Languages of the Ancient near East: Conditional Structures in Mesopotamian Old Babylonian

Cohen’s monograph takes up the issue of conditional structures in Old Babylonian from a linguistic point of view. The genres that form the corpus for the study are letters, as well as law collections and omens. The inquiry concludes with a general discussion of the linguistic nature of each genre and the relation of this different nature to the functions of the forms. Conditionals often express modality (the supposition, or the potential factor) but are actually much more; they interface with many linguistic subsystems: clause-combining strategies, interclausal relations (for instance, the syntactic relationship between protasis and apodosis), syntactic patterns, syntactic units above clause levels (the essence of Old Babylonian macro-syntax); tense-related issues, the fundamental opposition between specific and generic, and more. All of the conditional patterns (there are several different patterns) are provided with a syntactic characterization, so that the peculiarity of each conditional sequence is differentiated from all other potential sequences. Language experts will find, in addition, an in-depth, detailed discussion about the values of various verbal and other predicative forms in various conditional structures occurring in the corpus; the differences between superficially similar conditional patterns are stated and explained, and the functions of the various conditional patterns are described. Many traditionally difficult points are treated and given suitable solutions. The concluding sections of each chapter include lingustic glosses and more-general discussions that allow linguistic typologists to peek into the conditional system of Old Babylonian. Conditional Structures in Mesopotamian Old Babylonian 4 Contents 8 Preface 10 1. Introduction 12 1.1. Conventions 13 1.2. Method 16 1.3. General linguistic view of conditionals 20 1.4. Other Semitic languages 26 1.4.1. Biblical Hebrew 27 1.4.2. Contemporary Hebrew 28 1.4.3. Gǝˁǝz (Ancient Ethiopie) 29 1.4.4. Classical Arabic 30 1.4.5. Ancient Semitic CSs: concluding remarks 33 1.5. Conditional structures in Akkadian: literature review 34 1.6. Corpus definition 36 1.7. Aims 38 2. The Letter Corpus 40 2.1. šumma conditionals 40 2.1.1. Syntagmatic characteristics 41 2.1.2. Paradigmatic characteristics: protasis and apodosis 47 2.1.2.1. The protasis 47 2.1.2.1.1. Affirmative iprus forms 49 2.1.2.1.2. lā iprus forms 52 2.1.2.1.3. iptaras forms 54 2.1.2.1.4. lā iprus2 and lā iptaras as negative linguistic perfect 63 2.1.2.1.5. iparras forms 66 2.1.2.1.6. paris 68 2.1.2.1.7. Non-verbal clauses 68 2.1.2.1.8. Summary: the protasis paradigm 70 2.1.2.1.9. Chains in the protasis 71 2.1.2.2. The apodosis: internal paradigmatic characteristics 71 2.1.2.2.1. iprus and iptaras forms in the apodosis 72 2.1.2.2.2. iptaras In pleonastic conditionals 75 2.1.2.2.3. ipparas 76 2.1.2.2.4. paris 77 2.1.2.2.5. NVC 78 2.1.2.2.6. Precatives (liprus/purus) 79 2.1.2.2.7. Interrogative apodosis 80 2.1.2.2.8. Complex forms: chains and domains 82 2.1.2.2.9. The apodosis: concluding remarks 83 2.1.3. Conditional structures with different value 83 2.1.3.1. Polite requests 84 2.1.3.2. Suggestions 86 2.1.4. Summary of šumma conditionals 88 2.2. Paratactic conditionals 89 2.2.1. The -ma conditional pattern 89 1. Preceding polar precative: polar lexical resumption 90 2. Scale-reversing contexts (negative expressions and arḫiš ul) 90 3. Special semantics: The temporal value of ul iprus 92 4. Diverging from modal congruence 93 5. The forms found in the pattern and its structure 94 2.2.2. precative conditionals 101 2.3. Conditional constructions with modal particles 104 2.4. Conditional constructions with asseverative forms as protasis 108 2.5. ištūma clauses 109 2.6. Counterfactual conditionals 112 2.7. Conclusions 119 2.7.1. Summary and conclusions 120 2.7.2. The syntactic nature of the protasis 122 3. Conditional Structures in the Law Collections 132 3.1. Various strategies and paradigmatic constitution 134 3.1.1. šumma structures 134 3.1.1.1. The protasis in the law collections: literature review 136 3.1.1.2. iprus versus iptaras 139 3.1.1.3. lā iprus and iptaras 141 3.1.1.4. iprus and iprusu 143 3.1.1.5. Referential environments in the laws 144 3.1.1.5.1. Secondary protases in CH 144 3.1.1.5.2. Subordinate clauses in CH 145 3.1.1.6. The functions of iparras 147 3.1.1.7. The apodosis paradigm 152 3.1.2. Precative protasis 154 3.1.3. “Indicative” protasis 155 3.1.4. inūma clauses 156 3.1.5. ūm clauses 156 3.1.6. ša clause 157 3.2. Additional characteristics 158 3.3. The nature of the conditional constructions in the law collections 158 3.4. Conclusions 162 4. Conditional Structures in the Omens 164 4.1. Distinctive characteristics of omens 164 4.1.1. Markers 165 4.1.2. Protasis 165 4.1.2.1. paris versus iparras 168 4.1.2.2. paris versus iprus 168 4.1.3. The omen apodosis 170 4.2. The syntactic nature of omen CSs 174 4.2.1. The epistolary omen report 174 4.2.2. Other semiotic systems 175 4.2.3. The omen apodosis paradigm 177 4.3. Concluding remarks 180 5. General Conclusions 182 5.1. The procedure 182 5.2. Comparative perspective on the patterns in each genre 183 5.2.1. The hypotheticality scale 185 5.2.2. Conditional types 186 5.2.3. Lack of hypotheticality 188 5.2.4. Similar types cross-genre 189 5.3. Cross-genre comparison of šumma structures 192 5.3.1. Modality, tense, and aspect 192 5.3.2. šumma structures across the OB genres 193 Bibliography 196 Abbreviations 196 References 196 Index of Texts Cited 204 Index of Topics 208 1. Introduction 1.1. Conventions 1.2. Method 1.3. General linguistic view of conditionals 1.4. Other Semitic languages 1.4.1. Biblical Hebrew 1.4.2. Contemporary Hebrew 1.4.3. Geˁez (Ancient Ethiopic) 1.4.4. Classical Arabic 1.4.5. Ancient Semitic CSs: concluding remarks 1.5. Conditional structures in Akkadian: literature review 1.6. Corpus definition 1.7. Aims 2. The Letter Corpus 2.1. šumma conditionals 2.1.1. Syntagmatic characteristics 2.1.2. Paradigmatic characteristics: protasis and apodosis 2.1.2.1. The protasis 2.1.2.2. The apodosis: internal paradigmatic characteristics 2.1.3. Conditional structures with different value 2.1.4. Summary of šumma conditionals 2.2. Paratactic conditionals 2.2.1. The -ma conditional pattern 2.2.2. Precative conditionals 2.3. Conditional constructions with modal particles 2.4. Conditional constructions with asseverative forms as protasis 2.5. ištuma clauses 2.6. Counterfactual conditions 2.7 Conclusions 2.7.1. Summary and conclusions 2.7.2. The syntactic nature of the protasis 3. Conditional Structures in the Law Collections 3.1. Various strategies and paradigmatic constitution 3.1.1. šumma structures 3.1.1.1. The protasis in the law collections: a review of the literature 3.1.1.2. iprus versus iptaras 3.1.1.3. la iprus and iptaras 3.1.1.4. iprus and iprusu 3.1.1.5. Referential environments in the laws 3.1.1.6. The functions of iparras 3.1.1.7. The apodosis paradigm 3.1.2. Precative protasis 3.1.3. “Indicative” protasis 3.1.4. inuma clauses 3.1.5. um clauses 3.1.6. ša clause 3.2. Additional characteristics 3.3. The nature of the conditional constructions in the law collections 3.4. Conclusions 4. Conditional Structures in the Omens 4.1. Distinctive characteristics of omens 4.1.1. Markers 4.1.2. Protasis 4.1.2.1. paris versus iparras 4.1.2.2. paris versus iprus 4.1.3. The omen apodosis 4.2. The syntactic nature of omen CSs 4.2.1. The epistolary omen report 4.2.2. Other semiotic systems 4.2.3. The omen apodosis paradigm 4.3. Concluding remarks 5. General Conclusions 5.1. The procedure 5.2. Comparative perspective on the patterns in each genre 5.2.1. The hypotheticality scale 5.2.2. Conditional types 5.2.3. Lack of hypotheticality 5.2.4. Similar types cross-genre 5.3. Cross-genre comparison of šumma structures 5.3.1. Modality, tense, and aspect 5.3.2. šumma structures across the OB genres References Indexes

Diachrony in Biblical Hebrew is an indispensable publication for biblical scholars, whose interpretations of scriptures must engage the dates when texts were first composed and recorded, and for scholars of language, who will want to read these essays for the latest perspectives on the historical development of Biblical Hebrew. For Hebraists and linguists interested in the historical development of the Hebrew language, it is an essential collection of studies that address the language’s development during the Iron Age (in its various subdivisions), the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods, and the Early Hellenistic period. Written for both “text people” and “language people,” this is the first book to address established Historical Linguistics theory as it applies to the study of Hebrew and to focus on the methodologies most appropriate for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. The book provides exemplary case studies of orthography, lexicography, morphology, syntax, language contact, dialectology, and sociolinguistics and, because of its depth of coverage, has broad implications for the linguistic dating of Biblical texts. The presentations are rounded out by useful summary histories of linguistic diachrony in Aramaic, Ugaritic, and Akkadian, the three languages related to and considered most crucial for Biblical research.

This volume examines conditional structures in Old Babylonian from a linguistic point of view, drawing on a corpus of letters, law collections, and omens. All of the conditional patterns are provided with a syntactic characterization, so that each conditional sequence is differentiated from all other potential sequences. The volume includes detailed discussion about the values of various verbal and other predicative forms in the conditional structures occurring in the corpus, the differences between superficially similar conditional patterns, and the functions of the various conditional patterns. Many traditionally difficult points are treated and given suitable solutions. The concluding sections of each chapter include linguistic glosses and more general discussions that provide linguistic typologists a window onto the conditional system of Old Babylonian. The Letter Corpus -- Conditional Structures In The Law Collections -- Conditional Structures In The Omens By Eran Cohen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 185-192) And Indexes. Text In English With Some Akkadian.