Syntactic change in Akkadian : the evolution of sentential complementation

Akkadian is one of the earliest attested languages and the oldest recorded Semitic language.

It exists in written record between 2500BC and 500BC, much of it in letters and reports concerned with domestic and business matters, and written in colloquial language.

It provides a unique and valuable source for the study of linguistic change but which, perhaps because of the impenetrability of its writing system, has rarely been exploited by linguists.

In this book, Guy Deutscher examines the historical development of subordinate structures in Akkadian.

A case study comprises the first two parts of the book, presenting an historical grammar of sentential complementation.

Part I traces the emergence of new structures and describes how the finite complements first emerged in Babylonian.

It also explains the grammaticalization of the quotative construction.

Part II is a functional history which examines the changes in the functional roles of different structures.

It shows how, during the history of the language, finite complements and embedded questions became more widespread, whereas other structures (e.g. infinite complements, parataxis, etc.) receded.This book is intended for general linguists (mainly with functional/cognitive orientation), historical linguists, Assyriologists, Orientalists, and scholars working on Semitic languages.