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N. J. C. Kouwenberg

Reflections on the Gt-Stem in Akkadian

Among the functions which are usually ascribed to the Akkadian Gt-stem, the separative and the “intensive” (durative/habitual) functions are problematic because they do not recur in any other Semitic language, and because their relationship to the basic detransitive meaning of the t-infix is unclear. It is argued here that the Gt-stem does not have a separative function, and that the alleged separative Gt-stems represent a typologically not uncommon extension of a reflexive marker to motion verbs, which gives them a basically ingressive meaning. Moreover, the “intensive” function is argued to be a secondary development specific to literary Babylonian and largely unrelated to the original function of the t -infix.

Zeitschrift für Assyrologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0084-5299
Volume: 95, 06/2005
Pages: 77 - 103

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