A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

Grammatical Précis 169
7.6.7 Suffix Conjugation (SC) — “Perfect” 11
G Suffix Conjugation (SC)
Singular Dual Plural
3m mlk
mlk
mlk
/malaka/
/malakaœ/
/malakuœ/
3f mlkt
mlkt
mlk
/malakat/ /malak(a)taœ/ /malakaœ/
2m mlkt
mlktm
mlktm
/malakta/ /malaktumaœ/ /malaktum(uœ)/
2f mlkt
mlktm
mlktn
/malakti/ /malaktumaœ/ /malaktunaœ/
1c mlkt
/malaktu/ 12
mlkny
mlkn
/malakniyaœ/ /malaknuœ/
The suffix conjugation may be organized into two classes: first,
roots with a stative meaning, SCs, i.e., “she was heavy”; second,
roots that are perfects or preterites, SCp, i.e., “she ruled.” The base
form (G stem) is qatvl-, where v may be any of the short vowels,
i.e., qatal-, qatil-, orqatul- (cp. Hebrew bAtDk, dEbDk, and lOkÎy). The /u/
theme vowel is uncommon. The /a/ theme vowel is reserved for the
SCp, and /i/ for both. Of the verbs II-}, in which the quality of the
11 This primer uses neutral terminology, i.e., the descriptive terms “suffix” and
“prefix” conjugations, for the Ugaritic verbal system. Scholars continue to
debate about the nature of the verbal system in Ugaritic as well as Biblical
Hebrew. Traditionally, the verbal system has been described as having
“aspect”—hence, the terminology “perfect” and “imperfect.” More recently,
scholars like A. F. Rainey have argued that the West Semitic languages
(including Hebrew and Ugaritic) had a temporal system (see “The Prefix
Conjugation Patterns of Early Northwest Semitic,” 407–20). Others have
argued for a mixed temporal-aspectual system. Segert argued that Ugaritic
developed from an aspectual system into a temporal system (BGUL, 56). Most
languages do not encode tense as primary. Hebrew, for example, seems to
encode aspect primarily and frequently employs secondary temporal markers to
mark tense.
12 The fact that the 1cs independent pronoun is /anaœku/ with a final /u/ may
indicate that the final vowel of the 1cs verb suffix is likewise /u/.