Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

Thetic Categorical
Basilico Verbal SC Adjectival SC
Kim HIRC + DPC Propositional attitude verbs
BNBV inal
259
non-BNBV inal
The Akkadian HIRC, in which a distinct, topical noun phrase is followed by a
relative clause that bears a resultative suffix in *-u seems to correspond to a second type
of relative clause in Sumerian, namely those relatives formed through the suffixation of
the nominalizing/resultative suffix, *-a, to a verbal root. This type of Sumerian relative
clause, which is generally thought of as a head-external relative in accord with the
conventional interpretation of the Akkadian relative clause, also allows for a distinct,
coreferential noun; it is, in other words, appositional like the Akkadian HIRC. In the case
of Sumerian, however, the coreferential noun is not topicalized and occurs in the zero-
marked absolutive/nominative case. This second type of HIRC in Sumerian (or head-
external, if the Akkadian relative ultimately proves to be head-external instead of head-
internal), need not concern us further here. Although the *-a suffix and the second type of
HIRC in Sumerian in which it appears are beyond the scope of this dissertation, the
association between bare complements and *bi-√ type HIRCs, on the one hand, and the
relative formed through the suffixation of *-a, on the other, is certainly in need of further
investigation, particularly in light of possible connections with the opposition between
direct and indirect speech/perception, definiteness and different types of
complementation in Sumerian.