Ugaritic grammar

Note: vowels in this article are reconstructed via comparative Semitics.

Ugaritic is an extinct Northwest Semitic language. This article describes the grammar of the Ugaritic language. For more information regarding the Ugaritic language in general, see Ugaritic language.

Overview

Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian. It possesses two genders (masculine and feminine), three cases for nouns and adjectives (nominative, accusative, and genitive); three numbers: (singular, dual, and plural); and verb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order for Ugaritic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). Ugaritic is considered a conservative Semitic language, since it retains most of the Proto-Semitic phonemes, the basic qualities of the vowel, the case system, the word order of the Proto-Semitic ancestor, and the lack of the definite article.

Phonology

Ugaritic has 28 consonantal phonemes, including two semivowels. And eight vowel phonemes (three short vowels and five long vowels): a ā i ī u ū ē ō. (ē and ō only occur as long vowels and are the result of monophthongization of the diphthongs “ay” and “aw” respectively).

Ugaritic consonantal phonemes
  Labial Interdental Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
Plain Emphatic Plain Emphatic
Nasal m     n            
Plosive voiced b     d     ɡ      
voiceless p     t tˤ   k q   ʔ
Fricative voiced   ð ðˤ z   ʒ ɣ[decimal 1]   ʕ  
voiceless   θ   s sˤ ʃ x   ħ h
Trill       r            
Approximant w     l   j        

[decimal 1] The voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ occurs as a late variant of the emphatic voiced interdental /ðˤ/.

The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:

Proto-Semitic Ugaritic Arabic Tiberian Hebrew
b [b] b ب b [b] בּ b [b]
p [p] p ف f [f] פּ p [p]
ḏ [ð] ḏ ذ ḏ [ð] ז z [z]
ṯ [θ] ṯ ث ṯ [θ] שׁ š [ʃ]
ṱ [θʼ] ḓ ظ ẓ [ðˤ] צ ṣ [sˤ]
d [d̪] d د d [d̪] דּ d [d̪]
t [t̪] t ت t [t̪] תּ t [t̪]
ṭ [t̪ʼ] ṭ ط ṭ [t̪ˤ] ט ṭ [t̪ˤ]
š [s] š س s [s] שׁ š [ʃ]
z [dz] z ز z [z] ז z [z]
s [ts] s س s [s] ס s [s]
ṣ [tsʼ] ṣ ص ṣ [sˤ] צ ṣ [sˤ]
l [l] l ل l [l] ל l [l]
ś [ɬ] š ش š [ʃ] שׂ ś [ɬ]→[s]
ṣ́ [tɬʼ] ṣ ض ḍ [ɮˤ]→[dˤ] צ ṣ [sˤ]
g [ɡ] g ج ǧ [ɡʲ]→[dʒ] גּ g [ɡ]
k [k] k ك k [k] כּ k [k]
q [kʼ] q ق q [q] ק q [q]
ġ [ɣ] ġ غ ġ [ɣ] ע ʻ [ʕ]
ḫ [x] ḫ خ ḫ [x] ח ḥ [ħ]
ʻ [ʕ] ʻ ع ʻ [ʕ] ע ʻ [ʕ]
ḥ [ħ] ḥ ح ḥ [ħ] ח ḥ [ħ]
ʼ [ʔ] ʼ ء ʼ [ʔ] א ʼ [ʔ]
h [h] h ه h [h] ה h [h]
m [m] m م m [m] מ m [m]
n [n̪] n ن n [n̪] נ n [n̪]
r [r] r ر r [r] ר r [ʀ]
w [w] w و w [w] ו w [v]
y [j] y ي y [j] י y [j]
Proto-Semitic Ugaritic Arabic Tiberian Hebrew
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sometimes Ugaritic ġ /ɣ/ corresponds to Proto-Semitic ṣ́ /tɬʼ/.

Grammar

Word order

The word order for Ugaritic is Verb Subject Object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA).

Morphology

Ugaritic, like all Semitic languages, exhibits a unique pattern of stems consisting typically of "triliteral", or 3-consonant consonantal roots (2- and 4-consonant roots also exist), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, and/or adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes.

Verbs

Aspects

Verbs in Ugaritic have 2 aspects: perfect for completed action (with pronominal suffixes) and imperfect for uncompleted action (with pronominal prefixes and suffixes). Verb formation in Ugaritic is based on (like all Semitic languages) triconsonantal roots. Affixes inserted into the root form different meanings. Taking the root RGM (which means "to say") for example:

Morphology of Ugaritic verbs (in the simple active pattern (G stem))
Perfect Imperfect
Singular
1st STEM-tu or STEM-tī ʼa-STEM
RaGaMtu or RaGaMtī َʼaRGuMu
2nd masculine STEM-ta ta-STEM
RaGaMta taRGuMu
feminine STEM-ti ta-STEM-īna
RaGaMti taRGuMīna
3rd masculine STEM-a ya-STEM
RaGaMa yaRGuMu
feminine STEM-at ta-STEM
RaGaMat taRGuMu
Dual
1st STEM-nayā na-STEMā
RaGaMnayā naRGuMā
2nd masculine
& feminine		 STEM-tumā ta-STEM-ā(ni)
RaGaMtumā taRGuMā(ni)
3rd masculine STEM-ā ya-STEM-ā(ni)
RaGaMā yaRGuMā(ni)
feminine STEM-atā ta-STEM-ā(ni)
RaGaMatā taRGuMā(ni)
Plural
1st STEM-nū na-STEM
RaGaMnū naRGuMu
2nd masculine STEM-tum(u) ta-STEM-ū(na)
RaGaMtum(u) taRGuMū(na)
feminine STEM-tin(n)a ta-STEM-na
RaGaMtin(n)a taRGuMna
3rd masculine STEM-ū ya-STEM-ū(na)
RaGaMū yaRGuMū(na)
feminine STEM-ā ta-STEM-na
RaGaMā taRGuMna

Moods

Ugaritic verbs occur in 5 moods:

Mood Verb[decimal 1]
Indicative yargumu
Jussive yargum
Volitive[decimal 2] yarguma
Energic 1 yargum(a)n
Energic 2 yargumanna
  1. ↑ These are reconstructed for the imperfect simple active pattern (G stem).
  2. ↑ Also considered a subjunctive.

Patterns

Ugaritic verbs occur in 10 reconstructed patterns or Binyan:

Verb Patterns
Active voice Passive voice
Perfect (3rd sg. masc.) Imperfect (3rd sg. masc.) Perfect (3rd sg. masc.) Imperfect (3rd sg. masc.)
G stem (simple) paʻala yapʻalu puʻila yupʻalu
Gt stem (simple reflexive) ʼiptaʻala yaptaʻalu (?) (?)
D stem (factitive) paʻʻala yapaʻʻilu puʻʻila yupaʻʻalu
tD stem (factitive reflexive) tapaʻʻala yatapaʻʻalu (?) (?)
N stem (reciprocal passive) nap(a)ʻala yappaʻilu <<(*yanpaʻilu) n/a
L stem (intensive or factitive) pāʻala yupāʻilu (?) (?)
Š stem (causative) šapʻala yapaʻilu šupʻila yupaʻilu
Št stem (causative reflexive) ʼištapʻala yaštapʻilu (?) (?)
C stem (causative internal pattern) (?) yapʻilu n/a
R stem (factitive) (biconsonantal roots) paʻlala (e.g. karkara) yapaʻlalu (e.g. yakarkaru) (?) (?)

Nouns

Nouns in Ugaritic can be categorized according to their inflection into: cases (nominative, genitive, and accusative), state (absolute and construct), gender (masculine and feminine), and number (singular, dual, and plural).

Case

Ugaritic has three grammatical cases corresponding to: nominative, genitive, and accusative. Normally, singular nouns take the ending –u in the nominative, -i in the genitive and –a in the accusative. Using the word Malk- (king) and Malkat- (queen) for example:

NominativeGenitiveAccusative
MasculineMalkuMalkiMalka
FeminineMalkatuMalkatiMalkata

As in Arabic, some exceptional nouns (known as diptotes) have the suffix -a in the genitive. There is no Ugaritic equivalent for Classical Arabic nunation or Akkadian mimation.

State

Nouns in Ugaritic occur in two states: absolute and construct. If a noun is followed by a genitival attribute (noun in the genitive or suffixed pronoun) it becomes a construct (denoting possession). Otherwise, it is in the absolute state. Ugaritic, unlike Arabic and Hebrew, has no definite article.

Gender

Nouns which have no gender marker are for the most part masculine, although some feminine nouns do not have a feminine marker. However, these denote feminine beings such as ʼumm- (mother). /-t/ is the feminine marker which is directly attached to the base of the noun.

Number

Ugaritic distinguishes between nouns based on quantity. All nouns are either singular when there is one, dual when there are two, and plural if there are three or more.

Singular

The singular has no marker and is inflected according to its case.

Dual

The marker for the dual in the absolute state appears as /-m/. However, the vocalization may be reconstructed as /-āmi/ in the nominative (such as malkāmi "two kings") and /-ēmi/ for the genitive and accusative (e.g. malkēmi). For the construct state, it is /-ā/ and /-ē/ respectively.

Plural

Ugaritic has only regular plurals (i.e. no broken plurals). Masculine absolute state plurals take the forms /-ūma/ in the nominative and /-īma/ in the genitive and accusative. In the construct state they are /-ū/ and /-ī/ respectively. The female afformative plural is /-āt/ with a case marker probably following the /-t/, giving /-ātu/ for the nominative and /-āti/ for the genitive and accusative in both absolute and construct state.

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun and are declined exactly like the preceding noun.

Personal pronouns

Independent personal pronouns

Independent personal pronouns in Ugaritic are as follows:

Person singular dual Plural
1st ʼanā, ʼanāku "I"
2nd masculine ʼatta "you" ʼattumā ʼattum- "you"
feminine ʼatti "you"
3rd masculine huwa[decimal 1] "he" humā "they" hum-[decimal 1] "they"
feminine hiya[decimal 1] "she"
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 3rd person independent pronouns can occur in the genitive or accusative but are suffixed with a /-t/.

Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns

Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive and accusative) are as follows:

Person Singular Dual Plural
1st -ya[decimal 1] "my" -nayā "our" -na, -nu "our"
2nd masculine -ka "your" -kumā "your" -kum- "your"
feminine -ki "your" -kin(n)a "your"
3rd masculine -hu "his" -humā "their" -hum- "their"
feminine -ha "hers" -hin(n)a "their"
  1. ↑ -nī is used for the nominative, i.e. following a verb denoting the subject.

Numerals

The following is a table of Ugaritic numerals:

Number Masculine Feminine
1 ʼaḥad-
2 ṯināmi[decimal 1] ṯitāmi[decimal 1]
3 ṯalāṯ- ṯalāṯat-
4 ʼarbaʻ- ʼarbaʻat-
5 ḫam(i)š- ḫam(i)šat-
6 ṯiṯṯ- ṯiṯṯat-
7 šabʻ- šabʻat-
8 ṯamān- ṯamānīt-
9 tišʻ- tišʻat-
10 ʻaš(a)r- ʻaš(a)r(a)t-
20 ʻišrūma [decimal 2]
30 ṯalāṯūma [decimal 2]
100 miʼat-
1000 ʼalp-
10000 ribat-[1]
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ṯināmi and ṯitāmi are the nominative form. The genitive-accusative form would be ṯinēmi and ṯitēmi respectively.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ʻišrūma and ṯalāṯūma are in the nominative form. The genitive-accusative form would be ʻišrīma and ṯalāṯīma respectively.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://books.google.ca/books?id=9Yo-UShpt1kC&pg=PA200&dq=ugaritic+10000&hl=en&sa=X&ei=suW3UKaLKqXm2QXey4GIDg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=ugaritic%2010000&f=false

References

External links