On Mon, 20 Jan 2003 15:33:55 -0000, "tgpedersen
<
tgpedersen@...>" <
tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>C. Boisson: The Sumerian Pronominal system in a Nostratic Perspective
>in: V. Shevoroshkin (ed.) Nostratic, Dene-Caucaian, Austric and
>Amerind
>
>has for the roots of pronouns in the two dialects of Sumerian
>
>Emegir
>1st sg. g~á
>2nd sg. za, zé
>
>Emesal
>1st sg. me
>2nd sg. ze
>
>He hypothesizes that Emesal was the more archaic of the two dialects
>and that it was a woman's language.
"eme-sal is the Sumerian term for the language used in certain texts
such as hymns and laments. It thus seems to be a sort of literary
dialect. Emesal may, however, also occur in shorter passages of other
literary compositions and then especially in direct speech of women"
(Thomsen, The Sumerian Language, p. 285)
Compare:
"By now Sanskrit was not a mother tongue but a language to be studied
and consciously mastered. This transformation had come about through a
gradual process, the beginnings of which are no doubt earlier than
Pa:n.ini hinmself. Something of the true position must be refelected
in the drama, where not merely the characters of low social status but
also the women and young children speak some variety of Prakrit"
(Coulson, Sanskrit, xxi)
In my opinion, Emesal stands to Emegir as Prakrit to Sanskrit, and
represents a later stage of Sumerian.
The differences between Emesal and Emegir are mainly phonetical, and
one of the differences is that Emegir g~ corresponds to Emesal m (and
usually Akkadian m as well). The transcription symbol /g~/ is usually
interpreted as standing for a labialized velar nasal /ngw/, but
perhaps Emegir g~ / Emesal m [remember that Akkadian <m> can stand for
/w/] represent an earlier Pre-Sumerian *w (which allows for some nice
comparisons, such as Sum. dag~al/damal "wide" <-> Semitic t.awal
"wide", Basque zabal (< *dawal?) "wide", Hittite tuwala "far away"; or
Sum. s^eg~3 "to rain", s^eg~6 "to boil" <-> PIE *seu- "to rain", *seu-
"to boil"; or dig~g~ir/dingir "god" <-> PIE *diw- "sky" + *wir = g~ir2
"to lighten, flash").
If so, g~a-/ma- (gã-e, ma-e > me.e) would go back to *wa. Possessive
g~u10 "my" (< *wu) vs. 1pl. -me "our".
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...