SumerianGrammar

PRONOUNS 57
At any rate, the high antiquity of possessive particles is suggested
by the fact that of the categories of possession, number, and case
particles, the possessive particles rank closest to the substantive (see
above ch. 8).
9.3. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
The Sumerian system is more difficult to describe and define than the
very clearly developed system of Akkadian demonstrative pronouns.
There are, so far, only two words known that would deserve the
definition of (independent) demonstrative pronouns:
9.3.1. ur 5
ur 5 (already mentioned 9.1): ur 5 hé-na-nam(-ma-àm) “let it really be
this”, ur 5 -gin 7 “like this”, ur 5 -ra-ke 4 -é“ “therefore” (lit. [ur-ak] as a
free genitive, with the adverbiative particle [e“(e)]).
ur 5 is restricted to the non-person class and has, therefore, been
considered a substitute for the—non-existing—personal pronoun, 3 rd
sg. non-person class.
9.3.2. ne-e(n)
ne-e(n) is equally restricted to the non-person class, at least as far
as it occurs independently.
∞gá-e za-kam ne-e a-na-àm ì-til-l[e] “I am yours, this—what is it—
will (live =) stay” Innin “ag. 246 (ZA 65, 198).
lú gùd-∞gá ne-en ba-e(-a)-AG-a “you, the person (who) did this to
my nest” Lugalb. 105, and see Wilcke 1969, 164.
ne nam-[di]- d En-líl-lá “this is [a judgement] of Enlil” Ur III PN,
NG no. 40:9, reflected by ne-en-nam di-ku 5 - d Nanna-kam = annûm
dìnu “a Sin “as (regards) this, it is a judgement of the Moongod” van
Dijk 1953, 129:42 f. (PBS 10/1, 1 iv 18).
9.4. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
Here, the universal pair “who” and “what” prevails, the first [aba]
asking about someone of the person class, the second [ana] about
something of the non-person class. The opposition b : n (instead of