The deictic foundation of the Sumerian language

This dissertation explores the role of space in the Sumerian language, in terms of both the organization of space itself and the metaphorical structuring of higher level grammatical categories upon a spatial model. It is argued that this language exploits space, as categorized in the spatial deictic systems, i.e., demonstrative pronouns, to express more abstract concepts, chief among which is the category of person, which, in turn, is closely bound up with the character of split ergativity and semantic transitivity, among other categories in Sumerian. The approach taken is a functional-typological one, drawing upon typological parallels from various languages to elucidate developments and grammatical phenomena in Sumerian, a dead linguistic isolate. The dissertation is divided into three primary chapters. Chapter 2 describes the semantic and functional range of each of the Sumerian demonstratives and, accordingly, reconstructs two primary deictic systems: a productive system e << ne << be, and an archaic, unproductive system e << se << re. Chapter 3 is concerned, broadly, with the grammaticalization of demonstrative pronouns, that is, the paths of development followed by Sumerian demonstratives towards the expression of other categories and the accrual of additional meanings. This chapter focuses upon the productive system, which participated in a variety of endophoric functions. It is argued that the Sumerian independent pronouns are derived from these demonstratives: 1st and 2nd person [-e, proximal), 3rd humans [-ne, medial], and 3 rd non-humans [-be, distal). Further, it is suggested that the Sumerian ergative and locative-terminative case markers stem from the proximal deictic -e. Chapter 4 discusses the Sumerian prefix ba-, arguing that this element derives from the far demonstrative -be. It is maintained that this prefix is a semantic modifier that is attracted to those linguistic categories which are typically low in salience; ba- is associated with what is there not here, the notion of which has various real and metaphorical manifestations, i.e., the Goal of the prototypical motion event, NPs of low animacy (i.e., non-persons), low empathy, the affected Object of the transitive action or the affected Subject of the middle verb situation, and those categories associated with low transitivity more generally.