SumerianGrammar

CHAPTER NINE
PRONOUNS
9.1. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
The system is still incomplete for us in the 1 st and 2 nd pl. This corresponds
to the strange fact that many inflected forms of the verb
in the 1 st and 2 nd pl. cannot be safely reconstructed and/or, when
they occur in different manuscripts of OB literary texts, present incongruous
variants.
st
1 sg. ∞gá-e (or contracted ∞ge 24 -e)
2
nd sg. za-e (but note contracted NS zé)
rd
3 sg. person cl. OS a-ne, NS, OB e-ne
3 rd sg. non-person class: no independent pronoun is safely attested
although one would expect it, given the existence of possessive -bi.
ur 5 “this, that” may be considered a substitute. ur 5 , however, does
not seem to occur alone, only in combination with case particles
and/or the copula: ur 5 -gin 7 “like this”, ur 5 -“è-àm “for this (purpose)”.
Note to 1 st and 2 nd sg.: It is hard to ascertain the exact phonetic nature of these
pronouns. The dative forms ∞gá-ra, za-ra may point to bases [∞ ga], [za]. But regres­
→ [∞ gara], [ze] → [zara] would
sive assimilation is equally possible. Moreover, [∞ge]
not be inconceivable. Cf. modern Turkish ben, sen with datives bana, sana.
1 st pl. me, secondarily me-en-dè-en
Note: me = ni-i-nu is clearly offered by Proto-Ea vocabulary 71:5 (MSL 14, 19),
and there is no need to attribute me of Proto-Ea to the possessive particles, -me
“our” (see 5.2). Admittedly, however, independent me “we” is so far unattested
in context, but the chances of meeting such a me are—statistically—quite small,
because the personal pronouns only occur when emphasis is needed.
The lexical equation me-da-nu = i-na ba-l[u-ni ] “without us” OBGT
I (vii) 484 (MSL 4, 53) is obviously derived from me “we”.
The (secondary) form me-en-dè-en looks identical to the inflected
copula, “we are”: [me-(e)nden]. For me-en-dè(-n) in OB literary context,
cf. Lam. Ur and Sumer 240.
2 nd pl. me-en-zé-en, za-e-me-en-zé-en
Attested lexically only.