The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian
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Eran Cohen
Abstract
In this paper, a common paratactic conditional construction, found in the letter corpus of Old Babylonian Akkadian (~18th century bce), is given a syntactic characterization so as to differentiate it from other potential sequences. Several distinctive syntactic and semantic features unique to the construction are identified and discussed: polar lexical resumption between the protasis and its preceding co-text; negative polarity items in the protasis; special semantics of verbal forms; and divergence from the common modal-congruence. In addition, the structural variables are formulated, and eventually the construction itself is compared with another construction, the circumstantial construction.
The importance is twofold: first, to exemplify a relatively simple characterization of a construction, which is usable for the identification of the construction in question; second, to add a description which pertains to the non-uniquely-marked conditional constructions in the languages of the world, which are often ignored or underdescribed.
Abstract
In this paper, a common paratactic conditional construction, found in the letter corpus of Old Babylonian Akkadian (~18th century bce), is given a syntactic characterization so as to differentiate it from other potential sequences. Several distinctive syntactic and semantic features unique to the construction are identified and discussed: polar lexical resumption between the protasis and its preceding co-text; negative polarity items in the protasis; special semantics of verbal forms; and divergence from the common modal-congruence. In addition, the structural variables are formulated, and eventually the construction itself is compared with another construction, the circumstantial construction.
The importance is twofold: first, to exemplify a relatively simple characterization of a construction, which is usable for the identification of the construction in question; second, to add a description which pertains to the non-uniquely-marked conditional constructions in the languages of the world, which are often ignored or underdescribed.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Introduction
- Afroasiatic 1
-
Part I. Afroasiatic
- Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment? 11
- The limits and potentials of cladistics in Semitic 23
- Lexicostatistical evidence for Ethiosemitic, its subgroups, and borrowing 41
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Part II. Forms and functions
- Reconsidering the ‘perfect’–‘imperfect’ opposition in the Classical Arabic verbal system 61
- The imperfective in Berber 85
- Condition, interrogation and exception 105
- The semantics of modals in Kordofanian Baggara Arabic 131
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Part III. Predication and beyond
- Insubordination in Modern South Arabian 153
- Possessive and genitive constructions in Dahālik (Ethiosemitic) 167
- The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian 185
- Locative predication in Chadic 203
- Unipartite clauses 235
- The Interaction of state, prosody and linear order in Kabyle (Berber) 261
- Index 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Afroasiatic 1
-
Part I. Afroasiatic
- Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment? 11
- The limits and potentials of cladistics in Semitic 23
- Lexicostatistical evidence for Ethiosemitic, its subgroups, and borrowing 41
-
Part II. Forms and functions
- Reconsidering the ‘perfect’–‘imperfect’ opposition in the Classical Arabic verbal system 61
- The imperfective in Berber 85
- Condition, interrogation and exception 105
- The semantics of modals in Kordofanian Baggara Arabic 131
-
Part III. Predication and beyond
- Insubordination in Modern South Arabian 153
- Possessive and genitive constructions in Dahālik (Ethiosemitic) 167
- The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian 185
- Locative predication in Chadic 203
- Unipartite clauses 235
- The Interaction of state, prosody and linear order in Kabyle (Berber) 261
- Index 287
