Tense in literary Old Babylonian.

• Author: Cohen, Eran

It is of course not the possibility of expressing certain meanings and shades--they may be expressed in any language-but the existence of verbal categories which interests us here. (Kurylowicz 1973: 115) INTRODUCTION

The body of relatively recent literature devoted to Old Babylonian (henceforth OB) tense mainly refers to letters and laws. A comprehensive description is found in Leong 1994 and Kaplan 2002, the perfect is described in von Soden 1965 (not only for letters and law codices), Maloney 1981, and Streck 1999. Not a single work deals with Mari OB tense, and for tense in literary OB (henceforth LOB), we have Wilcke 1977, Streck 1995 (both tackling difficult but specific issues in both LOB and SB), and Metzler 2002 (and henceforth Metzler). Metzler is the first (and only) comprehensive description of tense in LOB. Following Metzler is the present author's Cohen 2006, which describes tense in the relatively confined corpus of the OB epic using the structural linguistic method. However, the present review strives to evaluate Metzler's work through common sense, rather than via a particular method.

As Metzler's work is truly extensive, there are probably very few passages in LOB (as defined by him, see below) left undiscussed. He displays considerable knowledge of the fields relevant to the study of tense in OB, namely Assyriology, literary theory, and linguistics. Moreover, Metzler leaves no stone unturned. From a philological point of view this is excellent--many literary passages, some quite difficult, are given due discussion, taking into consideration an extensive context. The result is an excellent reference for anyone interested in this difficult variety of OB.

The book is arranged according to genres: 1, scientific texts (laws and omina); 2, narrative texts (epic, royal inscriptions, and related works); 3, hymnic texts; 4, letters (and prayers) addressed to gods; and 5, incantations, all corresponding to Metzler's wide definition of literary texts. As this is a huge book, the following remarks mainly refer to the third chapter (pp. 299-718, which could be considered a book in its own right), which deals with narrative texts and passages. Remarks and references to the other chapters are less extensive.

Metzler's work is semantically oriented, arranged first by genre (scientific, narrative, hymn, etc.), second by time-frame (past, present, future), third by tense formation (iprus, iptaras, etc.), and last by specific semantic types in each tense formation. Metzler arrives at semantic statements by scrutinizing and discussing the semantic context of each and every example.

The relationship between tense semantics and syntax needs some preliminary clarification. Tense systems in any language are fascinating but intricate. They are associated with several interrelated fields: morphology, syntax, discourse (where this field is detached from syntax), semantics (all subsumed under grammar), and in literary theory, the field of narratology.

Morphology, constituting the most immediately tangible data, is usually considered first, involving the different forms at play in a given system. Syntax usually follows, since the morphological form itself, without the environment where it occurs, is often not sufficient to establish the semantic value of the form. One well-known example of this is the use of the OB iptaras form (the "perfect") in temporal clauses, where it functions as a linguistic perfect. (1) This function, tying together an anterior event with its result, is very different indeed from its other, more common functions (viz., to end a chain of preterite forms, occurring in the narrative parts of the epic as well as in the letters). Discourse comes in above clause level, where various linguistic units larger than the clause (called textemes: narrative, dialogue, report, etc.) often determine the semantic value of a form (e.g., the markedly different functions of the form iparras in different textemes). All these grammatical levels are involved together in determining the semantic value of a form. For the field of narratology, tense is important because linguistic means are used as literary tools, to create various effects (zooming in or out, detachment or involvement, creating tension, etc.). Therefore, the entire issue of tense, all fields considered together, is grammatical: linguistic forms (that is, morphological forms couched in a specific syntactic or textemic environment in which it occurs) are examined and their semantic value is revealed. The remarks that follow are often the result of examination through the filter of this point of view.

CORPUS

Indeed, Metzler treats a vast corpus, in fact almost anything except letters and court documents (and of course mathematical, lexical, astronomic texts, and economic documents). His definition of a literary text is very wide: texts which are given a special design, or which have entered the tradition (p. 6). On one hand, such a vast corpus allows the reader to get a deep feeling of this pan-corporal inventory and the ensuing complexity in various genres, which is hardly ever achieved in such detail. On the other hand, this may turn out to be an impediment: it is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to take into consideration the relevant body of grammatical data which is characteristic of each genre. (2) Moreover, Metzler's genre classification is devised for literary purposes (that is, it is content-dependent), rather than for grammatical purposes. This is important to mention because, as is explained above, tense issues are involved in all levels of grammar; in classifying together, for instance, letters for gods and prayers (chapter 5), the characteristic grammatical differences of each are disregarded. Letters, addressed to gods or otherwise, have their own system (which might entail different semantic values), very different from that found in literary texts (for instance, the order of elements in the clause). In short, corpus definition and delimitation is better implemented, when dealing with grammatical issues, based upon a wide range of grammatical criteria, rather than thematic criteria.

Metzler occasionally...