Editing Sumerian language (section)

==== Pronominal agreement with subjects and direct objects ====
Sumerian verbal agreement follows a [[nominative–accusative language|nominative–accusative]] pattern in the 1st and 2nd persons of the ''marû'' [[Grammatical tense|tense]]-[[Grammatical aspect|aspect]], but an [[ergative–absolutive language|ergative–absolutive]] pattern in most other forms of the [[indicative mood]]. Because of this presence of both patterns, Sumerian is considered a language with [[split ergativity]].<ref name=":43">Zólyomi (2017: 125)</ref> The general principle is that in the ''ḫamṭu'' TA, the transitive subject is expressed by the prefix, and the direct object by the suffix, and in the ''marû'' TA it is the other way round. For example, {i-'''b'''-dab-'''en'''} can be a ''ḫamṭu'' form meaning "it caught me", where {-b-} expresses the subject "it" and {-en} expresses the object "I". However, it can also be a ''marû'' form meaning "I will catch it", where {-en} expresses the subject "I" and {-b-} expresses the object "it". As for the intransitive subject, it is expressed, in both TAs, by the suffixes. For example, {i-kaš-'''en'''} is "I ran", and {i-kaš-ed-'''en'''} can be "I will run". This means that the intransitive subject is treated like the object in ''ḫamṭu'' (which makes the ''ḫamṭu'' pattern ergative) and like the subject in ''marû'' (which makes the ''marû'' pattern nominative-accusative).

There are two exceptions from the above generalization:

1. A transitive subject of the ''third'' person in ''marû'' uses unique suffixes that are ''not'' the same as those of the intransitive subject and the ''ḫamṭu'' direct object. For example, while "they ran" can be {i-kaš-'''eš'''}, just as "it caught them" can be {i-b-dab-'''eš'''}, the corresponding form for "they will catch it" would be {i-b-dab-'''ene'''}. This pattern can be described as a case of [[tripartite alignment]].<ref name=":43" />

2. A plural transitive subject in the ''ḫamṭu'' TA is expressed not only by the prefix, but also by the suffix: e.g. {i-'''n'''-dab-'''eš'''} can mean "they caught (it)". Specifically, the prefix expresses only the person, while the suffix expresses both the person and the number of the subject.<ref>Zólyomi (2017: 126-127)</ref>

Note that the prefixes of the plural transitive subject are identical to those of the singular – -/V/-, -/e/-, -/n/- – as opposed to the special plural forms ''-me-'', ''-e-ne-'', ''-ne-'' found in non-pre-stem position.

The use of the personal affixes for subjects and direct objects can be summarized as follows:<ref>Mostly based on Jagersma (2010: 359-363) and Zólyomi (2017: 126-127). Cf. also Foxvog (2016: 62-63), Thomsen: (2001: 142-154), Michalowski (2004), Rubio (2007: 1357-1359), Edzard (2003: 81-89), Sallaberger (2023: 103-106) for slightly different descriptions or formulations.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
! colspan="3" |''ḫamṭu''
! colspan="3" |''marû''
|-
!
!Direct object 
!Intransitive subject
!Transitive subject
!Direct object 
!Intransitive subject
!Transitive subject
|-
!1st sing
|...-/en/
|...-/en/
| -/V/{{Efn|In Old Babylonian texts, ''-e-'' for the 1st person singular may occur, making it identical with the 2nd person singular just as they are identical in the suffixes, but this may be the result of a late analogy (Edzard 2003: 87, cf. Michalowski 2007).}}-...  
| -/V/{{efn|A significant minority of Sumerologists believe that the prefixes of the 1st and 2nd person are /-en-/ rather than /-V-/ and /-e-/ when they stand for the object (i.e. in ''marû''). That would be indistinguishable in writing (and even possibly, according to some, also in speech<ref name="Edzard84"/>) from the 3rd person animate ''-n-''.<ref name="Edzard84">Edzard (2003: 84-85)</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Attinger 1993, Khachikyan 2007: "Towards the Aspect System in Sumerian". In: ''Babel und Bibel'' 3.)</ref><ref name="Jager363">See references and objections by Jagersma (2010: 363).</ref>}}-...
|...-/en/
|...-/en/
|-
!2nd sing
|...-/en/
|...-/en/
| -/e/-...
| -/e/{{efn|A significant minority of Sumerologists believe that the prefixes of the 1st and 2nd person are /-en-/ rather than /-e-/ when they stand for the object (i.e. in ''marû''); that would often be indistinguishable from the 3rd person animate ''-n-''.<ref name="Edzard84"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="Jager363"/>}}-...
|...-/en/
|...-/en/
|-
!3rd sing
animate
|...-/Ø/
|...-/Ø/
| -/n/-...
| -/n/-...
|...-/Ø/
|...-/e/
|-
!3rd inanimate{{efn|The inanimate agreement marker has no number distinction.}}
|...-/Ø/
|...-/Ø/
| -/b/-...
| -/b/-{{efn|According to several researchers, -/b/- as a direct object marker may be absent under conditions that are not entirely clear; in particular, several verbs such as 𒌣 ''de<sub>2</sub>'' "pour", 𒆕 ''řu<sub>2</sub>'' "build", 𒃻 ''g̃ar'' "put" and 𒂊 ''e'' "say" very often (but not always) lack it.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 364-366, Zólyomi 2017: 128)</ref>}}
|...-/Ø/
|...-/e/
|-
!1st pl
|...-/enden/
|...-/enden/
| -/V/-...-/enden/
| -/me/-?<ref>Sallaberger (2023: 106), Foxvog (2016: 123)</ref>
|...-/enden/
|...-/enden/
|-
!2nd pl
|...-/enzen/
|...-/enzen/
| -/e/-...-/enzen/
| -/e-ne/-?
|...-/enzen/
|...-/enzen/
|-
!3rd pl (animate only)
|...-/eš/
|...-/eš/
| -/n/-...-/eš/
| -/ne/-,{{efn|-/nne/- with geminate /n/ according to Jagersma (2010:339-340)}} -/b/-{{efn|The morpheme -/ne/- for the 3rd person animate plural subject was used in Old Sumerian and was replaced by -/b/- in Neo-Sumerian.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 339-340)</ref>}}
|...-/eš/
|...-/ene/
|}

Examples for TA and pronominal agreement: (''ḫamṭu'' is rendered with past tense, ''marû'' with present):

* {i-gub-en} (𒉌𒁺𒁉𒂗): "I stood" or "I stand"
* {i-n-gub-en} (𒅔𒁺𒁉𒂗): "he placed me" or "I place him"
* {i-sug-enden} (𒉌𒁻𒂗𒉈𒂗): "we stood/stand"
* {i-n-dim-enden} (𒅔𒁶𒂗𒉈𒂗): "he created us" or "we create him"
* {mu-V-dim-enden} (𒈬𒁶𒂗𒉈𒂗): "we created [someone or something]"
* {i-b-gub-e} (𒌈𒁺𒁉) "he places it"
* {i-b-dim-ene} (𒌈𒁶𒈨''𒉈''): "they create it"
* {i-n-dim-eš} (𒅔𒁶𒈨𒌍): "they created [someone or something]" or "he created them"
* {i-sug-eš} (𒉌𒁻𒄀𒌍): "they stood" or "they stand".