Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

son of Enlil, for him, …,” where the gradually increasing referential specificity and the
application of the benefactive postposition to the most referentially specific phrase
d dumu.zi dumu d en.lil2 is much more felicitous in pragmatic terms than the translation
offered in (53). The indefinite relative also serves as a basis for the relative/
circumstantial construction (for further details, see below, section 3.3).
If we broaden, for a moment, the area of investigation to include achievements in
general (not limited to BNBV inal predicates), other somewhat less prototypical
achievement predicates do allow the formation of the progressive/imperfective and I turn
to these examples at this point so as to illustrate some directions for future research. The
classic example of a progressive/imperfective achievement is its use with an intransitive
verb of motion to provide background information for some other event as in the
following example.
(54) Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta [1.8.2.3], ll. 163-167
(Cohen 1973, 71, 98, 120, 175-177; Vanstiphout 2003)
163. inim gal d inanna gi zu 2.lum.ma Where will he carry such an important
DU me.a mu.na.ab.tum 3
164. ˙ur.saœ zubi.ße 3 bi 2.in.e 11.de 3
149
sharply-intoned message from Inanna?
As he was bringing it up the Zubi
Mountains,
165. ˙ur.saœ zubi.ta As he was bringing it down from the Zubi
im.ma.da.ra.ab.e 11.de 3
166. susin ki .e kur an.ßa 4.an ki .a.ße 3
Mountains,
From Susa to the land of Anshan,