37. Biradicals Amharic has different classes of biradical roots. These verbal classes go back to a triradical root in which one of the radicals was a laryngeal ª, º, h, ˙, a velar h, or a semi-vowel y or w. Since these consonants were reduced to zero in certain positions, the original triradical roots became reduced to biradicals. The verbal classes are: class sämma ‘hear’ (original root smº) class näc≥c≥ä ‘pull out’ (original root nßy) class samä ‘kiss’ (original root sºm) class qomä ‘stand’ (original root qwm) class hedä ‘go’ (original root kyd). 38. Verbal class sämma This verbal class consists of verbs that have two consonants, the first consonant having the vowel ä and the second consonant, which is geminated, having the vowel a. This verbal class has types A, B, and C. Type A: m䆆a ‘come’, särra ‘work’, bälla ‘eat’, gäbba ‘enter’, gäzza ‘buy’. Type B: läqqa ‘lend money’, läkka ‘measure’, tän^na^ ‘sleep’, †ä††a ‘drink’. Type C: qa††a ‘raise the hand in a threatening gesture’, gadda ‘hobble’. Roots with initial a: amma ‘calumniate’, a††a ‘lack something’. These verbs combine the features of the initial a-class with this class (see table on p. 368). Derived stems 38.1. Reduplicative stem 38.1.1. In the reduplicative stem the 2nd radical is repeated. The forms of type A are given at the top of p. 369.

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Perfect Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c.

sämma sämmacc sämmah sämmas sämmahu

Pl. 3c. sämmu 2c. sämmacc@hu (pronounced sämmaccuh) 1c. sämman

Imperfect Sg. 3m. y@säma Pl. 3c. y@sämu 3f. t@säma 2m. t@säma 2c. t@sämu 2f. t@sämi 1c. @säma 1c. @nn@säma Type B y@läkka; type C y@qa††a Jussive Sg. 3m. y@sma Pl. 3c. y@smu 3f. t@sma 2m. *t@sma 2c.* t@smu 2f. *t@smi 1c. l@sma 1c. @nn@sma The forms with * are used only in the negative. Type B y@läkka; type C y@qa†a. Imperative Sg. 2m. s@ma 2f. s@mi Type B läkka; type C qa†a.

Pl. 2c. s@mu

Gerund In the gerund of this class, a t is added; thus, type A, sg. 3m. sämto, 1c. säm@cce (from säm@tte). Type B läkk@to, 1st c. läkk@cce (from läkk@tte); type C qa†to (pronounced qatto). Compound Gerund

Type A sämt+all

Participle Type A sämi; type B läkki; type C qac≥i (from qa†i). Verbal Noun mäsmat (note the addition of t as in the gerund). Type B mäläkkat; type C mäqa†at. Instrumental Type A mäsriya ‘tool’ (from särra ‘make’). Type B mäläkkiya; type C mäqac≥a (from mäqa†iya).

Amharic Perfect Imperfect Jusive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

369

sämamma y@smamma y@smama s@mama sämamto sämami mäsmamat

38.1.2. The derived stems that follow are those of type A. Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

tä-stem tämärraa y@mmärra y@mmära tämära tämärto tämäri mämmärat

a-stem agäbbab yagäba yagba agba agb@to agbi mägbat

a. From märra ‘guide’ b. From gäbba ‘enter’

Verbs for which the basic meaning is expressed by the tä-stem only: tämäkka ‘boast’ (type B), tä-q+䆆a ‘be angry’ (type B). Reduplicative agbabba. Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

as-stem asmärraa yasmärra yasmärra asmärra asmärr@to asmärri masmärrat

*at-stem ammarra yammarra yammara ammara ammarto ammari mammarat

a. From märra ‘guide’

39. Verbal class näc≥≥c≥ä, qärrä This verbal class consists of two consonants, the 1st consonant having the vowel ä and the second consonant, which is geminated, also having the vowel ä. With the exception of qärrä ‘remain behind’, and sä††ä ‘give’, the last consonant is a prepalatal. This verbal class has types A, B, and C. Type A: räc≥c≥ä ‘sprinkle’, fäc≥c≥ä ‘grind grain’, mässä ‘become evening’. Type B: sän^nä^ ‘escort’, bäƒƒä ‘turn out well’. With last radical -yä: läyyä ‘distinguish, separate’, q+äyyä ‘wait, last’. Type C: lac≥c≥ä ‘shave’, waƒƒä ‘purchase’, wassä ‘lie’ (see tables on p. 370).

370

Wolf Leslau† Conjugation of verbal class näc≥c≥ ≥ä, qärrä Perfect Sg. 3m. näc≥c≥ä Pl. 3c. näc≥c≥u 3f. näc≥c≥acc 2m. näc≥c≥äh 2c. näc≥c≥acc@+h/näc≥c≥ac≥c≥@hu 2f. näc≥c≥äs 1c. näc≥c≥ä+h 1c. näc≥c≥än The perfect of types B and C is conjugated like type A. Imperfect

Sg. 3m. y@näc≥; pl. c. y@näc≥u Type B y@läyy; type C y@lac≥

Jussive

Sg. 3m. y@nc≥; pl. 3c. y@nc≥u Type B y@läyy; type C y@lac≥

Imperative

Sg. 2m. n@c≥; pl. 3c. n@c≥u Type B läyy; type C lac≥

Gerund Sg. 3m. näc≥to (note the addition of t), 1c. näc≥@cce Type B läyy@to; type C lac≥to Participle

näc≥i Type B läyyi; type C lac≥i

Verbal noun

mänc≥ät Type B mäläyyät; type C mälac≥ät

Reduplicative stem

läyayyä

Conjugation of class näc≥c≥ ≥ä with initial a Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

tä-stem tänäc≥c≥äa y@nnäc≥c≥ y@nnäc≥ tänäc≥ tänäc≥to tänäc≥i männäc≥ät

a-stem amässäb yamäs yams ams ams@to amsi mamsät

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

as-stem asqärräc yasqärr yasqärr asqärr asqärr@to asqärri masqärrät

*at-stem annac≥c≥äd yannac≥c≥ yannac≥ annac≥ annac≥to annac≥i mannac≥ät

a. From näc≥c≥ä ‘pull out’ b. ‘Spend the evening’, from mässä c. From qärrä ‘remain behind, be left’ d. From näc≥c≥ä ‘pull out’

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≥ with initial a 40. Class näc≥≥cä Verbs with initial a of the class näc≥c≥ä are: ayyä ‘see’, ac≥c≥ä ‘be engaged (to marry)’, assä ‘rub’. For the verb allä, see 41. Perfect ayyä; imperfect yay; jussive y@y; imperative @y; gerund ayto; participle ayi; verbal noun mayät. 41. Verb allä 41.1. The verb allä expresses the present ‘he is, there is, he is present’. This verb has the form of the perfect, but it expresses the present. The conjugation is that of näc≥c≥ä (see 39). The negative of allä is yällä-mm ‘he is not, he is not present, there is not’, conjugated like allä; e.g., almaz yälläcc-@mm @nde? alläcc ‘isn’t Almaz here? She is’. The subordinate form of yällä-mm is -lellä preceded by elements of subordination. The forms are as follows:

Sg. 3m. 3f. 2m. 2f. 1c. Pl. 3c. 2c. 1c.

allä alläcc alläh alläs allähua allu allacc@hub allän

negative form yällä-mm yälläcc-@mm yälläh-@mm yälläs-@mm yällähu-mm yällu-mm yällacc@hu-mm yällän-@mm

subordinate form -lellä -lelläcc -lelläh -lelläs -lellähu -lellu -lellacc@hu -lellän

a. Pronounced allä+h b. Pronounced allacc@+h, allaccuh

Like any other verb in the perfect, allä is used with conjunctions including the relative marker; thus, wä†-bet w@s† @skalläh b@rc≥@qqo aqäbb@l-än^n ^ ‘as long as you are in the kitchen hand me a glass’ (lit., ‘kitchen in as-long-asyou-are glass hand-me’). Example for -lellä with the relative yä-: yä-lellä-w-@n @qa lä-m@n t@fäll@galläh? ‘why do you look for something that is not there?’ (‘that-isnot-the-n thing why do-you-look-for?’). The verbal noun followed by allä (or by the negative yällä) + bä + prepositional suffix pronouns expresses obligation in the present; yaluh@n (for yä-alu-h-@n) mäsrat allä-bb-@h ‘you must do as they tell you’ (lit., ‘thatthey-tell-you-n to-do is-upon-you’). 41.2. Presence or existence in the past in the affirmative is expressed by the triradical verb näbbärä ‘he/it was’; in the negative by al-näbbärä-mm. Example: t@lant@nna l@ƒ-occ-u @zzih näbbäru ‘the children were here yesterday’ (lit., ‘yesterday the-children here they-were’); t@lant@nna gäbäya b@zu säw al-näbbärä-mm ‘there were not many people in the market yesterday’ (lit., ‘yesterday [in-the]-market many person[s] was-[were]-not’).

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42. Verbal class samä The first consonant has the vowel a and the second consonant has the vowel ä. This verbal class has only type A. Some verbs of this class are: samä ‘kiss’, lakä ‘send’, laqä ‘surpass’, walä ‘spend the day’, yazä ‘seize’. For the verb alä ‘say’, see 51. Perfect: sg. 3m. samä; 2m. samh/samk, 1c. samhu/samku, pl. 3m. samu. Imperfect: sg. 3m. y@s@m, pl. y@s@mu. Jussive y@sam; imperative sam; gerund s@mo, 1st c. s@mme; participle sami; verbal noun mäsam. Reduplicative stem sasamä; imperfect y@sas@m; jussive y@sas@m; imperative sas@m; gerund sas@mo; participle sasami; verbal noun mäsasam. 42.1 tä-stem Perfect tä-lakä; imperfect y@llak; jussive y@llak; imperative tälak; gerund täl@ko; participle tälaki; verbal noun mällak. From lakä ‘send’. Verbs of this class that occur only in the tä-stem: tämarä ‘study’, täwasä ‘be a guarantor’. 42.2 a-stem Perfect a-laqä; imperfect yal@q; jussive yal@q; imperative al@q; gerund al@qo; participle alaqi; verbal noun malaq. A few examples with causative meaning: walä ‘spend the day’: awalä ‘make spend the day’; rasä ‘be wet’: arasä ‘cause to be wet’.

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

as-stem asnaqäa yasn@q yasn@q asn@q asn@qo asnaqi masnaq

*at-stem allalaqäb yallal@q yallal@q allal@q allal@qo allalaqi mallalaq

a. From naqä ‘scorn’ b. From laqä ‘excel’ in the reduplicative

43. Verbal class qomä 43.1. This verbal class consists of verbs that have two consonants, the first consonant having the vowel o while the second consonant has the vowel ä. The verbs of this class have only one type. Some of the verbs are: honä ‘be, become’, moqä ‘be warm’, motä ‘die’. The original second radical w appears in the participle (as in näwari from norä ‘live’; q+ami from qomä ‘stand’) and in some derived stems (as in täqawwämä ‘oppose’, from qomä ‘stand’). 43.2. In addition, there are several verbs that have a second radical w in all the stems without having a contracted form of the class qomä. This is the

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case of verbs such as läwwä†ä ‘change’, säwwärä ‘hide’, awwäqä ‘know’, and others. All these verbs, except awwäqä, are of type B. Perfect qomä, imperfect y@qom, jussive y@qum, imperative qum, gerund qomo or qumo (1st qomme or qumme), participle q+ami, verbal noun mäqom. Conjugation of derived stems Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

tä-stem täsomä y@ssom y@ssom täsom täsomo täs+ami mässom

tä+C type täqawwämä y@qqawwäm y@qqawäm täqqawäm täqawmo täqawami mäqqawäm

Reduplicative täq+aq+amä ‘resist’ Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

a-stem aqomä yaqom yaqum aqum aqumo aq+ami maqom

as-stem asqomä yasqom yasqum asqum asqumo asq+ami masqom

Verbs in the a-stem: aro†ä ‘make run’, amoqä ‘heat’, azorä ‘make turn’. Reduplicative: aq+aq+amä ‘establish’. *at-stem: in this stem a w appears as 2nd radical: aqqawwämä ‘establish’. Perfect aqqawwämä, imperfect yaqqaww@m, jussive yaqqaw@m, imperative aqqaw@m, gerund aqqawmo, participle aqqawami, verbal noun maqqawäm. 44. Verbal class hedä 44.1. This verbal class consists of verbs that have two consonants, the first having the vowel e, and the second having the vowel ä. The verbs of this class have only one type. Examples: hedä ‘go’, qelä ‘be foolish’, zegä ‘be poor’. If the 1st radical is a prepalatal, the vowel is normally ä and occasionally e. Examples: sä†ä ‘sell’, cärä ‘be generous’, cäkä ‘be stubborn’, c≥äsä ‘smoke’ (also †äsä). Perfect hedä, imperfect y@hed, jussive y@hid, imperative hid, gerund hedo (also hido, 1c. heƒƒe), participle hiyaƒ (also hayaƒ), verbal noun mähed. 44.2. There are verbs that have a second radical y throughout the whole conjugation: †äyyäqä ‘ask, visit’, bäyyänä ‘decide a case’, qäyyäsä ‘measure’. All these verbs are of type B (see table on p. 374). Reduplicative: sasa†ä ‘sell a little’ (see table on p. 374).

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Wolf Leslau† tä-stem täge†ä y@gge† y@gge† täge† täge†o tägiyac≥ mägge†

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

a-stem a†esä ya†es ya†is a†is a†iso a†iyas ma†es

as-stem asge†ä yasge† yasgi† asgi† asgi†o asgiyac≥ masge†

*at-stem akkahedä (from atkahedä) yakkahed yakkahid

akkahid akkahido akkahaƒ makkahed

45. Quadriradicals 45.1. Verbs with four radicals are divided into type 1 and type 2. In type 1 all the radicals have the vowel ä in the perfect, and the third (or penultimate) radical is geminated; thus, märämmärä ‘examine’. In type 2, all the radicals except the second one have the vowel ä, while the second radical has the vowel a. As in type 1, the third radical is geminated; thus, däballäqä ‘mix, confuse’. 45.2. The consonantal pattern of the quadriradicals is as follows: a root of four different radicals (symbolized by 1-2-3-4), such as mäsäkkärä ‘testify’; a root in which the first two radicals are repeated (symbolized by 1-2-1-2), such as märämmärä ‘investigate’; a root in which the third radical is repeated (symbolized by 1-2-3-3), such as †ämäzzäzä ‘twist’. The quadriradicals have the same prefixes and suffixes as the other verbal classes. Conjugation of basic stem Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

Type 1 mäsäkkäräa y@mäsäkk@r y@mäsk@r mäsk@r mäsk@ro mäskari mämäskär

Type 2 däballäqäb y@däball@q y@däbalq däbalq däbalqo däbalaqi mädäbal@q

a. ‘testify’ b. ‘mix’

Derived stems 45.3 Reduplicative In the quadriradicals, the third radical is repeated. The vowel of this radical is a followed by the same radical with the vowel ä. The formation is the same for types 1 and 2. Thus, from type 1 mänäzzärä: mänäzazzärä; from type 2 däballäqä:däbälalläqä. Single type: perfect mänäzazzärä, imperfect y@mänäzazz@r, jussive y@mänäzaz@r, imperative mänäzaz@r, gerund mänäzazro, participle mänäzazari, verbal noun mämänäzazär.

spread is 12 points short

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45.4. tä-stem

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

Type 1 tämäsäkkärä y@mmäsäkkär y@mmäskär tämäskär tämäsk@ro tämäskari mämmäskär

Type 2 tädäballäqä y@ddäballäq (from y@tdäballäq) y@ddäbaläq tädäbaläq tädäbalqo tädäbalaqi mäddäbaläq

There are verbs for which the basic meaning is expressed by the tä-stem only: Of type 1: tämäläkkätä ‘look at, observe’; tä†änäqqäqä ‘be careful’. Of type 2: täsänabbätä ‘bid farewell’; tädänaqqäfä ‘stumble’. 45.5. a-stem Type 1. Perfect abäläßßägä ‘enrich, develop’, imperfect yabäläßß@g, jussive yabälß@g, imperative abälß@g, gerund abälß@go, participle abälßagi, verbal noun mabälß@g. Verbs for which the basic meaning is expressed by the a-stem: amäsäggänä ‘praise’, ag+änäbbäsä ‘bend down’. Conjugation of as-stem and *at-stem Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

as-stem asmänäzzäräa yasmänäzz@r yasmänz@r asmänz@r asmänz@ro asmänzari masmänzär

*at-stem ammänazzärä (for atmänazzärä) yammänazz@r yammänaz@r ammänaz@r ammänazro ammänazari mammänazär

a. mänäzzärä ‘exchange money’

46. Quadriradicals with initial a There are several biradicals with initial a: an䆆äsä ‘sneeze’, anäkkäsä ‘limp’, anäggätä ‘shoulder a gun’. While they have the appearance of triradical verbs in the a-stem (see 32), their origin and conjugation indicate that they are quadriradicals; thus, imperfect yanäkk@s, jussive yank@s as against the triradical, type B, abäddärä, imperfect yabädd@r, jussive yabädd@r. The forms are: perfect anäkkäsä, imperfect yanäkk@s, jussive yank@s, imperative ank@s, gerund ank@so, participle ankas (from ankasi), verbal noun mankäs.

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47. Abbreviated quadriradicals Quadriradicals with an original last radical laryngeal (or velar h) or with an original last radical y become abbreviated. The verbal classes of this type are: bärätta, säläccä, and lalla. 48. Verbal class bärätta This class consists of three consonants of which the first two have a vowel ä and the third one is geminated and has the vowel a. Examples for type 1: bärätta ‘be strong’, fänädda ‘burst’, zänägga ‘forget’, zärägga ‘stretch out’. No type 2 is attested for the basic stem. Type 2 of the tä-stem: täsänadda.

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

Basic stem zärägga y@zärägga y@zärga zärga zärg@to zärgi mäzärgat

tä-stem täzärägga y@zzärägga y@zzärga täzärga täzärg@to täzärgi mäzzärgat

a-stem abärätta yabärätta yabärta abärta abärt@to abärci mabärtat

Type 2 of the tä-stem: täsänadda. Note the additional t in the gerund and in the verbal noun; compare the additional t in the class sämma, an abbreviated triradical (38). Reduplicative zärägagga.

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

as-stem asgänäbbaa yasgänäbba yasgänba asgänba asgänb@to asgänbi masgänbat

*at-stem abbärattab yabbäratta yabbärata abbärata abbäratto abbärac (from abbärati) mabbäratat

a. From gänäbba ‘build a wall’ b. From atbäratta

49. Verbal class säläccä This verbal class has three consonants followed by the vowel ä. The last consonant, which is geminated, is either a prepalatal or y. As in the regular quadriradicals, the säläccä-class has types 1 and 2. Note that type 2 is attested only in the derived stems.

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Examples for the basic stem, type 1: g+äbän^nä^ ‘visit, inspect’, g+ämäƒƒä ‘desire’, säläccä ‘be tiresome, be boring’. With initial a: aräƒƒä ‘grow old’. With final y: säqäyyä ‘torment’, zägäyyä ‘be late’.

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

Basic stem säläccä y@säläcc y@sälc sälc sälc@to sälci mäsälcät

tä-stem täsäläccä y@ssäläcc y@ssälc täsälc täsälc@to täsälci mässälcät

a-stem asäläccä yasäläc yasälc asälc asälc@to asälci masälcät

Type 2 of the tä-stem: täbälassä ‘be spoiled’; täzägaƒƒä ‘be ready’.

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

as-stem asg+äbän^nä^ a yasg+äbän^n ^ yasg+äb@n^ asg+äb@n^ asg+äbn^@to asg+äb@n^i masg+äbn^ät

*at-stem azzägaƒƒä yazzägaƒƒ yazzägaƒ azzägaƒ azzägaƒto azzägaƒi mazzägaƒät

a. From g+äbän^ n^ ä ‘visit’.

50. Verbal class lalla This class consists of two identical consonants followed by the vowel a, the second consonant being geminated. Examples: lalla ‘be loose’, rarra ‘have pity’, tatta ‘interlace’. With rounded consonants: m+amm+a ‘melt, dissolve’.

Perfect Imperfect Jussive Imperative Gerund Participle Verbal noun

Basic stem rarra y@rarra y@rara rara rarto rari märarat

tä-stem tälalla y@llalla y@llala tälala tälalto tälaya mällalat

a-stem ararra yararra yarara arara ararto arari mararat

as-stem asrarra yasrarra yasrara asrara asrarto asrari masrarat

a. From tälali

51. Verb alä and composite verbs 51.1. Verb alä ‘to say’ In order to understand the conjugation of the verb alä ‘he said’, one should keep in mind that alä ‘he said’ (to be distinguished from allä ‘he is

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present’) goes back to bhl. The initial b is preserved in the jussive, imperative, gerund, participle, and in the derived stems. The forms are: Perfect alä, sg. 2m. alh Imperfect sg. 3m. y@l, sg. 2f. t@y (from t@li) 1 Compound imperfect y@lal, sg. 2f. t@yalläs Jussive y@bäl Imperative bäl, sg. 2f. bäy (from bäli) Gerund b@lo, sg. 1c. b@yye (from b@lle) Participle bay (from bali) Verbal noun malät Derived stems. The only derived stems are: täbalä ‘be said’, asbalä ‘have someone say’, reduplicative stem täbabalä ‘say to each other’, *at-stem abbabalä ‘cause to say to each other’. 51.2. Usages of alä 51.2.1. Direct speech: s@rac@n-@n zare ƒammärn alu ‘they said that they had started their work today’ (lit., ‘“our-work today we-started” they-said’). 51.2.2. The verbal noun malät. Outside of its regular meaning ‘the fact of saying’, malät also means ‘that is, that is to say, namely, it means’. Examples: bamar@n ^n^a †äräp∫ p∫ eza malät bä@ngliz@n ^n^a m@n malät näw? ‘what does the Amharic word †äräp∫ p∫ eza mean in English?’ (lit., ‘in-Amharic †äräp∫ p∫ eza to-say in-English what to-say it-is?’). 51.2.3. Various meanings of alä. The imperative bäl may express the meaning ‘come on!, well then!’; e.g., bäl @nn@hid ‘come on, let’s go!’; man l@bäl (that is, the jussive, 1st sg.) ‘who is speaking?’ (lit., ‘who should-I-say’), said when answering the telephone; m@gb-u m@n m@n y@lal? ‘how does the food taste?’ (lit., ‘the-food what what it-says?’). 52. Composite verbs Verbal concepts may also be expressed in Amharic by certain fixed roots followed by the conjugated form of alä ‘say’. The fixed element may consist of 1, 2, 3, 4 or more radicals. The fixed roots consisting of one consonant are onomatopoetic: q+a alä ‘snap, make a click’, b+a alä ‘crackle (fire)’. Non-onomatopoetic expressions: läbb alä ‘be lukewarm’, qäss alä ‘be slow, be quiet’, quc≥c≥ alä ‘sit down’. Ending in a vowel: @ssi alä ‘agree’, @mbi alä ‘refuse’. Composite verbs may utilize elements that derive from verbs: w@dd@qq alä ‘fall hard, fall suddenly’ (from wäddäqä ‘fall’); raqq alä ‘be at a certain distance’ (from raqä ‘be far’). The composition with alä is used for intransitive verbs: b@qq alä ‘appear suddenly’. A transitive action is expressed by adärrägä ‘make’: mäta adärrägä ‘hit slightly’. 1. These forms are rarely used, but they appear very frequently when combined with s, as in sil ‘while he says’, silu ‘while they say’.

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The imperative of composite verbs is often used in everyday speech: z@mm bäl ‘be quiet!’, quc≥c≥ bäl ‘sit down!’

Bibliography Selected Amharic grammars Armbruster, Charles Hubert 1908 Initia Amharica: An Introduction to Spoken Amharic. Vol. 1, Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Banksira, Degif Petros 2000 Sound Mutations: The Morphophonology of Chaha. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Cohen, Marcel 1936 Traité de langue amharique. Travaux et mémoires de l’Institut d’ethnologie 24. Paris. Institut d’ethnologie. Dawkins, C. H. 1969 The Fundamentals of Amharic. Rev. ed. Addis Ababa: Sudan Interior Mission. Hartmann, J. 1980 Amharische Grammatik. Aethiopistische Forschungen 3. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner. Leslau, Wolf 1995 Reference Grammar of Amharic. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 2000 Introductory Grammar of Amharic. Porta linguarum orientalium n.s. 21. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Praetorius, Franz 1879 Die amharische Sprache. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses. Titov, E. G. 1991 Sovremennyj amcharskij jazyk [The modern Amharic language]. Moskow: Nauka.

Selected grammars in Amharic Bayyä Y@mam 1987 Yamar@n^ n^ a Säwas@w [Amharic Grammar]. Addis Abäba. Märs@ºe Hazän Wäldä Qirqos 1935 Yamar@n^na^ Säwas@w [Amharic Grammar]. Addis Abäba: B@rhan@nna sälam.

Chapter 17

Tigrinya Morphology L. E. Kogan Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow

Tigrinya (Tig.), together with Tigre and G@º@z (Classical Ethiopic; see the essay by Voigt in this volume, pp. 193ff.) constitute the northern branch of Ethiosemitic. It is the native language of a majority of the population in the Tigre Region of Ethiopia and the highlands of Eritrea. According to the 1994 census, there were ca. 3,200,000 native speakers of Tig. in Ethiopia. As for Eritrea, speakers of Tig. are thought to constitute about 50 percent of the population of this country which, according to the 2004 estimate, would amount to some 2,200,000 people. Tigrinya (t@gr@ñña) is an Amharic adjective with a suffix derived from the name of Tigre province (in various European sources the spellings Tigrinya, Tigriña and Tigrigna are found). The language has often been called Tigray (Tigrai), also derived from Tigre, but with the Tig. gentilic suffix. Needless to say, none of these names should be confused with Tigre, a kindred but entirely different language. Together with Arabic (see the essay by Kaye in this volume, pp. 211ff.), Tigrinya is today an official language of Eritrea and is used in schools, literature and the mass media in both Eritrea and Ethiopia. Tig. dialects are generally divided into northern and southern groups (the latter are spoken mostly in Tigray, Ethiopia). The most important distinctions appear to be of phonological nature (e.g., spirantization rules). For further information on Tig. dialectology, see Leslau 1939b and Fitzgerald 2006. Cushitic languages (mainly their central, Agaw branch) were the only important substratum of Tig. Their influence was considerable, especially in syntax and lexicon. Since all texts are relatively recent, we know little about Tig.’s linguistic history. Aside from a few marginal notes in some G@º@z manuscripts as well as Tig.-Arabic and Tig.-Turkish glossaries (dated from the 17th and 18th centuries), we possess no sources prior to the early 19th century, when Tig. word lists were compiled by European travelers. The Loggo Sarda code of traditional law (found in the church of Sarda, Ethiopia) is probably the first piece of Tig. written literature, which also dates from the 19th century. Author’s note: This essay is a substantially revised version of the author’s article “Tigrinya” published in The Semitic Languages (ed. R. Hetzron; London: Routledge, 1997). The description heavily relies on Leslau 1941, which is still by far the best description to date. Lexical material is drawn from Bassano 1918 (in many respects clearly outdated) and the glossary of Ullendorff 1985. Transcription used in this essay differs from that traditionally adopted for Tig. in that it does not mark labialized ä (O) and the spirantized variants of b (b4 ), k (k) and ˚ (x≥).

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1. Pronouns 1.1. Personal pronouns Personal pronouns are inflected for gender (masc. and fem.; neutralized in 1 sg. and pl.), number (sg. and pl.), and case (nom., gen., acc. and dat.). Nominative forms are independent; oblique forms are enclitic (called “pronominal suffixes” in this essay). 1.1.1. Nominative forms of personal pronouns The following are the nom. forms of personal pronouns (variant forms are given in parentheses): Masc. Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

n@ss@ka n@ssu

Fem. ?anä

n@ss@ki n@ssa n@˙na (n@ssatna) n@ss@katkum n@ss@katk@n (n@ssatkum) (n@ssatk@n) n@ssatom n@ssatän (n@ssom) (n@ssän)

Old Semitic 2nd person pronouns (?anta/?atta, ?anti/?atti, ?antum/?attum [?antumat/?attumat], ?ant@n/?att@n [?ant@nat/?att@nat]) are used as vocatives: ?atta tämähari ‘Oh student!’ In polite forms of address (sg.), the pronouns n@ss@kum and n@ss@k@n are employed. 1.1.2. Genitive pronominal suffixes Genitive pronominal suffixes used with nouns and prepositions (exemplified by ÷of ‘bird’): Masc. Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

Fem. ÷of-äy

÷of-ka ÷of-u

÷of-ki ÷of-a ÷of-na

÷of-kum ÷of-om

÷of-k@n ÷of-än

When added to bases ending in a laryngeal (?, h, ÷, ˙), the 1 sg. suffix appears as -ey: b@la÷-ey ‘my present’. The suffixes are attached in a slightly different way to nouns ending in a vowel: 1. 1 sg. suffix -äy appears as -y: därho-y ‘my chicken’. It appears as -yäy after nomina agentis in -i (with -i reduced to -@-, ßä˙af@-yäy ‘my scribe’; occasionally, this form of the suffix is also found after the broken pl. nägärti typical for this nominal pattern: ßä˙aft@-yäy ‘my scribes’, beside ßä˙aft-äy); after broken pls. in -u (därahu-yäy ‘my chickens’); after some nouns in -u (˙amu-yäy ‘my father-in-law’).

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2. Other suffixes beginning with a vowel are preceded by an ?- (e.g., walta-?u ‘his shield’). For a detailed description of phonetic changes which may occur before -?- in such cases, see Leslau 1941: 51. 3. Suffixes beginning with a consonant are identical to the basic forms given above. Nouns ending in the so-called “euphonic -i” (a vowel appearing regularly after a word-final consonantal cluster as in kälb-i ‘dog’ or läyt-i ‘night’) add the suffixes in their basic form (-i is omitted before suffixes beginning with a vowel and reduced to -@- before suffixes beginning with a consonant: kälb-äy, kälb-u, kälb@-kä). If the last consonant is a laryngeal, forms like f@rh@-?u ‘his fear’ are permitted, however. 1.1.3. Pronominal suffixes used with verbs There exist two series of pronominal suffixes used with verbs, namely, the acc. and the dat. The following are the acc. pronominal suffixes: Masc. Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

Fem. -ni

-ka -o

-ki -a -na

-kum (-katkum) -om(-atom)

-k@n (-katk@n) -än (-atän)

Only basic forms of the pronominal suffixes are given in the table (pl. forms with and without -t- are in free variation); their combination with particular verbal forms produces a complex set of allomorphic changes both in the base and in the suffix (see Leslau 1939a for both synchronic and diachronic considerations). The main trends in these changes may be summarized as follows (exemplified by forms of the verb nägärä ‘to say’): I. Suffixes beginning with a vowel: 1. Appear unchanged when added to verbal forms ending in a consonant (except for -kän and -än) as well as to the 3 masc. sg. pf. in -ä. The verbal forms undergo the following changes: a. The -ä of 3 masc. sg. pf. is elided (nägär-o) b. The last radical of the jussive and imperative as well as the -t of the 3 fem. sg. pf. become geminated (y@ngärr-o, n@gärr-o, nägärätt-o) c. The imperfect base loses gemination: y@nägr-o 2. Are preceded by a glottal-stop when added to fem. pl. forms ending in -a (nägära-?o, n@gära-?o, etc.; the -ä in -än shifts to -e, nägära-?en). The same form appears after -k@n and -än where an -a- or an -@- may appear before -?-, thus nägärk@n-a-?o (nägärk@n-@-?o, nägärk@n-?o). 3. Are preceded by a -w(w)- when added to forms ending in -u-, which may be reduced to -@- (nägärku-(w)wo/nägärk@-(w)wo, nägäru-(w)wo/nägär@(w)wo). The same form appears after forms in -kum and -om, where an u or @ may appear before -w- (nägirom-u-wo, nägirom-@-wo, nägirom-wo).

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4. Are preceded by -yy- when added to forms ending in -i (which may be reduced to -@-), -ka, -na, and the -ä of the 1 sg. gerund: nägärki-yyo (nägärk@-yyo), nägär-ka-yyo, nägärä-yyo, etc. II. Suffixes beginning with a consonant: 1. Appear unchanged when added: to 1 sg. and all pl. forms of the perfect (nägärku-ka, nägäru-ni; after -kum and -k@n, -u- and -a- are added respectively: nägärkum-u-ni, etc.); to 2 and 3 pl. of the imperfect and the gerund (y@nägru-ka; after -om/-kum and -än/-k@n -u- and -a- are added respectively: nägirän-a-ka, nägirom-u-ni); to pl. of the jussive and the imperative (y@ngäru-ni, n@gära-na). 2. Have the first consonant geminated in the remaining forms of the perfect (nägärna-kka; in 3 sg. f. -@- is added after -t: nägärät-@-kka, nägärät-@nni), imperfect (with degemination of the second radical and addition of an -ä- after the third consonant: y@nägr-ä-kka, y@nägr-ä-nni), and gerund (nägirna-kka; in 3 sg. f. -t@- appears after -a-: nägir-a-t@-kka). In the 2 sg. f. pf. and 2 sg. f. of the gerund, -ki appears as -k@- (nägärk@-nni), -i- in the 2 sg. f. impf. and 2 sg. f. impv. is reduced to -@ (t@nägr-@-nni). Forms in -k- and in -äkk- seem to appear in free variation when suffixes of the 2nd person are added to the jussive (y@ngär-ki/y@ngär-äkki). As for the -n- of the 1st person sg. and pl., it is always geminated in such cases, and in the imperative as well (y@ngär-änna, etc.). The accusative series can be conventionally labeled as such, since it may be used to denote both the direct and indirect object: k@tmäkr-änni ßäwwa÷kukä ‘I called you in order that you give me a piece of advice’, ˙adä däbtära ?astämhari näbärä-nni ‘a dabtara was my teacher’ (lit., ‘was a teacher for me’). 1.1.4. Dative pronominal suffixes The following are the forms of the dat. pronominal suffixes: Masc. Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

Fem. -läy

-lka -lu

-lki -la -lna

-lkum (-lkatkum) -lom (-latom)

-lk@n (-lkatk@n) -län (-latän)

Suffixes with -lC- appear unchanged when added to all verbal forms whereas suffixes with -lV- appear as -äll- in cases described in 1.1.3. (II2): e.g. y@nägru-lu vs. nägärna-llo. This series (called sometimes “medial”) is used with the meaning ‘for, for the sake of’, but most often just to denote the indirect object: z@g@bbärällu ˚äbri ‘the burial which is made for him’, nätu ˚aläbet z@sär˙-allu †äbbib ‘the smith who makes the ring for him’. 1.2. Independent possessive pronouns Aside from the use of pronominal suffixes, possession is expressed by a series of independent possessive pronouns. These are formed by adding gen.

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pronominal suffixes to the element nat- if the possessed is in the sg. (?@tu kälbi natäy ?@yyu ‘the dog is mine’), and natat- if the possessed is in the pl. (?@tom ?aklabat natatäy ?@yyom ‘the dogs are mine’). Note that the base natat- may also appear if the possessed is in the sg., but the possessor is in the pl. (?@tu kälbi nätkum/natatkum ?@yyu ‘this dog is yours [pl.]’). 1.3. Relative pronoun The relative pronoun is z@ (negative zäy). It is prefixed to the verb of the relative clause and, if the verb is in the imperfect, several rules of juncture are observed: a. The prefixes ?@-, y@- elide: z@nägg@r ‘one who says’ or ‘(it is) myself who says’; other prefixes are geminated: z@nn@nägg@r ‘we who say’. b. Before the prefixes n@- and t@-, the relative pronoun may have the form ?@- (the same is true for the forms of the perfect of t-themes). In both cases the prefixes are geminated: ?@tt@nägg@r ‘you who say’, ?@ttänägrä ‘what was said’. c. Before a “laryngeal”, z@ may shift to zä or za (z@/zä/za-÷arägä ‘who climbed’). If z@ precedes a verbal form beginning with the causative prefix ?a-, this prefix elides and the pronoun appears as zä or za (zä/za-bl@÷e ‘one who gave to eat’). The same happens to the verb ?allo ‘to be’ (zä/a-llo). 2. Nouns 2.1. Primary and derived nouns As in most other Semitic languages, nouns can be subdivided into primary and derived. Primary nouns are not derived from verbal roots and no special meaning can be attached to their vocalic elements, which are fully integrated into the base. It should be stressed, however, that the consonantal root of such nouns does exist as an independent entity, since a large number of both inflectional (e.g., broken pls.) and derivational (denominal nouns and verbs) formations are clearly based exclusively on the consonantal skeleton of primary nouns, and not on their consonantal-vocalic base. Derived nouns are produced from consonantal verbal and nominal roots by means of either special vocalic patterns or combinations of vocalic patterns with prefixes or suffixes. In many cases (though clearly not always), a more or less definite lexical or grammatical significance of these patterns can be established. Denominal nouns are produced either from consonantal nominal roots or directly from nominal bases through suffixation. 2.1.1. Primary nouns Primary nouns usually have two, three or four (rarely five) consonants. A great variety of vocalic combinations occurs in primary nouns, but since their vocalism has, at least synchronically, no functional value, a full classification of primary nominal stems seems unnecessary. Only a few

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common types will be listed below, classified according to the shape of their base: I. Biconsonantal monosyllabic: c≥äw ‘salt’, †el ‘goat’, ?id ‘hand’, s@m ‘name’, ÷of ‘bird’, lam ‘cow’, sur ‘root, vein’ II. Biconsonantal bisyllabic: resa ‘corpse’, s@ga ‘body, meat’, ÷@rä ‘aloe’, kara ‘knife’, gäza ‘house’, g@me ‘mist’, ˙amu ‘father-in-law’ III. Triconsonantal monosyllabic: gän?i ‘a kind of jar’, ˚ärni ‘horn’, bär˚i ‘lightning’, gw@nc≥i (gunc≥i) ‘cheek’, m@dri ‘earth’, b@rki ‘knee’ (here and elsewhere in this essay the so-called “euphonic -i” is included in the shape of nominal patterns, despite the fact that it is a purely phonetic element preventing the appearance of wordfinal consonant clusters not permitted by the syllable structure rules; in this sense, nouns quoted in this item are of course bisyllabic). IV. Triconsonantal bisyllabic: fäläg ‘river’, bäräd ‘hailstones’, tämän ‘snake’, s@gäm ‘barley’, k@sad ‘neck, throat’, z@ban ‘back of body’, sämay ‘heaven’, ßägam ‘left side’, däbub ‘south’, d@÷ul ‘lamb’ V. Quadriconsonantal non-reduplicated: känfär ‘lip’, ˙armaz ‘elephant’, g@nbar ‘forehead’ VI. Quadriconsonantal reduplicated: gwälgwäl ‘open country’, kurkur ‘lion cub’ 2.1.2. Patterns of derived nouns nägär: 1 säfär ‘camp, place’ (< säfärä ‘to camp, live’), bädäl ‘offense, damage’ (< bäddälä ‘to offend’), nägär ‘thing, matter’ (< nägärä ‘to speak, tell’) n@gär: ÷@mä˚ ‘depth’ (÷amä˚wä ‘to be deep’), †@bäb ‘wisdom, skill’ (< †äbäbä ‘to be prudent, wise’) näggär: ˚älläb ‘nourishment’ (< ˚älläbä ‘to give food’) n@gar: ˙@mam ‘disease’ (< ˙amämä ‘to be ill’), n@fas ‘wind’ (< näfäsä ‘to breathe, blow’), k@dan ‘garment’ (< kädänä ‘to cover, dress’) nägri: läw†i ‘exchange’ (< läwwä†ä ‘to change’), ˚äbri ‘grave, burial’ (< ˚äbärä ‘to bury’), nädri ‘fury’ (< näddärä ‘to be furious’) n@gri: l@bsi ‘garment’ (< läbäsä ‘to dress’), ˙@lfi ‘gain’ (< ˙aläfä ‘to surpass’), ˙@rmi ‘something prohibited’ (< ˙arämä ‘to prohibit’) n@gra: ˙@rsa ‘child-birth’ (< ˙aräsä ‘to deliver a child’), ˙@nßa ‘building’ (< ˙anäßä ‘to build’), m@sla ‘parable’ (< mäsälä ‘to seem; to imitate’) nägära: säbäka ‘diocese’ (< säbäkä ‘to preach’), wäfära ‘communal labor’ (< wäfärä ‘to go out [into the country to work]’), zäräba ‘speech’ (< täzaräbä ‘to talk, speak’) 1. Here and below ngr ‘to say’ is used as a conventional sample root for nominal and verbal patterns. The < sign means that a noun is derived from the consonantal root of the perfect base in brackets; for the sake of simplicity, only triconsonantal examples are quoted, though for most patterns quadriconsonantal formations are equally possible.

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n@grät: ˙@brät ‘concord, unity’ (< ˙abärä ‘to be united’), ˙@dgät ‘abandonment’ (< ˙adägä ‘to leave’), f@†rät ‘creature’ (fä†ärä ‘to create’) n@ggare: ß@bba˚e ‘beauty’ (< ßäbbä˚ä ‘to be beautiful’) nägäro: wälädo ‘progeny’ (< wälädä ‘to give birth’), gwädälo ‘lack’ (< gwädälä ‘to lack, to be insufficient’) nägir: ÷aßid ‘harvest’ (< ÷aßädä ‘to mow, harvest’) n@gran: ˙@r˚an ‘vexation’ (< ˙arä˚ä ‘to be afflicted’), h@rfan ‘avidity’ (< haräfä ‘to be insatiable’) n@grat: b@kyat ‘crying’ (< bäkäyä ‘to cry’) t@ngar: t@r?as ‘pillow’ (denominative from r@?si ‘head’) tängar: täzkar ‘memorial’ (< zäkkärä ‘to remember’) t@n@gri: t@w@ldi ‘progeny’ (< wälädä ‘to give birth’) täng@rti: tämh@rti ‘doctrine’ (< mäharä ‘to teach’) The preceding are patterns of numerous abstract nouns with semantic nuances often difficult to specify. n@ggar: ˚w@rraß ‘piece’ (< ˚wäräßä ‘to cut; to decide’), s@ggar ‘difficulty’ (< säggärä ‘to be difficult’) n@gro: m@÷do ‘advice’ (< mä÷adä ‘to advise’), n@˚lo ‘departure’ (< nä˚älä ‘to depart’) n@gg@r: h@ll@k ‘perseverance’ (< halläkä ‘to persist’), l@kk@÷ ‘measure’ (< läkk@÷e ‘to measure, adjust’), m@ggw@t ‘discussion’ (mäggwätä ‘to argue’), b@yy@n ‘decision’ (< bäyyänä ‘to decide’) The preceding three patterns are labeled by Leslau “substantifs passifs” (Leslau 1941: 20), but, as shown by the above examples, their meaning varies substantially, so that there is no need to treat them as a separate group different from other abstract nouns. The following patterns with mV- prefixation are used for nouns of instruments and places, but also to express more abstract meanings (for a detailed classification, see Leslau 1941: 26–27): mängär: märgäm ‘curse’ (< rägämä ‘to curse’), mäb˚wäl ‘progeny’ (< bä˚wälä ‘to sprout’), mändä˚ ‘wall’ (< nädä˚ä ‘to build a wall with stones’) mänagri: mälaw†i ‘object of barter’ (< läwwä†ä ‘to exchange’) mängäri: mädläyi ‘means of seeking’ (< dälläyä ‘to want, seek’), mäßmä˚wi ‘strainer’ (< ßämä˚wä ‘to filter, strain’) männagäri: männagädi ‘object of trade’ (< näggädä ‘to trade’) mäng@r: mämh@r ‘teacher’ (< mäharä ‘to teach’), mäft@˙ ‘key’ (< fät˙e ‘to release, to untie’) mäng@rti: mäl?@kti ‘message’ (< lä?akä ‘to send’), mäng@sti ‘kingdom’ (< nägäsä ‘to reign’) m@ngar: m@sra˚ ‘east’ (< särä˚ä ‘to rise [sun]’), m@÷rab ‘sunset’ (< ÷aräbä ‘to set [sun]’) The following suffixes are used mostly to form denominal nouns (see, however, such cases as s@nf@nna ‘negligence’ which seems to be derived directly from the verbal root snf): -na: s@nf@nna ‘negligence’ (< sänäfä ‘to be inept’)

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-(@)nnät: ˙alaf@nnät ‘responsibility’ (< ˙alafi ‘responsible’), ˙ar@nnät ‘freedom’ (< ˙ara ‘free’), ?ans@sannät ‘animal nature’ (< ?ans@sa ‘animal, beast’) -am: sakram ‘drunkard’ (< säkärä ‘to get drunk’) For a fuller and more detailed enumeration of nominal patterns, see Leslau 1941: 20–27; Wajnberg 1932: 90–96. 2.2. Definiteness An indefinite noun needs no special marker of indefiniteness: gwal ‘a girl’, ?@mni ‘a stone’, etc. The numeral ‘one’ (masc. ˙adä, fem. ˙anti(t)), is, however very often used before an indefinite noun, thus being functionally close to the indefinite article: ˙adä mä÷alti ˙adä däbtära b@?agäm@sät g@ze ?ab ˙adä ?@mni tä˚ämmi†u ‘One day a däbtära was sitting on a stone in the afternoon’. A series of demonstrative pronouns (namely, those used for remote objects) is employed in the function of the definite article: sg. masc. ?@tu, fem. ?@ta, pl. masc. ?@tom, fem. ?@tän (with prepositions nätu, näta, etc.). Examples: ?@tu m@sät m@s konä ‘when the night fell’, ?@tom kahnat ?@tom däwäl betäkr@styanat y@d@ww@lu ‘the priests ring the bells of the churches’. Unlike Arabic or Hebrew, the definite article is compatible with pronominal suffixes: ?@tu r@?@su ‘his head’; the first element of a gen. construction also may be preceded by the article: ?@tom wäläddi ?@tu ˚wäl÷a ‘the parents of the child’. 2.3. Gender Tigrinya has two genders: masc. and fem. There are no explicit gender markers; none of the typical Semitic fem. suffixes (-t, -at, -a) can be considered productive. Accordingly, the gender of a noun can be known only from its agreement with its predicate and attributes. Nouns denoting male and female animate beings agree with masc. and fem. respectively: ?@tu wäddi ‘the boy’/?@ta gwal ‘the girl’, ?@tu ?anbäsa (?ambäsa) ‘lion’/?@ta wa÷ro ‘lioness’, etc. As for nouns denoting inanimate beings, some of them have stable grammatical gender (thus, ßä˙ay ‘sun’ is masc. while wär˙i ‘moon’ is fem.), but most of them may agree with both as masc. or fem., even within one sentence. See, e.g., ?@ta ˚orbot ?@ta säbäyti . . . t@s@ll@mo ‘the woman adorns the leather’ (lit. ‘the leather, the woman . . . adorns it’): the article before ˚orbot is fem., while the pronominal suffix -o attached to the verb is masc. The above remarks concerning the gender distinction apply to substantives; the situation with adjectives is different (see 3.1). 2.4. Number There are two numbers: singular and plural. Formally, the plural is expressed by affixes (external pl.) or by internal apophonic changes which may or may not be combined with affixation (internal or “broken” pl.). A great difficulty arises from the fact that the form of the plural is only to a limited degree determined by the structural featues of the singular, which makes their relationship mostly lexical.

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2.4.1. External plural The most common external pl. marker is -at (-tat). If the noun ends in a consonant, -at is attached directly: nägär ‘thing, affair’, pl. nägärat, säb ‘man’, pl. säbat, m@l@kk@t ‘signal, sign’, pl. m@l@kk@tat, etc. If the noun ends in a vowel, a -t appears between this vowel and the pl. suffix: ˙asäma ‘pig’, pl. ˙asämatat, ÷asa ‘fish’, pl. ÷asatat, ?abbo ‘father’, pl. ?abbotat, etc. The euphonic -i (2.1.1) is either dropped or reduced to -@; in the first case, the pl. suffix is -at, in the second it is -tat (t@mh@rt-at/t@mh@rt@-tat, both pl. of t@mh@rti ‘learning, doctrine’). Less usual external affixes of the pl. are -an and -ot. The marker -an is found mostly with G@º@z borrowings (e.g., ˚@ddus, ‘holy, saint’, pl. ˚@ddusan, ˙a†@? ‘sinner’, pl. ˙a†@?an); -ot is the pl. marker for some nouns in -a and -ay (both dropped before -ot): gwäta ‘lord’, pl. gwätot, gwasa ‘shepherd’, pl. gwasot; tästay ‘bull’, pl. tästot, b@c≥ay ‘companion’, pl. b@c≥ot. Note that the pl. näg(g)aro of agent nouns näg(g)ari (÷ara˚i ‘peacemaker’, pl. ÷ara˚o, wäfari ‘peasant’, pl. wäfaro) is closer to the external pl. than to the broken (Leslau’s “pluriel à changement vocalique final,” for which, see Leslau 1941: 32). For further examples of the external pl., see Wajnberg 1936: 677. 2.4.2. Broken plural No exact rules of correspondence between nominal patterns and concrete types of broken pl. can be formulated; some more or less common combinations may be listed, however: nägri – ?anag@r: wär˙i ‘month’ – ?awar@˙. This pattern occasionally appears as ?anagri: bätri ‘stick’ – ?abatri. Note that biliterals resulting from the contraction of -aw-/-ay- form their pl. according to the ?angar pattern: bet ‘house’ (< *bayt) – ?abyat, sor ‘ox’ (< *sawr) – ?aswar. nägri – ?ang@rti: ˚wäßli ‘leaf’ – ?a˚wß@lti, ÷aßmi ‘bone’ – ?a÷ß@mti nägri – ?angur: ?adgi ‘donkey’ – ?a?dug, ÷arki ‘friend’ – ?a÷ruk n@gri – ?angar: b@rki ‘knee’ – ?abrak, ß@fri ‘nail’ – ?aßfar n@gri – ?anag@r/?anagri: n@hbi ‘bee’ – ?anah@b, ß@˙di ‘juniper’ – ?aßa˙di nägär – ?angar: zämäd ‘kinsman’ – ?azmad, gäräd ‘maid’ – ?agrad nägra – nägaru: säs˙a ‘gazelle’ – säsa˙u, ˚wäl÷a ‘boy’ – ˚wäla÷u n@gar – n@gaw@rti: k@dan ‘garment’ – k@daw@nti Quadriradicals (including derived nouns with prefixation): känfär ‘lip’ – känaf@r (känäff@r), d@ng@l ‘virgin’ – dänag@l (dänägg@l), bärmil ‘barrel’ – bäramil (bärämmil), †@rmuz ‘bottle’ – †äramuz (†ärämmuz), mäs˚äl ‘cross’ – mäsa˚@l, etc. For a combination of internal and external pl. markers see, for example, kälbi ‘dog’ – pl. ?aklabat. See further Wajnberg 1936: 670–76; Leslau 1941: 32–35; Palmer 1955 (dealing particularly with quadriradicals). 2.5. Case relations The noun has no case markers; case relations are expressed analytically, mainly by prepositions.

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The marker for both direct and indirect objects is prefix n@-; in combination with the definite article it appears in the form nätu, näta, etc. Examples: näta säbäyti ?ayt@nk@?@wwa ‘do not touch this woman!’, nätu s@rnay y@k@rk@r@?o ‘they grind this wheat’, ?@tu dañña n@-n@gus b@˚@l†uf y@ngär ‘let the judge tell [it] quickly to the king’. When the direct object must be expressed, the use of n@- is optional (especially if the object is an inanimate being): ˙adä dawit wä?@m ˙adä mäß˙af ˚@ddus käfitom. ‘they open the Psalter or a sacred book’, ?@ta ˙aric≥ ˙iza ‘she takes the flour’; more seldom with animate beings: ?@tu säb zä˚ätälä säb ‘the man who killed [another] man’. The gen. relation is expressed in two ways: simple juxtaposition of two nouns and using the particle nay (nota genitivi). In the first case, the regens usually precedes the rectum, e.g., gäza1 wanna2 ?@tä käbti3 ‘the house1 of the owner2 of the cattle3’ (cf., however, such cases as ?@tu dorho1 s@ga2 ‘the meat2 of the chicken1’, or k@dan1 ?attä˙aßaß@ba2 ‘the manner-of-washing2 clothes1’ found in the texts collected in Leslau 1941). The regens does not undergo any phonetic changes unless it ends in an -i (no matter whether “euphonic” or “morphological”). In this case, -i is often (though not obligatorily) dropped: ˙@zb kätäma ?asmära ‘inhabitants of the city of Asmara’ (in a non-bound position, ˙@zbi). As for the gen. with nay, it can precede or follow the regens without any difference of meaning, the first case being far more typical. Examples: nay1 ˙adä2 däbtära3 ˚wäl÷a4 ‘a child4 of1 a2 däbtära3’; wär˚i1 nay2 gar3 ‘bloodmoney’ (lit. ‘the gold1 of2 recompensation3’). 3. Adjectives Adjectives are distinguished from substantives by several features, the most important of which being the specifically adjectival patterns and suffixes and productive fem. markers in the sg. of most adjectives. 3.1. Adjectival patterns The most widespread adjectives are formed from consonantal roots according to several adjectival patterns: näggir: bälli˙ ‘sharp’, ÷ammi˚w ‘deep’; note also ÷ab@y ‘big’ (without gemination, which is found only in the fem. ÷abbay) n@gur (originally a passive participle): ß@nu÷ ‘strong’, ß@ruy ‘pure, purified’ n@ggur: ß@bbu˚ ‘good’, f@ßßum ‘perfect’ (In the last two patterns @ is most often pronounced as u.) nägar: täßay ‘opposed, contrary’, nä˚war ‘blind’ näggar: ˚wäßßal ‘green’, kädda÷ ‘rebellious, treacherous’ n@gar: ˙@ma˚ ‘bad, rotten’, ˙@yaw ‘living’, k@fa? ‘bad’ On the “nomina agentis” of the pattern näg(g)ari, often appearing adjectivized, see 6.6. The most common adjectival suffixes (used mostly to form denominative adjectives) are the following:

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-am (-amma): näwram ‘shameful’ (< näwri ‘shame’), c≥är˚am (c≥är˚amma) ‘ragged, poor’ (< c≥är˚i ‘rag’) -ay, -away, -awi: ta˙tay ‘low’ (< ta˙ti ‘low, inferior part’), m@drawi ‘earthly’ (< m@dri ‘earth’) -äyna, -äñña, -@ñña (these suffixes may have been borrowed from Amharic): ?unätäyna (?unätäñña) ‘true, real’ (< ?unät ‘truth’) -an: säkran ‘drunk’ 3.2. Gender and number of adjectives While masc. has no special marker, most fem. sg. adjectives are overtly marked for gender. The most remarkable exceptions are näggar-adjectives as well as those with the suffixes -am, -äyna, -äñña. E.g., ˚ärran ‘one with big horns’, habtam ‘rich’, ßa÷da ‘white’, each having only one form for both genders. The basic fem. marker is -t: zämänawi ‘modern’, fem. zämänawit. It often causes phonetic changes in the base: g@rum ‘wonderful’, fem. g@r@mti, ß@bbu˚ ‘beautiful’, fem. ß@bb@˚ti. The näggir-adjectives form their fem. apophonically. The fem. form is näggar, as in ßällim ‘black’, fem. ßällam, ˚äyy@˙ ‘red’, fem. ˚äyya˙, etc. While many adjectives form the external pl. by adding -at (e.g., mulu? ‘full’, pl. mulu?at), there are several adjectival patterns from which broken pls. are formed. The most remarkable pattern is näggir, the pl. of which is normally näggärti: dä˚˚i˚ ‘small’, pl. dä˚˚ä˚ti. The same form of pl., whether external or broken, is used for both genders. 3.3. Gradation of adjectives The adjective has no morphologically expressed gradation forms. The most common way of expressing the comparative involves the use of the imperfect of the verb of the same root as that of the adjective, and the preposition ?@nkab: gäzay ?@nkab gäzaka yä÷abbi ‘my house is bigger than yours’ (cf. ÷ab@y ‘big’). 4. Deictics Tigrinya has two series of deictic pronouns making a distinction between near (‘this, these’) and remote (‘that, those’) objects: Masc. Sg. ?@zu (?@zuy) ?@tu (?@tuy) Pl. ?@zom (?@zi?om, ?@zi?atom) ?@tom (?@ti?om, ?@ti?atom)

Fem. ?@za (?@zi?a) ?@ta (?@ti?a) ?@zän (?@zi?en, ?@zi?atän) ?@tän (?@ti?en, ?@ti?atän)

Gloss ‘this’ ‘that’ ‘these’ ‘those’

?@- can be omitted, especially in the middle of a sentence, so that ?@zu becomes zu, etc.

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Of interest is the element ?@nnäh- ‘here is . . .’ (conjugated as a finite verbal form, thus ?@nnah-o ‘here he is’, ?@nnah-ot ‘here she is’, etc.). For a series of related forms, see Leslau 1941: 61. There are other deictics, e.g., ?abuy ‘here’, ?abu ‘there’, ?@nkabu ‘thence’. 5. Numerals 5.1. Cardinals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

˙adä (fem. ˙antit, ˙anti) k@l@ttä sälästä ?arba÷tä ˙ammustä s@d@stä (suddustä) sob÷attä (so÷attä) sommontä (sommäntä) t@s÷attä ÷assärtä ÷assärtä(w) ˙adä ÷assärtä(w) k@l@ttä

20 21 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1,000 10,000

÷@sra ÷@sra-n ˙adä-n (-n ‘and’) sälasa ?arba÷a ˙amsa s@ssa säb÷a sämanya täs÷a m@?ti s@˙ ?@lfi (÷assärtä s@˙ is also used)

All numerals, except ‘one’, have only one form for both genders. The noun counted may appear in the singular or in the plural: ˙ammustä säbäyti or ˙ammustä ?an@sti ‘five women’. 5.2. Ordinals 1st—mäzämmär@ya (also fälämay and ˚ädamay, fem. fälämäyti and ˚ädämäyti); 2nd—kal?ay, k@l@ttäyna (fem. kal?ayti). Ordinals from 3rd to 10th are formed from the consonantal roots of the respective cardinals according to the pattern nag(@)ray: salsay ‘3rd’ (fem. salsäyti), etc. 5.3. Fractions The most common expression of fractions is the respective form of the cardinal number followed by k@fli or ?af. For other means of expression, see Leslau 1941: 129. 6. Verb 6.1. Root and derivation classes A vast majority of verbal forms may be analyzed in terms of root, derivation class pattern and inflectional affixes. Verbal roots are consonantal and may consist of two or more (mostly three, seldom four) radicals. These consonants usually remain unalterable throughout both derivational and inflectional paradigms and, likewise, do not influence the adjacent non-radical morphemes. The situation is different, however, if one of the radicals is a laryngeal (?, ÷, h, ˙) or a semi-vowel

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(w, y); many forms of such verbs (marked in this essay Iw/y and IH (H being any laryngeal) present considerable irregularities, compared to the corresponding forms of “sound” verbs. Derivational classes (called themes below for the sake of brevity) are peculiar formations produced from consonantal roots by the addition of prefixes; they reflect various combinations of such notions as causation, passivity, reflexiveness, etc. At present, it is not easy to establish a rigid and regular semantic correlation between a derivational prefix and all the verbs in whose formation it is employed; such cases are, however, numerous enough to believe that this category is by no means completely lexicalized. The full range of verbal themes is discussed below in 6.2. 6.2. Conjugations A verb belonging to a certain theme is inflected according to one of the four conjugational types (marked here A, B, C, D). Traditionally the verbs are classified according to the pattern of the perfect (6.4.1), although this is not the sole characteristic differentiating the four types. The A-type has no special marker (nägärä); the B-type is characterized by the gemination of the second radical (näggärä), the C-type, by the presence of an a after the first radical (nagärä), and the D-type, by the repetition of the second consonant and an a between these two repeated radicals (nägagärä). Accordingly, every verb can be classified as, e.g., IC (nagärä) or IIIB (tänäggärä), etc. The derived forms of the verb with their approximate semantic value are as follows: I. Forms without prefixes: IA | nägärä: nägäsä ‘to reign’, gädäfä ‘to leave’ IB | näggärä: gäbbä†ä ‘to knead dough’, ˚ärräßä ‘to collect duty’ IC | nagärä: lasäwä ‘to be worn out’, zaräyä ‘to abate (of water)’ It should be stressed that the difference between the three forms is purely lexical, so that such notions as “intensive” or “conative,” operative in some other Semitic languages, cannot be not applied. It is practically impossible to find a IB or IC verb which could be considered to be derived from a corresponding IA: the root either does not exist in IA (as gb† or lsw), or the meaning of IA cannot be related in any way to that of IB or IC (e.g., ˚ärräßä ‘to collect duty’ versus ˚äräßä ‘to carve, to engrave’, or zaräyä ‘to abate’ versus zäräyä ‘to defend somebody, to be partial [of a judge]’). Some exceptional cases of clear opposition between A and B, like zorä ‘to be near’ versus zäwwärä ‘to approach (tr.)’ can be found in Leslau 1941: 95 (no contrastive pairs A – C are attested). While referring to the C type as “conative,” Leslau admits that few verbs of this type preserve their original function. A small group of verbs has an o instead of the a after the first radical: bozänä ‘to neglect’, mokkätä ‘to castrate’. ID | nägagärä: ˙asasäbä ‘to think again and again about something, to think out something’ (˙asäbä ‘to think’), ˚ätatälä ‘to kill many’ (˚ätälä ‘to

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kill’), ˙araräsä ‘to partly plough a field, not thoroughly enough’ (˙aräsä ‘to plough’) This form, usually called frequentative, denotes a rather wide scope of meanings with respect to IA, such as intensity (increasing or decreasing), attenuation, plurality of objects, etc. Unlike IB and IC, it is fairly productive and only formally belongs to the conjugational types, being closer to the derived themes discussed below. The situation is complicated by the fact that frequentative can apparently be derived not only from A, but also from B and C conjugational types (Leslau 1941: 97), which places it in an intermediate position between themes and conjugations (it can be derived from conjugations, but at the same time themes can be based on it). Anyway, formal difference between “DA”, “DB” and “DC” is minimal (forms of DA and DC are identical, säbabärä ‘to break many things’ versus bäraräkä ‘to give blessings here and there’, whereas gemination of the second radical in DB is found only in a limited number of verbs). Accordingly, it seems convenient to treat D-forms as conjugations (so Wajnberg 1932: 76 where the distinction between the three D-conjugations is practically neglected). Examples below will be illustrated by the respective basic forms in brackets whenever possible. II. Forms with t- prefixed: IIA | tänägrä: täkäftä ‘to be opened’ (käfätä ‘to open’), täwäldä ‘to be born’ (wälädä ‘to give birth’). A few verbs have an ä after the second radical: tä˚äräbä ‘to be presented’ (˚äräbä ‘to approach’), tämäsälä ‘to resemble, to be like’ (mäsälä ‘to appear, seem’). No perceivable difference between forms with and without -ä- can be suggested. IIB | tänäggärä: tä?akkäbä ‘to be assembled’ (?akkäbä ‘to gather’), täc≥ärräsä ‘to be finished’ (c≥ärräsä ‘to finish’). IIC | tänagärä: täfa˚äyä ‘to be explored (a place)’ (fa˚äyä ‘to explore, to spy’), tä˚anäyä ‘to be recited (song)’ (˚anäyä ‘to intone, recite’). These forms are employed mostly to denote the passive of IA, IB and IC respectively. IID | täsäbabärä: täfädadäyä ‘to indemnify reciprocally’ (fädäyä ‘to indemnify’), tä˙alalä˚ä ‘to defend each other’ (˙allä˚ä ‘to defend oneself’). Many verbs have an -a- after the first radical without perceivable variation of meaning (tänababäyä ‘to heal one another’ – nabäyä ‘to heal’), properly to be identified as IIDC. This form denotes reciprocity (IIC may also used for this purpose, e.g., täfadäyä alongside with täfädadäyä). III. Forms with ?a- prefixed: IIIA | ?angärä: ?abkäyä ‘to make cry’ (bäkäyä ‘to cry’), ?adläyä ‘to be necessary’ (< ‘to cause to seek’, däläyä ‘to seek’). IIIB | ?anäggärä: ?asäbbärä ‘to terrify’ (säbbärä ‘to tremble’), ?adä˚˚äsä ‘to cause to sleep’ (dä˚˚äsä ‘to sleep’).

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IIIC | ?anagärä: ?alaßäyä ‘to make someone shave the head’ (laßäyä ‘to shave one’s head’), ?agagärä ‘to make someone bake’ (gagärä ‘to bake, make bread’). These forms are mostly causatives for IA, IB and IC; the IIID form does not exist (D-causatives are formed with causative-reflexive prefix; see below). At least one of the two exampes of IIID given in Wajnberg 1932: 79 is incorrect (?anäßaßärä ‘to compare’ is to be read ?annäßaßärä [Kane 2000: 1389], thus belonging to IVD). IV. Forms with prefixed ?a- and gemination of the first consonant (this prefix goes back to *?at- with a complete assimilation of t, which reappears when the first consonant is a laryngeal, the form of the prefix being ?attä-; according to Leslau 1941: 104, forms in ?attä- may be analogically extended to verbs with no laryngeal as first radical). No IVA and IVB forms are attested (for some doubtful examples, see Wajnberg 1932: 82): IVC | ?annagärä: ?affadäyä ‘to make two parties indemnify each other (e.g., of a judge)’ (fädäyä ‘to compensate’), ?a††abä˚ä ‘to stick together’ (†äbä˚ä ‘to adhere’). IVD | ?annägagärä: ?abbä?a?asä ‘to make many people dispute one with the other’ (täba?asä ‘to litigate’), ?affälaläyä ‘to cause separation’, (fäläyä ‘to separate’), ?attä˙a˚wa˚wäfä (t before ˙) ‘to make embrace one another’ (˙a˚wäfä ‘to embrace’). Some verbs have an -a- after the first radical (?annagagärä, properly to be identified as IVDC). The meaning of both themes is more or less the same: causativereciprocal (‘to make someone do something together with someone else’) and adjutative (‘to help someone do something’); IVD is perhaps associated with a more intensive action. Several rare and non-productive verbal themes are attested. From a strictly synchronic point of view, such forms are better analyzed as multiradicals. These are themes in ?as- (with its passive counterpart in täs-), ?astä- (passive tästä-), ?an- (passive tän-). For more details, see Leslau 1941: 106–9. 6.3. Compound verbs An important group of verbs combines the verb bälä ‘to say’ with a quasiverbal element consisting of two or more radicals. While the former serves exclusively to denote grammatical categories, the latter carries the semantic value of the whole construction. Accordingly, this element remains unalterable throughout the paradigm, while bälä (also occurring in other themes, especially in the causative, ?abbälä) is inflected. A few examples of compound verbs: ÷aw bälä ‘to cry’ (÷aw ?abbälä ‘to raise one’s voice’), t@k bälä ‘to be straight’ (t@k ?abbälä ‘to put upright’), b@d@d bälä ‘to get up, to rise’. 6.4. Tenses The verbal system comprises three basic tenses, traditionally called perfect, imperfect and gerund. Temporal relations are also expressed by various

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combinations of these tenses with auxiliary verbs, special temporal prefixes, etc. For a detailed study of the tense system, see Voigt 1987. 6.4.1. Perfect IA Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

Masc.

Fem. nägär-ku

nägär-ka nägär-ä

nägär-ki nägär-ät nägär-na

nägär-kum nägär-u

nägär-k@n nägär-a

Here and elsewhere below, the forms of affixes given are valid—with minor changes—for most derived forms of any verb, whether with a “sound” or a “weak” root. Forms of the perfect bases of the derived themes are given above in 6.2. The main function of the perfect is to denote the historical (narrative) past: b@˙aße tädros gize k@l@ttä hadänti färänzi nab ?ityop˘ya hagär mäßu ‘at the time of the Emperor Theodoros two French hunters came to Ethiopia’, ?ab ?asmära täwälädku ‘I was born in Asmara’. The perfect (mostly of verbs with stative meaning) is also used to denote the present: m@ntay däläka ‘what do you want?, m@ntay gäbärka ‘what are you doing?’, etc. 6.4.2. Imperfect IA Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

Masc. t@-nägg@r y@-nägg@r

Fem. ?@-nägg@r

t@-nägr-i t@-nägg@r

n@-nägg@r t@-nägr-u y@-nägr-u

t@-nägr-a y@-nägr-a

Derived themes: IIA y@-n@ggär IIIA yä-(ya-)n@gg@r IB y@-n@gg@r IIB y@-n@ggär IIIB yä-(ya-)nägg@r IC y@-nag@r IIC y@-nnagär IIIC yä-(ya-)nag@r IVC yä-(ya-)nnag@r ID y@-nägag@r IID y@-nnägagär IVD yä-(ya-)nnägag@r The imperfect is used to denote actions (real or abstract) in the present: säbat d@katat mukwankum ?@fäll@@† ‘I know that you are poor’, ?@tu mäzämärya ÷aynät nab k@l@ttä y@@k@@ffäl ‘the first type is divided into two’, @ll@ @˙ ‘the woman boils the water’. ?@ta säbäyti may täf@ Preceded by k@- and followed by another verb, the imperfect expresses various modal and aspectual relations, such as possibility, wish, aim, beginning of an action, etc. Examples: mann@m säb dayna k@@-käww@@n y@@k@@?@l ‘every one may become a judge’; ˙adä nägär zäy-n@fäll@† nägär k@@@m zämmärä ‘he began reciting something that we did not dägg@

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know’, ?@tu ÷@daga k@@-tr@@?i kädka ‘you went to see the market’. k@ + the imperfect + the conjugated element ?@yyu expresses the future: k@-˚ätlänna ?@yyu ‘he will kill us’, gänzäbu k@-h@bäkka ?@yyä ‘I’ll give you his money’. Composed with the conjugated element ?allo, the imperfect denotes the immediate present: ?@˙@zo ?alloku ‘now, I catch him’. In combination with näbärä, the imperfect denotes durative action in the past (French imparfait): ˙adä s@fta ?ab ˙adä ÷ab@y bäräka y@@˚@@mmä† näbärä ‘an insurgent was living in a large thicket’. 6.4.3. Gerund IA Sg. 1 2 3 Pl. 1 2 3

Masc.

Fem. nägir-ä

nägir-ka nägir-u

nägir-ki nägir-a nägir-na

nägir-kum nägir-om

nägir-k@n nägir-än

Derived themes: IB näggir-u IC nagir-u ID nägagir-u

IIA tänägir-u IIB tänäggir-u IIC tänagir-u IID tänägagir-u (tänagagir-u)

IIIA ?angir-u IIIB ?anäggir-u IIIC ?anagir-u

IVC ?annagir-u IVD ?annägagir-u

Used independently, the gerund denotes the result of a past action (mostly from verbs with stative meaning): m@s män mäßi?ki ‘with whom have you come?’, ˙amimka-do? ˙amimä ‘Are you ill? Yes, I am’. In most cases, however, the gerund is followed by another verb in the perfect or imperfect, denoting an action simultaneous with or anterior to the immediate one: nabtu gäza tämälisa . . . ßubbu˚ ?@ngera ?al÷÷ila habätto ‘she went back to the house, took good bread and gave it to him’ (lit., ‘having gone . . . and taken . . . she gave . . .’), nabtu gäräb hadimu ?atäwä ‘trying to flee he entered the bush’, näzi?atom ˚äßßilom ?@tu mäkwän@nti ˙adä käbti tä˚ämmitu n@bäynu y@mäßß@? ‘following these, sitting on a beast the noble appears alone’, bäggi÷ ?absilom bäli÷÷om y@kädu ‘having cooked the sheep and eaten they go’. The gerund + näbärä serves to express the remote past or the pluperfect (employed mostly in written sources): ˙aße tädros ˙adä mära˙ mägäddi y@kunkum bilom ˙adä säb hibomuwom näbäru ‘the Emperor Theodoros had given them a person and then said: “Let him be a guide for you!”’ Composed with y@käww@n, the gerund denotes a possibility in the future: ß@ba˙ bäzi sä÷atzi tämälisä ?@käww@@n ‘it is possible that I come back tomorrow’. In combination with ?allo, the gerund expresses the result of an action in the present: säbat ˙adä koynu räkibnayyo ?allona ‘we have just found out that the men are similar’.

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6.5. Moods: jussive and imperative The jussive has the same prefixes as the imperfect; the fundamental difference consists in the vocalism of the base: IA y@-ngär

IIA y@-nnägär

IB y@-nägg@r

IIB y@-nnäggär

IC y@-nag@r

IIC y@-nnag@r

IIIA yä-ng@r (ya-ng@r) IIIB yä-nägg@r (ya-nägg@r) IIIC yä-nag@r (ya-nag@r)

IVC yä-nnag@r (ya-nnag@r) IVD yä-nnägag@r (ya-nnägag@r)

All D-forms coincide with the respective forms of the imperfect. The jussive is used to express indirect commands (1st and 3rd persons): y@ngär ‘let him say!’; on its use for negative commands, see below. The following is the paradigm of the imperative (IA): Masc. Sg. n@gär Pl. n@gär-u

Fem. n@gär-i n@gär-a

In derived forms, the base of the imperative coincides in most cases with that of the jussive. The imperative is used to express positive commands only; negative commands are expressed by the jussive with the negative ?ay: n@gär ‘say!’ versus ?ay-t@ngär ‘do not say!’ 6.6. Verbal nouns and participles The pattern of the active participle in IA is nägari (fem. nägarit, pl. nägärti or nägaro); the form of IB is näggari, derived forms tänägari, ?angari, etc. The form of the passive participle is n@gur (except for IB where it is n@ggur: g@ttur ‘loaded’ [a rifle] < gättärä ‘to load’). Many active participles are substantivized, so that the term nomen agentis is also appropiate for this form. The basic pattern of the infinitive is m@ngar (m@rkab ‘to find’, m@ngad ‘to trade’, etc.; in B-forms the second radical is geminated [m@n@ggar]: m@g@llal ‘to pour out’). This form may be employed for all the simple, passive and causative themes so that m@rkab may mean ‘to find, to make find, to be found’, depending on the context. Compared with other nouns, the use of the infinitive has no peculiarities. It is very often used with the preposition n@-: n@-m@ngad ‘in order to trade’. 6.7. “Weak verbs” Tigrinya presents a great variety of forms for verbs with “weak” radicals, most of which may be plausibly explained by the phonetic pecularities of the respective “weak” consonants (see Leslau 1941: 11–13). Only the most common forms of IA are listed below (variant forms may or may not be found in the real conjugation of the sample verb). Verbs with laryngeals: IH (H stands for any laryngeal; exemplified with ÷ßd ‘to harvest’): pf. ÷aßädä, impf. y@÷aßß@d (yä÷aßß@d, ya÷aßß@d), ger. ÷aßidu,

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juss. y@÷ßäd, impv. ÷@ßäd; IIH (mhr ‘to teach’): mäharä (m@harä, maharä), y@m@h@r, m@hiru, y@mhar, m@har; IIIH (ßl? ‘to hate’): ßäl?e (ßäla?ku), y@ßäll@?, ßäli?u, y@ßla?, ß@la?. Verbs with w/y: IIw/y (mwt ‘to die’, kyd ‘to go’): mäwätä (motä)/käyädä (kädä), y@käyy@d/y@mäww@t, käydu/mäwitu (moytu), y@kyäd (y@kid)/y@mwät (y@mut), k@yäd (kid)/m@wät (mut); IIIw/y (däläwä ‘to be strong’/bäkäyä ‘to weep’): däläwä (dälo, dälä)/bäkäyä (bäkä), y@däll@w (y@dällu)/y@bäkk@y (y@bäkki), däliwu (dälyu)/bäkyu, y@dläw (y@dlo)/y@bkäy (y@bkä), d@läw (d@lo)/ b@käy (b@kä). w in verbs IIIw is often replaced by y (e.g., däläwä alongside with däläyä). 6.8. Irregular verbs Irregular verbs are habä ‘to give’, ˙azä ‘to hold, take’, bälä ‘to tell’. Although derived from triconsonantal prototypes (whb, ?˙z and bhl, respectively), they are synchronically biconsonantal, which is the main factor conditioning their peculiar conjugation. Basic forms of these verbs are as follows: habä, hibu, y@h@b, y@hab, hab ˙azä, ˙izu, y@˙@z, y@˙az, ˙az bälä, bilu (also ?ilu), y@b@l, y@bäl, bäl In the causative forms, -b- appears geminated: ?abbälä, ?abbilu, yäbb@l (yabb@l), yäbb@l (yabb@l), ?abb@l. More information on the derived themes of these verbs may be found in Leslau 1941: 122–23. 6.9. Quadriradical verbs Tigrinya is characterized by a comparatively high percentage of quadriradical verbal roots. For a diachronic analysis of quadrilaterals, see Wajnberg 1937 where the insertion of -n-, -l-, -r- and -˙- (-h-) after the first radical as well as the reduplication of the last radical are described as the main trends in development of quadriradical verbal roots from the respective triradicals. Conjugation of the quadriradical verbs almost always follows the paradigm of the geminated theme (that is, IB conjugation): ßämbärä, y@ß@mb@r, ßämbiru, y@ßämb@r, ßämb@r (ßmbr ‘to unite’). ID (frequentative) is formed by the insertion of an -a- after the third radical and repetition of the last radical in quadriradicals having four different radicals (ßämäbabärä) and by the insertion of an -a- alone for those whose root is a reduplicated biconsonantal element (kälakälä). 7. Adverbs and other parts of speech Adverbs of time: lomi ‘today’, ß@ba˙ ‘tomorrow’, t@mali ‘yesterday’, s@÷u ‘this moment’; of place: la÷li ‘above’, ta˙ti ‘below’; interrogative: ?abäy ‘where?’, mä?as ‘when?’, k@ndäy ‘how much?’, kämäy ‘how?’, etc. The most common prepositions are n@ ‘to’ (also a marker of direct and indirect object, 2.5), b@ ‘by, with the help of’, ?ab ‘in’, nab ‘towards’, kab

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(?@nkab) ‘from’ (used to express comparison, 3.3), m@s ‘with, together with’, k@sa÷ ‘up to, until’, w@s†i ‘in, in the middle’, ?ab l@÷li ‘on, over’, etc. A number of prepositions are employed in combination with postpositions; e.g., b@ . . . g@ze ‘at’ (temporal): bä˙ase tädros g@ze ‘at the time of the Emperor Theodoros’. The most common coordinating conjunction is -n suffixed to each of the conjoined elements: nay mäs˚äl m@l@kk@t nabtu gäßu-n l@bbu-n käbdu-n ?a?garu-n y@gäbrällu ‘he makes the sign of the cross over his face, his heart, his belly and his feet’. Two clauses are connected by ?@ww@n ‘and’ usually placed after a word in the second clause: nay ˙adä mähayy@m ˚wäl÷a b@t@mh@rtu b@z˙at däbtära k@käww@n y@k@?@l nay ˙adä däbtära ˚wäl÷a ?@ww@n mähayy@m k@käww@n y@k@?@l ‘a child of an illiterate may become a däbtära if he studies much, and a child of a däbtära may be illiterate’. Alternative is expressed by wäy (wäy@m): ˙adä ˚@rsi wäy@m ˚@rs@n ?alad@n y@h@b@wo ‘he gives him one thaler or one thaler and a half’. The most common adversative conjunctions are g@n (nägär g@n) and ?@mbär: ˙adä ÷aynät ?ammä˙alal ?@ww@n ?allo nägär g@n ?@zu mä˙alla nay ßawäta mä˙alla ?@yyu ‘there is another kind of oath, but it is an oath for fun’. Conditional clauses are introduced by ?@ntä ‘if’: ?@tu ÷@daga därahu k@tr@?i ?@ntäkädka . . . ÷assärtä b@˚@rsi k@s@yyä†a t@r@?i ‘if you go to see the chicken market, you will see that they are sold ten for a thaler’. Complement clauses are introduced by kämz@ ‘that’: ?@gzi?abher n@˙@zbu kämz@ bäß˙om ?@ngera kämz@-habom säm÷et ‘she heard that God visited his people and gave them bread’. Temporal clauses are introduced by m@s: ?@zuy m@s gäbärä kämzuy bälo ‘when he did it, he told him so’. Other temporal conjunctions are k@sa÷ z@ ‘until’, ?@nkab z@ ‘since’, etc. Relative clauses are introduced by z@ and, as all other qualifiers, precede the noun qualified: ?@tu ?anbäsa z@˚ätälä säb b@˙a˚˚i z@färr@˙ ?aykonän ‘the man who killed a lion, indeed has no fear’.

Bibliography Bassano, Francesco da 1918 Vocabolario tigray-italiano e repertorio italiano-tigray. Rome: Casa Editrice Italiana di C. De Luigi. Kane, Thomas Leiper 2000 Tigrinya-English Dictionary. Springfield, VA: Dunwoody. Fitzgerald, Colleen 2006 More on Phonological Variation in Tigrinya. Pp. 763–68 in Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Hamburg 21– 25 July 2003, ed. S. Uhlig et al. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Leslau, Wolf 1939a Essai de reconstruction des désinences verbales du tigrigna (éthiopien septentrional). Revue des Etudes Sémitiques 2: 70–99. 1939b Observations sur quelques dialects du tigrigna: dialects d'Akkele Gouzay, d’Adoua et du Hamasen. Journal Asiatique 231: 61–115.

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1941 Documents tigrigna (éthiopien septentrional): Grammaire et textes. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck. Palmer, F. R. 1955 The “Broken Plurals” of Tigrinya. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17: 548–66. 1960 The Derived Forms of the Tigrinya Verb. African Language Studies 1: 109–16. Ullendorff, Edward 1985 A Tigrinya (T@gr@ñña) Chrestomathy. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. Voigt, Rainer Maria 1987 Das tigrinische Verbalsystem. Berlin: Reimer. Wajnberg, I. 1932 Die Typen der Nominalbildung im Tigriña, Part 1. Zeitschrift für Semitistik 8: 73–96. 1936 Die Typen der Nominalbildung im Tigriña, Part 2. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 90: 637–79. 1937 Researches in Tigriña quadriliterals of phonetic origin. Cracow: Polska Akademia.

Chapter 18

Chaha (Gurage) Morphology Sharon Rose University of California, San Diego

1. Introduction Chaha (c@ha) is a Gurage dialect belonging to the Ethiopian branch of the Semitic language family. It is a member of the Western Gurage group of dialects along with Ezha, Gyeta, Endegegn^ and Inor. Chaha itself also has some sub-dialects, Gura and Gumer. The data for this article come from the dialect spoken in the main Chaha town of Endeber and neighboring villages, such as Yeseme. Endeber is located approximately 180 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The 1994 census divides the Gurage into three groups according to language: Soddo, Silte and Sebat Bet. Sebat Bet translates as ‘seven houses’ and is a linguistic-cultural term referring to the seven main groups of the Western Gurage. There were 621,691 Sebat Bet Gurage speakers in the whole Gurage administrative zone in 1994 (Central Statistical Authority 1996); it is not known how many Chaha there are within this group. The number of Sebat Bet speakers for the Chaha Woreda, or administrative district, was 114,970, most of whom can be assumed to be Chaha speakers. This figure, of course, does not include the large numbers of Chaha who live in other areas of the district and country, particularly Addis Ababa. 2. Morphological typology The verbal system of Chaha is highly inflectional, with prefixes and suffixes indicating categories such as person, number, gender and tense. 1 Although the Gurage dialects have been largely influenced by Cushitic (Leslau 1952), the verbal system nevertheless retains the characteristic Semitic root-and-pattern morphology, well-known from studies of Arabic, Hebrew or Tigrinya. The “root,” composed of consonants 2, conveys the core lexical semantics. The “pattern” refers to the stem shape and stem Author’s note: Many thanks to Hailu Yacob and Tadesse Sefer for contributing data, and to Alan Kaye for editorial assistance. I am extremely grateful to Degif Petros Banksira for extensive comments on the article, leading to significant improvements. Errors are my responsibility. Symbols are in accordance with IPA except for the palatal affricates, for which I use [c] and [j]. Note that the vowel I transcribe as [@] is other authors’ (Leslau, Hetzron) [ä] and my [ˆ] is their [@]. 1. Description of the morphology is presented in an item-and-arrangement model. Although standard practice, this model does pose certain problems with (i) process alternations and (ii) isomorphic form-meaning correspondences. 2. There are some roots which have vocalic elements. See 3.4.

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vowels which correspond to different aspectual or tense categories. The nominal/adjectival system has some vestiges of the root-and-pattern morphology, but is inflectionally impoverished; noun stems lack gender and number marking altogether. For example, there is no system of internal changes to indicate plurality (“broken plurals”), as there are in other Semitic languages such as Arabic and Tigrinya. Notwithstanding, there are identifiable common roots between nouns, adjectives and verbs, as the following examples illustrate: (1)

Root k’ms k’rt’m grz

Verba k’@m@s@ ‘he tasted’ k’ˆr@t’@m@ ‘he cut into parts’ g@n@z@ ‘he aged’

t’ıt’ rır

t’@ı@t’@ n@p@r@

‘he grabbed’ ‘live’

Noun/Adjective k’ˆmwˆs ‘tasty’ k’wˆrc’ˆm ‘splinters of wood’ gwˆrz ‘old’ gˆrzˆna ‘old age’ t’wac’@ ‘handful’ nˆır@t ‘life’

a. Verbs are given in the 3ms perfective citation form. Chaha perfective verbs end in a suffix -m in affirmative main clauses, which is usually shown in the citation form (Leslau 1979). I omit this for simplicity.

Chaha (and other Western Gurage dialects) has undergone numerous morphophonological changes, which can render opaque the relationship between words formed from the same root. Characteristic changes illustrated above include labialization, palatalization, devoicing and sonorant alternations. Some of these alternations have also come to indicate, often in conjunction with other affixes, particular morphological categories. See section 5.7. 3. Verbal stem morphology Ethiopian Semitic languages employ the root-and-pattern system of combining a consonantal root with vowels to form verb stems. The Chaha roots /mgr/ ‘suppurate’, /srf/ ‘be afraid’, /kft/ ‘open’ and /dır/ ‘add’ illustrate the verbal root-and-pattern system in the three main aspectual verb forms—perfective, imperfective, and jussive. The medial root consonant is devoiced in the perfective form, or /r/ is hardened to [n]; we will return to this phenomenon in section 3.2. (2)

‘to suppurate’ Perfective m@k@r-@ Imperfective jˆ-m@gˆr Jussive j@-mg@r

‘to be afraid’ s@n@f-@ jˆ-s@rf j@-sr@f

‘to open’ k@f@t-@ jˆ-k@ft j@-kˆft

‘to add’ d@p@r-@ jˆ-d@ıˆr j@-dıˆr

The standard tri-consonantal perfective form is of the shape C@C@C, 3 where C stands for root consonant, and the imperfective is C@C(ˆ)C. The vowel [ˆ] is epenthetic—its occurrence throughout the language is largely 3. The only exception to this shape is if the second consonant is [n] and the final one is a coronal stop: f@nt-@ ‘cut in half’ or b@nt’-@ ‘become wise’.

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predictable from syllable constraints (Banksira 2000a: 25). The jussive has two main forms: CC@C if the verb is intransitive, as with j@-mg@r, and if transitive, either CCˆC or CˆCC. The position of the epenthetic vowel depends on the quality of the second and third consonants (Leslau 1964; Banksira 2000a; Rose 2000). The imperative has the same form as the jussive, minus subject agreement prefixes. 3.1. Lexical verb types Triconsonantal verbs in Ethiopian Semitic are divided into lexical classes (Cohen 1936; Leslau 1950). The forms illustrated in (1) are “Type A” verbs. Chaha also has Type B, Type C, and a fourth type, Type D, not normally recognized in other Ethiopian Semitic languages. Type B verbs are characterized by a palatal consonant or a front vowel in the first vocalic position of the stem. This occurs in the perfective and imperfective positions, but not in the jussive. (3)

Type B verbs ‘finish’

‘cut in big slice’ Perfective j@p@r-@ gj@n@z-@ Imperfective jˆ-j@pˆr jˆ-gj@nˆz Jussive j@-d@pˆr/j@-d@ıˆr j@-g@nˆz

‘to burn’

‘to select’

m@kj@r-@ jˆ-m@kjˆr j@-m@kˆr

met’@r-@ jˆ-met’ˆr j@-m@t’ˆr

The initial consonant is palatalized if it is a coronal or velar obstruent, as shown in the first two verbs. The second consonant is palatalized only if the first consonant is a labial consonant or a coronal sonorant and the second one is velar, as with the verb m@kj@r@. Otherwise, the front vowel [e] appears instead of [@], as with met’@r@. Some authors claim that Type B verbs are not formed from triconsonantal roots, but are instead quadriconsonantal forms, the second consonant being the glide /j/, which is responsible for the palatalization and vowel fronting (Rose 1994b; Banksira 2000a). Leslau (1948) proposes that Type B had a historical CeC@C or CeCC shape, with the /e/ triggering palatalization of relevant consonants. Hudson (1974) and Hetzron (1971, 1977) assume that palatalization is, in some manner, part of the underlying root. Unlike Type A verbs, Type B verbs usually show no alternation of the penultimate consonant. This is due to the fact that they have devoicing or hardening in all aspectual forms. However, some verbs optionally show devoicing in the jussive, as with the verb ‘finish’. Type C verbs are characterized by the vowel [a] in the first vocalic position in all aspectual forms, as shown in (4): (4)

Type C verbs ‘to capture’ Perfective man@x-@ Imperfective jˆ-manx Jussive j@-marx a. Both forms are attested.

‘to demolish’ ban@r-@ jˆ-banˆr j@-barˆr

‘to get lost’ zap@t-@ jˆ-zapˆt j@-zapˆt/j@-zaıta

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As with Type A verbs, the medial consonant alternates between between [p] and [ı], with the voiceless variant appearing in the perfective, imperfective and optionally in the jussive. The same pattern of alternation is found with [n] and [r], with [n] in the perfective and imperfective. These mutation patterns are found throughout the verb conjugations and will be discussed shortly in section 3.2. Type D is described by Petros (1993) and is similar to Type B, except the initial consonant is labialized. There are few members of this class; most verbs belong to either the Type A or Type B categories. The consonant [bw] is realized as [w] in intervocalic position. Banksira (2000a) analyzes these verbs as quadriconsonantal, the second consonant being /w/. (5)

Type D verbs Perfective Imperfective Jussive

‘to become strong’ k’w@m@r-@ jˆ-k’w@mˆr j@-k’w@mˆr

‘to feel lonely’ bw@n@s-@ jˆ-w@nˆs j@-w@rs

Like Type B verbs, the jussive pattern is C@CC. The same [n]/[r] alternation also appears in Type D, with the [n] appearing in the perfective and imperfective, and the [r] in the jussive. Due to the lexical conjugation patterns, it is possible to have homophonous triconsonantal roots that differ in their Type classification, ex. b@n@r-@ ‘fly’ (A), a-ben@r-@ ‘yawn’ (B) 4 or ban@r-@ ‘demolish’ (C). Quadriconsonantal verbs are also common in the language, and are conjugated as in (6). Alternation of the penultimate consonant (voiced/ voiceless in the case of gˆr@t@m@) occurs in the perfective and imperfective. (6)

Quadriconsonantal verbs ‘to testify’ Perfective mˆs@k@r-@ Imperfective jˆ-ms@kˆr Jussive j@-m@skˆr

‘break something in two’ gˆr@t@m-@ jˆ-gr@tˆm j@-g@rdˆm

3.2. Mutation pattern The system of consonant mutations is an integral component of the conjugation patterns differentiating the verb types and aspectual forms. The consonant correspondences are shown below. I will refer to the voiced/x/r series as weak and the voiceless/k/n series as strong. (7)

Weak ı/b w/bw djzZ g gw gj x xw xj r

Strong p pw tcsS k kw kj k kw kj n

4. This verb has an obligatory prefix. See section 4.

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The strong consonants are the hardened or devoiced versions of the weak correspondents. However, the voiceless consonants [t c s S] are not always devoiced variants of the voiced obstruents, and may simply be underlying voiceless obstruents, a situation which results in neutralization in the perfective stem. So, if a perfective form has a voiceless penultimate consonant, other verb forms must be examined to reveal whether the voicelessness is underlying or derived via devoicing. For example, b@t@r@ ‘he was first’ has the root /bdr/ (imperfective: jˆ-ı@dˆr), whereas k@t@f@ ‘he chopped’ has the root /ktf/ (imperfective: jˆ-k@tf). The same problem does not arise for [n] and [p] which are allophonic variants of their underlying counterparts (Petros 1996a; Banksira 2000a). The consonant [k] is derived from /g/ or /x/ (Banksira 2000a; Kenstowicz and Banksira 1999). The strong variants are the synchronic indication of a historical geminate consonant. Former geminate /rr/ was hardened to [nn] and geminate /xx/ to [kk], as they are currently in the related dialect, Ezha. Certain voiced geminates were devoiced. Subsequently, Chaha lost surface geminate consonants, leaving behind the devoiced or hardened consonants as a residue of the former geminates. Related Western Gurage dialects illustrate this point (Rose forthcoming). Ezha has maintained gemination; Endegen^ shows the stage of voiceless geminates. (8) Ezha Endegen^ Chaha

‘sting’ /ndf/ n@dd@f-@ n@d@f-@ n@d@f-@

‘jump’ /zgr/ z@gg@r-@ z@kk@r-@ z@k@r-@

Not all verbs with voiced medial obstruents show the alternation pattern, as seen above with the verb n@dd@f@. As first pointed out by Banksira (2000a), the nature of the final root consonant is responsible for whether mutation occurs. Rose (forthcoming) and O’Bryan and Rose (2004) argue that it is the phonetic duration of the final root consonant which largely determines whether gemination takes place in the perfective form in Endegen^ , and by extension, whether mutation occurs in Chaha. In Endegen^ , the sonorants and some voiced stops (i.e., /g/, /d/) condition gemination; in Chaha it is primarily the sonorants and /t/ (Banksira 2000a). The four triconsonantal verb Types differ not only in their stem shapes, but also by the mutation patterns which occur in the three aspectual forms. The gemination patterns key to the verb forms of other Ethiopian Semitic languages are here translated into consonant mutations, indicated by Cm (see [9] on p. 408). All illustrative triconsonantal verbs have medial [r]/[n] alternations. 5 The quadriconsonantal form is also illustrated. 5. Banksira (Petros 1996a; Banksira 2000a) argues that there is no underlying contrast between [r] and [n], but a single phoneme /r/, which is realized as [n] under predictable conditions. Notably, [n] occurs in word-initial position and pre-nasally; [r] in most other environments.

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(9) Type A ‘survive’

Perfective C@Cm@C t@n@f-@

Imperfective C@CC jˆ-t@rf

Jussive CC@C/CCC j@-tr@f

Type B C@Cm@C/CeCm@C C@CmC/CeCmC C@C(m)C ‘cut off with knife’ c’@n@f-@ jˆ-c’@nf j@-t’@nf Type C ‘capture’

CaCm@C man@x-@

CaCmC jˆ-manx

CaC(m)Ca j@-marx

Type D ‘feel lonely’

C@Cm@C bw@n@s-@

C@CmC jˆ-w@nˆs

C@CC j@-w@rs

CC@CmˆC jˆ-gr@tˆm

C@CCˆC j@-g@rdˆm

Quadriconsonantal CˆC@Cm@C ‘break in two’ gˆr@t@m-@

a. The mutation pattern in the jussive of Type C verbs seems to differ depending on the verb. Compare j@-marx ‘let him capture’ (no mutation) with j@-zapˆt / j@-zaıt ‘let him lose his way’ (mutation optional).

3.4. Weak roots Like other Semitic languages, some Chaha verbs only have two surface consonants, but their roots historically had, or are synchronically assumed to contain, three elements. The third root segment is either a glide /j/ or /w/, or a vowel /a/ attributable to former guttural consonants. Prunet (1996) analyzes the vowel /a/ as an underlying pharyngeal glide in the related dialect, Inor. These “weak” segments fuse with other elements in the verb root, causing palatalization or vowel fronting in the case of /j/, or labialization or vowel rounding in the case of /w/. Some examples of verbs with root /a/ are shown in (10). (10)

a-initial ‘milk’ Perfective an@ı-@ Imperfective j-arˆı Jussive j-@rˆı

a-medial ‘laugh’ dak’-@ jˆ-d@k’ j@-dak’

a-final ‘listen’ s@ma jˆ-s@ma j@-sma

The final [a] of a-final stems is deleted preceding 2nd and 3rd person plural subject suffixes, ex. s@mo ‘they kissed’ < s@ma-o. Roots containing /w/ in initial and medial position are shown in (11). (11)

w-initial ‘fall’ Perfective w@t’@k’-@ Imperfective jˆ-w@t’ˆk’ Jussive j@-t’@k’

w-medial ‘wipe’ fw@x-@ jˆ-fw@x j@-fwˆx

w-final ‘be satiated’ t’@fw-@ jˆ-t’@fw j@-t’fwe

The initial consonant [w] often elides in the jussive if the verb is intransitive, as with ‘fall’ j@-t’@k’, but not if transitive, where the stem shape is j@-wCˆC: j@-wt’ˆr ‘invent’. There are exceptions to this pattern, though, ex. j@-sd ‘take’ *j@-wsˆd. The medial /w/ labializes the initial consonant if labializable (velars and labials), as with f w@x@. Otherwise, it fuses with the stem

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vowel /@/ to create a round vowel [o], ex. t’om@ ‘fast’, or is realized as [u] if there is no stem vowel. Banksira (2000a: 222) argues that /w/ in final root position triggers both palatalization of an immediately preceding root consonant and labialization of the rightmost preceding root consonant, so a verb such as k’ w@Z@ ‘have dysentery’ is formed from a root /k’zw/. There are no verbs with a surface consonant [j] in the initial position, unlike w-initial verbs. 6 Verbs with [j] in other positions have vowel fronting or palatalization: (12)

j-medial ‘be done successfully’ Perfective teg-@ Imperfective jˆ-teg Jussive j@-teg

j-final ‘cry’ b@kj-@ jˆ-b@xj j@-bxj

The perfective 3rd person plurals and the non-perfective 2nd and 3rd person plurals of j-final verbs lack palatalization of the second consonant: ex. jˆı@xo. The 3rd person plural has a glide [w]: b@k@wo ‘they cried’. 3.5. Reduplicated verbs Chaha has three kinds of reduplicated verbs, in which a root consonant is repeated in a systematic fashion. The first is the well-known Semitic 122 pattern of ‘doubled verbs’, in which the final consonant is repeated. There is no systematic semantic notion of repetition or pluractionality associated with this pattern, and it is generally assumed that the root is biconsonantal with repetition of the final consonant to conform to the canonical triconsonantal shape. 7 These verbs in Chaha may belong to Types A, B, C or D. Mutation occurs with [r]/[n] and with [ı]/[p] only. (13)

A /ır/ ‘to fly’ Perfective b@n@r-@ Imperfective jˆ-ı@rˆr Jussive j@-ır@r

B /ft’/ ‘discriminate’ fet’@t’-@ jˆ-fet’ˆt’ j@-f@t’ˆt’

C /ız/ ‘feel depressed’ baz@z-@ jˆ-ıazˆz j@-ıazˆz

D /k’wr/ ‘thatch peak of roof’ k’w@n@r-@ jˆ-k’ w@nˆr j@-k’ w@rˆr

Quadriconsonantal verb forms may have repetition of the last consonant in a 1233 pattern or total reduplication in a 1212 pattern. The former are assumed to have a triconsonantal root, and the latter a biconsonantal root. This type of reduplication conveys a notion of repetition, physical impairment, or “local movement,” defined as actions close to the body or small repetitive movements (Prunet and Petros 1996). These verbs 6. There are verbs that begin with [e]: et’@t’@ ‘got really mad’, or en@k’@ ‘vomit’, but at least en@k’@ conjugates like a Type B verb, so this is probably the source of the vowel fronting. 7. Although see Gafos (2003) on an alternate approach to the same class of verbs in Arabic.

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conjugate like regular quadriconsonantal forms. 8 The 1233 type is usually not related to triconsonantal forms with the same consonants. Note that mutation of the penultimate consonant is possible, as shown by zˆr@s@r-@; there is no extension of the devoicing to the other half of the consonant pair. (14) k’ˆm@t’@t’-@ dˆr@z@z-@ sˆr@t@t-@ fˆr@k’@k’-@

‘wrinkle’ ‘be very blunt’ ‘feel ill at ease’ ‘remove layers of plant one by one’

fˆk’@f@k’-@ nˆs@n@s-@ zˆr@s@r-@ sˆr@s@r-@

‘ooze’ ‘sprinkle’ ‘cut meat into strips’ ‘level floor of house by scraping’

Some verbs of this type have a prefix (ˆ)n-, ex. ˆn-kˆr@t@t@ ‘tilt’, which has no clearly identifiable meaning. The final pattern of reduplication in verb forms is 1223, a type known as the frequentative, a common form in Ethiopian Semitic languages (Leslau 1939; Rose 2003). Unlike the other patterns, this type of reduplication is generally derived from a corresponding verb form, and adds an extra syllable, either with the vowel [a] or [@]. The frequentative conveys the notion of intensity and repetition of the action of the regular verb. Mutation patterns are the same as other quadriconsonantal forms; again, devoicing can affect the penultimate consonant, but not extend to the other half of the pair. Its conjugation pattern differs slightly from other quadriconsonantal forms in the jussive: cf. C@CCC and CC@/aCC. Type B verbs with the vowel [e] (i.e., met’@r@) lack the [e] altogether in the frequentative. Type B verbs with palatalization have palatalization in all frequentative forms, including the jussive. Note that although the regular Type B has mutation of the penultimate consonant in every aspectual form, the frequentative reveals the nature of the underlying root, as seen with the verb j@k@m@. 9 (15) Frequentative A s@p@r@ ‘break’ Perfective sˆı@p@r-@ Imperfective jˆ-sı@pˆr Jussive j@-sı@ıˆr

B met’@r@ ‘select’ mˆt’@t’@r-@ jˆ-mt’@t’ˆr j@-mt’@t’ˆr

B j@k@m@ ‘hit with fist’ jˆg@k@m-@ jˆ-jg@kˆm j@-jg@gˆm

There are restrictions on what kinds of regular verbs may form frequentatives. First, the verb cannot be intransitive. Second, it cannot already contain reduplication of the three types discussed previously. Third, the verb cannot be quadriconsonantal. Other Ethiopian Semitic languages allow frequentative formation from these types of verbs (Rose 2003). Fourth, it is not clear that Type C and Type D verbs can form the frequentative. 8. The jussive/imperative form of some verbs has a deleted second consonant. This consonant deletes if labial, or if dorsal followed by a coronal, ex. /j@-z@fzf/ ([j@-z@zˆf] ‘let him put to soak’), /j@-d@gdg/ ([j@-d@dˆg] ‘let him fill completely’) (Banksira 2000a: 176–80). 9. This verb has an alternate pronunciation with all [k]: j@-dZk@kˆm ‘let him hit with a fist repeatedly’.

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3.6. Compound reduplicative verbs There is a class of compound verbs in Chaha that is composed of a reduplicative stem and either the verb bar@ ‘say’ or the verb am@n@ ‘make’. The stem has the shape 1v21v2 or 1v22 where v = one of the vowels [@], [a] or [ˆ]. Banksira (2000b) identifies several semantic classes of compound reduplicative verbs, including feelings (anger, desire), mental disorder, manner of walking, growth and physical properties such as liquid, brightness, odor and noise. Examples are given in (16) with the verb bar@. (16) basbas bar@ b@kb@k bar@ gwafgwaf bar@ k’ waSk’ waS bar@ z@fz@f bar@ t’@bt’@b bar@ tˆktˆk bar@

‘wander’ ‘smell bad’ ‘fluff out’ ‘clash, clank’ ‘walk gracelessly’ ‘drip’ ‘stare rudely at’

c’ˆnn bar@ kwaSS bar@ z@gg bar@ cˆmm bar@ z@ff bar@ t’@bb bar@ tˆkk bar@

‘wait, linger’ ‘rustle’ ‘enlarge’ ‘fight hard’ ‘sit gracelessly’ ‘drip a little’ ‘stare at’

There are sometimes pairs of related meanings between CvCCvC and CvCC forms, as exemplified by the last three pairs in (16). The longer form generally has the more intense meaning. Verbal affixation appears on the supporting verb, ex. g@bb bar-o-m ‘they calmed down’ or basbas am@n@-xwˆ-m ‘I made someone wander’. A suffix -t forms nominals: k’ w@rk’ w@r-t ‘homelessness’, and adjectives can be formed from the nouns with the suffix -@n@: k’ w@rk’ w@r-t-@n@ ‘homeless’ (Banksira 2000b: 8). 4. Derivational verbal prefixes There are three valence-changing prefixes in Chaha, a-, t(@)- and at-. These occur closest to the stem, while other prefixes, such as negation and subject markers, are affixed outside the derivational prefixes. The prefix t(@)- is known as the passive-reflexive. It attaches to transitive verbs to form the passive (Petros 1996b), as shown by the following examples: (17) a. Amadu ˆnjapa s@p@r-@-m Amadu glass break.pf.-3ms-past 10 ‘Amadu broke a glass’ b. ˆnjapa t@-s@p@r-@-m glass pass.-break.pf.-3ms-past ‘a glass was broken’ The addition of the prefix t(@)- causes internal vowel stem changes, namely adding the vowel [@] in the second vocalic position of the imperfective and jussive for all verb types, including quadriconsonantal. In 10. The suffix -m is a main verb marker/past tense marker (see 5.1).

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addition, mutation occurs in the imperfective of all verb types, including Type A. When preceded by another prefix, the form of the passive prefix is [t]. (18) Passive-reflexive Type A ‘was broken’ Perfective t@-s@p@r-@ Imperfective jˆ-t-s@p@r Jussive j@-t-s@ı@r

Type B ‘was lost in lawsuit’ t@-r@kj@r-@ jˆ-t-r@kj@r j@-t-r@k@r

Type C ‘was demolished’ t@-ıan@r-@ jˆ-t-ıan@r j@-t-ıan@r

Finally, the prefix t(@)- conveys the notion of reciprocal, along with a change in the first vowel of the stem to [a], ex. m@k@r@ ‘give advice’ § t@-mak@r@ ‘give each other advice’ or k’@nt’@ ‘despise, have contempt for’ § t@-k’ant’@ ‘despise each other’. The reciprocal cannot be formed directly from transitive verbs of the type CaC, where the second root element is /a/, ex. sam@ ‘kiss’. These verbs require reduplication of the initial consonant, and alteration of the vowel to [@]: t@-s@s@m@ ‘kiss each other’. The prefix a- forms the causative, and can attach to any verb type with no concomittant change in the internal stem shape or mutation patterns. 11 Nevertheless, it has semantic restrictions on its association. First, it associates to certain transitive verbs but not others (Petros 1993): ex. t’@ı@t’@ ‘grasp’ § a-t’@ı@t’@ ‘make grasp’ but s@p@r@ ‘break’ § *a-s@p@r@ ‘make break’. Second, it associates to intransitives and renders them transitive: (19) a. k’ˆı n@t’@r-@-m butter melt.pf.-3ms-past ‘the butter melted’ b. Amadu k’ˆı a-r@t’@r-@-m Amadu butter caus.-melt.pf.-3ms-past ‘Amadu melted the butter’ According to Petros (1996b), the prefix a- can attach to all unergative verbs except ‘go’ and ‘descend’, ex. dak’@ ‘laugh’ versus a-d@k’@ ‘make laugh’. It cannot attach to unaccusative verbs unless they have a transitive/intransitive alternation, such as b@s@r@ ‘cook’ vs. a-b@s@r@ ‘cook something’ or k’j@t@ ‘be tired’ versus a-k’j@t@ ‘tire someone’. For example, the verb n@z@z@ ‘dream’ does not have a causative *a-r@z@z@ ‘make someone dream’. The prefix at-, generally viewed as a combination of the other two derivational prefixes, indicates factitive or causative of passive (Hetzron 1977;72). Unaccusative verbs which lack causatives with a- do have them with at-, generally interpreted as the causative of the passive: ex. at-s@p@r@ 11. With a-medial verbs, the medial vowel [a] is altered to [@] in the perfective and jussive: dak’@ § a-d@k’@ (perf.) and j@-dak’ § j-a-d@k’ (juss.).

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‘cause to be broken’. 12 The difference between the a- prefix ‘causative’ and the at- prefix ‘factitive’ can be demonstrated with the verb not’@ ‘run’: a-rot’@ means ‘he made someone run (i.e., spurred them)’ but atrot’@ means ‘forced someone to run (i.e., by chasing)’. See Ueno (2000) for more on at-causatives. 13 A large number of verb stems do not occur without a prefix. These are dubbed “prefix-necessitating stems” in Petros (1994). Thus, one may find triplets such as a-k’ j@p@r@ ‘pass over’, t@-k’ j@p@r@ ‘receive, accept’ and atk’ jap@r@ ‘respond, talk back’, but no plain stem *k’ j@p@r@. Petros argues that prefix-necessitating stems are bound stems that require prefixes to provide external arguments. He lists several categories of verb stems that require a prefix, such as verbs of involuntary bodily movement (a-ben@r@ ‘yawn’, ax@na ‘shout’, a-r@d@ ‘shudder’), verbs of transfer or possession (such as the *k’ j@p@r@ stem above, or *mar@: t@-mar@ ‘learn’/ at-m@r@ ‘teach’) and inchoative/causative pairs where the prefixes disambiguate (t@-drak@t@ ‘hurry [intr.]’ and a-drak@t@ ‘hurry [trans.]’). 5. Inflectional verbal affixes The main order of verbal affixes is as follows. Inflectional affixes include tense markers, negation and subject and object affixes. Note that in perfective stems, there are no subject prefixes, only subject suffixes. Non-perfective may have just prefixes or a combination of both. (20) Negation–Subject–Valence–Verb stem–Subject–Object–Tense 5.1. Main verb marker or tense marker -m The perfective form has a final suffix -m, which has been described as a main verb marker (Hetzron 1977) or as a past tense marker (Petros 1996c). The -m is not present in two specific formations: with a negative prefix (21a) and in subordinate clauses: compare (21b) with the relative clause in (21c). (21) a. Amadu an-dak’-@ Amadu neg.-laugh.pf.-3ms ‘Amadu didn’t laugh’ b. tˆrama g@r@d c@n-@c-ˆm yesterday girl come.pf.-3fs-past ‘the girl came yesterday’ c. tˆrama j@-c@n-@c g@r@d m@rkama ban-@c yesterday rel.-come.pf.-3fs girl pretty be.pf.-3fs ‘the girl who came yesterday was pretty’ 12. Some verbs acquire an extra glide after the first consonant when at- is added: s@n@f@ ‘be scared’ § at-sj@n@f@ ‘scare someone’. It is not clear what conditions this glide. 13. Also, verbs beginning with [a] do not take the a- prefix, but instead use at- with some stem changes: an@ı@ ‘milk’ § atj@n@ı@ ‘cause to be milked’.

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The main clause restriction prompted Hetzron to label -m a main verb marker. However, there are two future tense markers in Chaha (-te and -S@) which appear in the same position on the verb stem (word-finally) and have the same distribution as -m, namely, only appearing in main clauses and in non-negative constructions; see section 5.2. This parallel points towards an interpretation as a tense marker. I have glossed it in examples as “past.” Other tenses are expressed with auxiliary verbs. The durative/habitual past is formed from the imperfective and the auxiliary ‘be’ in a bare stem form: ban@; ex. t-az-o ban@ ‘you (pl.) were watching’ or jˆ-c@n ban@ ‘he was coming’. When negated, the verb has b- and the imperfective negative marker a- preceding the stem: b-a-t-az-o ‘you (pl.) were not watching’ or b-a-j-c@n ‘he was not coming’. The perfective stem and auxiliary ‘be’ expresses past perfect: ex. k@f@t-@-m ban@ ‘he had opened’. When negated, the perfective negative marker an- occurs on the main verb: an-k@f@t-@ ban@ ‘he had not opened’. See section 5.4 for more on negation. In both cases ban@ may be reduced to [ba] with no apparent alteration of meaning. 5.2. Future tense Unlike other Ethiopian Semitic languages, the imperfective form in Chaha and most Western Gurage dialects is only used for the present tense, not the future. The future is expressed by one of two suffixes attached at the end of the verb stem following subject and object markers. 14 According to Hetzron (1996), the definite future -te attaches to present/imperfective stems and refers to predetermined events with external control. The indefinite future -S@ attaches to jussive stems and is more subjective, conveying uncertainty, willingness or desire. The difference between them is illustrated with Hetzron’s example (1996: 103) of the question ‘Is he going to Addis Ababa?’ 15 (22) a. S@wa j-ar-te? Shoa 3ms-go.impf.-def.fut b. S@wa jˆ-w@r-S@? Shoa 3ms-go.juss.-indef.fut.

(i.e., has it been decided?)

(i.e., will he be allowed to go, is it likely he is going?)

The jussive verb stem is used as the base for -S@, but the subject markers are those normally used for the imperfective. Compare: j@-zg@r-o ‘let them jump’, jˆ-z@gr-o ‘they are jumping’ with jˆ-zg@r-o-S@ ‘they might jump’. 5.3. Infinitive Chaha has two infinitive forms. They are formed by affixing w@- or -ot to the jussive stem: ex. w@-sıˆr ‘to break’ or sˆır-ot ‘to break’. They may be affixed with possessive/definite markers: w@sıˆr-@ta ‘his breaking’. 14. Petros (1996c) treats these as auxiliaries. 15. Addis Ababa is referred to by the province name Shoa [S@wa] in Chaha.

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5.4. Negation The negative marker is an- 16 with perfective verb stems and a- with nonperfective. 17 The affirmative perfective verbs are given with the final main verb marker/past tense marker -m to show the contrast with negative forms. The /n/ assimilates in place of articulation to a following consonant. (23) d@p@r@-m b@n@r@-m jˆd@ıˆr jˆı@rˆr j@dıˆr j@ır@r

‘he added’ ‘he flew’ ‘he adds’ ‘he flies’ ‘let him add’ ‘let him fly’

an-d@p@r@ am-b@n@r@ a-jd@ıˆr a-jı@rˆr a-jdıˆr a-jır@r

‘he didn’t add’ ‘he didn’t fly’ ‘he doesn’t add’a ‘he doesn’t fly’ ‘let him not add’ ‘let him not fly’

a. The a–j sequence is pronounced [e]: ed@ıˆr and etot.

There is also a prohibitive marker, ˆn- (which assimilates its place of articulation), that attaches to perfective stems with the same sense as the negative jussive: ˆn-d@p@r@ ‘let him not add’; cf. a-j-dıˆr [edıˆr] ‘let him not add’. The usage distinction between the two is not clear. Since future tense markers cannot co-occur with the negative prefixes, the forms ajd@ıˆr [ed@ıˆr] and ajdıˆr [edıˆr] could also have a future interpretation as ‘he will not add’ and ‘he might not add’, respectively. 5.5. Copula The present tense copula is attached to nouns and adjectives as a wordfinal suffix. All forms except 3ms and 3p have an initial [n]: (24) 1s 2ms 2fs 3ms 3fs

-nxw -nx@ -nxj -u -nja

1p 2mp 2fp 3mp 3fp

-nd@ -nxu -nxma -ro -r@ma

Examples: m@rkama-nj@ ‘she is pretty’; bora-u [boro] ‘it is an ox’; gw@pE[j]@na-ro ‘they are my brothers’. The negative copula is an-x@r@ from the verb x@r@ ‘to become’, conjugated in the perfective form, ex. m@rkama anx@r@c. ‘she is not pretty’. The existential-locative is n@r@ (with no final -m): ex. Z@p n@r@ ‘there is a lion’ and the negative is en@: ex. Z@p en@ ‘there is no lion’. The past tense copula is ban-@ (no final -m) and the negative form is ann@p@r@, from the verb n@p@r@ ‘to live’: ex. Z@p ban@ ‘it/there was a lion’ versus Z@p ann@p@r@ ‘it/there was not a lion’. Petros (1996c) analyzes ban@ as two morphemes: a prefix b- attached to the verb an@. This is due to the fact that in subordinate clauses, we find tan@ and jan@. Compare tˆrama g@r@d 16. Petros (1996c) and Banksira (2000a) analyze the [n] as a present tense marker, so the negation is a-. 17. The 1s imperfective subject marker is @- in the affirmative, but n- in the negative: ex. @-d@Bˆr ‘I add’ but a-n-d@ıˆr ‘I don’t add’. This also occurs with other preceding prefixes: tˆ-n-d@ıˆr ‘while I add’.

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bet b-an-@c ‘yesterday a girl was at home’ versus bet j-an-@c g@r@d ‘the girl who is at home’ and g@r@d xjˆta bet t-an-@c c’et w@t’am ‘while the girl was at home, the sun rose’. The j(@)- appears on verbs in relative clauses and the t- indicates ‘while, when’ in subordinate clauses. See section 5.9 on subordination. 5.6. Converbs There are two converbs: the t-converb and the m-converb (Hetzron 1977: 94). When joining a sequence of events in a sentence, only the last verb is fully inflected; the first verb is conjugated as a converb. The t-converb (Hetzron 1977), or the “pseudo-gerund” (Leslau 1950, 1969), is formed by suffixing -t@ to a stem identical to the 2nd singular feminine imperative, which exhibits palatalization of a stem consonant (see 5.7). This stem is then further affixed with past tense/perfective subject suffixes. Examples in (25) are shown with the 2s masc. subject, ex. nˆkSˆt@x@ ‘your biting’. (25) 2sm nˆks fˆr@x sˆıˆr nˆk’ˆm sˆdˆd nˆk’ˆk’

converb nˆkSˆ-t@-x@ fˆr@xj-t@-x@ sˆıi-t@-x@ nˆk’ jˆm-t@-x@ sˆjˆj-t@-x@ nˆk’ jˆk’ j-t@-x@

gloss ‘bite’ ‘tolerate’ ‘break’ ‘collect’ ‘drive cattle’ ‘take apart’

The t-converb is used before negative verbs, and before non-perfective forms. The converb and main verb agree in subject; the main verb carries additional object marking, negation and tense. (26) a. nˆkSˆ-t@-x@ a-t-tˆfwa-n bite-cvb.-2ms neg.-2ms-spit out.juss.-3msO ‘don’t bite it and spit it out!’ b. t@-z@pe-t@-c t-ar-te pass-return-cvb.-3fs 3fs-go.impf.-def.fut ‘she will go back’ The m-converb does not have a special stem form, but consists of the suffix -m attached to the first in a sequence of verbs of any aspect. Like the t-converb, it cannot carry tense or object markers. Typically, the converb and the governing verb have the same aspectual stem form. (27) a. jˆ-s@ırˆ-m j-ar-te 3ms-break-cvb. 3ms-go.impf.-def.fut. ‘he will break and go’ b. tˆ-s@ır-o-m t-ar-o ba(n@) 2mp-break.impf.-2mp-cvb. 2mp-go.impf.-2mp be(aux).pf. ‘you (pl.m) were breaking and going’

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In addition to the converbs, the suffix -ta is used when two events are serial or consecutive. It is optional in serial constructions: (28) not’-@cˆ-m-(ta) bet g@pa-cˆ-m run.pf.-3fs-cvb.-(ta) house enter.pf.-3fs-cvb. ‘she entered the house running’ 5.7. Subject affixes Like other Semitic languages, Chaha verbs are marked with subject affixes—suffixes in the perfective aspect, and a combination of prefixes and suffixes in other aspects. These are the same no matter the lexical classification of verb roots. 18 The 2nd person imperative is given here in place of the jussive; the 2nd person jussive appears with prefix t- in negated forms: a-t-kˆft ‘don’t open!’ The impersonal functions as an agentless pseudo-passive, when the subject is unknown or is not directly addressed, as in w@xem atarim? ‘how did one spend the night?’ said to a group. The impersonal has a required object marker, the 3ms -i if no other object markers are expressed. (29) 1s 2ms 2fs 3ms 3fs 1p 2mp 2fp 3mp 3fp Impersonal

Perfective k@f@t-xw k@f@t-x@ k@f@t-xj k@f@t-@ k@f@t-@c k@f@t-n@ k@f@t-xu k@f@t-xˆma k@f@t-o k@f@t-@ma k@fw@c-i

Imperfective @-k@ft tˆ-k@ft tˆ-k@fc jˆ-k@ft tˆ-k@ft nˆ-k@ft-ˆn@ tˆ-k@ft-o tˆ-k@ft-@ma jˆ-k@ft-o jˆ-k@ft-@ma jˆ-k@fwc-i

Jussive nˆ-kˆft kˆft kˆfc j@-kˆft tˆ-kˆft nˆ-kˆft-ˆn@ kˆft-o kˆft-@ma j@-kˆft-o j@-kˆft-@ma j@-kˆfwc-i

The impersonal and the 2fs non-perfective forms are characterized by palatalization of the final /t/ in the verb root above. In addition, the impersonal has labialization of the penultimate root consonant /f/. 19 The impersonal undergoes a simple rule of palatalization: palatalize the final coronal obstruent of the stem (Leslau 1967). The labialization rule for the impersonal is: labialize the right-most velar or labial consonant, unless already palatalized. Some examples are shown in (30) below. Note that in the jussive impersonal of ‘win in a lawsuit’, the plain jussive lacks palatalization due to its Type B conjugation (j@-r@kˆr), so labialization is possible. Reduplicated forms show double labialization or palatalization. 18. Epenthetic vowels [ˆ] are shown as part of the prefix; these are absent if another affix precedes: ex. tˆk@ft ‘she opens’ versus atk@ft ‘she doesn’t open’ 19. This type of morphological alternation is referred to as ‘featural affixation’ (Akinlabi 1996) in the generative literature, as it involves systematic changes in the quality of the consonant, combined with a suffixal position at the right edge of the verb stem. See also McCarthy (1983) and Rose (1994a).

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(30) Perfective Perfective Impersonal n@k@s@ n@kw@Si g@d@f@ g@d@fwi n@kj@r@ n@kj@ri

Imperfective Impersonal jˆr@kwSi jˆg@df wi jˆr@kjri

Jussive Impersonal j@˜kwˆSi j@gdˆfwi j@r@kwˆri

Gloss

‘bite’ ‘break the fast’ ‘win in a lawsuit’ w@za w@Zea jˆw@Ze j@wZe ‘be sweaty’ t’@m@m@ t’@mw@mwi jˆt’@mwˆmwi j@t’mw@mwi ‘bend’ dˆr@z@z@ dˆr@Z@Zi jˆdr@ZˆZi j@d@rZˆZi ‘be blunt’ mˆt’@m@t’@ mwˆc’@mw@c’i jˆmwc’@mwˆc’i j@mw@c’ˆmwc’i ‘be rotten’

a. The -i fuses with the final vowel of a-final stems to produce [e].

The pattern of 2nd feminine singular palatalization is more complicated and can be expressed via the following ordered rules: (31) 2nd feminine singular subject palatalization rules 1. Palatalize final coronala or velar obstruent. If none, apply Rule 2. 2. Palatalize rightmost velar obstruent. If none, or if there is an intervening coronal, apply Rule 3. 3. Insert [i] after penultimate root consonant. a. Final [n] is not palatalized on the surface, but there is no other palatalization or vowel fronting: t@n 2s masc. versus t@n 2s fem. ‘smoke!’

The forms in (32) show the contrast between 2fs imperative and the impersonal imperative. Again, if a root has reduplicated consonants, both consonants are palatalized or labialized. These are the only cases of double palatalization. (32) 2ms nˆks fˆr@x bˆd@r sˆıˆr nˆk’ˆm k’ˆfˆf sˆdˆd nˆk’ˆk’ m@zmˆz kˆtˆf sˆr@f t’af wˆza

2fs nˆkS fˆr@xj bˆde < bˆd@j sˆıi nˆk’jˆm k’jˆfˆf sˆjˆj nˆk’jˆk’j m@ZmˆZ kˆtif sˆref t’Ef wˆZ@

Impersonal nˆkwSi fˆr@xwi bwˆd@ri sˆwri nˆk’mwi kˆfwˆfwi sˆjˆji nˆk’ wˆk’ w mw@ZmwˆZi kˆtfwi sˆr@fwi t’afwi wˆZe

Gloss ‘bite’ ‘tolerate’ ‘be first’ ‘break’ ‘collect’ ‘cut the nails’ ‘drive cattle’ ‘take apart’ ‘worry constantly’ ‘hash’ ‘fear’ ‘write’ ‘be sweaty’

5.8. Object suffixes The object suffixes attach to verb stems following the subject suffixes if present. They are marked for case by an initial consonant (Polotsky 1938; Leslau 1950; Hetzron 1971; Banksira 2000a): zero for accusative or dative, -ı/-p or -k for benefactive and -r/-n for malfactive. Only one complement

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suffix may be associated to the verb, and the general rule is that the malfactive or benefactive takes precedence over the accusative/dative. Object suffixes only occur with definite complements. There are two allomorphs of the object suffixes, referred to as “light” and “heavy” (Hetzron 1977). The heavy forms occur following verbs marked with plural subject affixes, the 2sf subject and the impersonal. The light forms occur following verbs marked with all other singular subject affixes. The same affixes are used throughout the different tenses. The heavy forms have an initial mutated consonant of the light forms, as seen with the x/k or ı/p. All forms with [p] have an alternate pronunciation with [k]. The following chart is adapted from Banksira (2000a: 262): (33) object Me Us You m. sg. You f. sg. You m. pl. You f. pl. Him/it Her Them m. Them f.

Accusative Light Heavy -e -n -nd@ -nd@ -(na)x@ -k@ -(na)xj -kj -(na)xu -ku -(na)xma -kma -n-w -j-w -n-a -ja -n-o -jo -n-@ma -j@ma

Malfactive Light Heavy -ıi -p-i -ı-nd@ -p-nd@ -ı-x@ -ı-k@ -ı-xj -ı-kj -ı-xu -ı-ku -ı-xma -ı-kma -ı-@w -p-@w -ı-a -p-a -ı-o -p-o -ı-@ma -p-@ma

Benefactive Light Heavy -n-i -n-i -nd@ -nd@ -n-x@ -n-k@ -n-xj -n-kj -n-xu -n-ku -n-xma -n-kma -r-@w -r-@w -r-a -r-a -r-o -r-o -r@ma -r@ma

The five versions of the object suffix ‘her’ (na, ra, ıa, ja, pa) are shown below—three different case markings and two allomorphs of the accusative/dative and the malfactive: jˆ-r@xˆı-o-j-a ‘they find her’ (34) jˆ-r@xˆı-n-a ‘he finds her’ jˆ-r@xˆı-r-a ‘he finds (sth.) for jˆ-r@xˆı-o-r-a ‘they find (sth.) for her’ her’ jˆ-r@xˆı-ı-a ‘he finds (sth.) jˆ-r@xˆı-o-p-a ‘they find (sth.) to her to her detriment’ her detriment’ The superscript [w] in the 3sm object suffix refers to labialization of the right-most labial or velar consonant in the stem, the same pattern as with the impersonal form. 20 With the malfactive forms, this results in labialization of the case marker (/-ı@-w/ § [-w@]), but in other forms labialization of the preceding subject marker or root consonant occurs instead. (35) a. no object b. accusative c. malfactive d. benefactive

tˆ-k@ft tˆ-k@f wt-ˆn tˆ-k@ft-ˆw@ tˆ-k@f wt-ˆr@

‘she opens’ ‘she opens it’ ‘she opens it to his detriment/ she opens with it’ ‘she opens it for him’

20. See McCarthy (1983) on the implications of this pattern for theoretical morphophonology.

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The following are past tense forms with the accusative object, illustrating the pattern of right-most labialization: (36) no object k@t@f@ n@k@s@ s@p@r@ k’@s@r@ n@k’@k’@

w/accusative object k@t@fw@-n n@kw@s@-n s@pw@r@-n k’w@s@r@-n n@k’w@k’w@-n

gloss ‘chop’ ‘bite ‘break’ ‘erect’ ‘take apart’

5.9. Subordination Subordinate clauses are introduced by one of the three particles t(@)-, b(@)or j(@)- attached to the subordinate verb. They are glossed as “particle” (ptl.), since their meaning alters depending on the construction. The t-, b-, j- forms associates to imperfective stems, whereas the t@-, b@-, j@- forms attach to perfective stems. Relative clauses have j@- prefixed to the perfective verb stem. Non-perfective relative clauses follow the same construction, but lack the j@-. 21 (37) a. j@-c@n-@c ptl.-come.pf.-3fs ‘the girl who came’

g@r@d girl

b. tˆ-c@n g@r@d 3fs-come.impf. girl ‘the girl who comes’

The prefix j@- also associates to the subordinate verb in dependent clauses with the complementizer x@ma ‘that’ (38). The example in (38a) shows the form of the verb ‘be’ as an in subordinate clauses (see 5.5). (38) a. bet j-an-@c x@ma xwar-i-m house ptl.-be.pf.-3fs that know.pf.impl.-3msO-past ‘it is known that she is at home b. g@r@d j@-c’@n-@c x@ma xwar-i-m girl ptl.-give birth.pf.-3fs that know.pf.impl.-3msO-past ‘it is known that she gave birth to a girl’ The prefix t- indicates ‘when, while’ and associates to imperfective stems (39a). The form t@- attaches to perfective stems to indicate unreal condition (‘if’ or ‘when’) (39b). (39) a. t-i-rot’ aS@xw-ˆn-ˆm ptl.-3ms-run.impf. see.pf.-1s-3msO-past ‘I saw him while (he was) running’ b. t@-c@n-@ jˆ-sar-e ba ptl.-come.pf.-3ms 3ms-please.pf.-1sO be(aux).pf. ‘if he were to come, I would be happy 21. This distribution prompted Petros (1996c: 137) to analyze j@- as a past tense marker. Note that the past tense marker -m does not appear in subordinate clauses.

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The prefix b- is attached to imperfective (40a) or b@- is attached to perfective to convey ‘if’ or unreal condition (40b). In (40a), the enclitic particle of insistence -m nuances the meaning to ‘even if’. (40) a. bˆ-t-c’@k’wˆs-e-m a-m-b@ra ba-xw-ˆm ptl.-3fs-beg.impf.-1sO-enclitic neg.-1s-eat.impf. say.pf.-1s-past ‘even if she begs me, I refused to eat’ b. b@-c@n-@ odˆ-n-S@ @-ıra-S@ ptl.-come.pf.-3ms 1s.tell.impf.-3msO-indef.fut. ‘if he comes, I’ll tell him’ Besides x@ma ‘that’, other complementizers include dar ‘until’ with the imperfective (may be accompanied by t-) 22 and -e ‘in order to’ with the imperfective. (41) a. jˆ-c@n dar @-k’wj@-n-te 3ms-come.impf. until 1s-wait.impf.-3msO-def.fut. ‘I will wait until he arrives’ b. jˆ-ı@r-e bero w@nd-@-m 3ms-eat.impf.-to town go down.pf.-3ms-past ‘he went to town in order to eat’ The clause ‘before’ is indicated with t- plus imperfective followed by jˆfte, and ‘after’ with b@- and ank’j@ following the perfective verb. These types of combinations are also used as postpositions, discussed in section 6.2. (42) a. Amadu tˆ-j-ar jˆfte @rıat a-f@t’@r-@cˆ-m Amadu ptl.-3ms-go.impf. before dinner caus.-prepare.pf.-3fs-past ‘before Amadu left, she prepared dinner’ b. b@-ı@na ank’j@ bero w@nd-@-m ptl.-eat.pf.3ms after town go down.pf.-3ms-past ‘he went to town after he ate’ 6. Nominal/adjectival morphology Chaha has very little nominal/adjectival morphology. Nouns are uninflected for number or gender. There are a few suppletive singular/plural pairs: @rc/d@ngj@ ‘boy/s’ or mˆSt/ˆSta ‘woman/women’. Otherwise, plural is not marked. 6.1 Possessives, definites, demonstratives Generally, there is no expression of definiteness on the noun. If required, the definite marker is either the 3rd person possessive suffixed to the noun 22. The example in (41a) may also be expressed as tic@n dar @-ı@ra-te where tic@n < t-j-c@n.

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or the 3rd person personal pronoun following the noun: -@ta/xwˆta for masculine and -@xjta/xjˆta for feminine nouns, ex. mˆs xwˆta ‘the man’ and mˆSt xjˆta ‘the woman’. Possessive pronouns are suffixed to nouns and mark the possessor. The vowel [@] is dropped if the stem ends in a vowel. (43) 1s 2sm 2sf 3sm 3sf

-@na -ax@ -axj -@ta -@xjta

1pl 2mp 2fp 3mp 3fp

-@nda -axu -axma -@xwna / -@xno -@xn@ma

Possession can be indicated using these suffixes, ex. g@r@d-@ta ‘his daughter’, or by prefixing j@- to the personal pronoun: ex. j@-xwˆt g@r@d ‘his daughter’, as is done with nominals: j@-taf@s@ g@r@d ‘Tafesse’s daughter’. When suffixed to g@g ‘body’ or @j ‘hand’, with an optional enclitic -m, the possessives expresses the reflexive, ex. g@g-(m)@ta k’@t’@r@m. ‘he killed himself’. Demonstratives are separate words preceding nouns, or can stand alone with possesive suffixes. (44) zˆ(x) mˆs xˆ(x) mˆs

‘this man’ ‘that man’

zˆx-@ta xˆx-@ta zˆx-@xno

‘this one’ ‘that one’ ‘these ones’

6.2. Locatives/postpositions Subjects are not marked for case, but objects may be marked with a prefixal j@- for accusative. The object must have a specific reference, and object agreement must also appear on the verb: j@-bˆk’wˆra d@n@g-xw@-n-ˆm ‘you (ms) hit the mule’. Oblique cases are also marked with j@-: dawit j@c’amut b@r k@f@t-@-ra-m ‘Dawit opened the door for Chamut’. There are also two prepositions/particles/case markers to express nominal relationships, often in combination with postpositions. These are the comitative t@- and the oblique marker b@-, used for locatives and ablatives. Some examples of the combinations are given below: (45) b@t@b@b@b@t@t@t@t@t@-

‘in’ ‘with, from’ d@n-e d@n fw@r ank’j@ jˆft-e ank’j-e jˆftjˆft m@je

‘under’ ‘inside’ ‘on, above’ ‘after’ ‘before’ ‘behind’ ‘in front of’ ‘beside’

b@-bet t@-g@r@d t@-bet b@-satˆn d@n-e b@-satˆn d@n b@-bet fw@r t@-gˆnzˆr ank’j@ t@-gˆnzˆr jˆfte t@-bet ank’je t@-bet jˆftjˆft t@-bet m@je

‘at/in the house’ ‘with the girl’ ‘from the house’ ‘under the box’ ‘inside the box’ ‘on the house’ ‘after breakfast’ ‘before breakfast’ ‘behind the house’ ‘in front of the house’ ‘beside the house’

Some of these postpositions are nominals: jˆft ‘face’, d@n ‘abdomen’.

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6.3. Question particles The basic question particles are as follows: (46) mwan mˆr m@-mˆr m@cra ete

‘who’ ‘what’

j@-mwan mˆr-gi

‘how’ ‘when’ (past) ‘where’

mˆr-axˆr m@c@ j@˜-k’ar

‘whose’ ‘when’ ‘what (recent) time’) ‘how much/many’ ‘when’ (imperfect) ‘why’ (k’ar = ‘thing’)

6.4. Conjunctions of insistence There are two enclitics to mark emphasis or insistence. -m or -S is inserted between the noun and suffixed pronouns: adot-m-@xjta c@n@cˆm (motherenclitic-3fsposs. come.pf.-3fs-past) ‘her mother came, too.’ These clitics may also associate to verbs (see ex. 40a). 6.5. Derivational nominal morphology Derivational nominal morphology does not show regular patterns. There are few identifiable nominal shapes, and only a handful of affixes with consistent usage. See Rose (1992) for additional information. The suffix -@n@ can be added to some nominal stems to form agentive nouns or adjectives: (47) bat’ir at’jat mena gaz n@xwc@r

‘crime’ ‘sin’ ‘work, job’ ‘war’ ‘message’

bat’ir-@n@ at’jat-@n@ men-@n@ gaz-@n@ n@xwc@r-@n@

‘criminal’ ‘sinful’ ‘worker’ ‘warrior’ ‘messenger’

The suffix -n@t conveys abstract concepts and associates to nouns or adjectives; the final vowel of the base is dropped: (48) gwˆrmasa zega beSa w@n@xw@ d@ng@n@ barik’ nˆmaj@ mˆSra fˆk’wˆr

‘poor’ ‘poor’ ‘friend’ ‘neighbor’ ‘rich’ ‘old’ ‘love’ ‘bride’ ‘fat’

gwˆrmasa-n@t zeg-n@t beS-n@t w@n@xw-n@t d@ng@n-n@t barik’-n@t nˆmaj-n@t mˆSˆn-n@t fˆk’wˆnn@t

‘poverty’ ‘poverty’ ‘friendship’ ‘neighborhood’ ‘richness’ ‘old age’ ‘state of being in love’ ‘state of being married’ ‘fatness’

The suffix -w@t derives feminine nouns from adjectives and nouns (with accompanying j@-). They may also have a superlative reading. The final vowel is dropped before suffixation (see [49] on following page). (49) g@mb@na m@rkama S@xra

‘dark’ ‘beautiful’ ‘clay’

g@mb@n-w@t m@rkam-w@t j@-S@xˆr-w@t

‘the dark one (fem.)’ ‘the beautiful one (fem.)’ ‘potter (fem.)’

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The prefix w@- and m@- are used to form instrumental nouns. The stems are bound, and do not have a consistent shape. They frequently have palatalization or labialization of the final root consonant. (50) s@k@k-@ n@da at-rasa Z@n@r-@ s@nt-@ sef-@ naf-@ d@n@g-@ f@nt-@ t’@m@d-@

‘drive into ground’ ‘help’ ‘help lift’ ‘block the view’ ‘cut severely’ ‘sew’ ‘blow’ ‘hit’ ‘separate’ ‘yoke’

m@-sk@k m@-nj@ m-at-raS@ m@-z@nEt w@-sr@ca

‘peg’ ‘assistance’ ‘litter to carry dung’ ‘curtain’ ‘pebble for decorating bowls’ w@-sif@ ‘awl’ w@-rafw@ ‘bellows’ w@-dr@gja ‘hammer’ w@-f@nca ‘entrance’ w@-t’m@d ‘trap’

There are some other nouns with w@-/m@- that do not have an instrumental meaning: w@-ret ‘sleep’ < nˆj@ ‘sleep’ or m@-˜k@s ‘stomach-ache’ < n@k@s-@ ‘bite’. The suffix -j@ converts adjectives into nouns with an extended meaning: (51) t’ˆk’wˆr ‘black’ gwˆrz ‘old’ gˆmwˆmw ‘chipped’

t’ˆk’wˆr-j@ ‘black wˆsa bread’ gwˆrzˆ-j@ ‘child that acts like an old person’ gˆmwˆmw-j@ ‘utensil with chipped rim’

The four suffixes -a, -at, -t and -@t are frequent, but do not correspond to any precise meaning. Rose (1992) suggests that they are residue of former gender markers. Some nouns and corresponding verbs are shown below in (52). (52) dar@ f@t’@r@ t’@n@k’@ f@nt’@ n@p@r@ nas@

‘bless’ ‘create’ ‘be scared’ ‘have headache’ ‘live’ ‘lick’

d@r@t fˆt’r@t t’ˆnk’jˆt t’@nk’a fˆrt’@t nˆır@t naS@t

‘blessing’ ‘creation, nature’ ‘fear’ ‘coward’ ‘headache’ ‘life’ ‘licker’

There are some nouns and adjectives that have the form CCC with epenthetic vowels: (53) k@ı@r@ k@m@r@ m@s@r@ f@t’@r@ s@t@ı@

‘respect’ ‘pile up’ ‘appear, resemble’ ‘lie’ ‘curse’

kˆıˆr kˆmˆr mˆsˆr fˆt’ˆr sˆdˆı

‘respect’ ‘pile’ ‘image’ ‘lie’ ‘curse’

Many of these also show palatalization and/or labialization of the surrounding consonants; see (54) on p. 425.

Chaha (Gurage) Morphology (54) f@t’@m@ n@f@g@ x@t@r@ b@s@r@ f@k’@r@ k’@m@s@ g@n@z@

‘block up, close’ ‘be greedy’ ‘thatch’ ‘be ripe’ ‘be fat’ ‘taste’ ‘age’

fwˆc’ˆm nˆfwˆg xwˆjˆr bwˆsˆr fˆk’wˆr k’ˆmwˆs gwˆrz

425

‘closed, untouched’ ‘avaricious’ ‘clothes’ ‘ripe’ ‘fat’ ‘tasty’ ‘old (person)’

The cardinal numerals are suffixed with -@n@ to form ordinals: (55) 1 2 3 4 5

cardinal at xwet sost arı@t amˆst

ordinal at@n@ xwet@n@ sost@n@ arı@t@n@ amˆst@n@

The other numerals are 6 sˆdˆst, 7 s@ıat, 8 sˆmwˆt, 9 Z@t’a, 10 asˆr, 11 asrat or asrˆm at, 20 xwˆja, 30 sasa, 40 arba, 50 amsa, 60 sˆdsa, 70 sˆıa, 80 sˆmra, 90 zˆt’@ra, 100 b@k’ˆr, 1,000 xwˆm. The suffix -ra attached to a numeric base (with some alternations) indicates the number of days in the past from today up to three days or a week (Hetzron 1977: 112). The suffix -@ indicates the same concept in the future: (56) @kwa tˆrama s@st-ˆra n@ı@t-ra samt-ˆra

‘today’ ‘yesterday’ ‘two days ago’ ‘three days ago’ ‘a week ago’

n@g@ s@st-@ n@ıat-@ samt-@

‘tomorrow’ ‘two days from now’ ‘three days from now’ ‘a week from now’

7. Conclusion This article presents an overview of Chaha morphology, highlighting the verbal system, which displays the bulk of the complexity. The nominal/adjectival morphology has been less well-studied and appears to be relatively unproductive. Readers familiar with other Semitic languages will recognize shared properties in terms of the root-and-pattern morphology and the verbal affixation.

References Akinlabi, Akinbiyi 1996 Featural Affixation. Journal of Linguistics 32:239–89. Banksira, Degif Petros 2000a Sound Mutations: The Morphophonology of Chaha. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 2000b Words without a Lexical Category? Lingua Posnaniensis 42:7–18. Central Statistical Authority 1996 The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region. Vol. 1: Part I Statistical Report

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on Population Size and Characteristics. Addis Ababa: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Office of Population and Housing Census Commission, Central Statistical Authority. Cohen, Marcel 1936 Etudes d’éthiopien méridional. Paris: Geuthner. Gafos, Adamantios 2003 Greenberg’s Asymmetry in Arabic: A Consequence of Stems in Paradigms. Language 79:317–55. Hetzron, Robert 1971 Internal Labialization in the tt-Group of Outer South-Ethiopic. Journal of the American Oriental Society 91:192–207. 1977 The Gunnän-Gurage Languages. Naples: Istituto Orientale di Napoli. 1996 The Two Futures in Central and Peripheral Western Gurage. Pp. 153– 73 in Essays on Gurage language and culture, ed. Grover Hudson. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Hudson, Grover 1974 The Representation of Non-productive Alternation. Pp. 203–29 in Historical Linguistics II. Theory and Description of Phonology, ed. John M. Anderson. Amsterdam: North Holland. Kenstowicz, Michael, and Degif Petros Banksira 1999 Reduplicative Identity in Chaha. Linguistic Inquiry 30:573–85. Leslau, Wolf 1939 Le thème verbal fréquentatif dans les langues éthiopiennes. Revue des Études Sémitiques 2:15–31. 1948 Le problème de la gémination du verbe tchaha (gouragué). Word 4:42– 47. 1950 Ethiopic Documents: Gurage. New York: Viking. 1952 The Influence of Sidamo on the Ethiopic Languages of Gurage. Language 28:63–81. 1964 The Jussive in Chaha. Language 40:53–57. 1966 Ethiopians Speak, Studies in Cultural Background, II. Chaha. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1967 The Impersonal in Chaha. Pp. 1150–62 in To Honor Roman Jakobson. Essays on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday. Janua Linguarum: Series Maior 31–33. The Hague: Mouton. 1969 The Pseudo-Gerundive in Chaha. Rassegna di studi etiopici (1967–68) 23: 27–42. 1979 Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. McCarthy, John 1983 Consonantal Morphology in the Chaha verb. Pp. 122–34 in Proceedings of the 2nd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, ed. M. Barlow, D. Flickinger, and M. Wescoat. Stanford, CA: Stanford Linguistics Association. O’Bryan, Todd, and Sharon Rose 2004 Segmental Effects on (De)gemination in Western Gurage. Pp. 87–98 in Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Special Session on Afroasiatic Languages, ed. A. Simpson. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society.

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Petros, Degif 1993 La dérivation verbale en chaha. M.A. thesis, Université du Québec à Montréal. 1994 On Prefix-Necessitating Stems in Chaha. Pp. 1220–33 in New Trends in Ethiopian Studies. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. H. G. Marcus. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press. 1996a Sonorant Alternations in Chaha. Pp. 153–73 in Essays on Gurage language and culture, ed. Grover Hudson. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1996b Sur l’alternance inaccusative vs. inergative en Chaha. Cahiers de linguistique de l’UQAM 1: 71–87. 1996c On the Absence of AgrS: Evidence from Ethiopian Semitic Languages. Pp. 129–60 in Configurations: Essays on Structure and Interpretation, ed. Anna-Maria Di Sciullo. Somerville: Cascadilla. Polotsky, H. J. 1938 Études de grammaire gouragué. Bulletin de la Société de linguistique de Paris 34/2: 137–75. Prunet, Jean-François 1996 Guttural Vowels. Pp. 175–203 in Essays on Gurage language and culture, ed. Grover Hudson. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Prunet, Jean-François, and Degif Petros 1996 L’interaction entre schèmes et racines en chaha. Pp. 302–36 in Studies in Afroasiatic grammar, ed. J. Lecarme, J. Lowenstamm, and U. Shlonsky. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics. Rose, Sharon 1992 De la palatalisation en chaha. M.A. thesis, Université du Québec à Montréal. 1994a Palatalization, Underspecification, and Plane Conflation in Chaha. Pp. 101–16 in Proceedings of the 12th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, ed. Eric Duncan, Donka Farkas, and Philip Spaelti. Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Information. 1994b The Historical Development of Secondary Articulation in Gurage. Pp. 112–24 in Proceedings of the 20th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Special Session on Historical Issues in African Linguistics, ed. K. Moore, D. Peterson, and C. Wentum. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistic Society. 2000 Epenthesis Positioning and Syllable Contact in Chaha. Phonology 17/3: 397–425. 2003 The Formation of Ethiopian Semitic Internal Reduplication. Pp. 79–97 in Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-based Morphology, ed. J. Shimron. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Forthcoming Durational conditions on Endegen gemination. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Ueno, Mieko 2000 On at-Causatives of Transitive Verbs in Chaha. Pp. 109–21 in Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Special Session on Afroasiatic Languages, ed. A. Simpson. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistic Society.

Berber Languages

Chapter 19

Berber Morphology Maarten Kossmann Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands

1. Introduction Describing “the” morphology of Berber is a complicated matter, since Berber languages differ greatly one from another. 1 Their morphological differences are comparable to those that exist among, say, the Romance languages. A description of “Pan-Berber” morphology, showing only the similarities and neglecting the many dissimilarities, would lead to a very reductionalist overall view. On the other hand, a full description of all Berber morphological systems would result in a lengthy comparative grammar. This article therefore focuses on two representative Berber dialects in order to set out the basics of Berber morphology. The first selected dialect is spoken in Figuig, an oasis of several villages located in eastern Morocco on the Moroccan-Algerian border (32o 10u N, 1o 150u W). 2 This dialect shows many of the features which are characteristic of Berber dialects spoken in Morocco and Northern Algeria as a whole. Figuig Berber has three full vowels (a, i, u) and one short vowel, @ (shwa). Although the occurrence of shwa per se is not entirely predictable, its position within the word is predictable to such an extent that most scholars regard it as non-phonemic. In this article, Figuig shwa will be written but not taken into account in morphological analysis. The second dialect is spoken in the oasis of Ghadamès, located in western Libya on the Libyan-Algerian border (30o 08u N, 9o 30u E). 3 This dialect has five full vowels, a, e, i, o, and u, 4 and two short vowels å and @. As the short vowel opposition plays a crucial role in the distinction of some morphological categories, its retention in Ghadamès is of great importance to comparative Berber linguistics. In addition to the data from these two dialects, some features of other Berber dialects will be used for comparative purposes. Modern studies of Berber have in general concentrated on phonology and syntax. Only a handful of authors have presented analyses of Berber morphologies within the frameworks of modern theories (e.g., AbdelMassih 1971; Bendjaballa 1996; El Moujahid 1997; Guerssel 1992). This 1. We will not enter here into a discussion as to whether the varieties of Berber should be referred to as languages or as dialects. The term dialect will be used consistently to denote any variety of Berber. 2. Grammar by Kossmann (1997). 3. Grammar by Lanfry (1968). 4. The length distinction for these vowels made by Lanfry (1968) is probably subphonemic and will not be considered here.

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state of affairs means that this article must remain at a descriptive level. The main focus will be on the morphology of the nominal and verbal systems. For an analysis of the pronominal system, the reader is referred to Galand (1966). 2. Stem structure Berber morphology is characterized by the frequent occurrence of steminternal changes. As a result of this, Berber stems have often been described as consisting of a consonantal “root,” which conveys lexical information, and a vocalic “scheme,” conveying grammatical information. This analysis, which was borrowed from Semitic linguistics, implies that when a stem is changed according to some grammatical feature, vowels and consonant length (tenseness) may change, while the consonantal “root” remains constant. In recent years, this opinion has been criticized by several authors (see especially Cohen 1993) for good reasons: in Berber, vowels are employed to mark lexical differences to a much larger extent than is the case in the Semitic languages. Consider the following Figuig Berber verbs (citation form—Aorist): af if uf

‘to find’ ‘to be better’ ‘to be inflated’

The ways in which vowels change according to the grammatical function of the word are determined by the vocalization of the Aorist forms. For example, whereas verbs like af change their initial vowel a to u in the Preterite aspect, the vowel in if remains constant. The terms apophony or ablaut are therefore better suited to describe Berber vowel changes than the root/scheme analysis. 3. The noun In most dialects, the majority of the nouns are differentiated according to gender, case and number. All three differentiations are expressed in a nominal prefix. Gender and number are also expressed by suffixes. Number can also be expressed by stem apophony. Gender and number can be detected from the form of the noun as well as by pronominal and verbal agreement. 3.1. Gender The Berber languages distinguish two genders: masculine and feminine. The opposition masculine-feminine is used to express the following contrasts: masculine male large(r) collective noun

feminine female small(er) unit noun

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The male-female distinction is made for humans and higher animals (mammals, larger birds, etc.). The large-small distinction is made for lower animals (insects, small reptiles, etc.) and objects. The collective noun–unit noun distinction is found in certain lexical classes, especially those denoting fruits, insects and building materials. The following examples are from Figuig: a-sli ta-sli-t a-ƒ´nza ta-ƒ´nzay-t a-mlul ta-mlul-t ti-mlal

‘groom’ ‘bride’ ‘large spoon’ ‘spoon’ ‘melons (in general)’ ‘one melon’ ‘melons (specific)’

(m.) (f.) (m.) (f.) (m.) (f.) (f. pl.)

Apart from these oppositions, the gender of a noun is often lexically determined, as in Figuig: a-ƒi t-lussi

‘buttermilk’ ‘butter’

(m.) (f.)

The feminine gender is always expressed by prefixation of t-. The suffixes -t (f. sg.) and -in (f. pl.) are portmanteau morphemes expressing gender and number. These suffixes do not occur with all feminine nouns. 3.2. Case Most Berber languages distinguish two cases. Although these forms are basically used to convey functional relations, berberological tradition calls them states. The term generally used for the first case is état libre (hence EL), and for the second état d’annexion or construct state (hence EA). The EL is used under the following syntactic conditions: 1. 2. 3. 4.

as part of a nonverbal sentence when the noun is the direct object of the verb after some prepositions When the noun is topicalized and therefore placed before the inflected verb. As Berber is basically a VSO language, this includes the lexical subject 5 put before the inflected verb 5. as an attributive adjective, irrespective of the case of the head noun 6. as citation form The EA is used under the following syntactic conditions: 1. 2. 3. 4.

when the noun is the lexical subject of the verb (and placed after it) after most prepositions after a few other elements, such as the word u ‘son of’ after numerals (not in all dialects)

5. We will not consider here the syntactic question whether one should rather speak of an explicative complement of the verbal desinence (cf. Galand 1964).

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Case is expressed in the nominal prefix. With nouns whose bases begin with a consonant, the main case forms of the prefix are as follows (examples from Figuig, Elmaiz village): a. consonant initial stem: first type EL EA

m. sg. aw@-, u-

m. pl. iy@-, i-

f. sg. tat(@)-

f. pl. tit(@)-

The allomorphs w@/u and y@/i are conditioned by morphonological factors. b. consonant initial stem: second type EL EA

m. sg. iy@-, i-

m. pl. iy@-, i-

f. sg. tit(@)-

f. pl. tit(@)-

The allomorphs y@/i are conditioned by morphonological factors. c. consonant initial stem: third type EL EA

m. sg. ºu-

m. pl. ii-

f. sg. tt-

f. pl. tit-

This type occurs with the majority of nouns with a stem where the initial consonant is followed by a full vowel (e.g., º-fus ‘hand’). In many Berber dialects this type is absent. d. vowel initial stem: 6 first vowel a EL EA

m. sg. º-a w-a

m. pl. º-a w-a

f. sg. t-a t-a

f. pl. t-a t-a

f. sg. t-i t-i

f. pl. t-i t-i

e. vowel initial stem: first vowel i EL EA

m. sg. º-i y-i

m. pl. º-i y-i

In the plural of many nouns of this type, the stem-initial vowel i is changed to a. f. vowel initial stem: first vowel u EL EA

m. sg. º-u w-u

m. pl. º-u w-u

f. sg. t-u t-u

f. pl. t-u t-u

6. Following Penchoen (1973: 13), we consider the nouns with so-called “voyelle constante” as having stem-initial vowel. Cf. Kossmann 1997: 73.

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Some examples: type (a) m. sg. EL EA f. sg. EL EA

a-ƒyul w@-ƒyul ta-zday-t t@-zday-t

m. pl. EL EA f. pl. EL EA

i-ƒyal y@-ƒyal ti-zday-in t@-zday-in

‘donkey’

type (c) m. sg. EL EA f. sg. EL EA

º-Îar u-Îar t-wasun-t t-wasun-t

m. pl. EL EA f. pl. EL EA

i-Îar-´n i-Îar-´n ti-wasun-in t-wasun-in

‘foot’

type (d) m. sg. EL EA f. sg. EL EA

º-anu w-anu t-azar-t t-azar-t

m. pl. EL EA f. pl. EL EA

º-anu-t´n w-anu-t´n t-azar-in t-azar-in

‘well’

‘palm tree’

‘girl’

‘fig tree’

The above schemes apply to most Berber dialects of Morocco and Northern Algeria. In Touareg, the prefix of the EA consists only of a short vowel å- or @-. In the dialects of Libya and Egypt, the case distinction is absent, although some archaisms may point to its former presence (cf. for Ghadamès, Lanfry 1971–72). 3.3. Number Berber nouns distinguish two numbers: singular (including collective) and plural. The distinction is expressed in a number of ways: 1. Change of the prefixes a- and ta- to i- and ti-, respectively. When the noun stem begins with a vowel, other changes may take place. 2. Suffixation, sometimes accompanied by the insertion of stem extensions. These extensions typically consist of a semivowel w (sometimes y or t) with or without one or more vocalic elements. The suffixes are: Figuig m. pl. -@n m. pl. -an f. pl. -in

Ghadamès -ån -en

Examples (all in EL, taken from Figuig): sg. a-mƒar≥ a-lƒ@m ta-mƒar≥ -t

pl. i-mƒar≥ -@n i-l@ƒm-an ti-mƒar≥ -in

ta-lƒ@m-t

ti-l@ƒm-in

gloss ‘important man’ ‘camel’ ‘important woman’ ‘she-camel’

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3.4. Noun stem apophony In Figuig Berber noun stem apophony, the plural scheme (u)-a is applied to the form of the singular stem. This means that in the plural, a final vowel or a full vowel that is followed by a lax consonant is changed into a. If the singular stem ends in two lax consonants, a is inserted between them. If the singular stem features the vowel a in another position than those mentioned, this vowel is changed to u. Examples (all in EL; taken from Figuig): sg. a-ƒ@nsu a-y@lzim a-m@zwar º-mir@w º-badu t-ƒard@m-t

pl. i-ƒ@nsa i-y@lzam i-m@zwar i-miraw i-buda ti-ƒurdam

gloss ‘face’ ‘hoe’ ‘first’ ‘side of the hand’ ‘furrow’ ‘scorpion’

Ghadamès Berber, which distinguishes two short vowels å and @, has a plural ablaut scheme (@)-a in addition to the scheme (u)-a. Following this scheme, the vowel å of the singular stem is changed to @ in the plural stem when it precedes the plural apophony vowel a, e.g.: sg. a-n@smir ta-z@ƒƒar-t ta-låss@nt a-zånk@Î

pl. º-n@smara t-z@ƒƒar t-l@ssan º-z@nkaÎ

gloss ‘iron nail’ ‘basin’ ‘milk vase’ ‘gazelle’

a. In Ghadamès word-initial *i- is regularly lost.

The apophonic plural is derived from the singular stem: while the form of the singular stem permits us to predict the form of the apophonic plural with some certainty, the form of the plural does not allow to predict the singular stem. For example, the plural vowel a can correspond to a, i, u or zero (shwa) in the singular stem. Prefix change is independent from apophony and suffixation. Suffixation and stem apophony are rarely combined. The choice between these two processes is lexically determined. In addition to the main groups described here, there exist many sub-types and irregular plural formations. 3.5. Nouns without prefixes and suffixes 3.5.1. Nouns of Berber origin In a small group of nouns (e.g., Figuig yuma ‘brother’, la˛ ‘hunger’) there are no prefixes or suffixes. 7 These nouns have no morphological marking of gender and case. Their plurals are formed either by a prefix id- or by suppletion. 7. Nouns belonging to this group should not be confused with nouns that have a ºprefix in the EL sg., as these permit gender and case distinctions (see 3.2. group [c]).

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3.5.2. Arabic loans Loans from Arabic, which in many dialects constitute a large percentage of the vocabulary, can be integrated in Berber morphology using Berber morphological devices. Many Arabic loans, however, are not integrated and constitute a separate morphological system. Non-berberized loans show no case distinctions and use Arabic patterns of plural formation. Even the Arabic dual form is sometimes found. The f. sg. is marked by the suffix -@t, which is syllabified in a way different from the Berber f. sg. suffix -t. A typical feature of non-Berberized loans is the retention of the Arabic article which loses its meaning and becomes part of the stem, e.g.: Maghribine Arabic Figuig Berber

b@yt l-b@yt lb@yt

’a room’ ’the room’ ’a room, the room’

4. The verb 4.1. Inflection Berber verbs are inflected by subject affixes, which can be prefixes, suffixes or circumfixes. Figuig Berber, as do many Moroccan and Algerian dialects, only distinguishes between two sets of suffixes, an indicative and an imperative set: Sg. 1 2 3m 3f Pl. 1 2m 2f 3m 3f

indicative imperative -@ƒ t-@da -º itnt-@m -@m t-@mt -@mt -@n -@nt

example ‘to learn’ l@md-@ƒ t-l@md-@d lm@d! i-lm@d t-@lm@d n-@lm@d t-l@md-@m l@md-@m! t-l@md-@mt l@md-@mt! l@md-@n l@md-@nt

a. There is important dialectal variation as to the form of the 2 sg. suffix: beside -@d, which is most common, one finds, among others, -@t and -@Î.

The dialect of Ghadamès has two sets of indicative suffixes in addition to the one in common with Figuig Berber, which are associated with the different aspectual stems: a stative set and an inflectional set for the Future. Compare the indicative inflections of the verb ‘to be small’ in the table on p. 436. The Future indicative set of suffixes, which is only used after the nonreal particle @d, is unique to Ghadamès Berber. It is currently debated whether it represents an innovation or an archaism (cf. Kossmann 2000). The stative set of suffixes is found in a number of other dialects, including Touareg and Kabyle. Traces of it can be found in many more variants of Berber and its reconstruction for Proto-Berber is undisputed. It is only used with a lexically restricted set of stative verbs and its aspect can only

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be the Preterite. In other aspects, where the stative verbs have inchoative or habitative meaning, the other indicative suffixes are used.

Sg. 1 2 3m 3f Pl. 1c 1m 1f 2m 2f 3m 3f

normal indicative (aoriste) @mtit-åEa t-@mtit-@t i-mtitb t-@mtit n-@mtitc n-@mtit-åt n-@mtit-måt t-@mtit-åm t-@mtit-måt @mtit-ån @mtit-nåt

stative indicative (prétérit) måttit-åE måttit-@t måttit måttit-åt m@ttit-it m@ttit-it m@ttit-it m@ttit-it m@ttit-it m@ttit-it m@ttit-it

future indicative (futur) @mtit t-@mtit i-mtit t-@mtit n-@mtit n-@mtit-åt n-@mtit-måt t-@mtit-åm t-@mtit-måt @mtit-ån @mtit-nåt

a. The 1 sg. -åE is historically derived form *-åƒ. b. The 3 sg. m. prefix i- goes back to *y@-. c. The 1 pl. common is used in circumstances somewhat different from the 1 pl. with gender differentiation (cf. Lanfry 1968: 327–30).

4.2. Overview of the aspectual stems Figuig Berber has three basic stems denoting tense/aspect distinctions that are coordinate with two negative stems. In Berberology, there are important discussions as to the analysis of the different aspects, e.g., Galand (1977), Leguil (1984), Prasse (1984–86), Galand (1987), Chaker (1993). The naming of the stems is widely divergent with the different authors. 8 In the following, we shall employ the most widely used terminology, that proposed by André Basset (e.g., 1952). The terminology of Galand (1977) is given in square brackets. The use of the basic positive stems can be summarized in the following, very simplified way: 1a. Aorist [aoriste] without preceding particle: • imperative (with imperative conjugation) • as an unmarked aspect: in narrative sequences, the Aorist can function as a follow up for one of the other verbal forms (imperative, ad + Aorist, Preterite or Intensive Aorist). It takes its aspectual interpretation from the preceding verb. 1b. Aorist preceded by the particle ad: • non-real (adhortative, future, etc.) 2. Preterite [accompli] • in dynamic use: past tense • in stative use: state (not temporally defined), including states of mind like ‘to want, to know’ 8. See the list made by P. Reesink in his unpublished dissertation; see Cadi 1987: 53.

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Intensive Aorist, often called “habitative” [inaccompli] • dynamic present • habitative and iterative • habitative imperative • negation of any imperative

The Intensive Aorist can be preceded by the particle ad and denote a nonreal habitual or iterative event. Morphologically, the negation of the verb corresponds in the following ways to the positive uses: positive imperative narrative Aorist ad + Aorist Preterite Intensive Aorist

negative ul + positive Intensive Aorist – ul + negative Intensive Aorist ul + negative Preterite ul + negative Intensive Aorist

The negative Preterite and the negative Intensive Aorist are exclusively found after ul ‘not’. 9 Despite this restriction to an unambiguously negative environment, the negative Preterite is found in almost all Berber dialects. Only a small number of Libyan and Egyptian dialects and some subdialects of SW-Moroccan Tashelhiyt have lost this form. The negative Intensive Aorist is much less general and is missing in some of the better known dialects such as Tashelhiyt and Kabyle. Its geographical distribution nevertheless points to a Proto-Berber origin (Kossmann 1989). The dialect of Ghadamès has, in addition to the five different stem forms of Figuig Berber, a sixth form which is unique to it. This form, the “future” is used after the particle @d (corresponding to Figuig ad) and has the same functions as the non-real ad + Aorist in Figuig. The Ghadamès Future displays a special conjugation. Touareg has a more extensive system, showing in addition to the Preterite a “resultative” or “intensive” Preterite. In the Eastern dialects of Augila (Libya) and Siwa (Egypt) verbal forms with the same function, but with other morphological characteristics are found (cf. Leguil 1986). In Touareg dialects of Mali, two different positive Intensive Aorists are distinguished (cf. Leguil 1979–84). 4.3. The morphology of the aspectual stems It is impossible to present here a full overview of the morphology of the aspect stems. For Touareg, de Foucauld distinguished more than two hundred conjugation types and subtypes, and although this number can be reduced, the total remains remarkably high. In a remarkable effort of internal reconstruction, Karl-G. Prasse managed to reduce the number of types to less then 20 (Prasse 1972–74). It should be noted, however, that this reduction can hardly be maintained in a synchronic analysis. Therefore the 9. According to the dialects, this particle has a number of other forms: w@l, w@r, ur, etc.

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observations made here will only offer a glance at the complexity of Berber stem formations and do not convey the complete picture. It should be noted that the morphology of the aspect stems is almost entirely determined by the formal structure of the stem. This means that the question whether a stem has two or three consonants, and whether and at which position it contains full vowels or not is much more important than the semantics of the verb. The formal structure of the verb is only in one case (some stative verbs) linked to the semantics of the verbs. In all other cases, formal structure and semantics are not related. 4.3.1 The apophony of Aorist, Preterite, and negative Preterite in Figuig In Figuig, as in most other dialects of Morocco and Northern Algeria, the Aorist and the Preterite are often homophonous. In those verbal types that do not have a stem-internal full vowel, this is regular, e.g.: Aorist Preterite

‘to learn’ lm@d lm@d

‘to stand up’ kk@r kk@r

‘to fly’ ff@rf@r ff@rf@r

The same is true for verbs with stem-final vowels. In verbs with initial (and sometimes medial) a in the Aorist, the Preterite has u: Aorist Preterite

‘to begin’ bda bda

‘to steal’ as@r us@r

‘to be thirsty’ ffad ffud

In addition to these groups, there is a class of biradical verbs that have no vowel in the Aorist, and a vowel differentiation according to person/ number inflection in the Preterite. One should note that many dialects have an apophony Aorist u: Preterite a in verbs with final vowel, e.g., Kabyle aor. bdu prt. bda ‘to begin’. Moreover, Figuig Berber lacks the apophonic type in which a medial vowel i in the Aorist corresponds to the Preterite a, e.g., Tashelhiyt aor. mEiwin prt. mEawan ‘to help each other’. The negative Preterite is derived from the Preterite form in the following ways: 1. If the Preterite form ends in a vowel, the vowel is replaced by the vowel i. 2. In the verbal classes of the following types, i is inserted before the last consonant: |CCC|, |C$ C|, |VCC|, |VC$ C|. 3. In all other structures the form of the negative Preterite is identical with that of the positive Preterite. Examples: Preterite bda negative Preterite bdi

lm@d lmid

kk@r kkir

us@r usir

ff@rf@r ff@rf@r

ffud ffud

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4.3.2. The formation of the Intensive Aorist in Figuig In Figuig, as in all Berber dialects, the Intensive Aorist is derived from the Aorist stem by the following means (see Kossmann 2002): a. In verbs of the structures |CCC|, |CCV| and |CC| by means of gemination (tension) of one of the consonants of the stem. In the case of |CCC| and |CCV| the second radical is tensed. In the case of |CC|, it depends on the verb whether the first or the second radical is tensed. b. In verbs of other structures, a prefix tt- is added to the Aorist stem. This prefixation is sometimes accompanied by the infixation of a vowel. Examples: ‘learn’ Aorist lm@d Int. Aor. l@mm@d

‘begin’ bda b@dda

‘build’ s@k s@kk

‘knit’ d@r ddar

‘stand up’ Aorist kk@r Int. Aor. tt@kk@r

‘steal’ as@r ttas@r

‘fly’ ff@rf@r ttf@rf@r

‘be unemployed’ sum@r ttsumur

The negative Intensive Aorist is derived from its positive counterpart by changing any vowel a in i, e.g.: ‘begin’ Int. Aor. b@dda neg. Int. Aor. b@ddi

‘steal’ ttas@r ttis@r

‘knit’ ddar ddir

‘speak’ ssawal ssiwil

If there is no such a, the positive and the negative Intensive Aorists are identical. 4.3.3. Short vowel apophony in Ghadamès In Ghadamès, one finds apophony in the short vowel system in addition to the full vowel changes described above. Because of this apophony, almost all cases of homophony in the Figuig stem forms are absent in Ghadamès. For a number of verbal types, the short vowel apophony of Ghadamès can be described by the following scheme: Aorist Preterite Future neg. Preterite Intensive Aorist neg. Int. Aorist

å-@ @-å @-å @-e @-å-å @-@-@

åkr@z @kråz @kråz @krez @kårråz @k@rr@z

‘to plough’

There exist a large number of other schemes, more or less different from that of åkr@z. The Ghadamès Future is often identical, either to the Preterite or to the Aorist form. There are, however, enough cases where the Future is different from all other forms to prove its independent status.

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Short vowel apophony of this type is attested in those Berber dialects that have more than one short vowel, i.e., in Ghadamès and in Touareg (e.g., Heath 2005). It represents without doubt a more archaic situation than that found in Figuig. 4.4. The relative verb form (“participle”) In some types of relative clauses (including Wh-questions), a special verbal form is used, traditionally called the “participle.” The Participle is exclusively used in those cases where the antecedent is the subject of the relative sentence. In most dialects the Participle can be formed with all aspectual stem formations. There is important dialectal variation as to the degree of inflectional agreement the Participle shows (cf. Drouin 1996; Kossmann 2003). In some dialects (e.g., Riffian), the Participle contains no gender-number distinctions, in others (e.g., Tashelhiyt) only number agreement exists and in still others both gender and number are expressed in the Participle (e.g., Touareg). Moreover, many dialects have different inflectional forms according to the different tense-aspect markers. Figuig Berber is an instance of a dialect where only this tense-aspect inflectional differentiation is found: Aorist Preterite neg. Preterite Intensive Aor. neg. Int. Aor.

ni/y-. . .-@n ni/y-. . .-@n n-

n-ak@r y-ukr-@n n-ukir i-ttakr-@n n-@ttik@r

‘to steal’

In Ghadamès a more elaborate system of Participial forms is found. Abstracting from variants that constitute a simplification of this system, we have the following forms:

positive forms negative forms

m. sg. i-. . .-ån ån i-

f. sg. t-. . .-åt åt t-

m./f. pl. -nin nin i-

In Ghadamès, the suffixes of the (positive) Participle function like clitics. Exactly under those circumstances where the clitics are moved to preverbal position (after the non-real particle ad, after the negative particle) forms with preposed n- (etc.) are found. The preposed ån, åt and nin of the negative Participles can be disjuncted from the verb by clitic pronouns. 4.5. The derived stems of the verb In Berber a number of derived stems exist which change the actant valency of the basic stem. These derived stems are compatible with all aspect stemformations. The most important derivations are: 4.5.1. Derivation by the prefix ssThis derivation changes intransitive verbs into transitive verbs. Moreover, it is used to make verbs from nouns and onomatopoeic forms, e.g. (Figuig):

Berber Morphology ff@ƒ awal hawhaw

‘to go out’ ‘word’ ‘woof’

ssuf@ƒ ssiw@l sshawhaw

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‘to let out’ ‘to speak’ ‘to bark’

It is very rare that the prefix ss- be applied to transitive verbs in order to form double transitive verbs. With verbs that have s, z, z or ˛ as a stem consonant, the form of the causative prefix can be assimilated to ss, zz, zz and ˛˛, respectively. 4.5.2. Derivation by a nasal prefix The nasal prefix shows a large amount of allomorphy. The prefix always has the element mm-; if a labial consonant b, f, or m follows this can be dissimilated to nn-. This basic element is often enlarged by extensions, giving forms like mmu-, my- mya-, mlu-, etc. The nasal derivation is used to form intransitive verbs. Normally, it is based on transitive verbs, though sometimes intransitives can also have this derivation. The main uses of the nasal derivation are the formation of reflexive, passive and reciprocal verbs. It depends on the verb and on the dialect which semantics are attached to the derivation. Examples: Figuig: n@ƒ bÎa Ghadamès: åkn@f ånn

’to kill’ ’to divide’

mmn@ƒ mmubÎa

‘to fight’ ‘to divide oneself’

’to roast’ ’to kill’

mm@kn@f mm@nn

‘to be roasted’ ‘to be killed’

4.5.3. Derivation by a dental prefix ttLike the nasal prefix, the dental prefix shows a lot of allomorphy. In addition to the element tt- one finds different extensions: tw-, ttwa-, ttu-, ttuyi-, ttiw-, ttyiw-, etc. The dental prefix is commonly used to form passives. It is lacking in some eastern dialects (among others Ghadamès), where its function is taken over by nasal derivation. Figuig Berber is unique in opposing two different passive derivations. The first, using the prefixes tt- and ttu-, denotes a mediopassive with unknown or irrelevant agent. The second, using the prefix ttwa-, denotes a real passive with a known, relevant agent. Examples: i-tt@ska l˙iÎ 3sm-be.built wall ‘a wall is a built thing (i.e., not natural)’ i-ttwas@k l˙iÎ 3sm-be.built wall ‘the wall has been built (by someone)’ This opposition is not known from other dialects.

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4.5.4. Combined derivational prefixes Derivational prefixes can be combined as long as the result is semantically plausible (e.g., passives from reciprocal verbs are impossible). The meaning of the combinations can be the sum of the prefixes, e.g., Figuig: w@s mmus ttwamus

‘to give’ ‘to become engaged’ (from ‘to give oneself’) ‘to be betrothed (by somebody), to be given’

However, some combinations have a specific semantic interpretation. This is, for example, the case with the Figuig ms- derivation and the Touareg n@m@- derivation, which are used to form reciprocal verbs. Whereas many combinations of two prefixes are attested, combinations of three are much rarer and only found with specific lexical items.

5. The verbal clitics The Berber verb can be accompanied by a number of clitic pronominal and deictic elements. Most important are the pronouns of the direct and of the indirect object and the ventive particles dd ‘hither’ (generally attested) and nn ‘thither’ (lacking in many dialects, including Figuig Berber). These three groups of elements form a clitic group which cannot be broken up by any other element. A typical feature of Berber clitic syntax is the process of clitic movement. Whereas the clitic string normally immediately follows the verb, it is moved to preverbal position under certain circumstances (examples from Figuig): 1. after the particles a(d) (non-real) and u(l) (negation): 10 ˛r≥i-x ss visited-1s him ‘I visited him’ a ss ˛r≥-@x non-real him visit-1s ‘I shall visit him’ 2. in relative phrases (including Wh-questions): nnwi dd y-iw@y u-m@˛˛yan kernel hither 3sm-brought EA-small ‘the date kernel that the small (child) brought here’ may s@m y-uƒ-@n? what you participle-attained-participle ‘what happened to you (woman)?, what’s the matter?’ 10. In Figuig and in some other Berber languages, there exists a future particle sad (Tashelhiyt rad) which also causes clitic movement.

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3. after some conjunctions (especially temporal conjunctions), e.g., i stt i-r≥r@≥ ˛ when her 3sm-broke ‘when he had broken it’ If a verb phrase with the non-real ad or the negative ul is found in relative phrases or in conjunctions, the clitic pronouns precede the particle. In this case, the non-real particle is changed to ala: 11 wi ss ala n-@sk@r? who him non-real participle-praise ‘who will praise him?’ 11. In other dialects, other forms occur, such as ƒa, ƒra, ara, etc.

Bibliography With a few exceptions, only literature postdating 1965 is included. Unpublished dissertations are left out. a. Bibliographies The most comprehensive bibliography for Berber studies is: Bougchiche, Lamara 1997 Langues et littératures berbères des origines à nos jours. Bibliographie internationale. Paris: Ibis.

b. General overviews Basset, André 1929 Le verbe berbère: Étude des thèmes. Paris: Leroux. 1952 La langue berbère. Handbook of African Languages 1. London: Oxford University Press. Camps, Gabriel, and Salem Chaker, eds. 1984– Encyclopédie berbère. Aix-en-Provence: Édisud. Chaker, Salem 1984 Textes en linguistique berbère: Introduction au domaine berbère. Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique. 1995 Linguistique berbère: Études de syntaxe et de diachronie. M. S.—Ussun amaziƒ 8. Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France 353. Paris-Louvain: Peeters. Galand, Lionel 1988 Le berbère. Pp. 207–42 in Les langues dans le monde ancien et moderne; troisième partie: Les langues chamito-sémitiques (textes réunis par David Cohen), ed. Jean Perrot. Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique.

c. Recent morphological descriptions Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. 1971 A Reference Grammar of Tamazight. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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Bentolila, Fernand 1981 Grammaire fonctionnelle d’un parler berbère: Aït Seghrouchen d’Oum Jeniba (Maroc). Paris: Société d'Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France. Chaker, Salem 1983 Un parler berbère d’Algérie (Kabylie): syntaxe. Aix en Provence: Université de Provence. Heath, Jeffrey 2005 A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali). Berlin: de Gruyter. Kossmann, Maarten 1997 Grammaire du parler berbère de Figuig (Maroc oriental). M. S.—Ussun amaziƒ 10. Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France 363. Paris-Louvain: Peeters. 2000 Esquisse grammaticale du rifain oriental. M. S.—Ussun amaziƒ 16. Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France 387. ParisLouvain: Peeters. Lanfry, Jacques 1968 Ghadamès I: Étude linguistique et ethnographique. Fort-national: Le fichier périodique. Penchoen, Thomas G. 1973 Tamazight of the Ayt Ndhir. Los Angeles: Undena. Prasse, Karl-Gustav 1972–74 Manuel de grammaire touarègue (tåhåggart). 3 vols. Copenhague: Akademisk Forlag. Willms, Alfred 1972 Grammatik der südlichen Beraberdialekte (Südmarokko). Glückstadt: Augustin.

d. Selection of other relevant literature Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. 1971 Tamazight Verb Structure: A Generative Approach. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press / The Hague: Mouton. Allaoua, Abdelmajid 1993 Les verbes de qualité et quelques remarques sur les pronoms personnels en berbère. Acta Orientalia 54: 31–45. Basset, André 1945 Sur la voyelle initiale en berbère. Revue africaine 402–3: 82–88. Reprinted, pp. 83–89 in André Basset, Articles de dialectologie berbère. Paris: Klincksieck, 1959. Bendjaballah, Sabrina 1998 Aspects apophoniques de la vocalisation du verbe berbère (kabyle). Pp. 5–24 in Actes de la conférence Langue et Grammaire 2–3: Phonology, ed. Patrick Sauzet. Paris: Publication du département SDL de l’Université Paris. Brugnatelli, Vermondo 1987 Deux notes sur l’État d’Annexion en berbère. Pp. 349–59 in Proceedings of the Fourth International Hamito-Semitic Congress. ed. Herrmann Jungraithmayr and Walter Müller. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

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1997 L’état d’annexion en diachronie. Pp. 139–50 in Afroasiatica Neapolitana, ed. Alessandro Bausi and Mauro Tosco. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale. Cadi, Kaddour 1987 Système verbal rifain: forme et sens. Paris: Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France. Chaker, Salem 1972–73 Dérivés de manière en berbère (kabyle). Comptes rendus du Groupe Linguistique d’Etudes chamito-semitiques 17: 81–96. 1984 A propos du passif en berbère in Travaux du Cercle Linguistique d’Aix-enProvence 2: 127–42. 1988 Annexion, État d’. Pp. 686–95 in vol. 5 of Encyclopédie berbère. Aix-enProvence: Édisud. 1993 L’orientation du prédicat verbal en berbère: Prédicats d’existence, Diathèse et aspect. Etudes et Documents Berbères 10: 89–111. Chaker, Salem, and Dominique Caubet, eds. 1996 La négation en berbère et en arabe maghrébin. Paris: L’Harmattan. Cohen, David 1993 Racines. Pp. 161–75 in A la croisée des études libyco-berbères: Mélanges offerts à Paulette Galand-Pernet et Lionel Galand, ed. Jeannine Drouin and Arlette Roth. Paris: Geuthner. Drouin, Jeannine 1981 Recherches sur les verbes dérivés: n-, m-, nm- en tawellemmet (touareg nigérien). Bulletin des Etudes Africaines de l’INALCO 1: 25–34. 1996 Les formes participiales en berbère—essai de dialectologie comparée. Littérature Orale Arabo-Berbère (LOAB) 24: 233–60. El Moujahid, El Houssaïn 1997 Grammaire générative du berbère: Morphologie et syntaxe du nom en tachelhit. Rabat: Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines. Galand, Lionel 1964 L’énoncé verbal en berbère: Étude de fonctions. Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure 21: 33–53. 1966 Les pronoms personnels du berbère. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 61/1: 286–98. 1977 Continuité et renouvellement d’un système verbal: Le cas du berbère. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 72/1: 275–303. 1980 Une intégration laborieuse: Les ‘verbes de qualité’ du berbère. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 75/1: 347–62. 1987 Les emplois de l’aoriste sans particule en berbère. Pp. 361–79 in Proceedings of the Fourth International Hamito-Semitic Congress (Marburg 20– 22 September 1983), ed. Herrmann Jungraithmayr and Walter Müller. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Guerssel, Mohand 1986 On Berber Verbs of Change: A Study of Transitivity Alternations. Lexicon Project Working Papers 9. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1992 On the Case System of Berber. Revue canadienne de linguistique 37: 175– 95.

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Kossmann, Maarten 1989 L’inaccompli négatif en berbère. Etudes et Documents Berbères 6: 19–29. 2000 Le futur à Ghadamès et l’origine de la conjugaison verbale en berbère. Pp. 237–56 in Études berbères et chamito-sémitiques: Mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse, ed. Salem Chaker and Andrzej Zaborski. M. S.—Ussun amaziƒ 15. Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France 381. Paris-Louvain: Peeters. 2001a Les désinences modales en berbére. Revista degli Studi Orientali 74: 25– 39. 2001b The Origin of the Glottal Stop in Zenaga and Its Reflexes in the Other Berber Languages. Afrika un Übersee 84: 61–100. 2002 L’origine de l’aoriste intensif en berbére. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 97/1: 353–70. 2003 The Origin of the Berber “Participle.” Pp. 27–40 in Afrasian: Selected Comparative-Historical Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, ed. Lionel Bender, David Appleyard, and Gábor Takács. Munich: Lincom. Lanfry, Jacques 1971–72 Deux notes sur le berbère de Ghadamès. Comptes rendus du Groupe Linguistique d’Etudes chamito-semitiques G.L.E.C.S. 16: 175–84. Leguil, Alphonse 1979–84 Opposition et alternance des inaccomplis dans l’Adagh des Ifoghas. Comptes rendus du Groupe Linguistique d’Etudes chamito-semitiques G.L.E.C.S. 24–28: 147–96. 1984 Modes, temps et aspects verbaux, notamment en berbère. Cahiers balkaniques de l’INALCO 7: 185–97. 1986 Notes sur le parler de Siwa (I). Bulletin des Etudes Africaines de l’INALCO 6: 5–42. 1986 Notes sur le parler de Siwa (II). Bulletin des Etudes Africaines de l’INALCO 6: 97–124. 1992 Structures prédicatives en berbère: Bilan et perspectives. Paris: L’Harmattan. Prasse, Karl-Gustav 1984–86 The Value of the Tenses in Tuareg (Berber). Orientalia Suecana 33–35: 333–39. 1998 Le ghadamsi. Pp. 3073–78 in vol. 20 of Encyclopédie berbère. Aix-enProvence: Édisud.

Cushitic Languages

Chapter 20

Beja Morphology David L. Appleyard SOAS, University of London

1. Introduction—the Beja language Beja (from the Arabic name for the people) is spoken in the Sudan, in Eastern State and in Kassala, between the Red Sea coast and the Nile Valley, and also in adjacent areas of northern and western Eritrea. There are additionally Beja people living in southern Egypt, though available evidence suggests that most but not all of these have shifted to Arabic. The self-name for the language is ti-bid’aawye, 1 and the adjective designating speakers of the language is bid’aawyeeti. Generally speaking, however, Beja-speakers refer to themselves by the name of the tribe or major clan-grouping to which they belong, and the names of these have also been applied to the respective dialects, and at times to the language as a whole: Bishari, Hadendowa, Halanga, Beni Amer, Arteiga. In Eritrea, for instance, the language is officially now referred to as Hadaarab, which is also the name of a Beni Amer lineage. Because of the familiarity of the name and its general currency in more modern scholarly works, the term Beja will however be retained here. Throughout the Sudan, Arabic is used as a second language by the Beja, a role which Tigre largely fills in Eritrea where there is an especially high degree of bilingualism among the Hadareb. Estimates of the number of Beja-speakers vary considerably, but the most recent and reliable figures suggest a total of about 1,150,000, 2 though a figure as high as 2,014,000 Author’s Note: I am grateful to Andrzej Zaborski for his most useful comments during the writing of this essay. 1. The transcription used here follows the conventions generally used in Cushitic linguistic studies today, and differs from IPA only in the following: d’ and t’ for retroflex [Î] and [ˇ ], s for [S], j for [dZ], y for [j], and double vowel to indicate length: aa = [a:]. The short vowels in Beja are particularly subject to allophonic variation, apparently in differing ways in different dialects. In particular, the vowel indicated here as short i may be realized in the dialect described by Hudson as either [I] or [U] (see also Roper’s tu-beÎawiE [1928]) according to criteria which he does not fully explain. The nature of the short vowel i (or u) is obviously fluid, as in his 1976 sketch of the language he transcribes the language name as ti-beÎaawye. The system for marking accents used here follows Hudson, and indicates the underlying accent type and placement, which is not necessarily the surface form. See Hudson 1976 for details. Accent-type on material drawn from other sources is here interpreted in Hudson’s system wherever possible, and any errors of re-interpretation are entirely my own. Occasionally, lexical data are cited from the older sources for which accent marking is problematic, and these have consequently been left unmarked. 2. According to Ethnologue, 951,000 speakers are in the Sudan, 120,000 in Eritrea, and 77,000 in Egypt (Gordon 2005).

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has been proposed. Beja is usually classified as the sole member of the Northern Cushitic branch of the Cushitic macro-family, itself part of the larger phylum generally called Afroasiatic. There is no doubt whatsoever about its inclusion in the latter, but there has been some debate whether it is indeed a Cushitic language or forms a distinct member of the Afroasiatic phylum (Hetzron 1980: esp. 96–101; Appleyard 2004). This is largely a terminological quibble, and it is evident that in terms of its morphology, and especially verbal morphology, at least, Beja is far closer to the more “orthodox” Cushitic type than it is to any other member of the Afroasiatic phylum. While a proper survey of Beja dialects has yet to be undertaken, the various scholars who have worked on the language over the last 120 years have each focused on a different dialect, and so we are in a position to recognize some of the major dialectal differences if not yet draw a comprehensive dialect map. The earliest scholar to publish a grammar of Beja was the Swede Herman Almkvist (1881), whose fieldwork was undertaken shortly before that of the great Austrian linguist Leo Reinisch (1893–94, 1895), though each concentrated on different dialects—the former on Bishari (Bisaari) and the latter on Beni Amer, or ?Amar?ar, in what is now Eritrea. A generation later, E. M. Roper (1929) produced his Elementary Handbook for the use of Sudan Government Officials, based on a close study of the Hadendowa (Had’and’iwa) dialect during four years’ residency at Suakin. The book is in fact far from “elementary” and provides a comprehensive description of the language together with 140 pages of lexicon including an English-Beja vocabulary. The first study of Beja carried out with modern linguistic methodology is that of R. A. Hudson, who published a series of articles (1973a, 1973b, 1973c, 1974, 1976) using material gathered on Arteiga in Port Sudan during 1962–63. A recent grammatical sketch, using original material, has also been published by Morin (1995). The present description of Beja morphology is primarily based on Hudson’s material, published and unpublished, 3 but note will be made where this differs significantly from other dialects. It should be said that to judge from the various published grammars there is considerable dialectal variation in Beja, not only in areas such as the lexicon, but also in morphology, though from our present state of knowledge it is not clear what degree of mutual intelligibility exists between dialects. 4 Like all Cushitic languages, Beja has a complex morphology, especially verbal morphology. Nominals inflect for gender, number and case (two terms in each category), though not every constituent item in any given NP is marked for all of these. The morphology of the verb is, as has been said, far richer, and the possible forms of any given verbal root “run into 3. In addition to Hudson‘s unpublished University of London thesis of 1964, there is also a database version of Hudson’s manuscript Beja-English Dictionary that was prepared by Roger Blench in 1996. As far as possible, all the lexical data used in this chapter have been checked against the Blench-Hudson dictionary. 4. Roper said in 1929 that such differences “are probably no greater than the differences of speech of uneducated persons in different counties of England.”

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thousands” (Hudson 1973a: 505). Verb forms may thus be marked morphologically for the following categories: person of the subject, tensemood-aspect, polarity (affirmative-negative), subordination (main-clause forms versus forms occurring in certain kinds of embedded and linked or concatenated clause), modality (declarative versus interrogative), transitivity (i.e., derived stems such as causative, collaborative, passive, reflexive), and intensivity (various kinds of iterative and “plural” actions). There are also various regularly generated non-finite forms (an infinitive and up to five participles). In addition to all of this, there are two fundamental inflectional classes of verb: one, conventionally called “weak,” in which inflection is predominantly realised by means of suffixes, while the root remains invariable; the other, referred to as “strong,” in which inflection is realised by a combination of prefixes, suffixes and infixes, where the last involve various vocalization patterns operating on a consonantal root structure. Contrast weak raat-am-này ‘we ask each other’ (root raat- + reciprocal -am- + Present 1pl. -này) and strong ni-moo-míin ‘we shave each other’ (1pl. ni- + reciprocal -mVV- + root -m-n- + present vocalization in this stemclass -oo-+-ii-). This is in accord with what is found in other Cushitic languages, where some languages like Qafar and Somali have suffix-inflecting and prefix-inflecting verbal paradigms, while others such as Bilin have shifted all verbs to the innovative suffix-inflecting type. 5 As the example of raatamnày versus nimoomíin shows, Beja morphological structure shows features that are both agglutinative and inflectional: agglutinative insofar as in some instances a correspondence can be seen between morphemic category and actual morpheme, though in many cases this is not so. Thus, even within the class of weak verbs, which are to some extent morphologically more transparent, the ending -này of the example raatamnày conveys both the category of first person plural and present tense. While the element -n- can be abstracted as the marker of first person plural (cf. nimoomíin, above), the residue-ày cannot as such be described as the marker of the present tense, as other personal forms show: raatání ‘I ask’, raattiniìya ‘you ask’ (2 sg. masc.), raatteèna ‘you ask’ (2 pl.), raateèn ‘they ask’, etc. Moreover, it becomes even less possible always to set up specific morphemes marking morphemic categories when we include strong verbs, as for instance in the example nimoomíin where there is really no single marker of the present tense. The vocalization of the stem -moo-míin is characteristic not only of the present but also of a number of other forms such as the negative Imperative (baámoomiinnà ‘do not shave each other’), and the separate vocalizations of the derivational prefix and the root-stem occur in different combinations, and are modified in others: e.g., Past nimoomáan ‘we shaved each other’, Aorist nimuumín ‘we used to shave each other’. 5. In terms of Afroasiatic the suffix-inflecting type of Cushitic verb is generally regarded as innovative insofar as it ostensibly derives from the fusion of a non-finite verbal base and an old prefix-inflecting auxiliary, accounting inter alia for the position of what are prefixed personal markers in the strong type internally between the base (root + any derivational markers) and the markers of tense, etc.

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2. Nominals To the class of nominals in Beja, identifiable by shared markers of gender, number and case, belong nouns, adjectives and pronouns, as well as other modifiers that can enter into the noun-phrase (NP) complex (e.g., numerals, demonstratives, possessives). Each category of gender, number and case is not, however, necessarily marked on all constituents of the NP. A NP may comprise minimally a single noun (had’à1 ták2 ?idír ‘a lion1 killed a man2’), which can be said to carry underlyingly gender, number and case; for instance, had’à in this example is masculine, singular and nominative, though none of these categories is overtly marked in the form had’à itself. However, with the addition of modifiers, which require concord with the head noun, various of these categories are overtly marked: wi-had’à ?oo-ták ?idír ‘the lion killed the man’. Thus, wi-had’à is now marked for gender and number, though with this shape of noun case-marking is neutralized in the prefixed definite marker wi-. Conversely, the NP ?oo-ták ‘the man’ is maximally marked for all three categories in the form of the definite marker ?oo(masculine, singular, and accusative). Interestingly, if the subject and object are reversed in the first example: ták had’aà-b ?idír 6 ‘a man killed a lion’, had’à as object is now marked for both gender and case (-b marks masculine and accusative in this instance.) There may furthermore be multiple marking of gender, number, and case within a complex NP: yi-?ar-aák keeyaàn ‘where are your sons?’, in which the modifiers yi- and -aa- both mark the noun ?ár ‘sons’ as masculine and plural, and -aa- marks nominative case, while in ?i-gaw-oó-k rihán ‘I saw your house’ ?i- is specific only for the masculine, but -oo- marks the noun gáw ‘house’ as not only masculine but also singular and accusative. Consider also the following two NPs with possessive adjuncts: ?oo-yàas wí-?oón ?i-takiì-b rihán ‘I saw this man’s dog’, in which the modifiers ?oo- ‘the’ and wí[-?oón ?itakiì]-b ‘of this man’ separately and collectively mark the noun yàas ‘dog’ as masculine, singular, and accusative; tuu-ndè tí-?oón wi?oorií-t saá-t tiidlíb ‘this boy’s mother used to sell meat’, in which the modifiers tuu- ‘the’ and tí[-?oón wí?oorií]-t ‘of this boy’ mark the noun [n]dè 7 as feminine, singular, and nominative. 6. It is a general rule of Beja morphophonemics that a final short vowel is lengthened before a suffix, except where the suffix begins in ? or h or if it is the comparative and distributive suffix -ka. Hence, had’à + -b > had’aàb. 7. Prenasalized initial consonants [mb, nd, nÎ, ng] are only realized after the prefixed article in the dialect described by Hudson: tuu-ndè ‘the mother’ but dè ‘mother’. When an underlying nasal is not realized it will be written between square brackets: [n]dè. Roper’s lexicon contains 23 nominal forms with prenasalized initials, of which all but three are primary nouns. From a purely descriptive point of view the analysis presented here of prenasalized initials is the simplest, though it has been suggested that originally the nasal element belonged to the article assuming the latter derives from a reduced form of the near demonstrative ?uun-, etc. (Zaborski, personal communication). In some instances, however, comparative evidence suggests that the nasal element is part of the noun root: [n]da ‘men’ if this is connected (as a loan?) with Tigrinya ?@nda ‘family, household’; [n]dè ‘mother’ if this is cognate with a widespread Omotic root for ‘mother’, e.g., Zayse indo, Shinasha inda, Yem into, etc.

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In the various examples above, the markers wi-, ?oo-, yi-, ?i-, tuu-, ti-, -oo- and -aa- are all in agreement with their respective head nouns and carry information variously about the gender, number and, case of that noun, though not every one indicates all three categories simultaneously. In addition, the prefixes are all marked for definiteness (contrast yi-?araák ‘your sons’ and ?araák ‘[some] sons of yours’). In addition to gender, number, and case, therefore, the NP may also be indicated for the category + definite. Modifiers show agreement in gender, number and case with their head noun, whether they precede or follow, but if they follow the noun they also show agreement for definiteness. However, if a modifier precedes its noun, the noun cannot carry definite marking. 8 In the NP ?i-baabà wíwi-?oor-ì ‘the boy’s father’ the modifying possessive wi-?oor-ì is marked for definiteness by means of wí- in agreement with the head noun ?i-baabà, but if the sequence of head noun and modifier is reversed the noun cannot be marked for definiteness and thus the modifier does not show agreement for this category: wi-?oor-ì baabà. The only exception to this rule concerns the demonstratives as modifiers, which are obligatorily marked for definiteness whether they precede or follow the noun (see 2.4 below). In discussing NPs, therefore, account will need to be taken of definiteness. Indeed, the otherwise definite marker or “article” is occasionally the only component of an NP that is maximally marked for the categories of gender, number and case. 2.1. Gender, number, and case Because of the close interaction of the marking of these three categories in the NP it is more convenient in the first instance to handle them together rather than separately, though separate statements will need to be made about number marking in nouns and adjectives generally, and about gender marking in non-definite nouns under specific circumstances. Beja nominals exhibit two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural) and two cases (nominative and accusative). In the definite prefix, the suffixed pronoun possessives, and also the demonstrative - 2n ‘this’, these categories of gender, number and case are maximally marked by the following contrasts:

nominative accusative

singular masculine uu oo

feminine t-uu t-oo

plural masculine aa ee

feminine t-aa t-ee

In the definite marker the long vowels are shortened, in the dialect described by Hudson to simply i, when the noun is other than monosyllabic or begins in ? or h. 9 This includes any noun with a pronoun possessive 8. Roper (1929: 17, §61) says this is the less usual sequence. 9. The shortening of the vowel is obligatory in the dialect described by Hudson, and apparently sometimes in that described by Roper (1929: 9–10). According to the older two grammars (Reinisch 1893 and Almkvist 1881), however, vowel shortening appears at best optional. Reinisch, for instance, ascribes shortened vowels to “lazy speech and vulgar narration” (1893: 60, §113).

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suffix: ?uu-gáw ‘the house’ but ?i-gaw-uúk ‘your house’, tuu-kaàm ‘the shecamel’ but ti-kaam-tuúk ‘your she-camel’. The full vowel remains, however, in the pronoun possessive suffixes, as can be seen from these examples, as well as with the demonstrative - 2n: ?aán ?i-gawà ?anií-b-a ‘these houses are mine’, ?eén ?i-gawà ?adaa?ír ‘I built these houses’. The definite marker itself has further variant forms according to whether the noun to which it is attached begins in ? or h, or some other consonant. In the former instance, the masculine singular prefixes w- to the number-case vowel, and the masculine plural prefixes y-. Otherwise, the masculine article begins with the glottal stop ?. Definite marker

nom. acc. nom./acc. nom./acc.

singular masc. fem. ?uutuu?ootoowiti?iti-

plural masc. ?aa?eeyi?i-

context fem. taateetiti-

monosyllabic noun not beginning in ? or h noun beginning in ? or h elsewhere

Gender in animate nouns is natural, with the apparent sole exception of s?à ‘cow’ which is masculine: ?uu-s?à. The assignment of gender among inanimate nouns is entirely arbitrary and is a matter for the lexicon. The feminine gender can, however, be used to indicate a diminutive: lókay ‘thick stick, cudgel’ (masc.), ‘a smaller than usual cudgel’ (fem.) (Roper 1929: 11, §34). 2.1.1. Gender marking on non-definite nouns Gender may be additionally marked on non-definite NPs by means of suffixes added directly to the noun and/or its modifiers. The more widely distributed of these is the feminine marker -t-, which we have already seen incorporated in the forms of the feminine gender-number-case marker: tuu-kaàm ‘the she-camel’, ti-?oór ti-ndawrí ‘the pretty girl’, tuún ti-tákat ‘this woman’, ti-?oo[r]-tuúk ‘your daughter’. 10 In addition to this, -t is also suffixed to any other modifier of a non-definite feminine noun, and to the noun itself provided that it precedes any modifier: ?oó[r]-t ‘a girl’, ?oó[r]-t [n]dawrií-t ‘a pretty girl’, kám-t mhaloò-t ‘two she-camels’, but [n]dawrií-t ?oór and mhaloò-t kám. However, when the modifier is a possessive phrase or a relative (adjectival) clause, the feminine -t is added whether or not the head noun is marked for definiteness and whether or not the head noun precedes or follows: tak-iì-t kaàm ‘a man’s she-camel’, ?i-tak-iì-t kaàm ‘the man’s she-camel’, var. tuu-kaàm tí-?i-tak-iì-t; ?anè rihan-eè-t ?ár ‘girls that I saw’, ti-?ár tí-?anè rihan-eè-t ‘the girls that I saw’. Furthermore, if the possessive noun is itself feminine, the marker -t- is inserted between the noun stem and the possessive suffix: ?oo[r]-t-iì-t [n]dè ‘a girl’s mother’, tuundè tí-ti-?oo[r]-t-iì-t ‘the girl’s mother’ (see 2.2). 10. Regular consonant assimilation rules here produce a surface form [tI?o:tú:k].

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Masculine nouns, on the other hand, are either unmarked or take the suffix -b which has a much more restricted currency than the feminine -t. The former’s distribution resembles in part that of the feminine in that it is added only to non-definite nouns and their modifiers, but only where the noun is (a) in the accusative case 11 and (b) ends in a vowel: had’aà-b rihán ‘I saw a lion’ but kaàm rihán ‘I saw a camel’. Furthermore, if the head noun follows the modifier, then -b is not added: had’aà-b dabaloò-b ?adír ‘I killed a small lion’ but dabalò had’à ?adír, ?ár mhaloò-b rihán ‘I saw two boys’ but mhalò ?ár rihán. Lastly, as can be seen from the example ?oo-yàas wí-?oón ?i-takiì-b rihán ‘I saw this man’s dog’, cited above, -b is also added to a possessive phrase (and also, optionally, to a relative verb) as modifier even though the head noun is definite. 2.1.2. Number marking in nouns and adjectives Nouns and a handful of adjectives may formally mark the distinction between singular and plural in their stems, in addition to any marking indicated in accompanying modifiers. Taking the singular as the base-form, plural marking in nouns involves three morphological devices: (a) suffixation of -à to some consonant-final nouns; (b) shortening of a long vowel in the final syllable of other consonant-final nouns; (c) shift of accent-type in both vowel-final nouns and some consonant-final nouns. Alternatively, there may be no differentiation in form between the singular and the plural: had’à ‘lion(s)’, duúra ‘aunt(s), uncle(s)’, r[i]bà 12 ‘mountain(s), hill(s)’, girmà ‘head(s)’. There are also a handful of irregular noun plural formations: ták : [n]dà ‘man’, tákat : m?à ‘woman’, ?oór : ?ár ‘child’, meék : mák ‘donkey’, boók : bák ‘billy-goat’. Lastly, there are differences between dialects in the choice of which plural formation is selected, though still in accordance with the general principles above. Thus, ?adiir ‘handle, shaft’ forms its plural according to Roper by shortening the vowel in the final syllable, whereas in Hudson’s unpublished dictionary it adds -à. 2.1.2.1. Suffixed -à Reinisch’s grammar and Roper’s vocabulary list also include several examples of nouns ending in the singular -i, which form their plurals by 11. Roper (1929: 12, §43) says that -b “rarely . . . appears also in the nominative,” but this is probably due to the tendency, already noted by Almkvist (1881: 64, §55) and confirmed by Reinisch (1893: 61, §113), to substitute the accusative for the nominative. It is better, therefore, to describe -b as a portmanteau masculine+accusative morpheme, as is confirmed by its appearance under the same formal restrictions as already described in the copular clitic added to masculine nouns, the complement being formalized in the accusative case, as for instance familiar from classical Semitic languages: wi-had’à dabaloó-b-u ‘the lion is small’. Indeed, it also occurs as an accusative marker on first person singular pronouns without any reference to the masculine gender: independent ?aneè-b, verbal suffix -heèb ‘me’, and as an accusative marker on the interrogative pronoun ‘whom?’, again without having specifically masculine reference: ?aa-b. 12. The underlying form is rbà, and the epenthetic vowel i is inserted when the noun is non-definite, i.e., where there is no prefix: ribà ‘hill’ but ?uu-rbà ‘the hill’. Cf. k[i]taàb below.

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means of the suffix -à: daafi : daafiya ‘ford’, lagi : lagiya ‘path, track’, hami : hamiya ‘gall bladder’, luumi : luumiya ‘finger’. singular ?áb bít gáw heélay

plural ?abà bità gawà heelayà

gloss ‘kid’ ‘hawk’ ‘house’ ‘hare’

singular ragád dírim huus sán

plural ragadà dirmà huusà sanà

gloss ‘leg, foot’ ‘herd’ ‘knife worn on the arm’ ‘brother’

2.1.2.2. Vowel shortening (± shift of accent-type) Hudson (1976: 101) suggests that accent-type shift is the norm in this plural formation. singular ginuúf miitaát k[i]taàb

plural ginúf miitát k[i]táb

gloss ‘nose’ ‘bone’ ‘book’

singular kaàm bikkáar yàas

plural kám bikkàr yás

gloss ‘camel’ ‘hut’ ‘dog’

2.1.2.3. Shift of accent-type A few nouns show only a shift of accent-type in the formation of their plurals. Because of differences of notation between Hudson and the older sources, as well as possible differences of dialect, it is not possible to say how frequent this plural formation is. singular [n]dè baabà

plural [n]dé baabá

gloss ‘mother’ ‘father’

singular kwà

plural kwá

gloss ‘sister’

In common with other Cushitic and, indeed, Afroasiatic languages, a small set of nouns, typically those denoting liquids, are construed as plurals: yám ‘water’, ?á ‘milk’, sá ‘urine’, etc., but note also fiìr ‘face’, fì ‘air’, kòr ‘saddle’, which are masculine plurals. Most adjectives, on the other hand, do not have specific plural forms. The only apparent exceptions are wín ‘big’ : wawìn, and dís ‘small’ : dadìs. Reinisch also records di? : daádi? (? = dadì?) with the meaning ‘small’, which is not noted by Roper or Hudson. 2.2. The possessive construction Both Almkvist and, to some extent, Reinisch provide Beja with a set of case-forms in the manner familiar, for instance, from Indo-European linguistics. Roper, however, assigns many of these so-called cases to the addition of “prepositions” (scil. postpositions), but he continues to speak of a genitive case alongside the nominative and accusative. However, as Hudson rightly contends, the “genitive” is itself a derivative form of the accusative case formed by means of what we may call an adjectival or modifier-suffix -i ~ -e. That this “genitive” or possessive form is indeed an accusative can readily be seen from its triggering accusative concord in any modifier: ?oón ?i-tak-ì yàas ‘this man’s dog’, where the demonstrative

Beja Morphology

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?oón is overtly marked as accusative in agreement with the possessive noun ?i-tak-ì; or wi-?oór ?oo-wìn=naa-ì baabà ‘the big boy’s father’, where the modifying adjective wín ‘big’ is overtly marked as accusative by the definite prefix ?oo-, and the possessive suffix follows the whole NP (wi-?oór ?oo-wín) carried by the dummy noun (or “pseudo-noun” in Hudson’s terms) = 1naa- (see below this section). Without a modifier the case of the possessive noun is obscured by the fact that the addition of the possessive suffix converts a monosyllabic noun into a polysyllabic form which naturally requires the shortened form of the definite marker: ?uu-ták ‘the man’ but ?i-tak-ì baabà ‘the man’s father’. The possessive suffix is -i after a singular noun, -e after a plural, and when added to a feminine noun requires the infixation of the feminine gender marker -t- between the noun and the suffix: wi-?oor-ì baabà ‘the boy’s father’, ti-?oo[r]-t-ì baabà ‘the girl’s father’, yi-?ar-è baabà ‘the boys’ father’, ti-?ar-t-è baabà ‘the girls’ father’. A possessive noun or NP (noun + modifier[s]) is itself a modifier and therefore must show agreement with its head noun according to the normal rules for modifiers. Also, like other modifiers, the possessive may either precede or follow the head noun, and in the latter instance must show agreement for the category of definiteness as well as gender, number, and case, where these are overtly markable: 13 wi-?oor-ií-t [n]dè but tuu-ndè tí-wi-?oor-iì-t ‘the boy’s mother’. A feminine head noun triggers the feminine concord suffix -t in all instances: ti-m?aa-t-eè-t kaàm ?eeraá-t-u ‘the women’s she-camel is white’; variant tuu-kaàm tí-ti-m?aa-t-eè-t ?eeraá-t-u. The masculine accusative suffix -b is added only when the possessive follows the head noun in accordance with the rule (see 2.1.1): ?i-baabà ?í-wi?oor-iì-b rihán ‘I saw the boy’s father’, but wi-?oor-ì baabà rihán. As was apparent from the example wi-?oór ?oo-wìn=naa-ì baabà ‘the big boy’s father’ given above, if the possessive noun has a following modifier a further complication arises to the structure of the possessive NP. The possessive suffix is added to the last constituent of the possessive phrase and if this is a modifying adjective the dummy noun = 1naa- 14 must be inserted before the possessive suffix complex (-i, -t-i, -e, -t-e). The addition of this formative does not affect the syllable count of the adjective to which it is added, and ?oo-win in the above example retains the long form of the definite prefix. However, to judge from Hudson’s examples, the dummy noun 13. In effect, formal number agreement between the possessive and the head noun does not occur. Even in the definite, where the potentiality exists for contrastive plural agreement marking, in the dialect described by Hudson this potentiality is neutralized insofar as the singular and plural definite prefixes are identical when added to definite possessives (i.e., masc. ?i- and fem. ti-): ?uu-yàas ?í-wi-?oor-ì ‘the boy’s dog’ and ?aa-yás ?í-wi?oor-ì ‘the boy’s dogs’. For the same reason, overt case agreement cannot occur with feminine head nouns: too-ndè tí-wi-?oor-iì-t rihán ‘I saw the boy’s mother’ as well as wi-?oor-iì-t [n]dè rihán. 14. This formative is clearly derived from the noun nà ‘thing’, which is incidentally also the origin of the interrogative modifier -naa- ‘what, which’ and thus of the interrogative pronoun naán ‘what?’

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does impose its accent on the preceding adjective, and so the symbol = is used here to indicate this kind of loose juncture. So, with the head noun following the possessive: ti-?oór ti-ndawriì=naa-t-ì yáf ‘the pretty girl’s mouth’, ti-?ár ti-ndawriì=naa-t-eé-t kám ‘the pretty girls’ she-camels’, ?oo-ták ?oo-wìn=naa-iì-t mák ‘the big man’s she-donkeys’. It follows that a possessive phrase containing the dummy noun = 1naamay itself follow its head noun as part of a larger possessive phrase, and that the resultant phrase with an embedded possessive will itself have = 1naa- added: ?i-baabà ?í-wi-?oór ?oo-wìn=naa-iì=naa-ì gáw ‘the big boy’s father’s house’. Hudson (1976: 109) suggests that this construction type cannot be generated ad infinitum, and that two occurrences of = 1naa- seem to be the maximum. Lastly, if the possessive noun contains a pronoun possessive suffix (see 2.3.1), in other words if the embedded possessive is a pronoun, then a different construction obtains. The possessive suffix -i, etc., is placed directly after the noun as usual, followed by the markers of gender (feminine -t-), number and case (-uu-, -oo-, -aa-, -ee-) in agreement with the head noun, and lastly the pronoun possessive suffix: ti-?oo[r]-t-ii-uú-k gáw 15 ‘your daughter’s house’, ti-?oo[r]-t-ii-t-aá-k ?ár ‘your daughter’s daughters’. 2.2.1. Postpositions After the possessive form there may be added a number of postpositions giving the NP an adverbial function: ?i-gaw-iì-b ‘in the house’. These are the composites that Almkvist described as additional cases, but inasmuch as the suffixes such as - 1b ‘in’ are clearly added to the possessive with the same rules, for instance, about the insertion of the feminine marker -tand, indeed, the employment of the dummy noun = 1naa- if the phrase to which they are added ends in a modifier, it is clear that they are not case forms. Several postpositions are also directly relatable to nouns: fii?i (Reinisch 1895), - 1fi?iib ‘inside’ from fí? ‘belly’; - 1suur ‘in front of’ from suur ‘front’. The noun or NP stands, therefore, in the same relationship to the postposition as a possessive modifier to its head noun. Postpositions can be grouped into two sub-types according to whether they precede or follow any pronoun possessive suffix (see 2.3.1) that may be added to the NP: ?i-gaw-ii-s-oó-k ‘from your house’, but ?i-gaw-ii-oò-ksuur ‘in front of your house’, where -s- and -suur are the postpositions. The former type comprises a small closed set of suffixes which show some variation according to whether there is a following pronoun suffix or not, or in other words whether the postposition is phrase-final or not: _# -b 1 - t1 -2

_ + pronoun suffix º - 2t-s-

gloss ‘in, about’ ‘like’ ‘from, by, out of’

15. Regular morphophonemic rules require that a glide y is inserted between adjacent vowels, so the surface form is here [ti?o:ti:ju:2k gáw].

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In the ?Amar?ar dialect, described by Reinisch, the last postposition in the table has the form -s when phrase-final, too: ?oó-gaw-ií-s = Arteiga ?igaw-ií ‘from the house’. This is an interesting example of the interchange of s and zero (or h), other instances of which can be found between dialects in the third-person pronouns. 16 2.3. Personal pronouns The maximal differentiation in the personal pronoun system in Beja comprises three persons, singular and plural, and the second and third persons further show differentiation of gender in both numbers. This extended system, however, only occurs in the independent personal pronouns. The dependent pronoun suffixes, both possessive and object suffixes, do not distinguish gender at all. Yet another system occurs in subject person marking in the verb, where gender is distinguished but only in the second and third persons of the singular. The independent personal pronouns, which are optional as subjects and alternatives to the object pronoun suffixes added to verbs, are set out below in their nominative and accusative case forms. The second and third person forms are innovations in terms of Cushitic, being built on a nominal base bar-, to which are added the feminine marker -t-, the number-case suffixes -uu-, -oo-, -aa-, -ee-, and the personal pronoun suffixes of the second person (singular) - 2k and the third person (singular) - 2, as appropriate. The base bar- would appear to be associated with the verb root b-r-y ‘have, possess’, meaning something like ‘possession(s)’ (Bechhaus-Gerst 1985). It is interesting, however, that in the dialect described by Hudson, the forms of which are those given below, the second and third persons of the plural do not have the logically expected plural personal suffixes, but those of the singular presumably because the number-case suffixes (-uu-, -oo-, -aa-, -ee-) already distinguish the plural from the singular. In Roper’s material, the second person may optionally have the plural personal suffixes: bar-aá-kna, ba[r]-t-aá-kna, etc., as may also the third persons plural according to Reinisch.

1 com. 2 masc. 2 fem. 3 masc. 3 fem.

singular nominative ?anè bar-uú-k ba[r]-t-uú-k bar-uú ba[r]-t-uú

accusative ?aneè-b bar-oó-k ba[r]-t-oó-k bar-oó ba[r]-t-oó

plural nominative hinìn bar-aá-k ba[r]-t-aá-k bar-aá ba[r]-t-aá

accusative hinìn bar-eé-k ba[r]-t-eé-k bar-eé ba[r]-t-eé

There is some variation between dialects, not only in the use of plural pronoun suffixes as indicated above, but also, and most importantly for comparative studies, in the third person formatives. Essentially, the third person suffix in the Arteiga and Hadendowa dialects is consonantless and 16. There is a parallel, of course, in Semitic where a sporadic sound change in heavily used morphemes is evident: Arabic huwa = Akkadian su, etc.

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carries the accent - 2- which falls on the preceding vowel. 17 In an older form of Hadendowa and in Bishari, as noted by Reinisch, the suffix was the consonant -h, as still occurs in the third plural possessive suffix in Hudson’s material: - 1hina, and in the form of the third singular before the suffix -ka ‘each’: ?oor-i- 1hi-ka ‘each child of his’. In ?Amar?ar, however, and apparently also optionally in the Halanga dialect, as noted by Roper, the third person suffixes included the consonant - 2s; so, for instance, ?Amar?ar: baruús ‘he’, batuús ‘she’, baraásna ‘they’ (masc.), bataásna ‘they’ (fem.). 18 For details of the variation in third person pronouns in º, h or s, see 2.3.1. Independent possessive pronouns are formed from the second and third person forms above in the usual way by means of the addition of the possessive suffix -ii- / -ee- after the stem bar-, ba[r]t-, as appropriate. The resultant pronoun must agree in gender, number and case with its noun of reference by means of the insertion of (a) the feminine agreement marker -t- after the possessive suffix and (b) the number-case marker (-uu-, -oo-, -aa-, -ee-) before the personal suffix: bar-ii-uú-k ‘yours’ (masc. sg.) referring to a masculine singular noun, but bar-ii-t-uú-k ‘yours’ (masc. sg.) referring to a feminine singular noun; ti-ba[r]t-ii-t-uú-k dawrií-tu ‘yours (fem. sg.) is pretty’ (said of a fem. sg. referent), ?aán ?aa-kám bar-ee-eé-k-a ‘these camels are yours’ (masc. pl.), taán taa-n?áy ba[r]t-ii-t-eé-k-ta ‘these nanny-goats are yours’ (fem. sg.). The independent possessive pronouns of the first person singular and plural are ?anii- and hinee-, respectively: ?uu-gáw ?anií-b-u ‘the house is mine’, taa-kám hineè-t-a ‘the she-camels are ours’. In the Hadendowa dialect ?anii- alternates with ?uunii-, ?oonii-, ?aanii-, ?eenii- where the initial vowel shows number-case concord with the noun of reference (Roper 1929: 26, §89). As with nouns, the independent possessive pronouns also provide the base to which postpositions are added: ?anii- 2 ‘from me’, barii-oò-k-geeb ‘with you’, hineè-dha ‘to us’. 2.3.1. Dependent personal pronouns (possessive and object suffixes) There are two sets of dependent personal pronoun suffixes, one used predominantly in combination with the usual gender, number, and case suffixes to form the suffixed possessive pronoun added to nouns: ?i-gaw-uú-n ‘our house’, and the other used predominantly as an object pronoun suffixed to verbs: ?uu-yaàs tamyà-hoon ‘the dog bit us’. However, each set has other functions: the “possessive” suffixes are added to certain verb forms: dirt-oó-k ‘I’ll kill you’, ?anè rihanyee-uú-k ‘if I see you’, ?ikteen-uú-k tákka ‘everyone who knows you’, where in effect the verb form is in one way or another nominalized. In addition, the “object” suffixes in the function of the possessive are added to nouns with the postposition -t- ‘like’: wi-?oorií-t-hook ‘like your son’, in contrast, for example, to wi-?oor-ii-s-oó-k ‘from your son’ with the postposition º/-s-. 17. That is, the morpheme string bar-uu- 2 > baruú. 18. The first person forms also differ in some dialects: ?Amar?ar ?aní[i] (sg.), hanán, hanín, hinín (pl.).

Beja Morphology

sg.

pl.

1 com. 2 com. 3 com. 1 com. 2 com. 3 com.

possessive -1 - 2k -2 - 2n - 2kna -h 1 ina

459

object -heèba -hook º -hoon -hookna º

a. Reinisch (1893: 109, §174) says that in ?Amar?ar the final b is often dropped and the vowel shortened to give -he. It has already been suggested above that the b is the (erstwhile masculine) accusative case marker, and thus -hè may be regarded as the “original” form of the first person singular object suffix.

There are again differences between dialects especially in the form of the third person suffixes:

?Amar?ar/ Halanga Bishari Hadendowa Arteiga

possessive singular - 2s

plural - 2sna

object singular -hoos

plural -hoosna

- 2h -2 -2

- 2hna - 2 / - 2hna -h 1 ina

-[h]ooh º º

-[h]oohna º º

With regard to verbs ending in an object suffix pronoun of the first person, singular or plural, or the second person singular, an unusual feature of Beja is that a gender marker referring to the addressee may optionally be added (masc. -a, fem. -i), which means, of course, that there can be a differentiation of gender in the second singular: rihán-hook-a ‘I saw you’ (said to a man), rihán-hook-i ‘I saw you’ (said to a woman). Similarly, under the same two circumstances ‘he saw me’ would be rihya-heèb-a and rihya-heèbi. Reinisch (1893: 103, §168) indicates that these suffixes may also be optionally added to a noun with a second singular possessive pronoun suffix. The possessive pronoun suffixes are not added to the noun stem directly, but are preceded by the usual gender, number and case markers appropriate to the noun. Additionally, the definite marker is usually required at the front of the noun complex: ?i-san-uú-k ‘your brother’, ti-kwaa-t-uú-n ‘our sister’, yi-?ar-aá ‘his/her sons’, ti-kam-t-eé-kna rihán ‘I saw your (pl.) she-camels’. A noun + possessive pronoun complex without a prefixed definite marker can occur with an indefinite sense: kaam-uú-k ‘a camel of yours’, and such forms are common when the noun is the predicate of a sentence with the copular suffix: ?anè kwaa-t-oó-k-tu ‘I am your sister’, baruú kaam-oó-k-u ‘he is your camel’ (Roper 1929: 31, §104). Also, the following kinship nouns are regularly used without the definite prefix: baabà (baab-) ‘father’, [n]dè ([n]dee-t-) ‘mother’, duúra (duur-, duuraa-t-) ‘aunt, uncle’, hoobà ‘grandfather’ and hoot- ‘grandmother’: baab-oó-k rihán ‘I saw your father’, [n]dee-t-uú-k keetà ‘where is your mother?’. In Arteiga the only difference in form between the first singular and the third singular possessive suffixes is one of accent-type. The former is

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marked by the underlying accent - 1 alone (a “penultimate” or “falling” accent in Hudson’s terms, which is a regressive accent realized in this form by phonetic high pitch on the syllable preceding the location of the accent), 19 and the latter by - 2 alone, which is realized by phonetic high pitch on the syllable where the accent is located. These rules would generate the following contrasting forms: ?i-gaw-uù = *[?Igáwu:] ‘my house’ and ?i-gawuú = [?Igawú:] ‘his/her house’. However, a second phonological rule shortens a final unaccented long vowel, so presumably ?i-gaw-uù = [?IgáwU]. Unfortunately, Hudson’s material that is available to me does not contain any example of a noun with a first singular possessive suffix. However, Roper’s material appears to confirm this insofar as the first singular possessive suffix added to a singular noun is there given as short -i or -u: ika ¤mi kEa = ?ikaamì keeyà ‘where is my camel?’, since in both Arteiga and Hadendowa there is phonemically only one short close vowel which is realized as [I] or [U] according both to sub-dialect and linguistic environment. With a plural noun, however, Roper’s data suggest that the final vowel (now -aa [nom.], -ee [acc.]) is not shortened before the first singular suffix. In the dialect described by Reinisch, of course, there is more than just a difference of accent-type between the first singular and the third singular possessive suffixes, since the latter all contain the consonant -s: ba ¤bu = [bá:bu:] ‘my father’, babu ¤s = [ba:bú:s] ‘his father’ (note that the unaccented final long vowel is not shortened here.) 2.4. Demonstratives Beja has two degrees of demonstrative, near and far. Whether independent or used as modifiers, these are marked for gender, number and case. If accompanied by a modifying demonstrative, the noun must also have the definite prefix, whether it follows or precedes. The near demonstrative is built on the base - 2n which is preceded by the usual gender, number and case markers. The far demonstrative is constructed on a base b-, to which are suffixed markers of gender, number and case which differ somewhat from those seen elsewhere in the morphology of nominals. Demonstratives near ‘this, these’ nom. acc.

singular masc. ?uún ?oón

fem. tuún toón

plural masc. ?aán ?eén

fem. taán teén

far ‘that, those’ nom. acc.

singular masc. beén beéb

fem. beét beét

plural masc. baliín baliíb

fem. baliít baliít

19. A “penultimate” or “falling” accent can have other realizations on monosyllables (see Hudson 1976: 100–101).

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Examples: ?oón rihán ‘I saw this one’, ?uún ?uu-ták ?aáb-u ‘who is this man?’, toón ti-takat-t-ì yàas ‘this woman’s dog’, ?eén ?i-gawaa-eè-b ‘in these houses’, baliín ?aa-kám [n]daayiì-b-a ‘those camels are good ones’, ?anè ti?oór beét ?ank[a]híin ‘I love that girl’. 3. Verbs The verb in Beja, as in all Cushitic languages, is morphologically the most complex part of the language. As mentioned in section 1 of this essay, verbs may be maximally marked for the following categories: person of the subject, tense-mood-aspect (TMA), polarity (affirmative-negative), subordination (main-clause forms versus forms occurring in certain kinds of embedded and linked or concatenated clause), modality (declarative versus interrogative), transitivity or valency (i.e., derived stems such as causative, collaborative, passive, reflexive), and intensivity (with four kinds of iterative and “plural” action forms). There are also several regularly generated non-finite forms (an infinitive and up to five participles). The full paradigm of the finite verb includes a number of compound forms comprising, for example, a participle and parts of the irregular verb k-y ‘be’, or the form called by Hudson the “permissive” and the irregular verb y-d-y ‘say’. For reasons of space, such compound tenses will only be mentioned in passing here. As with other parts of the morphology, there are apparent differences between dialects both in form and usage, but as before the following description will focus on the Arteiga dialect. All verbs fall into one of two fundamental classes according to how the morphological categories listed above are realized. The most striking difference between the two classes, but not the only one, is that in one class most categories (e.g., person, TMA, valency) are denoted by suffixes, while the other employs prefixes for person and valency, and, in part at least, internal stem modification for TMA. Following the nomenclature adopted by Reinisch, Roper and more recently Hudson, the former class may be called “weak verbs” and the latter “strong verbs.” These correspond to what are often called in Cushitic linguistics “suffix-inflecting” and “prefixinflecting” verbs, though the difference between the two classes does not lie solely in the use of suffixes as against prefixes. Both classes, for instance, mark the negative by prefixes, and both classes construct their participial forms by means of suffixes. Reinisch (1893: 178, §308) remarks that a few verbs can be inflected either as a strong or a weak verb. Roper, for instance, records law- ‘burn, cauterize, brand’ 20 as a weak verb as well as strong l-w ‘burn’. The strong verbs can be further sub-divided into three classes according to whether the root comprises two consonants, three full consonants, or three consonants the last of which is underlyingly the glide y, which is usually either vocalized as i or lost altogether in the surface forms. 20. Unless this is meant for loow-, which is the intensive derivation of l-w, glossed by Hudson as ‘keep on burning’.

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Examples of different verb classes are as follows (in the Imperative masculine): I weak

II strong 2-cons. III strong 3-cons. IV strong 3-cons.-y

tam-àa ‘eat’, gwa?-àa ‘drink’, rih-àa ‘see’, ?ad’-àa ‘tremble’, nuun-àa ‘hand over’, doob-àa ‘marry’, suum-àa ‘enter’, raat-àa ‘ask’, kileew-àa ‘guard, take prisoner’, etc. liw-à ‘burn (tr.)’, rib-à ‘refuse’, dir-à ‘kill’, bis-à ‘bury’, min-à ‘shave’, díf-a ‘go away’, etc. dibìl-a ‘collect’, kwibìs-a ‘hide, cover’, kitìm-a ‘arrive’, finìk-a ‘bite’, kitìb-a ‘write’, dilìb-a ‘buy’, etc. digiì-a ‘bring back’, sifiì-a ‘drink milk’, miriì-a ‘find’, firiì-a ‘produce offspring, give birth’, etc.

While almost all verbs can be classified according to these root-types, there are a great many irregularities of inflection especially among the strong verbs. Roper, for instance, lists over 30 “strong irregular and defective verbs,” and this aside from small variations in vocalization, as for example in 3-consonantal verbs, one of whose consonants is h, which tends to induce the vowel a where i occurs in regular verbs of this sub-class. Hudson (1976: 101–2) also remarks that roots may have different accentual patterns, as exemplified by the forms ti-rib- 1a ‘you refused’ and ti-díf-a ‘you went away’, where both roots are strong 2-consonantal, but r-b has no inherent accent and d-f has inherent accent - 2- which overrides the accent generated by the suffix - 1a. Unfortunately his subsequent sets of paradigms only show one pattern, and the data in his unpublished dictionary contain no indication of accent. 3.1. Voice (valency and intensivity) Among the morphological categories listed above marked by the verb was valency or transitivity, which covers stem derivation in the form of causatives, passives, reciprocals, etc. (e.g., tam-s- ‘feed’ from tam- ‘eat’, raat-am‘be asked’ from raat-), and intensivity, which also modifies the meaning of the basic verbal root by specifying the action as repeated, hurried, or performed in a slow and careful way. The subtleties of meaning that can be expressed by the various types of intensive are numerous, and unfortunately are not fully explored in the various grammars (see Zaborski 1996). Nonetheless, all four intensive patterns may be described as having in some way a frequentative function. Examples are tam-tam- ‘gobble, eat hastily’, ta-tam- ‘eat slowly’ (both from tam- ‘eat’), hiraareer- ‘stroll leisurely’ from hireer- ‘walk’, didib- ‘demolish, pull down completely’ from dib- ‘fall’. The four formal types of intensive are: reduplication of the whole root (weak or strong): tam- > tam-tam-, k-t-m > kitim-kitmII reduplication of one consonant of the root (weak or strong): tam- > ta-tam-, d-b-l > dd-b-l / db-b-l

I

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III insertion of an underlying long vowel (strong only): 21 IV

d-b-l > daab-l but -VVdb-l in some tense-stems (but with different vocalization from the base stem) a combination of types II and III (weak or strong): hireer- > hiraareer-, k-t-m > -kaatat-m, etc.

The third pattern is an especially interesting type of intensive, both from a descriptive and a comparative point of view, insofar as it involves the insertion of a long vowel within the root: ?a-daabìl ‘I collected several times’ from d-b-l (?a-dbìl ‘I collected’), it is not only reminiscent, for instance, of the Arabic 3rd form qaatala, but it has also been suggested may be related to the imperfective stem formation in several archaic Semitic and Cushitic languages (see Zaborski 1996). Additionally, the same form ?a-daabìl can mean ‘I collected several things’, and therefore this pattern is normally used when a transitive verb has a plural object: ?oo-ták ?i-dir- 1na ‘they killed the man’, but ?ee-ndà ?i-daar- n 1 a ‘they killed the men’; gid-à ‘throw (it)’ but geed-à / good-à 22 ‘throw (them all)’ (Roper 1929: 68, §211). There are several verbs which use a derived form as their base form, particularly the third intensive pattern, with long vowel insertion (type III): ?aar- 1a ‘nourish’, baay- 1a ‘go’, saaw- 1a ‘increase, repeat’, maasiw- 1a ‘hear’, baad’in- 1a ‘forget’ (the forms given are the Imperative masculine, since the internal vowel is not constant but varies according to tense: cf. naat teebiy- 1a ‘where are you going?’, ?-eemsíw-hook ‘I hear you’). Other strong verbs use as their base form what is elsewhere a reflexive pattern: ?-eet-?íim ‘I ride’ (root ?-m), ?-eet-gíim ‘I am ignorant, do not know’ (root g-m), ?-eestíi? ‘I sit’ (root s-?). Since the third intensive pattern in particular combines with the derivational processes marking valency in such a way that it is impossible to separate out the marker of intensivity from those of valency (the derived stems) and, indeed, the various TMA stems, it will be more convenient to discuss the forms as they occur together. For the same reason, when describing the derived stems of strong verbs, which de facto show TMA stem variation, a range of stem shapes according not only to root sub-class (2cons., 3-cons., 3-cons.-y), but also TMA will need to be taken into consideration. However, for clarity’s sake, in the sub-sections that follow just the past-tense stem will be given, and the full range of stem shapes will be postponed until the discussion of TMA. 3.1.1. Causative The causative marker in all verb-classes contains the consonant s, as a suffix (-is after root final s) on weak verbs, and as a prefix on strong verbs. In the latter instance, the prefix is either unvocalized or has different patterns of vocalization according to verb-class. If the root contains any of the 21. Hudson (1976: 118) says that intensives of this kind built on 2-cons. roots are always weak, though Roper (1929: 68, §211) indicates that there are some verbs which remain strong. The 2-cons. verb roots in intensive pattern (iii) usually have oo and not aa as the underlying long vowel. 22. Hudson’s dictionary has good- and not geed- as the intensive of g-d ‘throw’.

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consonants d’, t’ or s, the causative marker is s, prefixed or suffixed as appropriate. non-intensive I. weak

II. strong 2-cons. III. strong 3-cons. IV. strong 3-cons.-y intensive (type III) II. strong 2-cons. III. strong 3-cons. IV. strong 3-cons.-y

tam-s- ‘feed’, ?ibaab-s- ‘send on a journey’, ?as-is‘make shut’, hamasee-s- ‘blind’, kad’aw-s- ‘jingle, rattle’ (tr.) ?oos-is- ‘make urinate’, rih-is- ‘make see, show’ -soo-dir- ‘make kill’, -soo-liw- ‘make burn’, -soo-bis‘cause to bury’, -soo-d’if- ‘cause to dye, tan’ -s-dabil- ‘cause to collect’, -s-katim- ‘cause to arrive’, -s-sabib- ‘let look at’, -s-rasid- ‘cause to tend cattle’ -s-dag- ‘make bring back’, -s-rakw- ‘make fear’, -s-sagw- ‘make do wrong’, -s-d’am- ‘make stink’ -s-daar- ‘make kill many’ -s-maasiw- ‘let hear’ -s-daag- ‘make bring back many’

The simple causative typically adds one extra participant to the verbal process, i.e., transitivizes an intransitive (?ibaab-án ‘I went on a journey’ > baroó ?ibaab-s-án ‘I sent him on a journey’), or adds a secondary agent (mhalagaa- b 1 ti-dbil- 1a ‘you collected [some] money’ > ?araaw-oón mhalagaa- b 1 ti-s-dabil- a 1 ‘you made a friend of ours collect [some] money’). The transitivization process may be reiterated by repeating the causative formative s, in other words to produce a double causative, such as is found in other Cushitic languages. Weak verbs add -iis- to the causative, producing a composite suffix -[i]siis- etc., and strong verbs prefix -si- to their causative forms. I. weak II. strong 2-cons. III. strong 3-cons. IV. strong 3-cons.-y

tam-siis- ‘cause to feed’, hamasee-siis- ‘cause to blind’ -sisoo-bis- ‘see that someone has something buried’, -sisoo-d’if- ‘see that someone has something dyed’ -sis-dabil- ‘see that someone has something collected, see that someone makes someone collect something’ -sis-dag- ‘see that someone makes someone bring something back’

3.1.2. Passive In Beja, as in many other Cushitic languages, the formative of the passive may also have reflexive function: raat-am-eèn can mean both ‘they were asked’ and ‘they asked themselves’. However, in Beja weak verbs and strong verbs employ different formatives in these two functions. Weak verbs use -am- in both senses, as in the example just cited. Strong verbs employ prefixes containing t- in these functions, one to mark the passive (?i-too-miin- n 1 a ‘they are being shaved’, ?i-too-maan- 1na ‘they have been shaved’), and another that patterns in quite a different way (including not

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surfacing in certain tenses) to mark the reflexive (?-eet-miin- 1na ‘they shave themselves’ but ?i-man- 1na ‘they shaved themselves’). While weak verbs do not make active use of the verbal extension in t-, 23 strong verbs do use an extension in m-, but with collaborative or reciprocal function: ?i-moomaan- 1na ‘they shaved one another, they shaved someone together’ (see 3.1.3). Lastly, the suffix -am- added to adjectival bases may form translatives, though some adjective verbs “be, become X” are also expressed by base forms: hamasee- ‘be, become blind’, 24 gab- ‘be rich, satisfied’. Just as am- may form weak translative verbs from adjectives, so the strong reflexive is used with others: -?adar ‘be, become red’, -hadal ‘be black’, -girab ‘be lame’. passive and reflexive I. weak

passive II. strong 2-cons.

III. stong 3-cons.

IV. strong 3-cons.-y reflexive II. strong 2-cons.

III. strong 3-cons. IV. strong 3-cons.-y

tam-am- ‘be eaten’, raat-am- ‘be asked, ask oneself’, hug-am- ‘be ground’, reeh-am- 25 ‘rest oneself, be made at ease’, fid’-am- ‘blow one’s nose’, ?eegrimam- ‘turn gray’ -too-maan- ‘be shaved’, -too-daar- ‘be killed’, -toosaak- ‘be hunted’, -too-baas- ‘be buried’, -t’oo-d’aaf‘be dyed, tanned’ (see n. 27) -t-kataab- ‘be written’ -t-faraak- ‘be dug’, -t-dabaal‘be collected’, 26 -s-t’-agwaad’- ‘be washed’, 27 -t-ka-aan- ‘be loved’ -t-dagaay- ‘be brought back’, -t-faraay- ‘be born’, -t-habaay- ‘be forbidden, prevented’ -man- ‘shave oneself’, -faf- ‘boil over’, -law- ‘burn oneself’, -sar- ‘stay awake, keep oneself awake’, -sa?‘sit (down)’ -gnaf- ‘kneel down’, -skat- ‘choke oneself’, -sbab‘look at oneself’, -mkar- ‘take advice, be advised’ -dge- ‘return’ (intr.), -hme- ‘cover oneself’

In those tenses of the strong reflexive where the -t- formative appears (e.g., present), the usual rules about transposition after a root initial s or s apply: ?i-sá? ‘he sat down’ but ?-eestíi? ‘he sits down’, ti-skat- 1a ‘you choked yourself’ but ti-stakiit- 1a ‘you are choking yourself’. 23. Some examples of -t- added to weak verbs as a fossilized suffix are cited by Reinisch (1893: 181, §320): kwalii-t- ‘sing to oneself’, hamii-t- ‘be distressed, troubled’, meloo-t‘burst into tears’, etc. 24. Reinisch (1893: 180), however, has hamasay-im- ‘become blind’. 25. Thus in Hudson’s dictionary, but rEih-am- (= re[e]yh-am-) in Roper. 26. Phonological rules dictate the assimilation of the -t to the d-: ?i-t-dabáal ‘it was collected’ = [?Iddabá:l]. 27. The root here is s-gw-d’. Morphophonemic rules require the transposition of -t- and a root initial s or s; furthermore, phonological rules dictate the change of t to t’ in roots containing d’; cf. -t’oo-d’aaf- earlier in the table.

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3.1.3. Reciprocal-collaborative In weak verbs the function of the reciprocal-collaborative is marked by the suffix -sam-, presumably a combination of the causative -s- and the reflexive-passive -am-. In strong verbs the same functions are marked by means of a prefix containing the consonant m. While the meaning of the reciprocal is usually ‘do something to one another’ or ‘do something together’ when the subject is necessarily plural, with a singular subject such derived forms often mean ‘help to do something’: baróo ti-moo-daar-heèb ‘she helped me kill him’. According to Roper, in the m- form of strong intensives (type III), where the basic meaning is expressed by the intensive and not the underived stem, the meaning may be passive: ?i-mee-bd’aan- 1na ‘they were forgotten’ from ?i-baad’in- 1na ‘they forgot’. Hudson (1976: 119) suggests that the passive use of m- forms may be restricted to Bishari and Halanga. Indeed, all Reinisch’s examples of this derivative are glossed as ‘help to . . .’ or ‘. . . together’: -mee-fyaad- ‘mitlachen’, -mee-bd’aan- ‘mitvergessen’. Lastly, both Reinisch and Roper say that m- forms of the intensive type II have only reciprocal function: -moo-gagaad- ‘throw at one another’ (root g-d), -moo-raraab- ‘hate one another’ (root r-b), -m-fafyaad- ‘laugh at one another’ (root f-y-d), -m-kaktaab- ‘write to one another’ (root k-t-b), -m-kakhaan- ‘love one another’ (root k-h-n). I. weak II. strong 2-cons.

III. strong 3-cons. IV. strong 3-cons.-y

tam-sam- ‘eat one another, eat together’, d’aabsam- ‘run together’, ?adum-sam- ‘speak with one another’, yak-sam- ‘rise up against one another’ -moo-gaad- ‘throw at one another’, -moo-daar- ‘kill one another’, -moo-baas- ‘help to bury, bury someone together’, -moo-taab- ‘help to fill’, -moo-maan- ‘shave one another’ -m-dalaab- ‘help to buy, buy something together’, -m-ragaag- ‘help to drive away’ -m-dagaay- ‘help to bring back’, etc.

reciprocal intensive (type III) II. strong 2-cons. -mee-niiy- ‘be milked’ III. strong 3-cons. -mee-bd’aan- ‘be forgotten’ IV. strong 3-cons.-y -mee-swaay- ‘help to mix’ 3.1.4. Other derived stems The derived stems discussed above (simple causative, double causative, passive, reflexive, and reciprocal-collaborative), together with the associated intensive stems of type III, are the principal patterns that occur. Other combined derivations are mentioned, especially by Reinisch: -am-s- causative of translative verbs: ?eegrim-am-s- ‘cause to turn grey’; -[a]m-am- passive in distinction from -am- reflexive: rayy-im-am- ‘be won’ (rayy-im- ‘win for oneself’); -am-s-is- causative of transitivized reflexives or statives in -am-: bal-am-s-is- ‘have something dried’, etc.

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3.2. Person marking Most finite parts of the verb distinguish eight personal forms: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons, singular and plural, with a distinction of gender (masculine and feminine) in the 2nd and 3rd singular only. Two finite forms, the Imperative and the Future (= Reinisch’s “jussive” and Roper’s “potential”), have reduced personal inventories. 28 Gender distinction in the 2nd singular is marked in final position by the addressee or “allocutive” gender suffixes, - 1a (masc.), - 1i (feminine) (see 2.3.1), at least underlyingly. There is essentially no difference in person markers between strong and weak verbs, with the main exception that strong 3-cons. (including 3-cons.-y) verbs have zero-prefixes in the 2nd and 3rd singular of the present tense. There is, of course, a certain degree of fusion of person markers, most notably as suffixes in weak verbs, with the stems to which they are added. Thus, in the 2nd sg. masc. Preterite tamtaà ‘you ate’ the underlying morpheme string is tam-t-aa- a 1 , where the gender suffix - 1a fuses with the TMA vowel -aa-; or in the 3rd sg. masc. negative Present (Hudson‘s “Free Negative”) kiìlíw ‘he doesn’t burn’ the morpheme string is kí-[?]i-líw, where the person prefix ?i- fuses with the negative prefix kí- to give kiì-. In weak verbs the second element of discontinuous personal morphemes (2 masc., 2 fem., 2 pl., and 3 pl.) follows the morpheme of TMA, while in strong verbs it follows the verb stem: ti-tam-t-eè-na ‘you eat’ but teebis - n 1 a ‘you bury’. 1 2 masc. 2 fem. 3 masc. 3 fem.

singular ?a-, -ºti-, º-,a -t- + - a 1 ti-, º-, -t- + - 1i ?i-, º-, -yti-, º-, -t-

plural ni-, -nti-, -t- + - n 1 a ?i-, -y- + - 1n(a)

a. Zero in the present affirmative of strong verbs classes III (3-cons.) and IV (3-cons.-y).

This is, of course, the familiar ? : n : t : y “block pattern” seen in other Cushitic and Afroasiatic languages. 3.3. Tense-mood-aspect In the following section the full range of finite (Hudson’s “concordial”) forms, affirmative and negative, are described. These are the forms that can be subsumed under the heading of Tense-Mood-Aspect (TMA) forms. In Beja there is a considerable amount of skewing between functionally corresponding affirmative and negative forms: the TMA form in ká-tamán ‘I don’t eat’ (i.e., Present tense) is identical to the affirmative tamán ‘I ate’ (i.e., Past tense), while to express the affirmative Past a compound of participle and auxiliary is employed: tamaa- 2b kaàkè, lit., ‘I am not one who has eaten’. For reasons of clarity, therefore, negative forms will be cited 28. Neither of these forms really belongs to the same inflection system as the other finite tenses, and the Future is better treated as a participial form (see 3.4.1).

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together with their corresponding affirmatives, and the category of polarity will not be discussed separately. The most important feature of the morphology of the negative verb that needs mentioning separately is that the negative marker in independent (i.e., non-bound, non-dependent) verbs is ká- (weak), kí- (strong), but in bound forms and in the Imperative is bi- or baa- according to the stemshape class to which it is added (for details, see the tables below). Derived stems inflect for person in the same way as base forms: ?-eedbil- 1na ‘they collect’ and ?i-t-dabiil- 1na ‘they are being collected’, both with the third plural prefix-suffix combination of strong verbs ?i- + - 1na. The deletion of the i vowel of the prefix before the vowel-initial stem eedbíl- (and the suppression of the accent of the stem by that of the suffix - 1na) are entirely predictable. In the following, it will therefore be necessary to supply full paradigms for the base forms, and only the range of stem-shapes for derived forms. In accordance with Hudson’s analysis, a maximum of seven stem-shapes is needed to cover both finite and nonfinite forms of the strong verb (Hudson’s names of the tenses have been changed in keeping with the terminology used here.) Weak verb stems are, of course, invariable. The third column in the following table gives as an illustration the stem-shapes of basic 3-cons. verbs (e.g., d-b-l ‘collect’). Not all stem-types differentiate seven separate stem-shapes, as is evident from the illustration. stem-shape forms class I Past, Present negative, Imperative II Past Participle, Present Participle, Bound Participle, Future III Aorista IV Optative, Permissive V Present plural VI Imperative negative, negative participles, Bound Negative (including Optative negative) VII Present singular

sample -dbildibl-iidbil-iidbil-eedbil-dabiil-danbiil-

a. The aorist tense Reinisch calls “plusquamperfect,” Roper “conditional,” and Hudson “past” (what he calls “preterite” I have here called past). Hudson’s glosses indicate a tense referring variously to a remote or anterior past event, a continuous or on-going past event, or a doubtful event, while in Roper the same form seems to be used mainly in the apodosis of unreal conditions. Almkvist’s informants were apparently unfamiliar with such a tense, though Almkvist notes that Munzinger had recorded a “plusquamperfekt” (Almkvist 1881: 136, §182).

The range of stem-shapes for the basic strong verbs is therefore: I II. 2-cons. -bisIII. 3-cons. -dbilIV. 3-cons.-y -dgii-

II bisdibldigy-

III -iibis-iidbil-diig-

IV -iibis-iidbil-daag-

V -eebis-eedbil-deeg-

VI -biis-dabiil-dagii-

VII -nbiis-danbiil-dangii-

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In weak verbs, the marker of TMA follows the person marker (or the first element thereof in the case of discontinuous markers). In the case of the Past affirmative / Present negative and the Aorist the TMA markers are recognizable as -a[a]- and -i[i]-, respectively. However, in the Present affirmative there are two distinct TMA markers which vary according to number: -ni[i]- in the singular, but -ay / -ee- in the plural. These markers do not seem to have any obvious relationship with the corresponding stem-shapes of strong verbs, except that there, too, in the Present affirmative an n appears in the singular, infixed in stem-types III and IV, prefixed in type II, and a long ee in the plural, prefixed or infixed, but in different locations from the singular n (prefixed in stem-types II and III, and infixed in type IV).

Present affirmative I. weak 1 sg. tam-ání 2 sg. m. tam-tinii- a 1 2 sg. f. tam-tinii- 1 3 sg. m. tam-íiní 3 sg. f. tam-tíní 1 pl. tam-này 2 pl. tam-teèna 3 pl. tam-eèn

II. 2-cons. ?a-nbíis ti-nbiis- a 1 ti-nbiis- i1 ?i-nbíis ti-nbíis n-eebís t-eebis- n 1 a ?-eebis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. ?a-danbíil danbiil- a 1 danbiil - i1 danbíil danbíil n-eedbíl t-eedbil- n 1 a ?-eedbil- n 1 a

IV. 3-cons.-y ?a-dangì dangii- a 1 dangii- 1 dangì dangì ni-dèeg ti-deeg- n 1 a ?i-deeg- n 1 a

Present negative I. weak 1 sg. ká-tam-án 2 sg. m. ká-tam-taa- 1 2 sg. f. ká-tam-taa- i1 3 sg. m. ká-tam-yà 3 sg. f. ká-tam-tà 1 pl. ká-tam-nà 2 pl. ká-tam-taàna 3 pl. ká-tam-yaàn

II. 2-cons. k-aà-bís kí-t-bis- a 1 kí-t-bis- 1i k-iì-bís kí-t-bís kí-n-bís kí-t-bis- n 1 a k-iì-bis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. k-aà-dbíl kí-t-dbil- a 1 kí-t-dbil- i1 k-iì-dbíl kí-t-dbíl kí-n-dbíl kí-t-dbil- n 1 a k-iì-dbil- n 1 a

IV. 3-cons.-y k-aà-dgì kí-t-dgii- a 1 kí-t-dgii- 1 k-iì-dgì kí-t-dgì kí-n-dgì kí-t-dgii- n 1 a k-iì-dgii- n 1 a

Past affirmative I. weak 1 sg. tam-án 2 sg. m. tam-taa- 1 2 sg. f. tam-taa- i1 3 sg. m. tam-yà 3 sg. f. tam-tà 1 pl. tam-nà 2 pl. tam-taàna 3 pl. tam-yaàn

II. 2-cons. ?a-bís ti-bis- a 1 ti-bis- i1 ?i-bís ti-bís ni-bís ti-bis- n 1 a ?i-bis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. ?a-dbíl ti-dbil- a 1 ti-dbil- i1 ?i-dbíl ti-dbíl ni-dbíl ti-dbil- n 1 a ?i-dbil- n 1 a

IV. 3-cons.-y ?a-dgì ti-dgii- 1a ti-dgii- 1 ?i-dgì ti-dgì ni-dgì ti-dgii- n 1 a ?i-dgiil- n 1 a

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Past negative The Past negative is a compound of the Past participle in the accusative case with either the masculine concord suffix -b or the feminine -t, as appropriate, and the negative Present of the irregular verb k-y ‘be’: 1 2 masc. 2 fem. 3 masc. 3 fem.

singular kaàkè kíttà = {kí-t-kaa- a 1 } kíttaày = {kí-t-kaa- i1 } kiìkè kíttè = {kí-t-kè}

plural kínkè kítteèna = {kí-t-kee- n 1 a} kiìkeèn

Examples: tamaa- 2b kaàkè ‘I (masc.) didn’t eat, haven’t eaten’, tamaa- 2t kíttaày ‘you (fem.) didn’t eat, haven’t eaten’, diblaa- 2b kínkè ‘we (masc.) didn’t collect’, bisaa- 2t kiìkeèn ‘they (fem.) didn’t bury’, etc. Aorist 1 sg. 2 sg. m. 2 sg. f. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

I. weak tam-ì tam-tii- a 1 tam-tii- 1 tam-ì tam-tì tam-nì tam-tiìna tam-iìn

II. 2-cons. ?-iibís t-iibis- a 1 t-iibis- i1 ?-iibís t-iibís n-iibís t-iibis- n 1 a ?-iibis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. ?-iidbíl t-iidbil- 1a t-iidbil- 1i ?-iidbíl t-iidbíl n-iidbíl t-iidbil- n 1 a ?-iidbil- n 1 a

IV. 3-cons.-y ?a-dìig, ?i-dìig ti-diig- a 1 ti-diig- i1 ?i-dìig ti-dìig ni-dìig ti-diig- n 1 a ?i-diig- n 1 a

The Aorist has no corresponding negative form. Optative affirmative The Optative is formed from the Aorist in weak verbs, and in strong verbs from stem-shape IV (identical to the Aorist except in 3-cons.-y verbs) by means of the prefix bá- (variant baà-). 1 sg. 2 sg. m. 2 sg. f. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

I. weak bá-tam-ì bá-tam-tii- a 1 bà-tam-tii- 1 bá-tam-ì bá-tam-tì bá-tam-nì bá-tam-tiìna bá-tam-iìn

II. 2-cons. bá-?-iibís bá-t-iibis- a 1 bá-t-iibis- i1 bá-?-iibís bá-t-iibís bá-n-iibís bá-t-iibis- n 1 a bá-?-iibis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. bá-?-iidbíl bá-t-iidbil- a 1 bá-t-iidbil- i1 bá-?-iidbíl bá-t-iidbíl bá-n-iidbíl bá-t-iidbil- n 1 a bá-?-iidbil- n 1 a

IV. 3-cons.-y bá-?a-dàag bá-ti-daag- a 1 bá-ti-daag- i1 bá-?i-dàag bá-ti-dàag bá-ni-dàag bá-ti-daag- n 1 a bá-?i-daag- n 1 a

Optative negative The form that functions as the optative negative (b-ii-tam-áy ‘don’t let him eat’) is also used in embedded clauses, and may be dependent on an auxiliary. For this reason, Hudson calls the form the “bound negative” (stemshape VI in strong verbs). As with other bound or dependent negatives, the negative marker is b[i]- and incorporates personal marking, which

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means that unlike other tenses the person morpheme prefixes precede the verb stem in weak as well as strong verbs, and the suffixed discontinuous elements of person marking are placed in final position. However, weak verbs differ from strong in that the former have the added element -áyfollowing the verb stem: b-ii-tam-ay- n 1 a ‘don’t let them eat’ (morpheme string {bi+i+tam+áy+1na} = neg + person + verb stem + áy + personcont, but b-ii-dabiil- 1na ‘don’t let them collect’.

1 sg. 2 sg. m. 2 sg. f. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

I. weak b-aa-tam-áy bi-t-tam-ay- a 1 bi-t-tam-ay- 1 b-ii-tam-áy bi-t-tam-áy bi-n-tam-áy bi-t-tam-ay- n 1 a b-ii-tam-ay- n 1 a

II. 2-cons. b-aa-bíis bi-t-biis- a 1 bi-t-biis- i1 b-ii-bíis bi-t-bíis bi-n-bíis bi-t-biis- n 1 a b-ii-biis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. b-aa-dabíil bi-t-dabiil- a 1 bi-t-dabiil- i1 b-ii-dabíil bi-t-dabíil bi-n-dabíil bi-t-dabiil- n 1 a b-ii-dabiil- n 1 a

IV. 3-cons.-y b-aa-dagì bi-t-dagii- a 1 bi-t-dagii- 1 b-ii-dagì bi-t-dagì bi-n-dagì bi-t-dagii- n 1 a b-ii-dagii- n 1 a

Permissive The Permissive, which is not fully recognized by Roper, inasmuch as it is identical to the Aorist (his “conditional”) in all but verbs of stem-type IV (3-cons.-y), is used only in dependent position with a following auxiliary. For example, while the present tense form may also be used to refer to future time: lháyt ?ibaab-ání ‘tomorrow I shall set off’, to express an intended action in future time, or a deliberate future, a compound tense of the first singular or plural of the Permissive followed by the appropriate person of the Present of the irregular verb y-d-y ‘say’ is used: ?ibaabì ?a-ndì ‘I will go, I mean to go’, ?-iibís ?i-ndì ‘he shall bury (it), he means to bury (it)’, tamì / tamnì ?-eeyad- 1na ‘they shall eat (it), they mean to eat (it)’. The underlying meaning of the compound is thus something like ‘X says, “let me/us . . .”’. Hudson also records an extension of the Permissive with the suffix ày-, which according to Reinisch is inserted before the second person gender markers: (weak) tam-ii-ày, tam-t-ii-ay- 1a, tam-t-ii-ay- 1i, tam-ii-ày, tam-t-iiày, etc., (strong) ?-iibis-ày, t-iibis-ay- 1a, t-iibis-ay- i1 , ?-iibis-ày, t-iibis-ày, etc. Hudson calls this form the “volitional,” and its negative is also formed by the addition of -ày-, but to the Bound Negative, i.e., the Optative negative: b-aa-tam-ay-ày, b-aa-biis-ày, etc. He further remarks that other “voluntative” forms can be built on the Aorist by means of the suffix -aán-, or on the Imperative by means of - n 1 -, though he gives no further details. Imperative The Imperative occurs only in the second persons, and has no person 1 a. Weak markers, only gender-number markers: masc. - a 1 , fem. - i1 , pl. - n verbs insert an underlying vowel -a- between the stem and the ending, which fuses with the latter.

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I. weak 2 sg. m. tam-àa 2 sg. f. tam-ìi 3 pl. tam-aa- n 1 a

II. 2-cons. bis-à bis-ì bis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. dibil- 1a dibil- i1 dibil- 1na

IV. 3-cons.-y digii- a 1 digii- 1 digii- n 1 a

As in most Cushitic languages, the verb ‘come’ (Beja irregular yi?[e]-) has an imperative built on quite a different stem: m?-àa, m?-ìi or m?-ày, m?-aa- n 1 a. Imperative Negative The Imperative negative, which is built on a different stem-shape from the affirmative, prefixes b[i]- followed by a long vowel (-áa- masc. and pl., -íifem.). As with its affirmative counterpart, weak verbs insert underlying -abetween the stem and the ending, though with a different result in the feminine. I. weak 2 sg. m. b-áa-tam-aa- 1 2 sg. f. b-íi-tam-a- y 1 3 pl. b-áa-tam-aa- n 1 a

II. 2-cons. b-áa-biis-à b-íi-biis-ì b-áa-biis- n 1 a

III. 3-cons. b-áa-dabiil- a 1 b-íi-dabiil- i1 b-áa-dabiil- 1na

IV. 3-cons.-y b-áa-dagii- a 1 b-íi-dagii- 1 b-áa-dagii- n 1 a

3.3.1. TMA and stem-shapes in strong derived stems The tables on p. 473 list the stem-shapes of the various derived stems (basic intensive III and non-intensive derived). For further details the reader is referred to Hudson (1974 and 1976). It can readily be seen that there is a certain amount of commonality between derived forms: stems V, VI, and VIII are identical in derived stems formed by a straightforward prefix (causative, passive, reciprocal); in the passive and reciprocal, but not in the causative, stem II prefixes ?a- in addition to the derivational prefix; the vocalization of each of the derivational prefixes is identical within the various stem-shape classes. In the case of the intensive III, each stem in each type of strong verb maintains a long vowel either within the consonantal frame, or immediately preceding it. 3.4. Verbs in subordinate (embedded) clauses A verb in an embedded clause may be either a non-finite participle or a finite tense-form. In the latter instance, the form used in embedded clauses is not always identical to that of main-clauses, but may require modification and/or the addition of the general embedding suffix -e, as well, of course, as any specific marker of the particular type of subordination: compare ?oo-ták rih-yà ‘he saw the man’ with ?oo-ták rih-yan-eé-k ‘if he saw the man’, where the addition of the embedding suffix -e necessitates the form of the past rih-yan- here, 29 and - 2k is the subordinating postposition ‘if’. 29. The forms of the weak Past, for instance, before the embedding suffix -e are as follows (Roper 1929: 45, §141). If these are compared with the independent past, it will be seen that the principal difference is the addition of a linking -n- to vowel-final forms: sg. 1 tam-anpl. 1 tam-naan2 tam-taan2 tam-taan3 masc. tam-yan3 tam-yaan3 fem. tam-tan-

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Intensive (type III): Internal long vowel stem-shape 2-cons. 3-cons. I -daar-daabilII daardaablIII -iidir-iidbalIV -iidir-iidbalV -eedir-eedbilVI -daar-daabiilVII -eedir-eedbil-

3-cons.-y -daagdaag-iidgii-iidga-eedgi-daagi-eedgi-

Causative: s- prefix stem-shape 2-cons. I -soo-bisII soo-bisIII -suu-bisIV -suu-bisV -soo-biisVI -soo-biisVII -soo-biis-

3-cons. -s-dabilsi-dabl-s-dibil-s-dibil-s-dabiil-s-dabiil-s-dabiil-

3-cons.-y -s-dagsi-dag-s-dig-s-digas-dagi-s-dagi-s-dagi-

Passive: t- prefix stem-shape 2-cons. I -too-baasII ?atoo-baasIII -tuu-bisIV -tuu-bisV -too-biisVI -too-biisVII -too-biis-

3-cons. -t-dabaal?at-dab[aa]l-t-dibil-t-dibil-t-dabiil-t-dabiil-t-dabiil-

3-cons.-y -t-dagaay?at-dagaay-/-?at-dagi-t-dig-t-diga-t-dagi-t-dagi-t-dagi-

Reflexive: t- ~ º- prefix stem-shape 2-cons. I -basII basIII -iit-bis IV -iit-bisV -eet-biisVI -baasVII -eet-biis-

3-cons. -dbaldibal-t-dibil-t-dibil-t-dabiil-dbaal-t-dabiil-

3-cons.-y -dgedige-t-dig-t-diga-t-dagi-dgaay-t-dagi-

Reciprocal: m- prefix stem-shape 2-cons. I -moo-baasII ?amoo-baasIII -muu-bisIV -muu-bisV -moo-biisVI -moo-biisVII -moo-biis-

3-cons. -m-dabaal?am-dab[aa]l-m-dibil-m-dibil-m-dabiil-m-dabiil-m-dabiil-

3-cons.-y -m-dagaay?am-dagaay-/-?am-dagi-m-dig-m-diga-m-dagi-m-dagi-m-dagi-

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Not all subordinating suffixes, however, require the insertion of embedding -e: ?oo-ták rih-an-àayt ‘after I saw the man’ (see Hudson 1976: 126 for details). The embedding suffix -e is clearly related to the possessive marker added to nouns, which is also -e in the plural, and which embeds one NP within another. It effectively nominalizes a finite verb form insofar as a verb so marked acts as a modifier, may be marked for gender and definiteness, and moreover expresses pronominal objects by means of possessive (i.e., adnominal) rather than object suffixes: tí-raat-any-ee-t-oók ‘what (fem.) I am asking you’. In adjectival (i.e., relative) clauses, the embedding suffix -e is only added when the head noun is not identical with the subject of the embedded clause. Thus, there is a formal difference between subject relatives (i.e., where the head noun = the subject of the clause) and oblique relatives (where it does not), a feature that is found in some other Cushitic languages (e.g., Agaw): ?uu-ták wí-riha-an-è giig-yà ‘the man whom I saw has gone away’, but ?uu-ták too-sà tam-íiní hargwií-t ?i-baarì ‘the man who is eating the meat is hungry’ (lit., ‘has hunger’). Furthermore, as modifiers, relative verbs must also carry the appropriate agreement markers for gender-number-case, and also in certain circumstances definiteness, in concord with their head noun. The rules for the addition of these to relative verbs are generally the same as for other modifiers (2.1.1): ?oo-ták wí-?ee-yaà-b rih-án ‘I saw the man who came‘, ti-tákat tí-rihan-eè-t ?ee-tà ‘the woman whom I saw has come’. The embedded clause functions as an indivisible unit and therefore the prefixed definite marker, where it occurs, is added to the front of the whole clause (here underlined): ?uu-ták wí-?anè rih-any-e ?i-san-ì kiìkè ‘the man whom I see is not my brother’, tuutákat tí-baruúk rih-tiny-eè-t ti-kwaa-t-í kíttè ‘the woman whom you see is not my sister’. The only fundamental difference is that the definite marker, according to Roper, may be omitted when the relative clause contains an object or an adverbial phrase which would come between the prefixed definite marker and the verb itself (Roper 1929: 90, §291): see ?uu-ták toosà tam-íiní hargwií-t ?i-baarì, above. The embedding suffix -e is also required in adverbial subordinate clauses before certain postpositions: - 2k ‘if’, - b 1 ‘since’, - h 1 an ‘although’, -h 1 oob ‘when’, -tày ‘because’, etc., but not others: - 2[ii]t (added to the Aorist), -àayt (added to the Past), -àat (added to the Present or the Aorist), all meaning ‘after, when, and then’, and -[aa]yt meaning ‘since, because’. For example, rih-any-ee-oók-hoob yak-ání ‘when I see you I’ll get up’ but rih-an-àayt-hook yak-án ‘after I saw you I got up’. These examples also illustrate the differing placement of object pronoun suffixes: for instance, the temporal suffixes -àayt, -àat, - 2[ii]t precede any object pronoun, whereas -aayt ‘because’, -hoob ‘when’ follow the object pronoun. Hudson (1976: 126) also notes that with some of the subordinating postpositions the form of the object pronoun suffix is also different: rih-any-ee-uúk-han ‘although I see you’.

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3.5. Non-finite forms of the verb The Beja verb includes a number of non-finite, or non-concordial forms, generally called participles and verbal nouns. The participles are always in some way dependent either on another verb or the copula, or in the case of the past participle on an underlying nominal (‘the one who . . .’). By definition, these do not mark person, though under specific circumstances and in certain construction types they may have added suffixes that mark gender and/or number in agreement with their subject. The various participles are:

present ptc.

formative -èe

past ptc.

-aá

bound ptc.

-eetì (weak) -tií (strong) baa- + -ày (weak) baa- (strong)

negative ptc.a

gloss tam-èe ‘(while) eating’, dibl-èe ‘(while) collecting’ tam-aá ‘having eaten, one who has eaten’, dibl-aá ‘having collected,’ etc. tam-eetì ‘X ate and . . .’ dibil-tií ‘X collected and . . .’ baa-tam-ày ‘not eating’ baa-dabiíl ‘not collecting’

a. Hudson notes two forms of the bound participle differentiated solely by accent: an adjectival form baa-tam-ày and an adverbial baà-tam-ày (Hudson 1976: 116).

3.5.1. “Future” / “Potential” in -át The tense called by Hudson “future” has a restricted distribution, being found only in the first singular, and in all three second persons. It is further unusual in that the second person forms are only used as interrogatives, and not as declaratives. Roper, who calls the form “potential,” agrees with this latter point but also includes first plural, and third person forms in his paradigm (Roper 1929: 82, §264). These are, however, clearly compounds of the simple form and the irregular verb yi?[e]- ‘come’: saa- 2t tamát yi?-iíní ‘he may eat meat’, weer-át ?ee-này ‘we can/will do it’ (in response to a question). Hudson includes the “future” under his discussion of finite or “concordial” forms, yet it seems that Roper’s analysis of the form as essentially a non-finite participle is more accurate. First, the inflection of the “future” does not include person markers; only the gender-number markers associated with the second persons (masc. -a, fem -i, pl. -na) are added to second person forms. Second, the stem-shape upon which the “future” is built is otherwise only used for non-finite participles. 3.5.2. Verbal nouns In addition to the participles, the Beja verb also regularly forms two verbal nouns, an action noun and an agent noun. The agent noun is formed by means of the suffix -ána added to the verb stem. It normally indicates a person who habitually performs the action of the verb, and as such, according to Roper, it is added to the intensive type

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III stem of strong verbs: tam-ána ‘one who eats, a good trencherman’, ?ibaab-ána ‘traveller’, but boos-ána ‘one who buries, a grave digger’ from the intensive derivative boos- of b-s, daab[i]l-ána ‘one who collects, collector’ from d-b-l (intensive stem-shape II). Reinisch, however, cites various examples built on the non-intensive stem: dir-ána ‘murderer’, d’if-ána ‘dyer’, soo-d[i]f-ána ‘ferryman’ (soo-dif- ‘cross over’). The action noun of weak verbs is formed by means of the suffix -ti: tam-ti ‘eating, the act of eating’, tam-am-ti ‘being eaten’. Strong verbs form their action nouns in a variety of ways: 2-cons. verbs generally insert the long vowel aa between the two radicals: daar ‘killing, the act of killing’, baas ‘burying’, d’aaf ‘dying, tanning’, etc. 3-cons. verbs, on the other hand, insert the long vowel uu between the second and third radicals: dibuúl ‘collecting’, kituúm ‘arrival’, kihuún ‘loving’, etc. Reinisch also notes “abstract nouns” derived from verb roots by means of the suffix -a, feminine in gender, unlike the preceding verbal nouns which are masculine: dir-a ‘killing, murder’, fir-a ‘flight’. Derived stems of strong verbs form their action nouns by means of the suffix -ooy: maasw-ooy ‘hearing’, ?at-maasw-ooy ‘being heard’, soo-dir-ooy ‘causing to kill’, ?atoo-daar-ooy ‘being killed’, etc. (Reinisch 1893: 173, §301). 3.6. The copula and the verb ‘to be’ In addition to possessing a number of irregular verbs with the meaning ‘be’ (k-y, h-y, ?-f-y), Beja also has a specific copular clitic. This is used in sentences that are affirmative, present tense, and not embedded. Elsewhere a full verb is used. For example, ti-kwaa-toó-k=tu ‘she is your sister’, but tikwaa-toó-k kittè ‘she is not your sister’, [n]dawrií-t tiiktì ‘she used to be pretty’, [n]dawrií-t tikatiieék ‘if she is pretty’. The copular clitic is not strictly speaking a verb, inasmuch as it does not mark person in the same way as a true verb. It does, however, mark gender and number in agreement with its subject when the predicate to which it is suffixed is a nominal: an NP, an adjective, or a relative clause. When the copular clitic is added to an adverbial it is largely invariable for gender and number, except where its subject is a second person pronoun. Hudson calls these two forms of the copula the “variable” and the “invariable copula,” respectively. The variable copula is built around the morphemes -u (singular) and -a (plural), to which is prefixed the feminine marker -t-, as appropriate. In addition, when the subject is in the second person, the gender-number suffixes associated with that person are also added. The form of the variable copula is therefore underlyingly identical to that of the nominative of the definite marker prefixed to nouns, allowing for the shortening of an unaccented long vowel in final position. The copular clitic links with its complement, which is in the accusative case, in a looser form of juncture than most other suffixes. It causes a preceding short vowel to be lengthened as do suffixes proper, and belongs to the same accent-unit as its complement, but it is not counted as a syllable of the complement insofar as determining the selection of the correct form of the definite prefix: too-ndeé=tu ‘she is the (i.e., his/her/their) mother’,

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but ti-ndee-toók=tu ‘she is your mother’, where the article too- > ti- in the latter example because of the addition of the true suffix -toók, and not because of the copula =tu. This is similar to the juncture before the dummy noun =naa- in complex possessive structures, and so the juncture symbol = is used here, too (see 2.2).

Variable copula 1 masc. 1 fem. 2 masc. 2 fem. 3 masc. 3 fem.

singular =u =tu =w-a =tuu-i =u =tu

plural =a =ta =aa-na =taa-na =a =ta

The invariable copular clitic is also built on the base morpheme -u, but marks neither gender nor number, except that with a second person subject the usual gender-number clitics may be added. 3.7. Modality: Question forms of the verb Simple yes-no questions are marked in Beja by a special form of the verb. Either the suffix -han may be added to the verb, tam-yà-han ‘did he eat it?’ or there is a change in the accent pattern of the verb, tam-yaá ‘did he eat it?’ In the latter instance, an accent is added to the last vowel of the verb base (i.e., not including any object pronoun suffix). The accent is usually the high level - 2; however, if the base ends in a 2nd person marker (- a 1 , - i1 ) the accent is underlying - 1 (i.e., a regressive high level accent). Examples: ?i-krif- n 1 a-hook ‘they met you’ > ?i-krif-naa- 2-hook ‘did they meet you?’; tamtinii- a 1 ‘you eat it’ > tam-tinii-a- 1 ‘do you eat it?’ (i.e., surface [tamtI 2ni:ja] and [tamtIní:ja], respectively)

4. Further reading The most comprehensive published grammars of Beja are Reinisch (1893) and Roper (1929), the latter written with a more practical rather than descriptive object in mind. Hudson’s descriptions (1974) and (1976), the latter being a slightly amplified version of the former, are concise and linguistically rigorous, but are not so comprehensive. Morin’s grammatical sketch (1995) is also very useful. Hudson also published several articles (1973a, 1973b, 1973c) dealing with specific questions of the analysis of his Beja data. In recent years, Beja has also figured in a number of scholarly articles (especially Voigt 1988a, 1988b; and Zaborski 1975, 1988, 1989, 1996, 1997), particularly from the viewpoint of the relationship between Beja and the other Cushitic languages.

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References Almkvist, H. 1881 Die Bischari-Sprache Tu BeÎawie in Nordost-Afrika, beschreibend und vergleichend dargestellt. Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsalensis. Serie Tertiae 11. Uppsala: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften. Appleyard, David 2004 Beja as a Cushitic Language. Pp. 175–94 in Egyptian and Semito-Hamitic (Afro-Asiatic Studies in Memoriam W. Vycichl), ed. Gábor Takács. Leiden: Brill. Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne 1985 “Du bist, was du hast”—Zur Entstehung neuer Personalpronomen im Tu Bedawie (Beja). Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere: Schriftenreie des Kölner Instituts für Afrikanistik 1: 125–29. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., ed. 2005 Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th ed. Dallas, TX: SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/. Hetzron, Robert 1980 The Limits of Cushitic. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 2: 7–126. Hudson, R. A. 1973a Syllables, moras and accents in Beja. Journal of Linguistics 9: 53–63. 1973b An “item-and-paradigm” approach to Beja syntax and morphology. Foundations of Language 9: 504–48. 1973c Complex symbols dominating branching structures in Beja. Folia Orientalia 14: 37–51. 1974 A Structural Sketch of Beja. African Language Studies 15: 111–42. 1976 Beja. Pp. 97–132 in The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia, ed. M. Lionel Bender. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. Morin, Didier 1995 Présentation du Béja. Pp. 19–61 in Des paroles douces comme la soie: Introduction aux contes dans l’aire couchitique. Société d'Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France 352. Langues et Cultures Africaines 19. Paris: Peeters. Reinisch, Leo 1893–94 Die BeÎauye-Sprache in Nordost-Afrika I–IV. Sitzungsberichte der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Philosophisch-historische Classe 128. Vienna: in Kommission bei Alfred Hölder. 1895 Wörterbuch der BeÎauye-Sprache. Vienna: in Kommission bei Alfred Hölder. Roper, E. M. 1929 Tu BeÎawie: An Elementary Handbook for the Use of Sudan Government Officials. Hertford: S. Austin. Voigt, Rainer M. 1988a Zur Bildung des Präsens im BeÎauye. Pp. 379–407 in Cushitic-Omotic. Papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Languages. Cologne, January 6–9, 1986, ed. Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst and Fritz Serzisko. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.

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1988b Einige Überlegungen zum “Aspektsystem” des BeÎauye. Pp. 471–81 in Fucus: A Semitic/Afrasian Gathering in Remembrance of Albert Ehrman, ed. Y. A. Arbeitman. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Zaborski, Andrzej 1975 The Verb in Cushitic. Studies in Hamito-Semitic 1. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego 397. Prace Jezykoznawcze, Zeszyt 48. Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. 1988 Remarks on the Verb in Beja. Pp. 491–98 in Fucus: A Semitic/Afrasian Gathering in Remembrance of Albert Ehrman, ed. Y. A. Arbeitman. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1989 Denominal Suffix Conjugations in Beja. Pp. 409–18 in Studia Semitica Necnon Iranica Rudolpho Macuch Septuagenario ab Amicis et Discipulis Dedicata, ed. Maria Macuch, Christa Müller-Kessler, and Bert G. Fragner. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1996 Intensive Verbs and the Present in Cushitic. Pp. 133–42 in Cushitic and Omotic Languages. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium. Berlin, March 17–19, 1994, ed. C. Griefenow-Mewis and Rainer M. Voigt. Cologne: R. Köppe. 1997 Problems of the Beja Present Seven Years Later. Lingua Posnanensis 32: 145–53.

Chapter 21

Bilin Morphology David L. Appleyard SOAS, University of London

1. Introduction—the Bilin Language Bilin (from the self-name for the language b@lin) 1 is spoken in Eritrea and is the northernmost of the Agaw (or Central Cushitic) family of languages, the other members of which are spoken entirely in Ethiopia. This small family of languages comprises four distinct branches which may be identified by and named after the four principal languages: Bilin, Khamtanga, Kemant (Kemanteney) and Awngi. Agaw is in turn one of the branches of the Cushitic macro-family, itself part of the larger phylum generally called Afroasiatic. All of the Agaw languages have for some time been under pressure from one or more of the dominant Semitic languages of the region, Tigre and Tigrinya in the case of Bilin, and all show the pervasive influence of their dominant neighbours. This is mostly typified by the varying extent of borrowed vocabulary, but is also apparent at other levels of linguistic structure. For instance, in Bilin the phoneme sometimes transcribed as /q/ is realized as a glottalized velar [k’]. This realization is in contrast to a uvular stop [q], which comparative evidence would suggest to be the nature of the proto-phoneme, and which still occurs in Awngi (cf. Bilin [k’af], Awngi [qap] ‘bark’). 2 At the level of morphology, the presence of a set of pronoun object suffixes added to verbs is also blatantly of Ethiopian Semitic (in fact Tigre) origin; not only is a category of pronoun object suffixes absent from the other Agaw languages, but also the forms of the Bilin suffixes are themselves overtly Tigre. However, the interaction between the Agaw languages and Ethiopian Semitic has not been simply one-way. The importance of the Agaw languages to the historical and comparative linguist lies not only in their representing a distinct and clearly defined branch of the Cushitic macro-family, but also in the evident fact that Agaw forms the most important substratum of Ethiopian Semitic; the development of modern Ethiopian Semitic from the ancient stage that may be represented by Ge‘ez (Ethiopic) can only be understood by reference to structures, especially morphological and syntactic, found in the Agaw languages. The number of Bilin speakers is today estimated at around 100,000 in the region traditionally known as Bogos in and around the Eritrean town of Kärän. There are also small but significant expatriate communities living 1. Also called b@lina gab or ‘language of the Bilin’; the ethnonym is b@lina (sg.), b@lin (pl). In the Roman orthography now in use this is spelled Blin. 2. In some instances, the voiced uvular stop ƒ = [G] in Awngi corresponds to Bilin initial q = [k’]: Bilin k’ir : Awngi ƒar ‘night’; Bilin k’ wixw : Awngi ƒuƒ wà ‘he ate’.

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abroad, notably in Scandinavia and Germany. Aside from a late 19th century Gospel of Mark, a Bilin catechism dating from the middle of the 20th century (Woldeyohannes Habtemariam 1950), and collections of Bilin texts published in scholarly works (see especially Reinisch 1883, and Conti Rossini 1907), Bilin remained an essentially unwritten language until the close of the 20th century. Bilin speakers living outside Eritrea have more recently been instrumental in producing Bilin language materials, including a monolingual dictionary and a short grammar (see especially Hamde and Zeremariam 1992; Alibekit 1992), and now that the Eritrean government has begun introducing school instruction in Bilin, at least at the primary level, the publication of language materials is progressing. Unlike earlier sources, including the recent dictionary and grammar published outside Eritrea which use the Ethiopian script for writing the language, the Eritrean government has adopted the policy of writing Bilin in an adapted Roman script. In the description of Bilin morphology that follows, however, the usual Ethiopianist system of transcription is used with some slight modification. 3 There are two dialects of Bilin associated with the division of the people into two groups with supposed different historical origins, the Tä?ak’ w@r (or Tak’ w@r) and the Tärk’ek’ w@r, more usually called Senhit today. The two dialects are mutually intelligible, and differ mostly in details of vocabulary. There is, however, some slight morphological variation between the two dialects, most notably the simplification of the three conjugation patterns of verbs to one in Tä?ak’ w@r. Like all the Agaw languages, Bilin has an extremely complex morphology. Nominals show inflection for gender, number and case, the last in a seven-term system, while verbs have an exceptionally rich morphology, inflecting not only for person and tense-mood-aspect, but also having separate affirmative and negative inflections, a host of subordinate “tenses” formally distinct from main-clause forms, including different paradigms for relative verbs according to whether the subject of the latter is identical to the head noun of the clause or not. In addition to all of these, verbs also have a developed system of stem derivation marking such categories as passive, causative, reciprocal, etc. Indeed, it has been estimated that a single lexical verb in Bilin has a potential scatter, in theory at least, of over 10,000 forms (Palmer 1957: 131). 4 It is usually possible to identify an ordered 3. This differs from IPA in the following details: @ for [ˆ], ä for [@], s for [S], c’ for [tS ’], j for [dZ]. 4. Palmer’s analyses of the Bilin noun and verb (1958 and 1957, respectively) include what he calls varying prominence patterns, i.e., varying patterns of accent placement, which contribute to the number of paradigms. There does, however, seem to be considerable variation in accent placement between Palmer’s data and Reinisch’s, and again between what I have been able to observe. It is also evident that accent placement is subject to the effect of sentence rhythm patterns (Lamberti and Tonelli 1997: 82). Therefore, in this brief description of Bilin morphology stress-accent has not been marked. Occasionally, Palmer indicates that accent placement distinguishes otherwise identical verbal forms, and requires the setting up of contrasting nominal inflection paradigms or “declensions,” distinctions that have therefore been excluded from the description here.

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string of inflectional categories for a given form; for example, the morpheme string in a verb form such as k’ wal@stägdänäx@r ‘you who are not seen’ may be roughly categorized as [‘see’ + passive + imperfect + negative + 2 pl + subject relative]. However, it would be wrong to say that Bilin is an agglutinating language in the sense that, say, Turkish is. In this example, the negative marker (actually imperfect aspect + negative) -ägfalls in the position immediately after the verb stem (lexical base + any derivational extension, here passive -@st-), whereas in the corresponding main clause form, k’ wal@st@dänni ‘you are not seen’, the negative marker (here -ni, by assimilation from -li) follows the person marker -dän-. Additionally, the person marker in this instance is also marked for aspect, and the negative marker shows variation according to person (see section 3.5). Further evidence that Bilin is not a straightforward agglutinating language can be seen by contrasting the following two forms: g@rwäs ‘the man’ (object case) and ?@xwinät ‘the woman’ (object case), where in the former -s marks both object case and masculine gender, while in the latter -t marks both object case and feminine gender in nouns. Bilin, therefore, like the other Agaw languages (and indeed Cushitic languages), is also partly an inflecting language, in which there is not necessarily a one-to-one relationship between a morphological category and the morpheme. 2. Nominals To the class of nominals in Bilin, identifiable morphologically by shared sets of markers for case and, to some extent, gender and number, belong nouns, adjectives and pronouns. For Bilin, as with the other Agaw languages, it is descriptively more appropriate to treat gender and number as a single category inasmuch as only three features are marked in all nominals: masculine, feminine, and plural—g@d@n ‘dog’, g@d@ni ‘bitch’, g@s@n ‘dogs, bitches’; bähär, bähäri, bähäl@l ‘big’ (masc., fem., pl., respectively); ni ‘he’, n@ri ‘she’, naw ‘they’. This contrasts with the situation in the neighbouring Semitic languages, Tigre and Tigrinya, where gender and number may be regarded as separate (though interlocking) categories in that the masculine-feminine distinction is maintained in the plural. The threefeature system in Bilin is evident not only in its morphology, but also its syntax, by the concord between nouns and adjectives, and between noun subjects and verbs: g@rwa k@xin ‘a clever man’, ?@xwina k@xini ‘a clever woman’, g@r@w k@kin ‘clever men’, ?@kwin k@kin ‘clever women’; g@rwa ?@nt@xw ‘a man came’, ?@xwina ?@nt@ti ‘a woman came’, g@r@w ?@nt@n@xw ‘men came’, ?@kwin ?@nt@n@xw ‘women came’. 2.1. Nouns Nouns inflect for case and gender-number. While from a structural point of view, as we have seen, gender and number form a single category, because the formal marking of masculine and feminine, on the one hand, and of the plural, on the other, are largely unconnected, it is simpler to describe the two processes (gender and number) separately. Secondly, not all nouns formally mark all three values, even where this would be semanti-

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cally feasible. Thus, in the instance of gender, jäma is both (masc.) ‘brotherin-law’ and (fem.) ‘sister-in-law’, d@xna is both ‘old man’ and ‘old woman’, s@kma (masc.) is ‘barley’ and s@kma (fem.) is ‘a grain of barley’. On the other hand, some nouns have no separate plural form (e.g., ?äddam ‘person, man’, gwangwi ‘thunder’, ?ärämu ‘weeds’), and others are treated as plurals but have no singular (e.g., ¿ak’ w ‘water’, s@l@x ‘beer’). In such cases as these a feminine is distinguished from a masculine, for example, both in its casemarking and in its concord patterns: y@ jämäs k’ wal@xwlu ‘he saw my brother-in-law’ but y@ jämät k’ wal@xwla ‘he saw my sister-in-law’. 2.1.1. Masculine-feminine In Bilin the masculine may be considered the default gender. Nouns are generally masculine unless they denote females, or belong to a small number of specialized categories such as diminutives or what may be called singulatives. 5 Feminine nouns may be primary or derived from masculine nouns. Examples of primary feminine nouns lexically unrelated to their masculine counterparts are gäna ‘mother’, ?ank’i ‘girl’, l@wi ‘cow’, ?@xwina ‘woman’, taxri ‘aunt’ (FaSi), ?@k’ wi ‘wife’, s@rgwi ‘bride’. Feminine nouns may be derived from a masculine counterpart by a specific suffix, the commonest of which is -i (g@d@˜i ‘bitch’, g@d@˜ ‘dog’; ?ab@ni ‘female guest’, ?ab@n ‘male guest’; k’afi ‘piece of bark’, k’af ‘bark’; but ?ara ‘grain of corn’, ?ar ‘corn’ and ¿ak’ wa ‘drop of water’, ¿ak’ w ‘water’), or by an internal change (?@k’ wra ‘daughter’, ?@xwra ‘son’), or by a combination of these (sani ‘sister’, dan ‘brother’). However, it is not by any means possible to say that the suffixes -i and -a are exclusively signs of the feminine gender. A large number of masculine nouns end in -a: g@rwa ‘man’, ?@xwra ‘son’, gänjina ‘slave’, k@rma ‘neck’, bira ‘ox’, wäräba ‘river, etc. Similarly, there are masculine nouns that end in -i, at least in the citation form: wändi ‘relatives’, lank’i ‘tongue’, ?@rkwi ‘tooth’, kamfi ‘wing’. This -i, however, is demonstrably an epenthetic vowel: all masculine nouns ending in -i have stems ending in two consonants, which are not permitted word-finally in Bilin; the epenthetic vowel appears word-internally as @; feminine nouns ending in -i, on the other hand, maintain this vowel throughout their oblique case forms: y@ tänit k’ wal@xwla ‘he saw my grandmother’ (täni), but y@ wänd@s k’ wal@xwlom ‘he saw my relatives’ (wändi). The suffix -i is therefore a true feminine formative. Other feminine nouns are indistinguishable from their masculine counterpart in the citation form (siwana ‘female beggar’, s@kma ‘grain of barley’, b@kwana ‘little cloud’), but are identifiable as feminine only by certain case forms and by their concord. As can be seen from these examples, the feminine gender is not exclusively sex-related. As in many other languages of the Eritrean-Ethiopian region, the feminine gender is used to denote a diminutive. 5. Some singulatives in the true sense, as found elsewhere in Cushitic, do exist in Bilin as a productive pattern (d@mmura ‘one cat, a single cat’ as against generic d@mmu ‘cats’ and plural d@mmut ‘several cats’). See below, under 2.1.2.1. Also included here as “singulatives” are instances such as k’afi ‘piece of bark’ as against k’af ‘bark’, or s@kma (fem.) ‘grain of barley’ as against s@kma (masc.) ‘barley’.

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2.1.2. Singular-plural The formation of noun plurals in Bilin is very heterogeneous. The plural of any given noun cannot be predicted from its singular form, and as such noun plurals are a matter for the lexicon. Noun plural formation may involve any of four devices: suffix addition, suffix deletion, internal stem modification, or partial stem reduplication. In terms of these devices, six classes or types of noun plural formation can be identified, several of which may be further divided into sub-types according to whether more than one of the above devices is involved. Class A. Internal modification (consonantal ablaut) alone One of the distinctive features of the morphologies of the Agaw languages within the Cushitic macro-family is the use of consonant alternation or consonant “ablaut” as a morphological device. In Bilin and the languages most closely related to it (Khamtanga, Kemanteney, but not Awngi), consonant alternation is used mostly in the morphology of the noun. Bilin, in turn, has the largest number of alternations or ablaut sets: b-f

d-t d-s d-s r-t l-t r-l

j-s

g-k x-k

gw-kw xw-kw

x-k’

xw-k’ w

w-kw

In Bilin noun plural formation consonant ablaut may occur either on the penultimate or the final consonant of the stem, or occasionally on both: singular ?ab@n gwäd@gw ?@x@r gäräb läxän

plural ?af@n gwäs@kw ?@k@l gäräf läkän

gloss ‘guest, stranger’ ‘belly’ ‘father’ ‘bush’ ‘wound’

singular kid@˜ gär dan mas@r s@mar

plural kis@˜ gäl san mas@t s@mat

gloss ‘field’ ‘calf’ ‘brother’ ‘sickle’ ‘tail’

Class B. Suffix deletion alone: -a : º One of the commonest patterns of noun plural formation devices in Bilin involves the deletion of the final vowel -a of the singular, either without any further change, or in combination with penultimate or final stem consonant ablaut. If the resulting stem ends in two consonants, then the epenthetic final vowel -i is added. singular b@kwana ?ämära g@rwa wända sinsa

plural b@kwan ?ämär g@r@w wändi sinsi

gloss ‘cloud’ ‘year’ ‘man’ ‘relative, relation’ ‘fly’

singular fädäna gaba f@nt’ira l@x@nja ?@wänta

plural fädän gab f@nt’ir l@x@nji ?@wänti

gloss ‘seed’ ‘word’ ‘goat’ ‘weevil’ ‘donor’

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Class C. Reduplication alone The final consonant of the stem is repeated preceded by the vowel @: C1V[C]C2 > C1V[C]C2@C2: singular ¿@l nas gäs ?@rkwi

plural ¿@l@l nas@s gäs@s ?@rkw@kw

gloss ‘eye’ ‘bone’ ‘face’ ‘tooth’

singular l@kw kamfi lank’i ?än

plural l@kw@kw kamf@f lank’@k’ ?än@n

gloss ‘leg, foot’ ‘wing’ ‘tongue’ ‘grandfather’

Class D. Suffix addition alone: Subtype (i) º : -t@@t singular nan yäw mam

plural nant@t yäwt@t mamt@t

gloss ‘hand’ ‘(lower) back’ ‘penis’

singular ra˜ l@˜@n jän

plural ra˜t@t l@˜@nt@t jänt@t

gloss ‘husband’ ‘house’ ‘water-pot’

gloss ‘house’

singular Óalti

plural Óalt@t

gloss ‘aunt’ (MoSi)

Subtype (ii) º : -t singular l@˜@n

plural l@˜@nti

2.1.2.1. Complex plural formations Class E. Suffix deletion: -a : º + consonantal ablaut singular wäräba gira gänjina mada

plural wäräf git gänsin mas

gloss ‘river’ ‘mountain’ ‘slave’ ‘friend’

singular bira bäxla ?@xwina sabra

plural bil bäk@l ?@kwin saf@l

gloss ‘ox’ ‘mule’ ‘woman’ ‘ditch’

Class F. Suffix addition: º : -t + consonantal ablaut singular n@xwaxw

plural n@xwak’ wti

gloss ‘father-in-law’ (HuFa)

Class G. Reduplication + consonantal ablaut singular ?äb manji j@r

plural ?äf@f mans@s j@l@l

gloss ‘mouth’ ‘grindstone’ ‘intenstine’

singular kad gib gix

plural kas@s gif@f gik@k

gloss ‘stomach’ ‘shield’ ‘horn’

Class H. Suffix deletion + reduplication + consonantal ablaut singular plural ?arba ?arf@f sarda sard@t

gloss ‘moon, month’ ‘knife’

singular plural d@nga d@nk@k lämba lämf@f

gloss ‘vein, nerve’ ‘type of horse’

Class I. Change of suffixes: -a : -t/-t@@t singular m@rawa b@ra

plural m@rawti b@rt@t

gloss ‘snake’ ‘land, field’

singular dula

plural dult@t

gloss ‘club’

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Tigre plural formations (class J) Many nouns of Tigre origin employ their respective Tigre plurals: singular gar gor Ó@b@t’ wäräk’ät

plural garat ?ägwar Ó@but’ w@rak’

gloss ‘affair, law suit’ ‘neighbor’ ‘small flask’ ‘paper’

singular f@jan näwid d@gge Óoj@b

plural gloss f@janat ‘coffee cup’ näway@d ‘lamb’ dägäggit ‘village’ Ó@w@jj@b ‘eyebrow’

Particularly interesting are a few nouns whose singulars are purely Agaw, and have cognates in other Agaw languages, but whose plurals follow Tigre or Tigre-like patterns, as recorded by Palmer (1958: 387–88): 6 singular färda

plural ?äfrus

gloss ‘horse’

singular s@r

plural ?äslul

gloss ‘root’

2.1.2.2. Singulative In addition to simple singular : plural pairs, some nouns that denote items that typically occur in groups or classes, especially animals and plants, also have a singulative form ending in -ra. The corresponding plurals (where they exist) typically end in -t or -tat. generic gänji s@nsa d@mmu jäggu mär¿awi

gloss ‘species of tree’ ‘species of shrub’ (Boscia Reticulata) ‘cats’ ‘baboons’ ‘bridegrooms’

singulative gänjira s@nsara d@mmura jäggura mär¿awira

plural gänjit d@mmut jäggut mär¿awitat

2.1.3. Case Nouns in Bilin inflect for seven case forms: nominative (or better, absolute), accusative (or definite object), genitive, dative, comitative, locative, and ablative. These are merely conventional labels, and the functions of some of the oblique case forms extend beyond what these names may suggest. For instance, the locative case (ending in -l) may indicate both goal and location: giril fixw ‘he went out to the mountain’, giril mändärtäkw ‘he lives on the mountain’. The absolute case marks both subject and indefinite object: f@nt’ira sans@¿a k’ wixw ‘a goat ate (the) bread’, f@nt’ira k@d@xw@n ‘I bought a goat’. In complex noun phrases, the case markers in Bilin occur only on the last item: Óay@s y@ mada Yusefti ?@w@xwlu ‘he gave (it) to my dear friend Yusef’. To this extent, the indigenous grammars (Alibekit 1992; Hamde and Zeremariam 1992) regard the oblique case formatives as postpositions, though they are better regarded as true case markers added to the whole noun phrase because they exhibit specific and predictable junction features that “true” postpositions do not. For instance, all case markers 6. Reinisch (1887), however, records the plurals of these two nouns as fär@s (class E) and s@l@l (class G), respectively. The Tigre plurals may be explained inasmuch as both nouns also have cognates in Tigre, faras and s@r, respectively, probably of common Afroasiatic origin.

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except that of the absolute (which in effect has zero marking) and the comitative are gender-sensitive. The object and locative markers for both genders have predictable variants to conform with syllabification patterns. The locative and ablative, however, can indeed in turn be analyzed as original postpositions suffixed to genitive case forms, and “true” postpositions (e.g., jab@l ‘in front of’) also combine with genitive case forms. Postpositions, however, are mostly demonstrably nouns in oblique cases: jab@l, for instance, is the locative case of an old noun jab ‘front (part)’. Case markers in the following paradigms, as indicated above, are sensitive to the gender of the noun. Plural nouns have the same case markers as the masculine, except for the genitive of one sub-class of plurals: genitive plural in -a is restricted to plurals whose absolute ends in a single consonant. Reinisch (1882: 674), however, records a couple of examples of genitives in -a on what he calls “collective” nouns: s@k’a bäl@˜ ‘the (two) halves of the rainy season’ (abs. s@k’), nanta ?@mm@rt@˜ ‘a handful’ (nant [sic] ‘the fingers, what can be grasped between the fingers’). There are some consonant-final nouns (e.g., ?äddam ‘person’) and loans from Tigre ending in vowels -u, -e, and -o (e.g., d@gge ‘village’) that follow the feminine pattern of inflection, but which are syntactically (and semantically) masculine: d@gget@l färti ‘she went to the village’. Many proper names also belong to this type (e.g., G@rgis@r ?@xwra ‘Girgis’ son’, G@rgisti järäbnäkw@n, ?aw@t ni? ‘we’re looking for Girgis; where is he?’) This type may be called “pseudo-feminine.” The underlying forms of the case markers are as follows: Absolute Object Genitive Dative Comitative Locative Ablative

masculine º -s º/-i -@d -di Gen + -l Gen + -l@d

plural § -s º/-a -@d § § §

feminine and “pseudo-feminine” § -t -@r -si § § §

The underlying shapes of the case markers therefore fall into four categories: -C, -V, -VC, and -CV[C]. The monoconsonantal markers (object -s, -t, and locative -l) have predictable variants according to the ending of the base to which they are added, conforming with the regular syllable rules of the language. Thus, added to a vowel-final base the endings have the shape -C (g@rwä-s, gänä-t, g@rwi-l). Added to a base ending in a single consonant the endings have the shape -Ci (g@r@w-si, ?äddam-ti, g@d@˜-li). The only exception to this is that the feminine locative has the shape -@l added to the genitive base, whether or not the resultant stem ends in one or two consonants (gänät-@l, tänit-@l, ?äddamt-@l). Added to a base ending in two consonants the endings have the shape -@C (wann-@s, sins-@l). The genitive case suffix shows the most amount of variation from one type of noun to another. The four formatives, º, -i, -a, and -@r are distributed as follows: the genitive of masculine nouns the stem of which ends in

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one (e.g., g@d@˜- ‘dog’) or two consonants (e.g., kamf- ‘wing’) is unmarked (i.e., has zero suffix) and is thus identical to the absolute. It also occurs on plural nouns whose stems end in two consonants (e.g., sins- ‘flies’). Stems ending in two consonants are required to add the epenthetic final vowel -i in order to conform with the syllable rules of the language (abs. and gen. sins-i). This -i is, however, readily distinguishable from the genitive suffix -i in the locative case forms (gen. + -l), for instance, where the epenthetic vowel is word-internally @ and the genitive -i remains (g@rwi-l but sins-@l). The genitive ending -i is confined to masculine nouns whose stems end in the vowel -a (e.g., bira- ‘ox’, sinsa- ‘fly’), which it replaces (bir-i, sins-i). The genitive ending -a is confined to plural nouns whose stems end in a single consonant (e.g., g@r@w- ‘men’, ?@k’ w@r- ‘sons’, ?@kwin- ‘women’). The genitive ending -@r is confined to feminine nouns, the stems of which may end in a vowel (e.g., gäna- ‘mother’, täni- ‘grandmother’) or a consonant (e.g., ?äddam- ‘person’), and in the former instance the suffix vowel is elided before the stem vowel (gänä-r, 7 täni-r, but ?äddam-@r). Additionally, the feminine genitive ending has the allomorph -t- before the locative and ablative case suffixes (e.g., loc. gänä-t-@l, täni-t-@l, ?äddam-t-@l). The dative case suffix has the shape -@d for masculine and plural nouns, and -si for feminine nouns. The vowel -@- of the masculine is elided after vowel-final stems (e.g., g@rwä-d). The dative case is often used in the function of genitive, especially with nouns denoting kinship terms: ni dan@d ?@k’ wi ‘his brother’s wife’. Some sample paradigms of different noun classes (l@˜@n ‘house’, g@r@w ‘men’, sinsi ‘flies’, mada ‘friend’, ?äddam ‘person’, gäna ‘mother’, täni ‘grandmother’) appear in the table on p. 490. 2.1.3.1. Adjectival genitive There is an additional type of genitive case construction to the simple genitive described above. Genitives formed with the suffixes º, -i, -a, -@r alone may only be used when the possessive noun precedes its head noun (e.g., b@lina gab ‘the language of the Bilin’). Alternatively, the possessive noun may be placed after its head noun, but in this instance the simple genitive cannot be used. Instead, a derived, adjectival form of the genitive is used which agrees in gender-number with the head noun, and is formed by means of the addition of the gender suffixes (masc. -@xw, fem. -ri, pl. -@w) to the simple genitive (e.g., g@rwa b@linixw ‘a man of the Bilin’). For a fuller discussion of these and related forms, see 2.2. 2.2. Adjectives There are two inflectional types of adjectives in Bilin, primary and secondary (or derived), with different methods of indicating gender-number. Case marking in adjectives is the same as that in nouns. Indeed, many items such as d@xna ‘old (person)’, ¿awäd ‘stupid (person)’, ?aräba ‘black (color)’, can be classified as both nouns and adjectives. As with nouns, it is simpler 7. It seems to be a rule of Bilin morphophonemics that a stem vowel -a is centralized to -ä- in word- and phrase-internal position.

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Masculine-plural stem in -C (masc.) absolute l@˜@n object l@˜@nsi genitive l@˜@n dative l@˜@n@d comitative l@˜@ndi locative l@˜@nli ablative l@˜@nl@d

stem in -C (pl.) g@r@w g@r@wsi g@r@wa g@r@w@d g@r@wdi g@r@wäl g@r@wäl@d

Feminine and “pseudo-feminine” stem in -C stem in -a absolute ?äddam gäna object ?äddamti gänät genitive ?äddam@r gänär dative ?äddamsi gänäsi comitative ?äddamdi gänädi locative ?äddamt@l gänät@l ablative ?äddamt@l@d gänät@l@d

stem in -CC (masc./pl.) sinsi sins@s sinsi sins@d sins@di sins@l sins@l@d

stem in -i täni tänit tänir tänisi tänidi tänit@l tänit@l@d

stem in -a (masc.) mada madäs madi madäd madädi madil madil@d

stem in -e, etc. d@gge d@gget d@gger d@ggesi d@ggedi d@gget@l d@gget@l@d

to deal with masculine-feminine and singular-plural marking separately. Primary adjectives distinguish two sub-types of masculine-feminine marking: adjectives ending in the masculine in a consonant form their feminine by means of the suffix -i (bähär–bähäri ‘big’, k@xin–k@xini ‘clever’, ?@mun–?@muni ‘faithful’); adjectives ending in the masculine in the vowel -a do not distinguish a separate feminine form (m@k’ wla ‘bad’, ?aräba ‘black’, walwa ‘white’). Primary adjectives employ the same various devices as nouns to form their plurals (bähär–bähäl@l ‘big’, m@k’ wla–m@k’ w@l ‘big’, k@xin–k@kin ‘clever’, ?aräba–?aräf ‘black’, g@nay–g@nayt@t ‘small’). Many primary adjectives of Tigre origin form their plurals by means of the suffix -an (?@mun–?@munan ‘faithful’, kab@r–kabran ‘proud’). Secondary or derived adjectives mark gender-number by means of the suffixes masc. -@xw, fem. -ri/-di, 8 pl. -@w. Adjectives of this type are mostly either relative forms of the verb (e.g., säxäntäxw ‘merciful’ lit., ‘who is merciful’, siraxw ‘long’, d@r@˜axw ‘short’, c’a¿@daxw ‘white’), or are derived from nouns, i.e., are adjectival genitives (e.g., g@rwixw ‘a man’s, pertaining to a man’, g@d@˜@xw ‘a dog’s, canine’, läbbäkixw ‘wise’ lit., ‘of the heart’, b@linixw ‘Bilin, of the Bilin’). A few adjectives of this type do not appear to be derived from a noun or verb, at least not in the current language (e.g., gärixw ‘much, many’, säraxw ‘red’). 9 8. The variant -di occurs when the ending is added to a stem ending in a dental-alveolar sonorant (l, r, n). The same alternation between r and d under the same conditions can be observed in some of the personal endings of the verb . 9. The roots of these (gär-, sär-) do occur in derived verbal forms: gäräsna ‘be able’, särärna ‘be red’, säräsna ‘redden’.

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2.3. Pronouns 2.3.1. Personal pronouns Bilin has seven personal pronouns that distinguish first, second, and third persons, singular and plural, with a gender distinction between masculine and feminine in the third person only. In common with the other Agaw languages and many Cushitic languages, Bilin has different bases for the absolute (nominative) case and the oblique cases. The oblique base is also used as the possessive, without further addition when preceding the noun, and with the gender suffixes -@xw, -ri, -@w when following the noun or used independently (e.g., y@ bira / bira y@xw ‘my ox’, kw@ ?@xwina / ?@xwina kw@ri ‘your wife’, ni was / was niw ‘his cattle’). The oblique cases are built on the oblique base by means of the feminine case endings (object -t, dative -si, comitative -di) with the oblique base itself functioning as genitive and base for the locative in -l and the ablative in -l@d. 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. 1 sg.

absolute ?an ?@nti ni n@ri

oblique base ~ possessive prefix y@ kw@ ni n@r

object y@t kw@t nit n@rti

y@n ?@nt@n naw

y@na ?@nta na

y@nät ?@ntät nat

Alone among the Agaw languages, Bilin also has a set of object suffix pronouns added to the verb. Both the construction and the forms themselves are borrowed directly from Tigre even to the extent that as in Tigre the 2nd person distinguishes masculine and feminine, a contrast that is not made in Bilin elsewhere, neither in the independent pronoun nor in the subject marking of the verb. sg. 1 2 masc. 2 fem. 3 masc. 3 fem.

-lä -ka -ki -lu -la

pl.

1 2

-na -kum

3

-lom

Reinisch also records a gender distinction in the 3rd plural (masc. -lom, fem. -län), which is not noted in Hamde’s grammar (1986). 2.3.2. Demonstratives Bilin, like the other Agaw languages, has two degrees of demonstratives, near and far. Like other nominals, the demonstrative pronoun distinguishes three gender-number categories. The specifying demonstrative, which precedes its head noun, however, is unmarked for gender-number. There is, however, some variation in the forms of the demonstratives, especially the far demonstrative, across the Bilin-speaking area. The forms

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below are those given in Alibekit’s grammar (1992), where Hamde (1986) records ?@nc’ändin, etc., as well as an invariable ?@ndän, and Reinisch (1882) recorded ?@njähänni. Indeed, Reinisch’s dictionary lists a host of demonstrative forms built on the bases ?@n- and ?@nja- (1887: 32–33).

masc. fem. pl.

near independent nin nini nän

specifier ?@naa

far independent ?@nc’adin ?@nc’adini ?@nc’adän

specifier ?@nc’a

a. A shorter form ?@n also occurs as a weak demonstrative, almost in the function of a definite article: ?@n g@rwa ?@nt@xw ‘the man came’, ?@n g@rwa ?@njäni k’ waln@xw ‘they saw the man yesterday’. The independent near demonstratives may optionally be added after the noun preceded by ?@na: ?@na g@rwa nin ‘this man’.

3. Verbs The verb in Bilin, as in all the Agaw languages and indeed all Cushitic languages, is morphologically the most complex part of the language structure, distinguishing valency or “voice” with eight markings, tense-mood with four markings for main clause forms and at least thirteen markings for subordinate clause forms (divided into relative verbs, i.e., adnominal, and adverbial subordinate paradigms), affirmative and negative, and person with seven markings. Relative verbs also mark a formal contrast between subject relatives, in which the head noun is identical to the subject of the relative verb, and oblique relatives, where it is not, and the latter type further indicates gender-number concord with the head noun. Underlying the whole finite verb system is also a two-feature aspect contrast marked by different vocalizations. Unlike the other Agaw languages, Bilin also has two fundamental “conjugations” or inflectional patterns which are contrasted in many but not all of the forms itemized so far. In addition, there are two freely formable verbal nouns. While the component morphemes of the verbal string do not always occur in exactly the same sequence, as for instance in the examples k’ wal@st@dänni ‘you are not seen’ and k’ wal@stägdänäx@r ‘you who are not seen’, cited in the introductory remarks in section 1, 10 there is for many parts of the verbal paradigm a general commonality of ordering of constituents. Thus, the lexical root of the verb always occurs in initial position and there are no prefixes, k’ wal-; any verbal extension or marker of voice occurs in second position, -@st-; person markers (or person + aspect markers) usually occur in the following position, with the proviso that the subordinate negative marker -Vg- precedes the person marker, (-Vg-)-dVn-; following 10. Thus, in the former the negative marker -ni < -li occurs in final position after the person marker -dVn-, while in the latter the negative marker -Vg- occurs immediately after the verbal extension or voice marker and before the person marker -dVn-.

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the person marker usually come any of a number of markers of tensemood and subordinators, such as -äx@r in the second example above. 11 3.1. Voice The verb root, which also usually functions as the base form, may be intransitive (gänj- ‘sleep’, k@r- ‘die’, ga˜- ‘run’), stative (färÓ- ‘be happy’, kämb- ‘be cold’), or transitive (k’ wal- ‘see’, ?@nkäl- ‘love’, j@b- ‘buy’). Derived from the base form are seven “voices” or verbal extensions, which may be given the following conventional labels: causative, passive, reciprocal, causative-reciprocal, frequentative, frequentative-causative, and frequentative-passive. Derivation is by means of suffixes or a combination of consonantal reduplication and suffixes. As with noun plurals, consonant reduplication is normally manifested by the repetition of the final consonant of the base form preceded by the vowel @. The verbal extension suffixes, most notably the causative, show some lexically conditioned variation in form: e.g., causative -s-/-is- or -d- (gab-s- ‘cause to speak’, k’ wal-is‘cause to see, show’, but läb-d- ‘cause to fall, fell’). In addition to the productive verbal extensions, there are a number of verb bases which in their simple form end in an old, no longer productive verbal extension -t or -r, which is replaced in the derived stems by the appropriate verbal extension (¿amäk’-@r- ‘be dirty’ but ¿amäk’-d- ‘make dirty’, s@xan-t- ‘pity, have mercy’ but s@xan-d- ‘cause to pity’). This formative appears to have a number of functions: denominative (k@xan-t- ‘marry’ 12 from k@xan ‘wedding’), reflexive (gäb-t- ‘defend oneself; reach manhood’ from gäb- ‘refuse, impede’) or autobenefactive (gwäd-@t- ‘plough for oneself’ from gwäd- ‘plough’), and stative (s@xwis-t- ‘be ill’ from s@xwis- ‘hurt’), etc. 3.1.1. Causative The simple causative is marked by the formative -s- or -is-, the latter applied to all Conjugation 2 verbs and a handful of Conjugation 1 verbs (see section 3.4 for a discussion of conjugation types), or by -d-. There is apparently no formal criterion for the employment of -s-/-is- or -d-, and Reinisch, at least, records instances of the same root forming both an -s- and a -d- causative (sir-d- or sir-(@)s- ‘take far away’ from sir- ‘be far away, be long’). däkw-s- ‘let pass’ t@w-s- ‘let in, let enter’ j@?-s- ‘give to drink’

k’ wal-is- ‘show’ bar-is- ‘let leave’ däb-is- ‘help to bury’

läb-d- ‘let fall, fell’ färÓ-@d- ‘make happy’ wä¿ab-d- ‘let play’

A double causative may be formed by adding -is- to the simple causative: b@r- ‘be hot’ ¿aräb- ‘be blind’

b@r-s- ‘heat, cook (tr.)’ ¿aräb-d- ‘blind’

b@r-sis- ‘let heat, let cook’ ¿aräb-dis- ‘cause to blind’

11. This is actually a composite ending comprising a primary subordinator -ä followed by the marker of the Subject Relative (non–3rd person). 12. That is, for a man marrying a woman; the passive derivative in -s, k@xan-s-, is used for a woman marrying a man.

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3.1.2. Passive The passive is marked by the formative -@st-, or by -s-. The former is commoner with verbs whose base stems have the shape CVC- or CVCC-, and the latter is more frequent with all others. The passive marker -s- is, of course, formally identical to the causative -s-. The two are, however, not confused, as passives in -s- form their causatives in -is- (bän-s- ‘be divided’ : bän-is- ‘divide, cause to divide’; ?@nkäl-s- ‘be loved’ : ?@nkäl-is- ‘cause to love’), or -d- (läxän-s- ‘be wounded’ : läxän-d- ‘wound’). k’ wal-@st- ‘be seen’ gäb-@st- ‘be refused’ ?är?-@st- ‘be known’ j@?-@st- ‘be drunk’

wänk’är-s- ‘be asked’ wä¿ab-s- ‘be played’ k’äräc’-s- ‘be cut’ ?är-s- ‘be found’

There are also several examples of the non-productive formative -t- being used in a passive sense: ?@s-t- ‘be done’

däb-t- ‘be buried’

käb-t- ‘be cut, defibulated’

3.1.3. Reciprocal The reciprocal is marked by a combination of the passive formatives and the additional element -@˜-: k’ wal-@st@˜- ‘see one another’ gäb-@st@˜- ‘refuse one another’ ?är?-@st@˜- ‘know one another’

?@nk’ war-s@˜- ‘laugh together’ wänk’är-s@˜- ‘ask one another’ wäkkäl-s@˜- ‘offer to one another’

3.1.4. Causative-reciprocal The causative-reciprocal is marked by a combination of the causative formative -is- and the additional element -@˜-. No examples of other causative markers combining with -@˜- are recorded in the available data. Interestingly, Reinisch records the combination of these two formatives in the reverse sequence -@˜is- rather than -is@˜- as noted by Palmer (1957: 157), and Alibekit (1992: 75) notes only the triple combination -@st@˜is(passive + -@˜- + -is-). k’ wal-is@˜- / k’ wal-@st@˜is- ‘cause to see one another’ 3.1.5. Frequentative and derivatives The frequentative is formed either by reduplication alone, or by a combination of reduplication and the additional element -@n-. In the latter instance, reduplication is realized as the repetition of the final consonant of the base stem preceded by the vowel @, while reduplication occurring alone is realized as the medial repetition of the CV components of final syllable of the base stem: C1V[C]C2VC3- > C1V[C]C2VC2VC3-. The latter is commoner only with disyllabic bases. k’ wal@l-@˜j@b@b-@˜bar@r-@˜-

wänk’äk’är?@k@k@bk’äräräc’-

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Reinisch records some different patterns of reduplication involving, for instance, complete repetition of CVC bases (b@rb@r- from b@r- ‘be hot’, läbläb- from läb- ‘fall’, etc.). The frequentative base may further have added to it causative and passive markers: Frequentative-Passive Frequentaive-Causative

k’ wal@l-@˜-@st-, k’ wal@l-@˜-is-,

k’äräräc’-sk’äräräc’-is-

3.2. Person and gender-number The finite verb in Bilin inflects for person and gender-number: first, second, and third persons, singular and plural, with a further distinction in the third person (singular) between masculine and feminine. The seven personal markers in Bilin are not universal to the whole finite verb paradigm, but three basic patterns may be identified, with varying degrees of commonality between them. These three patterns do not correlate exactly with different functional categories, and are thus best labeled schematically as A, B and C. For instance, Set B occurs only on the affirmative imperfective and perfective main clause tenses, while the corresponding negative forms use a variant of Set A (Set A2), and the affirmative future main clause tense employs the endings of Set C. Set A is used in the majority of subordinate verb paradigms, and it is also possible to abstract Set A as the underlying system of personal marking for the other two sets, which can be shown, for the most part, to derive from the former by means of the addition of suffixes (in the case of Set B) or prefixes (in the case of Set C). The personal markers of Set A are also the most directly relatable to the personal marking systems in other Cushitic languages. 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

Set A -º -r/-d -º -r/-d -n -dVn -Vn

Set B -º+ -n -r/-d -º -º+ -ti -n+ -n -dVn -Vn

Set C -r ~ -y -t -r -t -n -tVn -dVn

Set A2 -º+ -i -C -º -C -C+ -i -dVn+ -i -Vn+ -i

The variant forms of the 2nd singular and 3rd feminine (Set A only) in -d occur after stems ending in r, l, or n: gäb-rän ‘if you/she refuse(s)’ but k’ wal-dän ‘if you/she see(s)’. The alternate variant of the 1st singular (Set C) in -y occurs in one tense only, the purposive: gäb-iya ‘so that I refuse’, gäbto ‘so that you refuse’, etc., but with 1st singular in -r: gäb-ri ‘I shall refuse’, gäb-ta ‘you will refuse’, etc. The forms of the person markers are to some degree abstractions, and not all of the above are immediately recognizable in the verbal string as realized. Thus, while there is no difficulty in abstracting the marker of the 2nd plural (-dVn-) in the form k’ wal@st@gd@näx@r ‘you (pl.) who were not seen’, or even the corresponding singular (-r-) in k’ wal@st@gräx@r ‘you (sg.)

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who were not seen’, in the corresponding main verb form of the latter, k’ wal@st@lla ‘you (sg.) were not seen’, the marker of person (-C-) surfaces only in the doubling of the consonant l of the negative suffix (contrast k’ wal@st@la ‘he was not seen’). In addition, the person markers to some extent fuse with the markers of tense, and are not always immediately describable as discrete components in the verbal string: cf. k’ waldänäkw ‘you (pl.) see’ and k’ wald@n@xw ‘you (pl.) saw’. It is therefore more convenient not to abstract person marking from the markers of tense, but to treat the two together in the discussion of the various paradigms. 3.3. Aspect The two-feature category of aspect runs throughout the whole of the finite verb in Bilin, in both main-clause and subordinate-clause verb paradigms. The two terms correlate in part with incomplete (imperfective) and complete (perfective) action, though there are exceptions, particularly among the subordinate verb forms, which are mostly of fixed aspect. Thus, gäbdänän ‘if you (pl.) refuse’ and gäbdänaka ‘when you (pl.) refused’ are “imperfective,” but gäbd@n@nädik ‘if you (pl.) refused’ and gäbg@d@nin ‘in order that you (pl.) do not refuse’ are “perfective.” There are in addition a few contrasting aspect forms from the same paradigmatic set: gäbdänäx@r ‘you (pl.) who refuse’ but gäbd@näx@r ‘you (pl.) who refused’. The labels “imperfective” and “perfective” may be retained here as they are familiar from other Cushitic and indeed Afroasiatic languages. 13 The two aspects are essentially manifested by different vocalizations of the variable vowel parts of the person marker system (2pl. -dVn-, and 3pl. -Vn-) and the subordinate negativizer (-Vg-). The vocalizations may be further subject to vowelquality harmony governed either by the verb class (or conjugation type), or by the tense suffix; however, as a general statement, imperfective aspect paradigms mostly show ä-vocalization and perfective aspect paradigms show @-vocalization (alternating with zero at stem-ending junction points) or i-vocalization. 14 A handful of verb roots also has aspect-sensitive stems: imperfective ?@ntär?ärärnaksak?ak-

perfective ?@nt?ärnäxsäx?äx-

gloss ‘come’ ‘find’ ‘give here’ ‘take’ ‘be’

3.4. Conjugation type The vocalization of variable-vowel personal endings and tense suffixes is also governed to some extent by the lexically conditioned factor of inflectional or conjugation type. Thus, the verbs gäb- ‘refuse’, k’ wal- ‘see’ belong 13. Palmer (1957), however, prefers the neutral labels Aspect A (= perfective) and Aspect B (= imperfective). 14. This statement is somewhat simplified, and for a more comprehensive and detailed discussion the reader is referred to Palmer 1957.

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to one type (Conjugation 1) and produce main-verb past-tense forms gäb@xw ‘he refused’, k’ wal@xw ‘he saw’, while ?@s- ‘do’ and j@b- ‘buy’ belong to the second main type (Conjugation 2) and have the corresponding forms ?@sixw ‘he did’ and j@bixw ‘he bought’. Compare also gäbo ‘he having refused’ and j@be ‘he having bought’, or k’ wald@näxw ‘(he) whom you (pl.) saw’ but j@bdinexw ‘(that) which you (pl.) bought’. Contrastive conjugation forms do not, however, run through all tenses; the formal distinction is neutralized, for instance, in the main-verb present-tense forms: gäbäkw ‘he refuses’, k’ waläkw ‘he sees’, ?@säkw ‘he does’, j@bäkw ‘he buys’. A third conjugation type comprises a handful of mono-consonantal roots: b- ‘lack’, f- ‘go out’, gw- ‘stand up, rise’, k- ‘spend the night’ and k’ w‘eat’. The mono-consonantal root y- ‘say’, however, belongs to Conjugation 1. Conjugation 3 verbs show different vocalization preceding the person markers from the other two types, with some variation within paradigms. Compare the following examples with the paradigms given below in section 3.6.1: k’ wakw@n ‘I eat’, k’ w@räkw ‘you (sg.) eat’, k’ wakw ‘he eats’; k’ wixw@n ‘I ate’, k’ w@r@xw ‘you (sg.) ate’, k’ wixw ‘he ate’. 3.5. Negation Negative marking in Bilin is always incorporated into the verb complex and follows two discrete patterns: suffix -la following the person markers in the main-verb Present. Future, and Past tenses; infix -Vg- preceding the person markers in all other tenses. The main-verb suffix -la fuses with the person markers of Set C (see section 3.6.1 below for details), and in the Present/Future further involves neutralization of the 2nd and 3rd persons of the singular to º. Furthermore, in the 1st singular and all three persons of the plural the negative suffix ends in the vowel -i, which may be regarded either as a discontinuous part of the person marking (as in 3.2., above), or as part of a distributionally conditioned variant -li of the negative marker -la. The negative infix -Vg-, on the other hand, is invariable for person but aspect sensitive, appearing as -äg- in the imperfective and -[@]g[@]- in the perfective. In the latter instance, the vowel @ may be dropped in juncture position to comply with the syllable structure rules of the language: gäbgäxw ‘he who did not refuse’, gäbg@räx@r ‘you (sg.) who did not refuse’, gäbgin ‘so that he does not refuse’, but gäb@g ‘do not refuse!’ and gäb@st@gäxw ‘that which was not refused’. 3.6. Tense The term “tense” is used here to refer to any finite verb paradigm inflecting for person and gender-number, and thus includes both forms such as k’ waläkw@n ‘I see’ and k’ wal@xw@n ‘I saw’, and others such as k’ waliya ‘so that I see’, k’ wal@n ‘let me see’, k’ walo ‘I having seen’, k’ walän ‘if I see’, k’ waläx@r ‘I who see/saw’, and so on. 3.6.1. Main-verb tenses There are three main-verb (“indicative”) tenses, indicating present, past and future time, respectively. A fourth tense used in main-verb position is

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the command form ( Jussive and Imperative ), for which see section 3.6.4. In the affirmative, the Present and Past tenses mark person and gendernumber by means of Set B and the tense formatives are -äkw (present, imperfective aspect) and -@xw (past, perfective aspect). The Future tense has personal markers of Set C and the tense formative is -a (~ -i, -ri), perfective aspect. The equivalent negative tenses, of which there are only two, the Present and the Future contrast being neutralized, have personal markers of Set A2, and are distinguished throughout the paradigm by different aspect vowels (Present and Future = imperfective; Past = perfective). Additionally, in the Present-Future, person and gender marking in the singular is neutralized. Neutralization of person marking also occurs in the same place in one other Agaw language, Awngi, and is also found in parts of the verb paradigm in other Cushitic languages. The following table shows the three main-verb indicative tenses of Conjugation 1 (gäb- ‘refuse’) and Conjugation 2 (kab- ‘help’) verbs: affirmative Present 1 sg. gäbäkw@n 2 sg. gäbräkw 3 sg. m. gäbäkw 3 sg. f. gäbäti 1 pl. gäbnäkw@n 2 pl. gäbdänäkw 3 pl. gäbänäkw

kabäkw@n kabräkw kabäkw kabäti kabnäkw@n kabdänäkw kabänäkw

negative Present-Future 1 sg. gäbäli kabäli 2 sg, gäbäla kabäla 3 sg. m. gäbäla kabäla 3 sg. f. gäbäla kabäla 1 pl. gäbnäli kabnäli 2 pl. gäbdänni kabdänni 3 pl. gäbänni kabänni

Past gäb@xw@n gäbr@xw gäb@xw gäbti gäbn@xw@n gäbd@n@xw gäbn@xw

kabixw@n kabrixw kabixw kabiti kabnixw@n kabdinixw kabinixw

Past gäbli gäb@lla gäbla gäb@lla gäb@nni gäbd@nni gäb@nni

kabili kabilla kabila kabilla kabinni kabdinni kabinni

Future gäbri gäbta gäbra gäbtäri gäbna gäbt@na gäbd@na

kabiri kabita kabira kabitäri kabina kabit@na kabid@na

3.6.2. Subordinate verbs (relatives) All of the Agaw languages distinguish two separate sets of relative verb paradigms, one used when the head of the relative clause is identical to the subject of the relative verb (Subject Relative): k’ waläx@r ‘I who see/saw’, g@rwa fint’ära j@bexw ‘the man who bought a goat’; and the other used when the head of the clause and the subject of the relative verb are not identical (Oblique Relative): g@rwa ?an k’ waläxw ‘the man whom I see/saw’, g@rwa sans@¿äs nid ?@wäxw ‘the man to whom I give/gave the bread’. 15 Personal markers in both types are of Set A. Negative marking is by means of 15. Lit., ‘the man whom I give the bread to him’.

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the infix -Vg-, which precedes the person markers. Imperfective and perfective aspects are differentiated, but the distinction only surfaces, of course, in the 2nd and 3rd persons plural (the latter Oblique Relative only) and in the negatives: k’ waldänäx@r ‘you (pl.) who see’ but k’ wald@näx@r ‘you (pl.) who saw’, ?@xwra ?@nkälägäxw ‘the son whom he does not love’ but ?@xwra ?@nkälgäxw ‘the son whom he did not love’. The Subject Relatives are marked by the ending -äx@r (Conjugation 1) or -ex@r (Conjugation 2) in the 1st and 2nd persons, and by endings formally identical to the adjectival gender-number suffixes in the 3rd persons: -ä/exw, -ä/eri, -ä/ew, respectively. 16 Additionally, in the 3rd plural there is zero person marker. perfective (Conj. 1) 1 sg. gäbäx@r 2 sg. gäbräx@r 3 sg. m. gäbäxw 3 sg. f. gäbräri 1 pl. gäbnäx@r 2 pl. gäbd@näx@r 3 pl. gäbäw

(Conj. 2) kabex@r kabrex@r kabexw kabreri kabnex@r kabdinex@r kabew

imperfective (Conj. 1) gäbäx@r gäbräx@r gäbäxw gäbräri gäbnäx@r gäbdänäx@r gäbäw

(Conj. 2) kabäx@r kabräx@r kabäxw kabräri kabnäx@r kabdänäx@r käbäw

The Oblique Relatives further show agreement with the gender-number of the head noun by means of the adjectival gender suffixes -xw, -ri, -w (see 2.1.3.1.): g@rwa k’ waldäxw ‘the man whom you see’, ?@xwina k’ waldäri ‘the woman whom you see’, g@r@w k’ waldäw ‘the men whom you see’. However, if the relative verb precedes the head noun, the gender agreement markers are omitted: ?@nti j@bre fint’ära ‘the goat which you bought’ = fint’ära (?@nti) j@breri; (?an) nili ?@xwarsa l@˜@nli ‘in the house in which I was born’ = l@˜@n (?an) nili ?@xwarsäxwli. The following paradigm illustrates the affirmative imperfective Oblique Relative (either Conjugation 1 or 2):

1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

singular masculine gäbäxw gäbräxw gäbäxw gäbräxw gäbnäxw gäbdänäxw gäbänäxw

singular feminine gäbäri gäbräri gäbäri gäbräri gäbnäri gäbdänäri gäbänäri

plural gäbäw gäbräw gäbäw gäbräw gäbnäw gäbdänäw gäbänäw

3.6.3. Subordinate verbs (adverbial) The inventory of adverbial subordinate verb paradigms in Bilin is extensive and comprises at least thirteen distinct forms, more if extensions of 16. Strictly speaking, the vowel ä/e is in origin the primary subordinator and the endings -x@r and -xw/-ri/-w are additional relativizers.

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the “basic” set (e.g., gäbror ‘in order that he refuses’ from gäbro) are included. Adverbial subordinates indicate person variously by Set A and Set C markers, are often either imperfective or perfective aspect specific, though there are some aspect pairs (gäbdänät ‘that you [pl.] refuse’ : gäbd@nät ‘that you [pl.] refused’), and have negative marking in -Vg-. A handful of negative subordinate forms do not have directly corresponding affirmative counterparts: gäbgi ‘without his having refused’ functions as the negative of the gerundive (converb) gäbo ‘he having refused’. The following table lists the commonest adverbial subordinate paradigms by person marking type and aspect. All forms are in the 3rd masculine. Only Conjugation 1 examples are given. The glosses are approximations; the same forms are occasionally given slightly different functions by Reinisch and Palmer.

Set A paradigms affirmative negative

Set C paradigms

affirmative negative aspect gloss gäbro, gäbror perf. so that he refuses gäbgin, perf. so that he does not gäbgindu refuse gäbän gäbägän impf. if he refuses, if he does not refuse gäbnädik gäbg@nädik perf. if he (had) refused, if he did/had not refuse(d) gäbr@d perf. if he were to refuse/ he would refuse gäbgid perf. if he were not to refuse/ he would not refuse gäbnädin gäbg@nädin perf. because he refused, because he did not refuse gäbaka impf. when he refused gäbäsäna impf. just as he refused gäbek impf. as soon as he refused gäbrasik perf. until he refuses gäbo perf. he having refused gäbgi perf. without his having refused gäbät perf. that he refused/ ~impf. refuses gäbgät perf. that he did not refuse gäbägät impf. that he does not refuse gäbu impf. while he refused

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3.6.4. Other primary tenses In addition to the tenses described so far, there remain the two command forms used in main-clause position, the inflection of which diverges somewhat from the remaining tenses: the Jussive and the Imperative. The Jussive has no 2nd person forms, indicates the remaining persons with Set A markers, and is Imperfective aspect in the 3rd plural but perfective in the other persons (according to Palmer 1957). The Imperative occurs only in the 2nd person, is perfective in aspect, and has its own number marking system. In Bilin, both the Jussive and the Imperative have negatives in -Vg-. This is clearly an innovation in Bilin, as all the other Agaw languages have a special negative imperative with a special negative marker.

1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

Jussive affirmative gäb@n

negative gäbgin

gäb@n gäbr@n gäbn@n

gäbgin gäbg@rin gäbg@nin

gäbinin

gäbg@nin

Imperative negative

affirmative

gäbi

gäb@g

gäba

gäbga

As is common in the Ethiopian-Eritrean language area, the verb ‘to come’ (?@nt(är)-) forms its Imperative from a separate stem: laxw, laxwa. 3.6.5. Compound tenses In main-verb position Bilin also possesses a number of compound tenses typically denoting continuous actions or ongoing states, comprising usually an adverbial subordinate tense form of the lexical verb followed by an appropriate tense of an auxiliary, which may be either one of the verbs ‘to be’ (e.g., sän-, wan-, h@mb-) or another (usually stative) verb, such as g@j‘wait’, ?@rg- ‘spend the day’, ?@nkw- ‘keep’, etc. Other languages of the Ethiopian-Eritrean region show exact parallels to these constructions. The details of various compound tenses, however, differ in Reinisch’s and Alibekit’s grammars. For instance, in the latter, a continuous action in present time is expressed by a compound of the Present main-verb tense and the Past main-verb tense of the verb ?@nkw- ‘keep’: ?an nan kätäbäkw@n ?@nkw@xw@n ‘I am writing now’, ni ?asmära färäkw ?@nkw@xw ‘he is going to Asmara’. Reinisch, on the other hand, indicates a present continuous by means of a compound of the Gerundive (or Converb) and the Present main-verb tense of h@mb- ‘be’: waso h@mbäkw ‘he is listening’. The following are some further examples from Alibekit (1992: 79–80): y@sani kätäbru ?@rg@ti ‘my sister has been writing’ (lit. ‘. . . spent the day while writing’); käw ?@maniw Óilätunu sänänäkw17 ‘the people of ancient times used to be 17. The form as given is actually . . . Óilätu sänänäkw, which would seem to have a singular verb followed by a plural auxiliary agreeing with the plural subject.

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strong’ (lit., ‘. . . remain while they were strong’; ni kätäbu ?@rg@ro g@n ‘he will have been writing’ (lit., ‘. . . is that he spends the day while writing’). 3.7. Verbal nouns Completing the inventory of parts of the verb in Bilin are two verbal nouns, the action noun (or Infinitive) and the agent noun (or Participle), which can be derived from all verbs. The action noun is formed by the suffix -na added to the stem: gäbna ‘to refuse’, kabna ‘to help’, k’ walna ‘to see’, ?@nkälna ‘to love’, k’äräc’na ‘to cut’, wänk’ärna ‘to ask’, färÓ@na ‘to be happy’, j@b@st@na ‘to be bought’, k’ wal@st@nna ‘to see one another’, j@bisna ‘to cause to buy’, k’ wal@l@nna ‘to keep seeing’, ?@ntärna ‘to come’, ?akna ‘to be’, etc. The agent noun is formed by means of the suffix -änta (pl. -änti): ?@nkälänta ‘lover’, gwädänta ‘ploughman’, j@bänta ‘purchaser’, kinsänta ‘teacher’, kintänta ‘student’, etc. A number of other formatives of verbal nouns occur, though it is not apparent to what extent they are freely usable: s@wäna (var. s@wana) ‘thief’ (s@w- ‘steal’), säräna ‘clothing’ (sär- ‘wear, dress oneself’), s@wan ‘theft’ (s@w- ‘steal’), ?@w@n ‘gift’ (?@w- ‘give’), fädän ‘seed’ (fäd- ‘sow’), k@ra ‘death’ (k@r- ‘die’), h@mba ‘existence’ (h@mb- ‘remain, stay’), gaba ‘word’ (gab- ‘speak’), etc. 3.8. Composite verbs A type of verb that is found in almost all the languages of the EthiopianEritrean area is that comprising an invariable particle, that is usually an independent lexical form, not derived and occurring only in this composition, which carries the lexical-semantic meaning of the composite, followed by the ordinary lexical verb ‘to say’ which inflects for person, number, aspect, mood, etc. In some languages, especially Tigrinya and Amharic from among the Semitic languages, and Qafar from Cushitic, the invariable particle may also be derived from an existing verbal root. In Bilin, however, only the underived type occurs. The meaning of these composites often relates to sound, movement, or the action of light and color. To this extent, though far more than strictly onomatopoeic, it is not unreasonable to compare them to the ideophones that occur in other languages of the world. Some examples from Bilin are: fuf y@na ‘blow’, kwa y@na ‘bray’, ¿uÓu? y@na ‘cough’, bärgäg y@na ‘leave, go away’, sägäg y@na ‘get drunk’, mäxw y@na ‘be on fire’, täs y@na ‘move slowly’, d@b y@na ‘fall down’. 3.9. The copula and the verb ‘to be’ The affirmative copula in Bilin is strictly speaking not a true verb as it does not inflect for person but is invariable: ?an kinsänta g@n ‘I am a teacher’, ?@nti y@ mada g@n ‘you are my friend’, y@n san g@n ‘we are brothers’, ?@na k@tab nin ?äwr@xw g@n ‘whose is this book?’ The negative copula, on the other hand, does inflect for person and is built on the base ?äx-, inflecting similarly to the Past-tense (perfective) main-verb negatives: ni y@ dan ?äxla ‘he is not my brother’.

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In common with the other Agaw languages, Bilin does have a number of other roots that can be glossed as ‘be’: ?ak- ~ ?äx-, wan-, h@mb-, sän-, which fill out the paradigm. Additionally, the verbs ?ak- ~ ?äx- and sän- are also used in the function of copula: ni y@wända ?akäkw = ni y@wända g@n ‘he is my relative’. The former of these roots also supplies the regular negative copula. A peculiar feature of the verb ‘to be’ in Bilin, shared with the other Agaw languages, is the reversal of aspect, whereby a perfective aspect (past tense) form is used in imperfective (present time) function, and vice versa, as for instance: ni g@rwa k@xin sänäkw ‘he was a clever man’. Several of these verbs are also used in compound tenses. In the sense of ‘be’ as a locative verb, h@mb- or wan- is used for present reference and again sän- is used for past reference: kw@ l@˜@n ?aw@t h@mbäkw ‘where is your house?’, ?@njäni ?aw@t sänräkw ‘where were you yesterday?’ For the negative of present time statements a special verb is used built on the stem ?@l-, which inflects like a perfective main-verb negative: n@ri ?asmära ?@l@lla ‘she is not in Asmara’. (See Palmer [1965] for details.) 4. Further reading The most complete grammar of Bilin today is still Reinisch (1882). Alibekit’s grammar (1992) is clearly based on an English-language model and thus misses some important parts of Bilin morphology, especially that of the verb, which is sparsely treated. It has the additional disadvantage for the linguist not familiar with the language in that it is written in Bilin with only occasional English terminological glosses. The articles of Palmer (1957 and 1958) are excellent treatments of verbal and nominal morphology, respectively. A concise comparative discussion of the Agaw language family is Hetzron (1976), and discussions on specific topics using Bilin material can be found in Appleyard (1984, 1986, 1988, 1993).

References Appleyard, David L. 1984 The Morphology of the Negative Verb in Agaw. Transactions of the Philological Society 1984: 202–19. 1986 Agaw, Cushitic and Afroasiatic: The Personal Pronoun Revisited. Journal of Semitic Studies 31: 195–236. 1988 The Agaw Languages: a Comparative Morphological Perspective. Pp. 581–92 in vol. 1 of Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa, 1984), ed. Taddese Beyene. Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University and Frobenius Institut, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main. Huntingdon, UK: Elm. 1993 Vocalic Ablaut and Aspect Marking in the Verb in Agaw. Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 3: 126–50. Conti Rossini, Carlo 1907 Racconti e Canti Bileni. Pp. 331–94 in vol. 2 of Actes du XIVe Congrès International des Orientalistes. Alger 1905. Paris: Leroux.

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Hetzron, Robert 1976 The Agaw Languages. Afroasiatic Linguistics 3: 31–45. Hamde, Kiflemariam 1986 Bilin Language Project. The Origin and Development of Bilin. Asmara: Asmara University / The Institute of African Studies. Hamde, Kiflemariam and Paulos Zeremariam 1992 âG˝ô ÑHç °õÃá [Blin Dictionary]. Sweden: Blin Parent Association. Lamberti, Marcello, and Livia Tonelli 1997 Some phonological and Morphological Aspects of Bilin. Pp. 81–99 in Afroasiatica Neapolitana. Contributi presentati all’ 8˚ Incontro di Linguistica Afroasiatica (Camito-Semitica). Napoli, 25–26 Gennaio 1996, ed. Alessandro Bausi and Mauro Tosco. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale. Palmer, F. R. 1957 The Verb in Bilin. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 19: 131–59. 1958 The Noun in Bilin. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 21: 376–91. 1965 Bilin ‘to be’ and ‘to have’. African Language Studies 6: 101–11. Reinisch, Leo 1882 Die Bilin-Sprache in Nordost-Afrika. Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 94/2. Vienna: C. Gerold’s Sohn. 1883 Texte der Bilin Sprache. Leipzig: Grieben. 1884 Wöterbuch der Bilin-Sprache. Vienna: Alfred Hölder. Tekie Alibekit 1992 âG˝ô ¶çÜè… “â[ –Ü˚©£n… [Blin Language: Introductory Phonetics and Grammar]. Oslo: Tekie Alibekit. Woldeyohannes Habtemariam 1950 û¨ LAé£nô. [Bilin Catechism]. Rome.

Chapter 22

Gawwada Morphology Mauro Tosco Università di Napoli “L’Orientale,” Naples, Italy

1. Introduction: The language and the people Gawwada (: G; [gawwá:∂a]) is part of the so-called Dullay dialect cluster and is spoken in Southwest Ethiopia (administratively, a part of the “Southern Peoples, Nations, and Nationalities Region”). According to current classification, Dullay is a direct offspring of East Cushitic, although Hayward (1978) has substantiated a proposal originally made by Ehret (1974, 1976), according to which within East Cushitic Dullay forms a genetic subgrouping with the isolated (and nowadays extinct or nearly so) Yaaku language of the Mount Kenya area. In Tosco 2000 I generally accepted Hayward’s arguments and proposed to call the group made up of Dullay and Yaaku the “Transversal Southern Lowland East Cushitic.” Within Dullay one may easily divide between a Western and an Eastern group of dialects; the former is basically made up of Ts’amakko and Gawwada, and, geographically, spans the two banks of the Weyt’o River; the Eastern dialects occupy the highlands to the east and north of Gawwada; Harso, Dobaze, and the other dialects studied in Amborn, Minker, and Sasse (1980) are representative of the Eastern group. Comprehensibility between the Eastern and Western group is high, and Dullay may probably be regarded as a dialect chain; Gawwada speakers have no trouble speaking with Ts’amakko, while they claim to have some problems understanding the Eastern varieties. The Dullay speakers have no overall term for themselves, nor do they seem to recognize themselves as an ethnic or linguistic unit. At least three terms have been used in the scientific literature: 1. “Werizoid” by Bender (1971: 187), followed by Black (1976); according to Amborn, Minker, and Sasse (1980: 14 n. 3), the term is derived from the official (Amharic) administrative denomination for the area at that time, itself the result of a misunderstanding of the chief Author’s note: Fieldwork on Gawwada has been going on since 2000, both in Gawwada town and in Arba Minch. I gratefully acknowledge the help of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (M.I.U.R.) for funding my research, and of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University for granting me permission to carry on fieldwork in Ethiopia. This article was written in 2002 during my stay at the Institut für Sprachwissenschaft of the University of Cologne, which was made possible by a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. I thank Alan S. Kaye and Graziano Savà for their comments and criticisms on an earlier version. All errors and omissions are entirely my own. Supplemental abbreviations unique to this essay are found on p. 527.

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lineage of Harso (one of the Dullay-speaking groups) as a denomination for the area. 2. “Qawko” by Hayward (1978), from the term for ‘man’ in all the varieties (G qáwÓo); 3. “Dullay” by Amborn, Minker, and Sasse (1980), from the name of the river known in Amharic as Weyt’o, and which is perhaps the most salient geographic feature of the area (actually, the river divides the westernmost group, the Ts’amakko, from all the other Dullayspeaking groups; in G it is called ∂úllayÓo). Dullay has gained wider acceptance in the linguistic literature and will be retained here, although it must be stressed that none of these denominations bears any meaning to the speakers themselves. In this article, Gawwada (G) is used for the dialect spoken in the town of Gawwada and in the neighboring villages. The town lies approximately 40 km (one hour drive) west of Konso, and a dozen kilometers north of the main road leading from Konso to Jinka and the Omo Valley. In Ethiopia, Gawwada is nowadays used as a cover term for all the Dullay-speaking groups except the Ts’amakko, who live on the western bank of the Weyt’o River. Although linguistically unwarranted, the division of the Dullay speakers between Gawwada and Ts’amakko reflects well the cultural and economic cleavage between the inhabitants of the highlands, with their economy centered around agriculture, and the Ts’amakko, pastoralists and political allies of the Omotic Hamar and Banna, by whom they have been heavily influenced culturally. The practice of labeling all the Dullay speakers except the Ts’amakko as Gawwada is reflected, for example, in the 1994 Ethiopian Census (Central Statistical Authority 1998), according to which there were 32,636 Gawwada, almost all of them living in the Konso Special Wereda (14,498, i.e., 44% of the total), and in the Dirashe Special Wereda (17,752, i.e., 54%). In both Weredas the Gawwada is the second largest ethnic group, lagging well behind the Konso (137,120) and the Gidole (52,536), respectively. Recently, a “Gawwada Special Wereda” has been set up. The 1994 Ethiopian Census has counted 8,621 speakers of Ts’amakko, bringing the total number of the Dullay speakers to approximately 42,000. The Dullay dialects are not endangered. Bi- and multilingualism involves Konso and other Konsoid varieties, Amharic, and Oromo. The Dullay dialects are not written. 2. Morphology Although the phonology and syntax of G present the linguist with many fascinating problems—from the phonological value of the voice/voiceless opposition to the role of the subject clitics and of contrast particles—it is in its extremely rich and remarkably regular morphological system that the quintessence of the language lies. The abundance and productivity of the verbal derivational processes found in the Dullay varieties is probably unparalleled in East Cushitic, a fact which, coupled with the relative scar-

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city of allomorphic variation, makes the grammar of G look like a complex, yet remarkably efficient, piece of machinery. Limitations of space and scope of this overview force us to skip many details, as well as any treatment of G phonology. The covering of syntax will likewise be limited to a few details. Among morphological data, the greatest attention will be given to facts of inflection, especially the rich verbal one, while derivation, both verbal and nominal, will be given a more cursory treatment. Finally, a fuller treatment of the “minor” word classes is hampered by considerations of space as well as by the need of further syntactic and lexicographical fieldwork. Amborn, Minker, and Sasse (1980), although mainly dealing with the Eastern dialects of Dullay, may be consulted by the interested reader. 2.1. Words, stems, affixes, and clitics The following elements must be taken into account in a treatment of G morphology: 1. Words: a phonologically autonomous string of elements which may, at least in principle, be uttered in isolation; e.g., sáam∫o ‘boy’ (actually used in isolation by girls as a generic call for a boy) 2. Stems: the lexical, meaning-bearing part of a word upon which grammatical affixation processes apply; e.g., the element pas- in the noun páso ‘field’ (when discussing the stems and affixes of a word, they will be separated by “-”) 3. Affixes: either a suffix or a reduplicated part of a stem (§4) which applies to a stem; e.g., the plural suffix -e plus the reduplication of the last stem consonant in pásse ‘fields’ from páso; also, the final -o in páso itself 4. Clitics: elements which are identified on the basis of their prosodic behavior; they are never uttered in isolation, do not have stress and make a phonological word with the word they precede (proclitics) or follow (enclitics). Different from affixes, they attach to full words and not to stems. E.g.: the pronominal subject an= 1st person in an=ássi ‘I went’. A clitic boundary will be marked by = 2.2. Canonical word shapes, syllables and epenthesis Words are mostly vowel ending, thereby differing from stems, affixes, and clitics. Words begin with one and only one consonant, and a sequence of two consonants is allowed only word internally. The canonical word shape is therefore simply: CVX(CC)YV# (where X and Y are any elements or string of elements and Y may also be null). The following groups of words do not end in vowels: 1. The Imperative Positive of Class 1.a. basic verbs and of all derived stems (§3.3.4); e.g.: sáq ‘slaughter! (S)’, 1 ¿úgís ‘make drink! (S)’ 2. Most numerals; e.g., táÓan ‘seven’ 1. Transcription is phonological and follows the I.P.A. conventions with the following deviations: /s/ = IPA [S], /c’/ = IPA [tS’], /y/ = IPA [j].

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3. The 2S and 3F verbal forms of the Imperfective (and Imperfectivederived) paradigms, which end in -ay; e.g.: ¿úgnay ‘you (S)/she will drink’ 4. The ideophones; e.g., boróÓ ‘a loud, hollow noise made by a container when falling and breaking’ The following template defines all the possible syllable types: CV(V)(C) Examples: CV, e.g.: CVV CVC CVVC

pá.ko gel.sakko gól.le gúur.ro

‘mouth; language’ ‘monkey’ ‘river’ ‘speckled pigeon (Columba guinea)’

Vowel-initial words are analyzed as beginning with a phonological /?/, although this is generally not noticeable phonetically. This decision is borne out by the behavior of the subject clitic of 2nd person aC=, in which C duplicates the first stem consonant. When cliticized to a vowel-initial verb, aC= takes the form a?=, as in: a?=ássiti ‘you (S) went’, from the verb ássa ‘to go’. A word-initial /?/ will not be marked in the transcription. A sequence of three consonants arising in affixation is broken by an epenthetic /i/ between its second and third element: CCC § CCiC In a?=ássiti ‘you (S) went’, /i/ is inserted between the stem ass- and the affix -ti; cf. a¿=¿úgtí ‘you (S) drank’ (from the verb ¿úg ‘to drink’), in which no epenthesis takes place. 2.3. Word classes The following word classes are tentatively established in G: verbs (§3), nouns (§4), pronouns (§5), numerals (§6), adverbials (§8), ideophones (§7), and postpositions (§8; the relational nouns, although a subclass of nouns, are also treated here). This leaves out many elements (such as the contrast markers and the wh-words; again, the latter are probably a subclass of nouns), which will be briefly reviewed in §9. 2.4. Morphological mechanisms: Suffixation and reduplication Affixation is the main morphological mechanism, and may take two forms: suffixation and reduplication. Apart from occasional lexical (stem) reduplication in nouns and ideophones, reduplication is used as a morphological process in the following four cases: 1. In nominal plurals, one of the plural-forming devices involves the reduplication of the last stem consonant (§4.3.1): XC(C)V# XCCe; e.g., á∂o/á∂∂e ‘cheek/s’.

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2. In the personal pronouns, the 1st and 2nd person subject clitics are optionally reduplicated in negative sentences; e.g., áno ‘I’ ánáno ‘I:RED’. 3. Two reduplication processes operate in the verbal system: a. All the stem consonants except the first are reduplicated in the semelfactive (SEM) extension: XCY# XCCY# (where X and Y are any element or string of elements and Y may also be null); e.g.: áno ¿úgí ‘I drank’ áno ¿úggí ‘I sipped’. b. The first CV(V) part of the stem is reduplicated in the intensive (INT) extension; e.g.: áno pútí ‘I won’ áno púpútí ‘I won over and over’. 3. Verbs Verbs are the category which bears the maximum information load. In verbal inflection a number of sentence-level semantic and syntactic categories are expressed: 1. Categories which index the subject of the sentence and which share a single set of morphemes: person (1, 2, 3); number (S[ingular], P[lural]); gender (only for a third person singular subject). 2. Categories expressing tense, mood, aspect, and polarity: Perfective (or neutral, PFV), Imperfective (IPFV), Habitual (HAB), and Future (FUT) aspect/tenses; Imperative (IMPV) and Jussive ( JUSS) moods; Negative (NEG); plus an uninflected Infinitive (INF). Inflection is suffixal, but it also involves different tonal patterns. The overall shape of a verbal form may be expressed as: STEM ± DERIVATIONAL EXTENSION + INFLECTION 3.1. Stems In the following, basic and derived stems will be distinguished. The most simple form of a stem, both morphologically and semantically, is the basic stem. Derived stems are obtained from a basic stem through suffixation and reduplication. Derivation is, to a limited extent, recursive. Basic stems may have the following shapes: CVC CVVC CVCC CVCVC CVCCVC

e.g.: ¿ug©aap©on∂∂alaÓkassa∂-

‘to drink’ ‘to be afraid’ ‘to break, smash’ ‘to be satiated’ ‘to ask’

By far, monosyllabic stems, especially of the CV(V)C type, are the most numerous. Further verbal stems may be created from nouns through verbalizing affixes. As for nouns, verbal stems are not words and never appear as such. In the following, verbs will be reported under the form of the imperative singular (§3.3.4).

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3.2. Derivation: Overview of extensions The rich verbal derivational system of G is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Overview of verbal extensions extension Causative Middle (Autobenefactive) Passive/Reflexive Semelfactive Intensive Inceptive Ingressive

tag CAUS MID PASS SEM INT INC INGR

basic allomorph -Vs -a∂ -am CV(CCV)CC C1VC2C1VC2 -um -uy

The causative can be combined with itself (yielding a double causative) and with the other extensions. To a more limited extent, also the middle and the passive may be combined with other extensions. Inflectionally, all the derived stems are of Class 1 (§3.4). 3.2.1. Causative The general morpheme of the causative (CAUS) extension is -Vs; the basic allomorph is -is. The extension is used to obtain a causative out of a basic transitive verb and a transitive verb out of a basic intransitive verb: ¿úg

‘to drink’

§ ¿úgís

‘to make drink’

The allomorph -as is found in a certain number of stems; in most cases the (last) stem vowel seems to determine the vowel of the extension, but in other cases no obvious conditioning is present: fár

‘to die’ § fárás

‘to make die’

The allomorph -ees is used with middle-extended stems: ¿állá∂

‘to speak’ § ¿álla∂ées

‘to let, make speak’

The allomorph -oos has been found with a few adjectival verbs: Óéet’

‘to be nice’ § Óeet’óos

‘to make nice’

The double causative has the ending -sis or -sas, and makes a double causative out of a transitive basic verb and a causative out of an intransitive verb: ¿úgís (CAUS) § ¿úgísís

‘to make somebody make somebody else drink’

Both the causative and the double causative extensions are fully productive, and can be used with Amharic loans, as in the verb qáyyar ‘to change’ (intr.) from Amh. qåyyår: (1) áno=Óo láalle qáyyársísí I=you:SM dress change:CAUS:CAUS:PFV:1S ‘I made you change the clothes’

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3.2.2. Middle The semantics of the middle or autobenefactive extension is similar to that of other Cushitic languages (cf. Saeed 1995 for Somali). The middle is marked by the usual Cushitic morpheme -a∂: ∂ál

‘to generate’

§ ∂álá∂

‘to be born’

Other allomorphs occur in a limited number of cases, such as -oo∂. A few apparent middle-extended verbs have no basic verb, such as ∂ákkóo∂ ‘to become deaf’ (cf. ∂ákkakkó ‘deaf’). 3.2.3. Passive/reflexive A passive/reflexive meaning (PASS) is expressed through the suffix -am: ∫á∂ ∂íl

pút

‘to hide’ (intr.) § ∫á∂∂ám 1–. ‘to bake’; 2–.‘to burn § ∂ílám (with a hot stick in order to cure an illness or for decoration)’ ‘to win, defeat’ § pútám

‘to hide oneself’ ‘to get burned (for medical treatment or for decoration)’ ‘to be defeated’

In a few cases an apparent passive verb has no corresponding basic verb (e.g., ∂íhám ‘to give advice’). 3.2.4. Semelfactive The semelfactive extension (Amborn, Minker, and Sasse’s [1980: 117] “Singularitiv”) conveys the meaning ‘to do X once’ and is expressed by the reduplication of all the stem consonants except the first one, i.e.: 1. monosyllabic stems: CV(V)C § CV(V)CC 2. polysyllabic stems: CV(V)C(C)V(V)C § CV(V)CCV(V)CC A polysyllabic verb with a medial cluster or a geminate consonant in the basic stem expresses the semelfactive through the reduplication of the last stem consonant only. As semelfactives are two-consonant-ending in the imperative singular, they always belong to Class 1.b, whatever the conjugational class of the basic stem from which they are derived (§3.3), e.g.: ára ∫á∂ ©ée¿ gíigí qáalama gíllá∂

‘to know’ (CVC stem, Cl. 2) ‘to hide’ (CVC stem, Cl. 1.a) ‘to look for’ (CVVC stem, Cl. 1.a) ‘to yank, pull away’ (CVVC stem, Cl. 1.b) ‘to be angry with’ (CVVCVC stem, Cl. 2) ‘to do magic’ (CVCCVC stem, Cl. 1.a)

§ § § § § §

árrí ∫á∂∂í ©ée¿¿í gíiggí qáallammí gílla∂∂í

Idiosyncratic semantic shifts are common; e.g.: c’óxá ∂íl

‘to milk’ § c’óxxí ‘to burn’ (tr.) § ∂íllí

‘to milk one udder only’ ‘to brand an animal (for property)’

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3.2.5. Intensive An intensive/iterative action (INT) is iconically expressed through the reduplication of the first CV(V) string of the first (or only) syllable of the basic stem: CV(V)X § CV(V)CV(V)X óo∂ páÓ páatanóo∂

‘to go down’ ‘to go up’ ‘to get a scar’

§ óo?óo∂ § pápáÓ § páapaatanóo∂

Complete stem reduplication occurs in a few case, often with idiosyncratic semantic shifts: téeÓ qún

‘to give’ ‘to speak’

§ téeÓtéeÓ § qúnqún

‘to distribute’ ‘to speak in a low voice’

The intensive is often further associated with the semelfactive: (2) áno púno an=¿úg¿úggí ‘I used to wolf down coffee’ I coffee 1=drink:INT:SEM:PFV:1S 3.2.6. Inceptive An inceptive verb (‘to become X’; tag: INC) may be obtained through the suffix -um; e.g.: áppa gawwá∂a

‘father’ § áppúm ‘Gawwada’ § gáwwá∂úm

téeg

‘to be poor’ § téegúm

‘to become father’ ‘to become a Gawwada, to “Gawwadize” oneself’ ‘to become poor’

Also recent loans may undergo verbalization through the inceptive: támar

‘to be a student’ (Amh.) § támárúm

‘to become a student’

An inceptive verb may be further causativized (‘to make become X’) through the suffix -Vs, gáwwá∂úm ‘to become a § gáwwá∂úmís ‘to make become a GawGawwada’ wada, to “Gawwadize”’ as in the following: (3) áno Óo=gáwwá∂úmísí ‘I made you become a Gawwada’ I you:SM=G.:INC:CAUS:PFV:1S 3.2.7. Ingressive Entering into a state is expressed through an ingressive estension (INGR), which is marked by the suffix -uy; e.g.: áwne géesakko

‘night’ ‘old’

§ áwnúy § géesúy

‘to become night’ ‘to grow old’

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This extension is also used as a denominal verbalizer; e.g.: tórre urúure wárse

‘news’ § tórrúy ‘wind’ § úrúurúy ‘beer’ § wársúy

‘to speak well’ ‘to become windy’ ‘to brew beer’

While in the inceptive extension the focus is on the result of the action, in the ingressive it seems to be on its starting point; the difference may be shown by the following pairs of sentences: (4) i=géesúmí 3=old:INC:PFV:3M

‘he has grown old’

versus (5) i=géesúyí 3=old:INGR.PFV:3M

‘he has been getting old’

and (6) áto a?=órÓámtí you.S 2=fight:PFV:2S

‘you (S) fought’

versus (7) bíe i=órÓámúyay ‘the country has entered (and is now) in war’ land 3–=fight:INGR:IPFV:3–F A few apparent ingressive verbs have no corresponding basic verb; e.g., gágúy ‘to carry on the back’, lébúy ‘to kick’, tólúy ‘to grind’. 3.3. Inflection: Overview On the basis of their morphological behavior, the verbs may be divided into two classes, which will be labelled Class 1 (Cl. 1) and Class 2 (Cl. 2), respectively. The two classes, which seem to be semantically unmotivated, are distinguished for only part of the paragidm. The following verbal paradigms have been detected (see table 2 on p. 514); various nouns may further be derived from verbal stems (§3.9): 3.3.1. Declarative paradigms (see tables 3 to 5 on pp. 514–515) 1. Perfective positive (PFV): the two verbal classes share one set of desinences, but different tonal schemata apply: Class 1 verbs have uniform high tone on all the vowels; Class 2 verbs have high tone on the first stem vowel only; as often in Cushitic, the same affix is used for a 1st singular and 3rd singular masculine subject, and for a 2nd singular and a 3rd singular feminine subject. 2. Past negative (PST.NEG): there is no class distinction; one single desinence (final accented -ú) is used for a singular subject, irrespective of person and gender.

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paradigm

tag

Declarative Mood Perfective (neutral) aspect: Perfective (positive) Perfective, habitual (positive) Perfective, future (positive)

PFV HAB:PFV FUT:PFV

no. of differclass ent forms opposition

8 8 8

Imperfective aspect: Imperfective (positive) IPFV Imperfective, habitual (positive) HAB:IPFV Imperfective, future (positive) FUT:IPFV

5 5 5

Aspect-neutral paradigms: Past, negative Past, habitual, negative Present, negative Present, habitual, negative Future, negative

PST-NEG HAB:PST-NEG PRS-NEG HAB:PRS-NEG FUT-NEG

4 4 5 5 5

Non-Declarative Moods: Consecutive (positive) Imperative, positive Imperative, negative Jussive, positive Jussive, negative Infinitive

CONS IMPV IMPV-NEG JUSS JUSS-NEG INF

3 3 3

7 (Cl. 1), 5 (Cl. 2) 3 2 3 1 4 5 1

Table 3. Perfective (neutral): tonal schemes and affixes

1S 2S 3MS 3FS 1P 2P 3P

Cv2C(v2C)í Cv2C(v2C)tí Cv2C(v2C)í Cv2C(v2C)ti Cv2C(v2C)né(eni) Cv2C(v2C)té(ngu) Cv2C(v2C)né(eni)

Cl. 1 ¿úg ‘to drink’ ¿úgí ¿úgtí ¿úgí ¿úgtí ¿úgné(eni) ¿úgté(ngu) ¿úgtné(eni)

Cl. 2 ógááy ‘to come’ ógááyi ógááyti ógááyi ógááyti ógááyné(eni) ógááyté(ngu) ógááyé(eni)

Cv2C(v2C)i Cv2C(v2C)ti Cv2C(v2C)i Cv2C(v2C)ti Cv2C(v2C)né(eni) Cv2C(v2C)té(ngu) Cv2C(v2C)é(eni)

ássa ‘to go’ ássi ássiti ássi ássiti ássíné(eni) ássíté(ngu) ássé(eni)

3. Imperfective positive (IPFV): there is no class distinction; as for the past, 1S = 3M, and 2S = 3F; all verbs have accent on the stem vowel(s) only. 4. Present negative (PRS.NEG): there is no class distinction; the stem vowel(s) are both accented, while the (first mora of the) desinence is accented.

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Table 4. Imperfective and consecutive: Tonal schemes and affixes Imperfective

Consecutive Cl. 1 Cl. 2 sór ‘to run’ ássa ‘to go’ ássa ‘to go’ 1S Cv2C(vC)a ássa Cv2C(v2C)á sorá Cv2C(v2C)ó ássó 2S Cv2C(vC)ay ássay Cv2C(C)áy soráy Cv2C(v2C)óy ássóy 3MS Cv2C(vC)a ássa Cv2Cv2(C)ú sorú Cv2C(v2C)ó ássó 3FS Cv2C(vC)ay ássay Cv2(v2)(C)í sorí Cv2C(v2C)óy ássóy 1P Cv2C(vC)ani ássani Cv2(v2)(C)áni sóráni Cv2C(v2C)óni ássóni 2P Cv2C(vC)angu ássangu Cv2(v2)(C)ángu sórángu Cv2C(v2C)óngu ássóngu 3P Cv2C(vC)angi ássangi Cv2(v2)(C)ángi sórángi Cv2C(v2C)óni ássóngi

Table 5. Past negative and Present negative: Tonal schemes and affixes Past Negative 1S CvC(vC)ú 2S CvC(vC)ú 3MS CvC(vC)ú 3FS CvC(vC)ú 1P CvC(vC)óoni 2P CvC(vC)óngu 3P CvC(vC)óngi

ássa ‘to go’ Present Negative ássú CvC(vC)í ássí ássú CvC(vC)tí ássití ássú CvC(vC)í ássí ássú CvC(vC)tí ássití ássóoni CvC(vC)ní ássiní ássóngu CvC(vC)té ássité ássóngi CvC(vC)é ássé

5. Two affixes, -n- for the future (FUT) and -ay- for the Habitual (HAB), may be inserted between the stem and the Perfective, Imperfective, and Negative endings. 6. The negative forms are generally followed by the contrast marker =kka (§9); e.g., ye=¿úgú=kka ‘he did not drink’. 7. A dependent (DEP) paradigm has partially different forms for verbs of the 1 and the 2 Class; its use is briefly shown in §3.3.3. 3.3.2. Verbal forms with subject focus When the subject is focalized, the distinction between Cl. 1 and 2 verbs in the past positive is neutralized. Moreover, subject agreement is suspended, and the verbal form appears in an invariable form, segmentally identical to the 3rd singular masculine (of Cl. 2 in the past positive). The verbal form may not be preceded by a subject clitic (§5), and a free pronoun or an NP may act as subject; e.g.: Class 1 Class 2

(áto) a¿=¿úgtí (áto) ay=yí?ti

‘you drank’ ‘you ate’

versus

áto ¿úgti áto yí?i

‘you drank’ ‘you ate’

3.3.3. Note on the use of verbs in coordination and subordination A complete treatment of syntax cannot be offered here; the following notes are meant as a rough guide to the use of the dependent paradigm.

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In sentence coordination, the first sentence is in the main paradigm followed by the general linker =pa (LINK); the following sentence is in the dependent paradigm, irrespective of the tense of the main verb; cf.: (8) géeray kónso=sá i=ássi=pa gármo i=hi?ú yesterday K.=FAR 3=go:PFV:3M=LINK lion 3=see:CONS:3M ‘yesterday he went to Konso and saw a lion’ (9) áno móora=tte lálle an=pítímá∂í=pa I market:LOC:F clothes 1=buy:MID:PFV:1S=LINK téelá∂á=pa ¿áagú sew:MID:CONS:1S=LINK go.home:CONS:1S ‘I bought clothes at the market, sewed them and went home’ If the second sentence takes place within the time frame of the first one, the partitive postposition =na (PRTV) follows the verb of the first sentence: (10) géeray kónso=sá an=ássa=na gármo an=hí?í yesterday K.=FAR 1=go:IPFV:1S=PRTV lion 1=see:PFV:1S ‘yesterday, while going to Konso, I saw a lion’ If the main sentence is imperative, the element =ye (SUB.IMPV) is used after the verb of the dependent clause: (11) áno kónso=sá an=ássi=ye nu=¿álla I K.=FAR 1=go:PFV:1S=SUB.IMPV DIR=tell:IMPV:S ‘tell him that I went to Konso’ 3.3.4. Imperative positive The imperative positive (IMPV) has only the forms for the addressee, both singular and plural. Table 6. Imperative positive Class 1.a (C-final) Class 1.b (CC-final) Class 2 2S v2[X]º v2[X]í v2[X]a 2P v2[X]á v2[X]á v2[X]in∂á (where X is any non-null string of elements) As argued by Amborn, Minker, and Sasse (1980: 115), the second group is a subclass of the first; different from this, I prefer to consider the final -í as epenthetic, rather than underlyingly present also in group a. Evidence for this analysis comes from other paradigms, in which /i/ is inserted between a CC-ending stem and a consonantal affix, for example, from the verb ássa ‘to go’ past positive 2S/3FS ássiti. To class 1.a. (C-final verbs) belong also all the derived verbs (notwithstanding the class of the corresponding basic stem): Class 1.a./monosyllabic: Class 1.a./bisyllabic: Class 1.b.: Class 2.:

¿áf ógaay ∂áwrí ássa

‘spread!’ ‘come!’ ‘refuse!’ ‘go!’

¿áfá ógaayá ∂áwrá ássin∂á

‘spread! (P)’ ‘come! (P)’ ‘refuse! (P)’ ‘go! (P)’

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3.3.5. Imperative negative A single verbal form is used for both the singular and the plural, preceded by the negative particle ólo, as in ólo assí ‘do not go!’ (S and P). 3.3.6. Jussive The jussive complements the imperative positive for an order to a 1st or a 3rd person. The desinences are the same as the past positive (§3.3.1) with a different accentual pattern: Table 7. Jussive positive 1S assí 3MS assí 3FS assití 1P assiní 3P assé

‘let me go!’ ‘let him go!’ ‘let her go!’ ‘let us go!’ ‘let them go!’

(cf. ássi ‘I went’) (cf. ássi ‘he went’) (cf. ássiti ‘she went’) (cf. ássini ‘we went’) (cf. ásse ‘they went’)

3.3.7. Jussive negative For 3rd persons the same desinences as the past negative (§3.3.1) are used, preceded by the jussive marker ínnu. The 1st persons have an ending -é (1S) and -iné (1P), respectively, with no jussive marker; free pronouns may be used. Table 8. Jussive negative 1S 3MS 3FS 1P 3P

(áno) assé ínnu assú ínnu assú (íne) assiné ínnu assóngi

‘let me not go!’ ‘let him not go!’ (cf. ye=assú ‘he did not go’) ‘let her not go!’ (cf. ye=assú ‘she did not go’) ‘let us not go!’ ‘let them not go!’ (cf. ye=assóngi ‘they did not go’)

3.3.8. Infinite The infinite (INF) is an untensed (as well as impersonal) verbal form marked by a suffix -é: ógaay qút’ yóoqa

‘to come’ ‘to cut’ ‘to grind’

§ ogaayé § qut’é § yooqé

‘coming’ ‘cutting’ ‘grinding’

Infinites are built from both basic and derived stems: úrkées úrkeesá∂

‘to dress’ (tr.) § urkeesé ‘to dress’ (intr.) § urkeesa∂é

‘dressing’ ‘wearing’

The infinites are used in subordinate clauses: (12) áno sagáango=sí bíllawo=ttáy qut’é an=wóo¿a I meat=NEAR knife=INS cut:INF 1=want.IPFV.1S ‘I want to cut the meat with the knife’

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3.4. “Adjectival” verbs There is no unitary category of adjectives, and the semantic space of adjectival concepts is divided between verbs and nouns. The latter will be presented in §4.4. Adjectival verbs are used for many basic adjectival concepts: basic colors (G has the usual five-terms system of the languages of the area; cf. Tosco 1999), such as pí¿ ‘to be white’, í∂ ‘to be red’, gúm ‘to be black’ (but oybattó ‘yellow’ is a noun); physical and moral qualities, such as Óéet ‘to be good, nice’, ∂ámmí ‘(to be) big’, tákúy ‘(to be) small’, and others. Adjectival verbs enter into adjectival phrases which are formally relative clauses: (13) tórre Óéeta i=¿állí ‘he gave a good speech’ speech be-good:PRS:3M 3=speak:PFV:3M Adjectival verbs may of course also occur as predicates. An ongoing state is expressed through the use of the present tense, with the affixes seen in §3.3.1: (14) áno Óéeta I be-good:IPFV:1S

‘I am good’

(15) áto Óéetay ‘you (S) are good’ you.S be-good:IPFV:2S This construction has an “emphatic” meaning, and the sentences above could be uttered, for example, in answering the question ‘who is good?’ On the other hand, a neutral statement involves the use of the connector (see §5) and of a more noun-like morphology, in which the gender and number of the subject, but not the person, is encoded in the verb. The endings are -a (M), -ay (F), -óoma (P), illustrated by examples 16–18. (16) áno Óo pí¿a ‘I (M) am white’ I CONN:M be-white:M (17) áno te pí¿ay I CONN:F be-white:F

‘I (F) am white’

(18) íne Óe pí¿óoma we CONN:P be-white:P

‘we are white’

Other tenses, moods, and the like make use of the regular paradigms; often derived stems are more common than the basic one: (19) ∂ámmí be-big:IMPV:S

‘be big!’

(20) áno i∂∂í=kka ‘I am not red’ I be-red:PRS-NEG:1S=CONTR

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4. Nouns Nouns may be categorized according to the parameters of gender and number. Syntactic roles are expressed through word order, postposition, and through subject agreement markers on the verb. 4.1. Noun stems and affixes Nouns are composed of a stem and one or more suffixes. The suffix is minimally composed of a vowel which, with a few exceptions, encodes the gender of the noun (§4.2–3) and which is lost in certain configurations, for example, before a plural or singulative suffix and when followed by a postposition. Further gender-marking affixes are -ko, -Óo, or -ho for masculine nouns and -te for feminine nouns. These may be further expanded through various infixes, including the productive singulative suffixes (§4.3.2) -akko/-ikko for masculine nouns and -atte/-itte for feminine nouns. All these affixes are generally (but not always) lost in derivation. For example, the final vowel of páso ‘lake’ is lost in the plural pásse; tóosko ‘waterbuck’ loses the whole affix -ko in the plural tóose, and in gelsakko ‘monkey’ the whole affix -akko is shed in the plural gélso. On the other hand, in many cases these suffixes have apparently undergone reanalysis as part of the stem, and they are not dropped in derivation; e.g., ∂áyte ‘firestick’, plural ∂áyta∂∂e; ¿áfte, plural ¿áfta∂∂e ‘hide, skin’ (cf. the verb ¿áf ‘to spread’). 4.2. Gender and number As in other Cushitic languages, from a formal point of view one may treat gender and number as interacting and forming a system of three noun classes: masculine (M), feminine (F), and plural (P). For example, masculine, feminine, and plural subjects are encoded by different verbal forms in most paradigms. Likewise, the triple opposition masculine/feminine/ plural is coded in the “adjectival” verbs (§3.4), in the “adjectival” nouns (§4.4), as well as in the free personal pronouns and in the connector (§5). Most nouns may be pluralized, that is, they may be turned into the plural class. A similar change from masculine to feminine or vice versa is limited to specific subclasses of nouns, in particular the “adjectival” nouns and most singulatives denoting animates. Many nouns denoting animate entities (humans and many, especially “higher,” animals) encode the sex of the referent through the grammatical gender (there are a few exceptions; e.g., ló?o ‘cow’ is grammatically masculine). Otherwise, gender is not semantically motivated. Most nouns end either in -o or -e; a few (probably many of them loanwords) in -a. Nouns ending in -o are (apart from a very few exceptions) masculine; nouns ending in -e are either feminine or plural: púno gáye téeme magáala

(M) (F) (P) (M)

‘coffee’ ‘tobacco’ ‘eyebrows’ ‘chestnut weaver’ (Ploceus rubiginosus, sp. of bird)

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From both a semantic and formal point of view, one may recognize a “basic form,” which is also the morphologically simplest form of a noun and is the form used as the counting unit for its number morphology (the “unit reference form” of Hayward [1984]). A basic form may belong either to the masculine, the feminine, or the plural class. From it a plural, a singulative, or both, may be derived. A masculine or feminine basic form from which a plural may be derived may be equated, semantically, with a singular (case a. in table 9, below). In other cases, both a singulative and a plural form may be derived, thereby creating a threefold opposition basic/plural/ singulative; this is especially the case with mass nouns, for which the basic form may be conceived as generic in meaning. In this case the plural has a distinct “evaluative” meaning, implying an exaggerated quantity of the item in question; conversely, the singulative of a mass noun implies a diminished quantity of the same, as in ∂aammitakko ‘a small amount of flour’ from ∂áammo ‘flour’. The use of the basic, plural, and singulative forms of a mass noun are shown in the following examples: (21) áto c’éeqe a¿ =¿úgtí ‘you drank blood’ you:S blood 2=drink:PFV:2S (22) áto c’éeqa∂∂e a¿ =¿úgtí ‘you drank lots of blood, too much you:S blood:P 2=drink:PFV:2S blood’ (23) áto c’eeqitte a¿ =¿úgtí ‘you drank a little bit of blood’ you:S blood:SING 2=drink:PFV:2S This possibility is exemplified in case b. in table 9. In still other cases, the basic form has collective meaning, and from it a singulative only is derived (case c. in table 9). Finally, there are collective nouns of the plural class for which no basic form is found, and which are in opposition with a singulative (case d. in table 9), and also collective plural nouns which denotate animate beings and for which both a singulative masculine and a singulative feminine are found (case e. in table 9; this is the same pattern of the “adjectival” nouns, §3.4): Table 9. Noun-class derivations singulative (class: M or F) a. b. miilitte (F) c. masgarté (F) d. ilgakkó e. maasakko (M) maasatte (F)

basic (class: M or F)

plural (class: P)

singular: gáwso (M) § gáwsa∂∂e ‘chin’ ∞ generic: míile ‘fresh § míila∂∂e milk’ ∞ collective: masgáre (F) ‘fleas’ ∞ ——— § collective: ílge ‘teeth’ ¡ £

———

§ collective: maasámme ‘slaves’

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Number-invariable nouns are the verbal nouns, a few terms for trees and vegetables (e.g., alqúqa ‘lentils’) for which the informants are reluctant to provide a plural or a singulative (possibly many of them are loans), as well as semantic pluralia tantum, such as ∂oobángo ‘full moon’, the names of the days of the week, and others. In a good number of cases the basic form is etymologically a plural, from which a secondary plural may be obtained: an example is mínne ‘house’, built from a non-extant (in G) basic form *mino through the gemination of the last stem consonant and the affix -e. From mínne a plural mínna∂∂e is derived. 4.2.1. Plural marking a. The most common and default plural marker is -V∂∂e, in which V is generally /a/, sometimes /i/ without any clear phonological or semantic conditioning. The suffix is attached to the stem, and the final vowel of the basic form is dropped: síi∂o (M) ¿íllo (M)

§ §

síi∂a∂∂e (P) ¿ílli∂∂e (P)

‘tail’ ‘cowskin’

b. The second most common plural marker is -e. The general rule describing the suffixation of -e is: VC(C)V# § VCCe That is, -e is affixed to the stem, replacing the final vowel of the basic stem, and the final consonant of the stem is reduplicated if it is not already geminated or the last member of a cluster; e.g., á∂o (M), plural á∂∂e ‘cheek’. If the stem ends in a consonant cluster or is geminated, the stem is left unchanged and the plural is marked by -e only: XC1C2V# § XC1C2e# (where C1 π C2) e.g., ¿ár©o (M), plural ¿ár©e ‘upper arm’. If the basic form contains an affix (i.e., other than the final vowel), it is dropped before the affixation of the plural marker; e.g., paatángo (M, from a stem baatan- + -go), plural paatánne ‘scar’. c. The third most common plural marker is -ámme. This suffix is found only with polymorphemic nouns, in which an affix in the basic form is dropped in the plural; e.g., gáasango (M), plural gaasánne (from gaasan- + -me) ‘shield’. d. The suffix -áane is apparently used only for the plural of singulatives where no basic form is attested; e.g., gaarattakkó (M), plural gaarattáane ‘squirrel’. e. Suppletive plurals are found for a few nouns denoting sex and age groups, such as: sáam∫o (M) séette (F) qáwÓo (M)

§ § §

∂éelle (P) íÓa∂∂e (P) góro (P)

‘boy’ ‘girl’ ‘man’; the plural also ‘people’

f. Finally, there are a limited number of irregular plurals, such as Óóske ‘cooking stone’ (M), plural: Óóskille; ló?o ‘cow’ (F), plural: lé?e (and lée∂∂e).

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4.2.2. Singulatives The productive singulative suffixes are -akko (M) and -itte (F). The masculine singulative is often preceded by the element -it-: áage (P) láaÓko (M)

§ §

áagitakko láaÓkitakko

‘wild animal’ ‘poison’

In a few cases a masculine singulative is formed with the affix -ittó: pálÓo (M)

§

pálÓitto

‘ostrich’

4.3. Verbal nouns One or more verbal nouns may be derived from verbal stems. A very productive strategy uses the suffix -ángo and derives nouns which are masculine in gender, for example, from the verb ássa ‘to go’ the verbal noun assángo ‘going’. Another possibility is to derive feminine nouns with the suffix -te. For instance, the verbal noun yí?te ‘eating’ is obtained from the verb yí?a ‘to eat’, the verbal noun ¿úgte ‘drinking’ from the verb ¿úg ‘to drink’, and the verbal noun qá¿te ‘cutting’ from the verb qá¿ ‘to cut’. Verbal nouns with the meaning ‘the thing which is the object through which the action X is performed’ are built with the suffix -to and are masculine in gender; e.g., the noun qá¿to ‘a cutting instrument’, from qá¿ ‘to cut’. 4.4. “Adjectival” nouns Other nominalizing devices are involved in the creation of “adjectival” nouns having gender and and number inflection. The basic allomorphs of the gender-number suffixes are -akko (M), -atte (F), -áwÓe (P). E.g.: ∂akkakko (M), ∂akkatte (F), ∂akkáwÓe (P) ‘deaf’. Irregular monophthongization of the plural form is found in soroÓitto (M), soroÓitte (F), soróÓe (P, * sirbitú, ofol:-nummo > ofollinummo b. Full assimilation of suffix initial /t/ to a preceding post-vocalic obstruent: ag-tú > aggú, k’aaf-tú > k’aaffú c. Full assimilation of suffix-initial /n/ to a preceding post-vocalic sonorant consonant: um-nummo > ummummo, mAl-nummo > mAllummo d. Metathesis of /n/ and a preceding post-vocalic obstruent: Ag-nummo > Angummo, k’AAf-nummo > k’AAmfummo e. Assimilation of place of articulation of a nasal to a following obstruent: um-tú > untú, Angummo > A[˜]gummo, k’AAmfummo > k’AA[Â]fummo The HEC inversion of suffix-initial n and a stem-final single consonant (Ag-nummo > Angummo) is a very rare case of productive metathesis. Rules b–d would not need to refer to a preceding post-vocalic consonant if the epenthesis rule is given applicational precedence. After epenthesis only post-vocalic consonants could appear in the environment. In a relatively rare case of assimilation of a stem to a suffix, where the other languages have progressive assimilation (e.g., Sidaama mAllummo < mAl-nummo), Kambaata has regressive assimilation and the stem-final sonorant consonant fully assimilates to suffix-initial /n/ so that waal-noommi yields waannoommi ‘we came’. Such assimilation by a suffix of a stem is presumably universally disfavored because of the greater number of stems and thus the greater functional load of stem-shape. Finally, in Gedeo and one dialect of Burji, obstruents progressively assimilate voicedness from a preceding nasal consonant as in Gedeo inde < it-ne ‘they ate’. The above morphophonemic rules together present a thorough case of “rule conspiracy” (Kenstowicz and Kisseberth 1977: 143–45), according to which the rules “conspire” to make derived words conform to general requirements of word structure as seen in non-derived rules. Thus, for example, in Sidaama underived words have syllable contacts (offset + onset) of the types derived by rules a–e above, respectively: a. A maximum of two-consonant sequences, as in hi[˜]ko ‘tooth’ and hAssA ‘evening’ b. An offset obstruent only if the following onset is identical, as in lubbo ‘life’ and hAttA ‘that (f.)’ c. An onset sonorant consonant only if the preceding offset is identical, as in mAllA ‘meat’ and dAnnA ‘border’ d. Offset and onset consonants differing in sonority only if the sonorant is the offset and the obstruent the onset, as in gurdA ‘knot’ and AlbA ‘face’ e. Nasal-obstruent sequences only if the nasal has the place of articulation of the obstruent, as in sA[˜]se ‘fear’ and dimbA ‘drunkenness’

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Closed syllables of HEC words are thus few, but of the relatively unmarked types favored in the universal “Preference Laws for Syllable Structure” of Vennemann (1988). 3. Lexical morphology 3.1. Ballissa In Sidaama, reportedly in Hadiyya (and perhaps in other HEC languages for which information is lacking), there is a taboo phenomenon according to which a married woman must avoid speaking words with the first syllable of her father-in-law’s and, sometimes, mother-in-law’s name, as discussed by Anbessa (1987). According to Anbessa, she accomplishes this in four ways: (1) by circumlocution, (2) by use of synonyms, (3) by substituting s/som- for the first part of the offending word, and (4) by use of special words, termed bAllissA, fixed in the language for this purpose. The general phenomenon of this father-in-law taboo is known as ballisa, with short s, which Anbessa (1987: 47) analyzes as the noun ball- ‘in-law’ plus the causative verb suffix -is-. Exemplifying the circumlocution option, Anbessa mentions a woman whose father-in-law’s first name is Samago. To avoid the offensive mention of one named Sadebo, the son of Kayammo, she may say ‘the son of Kayammo’. As possible substitution of synonyms, or, it seems, near synonyms, for words beginning with da in the case of a father-in-law named Dawasso, Anbessa mentions higa ‘to return’ for daa ‘to come’, t’uma ‘good’ for danca ‘good’, and taalo ‘peer’ for darawa ‘peer’ (‘equality’ in Gasparini 1983). Ssubstitution Anbessa exemplifies with suma for t’uma ‘good’, subbo for cubbo ‘sin’, and sikko for dikko ‘market’. Somm substitutions he exemplifies with sommale for k’amale ‘babboon’ (or ‘monkey’), sommicco for lukkicco ‘hen’, and sommola for lembola ‘pigeon’. Interestingly, the phenomenon of somm substitution involves not a syllable or even part of a syllable as usually recognized (sommale for example is typically analyzed as som.ma.le), but a syllable and its following syllableonset. Thus in sommola for lembola som replaces initial syllable lem and m replaces onset b of lem.bo.la, and in sommicco for lukkicco som replaces initial syllable luk and m replaces onset k of luk.kic.co. This appears to go against a claim of phonological theory arising from studies of reduplication (e.g., Kager 1999: 218) that such rules must refer to a set of universally fixed phonological categories such as mora, syllable, foot, and phonological word. Somm appears to correspond to none of these as usually identified. The fourth option available for fulfillment of the taboo is use of special Sidaama vocabulary termed ballissA, with long s. These are especially common, everyday, words, including those of table 4. Anbessa notes that some of the BAllissA words appear to be borrowings, including in table 4 jiwiccA ‘calf’ from Oromo and basara ‘meat’ from Chaha or other Ethiopian Semitic ‘Gurage’ language. Others appear to be established circumlocutions, such as gurasinco ‘basket’, the instrument-causative noun of gura ‘gather’,

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AllissA A words Table 4. Some Sidaama bA BAllissA gurda basara t’oramo c’ork’e gurAsinco

Standard ado ‘milk’ maala ‘meat’ malawa ‘honey’ buna ‘coffee’ gimbola ‘basket’

Ballissa k’ananco t’aso dafano dafano jiwicca

Standard hakk’e ‘tree’ waa ‘water’ mundee ‘blood’ anga ‘hand’ booto ‘calf’

and haadAnco ‘razor’, the Sidaama instrument noun of haada ‘shave’, a ballissA verb probably borrowed from Oromo. 3.2. ‘Say’ verbs and ‘do’ verbs Like many other Ethiopian languages the HEC languages, though Burji somewhat marginally so, employ their verb ‘say’ (Burji i-, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidaama y-, and Gedeo hiiy-) with words of uncertain origin and part of speech, but often perhaps mimetic, to express typically intransitive verb idioms of which table 5 presents a sample. Table 5. Examples of ‘say’ verbs in HEC Burji naac’i i‘smile’ t’aa i‘get up quick’ wala i‘blaze up’

Gedeo ca?li hiiy‘be quiet’ dapp’i hiiy‘be tight’ muus hiiy‘smile’

Hadiyya heess y‘stoop’ iss y‘promise’ misik’ y‘smile’

Kambaata abb y‘rise’ biss y‘become red’ musuk’ y‘smile’

Sidaama beebi y‘be quiet’ dolli y‘lie down’ muss y‘smile’

At least Gedeo and Sidaama use the verb ass- ‘do’ similarly to derive transitive idioms, for example Gedeo mirat ass- ‘forgive’ and Sidaama gamba ass- ‘gather’ (vt). The absence or rarity of the ‘do’ derivatives in the other HEC languages may be owed to their use here, instead, of the causative suffix -is- (cognate with ass-?), a suffix which is, however, available in Gedeo and Sidaama as well. 3.3. Suppletive imperative of ‘come’ An unusual characteristic of Ethiopian languages including HEC is a suppletive form of the imperative of ‘come’, seen in table 6. Just the past of the regular verb ‘come’ and the singular imperative are shown. Illustrating the Ethiopian areal aspect of the phenomenon, table 6 also includes the East Cushitic Oromo and Amharic imperatives. In my notes HEC Alaba ‘come’ has the extended stem ameet- ‘come’, but the unextended imperative am-i. The reconstructed HEC imperative stem *am- has been replaced by regular waar- in Hadiyya and may be undergoing replacement by a regular form in Gedeo and Kambaata. This unusual lexical feature of HEC can have resulted from retention in Ethiopia of an Afroasiatic ‘come’ imperative considered as a meaning

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‘he came’ intay-anni dag-e waar-ukko waal-:o dag-í d’ufe m@tt’a

‘Come!’ (sg.) int-e, am-i dag-i, am-i waar-e waal-i, am-i Am-u kottu na

different from that of non-imperative ‘come’, or from broad diffusion of a calque in Ethiopia, though such diffusion is not ordinarly expected for such items of basic vocabulary. A survey of related forms and meanings in Sasse 1982 and Hudson 1989 suggests that Gedeo/Sidaama dag- may be reconstructed as HEC ‘go, get’, and Hadiyya/Kambaata waal- as ‘get together, gather (refl.)’. 3.4. Suppletive plural of ‘boy’ Another lexical characteristic of HEC is a suppletive plural of the word ‘boy’, seen in table 7. This is a go/went-type case of suppletion, not like English boy and children of which boy has a plural boys and children a singular child. That is, regular plural derivatives of singular ‘boy’ do not exist in HEC. Table 7. Suppletive plural of ‘boy’ in HEC languages language Burji Gedeo Hadiyya Kambaata Sidaama

singular halam(i) ‘boy’ (k’ala ‘child’) belto ‘boy’ beeto ‘boy’ beeta(ha) ‘boy’ (beeto[ta] ‘girl’) beetto ‘boy’

plural k’aaro ‘children’ oose ‘boys’ ooso ‘boys’ oosu-ta ‘boys’ ooso ‘boys’

The l of the Gedeo word suggests an HEC source-word cognate to the Semitic root *wld ‘give birth’, which in Ethiopian Semitic often appears in the word for ‘boy, child’, as in Amharic lˆj. In Burji, beelto is ‘friend (f.)’. 4. Noun morphology 4.1. Number, gender, case The HEC languages like other Cushitic languages are of the consistent inflectional SOV type, in which objects precede the verb, which is sentencefinal; heads follow modifiers; and grammatical and derivational affixes are typically suffixes. As quite consistently of the SOV type, HEC languages generally lack prefixes, but two exceptions to this generalization are Hadiyya’s set of possessive prefixes for nouns, as in i-mine ‘my house’, and the Sidaama negative prefix of verbs, as in di-kuloommo ‘he didn’t tell’.

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Nouns distinguish number, gender, and case. Table 8 shows the HEC independent nominative case pronouns, which exhibit a more or less typical pattern of Afroasiatic 1st sg. ani, 2nd sg. ati, 3rd person with s, and 1st pl. with n. Table 8. HEC independent nominative pronouns Sg. 1 2 3 m. 3 f. 3 pol. Pl. 1 2 3

Burji Ani Asi isi isee — nAAnu Asinu isinu

Gedeo Ani Ati isi ise — no?o hA?no insA?ne

Hadiyya Ani Ati itt’o isi isse neese ki?ne itt’u, issu

Kambaata Ani Ati isi ise issA nA?ooti A?nA?ooti iss?ooti

Sidaama Ani Ati isi ise — ninke ki?ne insA

Gedeo, Sidaama, and probably Kambaata 3rd plural pronouns appear to reflect metathesis, as in verb formation (see table 3) of 3rd person stemfinal s and suffix-initial plural n. Hadiyya and Kambaata, perhaps under the influence of Amharic, have innovated 3rd sg. polite pronouns (and, with Sidaama, 3rd sg. polite verbs): isse (< inse) and issa (< insa), respectively, apparently as extensions of 3rd plurals, e.g., Sidaama insa. Correspondingly, these two languages have evolved new 3rd plurals, itt’u and issa?ooti, respectively, though Hadiyya also has 3rd plural issu (< insu). 4.2. Polarity The HEC languages exhibit polarity, a phenomenon known in other Afroasiatic languages in which a noun reverses gender in singular and plural (Diakonoff 1988: 59). Masculines reversing to feminine in the plural is more common in HEC than feminines reversing to masculine. In Gedeo there is looko-ka lalo ‘Looko’s cow’ but looko-tt’a k’otiyyo ‘Looko’s bull (for plowing)’, where -tt’a marks feminine and plural of k’otiyyo ‘bull for plowing’. (If not in modern urban usage, cow is historically feminine, but with polarity, masculine in Gedeo, with suffix -ka.) In Hadiyya there is ot gannicc ‘that (f.) mare’ but ok gannuww ‘those (m.) mares’. 4.3. Singulative HEC languages have a somewhat unusual morpheme, a singulative suffix of nouns, as opposed to the expected plural suffix. The form is -co (or -cu; -icco after CC-final stems) as in Hadiyya aduuna ‘cat’, adunco ‘a cat’; Kambaata adan-ita (f.), adancu, Sidaama basurre, basurricco; Gedeo adurre, adurricco, Burji (exemplifying with ‘dog’ instead of ‘cat’ in the absence of the Burji singulative in the data) wosa ‘dog’, wocco (< wos-co). The singulative morpheme violates the expected universal of markedness, by giving form to the unmarked case usually expressed by zero— assuming, that is, that singulars are indeed semantically unmarked, like

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masculines and 3rd persons of verbs. (English, after all, marks indefinite “countable” singulars with the article a/an, and nouns which ordinarily occur as plurals, such as geese and feet, fulfill a characteristic of unmarkedness in that they are learned earlier by children than their singulars.) HEC singulatives may be fully productive only in Sidaama, and are somewhat rare in Burji. Zaborski (1986: 291) reports possible remnants of a singulative morpheme in other Cushitic languages, and Amharic and other Ethiopian Semitic languages have special seemingly “particularizing” forms of ‘man’ and ‘woman’: Amharic s@w ‘man’, s@wˆyye ‘a certain man’. Following the lead of Wedekind (1990: 211–13), the patterning of singulative-marked nouns in HEC discourse should be carefully examined for the possible significance of these as specifics, definites (less likely), or “particulars” rather than singulative. 4.4. Multiple plurals A variety of noun plural suffixes also exist in HEC, perhaps as an Afroasiatic characteristic evidenced in the Semitic multiple “broken” plural patterns. Some seeming HEC plurals may perhaps be better considered collectives. Given the existence of the singulative suffix, it is reasonable that in many cases an unsuffixed base-form collective should function as a plural, for example Gedeo faracco sg. (< farad-co), farado ‘horse(s)’; Sidaama me?icco sg., me?e ‘goat(s)’, and other examples below. In Kambaata the most common plural seems to have -ta, in Gedeo -uwwa, and in Sidaama lengthening of a stem-final consonant according to Zaborski (1986: 229), though a suffix -ubba is also frequent. The examples of table 9 are chosen to present a sense of the variety of HEC plurals. Table 9. Representative HEC plurals Burji gota sg., got-anno ‘sheep’ hilicco sg., hilaano ‘calves’ c’uuwe sg., c’uuweenna ‘chickens’ d’ahaa sg., d’ahaannee ‘trees’

Gedeo dureessa sg., dureeyye ‘rich ones’ geerco sg., gee?re ‘old men’ guugen-jo sg., guuggeenna ‘doves’ recco sg., re?e ‘goats’

Hadiyya gaamela sg., gaamelakicco ‘camels’ fillakicco sg., filla?a ‘goats’

Kambaata aburcu sg., aburrata ‘roosters’ bezzeeccu sg., bezzeebeezzaa ‘stars’ kina sg., goollo sg., kinnewwa goolluta ‘stones’ ‘civit cats’ manco sg., lokkata sg., manna ‘men’ lokaakkata ‘feet, legs’

Sidaama hoonco sg., hoonna ‘juniper trees’ ille sg., illubba ‘eyes’ ibicco sg., ibiibe ‘lice’ siila sg., siiladda ‘small ones’

4.5. Demonstratives While gender is distinguished in the nominative singular 3rd person pronouns of table 8 by final vowel i versus e (except in Hadiyya), in their demonstratives the languages exhibit the typical Cushitic (Hetzron 1980: 18–21) masculine/feminine k/t distinction seen in table 10. The demonstratives distinguish proximal and distal but in plurals merge the gender

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distinction in favor of masculines. The singular/plural distinction is fully merged in Gedeo, and in Burji distals, presumably under Oromo influence prominent in these two languages. Table 10. HEC demonstratives Hadiyya Proximal Sg. m. ku(k) ‘this’ f. tu(t) Pl. m. kuk(k) ‘these’ f. Distal Sg. ‘that’ Pl. ‘those’

m. o(k) f. o(t) m. o(k) f.

Kambaata Sidaana

Gedeo

ku tA

kuni tini

ku

kuri

ku m. kunni tu f. tinni ci

hikkuup’i hittip’i

kuu?u tii?i

hikkuup’i

kuu?u

m. ikki f. itti

Burji

kAAc

4.6. Case marking HEC case marking seems somewhat irregular, perhaps owing to ongoing shift from a system of basically definiteness-marking to one of subjectmarking (Tosco 1994: 233–34), but more data are needed. The most general rule is that nominatives are marked by replacement of a noun’s lexical (absolutive or oblique case) final vowel by -i or sometimes -u (for an overview of case-marking in Eastern Cushitic including HEC, see Tosco 1994). Gedeo examples are: dulli enk’eme dulla iyyedage

‘The stick is broken’ ‘He brought the stick’

Sidaama examples are: wellisi yunkura kaysí kemma kaayyamo la??ú

‘Wellisa (m.) woke up Yunkura’ ‘Kemma (f.) saw Kaayyamo’

As in the example just above, Sidaama feminines including proper names are not marked for nominative case. Nominative rather than accusative marking as in HEC has sometimes been thought suggestive of a post-ergative case system, the pure ergative situation being that in which the transitive subject is case marked while intransitive subjects and objects of transitives are absolutive or zero-marked. According to Hayward (1988), Burji may present a rare case of indefinite nominative marking. Subjects being typically definite (as topical, old information), and accusatives being typically indefinite (new information), definite (topicalized, fronted) accusatives should receive marking, such as -w-n Definite-Accusative in Ethiopian Semitic Amharic: ˆngˆda-w-n n@gg@rku ‘I told the visitor’. But the opposite case of indefinite nominative marking is unreported in languages. Burji nominatives are marked by -i (m.) or vowel

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reduction (f.) in the usual case but according to Hayward (somewhat tentatively, and see Tosco 1994: 233) if indefinite may additionally add the gender-agreeing suffixes -uh (m.) and -si (f.), as in: wayr-uh boolla-ddi gud’a

‘A rat is hiding in the hole’ (Hayward 1988: 686)

Genitives are gender-marked in Burji and Gedeo by k/t (as is the case with HEC demonstratives; see table 10), agreeing with the possessed noun, as exemplified in table 11. Unlike many features which peculiarly characterize this pair of languages, this one appears not to be the result of Oromo influence. Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidaama typically express possession by apposition alone, possessor (modifier) before possessed (head), but Kambaata genitive pronouns have gender-agreeing suffixes -ha/-ta (-ha presumably < -ka) as in kii-ha anna ‘your father’, kii-ta ama ‘your mother’. Table 11. Genitive suffixes in Burji and Gedeo Masc. suffix Burji nom. -nku acc. -nkA Gedeo nom. -ki acc. -kA

Fem. suffix -cci < -nti? -ntA -tt’i -tt’A

Example sameecci ama ‘Samee’s wife’ k’aarinka tiriri ‘the children’s bed (m.)’ jissoki beltu ‘Jisso’s child (m.)’ jissott’a belto ‘Jisso’s child (f.)’

HEC datives are marked variously, and locatives ‘in/at/on’ typically with n, as shown in table 12. Table 12. HEC dative and locative suffixes dative locative

Hadiyya -n -nni

Kambaata Sidaama final stress -rA -n -nni

Gedeo -?A ?ni

Burji -hA/gA -ddi

Burji datives -ha and -ga are those of the highland and lowland dialects, respectively, and one suspects Burji -ddi to reflect *-n-di, the latter part of which is found elsewhere in Cushitic (Hetzron 1980: 17). Kambaata dative stress is exemplified by loodeeb hoyyisó ma?ut kullosi. ‘Loodeebo told a story to Hoyyiso’. Sidaama frequently uses postpositions in positional relations, such as giddo ‘interior’ and ledo ‘togetherness’ (Gasparini 1983): mini giddo, ‘in the house’, lit., ‘interior of house’ with ‘house’ in genitive case) and ninke ledo ‘with us’. These could perhaps be calques from Amharic, which also employs such postpositions: bet wˆst’ ‘in the house’ and ˆn^na ^ ga ‘with us’. 5. Verb morphology 5.1. Verb stems HEC verb stems are mostly of CVC shape, but CVCC stems including cases of coda CC=C: are not uncommon. There is no evidence in HEC of root-

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and-pattern morphology, as found in Semitic, in which consonants are constant across conjugations while vowels vary with grammatical significance (and three-consonant roots are typical). A sample of HEC verb stems of varying shapes (ignoring those with long vowels) is presented in table 13, including the remarkable coincidence of HEC /it/ ‘eat’ and English eat. Table 13. HEC verb stem-shapes Burji VC it- ‘eat’ VC: acc- ‘begin’ VCC arg- ‘send’ CVC but- ‘snatch’ CVC: sugg- ‘dry’ (intr.) CVCC sunk’- ‘kiss’

Gedeo it- ‘eat’ idd- ‘sting’ erg- ‘send’ but- ‘snatch’ mell- ‘choose’ sunk’- ‘kiss’

Hadiyya it- ‘eat’ igg- ‘dare’ amb- ‘thatch’ dim- ‘limp’ kutt’- ‘cough’ sunk’- ‘kiss’

Kambaata it- ‘eat’ ass- ‘do’ amb- ‘thatch’ sok- ‘send’ buss- ‘burn’ sunk’- ‘kiss’

Sidaama it- ‘eat’ abb- ‘bring‘ inj- ‘fit’ (vi.) sok- ‘send’ bubb- ‘blow’ sunk’- ‘kiss’

Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidaama have two single consonant stems s- ‘kill’ and y- ‘say’, which are siy- and siy- and i(y)- and hiiy- in Burji and Gedeo, respectively. The vowel-initial stems of table 13 could be analyzed as having an initial glottal stop, which indeed may appear after preceding vowel-final words. 5.2. Past In table 14 are HEC verb suffixes of the past conjugation, which are attached to stems such as those given in table 13. After stems ending in two consonants or a long consonant, an epenthetic i appears to separate these from consonant-initial suffixes (as exemplified in table 3); it is a reasonable hypothesis that this vowel is the reflex of the historical final vowel of all the present-day stems, elided or syncopated except in the environment CC_ C. Table 14. HEC past verbs Sg. 1 2 3 m. 3 f. 3 pol. Pl. 1 2 3

Burji -An-ni -An-du -An-ni

Gedeo -enne -tette -e -te — — -An-ninu -nenne -An-cingu -tine -An-ningu -ne

Hadiyya -ummo -titto -ukko -to?o -AAkko?o -nummo tAkko?o -to?o

Kambaata -oommi -toonti -o -too -eemmA -noomi -teentA -too

Sidaama -umm{-o, -A} -itt{-o, -A} -í -tú -ní -nummo -tiní -tú

The different suffix-final vowels o and a of Sidaama 1st/2nd sg. are masculine and feminine, respectively—perhaps peculiarly Sidaama reflexes of Afroasiatic masculine -u and feminine -at (Diakonoff 1988: 58). In addition to the 2nd sg. gender distinction unusual in HEC, and the 1st sg. gender distinction unusual in Afroasiatic, recall that Sidaama also has the gender-exclusive balissa lexical differences (see 3.1).

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The Hadiyya and Kambaata nonpast 3rd polite and 2nd plural suffixes appear to come from another paradigm, termed “present perfect” by Hudson (1976: 263); the semantic and structural relation of these forms to the others in table 14 needs more research (cf. Sim 1988: 436–37). Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidaama have replaced the 3rd plural form with 3rd sg. feminine, and Sidaama and perhaps Hadiyya and Kambaata have shifted the old 3rd plural to 3rd sg. polite usage—also in other conjugations seen below. 5.3. Nonpast Table 15 presents HEC verb suffixes of the nonpast conjugation, again attached to stems such as those given in table 13. The resulting stem-suffix contacts are again modified by the morphophonemic rules exemplified in Table 3, and again Sidaama suffix-final o/a are masc./fem. respectively. Table 15. HEC nonpast verbs Sg. 1 2 3 m. 3 f. 3 pol. Pl. 1 2 3

Burji -u, -A -dA, -sA -A -dA, -sA — -nu, -nA -singo -ngo

Gedeo -Anno -tAtto -AAni -tAAni — -nAnno -tinAA -nAAni

Hadiyya -oommo -tootto -ookko -tAmo -AAkkAmo -noommo -tAkkAmo -tAmo

Kambaata -AAmmi -tAAnti -Ano -tAA?i -eenno -nAAmmi -teenAntA -tAA?i

Sidaama -eemm{-o, -A} -Att{-o, -A} -Anno -tAnno -nAnni -neemmo -tinAnni -tAnno

A peculiarity of the above paradigms, which HEC shares with Semitic and other Afroasiatic languages, is the eqivalence of t- of 2nd sg. and pl. and 3rd sg. f. In Kambaata, there is palatalization and lengthening of a stem-final coronal stop or fricative before the 3rd sg. m. and 1st. sg. suffixes (and in the imperative plural, not shown), exemplified in table 16. Table 16. Palatalizations in the Kambaata past Infinitive ita f@da rosa eza

gloss ‘to eat’ ‘to migrate’ ‘to get used to’ ‘to precede’

3rd sg. m. icco fejjo rosso ezzo

1st sg. iccoommi fejjoommi rossoommi ezzoommi

In Gedeo use of 3rd pl. forms as 3rd sg. polite is possible, but not grammaticized as apparently in Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidaama. The appearance of these HEC polite forms may be attributed to the influence of Amharic, which has similarly derived polite forms, though it could also be due to the same other cause which brought about the forms in Amharic. Burji s of nonpast 2nd persons is from t by palatalization as is c of the past, with the latter preserving stopness after nasal stop n.

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5.4. Afroasiatic subject prefixes The initial parts of the suffixes of both the past and nonpast above generally reflect the Afroasiatic subject prefixes prominent in Semitic but also evident in Berber and other Cushitic languages (Hetzron 1990: 584–86): 1st sg. V-, 2nd sg. and pl. t-, 3rd f. t-, 3rd m. y-, and 1st pl. n-. In fact the 3rd person prefix y- is not so evident in HEC, but perhaps reflected in the Kambaata vowel of the 3rd sg. polite (< 3rd plural), which is raised relative to that of the 1st sg. and pl. Other evidence might be the Kambaata palatalizations in the past 3rd sg. m. (table 16). This could reasonably be conditioned by following *y-. However, unaccountably, it also occurs in 1st sg. forms, and thus it may as well be attributed to initial y- of an auxiliary verb stem from the Kambaata (and Hadiyya) verb of presence y- or homophonous y- ‘say’, the initial palatal glide of which has elided the preceding 1st sg. and 3rd sg. masc. subject prefix vowel (see discussion by Sim 1988). 5.5. Converb A verbal feature of the Ethiopian linguistic area is a converb conjugation used in verb phrase coordination, the suffixes of which are presented in table 17. Table 17. HEC converbs Sg. 1 2 3 m. 3 f. 3 pol. Pl. 1 2 3

Burji -i -si -i -si — -ni -singi -ngi

Gedeo -ee -tee -ee -tee — -nee -tine -nee

Hadiyya -AA -tA -AA -tA?A -AkkA?A -nAA -tAkkA?A -tA?A

Kambaata -i -ti -i -ti -een -ni -teen -ti

Sidaama -e -te -e -te -ne -ne -tine -te

A sentence example with the Sidaama converb has-e is: has-e t’a?m-eemmo-si finding-I ask-I(nonpast)-him

‘I will find and ask him’

Such a short conjugation, like that of Hadiyya with suffixes in a, is used in Kambaata and Sidaama minor clauses, with subordinating morphemes, as in the Sidaama sentence: ati it-ta-nni isi sirb-í ‘When you ate he danced’ you eat-you(past)-‘at’ he dance-he(past) The similarity of the verb suffixes across the five languages is at the same time generally apparent and puzzling in details. The basic structure of verbs, stem+subject-affix+X, represents a type typical of East Cushitic, in which “X” has been thought to be an old auxiliary verb or copula (Praetorius 1894; Moreno 1940: 295–99), but perhaps instead “deictic or pronominal elements” (Tosco 1996). Both approaches to verb innovation are

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perhaps evidenced in main-verb forms of two groups of Ethiopian Semitic languages: the Amharic + East Gurage group which transparently suffix an auxiliary verb, and Northern Gurage languages such as Soddo, which suffix what are possibly pronominal elements (Hetzron 1968: 169). HEC Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidaama are neighbors to both Semitic subgroups (though Sidaama not so intimately). The converb and short subordinate conjugations of Kambaata and Sidaama suggest the sorts of nominal/participial words which compounded with an auxiliary verb or copular functioning pronoun could have formed such new verbs.

References Anbessa, Teferra 1987 Ballissa: Women’s Speech among the Sidama. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 20: 44–59. Central Statistical Authority 1998 The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Summary Reports at Country and Regional Levels. Addis Ababa: Office of Population and Housing Census Commission, Central Statistical Authority. Crass, Joachim 2001 The Position of K’abeena within Highland East Cushitic. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 67: 5–60. Diakonoff, Igor 1988 The Afrasian Languages. Moscow: Nauka. Hayward, Richard J. 1988 Is there a language with an indefinite nominative? Pp. 679–91 in Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. Taddese Beyene. Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies. 1997 Review of Highland East Cushitic Dictionary, by Grover Hudson (1989). Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 18: 106–20. 2000 Afroasiatic. Pp. 74–98 in African Languages: An Introduction, ed. Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hetzron, Robert 1968 Main verb-markers in Northern Gurage. Africa 28: 156–72. 1980 The limits of Cushitic. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 2: 7–125. 1990 Dialectal variation in Proto-Afroasiatic. Pp. 577–97 in Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology, ed. Philip Baldi. Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 45. Berlin: de Gruyter. Hopper, Paul 1973 Glottalized and murmured occlusives in IE. Glossa 7: 141–66. Hudson, Grover 1976 Highland East Cushitic. Pp. 232–77 in The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia, ed. Lionel Bender. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. 1981 The Highland East Cushitic Family Vine. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 3: 94–121. 1989 Highland East Cushitic Dictionary. Cushitic Language Studies 7. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.

Highland East Cushitic Morphology n.d.

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Bibliography Of Highland East Cushitic, www.msu.edu/~hudson/

HECrefs.htm. Kager, René 1999 Optimality Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kellner, Alexander 2001 ‘The Lazy Babboon’: A Linguistic Analysis and Anthropological Interpretation of a Burji Tale. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 65: 41–69. Kenstowicz, Michael, and Charles Kisserberth 1977 Generative Phonology: Description and Theory. New York: Academic Press. Leslau, Wolf 1952 The Influence of Sidamo on the Ethiopic Languages of Gurage. Language 28: 63–81. 1959 Sidamo Features in South Ethiopic Phonology. Journal of the American Oriental Society 79: 1–7. Moreno, Martino M. 1940 Manuale di Sidamo. Rome: Mondadori. Praetorius, Franz 1894 Über die hamitischen Sprachen Ostafrikas. Beiträge zur Assyriologie 2: 312–41. Sasse, Hans-Jürgen Sasse 1982 An Etymological Dictionary of Burji. Cuschitic Language Studies 1. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. Sim, R. J. 1988 The Verb in Northern Highland East Cushitic. Pp. 433–52 in CushiticOmotic: Papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Languages (Cologne 1986), ed. Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst and Fritz Serzisko. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. Tosco, Mauro 1994 On Case Marking in the Ethiopian Language Area (with Special Reference to Subject Marking in East Cushitic). Pp. 225–44 in Sem Cam Iafet: Atti della 7a Giornata di Studi Camito-Semitici e Indeuropei (Milano 1. giugno 1993), ed., Vermondo Brugnatelli. Milano: Centro Studi CamitoSemitici. 1996 The Northern Highland East Cushitic Verb in Areal Perspective. Pp. 71– 99 in Cushitic and Omotic Languages: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium (Berlin 1994), ed. Catherine Griefenow-Mewis and Rainer M. Voigt. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. 2000 Cushitic Overview. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 33/2: 87–121. Vennemann, Theo. 1988 Preference Laws for Syllable Structure. Berlin: Mouton. Wedekind, Klaus 1990 Generating Narratives: Interrelations of Knowledge, Text Variants, and Cushitic Focus Strategies. Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 52. Berlin: Mouton. Zaborski, Andrzej 1986 The Morphology of the Nominal Plural in the Cushitic Languages. Beitrage zur Afrikanistik 28. Vienna: Institute für Afrikanistik und Ägyptologie der Universität Wien.

Chapter 24

Somali Morphology John I. Saeed Trinity College, University of Dublin

1. Introduction—the Somali language Somali is spoken by about nine million people who live in the northeastern corner of Africa, known as the Horn of Africa. The partition of the Horn between Abyssinia and the European colonial powers resulted in Somali speakers being divided among five states: Abyssinia (later Ethiopia), Kenya, French Somaliland (later Djibouti), Italian Somalia, and the British Somaliland Protectorate. The last two, on their independence in 1960, joined to form the Somali Republic, commonly called Somalia. There are also substantial communities of Somali speakers in east Africa and in Arabia, especially in Yemen. In the last century small communities were established in Great Britain, Italy and France. Following the civil war and instability of the past twenty or so years these communities have greatly increased in size and been joined by new ones in Canada, the United States, Sweden and other European countries. The ethnic self-name is Soomaali and the language is called af Soomaali, ‘Somali language’. 1 Somali belongs to the East Cushitic family of languages, which also contains Oromo, spoken in Ethiopia and Kenya. Within East Cushitic Somali forms what is often termed the Omo-Tana sub-family with Boni, Rendille, Bayso, Dasenach, Arbore and Elmolo. Although Somali had been written at a local level in a number of indigenous scripts and also in the Arabic script, a Roman orthography was adopted for Somali in the Somali Republic in 1972, when it became the official language of the state. Somali speakers have centuries-old religious, cultural, and trading links with the Arabian Peninsula, and there are many Arabic loanwords in 1. The transcription used here is the official Somali orthography, which differs from IPA in the following: dh is used for retroflex [Î], q for [G], ’ for the glottal stop [?], sh for [S], kh for [X], x for [Ó], c for [¿], j for [tS] and y for [j]. Vowel length is marked by doubling, e.g., aa. Five vowel symbols are used: i, e, a, o, u. Each stands for two vowels differentiated by the phonetic feature “advanced tongue root” (atr). Thus i represents both the back variant [I] and front variant [i], e [E] and [e], a [A] and [{], o [O] and [ö], u [u] and [¨]. The relationship between the pairs of vowels is complex; they are not simply allophones since they are not phonetically conditioned, and lexical roots of the main categories of noun and verb must occur with a particular variety. However they also participate in vowel harmony, depending on the grammatical class of the word. See Andrzejewski (1955) and Saeed (1999) for discussion. Though not marked in the official orthography, three tonal accents will be marked on examples (represented on the first vowel letter): high á, low a (no mark), and falling à.

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Somali, especially in the fields of religion, commerce, and politics. Despite this most Somalis do not speak Arabic, apart from the verses of the Koran. Somali shows considerable dialect variation. There are three main dialect groups—Northern, Benadir, and May. The Northern dialect group, sometimes called Common Somali, is the most geographically widespread and prestigious; it forms the basis of the Standard Somali used officially in Somalia. This dialect is the main focus of our description here. The Benadir (Benaadir) dialects are spoken along the central Indian Ocean coast, including Mogadishu. There is a fair degree of inter-comprehensibility between these dialects and Northern dialects. The May (Maay) dialects are spoken in southern Somalia from the Ethiopian border to behind the coastal strip between Mogadishu and Kismayo, including the city of Baydhaba (Baidoa). The May dialect group shows considerable differences from Standard and Benadir dialects at all levels and these latter two groups and May are mutually incomprehensible. There are also a number of smaller, more localized dialects in the southern inter-riverine region and in the southern coastal towns, including Jiddu ( Jiiddu) (Moreno 1951); Tunni, spoken in the coastal region around Brava (Tosco 1997), and the Karre dialect of Qoryooley (Tosco 1989). Like other Cushitic languages, Somali shows considerable morphophonological complexity. Nouns are inflected for gender, number, and case by a combination of segmental and accentual means. Nominal derivation and compounding is very frequent and productive. Verbs provide a complex array of forms, being marked for subject agreement, tense, aspect, mood, polarity, and clausal subordination, among other semantic parameters. Derived verbal stems may also productively be created via a range of transitivity altering affixes, including causative, passive, and middle voice (autobenefactive) affixes. There is also a large range of derivational affixes which switch lexical roots from one category to another. This morphological complexity is augmented by a wide range of assimilation and coalescence rules in the phonology that make segmentation of normal connected speech an interesting analytical task. In terms of traditional morphological types, Somali like other Cushitic languages presents a blend of agglutinative and inflecting characteristics. Morphological segmentation is sometimes possible but there is a high degree of morphophonological variation and what Hockett (1947) termed “portmanteau” morphs. Frequently a paradigmatic display is the most economic form of representation. Somali is a tonal accent language (Hyman 1981; Banti 1988b). The following are its major features. Features of tonal accent: a. b. c. d.

There are two basic tones, High and Low. The tone-bearing unit is the mora. At most only one High tone may occur in each word root. The major function of tone is to mark grammatical rather than lexical information.

12 points short

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We might also mention some basic features of the mapping between moras and syllables. Moras and syllables: a. Moras attach to vowels: a (C)V(C) syllable constitutes one mora and a (C)VV(C) syllable constitutes two moras, where VV represents a long vowel or diphthong. b. On long vowels and diphthongs, a sequence of High–Low tones is realized as a Falling tone. c. On long vowels and diphthongs, a sequence of Low–High is usually realized as High–High (occasionally a Rising tone is heard). Tonal accent distinctions principally mark grammatical distinctions. One important function, for example, is to mark case on nominals. This is also accompanied by suffixation in some noun declensions but the marking is predominantly accentual. See, for example, the three following cases marked on the noun dibi ‘ox’: absolutive díbi, nominative dibi, and genitive dibí. Such accentual distinctions also mark distinctions of gender and number in nouns and characterize particular verbal paradigms. To describe their use in the morphology it is useful to identify tonal accentual patterns (APs for short). The most important are: AP1—High tone on the last mora, Low elsewhere; AP2—High tone on the penultimate mora, Low elsewhere; AP3—Low tones on all moras; AP4—High tone on the first mora, Low elsewhere. These accentual patterns allow general statements of morphological rules such as case marking in nominals. In the verbal system individual paradigms are distinguished by a combination of inflection and accentual pattern. The accentual pattern alone does not normally distinguish forms but there are some minimal pairs, for example, kéen (past independent 3 m. sg.) ‘He brought (it)’ and kèen (imperative sg.) ‘Bring (it)!’ In clause structure Somali shows some signs of a historical SOV constituent order but synchronically the constituent order is very flexible and sensitive to pragmatic features of information structure rather than grammatical or semantic roles. Somali has overt markers of focus, for example, the nominal focus words bàa, ayàa, and wáxa that are lexically empty but function to place focus on nominals. These markers are not grammatically “inert”: they influence patterns of case marking, verbal agreement and clitic pronoun behavior in ways that are too complicated to discuss adequately here; see Hetzron (1965), Andrzejewski (1975a), Antinucci and Puglielli (1980), and Saeed (1984, 1999) for discussion. Topic and afterthought topics freely occur outside the main predication. Within phrases however the order of constituents is fixed and may be described by templates; for example, nominals are head initial with the head noun being followed by determiners of various kinds, then adjectives or dependent clauses and nominals.

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2. Nominals Noun phrases in Somali are head-initial: the noun is followed by various dependent elements. Some, like determiners, attach to the noun as clitics while others, like modifying clauses and adjectives, follow the noun as morphologically independent items. There are four main types of noun: common nouns, names or proper nouns, independent pronouns, and numerals. They are all marked for case and occur as subjects of verbs, governing agreement features on the verb. 2.1 Gender, number, and case The grammatical systems of gender, number and case are marked morphologically by accentual patterns, suffixation, and reduplication. 2.1.1. Gender There are two genders: all nouns are either masculine or feminine. For the most part gender is not predictable from the meaning of nouns. The exceptions include nouns for people and animals: nín ‘man’ is masculine and náag ‘woman’ is feminine, for example. Even here though there are arbitrary cases: the collective noun hawéen ‘women’ is masculine. Somali exhibits the gender polarity found in other Cushitic languages: most classes of noun reverse their gender in the plural, for example, sánnad m. ‘year’ sannaddó f. ‘years’; abtí m. ‘maternal uncle’ abtiyó f. ‘maternal uncles’; túke m. ‘crow’ tukayáal f. ‘crows’; káb f. ‘shoe’ kabó m. ‘shoes’; hóoyo f. ‘mother’ hooyóoyin m. ‘mothers’. Two classes of noun do not exhibit gender plurality: masculine nouns which mark their plural by reduplication and a subgroup of masculine suffixing nouns, for example: wán m. ‘ram’ wanán m. ‘rams’; dhéri m. ‘clay pot’ dheryó m. ‘clay pots’. Gender is marked accentually, according to the declension of the noun. In some instances gender minimal pairs are distinguished only by their accentual patterns, for example: wiyíl ‘female rhinoceros’, wíyil ‘male rhinoceros’; inán ‘girl’, ínan ‘boy’; matáan ‘female twin’, matàan ‘male twin’; daméer ‘female donkey’, damèer ‘male donkey’. Gender is reflected grammatically in three important forms of agreement: agreement with the set of suffixed determiners, subject–verb agreement, and agreement with clitic subject pronouns. Compare for example: Baabùurkíi wùu yimi. baabùur-kíi wàa+uu yimi truck:m.-the dm+it:m. came:3sg. m. ‘The truck came’ Náagtíi wày timi. náag-tíi wàa+ay timi woman:f.-the dm+she came:3sg. f. ‘The woman came’

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2.1.2. Number As with other Cushitic languages, the number system in Somali nouns is quite complicated. First, there are a number of categories of number, and second, the morphological marking of plural, where applicable, has a number of exponents. There are four types of common noun: countable, mass, collective and transnumeral. Countable nouns form the majority. When used unmodified they refer to an individual entity, for example: kòob ‘a cup’, maalín ‘a day’. They can be counted directly by being used after a numeral, for example, labá kóob ‘two cups’, áfar maalmóod ‘four days’. These are genitive constructions where the numeral is the head and the counted noun occurs in the genitive case. Most noun declensions occur in singular form after a numeral, though some, like maalmo ‘days’ above, occur in plural. Countable nouns occur in plural forms, e.g., koobáb ‘cups’, maalmó ‘days’. The other types—mass nouns, collective nouns, and transnumeral nouns—cannot be counted directly by numerals; they require the use of a relative clause with a numeral or a unit of measure as its head. These latter types do not mark a singular/plural distinction. The normal agreement is singular though mass and collective nouns ending in -o, for example, caanó ‘milk’, habló ‘girls’ take plural agreement. Since this is also a common plural suffix, these may be plural forms historically which no longer have a singular form, that is, what are sometimes called plurale tantum forms. Transnumeral nouns (Serzisko 1992), are a small group of nouns which can be used in any of the semantic number categories. For example, líin ‘orange, lemon’ can be used to refer to an individual fruit, or the substance, or a collective. Common nouns form their plurals in a number of ways. These include: accentual pattern shift alone, for example, àwr ‘male camel’ áwr ‘male camels’, Cárab ‘an Arab’ Caráb ‘Arabs’; reduplication, áf ‘mouth, language’ afáf ‘mouths, languages’, dáb ‘fire’ dabáb ‘fires’; 2 and a number of suffixes, xudúud ‘border’ xuduudó ‘borders’, ayeeyó ‘grandmother’ ayeeyóoyin ‘grandmothers’, aabbé ‘father’ aabbayáal ‘fathers’, úgax ‘egg’ ugxáan ‘eggs’. The rules for plural formation are affected by regional variation in two ways. Firstly for some nouns there is variation within Standard Somali: for example, the noun tùug m. ‘thief’ is sometimes treated as a reduplicating plural, producing tuugág m. ‘thieves’, sometimes as an -o suffixing plural, giving tuuggó f. thieves’. Secondly, other dialects have quite different distributions of plural forms, including some suffixes not found in Standard Somali; see Banti (1985) and Lamberti (1986a) for some details of these. Nouns may be classified into declensions on the basis of how they form their plurals, whether they exhibit gender polarity in the plural, and their accentual patterns. Saeed (1999), for example, proposes seven major declensions. 2. This is a suffixing reduplication process and applies to plurals of one declension (D4) of masculine nouns; these are quite numerous. The process appends a final syllable consisting of the short vowel a followed by a copy of the stem final consonant, i.e., by a -aC reduplicating suffix.

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2.1.3. Case The marking of case on nouns is largely accentual, with some use of suffixes. The basic unmarked case is usually termed the absolutive. This is the case nouns show when in isolation, as objects of verbs and adpositions, or when focused. It is convenient to treat it as the base form because it is the most basic form morphologically and also because its accentual patterns are less predictable than the other cases. The other cases are nominative, genitive, and vocative. To take a single example, the name Faadumo ‘Fatima’ has the following case forms: absolutive Faadúmo; nominative Faadumo; genitive Faadumó; and vocative Fàadumo. This name shows the most typical accentual pattern of cases: nominative AP3, genitive AP1, and vocative AP4. Common nouns show additional segmental changes; for example, naag ‘woman’ has the following forms: absolutive náag, nominative naagi, genitive naagéed, and vocative náagyahay. Typically the form of case suffixes is conditioned partly by phonological form and partly by morphological features. For example, feminine nouns ending in a consonant have the nominative suffix -i. Vocatives are marked by accentual pattern alone (names) or by suffixes (names and common nouns). These latter vary according to speaker judgments of respect and solidarity. We identify two forms, honorific 3 and neutral, below; each has two forms. One is used with feminine singular nouns, including feminine collectives and mass nouns which take singular concord, and the other with masculine singular nouns and plurals. Vocative suffixes Honorific Fem. sg. -èey/àay/òoy Masc. sg./pl. -òw

Neutral -yahay -yohow

The choice between -èey/àay/òoy is phonologically conditioned: nouns ending in a take -àay; those ending in o take -òoy; and all others take -èey. These suffixes also occur in short vowel variants: -èy/ày/òy. When honorific vocative suffixes are added to stems ending in the short vowels e, a, or o, the vowel is deleted, losing any associated tone. Stems ending in i will usually have an epenthetic consonant y inserted. All vocative suffixes append their own AP without altering the stem’s original AP. See the tables on p. 552 for some examples of these phonological effects. Suffixed honorific vocatives Cánabèey hooyòoy Cáliyòw Xásanòw

f. sg. f. sg. m. sg. m. sg.

‘Anab!’, ‘O Anab!’ (cf. Cánab, a woman’s name) ‘Mother!’, ‘O Mother!’ (cf. hooyó ‘mother’) ‘Ali!’, ‘O Ali!’ (cf. Cáli ‘Ali’) ‘Hasan!’ ‘O Hasan!’

3. The term “honorific” does not quite fit the egalitarian nature of Somali society. This type of vocative is used for people’s personal names, nouns of kinship and friendship, for the names of occupations when used respectfully, and for the names of God.

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Suffixed neutral vocatives carrúuryahay nínyohow gabdháyohow

f. coll. m. sg. m. pl.

‘children!’, ‘O children!’ ‘man!’, ‘O man!’ ‘girls!’, ‘O girls!’ (cf. gabdhó ‘girls’)

When nouns form noun phrases, case is marked phrasally, that is, just once on the final element of the noun phrase. Since noun phrases are head initial in Somali, this means that the exponents of case may be marked not on the noun but on modifying non-nominal elements such as determiners, adjectives, and subordinate clause verbs. When the case marking occurs on this phrase final position, the noun occurs in the default absolutive case. Thus the case marking on simple nouns for example, absolutive nín ‘a man’ versus nominative nin ‘a man’, shifts to the suffixed determiner in absolutive nínka ‘the man’ versus nominative nínku ‘the man’, and to the final adjective in the absolutive nominal nínka dhèer ‘the tall man’ versus the nominative nínka dheeri ‘the tall man’. As the marking shifts rightward in the phrase the head noun shows absolutive case. 2.2. Personal pronouns There are two types of personal pronouns. The first are independent pronouns, which are grammatically nouns. They are case marked, have inherent gender, and show the syntax of nouns, including functioning as subject and object, occurring as heads of relative clauses, being focused by the nominal focus words bàa and ayàa, and occurring in isolation as one word utterances. In Standard Somali they occur with the suffixed nonremote definite article -ka/-ta but may occur in an unsuffixed short form when followed by a conjunction or focus word. The set of independent pronouns is given below, with the determiner separated off by a hyphen to show the short form. They provide an eight-person system, with excl. “exclusive” meaning “not including the addressee(s)” and incl. “inclusive” meaning “including the addressee(s).” As the suffixed determiners show, all of the pronouns are masculine in gender, except iyáda ‘she, her’. Independent pronouns 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

aní-ga adí-ga isá-ga iyá-da anná-ga inná-ga idín-ka iyá-ga

The second type are clitic pronouns, which unlike independent pronouns do not exhibit the morphosyntax of nouns. Clitic pronouns can only occur with a verb and must occur in the strict sequence of clitic

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elements in the verbal piece described in section 4 below. They form two main sets, subject and object pronouns, and also include the impersonal subject pronoun la ‘one’ and the reflexive and reciprocal pronoun is ‘self, each other’. Subject clitic pronouns 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

aan aad uu ay aannu (aan) aynu aydin ay

The forms in parentheses are optional short forms that may be used when the context permits. Note that 3 sg. f. and 3 pl. are both ay; these persons are distinguished by verb forms. The 1 sg. and 2 sg. pronouns may be used for their corresponding plurals, especially in informal conversation. These subject pronouns cliticize onto and coalesce with preceding elements, for example, the declarative sentence type marker (dm) waa and the focus word bàa: Wùu yimi waa+uu yimi dm+he came ‘He came’ Dáar bày dhísayaan. dáar bàa+ay dhísayaan house foc+they are:building:3pl. ‘They are building a house’ The object clitic pronouns form two sets: a primary and a secondary set. The primary set is: 1 sg. 2 sg. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 sg./pl.

i ku na ina idin —

As shown, there is a general third person object pronoun marked by a gap in the paradigm. This means that the absence of any other object clitic pronoun will result in a third person interpretation, recoverable from context. The second series object pronouns are:

Somali Morphology 1 sg. 2 sg. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 sg./pl.

555

káy káa kayó kéen kíin —

Again, these pronouns also have a gap for third person. The second series pronouns are used when two overt object clitic pronouns occur in the same verbal piece. This most commonly occurs when one is the object of a verb and the other the object of an adposition. Thus, if only one object pronoun occurs it will be a primary series form, whether governed by a verb or adposition: (a) Wáy idin arkeen. wàa+ay idin arkeen dm+they you:pl. saw:3pl. ‘They saw you (pl.)’ (b)Wày idinká qaadeen. wàa+ay idin-ká qaadeen dm+they you:pl.-from took:3pl. ‘They took (something) away from you (pl.)’ In example (a) idin ‘you (pl.)’ is the object of the verb árag ‘see’, and in (b) it is the object of the adposition ká ‘from’. Note that the object of qàad ‘take’ is marked by a gap. The second series forms only occur when two overt pronouns are required, that is, when two non-third person object pronouns occur in the same verbal piece, for example: Wày igá kíin qaadeen. wàa+ay i-ká kíin qaadeen dm+they me-from you:pl. took:3pl. ‘They took me away from you (pl.)’ As can be seen, the primary and second series clitic pronouns occupy different positions. The primary series occur before adpositions and coalesce with them while the second series occurs immediately before the verb. Thus in the above example i ‘me’ coalesces with ká ‘from’ even though there is no syntactic or semantic government between these two elements, i being the object of the verb and the adposition ká governing its object kíin. It is clear that in form the second series object pronouns are quite distinct from the primary series and resemble the possessive determiners -kày/-tày ‘mine’, etc., described in the next section. 2.3. Determiners The determiners are a class of elements that are suffixed to nouns. There are four types: definite articles, demonstratives, interrogatives, and possessives. Each type has a masculine form beginning with k- and a feminine form beginning with t- to agree with the head noun’s gender. The

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determiners do not show plural agreement with the head noun. Their initial consonants undergo sandhi processes when attached to nominal stems. These are listed below, using as an example the non-remote definite article -ka/-ta: 45 (a) Suffix initial k remains k after b, d, dh, f, j, l,5 n, r, sh: siràad + ka § siràadka ‘the lamp’ xidhìidh + ka § xidhìidhka ‘the connection’ nín + ka § nínka ‘the man’ (b) Suffix initial k becomes g after g, w, y, i, u, aa, oo, uu: tùug + ka § tùugga ‘the thief’ wàa + ka § wàaga ‘the time’ (c) Suffix initial k becomes h after e and o (usually with accompanying vowel assimilation): áabbe + ka § aabbáha ‘the father’ ilkó + ka § ilkáha ‘the teeth’ (d) Suffix initial k is deleted after q, ’, kh, x, c, h: dúq + ka § dúqa ‘the elder’ sác + ka § sáca ‘the cow’ ráh + ka § ráha ‘the frog’ (e) Suffix initial t remains t after b, f, g, n, r, s: náag + ta § náagta ‘the woman’ sún + ta § súnta ‘the poison’ (f) Suffix initial t becomes d after all vowels and ‘, c, d, h, kh, q, w, x, y: gúddi + ta § gúddida ‘the council of elders’ bác + ta § bácda ‘the sound of a slap’ taaríikh + ta § taaríikhda ‘the history’ madáx + ta § madáxda ‘the heads, chiefs’ (g) Suffix initial t becomes dh after dh: gabádh + ta § gabádhdha

‘the girl’

(h) Suffix initial t merges with stem final l to form sh: úl + ta § úsha ‘the stick’ 2.3.1. Definite articles There are two definite articles, carrying a distinction of distance in space and time: the non-remote article ka (m.) / ta (f.); and the remote article 4. The choice of k and t as the base form of the initial consonant is suggested by the form of the sandhi rules described here, and is confirmed by their presence in independent non-suffixed forms used pronominally, for example, when ka/ta, kíi/tíi are used to mean ‘the one’. 5. With the notable exception of the collective noun gèel ‘camel, camels’ which deletes the initial k, i.e., gèela ‘the camel, camels’.

note 5 call is white, at end of top paragraph

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kíi (m.) / tíi (f.). For example: náagta ‘the woman (non-remote)’; nínkíi ‘the man (remote)’. If the referent of the noun is distant from the speaker, or is in the past, the remote forms kíi/tíi are used; the article ka/ta is unmarked spatially, and is used for referents temporally located in the present and the future. This distinction has a discourse analogue: the determiner kíi/tíi is used as a form of discourse anaphora, picking out entities introduced earlier in the discourse. As mentioned above, when the article is the last element in the noun phrase it will carry subject marking: the article ka/ta undergoes a segmental change to ku/tu, while the article kíi/tíi undergoes tonal lowering. The articles may occur without a head nominal as a kind of pronominal; in this function they may also occur in plural forms, undifferentiated for gender: kíi yimí ‘the one (m.) who came’, tíi kalé ‘the other one (f.)’, kúwa ‘the ones (non-remote)’, kúwíi ‘the ones (remote)’. There is no indefinite article, nor, as exist in some Cushitic languages, paucal or individuating suffixes. 6 2.3.2. Demonstratives There are four demonstrative determiners, which are suffixed to the noun and which undergo the same rules of sandhi as other determiners. The demonstratives divide up the space around the speaker into four zones: Masculine kán káa(s) kéer kóo

Feminine tán táa(s) téer tóo

‘this, these’ (close to speaker) ‘that, those’ (farther away from speaker) ‘that, those’ (in the middle distance) ‘that, those’ (in the far distance)

The demonstratives kán/tán and káas/táas are also used for temporal and discourse deixis. They can also occur alone as pronominal forms, and in this role have plural forms which are not differentiated for gender: kúwán ‘these ones’, kúwáa(s) ‘those ones’, kúwéer ‘those ones’ (middle distance), kúwóo ‘those ones’ (far distance). 2.3.3. Interrogatives The interrogative determiners kée ‘which (m.)?’ and tée ‘which (f.)?’ are used to question nouns, for example: ninkée ‘which man?’ naagtée ‘which woman?’ These determiners undergo the same rules of sandhi as other determiners but, unusually, lower any high tones in the noun to which they are attached, as in the above examples. Again they may be used alone, when a gender-neutral plural form occurs: kée (m.), tée (f.), kuwée (pl.) ‘which one(s)?’ Nouns may also be questioned by suffixing the question word ma, also used in question sentences, which can also be attached to independent pronouns and the word ku/tu ‘one’, for example: nínma? ‘which man?’, góorma? ‘which time?’, ‘when?’, túma? ‘which one (f.)?’ ‘who (f.)?’ 6. But note that May Somali dialects, which are quite distinct from the Standard Somali varieties described here, do have a singulative suffix ko/to, as described in Saeed (1982: 89–90), which belongs to this set of determiners, e.g., nᘠ‘man’ ná˜ko ‘a (single) man’.

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2.3.4. Possessives The possessive determiners show once again the class features of being suffixed to a head noun, of agreeing with it in gender, and of undergoing the sandhi rules described earlier. The set is: Masculine kàyga kàaga kìisa kèeda kayága kèenna kìinna kòoda

Feminine tàyda tàada tìisa tèeda tayáda tèenna tìinna tòoda

‘my’ ‘your (sg.)’ ‘his’ ‘her’ ‘our (excl.)’ ‘our (incl.)’ ‘your (pl.)’ ‘their’

For example: gúrigàyga ‘my house’ (cf. gúri n m. ‘house’); fáraskìisa ‘his horse’ (cf. fáras n m. ‘horse’); gèelayága ‘our (excl.) camels’ (cf. gèel n m. coll. ‘camels’). These forms have an interesting morphology. Note that kforms attach to masculine nouns and t- forms to feminine nouns, as usual with determiners. However these forms consist of two elements: a possessive determiner followed by the definite article ka/ta: kày-ka § kàyga ‘my’. In this case the definite article undergoes normal determiner sandhi but there are also some unusual rules. First, wherever the possessive element ends in a consonant other than n the first consonant of the article is dropped, e.g., kìis-ka § kìisa rather than the predicted *kìiska. Second, when the possessive ends in n, the initial consonant of the article assimilates to n, e.g., kèen-ka § kèenna ‘our (incl. m.)’, tèen-ta § tèenna ‘our (incl. f.)’. This combination of possessive and article is the basic form but possessives occur with the full range of determiners, with associated meanings: remote article kíi/tíi: gúrigàagíi ‘your house (remote)’; demonstrative káas/ táas: gúrigàagáas ‘that house of yours’; interrogative kée/tée: gurigaagée? ‘which house of yours?’ The possessive determiners occur without the article ka/ta to mark a semantic distinction similar to the distinction between alienable and inalienable possession found in many languages: possessives without suffixed articles are used with nouns for family members, parts of the body, and by extension for close friends: aabbáháy ‘my father’; lúgtéed ‘her leg’; saaxìibkíin ‘your (pl.) friend’. When possessives occur in this way without a following second determiner, they may be noun phrase final elements and may be marked for case , e.g., aabbáháy absolutive; aabbàhày nominative ‘my father’. Possessive determiners mark partitive quantification, including the use of numerals, for example: dádka giddigóod (cf. gíddi n m.‘all, entirety’) dád-ka gíddi-kóod people-the all-their ‘all of the people’ (lit., ‘the people their entirety’)

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dádka qàarkóod (cf. qàar n m. ‘portion’) ‘some of the people’ (lit., ‘the people their part’) dádka áfartóod (cf. áfar num m. ‘four’) ‘four of the people’ In this function the possessives are used in their inalienable form. Another function is to mark spatial and temporal locations relative to a noun referent, for example: gúriga dabádìisa gúri-ka dabó-tìis-a house-the rear:f.-its-the ‘behind the house’ (lit., ‘the house its rear’) labá bilóod dabádèeda two months behind-its ‘after two months’ In these locative and temporal uses the possessives occur in their alienable form. 3. Adjectives Adjectives as a class are characterized by occurring attributively as postnominal modifiers and predicatively as complements of the copula yahay. Attributive use: nín dhèer man tall ‘a tall man’ Predicative use: Nínkii wuu dhèer yahay nín-kii waa+uu dhèer yahay man-the dm+he tall is ‘the man is tall’ Some adjectives only occur attributively, in particular the class of locative adjectives derived from nouns by an affix -e, e.g.: hoosé ‘lower’ (∞ hóos n f. ‘lower part, bottom’), horé ‘first, former, previous’ (∞ hór n f. ‘front’). Adjectives are differentiated from nouns in the following ways. They do not occur with suffixed determiners, they do not have inherent number and gender, and when they do occur as complements of the copula yahay, unlike nouns, they are positioned between the satellite clitics and the verb. They are unlike verbs in that they occur as complements of yahay, which does not function as an auxiliary verb. In addition, adjectives may mark plural agreement with a nominal head by reduplication, which does not occur with this function in verbs. In the predicative example above the adjective dhèer occurs between the subject clitic pronouns uu and the verb yahay; neither nouns nor verbs may occur thus in this position.

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In predicative uses adjectives coalesce with the copula yahay. When the copula stem begins with the prefixed agreement markers, as in present general forms, this is a stylistic optional rule (examples a–b); however, when the copula stem begins with ah-, as in the past simple, this coalescence is obligatory (examples c–f). (a) Wuu wanaagsán yahay waa+uu wanaagsán yahay dm+he good is ‘He is good’ (b)Wuu wanaagsányay ‘He is good’ (c) *Wuu wanaagsán ahaa waa+uu wanaagsán ahaa dm+he good was ‘He was good’ (d)Wùu wanaagsanaa ‘He was good’ (e) *nínkíi wanaagsán aháa nín-kíi wanaagsán ahaa man-the good was ‘the man who was good’ (f) nínkíi wanaagsanáa ‘the man who was good’ As can be seen in these examples, both the optional and the obligatory coalescence rules delete the segment ah from the copula and cliticize the remnant onto the adjective stem. This has led some writers, for example, Andrzejewski (1969) and Banti (1994), to recognize these coalesced predicative adjectives as a form of verb, presumably under the formal criterion that they bear (yahay’s) inflection and also perhaps from the understandable reluctance to posit a synchronic obligatory coalescence rule. As such, they form an unusual type of verb, more specifically a category that is more or less verb-like depending on grammatical context, perhaps reflecting an ongoing historical process, hence Andrzejewski’s (1969) term “hybrid verb.” See Saeed (1988) and Banti (1994) for further discussion. There are only around 40 basic adjectives in Standard Somali, the vast majority of adjectives being formed by productive rules of derivation from other categories. 3.1. Basic adjectives The number of basic adjectives is so small that we can provide a comprehensive list in the table on p. 561.

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Basic adjectives in Standard Somali adág bisíl cád cás ceedhíin culús cusúb dihín dhán dhèer dhow ú . . . ég kú . . . ég feeyíg fóg fudúd idíl irmáan jecél kulúl lá’ le’ég léh mác madów necéb nég nòol nugúl óg oggól qabów qadháadh qaydhíin ròon sán shilís wèyn xún yár

‘hard, difficult’ ‘ripe’ ‘white, clear’ ‘red’ ‘raw’ ‘heavy’ ‘new’ ‘having udders full of milk’ ‘complete, all’ ‘tall, long, deep’ ‘near’ ‘similar . . . to’ ‘appropriate, complete’ ‘alert, cautious’ ‘far, distant’ ‘light, easy’ ‘all’ ‘in milk’ ‘liking, loving’ ‘hot’ ‘lacking, missing’ ‘equal (in size)’ ‘owning, possessing’ ‘sweet, plump’ ‘black’ ‘hating’ ‘permanently settled, stable’ ‘alive, living’ ‘delicate, not hardy’ ‘aware, cognizant’ ‘agreeing’ ‘cold’ ‘bitter’ ‘raw’ ‘very good, better’ ‘good’ ‘fat’ ‘big’ ‘bad’ ‘small’

3.2. Derived adjectives Most adjectives are derived from verbs by the stativizing suffix an, which may also be used to derive adjectives from noun stems. With transitive verbs the derived adjective is what we might call object oriented: for

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example, with causative verbs, either root or derived, the adjective describes the state achieved by the Causee, for example (where again s is an allomorph of the causative affix is): baduugán ‘broken in pieces’ ∞ badùug tr. ‘break in pieces’; buusán ‘dented, squashed’ ∞ bùus tr. ‘dent, squash’. The effect with factitive verbs is similar, for example: afaysán ‘sharpened’ ∞ afèe fact. ‘put an edge on, sharpen’; buleysán ‘tasseled’ ∞ bulèe fact. ‘put tassels on’; sumaysán ‘poisoned’ ∞ sumèe fact. ‘give poison to’. With other transitive verbs the derived adjective describes the effect of the verb on the object argument, for example, basaasán ‘spied on’ ∞ basàas tr. ‘spy on’; caayán ‘insulted’ ∞ càay tr. ‘insult’. With intransitive inchoative verbs the derived adjective describes the resulting state, for example: aamusán ‘silent, quiet’ ∞ áamus intr. ‘become silent’; engegán ‘dry, dried out’ ∞ éngeg intr. ‘become dry’. The ability of this affix to attach to either root verbs or derived stems sometimes allows contrasts of meanings. The intransitive inchoative yàab ‘be surprised’, for example, forms the adjective yaabbán ‘in a state of surprise’, while the derived causative yáabi ‘cause to be surprised, surprise’ forms the adjective yaabsán ‘in a state of having been surprised’. The affix also derives adjectives from nouns, for example, gaabán ‘short’ from gàab n m. ‘shortness’ or ballaadhán ‘wide, broad’ from ballàadh n m. ‘width, space’. Interestingly there are only three basic color adjectives, cád ‘white’, cás ‘red’ and madów ‘black’. Others are derived from nouns, for example: cagaarán ‘green’ ∞ cagàar n m. ‘greenery, green grass’; cawlán ‘yellow, tan’ ∞ càwl n m. ‘yellowness’. 3.3. Comparative and superlative In comparative and superlative constructions the morphological form of adjectives does not change; instead the adjectives form constructions with adpositional clitics. The adposition ká ‘from’ is the marker of the comparative. The word order is: subject first, standard second: Náagtaasu náagtán way ká dhèer tahay. Náag-taas-u náag-tán waa+ay ká dhèer tahay woman-that-nom. woman-this-abs dm+she more tall is ‘That woman is taller than this woman’ The marker of the superlative is the adpositional cluster ugú (∞ ú+kú ‘to, for’+ ‘in, at’ or ú+ú) as below, where we loosely gloss it as ‘most’: Afsoomáaligu waa áfka ugú adág afáfka aan bartáy. Af-soomáali-gu waa áf-ka ugú adág afáf-ka language-Somali-the dm language-the most difficult languages-the aan bartáy I studied ‘The Somali language is the most difficult language of the languages I have studied’

12 points short

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3.4 Adjectival agreement Adjectives show no gender differentiation in agreement with nouns. They mark plural agreement by reduplication, for example, yár ‘small’ in náag yár ‘a small woman’, naagó yaryár ‘small women’. The use of these reduplicated plural forms is subject to some variation, with the tendency being that the longer the adjective the less likely speakers are to use the reduplicated forms. Because of the phrasal operation of case marking in Somali, if the adjective is the last element, then subject marking will lower any high tones in the adjective and, if the adjective ends in a consonant, will add the nominative suffix –i, for example, absolutive dhèer, nominative dheeri ‘tall’. Banti (1988a) identifies three prefixing reduplication processes involved in these plural adjectives: 7 (I) Caa- prefixation, where the first stem consonant is copied, followed by a long aa vowel. This process is the most marked form of prefix reduplication and is restricted to a small number of adjectives, perhaps two; dhaadhèer pl. ‘long’ and waawèyn pl. ‘big’. Banti (1988a) argues that this is an ancient form of reduplication within Cushitic. (II) CVC- prefixation, where the copied section of the stem is the first consonant, first vowel, and second consonant. The prefix vowel must match the first stem vowel in length. This rule is exemplified by, among others, the adjectives balballaarán pl. ‘wide, broad’, buurbuurán pl. ‘fat’, and qaybqaybsán pl. ‘divided’. (III) CV- prefixation, where the reduplicated prefix is a copy of the stem’s first consonant and vowel. Again, the prefix vowel must match the first stem vowel in length. In this rule the initial consonant of the stem is also doubled where this is allowed by the syllable structure constraints. Examples of this process include the adjectives dhuudhuubán pl. ‘folded’ and guggubán pl. ‘burnt’. 4. Verbs The verb in Somali occurs as part of a constituent we can term the verbal group. This is the core element of a clause and consists minimally of a verb but may also include adpositions, clitic pronouns, adverbial clitics, and in auxiliary verb constructions, a dependent verb. No nominals may occur within the verbal group. The verbal group is a head-final phrase with dependent elements occurring as clitics preceding the head verb. Its structure can be described by a template: [VGP s pro - o pro i - adp - adv i - adv ii - o pro ii - v] 8 7. The same processes apply to verbs to form iterative or intensified forms of the verb, for example, bòod ‘jump’, boodbòod ‘jump up and down’. 8. It is unlikely that all of these elements would occur together in a single verbal group. The template shows the maximum potential group and their relative ordering.

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The elements of the template are as follows. s pro: subject clitic pronoun; o pro i: object clitic pronoun—first series; adp: verbal adpositions; adv i: venitive sóo or allative síi; adv ii: adverbials wada ‘together’ or kala ‘apart’; o pro ii: object clitic pronoun—second series; v: main verb or infinitive and auxiliary verb. An example: Way iigá sóo iibsatay waa+[vgp ay i+ú+ká sóo iibsatay] dm+[vgp she me+for+from venitive bought] ‘She bought it for me from him’ Verbs as a category are identified by bearing information from the systems of tense, aspect and mood, which is marked largely by affixes but also by vowel alternations and accentual patterns. Syntactically they show agreement with the clause subject, and function as the head of the verbal group. 4.1. Verb classes Verbs can be subdivided in two intersecting ways: by their morphological shape and by their syntactic relation with other verbs. Three classes of verb can be identified by their morphology. The largest class is the suffix (or “weak”) verbs, which carry inflection as suffixes. The second class consists of four prefix (or “strong”) verbs: yidhi ‘say’, yimi ‘come’, yiil ‘be (in a place)’ and yiqiin ‘know’, which in Somali show the ancient Afroasiatic pattern of carrying inflection as prefixes and vowel alternations (Andrzejewski 1975b). Finally there is the copula verb yahay ‘be’, which is a kind of degenerate prefix verb. There are two major syntactic functions: while members of all three morphological classes function as main verbs, a small subset of suffix verbs function as auxiliary verbs. The suffix verbs have a basic morphological structure which may be represented schematically as [root—lex—agr—infl] where root is the base form of the verb, lex represents the various lexical affixes which form derived verbs, such as the causative affix -is, agr represents the agreement affixes which mark concord with a subject nominal, and infl represents the inflectional endings which give information about tense, mood and aspect. For this class of verbs, we use the imperative singular form as the reference form since it corresponds to the form of the basic root. Below are examples of this structure with past simple and present general forms of the root verb tág ‘go’: (a) Wàannu tagnay. waa+aannu [root tag] - [agr n] - [infl ay] dm+we:excl. go 1 pl. past simple ‘We (excl.) went’ (b)Wày tagtaa. waa+ay [root tag] - [agr t] - [infl aa] dm+she go 3 f. sg. present ‘She goes’

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The division between the agreement and inflectional endings is not as simple as our schema above suggests, as we can see from the complete past simple and present paradigms for this verb tág ‘go’: 9

1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

(clitic pro) past simple (‘I went’, etc.) (aan) tegaya (aad) tagtay (uu) tegay (ay) tagtay (aannu) tagnay (aynu) tagnay (aydin) tagteen (ay) tageen

present general (‘I go’, etc.) tagaa tagtaa tagaa tagtaa tagnaa tagnaa tagtaan tagaan

a. We ignore for the present discussion the vowel alternation in the root of this verb.

We can see that the combination of subject clitic pronouns and verb form differentiate eight personal forms, while the verb form alone differentiates five forms. The inflection shows a characteristic cross pattern, where the three agreement affixes, zero (1 sg., 3 sg. m., and 3 pl.), t (2 sg., 3 sg. f., and 2 pl.), and n (1 pl.), combine with the two inflectional shapes, -ay/-een and -aa/-aan, to distinguish five personal forms. This binary split in inflection occurs in all verb paradigms. The identification of the agreement affixes is supported by the occurrence of similar affixes as prefixes in the second morphological class, the prefix verbs (but with y replacing zero for 3 sg. m. and 3 pl.). For comparison we give the past simple and present paradigms of the prefix verb yiqiin ‘know’. Note that since this is a stative verb the distinction contrasts a past state with a present state. (clitic pro) past simple (‘I knew’, etc.) 1 sg (aan) iqiin 2 sg (aad) tiqiin 3 sg. m. (uu) yiqiin 3 sg. f. (ay) tiqiin 1 pl excl. (aannu) niqiin 1 pl incl. (aynu) niqiin 2 pl (aydin) tiqiinneen 3 pl (ay) yiqiinneen

present (‘I know’, etc.) aqaan taqaan yaqaan taqaan naqaan naqaan taqaanniin yaqaanniin

Here we can see the morphological contrast with suffix verbs: the agreement affixes are prefixed to the stem and the tense/aspect is marked by contrasts of vowel quality within the root. Unlike suffix verbs, it is usual to use as the reference form for this class of verbs the third masculine singular of the past simple, e.g., yiqiin ‘know’. The imperative forms, shown 9. For the labels of verb tam, we follow Saeed 1999.

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later, are not diagnostic of the root. In addition since two of the four verbs are stative, their imperative forms are not evidenced. The third class contains just one stative verb, yahay ‘be’, which combines the morphological structures of the two other classes: in the past simple it is a suffixing verb while in the present habitual it is a prefixing verb: (clitic pro) past simple (‘I was’, etc.) 1 sg (aan) ahaa 2 sg (aad) ahayd 3 sg. m. (uu) ahaa 3 sg. f. (ay) ahayd 1 pl excl. (aannu) ahayn 1 pl incl. (aynu) ahayn 2 pl (aydin) ahaydeen 3 pl (ay) ahaayeen

present (‘I am’, etc.) ahay tahay yahay tahay nahay nahay tihiin yihiin

It is traditional to use as the reference form for this verb a prefix form, the third masculine singular of the present, i.e., yahay ‘be’. As might be expected, the prefix verb class is under pressure from the majority suffix class and there is considerable dialect variation in the forms of prefix verbs. In many dialects there occur mixed forms with, for example, suffix verb inflectional endings added to prefix stems, producing such forms as aqaannay or iqiinnay for ‘I knew’; see Banti (1985) for some examples of this. It seems plausible to suggest that the mixed forms of the verb yahay ‘be’ are historically the result of such pressure. Of these three classes, only suffix verbs allow the productive attachment of lexical affixes, or root extensions, like the causative and middle voice morphemes described in the next section. There is a syntactic distinction between main and auxiliary verbs. All verbs, whatever their morphological class, employ auxiliary verbs to mark certain distinctions in the tense-aspect-mood (tam) system. The main verb occurs in an invariable form that we term the infinitive, and is followed by the auxiliary verb inflected for agreement affixes, etc.; for example: Wày keeneen. dm+they brought:3 pl ‘They brought it’ Wày kéeni jireen. dm+they bring:inf. were:3 pl ‘They used to bring it’ Here the auxiliary verb jír marks the past habitual tam form and carries the inflection. There are three auxiliary constructions that act as part of the tense-aspect-mood system: the future marked by dóon ‘will’; the past habitual with jír ‘be, exist’; and the conditional with the fused adjective and verb form lahaa ‘was possessing’. This latter is formed from coalescence of léh

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adj ‘possessing’ and yahay ‘be’. In these constructions the auxiliary verbs have lost their independent lexical content and function as markers of the relevant tam distinction. In addition there are a small number of verbs which like auxiliaries take infinitival verb complements but which maintain their lexical content. The most important of these are kár ‘can, be able’; wàa ‘fail, be unable’; gàadh ‘just fail, almost do’. Since they do not function as part of the tam system and retain lexical content, it seems preferable to analyze these verbs as main verbs that, unusually for Somali, take infinitival complements. 4.2. Derived verbs Root verbs can be assigned to various semantic classes, membership of which determines their grammatical behavior. One basic distinction is between stative and dynamic verbs which governs a verb’s participation in the set of morphological paradigms. Stative verbs do not occur in some paradigms, for example, the progressive forms, while in others they have a different interpretation from dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs themselves fall into several classes. For example, intransitive inchoative verbs, which describe an entity becoming or achieving a state, e.g., dacìif ‘weaken, become feeble’, éngeg ‘become dry, dry out, wither’, míridh ‘rust, get rusty’. A second class consists of lexical causative verbs, e.g., díl ‘kill’, fúr ‘open’, xídh ‘close’, which are transitive. A further class consists of activity verbs, which can either be intransitive or transitive, for example: cún tr. ‘eat’, keen tr. ‘bring’, órod intr. ‘run’, qósol intr. ‘laugh’. Somali has very productive rules for deriving verbs by the attachment of lexical derivational affixes to both verbal and non-verbal roots. In this section we outline some examples of these. For reasons of space this outline cannot be comprehensive. There are complex morphophonological changes triggered by attaching these derivational affixes between the root and inflectional affixes of verbs across the range of tense-aspect-mood (tam) inflections. For clarity, writers on Somali have tended to set up conjugations of suffix verbs based on the presence of lexical affixes. A typical system, such as in Bell (1953), identifies three conjugations. Conjugation 1 consists of root verbs, for example, jòog intr. ‘stay, remain’. Conjugation 2 consists of verbs with causative affixes, for example, jóoji tr. ‘cause to stop, stop’ (∞ *joog+i(s)). Finally, conjugation 3 consists of verbs with middle voice affixes, for example, joogsó intr. ‘stop oneself, come to a stop’ (∞ joog+is+o). The, perhaps logical, step of identifying as many conjugations as there are lexical affixes is not taken. This is because, firstly, the morphophonological shape of other affixes is more predictable, and secondly, because causative and middle stems exhibit unpredictable gaps and semantic shift to an extent which suggests they are more lexicalized than other verb-affix combinations. 4.2.1. Derived inchoative verbs In addition to the class of root inchoatives mentioned above, inchoatives can be formed from other grammatical categories by the use of derivational affixes. Two in particular are very productive: the first is the affix

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ow/oob which for a noun with the meaning N creates an intransitive verb meaning ‘become N’, for example: barafòw ‘turn into ice, freeze’ ∞ báraf n m. ‘ice’; biyòw ‘become water, melt’ ∞ biyó n m. ‘water’, gaalòw ‘become an infidel’ ∞ gàal n m. ‘infidel’. The affix has two allomorphs: ow before a consonant or at the end of a word, and oob before a vowel; compare, for example (where the inchoative affix is marked inch.): Wùu baraf-oob-ay dm+it:m. ice-inch.-3sg.m.:past ‘It (m.) turned to ice, it (m.) froze’ Wày baraf-ow-day dm+it:f. ice-inch.-3sg.f.:past ‘It (f.) turned to ice, it (f.) froze’ This alternation seems to be phonological since it is not limited to this affix: the numeral ków ‘one’ becomes kóob before a vowel, as in kóobiyo tobán ‘eleven (‘one-and ten’)’; similarly the adjective madów ‘black’ ~ madoobaa ‘was black’. The second affix is ow/aan which for an adjective describing a state S creates an intransitive verb meaning ‘become S’, for example: adkòw ‘become hard, harden’ ∞ adág adj ‘hard’; dhowòw ‘get near, approach’ ∞ dhow adj ‘near’. This affix also attaches to the derived adjectives described earlier: gaabnòw ‘become short’ ∞ gaabán adj ‘short’; sahlanòw ‘become easy’ ∞ sahlán adj ‘easy’. This affix has several forms whose distribution seems to be grammatically conditioned: ow occurs only in the imperative; aan occurs in the infinitive, and, therefore, also in auxiliary constructions and progressives; while aad occurs everywhere else. 4.2.2. Derived experience verbs A suffix ood is used to create derived verbs from nouns: for a noun with the meaning N this affix creates an intransitive verb meaning ‘to experience N’, for example, cadhòod ‘be angry’ ∞ cádho n f. ‘anger’; dhaxamòod ‘feel cold’ ∞ dháxan n f. ‘cold’. This experiencer affix has the form oon in the infinitive and associated paradigms like the progressives, for example, Waan gaajóonayaa ‘I am hungry’, and ood elsewhere. Note that the use of progressives reflects the fact that these derived verbs are not stative. 4.2.3. Factitives The affix ays is a very productive factitive affix which creates verbs from both nouns and adjectives. It has the following principal forms: ee in the imperative, ayn (eyn) in the infinitive and derived paradigms, and ays (eys) elsewhere. The morphophonological effects of adding it to noun and adjectival roots are complex and usually are reflected in descriptive grammars by listing such derived verbs as a separate conjugation, conjugation 2b in 4.3 below, for example. Typically the derived verb is transitive; when this affix is added to a noun root N, the derived verb means either ‘make X into N’ or ‘add N to X’, e.g., afèe ‘put an edge on, sharpen’ ∞ áf n m. ‘edge, blade’; biyèe ‘add water to, water down’ ∞ biyó n m. ‘water’. When

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added to an adjectival root describing a state S, the derived verb means ‘make X achieve state S’, e.g., adkèe ‘harden, strengthen’ ∞ adág adj ‘hard, tough’; caddèe ‘whiten’ ∞ cád adj ‘white’. Although most verbs derived by ays are transitive, there are some derived intransitive verbs: e.g., ammuurèe ‘become troubled, act worried’ ∞ ammúur n f. ‘problem’; laamèe ‘put out branches, branch out’ ∞ láan n f. ‘branch’. 4.2.4. Passive Somali does not have a syntactic passive. Some of the functional load is borne by constructions using the non-specific subject pronoun la ‘one’. A related function is performed by the derivational affix am which is added to lexically causative verbs to remove the Causer argument and allow the Patient argument to become subject. Compare the causative root verb fúr tr. ‘open’ and the derived passive fúran (∞ *fúram) intr. ‘be/get opened’: Cali albàab-kíi bùu fur-ay. Ali door-the foc+he open-past ‘Ali opened the door’ Albàab-kii wàa fur-m-ay 10 door-the dm open-pass.-past ‘The door was opened, the door opened’ This affix am suppresses the Causer argument of the root verb and makes the Patient argument subject. However the effect of this affix is narrower than many morphological passives cross-linguistically because the input root verb must be causative. The affix cannot be attached to, for example, experiencer verbs like árag ‘see’ or máqal ‘hear’, or activity verbs like cún ‘eat’ or síd ‘carry’. The effect of the affix is to remove the Causer from and thus de-transitivize causative root verbs. All lexical causative verbs may form corresponding derived passives (where word-final m ∞ n, as always): e.g., dílan ‘get/be killed’, furan ‘get/be opened’, xídhan ‘get/be closed’. This affix has no stativizing effect. The derived verbs remain dynamic, as can be seen by that fact that they occur in progressive forms: Albàab-ku waa fúr-m-ayaa. door-the dm open-pass.-pres:prog ‘The door is getting opened, is opening’ Thus the passive verb fúran (∞*fúram) ‘be/get opened’ contrasts with the derived adjective furán ‘open’, which is of course stative, as in the following example, which has no corresponding progressive form: Albàab-ku waa fur-án-yahay door-the dm open-stat.-is ‘The door is open’ The respective affixes are am, passive, and an, stativiser, which forms derived adjectives as described earlier. 10. The verb furmay is from *furamay by a rule of stem contraction.

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The passive affix seems to preserve the notion of causation in the verb, even though the Causer is suppressed. We can contrast this with one important function of the middle voice affix which, as described below, marks uncontrolled inchoation, that is, where a process affects but is not under the control of the subject argument. We can thus find contrasts like the following on the causative verb bilàab ‘cause to begin, start’: Cali wùu bilaab-ay shír-kíi (causative) Ali dm+he start-past meeting-the ‘Ali started the meeting’ Shír-kii wàa bilaab-m-ay (passive) meeting-the dm start-pass.-past ‘The meeting was/got started’ Shír-kii wàa bilaab-t-ay (middle) meeting-the dm started-mid.-past ‘The meeting started’ The causative verb requires a Causer and signifies causation; the passive derived verb suppresses the Causer but still identifies causation; the middle derived verb suppresses the Causer and communicates no sense of causation. This example gives one glimpse of the semantic interplay between lexical affixes and the semantics of root verbs which is so characteristic of Somali. 4.2.5. Causatives There are two causative affixes. The first, is, creates causative verbs from other verbs. Its prototypical use is to create causative verbs from root inchoative verbs: where the inchoative means ‘X achieve state S’ the causative verb means ‘Y cause X to achieve state S’, e.g. (where the affix occurs as i): búuxi tr. ‘fill’ ∞ bùux intr. ‘fill up’; engéji tr. ‘dry’ ∞ éngeg intr. ‘become dry, dry out, wither’; jílci tr. ‘soften’ ∞ jílic intr. ‘become soft’; kári tr. ‘cook’ ∞ kár intr. ‘boil, cook’. The causative affix is triggers an argument structure change: it adds an extra argument, a Causer, which functions as subject. The intransitive inchoative root verb thus becomes transitive. The single subject argument of the inchoative, the Patient, becomes object of the derived causative verb. For example: Berkéd-díi wày buux-day trough-the dm+it:f fill-3sg.f.:past ‘The trough filled up’ Naagí-hii berkéd-díi wày buux-iy-een women-the trough-the dm+they fill-caus.-3pl.:past ‘The women filled the trough’ Less typically this affix can be attached to activity verbs; compare for example:

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Ardá-díi wày qosl-een students-the dm+they laugh-3pl.:past ‘The students laughed’ Barí-hii ardá-díi wuu ká qosl-iy-ey teacher-the students-the dm+he adp laugh-caus.-3sg. m:past ‘The teacher made the students laugh’ In these verbs the argument structure change is different: the subject of the root verb occurs not as object of the causative verb but as an oblique np governed by the adposition ká ‘from’. This affix does not productively occur with transitive verbs. Examples do exist but involve semantic shift, that is, the derivation is neither fully productive nor completely transparent semantically, e.g.: dhál ‘beget’ § dháli ‘originate’; tír ‘cancel’ § tíri ‘count’; màal ‘milk’ § máali ‘lend (a milch animal) to someone’. The affix has a number of forms, including i, and is; again the the morphophonological effects of adding is to verb roots is complex and usually captured in descriptions by setting up a distinct conjugation—2a in 4.3 below. The second causative affix is sii. This affix, which is less commonly used than is, is typically attached to activity verbs, especially with human Actor subjects. It may be attached to either transitive or intransitive root verbs. With transitive verbs the effect is to add a third argument: the Causer is subject; the Actor-subject and the Patient-object of the root verb both become objects of the derived causative, for example: Carrúur-tii wày cun-een barìis-kii children-the dm+they eat:3pl.:past rice-the ‘The children ate the rice’ Faadúmo ayàa carrúur-tíi cun-síi-say barìis-kíi Fatima foc children-the eat-caus.-3sg.f.:past rice-the ‘Fatima caused the children to eat rice/fed the children rice’ When this affix is attached to intransitive verbs, the usual pattern is for the root verb’s Actor-subject to become an oblique np governed by the adposition ká ‘from’, e.g.: Maxamed wùu híndhis-ay Mohamed dm+he sneeze-past ‘Mohamed sneezed’ Siigáda ayàa ká hindhi-síi-sáy Maxámed 11 dust-the foc adp sneeze-caus.:past Mohamed ‘The dust caused Mohamed to sneeze’ There are some cases, however, where an intransitive verb patterns like a transitive verb when sii is attached, that is, where the root verb’s subject becomes a second object of the derived causative, e.g.: 11. The form hindhisíisáy is phonologically derived from *hindhissíisáy because of a phonotactic constraint against geminate fricatives.

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Maxamed wùu qadeyn-ayaa 12 Mohamed dm+he lunch-pres.prog. ‘Mohamed is lunching/eating lunch’ Wày qaday-síin-aysaa Maxámed dm+she lunch-caus.-pres:prog. Mohamed ‘She is giving lunch to Mohamed’ (lit., ‘She is lunching Mohamed’) 4.2.6. Middle voice The middle voice affix at forms derived middle verbs from other verb stems, for example, laabó intr. ‘turn oneself back, head back’ derived from the causative root verb làab tr. ‘bend, fold’. It has several forms: some are morphologically conditioned, like o in the imperative and an in the infinitive, while others are phonologically conditioned by context, as when at ∞ ad before vowels. The morphophonological effects of adding this affix to root verb stems are usually described by listing them as a separate conjugation—3b in 4.3 below. The affix is also very commonly added to derived causatives, for example, hub-s-ó (sure-caus.-mid.) ‘make sure of for oneself, ascertain’ derived from húb-i (sure-caus.) ‘make sure of, verify’, itself derived from the root verb húb ‘be sure’. The combination of causative and middle affixes on a verb root gives rise to rather complicated morphophonological changes: these are summarized by listing them as a further conjugation—c3a in 4.3 below. The affix can also be attached to other derived stems, for example, daaweysó intr. ‘treat oneself with medicine’ from daawèe tr. ‘treat with medicine’, formed by the factitive affix ays from the noun dáawo f. ‘medicine’. In our examples in this section we use middle verbs formed on various stem types. This affix has been given a number of names in the literature including riflessivo (Moreno 1955), medio-riflessivo (Bruno 1984), and autobenefactive (Andrzejewski 1968, Puglielli 1984), each concentrating on one aspect of its use. As described in Saeed (1995), this affix has a number of distinct but related meanings, all of which share the characteristic noted for middle voice in other languages (e.g., Givón 1984; Klaiman 1991; Kemmer 1994) of the subject of the verb being affected by the action described in the verb. This “affectedness” has different expressions in Somali: we can outline six main meaning types, which form a semantic continuum. One important point is that the effect of this affix on the transitivity of the stem is not uniform. Although in many instances the derived middle verb is intransitive, removing an object argument from a transitive stem as in the examples so far, the effect depends on the semantics of the stem verb and the type of middle meaning produced. The first type of middle describes an action that is inherently reflexive, that is, where the subject is both the Agent of the action and the entity affected or Patient, e.g.: dheefsó tr. ‘nourish oneself on’ ∞ dhéefi caus. ‘nour12. The verb qadèe ‘eat lunch’ is formed from the noun qádo f. ‘lunch’ by the factitive affix ays, described in 4.2.3.

12 points short

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ish on’; diirsó intr. ‘warm oneself’ ∞ díiri caus. ‘warm’; jirsó intr. ‘shelter oneself (from rain, etc.)’ ∞ jír caus. ‘shelter’; xoqó tr. ‘scratch oneself (on a part of the body)’ ∞ xóq tr. ‘scratch’. A distinction is drawn in the grammar between inherently reflexive verbs, expressed by middle verbs, and reflexive uses of actions that are not inherently reflexive, where the reflexive/reciprocal pronoun is is used with non-middle verbs, e.g.: Wùu is dilay (dm+he rec killed) ‘He killed himself’. A second related type of middle is where the action affects the subject’s body. There are three main subtypes: the first describes bodily motion and posture, for example, foororsó intr. ‘bend over, stoop, bow’ ∞ fooróri caus. ‘cause to bend’ ∞ fóoror intr. ‘be in a stooped, bent over position’. The second is grooming verbs, for example, firó tr. ‘comb (one’s own hair)’ ∞ fír tr. ‘comb’; and the third are actions involving the body and clothes, as in guntó intr. ‘wrap clothing around one’s waist’ ∞ gúnud tr. ‘knot’. A third type of middle verb describes actions which also affect the subject but involve emotions or cognitive abilities rather than the body, including experiencing emotions, expressing emotions, talking, thinking and religious experience, e.g.: ashahaadó intr. ‘say the profession of the Muslim faith’, barooró intr. ‘mourn, keen, wail (of women)’, dhibsó tr. ‘feel annoyed at’, miyirsó intr. ‘come to, regain consciousness’, xusuusó tr. ‘remember, call to mind’. A fourth type is used for actions that are inherently reciprocal. Typically, transitive reciprocals have both arguments as Agents, participating in a bi-directional activity, e.g., geddisó tr. ‘exchange, barter’, while in intransitive reciprocals the subjects participate in a joint activity, e.g., googgaaleysó intr. ‘play a game of riddles’ and jaraysó intr. ‘play Somali checkers’. As with reflexives, the grammar allows a distinction between inherently reciprocal activities, expressed by middle verbs, and reciprocal occurrences of other verbs, using the reflexive and reciprocal pronoun is, e.g.: Wày is arkeen (dm+they rec saw) ‘They saw each other’. A fifth type of middle consists of verbs where the subjects, which may be animate or inanimate, undergo a change of state over which they have no control, what we may term uncontrolled inchoation. These middle verbs are all intransitive. Middle voice verbs used in a similar function are called “neuter intransitives” in studies of ancient Greek (e.g., Bakker 1994) and a similar middle function is also reported for Sanskrit (Klaiman 1991). Examples include: bukó ‘become sick, ail’, dhimó ‘die’, fooló ‘go into labor, start to give birth’; ilkaysó ‘teethe, grow teeth’; naqaysó ‘grow green again, sprout (after rain)’. Finally, the sixth and final type of middle is the very common and productive class of autobenefactive middle verbs, where the middle affix signals that the Agent subject performs the action of the verb for his or her own benefit. While typically in this use the middle affix is attached to transitive stems, it does not affect the syntactic transitivity of the stem: it simply adds the meaning ‘for self’ to both intransitives and transitives. Some examples are: beeró tr. ‘farm for oneself’ ∞ bèer tr. ‘farm, cultivate’; ducaysó intr. ‘pray for oneself’ ∞ ducèe intr. ‘pray’; kaydsó tr. ‘store for oneself’ ∞ káydi caus. ‘store, preserve’; qaadó tr. ‘take for oneself’ ∞ qàad tr. ‘take’.

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4.3. Suffix verb conjugations As mentioned earlier, because of the morphophonological complexity associated with verbal derivational affixes, it is useful to identify three major conjugations of suffix verbs as follows: Conjugation 1: Conjugation 2a: Conjugation 2b: Conjugation 3a: Conjugation 3b:

root verbs with no lexical affixes, e.g., súg tr. ‘wait for’, kár intr. ‘boil, cook’ verbs derived from root verbs by the causative affix -i/-is, e.g., kári tr. ‘cook’ (from conjugation 1 kár intr. ‘boil, cook’) verbs derived from nouns and adjectives by the factitive affix -ee/-ayn, e.g., yarèe ‘make small’ (from yár adj ‘small’) verbs derived from verbal stems by the middle voice affix -o/-at, e.g., karsó ‘cook for oneself’ (from conjugation 2 kári tr. ‘cook’) as conjugation 3a but verbs whose syllable structure triggers a phonological rule of stem contraction and subsequent sandhi rules, e.g., qaadó ‘take for oneself’ (from conjugation 1 qàad tr. ‘take’)

In the list of paradigms given below, conjugations 2b and 3b are only listed when they contain significant differences from 2a and 3a, respectively. Our example verbs are C1 súg tr. ‘wait for’, C2a kári tr. ‘cook’, C2b yarèe tr. ‘make smaller, reduce’, C3a joogsó intr. ‘stop oneself, come to a halt’, C3b qaadó tr. ‘take for oneself’. The paradigms for suffix verbs list only the five persons distinguished by verb inflection alone, though as we have seen, this may be extended to an eight-person distinction by the use of subject pronouns. 4.4. TAM distinctions Verbal inflection carries information from a number of sentence-level semantic and syntactic systems. The five inflectional categories of the verb are: tense, aspect, mood, negation, and sentence subordination. These systems interact on a relatively restricted number of inflectional endings and auxiliary verbs with the result that verbal inflection in Somali is most economically and clearly represented in a paradigmatic form. These sentencelevel systems also interact with lexically based semantic distinctions, such as those of Aktionsart, or situation type. One very important distinction here is between stative and dynamic verbs. Stative verbs occur in all three morphological classes: for example, the suffix class statives búk ‘be ill’, haysó ‘have, possess’, húb ‘be certain’, jír ‘be (in a place)’; the prefix class statives yiil ‘be (in a place)’, yiqiin ‘know’. The copula yahay ‘be’ is also stative. Stative verbs do not typically, for example, occur in progressive forms or for the most part in imperative sentences. 13 In addition, in paradigms 13. Two qualifications are needed here. First, some stative verbs do occur in imperatives, e.g., yahay ‘be’. Second, stative root verbs may become dynamic when lexical affixes are attached. Thus the stative verb húb ‘be certain’ has a derived causitive verb húbi ‘make certain, ascertain’ and a middle voice verb hubsó ‘make certain for one self, be certain of’, both of which are dynamic and may occur in imperatives.

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where both do occur, stative and dynamic verbs may have different aspectual interpretations. With dynamic verbs the paradigm we label present describes a repeated or regular activity, like kèen ‘bring’ in Wùu keenaa (maalín kastá) ‘He brings it (every day)’. With stative verbs, on the other hand, it signifies a state ongoing at the time of speaking, like húb ‘be certain’ in Wàan hubaa ‘I am certain’. The inflectional categories mentioned above exhibit the following formal contrasts: Tense: Aspect: Mood: Negation: Sentence subordination:

Past/Present/Future Simple/Progressive/Habitual Declarative/Imperative/Conditional/Optative/Potential Positive/Negative Main/Subordinate

Not all possible combinations of these categories occur: for example, tense and aspect are only marked in declarative sentences; and there is no negation in potential sentences. We can group the possible combinations into eleven verbal paradigms, details of which are given in subsequent sections for suffix verbs and prefix verbs. We do not give forms for the copula yahay ‘be’, representative paradigms of which were given in 4.1 above. Six paradigms consist of a single main verb: imperative, infinitive, past simple, present, optative, and potential. Three are compound constructions involving auxiliary verbs: future, past habitual, and conditional. Finally, the two progressive paradigms show signs of being coalesced compound constructions. The distinction between main and subordinate clause forms occurs across all eleven paradigms. 4.4.1. Imperative These forms are used for commands, which are more commonly used in Somali than, say, English since they seem to carry little or no implication of power or authority. Negative imperatives occur with a sentence type marker ha. Suffix verbs: C1 sg. súg pl. súga Negative: sg. súgin pl. sugína Prefix verbs: yidhi sg. dhé(h) pl. dháha Negative: sg. ódhan(in) pl. odhanína

C2a kári karíya

C2b yarèe yaréeya

C3a joogsó joogsáda

C3b qaadó qáata

kárin karinína

yaréyn yaraynína

joogsán joogsanína

qaadán qaadanína

yimi káalay kaalaya

yiil òol óolla

yiqiin oqòow oqáada (oqóoda) (aqóoda)

íman(in) imannína

óollin oollína

óqoon(in)/ áqoon(in) oqoonína

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The imperative forms of the prefix verbs are irregular in a number of ways. First, the forms of yimi ‘come’ are suppletive, not reflecting the root shape. Second, the forms given for yiil and yiqiin are not commonly used since these are stative verbs. They are usually replaced by dynamic verbs, for example, for ‘Know it!’ speakers commonly use the suffix verb forms ogòw! (sg.) and ogáada (pl.) derived from the adjective óg ‘aware, cognizant’. 4.4.2. Infinitive This form only occurs with auxiliary verbs to form compound tenses like future and conditional. Suffix verbs: C1 súgi

C2a kárin

C2b yarèyn

C3a joogsán

Prefix verbs: C1 yidhi odhán

C2a yimi imán

C2b yiil óolli

C3a yiqiin oqóon

C3b qaadán

4.4.3. Past simple This tense/aspect form is used of completed action in the past, e.g., Wàad sugtay ‘You waited for it’. It also occurs in negative clauses, where the negative verb shows no person agreement distinctions, in an invariable form: Má sugín ‘I/you/he, etc., did not wait for it’. As is the general rule, the negative word má ‘not’ occurs in main clauses, while aan ‘not’ occurs in subordinate clauses. Suffix verbs 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Negative:

C1 sugay sugtay sugnay sugteen sugeen sugín

C2a kariyey karisey karinney kariseen kariyeen karín

Prefix verbs: 1 sg. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 3 sg. m. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Negative:

yidhi idhi tidhi yidhi nidhi tidhaahdeen yidhaahdeen odhán (odhanín)

C2b yareeyey yareysey yareyney yareyseen yareeyeen yaréyn

yimi imi(d) timi(d) yimi(d) nimi(d) timaaddeen yimaaddeen imán (imanín)

C3a joogsaday joogsatay joogsannay joogsateen joogsadeen joogsán

yiil iil tiil yiil niil tilleen yiilleen oqóon (oollín)

C3b qaatay qaadatay qaadannay qaadateen qaateen qaadán

yiqiin iqiin tiqiin yiqiin niqiin tiqiinneen yiqiinneen oqóon (aqoonín)

4.4.4. Present This tense/aspect form has two interpretations: with dynamic verbs it signifies a habitual or repeated action which still occurs at the time of speaking; and with stative verbs, it signifies a state holding at the time of

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speaking, e.g., the dynamic Daawáda góormàad cabtaa? When do you take the medicine?’ or the stative Wùu bukaa ‘He is ill’. The negative forms, which occur with negative words má or aan, show full person agreement: Suffix verbs: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Negative: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Prefix verbs: 1 sg. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 3 sg. m 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Negative: 1 sg. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 3 sg. m. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

C1 sugaa sugtaa sugnaa sugtaan sugaan

C2a kariyaa karisaa karinnaa karisaan kariyaan

C2b yareeyaa yareysaa yareynaa yareysaan yareeyaan

C3a joogsadaa joogsataa joogsannaa joogsataan joogsadaan

C3b qaataa qaadataa qaadannaa qaadataan qaataan

sugó sugtó /sugtíd sugtó sugnó sugtàan sugàan

kariyó karisó /karisíd karisó karinnó karisàan kariyàan

yareeyó yareysó /yareysíd yareysó yareynó yareysàan yareeyàan

joogsadó joogsató /joogsatíd joogsató joogsannó joogsatàan joogsadàan

qaató qaadató /qaadatíd qaadató qaadannó qaadatàan qaatàan

yidhi idhaahdaa tidhaahdaa yidhaahdaa nidhaahnaa tidhaahdaan yidhaahdaan

yimi imaaddaa timaaddaa yimaaddaa nimaadnaa timaaddaan yimaaddaan

yiil aal taal yaal naal taalliin yaalliin

yiqiin aqaan taqaan yaqaan naqaan taqaanniin yaqaanniin

idhaahdó tidhaahdó yidhaahdó nidhaahnó tidhaahdàan yidhaahdàan

imaaddó timaaddó yimaaddó nimaadnó timaaddàan yimaaddàan

áal táal yáal náal taallìin yaallìin

aqáan taqáan yaqáan naqáan taqaannìin yaqaannìin

4.4.5. Optative This is an irrealis mood form and is used mainly to express wishes, hopes and blessings, e.g., Há tago! ‘May he go!’, Ilaahày há ku barakeeyo! ‘May Allah bless you!’ and the negative Khámri yàanu cábbin! ‘May he not drink alcohol!’ The form is also used for strong suggestions and weakened commands, e.g., Aan saméeyo ‘Let me do it!’ In the positive, third person forms are preceded by the optative sentence type marker há. 14 Other persons are obligatorily preceded by the appropriate subject clitic pronoun, which may occur in the shortened forms an for 1 sg. aan; ad for 2 sg. aad (also used here for 2 pl. aydin); and annu for 1 pl. excl. aannu. These short forms are more commonly used in speech and are listed below; in writing and print the longer forms are more usual. The positive forms are: 14. Distinguished from the negative imperative sentence type marker ha by its accentual pattern.

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Suffix verbs: 1 sg 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

C1 an súgo ad súgtid há sugo há sugto annu súgno aynu súgno ad súgteen há sugeen

Prefix verbs: yidhi 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

an idháahdo ad tidháahdo há yidhaahdo há tidhaahdo annu nidháahno aynu nidháahno ad tidháahdeen há yidhaahdeen

C2 an karíyo ad karísid há kariyo há kariso annu karínno aynu karínno ad karíseen há kariyeen yimi an imáaddo ad timáaddo há yimaaddo há timaaddo annu nimaádno aynu nimaádno ad timáaddeen há yimaaddeen

C3 an joogsádo ad joogsátid há joogsado há joogsato annu joogsánno aynu joogsánno ad joogsáteen há joogsadeen

yiil an áallo ad táallo há yaallo há taallo annu náallo aynu náallo ad táalleen há yaalleen

yiqiin an aqáanno ad taqáanno há yaqaanno há taqaanno annu naqáanno aynu naqáanno ad taqáanneen há yaqaanneen

The negative forms are invariable and are preceded by the sentence type marker yàan, which coalesces with a following short form of the appropriate subject clitic pronoun: Suffix verbs: 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

C1 yàanan súgin yàanad súgin yàanu súgin yàaney súgin yàanan(u) súgin yàynu súgin yàanad súgin yàaney súgin

C2 yàanan karín yàanad karín etc.

Prefix verbs: 1 sg 2 sg. 3 sg. m. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

yidhi yimi yàanan odhán yàanan imán yàanad odhán yàanad imán yàanu odhán etc. yàaney odhán yàanan(u) odhán yàynu odhán yàanad odhán yàaney odhán

C3 yàanan joogsán yàanad joogsán etc.

yiil yàanan oollín yàanad oollín etc.

yiqiin yàanan oqóon yàanad oqóon etc.

4.4.6. Potential This is a further irrealis mood form which signifies the possibility of the predication, e.g., Shòw keenee ‘Maybe he’ll bring it’, ‘Perhaps he’ll bring it’. There are no corresponding negative forms. The inflected verb forms are preceded by the sentence type marker shòw:

Somali Morphology Suffix verbs: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

C1 sugee sugtee sugnee sugteen sugeen

C2 kariyee karisee karinnee kariseen kariyeen

C3 joogsadee joogsatee joogsannee joogsateen joogsadeen

Prefix verbs: 1 sg. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 3 sg. m. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

yidhi idhaahdee tidhaahdee yidhaahdee nidhaahnee tidhaahdeen yidhaahdeen

yimi imaaddee timaaddee yimaaddee nimaaddee timaaddeen yimaaddeen

yiil aallee taallee yaallee naallee taalleen yaalleen

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yiqiin aqaanee taqaanee yaqaanee naqaanee taqaanneen yaqaanneen

4.4.7. Present progressive This tam form is used for an action in the process of occurring at the time of speaking, e.g., Wàan shaqéyneyaa ‘I am working’. It is also very commonly used as a proximate future tense, of action that is about to happen, especially when planned in the present, e.g., Ma tégaysaa? ‘Are you going?’ ‘Are you about to go?’ As with other progressive paradigms it is not used with stative verbs. The positive forms are clearly contractions of auxiliary constructions, where the ay or ey segments are the remnant of the auxiliary verb hày ‘have’. The negative still has optional forms which are overtly auxiliary constructions, e.g., contracted má súgayo and uncontracted súgi maayó both occur meaning ‘I am not/he is not waiting for it’. Note that the negative word má precedes the contracted form, while it precedes and fuses with the auxiliary in the uncontracted form. In the tables below we give both forms. The three main declensions may serve to illustrate this paradigm, starting with the positive forms: Suffix verbs: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

C1 súgayaa súgeysaa súgeynaa súgeysaan súgayaan

C2 karínayaa karíneysaa karíneynaa karíneysaan karínayaan

C3 joogsánayaa joogsáneysaa joogsáneynaa joogsáneysaan joogsánayaan

The main clause negatives, with coalesced má ‘not’, may occur in the following uncontracted forms: C1 1 sg./3 sg. m. súgi maayó 2 sg. súgi maysó /súgi maysíd 3 sg. f. súgi maysó 1 pl. súgi maynó 2 pl. súgi maysàan 3 pl. súgi maayàan

C2 karín maayó karín maysó /karín maysíd karín maysó karín maynó karín maysàan karín maayàan

C3 joogsán maayó joogsán maysó /joogsán maysíd joogsán maysó joogsán maynó joogsán maysàan joogsán maayàan

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The main clause contracted forms, used with má: C1 1 sg./3 sg. m. súgayó 2 sg. súgaysó /súgaysíd 3 sg. f. súgaysó 1 pl. súgaynó 2 pl. súgaysàan 3 pl. súgayàan

C2 karínayó karínaysó /karínaysíd karínaysó karínaynó karínaysàan karínayàan

C3 joogsánayó joogsánaysó /joogsánaysíd joogsánaysó joogsánaynó joogsánaysàan joogsánayàan

In subordinate clauses, the uncontracted auxiliary forms do not occur. Speakers either use the contracted forms (súgayó, etc.) with aan, or, more commonly, use an invariable form shared with the past progressive paradigm, thus neutralizing the tense difference between the two paradigms. Prefix verbs: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

yidhi odháneyaa odháneysaa odháneynaa odháneysaan odháneyaan

yimi imáneyaa imáneysaa imáneynaa imáneysaan imáneyaan

Negative forms: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg.

yidhi odhán màayó odhán màaysó /odhán màaysíd odhán màaysó odhán màaynó odhán màaysàan odhán màayàan

yimi imán màayó imán màaysó /imán màaysíd imán màaysó imán màaynó imán màaysàan imán màayàan

3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

4.4.8. Past progressive The forms currently in use are also clearly contractions of auxiliary constructions, where the ay or ey segments are the remnant of the auxiliary verb hày ‘have’ now separating the infinitive stem from the agreement affixes. The final -i of the infinitive has been elided. The three main declensions may serve to illustrate this paradigm. The paradigm has negative forms, which are invariable, e.g., Má súgéyn ‘I/you/he, etc., was not waiting’. The stative prefix verbs do not occur in this form. Suffix verbs: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Negative:

C1 súgayey súgeysey súgeyney súgeyseen súgayeen súgéyn /súgeynín

C2 karínayey karíneysey karíneyney karíneyseen karínayeen karínéyn /karíneynín

C3 joogsánayey joogsáneysey joogsáneyney joogsáneyseen joogsánayeen joogsánéyn /joogsáneynín

Somali Morphology Prefix verbs: 1 sg./3 sg. m. 2 sg./3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl. Negative:

yidhi odhánayey odhánaysey odhánayney odhánayseen odhánayeen odhánéyn (odháneynín)

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yimi imánayey imánaysey imáneyney imáneyseen imánayeen imánéyn (imáneynín)

4.4.9. Compound paradigms There are three compound paradigms in each verb class: past habitual, future, and conditional. In each paradigm the main verb occurs in the infinitive followed by the auxiliary verb which is inflected for personal agreement and has a fixed inflectional form. The past habitual is used of a repeated or habitual action in the past which no longer occurs. The form consists of the infinitive followed by the auxiliary verb jír ‘be (in a place), exist’ in the past simple form, e.g., Wàan dhegeysán jirey ‘I used to listen to it’; and in the negative, Má daawán jirín ‘I/you/he, etc., didn’t use to watch it’. The future paradigm is used for actions or states that are situated in the future of the act of speaking, and carries an implication of speaker certainty. The form consists of the infinitive followed by the auxiliary verb dòon ‘wish, want’ in the present tam form; e.g., Way kéeni doontaa ‘She will bring it’ or negative Má árki doontíd ‘You won’t see it’. The third compound paradigm is the conditional. This is an irrealis mood form and signifies a hypothetical situation in the present or past. In it the main verb infinitive followed by the adjective léh ‘having, possessing’ acts as the complement of past simple forms of yahay ‘be’, e.g., Waan tégi lahaa ‘I would go’, ‘I would have gone’, Wuu odhán lahaa ‘He would say it’, ‘He would have said it’. As is usual with adjectives the past tense of the copula yahay fuses with the adjective stem, e.g., leh + ahaa § lahaa ‘(I/he) was having/had’. Interestingly, the negative forms are not auxiliary constructions, e.g., Má diidnéen ‘(We) would not refuse/ not have refused’. 15 4.5. Subordinate clause forms Verbs in subordinate clauses are distinguished from corresponding main clause forms by a combination of accentual pattern and, to a lesser degree, segmental inflection. The differences are caused by the intersection of two marking systems. The first marks the syntactic distinction between main and subordinate clauses; the second is case marking. Clauses may perform various sentential functions such as subject, object and adverbial and consequently are case marked. Since, as with nominals, this case marking applies to the final or right-most element in the constituent and since subordinate clauses usually are verb final, this case marking falls on and influ15. Though some speakers do form a negative auxiliary construction paralleling the positive forms. This consists of the infinitive followed by an invariable negative form of the auxiliary léh: e.g., má súgi laháyn ‘I/you/he, etc., would not wait for it’.

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ences verbal inflection. We briefly outline these two marking systems here, using the suffix verb example, súg ‘wait for’. For simplicity we show the first system, that of marking subordinate clause verbs, on a clause in the basic absolutive case. The differences from main clause verbs are both segmental and accentual. The segmental differences are limited to forms where the main verb ends in -aa; here the corresponding subordinate clause forms end in -o, or optionally -id for 2 sg. The paradigms affected include present and present progressive, as shown below in the subordinate clause forms of súg ‘wait for’:

1 sg./3sg. m. 2 sg. 3 sg. f. 1 pl. 2 pl. 3 pl.

present sugó sugtó or sugtíd sugtó sugnó sugtàan sugàan

present progressive súgayó súgaysó or súgaysíd súgaysó súgaynó súgaysàan súgayàan

The accentual differences may be informally characterized as a modification to main clause verb accentual patterns. The last syllable becomes high tone if short, falling tone if long. If the last syllable is already high, as in some negative paradigms, it remains so. Compare the main clause and subordinate verbs in the (a) and (b) pair below: (a) Wùu keenaa waa+uu keenaa dm+he brings:main:present:3sg.m. ‘He brings it’ (b)ínuu keenó ín-uu keenó that-he brings:subord:present:3sg.m. ‘that he brings it’ The second marking system, case, applies to subordinate but not main clauses and further differentiates subordinate from main clause verbs. For example, nominative versus absolutive case marking on the clause will result in different inflectional pattens on the final verb. We do not have the space to show this here but see Saeed (1999) for details. Relative clause verbs show an extra formal feature compared with other clause verbs. When the head of the relative clause is also the subject of the clause, 16 the verb shows a reduced agreement pattern, called “restrictive” by Andrzejewski (1968, 1975a). These restrictive forms show a smaller number of person distinctions and, in present tense forms, a segmental 16. Relative clauses have no relative pronoun, being marked by an absence of main clause sentence type markers and focus words. Thus relative clauses are superficially simpler than main clauses.

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change. The person reduction alone can be shown in the past simple forms of súg ‘wait for’ below, which can be compared with the full paradigm earlier: Reduced relative clauses forms Past simple 1 sg./2 sg./3 sg. m./ sugáy 2 pl./3 pl. 3 sg. f. sugtáy 1 pl. sugnáy

Present sugá sugtá sugná

These forms are shown with absolutive case marking. Their distinctive features are reduced person differentiation; and in the present, the ending -aa is reduced to -a. If the relative clause is subject marked, forms ending in -a will lengthen to -aa; and the accentual pattern will become AP3. The combination of these marking systems can be seen in the relative clause in the following example: Wáxaan raadínayaa nimánka kéenayá wáxa+aan raadínayaa nimán-ka kéenayá what+I searching:for men-the bringing ‘What I’m searching for are the men who are bringing it’ The present progressive form kéenayá signals three independent pieces of syntactic information: (a) that the verb is in a subordinate clause; (b) that it is in concord with the relative clause head; and (c) that its clause is not subject of the main clause. 5. Further reading Somali is probably the most comprehensively described Cushitic language, though in some areas the description is still rather sketchy. There is a major Somali-Italian dictionary (Agostini, Puglielli, and Siyaad 1985), with a related Italian-Somali dictionary (Puglielli 1998). There is also a SomaliEnglish dictionary (Zorc and Osman 1993), a Somali-French-Somali dictionary (Maxamed 1986) and a monolingual Somali dictionary (Keenadiid 1976). There are reference grammars in English (Saeed 1999), German (Lamberti 1988), and other grammars in Italian (Moreno 1955; Panza 1974), Russian (Zholkovskij 1971) and Somali (Mansur and Puglielli 1999). A series of grammatical studies, Studi Somali, has been published in Italian (including Cardona and Agostini 1981; Puglielli 1981; Puglielli 1984). Teaching handbooks have been published in English (Zorc and Issa 1990; Orwin 1995), German (El-Solami-Mewis 1987) and French (Abdullahi 1996). There is a three-yearly congress held by the Somali Studies International Association whose Proceedings (e.g., Labahn 1984) contain many linguistic papers. Finally, the study of Somali was immeasurably advanced by the work of the late B. W. Andrzejewski; for a bibliography, see Hayward and Lewis 1996.

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Bibliography Abdullahi, Mohamed Diriye 1996 Parlons Somali. Paris: L’Harmattan. Agostini, F., A. Puglielli, and Ciise Moxamed, eds. 1985 Dizionario somalo-italiano. Rome: Gangemi. Ajello, Roberto 1995 La focalizzazione in Somalo. Pp. 1–28 in Scritti Linguistici e Filologici. In Onore di Tristano Bollelli, ed. R. Ajello and S. Sani. Pisa: Pacini. Andrzejewski, B. W. 1955. The problem of vowel representation in the Issaaq dialect of Somali. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17: 567–80. 1968 Inflectional Characteristics of the So-Called ‘Weak Verbs’ in Somali. African Language Studies 9: 1–51. 1969 Some Observations on Hybrid Verbs in Somali. African Language Studies 10: 47–89. 1975a The Role of Indicator Particles in Somali. Afroasiatic Linguistics 1/6: 123–91. 1975b Verbs with Vocalic Mutation and Their Significance for Hamito-Semitic Comparative Studies. Pp. 361–76 in Hamitico-Semitica, ed. James Bynon and Theodora Bynon. The Hague: Mouton. Antinucci, Francesco, and Annarita Puglielli 1980 The Syntax of Indicator Particles in Somali: Relative Clause Constructions. Afroasiatic Linguistics 7/3: 85–102. Bakker, E. 1994 Voice, Aspect and Aktionsart: Middle and Passive in Ancient Greek. Pp. 23–48 in Voice: Form and Function, ed. Barbara Fox and Paul J. Hopper. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Banti, G. 1985 Lineamenti di fonologia, morfologia e sintassi del somalo e dei suoi dialetti. Rome: University of Rome. 1988a “Adjectives” in East Cushitic. Pp. 203–59 in Cushitic-Omotic: Papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Linguistics, ed. M. Bechhaus-Gerst and F. Serzisko. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. 1988b Two Cushitic Systems: Somali and Oromo Nouns. Pp. 11–49 in Autosegmental Studies on Pitch Accent, ed. H. G. van der Hulst and N. Smith. Dordrecht: Foris. Banti, G. 1994 Parti del Discorso Controverse. Pp 53–82 in Atti dei Convegni Lincei 107. Rome: Academia Nazionale dei Lincei. Bell, C. R. V. 1953 The Somali Language. London: Longman, Green. Repr., Farnborough, UK: Gregg International, 1968. Bruno, Biancamaria 1984 Note sui verbi di derivazione nominale in somalo. Pp. 115–31 in Aspetti morfologici, lessicali e della focalizzazione, ed. Annarita Puglielli. Studi somali 5. Rome: Ministero degli afari esteri-Dipartimento per la cooperazione allo sviluppo.

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Cardona, G. R., and F. Agostini, eds. 1981 Fonologia e lessico. Studi somali 1. Rome: Ministero degli affari esteri— Dipartimento per la cooperazione allo sviluppo, Comitato tecnico linguistico per l’università nazionale somala. El-Solami-Mewis, C. 1987 Lehrbuch des Somali. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie. Gebert, Lucyna 1986 Focus and Word Order in Somali. Afrikanistische Arbeitpapiere 5: 42–69. Givón, Talmy 1984 Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction. Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Hayward, R. J., and I. M. Lewis, eds. 1996 Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North-East Africa. Essays in Honour of B. W. Andrzejewski. African Languages and Cultures, Supplement 3. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Hetzron, Robert 1965 The Particle baa in Northern Somali. Journal of African Languages 4/2: 118–30. Hockett, C. F. 1947 Problems of Morphemic Analysis. Language 23: 321–43. Hyman, L. 1981 Tonal Accent in Somali. Studies in African Linguistics 12/2: 169–203. Kemmer, S. 1994 Middle Voice, Transitivity and the Elaboration of Events. Pp. 179–230 in Voice: Form and Function, ed. Barbara Fox and Paul J. Hopper. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Keenadiid, Yaasiin Cismaan 1976 Qaamuuska Af Soomaaliga [Dictionary of the Somali Language]. Mogadishu: Le Monnier. Klaiman, M. H. 1991 Grammatical Voice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Labahn, T., ed. 1984 Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Somali Studies. Volume 1: Linguistics and Literature. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. Lamberti, Marcello 1986a Die Somali-Dialekte. Kuschitische Sprachstudien 5. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. 1986b Map of Somali Dialects in the Somali Democratic Republic. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. 1988 Die Nordsomali-Dialekte: Eine synchronische Beschreibung. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. Mansur, Abdalla Omar, and Annarita Puglielli 1999 Barashada Naxwaha Af Soomaaliga: A Somali School Grammar. London: Haan Associates by arrangement with il Dipartimento di Linguistica, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre.

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Maxamed, Cabdi Maxamed 1986 Dictionnaire Français-Somali: Qaamuus Fransiis-Soomaali. 2 vols. Paris: Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales. Moreno, M. M. 1951 ‘Brevi notazioni di Giddu.’ Rassegna di studi etiopici 10: 99–107. 1955 Il somalo della somalia: Grammatica e testi del benadir, darod e dighil. Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello stato. Orwin, Martin 1995 Colloquial Somali: A Complete Language Course. London: Routledge. Panza, Bruno 1974 Af Soomaali: Grammatica della lingua somala con piccolo vocabulario in appendice. Florence: Le Monnier. Puglielli, Annarita, ed. 1981 Sintassi della lingua somala. Studi somali 2. Rome: Ministero degli afari esteri-Dipartimento per la cooperazione allo sviluppo. 1984 Aspetti morfologici, lessicali e della focalizzazione. Studi somali 5. Rome: Ministero degli afari esteri-Dipartimento per la cooperazione allo sviluppo. 1998 Dizionario Italiano-Somalo. Rome: Carocci. Saeed, John Ibrahim 1982 Central Somali: A Grammatical Outline. Afroasiatic Linguistics 8/2: 1–43. 1984 The Syntax of Focus and Topic in Somali. Kuschitische Sprachstudien 3. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. 1988 An Argument for the Category Adjective in Somali. Pp. 567–79 in Cushitic-Omotic: Papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Linguistics, ed. M. Bechhaus-Gerst and F. Serzisko. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. 1993 Adpositional Clitics and Word Order in Somali. Transactions of the Philological Society 91/1: 63–93. 1995 The Semantics of Middle Voice in Somali. African Languages and Cultures 8/1: 61–85. 1999 Somali. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Serzisko, Fritz 1992 Collective and Transnumeral Nouns in Somali. Pp. 516–30 in Proceedings of the First International Congress of Somali Studies, ed. H. A. Adam and C. L. Geshekter. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Tosco, Mauro 1989 Schizzo grammaticale del dialetto Karre di Qoryooley. Studi somali 9. Rome: Ministero degli afari esteri-Dipartimento per la cooperazione allo sviluppo. 1997 Af Tunni: Grammar, Texts, and Glossary of a Southern Somali Dialect. Kuschitische Sprachstudien 13. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. Zorc, R. D., and Issa, A. A. 1990 Somali Textbook. Kensington, MD: Dunwoody. Zorc, R. David, and Madina M. Osman 1993 Somali-English Dictionary with English Index. 3rd ed. Kensington, MD: Dunwoody.

Chadic Languages

Chapter 25

Bade Morphology Russell G. Schuh UCLA

1. Background Bade is a Chadic language of the “B” subbranch of the West Chadic branch (Newman 1977). Bade is spoken in northeastern Nigeria, in the northern part of Yobe State. The administrative center of Bade Emirate is Gashua, which lies at the northeastern corner of the Bade-speaking area. Bade is dialectally diverse, with some dialects differing enough from each other that one is tempted to call them distinct languages. Even within relatively uniform dialect areas, the speech of every village has idiosyncracies. The present description focuses on the Western dialect of Bade, primarily the variety spoken in the town of Amshi. See Schuh (1981) for the criteria delineating Bade dialecs and sub-dialects. The other two living languages in the same subgroup of West Chadic-B are Ngizim, spoken south of Bade, and Duwai, spoken east of Bade. See Schuh (2001) for discussion of the relationships between the living and now extinct languages of this subgroup. The most detailed published description of any aspect of Bade is R. Lukas (1967–68). This is an extensive description of nominal morphology, based on data that Johannes Lukas collected during several field trips between 1933 and 1962. It is an amalgam of several varieties of Bade, all from the Western dialect area. The only other descriptive study of Bade morphology is Schuh (1977), which describes the determiner system (articles, demonstratives, genitive constructions) of Western Bade as well as those of two other dialects of Bade and those of the closely related Ngizim and Duwai languages. Most of the data here come from my own field research, which began in 1973–75, when I was a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages, then a research unit of Ahamdu Bello University, now part of Bayero University, Kano. I spent most of this period living in Gashua, collecting data on Bade and other languages of the region. In addition to Schuh (1977, 1981) mentioned above, writings resulting from this research include Schuh (n.d.: a–c). I have been able to update some aspects of the description with data that I am collecting as part of a current three-year project on five languages of Yobe State, including Bade. 1 1. This project is supported by a National Science Foundation grant BCS-0111289 (Russell G. Schuh, Principal Investigator). I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Alhaji Maina Gimba, my co-PI on this project, and Bala Dagona, the primary Bade-speaking research associate in the project. To express my indebtedness for knowing most of what I know about Bade, I would like to dedicate this paper to the late Musa Gana Amshi. Musa

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Though nearly all the data here come from my own field work, this description of nominal morphology has profited from the publications of Johannes and Renate Lukas, particularly R. Lukas (1967–68). I refer to relevant sections of the latter publication throughout this paper. 2. Phonological inventory and orthography Following are tables of the consonant and vowel segments of Bade. Symbols are those of a practical orthography that we are using as part of the project mentioned above.

lateral

kg

kw gw

tl jl

labialized laryngeal

cj ’y\∂y sh ny

laryngeal

td ∂ sz n r

labialized velar

pb ∫ fv m

velar

stop/affricate glottal fricative nasal liquid glide

palatal

labial

alveolar

Western Bade consonantsa

h gh

hw ghw

˜ l

y

w

a. Where two symbols appear together, the left is voiceless, the right is voiced.

Western Bade vowelsa high mid low

front ii e

central @

back uu o

aa

a. Macron = distinctive vowel length.

The short high vowels i and u are contrastive only in word final position. The vowel @ = [ˆ] occurs only phrase medially. Medially, [i, u, @] are environmentally conditioned, roughly, with [i] in the environment of y, [u] in the environment of a round consonant, [@] elsewhere. Like all Chadic languages, Bade is a tone language. Words other than verbs have lexically specified tone patterns. Tense and other inflectional or derivational features determine verb tones. Bade has a basic two-tone system, with grave accent marking low tone and absence of an accent marking high: f@∂u @ 1zdù

(H) (LL)

‘four’ ‘six’

gumà gà∂e

(HL) (LH)

‘ten’ ‘one’

A phonetic falling tone, marked by circumflex accent, can generally be taken as H+L compressed onto one syllable. When an additional syllable was my primary consultant in Gashua and my companion on numerous field trips during my two years there.

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becomes available, H and L components of the tone fall on separate syllables, e.g., mângan ‘friend’, plural mang@ 1g@n. A phonetic rise, marked by a hachek, occurs on a few monosyllabic words beginning in a voiced obstruent, e.g., gha fln ‘pied crow’. Rising tone always results from the depressor effect of a consonant, never from compression of L+H on one syllable. Bade also has a downstepped high tone, 2 marked by an acute accent. In some cases, downstepped high clearly derives from a H that has been lowered as an effect of a suppressed intervening L, e.g., /n@ùkwtu/ § [nukwtú] ‘I took (it)’. However, in many words where I have transcribed downstepped high, e.g., akún ‘goat’, I suspect that it is either a phrase final intonational alternative to HH or just bad hearing! 3. Nominal inflectional morphology 3.1. Gender and number (Lukas §§36–39) Western Bade preserves the proto-Chadic (and proto-Afroasiatic) system that distinguishes masculine and feminine grammatical gender in singular nouns but has a single plural category that neutralizes the gender distinction. For humans, domestic animals, and some large wild animals, grammatical gender correlates with sex. The form of the noun itself reveals gender in only certain categories of nouns. Plurals normally add distinct plural morphology. The surest indicator of the category of a noun is the agreements that it conditions, particularly in demonstratives and pronouns. Mass nouns pattern with plurals in terms of agreement, even though they do not have plural morphology. In the examples below, the proximal demonstative mCo (where C = s for masculine, c for feminine, d for plural/mass) reveals noun category. See Schuh (1977) for details of the demonstrative system, which I will not discuss further in this essay. masculine:

feminine:

plural/mass:

mazàr@-mso gwàma ⁄-mso @1bdàm@1-mso zàya ⁄-mso t@ 1màku-mcó @ 1ktlâ-mco wud@-mcó aka-mcó gwam@n@^-mdo t@ 1màkun@^-mdo @ 1bdàma ⁄mò-mdo ak@ka§-mdo sa ⁄sa §-mdo am@^-mdo

‘this castrated goat’ ‘this ram’ ‘this road’ ‘this rope’ ‘this ewe’ ‘this cow’ ‘this knife’ ‘this fire’ ‘these rams’ ‘these ewes’ ‘these roads’ ‘these fires’ ‘this meat’ ‘this water’

2. R. Lukas (1967–68: §5) refers to this as Mittelton. Unlike a true mid tone, downstepped high can occur only after high, and once voice pitch has dropped to the downstepped level, it cannot rise to a higher level in the same phrase.

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3.2. Nunation (Lukas §§29–35) The citation forms for all common nouns in Western Bade have a final -2n (n plus high tone on the syllable bearing the n). R. Lukas (1967–68), following J. Lukas (1968), referred to this -2n as nunation, the term used in traditional Arabic scholarship to refer to final -n on Arabic nouns. Nunation in Western Bade is functionally similar to Arabic nunation and probably developed through similar historical processes (Schuh 1983:163–67), but in Bade, it is a relatively recent innovation, having affected only Western Bade since its separation from other Bade dialects. See Schuh (1973–74) for a detailed discussion of comparative Bade and the origin of nunation. Nunation arises historically from a demonstrative that has become what Greenberg (1978) called a “Stage II Article,” that is, a determiner that has become a grammaticalized affix on nouns and whose presence or absence is conditioned by the types of grammatical constructions in which the noun appears. A cognate of nunation is found in the Gashua Bade masculine distal demonstrative suffix, -a §ni, e.g., kwàm ‘bull’, kwàma §ni ‘that bull’; but in Western Bade, nunation has extended to all nouns, not just masculine. In proto-Bade, a particular final vowel (or absence of vowel) was a lexical property of each noun, with no correlation to gender. Gashua Bade reflects something close to this situation. It is instructive to compare Western Bade nouns to Gashua Bade cognates: 3 Western Bade @1vjan kùnan g@1man

Gashua Bade @1vji kùnu @1gmà

Gloss ‘monkey’ ‘stomach’ ‘thigh’

b. feminine, -an

@1ktlan dan

tlà dà

‘cow’ ‘eye’

c. masuline, -@n

mazàr@n ∂àc@n

mazàl ’yat

‘castrated goat’ ‘hair’

d. feminine, -@n

akún3 gùmc@n ji ⁄j@1m@n

akù gùmci j@1j@1m

‘goat’ ‘chin’ ‘thorn’

e. masculine, -en, -on ùgzen f@fón

ùgzai f@fáu

‘pubic hair’ ‘breast’

f. feminine, -en, -on

gùnen àpson

gunái @1psau

‘hip’ ‘Bauhinia reticulata’

g. masculine, -in

ma ⁄p@ndi ¤n

ma ⁄p@ndì

‘young man’

h. feminine, -in

dàbin

dàbi

‘hoe’

a. masculine, -an

3. The word ‘goat’ is underlying /akw@n/, with the medial -u- being conditioned by the preceding labialized velar. The final -ù in the Gashua variant must be lexically specified.

table footnote call at end of previous paragraph

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The relationship of nominal gender and the form of nunation is as follows: a. Masculine nouns, -an: The noun originally ended in a short vowel, which has been replaced by -an. (This also applies to mass nouns, which, as noted above, take plural agreement, e.g., GB sa ⁄si ‘meat’, WB sa ⁄san, GB a §bu ‘excrement’, WB aba ¤n, GB kajlùwà ‘guinea corn mush’, WB kajlùwan.) b. Feminine nouns, -an: The noun originally ended in -a, to which -2n has been added. c. Masculine nouns, -@n: The noun ended in a consonant, to which -@n has been added. The -@- is present to prevent the formation of a CC cluster at the end of a syllable. d. Feminine nouns, -@n: A small number of feminine nouns ended in consonants, to which -@n was added as in (c), but the large majority of feminine nouns originally ended in a vowel, and those that ended in -i or -u have simply added -2n, causing neutralization of the high vowel distinction that existed only in word final position. e–h. Nouns ending in -en, -on, -in: These nouns have added -2n to the original nouns. There is no formal correlation with gender, either in the nunated forms of Western Bade or in the historical source. 4 The word ∂an ‘town’ has nunation with long -a- but is feminine. In Gashua Bade, this word is ∂a ⁄ and is the only noun with long final -a. Western Bade has added -2n directly to the noun, as for all other feminine nouns. There are no words with long final -u in Gashua Bade, and as a corollary, no words in Western Bade having nunation of the form -un. It is not clear why a small number of nouns have nunation of the form -in, with a long -i-. Such nouns end in short -i in Gashua Bade, leading one to predict nunation of the form -an for masculine nouns and -@n for feminine nouns. R. Lukas (1967–68: §29) calls nouns with nunation der unbestimmten Form, the “indefinite form.” A list of environments where nunation is absent shows this to be a reasonable characterization of the function of nunation. The primary environments where nunation is absent are the following: • Proper names and vocatives: e.g., Ga ⁄ji (youngest sibling), Kavàyo (firstborn of male twins), Ca ⁄kwà (firstborn of female twins), Madàwi! ‘Oh, Shepherd!’ (cf. madàwan ‘a shepherd’), Usè, Âgwre! ‘Hello, Hare!’ (cf. âgwren). Proper names can take nunation in the meaning ‘a person named . . .’, e.g., Ga ⁄jan, Ca ⁄kwan. • Nouns with overt determiners, including modification by genitive adjuncts: e.g. (from gwàman ‘ram’), gwàma-w ‘the ram in question’, 4. Gashua Bade has changed all word final mid vowels to diphthongs, and Western Bade has turned all diphthongs into mid vowels, so without evidence external to Bade, it is impossible to know what the original sound was. Compare Ngizim apsa^u ‘Bauhinia reticulata’ with the Bade forms in the table versus Ngizim d@ 1binò ‘date’ but GB dàbinàu, WB dàbinón.

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Russell G. Schuh gwàma ⁄-mso ‘this ram’, gwàma ⁄-ri ‘his ram’, gwàm@ 1-˜ maya ın ‘ram of an emir’.

• Repeated mention of a referent in narrative: In narrative, the first mention of a referent usually has nunation, but subsequent mentions of the same referent cannot have nunation. Here is a short selection from J. Lukas (1974–75: 95). The first mention of each referent, with nunation, is singly underlined; subsequent mentions, minus nunation, are doubly underlined. I have edited the text slightly in terms of transcription. Labar@n ⁄ [sic] 5 minan ⁄ ∂èk d@lan. D@la v@ 1ru à ne i arak@n@n sai acì da gàmì ∂è˜ wun@1jan. Wun@jì i ⁄ d@la ma,§ “Yà ne ∂àn?” D@la ma,§ “Na ne i arakan@n.” Wun@jì i ⁄ d@la ma,§ “Na ∂@1gai⁄ ∫i?” D@la ma,§ “À∂ge ⁄yu ∫à!” Akci arakan ∂è˜ wun@jì sai akcì da gàmì ∂è ghan. Ghaw [noun with PRM—§3.3] i ⁄ d@la ma,§ “Awùn nà ne ∂àn?” D@la i ⁄ ghà ma,§ “Jarakan ∂è˜ wun@jì.” ‘A story of a lion and a jackal. The jackal went out and went walking when he met up with a dog. The dog [spoke] to the jackal saying, “Where are you going?” The jackal said, “I’m going for a walk.” The dog [spoke] to the jackal saying, “Might I join you?” The jackal said, “Join me!” The dog and he were walking [lit.: they were walking with the dog] when they met up with a crow. That crow [spoke] to the jackal saying, “Where are you going?” The jackal [spoke] to the crow saying, “The dog and I are walking [lit.: we are walking with the dog].”’

• Nouns used adverbially: e.g., d@ 1màn@n ‘rainy season’ but dùwau nàhu a d@ 1man ‘the river fills during the rainy season’, a∂abz@ 1k@n ‘rubbish heap’ but j@ 1 pa akutân i a∂abz@ 1kì ‘we dumped trash on the rubbish heap’. 6 Likewise, simple adverbs, which might be considered a type of noun, lack nunation, e.g., sa §bu ‘today’, pu ⁄te ‘west’. 3.3. Previous reference marker (“definite article”) -2w (Lukas §§30–34) When a referent is known, either through previous mention or implication from context, it may take the Previous Reference Marker (PRM) -2w. 5. I think this should be la ⁄bar@˜ mi ⁄nan . . . ‘a story-of a lion . . .’, where -˜ is the form the genitive linker, /-k/, takes before a nasal consonant. La ⁄bar@n, with nunation, followed directly by a noun would have no obvious grammatical analysis. 6. See §3.4 for discussion of why an indefinite nominal form is generally incompatible with adverbial uses. R. Lukas (1967–68: §§61–66) singles out nouns that lack nunation in locative phrases as having a Lokativform. As the discussion here shows, however, use in locative constructions is just one context in which nouns appear without nunation. Here, and in Schuh (1973–74, 1977), I therefore refer to these forms as “definite forms” (see §3.4).

Bade Morphology

593

The PRM functions something like the English definite article, though it is never required by syntax and always has a meaning of ‘the one previously mentioned, the one in question’. It is never used, for example, to refer to “uniques,” such as ‘the sun’, ‘the king’, or generics, for example, ‘the hedgehog is an insectivore’. Western Bade marks a noun with the PRM by replacing nunation with -2w. Compare the following with the nouns illustrating nunation in the table in §3.2. @1vjaw g@1maw @1ktlaw daw mazàruw [mazàru] ∂àcuw [∂àcu] akúw [aku ¤] gùmcuw [gùmcu] gùnew àpsow dàbiw

‘the monkey’ ‘the thigh’ ‘the cow’ ‘the eye’ ‘the castrated goat’ ‘the hair’ ‘the goat’ ‘the chin’ ‘the hip’ ‘the Bauhinia reticulata’ ‘the hoe’

The Western Bade simple -2w PRM derives historically from *-ku, with the widespread Chadic (and Afroasiatic) determiner base *k (Schuh 1983). Gashua Bade still realizes the PRM as a separate syllable, -wu, after vowels, e.g., aku-wú ‘the goat’. Ngizim preserves the velar stop in its PRM, -gu, e.g., Ngizim jlùgwàn-gu ‘the sauce’, and eastern varieties of Duwai apparently retain the original *k in constructions such as yi p@tl-kó ‘I will dig it’ (Schuh 1977: §2). 3.4. Definite form (Lukas §§61–66) Nouns in Western Bade can appear without nunation or any suffixed determiner. I refer to this as the definite form of a noun. I mentioned the primary contexts for the definite form in §3.2, where I discussed contexts in which nunation is absent. To those, we can add a fourth context, (d) below. a. Proper nouns and vocatives b. Repeated mention of a known referent in narrative c. Nouns used adverbially, either in temporal or locative phrases or as primary adverbs d. Verbal nouns used as the head of a finite verb phrase The justification for calling nouns in contexts (a–b) “definite forms” (and, conversely, the justification for calling nunation an overt marker of indefiniteness) is clear: (a) proper names and vocatives refer to specific, known individuals, and (b) a referent, once introduced into a narrative, is a specific, known participant in that narrative. See §3.2 for examples of contexts (a–b). In the case of (c), simple temporal and locative adverbs such as m1 z@ 1ri ‘day after tomorrow’, wàya ‘next year’, pu ⁄te ‘west’, re ‘here’ (< ren ‘place’,

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with nunation) refer to specific, known times or places. Greenberg (1978: 63–69) has noted a cross-linguistic tendency for languages to omit Stage II articles, like Western Bade nunation, in locative phrases. This seems to reflect the origin of Stage II articles as specific determiners and the fact that such determiners are irrelevant or redundant in certain kinds of adverbial phrases—cf. English in spring = in the spring, at home (not *at the home), in/on line (usually not *?in/on the line), and the British English usage in hospital. Western Bade exemplifies this cross-linguistic tendency by having largely grammaticalized definite forms rather than nunated forms in temporal and locative phrases, such as those given in §3.2 or kalan na ⁄be à k@z@ 1re ‘there’s no food during the dry season’ (cf. k@z@ 1ren ‘dry season’), nika kuwan askuk d@ ^m ‘I saw a snake on the wood’ (cf. d@man ‘wood’), j@ 1 pa ⁄kp@ 1 ∂ito à kamò ‘we chased birds on the farm’ (cf. kamón ‘farm’). Note that nunated nouns can appear in locative phrases if an indefinite meaning is required, e.g., sai agwa-rga i ∂an bam ‘let’s migrate to a different town’ (cf. ∂an ‘town’). Here, the context shows that the town is not specific and known. Finally, turning to the context in (d), Bade and many other Chadic languages use a nominal form of the verb as the main verb in certain tenses/ aspects, usually with future and/or progressive meaning. Although the citation form of Bade verbal nouns takes nunation, verbal nouns used as main verbs do not, e.g., na taksà ‘I will tie’ (cf. taksán ‘tying’), na g@ 1fi ‘I will catch’ (cf. g@ 1f@n ‘catching’). The origin of nunation is in the determiner system. It is hard to say what a nominal determiner, especially one that has evolved into a marker of indefiniteness, would mean on a word used as the head of a verb phrase. The forces that have led to the development of nunation in the citation form of common nouns must never have played a role in nominal forms used as main verbs. 7 As shown in §3.2, nunation in Western Bade comes from a determiner -2n added to nouns that originally ended in lexically specified vowels or consonants. Western Bade definite forms must thus be reflexes of the protoBade citation forms of nouns. This raises the question of whether the lexical forms for Bade nouns might not be the definite forms, with nunation added for purposes of citation. Neither comparative nor internal evidence supports such an analysis, that is, in modern Western Bade, definite forms seem to be derived by rule from nunated forms, or, for some nouns, definite forms may be lexically specified alongside nunated forms (see table on p. 595). There is variation in definite forms, even for individual speakers, and I have not collected definite forms for most nouns nor information on all admissible variants for those I do have. Nonetheless a certain general picture emerges, namely, there is a tendency, first, for definite forms to end in 7. In Western Bade, main verbs never bear elements traceable to the determiner system, even where the verb is nominal in origin. In Gashua Bade and Ngizim, however, transitive verbs of nominal origin do affix the PRM, a determiner otherwise restricted to nouns, when an understood object is omitted, e.g., GB nà taksa-w ‘I will tie it’. The PRM here functions pronominally in the meaning ‘the previously mentioned object’.

Bade Morphology Preserve Gashua Western Western original nunation definite form terminaform tion? (1) -en, -on (either gender), -an (feminine) yes lakâi raken (m.) rakè yes bài ben (f.) bè yes àkau àkon (m.) àko yes àpsau àpson (f.) àpsò yes/no f@fáu f@fon (m.) f@1fo/f@1f ì yes pàr ~∂a pâr∂an (f.) par∂à yes patà patán (f.) patà yes/no t@mà t@mán (f.) t@mà/t@mì

595

Gloss

‘bed’ ‘thing’ ‘back’ ‘Bauhinia reticulata’ ‘breast’ ‘shoulder’ ‘the bush’ ‘mortar’

(2) -an (masculine, from nouns originally ending in short vowels) yes @1vji @1vjan @1vjì ‘monkey’ yes kùnu kùnan kùnù ‘stomach, inside’ no kugú kùwan kuwì ‘snake’ no tâgwda tâgdan tagdì ‘money’ yes/no gwàyi gwàyan gwàyì/gwàyà ‘Acacia albida’ yes/no ùgdu ùgdan ùgdu/ùgdà ‘large, round gourd’ yes/no d@1gà d@1gan d@1ga/d@1gì ‘arrow’ yes/no aptâ apta¤n aptà/aptù ‘flour’ (3) -@n (masculine, from nouns originally ending in consonants) yes/no z@m z@1m@n z@1m/z@1mì ‘grass’ no/no as@^k àsk@n askì/askà ‘market’ no/no v@1k v@1k@n v@1kì/v@1kà ‘hole’ (4) -@n (feminine, from nouns originally ending in a consonant, -i, or -u) yes amî am@2 n amì ‘hand’ yes wudú wud@1n wudù ‘knife’ yes d@1man d@1màn@n d@1man ‘rainy season’ yes/no akû akún akù/akwì ‘goat’ no/no màkwàs makwas@n makwasì/makwasù ‘throat’ -i regardless of original final vowel and, second, for definite forms to end in L tone regardless of original tone. The tendency toward definite forms in -i is strongest in group (2) -an masculine nouns, which neutralize all three original word final short vowels. This tendency is weakest in group (1) nouns, where the vowel in the nunated form relates unambiguously to its historical source and its prepausal form. Many, if not most nouns have alternative definite forms in -i and -a. In elicitation, speakers sometimes claim that there is a meaning difference (usually that the form in -i is “general” and the form in -a is “specific”). In short the variation in definite forms for particular nouns and the drift away from the historical antecedent forms of nouns to more generalized patterns in final vowel and tone makes it untenable to take these forms as lexically basic, with nunated forms being derived from them.

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3.5. Genitive stems With genitive adjuncts, Western Bade noun stems have different forms depending on whether the genitive adjunct is a pronoun, a “specific” noun (most notably, a proper name), or a common noun. Details of genitive constructions go beyond the scope of this paper. I provide here a brief sketch. See Schuh (1977: 47–56) for a comprehensive description. Nunated form 1 pl. exclusive adjunct kùnan (m.) kuna-n-jà @1zg@1r@n (m.) @1zg@1r@-n-jà dan (f.) dà-tk@-jà gùmc@n (f.) gùmc@-tk@-jà

Proper noun adjunct kuna-k Taví @1zg@1r@-k Taví dà-tk@-k Taví gùmc@-tk@-k Taví

Common noun adjunct (‘bird’) kun@-k ∂i ⁄ton @1zg@1r@1-k ∂i ⁄ton dà-k ∂i ⁄ton gùmc@-k ∂i ⁄ton

Gloss ‘stomach of . . .’ ‘leg of . . .’ ‘eye of . . .’ ‘chin of . . .’

Gentive constructions have the form noun stem + linker + genitive adjunct (= “possessor”). The exact form of the genitive linker will not concern us, but roughly speaking, the masculine linker with pronouns is -n-, the feminine linker with pronouns and proper nouns is -tk@-, and the linker elsewhere is -k. Each of these linkers has several allomorphs (Schuh 1977: 47–56). Of primary interest here is the form of the head noun stem. With pronominal and proper noun adjuncts, the head noun of a genitive construction has the form that it would have with nunation (§3.2) or the PRM (§3.3). This is most obvious for masculine nouns with a nunated form in -an, but tonal properties show it to be true for all nouns. 8 With common noun adjuncts, however, the head noun genitive stem has a form that resembles the definite form of the noun (§3.4). 3.6. Summary of Western Bade noun stem forms In reviewing §§3.1–5, we find that Western Bade noun stems have two basic forms. • Determined stem: This is the form with nunation (zàyan ‘rope’), the PRM (zàya-w ‘the rope’), definite determiners (zàya ⁄-mso ‘this rope’), pronoun genitive adjuncts (zàya-n-jà ‘our rope’), and proper noun possessors (zàya ⁄-k Taví ‘Tavi’s rope’). • Non-determined stem: This is the definite form (n@ zùwu kàrgun@n i zàyì ‘I wiped medicine on the rope’) and the form with common noun genitive adjuncts (zàyì-k ya §gan ‘rope for a boundary’). This distinction is most evident in masculine nouns where the “determined stem” has long -a- as its final vowel, as in the examples here with zàyan ‘rope’, but the distinction shows up with other nouns as well, particularly in tones. 8. The basic rule is that noun stems with nunation and in genitive constructions with pronominal or proper noun adjuncts have final H tone, stems with common noun genitive adjuncts have L. Other, phonetically conditioned tone rules may obscure these effects. Tones of some of the forms in this table puzzle me, however.

Bade Morphology

597

The historical source of the distinction was whether or not a definite determiner was affixed to the noun. One such determiner is the source of Western Bade nunation. The form of the noun with nunation has become the citation form of the noun, with the effect that the reflexes of the original “free” or “non-determined” stems now appear to be largely derived by rule. 3.7. Nouns inflected for gender (Lukas §36) In proto-Bade, simple noun stems had no correlation of form with grammatical gender. The addition of nunation has, however, created such a distinction. Masculine nouns that originally ended in short vowels have a nunated form ending in -an whereas feminine nouns that ended in short vowels have nunated forms ending in -an < -a or -@n < -i, -u (§3.2). Thus, nouns that ended in -a, -i, or -u and could have either masculine or feminine referents were originally epicene in form, but in Western Bade, they are formally distinct. 9 W. Bade m. c@1b@na¤n mângan soba¤n

W. Bade f. c@1b@nán mângan sobán

jan gagàran ga ⁄jan tikwa¤n ga ⁄ran laka¤n t@1rkwan kùtùran màpica¤n magùran mà∂ara¤n mâ∂gan

jan gagàran ga ⁄j@n tikún ga ⁄r@n lak@2n t@1rkun kùt@1r@n màpic@2n magùr@n mà∂ar@2n mâ∂g@n

Original vowel GB ci ⁄p@nà GB mânga GB sobà

Gloss ‘namesake’ ‘friend’ (m.) ‘friend of husband’ (f.) ‘wife of a friend’ GB ja^ ‘dog’ WB adj. gagàra ‘old’ ‘old person’ WB name Ga ⁄ji ‘youngest sibling’ GB tikù ‘spouse of a sibling’ WB adj. ga ⁄rì ‘big’ ‘older sibling’ WB adj. lakì ‘small’ ‘younger sibling’ GB t@ 1lku ‘orphan’ GB kut@r ~u ‘puppy’ cf. GB pi ⁄ci ‘a lie’ ‘liar’ cf. GB gùlu ‘jealousy’ ‘jealous person’ GB ma∂alú ‘one who talks’ < @ 1∂gu ‘follow’ ‘one who follows’

The last four examples in the table have an agentive derivational prefix ma- (see §5.1). I did not systematically collect cognate forms with this prefix across dialects. In Gashua Bade, ma- agentives usually end in -u (cf. GB ma∂alú ‘one who talks’). This vowel, rather than the final vowel of the base noun or verb, is the source for the -an/-@n gender distinction in Western Bade. Bade also has a feminine dervational suffix -ako- (§5.4), e.g., akuyan (m.), akuyakon (f.) ‘deaf person’. There is a rough “division of labor” between the two methods of distinguishing gender. The inflectional distinction in the 9. Nouns with original terminations other than short vowels remain epicene in Western Bade, e.g., mazàm@n ‘blacksmith (masculine or feminine)’ (GB mâzam), dàraken ‘younger brother or sister’ (cf. GB dàr ~àkai ‘afterward, later’).

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form of nunation applies primarily to terms of interpersonal relationship (kin terms, ‘friend’, etc.), nouns derived by adding nunation to primary adjectives (cf. words above derived from ‘old’, ‘big’, ‘small’), and ma- agentives. The derivational distinction, marked by the feminine suffix -akoadded to a masculine base form, applies primarily to terms referring to personal traits or afflictions (cf. the example ‘deaf person’ mentioned immediately above), occupations, ethnic designations, and nouns with the stative/adjectival prefix ga- (§5.2). There are a few exceptions to these generalizations, such as the words for ‘dog’ and ‘puppy’ in the table above, where we might have expected derived forms in -ako- for the feminines, or the pair madàltan (m.), madàltàkon (f.) ‘dyer’, a ma- agentive where the feminine form has the derivational suffix. 3.8. Noun plurals (Lukas §§92–127) Bade has several productive pluralization processes. There is variation from town to town as to which plurals are preferred with which nouns, and even within one variety of Bade, many nouns allow more than one plural type. I have not identified any factors that allow one to predict the plural that a noun will take from its singular form. Data here are primarily from the Amshi variety of Western Bade. I include references to the relevant sections in R. Lukas (1967–68). Judging by her lists of examples, the types that are common in Amshi are also common elsewhere in Western Bade. However, she includes some types that I did not attest in Amshi. Types 1 and 2 below are common in both Lukas’s and my data, and type 3 looks to be the default type for both data sets, being a frequent alternative to one of the other types. Like singular nouns, plurals are cited with nunation. I have inserted a hyphen before nunation in the plurals to make the plural morphology easier to isolate. @n- or -an- (Lukas §§95, 111) 3.8.1. Type 1: Plural suffix -@ The plural suffix replaces the final vowel of the base. The base retains the tones of the singular on syllables preceding the plural affix, but assuming that I have accurately transcribed the tones, I have been unable to discern what rules, if any, determine the tone of the syllable bearing the plural affix. gàskaman @1fcan k@^rban dawan pa ⁄t@n gaptón t@1rkwan, t@1rkun màlhan, màlh@n

m. m. m. f. f. f. m., f. m., f.

gàkam@n-@n @1fc@1n-@n k@rb@1n-@n dawun-@n pa ⁄t@n-@n gapt@n-@2n t@1rkùn-@n màlh@n-@n

‘rooster’ ‘mat’ ‘year’ (< Kanuri k@rwù) ‘francolin’ ‘cat’ (< Kanuri fàtu) ‘feather; shoulder’ ‘orphan’ ‘speaker, one who speaks’

Nouns with the feminine derivational affix -ako- (§5.4) drop this affix in the plural. For nouns that use this affix to distinguish a feminine noun

Bade Morphology

599

from the masculine counterpart, the gender distinction is neutralized in the plural (cf. the last two examples in the table above). v@1nàkon kaz@1∂àkon â∂ywaken n1sa, n1sàkon màcaka¤n, màcakakón

f. f. f. m., f. m., f.

v@1n@n kaz@1∂-@n a∂y@n-@n n1 s@1n-@n màcak@n-@2n

‘fish’ ‘chicken’ ‘fronds of dum palm’ ‘hippopotamus’ ‘cloth weaver’

The words for ‘fish’ and ‘chicken’ require comment. The word for ‘fish’ either lacks nunation or lacks the plural suffix. This seems to be a result of haplology to avoid too many n’s in a row. Lukas (§120) gives further examples that seem to lack an -@n syllable for the same reason, namely, i ⁄wàn@n ‘day’, (pl.) wàn@n (= wànon in Amshi), ànànùwan ‘testicle’, (pl.) ànàn@n (Amshi uses the latter as a singular, with a -wat- plural). 10 In ‘chicken’, the sequence -@∂-, rather than -@n-, serves as the plural suffix. 11 A few nouns with the -@n- plural reduplicate a consonant. For nouns with only two base consonants, the last consonant is reduplicated. For longer bases, it is sometimes the final consonant, sometimes the penultimate consonant that is reduplicated. Parallel to the plural for ‘chicken’ above, some of these use the -@R- (R = reduplicated consonant) as the plural suffix rather than -@n-. @1zdan n1 gwamângan,mângan p@lkà gùràm@n mag@1ràvân, mag@1ràv@n

m. f. m., f. adj. f. m., f.

@1zd@1d@1n-@n n1 gùg-un mang@1g-@n p@lk@k-@n gùràrm@1n-@n mag@1ràrv@1n-@n

‘vein, tendon’ ‘household, one’s home’ ‘friend’ ‘black’ ‘dum palm’ ‘guest, stranger’

Some nouns that have a labialized velar as the last base consonant delabialize the velar in the plural: aikwa ¤n (m.), pl. aik@n-@n ‘finger’; gu∂kwán (f.), pl. gu∂k@n-@n ‘cooking pot’; gùskwan (m.), pl. g@ 1sk@n-@n ‘worm, grub’ (the latter with both velars delabialized). This is not a general rule, however—cf. the plurals t@ 1rkùn-@n ‘orphans’ and n1gùg-un ‘households’ (Ku = /Kw@/ where K = any velar). The word gwàman (m.), pl. gwam@n-@ 2n ‘ram’ has an unexpected H tone on the first syllable and long vowel in the root syllable (also noted in Lukas §115). In my data, a few nouns have a suffix -an- rather than -@n-, 12 e.g., zawan (f.) ‘stick’, pl. zawan-@n, bàwan/bàwàkon (m./f.), pl. bàwan-@n ‘water spirit’. I suspect these may be transcription errors for the -@n- plural. Lukas lists no plurals of this type. 10. Compare Ngizim ànan ‘testicle’, pl. ànànin. This is a productive plural type in Ngizim, which reduplicates the last -VC- and adds the suffix -in, e.g., d@ 1vu ‘road’, pl. d@ 1vàvin. In the word for ‘testicle’, however, a -Vn- sequence has been omitted. 11. Historically, -@∂- is not part of the root—cf. GB kazá. 12. In my data, 82 nouns have a -@n- suffix, 8 have a -an- suffix.

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3.8.2. Type 2: Plural suffix -aCo- or -@@Co- (Lukas §§110, 113) In Amshi, the two plural terminations are in near complementary distribution, the -@Co- type, being limited to monoconsonantal bases and the -aCotype being used elsewhere. 13 The C is usually a copy of the last base consonant, but for a few nouns with more than two base consonants, the -aof the plural marker is inserted between the last two consonants. One word, zàn@n ‘Kanuri person’, reduplicates the entire root, with -a- inserted in the second reduplicant. The tone on -@- or -a- is L unless the preceding tone is H and the consonant initiating the -Ca- syllable is not a voiced obstruent. dan a∂án am@2n

f. f. f.

d@1don a∂@ 1∂on am@món

‘eye’ ‘head’ ‘hand’

dùngwan, dùngwàkon @1tkwan kazàm@n kùt@1ran, kùt@1r@n gùtan ma ⁄p@ndi¤n zàn@n

m., f. f. f. m., f. m. m. m., f.

dùngwa ⁄gon @1tkwa ⁄kon kazàma ⁄mon kùta ⁄ron gwa ⁄ton ma ⁄p@nda ⁄yon zanza ⁄non

‘leper’ ‘body’ ‘young woman’ ‘puppy’ (< Kanuri kùtùru) ‘ear’ ‘young man’ ‘Kanuri person’

The word wuna ⁄jân ‘dog’ (lit., ‘son-of-dog’—cf. jan in some dialects and ja^ in Gashua Bade) has the plural j@ 1jen, differing only in final vowel from the -@Co- type. Lukas (§§93, 110) gives a few more with -e- or -o- plurals not used in Amshi. One is f@ 1fon ‘breast(s)’, with singular f@ 1fan. In Amshi f@ 1fon is a singular (or collective) with no morphological plural. Historically, it must have been a plural of the -@Co- type, like ‘eye’. Lukas’s singular f@ 1fan is probably a collective (see type 7, §3.8.7). @n)- (Lukas §104) 3.8.3. Type 3: Plural suffix -awat(@@n)- or -at(@ This is the most common type of plural in Amshi, and judging by the number of examples in R. Lukas (1967–68), it probably is in her data as well. In Amshi, it serves as the default and is an alternative plural for many nouns, particularly those that also have the -aCo- type, e.g., @ 1tkwan ‘body’, pl. @ 1tkwa ⁄kon or @ 1tkwàwàt@n@n. The form of the suffix is something of a puzzle. Consider the following singulars and plurals from three Bade dialects and closely related Ngizim (I was unable to find a set of cognate words using this plural in all four language varieties): 13. Lukas (§110) gives a number of the -@Co- type with nouns having two or more consonants. The only such word in Amshi is hwi∂an¤ ‘cheek’, pl. hwi∂@ 1∂on. An apparent exception, matlán ‘wound’, pl. matl@tlón, is a ma- derived form (§5.1) from the mono⁄ with consontal verb tlo ‘to rise’, i.e., ‘a place which rises’. The word àban ‘bow’, pl. àbabon, -aCo- in a monoconsonantal root, may be an exception in Amshi, or it may represent an irregularity, being the only monoconsontal masculine noun taking this type of plural. The word am@ 2n ‘hand’ has an alternative plural amamón, possibly indicating a shift toward regularizing plurals of this type toward all having the form -aCo-.

Bade Morphology

Amshi (WB) Bizi—WB (Lukas §104) Gashua Bade Ngizim

Singular agùren agùren âulai bar@1mé

Plural agùre⁄wàt@n@n agùre⁄wàt@n aulàyàwat bar@1mèucin

601

Gloss ‘hare’ ‘hare’ ‘hare’ ‘weapon’

Comparing the Lukas form, from the Bizi variety of Western Bade, to the Gashua Bade form, it looks as if the plural suffix is -wat-, with the Western form differing only by the addition of nunation (§3.2). The Amshi form, with a termination -@n@n looks as if it has “double nunation.” The Ngizim form, however, calls this analysis into question, since the Ngizim plural termination seems to correspond, segment-for-segment, with the Amshi plural minus nunation (the regular plural ending in Ngizim is -in and t § c /__i by a productive rule): Ngizim: Amshi:

u wa

c t

in @n (+ nunation)

It appears either that Amshi and Ngizim have merged distinct plural terminations into a single suffix or that Bizi and Gashua have dropped the -Vn portion of the original termination, but at present I have no historical scenario for the full range of facts that does not involve a paradox in relative chronology. With this caveat, I will take the Amshi plural suffix to be -awat@n-, to which nunation is added. Evidence in favor of this is the fact that the definite form (§3.4) of these plurals retains the first -@n-, e.g., a ⁄jlùwan ‘grey heron’, pl. a ⁄jlùwàwàt@n@n, definite form of plural a ⁄jlùwàwàt@ni. The underlying initial vowel of the suffix is -a-, which replaces the stem final vowel unless the vowel is -e- or -i-, in which case the -a- of the plural suffix is elided by the stem final vowel. The tones of -awat@n- are -LLH- except where the final stem tone is H and the consonant initiating the plural suffix is not a voiced obstruent. @1jlgin, @1jlga ⁄kon raken badén, badèyàkon @1fcan @1vdan kwàm@n ∂i⁄ton kaza ¤n ∂an

m., f. m. m., f. m. f. m. f. m. f.

@1jlgi ⁄wàt@n-@n rakewat@n@n badèwàt@n-@n @1fcàwàt@n-@n @1vdàwàt@n-@n kwàmàwàt@n-@n ∂i⁄tàwàt@n-@n kazàwàt@n-@n ∂àwàt@n–@n = ∂@ 1∂on

‘blind person’ ‘bed’ ‘Bade person’ ‘mat’ ‘open area’ ‘bull’ ‘bird’ ‘heart’ ‘town

A handful of words in my data end in only one -@n, e.g., fùwan ‘horn’, pl. fùwàwàt@n; kamnan ‘male friend of a female’, pl. kamnawat@n (< Kanuri—cf. kâm ‘man’, kamu ‘woman’). This may be dialect mixing or sporatic haplology. A small number of nouns have a plural -Vt@n- (V = -a- or -e-). These may or may not be related to the -awat@n- type, with the syllable -wa- absent.

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Only four such plurals occur in my data from Amshi. Lukas (§§98–99) lists a fairly large number from other dialects. In §100 she lists a couple ending in -ot-, and in §§105–7, she lists several with -Vyet-. I found no nouns with these types in Amshi. làkwàna ⁄mân, làkwa ⁄nàmàkon

m., f. làkwàna ⁄mat@n-@n

mâ∂gan, mâ∂g@n m., f. ma∂gàt@n (only one -@n) kamón m. kamet@n-@2n zanen m. zanet@n-@n

‘court parasite’ (probably < Kanuri—cf. làkkàn‘talk to, convince’) ‘follower’ (< @ 1∂gu ‘follow’) ‘farm’ ‘man’s gown’

Two further nouns have plurals in -at@n: aman/ga ⁄man ‘wife/female, woman’, pl. àmàt@n, m1 s@n/g@ 1ms@n ‘husband/male, man’, pl. m1 sàt@n. I suspect that these are irregular plurals unrelated to those above, but I list them here because of the morphological similarity. 3.8.4. Type 4: Plural suffix -c@@n- (Lukas §103) A small number of plurals add a suffix -c@n-. In some of these there are unpredictable consonant additions, deletions, or vowel changes. 14 m1 zàm@n n1gàr@n @1tlkùm@n, @1tlkùmàkon akuyan, akuyakon kwalaman, kwalamakon

m. m1 zàmc@n-@n ‘hunter’ m./f. n1gàrc@n-@n ‘old person’ m., f. @1tlkwàmc@n-@n ‘fool’ (with -a- in root) m., f. akuyakc@n-@n ‘deaf person’ m., f. kwalamakc@n-@n ‘fornicator’ (last two with inserted -ak-)

3.8.5. Type 5: Internal -a- plurals (Lukas §112) Since the publication of Greenberg (1955), research on Chadic and Afroasiatic languages have frequently mentioned so-called “internal-a” plurals in Chadic, parallel to the “broken plurals” of Semitic and Berber. I am skeptical that such plurals are part of the Chadic repertoire. Most examples cited from various languages, including Hausa, are like those of types 1 and 2 above, which utilize reduplication but instead of adding -VC-, where C = a reduplicated consonant, the -V- is inserted between the last two root consonants. There are, however, a couple of nouns in Bade that appear to have true internal vowels. One is the word ‘fool’, listed with plurals of type 4 (§3.8.4), which also adds a suffix. The only clear example where an internal -a- is the primary mark of pluralization is d@ 1man ‘wood, tree’, pl. dàm@n (cf. the definite forms d@ ^m sg., dàm pl., and the respective Gashua Bade singular and plural forms, d@ 1m/dàm). Lukas (§112) lists a couple of others that have -aCo- plurals in Amshi. 14. This plural suffix looks like -cin that is fairly common in Ngizim plurals, but in Ngizim, an additional -u- almost invariably precedes the suffix, which has prompted me to relate it to the type 3 Western Bade -awat@n- plural (see §3.8.3). As already noted, the interrelationship of these plural types seems clear, but the historical picture is not.

Bade Morphology

603

3.8.6. Type 6: Plurals marked with a -g- (Lukas §§101–2, 111) Lukas lists several groups of plurals that incorporate a -g-. These all look like a blend with other, more generally used plural affixes. I found only five in the Amshi variety, which I present here with no attempt at further analysis: (aran ‘side, beside’) ayín dùwun @1vjan n1san, n1sàkon

m. f. m. m. m., f.

aràrg@1n-@n ayèg@nan—cf. type 7 dùwa ⁄ng@1n-@n @1vjàgèt@n-@n n1sàgèt@n-@n

plural form = ‘ribs’ ‘gazelle’ ‘horse’ ‘monkey’ ‘hippopotamus’

3.8.7. Type 7: Plurals/collectives ending in -an (cf. Lukas §93) In Amshi, about a dozen nouns have plurals ending in -an. Rather than true plurals, I suspect that, historically at least, these are collectives, which, in Western Bade, usually have the -an form of nunation and take plural agreement (§3.2). Most of the -an “plurals” are plant names whose singulars have the -ako- feminine derivational suffix (§5.4), and conversely nearly all, if not all plant names of this form have an -an plural. The plural may have originally referred to the fruits as a collectivity. This is reminiscent of Arabic, where formally singular collectives have derived feminine “singulatives,” e.g., Arabic tinun ‘figs’, tinatun ‘a fig’. In Bade, however, the -ak- portion of the feminine form appears in the plural/collective, suggesting that it is actually based on the feminine singular. This is in contrast to other plural types in Bade, where the feminine suffix is absent in the plural—see especially type 1 above (§3.8.1). I list the -an “plurals” in four groups: (a) -an is added directly to the base, (b) -an is added to the base with a reduplicated final consonant, (c) -@nan (plural -@n- + -an?) is added directly to the base, and (d) -@nan is added to the base with a reduplicated penultimate consonant. 15 (a) @1ktlan ji ⁄j@1m@n = ji ⁄j@1màkon (b) akán âgw∂on (c) apapiwán m@sakón (d) @1pca ⁄ràkon asakón ha ⁄yàkon màràkon

f. f.

@1ktlan ji ⁄j@1man

‘cow’ (cf. English collective ‘cattle’) ‘thorn’

f. m. f. f. f. f. f. f.

ak@ka¤n agw∂ù∂an apapiw@nan m@sak@na¤ n @1pca ⁄ràrk@nan asask@na ¤n hàyàik@nan màràrk@1nan15

‘fire’ ‘desert date (Balatines aegyptiaca)’ ‘the burr grass Cenchrus catharticus’ ‘tamarind (Tamarindicus indica)’ ‘Sodom apple (Calotropic procera)’ ‘cornstalk’ ‘jujube (Zizyphus jujuba)’ type of large fish trap

15. This noun does not fit semantically with other nouns having -an “plural” suffix. The Gashua Bade form is màlàkwà, pl. màlàkun (a regular type 1 plural with a -@n suffix— /kw@n/ § [kun]). It appears that when Western Bade added nunation to this noun, the phonetically resulting form sounded like a noun with the -àkon feminine derivational suffix (§5.4), and thence, like one of the plant names that would normally take the -an plural.

table footnote call at end of previous paragraph

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Both Lukas (§95) and I have listed several plurals with a suffix -an. I suspect that these are all mistranscriptions for -an. All such examples in our data refer to plants, domestic animals, or household items that tend to be kept in groups. For example, àpson ‘Bauhinia reticulata’, pl. àps@ 1san [sic]; patlakén ‘large water pot’, pl. patlatlk@nán [sic]; and from Lukas, taman ‘sheep’, pl. tam@nan [sic]; @ 1dgan ‘arrow’, pl. @ 1dg@ 1nân [sic]. 3.8.8. Type 8: Suppletive and irregular plurals (Lukas §§121–22) Bade has a few nouns, mostly referring to humans, with suppletive plurals or unique plurals that no regular rules account for. 16 m1 d@n, m1 d@1nàkon gagàran, gagàran (= n1ga ⁄r@n) ga ⁄ran, ga ⁄r@n many@m@n wunyan wùn@2 n, wunyán akún

m., f. m1 dan m., f. n1ga ⁄rc@n-@n

‘person’ (pl. ‘people’) ‘old people’

m., f. kàrgon

‘important person; elder sibling’ m. yarón16 ‘boy’ (pl. = children of any sex) f. manya˜ amat@2n ‘girl’ (pl. literally = ‘female children’ m., f. ùktlen (m.) ‘son’, (f.) ‘daughter’, (pl.) ‘offspring’ f. gàrwon ‘goat’

4. Verbal system 4.1. Verb classes Lukas (1970–72) laid out a framework of five verb classes for verbs in Bole (= Bolanci), a West Chadic cousin of Bade. These five classes are reconstructable for at least proto–West Chadic and have reflexes in many West Chadic languages, including Bade. I am adopting this classification scheme for Bade as a way to facilitate cross-linguistic comparison and avoid proliferation of terminology. The verb classes are reflected particularly in TAM forms (§4.2) and verbal nouns (§4.3). The completive form of the verb provides a consistent and unique way to identify each class. I therefore use this as the reference form for verb classes. The classes are as follows: Class A1: verbs ending in -u in the completive with roots of the form *CVfiC- (= mono-moraic roots) Class A2: verbs ending in -u in the completive with roots of the form CV›C- or roots with more than two consonants (= multimoraic roots) 16. This plural is widespread in Western Bade and known and sometimes used in Amshi, though the more commonly used form in Amshi is the regular type 2 plural manyamon. This plural looks surprisingly like Hausa yaro ⁄ ‘boy’, but the resemblance is probably accidental. It would be difficult to explain why Bade would borrow a singular noun as a plural, esp. for a high frequency item like ‘boy’. Moreover, the -aCo- of Bade yarón fits one of the common Bade plural templates.

Bade Morphology Class B: Class C: Class D:

605

verbs ending in -o (< *-au) in the completive with roots of the form CVfiCverbs ending in -u in the completive with monoconsonantal roots verbs ending in -o (< *-au) in the completive with monoconsonantal roots

The starred *CVfiC- root form for class A1 verbs refers to the reconstructed form. Many A1 verbs retain this form in modern Bade, e.g., b@ 1nu ‘cook’, bàku ‘burn’, but verbs with the reconstructed root form *C@C- now have the root form @CC- where the root consonants form a permissible sequence, e.g., @ 1bdu ‘ask’ < *b@ 1du (Schuh 1978). Class A1

màsu tl@1nu @1ftu @1∂hwu Class A2 ba ⁄nu ko⁄tu vàrku kù∂vu ce ⁄ce ⁄tu kùntà∫u @1bj@1gu @1tlkwàmtu Class B gàfo k@1∂o @1zgo Class C (see below) ju Class D bo so to tlo

‘buy’ ‘blow one’s nose’ ‘postpone’ ‘lose, throw away’ ‘vomit’ ‘call’ ‘encircle’ ‘carry on back’ ‘filter’ ‘become turbid’ ‘invert’ ‘be foolish’ ‘catch’ ‘exceed’ ‘know’ ‘go’ ‘get’ ‘drink’ ‘eat’ ‘stand up’

In Bade, and in West Chadic in general, we can reconstruct Class B as being restricted to mono-moraic roots. I have found only two exceptions to this generalization in Western Bade, viz., ka ⁄lo ‘have a meal’ and ka ⁄mo ‘be one’s concern’, both of which appear to be borrowings, probably from Kanuri. Bade has only one Class C verb, the defective verb ju ‘go’. The Bade-Ngizim group has shifted all other original Class C verbs into Class D. Compare ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ above to Ngamo tu ‘eat’, sa ‘drink’, Hausa ci ‘eat’, sha ‘drink’. 4.2. Tense, aspect, mood (TAM) As in all Chadic langugages, tense, aspect, and mood are not independently variable parameters of the verbal system. Chadic linguistics has thus established a tradition of referring to this area of the verbal system as the T(ense) A(spect) M(ood) = TAM system. Bade has six distinct TAM’s.

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The primary TAM indicators are distinctions in tone and final vowel, but accompanying these distinctions in verb form are distinctions in preverbal subject agreement clitics. 4.2.1. Completive The completive expresses anteriority with active verbs but existing state with stative verbs. When the temporal context is the present, English translations will be past or present perfect with active verbs and simple present tense with statives, e.g., active n@ mak@ gi ⁄ ‘I looked for you, I have looked for you’, stative n@^-zgo ‘I know’. However, Bade TAM’s are unspecified for tense, so in a past context active verbs will be translated as English pluperfect (‘I had looked for you’) and statives as past (‘I knew’), and in a future context, active verbs will be translated as English future perfect (‘I will have looked for you’). The primary indicator of completive is a (L . . .) H tone pattern (H tone on the last syllable with all preceding tones L) and a completive vowel suffix -u for verbs of classes A1, A2, C and -o for classes B, D (§4.1). In addition, the completive uses the preverbal subject marking clitics (absence of any clitics in the third person) in the table below, illustrated with the class A1 verb gàyu ‘climb’. The table in §4.1 illustrates verbs in the completive form in all verb classes. 1 sg.

n@ gàyu

2 sg. g@ gàyu 3 sg. m. (aci) gàyu 3 sg. f. (atu) gàyu

1 pl. exclusive 1 pl. inclusive 2 pl. 3 pl.

j@1 gàyu w@1 gàyu awùn/n@1 gàyu (akci) gàyu

Third person completive has no subject clitics. To differentiate gender or number, the parenthesized pronouns can be used, and in simple declarative sentences in Western Bade they usually are. 17 These pronouns clearly have a different status from the first and second person clitics, however. Unlike first and second person clitics, the presence of the pronouns is not grammatically obligatory, and in a series of clauses where the same subject is maintained, it is typical to use the bare verb, which is not possible in first and second persons. Moreover, an overt noun subject cannot appear together with a pronoun, e.g., Sakù b@ 1n@ 1 kajlùwan ‘Saku cooked food’, not *Sakù atu. . . . The completive terminations -u and -o are prepausal forms. When anything follows the verb, regardless of its grammatical relationship to the verb, these terminations become -@ and -a respectively: aci gàfo ‘he caught’ but aci gàfa dùwun ‘he caught a horse’ aci @ 1bdu [ac@^bdu] ‘he asked’ but ac@^bd@ 1 many@m@2n ‘he asked a boy’ 17. It is a common feature of the completive in West Chadic languages for the bare verb without a subject clitic to express third person. Among West Chadic A and B languages that I have studied, including closely related Ngizim, Western Bade is unusual in preferring to use an overt pronoun in simple declarative sentences with third person subjects.

Bade Morphology

607

The completive terminations derive historically from -@+w and -a+w respectively, where the -w comes from an even earlier completive suffix *-ku, still seen in West Chadic-A languages. The automatic, phonetically conditioned alternation in the examples reflects what must have been an earlier suppression of the completive suffix in certain grammatical contexts. 18 The (L . . .) H completive tone pattern is sometimes obscured by productive phonetically conditioned tone raising and lowering processes. The H of the subject clitic spreads to L syllables that do not begin in a voiced obstruent, e.g., /n@ m@ 1skàtu/ § [n@ m@skatú] ‘I turned around’, and a L spreads to H syllables that begin in any consonant other than a voiceless obstruent in the environment L__H, e.g., /n@ b@ 1n@ kajlùwan/ § [n@ b@ 1n@ 1 kajlùwan]. The second singular clitic g@ undergoes an apparent alternation. It normally bears H tone, e.g., g@ d@1psu ‘you hid’, /g@ tàksu/ § [g@ taksú] ‘you tied’, /g@ @ 1bdu/ § [g@ 1bdu] ‘you asked’, g@ do ^ ‘you removed’. However, in cases where a verb stem ends up phonetically with a single syllable bearing a H, the second person clitic is L, e.g., g@ 1 po ‘you poured’, /g@ ùktu/ § [gùktu] ‘you took’. My interpretation is that, insofar as possible, there is a desire to have a L . . . H pattern on the verb. Where the verb would end up bearing only H, the pronoun clitic is incorporated into the L . . . H pattern. This does not take place with the first person singular clitic n@, however. The fact that the second person clitic begins in a voiced obstruent apparently facilitates its lowering in this context. 4.2.2. Negative (unrealized) completive Negated clauses with a completive verbal TAM require a negative completive verb form rather than the general completive described in §4.2.1. The negative completive uses the same set of subject clitics as the completive, but instead of the terminations -u or -o marking verb class, verbs of all classes add a termination -a ⁄Ca, where C = a copy of the final stem consonant. The most frequent mark of negation in Western Bade is -2m added to the end of the clause.

Class A1 Class A2

Class B Class C Class D

Affirmative s@1∂u ùktu ∂u⁄ ru d@1psu m@1sk@1tu @1st@1kwu @1zgo gàfo ju bo so

Negative s@1∂a ⁄∂a-m ùkta ⁄ta-m ∂u⁄ra ⁄ra-m d@1psa ⁄sa-m m@1sk@1ta ⁄ta-m @1st@1kwa ⁄kwa-m @1zga ⁄ga-m gàfa ⁄fa-m ja ⁄ja-m ba ⁄ba-m sa ⁄sa-m

Gloss ‘didn’t wash’ ‘didn’t take’ ‘didn’t choose’ ‘didn’t hide’ ‘didn’t turn around’ ‘didn’t untie’ ‘don’t know’ ‘didn’t catch’ ‘didn’t go’ ‘didn’t get’ ‘didn’t drink’

18. Gimba (2000: chap. 7) describes such a phenomenon in the West Chadic-A language, Bole.

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Some speakers also use this form in counterfactual contexts, even where the clause itself is not negated, e.g., n@-^ zga ⁄ga nà, n@ dàngàna ⁄tu ‘if I had known (< @ 1zgo), I would have been patient’. This usage suggests that unrealized completive might be a better term than negative completive. However, aside from overtly negative contexts, speakers more commonly use the general completive in counter-to-fact propositions. 4.2.3. Subjunctive The subjunctive serves a range of semantic and discourse functions whose full description goes beyond the scope of this paper. Some of the main functions are expressions of wishes or requests (sàna na bì ka∫ón ‘tomorrow, may I get a penny’); complements to the verb n1cu ‘want’ (n@ nc@ aci dà masì gàskam@n ‘I want him to buy a rooster’); complements to expressions of necessity, propriety, and the like (k@ 1∂o wa ⁄-tk@ 1rì wana mcó ‘it is best that we finish this work’); ‘before’ clauses (ka ⁄bd@ 1rò ga jlàwì à kasò, na §-sfe-gi ⁄ ‘before you sit in the room, I will sweep it for you’); purpose clauses (à bàriy-a la ⁄baru2: nà sagì ‘give me the news that I might know’); expression of an event that takes place in direct sequence following another event, regardless of TAM of the preceding event (completive + subjunctive am@n ja ⁄wo m1 dan da-zg@ 1mì ‘rain came and the people planted’, incompletive + subjunctive na nàyi na § vàdì ‘I will come and lie down’). 19 The primary invariant mark of the subjunctive is the vocalic termination -i for all verb classes. The subjunctive has a set of characteristic tone patterns that depend on the subject clitic and the initial consonant of the verb. With singular subjects and all third person subjects, the verb bears all L tones if it begins in a voiced obstruent, HL . . . tones elsewhere. The clitic vowel is short -a with tone polar to the verb tone. With first and second person plural subjects, both the clitic and the verb have all L tone, and the clitic vowel is long -a ⁄. 1 sg. 2 sg. 3 (he/she/they) 1 pl. exclusive 1 pl. inclusive 2 pl.

HL verb tà∂u ‘release’ nà ta∂ì gà ta∂ì (aci/atu/aksi) dà ta∂ì ja ⁄ tà∂ì wa ⁄ tà∂ì awùna ⁄/na ⁄ tà∂ì

L verb gàfo ‘catch’ na gàfì ga gàfì (aci/atu/aksi) da gàfì ja ⁄ gàfì wa ⁄ gàfì awùna ⁄/na ⁄ gàfì

The third person subjunctive clitic, da, is not a pronoun. As the examples in the table and some examples in the first paragraph in this section show, it appears even when an overt noun or pronoun subject is present. Following are examples of each verb class with first person singular and first person plural exclusive subjects. The subjunctive neutralizes class distinctions. 19. This constellation of functions, which, from the point of view of English translation, looks quite diverse, is shared by many Chadic languages, and probably by many African languages outside Chadic. In Schuh (2003a: 20) I suggest that the subjunctive “signals an event which will have its inception subsequent to the moment of speaking and/or to an event in a superordinate clause.”

12 points long

Bade Morphology

Class A1 Class A2 Class B Class Ca Class D

1st singular nà-kfi na-bdì nà ∂@bdì na d@ 1psì nà katì na gàfì nà ni nà pi na dìb

1st pl. exclusive ja ⁄-kfì ja ⁄-bdi ja ⁄ ∂@ 1bdì ja ⁄ d@1psì ja ⁄ kàtì ja ⁄ gàfì ja ⁄ nì ja ⁄ pì ja ⁄ dì

609

Gloss ‘enter’ ‘ask’ ‘sell’ ‘hide’ ‘become’ ‘catch’ ‘go’ ‘pour’ ‘remove’

a. The one class C verb in Bade, ju ‘go’, has suppletive forms according to TAM. b. See below for length on the singular clitic pronoun.

First and second person singular and all third person subjects also have a set of subjunctive clitics with a long vowel (na, ga, da). These clitics are used with Class D verbs that begin in a voiced sound (obstruent or sonorant) and with four Class A1 verbs: dùkwu ‘hear’, làgu ‘stop, stand’, vàdu ‘lie down’, and wàyu ‘be sated’. All four of these verbs always have all L tone in the subjunctive. Examples with the long clitics are na ⁄ ni ‘that I count’ (cf. the Class C nà ni ‘that I go’ above), na dì ‘that I remove’, /na làgì/ § [na lagì] ‘that I stop’, with tone of the verb raised by H spreading from the clitic. 4.2.4. Second subjunctive The second subjunctive has two functions: (1) It replaces the imperative and the subjunctive in negated clauses, 20 e.g., g@ 1 gàfa-m ‘don’t catch (it)!’—cf. imperative à-gàfi ‘catch (it)!’ n@ d@ 1ps@ tagda ⁄˜a ga ⁄∂à akcì d@ 1-gna-m ‘I hid my money in order that they not take (it)’. (2) The second subjunctive serves as a hortative for third person referents, for first singular, and for first plural exclusive, e.g., agùre ya ⁄ye d@ 1 jlàwa dùwù˜ané ‘as for the hare, let it become my horse’, n@ 1 kùgùz(a) egi ⁄ ∫a ‘let me teach (it) to you’. For commands involving second person, including first plural inclusive, the imperative (§4.2.5) is used. The indicators of second subjunctive are a vowel termination -a, (L . . .) H tone on the verb, and subject clitics of the form C@ 1. The paradigm below illustrates second subjunctive with the verb gàyu ‘climb’ as a negative imperative/hortative. The negative marker is -m. 1 sg.

n@1 gàya-m

2 sg. g@1 gàya-m 3 sg. m. (aci) d@1 gàya-m 3 sg. f. (atu) d@1 gàya-m

1 pl. exclusive 1 pl. inclusive 2 pl. 3 pl.

j@1 gàya-m w@1 gàya-m awùn/n@1 gàya-m (akci) d@1 gàya-m

The verb class distinction is neutralized in the second subjunctive. Examples have the third person clitic d@ 1. 20. The second subjunctive replaces the subjunctive in negated clauses in all functions except the subjunctive as a marker of sequence. If a negative clause appears in a sequence with a completive sense, the negative completive is used. In other sequential contexts, the negative incompletive replaces subjunctive.

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Class A1

d@1-bda

‘let him/her/them ask’

Class A2

d@1 ∂@ 1bda

‘let him/her/them sell’

Class B

d@1 gàfa

‘let him/her/them catch’

Class C

d@1 ja

‘let him/her/them go’

Class D

d@1 da

‘let him/her/them remove’

4.2.5. Imperative The imperative expresses commands involving a second person addressee, including first plural inclusive. Imperative verbs have the following morphological features: a prefix à- or a ⁄- (with length conditioned by the same factors as for subjunctive singular subject clitics—see §4.2.2), (L . . .) H tone pattern, vowel termination /-i/ for singular subject and -a for plural subject, and pronominal suffixes that copy person and number features of the subject. The fact that the singular imperative vowel termination is underlying /-i/ can be determined only from comparison with other Bade dialects. In Amshi, this /-i/ will always be neutralized to -@ or elided by a following vowel. It can never appear phrase final. The table below illustrates the imperative for each verb class for each person that has an imperative form, plus the verb làgu ‘stop, stand’, which exceptionally requires a long prefix in the imperative and subjunctive. Class A1 Class A2 Class B Class C Class D Irreg.

2 sg. m. à v@1r-i à ∂@1bd-i à gàf-i à j-i a ⁄ d-i a ⁄ làg-i

2 sg. f. à v@1r@-m à ∂@1bd@-m à gàf@-m à j@-m a ⁄ d@-m a ⁄ làg@-m

1 pl. incl. à v@1ra-wà à ∂@1bda-wà à gàfa-wà à ja-wà a ⁄ da-wà a ⁄ làga-wà

2 pl. à v@1ra-wún à ∂@1bdà-wun à gàfa-wún à jà-wun a ⁄ da-wún a ⁄ làga-wún

gloss ‘go out’ ‘sell’ ‘catch’ ‘go’ ‘remove’ ‘stop’

Imperatives retain their person marking suffixes before noun direct objects, e.g., à-kwt-i karén ‘take a load!’ (sg. m.), à-kwta-wà karén ‘let’s take a load!’ With a pronominal direct object, first person plural inclusive retains its suffix, but other imperatives lose their suffixes, e.g., à-kwta-wà-ci ‘let’s take it!’ but à-kwt@-ci ‘take it!’ (sg. m. or f.) not *à-kwt-i-ci or *à-kwt@-m-ci, à-kwta-ci ‘take it!’ (pl.), not *à-kwta-wun-ci. Note that without the person marking suffix in first person plural inclusive, first plural inclusive and second plural would not be distinct. 4.2.6. Person marking suffixes with subjunctive and second subjunctive The subjunctive and second subjunctive sometimes use person marking suffixes identical to those in the imperative, described above (§4.2.5). Verbs in the subjunctive and second subjunctive with third person referents can also take agreement suffixes. Subjunctive with suffix: à yam gà-kwt@-m ‘come and take it! (2 sg. f.) Second subjunctive with suffix: aci d@ 1 gàfa-ci dùwun ‘let him catch a horse!’

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In contrast to the imperative, person marking suffixes are not obligatory with subjunctive and second subjunctive, and in fact those TAM’s in normal discourse appear without suffixes far more frequently than with. The functional value of attaching person marking suffixes in subjunctive and second subjunctive is unclear. Negative contexts do not allow use of the suffixes, e.g., atu d@ 1-kfa-tu ‘let her enter!’ atu d@ 1-kfa-m ‘may she not enter!’ but not *atu d@ 1-kfa-t@-m ‘may she not enter!’ 4.2.7. Incompletive The incompletive in main clauses expresses an event that is not complete at the time of reference. The English translation may be progressive or future. Thus, a question like Saku a b@ 1nà k@ 1m? could mean, ‘What will Saku cook?’ or ‘What is Saku cooking?’ depending on context. Since Bade does not overtly mark tense as a distinct category, the question could also be translated as, ‘What was Saku cooking?’ or ‘What was Saku going to cook?’ if the time of reference were past. Unlike some Chadic languages, including closely related Ngizim, Western Bade incompletive does not express habitual meaning. The habitual extension (§4.5) takes on this function. The indicators of the incompletive are a special set of subject clitics and the verbal noun, rather than a “finite” verb, as the morphological form of the verb. There are two reasons for considering the verb in the incompletive to be a verbal noun rather than a finite verb. First, incompletive verbs are identical to the corresponding verbal nouns minus nunation (see §4.3 for verbal nouns). Second, in the incompletive, verb + object has the form of a genitive construction rather than verb + object clitic or juxtaposed noun, as in other TAM’s. For example, incompletive na-bda ⁄-ri ‘I will ask him’ uses the genitive pronoun -ri as object in contrast to completive n@-bd@ 1-ci ‘I asked him’, with direct object clitic -ci. The forms for verbal nouns in the incompletive are as follows: • Cà for monoconsonantal roots with voiced consonant: bà ‘receive’, nà ‘count’ • Ca for monoconsonantal roots with voiceless consonant: ta ‘eat’ • For historical *C@ . . . verbs, C@ 1CàCu1/@ 1CCàCu1 for intransitive verbs with a middle meaning, C@ 1C . . . à/@ 1CC . . . à for all others: (intransitive) @ 1zgàtù ‘be pierced’, ∂ùwàtlù ‘be tired’; (others) @ 1kfà ‘enter’, @ 1bdà ‘ask’, s@ 1∂à ‘wash’, @ 1zg@ 1tà ‘pierce’, k@ 1ri ⁄ntà ‘listen’ • C@ 1Ci for most Class A1 verbs and all Class B verbs of the form CaCV: 21 (Class A1) b@ 1ki ‘burn’, t@ 1∂i ‘release’; (Class B) g@ 1fi ‘catch’ • Elsewhere, CV . . . aCù for intransitive verbs with middle meaning, CV . . . à for all others: (intransitive) tl@rgàdù ‘collapse’, k@n∂awù ‘be stuck, adhere’; (others) tl@rg@ 1dà ‘destroy’, ∂arà ‘speak’, notà ‘pass’, kalaktà ‘go back’, ∂agùrà ‘call’, b@rb@ 1rtà ‘roll in dust’, gurm@∂à ‘chew on’. For verbs of more than two syllables, medial syllables are L if they begin in a voiced obstruent, H otherwise. 21. Of 35 CaCu Class A1 verbs, 26 have C@ 1Ci verbal nouns, 5 have CaCà verbal nouns, and 4 allow either type.

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The table below illustrates the incompletive subject clitics with verbs having initial H and initial L tones. First person singular always has H tone, others are polar to the verb tone. The clitic vowel is short before an initial H verb, long before initial L verb:

1 sg. 2 sg. m. 2 sg. f. 3 (sg. m./sg. f./pl.)

‘tie’ (initial H) na taksà yà taksà mà taksà (aci/atu/aksi) à taksà

‘tumble’ (initial L) na b@1ràb@1rà ya b@1ràb@1rà ma b@1ràb@1rà (aci/atu/aksi) a b@1ràb@1rà

1 pl. excl. 1 pl. incl. 2 pl.

jà taksà wà taksà awùnà/nà taksà

ja b@1ràb@1rà wa b@1ràb@1rà awùna/na b@1ràb@1rà

The table below illustrates a verb from each of the bulleted types above with first singular subject and second masculine singular subject. See remarks on tone following the table.

Cà Ca *C@ 1CàCù *C@ 1C(v1. . .)à C@ 1Ci CV . . . aCù CV . . . à

1st singular na bà na ta na ∂uwatlù na s@∂à na t@∂í na tl@^vi na g@1fi na b@rtanù na b@rt@nà

2nd sg. m. ya bà yà ta ya ∂uwatlù ya s@∂à yà t@∂í yà tl@^vi yà g@1fi yà b@rtanù yà b@rt@nà

Gloss ‘get’ ‘eat’ ‘get tired’ ‘wash’ ‘release’ ‘pierce’ ‘catch’ ‘roll over’ (intr.) ‘roll over’ (tr.)

The underlying tones on ‘get tired’ and ‘wash’ are /na ∂ùwàtlù/ and /na s@ 1∂à/, respectively, with all L tone on the verbs. The first syllable (and second syllable in ‘get tired’) are raised by the H spreading from the pronoun. C@ 1Ci type verbal nouns, such as for ‘release’, ‘pierce’, and ‘catch’, are cited with LH tones, but in incompletive constructions, they condition the L polar tone and short vowel characteristic of subject clitics used with initial H verbs. This is true even for verbs like ‘catch’, which begin in a voiced obstruent and are always pronounced with LH tones. Other verbs, such as ‘release’, have H Downstep tones, or Falling H if the second consonant is a voiced obstruent. 4.3. Verbal nouns Verbal nouns, like all common nouns in Western Bade, have grammatical gender (§3.1), have a citation form with nunation (§3.2), and have a definite form without nunation (§3.4). The most common function of the definite form of a verbal noun is as head of an incompletive verb phrase (§4.2.7), but the form is also used for a previously mentioned activity. There are productive patterns of verbal noun formation associated with

Bade Morphology

613

specific verb root shapes. Following a tradition of Hausa verbal noun terminology, I will refer to these productive patterns as primary verbal nouns. There are also some less productive patterns that I will refer to as secondary verbal nouns. Nearly every verb that has an associated secondary verbal noun also has a primary verbal noun. Every primary verbal noun has predictable meaning related directly to the meaning of the verb, corresponding to the English gerund or infinitive. Many secondary verbal nouns have less predictable meanings, such as a resultative sense, e.g., ga ⁄msu ‘laugh’, primary verbal noun gamsán ‘laughing’, secondary verbal noun ga ⁄màs@n ‘laughter’. I will present the primary verbal nouns associated with various verb root shapes followed by secondary verbal nouns, categoried by verbal noun morphology. 4.3.1. Can/à, Can/a—monoconsonantal roots All monoconsonantal roots with a voiced consonant are feminine with a citation form Can and a definite form Cà. If the consonant is a voiced obstruent, the citation form usually has a rising tone, otherwise it is H. If the consonant is a voiceless sound, the verbal noun is masculine with a citation form Can and a definite form Ca (with the exception of han/ha ‘carving’, which is feminine but has the predicted H definite form). Citation ba^n nan wan

Definite bà nà wà

‘get’ ‘count’ ‘lack’

Citation tan tlan han (f.)

Definite ta tla ha

‘eat’ ‘arise’ ‘carve’

This regular pattern found in Amshi and a few other villages does not hold for all of Western Bade. Though the Can or Can pattern is widespread for some monoconsonantal verbs, other verbs have verbal nouns of the forms Cayin, Ciyin, or C@∂yin. The verbal noun form and the specific roots with which it is used vary from village to village. I did a dialect survey, which included 13 Western Bade villages (as well as villages in other Bade dialect areas). One part of the survey data set elicited the verbal nouns for the verbs ‘get’, ‘eat’, and ‘count’. Some examples of variants that I found were the following: (Daciya Kura) bìyin/tìyin/nan, (Bizi, Dagona) b@ 1∂yin/ t@ 1∂yin/nan, (Tagali, Dala, Tagama) bàyin/tàyin/nàyin, (Yin) tan/bàyin/nàyin. Comparative evidence indicates that each of the variants must have existed in proto-Bade/Ngizim, with different varieties of Bade extending one or another of the variants to different monoconsonantal verbs. @C4.3.2. -Can/à—Class A1 verbs of the form *C@ and all Class A2 verbs With one regular exception (see immediately below), verbal nouns for these classes of verbs are all feminine with a citation form ending in -an and definite forms ending in -à. If the initial syllable is *C@- (= @C- or C@-), the tones of the root are all L. Otherwise the initial tone is H, which spreads to following syllables unless they begin in a voiced obstruent. The

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following table does not give definite forms since they are predictable from the citation form. L on root @1kfan s@1dan @1∂kùman f@1ri⁄f@1ri⁄tan b@1ràb@1ran

‘enter’ ‘wash’ ‘find’ ‘bore, drill’ ‘tumble down’

Initial H on root ∂urán ‘choose’ ∂@^bdan ‘sell’ kalaktán ‘return, go back’ b@rb@1rtan ‘roll in dust’ t@nkwaku∂án ‘rub to remove dirt’

4.3.3. -Can/ù—Class A2 middle verbs of more than two syllables A large number of Class A2 verbs with middle meaning (roughly, intransitive verbs indicating change of state of the subject) have masculine verbal nouns ending in -an in citation form and -ù in the definite form. Tones are like those for Class A2 verbs with feminine -an verbal nouns (see preceding paragraph). A large proportion of these -an masculine verbal nouns have a root shape -CaC- and are related to transitive verbs with root shape -C@C(see §4.4). Comparative evidence suggests that the -an verbal noun pattern for verbs with a middle meaning may have been extended from middle verbs with this particular morphological pattern. The Amshi dialect also allows the -an verbal noun pattern with some middle CV›C- and CVCCClass A2 verbs. More research is needed to discover whether this pattern is general in Western Bade for such roots. Citation @1bdàzan ∂ùwàtlan @1gbàmtan tlakana ¤n tl@rgàdan ga∂gà∂tan c@kpapa¤n cicita¤n kwa∂a¤n capta¤ n

Definite @1bdàzù ∂ùwàtlù @1gbàmtù tlakanù tl@rgàdù ga∂gà∂tù c@kpapù cicitù kwa∂ù captù

‘disperse (intr.)’ (cf. tr. @ 1bd@ 1zan) ‘be(come) tired’ ‘swell up’ ‘scatter (intr.)’ (cf. tr. tlak@nán) ‘collapse’ (cf. tr. tl@rg@ 1dan ‘destroy’) ‘tremble’ ‘squat’ ‘be(come) permeated’ (cf. tr. cicitán) ‘be(come) ruined’ (cf. tr. kwa∂án) ‘gather (intr.)’ (cf. tr. captán)

1 @n/i—Class A1 and Class B verbs with root shape CaC4.3.4. C@@C@ A large majority of verbs with root shape CaC-, both Class A1 and Class B, have verbal nouns with citation form C@ 1C@n and definite form C@ 1Ci. 22 A minority—all Class A1—have feminine verbal nouns with citation forms CaCan and definite forms CaCà, like those used with *C@C- Class A1 and all Class A2 verbs discussed above. A few verbs allow either type. 22. I seem not to have checked gender for these verbal nouns. They “should” be feminine. Masculine nouns ending in -@n come historically from consonant final nouns (see §3.2), and comparative evidence, as well as the definite forms of these verbal nouns show that they originally had a final vowel -i.

Bade Morphology

A1 A1 A1 A1 B B A1 A1 A1 A1

Completive bàku bàru màsu pàtu gàfo kàto bàru ∂àru ràwu ∂àyu

VN Citation b@1k@n b@1r@n m@1s@n p@1t@n g@1f@n k@1t@n barán ∂arán rùwun = rawán ∂ìyin = ∂ayán

VN Definite b@1ki b@1ri m@1si p@1ti g@1fi k@1ti barà ∂arà rùwi = rawà ∂ìyi = ∂ayà

615

‘burn, roast’ ‘give’ ‘buy’ ‘get lost’ ‘catch’ ‘become, turn into’ ‘hunt’ ‘speak’ ‘run’ ‘prune tree’

The internal vowel -@- in verbal nouns associated with CaC- roots results from assimilation of the root vowel to the original -i final vowel. This is a relatively recent innovation in Bade—Ngizim retains -a- in the cognate verbal noun type, e.g., Ngizim bàru ‘give’ with verbal noun bari. Tones are anomalous in Bade. These verbal nouns always have LH tones in citation, but they act as if they have H(L)H tones when used as the head of an incompletive verb phrase (see the end of §4.2.7). The rather messy correlation of primary verbal noun type with verbs of root shape CVfiC- may be the result of two cross-cutting realignments affecting all Bade dialects as well as Ngizim. The first is realignment of verb class for verbs with the root shape CaC-. Most verbs of this root shape originally were Class B while verbs of root shape C@C- were mostly Class A1, though a small number of verbs with each root shape belonged to the opposite classes. Some dialects are shifting CVfiC- roots such that Class B comprises almost exclusively CaC- roots. In my Gashua Bade data, 79% (26/33) of Class B verb have this root shape, while only 18.3% (30/164) of Class A1 verbs have this root shape. Other dialects are shifting all CVfiC- roots to Class A1, in effect eliminating Class B. In my Western Bade data (mostly from Amshi), there are only 11 Class B verbs (6 of which have the root shape CaC-). On the other hand, 28% (48/172) of Class A1 verbs have the root shape CaC-. The other realignment is in verbal nouns. While more extensive comparative evidence is needed to clarify the picture, it appears that CVfiCi verbal nouns may have been exclusively used with Class B verbs. 23 Since most Class B verbs had root shape CaC-, the CVfiCi verbal noun type has become associated with root shape rather than verb class. A remnant of the older association of verbal noun with verb class rather than root shape is the Class B verb @ 1zgo ‘know’, with verbal noun s@ 1g@n (definite form s@ 1gi). Ngizim has this type of verbal noun with other C@C- verbs as well. 4.3.5. CV1CV1C@@n/ì secondary verbal nouns In addition to regular primary verbal nouns, a substantial number of Class A2 verbs with root shape CVCC- (or CVC@C-) have a secondary verbal 23. In Bole, all Class B verbs have a primary verbal noun ending in -e, e.g., kàra‘slaughter’ with verbal noun kèrè, whereas no other class has a primary verbal noun ending in a front vowel. See Gimba (2000: chap. 5).

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noun that inserts a copy of the root vowel between the second and third consonants. These verbal nouns are masculine, ending in -@n in citation form and -ì in the definite form. 24 Tones on these verbal nouns show no consistent pattern in my data from Amshi. Completive bàktu kàrmu ga ⁄msu vo⁄nu sàvìyu ru⁄ yu tàkpu tàgbu z@1∂ku

Primary VN baktán karmán gamsán vonán savìyan ruyán takpán tagbán z@∂kán

CV1CV1C VN bakat@2n karam@2n ga ⁄màs@n vawan@ 2n sâven < *savayn @1rwen < *ruwayn tapak@n taban (cf. GB tabák) z@1∂@n (cf. GB z@ 1∂@k)

‘winnow’ ‘chop’ ‘laugh’ ‘cut off grain heads’ ‘clear bush’ ‘cultivate’ ‘spit’ V ‘bury’, VN ‘shroud’ ‘pound coarse flour’

In Western Bade, original diphthongs au and ai have become o and e, respectively, but the off-glide of the original diphthong emerges in CVCVC- verbal nouns—cf. vo ⁄nu, sàviyu, ru ⁄yu. 25 Bade has quite regularly metathesized the internal sequence *labial + velar. Such metathesis is evident in tàkpu < *tàpku ‘spit’, the original consonant order emerges in the CVCVC- verbal noun, in which the internal labial and velar consonants do not abut each other. The same metathesis occurred in tàgbu < *tàbgu, but in this case, Western Bade has gone a step further with the original CVCVC- verbal noun. Many nouns in Bade and Ngizim have final -Vk that originated in a determiner becoming frozen to the root, much like Western Bade nunation (§3.2). Western Bade has replaced this -Vk with nunation, e.g., GB gomâk ‘ram’ (cf. Bole gàm) but WB gwàman. In some cases, Western Bade has made this replacement even where the final -k was part of the root. Such is the case for taban ‘shroud’, which “should” be *tabak@n, similar to the etymologically “correct” tapak@n ‘spitting’. The same substitution of nunation for final -Vk explains why the secondary verbal noun for z@ 1∂ku is z@ 1∂@n rather than *z@∂@k@n. 4.3.6. CVCan masculine secondary verbal nouns A small number (probably fewer than 20) of CVC- roots have masculine secondary verbal nouns with citation form ending in -an and definite forms in -a or -i (I did not collect definite forms for all these). Some of these seem not to use a regular primary verbal noun, but this needs further checking. In the table on page 617, I list the primary verbal noun and the definite form of the secondary verbal noun where I collected them. The notation “(no)” in the primary verbal noun column means that at least the speaker with whom I checked the form did not accept a primary verbal noun alongside the secondary verbal noun. 24. The original form was CVCVC, still seen in Gashua Bade and Ngizim, e.g., GB bàktu ‘winnow’ with secondary verbal noun bàkat. 25. The root for ru ⁄yu would be underlying /r@wy-/. In the secondary verbal noun, -arather than the expected -@- is inserted between the second and third consonants.

Bade Morphology

Completive Primary VN Secondary VN Definite sa ⁄tu satán satan satà sa ⁄vu

sa§van

sa§van

?

zìyu

zìyan

zìyan

zìyi

ca ⁄ku dàwu sìyu

(no) (no) (no)

caka¤ n dàwan siyan

cakà dàwa siyâ

617

‘cut, slit’ VN ‘tribal marks’ ‘wade’ VN ‘flood plain‘ ‘wage war’ VN ‘war’ ‘weave’ ‘tend animals’ ‘fish’

Two triconsonantal roots have -an masculine secondary verbal nouns: t@ 1mbùgwu ‘thatch’, secondary verbal noun t@ 1mbùgwan, and tl@ 1∫@ 1ru ‘cut firewood’, secondary verbal noun tl@∫@ra ¤n ‘firewood’. Though ‘thatch’ does seem to be a true triconsonantal example of this type of secondary verbal noun, the latter is not. In Gashua Bade, tl@∫@lâk ‘firewood’ has the -Vk ending mentioned at the end of the preceding paragraph. The Western Bade -an for this noun is thus substitution for the -Vk, not the -an replacing a final vowel as for most verbal nouns. 4.3.7. a- prefixed secondary verbal nouns A substantial number of verbs have related nominal forms with a prefix a-, e.g., @ 1lhu ‘say’ (primary verbal noun @ 1lhan) with related noun alha ¤n ‘speech’, mànu ‘spend a year’ (primary verbal noun m@ 1n@n) with related noun àmàn@n ‘year’. Most of these have a concrete or resultative meaning. I discuss them in more detail in §5.6. 4.3.8. Irregular verbal nouns A small number of verbs have unpredictable verbal noun types. The following list is exhaustive for Western Bade data available to me. Completive @ 1zgo i⁄ko m1 tu tl@1nu

Primary VN (no) (no) (no) tl@1nan

Irregular VN s@1g@n aikón m@1t@n tlàn@n

Definite s@1gi (cf. GB s@ 1gi) aikò (cf. GB i ⁄kwi) m@1ti (cf. GB m@ 1tu) ? (cf. GB tlan)

ju

(no)

i ⁄nan

? (cf. GB i ⁄na)

‘know’ ‘see’ ‘die’ V ‘blow nose’ VN ‘mucous’ ‘go’

Above, I suggest that @ 1zgo ‘know’ with verbal noun s@ 1gi displays a likely remnant of *CVCi verbal nouns as the regular pattern for all Class B verbs. If this is correct, it should not be listed as “irregular,” though it appears to be such in the context of modern Bade. The Gashua verbal noun for the Class B verb i ⁄ko ‘see’ is of the same type as ‘know’, but in Western Bade, this regular Class B verbal noun has been replaced by an a- prefixed irregular form (see preceding paragraph and §5.6). The verbal noun m@ 1t@n ‘death’, though it looks like those for ‘know’ and ‘see’, is truly irregular. The root m1 tu ‘die’ is the only *C@Cu Class A1 verb to have a verbal noun

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of this type. Moreover, as the Gashua Bade form shows, this verbal noun originally ended in -u, which addition of nunation in Western Bade neutralized with words ending in -i. This phonological neutralization resulted in morphological neutralizaion with the common C@C@n primary verbal noun pattern with definite form C@ 1Ci, accounting for the Western Bade definite form m@ 1ti. 4.4. Transitive and intransitive Bade has two derivational processes related to transitivity, one that transitivizes intransitive verbs and one that forms intransitive middle verbs from transitives. 4.4.1. -dù transitivizing suffix (with remarks on formally identical but functionally different suffixes) Unaccusative and unergative verbs (verbs for which the grammatical subject is the agent and also patient of an event) can add a suffix -dù to make the verb into an accusative transitive verb with an agentive subject. Examples are in the completive: Base verb ju ‘go’ ùgzu ‘go back, return’ @ 1ktlu ‘ford (a river)’ làgu ‘come to a stop’ @ 1zdàvu ‘lodge, stay at a place’ s@ 1∂gwu

‘move a bit, budge’

Transitivized verb j@-dù ‘take, transport, carry’ ùgz@-dù ‘put back, replace’ @ 1ktl@-dù ‘ferry across’ làg@-dù ‘bring to a stop’ @ 1zdàv@dù ‘put someone up, lodge someone’ s@ 1∂gwu-dù ‘hitch up, adjust load’

Verbs with the -du suffix can appear in all TAM’s and with other extensions. Verbs with this suffix can be nominalized, e.g., ùgzad@ 2n ‘replacing’, l@ 1g@d@ 2n ‘bringing to a stop’. Verb root plus ventive (§4.5) and/or habitual (§4.6) extensions form a stem to which -du is suffixed, e.g., ventive completive n-ûgza-dù ‘I brought (it) back’, habitual n-ugzàga-dù ‘I take (it) back’. In the imperative (§4.2.5), which adds person agreement suffixes, the suffixes follow -du. In the Amshi variety of Bade, the imperative, and only the imperative, also adds a -g- of unclear origin and function before the -du suffix, e.g., à-gwz@-g-d-i ⁄ ‘put it back! (sg. m.)’, à-gwz@-g-d-@ 1m (sg. f.), à-gwza-gdù-wùn (2nd pl.), à-gwza-g-dù-wà ‘let’s (inclusive) put it back!’ Bade has at least one, and perhaps two other -du verbal extensions that are identical in form to the transitivizer. One of those is as a marker of an omitted oblique argument. This is most commonly an instrument, in which case -du can be translated ‘with it’, e.g., sana nà na bì ka∫ón nà, nà ki∂@-du wainán ‘tomorrow may I get a penny and eat a fried cake with it’. This function has counterparts in other West Chadic languages and probably was originally morphologically distinct from the transitivizing suffix. The second use of -du, if in fact it is a second use, is more obscure. There are several verbs with which the -du suffix may be present or absent with no apparent meaning difference, e.g., ∂a ⁄gu = ∂a ⁄g@-dù ‘prevent, intercept‚

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@ 1bzu = @ 1bz@-dù ‘leave’. A couple of verbs have no counterpart without the suffix, e.g., n1g@-dù ‘imitate’ but no verb *n1gu. Neither the transitivizing function nor the oblique object function explains the use of -du with these verbs. A possibility is that -du is a remnant of the totality extension, found in a number of Chadic languages, that indicates an action done to completion. Bade does not have a productive extension with this function, whereas Ngizim does have a totality extension, of which one of the allomorphs is -du. 4.4.2. Infixal -a- deriving middle verbs A feature common to many Chadic languages is the possibility of using one and the same verb, with no special morphological marking, as either a transitive verb with an agentive subject or as an intransitive middle verb, most commonly designating change of state of the subject. This possiblity exists in Bade, e.g., aci ∂àn∂ànt@ kunarâ ‘he puffed up his stomach’ versus kunari ∂an∂antú ‘his stomach puffed up’, n@ ku∫@ kasón ‘I closed the hut’ versus kason ku∫ú ‘the hut is closed’, gà kwa∂a˜ awún ‘you’ll spoil the corn’ versus awun a kwa∂ù ‘the corn will spoil’. 26 In addition to using many verb roots in a single form as transitive or intransitive middle, Bade has developed a productive process to overtly distinguish transitive and middle forms. These are verbs of the form -CVC-, where V = @ in the transitive counterpart and V = a in the intransitive middle counterpart. Most such verb pairs have three or more root consonants, but a few biconsonantal roots also follow this pattern. Transitive @1gdu ùg∫u @1gbua @1grìyu b@1rt@1nu kàd@1mu ràp@1∂u

‘snap (thing) off’ ‘moisten’ ‘split (thing) in two’ ‘enlighten’ ‘turn over, roll over’ ‘circumcise’ ‘bring to a boil’

Intransitive middle kàdu ‘snap off’ gwà∫u ‘get wet’ pàgu ‘split in two’ @1gràyu ‘become enlightened’ b@1rtànu ‘roll over, turn over’ kàdàmu ‘be circumcised’ ràpà∂u ‘come to a boil’

a. Note metathesis of original -bg- in the transitive form, following the pattern mentioned in discussion above of CVCVC secondary verbal nouns. 26. In Hausa, the middle function, in contrast to most Chadic languages that I have worked on, uses a special derived form, namely, Grade 7. Newman (2000: 665–70) argues Grade 7 verbs are “passive.” In my view, this is wrong, unless the claim is that a passive is any verb with a non-agentive grammatical subject that is affected by the action of the verb. I prefer to reserve the term passive for constructions with both agent and patient as underlying arguments. This is not the case for verbs with a middle meaning typical of Hausa Grade 7 or the Bade constructions at issue here. Contrary to an assertion by Newman (2000: 666), in a Hausa phrase such as tu ⁄lu ya fàsu ‘the jug was shattered’, there is no “agent implied.” This is a statement about change of state of the jug, not about an action performed on the jug, and indeed, it would not be contradictory to continue by saying, “. . . but no one touched it” (compare an infamous English agentless passive, “Mistakes were made,” which is incompatible with a continuation “. . . but no one made them!”). Moreover, in incompletive TAMs such as irìn wannàn tu ⁄lu yana ⁄ fàsuwa, the meaning is ‘This type of jug is (easily) breakable’, not ‘This type of jug is being broken (by someone)’.

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In addition to these internal changes in roots of the requisite form, the transitive and intransitive counterparts have distinct verbal nouns, e.g., @ 1grìyan (definite form @ 1grìyà) ‘enlightening’ versus @ 1gràyan (definite form @ 1gràyù) ‘becoming enlightened’. See §4.3.2–3. 4.5. Habitual The habitual marks an event as persisting or recurring. The mark of the habitual is a suffix -ag- to which TAM endings are added. The habitual has characteristics of both a TAM and a derivational extension. As a derivational extension, the habitual can combine with a TAM to add a habitual sense, e.g., simple imperative (sg. f.) à ∂@ 1bd@-m ‘sell (it)!’ versus habitual imperative à ∂@ 1bd-àg@-m ‘keep selling (it)!’ However, a declarative statement or question with habitual meaning uses what is formally the completive form of the verb with the termination -o (§ -a if not phrase final). That is, the formal completive atu ∂@ 1bd-àgo means ‘she sells (it)’, not ‘she used to sell it (but no longer does)’. Speakers do not accept the habitual in the incompletive. This may result from a semantic clash. Some Bade dialects and Ngizim do not have a special habitual form and extend the incompletive to this function. The table below uses the verb ∂@ 1bdu ‘sell’ to illustrate the habitual in the TAMs with which it compatible. Note that in contrast to the “neutral” completive, there is no special negative habitual form (§4.2.2). See §4.6 for the habitual combined with the ventive extension. Habitual (Completive) Neg. Habitual (Comp.) Subjunctive 2nd Subjunctive Imperative

sg. m. sg. f. pl. 1 pl. incl.

“Neutral” ∂@1bdu ∂@1bda ⁄da-m dà ∂@bd d@1 ∂@1bda

Habitual ∂@1bdàgo ∂@1bdàga-m dà ∂@bdàgì d@1 ∂@1bdàga

gloss ‘sells’ ‘doesn’t sell’ ‘might always sell’ ‘should always sell’

à ∂@1bd-i à ∂@1bd@-m à ∂@1bdà-wun à ∂@1bda-wà

à ∂@1bdàg-i à ∂@1bdàg@-m ‘keep selling!’ à ∂@1bdàgà-wun à ∂@1bdàga-wà ‘let’s keep selling!’

4.6. Ventive The ventive verbal extension indicates that an event had its inception at a remote point but has effect on the point of reference (usually the place of speaking). For motion verbs, a common translation is ‘motion toward the speaker’, e.g., non-ventive g@ v@ 1ru ‘you went out’ (speaker is inside) versus ventive g@ v@ 1ra ⁄wo ‘you came out’ (speaker is outside), but with non-motion verbs other interpretations are possible, e.g., non-ventive n@^-bzu ‘I left (it)’ versus ventive n@^-bza ⁄wo ‘I left (it back there and came here)’. The ventive extension suffixes replace the final vowels of the “neutral” verb forms. There are two suppletive forms of the ventive: *V+glide and *-i ⁄na. The selection of allomorph is dependent on TAM. The table below illustrates the ventive in each TAM using the verb ∂@ 1bdu ‘sell’ in the form that it would take with a third person subject (aside from imperative). The ventive would be translated ‘sell (with effect in this direction)’.

Bade Morphology

Completive Neg. Completive Subjunctive 2nd Subjunctive Imperative sg. m. sg. f. pl. 1 pl. incl. Incompletive Verbal noun

“Neutral” ∂@1bdu ∂@1bda ⁄da-m dà ∂@bdì d@1 ∂@1bda à ∂@1bdi-i à ∂@1bd@-m à ∂@1bda-wún à ∂@1bda-wà à ∂@bdà ∂@^bdan

Ventive ∂@1bda ⁄wo ∂@1bda ⁄di⁄na-m dà ∂@bdè d@1 ∂@1bdi⁄na à ∂@1bda-i à ∂@1bde-m à ∂@1bdi⁄na-wún à ∂@1bdi⁄na-wà à ∂@bdàyí ∂@bdàyan

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gloss ‘sold’ ‘didn’t sell’ ‘might sell’ ‘should sell’ ‘sell!’ ‘let’s sell!’ ‘will sell’ ‘selling’

Some ventive verbal nouns are masculine with a citation form ending in -an, as in the case of ∂@bdàyan (definite form ∂@bdàyi) ‘selling’, in the table. Others have a citation form, also maculine, with citation form ending in -in and definite form in -i, e.g., @ 1kfàyin/@ 1kfàyi ‘coming in’. Verbs with a verbal noun of the form C@ 1C@n, e.g., màsu ‘buy’ with verbal noun m@ 1s@n, have ventive verbal nouns with -@- in the root syllable, e.g., m@ 1sàyin ‘buying and bringing’, meaning that the ventive verbal noun is derived directly from the verbal noun, not from the base form. The ventive in combination with the habitual requires special comment. Following is a paradigm of the verb ∂@ 1bdu ‘sell’. Compare the forms here with those immediately above and those in the habitual alone (§4.5): Habitual (Completive) Subjunctive 2nd Subjunctive Imperative sg. m. sg. f. pl. 1 pl. incl.

Habitual + Ventive ∂@1bdi⁄nàgo dà∂@bdàgè d@1 ∂@1bdi⁄nàga à ∂@1bdàga-i à ∂@1bdàge-m à ∂@1bdi⁄nàgà-wún à ∂@1bdi⁄nàga-wà

gloss ‘selling’ ‘might sell’ ‘should sell’ ‘sell!’ ‘let’s sell!’

The -i ⁄na ventive allomorph appears in the “unmarked” habitual, which is essentially the formal completive, though this is the ventive allomorph used only in negative completive when the habitual is absent. Moreover, in the subjunctive and the singular imperative, with the ventive allomorph -e < *-ai, the morpheme order is Root + Habitual + Ventive, whereas in forms with the -i ⁄na ventive allomorph, the morpheme order is Root + Ventive + Habitual. 4.7. Pluractionals 27 Pluractional verbs indicate repetitive action—one subject doing an action repeatedly, several subjects doing the same action iteratively, one or more 27. I collected the data in this section in 1983 from Abubakar Hassan Fulata, who was a student at Ahmadu Bello University but who originated from the Bade-speaking town of Madamuwa. I did not systematically collect data on pluractionals in the Amshi dialect, but examples that came up in elicitation and texts suggest that pluractional morphology is fairly uniform across Bade dialects.

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subjects acting iteratively on one or more objects, etc. Bade has four pluractional patterns, differing according to the structure of the simple verb root: Root type C*C@C-

Ca^C-, CV› C-a

CVfi C(V)C . . .

Simple verb po vo^ m1 tu @1fku ∫@1ru v@1ru gàfu màsu ka ⁄lo me ⁄tu z@1mtu kàrmu no⁄tu < /nàwtu/ ki⁄∂u < /k@1y∂u/ tl@1rg@1du

Pluractional p@1po v@1vo màmtu fa ⁄fku ∫à∫@1ru fa ⁄v@1ru ga ⁄f@1fu ma ⁄s@1su ka ⁄l@1lo me⁄t@1tu z@1màmtu kàràrmu nàwàutu kìyày∂u tl@1rgàgdu

‘pour’ ‘shoot’ ‘die’ ‘enter’ ‘peel‘ ‘go out’ ‘catch’ ‘buy’ ‘have a meal’ ‘glance’ ‘wrench out’ ‘chop’ ‘pass’ ‘eat (meat)’ ‘destroy’

a. The only long vowels relevant for this pattern are -a- and -i-. For pluractional formation, phonetic -o- is treated as underlying /aw/, phonetic -i- as /@y/, and phonetic -u- as /@w/.

Pluractional verbs in Bade always differ from the simple root by addition of a CV syllable. If the root is monoconsonantal, the pluractional verb has the form C@CV. If the root is historically from *C@C-, the pluractional doubles the first consonant, adding a syllable Ca- (see below for length of the vowel). If the root has two consonants with a root vowel other than -@-, the pluractional doubles the second consonant, adding a syllable -C@-. For roots with three or more consonants, the pluractional inserts a syllable -Ca-, where the consonant is the penultimate consonant of the root. Note that this is actually the same pattern that *C@C- roots use, that is, in a two syllable verb the first consonant is also the penultimate consonant. There is, however, variation among *C@C- roots. Most use the pattern in the table above, but some use the pattern for other two consonant roots, e.g., @ 1skwàkwu ‘spend time’ < *@ 1skwu < *s@ 1kwu, zìyàyu ‘wage war’ < zìyu. Biconsonantal roots often have a long vowel in the reduplicated syllable where the root vowel is short, e.g., v@ 1ru ‘go out’ with pluractional fa ⁄v@ 1ru, 28 gàfu ‘catch’ with pluractional ga ⁄f@ 1fu. I believe that this has a rhythmic explanation. Note that the nature of the pluractional formation processes usually results in a light penultimate syllable for two consonant verbs but a heavy penultimate syllable for three consonant or longer verbs. The antepenultimate syllable of the latter verbs is, more often than not, light, giving an alternating weight pattern light-heavy. The lengthening of 28. Bade has undergone a sound change that dissimilates a voiced obstruent to voice⁄ 1ru rather less when the next syllable begins in a voiced obstruent, which accounts for fav@ than expected *vav@ru.

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the vowel in two consonant pluractionals may arise from the preference for an alternating weight pattern as well, in this case heavy-light. 5. Derivational morphology Sections 3–4 focus on inflectional morphology, i.e., changes in nominal and verbal forms that relate to syntactic conditioning and syntactic function. This section describes the main derivational affixes that Bade uses to create new lexical items or to shift grammatical category of a base. 5.1. Prefix ma-: Agentive, instrumental, locative; ordinal numbers (Lukas §§44–45, 51–52; §49) Bade has a fairly productive derivational process that forms agentive, instrumental, and locative nouns using a prefix ma-. One set of forms fulfills all three functions, and the same noun may have more than one of these interpretations if the meaning of the base allows for it, e.g., magàyan (m.), magàyin (f.) ‘one who climbs’ ~ ‘ladder (thing for climbing/place for climbing)’, with all meanings in both genders < gàyu ‘climb’. There is, however, a correlation of gender with instrument versus locative function (see below). Most commonly the base of the derived noun is a verb, but nouns can also serve as the base. The regular pattern for ma- nouns derived from verbs is as follows: Masculine: ma- + base + -an Feminine: ma- + base + -@n (some agentives use the suffix -ako-; see §5.4) Definite form: ma- + base + -u 29 The “base” is a stem minus final vowel and tone. The following rules supply tones. • Base tone § L on a syllable beginning in a voiced obstruent, H otherwise • Final syllable § H • ma- prefix § tone opposite following syllable /ma-rb@c-@n/ /ma-suy-an/ /ma-sab@n-an/ /ma-tagb-an/ /ma-∂g-an/

§ [marb@1c@n] § [màsuyan] § [màsab@1n-ân] § [màtâgban] § [mâ∂gan]

‘key’ (open-er) ‘fisherman’ (fish-er) ‘swizzle stick’ (whisk-er) ‘one who buries’ (bury-er) ‘tracker’ (follow-er)

In the last two examples, the L tone associated with a voiced obstruent is conflated with a H tone to give a falling tone (in ‘one who buries’, the H 29. The only ma- derived noun for which I collected a definite form was ma ⁄bu ‘anus’ < mâıb@n. Lukas §45 lists several ma- agentives ending in -u, suggesting that they may be bestimmte Formen, by which she means forms marked by what I have called the PRM (§3.3). This cannot be the case, since masculine ma- nouns with the PRM would end in aw. In Gashua Bade, regularly formed ma- agentives all end in H tone -u, e.g., madàltu ‘dyer’ < dàltu. The -u of Gashua Bade is clearly the etymon of the Western Bade definite forms for this derivational pattern.

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is required by the suffix; in ‘tracker’, the H is on the prefix, which must bear H because of the L that is associated with the voiced obstruent -g-). As noted above, the most common bases for ma- derived nouns are verbs. In the examples below, I cite the verb in its completive form, but the base for the ma- noun is a form that does not exist outside the derived pattern. For most agentives I give the masculine and feminine form. I have no explanation for why a few agentive feminines use the -ako- derivational suffix (§5.4). Most instruments are masculine; most locatives are feminine. Instrumental and locative nouns that are feminine never use the -ako- derivational suffix. Agentive ma- nouns derived from verbs mab@1nan, mab@1n@n mà∂alman, mà∂alm@n mà∂ara¤n, mà∂ar@2n màkwa∂a ¤n, màkwa∂@2n

< < < mem-buka ‘to open’, ganti ‘change’ > meng-ganti ‘to change’, cari /cari/ ‘seek’ > men-cari 7 ‘seek’, etc. The name prenasalization is intended only as a description of the resulting NC surface cluster and not as a claim that this cluster represents a single phoneme. With roots that have an initial nasal consonant, no gemination results; cf. masak ‘to cook’ > me-masak ‘cook something’, nilai ‘to value’ > me-nilai ‘appraise’, nyanyi /ñañi/ ‘sing’ > me-nyanyi /m@-ñañi/ ‘sing’, and ngeri /˜@ri/ ‘horrifying’ > me-ngeri-kan ‘horrify’. There are two sets of bases which appear underivable by assimilation. The first set concerns vowel-initial bases. These take the allomorph meng-; cf. atur ‘arrange’ > meng-atur ‘regulate, arrange’, empang ‘embankment’ > meng-empang ‘to dam, block (a stream)’, ejek ‘ridicule’ > meng-ejek ‘mock’, isi ‘content’ > meng-isi ‘to fill’, etc. The vowel-initial pattern indeed involves no assimilation of any kind and, hence, reveals that meng- is the basic form of the prefix. 7. The assimilation process appears to respond to the phonetic reality that the phoneme /c/ is realized as [ts]. However, /c/ is best analyzed as a single phoneme in Ind., not as a sequence of two phonemes.

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The second set of bases which, at least superficially, appears underivable is formed by bases with initial liquids or glides, i.e., /l/, /r/, /w/, and /y/. All of these take the surface allomorph me-; cf. lihat ‘see’ > me-lihat ‘see’, rawat ‘nurse’ > me-rawat ‘to take care of, to nurse’, wawancara ‘interview’ > mewawancara-i ‘to interview’, yakin ‘certain’ > me-yakin-kan ‘convince’, etc. This set can be accommodated to the general pattern if it is assumed that it involves total assimilation of the prefix-final nasal to the base-initial consonant and subsequent degemination, especially since Ind. phonology does not allow gemination. There is an additional complication for bases with an initial voiceless stop in that this base-initial consonant is deleted following the assimilation process. Thus, pampas ‘reimbursement’ > mem-ampas ‘reimburse’, tulis ‘write’ > men-ulis ‘write’, and kasih ‘give’ > meng-asih ‘to give’. However, with monosyllabic bases, most of which are borrowings, the initial voiceless stop is retained; cf. pak ‘parcel’ > mem-pak ‘to pack, to package’ and klon ‘clone’ > meng-klon ‘to clone’. 8 The stop is also retained when the prefix meng1- appears before the prefix per-; cf. besar ‘big’ > mem-per-besar ‘enlarge’, and with many (but not all) clearly borrowed bases; cf. kultivir ‘cultivate’ > meng-kultivir ‘to cultivate’ and khatam ‘seal’ > meng-khatam-kan ‘finish (reading the Koran)’. For some such borrowed bases, alternative forms with or without deletion of the base-initial stop exist, as for instance for the base kompos ‘compost’, which can yield either meng-kompos-kan or meng-ompos-kan. A prominent exception to the deletion rule is the word mem-punya-i ‘possess’ (base punya ‘have’), which retains its base-initial /p/ despite the fact that it is a native word. Like a voiceless stop, a base-initial /s/ is deleted; /s/-initial bases take the allomorph meny-; cf. sabun ‘soap’ > meny-abun ‘to lather’. For some speakers, initial consonant deletion applies to /c/ as well, yielding meny-ukur ‘shave’ instead of men-cukur, for instance. However, it is not the case that for these speakers the deletion process applies to all voiceless obstruents as a class because base-initial /f/ is not deleted. Since /f/ is a borrowed phoneme, perhaps one could claim that /f/-initial words are recognizably foreign and that these speakers therefore retain the initial /f/ for that reason. The allomorphs of the prefix peng- have essentially the same distribution as those of meng-. Examples are shown in (34): (34) pem-beli ‘buyer’ pe-malas ‘lazy person’ pem-impin ‘leader’ pen-duduk ‘inhabitant’ pe-nanti ‘someone who waits’ pen-ari ‘dancer’ pen-curi ‘thief’ pen-jual ‘seller’

< beli ‘buy’ < malas ‘lazy’ < pimpin ‘lead’ < duduk ‘sit’ < nanti ‘later’ < tari ‘dance’ < curi ‘steal’ < jual ‘sell’

8. Alternatively, the monosyllabic bases can take the allomorph menge-. For instance, instead of mem-pak, there is also menge-pak. Sneddon (1996: 13) claims that for some speakers only the menge- variants are felt to be standard Ind.

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peny-alur ‘distributor’ peng-gambar ‘drafter’ peng-irim ‘sender’ peng-impor ‘importer’

< salur ‘channel’ < gambar ‘draw’ < kirim ‘send’ < impor ‘import’

pe-laut ‘sailor’ pe-rokok ‘smoker’

< laut ‘sea’ < rokok ‘cigarette’

Sneddon (1996: 10–11) has correctly pointed out that it is not always possible to predict the initial phoneme of the base from a derived form because different combinations of prefix and base can yield the same surface output. He cites the striking example form mengarang, which derives either from meng- plus karang or from meng- plus arang; the former has the meaning ‘to string’ (beads, etc.) while the latter means ‘turn to charcoal’. Prenasalization interacts with reduplication in an interesting way on those bases that lose their initial voiceless stop or /s/. Reduplication does not copy the underlying initial stop or /s/ but rather the prefix-final nasal. Therefore, men-ulis ‘write’, which has the base tulis ‘write’, reduplicates as men-ulis-nulis ‘write repeatedly’ instead of *men-ulis-tulis. The same can be seen in the word mem-otret-motret ‘take pictures all the time/repeatedly’, which derives by prefixing meng- to the base potret ‘photograph’ and then reduplicating the output mem-otret. 3.4.2.2. Other morphophonemic alternations Apart from the prenasalization process described in section 3.4.2.1., affixation in Ind. triggers few regular morphophonemic alternations. The only regular alteration noted by Sneddon (1996: 8–9) concerns the r-less realization of the prefixes ber-, per-, and ter- before stems with an initial /r/. Sneddon (1996: 8–9) cites such examples as ber- + renang > berenang ‘swim’ and ter- + rasa > te-rasa ‘is/was felt’. Since Ind. does not have geminate consonants anywhere, this alteration is better considered a consequence of this general phonological constraint than a specific morphophonemic property of the named affixes. The same constraint against geminates also accounts for the non-gemination we observed in the preceding section with the prefixes meng- and peng- before base-initial nasals. The r-less allomorphs be-, pe-, and te- also occur in a number of words like be-serta ‘attached, along with’ from serta and be-ternak ‘breed’ from ternak ‘livestock’. What the bases of these words share in common is that they have an /r/ in the coda of the first syllable of the base; however, it is not completely clear how to formalize this. Macdonald (1976: 23) claims that the r-less allomorphs appear with bases “whose first syllable ends in -er” whereas Sneddon (1996: 8) attributes them to bases with an initial CerC shape. In any case, there are many bases fitting these structural descriptions which nonetheless take the allomorphs ber-, per-, and ter-, as both Macdonald and Sneddon correctly note. The idiosyncratic, lexical nature of this distribution is perhaps most dramatically evident from the fact that one and the same base may require the r-less allomorph of one of these prefixes while selecting the r-final allomorph of another. The base

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kerja ‘work’, for instance, requires the allomorph pe- for the derivation pekerja-an ‘work, job’; cf. *per-kerja-an, but it permits either be- or ber- for the verbal derivation, i.e., either ber-kerja ‘to work’ or (though less frequently) be-kerja occurs. With a few bases, the most common of which is ajar ‘study, learn’, the prefixes ber- and per- are idiosyncratically realized as bel- and pel-, respectively; hence, we get bel-ajar ‘to study’ and pel-ajar ‘one who studies’. 9 A final instance of morphophonemic adjustment under affixation involves the borrowed suffix -isasi whose form depends on whether the base ends in a consonant or a vowel. This suffix will be discussed in the following section. 3.4.3. The number of Indonesian affixes It is not clear exactly how many affixes exist in Ind. Prentice (1987: 919) gives a precise count of 2 inflectional affixes, i.e., the transitive active prefix meng1- and the passive marker di-, and 25 (unnamed) derivational affixes. However, any precise count depends on how autonomous and productive a presumed affix needs to be before it is included in this total. For instance, there are many historical affixes which were once productive but have ceased to function actively in the present-day language. The historical infixes discussed in section 3.4.1. belong in this group of synchronically doubtful affixes. Another group whose status in Ind. as active morphological units is doubtful is the large number of foreign affixes which have entered the language through borrowing, especially from Sanskrit and from European languages, including many of Greco-Roman origin. 10 The question is whether the affixes seen in the word formation processes in (35) and (36) are truly established in Ind.: (35) eks-presiden ‘ex-president’ eks-pegawai ‘ex-employee’ eks-pe-tinju ‘ex-boxer’ ultra-moderen ‘ultra-modern’ ultra-efektif ‘ultra-effective’ ultra-cepat ‘ultra-fast’ The words in (35) contain the borrowed Latin or Greek prefixes eks‘ex-’ and ultra-. This word-formation strategy has enjoyed reasonable popularity in the Ind. media and public usage, but the staying power of many of these formations can be limited. Many of these words tend to be faddish creations in the media or in advertising which can quickly fade away. For example, words with eks- have taken on an air of obsolescence as they are displaced by phrases with the newly popular native adjective mantan 9. A form with the prefix ter- does not exist for this base. Pel-ajar is glossed as ‘one who studies’ rather than ‘student’ since the latter is more aptly translated as mahasiswa ‘college student’ or murid ‘pupil’. 10. For an exhaustive discussion of foreign affixes found in Ind. loanwords, see Verhaar (1984: 19–24).

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‘former’. Words with ultra- are quite rare, but its functional equivalent super- is heard frequently and is productive. The examples in (36) contain the Sanskrit prefixes pra- ‘pre-’ and panca ‘penta-, five-’. The number of words formed from these affixes is rather small in number and, by and large, part of a learned vocabulary and of questionable currency in the general population: (36) pra-sejarah ‘prehistory < sejarah ‘history’ pra-wacana ‘foreword’ < wacana ‘(literary) word, discourse’ pra-sangka ‘prejudice’ < sangka ‘supposition’ panca-sila ‘the 5 basic constitutional principles of Indonesia’ panca-lomba ‘pentathlon’ panca-warna ‘multi-colored’ Examples of Sanskrit affixes which have become reasonably common in Ind. are the suffixes -wan (occasionally, but unpredictably -man)/-wati. They frequently occur in personal names for both men (e.g., Guna-wan, Supar-man) and women (e.g., Setya-wati, Sri-wati) as well as in nouns signifying status or profession, e.g., warta-wan ‘journalist’ (base warta ‘report’), sejara-wan ‘historian’ (base sejara(h) ‘history’), seni-man ‘artist’ (base seni ‘art’), etc. There are no other Ind. affixes which make a sex distinction and, according to Macdonald (1976: 44), these are “not true Indonesian affixes,” despite their relative frequency. The point that the mere number of words does not indicate if a foreign affix has become an affix in Ind. was succinctly made by de Vries (1984). De Vries investigated words like inflasi ‘inflation, kombinasi ‘combination’, and lokasi ‘location’, which are very frequent in modern Ind. All of these words share the ending -asi, a nativized realization of the Latin -atio which entered Ind. via the Dutch -atie. De Vries lists almost 350 such words, and this high number makes it tempting to consider -asi a new, borrowed suffix. Still, after careful consideration of the Ind. words ending in -asi, de Vries concludes that -asi can at best be considered a “quasi-affix,” since the ending -asi does not contrast with other suffixes or with a zero derivation. Indeed, their presumed bases usually do not even exist as morphemes in their own right. For example, infl-, kombin- and lok-, the presumed bases of the -asi words above, do not exist in Ind., and neither do the presumed bases of most of the words which de Vries lists. He is therefore certainly correct in disputing that -asi has become a separate morpheme (de Vries 1984: 483). By contrast, de Vries (1984: 484–87) argues that the ending -isasi (compare the English -ization) has indeed become an autonomous affix in contemporary Ind. Unlike -asi, -isasi stands in a systematic relationship with an unaffixed counterpart and is predictably added to these bases, taking the shape -nisasi after vowels and -isasi after consonants (de Vries 1984: 485). With bases ending in /i/, the suffix may be realized as -sasi, as for instance in the word pribumi-sasi ‘affirmative action for native Indonesians’, which has the base pribumi ‘native Indonesian’. Some examples which highlight the productivity of the suffix -isasi in recent years are shown in (37):

Indonesian Morphology (37) amerika-nisasi ‘Americanization’ komputer-isasi ‘computerization’ regional-isasi ‘regionalization’ privat-isasi ‘privatization’

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< amerika ‘America’ < komputer ‘computer’ < regional ‘regional’ < privat ‘private’

Words suffixed with -isasi are also common in technical terminology, often as a result of direct borrowing from English. They include such linguistic terminology as leksikalisasi, grammatikalisasi, pronominalisasi, etc. De Vries (1984: 485) emphasizes that affixation with -isasi always uses nominal bases as its input, most of which are in common use, and that the process adds a specific semantic value to derive another noun. Although the suffix -isasi is not completely productive, there are many Ind. neologisms that were not borrowed from either English or Dutch. Examples provided by de Vries include belanda-nisasi ‘Hollandization’, kondom-isasi ‘the popularization of condoms’, beton-isasi ‘the covering with concrete’, etc. We must therefore agree with de Vries’ initially surprising claim that -isasi is now an affix while -asi is not, even though this ending is found in hundreds of examples. De Vries’ analysis is indicative of the difficulty of assessing how many and which foreign affixes have become functioning morphological units of Ind. and which have not. 3.4.4. Inflection and derivation 3.4.4.1. Inflectional affixes There are only three unambiguously inflectional affixes in Ind. Besides the two inflectional prefixes meng1- and di- noted as such by Prentice (1987: 919), the definite marker -nya must also be considered inflectional. These three affixes will be discussed in this section. A representative cross-section of derivational affixes will be presented in section 3.4.4.2. diThe prefix di- is a prototypical example of an inflectional affix in every respect. It essentially attaches to any transitive verb, whether that verb already exists in the lexicon or is newly created, and expresses the same grammatical category for all of them, namely, passivization. As with most affixes, no morphophonemic adjustments result in the prefixation of di-. Examples include di-baca ‘was read’, di-tambah ‘was added’, di-angkat ‘was lifted’, etc. meng1The inflectional prefix meng1- must be distinguished from the derivational prefix meng2-, which is discussed in the next section. Meng1- can be viewed as the active counterpart of di- although it is less obligatory than di-. 11 In colloquial Ind., meng1- is often deleted or, particularly in the speech of Javanese and Sundanese Indonesians, reduced to the final nasal. 11. It should also be kept in mind that Ind. has more than one passive. Besides the dipassive, a second passive construction requires a prefixless or procliticized verb. Sentences (20) and (21) exemplify this second passive construction. For a discussion; cf. Chung 1976. See section 3.4.2.1. for examples of words with the prefix meng1-.

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In the speech of the latter two groups, the nasal then undergoes the prenasalization process described in section 3.4.2.1. For instance, under prenasalization, the base tulis ‘write’ regularly becomes men-ulis ‘to write’ in the active voice, but colloquially this is usually reduced to n-ulis or just the prefixless base form tulis. -nya The third inflectional affix to be discussed here, the definite marker -nya, derives historically from the homophonous third person enclitic which was discussed in section 3.3. Indeed, the homophony between the third person enclitic and the definite suffix likely accounts for the fact that this definite suffix is overlooked in many studies. This homophony also results in systematic ambiguity between a possessive reading and a definite reading. For instance, buku-nya can mean either ‘his book’ or ‘the book’, depending on the context. We consider the suffix -nya an inflectional affix because it expresses a grammatical category, i.e., definiteness, and productively occurs with all nouns, including novel formations and nouns carrying other suffixes. The suffix -nya occurs as readily with recent borrowings, such as monitor-nya ‘the computer monitor’, as with nouns that already carry other suffixes, such as makan-an-nya ‘the food’, which consists of the base makan ‘eat’ followed by the noun forming suffix -an and, finally the definite marker -nya. The suffix -nya therefore has all the characteristics of an inflectional affix that the prefix di- has. When attached to a verb or adjective, the suffix -nya has the effect of nominalizing that verb or adjective in addition to marking definiteness. Examples (38) and (39) are modified from Dardjowidjojo (1978: 361): (38) Tinggi-nya gedung itu 30 meter. high-DEF building that 30 meter ‘The height of that building is 30 meters.’ (39) Ber-angkat-nya jam berapa, pak? BER-lift-DEF hour how much Sir ‘What time is your departure, Sir?’ 3.4.4.2. Derivational affixes As Anderson (1985) has so succinctly pointed out, the distinction between inflectional and derivational affixation is difficult to define; however, Anderson is confident that in practice it is usually clear whether a given affix should be called derivational or inflectional. Still, there are cases in practice where the distinction may not be as clear. In Ind., affixes related to the transitivity of a verb are examples of such unclear cases. The verbderiving affixes are therefore discussed first in this section. 3.4.4.2.1. Verb-deriving affixes In addition to the inflectional voice-marking affixes meng1- and di-, the affixes -kan, -i, ter- and ber- also relate directly to the transitivity of the verb. As markers of a grammatical category, namely, transitivity, together with

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the high productivity of some of these affixes, they are therefore akin to inflectional affixes. This is especially so for the suffix -kan. -kan The suffix -kan, which historically derives from the preposition akan ‘about, as for’ (Adelaar 1984: 410), marks verbs which are transitive. Indeed, this suffix is productively used in new formations, all of which are transitive. Examples of such new formations include men-definisi-kan ‘define’, meng-instruksi-kan ‘to order, instruct’, etc. When suffixed to an adjective, noun or intransitive verb, the resulting word is transitive, e.g., men-jelas-kan ‘explain’ from jelas ‘clear’, me-rencana-kan ‘to plan’ from rencana ‘a plan’ and meng-e-luar-kan ‘take outside, publish’ from ke-luar ‘go outside’, which is itself compounded from ke ‘to’ and luar ‘outside’. Suffixing -kan to a transitive verb yields a verb which may be ditransitive, usually with a benefactive object, e.g., mem-beli-kan ‘buy someone something’, me-masak-kan ‘cook someone something’ etc., or causative, e.g., me-masuk-kan ‘put in’ (base masuk ‘enter’). It would therefore seem tempting to conclude that -kan is an inflectional suffix which signals an increase in transitivity, as Chung (1976) has done. However, there are also important constraints on -kan which indicate that it is better viewed as a derivational affix. First of all, -kan both overapplies and underapplies in marking transitivity. It overapplies in that it occurs on many verbs without effecting an increase in their transitivity, e.g., me-lempar-kan ‘throw’ derives from the equally transitive lempar ‘throw’. The -kan suffixation underapplies in that there are cases of an increase in transitivity which nonetheless lack this affix. For example, an increase in transitivity may not be marked at all, as for instance in the verb mem-beri ‘give’, which may be used monotransitively or ditransitively, either with or without the suffix -kan. For some verbs, the relation between affixation and valency is actually reversed so that the -kan suffixed form of the verb has a lower transitivity than its counterpart without -kan. For instance, mengirim-kan ‘send’ (base kirim ‘send’) can only be monotransitive while its counterpart without the suffix -kan can be ditransitive, as in the sentence Ali kirim Siti surat ‘Ali sent Siti a letter’. For other verbs, the suffix applies vacuously without yielding any grammatical or semantic change in verbs like me-nanam(-kan) ‘to plant’ (base tanam ‘plant’) or meng-antar(-kan) ‘accompany’ (base antar ‘accompany’). In Jakartan speech, the suffix -in, originally a borrowing from Balinese, is used in place of both -kan and -i as a general transitivizer. Though merely a dialectal variant of the equivalent standard suffixes, -in suffixation has begun to develop independent derivations which contrast with the standard forms. Prominently, the word ng-apa-in ‘what are you doing?’ has no direct equivalent in Standard Ind. 12 Its formal counterpart, 12. Since its base is the question word apa ‘what’, ng-apa-in literally translates as ‘you are whatting?’ The subject of ng-apa-in is normally interpreted as second person due to pro-drop, but it occurs with other subjects as well.

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meng-apa-kan ‘do what to’ does not exist for many speakers, although its passive di-apa-kan does. -i Transitivity may also be marked by the suffix -i. The constraints on this latter suffix show that it is unquestionably a derivational affix; it unpredictably occurs on only some of the verbs where it might be expected and derives several semantically distinct types of verbs. When -i and -kan contrast, the -i verbs usually have a locative sense and the -kan verbs a causative sense. For instance, men-jatuh-i, which is formed on the base jatuh ‘fall’, means ‘fall on something’ and takes that location as its object; by contrast, men-jatuh-kan has the causative meaning ‘drop’ (i.e., ‘cause to fall’) and takes the dropped item as its object. As Dardjowidjojo (1978: 295) illustrates, these two verbs may actually have the very same real-world item as their object, but with a very different semantic role. He gives the following examples: (40) Dia men-jatuh-kan piring. he TA-fall-KAN plate ‘He dropped the plate.’ (41) Dia men-jatuh-i piring. he TA-fall-I plate ‘He fell on the plate.’ Other -i verbs whose object has a locative role include meng-obat-i, which means ‘medicate’ but is more accurately glossed as ‘apply medicine to’ as its object signifies the location that is medicated. Similarly, the object of the verb men-anam-i ‘to plant’ (base tanam ‘to plant’) can be a location such as a sawah ‘rice field’ but not a plant, as in sentence (42): (42) Tanah-nya di-tanam-i dengan pohon mangga. land-his PASS-plant-I with tree mango ‘He planted his land with mango trees.’ With some verb bases, the suffix -i signifies iterativity; contrast, for example, me-mukul-i ‘hit repeatedly’ (base pukul ‘hit’) with me-mukul ‘hit’. As is typical of derivational affixes, the suffix -i appears on many verbs where it is not motivated, for instance on meng-urang-i ‘reduce’ (base kurang ‘less’), mem-punya-i ‘possess’ (base punya ‘have’), etc. Finally, there are instances of doublet forms with and without the suffix -i which show no semantic or grammatical differentiation, e.g., meng-hormat and meng-hormat-i, both of which mean ‘to honor’ (Macdonald 1976: 53–54). Some authors, for instance Dardjowidjojo (1978: 252), mention a phonological constraint that the suffix -i cannot attach to any base ending in /i/. As I argued in section 3.4.2.2., this restriction is attributable to the general constraint against geminates in Ind. Sneddon (1996: 84) correctly notes this as a “merger” of stem-final /i/ and the vowel /i/ of the suffix.

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terThe prefix ter- prominently replaces the passive marker di- to signify non-volitional action. Compare di-angkat ‘was lifted (intentionally)’ with ter-angkat ‘was lifted (unintentionally)’. Many such words can be reinterpreted as adjectives (Macdonald 1976: 59–60), e.g., ter-dengar ‘audible’ (base dengar ‘hear’), often with a stative meaning (Sneddon 1996: 112–13). Some frequent examples include ter-buka ‘open’ (cf. di-buka ‘was opened’) and ter-kenal ‘well-known’ (cf. di-kenal ‘was known’). The prefix ter- can indicate non-volitional action with many intransitive verbs as well, e.g., terjadi ‘happen’ (base jadi ‘become’), ter-tidur ‘fall asleep’ (base tidur ‘sleep’), etc. A smaller number of accidental verbs are formed using the circumfix ke- . . . -an instead of ter-, e.g., ke-hilang-an ‘lose (accidentally)’, ke-lihat-an ‘visible’, etc. berThe prefix ber- derives a variety of verbs which invariably are intransitive, e.g., ber-ubah ‘change’ (base ubah ‘difference’), ber-henti ‘stop’ (base henti ‘stopping’), be-renang ‘swim’ (base renang ‘swim’), etc. With many nominal bases, ber- quite productively signifies a sense of having or wearing, e.g., ber-anak ‘have children’, ber-uang ‘have money, wealthy’, ber-sepatu ‘wear shoes’, etc. With other bases, a wide range of meanings can be identified, but the only thing the ber- verbs share in common is their intransitivity. meng2Other intransitive verbs are marked by the prefix meng2- instead of ber-. Meng2- displays the same morphophonemic alternations as the prefix meng1-. Whether a given base occurs with either meng2- or ber-, or indeed without any affix, is completely unpredictable (Sneddon 1996: 66). Why should it be that tidur ‘sleep’ is affixless while (me)ng-inap ‘stay overnight’ has meng2- and ber-baring ‘lie down’ has ber-? mem-perA large number of causative verbs are marked as such by mem-per-, which has been analyzed as a single causative prefix or as the combination of the transitive prefix meng1- and the prefix per-, sometimes by the same author in the same work. Macdonald (1976: 57–58), for example, talks about “the prefix memper- [which] is structurally the prefix [meng1-] plus the prefix per-.” Under a two-prefix analysis, mem-per- is morphophonemically unusual in that the per- initial voiceless stop [p] idiosyncratically is not deleted after meng1-, as discussed in section 3.4.2.1. The single-prefix analysis, on the other hand, cannot account for the fact that the passive of mem-per- verbs is di-per-, a fact which is completely predictable under the two-prefix analysis. As a causative marker, mem-per- is in competition with the suffix -kan, and there is much idiolectal variation between these two causative strategies. For instance, the base besar ‘big’ may be causativized as mem-perbesar ‘increase’ or as mem-besar-kan, or even as mem-per-besar-kan. Other

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examples include mem-per-kuat ‘make strong’ (base kuat ‘strong’), mem-perbudak ‘enslave’ (base budak ‘slave’), mem-per-kenal-kan ‘get to know’ (base kenal ‘know’),* etc. For some speakers, there may be a semantic difference between the -kan and the mem-per- forms of a base. For instance, Prentice (1987: 923) glosses mem-per-kecil, the mem-per- derivation for the base kecil ‘small’, as ‘belittle’ and meng-ecil-kan, the -kan derivation from the same base as ‘make smaller’; other speakers disagree, including Echols and Shadily (1989: 269), who gloss both forms as ‘make something small(er)’. 3.4.4.2.2. Noun-deriving affixes Ind. has several productive ways of deriving nouns. A common strategy for deriving abstract nouns from a wide variety of bases from different word classes is the circumfix ke- . . . -an, e.g., ke-pulau-an ‘archipelago’ from the noun pulau ‘island’, ke-satu-an ‘unity’ from the numeral satu ‘one’, ke-manis-an ‘sweetness’ from the adjective manis ‘sweet’, ke-datang-an ‘arrival’ from the verb datang ‘come’, ke-mau-an ‘desire’ from the auxiliary mau ‘want’, etc. The productive circumfix peng- . . . -an differs from ke- . . . -an in that it derives nouns from meng1- verbs, not directly from a base (Kridalaksana 1990: 72). The legal term pe-meriksa-an ‘investigation’ consequently derives from the verb me-meriksa ‘investigate’, which in turn has the base periksa ‘investigation’. The noun peng-harga-an ‘appreciation’ is ultimately based on harga ‘price’ and derived via a verb with the prefix meng1-, but, interestingly, for this base, a verb meng-harga does not exist; instead, pengharga-an derives from the suffixed verb meng-harga-i ‘appreciate, value something’. The circumfix per- . . . -an is related to ber- prefixed verbs. For example, the noun per-tanya-an derives from the base tanya ‘ask’ via the verb bertanya ‘ask’. This relationship to ber- verbs obtains at least theoretically (or, perhaps, historically) but may not correspond to the synchronic lexical inventory of the language. For instance, Kridalaksana (1990: 72) has pointed out that the presumed basis of the noun per-se-tuju-an 13 ‘treaty’ is a verb *ber-se-tuju, which, however, is “no longer customary” in the present language. Other nouns are created with the suffix -an; cf. makan-an ‘food’ (base makan ‘eat’), tulis-an ‘writing’ (base tulis ‘write’), manis-an ‘sweets’ (base manis ‘sweet’), jalan-an ‘pathway’ (base jalan ‘road’), etc. Together with a reduplicated base, the suffix -an often signifies a sense of variety, e.g., buah-buah-an ‘fruits’ (base buah ‘fruit’), daun-daun-an ‘foliage’ (base daun ‘leaf’), etc. In other cases, the combination of reduplication and the suffix -an yields nouns signifying a toy version of an object, e.g., mobil-mobil-an ‘toy car’ (base mobil ‘car’), kuda-kuda-an ‘toy horse’ (base kuda ‘horse’). Not 13. Although the ultimate base of per-se-tuju-an is tuju, this base presently exists only as a literary term which Echols and Shadily (1989: 589) gloss as a “k.o. bewitchment by pointing at the victim.” Se-tuju ‘agree’, on the other hand, is a very frequent word. For most speakers, se-tuju is therefore likely a monomorphemic word and the base for all further derivations.

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surprisingly, a word may be ambiguous between these two readings when used in isolation; for instance, buah-buah-an could refer to either a variety of fruit, as we just saw, or a set of decorative “toy” fruits made of wood or other materials. Agentive nouns are derived from verbs with the prefix peng-, which undergoes the prenasalization process described in section 3.4.2.1. Examples include pe-masak ‘cook’ (base masak ‘to cook’), pen-ulis ‘writer’ (base tulis ‘write’), and many more. As with the English agentive suffix -er, unpredictable meanings frequently result. For instance, a derived word with pengmay have an instrumental, rather than agentive, meaning, as in penyungkil ‘lever’ (base cungkil ‘lever’), or the meaning of the derived form may be completely idiosyncratic, as is the case with peny-akit ‘disease’ (base sakit ‘sick’), which cannot mean *‘sick person’. There are a number of noun-deriving affixes which are no longer productive. According to Kridalaksana (1990: 71), there is only one noun formed with the prefix per-, i.e., per-tapa ‘hermit’ (base tapa ‘asceticism’), and only three nouns formed with the prefix ke-, i.e., ke-tua ‘chairman’ (base tua ‘old’), ke-kasih ‘sweetheart’ (base kasih ‘affection’), and ke-hendak ‘wish, desire’ (base hendak ‘to wish’). 3.4.4.2.3. Adjective-deriving affixes Ind. adjectives form the equative with the prefix se-, e.g., se-pinter Ali ‘as smart as Ali’, se-banyak mau ‘as many as [you] want’, se-tipis mungkin ‘as thin as possible’, etc. While the comparative and superlative degrees can be formed with the free forms lebih ‘more’ and paling ‘most’, there is an alternative strategy for the superlative with the prefix ter-, e.g., ter-baik ‘the best’, ter-tinggi ‘highest’, but the ter- superlative is not possible with prefixed adjectives, accounting for the ungrammaticality of *ter-men-arik ‘most interesting’ (base tarik ‘pull’) or *ter-ber-hasil ‘most profitable’ (base hasil ‘profit, success’). Although standard Ind. lacks a morphological excessive degree, the Javanese circumfix ke- . . . -an is spreading into Ind. with this function. Therefore, we now have ke-tinggi-an ‘too high’, ke-kecil-an ‘too small’, etc. Since ke- . . . -an also functions as a noun-deriving suffix in Ind., doublets necessarily result. For example, ke-kecil-an also exists as the noun ‘smallness’, ke-tinggi-an as the noun ‘altitude’, etc. As discussed in section 3.2.2., the reduplication of a gradable adjective together with the circumfix se- . . . -nya productively yields an adjective with the meaning ‘as X as possible’, e.g., se-cepat-cepat-nya ‘as fast as possible’ (base cepat ‘fast’), se-putih-putih-nya ‘as white as possible’ (base putih ‘white’), se-kanan-kanan-nya ‘as far left-leaning (politically) as possible’ (base kanan ‘left’), etc. 3.4.4.2.4. Affixes with numerals and classifiers Numerals involving the notion ‘one’, including multiples of ten and fractions with the numerator one, may be expressed with the free numeral satu ‘one’ or its bound form se-. Thus ‘ten’ is se-puluh, ‘one hundred’ is seratus, ‘one thousand’ is se-ribu. Because Ind. counts the numbers between

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11 and 19 using the special base belas, ‘eleven’ is expressed as se-belas. The prefixed variant is obligatory at the lower end of the scale of numbers, especially in se-puluh ‘ten’ and se-belas ‘eleven’, which are very odd as ?satu puluh and ?satu belas, but the free form satu becomes increasingly acceptable and expected with higher numerals; therefore, ‘one thousand’ can be either se-ribu or satu ribu, ‘one million’ is either se-juta or satu juta, but ‘one billion’ is almost invariably satu milyar. There are no bound variants of numerals other than se- ‘one’. Either satu or se- also occurs with classifiers; cf. satu orang or se-orang ‘one person, a(n)’, satu biji or se-biji ‘one small (often round) object, a(n)’, etc. The suffix -an occurs with numerals indicating multiples of ten to express the meaning ‘many times X’, e.g., ratus-an ‘hundreds’, ribu-an ‘thousands, etc. With definite multiples of these numerals, the suffix -an signifies ‘about X’, e.g., tiga juta-an ‘about three million’, lima ratus-an ‘about five hundred’, etc. (Verhaar 1984: 18). Ordinal numbers are formed by prefixing ke- to the cardinal numeral; cf. ke-dua ‘second’, ke-tiga ‘third’, ke-empat ‘fourth’, etc. The only exception is the lowest ordinal, which uses the suppletive form pertama ‘first’, a Sanskrit borrowing, instead of the regular ke-satu. The ordinal pertama reduplicates in a formally irregular fashion as if it contained the prefix per- and a stem tama, yielding per-tama-tama ‘in the first place’ rather than *pertamapertama. Verhaar (1984: 18) attributes this to back-formation. The ke- strategy for deriving ordinal numerals can also be used with the appropriate question word to form (yang) ke-berapa 14 ‘the how many-eth’. To express fractions, the prefix per- is used; cf. dua per-empat ‘twofourths’, tiga per-empat ‘three-fourths’, etc. As noted above, the numeral one can be free or bound, so both se-per-empat ‘one-fourth’ and satu perempat occur. Division by two is expressed irregularly as se-tengah ‘half’, which historically means ‘one middle’, instead of the expected *per-dua. Numerals prefixed with ber- denote doing something ‘in a group of X’; cf. ber-dua ‘in a group of two’, ber-tiga ‘in a group of three’, etc. Of course, ber-satu ‘in a group of one’ is semantically anomalous, but the word exists in the meaning ‘united’. With reduplicated numerals referring to multiples of ten, the prefix berhas the same meaning as the same numerals suffixed by -an, signifying ‘many times X’, e.g., be-ratus-ratus ‘hundreds’, be-ribu-ribu ‘thousands, etc. This word formation type also occurs with weights and measures, as in berjam-jam ‘for hours’ (base jam ‘hour’). Finally, with low numerals (perhaps up to ‘five’), the prefix combination mem-per- signifies ‘dividing into’, e.g., mem-per-tiga ‘divide into three’. 4. Indonesian and the morphological typology of languages Comments are in order on the status of Ind. vis-à-vis traditional morphological typology. Fundamentally, it fits the isolating type more than any 14. The relative marker yang is syntactically optional with attributive adjectives and ordinal numerals.

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other since the majority of the words in any text, even more so in informal/spoken discourse than in formal/written texts, is invariant in shape and monomorphemic in structure. However, as we have seen in the course of this chapter, there is a considerable amount of bound morphology, and much of this works on an agglutinating basis. Most affixes attach to their base without triggering or undergoing any phonological alteration, as do the pronominal clitics, and reduplication is essentially the affixation of a copy of the stem which, once again, involves few if any phonological adjustments. As was noted above, one of the few apparent phonological adjustments that has been described in the literature, the selection of the so-called r-less allomorphs of the /r/-final prefixes ber-, ter- and per- (see Sneddon 1996: 8–9), actually reflects a general phonological constraint against gemination. The other such phonological adjustment, the so-called prenasalization found with the prefixes meng1-, meng2- and peng-, however, is a glaring exception to this overwhelmingly agglutinating nature of the bound morphology of Ind. Indeed, the coalescence of the prefix-final nasal and any stem-initial voiceless stop “obscures the boundary between the stem and the prefix, yielding a process of the type Sapir would characterize as fusional,” as Anderson (1985: 23) has rightly noted. Regarding the status of the language with respect to the traditional morphological typology, we must therefore conclude that Ind., like most languages, is of a split type. Though largely isolating, its bound morphology operates on an agglutinating pattern, with the exception of a single, if important, process. In this way, the data from Ind. reaffirm Anderson’s insight that with this typology “it is word formation processes, not languages, that can usefully be distinguished in type” (1985: 39).

References Adelaar, K. A. 1984 Some Proto-Malayic Affixes. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 140: 402–21. Anderson, Stephen R. 1985 Typological Distinctions in Word Formation. Pp. 3–56 in vol. 2 of Language Typology and Syntactic Description, ed. Timothy Shopen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Casparis, J. G. de 1997 Sanskrit Loan-Words in Indonesian. NUSA: Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages of Indonesia 41. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. Chung, Sandra 1976 On the Subject of Two Passives in Indonesian. Pp. 57–98 in Subject and Topic, ed. Charles Li. New York: Academic Press. Cumming, Susanna 1991 Functional Change: The Case of Malay Constituent Order. Berlin: de Gruyter.

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Dardjowidjojo, Soenjono 1978 Sentence Patterns of Indonesian. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Djajasudarma, T. Fatimah 1993 Semantik 2. Pemahaman Ilmu Makna. [Semantics 2: Understanding the Science of Meaning.] Bandung: Eresco. Echols, John M., and Hassan Shadily 1989 Kamus Indonesia-Inggris. [Indonesian-English Dictionary.] 3rd ed. by John U. Wolff, James T. Collins, and Hassan Shadily. Jakarta: Gramedia. Errington, J. Joseph 1998 Shifting Languages: Interaction and Identity in Javanese Indonesia. Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language 19. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kridalaksana, Harimurti 1990 Kelas Kata Dalam Bahasa Indonesia. [Word Classes in Indonesian.] Jakarta: Gramedia. Macdonald, R. Ross 1976 Indonesian Reference Grammar. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Moeliono, Anton M. 1993 The First Efforts to Promote and Develop Indonesian. Pp. 129–42 in The Earliest Stage of Language Planning: The ‘First Congress’ Phenomenon, ed. Joshua Fishman. Berlin: de Gruyter. Prentice, D. J. 1987 Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian). Pp. 913–35 in The World’s Major Languages, ed. Bernard Comrie. London: Croom-Helm. Purwo, Bambang Kaswanti 1988 The Categorical System in Contemporary Indonesian: Numerals. Pp. 65–93 in Towards a Description of Contemporary Indonesian: Preliminary Studies, Part III, ed. Bambang Kaswanti Purwo. NUSA: Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages of Indonesia 30. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. Sneddon, James Neil 1996 Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge. Verhaar, John W. M. 1984 Affixation in Contemporary Indonesian. Pp. 1–26 in Towards a Description of Contemporary Indonesian: Preliminary Studies, Part I, ed. Bambang Kaswanti Purwo. NUSA: Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages of Indonesia 18. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. Vries, J. W. de 1984 Adaptation of Polymorphemic Loanwords: The Case of Words Ending in -asi in Indonesian. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 140: 476–96. Wolff, John U. 1993 Why Roots Occur with the Affixes with Which They Occur: A Study of Tagalog and Indonesian Adjective Formations. Pp. 217–44 in Topics in Descriptive Austronesian Linguistics, ed. Ger P. Reesink. Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. Vakgroep Talen en Culturen van Zuidoost-Asië en Oceanië.

Chapter 44

Burushaski Morphology Gregory D. S. Anderson Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages

0. Introduction Burushaski is a language isolate spoken in the Northern Areas region of Pakistan, primarily in communities throughout Hunza, Nagar, and Yasin valleys. There are approximately 50,000–80,000 speakers of Burushaski. The Hunza and Nagar varieties are very similar; both differ in a number of ways from Yasin Burushaski (also known as Werchikwar). In the following sections we discuss Burushaski (henceforth Brsk.) nominal (section 1) and verbal (section 2) morphology, as well as some of the salient dialectal differences distinguishing Yasin Burushaski (YBrsk.) from Hunza Burushaski (HBrsk.)/Nagar Burushaski (NBrsk.) and the Hunza variety from the Nagar variety (section 3).

1. Nominal morphology 1.1. Person and class The most salient categorization of nouns in Brsk. is the four class or gender agreement groups, consisting of (i) human males (class i, or hm), (ii) human females (class ii or hf), (iii) non-human animates and some inanimates (class iii or x), and (iv) inanimates/other (class iv or y). Examples include hir ‘man’ (i), dasín ‘girl’ (ii), haƒúr ‘horse’ (iii) and ƒaténc≥ ‘sword’ (iv). This type of noun-class system is found in various other languages of the world, e.g., Mba (Niger-Kordofanian, esp. Ma, also Zande) or Khinalug (Northeast Caucasian, Daghestanian) (Corbett 1991: 185, 119). 1 The person (1, 2, 1pl., 2pl.) and class (i, ii, iii, iv) markers in Burushaski come in four metrical sets, only one of which is unstressed (1). The other three stressed allomorphic sets are distinguished by the grade of the vowel, high/short, mid/short, mid/long (2). Which class of inflections a given stem or stem + affix combination requires must be listed in the lexical entry of the stem. Note that all four different metrical agreement classes may be found with bound noun stems -´lcin ‘eye’ (stressed, type-Ai), -mé ‘tooth’ (unstressed, type-Aii), -:s ‘heart’ (type-B), -: s≥ ki ‘top of head’ (type-C) (Berger 1998: 44). 1. Mba (Niger-Kordofanian) pronouns: I = male human; II = female human; III = animals; IV = inanimates (Corbett 1991: 185). Khinalug agreement classes: I = male rational; II = female rational; III = animates, some inanimates; IV= residue (Corbett 1991: 119).

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(1) Person/Class Markersa Ai 1 á2 gú-/-kúi íii múiii íiv.sg/pl í1pl mí2pl mái/ii/iii.pl ú-

Aii aguimuiimimau-

B ágó-/-kóémóéémémáó-

C áagóo-/-kóoéemóoéeéeméemáaóo-

a. Berger 1998: 91.

(2) Pronominal/Class Markers Metrical Sets Ai Aii B C + + + stress + + high + long A large number of different plural suffixes are found in Brsk. (3). Some of these have limited distribution (e.g., -jo. -o˜o) while others are relatively common but restricted to nouns of a particular class (4). Note that the common plural suffix -o causes a palatalization of the preceding stem-final consonant, suggesting it comes from something like *-(y)o historically. (3) tin hal jíip ƒus gus

tin-jó hal-jó jíip-uc ƒus-o˜o gus-i˜anc

‘bone’ ‘fox’ ‘jeeps’ ‘earthen clumps’ ‘women’ (cf. NBrsk. gusíanc)

(4) -ti˜ (i/ii), -i˜ (iv) asaáto asaátu-ti˜ daraƒá daraƒá-ti˜ c≥onc≥ -ƒarum gírkis t}érkis≥ ƒurkun daman

‘weak(ling)’ ‘canal-guard’

(Berger 1998: 51–53)

(Berger 1998: 48)

c≥onc≥-i˜ -ƒarum-i˜ (~ ƒarim-i˜)

‘summit, peak’ ‘part’

girkic-o t}érkis-o ƒurkuy-o damay-o

‘rats’ ‘dirty’ ‘frogs’ (NB ƒurkuc > ƒurkuc-o) ‘owners’ (Berger 1998: 49–50)

(Berger 1998: 54)

Some nouns seem to have a lexicalized suffix in the singular, which occupies the same position as the plural marker, with which it alternates (5).

Burushaski Morphology (5) ƒat-enc≥ baki-nc≥ t@ri-s síndi-s≥ -u†is ‘foot’

ƒat-a˜ baki-e˜ t@ri-a˜ sínd-áanc -ú†i-˜

‘swords’ ‘razors’ ‘holes’ ‘geese’ ‘feet’

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(Berger 1998: 52)

Some Brsk. nouns may show variant plural forms even within the speech of one and the same speaker, with no apparent difference in meaning (6). (6) jo†is p}ut-e jó†-iso ~ p}ut-e jó†-umuc nana nána-caro ~ nán-ku raac≥i raac≥i-ku-yo ~ raac≥i-ku-yanc (Berger 1998: 46, 50–51)

‘the children of the phut’ ‘uncles’ ‘protective spirit’

The variant forms may be between a plural form and doubly-marked plural form (7). (7) lili

lili-mi˜~ lili-o-mici˜

‘violets’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970)

The plural article is -ik; it follows the plural suffix. The corresponding indefinite article used in the singular is -an (8). (8) balas-u-ik bird-pl-pl.art ‘some birds’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 38)

gus-i˜-enc-ik woman-pl-pl.art ‘some women’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 38)

baƒ´rk-iso hir-ik nasty-pl man-pl.art ‘nasty men’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 45)

harált-i˜-ik rain-pl-pl.art ‘(some) rain-showers’ (Berger 1998: 43)

gus-an woman-sg.art ‘a woman’

haƒur-an horse-sg.art ‘a horse’

hir-an man-sg.art ‘a man’

ƒatenc≥-an sword-sg.art ‘a sword’

Certain adjectives may show plural agreement with nouns in Brsk. (9). With many adjectives, nouns of one class take one plural suffix, while nouns of a different class take another plural suffix (10). (9)

burúm ‘white’ > -iso (iii.pl) q}u-s≥ ‘empty’ > q}uá-anc (iii.pl) (Berger 1998: 47)

(10) c}u c}o-o˜u-mi˜ asqur > asqur-i˜(-ci˜) k}ané-˜-ici˜ (NBrsk. k}ané-˜-ca˜) (Berger 1998: 43)

-í˜ (iv.pl) q}uá-a˜ (iv.pl)

‘ears (of corn), spikes’ ‘flowers’ ‘roasted grain/corn’

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1.2. Case marking One of the salient characteristics of Brsk. is its highly developed system of case. There are several different types of cases in Brsk., roughly, grammatical (motivated structurally, or by verbal argument subcategorization, e.g., erg, gen, dat [< all]), local-directional (loc, ines, superes, all[-ii], abl [< ad-abl], inabl, ill, superabl, superlat, ades, ades-ii, ad-lat, etc.), two types of instrumentals (the k-indstrumental and the a˜e-instrumental, the comitative (an original auxiliary noun construction, see also 1.3 below), and various lexicalized or lexically restricted local-directional and instrumental cases. In addition to these, a further range of local case categories can be formed by combining various case elements with so-called relational nouns discussed in section 1.3. Case forms in Brsk. nouns attach to the oblique stem, which for all classes but class ii nouns is identical to the unmarked stem; the oblique stem of class ii nouns is identical to the gen case (11). (11) nom/abs erg gen obl.stem dat abl class

‘man’ hir hir-e hir-e hirhir-ar hir-cum i

‘woman’ gus gus-e gus-mu gusmugusmo-r gusmucum ii

‘horse’ haƒur haƒur-e haƒur-e haƒurhaƒur-ar haƒurcum iii

‘sword’ ƒatenc≥ ƒatenc≥-e ƒatenc≥-e ƒatenc≥ƒatenc≥-ar ƒatenc≥-cum iv

The ergative case marks the subject (agent) of transitive verbs (12). (12) a. hilés-e dasín-mo-r toofá mu-ú-m-i boy-erg girl-obl-dat gift ii-give-ap-i ‘the boy gave the gift to the girl’ (Willson 1990: 5) b. ún-e iskí-ulum i-í-ar jame-e káa hunc y-u-úm-a ≥ you-erg three-ord i-son-dat bow-gen with arrow i-give-ap-2 ‘you gave his third son a bow and arrow’ (Tikkanen 1995: 488) c. girkic-u-we c}umar-i˜ se-c-iyen sen-a†e bac≥ik u-man-as-o t}am-o rat-pl-erg iron(-pl) eat-dur-pl say-superes believer i.pl-aux.itrinf-pl king-pl ‘if you tell kings that mice eat iron, they will believe it’ (Tiffou 1993: 33) d. hilés-e dasín-mo-cum toofá yán-im-i boy-erg girl-obl-abl gift take-ap-i ‘the boy took the gift from the girl’ e. dasen-e hir park-ule del-u girl-erg man park-loc hit-ii ‘the girl hit the man in the park’

(Willson 1990: 5)

(field notes; YBrsk. dialect)

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With the future (and sometimes the present), the nominative/absolutive case of the agent may be found instead of the ergative for some speakers in certain contexts—a so-called tense/aspect-based split-ergative system (cf. 13a vs. 13b–d). (13) a. ún-e in mu-cú-c-áa you-erg s/he ii-marry.dur-2 ‘you marry her’ (Tiffou and Morin 1982: 88)

b. un in mu-cú-c-um-a you s/he ii-marry.dur-2 ‘you will marry her’ (Tiffou and Morin 1982: 88)

c. un hurú-s-áa you sit.dur-2 ‘you sit’ (Tiffou and Morin 1982: 88)

d. in hurús-ubó s/he sit.dur-ii ‘she sits’ (Tiffou and Morin 1982: 88)

In conjoined sentences with a transitive and an intransitive predicate, the use or lack of the ergative case is dependent on whether the subject belongs structurally to the clause with the transitive verb or not (14). (14) a. in(-e) d-í-tal s≥ apík s≥ i-m-i s/he-(erg) d-i-wake.up bread eat-ap-i ‘having woken up, he ate the bread’ (Tikkanen 1995: 496) b. je jímale d-áa-n ún-e káa duró é-c-a-m I tomorrow d-1-cvb you-gen with work aux.tr-dur-1-st ‘I will come tomorrow and work with you’ (Tikkanen 1995: 507) c. ún-e jímale du-kóo-n já-a káa duró é-c-um-a-a you-erg tomorrow d-2-cvb I-gen with work aux.tr-dur-ap-2-q ‘Will you come tomorrow and work with me?’ (Tikkanen 1995: 507) d. in-(e) cái-ulo bayú n-ét-an-in min-ís≥ ay-ée-mai bá-i you-erg tea-(gen) inside salt cvb-do-cvb-cvb drink-opt/sup neg-i-be.able.dur aux-i ‘he can’t drink tea with salt’ (Tikkanen 1995: 514) The genitive case in Brsk. marks possessors (15). (15) a. sís-e ú-lci-muc-acum mat}án people-gen i.pl-eye-pl-abl far ‘far from the eyes of people’ (Berger 1998: 75)

b. c≥in-e multan gir-is≥ sparrow-gen blood dye-opt/sup ‘let it dye like sparrow’s blood’ (Tiffou 1993: 100)

The dative in Brsk. marks many of the same categories commonly associated with this case in the languages of the world. For example, it marks animate recipients, experiencer subjects of certain types, and sometimes motion towards an object as well (16; but see below).

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(16) a. jáa-r madat a-c}í I.obl-dat help 1-give ‘help me’ (Berger 1998: 69)

b. jáa-r á-s-um-a I. obl-dat 1-say.dur-2 ‘you will tell me’ (Berger 1998: 69)

c. jáa-r áa-r leel bilá d. mí-ma-r mée-r leél a-pím I-dat 1-dat known be.iv we-obl-dat 1pl-dat known neg-be.iv ‘this is known to me’ ‘we didn’t know that’ (Berger 1998: 69) (Berger 1998: 87) e. dasin-mo-r han gitaap-an awaaji bila girl-obl-dat one.iv book-sg.art need be.iv ‘the girl needs a book’ (Wilson 1990: 5) f. Húnzu-ar ni-a-m Hunza-dat/all go-1-ap ‘I went to Hunza’ (Berger 1998: 70)

g. je d-áa-y-a-m k}ól-ar I d-1-come-1-ap here-dat/all ‘I came here’ (Berger 1998: 70)

The ablative case marks direction away from (71a–b). It also marks the comparandum (i.e., the item to which comparison is made) in comparative constructions (17c). (17) a. chis≥ -cum chis≥ -car hal dél-j-ái mountain-abl mountain-all hop aux-dur-i ‘he hops from mountain to mountain’ (Berger 1998: 75) b. sís-e ú-lci-muc-acum mat}án people-gen -pl-abl far ‘far from the eyes of people’

(Berger 1998: 75)

c. jâ hághoor jâ á-choo-é hághoor-tsùm hùmalk-ùm-un bi I.gen horse I.gen 1-brother-gen horse-abl swift-adj-sg.art be.iii ‘my horse is swifter than my brother’s horse’ (Biddulph 1884: 22) Note that case forms come after the article suffixes and plural suffixes as well (18). (18) a. gus-an-mo woman-sg.art-gen ‘a woman’s’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 38) b. belis-an-cum sheep-sg.art-abl ‘from a sheep’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 38)

c. bilás-oo-cum witch-pl-abl ‘from the witches’ (Berger 1998: 61)

In addition to the above case forms in Brsk, there is an additional subsystem of case marking that can be called complex local case forms. These consist of three primary directional/locational elements (19), marking locative, ablative, and allative. (19) -e loc

-um abl

-ar all

(Berger 1998: 92)

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These combine with the following directional elements to form complex local case semantics. The directionals have relatively loose semantics, but the following seem to be typical: -ul- ‘in-’, -al- ‘ad-’, ‘near’, ‘at’, -a†- ‘super-’, (note also the form -c-, the unmarked element found in the ablative -cum (< *-c-um) -c-e, -c-ar with adessive and allative semantics). Note the combination -ul-e is preserved as such generally only in YBrsk. and lexicalized in adverbs like k}ole ‘here’; elsewhere it tends to be realized as -ulo (20). (20) a. men-an-mu-le who-sg.art-ii.obl-ades ‘at whose (fem.) place, near who’ (Berger 1998: 81)

b. Burúsaski-lo Brsk-ines ‘in Brsk.’ (Berger 1998: 73)

Examples of complex local case formations in Brsk. include the following: (21) a. k}óle di-mée-m-an here-loc d-1pl-ap-pl ‘we came here’ (Berger 1998: 70)

b. T}am-alar di-mée-n prince-all d-1pl-cvb ‘after we came to the prince’ (Berger 1998: 74)

c. han jakun-an dán-an-ce †ak maí bi one donkey-sg.art rock-sg.art-loc tie aux.itr-dur aux-iii ‘a donkey is tied to a rock’ (Berger 1998: 74) d. c≥hiw-ale huru† bird-pl-ades sit ‘sit by the birds’ (Berger 1998: 74)

e. saa-ce sun-subes/ades.b ‘in the sun’ (Berger 1998: 74)

f. yás-a†e < ya†is-a†e head-superes ‘on the head’ (Berger 1998: 60)

g. gus-mu-†e woman-ii.obl-superes ‘on the woman’ (Berger 1998: 60)

h. jakun un-ale bi-m donkey you-ades be-iii-ap ‘the donkey was near you’ (Tiffou 1993: 103)

i. e-s≥ -a†um i-neck-superabl ‘from on his neck’ (Tiffou 1993: 11)

j. dan-ce yam gu-u†is rock-loc.b strike 2-foot ‘that foot of yours which strikes a stone’ k. c}á-a†e oó-ru†-as huk post-superes neg-sit-inf dog ‘a dog which doesn’t sit at its post’

(Tiffou 1993: 16)

(Tiffou 1993: 16)

The complex local cases probably represent the historical fusing of original relational noun constructions (see below). Other, lexicalized local case forms may also found in modern Brsk, e.g., -ci ‘in(side)’ (22).

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(22) a. hála-ci b. -ltúmal-ci goal-ines.b ear-ines.b ‘in the goal’ ‘in/on the ear’ (Berger 1998: 62)

c. -q}á(t)-cí mouth-ines.b ‘in the mouth’

In addition to the simplex and complex local and grammatical cases, Brsk. has a number of case forms with instrumental semantics. Certain ones of these are restricted to limited subsets of lexemes (23). (23) a. uskó yá†-umuc-a˜e hin jinzaat-an three head-pl-instr.b one.i demon-sg.art ‘a three-headed demon’ (Berger 1998: 76) b. isé tol . . . matum ra˜-a˜e bi this.iii black color-instr.b be.iii ‘this snake is of a dark color’ (Berger 1998: 76) d. -me-ke ga†e. tooth-instr bite ‘bite with teeth’ (Berger 1998: 61)

c. day-o-k d-l stone-pl-instr hit ‘pelt with stones’ (Berger 1998: 61)

jamé-k d-l f. bow-instr hit ‘shoot with bow’ (Berger 1998: 61)

jamé-k-a†e bisábow-instr-superes throw ‘shoot with bow’ (Berger 1998: 61)

Note also jamé-e†e ‘with a bow’ (Berger 1998: 60) Note that various local cases can function as instrumentals of some type with certain nominals, e.g., -ce or -a†e (24). (24) a. má-ma-ce je jap a-yá-may-am y’all-rdpl-instr.c I leave neg-1-aux.itr.dur-1-ap ‘I won’t leave (it) with you’ (Berger 1998: 75) b. c}ap-ce ÎáuÎo meat-instr.c stew ‘stew with meat’ (Berger 1998: 75) c. ƒatenc≥-a†e ya†is carap é-e-c-i sword-instr.d head cut.off iii-aff-aux.tr-dur-i ‘he will cut its (cat’s) head off with a sword’ (Berger 1998: 72) d. hin-mu-ce Gulzaazí parí (mu-ík) bil-úm one-ii.obl-instr.b G fairy (ii-name) be.iv-ap ‘one was (named) Fairy Gulzaazi’ (Berger 1998: 75) The productive comitative-instrumental pattern is with a quasi-case or a relational noun construction in -e kaa (lit., -gen ‘with’) (25). (25) a. je jímale d-áa-n ún-e káa duró é-c-a-m I tomorrow d-1-cvb you-gen with work aux.tr-dur-1-st ‘I will come tomorrow and work with you’ (Tikkanen 1995: 507)

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b. ún-e jímale du-kóo-n já-a káa duró é-c-um-a-a you-erg tomorrow d-2-cvb I-gen with work aux.tr-dur-ap-2-q ‘Will you come tomorrow and work with me?’ (Tikkanen 1995: 507) 1.3. Relational nouns Like many languages of Inner Asia (e.g., Turkic, Mongol), Brsk. makes use of a complex system of relational nouns. These perform the same kind of function that local-directional postpositions do, but are of a formally different type. These are nouns that either appear in a bound form, or appear in an izafet construction, with the preceding noun in the genitive case. The relational nouns themselves may take primary local case endings to mark complex case semantics (26). (26) -yá(a)r(e) ‘in front of’ -yóon ‘over’

-yakal ‘in direction of’ -cía†e/-ar ‘behind, after’

-yánci ‘against’ (Berger 1998: 97)

a. s≥ en gu-lji wasi-a ke tilia˜-ar ƒas≥ ap e-c-i Shina 2-behind throw-dur-2 if saddle-dat steal aux.tr-dur-i ‘if you put a Shina behind you (on a horse), he’ll steal the saddle’ (Tiffou 1993: 72) b. hi˜-e ulo 2 ke sam-e hole door-gen inside and smoke.hole-gen outside-loc ‘in through the door, out through the smoke-hole’ (Tiffou 1993: 47) As mentioned above, the complex local cases often have clear connections with an auxiliary noun still active in the language; for example the superessive series of case forms (27). (27) ya†-e ‘above’ ya†-um ‘from above, over-’ ya†-ar ‘to above’ ya† ‘over, above’ (Berger 1998: 92) (dal) hol-e kaa†-e úl-o (yáar) (ílji) (q}a[†])

dal-um hol-um kaa†-um úl-um yár-um ílj-um q}a†-um

dálar (hol ne, hole) kaa†-ar (úlo) yar-ar (=NBsk.) ílji-n-ar q}a†-ar

cf. -a†e superes cf. -a†um superabl ‘super-’ cf. -a†ar superall

‘up’ ‘out’ ‘together, with’ ‘inside’ ‘before, earlier’ (yar ne = HBrsk.) ‘behind, after’ ‘under’ (Berger 1998: 93)

a-yaáre q}urk c}oo† a-ye 1-before-loc straw piling.up neg-aux.tr ‘don’t pile up straw in front of me’ (Tiffou 1993: 82) 2. It is quite likely that the locative relational noun construction in this form -e ulo is the historical antecedent of the locative case forms in YBrsk. and H/NBrsk.

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1.4. Nominal derivation While Brsk. lacks the rich derivational machinery characteristic of many Inner Asian languages (e.g., Turkic or Mongol), it nevertheless has several productive derivational affixes, as well as numerous lexical items and alternate forms which suggest that a number of such affixes were formerly used in the language, at one point perhaps productively. One lexicalized derivational process that was possibly active formerly in Brsk. is an alternation between the presence and lack of class marking as in the pairs in (28). The original semantics of such a process remain unclear. (28) a. ba† ‘skin’

-wᆠ‘body, person’

b. ba†oó ‘gizzard, stomach of birds’

cf. NBrsk. ba† ~ -wa† ‘skin’ -p}ᆠ‘bird innards’

c. buúri ‘summit, peak’

-úri ‘summit, peak’; ‘fingernail’

d. gus ‘woman’

-us ‘wife’

(Berger 1998: 45)

Like most languages of South Asia (and Inner Asia), Brsk. utilizes a system of expressive reduplication to create forms meaning ‘X and the like’, ‘X and such’ (29). This type of expressive formation may even be found with nominal forms of verbs. This usually consists of a copy of the word with a change to its initial sound, frequently replacing it with m- (29). 3 (29) a. c}ilmíl water-m-vc.rdpl ‘water and such’ (Berger 1998: 224)

b. c}armár mountain-m- vc.rdpl ‘mountains and the like’ (Berger 1998: 224)

c. tinjo-minjo bone-pl-m-vccv.rdpl ‘bones and such’ (Berger 1998: 224)

d. gúsan-músan woman-sg.art-m-vcvc.rdpl ‘such and such a woman’ (Berger 1998: 224)

e. hilésan-milésan boy-sg.art-m-vcvcvc.rdpl ‘such and such a boy’ (Berger 1998: 224)

f. dasín-masínan girl-m-vcvc.rdpl-sg.art ‘such and such a girl’ (Berger 1998: 224)

g. nésqaan-mésqaan cvb-i-kill-m-vccvvc.rdpl ‘after he was killed’ (Berger 1998: 224)

h. dukóon-mukóon d-2-cvb-m-vcvvc.rdpl ‘after you came’ (Berger 1998: 224)

3. Sometimes other initial consonants are encountered in these expressive formations with certain lexemes and more extensive restructurings are found, e.g., oksi-raksi, saldaqulda (Berger 1998: 224).

Burushaski Morphology i. mamú-samu milk-s-vcv.rdpl ‘milk and such’ (Berger 1998: 224)

1243

j. máari-caari tribute-c-vvcv.rdpl ‘tribute and the like’ (Berger 1998: 224)

k. kabáapan étimi, ékin-mékinan nuseninin kabap-sg.art do-ap-i liver-m-rdpl-sg.art cvb-eat-cvb-cvb-cvb ‘he made kabab(s), having eaten the liver (of the mountain goat)’ (Berger 1998: 223) Other expressive reduplications may be encountered in spontaneous discourse and narratives (30). (30) a. c}óraa c}or b. dálaa dal c. bírbir long.ago-aa-long.ago high-aa-high full-rdpl ‘long, long ago’ ‘higher and higher’ ‘full to the brim’ (Berger 1998: 224) (Berger 1998: 224) (Berger 1998: 223) A relatively restricted means of forming new nominals in Brsk. is through the use of compounding. In some instances, both elements of the compound are transparent, just their particular combination lexicalized (31a– b). In others, the first element is unknown (31c–d). (31) a. tik biranc≥ ‘strawberry’ (earth mulberry) (Berger 1998: 219)

b. harált c≥}in ‘small bird species’ (rain bird) (Berger 1998: 219)

c. báldan ‘whetstone’ (?? stone) (Berger 1998: 221)

d. báitin ‘collarbone’ (?? bone) (Berger 1998: 221)

One of the most common elements used to form new modifiers are the suffixes -um and -mo. In some forms, these are in free variation (32a), while in others, only one form may occur (32b–c). These attach to adverbs and nouns in various forms to create adjectives. The suffix -um is particularly common with the ines case, i.e., -ul-um (which contrasts in meaning with the homophonous inabl [32d–e]). Finally, new adverbial forms can be created from derived forms in -mo (32f–i). (32) a. c}or-mo ~ c}or-um long.ago-adj ‘early’ (Berger 1998: 207) b. yár-mu-cum before-adj-abl ‘from early on’ (Berger 1998: 207)

c. awál-mu-cum beginning-adj-abl ‘from the beginning’ (Berger 1998: 207)

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d. c}il tar-i˜-ulum du-úsi-lá water tube/pipe(-pl)-inabl d-come.out-dur-(aux)-iv ‘the water is coming out of the tube/pipe’ (Berger 1998: 208) e. tar-i˜-ul-um c}il tube/pipe(-pl)-ines-adj water ‘the water in the tube/pipe’

(Berger 1998: 208)

f. k}úultu-mo < k}úulto ‘today(‘s)’ (Berger 1998: 207)

g. doy≥pa-mo ‘(located on the) right side’ (Berger 1998: 95)

h. bái-mo ‘winter(y)’ (Berger 1998: 207)

i. hísan-mo ‘after one month’ (Berger 1998: 207)

A variety of other nominal formants may be found in various Brsk. lexemes. Some of these form nouns of a particular class (e.g., i/ii or iv) (33). (33) a. -kus≥ deA N or deN N i-wár-um-kus≥ bár-ci-kus≥ ‘his tiredness’ ‘obedience’ (Berger 1998: 203–4) b. -ki -:pi-ki ‘ancestral’

t}os≥ -(i)ki ‘new, fresh’

haláal-iki ‘allowed food’ (Berger 1998: 205)

d. -c Balóo-c ‘Balti’

Guíc ‘Wakhi’

s≥ éen-iski ‘Shina language’

har-ki ‘plough’

hir-íski gus-íski ‘man(‘s)-’ ‘woman(‘s)-’ mi-s-aski ‘our language = Brsk.’ (Tiffou 1993: 1)

Tarcé-c ‘Afghani person’

e. -kuin/ -gúin (pl -kuyo/-gúyo) (class i only) haƒúr-kuin na†-úskuin ‘horseman’ ‘dancer’ f. -kus bái ~ bái-kus ‘winter’

ju-ki ‘chain-’

q}aciki ‘opening’ < mouth-loc.2-nf

c. -(i/a)ski ‘(lg.) of X’, ‘like X’ Burus-aski Guíski/Guyúski ‘Brsk. language’ ‘Wakhi language’ jame-k-iski ≥ ‘w/ a bow-’ (Berger 1998: 205)

-ír-as-kus≥ ‘death’

(Berger 1998: 205–8)

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1245

g. -kuc Nagér-kuc ‘one from Nager’

Nazarali-kuc Hunzu-kuc ‘descendant of N. A.’ ‘one from Hunuzu’

h. k}u†-kus ‘small field’

dén-kus ‘-year old’

(Berger 1998: 206)

Other formants create adjectives (34) or adverbials (35). 4 (34) a. -kis≥ deN A bar-i˜-kis≥ q}urc-kis≥ ‘talkative’ ‘dusty’ (Berger 1998: 204) b. -kum, -iskum ú†-kum húk-iskum ‘camel-’ (adj.) ‘dog-’ (Berger 1998: 206) (35) a. daal-qis≥ ‘upwards’

yaar-qis≥ ‘forwards’

yáar-kum ‘from under’

-´ljiskum ‘from behind’

ilja-qis≥ ‘backwards’

(Berger 1998: 94)

b. hol ne / holpa q}a†pa ‘outwards’ ‘downwards’ (Berger 1998: 94–95)

c. hol-ele q}a†-éle ‘out there’ ‘under there’ (Berger 1998: 94)

d. gán-tali t}áp-tali ‘on the road’ ‘at night’ (Berger 1998: 95)

e. datú-ko4 datú-ki-mo datú-mo ‘fall-’ ‘fall-’ ‘fall-’ (Berger 1998: 207)

Various lexicalized affixes are found in certain common nouns, e.g., -us, -is, etc. (36). (36) daƒanus ‘pig’ (cf. daƒanum ‘fat’)

ƒusanus ya†-is ‘snake’ ‘head’ (cf. ƒusanum ‘long’)

-ú†-is ƒaríp-is ‘foot’ ‘poor devil’ (Berger 1998: 77)

Loaned affixes, particularly from Urdu, Shina, Khowar, or even Turkic are found in a restricted set of lexemes. (37) a. Îaámal-ci (< Turkic) ÎaÎa˜-ci ‘kettle-drummer’ ‘big-drummer’

(Berger 1998: 209)

b. burúm-o (< Shina) ‘albino’

háhak-o ‘stutterer’

buso ‘cat-eyed’

c. bót-o bót-i (< Urdu) ‘really ugly’

sugúl-o/-i ‘friend’ (Berger 1998: 210)

(Berger 1998: 209)

Other formants are found in various Brsk. lexemes as well, e.g., -ei or -aar: sugúl-éi ‘friendship’, garum-éi ‘warmth’; ƒames-aár ‘wealth, riches’ (Berger 1998: 211). 4. Note also Giy≥a-ko ‘Kashmir’.

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Note that for certain pronominals there are actually two different oblique stems in Brsk., one used with the dative and the comitative/instrumental forms, the other with the ergative, inessive/adessive, and ablative cases. The declension of the pronouns is as follows: (38) abs erg/gen loc abla

1 je ja-a jaa-le jaa-cum

2 un/u˜ (NBrsk. um) un-e mí-ma-le mí-ma-cum

1pl mi mí-i (~ mé-e) má-ma-le má-ma-cum

2pl ma má-ma

com/ins dat

1 áa=káa áar

2 góo=káa góor

1pl míi=kaa méer

2pl máa=kaa máar

abs erg gen abl

i/iii(iv) in(e) in-é iné-e ine-cum

ii in(e) in-é inémo ine-mu-cum

i/ii/iii.pl ué u-é ué-e ue-cum

com/ins dat

i/iii(iv) ée=káa éer

ii móo=káa móor

i/ii/iii.pl óo=káa óor (Berger 1998: 79–80)

(39)

a. Note Aliabad Hunza míi-cum, -máacum.

Proximal and distal demonstrative show forms for all four noun classes in both the singular and the plural (40). (40) Proximal demonstrative i ii iii absa k}in(é) k}in(é) gusé gen k}in-e k}ine-mo k}u-e Distal demonstrative i ii abs in(é) in(é) gen in-e ine-mo

iii isé, es

e.g., k}in hin jaa o-os b-o this.ii one.ii I.gen 1-wife be-ii ‘this one is my wife’

iv guté k}u-e

i.pl ii.pl iii.pl k}u(e) k}u(e) guce

iv ité, et

i.pl u(e) u-e

ii.pl u(e) u-e

iv.pl guke

iii.pl iv.pl ice, ec ike, ek

ja k}ine e-ei I-gen this.i 1-son ‘this son of mine’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 52)

a. NBrsk. has khos(é), khot(é), khóc(e), khok(e) variants for the proximal absolutive forms.

Adjectives in Brsk. may show number agreement (41a). As mentioned above (1.2), in comparative constructions the comparandum (i.e., the item to which comparison is made) is in the ablative case (41b). A superlative form can be formed by a use of the adjective preceded by uyoncum, the abl

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of the pronoun ‘all’ (41c). Full reduplication may also be found to express an augmentative degree (41d). (41) a. jot-iso c≥is≥ -ko b. u˜-cum je kam a-p-a small-pl mountain-pl you-abl I small neg-be-1 ‘small hills, mountains’ ‘I am not smaller/less than you’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 44) c. uyon-cum sua haƒur d. mari˜ mari˜ all-abl good horse redpl beautiful ‘the best horse (of all)’ ‘very beautiful’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 46) 2. Verbal morphology There are two basic aspectual series (or screeves 5) of finite indicative verbal forms in Brsk, the past/perfective and non-past/durative. Each of these screeves consists of a set of tense forms, both of which consist of simplex forms and forms consisting of a lexical verb in combination with an auxiliary verb. The maximal template of the Brsk. simplex verb is given by Tikkanen (1995: 91) as follow: neg-d-person-caus-÷-pl.subj-dur-1sg.subj-st-opt/cond/aux-subj.sfx-q A stem (÷) is optionally preceded by at most four prefixes, the negative (position-class -4), the mostly lexicalized prefix or preverb d- (-3), various pronominal subject/object markers (-2), and the causative/benefactive (-1). The stem (0) is followed by: the optional plural/distributed action marker (+1); the durative/non-past marker (+2); the first singular subject marker (+3); the aorist participle form, the infinitive, the optative, conditional, (+4); followed by subject suffixes (also the imperative markers and fused auxiliary forms) (+5); and finally, the interrogative (+6). 6 A relatively expanded form of this template represented in a single word may be seen in (42). Note that positions +3 and +5 are mutually exclusive and hence all the slots cannot be filled in a single word. (42) a-tí-mi-s-man-u-w-á-i-a neg-d-1pl-caus-become-ap-cnctv-aux-i-q (-4-3-2-1-0+4a+5[=0]+5+6) ‘Has he not given birth to us?’ (Tikkanen 1995: 491)

a-tú-ku-man-um-a neg-d-2-be.born-ap-2 (-4-3-2-4-0+4+5) ‘you weren’t born’ (Berger 1998: 91)

5. The term screeve—borrowed from the Georgian linguistic tradition (cf. Aronson 1982)—is used to describe sets of related tense-aspect sets. As Brsk. indicative finite verb forms seem to fall into two basic sets of forms, the term seems appropriate in this context. 6. Berger (1998: 103) gives the following template: -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 neg-d//abs-P//C-s.caus-÷-ya.pl.act.-npst-V/a.1-m.prtcpl//n.abs//(á)as.inf//s≥ .nom/mod// áa.opt-P//imp//aux

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2.1. Negative The negative occupies position -4 in the Brsk. verb template, that is, the outermost prefixal position (43). The negative is marked either by the prefix a- (HBrsk., YBrsk.) or the pro-clitic óo= (NBrsk.). The prefix causes devoicing (and deaspiration) of a following voiced (or aspirated) obstruent, and a stress shift to the syllable immediately following the negative prefix, while the clitic does not trigger these. (43) a. oó-minimi neg-drink-ap-i ‘he didn’t drink (it)’ (Berger 1998: 106)

b. oó-man-um-an neg.pl-become-ap-pl ‘they didn’t become’ (Berger 1998: 106)

c. a-túru-m-i neg-work-ap-i ‘he didn’t work’ (Berger 1998: 105)

vs.

d. duróo-m-i work-ap-i ‘he worked’ (Berger 1998: 105)

e. a-mí-kac-ic-a-i neg-1pl-enclose-dur-aux-i ‘he doesn’t enclose us’ (Berger 1998: 105)

vs.

f. mi-k}ác-ic-a-i 1pl-enclose-dur-aux-i ‘he encloses us’ (Berger 1998: 105)

g. a-tu-ququ-m-i neg-d-be.confused-ap-i ‘he was not confused’ (Berger 1998: 105)

vs.

h. du-q}óqu-m-i d-be.confused-ap-i ‘he was confused’ (Berger 1998: 105)

i. a-kírat < girát neg-dance ‘not dance’ (Berger 1998: 106)

j. a-pál-im-i < balími neg-fall-ap-i ‘he didn’t fall’ (Berger 1998: 106)

k. a-c≥ú-c≥-á-i < j ≥uc≥ái neg-come-dur-aux-i ‘he isn’t coming’ (Berger 1998: 106)

l. a-k}én < hén neg-know ‘not know’ (Berger 1998: 106)

With a few stems, the negative effects a loss of an initial h- with a consequent vowel coalesence (44). (44) huru† § oóru† hulja § oólja (Berger 1998: 107)

her § óoar

cf.

hí § oóhi

2.2. The d-prefix One of the noteworthy complexities of Brsk. morphology is the prefix d-, which appears with an epenthetic, harmonically conditioned vowel. The d-prefix or preverb is a lexicalized, often discontinuous, part of the stem’s lexical entry. It occupies position -3 in the Brsk. verb template. In a small number of cases, there are minimal pairs of verbs, one of which either lacks the d-prefix while the other has it or has a non-alternating prefix without person or class markers, while the other has an alternating prefix and per-

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son/class markers. The semantics of the d-prefix in these pairs range from a clear cislocative meaning, to vaguely (de-)transitivizing functions, to actor/subject focus (Bashir 1985), to various indiosyncratic, sometimes opaque semantic nuances. Verbs with the d-prefix can be both transitive and intransitive (45). (45) a. di-yaray≥ ‘be hot’

d-´yuray≥ ‘make hot’

b. -·r > d-·r ‘send’, ‘send here’ c. -·squl ‘roast’

d-:s-karay≥ ‘heat’ (Berger 1998: 107) (Berger 1998: 110)

d-·squl ‘roast (veggies, onions)’

d. di-s-íl (~ di-íl) ‘become wet’

(Berger 1998: 110)

du-s-úlja (~ d-úlja) ‘satisfy, sate’ (Berger 1998: 109)

Note also the following sets of transitive forms that have a lexicalized dprefix, but which preserve a semi-grammatical distribution of class markers with respect to the number of the object (46). 7 (46) a. dél dól ‘hit.sg’ ‘hit.pl’ = d-é-l = d-ó-l (Berger 1998: 108) c. dinser-uss ‘to open.sg’

doonser-us ‘to open.pl’

b. dit-th-uss doot-th-uss ‘to bring.sg’ ‘to bring.pl’ (-uss = inf) (Biddulph 1884: 18) (Biddulph 1884: 18)

The verb ‘come’ has a large number of forms that consist of a zero-stem allomorph with a d-prefix (47). (47) 1 2 i ii iii iv

Past sg pl dáayam diméeman dukóoma damáaman díimi dúuman dumóomo dúuman díimi dúumie(n); dúumio díimi díimi (Berger 1998: 149)

Negative Past sg atáayam atúkuma atíimi atúmumo atíimi atíimi

pl atímiman atúmaman atúuman atúuman atúumie(n) atíimi

7. This internal marking is only partly lexicalized. It is found only with class i/iii (and perhaps iv) and plural as well. With 1/2 or class ii objects, the singular form is found to which the person/class prefixes are attached. In other words, the order is normal for class i/iii and plural (d-e-l and d-o-l, respectively) with root -l in position 0, the agreement marker in position -2 and the d-prefix in position -3. However, with other objects (ii, 1, 2), the entire sequence del is treated as the stem in position 0 to which the agreement prefixes attach in position -2. Thus, we find mu-del (ii-hit), gu-del (2-hit) not **du-mu-l or **du-ku-l, etc., as might be expected based on such forms as du-ku-man-um-a ‘you were born’ or du-mu-man-um-o ‘she was born’. Therefore, these types of verbs form a separate subset of partly internally and partly externally marked stems.

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1 2 i ii iii iv

Gregory D. S. Anderson Perfect sg pl dáaya báa dimée báan dukóowáa damáa báan díi bái dúuwáan dumóo bo dúuwáan díi bi dúu bié(n); dúu bío (NBrsk.) díi bilá díi bicá(n) (Berger 1998: 151)

As alluded to above, the d-prefix triggers devoicing of a following obstruent (48). (48)

du-kóo-n d-2-cvb ‘you having come’

(Berger 1998: 134)

The n-prefix form of the converb (as in n(u)-del-in; see 2.10 below) occupies the same position on the verb template as the d-prefix, so these are mutually exclusive, e.g., du-kóo-n (d-2-cvb) ‘you having come’ (Berger 1998: 134), not **nu-du-kóo-n or **du-nu-kóo-n 2.3. Referent categories (person, number, and class) In position -2 of the Brsk. verb template, appears person/number/class prefixes (49). These are the same prefixes as are used with nouns (see 1.1 above; see also 2.14 below). (49) 1 2

i ii iii iv.sg/pl 1pl 2pl i/ii/iii.pl

Ai ágú-/-kúímúíímímáú-

Aii aguimuiimimau-

B C ááagó-/-kógóo-/-kóoééemómóoééeééeméméemámáaóóo(Berger 1998: 90)

Position class -2 prefixes mark the person/number/class categories of a verbal actant, argument, or referent high in discourse salience, including agents, patients, subjects, objects, possessors, causees, and beneficiaries (Anderson and Eggert 2001; cf. Anderson 1997b). For transitive verbs, the prefixes generally index the object (direct, indirect/primary, or even beneficiary/causee, depending on the particular stem). Subject marking is found with various intransitive verbs (see below), as well as some experiencer subjects of semantically transitive verbs like ‘hear’, and optionally under the conditions of subject-affective agreement (Bashir 1985). Note that one and the same verb stem may show more than one type of agreement pattern

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1251

with regard to the element indexed by the person/number/class prefixes, e.g., both “subject-affective” and “object-affective” agreement; see (50f–g). Also, class iv nouns do not show prefixal agreement. (50) a. hilés-e dasín mu-yeéc-im-i boy-erg girl ii-see-ap-i ‘the boy saw the girl’ (Willson 1990: 4)

b. mo ja a-p}ús-u she I 1-tie.up-ii ‘she tied me up’ (Berger 1974: 49)

c. jaa u dáfa ó-t-a-m I.erg they drive.out pl-aux.tr-1-ap ‘I drove them out’ (Willson 1990: 46) d. hilés-e dasín taswíir móo-ltir-im-i boy-erg girl picture ii-show-ap-i ‘the boy showed the girl the picture’ e. q}us goo-c-ila cough 2-aux.tr-iv ‘you have a cough, are coughing’

(Willson 1990: 6)

(Bashir 1985: 17)

f. til áa-la bá-ya-m forget.. 1-..forget aux-1-ap ‘I forgot’ (Berger 1998: 121) g. áa-lji du-kóo-s≥ q´lc-um-a 1-behind d-2-overtake.dur-ap-2 ‘you will overtake me’ (Bashir 1985: 15) h. d-ée-s≥ q√l-car √siír m√n-um-o d-i-overtake-all.2 near aux.intr-ap-ii ‘she came near to overtaking him’ (Bashir 1985: 15) i. baldá pus-ím-i load tie.up-ap-i ‘he tied up the load’ (Berger 1998: 118)

j. hir i-p}ús-im-i man i-tie.up-ap-i ‘he tied up the man’

A range of Brsk. verb stems obligatorily double-mark the person/class of the subject through the use of the class-marker prefixes and the subject suffixes (51). According to Tikkanen (1995: 492), some volitional and most non-volitional (non-active) intransitive verbs show this pattern, e.g., man ‘become, (volitional)’ -mán ‘(non-volitional)’. As with the forms in (50h–j) above, class iv nouns do not trigger prefixal agreement. The doubly marked subject construction occurs when the subject is not in “control” of the action described by the verb. The inanimate (or inactive) class iv nouns are canonically never in “control” of the action, and thus this lack of double-marking is to be expected (52). 8 8. That class iii inanimates trigger this double-marking suggests that the distribution is now grammatical or morpholexical rather than semantic in nature in present-day Brsk.

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(51) a. ƒurc-ím-i sink-ap-i ‘he dove under’ c. ha ƒulú-m-i house burn-ap-iv ‘the house burned’ (Berger 1998: 118) (52) 9 dasín háa-le huru†-um-o girl house-ades sit-ii ‘the girl sat in the house’ (Willson 1990: 4)

b. i-ƒúrc-im-i i-sink-ap-i ‘he sank’ d. hun i-ƒúl-im-i wood iii-burn-ap-iii ‘the wood burned’ vs.

dasín háa-le mó-yen-um-o girl house-ades ii-sleep-ap-ii ‘the girl slept in the house’ (Willson 1990: 4)

Double-marking of subject is also obligatory in most verb forms marked with auxiliary verbs in Brsk, at least with personal (1/2 ±pl.) or class ii subjects (53). 10 (53) a. dasín redyo du-mó-yel-umo girl radio d-ii-hear-ii ‘the girl heard the radio’ (Wilson 1990: 5)

b. dasín háa-le mó-yen-um-o girl house-ades ii-sleep-past-ii ‘the girl slept in the house’ (Wilson 1990: 4)

c. haa-la gic≥-um ƒaré-ya nu-mú-del mó-sqan-u house-all enter.dur-ap as.soon.as ger-ii-sg.hit ii-kill-ii ‘as soon as (she) came into the house, she struck her dead’ (Berger 1974: 116) As alluded to above, Brsk. speakers also use possessor-raising constructions (Anderson 1995, 1997), where the person of a possessor of a bound noun is marked as the verb’s argument, rather than the logical semantic argument itself. With transitive verbs, these additionally require the causative/benefactive/affective marker, or at least take series-C inflections, the series used with *-a- causative stems (54). (54) a. jâ ai-yetis á-khol-j-ibi I-gen 1-head 1-ache-.dur-iv ‘my head aches’ (Biddulph 1884: 4) b. k}ak}áay-umuc p}as≥ mée-t-aa walnut-pl gobble.up 1pl-aux-2 ‘you gobbled up our walnuts’ (Berger 1998: 162) 9. The nature of inflection in Brsk. auxiliary verb constructions follows several complicated patterns, some of which have been synchronically univerbated into massive, multiply marked complexes. For more on doubled and split marking in Brsk. auxiliary verb constructions and typologically related phenomena, see Anderson 2006. 10. A small number of stems show unusual stem allomorphy in the prefixed (person/ class-marked) forms, e.g., huru† > -:uru†; hákin ‘learn’ > -:ikin (NBrsk. -ik}in) (Berger 1998: 115).

Burushaski Morphology c. gu-yetis nu-koo-sk@rc 2-head cv-2-cut ‘cutting off your head’

1253

(Lorimer 1935: 231; Anderson 1995: 7)

d. hiles-e dasin-mo mo-mis≥ moo-skarc-im-i boy-erg girl-gen ii-finger ii-cut-ap-i ‘the boy cut off the girl’s finger’ (Wilson 1990: 8) 2.4. Causative/benefactive/affective Related to the phenomenon immediately above, position -1 in the Brsk. verbal template is occupied by the causative/benefactive/affective (or “applicative”) affix. This comes in several different allomorphs, primarily -as, -s-, -a-, and -: (lengthening of the preceding vowel). This is found in a variety of derived transitive stems, marking causee, beneficiary, affected possessor of the logical object (or less commonly subject), etc. (55) a. a-yó-o-c-i neg-pl-caus-do.dur-i ‘he will not make them do (it)’ (Wilson 1990: 34)

b. jaa in é-s-k}ar-a-m I.erg s/he i-caus-late-1-ap ‘I made him late’

c. hiles-e dasin-mo mo-mis≥ moo-skarc-im-i boy-erg girl-gen ii-finger ii-cut-ap-i ‘the boy cut off the girl’s finger’ (Wilson 1990: 5) (56) é-e-gus≥ kin-im-i i-caus-provoke-ap-i ‘he made him provoke/ instigate’ (Berger 1998: 116)

é-gus≥ kin-im-i i-pronoke-ap-i ‘he instigated, provoked’

gus≥ úgin-im-i deliberate-ap-i ‘he deliberated’

According to Bashir (1985: 9), the a-causative is used with active transitives to form transitive-causative and transitive-benefactive stems. With intransitve stems, all the s-causative forms in Brsk. isolated from Lorimer’s lexical materials are used with verbs belonging to the “non-active” class (non-controlled motion, statives, inchoatives, etc.). Thus causative stems appear to make reference to an “active” or “non-active” categorization of the verbal semantics, and this parameter determines the selection of the two causative morphemes in HBrsk., unlike in YBrsk., where the crucial criterion governing the selection of one causative morpheme over the other, according to Berger (1974: 29), is the presence or absence of a d- prefix (with a few lexical exceptions). 11 2.5. Verb stem The verb stem occupies position class 0 in the verb template. It may be a bare root, or may be morphologically complex. The range of affixes within 11. She does note, however (1985: 9), that certain non-active intransitives form their causative with the a-causative as well.

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the verb stem template include lexicalized prefixes from positions -3 and -2, causative/benefactive (or affective) prefixes in position -1, the plural action marker in position +1, etc. Position classes -3 through +1 thus constitute the verb theme, to which non-finite, tense/aspect, and subject suffixes, and the negative prefix/proclitic and the interrogative suffix/enclitic attach to form the maximal verb word. Some transitive verb stems subcategorize for an object of a particular noun-class. Thus for example, the verb meaning ‘give’ has several different stems, depending on what the class (or class/number) of the thing given is; the formal object agreement in position -2, as in many languages of the world, is with the animate recipient. Thus, if the object given is class iv.sg, the stem is c}í-; if the object is iv.pl, the stem is ƒun-; while if the object is animate (i.e., belongs to class i, ii,or iii), the stem is ú- (Berger 1998: 121). Note that the different stems must each be used in conjunctive (or disjunctive) constructions: (57) YBrsk. báp-a séni: hek hazáran rupayá go-ƒóy-am, gusé ja-ƒa a-ú, séni old.man-dat say-i one.pl thousand rupee 2-give.dur-1 this.iii I-dat 1give say-i ‘he said to the old man: I will give you 1000 rupees, give it to me’ (Berger 1974: 120) Note H/NBrsk. ƒun- (dur ƒuy-) is ƒon/y—in YBrsk. Note the following pairs of related stems. As mentioned above, in each instance there appears to be a frozen plural marker found within the stem: dit-thuss ‘bring (one)’ vs. doot-thuss ‘bring (many)’; dinseruss ‘open (one)’ vs. doonserus ‘open (many)’; dellus ‘hit (one)’ vs. dôluss ‘hit (many)’; also yétsuss ‘see (one)’ vs. yotsuss ‘see (many)’ (Biddulph 1884: 18). There are a small number of transitive stems in Brsk. which appear to bear some derivational relationship among themselves, where the primary formations are consonant alternation and presence/lack of class marking. Note that these include both alternations within a single stem (morphophonologically conditioned allomorphs) (58a) and stems subcategorized for objects of various individual classes (58b). (58) a. gisá- > -yási ‘weave’ gámi- > -yámi ‘pay’ bisa > -wási ‘throw’ bel- > -yóol ‘put on’ báalt- > -yáalt ‘wash’ hén > -yeén ‘know’ gukór > -k}ókur- (cf. NBrsk. k}uk}ór- ) ‘scrape off’ (Berger 1998: 113) b. gán-im-i take-ap-i ‘he took it/them (iv)’ bal-ím-i fall-ap-iv ‘it (iv) fell’

u-yán-im-i pl-take-ap-i ‘he took them (i, ii, iii)’ (Berger 1998: 115) i-wál-im-i i/iii-fall-ap-i/iii ‘he (i), it (iii) fell’

(Berger 1998: 115)

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2.6. plural action § plural subject/distributive The plural/distributive action marker appears in position class +1. This marks action performed by or simultaneously distributed among a number of actors/subjects. This is used relatively infrequently. Formerly it may have been something like *-ya-, synchronically realized in a number of different ways, frequently as palatalization of the stem-final consonant (59). (59) di-p}írc-a (< c-) giráca hurúca- ƒasád-uprooted/exterminated-pl.act dance-pl.act sit-pl.act laugh-pl.act ‘be uprooted, exterminated’ ‘dance’ ‘sit’ ‘laugh’ (Berger 1998: 129) 2.7. Durative/non-past The marker of durative/non-past in the Brsk. verb is found in position +2. It comes in a number of different allomorphs which undoubtedly stand in some historical relationship with each other, the specifics of which have yet to be understood. It seems that the original element may have been *-y- or some palatalizing element. Depending on the formal stem-type, the durative marker may appear as -c-, j-, -ic, -c≥, etc (60). Certain stem-final consonants undergo mutation or softening/palatalization. Thus, one finds such alternations as -t/-k ~ -s, -†- ~ -c≥, -n ~ -y (< *-ñ). (60) hér-c ‘cry’

daƒa-c ‘hide’

-was-c- d-yal-j ‘throw’ ‘hear’

girat > girasƒark > ƒars ‘dance’ ‘plough’ (Berger 1998: 130–31)

ga†-íc ‘bite’

gíy ≥ > gic≥≥ ‘enter’

huru† > hurus ‘sit’

(b)-uc≥ ‘dry’

juc≥≥ ‘come’

hakin > hakii bai ‘he is learning’

The tense-aspect sets belonging to the durative/non-past screeve are formed on the basis of the durative marked stem. The forms of the durative/non-past screeve include the present, future, and imperfect (61). (61) a. iné hir há-ale hurú-s-á-i dáa ín-e s≥ apík s≥ i-c≥-á-i that man house-loc sit-dur-aux-i and he-erg bread eat-dur-aux-i ‘the man sits in the house and eats bread’ (Tikkanen 1995: 489) b. iné gus ha-ale hurú-s-u b-o dáa híre mu-yeés-á-i that woman house-loc sit-dur-ii aux-ii and man-erg ii-see-duraux-i ‘the woman sits in the house and the man sees her’ (Tikkanen 1995: 489) c. ún-e in mu-cú-c-áa you-erg s/he ii-marry.dur-2 ‘you marry her’

d. un in mu-cúc-um-a 12 you s/he ii-marry.dur-2 ‘you will marry her’

12. The nominative in the future alternates with the ergative, so the system is not as neat as Tiffou and Morin believe.

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e. un hurús-áa you sit.dur-2 ‘you sit’ (Tiffou and Morin 1982: 88)

f. in hurús-ubó s/he sit.dur-ii ‘she sits’

2.8. First-singular subject The first-singular subject marker -a-/-aa-/-ya- occupies postion class +3 in the Brsk. verb template. It appears in finite and non-finite forms alike, preceding the aorist participle (62). (62) a. k}ay≥-ulo d-á-may-a bá-a riverbank-ines d-1-be.born.dur-1 aux-1 ‘I want to/will be born on the riverbank’

(Berger 1998: 159)

b. muúto je k}iné s≥ i-c≥-a-m now I this eat-dur-1-ap ‘I want to eat this now’ (Berger 1998: 160) First-person-singular subject forms generally appear with a subject marker before the aorist participle. This even occasionally applies to perfect forms consisting of the aorist participle and an inflected auxiliary (63). (63) báalt-a-m wash-1-ap ‘I washed’ je á-yan-um or I 1-sleep-ap ‘I fell asleep’

ga†-áa-m bite-1-ap ‘I bit’

guc}á-ya-m lie.down-1-ap ‘I lay down’ (Berger 1998: 132)

je á-yan-a-m bá-ya-m I 1-sleep-1-ap aux-1-ap (Berger 1998: 133)

2.9. Positon +4: Participle, converb, infinitive, optative/supine Position +4 in the Brsk. verb has the most occupants. These are predominantly (originally) non-finite markers, some having developed into modal uses. The affixes found in this position include the (aorist) participle in -m-, found in most finite verbs and in non-finite/subordinate/relative-type clauses. This position also includes the optative/supine, the conditional, the infinitive, and the suffixal part of the converb circumfix n-. . .-n (the prefixal part co-occupying position -3 with the d-prefix). The aorist participle in Brsk. appears in all the finite verb forms except the relatively infrequent Konativ (past/perfective screeve) and the present (non-past/durative screeve). It appears as -m, often with an epenthetic vowel -u- or -i- (the latter preceding -i in the following syllable). It may be found in modificational functions as well as the finite verbal functions mentioned above. In the former function it nevertheless retains its internal morphosyntax, e.g., subject/object marking in position-class -2, ergative case assigned to a transitive subject, etc. In addition to the aorist participle in -m, position +4 is also occupied by the optative/supine in -is≥ and the infinitive in -as. The optative/supine has a range of functions, primarily modal, less frequently the formation of certain kinds of subordinate

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clauses. The infintive functions both as an infinitive and as a subordinate clause predicate. The conditional—historically a complex of forms—synchronically occupies position +4 as well. For more on the functions of these elements, see 2.13 below. (64) a. mi-i-mo mi-u kas ó-t-is≥ a-méi-maiy-an we-gen-emph.poss.adj 1pl-son kill i.pl-aux-opt/sup neg-1plcap.dur-pl ‘we won’t be able to kill our own sons’ (Klimov and Edel’man 1970: 34) b. q}udáay-e ún-ar gó-or sikáar manzúur ét-is≥ God-erg you-dat 2.obl-dat hunt grant aux.tr-opt/sup ‘may God grant/provide you (with) a (lucky/successful) hunt’ (Berger 1998: 87) c. mi-man-s≥ -an 1pl-become-opt/sup-1pl ‘would that we become’ (Berger 1998: 135)

d. a-tí-mi-s-man-as-ar neg-d-1pl-caus-become-inf-dat ‘(upon) not giving birth to us’ (Tikkanen 1995: 491)

e. hir-an i-man-s≥ ke ƒatenc≥-a†e y-á†is caráp e-éc-i man-sg.art i-become-opt/sup subord sword-ins.c i-head slice.off i-aff.tr.aux.dur-i ‘would that he become a man, so that we may cut his head off with a sword’ (Berger 1998: 163) f. a-mé b-icance phi†i a-t-áa-ƒurk-am, phi†i b-icance a-mé a-pí 1-tooth be-cond food neg-d-1-find-1-ap food be-nom-cond 1tooth neg-be.iii ‘when I have teeth, I have no food; when I have food, I have no teeth’ (Tiffou 1993: 20) One of the characteristic forms of Brsk. non-finite morphosyntax is the converb (or conjunctive participle) in (n-). . .-n, which comes in prefixal, suffixal, and circumfixal allomorphs. As mentioned above the converb prefixal part occupies the same position as the d-preverb/prefix, i.e., position -3, with which it is mutually exclusive. The suffixal (or post-stem circumfixal) part of the converb occupies position class +4 in the Brsk. verb template. Its function is mostly to mark same-subject clauses, temporally preceding the following clause. Thus it is similar in function to conjunctive participles in Indo-Aryan languages or converbs of various types in Turkic (see Hapelsmath and König 1995): it primarily marks same-subject clauses where the converb-marked action temporally precedes the action of the main verb. Note, however, that these Brsk. forms may mark the person (or class) of the subject or object in the form of a position-class -2 referent marker. All d-forms lack the prefix n-, but the suffixal element may also be present in forms bearing the n-prefix.

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(65) a. iné garoóni nu-mú-cu-n daƒóa˜ du-mó-sku-n móo-dil-um-an that bride cvb-ii-take-cvb flour d-ii-caus.lower-cvb ii.ben-throwap-pl ‘taking the bride along, they threw flour on her, having helped her down (from the horse)’ (Tikkanen 1995: 494) b. nu-kú-ci-n c. nu-mú-ic mu-yákal gáarc-im-i cvb-2-give-cvb cvb-ii-see ii-direction run-ap-i ‘having given it to you’ ‘after he saw her, he ran towards her’ (Tikkanen 1995: 492) (Berger 1998: 165) Note that in HBrsk. there is no negative of the converb; a negative form of the -m- (aorist) participle is used: (66) a. a-y-ét-um neg-do-ap ‘after not having done it’

(Berger 1998: 165)

b. mén-an d-íi mí-ma-r oó-ni-m-íi ( -ca in YBrsk.).

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(83) go-go-yakalca ka gus-mu-yakalca you-2obl -all and woman-ii.obl-all ‘towards you and the woman’ (Anderson et al. 1998) The different case forms of YBrsk. show an interesting patterning with respect to use in conjunctive and disjunctive constructions. Thus the ergative in -e and the ablative in -cum appear to be used phrasally, appearing only on the rightmost (head) noun (83). The dative and genitive, on the other hand (as well as the new allative), appear on both nouns in the conjoined or disjoined noun phrase (84). (84) a. hir ka gus-e hales yeec-en man and woman-erg boy see-pl ‘the man and the woman saw the boy’ ( NBrsk. bisar-s- HBrsk. bisark-ic‘harvest, reap’ (Berger 1998: 131) Another salient difference between the two main Brsk. dialects is the form of the negative. As discussed above, the negative in HBrsk. occupies the initial position in the verb template, i.e., in prefixal position -4. The negative affix triggers both devoicing of a following consonant and a shift in stress. In NBrsk. on the other hand, the negative is generally a preverbal clitic óo=, which triggers neither the devoicing nor the stress shift characteristic of HBrsk. (101) a. NBrsk. óo-du-kóo-pírsimi < du-kú-pirsimi neg-d-2.caus-eradicate-i d-2- eradicate-i ‘he will not let/make you eradicate’ ‘he will eradicate’ cf. HBrsk. cf. a-tú-ku-pírsimi neg-d-2.(caus)-eradicate-i ‘he will not eradicate’ b. NBrsk. oó-di-mé-yal-j-an neg-d-1pl-hear-dur-pl ‘we won’t hear’ (Berger 1998: 107)

(Berger 1998: 107) HBrsk. a-tí-mi-yal-j-an neg-d-1pl-hear-dur-pl ‘we won’t hear’

In addition to HBrsk. versus NBrsk. correspondences, one may also find intradialectal variation on a micro-scale within HBrsk. Note in this regard both the difference between the univerbated HBrsk. forms and the analytic NBrsk. form, as well as the differing vocalism in the two HBrsk. variants below.

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(102) Ganish Karimabad Nagar déljóm déljám délju bam ‘he was hitting (it/him)’ (Berger 1998: 139) A further example of intradialectal variation comes from the Brsk. spoken in and around Aliabad where the categories of causative and benefactive are kept morphologically distinct, unlike most HBrsk. and NBrsk. varieties, where the two are formally identical. (103) a. góo-t-a-m 2.caus-do-1-ap ‘I caused you to do it’

b. gó-et-a-m 2-do-1-ap ‘I did it for you’

(Bashir 1985: 12)

Compare with other HBrsk./NBrsk. góo-t-a-m ‘I caused you to do it’ and ‘I did it for you’.

Bibliography Anderson, G. D. S. 1995 Ditransitives, Possessor Raising, Copying-to-OBJ: “Animacy in Morphosyntax.” Pp. 1–17 in Papers from the 31st Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society. 1997a Burushaski Phonology. Pp. 1021–41 in Phonologies of Asia and Africa, ed. Alan Kaye. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. 1997b On “Animacy Maximization” in Fox (Mesquakie). International Journal of American Linguistics 63/2: 227–47. 2002 Case Marked Clausal Subordination in Burushaski Complex Sentence Structure. Studies in Language 26/3: 547–71. 2006 Auxiliary Verb Constructions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Anderson, G. D. S., and R. H. Eggert 2001 A Typology of Verb Agreement in Burushaski. Presented at 6th International Symposium on Himalayan Languages, Milwaukee, June 2000. Anderson, G. D. S., R. H. Eggert, and N. H. Zide (compilers) with Fazal Ramat 1998 Burushaski Language Materials. Chicago: University of Chicago Language Laboratories and Archives. Bashir, E. 1985 Towards a Semantics of the Burushaski Verb. Pp. 1–32 in Proceeedings of the Conference on Participant Roles: South Asia and Adjacent Areas, ed. A. Zide et al. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club. Berger, H. 1974 Das Yasin-Burushaski (Werchikwar). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1998 Die Burushaski-Sprache von Hunza und Nager. 3 vols. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Biddulph, J. 1884 Dialects of Tribes of the Hindu Kush. London: Trübner. Borgstrøm, C. H. 1942 The Categories of Person, Number, and Class in the Verbal System of Burushaski. Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap 13: 130–47.

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Casule, Ilija 1998 Basic Burushaski Etymologies: The Indo-European and Paleo-Balkanic Affinities of Burushaski. Munich: Lincom. Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Edel’man, D. A. 1997 Burushaski jazyk. Pp. 204–20 in Jazyki Mira: Paleoaziatskie jazyki, ed. A. P. Volodin et al. Moscow: Indrik. Klimov, G. A., and D. I. Edel’man 1970 Jazyk burushaski. Moscow: Nauka. Leitner, George W. 1889 Hunza and Nagyr Handbook, being an introduction to a knowledge of the language, race, and customs of Hunza, Nagyr and parts of Yasin. Calcutta: Superintendent of government printing. Lorimer, D. A. 1935–38 The Burushaski Language. 3 vols. Oslo: Aschenhoug (W. Nygaard). Morin, Y. C., and E. Tiffou 1988 Passives in Burushaski. Pp. 493–524 in Passive and Voice, ed. M. Shibatani. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Tiffou, E. 1977 L’effacement de l’ergatif en bourouchaski. Studia Linguistica 31: 18–31. 1993 Hunza Proverbs. In collaboration with Y.-Ch. Morin, H. Berger, D. L. R. Lorimer and Nasir UÎÎin Hunzai. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. Tiffou, E., and Y. C. Morin 1982 A Note on Split Ergativity in Burushaski. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 45: 88–94. Tikkanen, B. 1995 Burushaski Converbs in Their Areal context. Pp. 487–528 in Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Structure and Meaning of Adverbial Verb Forms —Adverbial Participles, Gerunds, ed. M. Haspelmath and E. König. Berlin: de Gruyter. Willson, Stephen R. 1990 Verb Agreement and Case Marking in Burushaski. M.A. thesis. University of North Dakota. Zarubin, I. 1927 Vershikskoe narechie kandzhutskogo jazyka. Zapiski Kollegi Vostokovedov 2/2: 275–364.

Chapter 45

Ket Morphology Edward J. Vajda Western Washington University

0. Introduction Ket (formerly known as Imbat Ket or Yenisei Ostyak) is now spoken by very few of the 1,200 ethnic Kets. Completely fluent speakers are mostly over 50 years of age, and today may number fewer than 100, though some children are still learning something of the language in a native setting. Nearly all Ket people live in small villages near the Yenisei or its tributaries in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Province. Before soviet collectivization efforts in the mid 1930s, most subsisted as small, fairly isolated family groups that nomadized between winter hunting grounds in the taiga and summer fishing encampments near large rivers or other bodies of water. Unrelated to other living languages of North Asia, Ket represents a family (Yeniseic) once distributed over vast expanses of South Siberia. Despite a century and a half of efforts to establish genetic linkages with other languages (Vajda 2001b), most linguists regard Ket as an isolate. Of the extinct Yeniseic tongues, only Kott and Yugh (Sym Ket) were recorded in any detail; Assan, Arin, and Pumpokol are known mainly from word lists compiled by explorers in the 18th century. Yugh, which died out in the early 1990s, was closest to Ket, though all documented Yeniseic speech forms are probably related at a time depth of less than 2,500 years. The three surviving Imbat Ket dialects—Southern, Central, and Northern Ket—differ most in phonology: /s/ is pronounced as [s] in CK; intervocalic /d/ is rhotacized as flapped [Q] in NK and SK; and high-even and falling tone monosyllables in SK lack the excrescent vowels found after such syllables in the northern dialects. Examples: SK sil CK sili, NK sili ‘summer’; SK sùl CK sù:le, NK sù:le ‘cradle hook’; and SK tìQ ‘root’ ~ tíQè˜ ‘roots’, CK tì:d@ ‘root’ ~ tíd@1˜ ‘roots’, NK tì:Qi ‘root’ ~ tíQè˜ ‘roots’. Dialectal variations in vocabulary and grammar do not prevent mutual intelligibility (Dul’zon 1968). This sketch uses Southern Ket forms given in a transcription that largely reflects the two northern dialects as well. 1 Native Ket words contain twelve Supplemental abbreviations unique to this essay are found on p. 1324. 1. My SK transcription of vowels and tones is phonemic, but consonants are shown allophonically on the level of the phonological word, except where hyphens divide the word into morphemes. Non-initial /d/ is realized as [d], [Q], or [t]; /b/ as [b], [v], or [p]; /k/ as [k], [g], or [ƒ]; and uvular /q/ as [q], [‰], or [G]. These allophones typify all Ket dialects, except that intervocalic /d/ and /b/ remain [d] and [b] in CK, and in SK /d/ is rhotacized to [Q] intervocalically and in the coda of high-tone or falling-tone monosyllables. Explaining the full distribution of consonant allophones would require an involved discussion of prosodic and segmental phonology (see Vajda 2004) largely irrelevant to issues of morphology. All examples were verified by native-speaker informants.

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consonant phonemes: b, m, n, s, t, d, l, j, k, ˜, q, h; and seven vowels: i, u, e, o, a, ˆ, @ (ˆ and @ are intermediate between canonical central [ˆ], [@] and back unrounded [µ], [Ï]). In addition to the segmental phonemes there are also five word-based tonemes: high › (even or slightly rising on a halflong vowel, with mid-vowel phonemes realized as mid-high [e], [@], [o] instead of [E], [√], [O], as they are in all other tonal environments), glottalized ? (which rises on a short vowel and abruptly ends with a glottal stricture), falling 1 (on short vowels in SK, geminate vowels in CK and NK), rising/ falling 2 1 (on a single geminate vowel or over two syllables), and rising/ high-falling 2 ¡ (likewise over two syllables, or rarely on a geminate vowel; the falling portion descends from a higher register than for rising/falling tone). Monosyllabic words with short vowel nuclei in SK normally contain glottalized, falling, or high tone, with rising/falling tone restricted to geminate vowels. The first two syllables of polysyllabic phonological words carry either rising/falling or rising/high-falling tone, with any additional syllables left toneless. The morphological and phonological words coincide except that verbs with polysyllabic incorporates are phrases phonologically; also, nominal possessive prefixes are proclitics, and the leftmost subject agreement prefixes (occupying position P8) are a type of special clitic. 1. Nominal Morphology Nominal forms include the noun, adjective, and numeral. Nouns use suffixes to express three grammatical categories: number (singular, plural), class (masculine animate, feminine animate, inanimate), and case. The twelve cases are: absolutive, genitive, ablative, dative, benefactive, adessive, locative, prosecutive, instrumental (or comitative), caritive, translative, and vocative. Pronouns take most of the same inflections as nouns. Nouns also combine with five pronominal possessive proclitics (b- ‘my’, k‘you.sg’, da- ‘his’, d- ‘her/its/n.their’, and na- ‘pl.animate’s’). 2 Adjectives and numerals, like adverbs, generally lack inflection unless converted into substantives. Attributive adjectives that denote tangible physical properties such as ‘big’, ‘firm’, ‘long’, etc., may optionally take the plural suffix -˜: qà kís-è˜ ~ qà-˜ kís-è˜ ‘big feet’, bIt$ á˜-è˜ ~ bIQèn 2 á˜-è˜ ‘strong ropes’; but this usage is more of an expressive form of derivation than a regular inflection. Finally, all parts of speech except nouns in the absolutive case and finite verb forms, including otherwise uninflected words such as adverbs or nominal forms containing an oblique case suffix, require a predicate concord suffix when used after a linking verb. Predicate concord suffixes are discussed in §3. Nominal inflectional morphology thus relies mostly on suffixal agglutination and exhibits areal affinities with the neighboring Turkic and Samoyedic languages. Root-internal changes are also prevalent in basic vocabulary, but appear to be the residue of bygone phonological alternations 2. Finite verb forms are parsed completely only in §2.

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rather than productive morphological processes. Proto-Yeniseic (PY) may have originally possessed a closed syllable structure with complex onsets and codas. Influenced by the simpler syllable structure of the surrounding languages, these consonant articulations were simplified, yielding as compensation the tonemes of modern Ket (see Vajda 2002). 1.1. Number Ket has two grammatical numbers, singular and plural. Number is usually expressed by the presence or absence of the plural suffixes -n or -˜, though an old singulative suffix -s persists on certain singular forms. Also, a few shape-classifying suffixes have developed and serve as mildly productive derivational elements added to mass nouns. The resulting shape-individuated stems can be pluralized using regular suffixes (see below) and thus are not actually number markers. Pre-Proto-Yeniseic nouns were probably undifferentiated for number, only later developing the suffixes -s (singulative), -n (individuated pl), and -˜ (collective pl). Singulative -s remains in a few stems: tˆ?s ‘stone’ > t@?˜ ‘stones’; qu?s ‘teepee’ > qu?˜ ‘teepees’; it may also have given rise to the generic nominalizing suffix -s that is used productively to nominalize phrases or stems belonging to other parts of speech. The two plural suffixes remain highly productive. Their distribution is complex and involves semantic notions of animacy as well as the phonetic properties of the final stem consonant. In PY number suffixes seem to have interacted with the coda consonant reductions that yielded the modern Ket tones. This process left its signature in the form of a variety of irregular tonal and root vowel alternations, and sometimes also affected the root-final consonant. Examples include: qòj > qon (< *qòj-n) ‘bears’; ko?p > kóòn ‘chipmunks’; kup > kúùn ‘beaks’; sèl > se?n ‘reindeer’; qàj > qíìn ‘elks’; i > ék˜ 1 ‘days’; i > íƒa¡n ‘suns’; sI 2I 1 > sIk˜ 2 1 ‘years’; hIj$ > h@1j ‘stomachs’; ses > sàs ‘rivers’; se?s > sej ‘larch (trees)’; tip -> ta?p ‘dogs’. A few number pairs are true suppletives even from a diachronic perspective: oks ‘tree’ > a?q ‘trees’; ke?t ‘person’ > de?˜ ‘people’. The following rules (after Porotova 1990) best define the basic distribution of the two productive plural suffixes, -n or -˜, as they appear on most count nouns: Animate nouns denoting kinship terms form their plural with -˜: qòj > qójà˜ ‘relatives’; be?p > bévà˜ ‘aunts/uncles’; hˆ?p > hIva¡ 2 ˜ ‘sons’; hu?n > húna¡˜ ‘daughters’, op > óva¡˜ ‘fathers’; qíma¡ > qíma¡˜ ‘grandmothers’, etc. A few non-kinship animates also form their plurals with the old collective suffix -˜: es > ésa¡˜ ‘gods’. Most other animate nouns take -n, which originally conveyed individuated plurality: sénì˜ > sénì˜in ‘shamans’; qIt$ > qItn1 2 ‘wolves’; úlòl > úlòln ‘leeches’; t@? > t@ 2@1n ‘perch’; tem > témn1 ‘geese’; kùn > kúnn1 ‘wolverines’. Agent nouns made with the nominalizing suffix -s (-si in the northern dialects) also take -n: lóbèts > lóbètsin ‘workers’; nánbèts > nánbètsin ‘bakers’. A few animates with stem-final /n/ exceptionally take -˜: báln1 > bálnà˜ ‘bird cherry (Padus) trees’; ájgo¡n > ájgònˆ˜ ‘Arctic foxes’; lun > lúna¡˜ ‘grayling (fish)’.

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Inanimate nouns normally take -˜: húùt > húQè˜ ‘(animal) tails’; ìt > ítà˜ ‘teeth’; àj > áje ¡˜ ‘sacks’; óòl > ólè˜ ‘bottles’; @ 2@1 > @ 2@1˜ ‘(plant) leaves’. But -˜ tends to be replaced by -n in inanimate stems ending in /˜/: à˜ > á˜èn ‘ropes’; la?˜ > lá˜èn ‘hands’. This replacement also occurs, though less regularly, in stems ending in a vowel, labial /m, p/, or alveolar obstruent /t, d, s/: qóbdè > qóbdèn ‘palms (of hand)’; bésàm > bésàmn ‘rabbit-fur coat’; kup > kúùn ‘beaks’; k@ $kt > k@ 2ktèn necks’; ságdè > ságdèn ‘boots’; áQès > áQèsn ‘iron nails’. The same tendency manifests itself to a lesser extent in kinship terms, which would normally take -˜: b@ 2ssèm > b@ 2ssèmn ‘widows’. Diminutives in -git usually form their plural by changing this suffix to -gat: dIlgìt 2 > dIlgàt 2 ‘children’, though some instead add the suffix -n or vacillate between these two techniques: dúmgìt > dúmgìtn ~ dúmgàt ‘fledgling birds’. A few nouns denoting naturally paired objects have three distinct number forms: des ‘eye’, dès ‘pair of eyes belonging to one individual’, désta¡˜ ‘many eyes’; bánnà ‘sleeve’, bánnàn ‘pair of sleeves’, bánnàni˜ ‘many sleeves’. The dual forms here are best regarded as different but related lexical items rather than as evidence of grammatical inflection to mark duality, a feature entirely absent elsewhere in Ket. Words denoting objects not naturally paired invariably lack a dual form. Others stems take double or even triple plural suffixes that add no new meaning but merely serve to create a partial suppletive plural stem: sújdì > sújdìni˜ ‘scarves’; dˆ? > dInì˜ 2 ‘hats’; u?j > ú˜nì˜ ‘cradles’; qa?j > qá˜nì˜ ‘wooded hills’ (cf. Werner 1998: 42). Occasionally, a plural form serves as the singular stem of a new lexeme. An example is dé˜nì˜ ‘ponds, lakes’ (from < de? ‘pond, lake’), which already contains three plural suffixes. When used as a new lexeme in the meaning ‘swamp’, the plural dé˜nì˜in ‘swamps’ includes yet a fourth plural suffix (lit., ‘ponds-s-s+s’). Agglomerated plural suffixes alternate between -n and -˜. A few animates have the same form in singular and plural: suj ‘mosquito/mosquitoes’; is ‘fish/fishes’; b@?n ‘duck/ducks’ (probably because the animate plural suffix -n elided phonologically in these stems in conjunction with coda the processes of coda simplification mentioned above). Number is revealed overtly by concord affixes. These may appear verbinternally: suj dá‰èj ‘I killed a mosquito’ [d ‘I’—a ‘him’—q ‘past tense’—ej ‘kill’] vs. suj dá˜Gèj ‘I killed the mosquitoes’ [d ‘I’—a˜ ‘them.an’—q ‘past’— ej ‘kill’]; or as part of the genitive suffix: b@ 2n-dà kup ‘a duck’s beak’ [da m.gen] vs. b@ 2n-nà ásè˜ ‘ducks’ feathers’ [na anpl.gen]. Inanimate stems that denote substances or abstract concepts normally lack plurals altogether: ul ‘water’; be?t ‘(falling) snow’; q@?t ‘flotsam (during spring flooding)’; d@?k ‘life’; ba?t ‘truth’. Some mass nouns appear to contain the collective plural suffix -˜: t@ $˜ ‘hair’. But such stems do not differ grammatically from other singularia tantum nouns since inanimates never trigger number distinctions in their concord affixes: t@ $˜-d [hair-n.gen]; da-t@ $˜ táƒ-àm ‘His hair is white’ [his-hair white-n.pred]. A few singulative suffixes derive shape-individuated count nouns from mass-nouns. One is -dis/-des (< des ‘eye’), which denotes a single drop of

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liquid or a small roundish object’: ul ‘water’ > úldìs ‘water droplet’; qon ‘beads’ > qóndìs ‘(single) bead’; im ‘pine nuts’ > ímdìs ‘(single) pine nut’; qo ‘ice’ > qóQìs ‘(single grain of) sleet’; éèl ‘lingonberries’ > éldìs ‘(single) lingonberry’; hit ‘glue’ > hítdìs ‘drop of glue’. Another is -lamt (< la?m ‘board’), denoting a larger, irregular-shaped or flattish piece: ókslàmt ‘piece of wood’; hítlàmt ‘glob of glue’. Singulatives form plurals using the regular rules given above: úldìs > úldìsn ‘water droplets’; ókslàmta˜ ‘pieces of wood’, etc. 1.2. Class Every Ket noun inherently (and often idiosyncratically) belongs simultaneously to one of three gender classes and one of two animacy classes: masculine animate, feminine animate, and inanimate (or neuter). Nouns denoting male animate beings, as well as the generic terms for larger or economically important animal and plant species (especially trees, game animals, and wildfowl) are masculine. Nouns denoting female beings, and the terms for the remaining plant and animal species, as well as most body-part terms, are feminine. Nouns denoting inanimate objects or abstract concepts are inanimate, except for certain items of special cultural significance, which are either masculine (sùl ‘holding hook’, bálbès ‘cross’, béjòks ‘mast’, á˜àjoks ‘stake’) or feminine (bo?k ‘fire’, pImI 2 1l ‘jaw-harp’, qóndìs ‘glass bead’, lom ‘fishing float’, tópàs ‘whetstone/checker’). The individual meanings of polysemous nouns occasionally belong to different classes: oks ‘tree’ (masculine-class) vs. oks ‘wood’ (inanimate-class). Generally, noun class is lexically fixed (each noun belongs to one or another class grammatically without regard to biological gender distinctions) rather than semantically fluid (reflecting real-word animacy and gender distinctions according to context). Class is covert in the noun stem itself, appearing overtly only in the expression of certain grammatical categories, such as the genitive case suffix, predicate concord suffixes, and verb-internal subject/object affixes. It appears to have developed into a formal grammatical category when 3rd person pronominal clitics reflecting gender and animacy became reinterpreted as inflectional affixes. 1.3. Case Ket has twelve cases, most of which appear to have developed out of pronominal clitics or postpositions under the influence of the neighboring, more agglutinative Turkic and Samoyedic languages. In addition to ten oblique cases, each of which is marked by its particular set of clitic-like suffixes, there is also a specially intoned vocative form used to hail animate beings, as well as a zero-marked absolutive case. Formally, the absolutive is a grammatical case only by default. In the following discussion, the zeromarked nouns that function as subject or direct object (both terms are cross-referenced by separate verb-internal person/class/number agreement affixes) will be conventionally followed by the symbol -º and glossed -abs for “absolutive case.”

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The ten oblique grammatical cases are expressed as shown in table 1. The genitive is built using the 3rd person possessive clitics discussed above and therefore reflects animacy and class: -d(i) for feminine singular and inanimate singular or plural; -da for masculine singular; and -na for animate plural. These formants also serve as stem augments for the dative, benefactive, ablative, and adessive case forms. The remaining oblique cases (as well as the vocative) are formed by suffixing a single, gender-neutral morpheme to the bare noun stem. Table 1 illustrates case endings using the stems op/óva¡˜ ‘father/fathers’, am/áma¡˜ ‘mother/mothers’, and a?t/áQè˜ ‘bone/bones’. The locative is restricted to inanimate-class nouns, while the vocative is normally used only in reference to animate beings. Elements shown in parentheses are optional. Table 1. Nominal case endings Animacy class: animate Gender class: masculine Number: ‘father’ Absolutive op-º Genitive ób-dà Ablative ób-dà˜al Dative ób-dà˜(a) Benefactive ób-dàt(a) Adessive ób-dà˜t(a) Locative — Prosecutive ób-bès Instrumental ób-às Caritive ób-àn Translative ób-èsa˜ Vocative ob-ó

animate feminine ‘fathers’ ‘mother’ óva¡˜-º am-º óva¡˜-na ám-d(ì) óva¡˜-na˜al ám-dì˜al óva¡˜-na˜(a) ám-dì˜(a) óva¡˜-nat(a) ám-dìt(a) óva¡˜-na˜t(an) ám-dì˜t(a) — — óva¡˜-bes ám-bès óva¡˜-as ám-às óva¡˜-an ám-àn óva¡˜-èsa˜ ám-èsa˜ ova˜-ó am-á~am-@2

inanimate neuter ‘mothers’ ‘bone’ ‘bones’ áma¡˜-º a?t-º áQè˜ -º áma¡˜-na át-d(ì) áQè˜-d(i) áma¡˜-na˜al át-dì˜al áQè˜-di˜al áma¡˜-na˜(a) át-dì˜(a) áQè˜-di˜(a) áma¡˜-nat(a) át-dìt(a) áQè˜-dit(a) áma¡˜-na˜t(an) át-dì˜t(a) áQè˜-di˜t(a) — át-kà áQè˜-ka áma¡˜-bes át-bès áQè˜-bes áma¡˜-as át-às áQè˜-as áma¡˜-an át-àn áQè˜-an áma¡˜-èsa˜ át-èsa˜ áQè˜-esa˜ ama˜-@ 2 — —

The vocative forms have a dynamically stressed final vowel rather than a regular tonal contour, which means that they are a special type of intonation phrase (pragmatically-based intonation often suppresses individual phonological word-based tonal distinctions, a topic that requires further study). The feminine singular distinguishes proximal (amá ‘Mother!’ [near or visible]), expressed with a stressed [a] suffix, from distal (am@ 2 ‘Mother!’ [distant or out of sight]), expressed with stressed [√]. As already mentioned, the genitive suffixes historically derive from the pronominal clitics d- ‘other’, a ‘his’, i ‘her’, na ‘their.an’ and convey class and animacy distinctions in fusion with grammatical case. Such multiple exponence is atypical of the type of agglutination prevalent in the rest of the nominal inflectional paradigm. Unlike the genitive, the other cases use a single morph suffixed to all syntactically and semantically eligible nouns or pronouns regardless of lexical stem class, though the dative, benefactive, and adessive case suffixes obligatorily require the gender-animacyclass formants of the genitive case as a sort of stem augment. Adessive animate plurals may optionally end with an additional plural morph -n, so that such forms redundantly express plurality three times: ám-a¡˜-na-˜ta-n ‘at the mother’s’ place’ [mother-pl-an.pl-ades-pl]. This sort of semantic

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redundancy in the use of inflectional affixes is prevalent elsewhere in Ket, as well. In addition to serving as a stem augment in forming several other cases, genitive suffixes are also used to connect a noun with a postposition. Postpositional phrases are a special type of nominal compound, with the genitive serving as connector element: óks-dà-tan ‘toward the tree’ (< ‘the tree’s trail’), qús-d-qòn ‘up to/as far as the tent’ (< ‘the tent’s lip’). The postpositions themselves usually derive from a nominal or, less often, adverbial root. Denominal postpositions often derive from body part terms and may additionally take certain nominal case endings: @ 2@1tka ‘on’ (< @ 2‰àt ‘back’ + ka loc), hIjgà 2 ‘inside of’ (< hIj$ ‘belly’ + ka loc). Many spatial postpositions regularly combine with locative, adessive, ablative, or prosecutive suffixes: (1) Combinations of denominal postposition + case suffix Stative: Adessive: @ 2@1t-ka ‘on’ @ 2@1t-di˜a ‘onto’ hIj-kà 2 ‘inside of’ hIj-dì˜a 2 ‘into’ Ablative: @ 2@1t-di˜al ‘off of’ hIj-dì˜al 2 ‘out of’

Prosecutive: @ 2@1t-bes ‘passing across hIj-bès 2 ‘passing through’

There are a few dozen postpositions, including the various forms that contain case suffix augments. Ket has no prepositions, except the recently borrowed bes ‘without’ (< Russ. bez), which has come to be used redundantly together with the synonymous caritive suffix -an: tét-àn ~ bes tét-àn ‘without a husband’ (lit., ‘without husband-without’). Case usage is typologically unremarkable. Vocative summons the addressee. Absolutive normally marks head nouns cross-referenced verbinternally as subject or object. (2)

qip-º qu?s-º d-b-íl-bèt grandfather-abs teepee-abs 3m.sbj-3n.obj-pst-make ‘Grandfather made a teepee.’

The grammatical subject is formally distinguished from the direct object by contrasting sets of verb-internal actant markers as well as by the language’s basic SOV word order. The core functions of the remaining cases are as follows. Genitive marks possession as an attribute: qíp-dà qˆ?t [grandfather-m-gen bow] ‘grandfather’s bow’. Ablative denotes motion away from: tI-dì-˜al 2 [cliff-n-abl] ‘from the cliff’, or identifies the material from which something is made: t@ 2˜-dì-˜al [stones-n-abl] ‘(made) of stone’. Dative expresses the recipient or goal of motion: báàm-di-˜a [old woman-f-dat] ‘to the old woman’. Benefactive marks the intended beneficiary of an action, overlapping somewhat with dative in expressing the recipient: báàm-di-ta [old womanf-ben] ‘for (the benefit of) the old woman’. Adessive marks possessors, addressees, or terms somehow indirectly affected by a situation: ób-dà-˜ta [father-m-ades] ‘father’s, (spoken) to father, (happened) to father’. With

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animates, adessive also denotes location, often with a possessive nuance: ób-dà-˜ta [father-m-ades] ‘at father’s’ or ‘in father’s possession’. With inanimate-class nouns location is usually conveyed using the locative case: séskà [river-loc] ‘in/on/at the river’, though adessive is also possible, especially when there is a proximal (nearby) or meronymic (part of a whole) connotation: sés-dì-˜ta [river-n-ades] ‘at/by the river’, @ 2@1˜ óks-dà˜ta [leaves-abs tree-m.ades] ‘the leaves on the tree ~ the tree’s leaves’. Prosecutive conveys motion along, across, or through: sés-bès [river-pros] ‘along the river’; or, added to plural nouns of nationality, prosecutive marks the language being used in communication: h@ 2mgà-n-bès [Evenki-pl-pros] ‘in Evenki’. Instrumental expresses either accompaniment (comitative meaning): ám-às [mother-ins] ‘with mother’, or use as a tool: bógdòm-as [gunins] ‘with a gun’. Caritive conveys that something is lacking: bógdòm-an [gun-car] ‘without a gun’. Translative identifies the aim of an action: úlèsa˜ [water-trl] ‘(to fetch) water’; with infinitives it creates a kind of supine: ú˜-èsa˜ [sit-trl] ‘(in order) to sit down’. Personal pronouns take the same case suffixes as nouns, except vocative, locative, and translative. Location is conveyed by the adessive, purpose by the dative. The translative suffix attaches only to a few interrogative pronouns: áks-èsa˜ ‘for what’ [what-trl]. Table 2. Personal pronouns abs gen abl dat ben ades pros ins car

1sg at (a)p áb-à˜al áb-à˜(a) áb-àt(a) áb-à˜t(a) ád-bès ád-às ád-àn

2sg u (u)k úk-à˜al úk-à˜(a) úk-àt(a) úk-à˜t(a) úk-bès ú-ƒàs ú-ƒàn

3sg.m bu (bú)dà (bú)dà˜al (bú)dà˜(a) (bú)dàt(a) (bú)dà˜t(a) bú-bès bú-ƒàs bú-ƒàn

3sg.f bu (bú)d(ì) (bú)dì˜al (bú)dì˜(a) (bú)dìt(a) (bú)dì˜t(a) bú-bès bú-ƒàs bú-ƒàn

1pl @2 tn1 @2 tn1-na @2 tn1-na˜al @2 tn1-na˜(a) @2 tn1-nat(a) @2 tn1-na˜t(a) @2 tn1-bes @2 tn1-as @2 tn1-an

2pl @2 k˜ 1 @2 k˜ 1-na @2 k˜ 1-na˜al @2 k˜ 1-na˜(a) @2 k˜ 1-nat(a) @2 k˜ 1-na˜t(a) @2 k˜ 1-bes @2 k˜ 1-as @2 k˜ 1-an

3anpl bu˜ bú˜-nà bú˜-nà˜al bú˜-nà˜(a) bú˜-nàt(a) bú˜-nà˜t(a) bú˜-bes bú˜-às bú˜-àn

Other types of pronouns generally take the same case suffixes, unless used as attributive modifiers, in which instance, like attributive adjectives, they are indeclinable. Interrogative pronouns have suppletive stems reflecting class distinctions: bítsè ‘who’ (sg. masc. referent), bésà ‘who’ (sg. fem. referent), and bílà˜san ‘who’ (any group of animates). Alongside these are ána¡ ~ áne ¡t ‘who (sg., either gender)’ and áne ¡ta˜ ‘who (pl.)’, the latter form being synonymous with bílà˜san. The inanimate interrogative pronoun is ákùs ‘what’. The interrogative modifier ásès ‘what kind of’ (often reduced to às) lacks class and number distinctions: ásès bi? ‘what kind of thing?’, ásès ke?t ‘what kind of person?’ Other attributive pronouns are likewise indeclinable and class-neutral: úta¡l ‘the whole’; bIldè 2 ‘all, a whole’; kásnà ‘each, every’ (< Russ. kazdˆj); bik ‘other, another’, qóksà ‘the other’ (used only with singular nouns), sámlà ‘the rest, the other’ (used only with plural count nouns); tam ánùn ‘some’ (with singular mass nouns) or ‘a certain number of’ (with plural count nouns).

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Demonstratives distinguish three degrees of proximity. All three demonstrative series convey class distinctions in the singular and animacy in the plural. The neutral-deixis, whose inanimate-class form doubles as the inanimate-class anaphoric pronoun ‘it’, contains the root tu ~ tuQ ‘this/ that’ (masc.); túQe ¡ ‘this/that’ (fem. sing. or inanim.); túne ¡ ‘these/those’ (pl. anim.). The root ki- emphasizes the referent is in close proximity to the speaker: kiQ ‘this/that’ (masc.); kíúQe ¡ ‘this/that’ (fem. sg. or inanim.); kíne ¡ ‘these/those’ (pl. anim.). And qa- emphasizes that the referent is at a significant distance from the speaker: qaQ ‘this/that’ (masc.); qáúQe ¡ ‘this/that’ (fem. sg. or inanim.); qáne ¡ ‘these/those’ (pl. anim.). Ket lacks a special reciprocal pronoun, using instead adverbs or circumlocutions such as bíkkèt (< bik ke?t ‘other person’) or qújbà˜ ‘together’. The root bin ‘self’ expresses both reflexive and intensive meanings and can be used either anaphorically or as an appositive in conjunction with any animate noun or pronoun. The genitive, ablative, dative, benefactive, and adessive case forms mark person, number, and class with two formally distinct, yet largely redundant concord suffixes: e.g., bín-dì-ba-˜al ‘from myself/even from me’ [self-1sg-1sg-abl], bín-dà˜-na-˜al ‘from ourselves/even from us’ [self-1pl-an.pl-abl]. Table 3. Reflexive/intensive pronouns

abs gen abl dat ben ades pros ins car

‘myself’ 1sg bín-(dì) bín-dì-b(a) bín-dì-ba-˜al bín-dì-ba-˜a bín-dì-ba-ta bín-dì-ba-˜ta bín-dì-bes bín-dì-ƒas bín-dì-ƒan

‘yourself’ 2sg bín-(gù) bín-gù-k bín-gù-ka˜al bín-gù-ka˜a bín-gù-ka-ta bín-gù-ka-˜ta bín-gù-bes bín-gù-ƒas bín-gù-ƒan

‘himself’ 3sg.m bín-(dù) bín-dù-da bín-dù-da-˜al bín-dù-da-˜a bín-dù-da-ta bín-dù-da-˜ta bín-dù-bes bín-dù-ƒas bín-dù-ƒan

‘herself’ 3sg.f bín-(dà) bín-dà-di bín-dà-di-˜al bín-dà-di-˜a bín-dà-di-ta bín-dà-di-˜ta bín-dà-bes bín-dà-ƒas bín-dà-ƒan

‘ourselves’ 1pl bín-dà˜ bín-dà˜-na bín-dà˜-na-˜al bín-dà˜-na-˜a bín-dà˜-na-ta bín-dà˜-na-˜ta bín-dà˜-bes bín-dà˜-as bín-dà˜-an

‘yourselves’ 2pl bín-gà˜ bín-gà˜-na bín-gà˜-na-˜al bín-gà˜-na-˜a bín-gà˜-na-ta bín-gà˜-na-˜ta bín-gà˜-bes bín-gà˜-as bín-gà˜-an

‘themselves’ 3ampl bín-à˜ bín-à˜-na bín-à˜-na-˜al bín-à˜-na-˜a bín-à˜-na-ta bín-à˜-na-˜ta bín-à˜-bes bín-à˜-as bín-à˜-an

Indefinite pronouns and adverbs are built using the particle tam: tam bítsè ‘someone (specifically male)’, tam bésà ‘someone (specifically female)’, tam ána¡ ~ tam áne ¡t ‘someone (gender unspecified, though this word triggers masculine concord affixes)’, tam ákùs ~ támàks ‘something’; tam ásès ‘some (kind of)’, tam bíla¡ ‘somehow’, tam áskà ‘some time’. Negative pronouns and adverbs are constructed by postposing áàna after the indefinite construction: tam ána¡ áàna ‘no one’, tam ákùs áàna ‘nothing’, tam áskà áàna ‘never’, etc. Verbs used with negative pronouns or adverbs are obligatorily negated by the particle b@n: (3)

a. at-º tam ákùs-º áàna b@ $n dí-b-bèt I-abs indf.pcl what-abs neg.indf.pcl neg.pcl 1sbj-3n.obj-make ‘I’m not doing anything.’ b. at-º tuQ ke?t-º tam áskà áàna b@ $n d-á-tò˜ I-abs that-m man-abs indf.pcl when neg.indf.pcl neg.pcl 1sbj3m.obj-see ‘I never see that man.’

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Cardinal and ordinal numerals are generally indeclinable except for predicative concord suffixes (cf. §3). The numeral ‘1’ is the only number word that distinguishes animacy when used attributively: qo?k ‘1.an’, qus ‘1.inan’. Other basic, non-transparently derived cardinal number roots are: In$ ‘2’, do˜ ‘3’, sik ‘4’, qak ‘5’, a ~ à ‘6’, o?n ‘7’, qo ‘10’, e?k ‘20’, ki? ‘100’. Some of these may be composite: sik ‘4’ and qak ‘5’ appear to contain the same element -k as in qo?k ‘1.an’. Also, do˜ ‘3’ probably contains the collective plural suffix -˜, and o?n ‘7’ may be related to òn ‘many’. The number ‘7’, which appears to have originally been the highest simple number, is considered sacred in traditional culture—probably because it represents the sum of the 4 cardinal directions plus sky, earth, and underworld; also, each Ket was thought to possess 7 souls. Finally, qo ‘10’ may derive polysemously from qo ‘full’, connoting the complete set of fingers on both hands. Other numbers are transparent arithmetical combinations of various sorts: 50 qólèp ki? (< half-hundred), 200 In$ ki?, 300 do˜ ki?. Multi-digit numbers ending in 1 to 7 contain @ 2ƒàm, ‘extra’, ‘beyond’: ‘11’ qúsa¡m @ 2ƒàm qo (< 1 beyond 10), ‘22’ Ina¡ 2 m @ 2ƒàm e?k (< 2 beyond 20), etc. ‘8’ Ina¡ 2 m b@ 2nsà˜ qo and ‘9’ qúsa¡m b@ 2nsà˜ qo, as well as their compound derivatives, are analogously formed using b@ 2nsà˜ ‘lacking’, ‘minus’: ‘18’ Ina¡ 2 m b@ 2nsà˜ e?k (< 2 minus 20), ‘90’ qo b@ 2nsà˜ ki? (< 10 minus 100). A few cardinal numerals are recent loanwords: ‘40’ so?l (< Russ. sorok), ‘1,000’ tIsà 2 (< Russ. tˆsbjaca). Ordinal numbers are formed with the suffix -amas: qúsàmas ‘first’, Inàmas 2 ‘second’, qúsa¡m b@ 2nsà˜ qóƒàmas ‘ninth’ (one lacking tenth), etc. The suffix -a (< *ha) derives multiplicatives: Inà 2 ‘twice’, dó˜à ‘three times’, etc. And -sa derives distributives when added to the predicative stem, itself built using either the inanimate-class concord affix -am or the animate -a˜: In-àm-sa 2 ‘two at a time (inanimates)’, In-à˜-sa 2 ‘two at a time (animates)’, dó˜-àm-sa ‘three at a time (inanimates)’, dó˜-à˜-sa ‘three at a time (animates)’, etc. Distributive -sa can also be added to nouns denoting units of time: í-sà ‘daily’, sI-2 sà ‘yearly, each year’, etc. 1.4. Possessive prefixes Ket does not overtly distinguish alienable from inalienable possession. All semantic types of possession are expressed by pronominal proclitics. Any noun may appear freely without a possessive marker, though many nouns denoting body or tool parts, attributes, or kinship relations seem to contain the fossilized possessive prefixes d- or b- used as derivational elements: i?n ‘needle’ > dIn$ ‘fir tree’ (< d ‘thematic prefix’ + i?n ‘needle); cf. §1.5 below. Possessive prefixes are identical to the genitive case forms of personal pronouns, and may occur either as full words or in reduced clitic form: ap ta?p ~ b-ta?p ‘my dogs’; uk ta?p ~ k-ta?p ‘your dogs’; búQà ta?p ~ da-ta?p ‘his dogs’; buQ ta?p ~ d-ta?p ‘her dogs’. The clitic na- conveys any animate-class plural possessor: @ 2tn-nà ta?p ‘our dogs’, @ 2k˜-nà ta?p ‘your.pl dogs’, bú˜-nà ta?p ‘their.an dogs’, or simply na-ta?p ‘peoples’ dogs’. The form d- also expresses ‘its’ or plural ‘their’ in relation to any inanimate-class possessor: lam-d-bul ‘the table’s leg’, lámà˜-d-búlà˜ ‘the tables’ legs’ (cf. 3rd person animates: da-bul ‘his leg’, d-bul ‘her leg’, na- conveys any plural possessors: na-búlà˜

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‘their.an legs’). Possessive prefixes are separated from the possessum noun phrase by a special clitic boundary. When preceded by another word in the same phonological phrase, they encliticize to that word: ób-dà bul ‘father’s leg’ [father-his # leg]. Otherwise, they become non-tonal proclitics on the possessum: da-bul ‘his leg’, d-bul ‘her/its leg’. 1.5. Nominal Derivation Much of the core vocabulary appears to consist of simple monosyllabic roots: ke?t ‘human being, Ket’, k@?t ‘children (of one family)’, k@ $;t ‘winter’, si;l ‘summer’, qˆ?j ‘birch bark’, k@ $n ‘dawn’, qò˜ ‘daylight’, k@?n ‘light’, qàj ‘elk’, sèl ‘reindeer’, kùn ‘wolverine’, qIt$ ‘wolf’, tip ‘dog’, kIt$ ~ k@ $t ‘mink’, èQ ‘sable’, ˆ?k ‘male animal’, hà˜ ‘female animal’, tel ‘mammoth’, hˆ?j ‘eagle owl’, qa?˜ ‘vulture’, dik ‘pitch, resin’, dit ‘grouse’, tem ‘goose’, b@?n ‘duck’, tìx ‘snake’, kin ‘maggot’, am ‘mother’, tet ‘husband’, hiƒ ‘man’, èn ‘son-in-law’. Some monosyllables, including most with geminate vowels, appear to be etymologically complex: s@ 2@1t ‘heel’ (< su?k ‘back’ + a?t ‘bone’), (t@ $˜ ‘hair’ < tˆ? ‘head’ + hà˜ ‘hair’). There is also evidence of several fossilized derivational affixes. These include possessive clitics used as thematic word-building devices: dIn$ ‘fir tree’ (< d + i?n ‘needle’; lit., ‘needled one’); d@1n ‘bast’ (< d + @ 2@1n ‘bark’; lit., ‘its bark’); doks ‘piece of rotten wood’ (< d + oks ‘wood’); du?p ‘fishhook’ (d + kup ‘beak’, lit., ‘its beak’); dul ‘handle’ (< d + ul ‘pole’); bul ‘leg’ (< b + ul ‘pole’, lit., ‘someone’s/something’s pole’); and possibly bin ‘self’ (< b + in ‘person’; lit., ‘one’s person’). Thematic b- also appears as a prefix in some kinship terms: bíse ¡p ‘sibling’, báàt ‘old man, grandfather’, báàm ‘old woman, grandmother’. In verbal infinitives (many of which function as abstract nouns), thematic d often indicates the production of sound: dàm ‘bark’; dùn ‘make a loud cry’; daƒ ‘cry (said of animals)’, dìs ‘scold’, dà‰ ‘laugh’. Pre-root d- may also convey the use of hands, limbs, ears, or eyes in the execution of an action: dòn ‘rip completely apart’, dà˜ ‘crumple’, do ‘look, watch’, da ‘hear’, -doq ‘swallow’, -daq ‘pull’; or the agency of fire: -dut ‘heat, light object’, dáq˜ 1 ‘fry’. In all these instances, and others such as do˜ ‘drink’, d- marks actions performed by animate beings using their own body parts as a natural tool (auto-instrumental meaning). (Fire is considered a feminine, animate force that consumes things: bo?k d@ $p ‘fire burns’, lit., ‘eats’). Thematic d occasionally appears as a suffix (rhotacized to [Q] in Southern Ket) that indicates action upon an object: tàQ ‘beat (it)’, bèQ ‘make (it)’. In other combinations, it performs a more generic nominalizing function: ógdèn ‘pair of ears’ (lit., ‘the sticking up ones’ < ok-d-en), and possibly also qógdì ‘autumn’ (‘the time of icing-up’ < qo ‘ice’). All these instances of thematic d- probably derive from 3rd person pronominal d- ‘other’. Other fossilized consonantal suffixes include instrumental -l, found on a number of nouns denoting tools: sùl ‘holding hook’ (< su?k ‘recurved’ + l ‘tool’). In words derived since the break-up of Common Yeniseic, consonantal suffixes are capable of creating coda clusters: e.g., oks ‘tree, wood’ (< ok ‘stick up, extend away’). Because complex onsets and codas simplified in ProtoYeniseic, however, most core vocabulary words in Ket have simple codas,

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and auslaut clusters normally indicate borrowing or the presence of a more recently added suffix. There are very few productive derivational affixes. The most prolific is the nominalizing suffix -s, which converts non-nouns into nouns (d@?q ‘to live’ > d@1qs ‘someone living’) or deverbal nouns: (lóvèts ‘worker, someone working’). Deverbal nouns in -s may be agentive: nánbèts ‘baker’, k@ 2mbèQi˜s ‘liar’, hástèts ‘drummer’, úddì˜s ‘thief’; instrumental: ánì˜s ‘toy’; or patientive: b@1ks ‘a find, something found’. A few have both agentive and patientive meanings: tàQs ‘one who beats’ or ‘the beaten one’. This suffix also regularly derives abstract nouns from adjectives: úgdè ‘long’ > úgdès ‘length, something long’. In general, any modifier, oblique case form, or descriptive phrase can be nominalized with -s: ób-dà-s ‘something belonging to father’ (op ‘father’ + da m.gen + s nmlz). This type of agglutination can yield lengthy morphological strings: áj-d-hI 1j-ka-s ‘something in a bag’ (lit., ‘the bag’s-stomach-in-thing’ < àj ‘bag’ + d n.gen + hIj$ ‘stomach’ + ka loc + s nmlz). If the individual lexical components of such compounds are polysyllabic, each retains its individual pitch peak, forming a phonological phrase: hólà˜-búlà˜-s ‘fat-legs’ (an epithet) < ho?l ‘fat’ + a˜ pl + bul ‘leg’ + a˜ pl + s nmlz. There are only two productive adjective-creating suffixes and one productive adjectival inflection. The first is -an, which derives from the homophonous caritive suffix and builds adjectives with a similar meaning: kúlàn ‘beardless’ (< kul ‘beard’), súlàn ‘bloodless’ (< sul ‘blood’). The other derivational suffix, -tu, denotes possession of the named attribute: kúltù ‘bearded’, súltù ‘bloody’. This suffix probably derives from a phrasal clitic etymologically related to 3rd person pronominal d- ‘other’, ‘someone’s’. Originating from a phrasal clitic, it often appears in compound modifiers: tuúm-t@1˜-tu báàm ‘dark-haired woman’. The inflectional suffix -la (probably a morpheme originally meaning ‘extend’) forms the a sort of augmentation from qualitative adjectives: h@ 2nà-la ‘smaller’, qá-là ‘bigger’. Because of the dearth of regular derivational affixes, productive processes of nominal stem creation rely heavily on root compounding: h@ 2nùl ‘puddle’ (< h@ 2nà ‘small’ + ul ‘water’), mámùl ‘milk’ (< ma?m ‘breast’ + ul ‘water’), h@ 2˜lìs ‘spider web’ (< h@?˜ ‘net’ + des ‘eye’); ásse ¡l ‘wild animal’ (< es ‘open space’ + sèl ‘reindeer’). Compound words differ prosodically from the corresponding free phrases in having a single disyllabic pitch contour. Free adjective + noun combinations are phonological phrases with a separate contour on each word: compare the phrase qà ki?t ‘a high (big) price’ with the compound qáƒìt ‘expensive’. Some roots participate in such a wide variety of compounds as to approach semi-affix status (Werner 1997: 50–54). These include -kit, which denotes an adult male (< ke?t ‘person’): @ 2s-kìt ‘rower, oarsman’ (< @ $s ‘row’), d@ 2ƒìt ‘Nenets (man)’ (< d@? ‘Nenets’), qIƒìt 2 ‘merchant’ (< qI $ ‘sell’); and the homophonous morpheme kit (< k@?t ‘children’), denoting young animals or plants: b@ 2ngìt ‘duckling’, qItkìt 2 ‘wolf cub’, éjgìt ‘pine sapling’. Compounds are often augmented by derivational affixes (especially the nominalizing suffix -s). Finally, Ket has

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innovated a typologically more unusual method of stem creation in lieu of productive derivational affixes. Fossilized genitive or caritive case suffixes, inanimate-class predicate concord suffixes, and especially plural suffixes often persist as derivational components of the stem. This resembles the fossilized genitive marker in English ‘handicraft’: mámtkùp ‘nipple’ (< ma?m ‘breast’ + d n.gen + kup ‘point, beak’), déstùl ‘tear’ (< des ‘eye’ + d ‘n.gen’ + ul ‘water’), túm-t@1˜-s ‘the dark-haired one’ (< tum ‘black’ + t@ $˜ ‘hair’ + s nmlz), t@ 2˜-àn-s ‘bald man’ (< t@ $˜ ‘hair’ + an car + s nmlz), qímàn-s ‘bachelor’ (< qim ‘wife’ + an car + s nmlz). Many, if not most, nominal derivational affixes that did not originate from eroded content roots developed from grammatical inflections that acquired a new (though usually related) derivational function. 2. Verb morphology 2.1. Stem derivation The use of fossilized or grammatically redundant inflections as derivational elements is even more prevalent in verb morphology, even though finite verb forms are grammatically rather simple as polysynthetic structures go. The only inflectional categories are tense (past/non-past), mood (indicative/imperative), and person/class/number agreement with the subject and direct object. Other syntactic categories are expressed using preposed particles: b@ $n negation (indicative), at ~ átn1 negation (imperative), sim subjunctive or conditional, qan optative, as future (“non-past” forms without as can be interpreted as present or future). These particles never merge with the verb phonologically and may be separated from it by other sentence elements. The verb’s internal complexity accrues instead from a highly unusual feature of stem creation. The morpheme positions that express subject/object (= actant) agreement are selected lexically, even though the agreement morphs that occupy them are chosen by regular syntactic rules during verb phrase formation. The lexical entry of each Ket finite verb therefore contains, in addition to its purely derivational morpheme shapes, a formula that predetermines the configuration of its actant agreement markers. This formula cannot be predicted in the grammar based on any overall set of syntactic functions, semantic roles, or other formal stem features. All agreement patterns follow a model consisting of ten position classes. P-1 valence

valence

past tense or imperative

valence

durative marker or valence

thematic consonant

valence

incorporate

valence

P0 base

(4) Position classes in Ket finite verb form creation P8 P7 P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1

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This model is more abstract than those that typically add grammatical inflections to a single part of speech. The position classes expressing subject/object agreement (P8, P6, P4, P3, P1, P-1) cannot be functionally specified any further on the grammatical level because each is used somewhat idiosyncratically across the Ket verbal lexicon. Some verbs derivationally select them in combinations that could be called active/stative (split-S); others combine them in an ergative/absolutive or nominative/accusative pattern. Some stems use—for equally idiosyncratic reasons—redundant subject agreement markers as a means of deriving a range of valencechanging constructions (intensives, semelfactives, auto-instrumentals, instrumental applicatives, as well as agentless passives and reflexives). The model shown in (4) actually represents an amalgam of five productive allotemplates (and several relic unproductive ones), each of which licenses a distinctive agreement pattern called an actant conjugation (see Vajda 2000a, 2003). Conjugation membership is an integral part of stem formation, even though the patterns themselves involve grammatical agreement with the subject or object. Another characteristic feature of Ket verb form creation is the extensive use of opaque structural elements to disambiguate potentially homonymous strings of positionally distant morphemes placed in linear adjacency. These elements are described exhaustively in Vajda (2001a). Two of the more frequently encountered are the j-separator between P4 and P1, and the s-separator between P7 or P5 and P0 or vowel-initial P1: (5) a. j-separator appears between P4 and vowel-initial P1 du8-a4-(j)-a1-tij0 du8-a4-(j)-a˜1-tij0 8 4 1 0 3m.sbj -dur -3sg.rsbj -grow 1sbj8-dur4-3anpl.rsbj1-grow0 dája¡tij ‘he grows’ dája¡˜tij ‘they.an grow’ b. s-separator appears between P5 and vowel-initial P1 du8-o6-k5-(s)-a1-qa0 3m.sbj8-3m.obj6-abl5-3sg.rsbj1-sell0 dóksà‰a ‘he sells him’ du8-o6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3m.sbj8-3m.obj6-abl5-3anpl.rsbj1-sell0 dóksà˜Ga ‘they sell them’ c. no separator appears da8-a6-k5-a4-do0 3f.sbj8-3m.obj6-ades5-dur4-look0 da.áƒàQo ‘she looks at him’ ( . = hiatus at proclitic boundary) da8-a˜6-k5-a4-do0 3f.sbj8-3anpl.obj6-ades5-dur4-look0 da.á˜gàQo ‘she looks at them’ ( . = hiatus at proclitic boundary) Another feature that indicates position-class configuration is the phonological realization of the P8 morphemes—which are fully retained in

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some cases (as in 8c), lose their vowel in others (8a and 8b), or elide completely. The configurations P8-5-0, P8-3-0, P8-1-0, P8-0, or P8-4-0 (when no consonant intervenes between the P4 vowel and P0) require the entire P8 morpheme to remain as part of the phonological verb, and trigger the feminine allomorph d@-. All other configurations trigger feminine da- and cause the other P8 agreement morphemes to elide completely before stopinitial verb stems, or lose their vowel before non stop-initial stems. These “lost” P8 consonants automatically encliticize to any preceding word that ends in a sound other than a stop (i.e., a vowel, l, or s). To summarize, Ket finite verb stems differ sharply from stems belonging to all other parts of speech, including infinitive stems (cf. §2.6). Finite verbs use subject-object positions as a component of stem derivation. The ten-slot finite verb model also regulates morpho-phonological features that identify which position classes are actually represented in a particular linear string. 2.2. Lexical morphemes in finite verb forms The stem also consists of more conventional morphological elements, in addition to the choice of which position classes must be used to crossreference the subject and object during verb phrase formation. The core lexical material normally occupies P7, P5, and P0—positions that never contain inflectional affixes of any kind. But the morphemes in these slots often defy semantic definition, in which case they will be glossed simply as lex for “lexical.” Every Ket verb contains a base in P0, but this element is the verb’s head only in the sense that morphemes belonging to all other position classes attach to it. It does not necessarily convey the stem’s core lexical meaning and may be semantically vague or even opaque. Only a few dozen verbs contain P0 as their sole lexical morpheme. All productive verb derivation patterns in modern Ket require an element in P7 as well as P0. In stems where P7 incorporates an object or instrument noun or a directional adverb, the semantic head is normally P0: daqússìvet ‘she is making a teepee’ [da8-qu?s7-(s)-bet0 3f.sbj8-teepee7-make0], daínsìvet ‘she is making a needle’ [da8-i?n7-(s)-bet0 3f.sbj8-needle7-make0]. Functional sentence perspective relies on nominal incorporation as one way of backgrounding the object: (6)

daákùssibet ‘What is she doing?’ [da8-akus7-(s)-bet0 3f.sbj8-what7make0] ákùs-º d@ 2bbèt ‘What is it she is making?’ [ákùs-º d@8-b3-bet0 what-abs 3f.sbj8-3n.obj3-make0]

An infinitive stem in P7 normally serves as the verb’s semantic head, with P0 containing a derivational affix conveying some nuance of aspect or valence, such as iterativity or transitivity. Most verb stems formally distinguish single from multiple events, often by transferring the semantic head from P0 to P7: éndìsuk ‘I (will) forget (once)’ [en7-di1-suk0 mind71sg.sbj1-back0] vs. énsòk˜báƒàbda ‘I (often) forget’ [en/sok/˜7-ba6-k5-a4-b3da0 mind/back/iter7-1sg.sbj6-ades5-dur4-ic3-iter0]. In a few cases, neither

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P7 nor P0 is semantically dominant, and together they form a sort of discontinuous binomial root. (7) Possible semantic relationships between P7 and P0: a. P0 contains the semantic head, with P7 absent or filled with a semantically subordinate nominal or adverbial root: di8-t@@l0 1sbj8-freeze0 dit@ 2@1l ‘I (will) freeze’

da8-baltij7-bet0 3f.sbj8-box7-make0 dabáltìjbet ‘she (will) make a box’

b. P7 is the semantic head, while P0 is semantically opaque or marks aspect or voice: a˜7-k5-b3-ta0 hang7-abl5-3n.sbj3-extend.intr0 á˜gìpta ‘it is hanging’ du8-a˜7-k5-b3-to0 3m.sbj8-hang7-abl5-3n.obj3-extend.tr0 dá˜gìpto ‘he hangs (will hang) it up’ di8-us7-q5-a4-ku1-t0 1sbj8-warm7-cause5-dur4-2sg.obj1-mom.tr 0 dúsqàjit ‘I (will) warm you.sg up (once)’ di8-us7-q5-a4-ku1-da0 1sbj8-warm7-cause5-dur4-2sg.obj1-iter.tr 0 dúsqàƒuQa ‘I (often) warm you.sg up’ c. P7 + P0 form a headless compound in which both are more or less equally meaningful: di8-us7-(s)-ij0 1sbj8-strike 7-kill 0 dússìj ‘I (will) kill’

da8-ses7-a4-ta0 3f.sbj8-place7-dur4-extend 0 daséstà ‘she is seated’

ej7-ba6-k5-a4-b3-t@@l0 kill7-1sg.sbj6-ades5-dur4-ic3-freeze0 éjbàƒapt@l ‘I (will) freeze to death’ d. P7 + P0 form a discontinuous binomial root, neither clearly meaningful apart from the other: di8-eq7-(s)-aq0 1sbj8-lex7-lex0 déqsàq ‘I hear’

di8-ig7-a6-t5-(s)-aq0 1sbj8-lex7-1m.obj6-su5-lex0 díƒàtsaq ‘I skin him (one animal)’

di8-i˜7-a˜6-t5-(s)-ij0 1sbj8-lex7-1m.obj6-su5-lex0 dí˜ànsij ‘I skin them (many animals)’

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While objects, instruments, and spatial adverbs are incorporated in P7, impersonal causal agents can be incorporated in P0: bóks쉈n ‘I get carried along by the current’ [bo6-k5-(s)-qin0 1sg.sbj6-abl5-flow0]. When such verbs are used without actant markers, the morpheme bin ‘self’ appears in P7 when no other morpheme occupies this position: bí˜sìvej ‘wind blows’ [bin7-k5-(s)-bej0 self7-abl5-wind0], bí˜sì‰in ‘it flows’ [bin7-k5-(s)-qin0 self7abl5-flow0]. Verbs with incorporated subjects fall outside the actant conjugation system, though some of these patterns are productive (Vajda 2003). The most productive lexical affix is the P4 durative marker a, which regularly labializes to o in the past tense. Durative-marked verbs include some single-action events like ‘take a step’ or ‘shudder’, as well as iteratives (for which this marker is nearly obligatory), but no true semelfactives. In modern Ket, P4 a is in complementary distribution with the s-separator, which may have originally marked telic accomplishments in contrast to states and atelic activites. Besides P4 durative a and whatever morphemes occupy P7 and P0, the only other purely lexical group of verbal morphemes is the so-called determiners. The diverse functions and origins of this collection of about a dozen single-consonant morphemes are discussed more fully in Vajda (2003), where I argue that determiners fall into two separate groups. Those capable of occurring independently of morphemes in P7, P6 and P4 belong to slot P5 and are called thematic consonants. Those capable of occurring after another determiner and which invariably appear in conjunction with P4 are considered proclitics. The P5 thematic consonants derive from shape classifiers or adverbs and usually express some sort of spatial nuance. They are frequently associated with the P6 absolutive series markers but may occur independently of them, as well. There are three productive thematic consonants and several unproductive ones. The P5 thematic consonants: 1. P5 k that labializes the preceding P6 a to o denotes concrete motion up, down, off, or away: ógbùn ‘he slips (once)’ [o6-k5-b3-hun0 3m.sbj6down5-ic3-slip0], dakávrO 1 ‘she clears it (a trail, by cutting away branches)’ [da8-k5-a4-b3-do0 3f.sbj8-away5-dur4-3n.obj3-chop0]. It is frequently used after P6 absolutive markers to convey externally caused or externally visible changes of state: daq@ 2lèjuksa ‘she turns yellow’ [da8-q@lej7-u6-k5-(s)-a0 ic8-yellow7-3f.sbj6-abl5-event.extends0]. In transitive verbs of motion it expresses comitative meaning: kóksàq ‘you.sg walk with him somewhere and return’ [ku8-o6-k5-(s)-aq0 2sbj83m.obj6-with5-go.mom0]. Unless used literally, this morpheme will be glossed abl for ‘ablative’. The labialization of P6 a to o does not occur before any other thematic consonant. 2. P5 k that does not labialize a preceding P6 a occasionally expresses some sort of ‘dynamic introverted’ or adessive meaning, and will be glossed ades for ‘adessive’: áƒàvuk ‘he gets hit (by a spark)’ [a6-k5-a4b3-ok0 3m.sbj6-ades5-dur4-ic3-move0].

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3. P5 t occasionally denotes superficial contact with a surface and will be glossed sup for ‘superessive’: datísùn ‘she crawls’ [da8-t5-(s)-a1-hun0 3f.sbj8-sup5-3sg.rsbj1-slip0], dahíttàƒit ‘she applies glue (to a surface)’ [da8-hit7-t5-a4-kit0 3f.sbj8-glue7-sup5-dur4-rub0]. In conjunction with P6 markers this morpheme likewise expresses action upon the surface of an object. The meaning can be literal, as in: dakEròsinbátàƒit 2 ‘she rubs me with kerosene’ [da8-kerosin7-ba6-t5-a4-kit0 3f.sbj8-kerosene7-1sg.obj6-sup5-dur4-rub0], datúƒùnbátàƒit ‘she combs me’ [da8tukun7-ba6-t5-a4-kit0 3f.sbj8-comb7-1sg.obj6-sup5-dur4-rub0]; or more figurative, as in: dabátsùk ‘she pushes me’ [da8-ba6-t5-suk0 3f.sbj81sg.obj6-sup5-back0]; dabátpE 1s ‘she draws me’ [da8-ba6-t5-b3-es0 3f.sbj8-1sg.obj6-sup5-al3-up0]. 4. Unproductive thematic consonants. In a few stems P5 t appears to derive from Ket tˆ? ‘head’: dabútòlok ‘she shuddered’ [da8-bu6-t5-o4-il2ok0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0]. Where the meaning of this morpheme is less concrete, it is glossed mt for ‘mental state’: bátìbgit ‘I sense’ [ba6-t5-b3-git0 1sg.obj6-mt5-ic3-feel0]. P5 h denotes straight or perpendicular movements: dahábdò ‘she erects it (a tent, by stabbing poles straight into the ground)’ [da8-h5-a4-b3-do0 3f.sbj8-straight5dur4-3n.obj3-gouge0]. P5 n expresses various notions associated with circularity: danámgìl ‘she cuts off the edges of it’ [da8-n5-a4-b3-hil0 3f.sbj8-around5-dur4-3n.obj3-turn0], danámùt ‘she sucks it’ [da8-n5-a4b3-qut0 3f.sbj8-around5-dur4-3n.obj3-hold0]. In some stems, it literally represents the head or eyes, as in danóntèt ‘she dove headfirst into the water’ [da8-n5-o4-in2-tet0 3f.sbj8-head5-dur4-pst2-hit0]. Finally, P5 q meaning ‘inside’ is used in a few verbs where one object is placed inside another, such as skewering a piece of meat on a spit: daqíbdìl ‘she skewers it’ [da8-q5-b3-d/il0 3f.sbj8-inside5-3n.obj3-across/skewer0]. Table 4 shows the three productive combinations of P5 thematic consonants and P6 actant markers. Table 4. Productive combinations of P6 actant marker and P5 thematic consonant(s) 1sg 2sg 3m ablative bo/k ku/k o/k (abl) adessive ba/k ku/k a/k (ades) superessive ba/t ku/t a/t (sup)

3f 3n u/k u/k

1pl 2pl 3anpl 3rsbj d@˜/k k@˜/k o˜/k bu/k

i/k

i/k~º/ka d@˜/k k@˜/k a˜/k

i/t

º/t

d@˜/t

k@˜/k a˜/t

bu/k bu/t

a. The adessive inanimate variant i/k occurs in verbs that are phonological phrases: tíjì˜íƒà‰an ‘it (grass) starts growing’ [tiji˜7-i6-k5-a4-qan0 grow7-3n.sbj6-ades5-dur4-incp0].

The highly productive causative affix invariably follows an infinitive incorporated in P7 and never combines with P6 agreement affixes. P5 q derives causatives from active or inactive intransitives, as well as from transitives (in which case the original direct object is incorporated in P7):

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dúsqàjit ‘I start warming him up’ [di8-us7-q5-a4-(j)-t0 1sbj8-warm7-cause53m.obj4-mom.tr0], danánbE 1tqajit ‘she makes him start baking bread’ [da8nan/bet7-q5-a4-(j)-t0 3f.sbj8-bread/make7-cause5-3m.obj4-mom.tr0]. Now let us turn to the determiners that appear in P4. In terms of function, there are four distinct P4 proclitics, all probably of pronominal origin and all with the shape t or d. The first appears in the atelic/durative P4 combination ta. Compare the unidirectional verb d@ $;roq ‘she flies (once, in a single direction)’ [d@8-doq0 3f.sbj8-fly0] with the atelic datájdòq ‘she flies (repeatedly or in many directions)’ [d@8-t/a4-(j)-doq0 3f.sbj8-at/dur4-fly0]; or datájgà ‘she walks (repeatedly or in many directions)’ [d@8-t/a4-(j)-ka0 3f.sbj8-at/dur4-s.sbj.walk0]. Atelic t can appear after a P5 adposition: dabóktàjga ‘she leads me (repeatedly or in many directions)’ [d@8-bo6-k5-t/a4(j)-ka0 3f.sbj8-1sg.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-walk0]. One P4 d-proclitic adds the spatial meaning of ‘extending across a surface’ to the stems in which it appears: dadájsùk ‘she fords (a river)’ [da8d/a4-(j)-suk0 3f.sbj8-across/dur4-back0]. Unlike the P5 adpositions, with which this morpheme shows semantic similarity, it can follow another adposition: dúgdàbdo ‘he carves it out (a log for a canoe, by scraping or gouging lengthwise using a tool)’ [du8-u6-k5-d/a4-b3-do0 3f.sbj8-3n.obj6-abl5across/dur4-al3-gouge0]. P4 transverse d usually appears in verbs where considerable effort is expended in the production of the action, in contrast to P5 superessive t, which denotes more superficial contact with a surface: cf. dadábdò ‘she carves it out’ [da8-d/a4-b3-do0 3f.sbj8-across/dur4-3n.obj3gouge0] with datábdò ‘she rough-hews it’ [da8-t5-a4-b3-do0 3f.sbj8-sup5-dur43n.obj3-gouge0]. The next P4 d-proclitic appears in inceptive verbs that contain an incorporated theme-role noun (corresponding either to the logical subject or object) in P7. Because it signals the coincidence of both categories in the same stem, it can be called the inceptive incorporated theme affix (abbreviated iit). Combined with P0 inceptive -qan, this morpheme is still productive in modern Ket: súùlbógdà‰an ‘I acquire a snowsled’ [súùl8-bo6-k5d/a4-qan0 snowsled7-1sg.sbj6-abl5-iit/dur4-incp0], I 1rdàvan ‘spring begins’ [I 1r7-d/a4-b3-qan0 spring7-iit/dur4-ic3-incp0]. The last P4 d occurs as an animacy classifier (abbreviated ac) in a tiny number of Active Conjugation verbs: daúldàra˜gi˜ ‘she washes us’ [d@8-ul7-d/a4-da˜1-k˜0 3f.sbj8-water7-ac/dur4-1pl.obj1-wash0], daharàjtet ‘she breaks it (a masculine-class tree)’ [d@8-ha7-d/a4-(j)-tet0 3f.sbj8-long. shape7-ac/3m.obj4-hit0]. Because the object is cross-referenced by the appropriate animate-class inactive series marker, the classifier is redundant in any form where it occurs. Its expressive function derives instead from its absence in the same stem used with an inanimate-class object. These forms fail to use the expected P3 b to cross-reference their object, the lack of P4 d being the only signal of the inanimate-class object term: daúlàk˜ ‘she washes it’ [da8-ul7-a4-k˜0 3f.sbj8-water7-dur4-wash0], dahástèt ‘she breaks it’ [da8-ha7-(s)-tet0 3f.sbj8-long.shape7-hit0]. Stems with P4 animacy d are typological relics. All productive patterns of verb form creation in Ket require both a subject and an object marker when-

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ever a verb is used transitively; nor do they contain animacy classifiers apart from the agreement morphs themselves. There is one final group of lexical morphemes. In many verbs, actant markers have become fossilized affixes that signal valence but do not agree with any syntactic argument. Vajda (2003) calls them “pseudo-actant markers.” Pseudo-actant P3 b derives applicatives (in stems where another morpheme expresses the causal agent or patientive subject) or involuntary causatives (in stems where no other morpheme names the source of or effect produced by the given action). Pseudo-actant P1 a derives resultatives from stems that do not use this position for actant marking. (8)

P3 b and P1 a used as valence-changing affixes: a. Instrumental applicative: du8-o6-k5-d/a4-b3-ta˜0 3m.sbj8-3m.obj6-abl5-across/dur4-al3-drag0 dógdàpta˜ ‘he drags him (by sled)’ b. Involuntary causative: o6-k5-b3-un0 3m.sbj6-abl5-ic3-slip0 ógbùn ‘he slips’ c. Resultative: o6-k5-d/a4-b3-a1-ta˜0 3m.sbj6-abl5-across/dur4-al3-res1-drag0 ógdàvata˜ ‘he’s been dragged (by sled)’

In other stems, P3 b acts as a sort of intensity augment. For example, iterativity may be expressed by the sequence of P4 atelic/durative t/a + P3 non-agreement b: (9)

a. Single action: da8-qo7-a/k6-a4-tet0 3f.sbj8-fist7-3m.obj6-dur4-hit0 daqó‰àtet ‘she punches him’ b. Iterative formed using non-agreement P3 b: da8-qo/ˆn7-a6-k5-t/a4-b3-tet0 3f.sbj8-fist.iter7-3m.obj6-ades5-at/dur4-intense 3-hit0 daqó‰I 1nátàptet ‘she keeps punching him’

Note that iterativity in the second example of (9) is formally expressed twice: by a suffix on P7 and by the P4+3 sequence. Such concatenations of lexical affixes characterize many derivational patterns in the Ket verb. 2.3. Tense and mood inflection Ket distinguishes past and non-past tense, as well as imperative from indicative mood. Any verb denoting an event that cannot be performed on command is defective for imperative formation. Instead, the optative particle qan is preposed to linking verbs or the indicative forms of verbs denoting involuntary actions: qan áqta¡-ku ‘Be good!’ [optative + good-

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2sg.pred], qan kúgbùn ‘(I hope) you slip!’ [optative + ku6-k5-b3-hun0 2sg.sbj6-abl5-ic3-slip0]. Only a handful of stems fail to distinguish tense, the two most important being ‘say’ and ‘know’, e.g.: nímà ‘I say’ or ‘I said’, ítpàQam ‘I know’ or ‘I knew’. In most stems, tense and mood marking follow a regular set of grammatical rules: (10) Tense and mood marking Past Presence of lexically chosen P2 affix shape (il, in, or º; Indicative: rarely q) and labialization of any P4 vowel a to o Non-past Indicative:

No P2 affix and no labialization of P4 a

Imperative:

The same P2 affix shape as for past indicative, but no labialization in P4; deletion of P8 and P3; and addition of d before most vowel-initial bases

(11) a. Past indicative: ku8-t5-o4-b3-in2-gi0 2sbj8-sup5-dur4-3n.obj3-pst 2-say0 tóvìngi ‘you.sg said it’

ku8-b3-il2-bet0-n-1 sbj8-3n.obj3-pst2-make0-anpl-1 bílbètn ‘you.pl made it’

ku8-b3-in2-tig0-n-1 2sbj8-3n.obj3-pst2-hit0-anpl.sbj-1 kúvìntiƒin ‘you.pl hit it’ b. Non-past indicative: ku8-t5-a4-b3-gi0 2sbj8-sup5-dur4-3n.obj3-say0 tábgı ¡ ‘you.sg (will) say it’

c. Imperative: t5-a4-in2-gi0 sup5-dur4-imp2-say0 tángı ¡ ‘Say it!’ (you.sg)

ku8-b3-tig0-n-1 2sbj8-3n.obj3-hit0-anpl-1 kúptìƒin ‘you.pl (will) hit it’

in2-tet0-n-1 imp2-hit0-anpl-1 íntètn ‘Hit it!’ (you.pl)

ku8-b3-bet0-n-1 2sbj8-3n.obj3-make0-anpl-1 kúbbètn ‘you.pl (will) make it’

il2-get0-n-1 imp2-make0-anpl-1 ílgètn ‘Make it!’ (you.pl)

This sort of affixation (in P2) with extended exponence (labialization of P4 a) involves nothing more than a look-back at the lexicon to determine the correct P2 allomorph. The choice of the P2 marker itself hinges on lexical distinctions of aspect. All imperfectives and most non-achievement perfectives take il. Verbs denoting inception of states built with P0 qan take a zero affix in P2, with labialization of P4 a to o and P0 -qan to -qon being the only overt indicator of tense: qógddàvan ‘fall begins’ [qogd7-d/a4-b3-qan0 fall7-iit/dur4-ic3-incp0] vs. qógddòvon ‘summer began’ [qogd7-d/o4-b3-º 2qon0 fall7-iit/dur4-ic3-pst2-incp(pst)0]. Many semelfactives likewise have a zero affix in P2: lákèjges ‘a clap rings/rang out’ [lakej7-º 2-ges0 clap7-pst2sem0]. The rarest P2 lexical allomorph is q, which appears only in verbs containing P0 -ej ‘kill’: daó‰èj ‘she killed him’ [da8-o4-q2-ej0 3f.sbj8-3m.obj4-

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pst2-kill0]. Other achievement perfectives take P2 in. The designation achievement perfective is inadequate as a diagnostic label for P2 in-verbs, since they represent only an idiosyncratic subset of achievements. Perfectives expressing events involving encirclement, upright position, or lifephase transitions are especially likely to take P2 in. Tense-related suppletion of the P0 morpheme is restricted to a sizeable group of stems whose core lexical meaning is expressed by the P7 morpheme. For example, many transitive single-action verbs fill P0 with the morpheme -t in all non-past forms, as well as in the past tense of forms with a 1st or 2nd person object: dásqìndit ‘she warmed me up’ [da8-us7q5-in2-di1-t0 3f.sbj8-warm7-cause5-pst2-1sg.obj1-mom.tr(speech.act.participant.object)0]. But in past-tense forms with a 3rd person object, P0 t is replaced by P0 -a: dásqìmna ‘she began warming it up’ [da8-us7-q5-b3-in2-a0 3f.sbj8-warm7-cause5-3n.obj3-pst2-mom.tr(3object)0]. The same type of suppletion occurs in the verb ‘take’, where P0 -qos appears in past-tense forms with a 1st or 2nd person object: dakásn1di‰os ‘she took me’ [da8kas7-in2-di1-qos0 3f.sbj8-limb7-pst2-1sg.obj1-raise.speech.act.participant. object0], while P0-am appears with any 3rd person object’: dakásònam ‘she took him’ [da8-kas7-o4-in2-am0 3f.sbj8-limb7-3m.obj4-pst2-extend.3object0]. Suppletion of P0 involving intransitive subject number also sporadically occurs, affecting non-past as well as past-tense forms. One example is P0 -ka ‘one walks around’ versus -qotn ‘many walk around’. The most prolific pair is -qut ‘one.acts’ versus -damin ‘many.act’, which helps derive verbs with a wide variety of meanings: dútà‰ut ‘he is lying prone’ [du8-t5-a4-qut0 3m.sbj8-sup5-dur4-s.sbj.in.position0] vs. dútàQamin ‘they.an lie prone’ [du8t5-a4-damin0 3an.sbj8-sup5-dur4-pl.sbj.in.position0]. Finally, one verb uses suppletion of P0 to distinguish the non-past indicative, kúƒùtus ‘you.sg intend’ [ku8-ku1-tus0 2sbj8-2sg.rsbj1-be.raised0], from the past tense and imperative: ílgùQen ‘you.sg intended’ [il2-ku1-den0 pst2-2sg.sbj1-go0]. Stem suppletion in Ket thus lends itself either to the expression of grammatical oppositions or contributes to a distinction in the nature of the action itself. Aside from the few stems that retain P4 animacy-classifying d, Ket has no system of participant-individuating classification. 2.4. Subject/object agreement Ket contains a polypersonal verb that exhibits a complex lexical split in actant agreement as its most distinctive feature. Vajda (2003) suggests this extraordinary feature developed to replace a more conventional set of valence-changing prefixes (valence-increase q- and valence-decrease d-) that were originally preposed to the base. These elements were largely obliterated by the simplification of onset clusters (discussed in §1 above in conjunction with tonogenesis). The actant conjugations, like the original system of valence-changing prefixes, help express transitivity and event number, as well as whether the action was performed by the subject’s own body (auto-instrumental meaning) and not by using an external tool or conveyance. The precise origins of each conjugation still need to be worked out. What is crucial to any synchronic analysis is that fact that Ket

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cannot be characterized as conforming to any single agreement typology; certain lexical actant sub-patterns are ergative, others active/inactive (splitS), and still others nominative/accusative. The five main positional configurations used to express subject/object agreement—named by Vajda (2000a) as Active, Possessive, Absolutive, Co-referential Absolutive, and Co-referential Inactive Conjugation—functionally overlap to such a degree that Ket subject/object agreement position selection must be regarded as derivational. A partial analog might be the perfective/imperfective distinction in Slavic: though derivational and idiosyncratic, it permeates nearly the entire verb system and plays a key grammatical role in discourse. Slavic aspectual affixes likewise often build new lexical items and new aspectual forms at the same time. In Ket, the role in derivation played by the choice of actant agreement positions helps explain why so many verbs lack a semantically discrete root yet still convey a recognizable meaning. The finite verb stem’s meaning accrues from its purely lexical morphemes in P7-5-40 (and P8, P3 and P1, when these slots contain non-agreement affixes) as well as from its selection of subject/object agreement positions. The derivational role of actant marker positions also explains why slots involved in subject/object marking (P8, 6, 4, 3, 1, -1) constitute over half of all position classes. These positions function somewhat differently in each conjugation instead of uniformly across the verbal lexicon. Table 5 shows the syntactic agreement morphemes that appear in each derivationally selected slot. P8 and P-1 act as a single series, as do P4, P3, and P1. Table 5. Subject/object agreement affixesa position: series:

P8 P6 P4 P3 P1 P-1 act./erg. absolutive inactive inactive inactive act./erg. (prs./cl.) (prs./cl./num.) 3 anim. cl. 3 inanim. cl. 1/2 or redun. (anim. cl. pl.) functions: all A some O some 3AN.O some INAN.O some 1/2 O most A some Sa, So some Sa, So some 3AN.So some INAN.So some 1/2 So redundant co-referential with P8-marked A, Sa, co-referential with P8-marked A, Sa, marker: or So subject in certain verbs or So subject in certain verbs

1sg 2sg 3m 3f 3n (sg/pl) 1pl 2pl 3anpl

di ku du da da di ku du

ba ~ bo — ku — a ~ o ~ bu a (o in pst)b i ~ u ~ bu i º~i~u~bu — d@˜ — k@˜ — a˜ ~ o˜ ~ bu a˜ (o˜ in pst)

— — — — b — — —

di (rarely º) ku (rarely º) a (rarely º) a (rarely º) a (rarely º) da˜ ka˜ a˜

— — — — — n n n

a. Shown in underlying morphophonemic forms; abbreviations follow Dixon 1999: A = transitive subject, O = object, Sa = active intransitive subject, So = inactive intransitive subject. b. The P4 actant morphemes appear in several additional allomorphs that reflect position class configuration and sometimes also help mark the past or distinguish a stem as transitive. P4 masculine /a/ appears as /aj/, /da/, /daj/, /do/, or /o/; P4 feminine /i/ as /ij/, /iQ/, /it/, /di/, /diQ/, or /dit/; and P4 plural /a˜/ as /da˜/, /a˜a/, /a˜s/, /do˜/, /o˜/, /o˜o/. Combinations of P4 /i/ with P2 /in/ or /il/ fuse to /iQun/ or /iQul/ before a vowel and to /itn/ or /itl/ before a consonant. A complete description of rules that determine P4 morpheme shapes appears in Vajda (2001a).

The P6 labialized variants (o/u) occur before P5 ablative k (§2.3 above). P6 bu is a redundant 3rd person subject marker used to detransitivize certain stems or to derive auto-instrumental stems.

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Despite the large number of agreement slots, Ket shows almost no oneto-one correspondences between individual semantic roles or syntactic functions and particular actant positions. The cross-referenced noun phrases are nearly always zero-marked in the absolutive case regardless of whether they convey object, transitive subject, active intransitive or patientive subject. Nouns marked in a case other than absolutive are virtually never cross-referenced verb-internally. 3 Also, although Ket often drops non-focused, topicalized subject or object pronominal NP’s as a regular rule of functional sentence perspective, their verb-internal indexes are never dropped for discourse reasons. What is unique about Ket typologically is that stem derivation rather than grammatical typology determines the morphosyntactic agreement pattern characteristic of each particular verb (in other words, which lexical allo-template will be used by a particular stem). The names given to the actant series in table 5—active/ergative for P8/-1, absolutive for P6, and inactive for P4/3/1—do not correlate with any uniform semantic role or syntactic function in all verbs containing them. Because they are lexically chosen, the three series overlap significantly and the overall function of each can only be defined negatively. Active/ergative never marks the object; absolutive normally cannot mark a transitive subject (though it redundantly marks both transitive and intransitive subjects in one conjugation); 4 and the inactive series is never the sole marker of any active subject. Only within each of the five individual actant conjugations does each series allow a positive definition (cf. §2.5 below). Even though a maximum of two terms can be cross-referenced verbinternally, the selection of actant marker combinations cannot be subsumed under any global semantic or syntactic rule dictated by the grammatical component of the language. This sharply distinguishes Ket from most languages with binary split-S or fluid-S agreement marking systems. Nor does Ket agreement marking have any systematic relation to any particular derivational pattern or to the position of the verb’s semantic head or even to the presence of any of the stem’s purely lexical morphemes. Although some or all of these factors might have played a role in the etymological choice of actant conjugation with respect to this or that stem, there is no obvious general pattern left in modern Ket. 5 The positional configu3. The noun phrase cross-referenced as object has been recorded with dative marking in the speech of younger Kets: bu áv-à˜a da8-pomogat7-bo/k6-a4-bet0 ‘she helps me’ [sheabs me-dat 3f.sbj8-help7-1sg.obj6-dur4-make0]. This verb is a recent loan from Russian pomogat’ ‘to help’, which governs the dative and probably influenced this pattern. 4. See Vajda 2003 for a discussion of inversional verbs, an unproductive group that uses P6 to cross-reference a syntactically transitive subject. 5. Certain derivational patterns do show interesting mutual exclusivities. Pseudoactant P3 b nearly always blocks the syntactic object from being cross-referenced in P4-31, causing it to be cross-referenced with the P6 absolutive series instead. The sole exception is the verb ‘furnish someone with something by hand’: dávàq ‘I gave him it’ [di8-a4-b3aq0 1sbj8-3m.obj4-al3-give.by.hand0]. Similarly, P5 causative q always blocks the syntactic object from being cross-referenced in P6, causing it to be cross-referenced with the inactive series (P4-3-1) instead. And the use of P0 base -bet as an iterative marker requires the object to be cross-referenced in P6 rather than P4-3-1. These patterns are etymological

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ration of actant agreement markers must be explained on a verb-by-verb basis, and only from a diachronic perspective. The limited number of productive agreement patterns, all conforming to a single overall positionclass model, as well as their recognizable derivational functions (cf. Vajda 2003) apparently render this unusual system learnable for children. 2.5. Actant conjugations Any description of Ket verb morphology requires a section on “actant conjugations”—the lexically-determined subject/object agreement marking patterns that play such a key role in stem creation. Modern Ket contains five productive conjugations, shown in (12, 14, 16, 19, 22). Slots marked with a hyphen in these models are never filled; slots given a semantic designation may or may not be filled depending upon the stem and grammatical form in question. One of the most common patterns is the Active (or Active/Stative) Conjugation. P2

P1

P0

P-1

1, 2 patient

base

active animate (plural)

durative or 3 animate patient

P3

past tense or imperative

P4

3 inanimate patient

P5 thematic consonant

incorporate

active agent (person/class)

(12) Active Conjugation P8 P7 P6 —

The Active Conjugation resembles the typical binary split-S pattern found in many languages. Most intransitives require their animate subjects to be marked in P8 regardless of finer situational nuances of control or volition: dá˜gìsta ‘he is hanging’ [du8-a˜7-k5-(s)-ta0 3m.sbj8-hang7-abl5be.extended0]. Most inanimate subjects are marked in P3: á˜gìpta ‘it is hanging’ [a˜7-k5-b3-ta0 hang7-away5-3n.sbj3-be.extended0]. Transitive subjects are cross-referenced in P8, objects in P3 (inanimate-class), P4 (animate-class 3rd person) or P1 (1st or 2nd person). Note that active subject agreement for animate-class terms involves a circumfix composed of P8 (person and class) and P-1 (plural). (13) Active Conjugation (P8 = active term; P4-3-1 = inactive term; P-1 = plural of active term) don7-il2-di1-bet0 di8-in2-qo0 knife7-pst2-1sg.sbj1-have0 1sbj8-pst2-die0 dónı ¡ldivet ‘I had a knife’ dínò ‘I died’ don7-il2-ku1-bet0 knife7-pst2-2sg.sbj1-have0 dónı ¡lguvet ‘you.sg had a knife’

ku8-in2-qo0 2sbj8-pst2-die0 kúnò ‘you.sg died’

residue that reflect the development of stem derivation patterns, but provide no overall system of cues to predict which actant positions will be filled in each stem.

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don7-o4-il2-bet0 knife7-3m.sbj4-pst2-have0 dóno¡lbet ‘he had a knife’

du8-in2-qo0 3m.sbj8-pst2-die0 dúnò ‘he died’

don7-i4-(d)-il2-bet0 knife7-3f.sbj4-pst2-have0 dónı ¡tlivet ‘she had a knife’

d@8-in2-qo0 3f.sbj8-pst2-die0 d@ 2nò ‘she died’

don7-il2-da˜1-bet0 knife7-pst2-1pl.sbj1-have0 dónı ¡lda˜bet ‘we had a knife’

d[i]8-in2-qo0-n-1 1sbj8- pst2-die0-anpl-1 dínòn ‘we died’

don7-il2-ka˜1-bet0 knife7-pst2-2pl.sbj1-have0 dónı ¡lka˜bet ‘you.pl had a knife’

ku8-in2-qo0-n-1 2sbj8- pst2-die0-anpl-1 kúnòn ‘you.pl died’

don7-o˜1-il2-bet0 knife7-3anpl.sbj4-pst2-have0 dóno¡˜olbet ‘they had a knife’

du8-in2-qo0-n-1 3an.sbj8-pst2-die0-anpl-1 dúnòn ‘they died’

di8-il2-ku1-s0 1sbj8-pst2-2sg.obj1-dress0 dílkùs ‘I dressed you.sg’

ku8-il2-di1-s0 2sbj8-pst2-1sg.obj1-dress0 kíldìs ‘you.sg dressed me’

ku8-o4-il2-s0 2sbj8-3m.obj4-pst2-dress0 kols ‘you.sg dressed him’

du8-ku1-s0 3m.sbj8-2sg.obj1-dress0 díúlkùs ‘he dressed you.sg’

du8-i4-il2-s0 3m.sbj8-3f.obj4-pst2-dress0 dils ‘he dressed her’

da8-o4-il2-s0 3f.sbj8-3m.obj4-pst2-dress0 daols ‘she dressed him’

du8-il2-di1-s0 3f.sbj8-pst2-1sg.obj1-dress0 díldìs ‘he dressed me’

di8-o4-il2-s0 3f.sbj8-3f.obj4-pst2-dress0 dols ‘I dressed him’

di8-i4-(d)-il2-s0-n-1 1sbj8-3f.obj4-pst2-dress0-anpl-1 díQùlsin ‘we dressed her’

da8-il2-da˜1-s0 3f.sbj8-pst2-1pl.obj1-dress0 daíldà˜s ‘she dressed us’

ku8-il2-da˜1-s0-n-1 2sbj8-pst2-1pl.obj1-dr0-anpl-1 kíldà˜sin ‘you.pl dressed us’

di8-il2-ka˜1-s0-n-1 1sbj8-pst2-2pl.obj1-dr0-anpl-1 dílkà˜sin ‘we dressed you.pl’

du8-il2-di1-s0-n-1 3an.sbj8-pst2-1sg.obj1-dr0-anpl-1 díldìsin ‘they dressed me’

di8-o˜4-il2-s0 1sbj8-3anpl.obj4-pst2-dress0 dó˜òls ‘I dressed them’

The lexical choice between active versus inactive subject marking does not always correlate with animacy. The inanimate-class subject of a transitive verb is cross-referenced by P8 rather than P3: sóòm bu dakásònam ‘the

Ket Morphology

1303

arrow takes (i.e., kills) him’ [da8-kas7-o4-in2-am0 3n.sbj8-limb7-3m.obj4-pst2extend.3object0]. P3 marking is likewise impossible for the inanimateclass subjects of a few verbs conveying highly active events: sámòlot d@ 2Qòq ‘the plane flies’ [d@8-doq0 3n.sbj8-fly0]. Conversely, a sizeable number of patientive intransitives of this conjugation mark their animate subjects with the inactive series: P4 (for 3rd person) or P1 for speech act participants) rather than the active series in P8. One example appears in the first column of (13) above. In the second derivational subtype, the Possessive Conjugation, the subject is cross-referenced by possessive proclitics in P7, rather than by one of the three agreement series.

P3

P2

P1

P0

non-agreement

past tense or imperative

non-agreement

base

P4 durative marker

incorporate + possessive proclitic (person/number/class)

(14) Possessive Conjugation P8 P7 P6 P5 — — —

P-1 —

Most Possessive Conjugation verbs are intransitive and denote the production of sound. None expresses actual possession. The two productive sub-patterns appear in (15); examples are limited to the past tense. (15) Possessive Conjugation (possessive prefix in P7 = syntactic subject; past tense forms) Iterative (multiple action) forms b/kúto¡lej7-b3-il2-a1-ta0 my/whistling7-ic3-pst2-res1-be.extended0 vkúto¡lejbílàta ‘I was whistling’

Semelfactive (single, instantaneous action) forms b/kúto¡lej7-º 2-ges0 my/whistling7-pst2-sem0 vkúto¡lejges ‘I whistled (once)’

k/kúto¡lej7-b3-il2-a1-ta0 your.s/whistling7-ic3-pst2-res1-be.extended0 kkúto¡lejbílàta ‘you.sg were whistling’

k/kúto¡lej7-º 2-ges0 your.s/whistling7-pst2-sem0 kkúto¡lejges ‘you.sg whistled (once)’

da/kúto¡lej7-b3-il2-a1-ta0 his/whistling7-ic3-pst2-res1-be.extended0 dakúto¡lejbílàta ‘he was whistling’

da/kúto¡lej7-º 2-ges0 his/whistling7-pst2-sem0 dakúto¡lejges ‘he whistled (once)’

d/kúto¡lej7-b3-il2-a1-ta0 her~its/whistling7-ic3-pst2-res1-be.extended0 dkúto¡lejbílàta ‘she/it was whistling’

d/kúto¡lej7-º 2-ges0 her~its/whistling7-pst2-sem0 dkúto¡lejges ‘she/it whistled (once)’

na/kúto¡lej7-b3-il2-a1-ta0 anpl.gen/whistling7-ic3-pst2-res1-be.extended0 nakúto¡lejbáta ‘we/you/they were whistling’

na/kúto¡lej7-º 2-ges0 ap.gen/whistling7-pst2-sem0 nakúto¡lejges ‘we/you/they whistled (once)’

1304

Edward J. Vajda

Although most Possessive Conjugation verbs express sound effects, verbs with similar meanings may belong to any conjugation, as the following synonym attests: dakúto¡lejbuksa ‘she whistles’ [da8-kúto¡lej7-bu6-k5-(s)-a0 3f. sbj8-whistle7-3rsbj6-abl5-event.extends0]. The remaining three actant conjugations all use the P6 absolutive markers. These markers form several lexical sub-series (cf. table 4 above). P6 bu cross-references 3rd person subjects in stems that use redundant subject marking to derive semelfactive, involuntary causative, or auto-instrumental meaning. Although some intransitive stems containing P6 bu connote a degree of reflexivity, this morpheme is not a grammatical marker of reflexivity. Transitive stems that cross-reference their object in P6 normally express true reflexive meaning analytically, by adding the pronoun bin ‘self’, which, in turn, is cross-referenced verb-internally using regular 3rd person agreement markers (a/i or o/u). Compare the non-reflexive transitive bu daúnksibet ‘she makes her dirty’ [she-abs da8-un7-u6-k5-(s)-bet0 3f.sbj8dirty7-3f.obj6-abl5-make0] and the grammatically reflexive transitive bu bin daúnksibet ‘she makes herself dirty (perhaps deliberately)’ [she-abs self-abs da8-un7-u6-k5-(s)-bet0 3f.sbj8-dirty7-3f.obj6-abl5-make0], with the involuntary causative or action-focus reflexive bu daúnbùksibet ‘she gets dirty (perhaps accidentally)’ [she-abs da8-un7-bu6-k5-(s)-bet0 3f.sbj8-dirty7-3rsbj6-abl5make0]. P6 bu is therefore a structurally redundant subject agreement marker that changes the stem’s lexical meaning (analogous to the valencedecrease particle sja used to derive many Russian verb stems, except that sja in Russian no longer expresses grammatical agreement). The same is true of the extra subject markers in the Co-referential Inactive Conjugation. P6 rather than P8 agreement markers cross-reference the subject in stems conforming to a derivational pattern called the Absolutive Conjugation. In such verbs, any intransitive subject (whether active or inactive, animate or inanimate), as well as any direct object, is marked in P6, while any transitive subject is marked in P8. Unlike Active Conjugation, semantic roles have no independent effect on the expression of syntactic agreement functions.

past tense or imperative

P1 —

P0

P-1 transitive subject (plural)

P2

base

P3 non-agreement

thematic consonant

intransitive subject or direct object

incorporate

transitive subject (person/class)

P4 durative marker

(16) Absolutive Conjugation P8 P7 P6 P5

(17) Absolutive Conjugation intransitives (non-past forms) bo6-k5-a4-tn0 1sg.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 bóƒa¡tn ‘I am going’

ba6-k5-(s)-sal0 1sg.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 báƒìssal ‘I pass the night’

ba6-t5-b3-git0 1sg.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 bátìbgit ‘I feel’

Ket Morphology

1305

ku6-k5-a4-tn0 2sg.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 kúƒa¡tn ‘you.sg are going’

ku6-k5-(s)-sal0 ku6-t5-b3-git0 2sg.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 2sg.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 kúƒìssal ‘you.sg pass the night’ kútìbgit ‘ you.sg feel’

o6-k5-a4-tn0 3m.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 óƒa¡tn ‘he is going’

a6-k5-(s)-sal0 3m.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 áƒìssal ‘he passes the night’

a6-t5-b3-git0 3m.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 átìbgit ‘he feels’

u6-k5-a4-tn0 3f.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 úƒa¡tn ‘she is going’

i6-k5-(s)-sal0 3f.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 íƒìssal ‘she passes the night’

i6-t5-b3-git0 3f.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 ítìbgit ‘she feels’

u6-k5-a4-tn0 º 6-k5-(s)-sal0 3n.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 3n.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 úƒa¡tn ‘it (an event) is going’ kíssàl ‘it passes the night’

—

d@˜6-k5-a4-tn0 1pl.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 d@ 2˜a¡tn ‘we are going’

d@˜6-k5-(s)-sal0 1pl.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 d@ 2˜ìssal ‘we pass the night’

d@˜6-t5-b3-git0 1pl.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 d@ 2˜tìbgit ‘we feel’

k@˜6-k5-a4-tn0 2pl.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 k@ 2˜a¡tn ‘you.pl are going’

k@˜6-k5-(s)-sal0 k@˜6-t5-b3-git0 2pl.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 2pl.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 k@ 2˜ìssal ‘you.pl pass the night’ k@ 2˜tà‰an ‘you.pl feel’

o˜6-k5-a4-tn0 3anpl.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0 ó˜a¡tn ‘they.an are going’

a˜6-k5-(s)-sal0 a˜6-t5-b3-git0 3ap.sbj6-ades5-pass.night0 3ap.sbj6-mt5-al3-feel0 á˜ìssal ‘they.an pass the night’ á˜tìbgit ‘they.an feel’

There are a vast number of Absolutive Conjugation transitives (borrowed Russian verb roots are normally incorporated in P7 to form transitive verbs using this pattern). Agreement with the transitive subject is effected by the same combination of P8 (for person/class) with P-1 (for number) as in the Active Conjugation. The examples given in (18) are past-tense forms with feminine singular subjects (see p. 1306). The fourth derivational subtype is called the Co-referential Absolutive Conjugation because it requires the presence of a P8 as well as a P6 subject marker. Once again, agreement with a transitive subject requires a combination of P8 (person/class) and P-1 (number). P6 redundantly cross-references subject person (as well as subject number in the case of 1st or 2nd person subjects). Class is not redundantly marked by P6, however, since bu double marks all 3rd person subjects regardless of class or number.

P1

P0

P-1

1, 2 object

base

subject (animate plural)

3 inanimate object

durative or 3 animate object

thamatic consonant

redundant subject marker (person/number)

incorporate

subject (person/class)

P2 past tense or imperative

(19) Co-referential Absolutive Conjugation P8 P7 P6 P5 P4 P3

da8-ku6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-2sg.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 dakúnblù ‘she gave you.sg’

da8-ku6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-2sg.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 dakútòlo˜ ‘she saw you.sg’ da8-a6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-3m.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 da.átòlo˜ ‘she saw him’ da8-i6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-3f.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 da.ítòlo˜ ‘she saw her’ da8-º 6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-3n.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 datólò˜ ‘she saw it’ da8-d@˜6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-1pl.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 dad@ 2˜tòlo˜ ‘she saw me’ da8-k@˜6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-2pl.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 dak@ 2˜tòlo˜ ‘she saw you.pl’ da8-a˜6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 3f.sbj8-3anpl.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 da.á˜tòlo˜ ‘she saw them.an’

da8-ku6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-2sg.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 dakúƒòldo ‘she looked at you.sg’

da8-a6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-3m.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 da.áƒòldo ‘she looked at him’

da8-i6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-3f.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 da.íƒòldo ‘she looked at her’

da8-º 6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-3n.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 dagóldò ‘she looked at it’

da8-d@˜6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-1pl.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 dad@ 2˜gòldo ‘she looked at me’

da8-k@˜6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-2pl.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 dak@ 2˜gòldo ‘she looked at you.pl’

da8-a˜6-k5-o4-il2-do0 3f.sbj8-3anpl.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-look0 da.á˜gòldo ‘she looked at them.an’

da8-a˜6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-3anpl.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 da.á˜nìblu ‘she gave them.an’

da8-k@˜6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-2pl.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 dak@ 2˜nìblu ‘she gave you.pl’

da8-d@˜6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-1pl.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 dad@ 2˜nìblu ‘she gave me’

da8-º 6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-3n.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 danbílù ‘she gave to it’

da8-i6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-3f.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 da.ínblù ‘she gave her’

da8-a6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-3m.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 da.ánblù ‘she gave him’

da8-ba6-n5-b3-il2-u0 3f.sbj8-1sg.obj6-iter5-al3-pst2-give0 dabánblù ‘she gave (furnished) me’

(18) Absolutive (or Ergative/Absolutive) Conjugation transitives da8-ba6-k5-o4-il2-do0 da8-ba6-t5-o4-il2-o˜0 8 6 5 4 2 0 3f.sbj -1sg.obj -ades -dur -pst -look 3f.sbj8-1sg.obj6-ades5-dur4-pst2-see0 dabáƒòldo ‘she looked at me’ dabátòlo˜ ‘she saw me’

1306 Edward J. Vajda

du8-bu6-n5-in2-hil0 3m.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-pst2-turn0 búnnìƒil ‘he winced’ da8-bu6-n5-in2-hil0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-pst2-turn0 dabúnnìƒil ‘she winced’

du8-bu6-t5-o4-il2-ok0 3m.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0 bútòålok ‘he shuddered’

da8-bu6-t5-o4-il2-ok0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0 dabútòålok ‘she shuddered’

da8-laƒeja˜7-bu6-k5-il2-a0 3f.sbj8-blink7-3rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0 daláƒèja˜búlà ‘she blinked’

du8-laƒeja˜7-bu6-k5-il2-a0 3m.sbj8-blink7-3rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0 láƒèja˜búlà ‘he blinked’

ku8-laƒeja˜7-ku6-k5-il2-a0 2sbj8-blink7-2sg.rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0 láƒèja˜gúlà ‘you.sg blinked’

du8-bu6-n5-in2-hil0-n-1 du8-laƒeja˜7-bu6-k5-il2-a0-n-1 du8-bu6-t5-o4-il2-ok0-n-1 3an.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0-ap-1 3an.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-pst2-turn0-ap-1 3an.sbj8-blink7-3rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0-ap-1 bútòlokn ‘they.an shuddered’ bú˜nìƒiln ‘they.an winced’ láƒèja˜óbùlan ‘they.an blinked’

ku8-k@˜6-n5-in2-hil0-n-1 ku8-laƒeja˜7-k@˜6-k5-il2-a0-n-1 ku8-k@˜6-t5-o4-il2-ok0-n-1 2sbj8-2pl.rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0-ap-1 2sbj8-2pl.rsbj6-head5-pst2-turn0-ap-1 2sbj8-blink7-2pl.rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0-ap-1 k@ 2˜tòlokn ‘you.pl shuddered’ k@ 2˜nìƒiln ‘you.pl winced’ láƒèja˜k@ 2˜kìlan ‘you.pl blinked’

di8-d@˜6-n5-in2-hil0-n-1 di8-laƒeja˜7-d@˜6-k5-il2-a0-n-1 di8-d@˜6-t5-o4-il2-ok0-n-1 8 6 5 4 2 0 -1 8 6 5 2 0 -1 1sbj -1pl.rsbj -head -dur -pst -move -ap 1sbj -1pl.rsbj -head -pst -turn -ap 1sbj8-blink7-1pl.rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0-ap-1 d@ 2˜tòålokn ‘we shuddered’ d@ 2˜nìƒiln ‘we winced’ láƒèja˜d@ 2˜kìlan ‘we blinked’

ku8-ku6-n5-in2-hil0 2sbj8-2sg.rsbj6-head5-pst2-turn0 kúnnìƒil ‘you.sg winced’

ku8-ku6-t5-o4-il2-ok0 2sbj8-2sg.rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0 kútòålok ‘you.sg shuddered’

(20) Co-referential Absolutive Conjugation, intransitive stems (examples given in past tense; P8/6 = syntactic subject, P-1 = plural of subject) di8-ba6-t5-o4-il2-ok0 di8-ba6-n5-in2-hil0 di8-laƒeja˜7-bo6-k5-il2-a0 8 6 5 4 2 0 8 6 5 2 0 1sbj -1sg.rsbj -head -dur -pst -move 1sbj -1sg.rsbj -head -pst -turn 1sbj8-blink7-1sg.rsbj6-abl5-pst2-state0 bátòlok ‘I shuddered’ bánnìƒil ‘I winced’ láƒèja˜bólà ‘I blinked (my eyes)’

Ket Morphology 1307

da8-bu6-k5-a4-qos0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3m.obj4-bring0 dabúƒà‰os ‘she brings him’ da8-bu6-k5-i4-qos0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3f.obj4-bring0 dabúƒì‰os ‘she brings her’ da8-bu6-k5-b3-qos0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3n.obj3-bring0 dabúgbì‰os ‘she brings it’

da8-bu6-k5-da˜1-qos0 da8-bu6-k5-d/a4-da˜1-daq0 8 6 5 1 0 3f.sbj -3rsbj -abl -1pl.obj -bring 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/dur4-1pl.obj1-pull0 dabúgdà˜Gos ‘she brings us’ dabútàQa˜daq ‘she pulls us’ da8-bu6-k5-ka˜1-qos0 da8-bu6-k5-d/a4-ka˜1-daq0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-2pl.obj1-bring0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/dur4-2pl.obj1-pull0 dabúkkà˜Gos ‘she brings you.pl’ dabútàƒa˜daq ‘she pulls you.pl’

da8-bu6-k5-a4-(j)-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3m.obj4-mom.tr0 dabúƒàjit ‘she carries him’

da8-bu6-k5-i4-(j)-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3f.obj4-mom.tr0 dabúƒìjit ‘she carries her’

da8-bu6-k5-b3-(j)-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3n.obj3-mom.tr0 dabúgbìt ‘she carries it’

da8-bu6-k5-da˜1-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-1pl.obj1-mom.tr0 dabúgdà˜it ‘she carries us’

da8-bu6-k5-ka˜1-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-2pl.obj1-mom.tr0 dabúkkà˜it ‘she carries you.pl’

da8-bu6-k5-a˜1-qos0 da8-bu6-k5-d/a˜4-daq0 da8-bu6-k5-a˜1-(j)-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3anpl.obj4-mom.tr0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-3ap.obj1-bring0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/3ap.obj4-pull0 dabúgà˜it ‘she carries them.an’ dabúƒà˜Gos ‘she brings them.an’ dabútà˜daq ‘she pulls them.an’

da8-bu6-k5-d/a4-b3-daq0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/dur4-3n.obj3-pull0 dabútàbdaq ‘she pulls it’

da8-bu6-k5-d/i4-daq0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/3f.obj4-pull0 dabúttàq ‘she pulls her’

da8-bu6-k5-d/a4-daq0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/3m.obj4-pull0 dabútàQaq ‘she pulls him’

da8-bu6-k5-ku1-qos0 da8-bu6-k5-d/a4-ku1-daq0 8 6 5 1 0 3f.sbj -3rsbj -abl -2sg.obj -bring 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/dur4-2sg.obj1-pull0 dabúggù‰os ‘she brings you.sg’ dabútàƒuQaq ‘she pulls you.sg’

da8-bu6-k5-ku1-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-2sg.obj1-mom.tr0 dabúggùt ‘she carries you.sg’

(21) Co-referential Absolutive Conjugation, transitive stems (P8/6 = syntactic subject; P4-3-1 = syntactic object; P-1 = plural of animate-class subject) da8-bu6-k5-di1-t0 da8-bu6-k5-di1-qos0 da8-bu6-k5-d/a4-di1-daq0 8 6 5 1 0 8 6 5 1 0 3f.sbj -3rsbj -abl -1sg.obj -mom.tr 3f.sbj -3rsbj -abl -1sg.obj -bring 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-out5-through/dur4-1sg.obj1-pull0 dabúgdìt ‘she carries me’ dabúgdì‰os ‘she brings me’ dabútàddaq ‘she pulls me’

1308 Edward J. Vajda

Ket Morphology

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Many Co-referential Absolutive verbs convey actions performed without the aid of a tool or conveyance, or denote involuntary or quick actions (see [20] on p. 1307). But redundant absolutive subject marking is only one derivational means of expressing these meanings (cf. [30] below). Co-referential Absolutive transitives mark the direct object using the inactive series in P4-3-1. The examples in (21) are limited to non-past forms with feminine singular subjects (see p. 1308). Many (but not all) Co-referential Absolutive transitives denote transporting people or objects without the aid of a sled, reindeer, or any secondary means of conveyance. But stems expressing the same type of “auto-instrumental” meaning belong to other conjugations, as well. One example is the Active verb d@ 2ptà˜ ‘she drags it (using just her hands)’ [d@8b3-ta˜0 3f.sbj8-3n.obj3-drag0]. In the fifth and final derivational actant marking type, the Co-referential Inactive Conjugation, the subject is obligatorily marked in P8 (for transitives or animates) or P3 (for inanimates), as well as in P1. Subject class is not marked redundantly in P1, since a is used to cross-reference any singular 3rd person subject. P1

P0

redundant subject marker (person/number)

base

inactive inanimate subject

durative marker

thematic consonant

direct object

incorporate

active or transitive subject (person/class)

P2 past tense or imperative

(22) Co-referential Inactive Conjugation P8 P7 P6 P5 P4 P3

P-1 —

Unlike other conjugations that use P8 to mark an active or transitive subject, Co-referential Inactive verbs do not normally cross-reference a plural animate subject with -n in P-1. Subject number is expressed only by the otherwise redundant P1 markers. Instead, many Co-referential Inactive verbs build partial suppletives in the plural by augmenting P0 with the iterative/distributive suffix -˜, which appears as -n after alveolar consonants and therefore resembles P-1 n. Unlike the P-1 plural subject agreement marker -n, however, P0 iterative -˜ (or -n) appears in conjunction with any plural subject, including inanimate-class plurals: távàQaq˜ ‘they.inan fall’ [t5-a4-b3-a1-daq/˜0 sup5-dur4-3n.sbj3-3sg.rsbj1-fall/pl.sbj0] vs. távàQaq ‘it falls’ [t5-a4-b3-a1-daq0 sup5-dur4-3n.sbj3-3sg.rsbj1-fall0]. Co-referential Inactive verbs with P0 ending in a nasal or /j/ lack -˜: áva¡tij ‘it grows/they.inan grow’ a4-b3-a1-tij0 dur4-3n.sbj3-3sg.rsbj1-grow0] (see [23] on p. 1310). A few Co-referential Inactive stems fail to double-mark singular subjects, though the j-separator in some of these forms suggests P1 contains either a zero affix or an elided vowel (neither possibility is shown in the morpheme divisions given below). Like other Co-referential Inactive verbs,

du8-a4-(j)-a1-tij0 3m.sbj8-dur4-3sg.rsbj1-grow0 dája¡tij ‘he grows’ da8-a4-(j)-a1-tij0 3f.sbj8-dur4-3sg.rsbj1-grow0 da.ája¡tij ‘she grows’ a4-b3-a1-tij0 dur4-3n.sbj3-3sg.rsbj1-grow0 áva¡tij ‘it grows/they.inan grow’ di8-a4-da˜1-tij0 1sbj8-dur4-1pl.rsbj1-grow0 dáQa¡˜tij ‘we grow’ ku8-a4-ka˜1-tij0 2sbj8-dur4-2pl.rsbj1-grow0 káƒa¡˜tij ‘you.pl grow’ du8-a4-(j)-a˜1-tij0 3an.sbj8-dur4-3pl.rsbj1-grow0 dája¡˜tij ‘they.an grow’

du8-t5-a4-(j)-a1-daq0 3m.sbj8-sup5-dur4-3rsbj1-fall0 tájàQaq ‘he falls’

da8-t5-a4-(j)-a1-daq0 3f.sbj8-sup5-dur4-3sg.rsbj1-fall0 datájàQaq ‘she falls’

t5-a4-b3-a1-daq0 sup5-dur4-3n.sbj3-3sg.rsbj1-fall0 távàQaq ‘it falls’

di8-t5-a4-da˜1-daq/˜0 1sbj8-sup5-dur4-1pl.rsbj1-fall/pl.sbj0 táQà˜daq˜ ‘we fall’

ku8-t5-a4-ka˜1-daq/˜0 2sbj8-sup5-dur4-2pl.rsbj1-fall/pl.sbj0 táƒà˜daq˜ ‘you.pl fall’

du8-t5-a4-(j)-a˜1-daq/˜0 3an.sbj8-sup5-dur4-3rsbj1-fall/pl.sbj0 tájà˜daq˜ ‘they.an fall’

du8-ti7-(s)-a˜1-qo0 3an.sbj8-bowstring7-3pl.rsbj1-stretch0 tísa˜ 1Go ‘they.an load (gun)’

ku8-ti7-ka˜1-qo0 2sbj8-bowstring7-2pl.rsbj1-stretch0 tíƒà˜Go ‘you.pl load (gun)’

di8-ti7-da˜1-qo0 1sbj8-bowstring7-1pl.rsbj1-stretch0 tíQà˜Go ‘we load (gun)’

—a

da8-ti7-(s)-a1-qo0 3f.sbj8-bowstring7-3sg.rsbj1-stretch0 datísà‰o ‘she loads (gun)’

du8-ti7-(s)-a1-qo0 3m.sbj8-bowstring7-3sg.rsbj1-stretch0 tísà‰o ‘he loads (gun)’

ku8-ti7-ku1-qo0 2sbj8-bowstring7-2sg.rsbj1-stretch0 tíƒù‰o ‘you.sg load (gun)’

a. Verbs that normally mark an inanimate-class subject with P3 b (i.e., Active and Co-referential Inactive Conjugation stems) replace this marker with P8 da if the action represents an active force: cf. the Active Conjugation verb dakásònam ‘it took (= killed) him’. To express that an inanimate subject loaded a gun (semantically illogical anyway), would probably require the form *datísà‰o ‘it loads’.

ku8-a4-ku1-tij0 2sbj8-dur4-2sg.rsbj1-grow0 káƒùtij ‘you.sg grow’

ku8-t5-a4-ku1-daq0 2sbj8-sup5-dur4-2sg.rsbj1-fall0 táƒùQaq ‘you.sg fall’

(23) Co-referential Inactive Conjugation, intransitive stems (non-past forms; P8 + P1 = animate-class subject; P3 + P1 = inanimate-class subject) di8-t5-a4-di1-daq0 di8-a4-di1-tij0 di8-ti7-di1-qo0 8 5 4 1 0 8 4 1 0 1sbj -sup -dur -1sg.rsbj -fall 1sbj -dur -1sg.rsbj -grow 1sbj8-bowstring7-1sg.rsbj1-stretch0 táddàq ‘I fall’ dáddìj ‘I grow’ tíQì‰o ‘I load (gun, originally bow)’

1310 Edward J. Vajda

ku8-den0 2sbj8-cry0 kúQèn ‘you.sg cry’ du8-den0 3m.sbj8-cry0 dúQèn ‘he cries’ d@8-den0 3f.sbj8-cry0 d@ 2Qèn ‘she cries’ di8-da˜1-den0 1sbj8-1pl.rsbj1-cry0 díQà˜den ‘we cry’ ku8-ka˜1-den0 2sbj8-2pl.rsbj1-cry0 ku¡ƒà˜den ‘you.pl cry’ du8-(j)-a˜1-den0 3an.sbj8-3ap.rsbj1-cry0 dújà˜den ‘they.an cry’

ku8-doq0 2sbj8-fly0 kúQòq ‘you.sg fly’

du8-doq0 3m.sbj8-fly0 dúQòq ‘he flies’

d@8-doq0 3f.sbj8-fly0 d@ 2Qòq ‘she flies’ (or ‘it flies’)

di8-da˜1-doq/˜0 1sbj8-1pl.rsbj1-fly/pl.sbj 0 díQà˜doq˜ ‘we fly’

ku8-ka˜1-doq/˜0 2sbj8-2pl.rsbj1-fly/pl.sbj0 kúƒà˜doq˜ ‘you.pl fly’

du8-(j)-a˜1-doq/˜0 3an.sbj8-3anpl.rsbj1-fly/pl.sbj 0 dújà˜doq˜ ‘they.an fly’

du8-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 tájà˜Gotn ‘they.an walk around’

ku8-t/a4-ka˜1-qotn0 2sbj8-at/dur4-2pl.rsbj1-many.walk0 táƒà˜Gotn ‘you.pl walk around’

di8-t/a4-da˜1-qotn0 1sbj8-at/dur4-1pl.rsbj1-many.walk0 táQà˜Gotn ‘we walk around’

da8-t/a4-(j)-ka0 3f.sbj8-at/dur4-one.walks0 datájgà ‘she walks around’

du8-t/a4-(j)-ka0 3m.sbj8-at/dur4-one.walks0 tájgà ‘he walks around’

ku8-t/a4-(j)-ka0 2sbj8-at/dur4-one.walks0 tájgà ‘you.sg walk around’

(24) Co-referential Inactive Conjugation verbs which double mark the subject only in the plural di8-doq0 di8-den0 di8-t/a4-(j)-ka0 8 0 8 0 1sbj -fly 1sbj -cry 1sbj8-at/dur4-one.walks 0 díQòq ‘I fly’ díQèn ‘I cry’ tájgà ‘I walk around’

Ket Morphology 1311

du8-ku6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-2sg.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 kúktàja˜Gotn ‘they lead you.sg around’ du8-o6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-3m.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 dóktàja˜Gotn ‘they lead him around’ du8-u6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-3f.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 dúktàja˜Gotn ‘they lead her around’ du8-d@˜6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-1pl.sbj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 d@ 2˜tàja˜Gotn ‘they lead us around’ du8-k@˜6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-2sg.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 k@ 2˜tàja˜Gotn ‘they lead you.pl around’ du8-o˜6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-3ap.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 dó˜tàja˜Gotn ‘they lead them.an around’

du8-ku6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3an.sbj8-2sg.obj6-abl5-3anpl.rsbj1-sell0 kúksà˜Ga ‘they sell you.sg off’

du8-o6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3an.sbj8-3m.obj6-abl5-3anpl.rsbj1-sell0 dóksà˜Ga ‘they sell him off’

du8-u6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3an.sbj8-3f.obj6-abl5-3anpl.rsbj1-sell0 dúksà˜Ga ‘they sell her/it off’

du8-d@˜6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3an.sbj8-1pl.obj6-abl5-3anpl.rsbj1-sell0 d@ 2˜sà˜Ga ‘they sell us off’

du8-k@˜6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3an.sbj8-2pl.obj6-abl5-3anpl.rsbj1-sell0 k@ 2˜sà˜Ga ‘they sell you.pl off’

du8-o˜6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 3an.sbj8-3anpl.obj6-abl5-1anpl.rsbj1-sell0 dó˜sà˜Ga ‘they sell them.an off’

(25) Co-referential Inactive Conjugation, two transitive stems (P8 + P1 = subject; P6 = object) du8-bo6-k5-(s)-a˜1-qa0 du8-bo6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 8 6 5 1 0 3an.sbj -1sg.obj -abl -3anpl.rsbj -sell 3an.sbj8-1sg.sbj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-many.walk0 bóksà˜Ga ‘they sell me off’ bóktàja˜Gotn ‘they lead me around’

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some of these stems also show singular/plural suppletion of P0 (see [24] on p. 1311). Co-referential Inactive Conjugation also contains a few transitive stems, which mark the direct object in P6. Unlike the other actant types discussed so far, this derivational pattern is unproductive. Two example forms are given in (25) on p. 1312. Finally, a few verbs display unique actant agreement combinations that do not conform to any of the patterns discussed above (see Vajda 2003). Within the kaleidoscope of lexico agreement configurations found in modern Ket, verbs of basic vocabulary most often employ patterns whereby animate-class terms are cross-referenced in a different morpheme position than inanimate-class terms. In other words, the language’s core verbs generally belong either to Active or Co-referential Inactive Conjugation, both of which conform to Dixon’s (1999) split-S category; the remaining conjugations are “consistent-S,” since syntactic function alone, rather than semantic features of the intransitive stem, dictates subject marking. One example is the Active verb ‘to rise’ (used to express natural processes), which marks animate-class subjects in P8 and inanimate-class subjects in P3: (26) Class and animacy marking in Active Conjugation intransitives: a. du8-es7-a4-qut0 3m.sbj8-up7-dur4-one.moves0 qip désà‰ut ‘the moon (masculine class) rises’ b. da8-es7-a4-qut0 3f.sbj8-up7-dur4-one.moves0 i da.ésà‰ut ‘the sun (feminine class) rises’ c. es7-a4-b3-qut0 up7-dur4-3n.sbj3-one.moves0 k@ $n ésàvut ‘the dawn (inanimate class) rises’ The Active and Co-referential Inactive Conjugations also contain most of the language’s partial suppletive base pairs, as well as cases of full suppletion, where the animate intransitive stem differs from the corresponding stem used with inanimate subjects: e.g., dúƒìn ‘he stands’ [du8-k5-a4-in0 3m.sbj8-up5-dur4-stand0] vs. háptà ‘it stands’ [h5-a4-b3-ta0 straight5-dur43n.sbj3-be.extended0]. Nearly all such verbs involve the use of inactive series markers (P4-3-1). These actant prefixes are closest to the base and represent the oldest agreement positions, perhaps originally used to mark patientive or internal subjects. These facts seem to support Werner’s (1995) view that Ket was once a language with active typology that later developed a more syntax-oriented agreement system. Modern Ket has evolved a system of several lexico-derivational actant conjugations, with split-S marking retained only in two of these conjugational patterns. Finally, modern Ket conforms to Dixon’s (1999) category of a “strict transitive language,” where transitive stems normally differ morphologically from their

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intransitive counterparts. This feature of the language appears to be very pervasive diachronically. Vajda (2003) suggests that the actant conjugation system itself arose to compensate for the phonological attrition of an earlier system of transitivity marking prefixes (d for valence decrease, q ~ X [possibly from *¬] for valence increase). To summarize, Ket is unique for its multiple, highly idiosyncratic derivational split in subject/object agreement marking. In terms of overall grammatical typology, Ket is best described as having verb-internal crossreferencing of the syntactic subject and object, with the positional marking of S sometimes reflecting lexico-semantic factors. The actant conjugations are merely competing lexical expressions of one and the same grammatical function: number/person/class agreement with the zero-/ absolutive case-marked noun phrase(s) coordinated with the stem during verb phrase formation. Even when a particular agreement pattern appears to correlate with a recognizable meaning, one finds the same meaning also conveyed by verbs belonging to other conjugations. For this reason, any overall position-class model for the Ket verb must remain partly underspecified, as the model given previously in (4), or becomes contradictory, as in (27). The labels in (27) reflect the fact that the Ket verb’s syntactic “master-template” amalgamates multiple contrasting lexical strategies for expressing actant agreement: (27) Functionally fully-specified position-class model used in Ket finite verb form creation P8 P7 P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P-1 active/ergative animate plural subject

base

1, 2 person inactive marker or redundant subject agreement (person/number) or resultative affix

past tense or imperative

3 inanimate inactive agreement applicative, intensity-marking or involuntary causative affix durative or 3 animate inactive agreement (person/number)

thematic adposition

absolutive marker (person/class/number) or redundant subject agreement (person/number)

incorporate + possessive subject agreement

active/ergative subject agreement (person/class) or involuntary causative affix

Example sets (28–38) summarize the wide derivational overlap between the various actant configurations, illustrating why the valence-related labels under each actant slot in (27) grammatically contradict one another to an extent unattested in other known polypersonal languages. As a general rule, a verb belonging to any conjugation has at least the potential of being roughly synonymous with a verb of any other conjugation.

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(28) Derivational patterns that build involuntary causatives a. Active subject marking: dit@ 2@1l ‘I get cold’ [di8-t@@l0 1sbj8-freeze0] b. Inactive subject marking: sítòna ‘he woke up’ [sit7-o4-in2-a0 wake7-3m.sbj4-pst2-state0] c. Absolutive subject: ábàta‰an ‘I sweat’ a7-ba6-k5-d/a4-qan0 [heat7-1sg.sbj6-ades5-iit/dur4-incp0] d. Co-referential Absolutive: dabútòlok ‘she shuddered’ [da8-bu6-t5-o4-il2-ok0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-head5-dur4-pst2-move0] e. Co-referential Inactive: dahúnàjaQij ‘she slips’ [da8-hun7-a4-(j)-a1-dij0 3f.sbj8-slip7-dur4-3sg.rsbj1-iter0] f.

Absolutive + P3 b: úgbùn ‘she slips’ [u6-k5-b3-un0 3f.sbj6-abl5-ic3-slip.mom0] éjbàƒapt@l ‘I freeze to death’ [ej7-ba6-k5-a4-b3-t@@l0 kill7-1sg.sbj6-ades5-dur4-ic3-freeze0]

(29) Subject marking in auto-causatives (actions involving neither object nor external stimulus) a. Absolutive: úƒa¡tn ‘she goes’ [u6-k5-a4-tn0 3f.sbj6-abl5-dur4-go0] b. Active: i daésà‰ut ‘the sun rises’ [da8-es7-a4-qut0 3f.sbj8-up7-dur4-one.moves0] daqáƒà‰an ‘she grows big’ [da8-qa7-a4-qan0 3f.sbj8-big7-dur4-incp0 c. Co-referential Inactive: da.ája¡tij ‘she grows’ [da8-a4-(j)-a1-tij0 3f.sbj8-dur4-3sg.rsbj1-grow0] díndìQuk ‘I moved aside’ [di8-in2-di1-duk0 1sbj8-pst2-1sg.rsbj1-move.away0] d. Co-referential Absolutive: súgbàƒonden ‘I returned’ [di8-suk7-ba6-k5-o4-in2-den01sbj8-back7-1sg.rsbj6-abl5-dur4-pst2-go0] e. P7 ‘self’ + P0 incorporated subject: bí˜sìvej ‘wind blows’ [bin7-k5-(s)-bej0 self7-abl5-wind0] (30) Derivational patterns that build instrumental applicatives (specifying an external tool) a. P7: dadónbàtet ‘she stabs me’ [da8-don7-ba6-k5-a4-tet0 3f.sbj8-knife7-1sg.obj6-ades5-dur4-hit0]

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b. P3 b: dúgdàpta˜ ‘I drag it (by sled)’ [di8-u6-k5-d/a4-b3-ta˜0 1sbj8-3n.obj6-abl5-across/dur4-al3-drag0] c. Co-referential Inactive: datísà‰o ‘she loads’ [da8-ti7-(s)-a1-qo0 3f.sbj8-bowstring7-3sg.rsbj1-stretch0] (31) Derivational patterns that build auto-instrumentals (blocking external tool) a. P0: díptà˜ ‘I drag it (by hand)’ [di8-b3-ta˜0 1sbj8-3n.obj3-drag0] b. Co-referential Absolutive: dabúgdìt ‘she carries me’ [da8-bu6-k5-di1-t0 3f.sbj8-3rsbj6-abl5-1sg.obj1-mom.tr0] (32) Derivational patterns that build iteratives or distributives a. Special P0 morpheme: dítàQamin ‘we are lying prone’ [di8-t5-a4-damin0 1sbj8-sup5-dur4-pl.sbj0] b. Special P7 morpheme: datóq˜ 1íbèt ‘she keeps stepping’ [da8-toq/˜7-bet0 3f.sbj8-footstep/s7-make0] c. Non-agreement P3-1: ablákèjbátà ‘I am clapping’ [ab/lakej7-b3-a1-ta0 my/clap7-ic3-res1-extend0] d. P4 + P3: dasáqtàptet ‘she keeps stepping’ [da8-saq7-t/a4-b3-tet0 3f.sbj8-step7-at/dur4-intense3-hit0] (33) Derivational patterns that build resultatives a. Active marking: daséstà ‘she is sitting’ [da8-ses7-a4-ta0 3f.sbj8-place7-dur4-extend 0] b. Inactive marking: dóndìbet ‘I have a knife’ [don7-di1-bet0 knife7-1sg.sbj1-have0] c. Absolutive + P1 a: bótàjbóksa¡jabet ‘I’ve been made rich’ [botaj7-bo6-k5-(s)-a1-(j)-abet0 rich7-1sg.sbj6-abl5-res1-make0] One final example of the derivational function of the actant conjugations should suffice to demonstrate that they are distributed across the lexicon in ways that cannot be captured by any overarching grammatical rule. Ket possesses a rich array of verbs denoting specific types of motion involving forest, shore, water, and winter ice as point of origin, distance

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traversed, or destination (Krejnovich 1968: 171–81). 6 Each type of movement is expressed by a specific spatial adverb incorporated in P7. A few of these are: igda ‘movement out of the forest down to the river’, aƒa ‘movement into the forest’, @ta ‘movement out of the water onto the shore’, eta ‘movement upriver along the ice’. In addition, each type of motion combines with various actant conjugations to express trips of different duration. Co-referential Absolutive Conjugation plus P5 superessive t denotes a quick round trip, Active Conjugation plus P5 adessive k a single round trip lasting up to a few weeks, and Co-referential Inactive Conjugation with no P5 adposition a single trip from which the subject does not return or returns only after an entire season passes. (34) The role of actant marking in the forming verbs containing igda ‘travel from forest to shore’ a. Co-referential Absolutive: single short round trip di8-igda7-ba6-t5-(s)-aq0 1sbj8-igda7-1sg.rsbj6-su5-go0 dígdàvatsaq ‘quick trip’ b. Active Conjugation: single longer round trip di8-igda7-k5-(s)-aq0 1sbj8-igda7-ades5-go0 dígdàksaq ‘medium trip’ c. Co-referential Inactive Conjugation: single trip without return di8-igda7-a4-di1-daq0 1sbj8-igda7-dur4-1sg.rsbj1-go0 dígdàddaq ‘long trip’ Verbs that lack a directional adverb in P7 form their stems using yet another idiosyncratic lexico-derivational set of actant marking patterns. (35) Iterative transitive motion verbs belonging to different actant conjugations (they ~ me) a. Absolutive Conjugation du8-igbes7-bo6-k5-a4-bet0-n-1 3an.sbj8-come7-1sg.obj6-abl5-dur4-iter0-ap-1 dígbèsbóƒàvetn ‘they bring me’ b. Active Conjugation du8-a4-di1-da0-n-1 3an.sbj8-dur4-1sg.obj1-put0-ap-1 dáddàn ‘they lay me down’ 6. Modern Ket best matches Dixon’s (1999: 331) semantic typology as a language in which differences in “nature of action” rather than “nature of argument” provide the richest basis for deriving new lexemes. Stems that specially individuate the event participants are mostly unproductive sub-patterns of Active or Co-referential Inactive Conjugation.

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c. Co-referential Inactive Conjugation du8-bo6-k5-t/a4-(j)-a˜1-qotn0 3an.sbj8-1sg.obj6-abl5-at/dur4-3ap.rsbj1-pl.sbj.walk0 bókta¡ja˜Gotn ‘they take me around’ Configurational differences in subject/object agreement marker positions are explainable only from a diachronic perspective. The formal clues left in modern Ket are not sufficient to predict subject/object agreement strategy according to any easily generalizable pattern. Regardless of diachronic considerations, the unparalleled degree to which Ket lexically determines the positional configuration of its verbinternal agreement inflections ranks as the language’s most striking typological feature. In many synthetic languages, verbs fundamentally resemble nominal stems in that both represent derivational strings created in the lexicon and modified in the syntax by affixes inserted into a specific inflectional zone. All stems belonging to a particular form class normally inflect using a single overall formula. The inflectional paradigm is therefore external to the derivational morphology, except insofar as its existence helps define whatever basic morphological contrast exists between the parts of speech themselves. In a flectional language such as Russian or most other Indo-European languages, selecting the correct inflectional allomorph often requires a look-back from the grammar to the lexicon to establish the proper declension or conjugation membership. But stem derivation itself never involves a look-ahead at the inflectional template, since the grammar specifies the inflectional strategy used by each form class as a whole. All Latin nouns or Russian verbs inflect according to a single position-class model, and the Latin or Russian lexicon has but a single “allo-template” for all members of each form class. There is normally no need for positing templatic structures anywhere except in the syntax, and such structures tend to be functionally trivial, predictably reflecting scopal relations in Universal Grammar (Rice 2000). 7 Ket follows this conventional separation of lexical stem creation from grammatical inflection for all form classes except the finite verb. Among the verbal morpheme positions used to express syntactic categories, only the P2 tense and mood slot is added to virtually all stems by a global grammatical rule (thus one could say there is a single morphosyntactic formula for Ket tense/mood inflection). But the configuration of subject/object positions is lexically determined and idiosyncratic from a grammatical perspective, even though the morphs that fill these positions are chosen syntactically. This rare technique of stem creation could 7. The relative order of inflections in each Ket actant conjugation also seems to follow the scopal relations Rice describes, which suggests that each of the five conjugational templates, when taken individually, is trivial, as well. However, on a grammatical level the amalgamation of all five allo-templates results in a master template for the Ket verb that multiply contradicts many of those universal tendencies (see [27] above). Because they compete lexically to express the same grammatical function in a single form class, patterns of stem creation involving lexical choices of inflection-position configuration represent a non-trivial use of position class as a morphological category.

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be called paradigmatic derivation since it involves a lexical choice from among several competing configurations of inflection-bearing positions. And the notion of finite verb stem that it creates is almost “post-lexical” in its abstract, syntax-like configuration. Ket is not typologically unique in having a rich system of valence-changing mechanisms, nor for its diverse, overt expressions of iterativity, semelfactivity, or other varieties of lexical aspect. But it does appear to be unique for how these lexical patterns rely upon the idiosyncratic choice from among competing actant agreement patterns as an integral component. 2.6. Infinitives Infinitive stems are lexically distinct from the semantically corresponding finite verb stem, which involves an abstract formula in addition to its lexical morphemes. The lexical morphemes in infinitive stems may also differ from those in the finite verb, so that it is generally not possible to generate one form from the other. At the same time, the Ket infinitive differs from nouns, since it can take predicate concord suffixes, while the noun cannot (cf. §3). (36) predicate infinitives at-º íl-dì I-abs sing-1sg.pred ‘I can sing’ (Krejnovich 1968: 26)

predicate noun at-º ássa¡no ke?t-º I-abs hunt man-abs ‘I am a hunter.’

Infinitives precede inceptive finite verb stems and the modal particle náQà ‘need to’ (< Russian nado), and also express supine meaning when followed by the translative case suffix -esa˜: (37) áb-à˜a ássa¡no náQà I-dat hunt need ‘I need to hunt.’

at-º ássa¡no bá-ƒò‰on I-abs hunt 1sg.sbj-began ‘I began to hunt.’

at-º ássa¡no-esa˜ d-ímbès I-abs hunt-trl 1sbj-came ‘I came to hunt.’

The underlying subject or object argument associated with an infinitive used as head of a noun phrase may appear as a possessive modifier. In the case of bivalent infinitives, this may result in ambiguity. For example, ap tàQ ‘my hitting’, can mean either ‘my hitting of someone else’ or ‘my being hit by someone else’. Because Ket finite verb forms represent a special type of morphosyntactic phrase built using an inflectional position-class recipe, the form of the corresponding infinitives is only occasionally predictable on the basis of the lexical morphemes used in verb stem creation. In some instances, the infinitive is identical or virtually identical to the P0 morpheme and can also be used as an attributive modifier or as a noun: i?l ‘sing, singing, song’ (cf. P0 -il). In other instances, P0 and the corresponding infinitive exhibit a partial suppletive relationship: k@?j ‘walking around’ (P0 -ka), d@?q ‘living, life’ (P0 -daq), di ‘putting, laying down’ (P0 -da), qI $ ‘selling’ (P0 -qa). In a few instances, the corresponding infinitive differs from any morpheme actually present in the finite form: éì˜ ‘going’ (P0 -tn). Many infinitives com-

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bine P7 and P0: súlbèt ‘sledmaking’ (P7 súùl ‘sled’ + P0 -bèt ‘make’), ássa¡no ‘hunting’ (P7 ásse ¡n ‘wild animals’ + P0 -qo ‘kill’). Others add a suffix that does not appear in P0: tíjì˜ ‘growing’ (P0 -tij), bágdè˜, ‘dragging’ (P0 -bak). And a few prefix P5 onto P0: ni ‘clearing away (snow) from around an object’ (< P5 n + P0 -i), qil ‘putting on’ (< P5 q + P0 -dil). Idiosyncrasies in infinitive formation have yet to be studied systematically but may shed additional light on the historical development of finite verb form creation. 3. Predicate concord suffixes Ket contains a zero copula used to express either present or past tense. Coordination of the predicate nominal with the syntactic subject of sentences containing this copula often requires a predicate concord suffix. If the predicate nominal is a noun or pronoun in the absolutive case, a possessive pronoun or noun in the genitive case, or any stem nominalized with the suffix -s, no concord suffix is added. (38) tuQ-º sel tip-º kí-Qe ¡-º áqta¡ hu?n-º that.m-abs bad dog-abs (noun) this-f-abs good daughter-abs (noun) ‘That is/was a bad dog.’ ‘This is/was a good daughter.’ All other parts of speech that appear as predicate nominals—adjectives, cardinal numerals, adverbs, infinitives, or nouns or pronouns in forms other than the genitive—normally require one of the following predicate concord suffixes, which express agreement with the syntactic subject: 1s -di, 2s -ku, 3m -du, 3f -da, 3n -am, 1pl -da˜, 2pl -ka˜, 3anpl -a˜. (39) a. tuQ tip-º sél-dù this.m dog-abs bad-3m.pred (adjective) ‘That dog is/was bad.’ b. kí-Qe ¡ hu?n-º áqta¡-da this-f daughter-abs good-3f.pred (adjective) ‘This daughter is/was good.’ c. u-º qá-kù you.sg-abs at.home-2sg.pred (adverb) ‘You are/were at home.’ d. @ 2k˜ 1-º dó˜-kà˜ you.pl-abs three-2pl.pred (cardinal numeral) ‘There are/were three of you.’ e. bu-º bíse ¡˜-du he-abs where-3m.pred (interrogative) ‘Where is he?’ f.

bu-º qáse ¡˜-da she-abs there-3f.pred (adverb) ‘She is there.’

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g. u-º as íl-kù you.sg-abs fut sing-2sg.pred (infinitive) ‘You will be able to sing.’ 8 h. @ 2k˜ 1-º íl-k@1˜ you.pl.abs sing-2pl.pred (infinitive) ‘You can sing.’ If there is no syntactic subject, the inanimate-class suffix -am is used: sóò˜ áqta¡-m ‘It’s good here’. Predicate concord suffixes are not used in sentences containing the modal particle náQà (< Russ. nado) or the copula particles úsà˜ (specifically present-tense BE), óvìlda (specifically past-tense BE) or the negated b@ 2nsà˜ ‘am/is/are not’ and b@ 2nsà˜ óvìlda ‘was/were not’. Also, in locative clauses where the functional sentence perspective emphasizes the subject, they tend to be optional even when no copula particle is present. (40) bu-º áb-à˜ta-du (or áb-à˜ta)

@ 2tn1-º qús-kà-da˜ (or qús-kà) He-abs me-ades-3f.pred (case form) we-abs teepee-loc-1pl.pred (case form) ‘He is/was at my place.’ ‘We are/were in the teepee.’

Predicate possessive constructions are marked in a special way. Nouns in the genitive case add nominalizing -s instead of the regular concord prefixes. Possessive pronouns add -bij (< bi? ‘thing’) when coordinated with an inanimate-class or null subject, and -ij with animate-class subjects: (41) a. qˆ?t-º qál-dà-s bow-abs grandson-m.gen-nmlz ‘The bow is/was the grandson’s’ b. do?n-º áb-bìj knife-abs mine-n ‘The knife is/was mine.’ c. tok-º úk-bìj axe-abs your.s-n ‘The axe is/was yours.’ d. tip-º qál-dì-s dog-abs granddaughter-f.gen-nmlz ‘The dog is/was the granddaughter’s.’ e. kíQe ¡ sa?q-º áb-ìj this.f squirrel-abs your-an ‘This squirrel is/was mine.’ 8. This example is from Krejnovich (1968: 26) and represents the Sulomai subdialect of SK. Werner (1997: 309), based mainly on the Kellog subdialect of SK, gives a progressive meaning for predicatival infinitives, and would translate this sentence as ‘I will be singing’. For ‘I can sing’, Werner records: at i?l ítpàQam [I-ABS sing know].

1322 f.

Edward J. Vajda tuQ sèl-º úk-ìj that.m reindeer-abs your-an ‘The reindeer is/was yours.’

Finally, all word classes that require concord prefixes when used as predicate nominals can alternatively be nominalized with -s, in which case they become nouns and cannot take a concord suffix. Nominalizing -s in predicate nominals is not a true concord suffix, since it never agrees in class or person with the subject. It forms its plural in -sin regardless of whether the subject noun phrase is animate- or inanimate-class. Nominalized forms in -s are often virtually synonymous with the corresponding forms containing predicate concord suffixes: (42) a. ke?t-º bú˜-nà-˜ta-s (=bu˜-nà-˜ta-du) man-abs them-anpl.ades-nmlz ‘The man is/was at their place.’ b. de?˜-º úk-à˜ta-s-in (=bú˜-nà-˜t-a˜) people-abs you.sg-ades-nmlz-pl ‘The people are/were at your place.’ 4. Subordinate-clause-creating suffixes In addition to particles (u ‘whether’, qaj ‘although’), relative pronouns (qoQ ‘which.m’, qóQe ¡ ‘which.f/n’, qóne ¡ ‘which.anpl’), and adverbs (áskà ‘when’, bíla¡ ‘how’, bíse ¡˜ ‘where’), a variety of postpositions, oblique case suffixes, or the postposition ba?˜ ‘place’ + case suffix can be added to finite verbs or predicate nominal constructions to subordinate one clause to another. Unlike postpositional noun phrases, clausal postpositions are not preceded by a genitive augment (except dúgdè ‘while’, which contains one etymologically: d-úgdè ‘its length’). Otherwise, case forms used as clausal subordinators resemble inanimate-class nouns. (43) Subordination with postpositions a. qíma¡-º da-áàl-íl-bèt-dúgdè, grandmother-abs 3f.sbj-soup-pst-make-during dIlgàt-º 2 d-á˜ì˜-íl-bèt-n kids-abs 3an.sbj-play-pst-make-anpl.sbj ‘While grandma made soup the kids played’ (lit., ‘Grandma made soup-during, kids played’). b. da-ínèj bénsà˜-dó‰òt at- bó-ƒo¡n his-person lacking-owe I-abs 1sg.sbj-went ‘Because he was absent, I left’ (lit., ‘His person lacking-owe, I went’). (44) Subordination with oblique case suffix bu-º kíse ¡˜ da-lóvèQ-ól-bèt-di˜al òn sIk˜ 2 1-º ú-ƒo¡n she-abs here 3f-work-pst-make-n.abl many years-abs 3n.sbj-went ‘Many years passed since she began working here’ (‘She here worked-from, many years went’).

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(45) Subordination with postposition ba?˜ ‘place’ + case ending suj-º ón-à˜-bá˜-dì˜al mosquitoes-abs many-anpl.pred-place-n.ades @ 2tn1-º d@ 2qtè d@ 2˜-go¡n (Werner 1997: 352) we-abs quickly 1pl.sbj-went ‘We quickly left the mosquito-infested area’ (‘Mosquitoes many-place-from we quickly went’). Subordination using agglutinative inflectional suffixes and postpositions is an areal feature shared by many genetically unrelated languages of Siberia (Anderson 2003) and is probably a fairly recent innovation in Ket. 5. Typological summary Ket is basically an agglutinative-isolating, strongly head-marking SOV language with an unusually structured polypersonal verb. Compounding is the most prolific form of nominal stem creation. Some of the nominal derivational affixes that do exist are semantically eroded roots; others appear to have originated from cliticized personal pronouns. The system of nominal inflections is significantly more elaborate than the inventory of derivational morphemes. Much of the language’s agglutinative inflectional morphology seems to be a fairly recent innovation, and the oldest inflections (number suffixes, case suffixes lacking a genitive augment, predicate concord suffixes, and possessive prefixes) derive historically from clitics. Ket thus shares much in common with an isolating language, in spite of the extreme complexity of its verb morphology. Overall, Ket probably falls into Sapir’s (1921: 142) category of “complex pure relational language”—except that the lexico-grammatical categories ‘plural’ + ‘animate’, ‘plural’ + ‘genitive’, and ‘tense/mood/aspect’ (in the verb’s P2 position) intermingle in ways reminescent of Indo-European fusional languages. But Ket exhibits another feature that defies conventional typological classification altogether. Although most grammatical functions are expressed by the same inflectional form occupying the same position in all stems of the given form class, there is a propensity to use redundant or fossilized inflectional affixes as components of lexical stem creation. This strategy may have developed due to the extreme paucity of derivational affixes (perhaps due in part to the diachronic attrition of consonant clusters, which obliterated many non-syllabic affixes). Recycled inflections used in nominal stem formation include possessive prefixes, the caritive suffix, the genitive augments of several oblique cases, and the double set of person/class/number augments in certain oblique case forms of reflexive pronouns. Redundant plural affixes are the most prolific and can appear several times in a single stem either as derivational or inflectional elements. Verb morphology is still more remarkable for how stem derivation depends on inflectional affixes—or, more precisely, on the position these affixes are required to take in the verb form. Despite their involvement in derivation, these inflections continue to obey syntactic agreement rules. Much of the verb’s rich array of lexical aspect and valence distinctions obtains its formal expression through the derivational choice

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between three semantically overlapping but positionally distinct actant agreement series, including two competing sets of grammatically redundant double subject markers. This strategy necessitates the unprecedented claim that most inflection-bearing positions in the Ket verb are specified idiosyncratically by the lexical entry of each individual stem. Though finite verb morphemes are agglutinative on a phonological level, with separator elements often appearing between them, semantically they exhibit a network of extended and multiple exponences that rivals the most fusional of languages. Ket is also noteworthy for being SOV and postpositional, yet using possessive prefixes in its nominal morphology and a series of prefixal positions in finite verb form creation. The clitic origin of most, if not all, Ket prefixes may explain their prevalence despite the universal tendency for SOV postpositional languages to inflect with suffixes rather than prefixes.

Abbreviations ac al anpl at ben car ic iit mom mt pred pros res rsbj trl

animacy classifier applicative infix in verbs (specifies the action involves a tool or means of conveyance) animate plural (in verb forms, denotes the animate plural subject agreement suffix) atelic (appears in some verbs lacking a built-in completion point) benefactive case suffix caritive case suffix involuntary causative (denotes an event occurring naturally or by accident) verb-internal marker that appears in inchoatives with an incorporated theme-role argument punctual, momentaneous, or single-event verb classifier of mental states and attitudes predicate concord suffix (converts most words except uninflected nouns into predicate nominals) prosecutive case suffix resultative marker in verbs (denoting a state caused by a previous action) redundant subject agreement marker (a grammatically empty affix obligatorily present in many verb stems) translative case suffix

References Anderson, Gregory 2003 Yeniseic Languages from a Siberian Areal Perspective. Language Typology and Universals 56/1–2: 1–119.

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Dixon, R. M. W. 1999 Semantic Roles and Syntactic Functions: the Semantic Basis for a Typology. Chicago Linguistics Society 35/2: 323–41. Dul’zon, A. P. 1968 Ketskij jazyk [The Ket Language]. Tomsk: Tomsk State University. Krejnovich, E. A. 1968 Glagol ketskogo jazyka [The Ket Verb]. Leningrad: AN SSSR. Porotova, T. I. 1990 Kategorija mnozhestvennosti v enisejskikh jazykakh [The Category Plural in Yeniseic]. Tomsk: Tomsk State University. Rice, Keren 2000 Morpheme Order and Semantic Scope: Word Formation in the Athapaskan Verb. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sapir, Edward 1921 Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt Brace. Vajda, Edward J. 2000a Aktantnye sprjazhenija v ketskom jazyke [Actant conjugations in Ket]. Voprosy jazykoznanija 67/3: 21–41. 2000b Ket prosodic phonology. Languages of the World 15. Munich: Lincom. 2001a The Role of Position Class in Ket Verb Morphophonology. WORD 52/3: 369–436. 2001b Yeniseian Peoples and Languages: A History of Their Study, with an Annotated Bibliography and a Source Guide. London: Curzon. 2002 The Origin of Phonemic Tone in Yeniseic. Chicago Linguistics Society 37/2: 305–20. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2003 Ket Verb Structure in Typological Perspective. Language Typology and Universals 56/1–2: 55–92. 2004 Ket. Languages of the World/Materials 204. Munich: Lincom. Werner, Heinrich 1994 Das Klassensystem in den Jenissej-Sprachen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1995 Zur Typologie der Jenissej-Sprachen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1997 Die ketische Sprache. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1998 Probleme der Wortbildung in den Jenissej-Sprachen. Munich: Lincom.

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Chapter 46

Sumerian Morphology Gonzalo Rubio Pennsylvania State University

1. Introduction 1 1.1. Sumerian was spoken in southern Mesopotamia and is first attested in the archaic texts from Uruk and Jemdet Naßr (from the end of the 4th millennium to the middle of the 3rd). By the end of the 3rd millennium, Sumerian had probably died out for the most part as a spoken language. However, it was still used in a wide variety of literary, scholarly, and religious genres, and was preserved in writing until the Mesopotamian civilization vanished during the first centuries of the Christian era. Sumerian is an isolate, that is, it is not related to any other language or language family. Our knowledge of Sumerian, therefore, is mostly based on a large number of bilingual texts (in Sumerian and Akkadian), as well as a stream of scribal and scholastic traditions represented by a sizable corpus of lexical lists and grammatical texts. 1.2. Sumerian is an agglutinative language—that is, a word consists of a linear sequence of distinct morphemes, and the lexeme to which the morphemes are attached does not undergo Ablaut (also called apophony, as in English sing, sang, sung, song) or infixation. 2 Moreover, Sumerian is an ergative language: the subject of an intransitive verb possesses the same marker as the object of a transitive verb (the absolutive case), while the subject of a transitive verb exhibits a marker (the ergative case) that is different from that of the intransitive verb (Gragg 1968: 87, 107; Foxvog 1975; Michalowski 1980, 2004; van Aalderen 1982; Gong 1987; Yoshikawa 1991). 3 In English, it would be similar to saying **him sleeps and **me sleep, but I saw him and he saw me. Sumerian uses /-e/ as the ergative suffix, and /-º/ as the marker of absolutive case: 1. For comprehensive approaches to Sumerian grammar, see Lambert 1972–78; Thomsen 1984; Attinger 1993; Kaneva 1996; Edzard 2003a. The classic references (Poebel 1923 and Falkenstein 1949, 1950) are still frequently useful. For shorter overviews, see Römer 1999: 43–141, 170–76; Michalowski 2004; Rubio 2004, 2005b. For the editions of Sumerian texts and compositions cited here, we follow the standard Assyriological abbreviations, as in Sjöberg 1984–. Regarding the transliteration of Sumerian and the cuneiform writing interface, see, for instance, Civil 1973; Edzard 2003a: 7–11; Michalowski 2004: 24–27. 2. Ablaut might have played a limited role in some early stages of Sumerian (e.g., aga ‘back’, ugu ‘top’, igi ‘front, eye’), but it is not a productive morphophonological device. 3. Diakonoff (1967) was probably the first to realize Sumerian was ergative, but he did not notice the split ergativity. For an interesting speculation about the origin of ergativity in Sumerian, see Coghill and Deutscher 2002.

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lugal-e e2 mu-un-du3 king-erg temple-abs cnjg.pref-pro.pref-build ‘the king built the temple’ lugal i3-tus king-abs cnjg.pref-sit ‘the king sat down’ nin-e in-tud-en queen-erg cnjg.pref-bear-pro.suff ‘the queen bore me’ nin i3-tus queen-abs cnjg.pref-sit ‘the queen sat down’ In fact, Sumerian exhibits split ergativity in its morphology. The ergative alignment is strictly followed only in the nominal system. Independent personal pronouns, imperatives, cohortative verbal forms, and a few non-finite verbal constructions exhibit an accusative alignment (see 3.5.6, 3.16, and 5). The system of verbal agreement shows a similar split (see 3.12.3). The ham†u forms (perfective) follow an ergative agreement pattern, but in the cohortative and the imperative this stem exhibits accusative alignment (see 3.5.6 and 3.16). The marû forms (imperfective) show an eminently accusative pattern. The ham†u stem is the basic, unmarked verbal stem, which takes pronominal prefixes to agree with the ergative, and suffixes with the absolutive, except in the cohortative and the imperative. The marû stem is the marked stem, which takes pronominal suffixes to agree with the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs (although the 3rd person suffixes are different for transitive and intransitive verbs) and prefixes in concord with the object of transitive verbs. Thus, intransitive verbs take pronominal suffixes for both ham†u and marû stems. Sumerian is, therefore, a morphologically ergative language only in the nominal system and in the transitive versus intransitive ham†u forms with most verbal moods. However, Sumerian has an accusative syntactic alignment in the pronominal system, in two verbal moods (cohortative and imperative), in a few non-finite verbal forms, and, for the most part, in the marû forms. 1.3. Morphosyntactic ergativity should be distinguished from true syntactic ergativity. Languages exhibiting the latter have “syntactic constraints on clause combination, or on the omission of coreferential constituents in clause combinations” (Dixon 1994: 143). Thus, in English, following Dixon’s example, one can say father returned and saw mother, but not **father returned and mother saw. This is because English has a S/A pivot, while syntactically ergative languages (for instance, Dyirbal in Australia) have a S/O pivot. Furthermore, there are pivotless languages, in which “any types of clauses may be joined in a coordinate or subordinate construction so long as this is semantically acceptable” (Dixon 1994: 154). Even in syntactic ergativity there are degrees. As Zólyomi (1996a) pointed out, Sumer-

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ian is a pivotless language, that is, the syntactic functions (Agent, Subject, and Object) do not play an important role in inter-clausal syntax: ama tuku dumu-ni-ir ninda mu-na-ab-tum2 nin9 tuku ses-a-ni-ir a mu-na-de2-e ‘The son who had a mother, she brought him bread, The brother who had a sister, she poured him water’. Gilgames, Enkidu, and the netherworld 156–57 2. Nominal morphology 2.1. Nominal classes and cases 2.1.1. Grammatical gender is based on an opposition between animate and inanimate nouns, but this only surfaces in the concord between pronouns and their antecedents. Grammatical number (plural vs. singular) does not need to be marked in writing (lugal ‘king’ or ‘kings’), but can be made explicit through suffixation (lugal-e-ne /lugal-ene/ ‘kings’) or reduplication (lugal-lugal ‘kings’). The absence of marker and the lexematic reduplication are probably simple orthographic conventions to write the plural, as may be indicated by the writing of plurals with reduplication of the adjective (dingir gal-gal = god great-great ‘great gods’) or with reduplication and an additional suffix (dingir gal-gal-e-ne = god great-great-pl ‘great gods’). In the pronominal system, number is more specifically marked. Nonetheless, in the verbal pronominal suffixes, orthographic conventions may sometimes blur the distinction (see 3.11). 2.1.2. In the nominal system there are ten cases, which are marked by attaching suffixes to noun phrases (NP’s). Moreover, cases can also be indicated by prefixes in verbal forms: 4 Ergative (erg) Absolutive (abs) Genitive (gen) Dative (dat) Locative (loc) Comitative (com) Terminative (trm) Ablative-instrumental Locative-terminative Equative (equ)

Nominal suffixes /-e/ /-º/ /-ak/ /-ra/ /-a/ /-da/ /-ese/ (-se3) /-ta/ /-e/ /-gin/ (-gin7 = GIM)

Prefixes in verbal chain

/-na-/ /-ni-/ /-da-/ /-si-/ /-ta-/ or /-ra-/ /-e-/ or /-i-/

2.1.3. The ergative ending /-e/ marks the subject of a transitive verb, as well as the agent of the so-called Mesanepada construction: verbal. stem(ham†u)-a § mes an-ne2 pad3-da (/mes an-e pad3-a/ lad An-erg callnfin.suff) ‘the lad called by An’ (see 2.4). Although both ergative and locative-terminative cases share the same marker /-e/, they are easy to 4. For a typological approach to the Sumerian case system, see Balke 1999. In general, see Balke 2006.

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distinguish. In addition to context, the locative-terminative occurs only with inanimate nouns, whereas both animate and inanimate nouns can appear in the ergative case. As mentioned above, the pronominal system does not follow an ergative alignment, which is especially clear with the independent pronouns: ga2-e ‘I’, za-e ‘you’, etc., can be subjects of both transitive and intransitive verbs. The absolutive case is not marked with a suffix—or rather it is marked with a zero suffix (/-º/). Thus, both the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb present no case suffix. 2.1.4. The genitive case ending is /-ak/, but is never written with the AK sign. The genitive (rectum) usually follows the regens, but examples of anticipatory or proleptic genitive are not uncommon: e2 lugal-la /e2 lugal-ak/ ‘the king’s palace’ lugal-la e2-a-ni /lugal-ak e2-ani/ ‘the king’s palace’ (lit., of the king, his palace) Sometimes, genitives may occur without a regens: gestu2 dagal-la-ke4 (/gestu2 dagal-ak-e/ ear wide-gen-erg) ‘of wide ear’ (‘the wise one’). Moreover, in some instances, the agent of a non-finite verbal form is in the genitive, but in these instances the use of genitive could be understood also as a marker of relation between NP’s (see 2.2): inim dug4-ga an-na (/inim dug4-a an-ak/ word speak-nfin.suff An-gen) ‘the word spoken by An’ = ‘An’s spoken word’. 2.1.5. The dative marker is /-ra/ (normally written RA), and becomes /-r/ when following a vowel, especially after the possessive /-ani/ and the plural ending /-ene/: lugal-a-ni-ir /lugal-ani-r/ ‘to his king’. In general, it marks the indirect object. Many 3rd-millennium Sumerian texts (especially the very formulaic royal inscriptions) omit the dative ending after a vowel, but not always after a consonant. The dative case suffix occurs only with animate nouns. Verbs of motion, giving, speaking, emotion, “doing for,” and “action-towards,” take the dative (Gragg 1973a: 89–90). In most cases, there is a cross-reference between the dative nominal case ending /-ra/ and the dative case prefix in the verbal chain /-na-/. 2.1.6. The locative case is marked with /-a/ (written -a or -Ca), and occurs only with inanimate nouns. It indicates (a) the place where the event denoted by the verb happens, and (b) the time at which it happens (‘when’ u4-ba /u4-bi-a/ lit., ‘at that day’). Moreover, it occurs in adverbial expressions, such as he2-gal2-la ‘in abundance, abundantly’: /he2-gal2-a/ mod.pref-exist-nfin.suff, a “nominalization” of he2-gal2 ‘may it exist’. The so-called second object of many compound verbs takes the locative (see 6): za-gin3-na su u3-ma-ni-tag (lapis-loc 1st.obj-acc verb) ‘when you have decorated it with lapis’ (Gudea Cyl. A vi 19). 5 2.1.7. The comitative marker is /-da/ (in earlier texts, also written -da5 = URUDU). It seems to be the result of the grammaticalization of the noun 5. The compound verb su — tag ‘to cover, decorate’ has a nominal element (its first object, su ‘hand’) and a verbal nucleus (tag ‘to touch’). See 6.

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da ‘side’, which explains its function: it expresses both accompaniment and mutual action, with both animate and inanimate nouns. The comitative function is marked in verbal forms (with the prefix /-da-/) more frequently than in nominal forms. The frozen expression noun-da nu-me-a means ‘without’ (lit., ‘noun-with not-being’): kur gal den-lil2-da nu-me-a uru nu-du3 (mountain great Enlil-com neg-be-nfin.suff city neg-build) ‘without the great mountain, Enlil, no city is built’ (Enlil hymn 108); see Gragg 1968: 100, 109. 2.1.8. The terminative morpheme is /-ese/, but its most common spelling is -se3. In the Gudea corpus and later on, it can be abbreviated as /-s/ after a vowel, especially after suffixes, such as in su-mu-us (hand-my-trm) ‘into my hand’. Its most basic function is to denote motion toward something or someone, and it is used with animate and inanimate nouns. It can be translated as ‘to’, ‘toward’, ‘concerning’, ‘regarding’, ‘because of’, ‘for the sake of’. In temporal constructions, it means ‘to, until’, as in the formula u4 ul-li2-a-as ‘forever’ (lit., ‘until remote days’). Furthermore, there are several idiomatic expressions with the terminative: nam-bi-se3 ‘therefore, for that reason’, /mu- . . . -ak-ese/ ‘because of, for, instead of’, /igi. . . -ak-ese/ ‘before’, a-na-as2-am3 ‘why’. In Old Babylonian inscriptions, the terminative case occurs instead of the dative, probably because of the interference of Akkadian ana, consistently equated with -se3 in bilinguals. 2.1.9. The ablative-instrumental is marked with /-ta/. In some cases, -da is found instead of -ta, but this should probably be regarded merely as a phonetic phenomenon. Nonetheless, some syntactical confusion between the ablative-instrumental and the comitative cases may have taken place. The ablative-instrumental is used with inanimate nouns, and it denotes (a) motion away from something, (b) instrument or means (zu2-ni-ta ‘with his teeth’), (c) state in expressions of emotion (lipis-ta ‘in anger’), and (d) distributive ‘each’. In temporal constructions, it can be translated as ‘since, after’. In strictly idiomatic terms, some of the ablative uses of /-ta/ in Sumerian may resemble the locative function in other languages. For instance, sahar-ta (lit., ‘from the dust’) is used with the verb tus in the stock phrase sahar-ta tus (dust-abl.ins sit) ‘to sit in the dust’. 2.1.10. The locative-terminative marker is /-e/ (like the ergative) and occurs with inanimate nouns only. It means ‘near to, toward, to’ and is used especially with compound verbs that take this case with inanimate nouns, but dative with animate ones: ki — ag2 ‘to love’; gu3 — de2 ‘to call’, etc. For instance, e2-e lugal-bi gu3 ba-de2 ‘its king spoke to the house (e2-e house-loc-trm)’ (Gudea Cyl. A i 10). By contrast, the equative is not properly a case, but a clitic element. It is normally spelled -gin7 (= GIM) and is translated as ‘like, as’: e2 hur-sag-gin7 im-mu2-mu2-ne ‘they made the house grow like a mountain (hur-sag-gin7)’ (Gudea Cyl. A xxi 19). 2.1.11. Nominal compounds fall under different patterns (Kienast 1975; Edzard 1975b; Schretter 2000). The compounds noun + noun are determinative compounds. They seem to be frozen genitival constructions, in which the rectum (modifier) preceded the regens (modified), with no trace of case ending: an-sa3 ‘the midst of heaven’ (heaven-heart); an-ur2 ‘the base

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of heaven’ (heaven-base); kur-sa3 ‘the midst of the mountain’ (mountainheart), etc. 6 These compounds may be understood in the context of the Sumerian capability establishing morphemeless grammatical relationships (Krecher 1987). The compounds noun+non-finite-verb are dependent determinative compounds, such as di-kud ‘judge’ (claim-decide); nig2-ba ‘gift’ (thing-give); dub-sar ‘scribe’ (tablet-write). Furthermore, the most common compounds seem generated by derivation from three basic elements: nu (probably a variant of lu2 ‘man’); 7 nam (most likely a noun derived from the verb me ‘to be’); and nig2 (perhaps originally a noun meaning ‘thing’): nu-giskiri6 ‘gardener’ (giskiri6 ‘garden’); nam-dingir ‘divinity’ (dingir ‘god’); nam-mah ‘might’ (mah ‘great’); nig2-sam2 ‘price’ (sam2 ‘to trade’). 8 These three elements may have been nouns in origin, but for all practical purposes they behave as derivational morphemes. 2.2. The noun phrase 2.2.1. Noun phrases (NP’s) are usually called nominal chains by Sumerologists, because all the suffixes are heaped at the very end of the last syntagm: 9 dumu lugal kalam-ma-ka-ke4-ne-ra /dumu lugal kalam-ak-ak-ene-ra/ son king nation-gen-gen-pl-dat ‘for the sons of the king of the nation’ Nonetheless, the syntagmatic structure is not so much that of a chain as a series of Chinese boxes, like Russian matryoshka or babushka dolls (Zólyomi 1996b): [dumu [lugal kalam-ak]a-ak-ene]b-ra Therefore, this morphosyntactic feature has nothing to do with agglutination, but pertains to the order of NP constituents, in which the rectum or modifier (an NP itself) and the possessive pronoun occupy the same position. For instance, hierarchically, the possessive pronoun is not a mere suffix but a clitic, so in lugal gal (‘big king’) and in lugal-ani (‘his king’), 6. The word order in these frozen noun+noun compounds may represent the remains of an earlier situation. In the archaic texts from Uruk and Jemdet Naßr, one finds many instances of a word order that is uncommon in later Sumerian: the modifier preceding the modified (both in the case of adjectives and with genitival constructions); see Rubio 2005a: 321–23. 7. On nu, see Edzard 1963 and Jestin 1973. This /nu-/ element alternates with lu2, as in the case of nu-banda3 (‘foreman’), borrowed into Akkadian as laputtû, luputtû. A similar phonetic alternation occurs in the negative verbal prefix /nu-/, which becomes [la-] or [li-] before /ba-/ or /bi-/, as a sort of dissimilation (see Thomsen 1984: §§32, 360). Furthermore, in Ebla there are instances of nu-gal instead of lugal; see Attinger 1993: 156 n. 211a; Rubio 1999: 5. 8. The verb sam2 means ‘to buy’ with the terminative verbal prefix (/-si-/), but ‘to sell’ with the ablative-instrumental prefix (/-ta-/, but sometimes /-ra-/)—cf. German kaufen (‘to buy’) and verkaufen (‘to sell’). On the alternation between /-ra-/ and /-ta-/, see 3.9.4. 9. See Poebel 1923: §98 (Wortkette ‘word chain’); Falkenstein 1950: §91 et passim (nominale Kette ‘nominal chain’ and Kettenbildung ‘chain construction’); Thomsen 1984: §46. The same traditional approach can be found in Hayes 1991.

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both gal and -ani appear in complementary (albeit not mutually exclusive) distribution and syntactically both should be regarded as words, with -ani having undergone a process of cliticization. Thus, the Chinese-box model seems more appropriate than a linear string. 2.2.2. There are genitival constructions that would seem to challenge both the traditional and the new understanding of the structure of NP’s in Sumerian, for instance (Zólyomi 1996b: 37 [VAS 27: 77 vi 1]): sag apin-na dumu-dumu-ke4-ne /sag apin-ak dumu-dumu-ak-ene/ [ [chief plow-gen] [child-pl]-gen-pl] ‘(for) the chief plowmen of the children’ In this sentence, sag apin-na (/sag apin-ak/) probably constitutes a lexicalized compound (‘the chief plowman/plowmen’), which can explain why the genitive does not appear at the very end of the NP. However, Zólyomi (1996b: 36–38) has labeled such constructions as indefinite genitives (see also Alster 2002: 24–25; Selz 2002: 132; Zólyomi 2003). Indefinite genitives would be non-possessive genitives and would belong to the wordlevel category (as nouns) instead of the noun-phrase category (as is the case of the definite genitive). Furthermore, Zólyomi (1996b: 39–45) has offered a formalized analysis of the so-called anticipatory or proleptic genitive (lugal-la e2-a-ni /lugal-ak e2-ani/ ‘of the king, his palace’ = ‘the king’s palace’) as a (syntactic) left dislocation that predictably topicalizes the rectum, as proleptic genitives do in all languages. 2.3. Adjectives 2.3.1. Perhaps the most neglected category in Sumerian grammar is the adjective (see now Schretter 1996; Black 2000, 2002; and Balke 2002). Sumerian does not have a wealth of words that can be categorized exclusively as adjectives. The paucity of unambiguously adjectival lexemes in Sumerian goes beyond the use of the suffix /-a/ to generate (“nominalize”) substantives out of verbs (see 4). The lack of the inherent morphological markers proper of inflectional languages leaves such a grammatical distinction to the realm of syntax: an adjective can be defined as such only if it can fulfill the syntactic function of nominal modifier. 10 2.3.2. This problem of grammatically distinctive categorization is not exclusive to Sumerian. In other languages, the grammatical categories that seem the most difficult to distinguish from each other are the noun and the verb, as is the case in English. 11 Furthermore, within his typology of languages based on parts-of-speech systems, Rijkhoff (2000: 221) classified Sumerian as a type-3 language, which exhibits three different categories of lexemes (verbs, nouns, and adjectives). Other languages have two (like Quechua, with only verbs and nominal-adjectival lexemes) or only one (like Samoan, with only one kind of lexeme that combines all the functions 10. On a syntactic approach to the distinction between parts of speech, see Bhat 2000. 11. Within the languages of the ancient Near East, compare an equally intricate situation concerning adjectives in Coptic; see Shisha-Halevy 1986: 129–39.

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of verbs, nouns, and adjectives). Nevertheless, the lexematic ambiguities might point to a type-2 system in early Sumerian, in which nominal-adjectival lexemes were conjoined in composita rather than in attributive constructions. In fact, Black (2002) proposed a generous taxonomy of Sumerian word classes for lexicographic purposes: two ‘major classes’ (nouns and verbs) and six ‘minor classes’ (pronouns, adjectives, conjunctions, interjections, adverbs, and ideophones). However, most of Black’s minor classes are morphologically derived from one of the two major classes (e.g., conjunctions and adverbs are usually nouns or frozen NP’s). Whatever the situation may be in Sumerian, the adjectival category poses a wide variety of morphological and syntactical problems in many languages and its demarcation is frequently plagued with difficulties (see Dixon 1982; Bhat 1994). 2.4. Cases of the agentive non-finite constructions The genitive does not play any role in establishing a syntactic link between a substantive and a finite verbal form, since it is not an adverbal but an adnominal case. However, it does fulfill such a function in a specific construction with a non-finite verbal form. In the agentive construction, the pattern verb-a agent-ak is most commonly used in pre-Sargonic and Gudea texts (Civil 1996: 165): gu3-de2-a unu6 mah-a tu-da dga2-tum3-du10ga-kam ‘Gudea, born (/tud-a/) of Gatumdu (/gatumduga-ak-cop/) in the great sanctuary’ (Gudea Cyl. A xvii 13–14). However, the pattern agent-e verb-a—the so-called Mesanepada construction (mes an-ne2 pad3-da /mes an-e pad3-a/ ‘the lad called by An’)—is the most common in the inscriptions of kings of the Ur III dynasty, as in an Ur III literary text about UrNamma (Civil 1996: 163 iii 2): lugal den-lil2-le a2 sum-ma (/lugal enlil-e sum-a/) ‘the king given strength by Enlil’. 3. Verbal morphology 3.1. Tense and aspect 3.1.1. Verbal stems are usually divided into two major categories, for which Akkadian labels are used: ham†u (‘quick, sudden’; perfective) and marû (‘slow, fat’; imperfective). The literature on the opposition between ˙am†u and marû stems in the Sumerian verbal system is extensive (see Steiner 1981a; Thomsen 1984: §§231–40; Black 1991: 99–119; 1990a; Lambert 1991; Attinger 1993: 185–87; Krecher 1995; Streck 1998; Civil 2002). However, these two labels, rather than being native Sumerian grammatical categories, reflect the understanding of the Sumerian verb by Akkadianspeaking scribes. Moreover, in an Old Babylonian grammatical text (Civil 2002), lugud (LAGAB) ‘short’ occurs instead of ham†u, and gid2 (BU) ‘long’ instead of marû. These two Sumerian terms (lugud and gid2) are also used in sign names as a way of describing the shape of the signs; for instance, SA as ‘the long SA-sign’ and DI as ‘the short SA-sign’. Thus, the same labels, when used to designate verbal stems, refer to the shape of the stems. The so-called marû stem would be regarded as ‘long’ (gid2) or ‘fat’ (marû) because of the affixation of /-e/, reduplication, or other possible changes. In

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the case of suppletive verbs (like dug4 ‘to say’), these labels would be used by functional analogy: a “long dug4” (i.e., its marû stem e) would be long because it behaves morphosyntactically like the “long stems” of nonsuppletive verbs. 3.1.2. The problem of the marking of the so-called marû stem has been the center of a substantial part of the discussion of the Sumerian verb. Yoshikawa argued that all verbs have two morphologically different stems (see Yoshikawa 1968a; 1968b; 1974; 1989; 1993b): 1. Affixation verbs mark the marû stem with an affix /-e/. 2. Reduplication verbs (such as gi4 ‘to return’, gar ‘to place’) mark the marû stem with partial reduplication (ga2-ga2), as opposed to complete or ham†u reduplication (gar-gar). 12 3. Alternating verbs (such as e3 ‘to go out, bring out’, te ‘to approach’) exhibit an ‘expanded form’ (/e3-d/, /te-g/). 4. Suppletive or complementary verbs (such as dug4 ‘to say’, gen ‘to go’) have completely different lexemes as marû stems (e in the case of dug4, and du and su8 in the case of gen). 13 However, others believe that most verbs do not have two different stems, i.e., that there is no affixation class at all. Thus, the only way to distinguish ham†u from marû in those verbs would be through agreement (i.e., through pronominal affixes; see Thomsen 1984: §§275–94). According to this, the suffix /-e/ would not mark the marû stem itself, but agreement with the 3rd sg. subjects of transitive marû forms (see 3.12; see Edzard 1976a: 47–53; Thomsen 1984: §§232–33; Attinger 1993: 185–86; Michalowski 2004: 40). 3.1.3. Thomsen (1984: §233) argues that Yoshikawa’s theory on the existence of an affixation class with /-e/ marking marû can actually be neither proven nor refuted. Attinger (1993: 185) supports Edzard’s idea that there was no affixation class and that marû is marked through agreement. Among Attinger’s objections to Yoshikawa’s theory, a particularly strong one pertains to the suffixes for the 1st and 2nd sg. and pl. subjects of intransitive ham†u forms, whose subjects are marked with the absolutive in the noun phrase. These suffixes all have an /-e-/ (the marû marker in Yoshikawa’s theory): /-en/, /-enden/, /-enzen/. However, one could object 12. In most verbs with marû reduplication, the evidence for these partially reduplicated readings comes from syllabic (or “unorthographic”), lexical, and eme-sal texts (see 7). In standard orthographies, one cannot really distiguish between ham†u (complete) and marû (partial) reduplication in most verbs. The existence of this morphophonological opposition is based, for the most part, on the case of the verb gar (/mar/), whose reduplicated ham†u is gar-gar (GAR-GAR) but whose reduplicated marû is ga2-ga2 (GA2-GA2). Nonetheless, phonetic spellings are sufficiently well attested to confirm that marû reduplication was partial, whereas ham†u reduplication was complete. See Thomsen 1984: §243. 13. On Yoshikawa’s idea that Thomsen’s class III (alternating) and IV (“complementary”) verbs are the same (Yoshikawa’s class III or alternation class), see Thomsen 1984: §229. Jacobsen (1988a: 180–84) believed that /-e/ could be attached to all verbs in order to mark marû forms, whereas Krecher (1987: 82–83; 1995) thinks that all verbs can form a marû stem by attaching “the marû suffixes” /-e/ or /-ed/.

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that, because cuneiform is limited to writing consonantal clusters, this /-e/, originally a marû marker, was reinterpreted as belonging to the pronominal suffixes. For some, it seems overly troublesome that the same element /-e/ could mark marû and also be something else. Morphologies of natural languages, however, are rich with regard to irregularities in paradigms, homonymic morphemes with completely different functions, reinterpretations, and ambiguities. 14 3.1.4. From a typological and structural point of view, Yoshikawa’s theory is preferable to the theory of exclusively agreement-grounded marking of the ham†u and marû forms. The existence of a number of verbs that mark the marû (or “long”) stem—either with reduplication, consonantal lengthening, or lexematic suppletion—is essential to this argument. Their existence makes less likely that the rest (and vast majority) of Sumerian verbs do not have two different stems (“short” and “long”) marked by the affixation of /-e/, and that, therefore, these “regular” verbs can be effectively marked for aspect-tense only in finite verbal forms. By observing the behavior of the non-finite forms of the minority of verbs that do exhibit two clearly differentiated stems, it becomes evident that, at least in active forms, they show a stem-driven pattern when they attach /-a/ (with ham†u) and /-ed/ (with marû). 15 If “regular” verbs did not have stems differentiated by means other than agreement, that is, if they had only one stem indifferent to any aspect-tense opposition in the absence of agreement pronominal affixes, then one would expect that some stemdifferentiating marker be added to their non-finite verbal forms, for the suffixes /-a/ and /-ed/ demand such differentiation in verbs with different stems. If the answer is that the suffix /-ed/ marks the marû in the nonfinite forms of regular verbs, this would add additional support to the consideration of /-e/ as marû marker (/-e-d/). 16 Nevertheless, perhaps a truly comprehensive solution to this problem may be offered only when the whole Sumerian corpus is conveniently edited and studied in detail within a typological and cross-linguistic framework. 3.1.5. Instead of the traditional and exclusively formal labels ham†u and marû, functional terms would be preferable. The question would be— which functional terms? The main axis of a verbal system is defined by the TAM system: tense, aspect, and modality. In Sumerian, verbal modality is marked with modal prefixes. Thus, one is left with tense and aspect as the 14. For instance, the English suffix s marks both plural nouns and the 3rd sg person in the present tense of most verbs, both morphemes exhibiting the same allomorphs: [s], [z], and [Iz]. 15. On both suffixes, see 3.14 and 4. In the passive forms with /-a/, the ham†u/marû opposition is neutralized (see 4.4). 16. In his objections to Yoshikawa’s theory, Attinger (1993: 185 n. 339) points out that there exist pairs such as ku4-ku4 and ku4-re (/ku4.r-e/), from ku4 (= kur9 ‘to enter’), in which both forms would be marû if Yoshikawa is right. If one keeps in mind that the ham†u/marû opposition is mostly a matter of Akkadian labeling by scribes who were not native speakers of Sumerian, it appears perfectly possible that, in certain contexts, the same verb could be marked for aspect-tense in more than one way.

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categories that can be represented with the ham†u and marû stems. One of the ways such categories—whatever they may be—are marked is reduplication, whether complete (ham†u) or partial (marû). Thus, Michalowski (2004: 39) argues that typologically reduplication is unlikely to mark tense and that, therefore, aspect must be the category marked with reduplication and, by extension, with the different stems (ham†u and marû). Nevertheless, aspect and tense do not constitute two completely unrelated categories; no language marks aspectuality exclusively and ignores temporality. In fact, both aspect and tense include several complex subcategories that overlap with other variables of the TAM system. For instance, the perfect involves both tense elements (reference to the time-axis, sequentiality, anteriority or precedence) and aspectual ones (perfectivity itself, lingering or current relevance, completion, accomplishment). 17 Depending on the language, some of these categories and subcategories may be explicitly marked in the morphology. However, their marking may also be the result of a confluence of strictly grammatical elements with semantic and lexically grounded variables—such as Aktionsart, i.e., lexical aspect based on the semantics of individual verbs—as well as phenomena belonging to the realm of pragmatics. 18 In the light of their contextual occurrences, their interactions with the epistemic and deontic modalities, and the grammatical texts, one can conclude that most likely the so-called ham†u or ‘short’ stem marks perfective while the marû or long stem marks imperfective. 19 3.1.6. Whereas the marû (partial) reduplication seems to exclusively mark imperfectivity in those verbs that exhibit it, the ham†u (complete) reduplication is neither temporal nor aspectual. In fact, both ham†u and marû forms can exhibit ham†u (complete) reduplication. The complete reduplication marks plurality of the patient (i.e., both the object and the non-agentive subject) or plurality of the action itself. Moreover, there are instances in which partial reduplication does not indicate the marû stem, but it marks the same categories denoted with complete reduplication (the so-called free marû, as in ga2-ga2-ga2; Attinger 1993: 188, 190). Both completely and partially reduplicated forms in which the stem itself marks no aspectual or temporal opposition—that is, all instances of ham†u reduplication and the limited number of “free marû” reduplicated forms—are said to exhibit free reduplication (see Edzard 1971: 226–33; 1976a: 60; 2003a: 79; Yoshikawa 1979b; Steinkeller 1979a: 63–64; Thomsen 1984: §§242–49; Attinger 1993: 183, 187–90). In essence this kind of reduplication is functionally similar to the plural stems of those verbs that have special stems in the plural (see 3.2). 17. A distinction must be drawn between perfect and perfective. The former is retrospective (anterior) and does not always represent an event as complete (I have been speaking), whereas the perfective does indicate completion of the action or event (I have spoken); see Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 54–55; Givón 2001: 1.296, 348. 18. For instance, this is especially true of the Russian verb, as Jakobson (1973) observed in his seminal study. 19. As all languages, Sumerian also has other aspects and Aktionsarten (lexical aspects); see Yoshikawa 1988.

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3.2. Verbal plurality Most Sumerian verbs mark the plurality of the agent through bound pronouns (e.g., pronominal suffixes with marû) and the plurality of the patient through so-called free reduplication (see 3.1.6) or through bound pronouns (see 3.12.3). However, some verbs have different, suppletive stems in the singular and in the plural (see Krecher 1968; Steinkeller 1979; Yoshikawa 1981; Thomsen 1984: §§260–71; Attinger 1993: 190). Plural verbal stems mark plurality of the patient: with intransitive verbs, they show concord with a plural (non-agentive) subject; with transitive verbs, these stems indicate plurality of the object. An exception to this is the plural stem e of dug4, which marks a plural ergative subject. These verbs may have suppletive stems in the singular too (ham†u versus marû), and even in the plural itself: 20 ham†u sg gub (= DU) pl su8 = sug2 (= DU/DU)

marû gub (= DU) su8 = sug2 // su8-su8

‘to go’

sg gen (/men/ = DU) pl re7 (= DU/DU), re6 (= DU) erx (= DU.DU), etc.

du su8 = sub2 (= DU/DU)

‘to bring’

sg de6 (= DU) pl lah4 (= DU/DU)

tum2 (= DU) / tum3 lah4 (= DU/DU)

‘to sit’

sg tus pl durun = dur2 (= TUS) durunx (= TUS.TUS)

dur2 (= TUS) durun = dur2 (= TUS) durunx (= TUS.TUS)

‘to say’

sg dug4 pl e

e e

‘to stand’

3.4. Verbal modality 3.4.1. In dealing with Sumerian verbal modality, one should stress the opposition between the deontic and the epistemic categories (Civil 2000a). 21 Epistemic modality expresses the knowledge (Greek epistéme), 20. The different readings of DU, DU.DU and DU/DU for the stems of ‘to stand’, ‘to go’, and ‘to bring’, are established on the basis of Akkadian translations, grammatical labels (DIS for singular stems and MES for plural), and phonetic spellings attested in grammatical and lexical texts; see Black 1991: 63, 99–101, 128. Concerning DU ‘to bring’, see also Sallaberger 2005. The non-finite marû forms of ‘to say’ show a stem di (di, di-da, didam, di-de3); see Attinger 1993. 21. Strictly speaking, mood and modality are two different things. Mood is a morphosyntactic category marked with different verbal forms (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, conditional, optative) that vary from language to language. Modality is a semantic domain whose elements add an overlay of meaning to the strictly neutral semantic value of the proposition of an utterance (factual and declarative). Modalities can be jussive, desiderative, hypothetical, obligative, dubitative, and so forth. See Bybee and Fleischman 1995: 2.

u3-

nu-

sa-

naa-

imma-

-ne- (3 pl.)

[*-re- (2 pl.)]

-me- (1 pl.)

-na- (3 sg.)

ba- (b-)

ga-

bara-

-ra- (2 sg.)

mu- (m-)

he2-

inga-

-a- (1 sg.)

i- (V-)

º-

4

dative

3 “conjugation” prefixes

2

modal conpre- nective fixes prefix

1

al-

-dacom

-niloc

-ta-e- / -iabl-ins loc-trm

-sitrm

dimensional prefixes

5

3.3. Structure of the Sumerian verb (verbal “chain”)

-b(3 sg. inanim.)

-n(3 sg. anim.)

-º-/-e- (2 sg.)

pronominal prefixes

6

STEM

7

-ed

8

-e

-en

-en

-es

-ene

-enzen -enzen

-enden -enden

-º

-en

-en

pronominal suffixes

9

-a

nominalizer

10

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beliefs, and opinions of the speaker, whereas deontic modality expresses the necessity (Greek déon ‘that which is needful’) or possibility of an act. Epistemic modality covers all the categories that establish a relation between the speaker and the truth of the proposition: assertive, dubitative, potential, concessional, and so forth. Deontic modality covers all the agent-oriented and speaker-oriented categories, such as imperative, prohibitive, optative, hortative, precative. 22 However, although very productive in modal logic, the deontic modality has proven to be more difficult to translate into linguistic categories than the epistemic one. Thus, many linguists prefer to distinguish three general modal categories instead of two: (a) agent-oriented modality, which expresses the conditions of an agent with regard to the completion of an action (obligative, desiderative, potential, etc); (b) speaker-oriented modality, in which the speaker tries to cause the addressee to do something (as expressed with the imperative and optative moods); and (c) epistemic modality. Nevertheless, for practical reasons the label deontic—as a conceptual and logical umbrella for agentoriented and speaker-oriented modalities—is kept here. 3.4.2. In Sumerian, modality is marked by modal prefixes. Whereas some modal prefixes always pertain to the same modality (ga-, nu-, sa-), others can mark either deontic or epistemic modality, depending on their interaction with the other elements (mostly aspect) within the TAM system. The indicative mood (marked with the prefix /º-/, i.e., the absence of any prefix) corresponds to the most neutral category of epistemic modality, which pertains exclusively to the possibility or neccessity of the truth of a proposition and is completely alien to all agent- and speakeroriented categories. In fact, the zero marking (/º-/) of the Sumerian indicative, as opposed to the prefixes that mark other eminently epistemic categories (/he-/, /bara-/, and /na-/ with the perfective), implies that the Sumerian indicative mood is rather indifferent to the opposition between epistemic and deontic. Thus, the indicative is intended to establish a direct link between the utterance and its reality or truth. Nevertheless, speaker-oriented and agent-oriented categories can still be expressed in the indicative through the pragmatics of discourse and not through morphological markers. In Sumerian, the affirmation of the indicative is marked with the absence of any modal prefix (º-) and its negation with the negative prefix nu-. 23 22. Besides the different moods that mark deontic (both agent-oriented and speakeroriented) and epistemic modalities, there is a subordinating mood, the subjunctive. 23. This analysis of the Sumerian indicative (º-prefix) does not bear any implications for the general understanding of indicative as a descriptive morphosyntactic label assigned to a concrete verbal form within a modal system that usually includes other categories. As has been pointed out above, these labels (indicative, subjunctive, optative, etc.) refer to forms, whereas the general categories of epistemic and deontic modalities have to do with functions and semantics. Thus, in a specific language, an indicative form may fulfill both deontic and epistemic functions depending on other syntactic parameters. For instance, in English the modal verb must (originally the past tense of mote) can be deontic (‘you must go home now’) and epistemic (‘there must be two or three apples in the fridge’). In Sumerian, modal functions are marked with specific verbal prefixes.

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3.5. Modal prefixes 3.5.1. The prefix /he-/ can occur with perfective and imperfective verbal forms. This prefix exhibits diverse allomorphs in different periods (see Civil and Biggs 1966: 14–15; Rubio 2000: 218–20): ED IIIa ED IIIb and Ur III Old Babylonian

he2- before e/i, a, and u he2- before e/i ha- before a and u he2- before e/i ha- before a

hu- before u

In Early Dynastic texts and the Gudea corpus, ha-ni- occurs instead of the expected he2-ni-. These allomorphs are due to vocalic harmony, whose explicit spelling evolved through time. In terms of function, with perfective (ham†u), /he-/ marks epistemic modality of contextually affirmative verbal forms in predicates that depend logically (if not grammatically) on a condition contained in another clause. When a he-clause precedes a clause in the indicative or with another modal, /he-/ usually marks a conditional. 24 Moreover, the he-clause follows the other clause when the latter describes “a state or event that by its existence or by its degree makes the state or event of the following he-clause possible” (Civil 2000a: 33). In terms of mood, /he-/ is affirmative with the ham†u stem, and precative with the marû: nam he2-ma-kud-e /he-(m)ma-kud-e/ (marû) ‘may she curse him’ (Gudea Statue C iv 12); uru-mu ki ma-al-ba he2-en-ga-mu-da-gul /henga-mu-da-gul/ (ham†u) ‘my city was indeed destroyed on its foundation’ (Ur Lament 108). This prefix can also occur with the verb ‘to be’, without a finite verb, and even without a verb (like /nu-/): he2-me-en (/he-me-en/) ‘let me be(come)’; den-lil2 he2-ha-lam-me (/he-halam-e/) ‘may Enlil destroy him’ (Ent. 28 vi 32). The prefix /he-/ is much more frequent in deontic usages. The negation of the epistemic /he-/ is /bara-/ with perfective (ham†u). With imperfective (marû), /he-/ marks deontic modality, normally a precative or a logical imperative; this is negated with the deontic na- (na- + imperfective). Because all the occurrences of /he-/, both with perfective and with imperfective, indicate either the speaker’s attitude or inter-clausal dependance (logical subordination), this prefix covers the subjunctive and optative modalities. The structure of affirmations and negations of /he-/ is as follows: /he-/ + ham†u (epistemic) /he-/ + marû (deontic)

negative: negative:

/bara-/ + ham†u (epistemic) /na-/ + marû (deontic)

3.5.2. The prefix /bara-/ occurs in all periods except in the Gudea corpus. It is attested before the conjugation prefixes /mu-/, /ba-/, and /bi-/, but never before the sequences im-ma- and im-mi-. Although /bara-/ occurs with all the verbal persons, it is especially frequent with the 1st sg. One can argue that the prefix /bara-/ is vetitive with the marû (imperfective) stem (deontic function), and negative affirmative with the ham†u 24. On conditional clauses, see Black 1995. On the syntax of the prefixes /he-/, /ga-/, /na-/, and /u-/, see Kaneva 2000.

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(perfective) stem (epistemic function; see Edzard 1971: 216–19; Thomsen 1984: §§366–70). However, the vetitive (deontic) attestations of /bara-/ are rare. Its function seems mostly epistemic with both perfective and imperfective (see Kienast 1980a: 8; Attinger 1993: 289; Civil 2000a). Since /bara-/ is the logical and grammatical negation of the epistemic /he-/, it may be called negative subjunctive, as long as one is aware of the actual syntactical implication of subjunctive as the mood of subordination—in this case, logical subordination in the articulation of sequential hinges between clauses, rather than actual syntactic subordination. 25 3.5.3. The prefix /na-/ is written na-, but nam- when followed by certain conjugation prefixes: nam-ta-e3 /na-m-ta-e3/ ‘he went out’ (Gudea Cyl. A vii 1); nam-mi-gul-e /na-mm-loc.trm.-gul-e/ ‘nobody shall destroy’ (Gudea Statue B vii 57). In Old Babylonian literary texts, one can sometimes find the sequences nam-ba-, nam-bi2-, and nam-bi-, which some have analyzed as /na(-i)-ba(/-bi)-/. This analysis has found further support in the existence of sequences such as na-ba- and na-bi2- (along with nam-ba-, nam-bi2-, na-an-ba-, na-an-bi2-) in non-literary Ur III texts (see Attinger 1993: 277–78). Nonetheless, Ur III literary texts exhibit only the most common sequences: dam e2 nam-mi-gi4 (/na-mm-loc.trm.-gi4/) ‘the wife does not come back home’ (Ur III Ninimma lament ii' 3'); si nam-ma-ni-sa2 (/namm(a)-ni-sa2/) ‘she (Nidaba) put in order’ (Ur III Nidaba hymn 12). 26 Moreover, the prefixes /-m-/ and /ba-/ (or /bi-/ < /ba-/ + loc.trm) cannot occur together (see 3.6.6). Therefore, the sequences nam-ba-, nam-bi2-, and nam-bi- should be regarded either as the result of phonetic dissimilation from the sequences /namma-/ (/na-(i)mma-/) and /nammi-/ (/na-(i)mmi-/), or as instances of erroneous grammatical reanalysis. The latter may explain why they are so rare in Ur III (when Sumerian was probably still spoken), but became more common in the Old Babylonian period (after Sumerian had practically died out as a spoken language). The Ur III sequences na-baand na-bi2-, which are also very rare, should be analyzed simply as /na-ba/ and /na-bi-/. When /na-/ is followed by /-inga-/ (also analyzed as /-nga-/ or /-i-ma-/), the spelling of the sequence is na-an-ga- or nam-ga-, but in Early Dynastic it appears simply as na-ga-: gal na-ga-mu-zu /na-(i)nga-mu-(n-)zu/ ‘he knows also great things’ (Ean. 1 rev. i 31–32); ki nam-ga-bi2-ib-gul-en /na-(i)nga-bi-b-gul-en/ ‘I shall indeed destroy it too’ (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta 120). 3.5.4. With the perfective (ham†u), na- fulfills an epistemic function: it introduces reported speech, “marking a statement as either belonging to traditional orally transmitted knowledge (mythological lore, formulaic diction, etc.) or simply being a report of someone else’s words” (Civil 25. In oaths and solemn statements, /he-/ appears in affirmations and /bara-/ in negations. As Civil (2000a: 36) points out, “in promissory oaths and the like, the oath taker does not attest to his already presumed inner disposition (deontic modality) but to how things are going to be objectively (epistemic modality).” On these oaths, see Edzard 1975a (esp. pp. 78–79 and 82–88). 26. On the conjugation prefix /imma-/ or /-mm-/ (gemination of the prefix /mu-/), see 3.6. Concerning the corpus of Ur III literary texts, see Rubio forthcoming.

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2000a: 37). This epistemic /na-/ is not a quotative, since it does not properly reproduce direct speech. Sumerian did have a quotative particle to indicate direct speech: the suffix (or rather enclitic particle) -/ese/ (see 3.15). With the imperfective (marû), na- is deontic and constitutes the negation of the deontic /he-/. Thus, the deontic /na-/ covers the roles of a negative subjunctive and optative marker (negative commands, desires, advice, and so forth), whereas the epistemic /na-/ simply marks quoted speech of one kind or another. In its prohibitive function (with marû), /na-/ is especially used with 2nd and 3rd persons, while /bara-/ (vetitive with marû) would correspond to the 1st person, although the latter is rare. Nevertheless, there are many cases of prohibitive /na-/ with 1st person, and vetitive /bara-/ especially with 3rd person. It should be noted that /na-/ with marû occurs in the introductory formulas of letters, instances in which it cannot be prohibitive, but affirmative: sender na(-ab)-be2-a addressee-ra u3-naa-dug4 ‘this is what the sender says (/na-b-e-[pro.suff]-a/, marû), after you (the messenger) have said (/u-na-pro.pref-dug4/, ham†u) it to the addressee’; e.g., lugal-e na-ab-be2-a Ur-dLi9-si4-na-ra u3-na-a-dug4 ‘this is what the king says: when you have said it to Ur-Lisina’ (TCS 1: 1, 1–4). The /na-/ prefix that occurs with the verb ‘to be’ (me) may not be this modal prefix, since it follows the modal prefixes /ga-/ and /he-/, which never occur with the modal /na-/. In this respect, nam-me is the prohibitive form of the verb me: sipa engar nam-me ‘the shepherd shall not be a farmer’ (Sumerian Proverbs 1, 100). 3.5.5. In these three prefixes, /he-/, /bara-/, and /na-/, the oposition ham†u/marû becomes especially evident in the contrast between epistemic (with ham†u) and deontic (with marû) functions. This points to the close ties between categories within the Sumerian TAM system: /he-/ + ham†u /he-/ + marû /na-/ + ham†u /na-/ + marû /bara-/ + ham†u /bara-/ + marû

contextually affirmative

ha-na-sum ‘I have indeed given’ precative hu-mu-hul2-le-en ‘may you rejoice’ affirmative (reported speech) nam-mi-gub ‘he set indeed’ negative subjunctive-optative na-ab-pad3-de3 ‘do not tell’ negative affirmative ba-ra-ra-dug4 ‘I have never said to you’ vetitive (rare) ba-ra-pad-re6 ‘he shall not destroy’

3.5.6. The prefix /ga-/ is usually written ga-, but exhibits vowel harmony in some instances. 27 In eme-sal texts (see 7), /ga-/ appears as da- or du5-: du5-mu-ri-ib-dug4 /ga-mu-ri-b-dug4/ ‘let me say (it) to/for you’, ‘I want to say (it) to you’ (Inanna and Bilulu 165). Since in eme-sal, da-, de3-, and du5- occur instead of the precative /he-/, cohortative and precative can be 27. For example, in Ur III texts (NG 132: 5) and in Sulgi hymn D (176, 210), a hymn that presents some Ur III features (as most Sulgi hymns); see Thomsen 1984: §384; Klein 1981: 69; Rubio 2000: 215–16.

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morphologically identical in eme-sal texts. The modal function of /ga-/ is cohortative, and it is used only with the 1st person, both singular and plural. This prefix normally takes the ham†u stem, although there are some examples of /ga-/ with marû (see Edzard 1971: 223–25; Attinger 1993: 292). With verbs that have a special plural stem (see 3.2), the suffix /-enden/ is optional in the cohortative (Cavigneaux 1987; Attinger 1993: 223). The singular cohortative forms with /ga-/ tend to have no 1st sg. subject marker, although there are some exceptions. Cohortative forms exhibit an accusative pattern in pronominal agreement (see 3.12.3). The ham†u stem in the cohortative takes suffixes to mark the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs, and prefixes to mark the object (Michalowski 1980: 97– 98): ku-li-ni-ir ga-an-si-re7-eb-de3-en /ga-n-si-(e)re-enden/ ‘let us go to his friend (/kuli-ani-r[a]/)’, ‘we want to go to his friend’ (Dumuzi’s dream 140); egir dub-me-ka a-na-am3 ga-ab-sar-en-de3-en /ga-b-sar-enden/ ‘what is it that we want to write on the reverse of our tablets?’ (Dialogue between Enkimansum and Girniisag 1); ga-na-ab-dug4 /ga-na-b-dug4/ ‘I want to tell it to her’ (Gudea Cyl. A i 24). Reduplicated forms with the cohortative prefix normally indicate the plurality of the object: ma-mu-zu ga2 ga-mu-ra-bur2-bur2 /ga-mu-ra(dat.2.sg)-bur2-bur2/ ‘let me interpret your dreams’ (Gudea Cyl. A v 12). In some rare cases, /he-/ can occur where /ga-/ is expected, such as in ha-a-tuku ‘I will marry her’ (NG 16: 6). 3.5.7. The prefix /sa-/ is attested mostly in Old Babylonian texts, written sa-, and only in a few instances in earlier texts, in which it is written se3- or si-. /sa-/ undergoes vowel harmony, and therefore has three allomorphs: sa- before a prefix with /a/ (such as ba- and -ra-) and before mu-; si- before the prefixes /i-/ and /bi-/; and, very rarely, su- before mu-. The spelling sa3- is attested in late texts. It is possible that the underlying form of this prefix is /si-/ (see Attinger 1993: 294–95). This modal prefix seems to be compatible with all the conjugation prefixes. Falkenstein argued that /sa-/ was an affirmative prefix, while it was regarded by Jacobsen as “contrapunctive” (meaning ‘correspondingly’, ‘he on his part’, etc.; Falkenstein 1944; Jacobsen 1965: 73). 3.5.8. The prefix /u-/ is usually written u3-, but u- in Early Dynastic texts. When followed by the conjugation prefix /-m-/ or by pronominal prefixes (/-n-/ or /-b-/), it is written un-, ub-, or um-. In Early Dynastic, Sargonic, and Gudea texts, it underwent vowel harmony, so /u-/ changed to /a-/ or to /i-/ depending on the vowel in the following syllable: /u-ba-/ > aba-; /u-bi-/ > i3-bi2-. This prefix occurs with ham†u only, but the verbal form in the following clause tends to be marû. It has a prospective sense: ‘the basic function of u3- is to designate the first of a succession of events, without a great deal of precision’ (Gragg 1973a: 131). In languages with SOV order (like Sumerian), a subordinate clause tends to precede the main clause. This prefix occurs in introductory sections of letters (see 3.5.4). Thus, u3- is not properly a modal prefix, but rather a proclitic syntactical particle (Kaneva 2000: 524–30). 3.5.9. The prefix /nu-/ is negative. It is usually written NU = nu. However, before the conjugation prefixes /ba-/ and /bi-/, it occurs as la- and li-

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(see 2.1.11): la-ba-ta-e3 /nu-ba-ta-e3/ ‘he shall not escape’ (Gudea Cyl. A ix 26); ki-bi li-bi2-gi4 /nu-bi-gi4/ ‘they have not restored’ (Sîn-iddinam 2: 11). This prefix negates finite and non-finite verbal forms in the indicative (see 3.4.2). Moreover, /nu-/ and, probably, /he-/ are the only modal prefixes that can occur alone without a verb. In this case, nu- is the negation of the copula (me ‘to be’), and may occur with additional prefixes, as if /nu-/ were a verb on its own: uru nu ‘it is not a city’ (Sumerian Proverbs 2, 118); su pesda-bi ba-nu ‘there was no fishing’ (Sumerian Proverbs 1, 109). 3.5.10. The prefix /iri-/ is not widely attested, and it occurs almost solely in Old Babylonian texts. However, there are two instances of iri-/ ere- in Pre-Sargonic Lagas (on this prefix, see Römer 1975; Thomsen 1984: §§415–17; Attinger 1993: 286–97). It is written i-ri-, i-ri2-, and iri- or ere(the last two are readings of URU). The occurrences of /iri-/ are mostly restricted to a single lexical item, the compound verb mi2 — dug4 ‘to praise’. Therefore, the function of this prefix is very difficult to define. Nevertheless, Schramm (1998) has pointed out that /iri-/ also occurs in incantations (already in Old Babylonian) instead of /he-/, in the formula zi . . . he2-pad2 ‘I curse you; I adjure you’. Thus, Schramm argues that /iri-/ would have two functions: (a) in direct speech and with perfective (ham†u) forms, it would mark a formulaic remark in the 1st person as explicitly performative; and (b) in indirect speech and with imperfective (marû) forms, it would mark a quoted remark as implicit performative. 28 However, one could and probably should regard these attestations of /iri-/ as a peculiar development of a specific idiom most likely due to a sort of antiphrastic displacement (a conscious or unconscious grammatical malapropism). Thus, /iri-/, normally used only with ‘to praise’, would have been extended to its antonym, ‘to curse’. Furthermore, this prefix probably comes from a wrong segmentation or false isolation of an /iri/ element in hypothetical sequences such as mi2 ar2 in-ga-am3-me (ar2 = UB), from which /iringa/ (∞ /-i-ar-inga-/) would have been reinterpreted as /iri + nga/ (ar2 is frequently spelled a-ar and i-ri in literary texts). 29 3.5.11. The prefix /nus-/ is normally written nu-us-, but sometimes also ni-is- or ni-is3-. It is attested only in literary texts and from the Old Babylonian period on. It can occur with both ham†u and marû, and, apparently, only in direct speech. In essence, it is not really a modal prefix, but a proclitic syntactical particle marking rhetorical interrogation (erotema), frequently translated as ‘if only’ or ‘were it but that’ (Römer 1976). 3.6. The system of conjugation prefixes 3.6.1. The rank and compatibility of the conjugation prefixes are as problematic as their grammatical functions and their morphophonemic 28. The label used by Schramm (performative Verbalform) is equivalent to Koinzidensfall or simply performative, a kind of illocutionary speech act consisting of a predicate whose utterance and the action indicated by it are one and the same, such as I bless you and I curse you. 29. See Civil 2000a. On ar2-dug4 ‘to praise’, see Attinger 1993: 438–40. An explanation of /iri-/ similar to Civil’s was also proposed by van Dijk (1978: 195 n. 14).

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shape. 30 Even their number can be a matter of discussion. Most scholars list seven prefixes, whereas others have proposed an analysis of these prefixes that reduces their number to four, for instance, /i/, /m/, /ba/, and /bi/ (/mu/ being an allomorph of the so-called ventive prefix /m/; for this four-prefix model, see Foxvog 1975: 400–401 n. 17; Jagersma 1993: 422–25). Nevertheless, the key problem is that of the functions fulfilled by these prefixes. 3.6.2. As is explicit in the table given by Thomsen (1984: §274), her understanding of the ranking of conjugation prefixes is as follows: ı~ ga ã

m mu ba bi

The idea that the prefixes /i-/ and /a-/ contained nasal vowels comes from Falkenstein (1959: 46–48). However, this would make these two prefixes the only nasal vowels in Sumerian, which is clearly an impossible scenario. This nasal vowels theory explains Falkenstein’s analysis of sequences such as im-ma- and im-mi- as /i-ba-/ (or /ı~-ba-/) and /i-bi-/ (or /ı~-bi/; against Falkenstein’s analysis, see Gragg 1973a: 68–72; van Dijk 1983: 32 n. 3). However, these sequences most likely correspond to the same prefix: gemination of the prefix /mu-/ or /m-/. Moreover, the prefix /inga-/ can be disregarded because of its special status (see 3.7.6). 3.6.3. Other rankings of these prefixes have been proposed. The following by Black (1986: 79) also considers /-mi-/ an allomorph of /bi-/: (-)mu/mi-m-/(-)ma-/(-)mu-

ba-/-mabi-/-mi-

Although Black’s table mixes graphemes and morphemes in an unnecessary way, it may seem to underscore better the question of the prefix /-m-/. It has been argued that /-m-/ and /mu-/ fulfill similar functions but that they should be distinguished as two independent prefixes (see Thomsen 1984: §§329–35; Krecher 1985; Attinger 1993: 270). However, /-m-/ should be regarded as the non-initial allomorph of /mu-/, which occurs normally in the geminated (emphatic) version of /mu-/: /imma-/. 3.6.4. It seems that a minimalist approach to the conjugation prefixes, with different nuances and many advantages, is beginning to emerge (see Gragg 1973a: 93; Civil and Karahashi in Karahashi 2000a; Michalowski 2004; Rubio 2004 and 2005b). In fact, one can argue for a more simple system of conjugation prefixes with only four morphemes: /ba-/, /imma-/, /i-/, and /mu-/. The prefixes /a-/, /inga-/, /al-/, and /iri-/ must be disregarded here, since most of them occur in completely different distribu30. The label conjugation for these prefixes is a complete misnomer: if they had anything to do with conjugations, their occurrence would be predictable depending on verbs or stems. The term topicalizing prefixes (or “focus markers”) seems more adequate. Nevertheless, the term conjugation is kept here exclusively to avoid confusion.

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tions and are not, therefore, true conjugation prefixes. Likewise, the prefix /bi-/ is not a separate conjugation prefix but a combination of the prefix /ba-/ followed by the locative-terminative prefix, and /imma-/ is a geminated version of /mu-/. Moreover, /i-/ (or /V-/) is not the ubiquitous prefix some Sumerologists reconstruct for almost all verbal forms. The /i-/ probably does not occur after modal prefixes and its occurrence may be linked to a rule concerning ranks of prefixes in verbal forms. According to this rule (Michalowski 2004: 44), a finite verbal form cannot begin with any of the three slots immediately before the verbal stem—i.e., dative, dimensional prefixes, and pronominal prefixes (slots 4, 5, and 6; see table in 3.3). This analysis of the verbal chain avoids the typical sesquipedalian “reconstructed verbal chains,” in which an element has to be supplied by the grammarian to fill in every slot in the chain, in spite of the fact that such an element may not have been written in that form, or, perhaps, may not even be attested with that verb. 3.6.5. The functions of the conjugation prefixes may seem particularly obscure. The first Sumerian grammars already observed that, while /mu-/ is used when there is an emphasized relation to a directionally defined personal noun, /i-/ occurs if such a relation is absent or not emphasized (see Poebel 1923: 213–30; Falkenstein 1949: 179–84; 1950: 158–81; Sollberger 1952: 107–63). 31 Yoshikawa (1979a) pointed to the existence of an opposition between /mu-/ as topical and /i-/ as non-topical. In essence, this opposition stems from the sociolinguistic analysis of the distribution high versus low status, linked to the spatial movement (action) from below to above (/mu-/) or vice versa (/i-/). 32 Gragg (1973a: 93–94) noticed that the opposition is actually between /mu-/ and /b-/, on the one hand, and /i/ on the other. Because of the apparent lack of markedness of the prefix /i-/, some argued that /i-/ is not a morpheme but a prosthetic vowel used as a sort of finite marker (see Foxvog 1975: 400–401 n. 17; Heimpel 1974: 30– 31). In the light of the rather weak role played by /i-/, Thomsen (1984: §311) calls it “the most neutral prefix.” 33 3.6.6. All verbal forms seem to start with an obligatory conjugation prefix (/mu-/, /ba-/, or /i-/). This rule loses its obligatoriness when a modal prefix occurs, since the prefix /i-/ is not necessarily subsumed under preceding modal prefixes (Michalowski 2004: 44). Moreover, the choice of prefix seems governed by focus (Vanstiphout 1985). The prefixes /mu-/ 31. Jacobsen (1965: 76) defined /i-/ as a “mark of transitory, nonconditional aspect.” 32. On the sociolinguistics of these prefixes, see Jestin 1943–54: 2.27–84; Yoshikawa 1957. Steiner (1994) argued that /mu-/ is “centripetal” while /e-/ (or /i-/) is “centrifugal.” Steiner’s approach is based on typological parallels (especially Kartvelian languages, such as Georgian) and on the Akkadian ventive, which is centripetal by definition. In Akkadian, the ventive suffix is identical (in all its allomorphs) to the 1st sg. dative suffix, the same way that /mu-/ would be related to the 1st person possessive pronominal suffix /-mu/ in Sumerian. On the possible relationship between the Akkadian verbal ventive suffix (-am, -nim, -m) and the Sumerian verbal prefix /mu-/ or /m-/, see von Soden 1965: 105; Pedersén 1989: 434; Edzard 2003a: 175. 33. The idea of /i-/ (or /e-/) as the neutral prefix had been suggested by others (e.g., Gragg 1973a: 93).

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and /ba-/ are mutually exclusive and complementary: /mu-/ is focused for person but not for locus, while /ba-/ is focused for locus but not for person. The prefix /i-/ is not focused, so it is indifferent to the opposition between /mu-/ and /ba-/. 34 In discourse, the prefix /i-/ is preferred for supportive, non-substantial material (background), but the foreground of regular narrative discourse is marked by /mu-/ or /ba-/ according to focus: 35

/mu/ /ba-/

+ focus + person - person

- locus + locus

- focus /i/

As seen above, there is no co-occurrence of the prefixes /i-/ and /b-/ (or /bi-/ and /ba-/) in im-mi- and im-ma-: im-ma- has to be regarded as a conjugation prefix in its own right (a geminated form of /m-/ or mu-), and immi- is simply im-ma- followed by the locative-terminative verbal prefix /-i-/ or /-e-/ (Karahashi 2000a). 3.6.7. This marking system corresponds to the occurrences of these prefixes with and without verbal case prefixes (Thomsen 1984: §§341–46). Before case prefixes (dative and “dimensional prefixes”), /mu-/ is preferred with cases referring to animate arguments. However, when the case prefix is preceded by a modal prefix, /mu-/ is frequently omitted: ga-ra-ab-sum /ga-ra(dat.)-b-sum/ ‘I will give it to you’ instead of *ga-ma-ra-ab-sum. The prefix /ba-/ occurs before cases referring to inanimate arguments (places, objects, etc.). The Gudea corpus follows this rule closely. However, roughly contemporary texts (Ur III documents and letters) present frequent exceptions, as also do Old Babylonian literary texts. Furthermore, in Ur III documents and Old Babylonian literary texts, /ba/ alone is attested as a pseudocase-prefix, equivalent to mu-na- or mu-ne- in concord with an animate in the dative case. When no case prefixes occur, /mu-/ is preferred with animate and agentive (active voice) subjects (i.e., it occurs mostly with transitive verbs), whereas /ba-/ is more frequent with inanimate and/or nonagentive (patient) subjects. The contrast can be seen in the formulas for the year names: 34. According to Yoshikawa (1992a), /b-/ would mark a valency-reduction or decrease of the dative/beneficiary relation marked with /mu-/ (topical) and /i-/ (non-topical). The valency of a verb is defined by the number and type of arguments that the verb can take: intransitive verbs (both active and non-active) are univalent; transitive verbs can be bivalent (subject and object) or trivalent (subject, DO, and IO). 35. As Vanstiphout points out (1985: 12–13), any language system distinguishes between the actual story elements or the main information, and supportive material (foregrounding or backgrounding). In written French, the passé simple is used for foreground in narration. Old English presents SV and OV order for background, but VS for foreground. In Russian, the perfective aspect denotes foreground, while the imperfective is used for backgrounding. Some languages (such as Tagalog and Swahili) exhibit special elements in their verbal morphology for foregrounding and backgrounding; see also Levinson 1983: 219–22; Givón 1984: 32, 240–51, 287–90. Moreover, the passive fulfills a foregrounding function (see Zólyomi 1996b: 41), which could be connected to the tendency to use /ba-/ as a pseudo-marker of passive (see 3.13).

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mu dAmar-dSuen-ke4 Ur-bi-lumki mu-hul /mu-(n-)hul(-a)/ ‘the year in which Amar-Suen destroyed Urbilum’ mu Ur-bi-lumki ba-hul /ba-hul(-a)/ ‘the year in which Urbilum was destroyed’ Nevertheless, both /mu-/ and /ba-/ can be replaced by the neuter prefix /i-/ in this kind of formula. 3.6.8. There are some finite verbal forms with no prefixes whatsoever: a-re-es dug4-ge-es ‘they praise’ (Ur-Ninurta B 28); me-a tus-u3-de3-en me-a gub-bu-de3-en ‘where shall I sit (/tus-ed-en/), where shall I stand (/gub-eden/)’ (Ur Lament 294; see Thomsen 1984: §273; Attinger 1993: 194; Römer 2000; Edzard 2003a: 80). These forms seem morphologically unmarked for modality and voice—which must be contextually defined—but not for aspect and tense. 3.7. The conjugation prefixes and the prefixes /a-/, /inga-/, and /al-/ 3.7.1. The prefix /i-/ is usually written NI = i3-, although in Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian texts it may occur as i- (= I). Early Dynastic and Sargonic texts from Lagas, Uruk, Umma, and Ur (but not from Adab, Fara, Nippur, and Isin) exhibit a variant /e-/ (written e-). Sollberger (1952: 107–63) argued that i3- (= NI) and e- were two different prefixes. However, the form /e-/ is a simple allomorph of /i-/ attested in those specific corpora. It is the result of vowel harmony before verbal stems containing the vowel [a] or [e], as well as before the case prefixes /-da-/, /-na-/, /-ne-/, /-se3-/, and /-ta-/.When /i-/ occurs before pronominal prefixes, the orthography is ib2(/i-b/) and in- (/i-n/). As already noted, this is the most neutral of all the conjugation prefixes and occurs mostly with verbal forms that contain backgrounding information. 3.7.2. The prefix /ba-/ is written BA. It has been argued that this prefix contains the pronominal element /b/ followed by the locative /a/, which would explain why it marks locus. However, this may be just a case of the typical hyperanalysis in which Sumerologists tend to indulge, according to which all morphemes have to be broken into minimal morphological units (usually single segments). 36 According to Attinger (1993: 281–84), the main functions of the prefix /ba-/ are: a. It never marks a “peripheral” complement, so e2-a i-lu ba-ab-be2 would not mean ‘he has said an ilu in the house’ but ‘he has said an ilu on the house’. b. It can have a case-like value and refer to a locative-terminative, a locative, or an absolutive subject, explicit or implicit in the sentence. c. It occurs instead of /bi/ in the “passive” voice and before all the case prefixes other than /-ni-/ (locative). d. It is extremely frequent in “passive” verbal forms. 36. On /ba-/ not containing a locative element, see Civil in Postgate 1974: 20 n. 11.

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This list of usages does not conflict with the basic function of /ba-/: to focus for locus but not for person. In fact, one of the most common occurrences of /ba-/ is in passive forms, that is, in forms in which the agent becomes almost irrelevant (see 3.13). 3.7.3. The prefix /bi-/ is usually written NE = bi2, but the spelling with PI = bi3 is attested in the Isin-Larsa period. Because of vowel harmony, in texts prior to the Ur III period, it is written BI = be2, especially before verbs containing [a] or [i]. Of course, in these forms one could simply read bi-, instead of be2-, as this spelling of the prefix also occurs in contexts that do not point to vowel harmony. This conjugation prefix does not seem to occur with any case prefix, but only with the pronominal prefixes /-n-/ and /-b-/. In fact, the sequence bi2-ni- may not contain /bi- + loc/, but should probably be read bi2-i3- (Karahashi 2000a). The latter reading would be parallel to the sequences ba-a- and ba-e-, which may all contain the locativeterminative prefix (/-e-/ or /-i-/). According to Attinger (1993: 286–88), the main functions of prefix /bi-/ are: a. It may show concord with the so-called “second object” of a compound verb, which normally appears in the locative-terminative or in the locative. b. It marks the “second impersonal agent” of a causative construction: 70 gur7 se e2 be2-gu7 (or bi-gu7) ‘he “made eat” 70 gur of barley in the temple’ = ‘he had 70 gur of barley assigned for consumption in the temple’ (Ur-Nanse 34 iii 9–10). 37 3.7.4. The prefix /mu-/ is always written MU. When the 1st sg. dative is marked, it can become ma- /mu-dat.1.sg./: ha-ma-an-pa3-de3 /ha-mudat.1.sg.-n-pa3.d-e/ ‘may he tell me’ (Lugalbanda II 26). Forms with mapreceded by /nu-/ or /na-/ (nu-ma- /nu-mu-dat.1.sg./, na-ma- /na-mudat.1.sg./, etc.) can be distinguished, in most cases, from forms with /-mm-/: nu-um-ma- (/nu-mm-a-/), nam-ma- (/na-mm-a-/), he2-em-ma- (/hemm-a-/), forms in which the /-a-/ following /-mm-/ can simply be a spelling device to write the geminate. When the 2nd sg. dative is marked, the sequence can be spelled either mu-ra- (/mu-2.sg.dat-/) or ma-ra-, the latter with explicit notation of vowel harmony. Both sequences, ma-ra- and mura-, may coexist even within the same literary composition and their occurrence may obey stylistic and idiolectal variants (Civil 2000b: 675–76): lugal-mu dingir-gin7 mu-ra-an-du3 a-ba sag ma-ra-ab-us2-e ‘My master, like a god it (Asag) has been created against you; who can help you against it?’ (Lugal-e 271). 38 With the modal prefixes /nu-/, /ga-/, /he-/, and /sa-/, the conjugation prefix /mu-/ followed by the 2nd dative /-ra-/ is always written mu- and never ma- (Thomsen 1984: §336; Attinger 1993: 275 n. 757). The geminated form of the prefix /mu-/ (/-m-/ /-mm-/) is written i3-maand e-ma- in Early Dynastic and Sargonic texts, but it appears later as imma-. When followed by the locative-terminative prefix, it is spelled i3-mi37. On the occurrence of be2 preceding verbal stems with /u/ in the Early Dynastic period, see Attinger 1993: 142. 38. For instance, in the Debates, ma-ra- usually occurs, although mu-ra- is found twice in Winter and summer (Civil 1994: 23).

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in early texts, but im-mi- in later periods. This geminated form indicates emphasis on the focus marked by /mu-/. 3.7.5. Regarding the conjugation prefix /a-/, Westenholz (1975: 8) argued that it commonly occurs in non-agentive passive constructions (anna-sum ‘it was given to him’), and it seems to correspond to the Akkadian stative. However, Yoshikawa (1995) has questioned the idea that /a-/ marks an impersonal passive and has proposed that this prefix defocalizes the agent of the sentence, shifting the focus from the agent to any other argument in the sentence (dative, comitative, ablative, and so forth). This prefix is especially frequent with some verbs (sum ‘to give’, gal2 ‘to be, exist’, ki — ag2 ‘to love’, tuku ‘to have’, zu ‘to know’), and in statements and clauses of treaties or contracts (Attinger 1993: 267–69). The occurrence of /a-/, however, seems to correspond to local or diachronic dialects (or even perhaps to scribal idiolects), since in some texts it is extremely rare or completely unattested while in others it is quite frequent (see Civil 1994: 23). 3.7.6. The conjugation prefix /inga-/ has been analyzed as a combination of the conjugation prefix /i-/ and an element /ma/ (or /˜a/ or /nga/). Thus, /ga/ by itself would not be truly considered a conjugation prefix, but a supplement of /i-/ with the meaning ‘also’ or ‘and then’ (see Falkenstein 1949: 218–19; Thomsen 1984: §§322–28; Attinger 1993: 297–98). However, such etymological segmentation of this prefix is quite difficult to prove, since /inga-/ precedes the conjugation prefix /mu-/ and any vocalic prefix would follow it. In fact, both /inga-/ and /al-/ do not fall into the same system within which /mu-/ and /b-/ (and /i-/) seem to oppose each other. The prefix /inga-/ is most likely a grammaticalized proclitic connective particle, which can occupy a slot between the modal and the conjugation prefixes. 3.7.7. The prefix /al-/ does not normally occur with other verbal prefixes, with the exception of u3 and nu-, the latter exclusively in lexical texts (see Yoshikawa 1982a; Thomsen 1984: §§353–58; Attinger 1993: 269– 70; Edzard 2003b). This prefix is usually written AL = al, appearing immediately before the verbal stem. /u-al-/ is attested very few times in Ur III texts, and other combinations (nu-al-, al-bi-) can be found only in lexical texts and seem to be secondary formations. It normally occurs with intransitive verbal forms and its function seems similar to that of the Akkadian stative (an inflected verbal adjective): e2 al-du3 giri17-zal-bi al-dug3 ‘the temple is built, its splendor is good’ (Kes Temple hymn 118). 3.8. The dative verbal prefix The dative has different prefixes depending on the person: 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. anim.

-a- (ma- < /mu-a-/) -ra-na-

1st pl. 2nd. pl. 3rd pl.

-me(-re-?) -ne-

The 1st sg. /-a-/ suffix always occurs after the conjugation prefix /mu-/, and is written ma-. When this sequence is preceded by a modal prefix, it can be confused with im-ma-, so nu-ma- can be /nu-mu-a-/ or /nu-mm(a)-/. The 2nd sg. /-ra-/ is preceded by /mu-/ (ma-ra- in Gudea) when there is no

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modal prefix. After a modal prefix, /mu-/ does not usually occur. In Old Babylonian literary texts, the prefix /-ri-/ might be an analogical formation equivalent to /-ra-/ and based on the locative prefix /-ni-/, although it can occur parallel to the dative. The 3rd sg. /-na-/ may change to /-ne-/ under vowel harmony in Old Babylonian and later texts. The 1st pl. /-me-/ can be confused with the sequence /mu-e-/ (cnjg.pref.-2.sg.pro.suff.) > me-. The 2nd pl. has not been identified, but Civil has suggested */-re-/. One could also expect */ene-a/ for the 2nd pl., but this is not attested either (Attinger 1993: 231). The 3rd pl. is /-ne-/, spelled sometimes {-ne-a-} (-ne-ab-) (Attinger 1993: 210, 232–32). The dative occurs with many verbs, generally indicating the indirect object: sum ‘to give’; ba ‘to give as a ration’; dug4 ‘to say’, etc. 39 Dative prefixes can refer to animates only. An inanimate indirect object is in the locative or terminative. 3.9. Dimensional prefixes 3.9.1. The comitative verbal prefix is /-da-/ and it can be written -da-, -de3-, -de4-, -di3-, or -di-, since it undergoes vowel harmony under the influence of the following prefix (Attinger 1993: 250). Less commonly, /-da-/ can harmonize with the vowel of the preceding prefix: /ba-e-da-/ > ba-e-da-, ba-e-de3-, ba-e-di-; /mu-e-da-/ > mu-u3-da- (Gudea), mu-e/u8-da-, mu-e/u8-de3-. Sometimes the shift /-da-/ > -de3- seems unmotivated (Gragg 1973a: 46). These examples of harmony show that the comitative prefix can be preceded by a pronominal prefix (usually slot 6; see table in 3.3). In combination with pronominal and conjugation prefixes, this dimensional prefix refers to the different persons: • • • • • •

1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. anim. 3rd sg. inanim. 1st and 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

/mu-da-/ and, in OB literary texts, sometimes /-e-da-/ /-e-da-/ /-n-da-/ /(ba)-da-/, /-m-da-/, /-b-da-/ not attested there are a few examples of PI as comitative prefix of 3rd pl. in Pre-Sargonic texts (Thomsen 1984: §446).

In the vast majority of forms, the comitative prefix does not cross-refer to an NP in the comitative case within the sentence. In fact, the comitative occurs more frequently in verbal forms than in NP’s. It can occur with both simple and compound verbs, such as a-da-min3 — ak ‘to compete with’, du14 — ak ‘to quarrel with’, dug4 ‘to speak with’, sa2 ‘to compete with, to be equal to’. It is also frequent with verbs of emotion, such as sagki — gid2 ‘to be angry with’, hul2 ‘to rejoice over’ (see Gragg 1973a: 53–66). The comitative prefix does not necessarily indicate any sort of accompaniment with verbs of motion, especially with ku4 ‘to enter’. Thus, im-ma-daan-ku4-ku4 /imm(a)-da-n-ku4-ku4/ (Sargon Legend 47) does not mean ‘he came with’ but ‘he came in(to)’ (pace Gragg 1973a: 59–61). In some cases, /-da-/ has a special modal meaning, ‘to be able to’ (i.e., potential or “abilitative”): e2 mu-da-ba-e-en (/mu-da-ba-en/) ‘I can divide the estate’ (Dialogue 39. For a list of verbs with the dative prefix and examples, see Gragg 1973a: 81–92.

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between Enkimansum and Girniisag 29); su nu-mu-un-da-an-gi4-gi4 (/nu-mun-da-gi4-gi4(-e)/) ‘he cannot repeat it’ (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta 501). The sequences are the following (Gragg 1973a: 53–55): • 1st sg. /mu-da-/ ‘I am able to . . .’ • 2nd sg. /-e-da-/ ‘you are able to . . .’ • 3rd sg. anim. /-n-da-/ ‘he/she is able to . . .’ 3.9.2. The comitative prefix /-da-/ and the ablative-instrumental /-ta-/ seem to be confused or to alternate with each other in many instances. When this happens, the most frequent situation is that /-da-/ occurs when /-ta-/ would be expected. Some phonetic explanations have been suggested, but none of them covers all instances. 40 As Gragg (1973a: 47–53) has pointed out, ba-ta- is very rare in Old Babylonian literary texts, while ba-da- is quite frequent, especially when /-ta-/ is expected. Thus, Gragg concludes that ba-da- comes from /ba-ta-/, and that /ba-da-/ does not really occur in Old Babylonian literary texts. In Gudea, however, ba-ta- is more frequent than ba-da-. This would imply that /ba-/ tends not to precede the comitative /-da-/, whereas it is rather common with the ablativeinstrumental /-ta-/. Therefore, both ba-da- and ba-ta- would correspond to /ba-ta-/ (see Thomsen 1984: §449; Attinger 1993: 256–58). Thus, the occurrence of ba-ta- instead of ba-da- in verbal forms is a diagnostic for Ur III dating (Gragg 1973a: 49). 3.9.3. The terminative (or allative) verbal prefix is -si-. In Early Dynastic texts, it is usually spelled -se3-, although sometimes it is written -si-. After the Sargonic period, -si- is the only spelling of this prefix. It occurs in combination with different pronominal and conjugation prefixes: • • • •

1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. anim. 3rd sg. inanim.

/mu-si-/ /-e-si-/ /-n-si-/ /ba-si-/, /-m-si-/, /-b-si-/

The terminative seems not to be attested in the plural. As the corresponding nominal suffix, /-si-/ indicates direction towards something or someone, and it is especially common with verbs of motion. Moreover, it is frequently attested with verbs of attention, mostly compound verbs with igi ‘eye’, gestu2 ‘ear’, sag-kes2 (sag-kes2 — ak ‘to pay attention’), and gizzal (gizzal — ak ‘to listen to’): en-e inim ku3 dinanna-ka-se3 sag-kes2 ba-siin-ak /ba-si-n-ak/ ‘the lord paid attention to the holy word of Inanna’ (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta 105); see Gragg 1973a: 23–26. In a verb such as igi — bar, there is a contrast between forms with /-si-/, which mean ‘to look upon in a certain manner’, and forms with the locative prefix /-ni-/ meaning just ‘to see, to look at’: en Arattaki-ke4 im-ma igi i-ni-in-bar /i-ni-nbar/ ‘the lord of Aratta looked at the tablet’ (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta 540). 41 With the verb su — ti ‘to take from’ (lit., ‘to approach the hand 40. For a phonetic explanation similar to that for the behavior of intervocalic dentals in English, see Black 1990b: 115–16. 41. The same can be said about igi — il2 ‘to lift the eyes’ (Gragg 1973a: 21; Karahashi 2000b: 113–18, 125–26). Other verbs that take /-si-/ are u3 — ku ‘to sleep’, ni2 — te ‘to relax’, (ki —) kin ‘to seek for’.

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to’), the person from whom the object is received appears in the terminative, whereas the object is in the locative-terminative. Without /-si-/, su — ti means simply ‘to take’ (Gragg 1973a: 26; Karahashi 2000b: 168–71). 3.9.4. The ablative-instrumental verbal prefix is /-ta-/ (on the spelling -da-, see 3.9.2). This prefix can refer to inanimate arguments only. In its instrumental sense, it is rather infrequent. It is much more common in its ablative sense, denoting the direction from or out of something. It is, therefore, used especially with verbs of motion: e11(.d) ‘to go down/up’, gen ‘to go, to come’, sar ‘to chase away’. Moreover, the verb gar has /-ta-/ when it means ‘to remove’, but without /-ta-/, it just means ‘to place’. The verb zal ‘to pass’ (of time) can have /-ta-/ or the locative prefix /-ni-/. Another dimensional prefix that occupies the slot of the ablative-instrumental is /-ra-/ (Gragg 1973a: 96–98). Sometimes the variant /-ri-/ occurs in Old Babylonian literary texts, which, like the variant /-ri-/ of the 2nd sg. dative prefix /-ra-/, may be an analogical formation based on the locative /-ni-/ and its variant /-ri-/. The prefix /-ra-/ clearly fulfills an ablative function too. Civil (1973: 27) suggested a phonetic explanation: both spellings (-taand -ra-) would point to a realization [dr] (or [r ^]) in intervocalic position. The occurrence of -ti- may be explained through vowel harmony, so /-ti-/ would be an allomorph of /-ta-/. However, -ti- can also be analyzed as /-ta+ -e-/. In any event, ablative instrumental -ti- corresponds to -di3-, the allomorph of the comitative /-da-/ when followed by /-ni-/, which is especially common in Gudea and Ur III royal inscriptions as well as Sulgi hymns (see Falkenstein 1949: 212–15; Gragg 1973a: 29, 42–43; Attinger 1993: 243–50; Klein 1990: 97; Karahashi 2000a.). 42 3.9.5. Between the locative dimensional prefix and the verbal stem, only the pronominal prefixes /-n-/ and /-b-/ can appear. The pronominal prefix /-e-/ is never written after the locative prefix. The most common locative prefix is -ni-, but -ri- can also occur with the 2nd person singular. Moreover, the conjugation prefix /bi-/ seems to have a similar function in many instances. Although the prefix /-ni-/ is called locative, it fulfills three different functions: locative; second object of compound verbs; and concord with the third argument in causative constructions. In its locative function, the prefix is always /-ni-/; it can occur with any verb and refers to nouns in the locative and in the locative-terminative case within the sentence: igi-ba sembi ba-ni-gar /ba-ni-(n-)gar/ ‘he placed kohl on their eyes (/igi-bi-a/)’ (Ean. 1 xviii 3). When agreeing with the second object of compound verbs—i.e., an NP in the locative-terminative or in the locative, or in the dative—it may refer to a place, to a person, to animals, or to objects: igi dug3 hu-mu-ri-du8 /ha-mu-ri-(n)-du8/ ‘he has indeed looked kindly at you’ (Iddin-Dagan hymn B 63); igi dug3 hu-mu-ni-du8 /ha-mu-ni-du8(-en)/ ‘may you look kindly at him’ (Ninurta hymn 24, 25). 42. As in the case of /-ta-/ and /-da-/, the use of TI for both the allomorph -ti- of ablative-instrumental and the allomorph -di3- of the comitative may be due to a neutralization of the voiced/voiceless opposition in intervocalic position, as happens in many words in American English (see 3.9.2).

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3.9.6. The sequences mi-ni- and mi-ri- have elicited different analyses (Attinger 1993: 273–75). It has been suggested that mi-ni- comes from /bini-/ (Postgate 1974: 21–22)—but mi-ri- could hardly come from /bi-ri-/. Moreover, neither *bi-ni- nor *bi-ri- is attested, a fact that would seem to support an analysis with /bi-/. However, since /bi-/ is nothing but the prefix /ba-/ followed by the locative-terminative prefix, it is logical that /bi-/ does not co-occur with the locative /-ni-/, or with its 2nd person variant, /-ri-/. Thus, an analysis with /mu-/ seems more likely: mi-ni < /mu-ni-/ (vowel harmony) or mi-i3- < /mu-loc.trm-/; mi-ri- < /mu-ri-/ (vowel harmony). However, it has been suggested that there is an opposition—or at least a contrast—between mu-ni- and mi-ni- (see Attinger 1993: 273). 43 Nonetheless, in view of the few examples in which forms with mu-ni- and mi-ni- occur in close proximity, the difference seems mostly stylistic: e2kur za-gin3-na mu-ni-in-ku4 i3-sag igi-ni mi-ni-in-de2 ‘she (Aruru) made her (Nintu) enter (/mu-ni-n-ku4/) the Ekur of lapis, she poured (/mu-ni-n-de2/) the best perfume over her face’ (Enlil and Ninlil: The marriage of Sud 147); id idigna id buranun ni mu-ni-ib-te kur-ra gu mi-ni-ib -ra ‘it (war) shall make 2 2 2 3 2 the Tigris and Euphrates quaver (/mu-ni-b-te/), it shall make the mountains rumble (/mu-ni-b-ra/)’ (Uruk lament 3: 15); ki-a nir mi-ni-in-gal2 . . . abzu eriduki-ga me su ba-ni-in-ti a-a-ni den-ki-ke4 sag-e-es mu-ni-in-rig7 ‘on earth she has authority (/mu-ni-n-gal2/) . . . in the Abzu, in Eridu she received (/ba-ni-n-ti/) the divine powers; her father, Enki, granted them to her (/mu-ni-n-rig7/)’ (Iddin-Dagan hymn A 21–23). Thus, it seems that the difference between mu-ni- and mi-ni is not necessarily morphological. 3.9.7. There seems to be a relation between /-ri-/ as the locative dimensional prefix of the 2nd person to mark the second object of compound verbs, and the dative 2nd sg. prefix /-ra-/. In fact, in some instances, /-ri-/ occurs when /-ra-ni-/ is expected. Moreover, Gragg (1973a: 105) argues that /-ri-/ derives from /-ra-ni-/. In causative constructions, /-ni-/ seems to refer to the logical agent, but this function is clear only in a series of Old Babylonian grammatical texts. In this series, the locative /-ni-/ corresponds to the Akkadian S-stem, i.e., the causative (Black 1991: 30–35). However, this function is less consistent in non-grammatical texts. The causative function of this prefix can be derived from its basic locative sense, like ‘by’ in English (see Attinger 1993: 198–99). In compound verbs, it presents the following basic sequences with the different verbal persons (cf. Thomsen 1984: §476): 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. anim. 3rd sg. inanim.

/mu-a(dat.)-ni-/ > ma-ni1st pl. ? /mu-ri-/ > mi-ri 2nd pl. /-ri-. . .-enzen/? /mu-ni-/ > mu-ni-/mi-ni3rd pl. ? /ba-ni-/ > ba-ni- (and /mu-ni-/ > mi-ni- ?)

43. Such an opposition or contrast would be neutralized in the presence of any modal or syntactical prefix that occupies the slots that precede the conjugation prefix slot: e-ne a-da-min3 mi-ni-in-tak4-tak4-an . . . e-ne in-ga-mu-ni-in-tak4-tak4-an ‘does he refuse me (/mu-ni-n-red.stem-en/) this contest . . . does he still refuse it to me (/ingamu-ni-n-red.stem-en/)?’ (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta 259–61).

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3.9.8. The existence and shape of the locative-terminative dimensional prefix is linked to the analysis of the conjugation prefixes at the beginning of the verbal chain. In most traditional approaches, such as Thomsen’s (1984: §§423–82), the locative-terminative would be the only nominal case without a reflection in the verbal chain—the genitive and the equative should be set aside, since they are not adverbial cases. This would appear to be an asymmetry in the mirroring structure of nominal cases and dimensional prefixes. Nevertheless, it seems increasingly clear that there is a locative-determinative verbal prefix, which consists of a vocalic element whose underlying segment could be symbolized as /-I-/, with two allomorphs [-i-] and [-e-] (see Civil 1976: 90 n. 28; Karahashi 2000a). Furthermore, the conjugation prefix /bi-/ is a variant of the prefix /ba-/ followed by a locative-terminative /-i-/ or /-e-/ (see Civil in Postgate 1974: 20 n. 11). 44 3.9.9. Yoshikawa argued that a locative-terminative /-i-/ (or /-e-/ in -eni- and -e-a-) occurs in the verbal prefix sequences i3-in-, i3-ib-, and i3im-, which probably originated by analogy with an alleged locative /-a-/— the latter would have nothing to do with the true locative /-ni-/ (Yoshikawa 1977a: 236; 1977b; 1982b: 167). Moreover, Krecher (1985: 139–57) adapted Falkenstein’s old theory to Yoshikawa’s idea concerning the verbal prefix strings i3-in-, i3-ib-, and i3-im-, but used the label directive (Direktivinfix) instead of locative-terminative. Although disagreeing with Krecher on some essential points, Wilcke (1988) also identified a directive element /-i-/. Furthermore, Attinger (1993: 230–47) followed very closely Falkenstein’s reconstructive analysis of /ba-/ and /bi-/ but added a local prefix /-e-/, based in part on Krecher’s idea of a directive /-i-/. However, in Attinger’s proposal, the directive would be a prefix different from the locative-terminative. Attinger proposed a set of alternations that depend on different readings of the same sign (be7- = bi2- and -re- = -ri-), which is evidently grounded in Falkenstein’s approach to similar problems of writing interface. Zólyomi (1999: 230) has argued that Attinger’s directive and the locative-terminative are the same morpheme (realized as /i/ or /y/ depending on the phonemic environment; see also Attinger 1998, 1999, 2000; Zólyomi 2000, 2003). 3.9.10. Civil’s proposal, explained in detail by Karahashi (2000a), presents a clear advantage: now the parallel between dimensional prefixes and case markers is not anarchically distributed throughout different slots in the verbal chain, but corresponds to the expected hierarchy of ranks agglutinative and polysynthetic languages normally exhibit. 45 The terminative-locative prefix can appear immediately after a conjugation prefix (bi2- < /ba-I-/; im-mi- < /imma-I-/; i3-in-, i3-ib-, i3-im- < /i-I-/ or /V-I-/; mu44. Attinger (1993: 204 n. 428) has raised some objections to Civil’s theory. Concerning Attinger’s points, see Karahashi 2000a. 45. In actuality, the morphematic template, whose slots are filled by different morphemes, is only a descriptive model. The structure of the verb is ultimately syntactical and the order of morphemes seems determined by semantic scope. See, for instance, Rice 2000.

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ni-, mi-ni- [= mu-i3-, mi-i3-] < /mu-I-/), after a dative prefix (mu-e- < /mu-I-/; -ri- < /-ra-I-/; -ni- < /na-I-/), after the comitative (-di-, -de3- < /-da-I-/), and after the ablative (-ri- < /-ra-I-/). 3.10. Pronominal prefixes 3.10.1. There are three pronominal prefixes that can follow or precede the case prefixes: /-e-/, /-n-/, /-b-/. The pronominal prefix /-e-/ is very poorly attested before the Old Babylonian period. In the Gudea corpus, it is written -u3- after the conjugation prefix mu-, and -a- after ba-. In Old Babylonian the sequence mu-u8- occurs a few times. This prefix refers to the 2nd person: a. It marks the 2nd sg. subject with transitive ham†u: mu-e-sum ‘you gave him’ (Gilgames and Agga 104). b. Together with the pronominal suffix /-enzen/, /-e-/ can co-mark a 2nd pl. subject with transitive ham†u, whereas the 2nd pl. subject of a marû form is marked simply with /-enzen/: nu-mu-e-sum-mu-un-ze2en /nu-mu-e-sum-enzen/ ‘you (pl.) have not given (it to me)’ (Edzard 1976b: 160, 165). c. The /-e-/ marks the 2nd sg. person of any case prefix in the verbal chain: igi-bi mu-e-si-gal2 ‘they look upon you’ (Iddin-Dagan hymn B 59). 3.10.2. The pronominal prefix /-n-/ marks the 3rd animate person. It occurs mostly in four instances (Thomsen 1984: §292; Attinger 1993: 220, 225–27): a. It marks a 3rd sg. animate subject with transitive ham†u forms: muna-an-sum /mu-na-n-sum/ ‘he has given to him’. b. Together with the pronominal suffix /-es/, it marks a 3rd pl. animate subject of transitive ham†u forms: mu-na-an-sum-mu-us /mu-na-nsum-es/ ‘they have given to him’. c. It precedes case prefixes that refer to persons: a2 mu-un-da-an-ag2 /mu-n-da-n-ag2/ ‘he has instructed him’. d. It can mark a 3rd sg. animate object, but only with marû forms, which have no pronominal prefix marking the subject: nu-um-ma-siin-gi4-gi4 /nu-mm(a)-si-n-gi4-gi4(-e)/ ‘he sends out no other (god)’ (Angim 95). Geller (1998) has argued that /-n-/ also indicates reflexivity, but Attinger (1998) has objected to this analysis (see 3.13.2). 3.10.3. The pronominal prefix /-b-/ marks the 3rd inanimate person. It fulfills four basic functions: a. It marks a 3rd sg. inanimate subject with transitive ham†u forms, but this is not a very common function: amar-bi . . . gu3 nu-umma-ni-ib-gi4 /nu-mm(a)-ni-b-gi4/ ‘its young did not answer’ (Lugalbanda I 77).

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b. Especially in Ur III legal documents, it marks a 3rd pl. subject with transitive ham†u forms, but it does not need any plural pronominal suffix: nam erim2-bi ib2-kud /i-b-kud/ ‘they have sworn’ (NG 40: 8). c. Very frequently, it occurs in transitive marû forms, and probably marks the inanimate (3rd person, both sg. and pl.) direct object; it is especially frequent with the modal prefix /ga-/: ensi2-ra dnanse mu-na-ni-ib2-gi4-gi4 /mu-na-ni-b-gi4-gi4/ ‘Nanse answers the ruler’ (Gudea Cyl. A v 11); ga-am3-mi-ib2-gu-ul /ga-mm-i-b-gu.ul/ ‘I want to destroy it’ (Sulgi hymn D 219). d. It marks the inanimate gender of any element referred to by a case prefix, and precedes this case prefix. 3.10.4. Many texts from the Ur III period exhibit a particularly intriguing feature: the frequent absence of pre-stem /-n-/ in verbal forms in which the conjugation prefix /ba-/ occurs. However, in the Gudea corpus, this pronominal prefix is well attested with the conjugation prefix /ba-/. The phenomenon can be observed more clearly when one compares different versions of the same composition from different periods. The Curse of Akkade is one of the few Old Babylonian compositions attested in several Ur III witnesses. In this composition, there are many instances in which the Ur III fragments do not have this pre-stem /-n-/, whereas their Old Babylonian parallels do. It has been assumed that the initial sequence baan- was used to mark passive forms in Ur III (Krecher 1979: 1–3; Cooper 1983: 42–43). However, forms with and without this preradical /-n-/ occur in apparently free distribution both in some Old Babylonian literary texts and in Ur III year names (see, for instance, Attinger 1993: 109). Nevertheless, in Ur III administrative texts the pronominal prefix /-n-/ is much less frequent than in Old Babylonian texts. Thus, the verbal form su ba-ti (‘he/she received’) is much more frequent than su ba-an-ti in Ur III documents. In contrast, su ba-an-ti is extremely frequent in early Old Babylonian administrative texts from Isin, whereas su ba-ti is rare. In Old Babylonian Sumerian literary texts, pre-stem /-b-/ seems more stable than /-n-/. Thus, perhaps a nasal assimilation took place and the writing of the nasal segment was not necessary in the presence of a nasal feature already in the vowel (see Gragg 1972: 208). 46 This nasalization could be better seen in the alternations between {-Vn-} and {-V-} in Ur III texts, such as, for instance, ba-a-gi-in and ba-an-gi-in, both meaning ‘it has been approved’ (see Heimpel 1974: 24). However, the question of the presence or lack of preradical /-n-/ may be just a phenomenon of the writing interface. In terms of typology of writing systems, the most commonly non-represented consonants are nasals, especially when the nasal is in an ‘unreleased position’ (a nasal coda followed by the onset of the next syllable), as is the case of pre-stem /-n-/. In the case of Sumerian, what seems to be the historical evolution of orthographic conventions supports the view that the lack of pre-stem /-n-/ is a purely graphic phenomenon. 46. On the absence of preradical /-b-/, see Attinger 1996.

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3.11. Pronominal suffixes 3.11.1. Conventionally, one can distinguish between two series of pronominal suffixes, which exhibit different elements only in the 3rd sg. and pl. persons (Thomsen 1984: §§294–301): 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

series A /-en/ /-en/ /-º/ /-enden/ /-enzen/ /-es/

series B /-en/ /-en/ /-e/ /-enden/ /-enzen/ /-ene/

The suffixes in series A mark the subject of the intransitive verb and the object of the transitive verb, i.e., they refer to the absolutive case. The /-es/ suffix, together with the /-n-/ prefix, can mark the 3rd pl. ergative subject (see 3.10.2). All the suffixes in series A can be attached to the enclitic copula: lugal-me-en ‘I am (the) king’ or ‘you are (the) king’. Moreover, in the plural, transitive ham†u forms take both pronominal prefixes (as in the singular) along with A-series suffixes in order to agree with the plural agent (see 3.10); for example, in the 2nd pl. subjects of transitive ham†u forms, /-enzen/ occurs together with the prefix /-e-/ (see 3.10.1). The suffix /-(en)zen/ is attached to the imperative to mark 2nd pl. person (see 3.16): sum-mu-na-ab-ze2-en /sum-mu-na-b-enzen/ ‘give (pl.) it to him’ (Nanna-Suen’s Journey to Nippur 320–21). The suffixes in series B mark the subject of the transitive marû forms. The spelling of these suffixes deserves some attention: a. The initial /e/ of the suffixes may undergo vowel harmony, and sometimes changes to /u/ before verbal roots that contain /u/ (sub, gub, sum, etc.). b. The initial /e/ is contracted when it follows a verbal stem ending in a vowel. c. The suffix /-en/ can be written -en3 and -en6 in Ur III texts (in which it is very rare); after a vowel, it can be written -an and -un; in the Gudea corpus, it is written -e or {-Ce}, and appears as -en only when it is followed by other suffixes, such as the nominalizer -a or the copula -am3. d. /-enden/ is written -e(n)n-de3-en or -de3-en. e. /-enzen/ is normally spelled -en-ze2-en, but before the nominalizing suffix /-a/, sometimes it is written -(en)-za-na. f. /-es/ is written -es2 in early texts, but -es later on; after verbs with /u/, it undergoes vowel harmony and it is written -us. g. The 3rd sg. suffix /-e/ is normally omitted after stems ending in a vowel; when it appears, it is written -e or {-Ce}; with vowel harmony, it can be written {-Cu}. h. /-ene/ is written -e-ne, {-Ce-ne}, or -ne, the latter when following stems ending in a vowel.

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3.11.2. The suffix -en3 seems to agree with the 3rd sg. person in a few instances. This -en3 perhaps should be read -ex when it is a pronominal suffix (Attinger 1993: 144 n. 148). However, the reading should be -en3 in the enclitic copula -me-en3, a spelling that can be a diagnostic of Ur III orthography (see Klein 1981: 29, 32 n. 165). In some Ur III legal documents, -NI (probably to be read -ey) occurs instead of -e (see Attinger 1993: 144, 222, 226–27). 3.12. Pronominal agreement 3.12.1. The pronominal prefixes normally agree with the subject of transitive ham†u forms (ergative) and the suffixes with the subject of intransitive ham†u, as well as the subject of both transitive and intransitive marû forms—the latter showing an accusative alignment. Furthermore, the pronominal prefixes can also specify that a dimensional prefix (terminative, comitative, etc.) refers to a 2nd or 3rd person, as well as the gender (/-n-/ for animate and /-b-/ for inanimate) of the verbal object or any syntactical argument marked with a verbal prefix. Moreover, in order to agree with plurals, the pronominal prefixes can occur together with plural pronominal suffixes. The pronominal suffixes are identical for all verbal forms with the exception of the 3rd person singular and plural. A 3rd person in the absolutive case shows concord with /-º/ in the singular and with /-es/ in the plural. An ergative with a marû form shows concord with /-e/ in the singular and /-ene/ in the plural. The absolutive case of a transitive marû construction (i.e., the accusative case with marû) does not agree with the pronominal suffixes but with the pronominal prefixes /-b-/ and /-n-/. 3.12.2. Wilcke (1988: 9 n. 37; 1990: 481 n. 62) has summarized the agreement patterns in terms of agent (subject of a transitive verb, in the ergative case), patient (patient argument of a transitive verb in the accusative pattern of marû forms, i.e., the direct object, marked with the absolutive case), and absolutive (subject of an intransitive verb and direct object in the ergative pattern ham†u forms): pronom. prefix (a) intransitive (b) transitive ham†u (c) transitive marû

-agent-patient-

STEM -marû/ham†u-ham†u-marû-

pronom. suffix -absolutive -absolutive -agent

The agreement markers of (a) and (b) are the same, whereas those of (c) correspond only in part to those of (a) and (b). This agreement system entails rather hypothetical 1st and 2nd sg. as well as 3rd pl. pronominal prefixes, which mark the patient in (c), that is, the direct object with transitive verbs in marû. These pronominal prefixes could be slightly different from the pronominal prefixes seen above (3.10): 1st and 2nd sg. 3rd sg. 1st pl. and 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

/-en-/? (see Attinger 1985) /-n-/ for animates, /-b-/ for inanimates ? (see Attinger 1993: 227) /-(e)ne-/ (see Krecher 1985: 151 n. 38; Attinger 1993: 227)

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These patient markers from the transitive marû would also appear in the cohortative and in passive forms (see Wilcke 1990: 481 n. 62; Attinger 1993: 226–27). 47 In view of this marking system and the current understanding of Sumerian grammar, Wilcke argues that one should not yet attempt to define typologically the Präsens-Futur (i.e., the marû forms). This is also because the cohortative—which strongly resembles pattern (c) in the marking of the patient of the transitive verb—leaves mostly unmarked the agent in the singular of transitive and intransitive verbal forms. Nevertheless, this can be explained more simply by saying that the cohortative does not follow an ergative agreement, but an accusative one (see 3.5.6). 48 3.12.3. In terms of alignment, the distribution of pronominal elements in verbs can be outlined as follows: transitive ham†u agent (tr.) prefix & subject (intr.) (+ suffix in pl.) object suffix (3rd -º/-es)

intransitive ham†u suffix (3rd -º/-es)

transitive marû suffix (3rd -e/-ene) prefix

intransitive marû suffix (3rd -º/-es)

In regard to the choice of prefixes versus suffixes, the ham†u forms follow an ergative pattern, whereas the marû ones show accusativity. Nonetheless, the pronominal suffixes used with the marû forms do point to an opposition between ergative subject and absolutive subject for the 3rd singular and plural (i.e., they have ultimately an ergative alignment). 3.13. Voice 3.13.1. The occurrence of the animate pronominal prefix /-n-/ with the conjugation prefix /ba-/ (ba-an-) has been regarded as a mark of passive voice. However, the use of /ba- + -n-/ to mark passivity is rather infrequent, and such an interpretation originates in the fact that a similar combination with the inanimate pronominal prefix (/ba- + -b-/) does mark passive forms in many instances (see Wilcke 1988: 9 n. 37; 1990: 488–98; Attinger 1993: 196–97). Furthermore, the category of passive voice is quite fuzzy in Sumerian (see, for instance, Oberhuber 1982; Zólyomi 1996b: 41). Steiner (1976; 1979; 1990: 151–57) has talked about the ‘intransitive-passival conception of the verb’ (intransitiv-passivische Verbalauffassung) in Sumerian and other ancient Near Eastern languages (Hurrian, Urartian, Elamite). According to Steiner, verbal stems in these languages would have a primary intransitive or “passival” meaning, which is manifested by the use of intransitive verbs as the passive of transitive verbs and by the use of transitive verbs as the 47. On marû-like marking of the object in the cohortative, see Yoshikawa 1991: 501–4. 48. Wilcke points out that the 1st person sg. and pl. absolutive markers in (a) and (b) correspond to those for the agent in (c), but this absolutive regularly uses the so-called ham†u basis (see Kienast 1980b: 58–66). Further complication is added by the occurrence of pre-stem /-n-/ and /-b-/ denoting the agent, regardless of the ham†u/marû opposition in some verbs, which Yoshikawa (1992b) calls ‘agentive oriented verbs’ (gu7 ‘to eat;’ de2 ‘to pour’; ku4 ‘to enter’).

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factitive of intransitive verbs. Steiner’s approach is quite problematic, as can be seen in the examples he uses: • zid-da guba3-na pirig i3-na2-na2 ‘at his right and left sides lions were lying’, analyzed as an intransitive verb used as passive; but this would imply that stative or adjectival verbs are passive or pseudo-passive, when na2 ‘to lie’ is an active-intransitive verb (like ‘to sit down’, ‘to live’, ‘to fall’, etc.) • ensi2-ke4 bara3 i3-gul-gul ‘the prince destroyed the shrines’, analyzed as a transitive verb used as the factitive of an intransitive; but gul ‘to destroy’ is simply a transitive verb In spite of the pitfalls and shortcomings exhibited by Steiner’s approach, it does underscore the ill-defined status of passive voice in Sumerian. The conjugation prefix /ba-/ is used with some one-participant verbs with non-agentive subjects, but this is neither consistent nor a truly passive marking, since /ba-/ is focused for locus, and not for person (as is the case of /mu-/), and this is the function that is behind its passive or passivelike use (see 3.6; see Thomsen 1984: §343; Attinger 1993: 195–97). The problems posed by passivity as a grammatical category in Sumerian have to be placed in a wider context, that of syntactic alignment. In Sumerian, passive constructions are not consistently marked and this may be the result, in part, of the limited role played by the basic syntactic functions (Agent, Subject, and Object) in inter-clausal syntax (pivotlessness), which would undermine the very definition of these functions also in intraclausal syntax (see 1.3). 3.13.2. The antipassive voice is characterized by constructions with transitive verbs but without an ergative, that is, it is the diathesis of a transitive non-ergative construction (see Givón 1984: 161–67; 1990: 624–28; 2001: 2.168–73; Cooreman 1994). 49 In Sumerian there are a few instances of antipassive constructions ( Johnson 2000). Probably the best examples of antipassive are some attestations of absolutive subjects with transitive verbs, in which the agent (albeit unmarked as such) is highly topicalized (Attinger 1993: 216). Likewise, it has been argued that the pronominal pre49. A typical antipassive tends to show two features: (a) the agent (normally in the ergative case) appears in the absolutive; and (b) the patient or direct object (normally in the absolutive) is marked as an indirect object (dative) or any other oblique case. The lack of clear examples of the second diagnostic has been seen as evidence that Sumerian probably had no antipassive construction (Michalowski 1980: 100–101; Attinger 1993: 152–53). However, what characterizes the antipassive is a decrease in valency, which results in an intransitive-looking verb. Moreover, antipassives in some languages exhibit more than those two typical features. For instance, some Australian languages, such as Dyirbal, add a third feature: the verb itself takes an antipassive derivation suffix (Dixon 1994: 13). By contrast, in other languages, an antipassive construction is simply one in which both the agent and the patient are in the absolutive case, as in Basque (Hualde and Ortiz de Urbina 2003: 431). Thus, the defining feature of an antipassive lies in the marking of the agent as a patient—an expected ergative surfacing in the absolutive case—which may secondarily trigger the deletion of the patient or its marking (or reintroduction) as something else (e.g., an indirect object).

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fix /-n-/ would be a marker of reflexive voice: ba-an-mu4 ‘I got dressed’ ‘I dressed myself’. This would be linked to the sporadic attestations of /-n-/ with intransitive verbal (especially verbs of motion) forms, indicating middle voice: e-ne ba-an-tus ‘he sat in the dust’ (Geller 1998). Nonetheless, this reflexivity and antipassivization are not easy to define in Sumerian, especially because most Sumerian verbs can be transitivized and detransitivized, as well as turned into causative forms, through agreement (but see Huber 1996). Furthermore, a clear distinction should be made between reflexivity as a kind of middle voice (the agent and the object are the same, ‘I dress myself’) and the middle voice as a general category in which the agent is simply the beneficiary of the action (‘I got myself a gun’). Although the reflexive hypothesis remains unsubstantiated (Attinger 1998), the most likely marker of reflexivity is the prefix /imma-/ or /-mm-/, since this is a geminated (and emphasized) form of the prefix /mu-/, which topicalizes person and, by extension, the agent. 3.13.3. The two parameters that define voice are the agent (A) and the patient (P). The latter includes both the non-agentive subject (S) and the object (O). Voice can be so defined by the level of topicality assigned to the agent and the patient (see Givón 2001: 2.122–73). Since in Sumerian topicality is mostly marked with the so-called conjugation prefixes, verbal diathesis is most likely to be linked to the same morphemes. The Sumerian diathetic system would be as follows: neutral neutral active inverse passive antipassive middle-reflexive middle

A=P A=P A>P P>A P >> A A >> P A=P A = BEN

/i-/ /al-/ /mu-/ /ba-/ /ba-/ ? (/ba-/?) /imma-/ /imma-/

(A and P have the same rank) (A and P have the same rank) (A is topicalized) (P is topicalized) (P is highly topicalized) (A is highly topicalized) (A and P are the same) (A is the beneficiary)

3.14. The suffix /-ed/ The suffix /-ed/ can immediately follow the verbal stem and precede the pronominal suffix (see Edzard 1967; 2003a: 84, 132–37; Yoshikawa 1968a; Steiner 1981b; Thomsen 1984: §§252–59; Attinger 1993: 190–92). This suffix is never written {-ed}. Its /e/ is written almost always only after a consonant (very rarely after a vowel), and the /d/ is written only when followed by a vowel: tar-re /tar-ed/, ag2-e-de3 /ag2-ed-e/, gi4-gi4-da /gi4-gi4ed-a/, etc. Some consider the /-e-/ in /-ed/ the marker of marû (see 3.1). This suffix is much more frequent in non-finite than in finite verbal constructions, with which it indicates future in diverse modalities. With non-finite verbal forms, it can be followed by the suffixes /-e/ (probably the locativeterminative, ‘to’), /-a/ (perhaps the locative), and the enclitic copula: e2 du3-de3 igi-zu u3 dug3-ga nu-si-ku4-ku4 ‘in order to build (/du3-(e)d-e/) the house you will not let sweet sleep enter your eyes’ (Gudea Cyl. A vi 11); ursag e2-a-na ku4-ku4-da-ni ud me3-se3 gu3 ga2-gar-am3 ‘at entering (/ku4-ku4-

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(e)d-a-ani/ = enter-enter-ed-loc/nmlz-his) his house, the warrior was a storm roaring towards battle’ (Gudea Cyl. B v 4–5). The forms with /-ed-a/ can take a possessive suffix followed by what seems to be a case marker (probably the comitative /-da/, but frequently spelled -de3): ku4-ku4-da-mude3 /ku4-ku4-ed-a-mu-da?/ ‘when I was entering’ (lit., ‘with my entering’). This would imply that the /-a/ after /-ed/ could not be the locative case suffix. However, these sequences were probably grammaticalized very early and no native speaker would have done such an etymological parsing. With truly finite verbal forms (i.e., not followed by pronominal suffixes or the nominalizer), the suffix /-ed/ is infrequent: e2-mu lu2 i3-buru3-de3 ‘someone could break (/i-buru3-[e]d-e/) into my house’ (Code of Lipit-Estar, §11). 50 The usages of /-ed/ and its specific co-occurrence with the marû stem clearly point to a marker of imperfective aspect and essentially future tense: it refers to an event that has not yet taken place, or that is beginning or about to begin (inchoative and ingressive aspects), as well as to the obligatoriness or impossibility of a future event. 3.15. The enclitic particles /-ese/ and /-gisen/ The element /-ese/ is not properly a suffix, but an enclitic particle marking direct speech (Thomsen 1984: §§548–49; Edzard 2003a: 157–58). Thus, it is a quotative, a kind of particle (usually a clitic) found in many other languages, such as Akkadian -mi, Hittite -wa/-war-, or Sanskrit íti. It is always written -e-se. The enclitic particle /-gisen/ is very rare. It is spelled -gis-en or -gis-se-en and seems to indicate the irrealis (like Akkadian -man; see Falkenstein 1952; Thomsen 1984 §§551–52; Edzard 2003a: 158). There are other poorly attested particles that seem to occur mostly as clitics attached to verbal forms, normally as enclitics, but sometimes as proclitics, especially in lexical lists (Edzard 2003a: 158–60): /-na-an-na/ (-na-an-na) follows pronouns and non-finite verbal forms and means ‘without’; /-suba/ (-sub-ba) was perhaps a grammaticalized form of the verb sub (‘to throw, leave’) meaning ‘apart from, aside’; /-ri/ (-ri) probably fulfilled an ablative function as an alternative to the ablative case ending /-ta/ with the meaning ‘after’. 3.16. The imperative The imperative exhibits a reverse order of verbal constituents: it begins with the stem, which is followed by all the prefixes; e.g., sum-ma-ab /summu-a-b/ ‘give (sg.) it to me’; sum-ma-ab-ze2-en /sum-mu-a-b-zen/ ‘give (pl.) it to me’ (see Thomsen 1984: §§495–99; Attinger 1993: 298–99). This phe50. It is frequently assumed that this verb is actually /buru3.d/ (/burut/ or /burt/), so this form would not contain the suffix /-ed/. The main argument is that buru3-a is not attested; one only finds buru3-da. However, there are reasons to think otherwise: (1) in bilinguals, in-buru3-de3 is translated as ipallas in contexts in which the Akkadian durative is inchoative, potential, or the like (‘he is going to break into’); (2) finite and non-finite forms ending in -buru3-de2 are far less frequent than forms in -buru3-e (ma-a-an-ni-buru3-e, na-ab-bi-buru3-e-en, etc.); but if the verb were /buru3.d/, one would expect the opposite; (3) forms in -buru3-de2 and -buru3-da frequently have variants with other verbs with /-ed/, or occur in a parallel sequence with a verb that has this same suffix, as in Gilgamesh and Agga (7, 13, 22): pu2 buru3-da es2-la2 til-til-le-da ‘to deepen the wells, to complete the ropes’.

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nomenon is similar to the switch from proclisis to enclisis in the imperative in other languages; e.g., Spanish me lo das (‘you give it to me’) vs. dámelo (‘give it to me’). In the imperative, the 2nd plural pronominal suffix seems to be just /-zen/ or /-nzen/, instead of /-enzen/. The verbal stem used in the imperative forms is ham†u (both simple and reduplicated). The imperative follows an accusative agreement pattern (Michalowski 1980: 97): pronominal prefixes (such as /-b-/) mark the object and suffixes mark the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs (see 3.12.3); e.g., ge26nam-ma-an-ze2-en /men-a-mm-a-nzen/ ‘come (pl.) here’ (Dumuzi’s dream 140). 51 The plural imperative presents a singular stem, even when the verb has a plural stem, such as e from dug4: dug4-ga-na-ab-ze2-en /dug4-na-b(n)zen/ ‘say (pl.) it to him’. The verbal chain is usually rather short. Many imperatives exhibit an /-a-/ element immediately after the verbal stem (ge26-nam-ma-an-ze2-en /men-a-mm-a-nzen/). One may think that this could be a mere allomorph of /i-/ resulting from a phonetic shift triggered by the enclitic (post-tonic) position of the prefix. Nonetheless, this /-a-/ cannot be the prefix /a-/ replacing the prefix /i-/, nor can it be an allomorph of /i-/: neither /i-/ nor /a-/ could occur together with the prefix /mu-/ (see 3.6.6): hul2-hul2-la-mu-un-da /hul2-hul2-a-mu-n-da/ ‘rejoice with him’ (Inanna hymn E 17, 19). Yoshikawa believes (1979c) that this /-a-/ marks completive or perfective aspect. 3.17. The verb ‘to be’ The verb me ‘to be’ has a basic essential meaning and does not usually indicate existence, for which gal2 (‘to be there, to exist’) is used: pi-lu5-da udbi-ta e-me-a ‘these were (/i-me-a[m]/) the conventions of old times’ (Urukagina 4 vii 26–28). Nonetheless, there are some instances of me with an existential meaning: ga2-e/za-e al-me-en-na-ta ‘after I/you have existed (/alme-en-a-ta/)’ (Edubba 2: 74, 76, 83; see Gragg 1968; Thomsen 1984: §§535– 46; Attinger 1993: 312–13). The finite forms of the verb me are these: 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg.

/-me-en/ /-me-en/ /-me/

1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

/-me-enden/ /-me-enzen/ /-me-es/

It occurs more frequently in the form of an enclitic copula: digir-ra-ni 12-am6 ‘his god is Sulutul’ (Enmetena 26, 33–34); ama-mu ze2-me ‘you are (/ze2-me-e(n)/) my mother’ (Gudea Cyl. A iii 6). The 3rd sg. form is written -am6 (AN) before the Ur III period, but -am3 (A.AN) became the standard with Ur III. In Early Dynastic, Sargonic, and Gudea texts, -me stands for both /-me-en/ and /-me-es/ (1st and 2nd plural forms are not attested in early texts). The enclitic copula suffixes are as follows: dsul-utul

51. The imperative of gen (/men/) is written GA2-na- = ge26-na-. Moreover, the adverb ga-na, ga-nam ‘well, truly’, could be a frozen imperative from this verb (Falkenstein 1949: 227), and so perhaps it should be read ge20-na, ge20-nam. This, however, would be the only instance of such orthography, and this adverb is probably unrelated to the verb (Wilcke 1968: 204–5; Thomsen 1984: §153).

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/-me-en/ /-me-en/ /-(a)-m/

1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.

/-me-enden/ /-me-enzen/ /-me-es/

In descriptions and comparisons, the enclitic copula can sometimes occur instead of the equative suffix -gin7 (but never the other way around): u4-dam an-ur2-ra dum-dam mu-ni-ib2-za ‘he howled like a storm at the horizon’ (Angim 74); but a later version of this composition has u4-gin7 ‘like a storm’. In appositions and epithets, the enclitic copula occurs instead of the personal pronoun: sipa-me e2 mu-du3 ‘I, the shepherd, built the house’ (Gudea Cyl. B. ii 5); without the apposition, it would be ga2-e e2 mu-du3 ‘I built the house’. Furthermore, the enclitic copula is attached to a finite verbal form in order to topicalize the verb itself or a syntactical argument with concord in the verbal form: lugal-ni-ir u4-de3 mas-gi6-ka gu3-de2-a en dnin-gir -su-ra igi mu-ni-du -am (Gudea Cyl. A i 17–18) ‘on that very day, 2 8 3 Gudea (himself) saw his master, the lord Ningirsu, in a dream’. 4. The suffix /-a/ 4.1. The nominalizer suffix /-a/ can be attached to both non-finite and finite verbal forms, and can be followed by case endings and pronouns. In most Sumerian grammars, the suffix /-a/ can be said to fulfill two different functions: a marker of subordination (like Akkadian -u or the German Konjunktiv), especially in relative clauses with or without an explicit antecedent; and a nominalizer that generates passive participles and other nonfinite verbal forms. Thus, the general function of /-a/ has been regarded as a marker of subordination, but also as an aspectual morpheme (Attinger) and even a marker of determination (see Gragg 1973b; Thomsen 1984: §§482–93; Attinger 1993: 299–312; Krecher 1993b; Alster 2002: Edzard 2003a: 132–37, 150–55). However, all the functions marked with /-a/ can be subsumed under its basic role as nominalizer. 4.2. In its subjunctive or subordinating function, the suffix /-a/ occurs after the verb of a subordinate clause depending on verba dicendi, such as dug4 ‘to say’. This function, which generates substantive (nominal) subordinate clauses containing indirect speech is rather uncommon in Sumerian, probably because of the nature of the genres attested in our corpus: urdlama ensi -ke e ha-la-dba-ba -ka in-na-sum-ma-a ur-id -da di-ta ba-tag -a 2 4 2 6 2 4 uru-in-da-zal maskim-e nam-erim2-bi in-kud ‘Uru-indazal has sworn (/namerim2-bi-abs i-n-kudr/) that Ur-Lama, the ruler, has given (in-na-sum-ma-a /i-na-sum-a/) the house to Hala-Baba and that the claim of Ur-idda has been dismissed (ba-tag4-a /ba-tag4-a/)’ (NG 106, 5–9), literally, ‘Uru-indazal has sworn the-house-giving-by-Ur-Lama-the-ruler-to-Hala-Baba, (and) Ur-idda’sclaim-dismissing’. 4.3. When the nominalized verbal form agrees with an explicit or implicit noun that has an antecedent in another sentence (frequently resumed by the relative-like lu2 ‘who’, ‘man’), it constitutes the equivalent to an English relative clause: ensi2 lu2 e2-ninnu in-du3-a e2 urugir2-suki-ka-ni muna-du3 ‘the ruler that built the Eninnu (lu2 . . . in-du3-a /i-du3-a/), built her

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temple of Girsu’. In Sumerian, due to the explicit marking of a high number of grammatical functions, there is no obvious syntactical opposition between parataxis and true hypotaxis (the latter would correspond entirely to nominalized verbal forms), other than discrete markers of logical subordination (such as the modal prefix /he-/). For instance, the word order tends to be almost always Subject-Object-Verb in all sentences, including those with nominalized verbal forms in /-a/. 4.4. The suffix /-a/ can be attached to a verbal stem with no prefixes. If the suffix /-ed/ appears between the stem and /-a/, the stem is marû. If /-ed/ does not occur, the stem is ham†u. Nevertheless, as Attinger (1993: 200–201) observes, the opposition ham†u/marû seems neutralized when the forms with /-a/ are passive (dug4-ga and di-da, both meaning ‘said’). This phenomenon would be part of a tendency to neutralize the categories marked by ham†u and marû, which takes place in the passive voice (Wilcke 1988: 9; 1990: 497; Attinger 1993: 196). Functionally speaking, it is not substantially different from a participle in other languages, in that it is passive with transitive verbs (inim dug4-ga /inim dug4-a/ ‘the spoken word’) and active with intransitive verbs (utu e3-a ‘the rising sun’). On the agentive constructions of /-a/ with transitive verbs, see 2.4; on /-a/ with /-ed/, see 3.15. 5. Pronouns 5.1. The pronominal system follows an accusative alignment. Thus, the pronominal subjects of both transitive and intransitive verbs present the same marker, /-e/: subject dative terminative comitative equative

1 sg. ga2-e (me-e) ga2-a-ra (ma-a-ra) ga2(-a/e)-se3 ga2(-a/e)-da ga2(-a/e)-gin7

2 sg. za-e (ze) za-a-ra za(-a/e)-se3 za(-a/e)-da za(-a/e)-gin7

3 sg. e-ne e-ne-ra e-ne-se3 e-ne-da e-ne-gin7

3 pl. e-ne-ne e-ne-ne-ra e-ne-ne-se3 e-ne-ne-da e-ne-ne-gin7

5.2. The possessive suffixes can be attached to NP’s as well as to nominalized verbal forms: 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. anim. 3rd sg. inan.

-mu (= -gu10) ‘my’ 1st pl. -me ‘our’ -zu ‘your’ 2nd pl. -zu-ne-ne, -zu-e-ne-ne, -zu-ne ‘your’ -a-ni ‘his, her’ 3rd pl. -a-ne-ne ‘their’ -bi ‘its’ -bi ‘their’ (probably collective)

The two /-e/ suffixes (ergative and locative-terminative) disappear after the vowel of a possessive suffix: /-ani-e/ > -a-ni; /-bi-e/ > -bi. However, the sign NI can be read {ne2} and BI as {be2}. Therefore, some Sumerologists prefer the transcriptions -a-ne2 and -be2 when the case is clear. 5.3. The reflexive pronouns are formed with ni2 followed by a possessive suffix and a case suffix (zero for the subject):

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1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. anim. 3rd sg. inanim. 3 pl.

ni2-mu ‘myself’ (sbj), ni2-ga2 ‘by myself’ (loc), etc. ni2-zu ‘yourself’ (sbj), ni2-za ‘by yourself’ (loc), etc. ni2-te-a-ni (or ni2) ‘himself, herself’ (sbj), ni2-te-na ‘by himself/herself’ (loc), etc. ni2-bi ‘itself’ and collective (sbj), ni2-ba (or ni2-bi-a) ‘by itself/themselves’ (loc), etc. ni2-te-a-ne-ne ‘themselves’ (sbj)

5.4. The most common and identifiable deictic demonstrative pronouns are ne-en, ne(-e) ‘this’, ri ‘that, yonder’, -bi ‘this, that’ (lu2-bi ‘this/ that man’, etc.). /-bi/ can also be regarded a marker of determination in many contexts. The anaphoric pronoun is ur5 ‘the aforementioned, this, so much, he’. The interrogative pronouns are a-ba ‘who’ and a-na ‘what’. Although some analyze the spelling a-ba-a as /a-ba-e/ (ergative), versus aba /a-ba-º/ (Thomsen 1984: §113), the pronominal system does not exhibit ergative alignment and the spelling a-ba-a occurs in free distribution with a-ba (Attinger 1993: 151). The interrogative a-ba can occur with the enclitic copula (a-ba-am3 ‘who is it?’; a-ba-me-en ‘who are you?’) and sometimes with possessive suffixes (a-ba-zu ‘who like you . . . ?’). The interrogative a-na can take case endings (a-na-as, a-na-as-am3 ‘why?’; a-na-gin7, ana-gin7-nam ‘how?’), the enclitic copula (a-na-am3 ‘what is it, why?’), and other suffixes. The indefinite pronoun is na-me (probably from /ana-me/ ‘what is it?’) ‘anything, anybody’ (on pronouns, see Thomsen 1984: §§90– 138; Attinger 1993: 174–76). 6. Compound verbs 6.1. Sumerian has a number of compound verbs, that is, combinations of a verb and a direct object that become a syntactic, lexical, and semantic unit, such as igi — bar ‘to look at’ ( bar ‘to open’ + igi ‘eye’); ki — ag2 ‘to love’ (ag2 ‘to measure’ + ki ‘place’). The second object of a compound verb is very frequently in the locative-terminative case: nig2-dug3-ge al na-an-gaam3-mi-in-dug4 ‘sweet things (/nig2-dug3-e/) she has indeed also wished (/na-nga-mm-loc.trm-n-dug4/, al — dug4 ‘to desire, wish’)’ (Nanna-Suen hymn E 6). There are some double compound verbs (in which a whole compound verb becomes the nominal part of a compound verb) whose verbal member is an ‘auxiliary’ verb, such as ak (‘to do’) and dug4 (‘to say’): su tag — dug4 from su — tag ‘to cover, decorate’ (su ‘hand’ + tag ‘to touch’; on compound verbs, see Thomsen 1984: §§528–34; Attinger 1993: 178–82; Krecher 1993a; Zólyomi 1996a; Karahashi 2000a, 2000b). 6.2. Attinger (1993: 179–82, 229–30) regarded Sumerian compound verbs as an instance of noun incorporation. Zólyomi (1996a: 99–104) and Huber (1996), however, pointed out the pitfalls of this approach. Nevertheless, Karahashi (2000b: 19–24; 2004: 100–103) has argued that Sumerian compound verbs fall under the category of lexical compounding (a basic type of noun incorportation), and Michalowski (2004: 39) prefers to consider them a kind of loose incorporation or noun stripping (the nominal element is stripped of morphological markers). It may be simpler to analyze the nominal element as a direct object that has become part of a spread 12 long

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lexicalized sequence. Attinger’s argument regarding the frequent absence of a pronominal prefix (/-b-/) marking the direct object (the nominal element) with marû forms carries limited weight, since this happens also with many verbs that are not compound (Zóyomi 1996a: 99–100; Karahashi 2004: 99–100). Sumerian compound verbs do not really pertain to the realm of morphology but to that of syntax. Therefore, they probably should not be compared to noun incorporation in other languages, since this is primarily a morphological mechanism, sometimes productive (as in American Indian languages), sometimes unproductive and frozen in time, e.g., Latin credere ‘to believe’, from the root of Latin cor ‘heart’ and the Indo-European root *dheh1- ‘to place’. The special productivity of the verb dug4 ‘to say’ to generate compound verbs, might point to an originally more generic meaning for this verb (perhaps ‘to do’). It is true that verbs meaning ‘to say’ generate compounds in other languages, such as Agaw (Cushitic) in Ethiopia (cf. Appleyard 2001). Nonetheless, in these languages the nominal element is frequently an ideophone, whereas in Sumerian dug4 takes a wide range of nominal elements in compounds. Moreover, Sumerian compound verbs with ideophones much more frequently have the verb za, a verb that does not occur on its own and that may have a generic meaning ‘to make noise’ (Civil 1966: 119; Black 2003). 7. Sumerian Dialects? 7.1. Sumerian is called eme-gir15 (perhaps ‘native tongue’) in native Sumerian sources (sumeru in Akkadian). In some Mesopotamian scholarly texts, a few lexical items and grammatical forms are identified as eme-sal (perhaps ‘fine language’). The fact is that eme-sal is attested in compositions of very specific genres: cultic songs performed by the gala priests (Akkadian kalû); diverse texts containing the goddess Inanna’s speech (myths, the Inanna-Dumuzi cycle, etc.); some laments over the destruction of cities, usually uttered by goddesses (those of Ur, Eridu, and Nippur); a lullaby supposedly addressed to a son of Shulgi by his mother; about 30 proverbs or short sayings from the rhetorical collections of Sumerian proverbs; a couple of women’s work songs, including The Song of the Millstone (Civil 2006); the Dialogues between Two Women; and a few lexical lists. No text is entirely written in eme-sal, and there is no true consistency in its use, so an otherwise “main-dialect” text may present some scattered eme-sal words (see Krecher 1967; Diakonoff 1975; Thomsen 1984: §§559–66; Schretter 1990; Langenmayr 1992; Maul 1997; Rubio 2001; Edzard 2003a: 171–72). 7.2. It has been argued that eme-sal was a women’s language (Frauensprache) or genderlect. Words in eme-sal are frequently uttered by goddesses and by gala priests. Moreover, the sign SAL can also be read munus ‘woman’. Concerning the gala priests, they were lamentation priests or cultic performers who played the balag (‘lyre’ or ‘harp’) and recited funerary compositions at funerals, as well as diverse kinds of lamentations. They are thought to have been eunuchs or the like. The word gala is written US.KU, the first sign having also the reading GIS3 (‘penis’), and the second

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one, DUR2 (‘anus’), so perhaps there is some pun involved. Moreover, gala is homophonous with gal4-la ‘vulva’. However, in spite of all the references to their alleged effeminate character (especially in the Sumerian proverbs), many administrative texts mention gala-priests who had children, wives, and large families. 7.3. The eme-sal forms are characterized by phonetic substitutions: /z/ corresponds to standard Sumerian /d/ (udu ‘sheep’ e-ze2); /b/ to /g/ (dug3 ‘good’ ze2-eb), etc. Thus, Jacobsen (1988b: 131) argued that eme-sal was a style of Sumerian distinguished by a “shift of articulation forward in the mouth” (i.e., palatalization), rather than an actual dialect. However, emesal also presents some specific words that cannot be explained by phonetic correspondences (such as gasan ‘lady’, instead of nin). Likewise, some morphological substitutions seem to go beyond Jacobsen’s proposal; e.g., the cohortative /ga-/ appears as da- or du5- in eme-sal, da-, and the precative /he-/ as de3-, and du5- (see 3.5.6). Thus, other alternatives have been put forward. It has been argued that eme-sal was a regional dialect (Bobrova and Militarev 1989). Moreover, it has also been regarded as a literary dialect based on the dialectal features of an area associated with these compositions (Bachvarova 1997), perhaps because its women were well-known performers. In fact, some of the typical eme-sal sound shifts may be found sporadically in some texts from 3rd-millennium Lagas (Bauer 1998: 435– 36). In sum, eme-sal may have originally stemmed from an actual regional dialect (diatopic variant) or from the particular dialect of a certain group (diastratic variant, genderlect, etc.). However, as we have it attested, in most cases, the occurrence of eme-sal forms may be determined mostly by the genre of the text, rather than by the gender of the fictional speaker or even the performer.

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1998 /n/ réflexif? Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires no. 41. 1999 L’infixe directif /i/, /y/. Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires no. 94. 2000 L’infixe directif /i/, /y/ (II). Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires no. 44. Bachvarova, Mary R. 1997 The Literary Use of Dialects: Ancient Greek, Indic and Sumerian. Pp. 7– 22 in The Proceedings from the Panels of the Chicago Linguistic Society’s Thirty-Third Meeting. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society. Balke, Thomas E. 1999 Kasus im Sumerischen. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 52: 118–29. 2002 Die sumerische Dimensionaladjektive nim und sig. Pp. 31–53 in Ex Mesopotamia et Syria lux: Festschrift für Manfried Dietrich, ed. O. Loretz et al. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 281. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. 2006 Das sumerische Dimensionalkasussystem. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 331. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. Bauer, Joseph 1998 Der vorsargonische Abschnitt der mesopotamischen Geschichte. Pp. 431–585 in Mesopotamien 1: Späturuk- und Frühdynastische Zeit. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 160/1. Freiburg: Universitätsverlag. Bhat, D. N. Shankara 1994 The Adjectival Category: Criteria for Differentiation and Identification. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 2000 Word Classes and Sententional Functions. Pp. 47–63 in Approaches to the Typology of Word Classes, ed. Petra M. Vogel and Bernard Comrie. Berlin: de Gruyter. Black, Jeremy 1986 Review of The Sumerian Language, by Marie-Louise Thomsen. Archiv für Orientforschung 33: 77–83. 1990a Babylonian and Modern Views of Sumerian Secondary Verbal Version. Pp. 659–61 in Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Linguists: Berlin (GDR), August 10–August 15, 1987, ed. Werner Bahner et al. Berlin: Akademie. 1990b The Alleged “Extra” Phonemes of Sumerian. Revue d’Assyriologie 84: 107–18. 1991 Sumerian Grammar in Babylonian Theory. 2nd ed. Studia Pohl, series maior 12. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. 1995 Real and Unreal Conditional Sentences in Sumerian. Acta Sumerologica 17: 15–39. 2000 Some Sumerian Adjectives. Acta Sumerologica 22: 3–27. 2002 Sumerian Lexical Categories. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 92: 60–77. 2003 Sumerian Noises: Ideophones in Context. Pp. 35–52 in Literatur, Politik und Recht in Mesopotamia: Festschrift für Claus Wilcke, ed. Walther Sallaberger et al. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Bobrova, L. V., and Alexander Y. Militarev 1989 Towards the Reconstruction of Sumerian Phonology. Pp. 95–105 in Linguistic Reconstruction and Ancient History of the Orient. Part 1. Moscow: Nauka.

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Dixon, R. M. W. 1982 Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? Berlin: Mouton. 1994 Ergativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. van Dijk, Jan J. A. 1978 Isbiªerra, Kindattu, l’homme d’Elam, et la chute de la ville d’Ur. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 30: 189–208. 1983 Die periphrastische Deklination und Konjugation der 2. Person Plural im Sumerischen. Orientalia n.s. 52: 31–42. Edzard, Dietz Otto 1963 Sumerische Komposita mit dem “Nominalpräfix” nu-. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 55: 91–112. 1967 Das sumerische Verlbalmorphemen /ed/ in den Alt- und Neusumerischen Texten. Pp. 29–62 in Heidelberger Studien zum Alten Orient. Adam Falkenstein zum (60. Geburtstag) 17. Sept. 1966, ed. Dietz O. Edzard. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1971 Ham†u, marû und freie Reduplikation beim sumerischen Verbum I. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 61: 208–32. 1975a Zum sumerischen Eid. Pp. 63–98 in Sumerological Studies in Honor of Thorkild Jacobsen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1975b Zur “Wortbildung des Sumerischen.” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 65: 254– 57. 1976a Ham†u, marû und freie Reduplikation beim sumerischen Verbum III. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 66: 45–61. 1976b “Du hast mir gegeben,” “ich habe dir gegeben”: Über das sumerische Verbum sum. Welt des Orients 8: 159–77. 2003a Sumerian grammar. Leiden: Brill. 2003b Zum sumerischen Verbalpräfix a(l)-. Pp. 87–98 in Literatur, Politik und Recht in Mesopotamia: Festschrift für Claus Wilcke, ed. Walther Sallaberger et al. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Falkenstein, Adam 1944 Untersuchungen zur sumerischen Grammatik 4: Das affirmative Präformativ si-/sa-. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 48: 69–118. 1949 Grammatik der Sprache Gudeas von Lagas, I: Schrift- und Formenlehre. Analecta orientalia 28. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. 1950 Grammatik der Sprache Gudeas von Lagas II: Syntax. Analecta orientalia 29. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. 1952 Das Potentialis- und Irrealissuffix -e-se des Sumerischen. Indogermanische Forschungen 60: 113–30. 1959 Das Sumerische. Leiden: Brill. Foxvog, Daniel A. 1975 The Sumerian Ergative Construction. Orientalia n.s. 44: 395–425. Geller, Mark 1998 Reflexives and Antipassives in Sumerian verbs. Orientalia n.s. 67: 85– 106. Givón, Talmy 1984 Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction I. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 1990 Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction II. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 2001 Syntax, I–II. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Gong, Yushu 1987 Egativität und das Sumerische. Journal of Ancient Civilizations 2: 85–120.

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