Sideltsev Andrej͏ V. Passive or Intransitive? The case of hark- 'perish' and voice / transitivity in Hittite.
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2022. 18(1): 377–411DOI: 10.30842/alp23065737181377411
The paper discusses the use of intransitive verbs as passives in Hittite. In particular, it offers a new assessment of a number of uses of the verb harkw hich is traditionally analyzed as intransitive 'perish'. The careful study of the contexts as well as cross-linguistic parallels suggest that in a number of cases the verb functions as passive to the two verbs that are derived from the same root - harnink- and harganu-, both meaning 'destroy'. More generally, the paper argues that any intransitive verb in Hittite can potentially be used as passive if there is a transitive verb from the same stem, root or even just a semantically compatible verb. This happens irrespective of whether the intransitive verb is active or middle and holds true for the New Hittite period. In this way the paper presents a single account of three classes of verbs: suppletive passives (akk- 'be killed' alongside kuen- 'kill'), intransitive verbs alongside a derived causative (hark- 'be destroyed' alongside harganu- / harnink- 'destroy') and middles alongside active verbs (šarra- 'be divided' alongside šarra- 'divide') in Hittite.
In the broader cross-linguistic perspective the Hittite data attest the standard alternation anticausative — causative from the same stem with anticausative attesting a supplementary passive function for the causative verb, also common in the languages of the world. The curious fact that one of the passives for the causative verbs harnink- and harganu- derived from the anticausative hark- is supplied by the anticausative hark- itself is important evidence in favor of the indistinguishability of anticausatives and passives and an argument to divorce passive from the formally marked middle voice or from analytical forms.
Hittite is a language with morphological marking of voice as middle or analytical passives. However, voice in Hittite is closely tied in with anticausatives. It was shown by [Luraghi 2010; 2012; Inglese 2018] that passive voice is diachronically a reanalysis of anticausative and synchronically in one of the periods of the Hittite language evolution it cooccurs with anticausatives. I extend the proposal to the broader domain and show that passive in Hittite is not associated with any formal voice marking, but rather with anticausatives generally. Anticausatives marked both by active verbal morphology and by middle verbal morphology (both synthetically and analytically) can occasionally function as passives to the alternating causative verb.
In the broader cross-linguistic perspective the Hittite data attest the standard alternation anticausative — causative from the same stem with anticausative attesting a supplementary passive function for the causative verb, also common in the languages of the world. The curious fact that one of the passives for the causative verbs harnink- and harganu- derived from the anticausative hark- is supplied by the anticausative hark- itself is important evidence in favor of the indistinguishability of anticausatives and passives and an argument to divorce passive from the formally marked middle voice or from analytical forms.
Hittite is a language with morphological marking of voice as middle or analytical passives. However, voice in Hittite is closely tied in with anticausatives. It was shown by [Luraghi 2010; 2012; Inglese 2018] that passive voice is diachronically a reanalysis of anticausative and synchronically in one of the periods of the Hittite language evolution it cooccurs with anticausatives. I extend the proposal to the broader domain and show that passive in Hittite is not associated with any formal voice marking, but rather with anticausatives generally. Anticausatives marked both by active verbal morphology and by middle verbal morphology (both synthetically and analytically) can occasionally function as passives to the alternating causative verb.
Authors:
Sideltsev Andrej͏ V.
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia)
acidelcev@gmail.com
Andrej͏ V. Sideltsev
References:
A. Alexiadou, F. Schäfer. Instrument Subjects are Agents or Causers. D. Baumer, D. Montero, M. Scanlon (eds.). Proceedings of the 25th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla, 2006. P. 40–48.
A. Alexiadou, E. Anagnostopoulou, F. Schäfer. External Arguments in Transitivity Alternations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
H. Güterbock, H. Hoffner, Th. van den Hout (eds.). The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1989–.
A. Covini. Formazioni causativi nelle lingue indoeuropee di più antica attestazione. PhD Dissertation, Università per stranieri di Siena, Universität zu Köln, 2017.
A. Covini. Ersatzkontinuanten e ricostruzione indoeuropea: ie. *h₃elh₁- […] > itt. hark(iye/a)-mi 'cadere in rovina', harni(n)k-mi, harganu-mi 'mandare in rovina'. Annali del Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Linguistici e Comparati. Sezione linguistica. Vol. 7. 2018. P. 13–46.
A. Garrett. The syntax of Anatolian Pronominal Clitics. PhD Dissertation, Harvard University, 1990.
A. Garrett. Wackernagel's Law and Unaccusativity in Hittite. A. L. Halpern, A. M. Zwicky (eds.). Approaching Second. Second Position Clitics and Related Phenomena. (CSLI Lecture Notes Number 61). Stanford, California: CSLI Publications Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1996. P. 85–134.
P. Goedegebuure. The Hittite Demonstratives. (StBoT 55). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014.
J. Puhvel. Hittite Etymological Dictionary. (Trends in Linguistics, Documentation 1). Berlin; New York; Amsterdam: Mouton, 1984–.
H. Hoffner, Jr. Hittite Myths. 2nd ed. (SBL WAW 2). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1998.
H. Hoffner, Jr. The Case Against Ura-tarhunta and his Father Ukkura. W. Hallo, K. Younger (eds.). The Context of Scripture. Vol. 1. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 57–60.
H. Hoffner, Jr., H. Craig Melchert. A Grammar of the Hittite Language. Pt. 1. Reference Grammar. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2018. van den Hout 2003 — Th. van den Hout. Apology of Hattusili III. W. Hallo, K. Younger (eds.). The Context of Scripture. Vol. 1. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2003. P. 199–204.
G. Inglese. The Hittite Middle Voice. PhD Dissertation, University of Bergamo, 2018.
A. Kloekhorst. Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2008.
S. Luraghi. Transitivity, Intransitivity and Diathesis in Hittite. IndoEuropean Linguistics and Classical Philology. 2010. Vol. 14. P. 133–154.
S. Luraghi. Basic valency orientation and the middle voice in Hittite. Studies in Language. 2012. Vol. 36. Pt. 1. P. 1–32.
S. Luraghi. Basic valency orientation, the anticausative alternation, and voice in PIE. M. Malzahn, H. Fellner, Th.-S. Illés (eds.). Zurück zur Wurzel — Struktur, Funktion und Semantik der Wurzel im Indogermanischen. Akten der Tagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 13. bis 16. September 2016 in Wien. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2022. P. 185–196.
E. Lyutikova, A. Sideltsev. Voice alternations in Hittite non-finite verbal forms (under review).
E. Lyutikova, A. Sideltsev. Voice neutrality in Hittite infinitives: a restructuring analysis (under review).
E. Neu. Interpretation der hethitischen mediopassiven Verbalformen. (StBoT 5). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1968.
E. Neu. Das hethitische Mediopassive und seine indogermanische Grundlagen. (StBoT 6). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1968.
A. Shatskov. Passive Uses of Middle Verb Forms in Hittite. IndoEuropean Linguistics and Classical Philology. 2010. Vol. 14. P. 444–449 (in Russian).
A. Shatskov. Hittite Nasal Presents. PhD Dissertation, Leiden University, 2017.
I. Singer. Hittite Prayers. (SBL Writings from the Ancient World 11). Atlanta, Georgia: Society of Biblical literature, 2002.
Issue
18 (2022) 1
Документ