Gram - SEAS

7. 4 Development of complex sentence constructiolls 195
(2000) has provided a detailed account of developments in Akkadian, a Semitic
language of ancient Mesopotamia (roughly modern Iraq). He shows that the oldest
Akkadian documents (c. 2500 BC) are dominantly pm'atactic with respect to complementation
structures in general, and quotative ones in particular. By the end
of the Akkadian period (c. 500 BC), complementation strategies with apparent
dependency have developed. Unfortunately, even in this instance all the stages of
development are not transparent. However, the development is worth sketching
here as it gives textual evidence for parataxis > hypotaxis.
According to Deutscher, in the oldest period, Old Akkadian (c. 2500-2000 BC),
the typical quotative construction is 'X says: "QUOTE'" (where QUOTE is short
fo r Quotation and P is short for Particle), as in (47):
(47) iqabbi aUa ward-am tasam-ma.
he:says you slave-ACC you:bought-P
'He says: "you bought the slave.'" (Deutscher 2000: 68)
In addition, there is a construction, typically used at the beginning of a letter, royal
inscription, or legal document of the type enma QUOTE, as illustrated in (48).
Ellllza QUOTE is never introduced by a verb of speaking. Its etymological origin
is unknown, but Deutscher speculates that it might have derived from a verb of
saying. In any event, it seems to serve a presentative fu nction, translatable as 'This
is what X says.'
(48) enma Naram-Sin dann-ulll sar kibrat-illl arba' -im.
enma Naram-Sin strong-NOM king:of corner-GEN four-GEN
This is what Naram-Sin the strong, king of the four corners (of the earth),
said " (Deutscher 2000: 69, citing Gelb and Kienast 1990)
It is sometimes followed by the emphatic particle -ma, which is enclitic to the
person speaking (expressed by a personal name or a personal pronoun).
By the period of Early Old Babylonian (c. 2000- 1800 BC) ellma X-lila has
come to be written umma X-lila. More importantly for the present discussion, it
is no longer restricted to solemn pronouncements. Furthermore, it is occasionally
fou nd, still paratactically, after a speech-related verb, e.g. 'answer,' 'write' (cf. 'he
answered saying'). At first it cannot coocur with qabulIl 'say,' presumably because
it would be redundant. But later this restriction too is relaxed, and /./ /Iuna
QUOTE appears before 'X said' in what Deutscher says appears to be an emphatic
construction:
(49) Ulllllla sO-ma 4 lahriililll ahuz iqbi.
ulllma he-P 4 ewes:ACC I:took he:said
'He said: ". took four ewes" he said.' (Deutscher 2000: 74)
Arguing that the development of quotatives is a "model textbook example" of
grammaticalization (2000: 66), Deutscher suggests that for a construction like