Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

argue that there is a third mechanism, namely, the use of nouns modified by possessive
pronouns in clause-initial position. In chapter 3, I argue that *bi-√ prefix verbs can also
be topicalized through this third method. In particular, I suggest that verbs of the form
*mini-√ derive from *bi-√ prefix verbs that have been modified by the third person
animate possessive pronoun, *-ni. 3 This use of *bi-√ prefix verbs as the basis for a
construction that, at least prototypically, is limited to nouns raises the possibility that *bi-
√ prefix verbs are, in fact, a species of relative clause, in particular, the type of head-
internal relative clauses [HIRC] frequently found in verb-final languages. I go on to argue
that *bi-√ prefix verbs are indefinite HIRCs, whereas *mini-√ prefix verbs are the
corresponding definite HIRCs, making use of the same system of possessive pronouns to
code definiteness and topicality.
To a certain degree, topic-marking in Sumerian is well understood, even if it has
hardly ever been studied in detail. Clause-initial noun phrases in the ergative case and
independent personal pronouns can be identified as topics due to the combination of
clause-initial position and/or ergative case-marking, 4 but that is usually where the
discussion ends. Although a somewhat more detailed discussion of topic-marking
patterns appears in section 1.7 below, I would like to suggest that the missing piece in
theories of Sumerian topic-marking is the possessive pronoun construction. Besides the
3 The form that is typically given as third person animate possessive suffix is *-ani, but it seems fairly clear that, if the
animate, *-ni, and inanimate, *-bi, possessive pronouns derive from the proximal, *-ne, and distal, *-be,
demonstratives, the original form of the third person animate possessive pronoun must have been *-ni rather than *-ani.
Although I do not develop the argument here, I believe that there is good reason to suspect that *-ni itself is an
inalienable possessive pronoun and that the corresponding alienable possessive pronoun consists of a linking
morpheme, *-a-, and the inalienable possessive pronoun, *-ni.
4 The {e} that appears at the end of independent pronouns is identical to the ergative postposition in orthography and
phonological form, but independent pronouns in Sumerian seem to exhibit nominal/accusative rection (Woods 2001,
272). In terms of orthography, however, the defining criteria for topicalization can be stated as (i) clause-initial position
and (ii), at least in orthographic terms, the “ergative” postposition.
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