Editing Sumerian language (section)

===== Pronominal prefixes =====
The forms of the pronominal prefixes are the following:<ref>Jagersma (2010: 381-389, 327-338). The pronominal prefix set used before dimensional prefixes and the one used as subject/object markers before the stem are commonly listed separately, but the latter are a subset of the former.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!prefix
!Notes
|-
!1st person singular
| -/ʔ/-? ''>'' /'''‑'''V-/{{efn|Also ''-e-'' in some Old Babylonian texts. Note that ''-e-'', too, had a tendency to assimilate to the preceding vowel.<ref>Edzard 2003: 87</ref><ref>Michalowski 2004</ref>}}
|The vowel -/V/- is identical to that of the preceding prefix (𒈬𒅇 ''mu-'''u<sub>3</sub>'''-'', 𒁀𒀀 ''ba-'''a'''-'', 𒉈𒉌 ''bi<sub>2</sub>''-'''''i<sub>3</sub>''-''' etc.). Possibly originally a glottal stop /ʔ/,<ref name=":14">Jagersma (2009: 337-339)</ref><ref name=":15">Zólyomi (2017: 125-126, 162-163)</ref> which was later elided with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.
|-
!2nd person singular
|''𒂊 -e-'', <br />‑/r/‑
| -/r/- before a vowel (before the dative and the directive prefixes, resulting in 𒊏 ''-ra-'' and 𒊑 '''''‑'''ri-''); 
-/e/- before a consonant. -/e/- is assimilated to the preceding vowel, lengthening it (e.g. 𒈬𒂊 ''mu-'''e'''-'' > 𒈬𒅇 ''mu-'''u<sub>3</sub>'''-'' etc.) in the dialects attested before the Old Babylonian period.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":15" /> In the Old Babylonian dialect ''-e-'' is preserved (e.g. 𒈬''𒂊 mu-'''e'''-'') and the preceding vowel may assimilate to the -/e/- instead: e.g. 𒈨 ''m'''e'''-''.<ref name=":15" />
|-
!3rd person singular animate
|‑/n(n)/-
|According to Jagersma and a number of other scholars,<ref name=":47">Jagersma (2010: 401-403, 421-423), Zólyomi (2017: 163), Sallaberger (2023: 112-113), Zamudio (2017: 144), possibly Attinger (2009: 6, 31).</ref> the allomorph that appears in front of the vowel-initial dimensional prefixes, i.e. in front of dative -/a/- and directive -/i/-, is a geminate /nn/.{{Efn|Among other things, the assumption of a geminate allomorph ''-nn-'' explains the fact that the finite prefix /i/- occurs in front of the dative prefix sequence written 𒈾 ''-na-'' and the directive prefix sequence written 𒉌 ''-ni-''.<ref>Jagersma 2010: 403</ref> This would have been unexpected if -''n''- were a single consonant, because /i/- otherwise never appears in front of a single consonant (unless it is the stem-initial one).<ref name=jagersma_i3>Jagersma (2010: 526-528)</ref> It also explains why /mu-/ is sometimes assimilated before the locative ({mu-ni-} ''mi-ni-''), but never before the personal prefix followed by the directive ({mu-nn-i}) ''mu-ni-''/''mu-un-ni-''.<ref name=jagersma_mini>Jagersma (2010: 501-504)</ref>}} The traditional view assumes simply /n/.<ref>So in Thomsen (2001), Edzard (2003), Rubio (2007), Foxvog (2016),  Michalowski (2020).</ref> The geminate analysis is assumed in the examples and glosses in this article.
|-
!3rd person inanimate
|‑/b/‑
|Seems to be absent in some cases, see the main text. Note that the inanimate agreement marker has no number distinction.
|-
!1st person plural
|''𒈨 -me-''{{Efn|The 1st person plural dative marker, like the corresponding singular, seems to include the ventive prefix (Jagersma 2010: 390, 410).}}
| rowspan="3" |When the prefix is placed immediately before the stem and expresses a transitive subject, the singular is used instead. See the table in [[#Pronominal agreement with subjects and direct objects|''Pronominal agreement with subjects and direct objects'']].
As in the singular, the 3rd person animate form begins in a geminate /nn/ according to Jagersma and others.<ref name=":47" />
|-
!2nd person plural
|𒂊𒉈<br />''‑e‑ne-'',{{efn|Only attested in late texts.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 381)</ref> For the dative and the directive, the singular form {-r-} is sometimes used with plural reference as well (resulting in {-r-a-} and {-r-i-}, respectively), and this is sometimes combined with the plural suffix {-enzen}, which otherwise normally refers only to subjects and direct objects.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 399, 407), Attinger (1993: 237)</ref> This may be an Old Babylonian innovation.<ref>Thomsen (2001: 221), Attinger (1993: 231, 237)</ref>}} <br /> ''-re-''?<ref>Rubio (2007: 1351)</ref> 
|-
!3rd person plural
(animate only)
|𒉈<br /> ''‑nne-''
|}

Confusingly, the subject and object prefixes (/-n-/, /-b-/, /-e-/, /-V-/) are not commonly spelled out in early texts, as both coda consonants and vowel length are often ignored in them. The "full" spellings do become more usual during the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]] (in the Neo-Sumerian period) and especially during the Old Babylonian period. Thus, in earlier texts, one finds 𒈬𒀝 ''mu-ak'' and 𒉌𒀝 ''i<sub>3</sub>-ak'' (𒂊𒀝 ''e-ak'' in Southern Sumerian) instead of 𒈬𒌦𒀝 ''mu-un-ak'' and 𒅔𒀝 ''in-ak'' for {mu-n-ak} and {i-n-ak} "he/she made", and also 𒈬𒀝 ''mu-ak'' instead of Neo-Sumerian 𒈬(𒅇)𒀝 ''mu(''-''u<sub>3</sub>)-ak''  or Old Babylonian 𒈬𒂊𒀝 ''mu-e-ak'' "you made". Vowel length never came to be expressed systematically, so the 1st person prefix was often graphically -∅- during the entire existence of Sumerian.