Ugaritic grammar
Encyclopedia
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
.
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
.
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).
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
:
Subject
Object
(VSO), possessed–possessor
(NG), and noun
–adjective
(NA).
, 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.
: 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:
:
----
into: cases (nominative, genitive, and accusative), state (absolute and construct), gender
(masculine and feminine), and number
(singular, dual
, and plural
).
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.
: 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
.
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.
when there are two, and plural
if there are three or more.
The singular has no marker
and is inflected according to its case.
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.
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
.
and are declined
exactly like the preceding noun
.
ed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive and accusative) are as follows:
:
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
Northwest Semitic language
Northwest Semitic languages
The Northwest Semitic languages form a medium-level division of the Semitic language family. The languages of this group are spoken by approximately eight million people today. The group is generally divided into three branches: Ugaritic , Canaanite and Aramaic...
. This article describes the grammar of the Ugaritic language. For more information regarding the Ugaritic language in general, see Ugaritic language
Ugaritic language
The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:-Grammar:Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian...
.
Overview
Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
. It possesses two genders
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
(masculine and feminine), three cases
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
for nouns and adjectives (nominative, accusative, and genitive); three numbers: (singular, dual, and plural); and verb aspects
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order for Ugaritic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor
Possession (linguistics)
Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, the referent of one of which possesses the referent of the other ....
(NG), and noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
–adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
(NA). Ugaritic is considered a conservative Semitic language, since it retains most of the Proto-Semitic phonemes, the basic qualities of the vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
, the case system, the word order of the Proto-Semitic ancestor, and the lack of the definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
.
Phonology
Ugaritic has 28 consonantal phonemes, including two semivowels. And eight vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
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).
| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Interdental Interdental consonant Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors... |
Dental/Alveolar | Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
Pharyngeal Pharyngeal consonant A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Emphatic | Plain | Emphatic | ||||||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | |||||||||
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||||
| voiceless | p | t | tˤ | k | q | ʔ | |||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiced | ð | ðˤ | z | ʒ | ɣ | ʕ | ||||
| voiceless | θ | s | sˤ | ʃ | x | ħ | h | ||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | ||||||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||||||
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
Tiberian Hebrew
Tiberian Hebrew is the extinct canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents in the Roman Empire. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias , in the form of the Tiberian vocalization...
:
| Proto-Semitic | Ugaritic | Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... |
Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew is the extinct canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents in the Roman Empire. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias , in the form of the Tiberian vocalization... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ب | [b] | בּ | [b] | ||
| ف | [f] | פּ | [p] | ||
| ذ | [ð] | ז | [z] | ||
| ث | [θ] | שׁ | [ʃ] | ||
| ظ | [ðˤ] | צ | [sˤ] | ||
| د | [d̪] | דּ | [d̪] | ||
| ت | [t̪] | תּ | [t̪] | ||
| ط | [t̪ˤ] | ט | [t̪ˤ] | ||
| س | [s] | שׁ | [ʃ] | ||
| ز | [z] | ז | [z] | ||
| س | [s] | ס | [s] | ||
| ص | [sˤ] | צ | [sˤ] | ||
| ل | [l] | ל | [l] | ||
| ش | [ʃ] | שׂ | [ɬ]→[s] | ||
| ض | [ɮˤ]→[dˤ] | צ | [sˤ] | ||
| ج | [ɡʲ]→[dʒ] | גּ | [ɡ] | ||
| ك | [k] | כּ | [k] | ||
| ق | [q] | ק | [q] | ||
| غ | [ɣ] | ע | [ʕ] | ||
| خ | [x] | ח | [ħ] | ||
| ع | [ʕ] | ע | [ʕ] | ||
| ح | [ħ] | ח | [ħ] | ||
| ء | [ʔ] | א | [ʔ] | ||
| ه | [h] | ה | [h] | ||
| م | [m] | מ | [m] | ||
| ن | [n̪] | נ | [n̪] | ||
| ر | [r] | ר | [ʀ] | ||
| و | [w] | ו | [v] | ||
| ي | [j] | י | [j] | ||
| Proto-Semitic | Ugaritic | Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... |
Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew is the extinct canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents in the Roman Empire. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias , in the form of the Tiberian vocalization... |
||
Word order
The word order for Ugaritic is VerbVerb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
Subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
Object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
(VSO), possessed–possessor
Possession (linguistics)
Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, the referent of one of which possesses the referent of the other ....
(NG), and noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
–adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
(NA).
Morphology
Ugaritic, like all Semitic languagesSemitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
, exhibits a unique pattern of stems consisting typically of "triliteral
Triliteral
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
", or 3-consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
consonantal roots
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
(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.
Aspects
Verbs in Ugaritic have 2 aspectsGrammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
: perfect for completed action (with pronominal
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
suffixes) and imperfect for uncompleted action (with pronominal
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
prefixes and suffixes). Verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
formation in Ugaritic is based on (like all Semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
) triconsonantal roots
Triliteral
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
. Affixes inserted into the root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
form different meanings. Taking the root
Triliteral
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
RGM (which means "to say") for example:
| 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 moodsGrammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
:
| Mood | |
|---|---|
| Indicative | yargumu |
| Jussive | yargum |
| Volitive | yarguma |
| Energic 1 | yargum(a)n |
| Energic 2 | yargumanna |
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 inflectionInflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
into: cases (nominative, genitive, and accusative), state (absolute and construct), gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
(masculine and feminine), and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular, dual
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
, and plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
).
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:| Nominative | Genitive | Accusative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Malku | Malki | Malka |
| Feminine | Malkatu | Malkati | Malkata |
As in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, some exceptional nouns (known as diptotes) have the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
-a in the genitive. There is no Ugaritic equivalent for Classical Arabic nunation
Nunation
In some Semitic languages, notably Arabic, nunation is the addition of a final nun to a noun or adjective to indicate that it is fully declinable and syntactically unmarked for definiteness....
or Akkadian mimation.
State
Nouns in Ugaritic occur in two statesCompound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
: absolute and construct
Status constructus
The construct state or status constructus is a noun form occurring in Afro-Asiatic languages. It is particularly common in Semitic languages , Berber languages, and in the extinct Egyptian language...
.
If a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
is followed by a genitival attribute (noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
in the genitive or suffixed pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
) it becomes a construct
Status constructus
The construct state or status constructus is a noun form occurring in Afro-Asiatic languages. It is particularly common in Semitic languages , Berber languages, and in the extinct Egyptian language...
(denoting possession). Otherwise, it is in the absolute state. Ugaritic, unlike Arabic and Hebrew, has no definite
Definiteness
In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
article
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
.
Gender
Nouns which have no genderGender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
marker
Marker (linguistics)
In linguistics, a marker is a free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. In analytic languages and agglutinative languages, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional languages and polysynthetic languages, this is often not...
are for the most part masculine, although some feminine nouns do not have a feminine marker
Marker (linguistics)
In linguistics, a marker is a free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. In analytic languages and agglutinative languages, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional languages and polysynthetic languages, this is often not...
. 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, dualDual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
when there are two, and plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
if there are three or more.
Singular
The singular has no marker
Marker (linguistics)
In linguistics, a marker is a free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. In analytic languages and agglutinative languages, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional languages and polysynthetic languages, this is often not...
and is inflected according to its case.
Dual
The marker for the dual
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
in the absolute state appears as /-m/. However, the vocalization
Speech production
Speech production is the process by which spoken words are selected to be produced, have their phonetics formulated and then finally are articulated by the motor system in the vocal apparatus...
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
Status constructus
The construct state or status constructus is a noun form occurring in Afro-Asiatic languages. It is particularly common in Semitic languages , Berber languages, and in the extinct Egyptian language...
, 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
Status constructus
The construct state or status constructus is a noun form occurring in Afro-Asiatic languages. It is particularly common in Semitic languages , Berber languages, and in the extinct Egyptian language...
they are /-ū/ and /-ī/ respectively. The female afformative plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
is /-āt/ with a case marker
Marker (linguistics)
In linguistics, a marker is a free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. In analytic languages and agglutinative languages, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional languages and polysynthetic languages, this is often not...
probably following the /-t/, giving /-ātu/ for the nominative and /-āti/ for the genitive and accusative in both absolute and construct state
Status constructus
The construct state or status constructus is a noun form occurring in Afro-Asiatic languages. It is particularly common in Semitic languages , Berber languages, and in the extinct Egyptian language...
.
Adjectives
Adjectives follow the nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
and are declined
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
exactly like the preceding noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
.
Independent personal pronouns
Independent personal pronouns in Ugaritic are as follows:| Person | singular | dual Dual (grammatical number) Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun... |
Plural Plural In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ʼanā, ʼanāku "I" | |||
| 2nd | masculine | ʼatta "you" | ʼattum- "you" | |
| feminine | ʼatti "you" | |||
| 3rd | masculine | huwa "he" | humā "they" | hum- "they" |
| feminine | hiya "she" | |||
Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns
SuffixSuffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
ed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive and accusative) are as follows:
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -ya "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" | ||
Numerals
The following is a table of Ugaritic numeralsNumeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers, that is a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using graphemes or symbols in a consistent manner....
:
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ʼaḥad- | |
| 2 | ṯināmi | ṯitāmi |
| 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 | |
| 30 | ṯalāṯūma | |
| 100 | miʼat- | |
| 1000 | ʼalp- | |
See also
- UgaritUgaritUgarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
- Ugaritic languageUgaritic languageThe following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:-Grammar:Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian...
- Ugaritic alphabetUgaritic alphabetThe Ugaritic script is a cuneiform abjad used from around 1400 BCE for Ugaritic, an extinct Northwest Semitic language, and discovered in Ugarit , Syria, in 1928. It has 30 letters...
- Northwest Semitic languagesNorthwest Semitic languagesThe Northwest Semitic languages form a medium-level division of the Semitic language family. The languages of this group are spoken by approximately eight million people today. The group is generally divided into three branches: Ugaritic , Canaanite and Aramaic...
- Central Semitic languagesCentral Semitic languagesThe Central Semitic languages are a proposed intermediate group of Semitic languages, comprising Arabic and the Northwest Semitic languages ....
- Semitic LanguagesSemitic languagesThe Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
- Proto-Semitic languageProto-Semitic languageProto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language ancestral to historical Semitic languages of the Middle East. Locations which have been proposed for its origination include northern Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant with a 2009 study proposing that it may have originated around...
External links
- Ugarit and the Bible (An excerpt from an online introductory course on Ugaritic grammar (the Quartz Hill School of Theology's course noted in the links below); includes a cursory discussion on the relationship between Ugaritic and Old Testament/Hebrew Bible literature.)
- Introduction to Ugaritic Grammar (Quartz Hill School of Theology)
- Unicode Chart