Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

topicalized, the following example lacks both the topicalized, external “head” as well as
the demonstrative/relative ßa: the bare noun b®t has become the head of the HIRC.
(50) [ DP [ Topic Ø] [ Focus b®t e¢puß-u]] imqut
Ø house do.1Sg.Perf-Subord fall.3Sg.Perf
A/the house I built collapsed
Since there is no topicalized noun within the determiner phrase (DP) in (50), there is
likewise no reason for a resumptive pronoun like ßa; the internal head of the relative
clause is b®t and in the absence of a topicalized noun, the expression need not be in focus.
In semantic terms, the HIRC works in Akkadian by setting up an existentially
quantified noun (“There is an x such that . . .”) and then identifying the existentially
quantified noun (the internal head of the relative) with some other noun that is prominent
in the discourse, typically a topic. Thus b®tum ßa e¢pußu might be translated into English
so as to capture the quantification involved as follows:
(51) As for the house (b®tum), it is something that I made (ßa e¢pußu).
The reason for the use of the existential construction (and the consequent definiteness
effect) is that in the absence of explicit quantization such as a cardinal number or plural
morphology, an existentially quantified noun refers to a single entity. Such an entity can
then be identified, or better equated, with another single entity. Since the head-internal
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