Syntactic Change in Akkadian The Evolution of Sentential Complementation

by Deutscher, Guy

• ISBN13: 9780198299882
• ISBN10: 0198299885
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-01-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Akkadian, an ancient Semitic language spoken in Assyria and Babylonia, is one of the earliest known languages, with a surviving written history from 2500BC to 500BC. Guy Deutscher investigates its development over these two millennia. He shows that changes in the language can be linked to the emergence of complex patterns of communication required by an increasingly sophisticated civilization.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Abbreviations	xiii
Sources, Text Editions	xv
Part I Preliminary Chapters
Introduction	3	(4)
What is Sentential Complementation?	7	(10)
Complements and objects	7	(5)
Function and structure I: the `Functional Domain of Complementation'	12	(1)
Function and structure II: subordination, hypotaxis, parataxis, coordination	13	(1)
Function and structure III: structural change and functional replacement	14	(3)
Akkadian	17	(20)
Historical periods	18	(2)
Sumerian and Akkadian	20	(1)
Orthography	21	(2)
The language and style of the letters	23	(7)
Some points of Akkadian grammar	30	(7)
Part II Structural History: The Emergence of Complementizers and Quotatives
The Emergence of Finite Complements	37	(29)
The early life of kima	37	(4)
Semantic bleaching of the causal adverbial conjunction kima	41	(5)
When do `adverbial clauses' become `complements'?	46	(8)
The development of finite complements with the `proving verbs'	54	(6)
Structural parallels for the development of kima	60	(4)
Conclusion	64	(2)
The Grammaticalization of the Quotative Construction	66	(29)
Old Akkadian	68	(3)
Early Old Babylonian	71	(4)
Later Old Babylonian	75	(4)
Middle Babylonian	79	(3)
Neo-Babylonian	82	(2)
Recapitulation: from Old Akkadian to Neo-Babylonian	84	(1)
Bracketing of reported speech in the different periods	85	(2)
The development of umma in cross-linguistic perspective	87	(8)
Part III Functional History: The Changes in the Functional Domain of Complementation from 2500 BC to 500 BC
The Functional Domain of Complementation in Babylonian	95	(7)
The verbs in the FDC	95	(2)
The structures in the FDC	97	(2)
The difference between independent and subordinate clauses	99	(1)
Syntax-semantics correlations	100	(2)
Verbs of Knowledge, Perception, and Others	102	(22)
Overview: the main changes from Old Akkadian to Neo-Babylonian	102	(2)
Knowledge verbs	104	(7)
Perception	111	(4)
Speech	115	(3)
Proving	118	(1)
Fearing, mental states	119	(2)
`What have I done that you (should) treat me like this?'	121	(1)
Conclusion	122	(2)
Manipulation and Modality	124	(13)
Manipulation: non-past	124	(3)
Manipulation: past	127	(5)
On the distribution of infinitive and coordination	132	(2)
Modality	134	(3)
The WH-Functional Domain, Direct and Indirect Questions	137	(14)
Overview	137	(2)
Old Babylonian	139	(6)
Middle Babylonian	145	(1)
Neo-Babylonian	146	(5)
Part IV The Development of Complementation as an Adaptive Process
Functional Parallels for the Babylonian Development	151	(13)
Dyirbal	151	(2)
Tok-Pisin	153	(1)
Sumerian	153	(5)
Biblical Hebrew	158	(2)
Indo-European	160	(4)
The Development of Complementation as an Adaptive Process	164	(23)
What in language can be adaptive?	164	(1)
Complexity and subordination	165	(2)
Anything you can do, I can do better	167	(8)
Different strategies of cohesion: iconicity and subordination	175	(6)
The role of writing and literacy	181	(3)
Conclusion	184	(3)
Glossary	187	(1)
References	188	(9)
Index of Subjects	197	(4)
Index of Quoted Texts	201