The Sumerian copular clause is an intransitive clause which consists of two main parts: a) the subject and b)a non-verbal predicate. The predicate itself consists of two parts: i) a structural unit functioning as the predicate complement (= PC) and ii) a copula.
The Sumerian copula is a verbal copula formed from the verb me“to be”.
It has two forms: the independent and the enclitic copula. The independent copula is a finite verb with at least one verbal prefix, while the enclitic copula is attached to the last word of the clause without any prefix. As a rule, the predicate complement is situated next to the copula; if the copula is enclitic, then it cliticizes to the predicate complement. In copular clauses, where the constituent next to the copula is the predicate complement, the predicate complement as a rule predicates a property about a referential S. Ex. (132) contains a 3rd ps. sg. enclitic copula cliticized to the last unit of the predicate complement:
(132) En-metena 7 21–22 (RIME 1.9.5.7) (Lagash, 25th c.) (P222539)
ud-ba du-du, saŋŋa dnin-ŋir₂-su₂-ka-kam
ud=be=ʾa S[dudu=ø] PC[saŋŋa ninŋirsuk=ak=ø]=am-ø day=DEM=L1 S[PN=ABS] PC[official DN=GEN=ABS]=COP-3.SG.S
“At that time Dudu was the temple administrator of the god Ningirsu.”
As other stative verbs in Sumerian, the copula too has only a preterite and no present-future form. Both the independent and the enclitic copula are suffixed with the set of pronominal suffixes that are coreferential with the participant in the absolutive case in preterite tense verbal forms (called Set B in Table 9.1, in Lesson 9, section 9.1. below). The final /e/of the copula and the initial /e/of the pronominal suffixes are contracted to a single vowel, which may have been long.
Table 9.1: Forms of the copula
In the 3rd ps. sg., the enclitic copula uses a special stem, the stem /am/instead of /me/. The 3rd ps. sg. enclitic copula is written as –am₆(AN)until around 24th c. BCE, and later as –am₃(A.AN).
If a noun phrase ends in a vowel, the vowel of the 3rd ps. sg. enclitic copula /am/contracts with the vowel. The contraction is, however, reflected by the writing only when the preceding morpheme is written with a phonographic sign as in ex. (133) below. In ex. (134) the enclitic copula follows a word sign, the copula and the preceding word most probably contracted to /esim/, yet the writing does not reflect the contraction. In a similar example, ex. (135), where the preceding morpheme is written with a phonographic sign, the contraction is reflected also by the writing.
(133) BM 106540 obv. 3 (Umma, 21st c.) (P200724) nin₉-ŋu₁₀-um
PC[nin=ŋu=ø]=am-ø
PC[sister=1.SG.POSS=ABS]=COP-3.SG.S
“She is my sister.”
(134) Gudea Statue B 7:54 (Lagash, 22nd c.) (P232275)
na₄esi-am₃
PC[esi=ø]=am-ø
PC[diorit=ABS]=COP-3.SG.S
“(The statue) is of diorite.”
SINGULAR PLURAL
1ST 2ND 3RD 1ST 2ND 3RD
INDEPENDENT -me-en -me-en -me-ø -me-enden -me-enzen -me-eš
ENCLITIC =me-en =me-en =am-ø =me-enden =me-enzen =me-eš
LESSON8
108
(135) Shu-Suen 1 4:44-46 (RIME 3/2.1.4.1) (P227137)
iriki-ba, dšu-dsuen, diŋir-be₂-em
PC’s POSS[iri=be=ak] S[šusuen=ø] PC[diŋir=be=ø]=am-ø
PC’s POSS[city=3.SG.NH.POSS=GEN] S[PN=ABS] PC[god=3.SG.NH.POSS=ABS]=COP-3.SG.S
“Of their town, Shu-Suen is its protective god.”
In literary contexts, see exx. (136) and (137) below, and in personal names of the 3rd millennium BCE, see ex. (138) below, the copula may use yet another stem, the stem /(na)nam/. This stem may derive from a modal form of the copula: na-me-ø(= MOD-COP-3.SG.S), which became /nam/ after the loss of the stem final -/e/,and was expanded again pleonastically with the affirmative epistemic modal prefix /na/-. The form may, at least originally, have expressed epistemic certainty, see Lesson 16, section 16.2 below.
(136) Lugalbanda in the mountain cave 59 (ETCSL 1.8.2.1) (P227137)
ud-be₂-a 7 ḫe₂-na-me-eš
ud=be=ʾa PC[7=ø] S1ḫa-S12i-S12nam-S14eš day=DEM=L1 PC[7=ABS] MOD-FIN-COP-3.PL.S
“At that time there were seven of them.”
(137) Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana 15 (ETCSL 1.8.2.4)
sukkal en arattaki-ka sukkal an-sig₇-ga-ri-a
PC’s POSS[sukkal en aratta=ak=ak] S[sukkal ansigariʾa=ø]
PC’s POSS[minister lord GN=GEN=GEN] S[minister PN=ABS] mu-ne₂ ḫe₂-en-na-nam
PC[mu=ane=ø] S1ḫa-S12i-S12nanam-S14ø
PC[name=3.SG.H.POSS=ABS] MOD-FIN-COP-3.SG.S
“Now the name of the lord of Aratta’s minister was minister Ansiga-ria.”
(138) BIN 8, 345 obv. 7:6 (Lagash, 24th c.) (P221476)
dba-u₂-na-nam
PC[bau=ak]=nanam-ø
PC[DN=GEN]=COP-3.SG.S
“She/he belongs to Bau.”
The S of a copular clause is in the absolutive case. The copula agrees in person and number with the S. The S of a copular clause may be expressed in three ways:
i) both as an overt lexical noun phrase and by a pronominal suffix on the copula, see, e.g., ex. (132) above; ii) solely by the pronominal suffix on the copula, see, e.g., ex. (133) above; or iii) both as an independent pronoun and by a pronominal suffix on the copula, see, e.g., ex. (144) below.
Non-verbal predication and other uses of the copula
As a rule, the predicate complement is in the absolutive case. Less frequently it may be in the genitive, as in exx. (139), (140); ablative (expressing an instrumental meaning), as in ex. (141); or equative, as in ex. (142) below:
(139) En-ana-tum I 2 rev. 2:5 (RIME 1.9.4.2) (Lagash, 24th c.) (P222496) an-ta-su-ra ŋa₂-kam
S[antasura=ø] PC[ŋe=ak]=am-ø
S[GN=ABS] PC[1.SG.PR=GEN]=COP-3.SG.S
“The Antasura is mine!”
(140) TCS 1, 177 rev. 2 (unknown, 21st c.) (P145700) gu₂-na-kam
PC[gu=ane=ak]=am-ø
PC[neck=3.SG.H.POSS=GEN]=COP-3.SG.S
“It is of his neck.” = “It is his responsibility.”
(141) NG 214 obv. 1:8 (Umma, 21st c.) (P131761) inim ur-niŋarŋar nu-banda₃-ta-am3
PC[inim urniŋar nubanda=ak=ta]=am-ø
PC[word PN overseer=GEN=ABL]=COP-3.SG.S
“This was with the permission of Urnigar, the overseer.”
(142) TCS 1, 327 obv. 3-4 (Lagash, 21st c.) (P111288)
a₂ tug₂ gada-a du-a,
“The wages for ‘walking’ on cloth and line are as those of Urim.”
The independent and the enclitic copula have a complementary distribution. The independent form of the copula is used i) when the meaning of the predicate requires the use of a verbal prefix other than the finite-marker prefix (this verbal prefix is a modal prefix in S1 in ex. [143], while it is the coordinator prefix in S3 in ex. [144]); ii) in subordinate copula clauses, which may be a complement clause as in ex. (145), or a relative clause as in ex. (146). In morphosyntactic environments different to i) andii), the enclitic copula is used. The enclitic copula thus occurs in place of a not subordinate independent copula whose prefix-chain consists exclusively of a finite-marker prefix. It may have come into being through the syncopation of the finite-marker prefix /i/-. As it often happens, the original, i.e., the independent form was retained in subordinate contexts.
LESSON8
110
(143) Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird 106 (ETCSL 1.8.2.2)
diŋir ḫe₂-me-en
PC[diŋir=ø] S1ḫa-S2i-S12me-S14en
PC[god=ABS] MOD-FIN-COP-2.SG.S
“if you are a god, ….”
(144) Shulgi C 9 (ETCSL 2.4.2.03)
niŋ₂-erim₂-ma usan₃ bar-uš-be₂
PC’s POSS[niŋerim=ak] PC[usan baruš=be=ø]
PC’s POSS[evil=GEN] PC[scourge stick=3.SG.NH.POSS=ABS]
ŋe₂₆ in-ga-me-en₃
S[ŋe=ø] S2i-S3nga-S12me-S14en
S[1.SG.PR=ABS] FIN-COOR-COP-1.SG.S
“As for all evil, their scourge and stick are also me.”
(145) NG 212 obv. 2:4 (Umma, 21st c.) (P142272)
arad dšara₂ i₃-me-a
PC[arad šara=ak=ø] S2i-S12me-S14ø-S15ʾa=ak
PC[slave GN=GEN=ABS] FIN-COP-3.SG.S-SUB=GEN
“(Lugalazida is to take the assertory oath) that he (= Lugalitida) is a slave of the god Shara”.
(146) ASJ 4, p. 141, no. 6 obv. 2 (Drehem, 21st c.) (P102167) ud tur5-ra i3-me-a
ud PC[tur-ʾa=ø] S2i-S12me-S14ø-S15ʾa=ʾa day PC[ill-PT=ABS] FIN-COP-3.SG.S-SUB=L1
“When he was ill.”
Non-verbal predicates may be negated in two ways: i) The negative equivalent of a copular clause with a 3rd ps. sg. S and an enclitic copula is negated solely with the negative particle /nu/-and the negative clause contains no copula;
ii) if the S is notin the 3rd ps. sg. and/or the copula is notenclitic, then the clause is negated with an independent copula prefixed with the negation prefix /nu/-.
In ex. (147) below the first clause is negated with the particle /nu/-, while the second is negated with an independent copula prefixed with the negation particle /nu/-; see also exx. (507) and (508) below in Lesson 16, exercise 16.3.
(147) Gudea Statue B 7:49–50 (Lagash, 22nd c.) (P232275)
alan-e, u₃ kug nu
S[alan=e=ø] u PC[kug=ø] nu
S[statue=DEM=ABS] and PC[silver=ABS] NEG
Non-verbal predication and other uses of the copula
za-gin₃ nu-ga-am₃
PC[zagin=ø] S1nu-S2i-S3nga-S12me-S14ø
PC[lapis.lazuli=ABS] NEG-FIN-COOR-COP-3.SG.S
“This statue is of neither silver nor lapis lazuli.”
The affirmative equivalent of the first clause would contain the 3rd ps. sg. form of the enclitic copula (*kug=ø=am-ø: silver=ABS=COP-3.SG.S), while the affirmative equivalent of the second clause would contain an independent copula because of the presence of a coordinator prefix in S3 (*S2i-S3nga-S12me-S14ø:FIN-COOR
-COP-3.SG.S). The difference in the way the two clauses are negated in ex. (147) is thus conditioned by the form of the copula in the corresponding affirmative clauses.
Non-verbal predicates may be used to express a range of semantic relations.
In English, for example, the same verb, the verb “to be”, is used to express identity, attribution, possession, benefaction, and location. In Sumerian, only the first four of the semantic relations mentioned are expressed with the copular verb me“to be”, while for location a different verb, the verb ŋal₂“to exist somewhere”, is used.