Emery Jacobowitz - Introduction to Sumerian - Lessonon 4: Genitive Constructions

This lesson covers some uses of the genitive case which fall beyond the nominal template. These are:

Modifying genitive constructions, which is how Sumerian handles noun adjuncts. A genitive noun simply occupies P2 of the noun-phrase.
Left-dislocated genitive constructions, where a possessor precedes the noun phrase. Its original slot in P3 is occupied by an agreeing “resumptive” possessive enclitic.
Genitive constructions with suspended cliticization, which is how Sumerian handles coordination. If two noun phrases are coordinated, the case marker may only be appended to the last one.

Exercise 4.4 - Translation

the true son of the king
dumu zid-\0 [lugal=ak]=\0
son good-*tl* [king=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the true son of the king'

the true sons of the mighty king
dumu zid-\0 [lugal maḫ-\0=ak]=enē=\0
son good-*tl* [king great-*tl*=*gen*]=*pl*=*abs*
! 'the true son of the mighty king'

the true sons of the mighty kings
dumu zid-\0 [lugal maḫ-\0=enē=ak]=enē=\0
son good-*tl* [king great-*tl*=*pl*=*gen*]=*pl*=*abs*
! 'the true sons of the mighty kings'

the true sons of the mighty king of the land
dumu zid-\0 [lugal maḫ-\0 [kur=ak]=ak]=enē=\0
son good-*tl* [king great-*tl* [land=*gen*]=*gen*]=*pl*=*abs*
! 'the true sons of the mighty king of the land'

the true sons of the mighty king of all the lands
dumu zid-\0 [lugal maḫ-\0 [kur~kur=ak]=ak]=enē=\0
son good-*tl* [king great-*tl* [land~*pl*=*gen*]=*gen*]=*pl*=*abs*
! 'the true sons of the mighty king of all the lands'

the true sons of the mighty kings of all the lands
dumu zid-\0 [lugal maḫ-\0 [kur~kur=ak]=enē=ak]=enē=\0
son good-*tl* [king great-*tl* [land~*pl*=*gen*]=*pl*=*gen*]=*pl*=*abs*
! 'the true sons of the mighty kings of all the lands'

Be careful of the details there…

For the next set, notice that we can’t use the modifying genitive for ‘the shepherd of his donkeys’, because that construction only takes non-referential (and locative) modifying nouns. Since ‘his donkeys’ refers to a real set of animals, we must use the standard genitive.

the shepherd of his donkeys
sipad [anše=ane=ak]=\0
shepherd [donkey=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the shepherd of his donkeys'

the shepherd of his mother's donkeys
sipad [anše [ama=ane=ak]=ak]=\0
shepherd [donkey [mother=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the shepherd of his mother's donkeys'

the shepherd of his kind mother's donkeys
sipad [anše [ama sag-ʾa=ane=ak]=ak]=\0
shepherd [donkey [mother kind-*pt*=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the shepherd of his kind mother's donkeys'

the shepherd of his kind mother's healthy donkeys
sipad [anše zid-\0 [ama sag-ʾa=ane=ak]=ak]=\0
shepherd [donkey good-*tl* [mother kind-*pt*=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the shepherd of his kind mother's healthy donkeys'

In the following translation, we need to use a modifying genitive. Note the difference between ‘the shepherd of his donkeys’ and ‘his donkey shepherd’.

the mother of his donkey shepherd
ama [sipad [anše=ak]=ane=ak]=\0
mother [shepherd [donkey=*gen*]=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the mother of his donkey shepherd'

the mother of his reliable donkey shepherd
ama [sipad [anše=ak] zid-\0=ane=ak]=\0
mother [shepherd [donkey=*gen*] good-*tl*=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the mother of his reliable donkey shepherd'

the kind mother of his reliable donkey shepherd
ama sag-ʾa [sipad [anše=ak] zid-\0=ane=ak]=\0
mother kind-*pt* [shepherd [donkey=*gen*] good-*tl*=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the kind mother of his reliable donkey shepherd'

Exercise 4.5 - Translation with left-dislocation

The king's scribe
lugal=ak dubsar=ane=\0
king=*gen* scribe=*3.sg.h.poss*=*abs*
! 'the king's scribe'

my wife's children
dam=ŋu=ak dumu=ane=enē=\0
spouse=*1.sg.poss*=*gen* son=*3.sg.h.poss*=*pl*=*abs*
! 'my wife's children'

The servant of my father's house
e [abba=ŋu=ak]=ak arad=be=\0
house [father=*1.sg.poss*=*gen*]=*gen* servant=*3.sg.nh.poss*=*abs*
! 'the servant of my father's house'

The servant of my father's house
[abba=ŋu=ak] arad [e=ane=ak]=\0
[father=*1.sg.poss*=*gen*] servant [house=*3.sg.h.poss*=*gen*]=*abs*
! 'the servant of my father's house'

the courtyard of my lord
lugal=ŋu=ak kisal=ane=\0
ruler=*1.sg.poss*=*gen* courtyard=3.sg.h.poss*=*abs*
! 'the courtyard of my lord'

the king of all lands
kur~kur=ak lugal=be=\0
land~*pl*=*gen* ruler=*3.sg.nh.poss*=*abs*
! 'the king of all lands'

Note that the above takes a singular resumptive pronoun for some reason. Perhaps the reduplication conveys a sense of totality and therefore singularity?

the hero's donkey
ursaŋ=ak anše=ane=\0
hero=*gen* donkey=*3.sg.h.poss*=*abs*
! 'the hero's donkey'

the father of all lgodsands
diŋir~diŋir=ak abba=anenē=\0
god~*pl*=*gen* father=*3.pl.poss*=*abs*
! 'the father of all gods'

the well-being of my brothers
šeš=ŋu=ak namtil=anenē=\0
brother=*1.sg.poss*=*gen* life=*3.pl.poss*=*abs*
! 'the well-being of my brothers'

the shepherd's garment
sipad=ak tug=ane=\0
shepherd=*gen* cloth=*3.sg.h.poss*=*abs*
! 'the shepherd's garment'

Exercise 4.6 - Identifying left-dislocations

Determine which sentences contain a left-dislocated genitive construction based only on the morphemic segmentations! what is the trick?

mu-be-e anzag=ta kurkur=e gu=∅ i-m-b-a-si~si-e
namnundakiŋara=ak ur=be=∅ na=ʾa mu-nn-a-ni-n-du-∅
id=be=ʾa uš=∅ mu-r-a-n-de-∅
e melem=be=∅ an=e us-a=še
e=ŋu=ak ni gal-∅=be kalam=ʾa mu-n-ri-∅
ibila dudu=ak=enē=e kag=anene=ʾa ba-ni-n-gen-eš
ane=∅ saŋ=ane=še diŋir-∅=am-∅
e ninŋirsuk=ak=∅ eridu=gen ki sikil-∅=ʾa b-i-n-du-∅
gudea lu e=∅ du-ʾa=ak=ak namtil=ane=∅ ḫa-i-sud-∅

The trick is that left-displacements will always have a word that ends in the genitive enclitic. A non-displaced genitive will always have another enclitic after it, to mark slot P4 or P5 of the noun phrase.