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.

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.