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Milthods
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inflection.
CHAPTERV.
Inflection and Postfixes.
§ 68. The ad verbial notions ordinarily expressed in the inflected
languages by case endings are expressed for the most part by means of
postfixes in Sumerian. uru-ta, 'from the city, in the city'. utul-da e­
da-sig, 'by the shepherd it was slaughtered' '. galu-ra,' against aman'.
é-s[l 'toward the house' [Gud. Cyl. A 19, 17J. Nevertheless the lan­
guage possesses a simple but unmistakably clear system of no un inflection.
The ordinary inflection of the status rectus is e which stands apparently
for an earlier i. The primiti ve i is often retained. u' appears in certain
cases probably due to vowel harmony. AIso the rounded forms of e
and i, 1. e., o' and Ü' occur;o is especially characteristic of the status
rectus of the pronouns of the first and second persons sing., ma-e, za-e.
Doubtlessly the principIes of harmony governed the choice of i, e, u, o, Ü.
Status rectus is a term employed here for want of a better one to indicate
the principal functions of a noun in the nominative and accusative cases
in the inflected languages. Opposed to the rather numerous endings of
the status rectus is the single vowel inflection of the status obliquus a 5.
1. TSA. 30 rev, IlI.
2. For example mu year, dumu son, where u is due to the labial m. udu
sheep.
3. Written a-e.
4. Written u-e.
5. a by vowel harmony [or lor other unknown reasonsJ appears as the rectus
in many cases as mana, halama, d'ningiszida, ama. ama-a is a subject in Gud.
Cyl. A 13, 3. For the same reason pa-te-si appears as an invariable noun, never
patesa, patesu. mas-ta-ba,' companion', is in the rectus, SBP. 280, 6. kalaga,
nominative, Bab. IlI, 246, 19.