SUMERIAN

LESSON 14
14.3 The locative2
The locative2 may be used both with human and non-human verbal
participants. In the verbal prefix-chain the participant in the locative2 may be
cross-referenced either by a composite or by a simple adverbial prefix. The form
of the nominal case-marker of the locative2 depends on the grammatical gender
of the participant: human verbal participants are case-marked with the enclitic
=/ra/; while non-human verbal participants are case-marked with the enclitic
=/ʾa/.
The locative2 prefix has two allomorphs: i) /i/ after a consonant; ii) /e/ after
a vowel.
In the 1st ps. sg. composite form the 1st ps. sg. pronominal prefix is
expressed by the /mu/ allomorph of the ventive prefix in S4, see, e.g., ex. (405)
below. The 2nd ps. sg. pronominal prefix is the IPP /r/ in S6, see, e.g., ex. (406)
below.
The 3rd ps. sg. human pronominal prefix is the IPP /nn/ in S6, and the
composite prefix is written as a rule with the grapheme NI, see, e.g., ex. (389)
below. However, around the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE the vowel of the
composite locative2 prefix /nni/ assimilates to the vowel of the following
syllable in respect to vowel height (the so-called “vowel harmony” of the
literature). Both the “high” and the “low” forms were written with the grapheme
NI, but it is assumed in this textbook that the “high” and the “low” forms were
/ni/ and /ne/ respectively, reflected by the transliteration ni- and ne₂-; for the
latter, see, e.g., ex. (395) below.
The 3rd ps. sg. non-human prefix is expressed with the prefix /b/ in S5, and
the composite prefix is written as a rule with the grapheme NE, transliterated
as bi₂-, see, e.g., ex. (402) below. However, around the middle of the 3rd
millennium BCE the vowel of the composite locative2 prefix /bi/ assimilates to
the vowel of the following syllable in respect of vowel height (the so-called
‘vowel harmony’ of the literature). The “high” form was written with the
grapheme NE, transliterated as bi₂-; while the “low” form was written with
grapheme BI, transliterated as be₂-, see, e.g., ex. (404) below.
The 3rd ps. pl. human pronominal prefix is the IPP /nnē/ in S6, see, e.g.,
ex. (396) below.
If S11 contains no morpheme and consequently the composite locative2
prefix forms an open unstressed syllable, then the vowel /i/ of the 2nd ps. sg,
3rd sg. human, and 3rd ps. sg. non-human locative2 prefix becomes syncopated.
The 3rd ps. sg. human composite prefix is reduced to /n/, see ex. (388) below.
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