Editing Sumerian language (section)

==== Passive voice ====
Some scholars believe that it is possible to speak of a [[passive voice]] in Sumerian. Jagersma (2010) distinguishes three attested passive constructions.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 303-307). Zolyomi (2017) also mentions the second and third constructions. Edzard (2003: 95) notes the second one.</ref> In each case, the ergative participant and the corresponding agreement marker on the verb are removed, so that the verb is inflected intransitively, but there may also be some additional cues to ensure a passive interpretation. The passive may be formed:

# By simply eliminating the agent of a transitive verb and the corresponding agreement marker: {'''engar-e''' e i-'''n'''-řu} "the farmer built the house" > † {e i-řu} "the house was built".<ref>The same construction is described by Hayes (2000: 235).</ref> As a dynamic passive, in reference to the event itself, this construction is obsolete in ''ḫamṭu'' by the time of the earliest records according to Jagersma''.'' However, it is still used with modal prefixes and in ''marû'': e.g. {e ḫa-i-řu} "May the house be built!" Moreover, it continues to be used as a stative passive in Southern Sumerian, so {e i-řu} can mean "the house is built (i.e. complete)".
# With the prefix 𒁀 ''ba-'', e.g. {e ba-řu}. This is only found in Southern Sumerian and expresses only a dynamic passive, i.e. it refers to the event itself: "The house was (came to be) built".{{Efn|Edzard (2003: 95) believes that this use of ''ba-'' first occurs in Neo-Sumerian, but Jagersma (2010: 496) states that it was already present in Old Sumerian.}}<ref>Cf. Edzard (2003: 95), Woods (2008: 303).</ref>
# With the prefix {a-}, e.g. {e al-řu}. This is only found in Northern Sumerian and can have both a stative and a dynamic sense: "The house is built (complete)" or "The house was (came to be) built".<ref name=":222" />
The agent is never expressed in the passive clause in Sumerian.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 494)</ref>

While the existence of such intransitive constructions of normally transitive verbs is widely recognized, some other scholars have disputed the view that these constructions should be called "passives". They prefer to speak of one-participant or agentless constructions and to limit themselves to the observation that the prefixes ''ba-'' and ''a-'' tend to be preferred with such constructions, apparently as a secondary effect of another, more subtle feature of their meaning.<ref>Thomsen (2001: 179, 183), Foxvog (2016: 75), Rubio (2007: 1361-1362)</ref> Concerning the history of the constructions, it has been claimed that the passive(-like) use of ''ba-'' does not appear before the Ur III period;<ref>Thomsen (2001: 179), Edzard (2003: 95)</ref> Jagersma, on the contrary, states that it is attested already in the Old Sumerian period, although it becomes especially frequent in Ur III times.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 496)</ref>

A different construction has been posited and labelled "Sumerian passive voice" by a significant number of scholars.<ref name=":48">Sallaberger (2023: 107); originally proposed by Claus Wilcke.</ref><ref name=":49">Attinger (2009: 26-28)</ref><ref>Keetman (2017)</ref> According to them, too, a passive is formed by removing the ergative participant and the verbal marker that agrees with it, but the verb is ''not'' inflected as an intransitive one: instead, it has a personal prefix, which refers to the "logical object": {'''e''' i-'''b'''-řu} or {'''e''' ba-'''b'''-řu} "the house is being built". The stem is always ''ḫamṭu''. Some consider this construction to have only the function and meaning of a ''marû'' form''<ref name=":48" />'', while others consider the tense-aspect opposition to be neutralized in it.<ref name=":49" /> The personal prefix is nearly always -''b''- in identified cases; views differ on whether it agrees in gender with an animate logical object, appearing as ''-n-'',<ref name=":49"/> or whether it remains ''-b-''.<ref>Keetman (2017: 121)</ref> Critics have argued that most alleged examples of the construction are actually instances of [[#Expression of the directive by a pre-stem personal prefix|the pre-stem personal prefix referring to the directive participant]] in an intransitive verb, at least before the Old Babylonian period.<ref>Jagersma, Bram. 2006. The final person-prefixes and the passive, ''NABU'' 2006/93. [https://www.academia.edu/7754972/The_final_person_prefixes_and_the_passive Online]</ref><ref>Zólyomi, G., Voice and Topicalization in Sumerian. Kandidátusi értekezés, Budapest 1993. [https://www.academia.edu/618029/Voice_and_Topicalization_in_Sumerian Online]</ref> Pascal Attinger considers it plausible that the original construction was indeed a directive one, whereas its new passive function as described by him arose via a reinterpretation in the Old Babylonian period;<ref name=":49" /> Walther Sallaberger, on the contrary, believes this kind of passive to be characteristic of Neo-Sumerian and to have been lost in Old Babylonian.<ref name=":48" /> A further possibility is that at least some of these cases actually have an [[Impersonal verb|impersonal]] 3rd person inanimate subject: "'it' has / they have built the house".<ref name=":49" />