Urartian language: Difference between revisions

Urartian
Urartian
Region	Urartu
Extinct	c. 6th century BCE
Language family	Hurro-Urartian Urartian;
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mis
ISO 639-3	xur

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Urartian, Vannic, and (in older literature) Chaldean are conventional names for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu that was located in the region of Lake Van, with its capital near the site of the modern town of Van, in the Armenian Highland, modern-day Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey.^[1]

First attested in the 9th century BCE, Urartian went into decline after the fall of the Urartian state in 585 BCE, and by 500 BCE it appears to have been confined to the elite, while the common people spoke (proto-)Armenian.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Classification

Urartian was an ergative-agglutinative language, which belongs to neither the Semitic nor the Indo-European families but to the Hurro-Urartian family (whose only other known member is Hurrian).^[6] It survives in many inscriptions found in the area of the Urartu kingdom, written in the Assyrian cuneiform script. There have been claims^[7] of a separate autochthonous script of "Urartian hieroglyphs" but these remain unsubstantiated.

Urartian is closely related to Hurrian, though not derived from it.^[8] Although Urartian and Hurrian are related, it is now fairly clear that the two languages developed quite independently from the third millennium onwards.^[9] Igor Diakonoff and others have suggested ties between the Hurro-Urartian languages and the Northeastern Caucasian languages.^[10]

Decipherment

The German scholar F. E. Schulz, who discovered the Lake Van inscriptions and Urartu in 1826, made copies of several cuneiform inscriptions at Tušpa, but made no attempt at decipherment.^[11]

After the decipherment of Assyrian cuneiform in the 1850s, Schulz's drawings became the basis of deciphering the Urartian language. It soon became clear that it was unrelated to any known language, and attempts at decipherment based on known languages of the region failed.^[12] The script was finally deciphered in 1882 by A. H. Sayce. The oldest of these inscriptions is from the time of Sarduri I of Urartu, whose title was 'King of the Four Quarters'.^[11]

Decipherment only made progress after World War I, with the discovery of Urartian-Assyrian bilingual inscriptions at Kelišin and Topzawä.^[12]^[13]

In 1963, a grammar of Urartian was published by G. A. Melikishvili in Russian, appearing in German translation in 1971. In the 1970s, the genetic relation with Hurrian was established by I. M. Diakonoff.

Corpus

The oldest delivered texts originate from the reign of Sarduri I, from the late 9th century BCE.^[14] and were produced until the fall of the realm of Urartu approximately 200 years later.

Approximately two hundred inscriptions written in the Urartian language, which adopted and modified the cuneiform script, have been discovered to date.^[15]

Writing

Cuneiform

Urartian cuneiform is a standardized simplification of Neo-Assyrian cuneiform. Unlike in Assyrian, each sign only expresses a single sound value. The sign gi 𒄀 has the special function of expressing a hiatus, e.g. u-gi-iš-ti for Uīšdi. A variant script with non-overlapping wedges was in use for rock inscriptions.

Hieroglyphs

Urartian was also rarely written in the "Anatolian hieroglyphs" used for the Luwian language. Evidence for this is restricted to Altıntepe.

There are suggestions that besides the Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions, Urartu also had a native hieroglyphic script. The inscription corpus is too sparse to substantiate the hypothesis. It remains unclear whether the symbols in question form a coherent writing system, or represent just a multiplicity of uncoordinated expressions of proto-writing or ad-hoc drawings.^[16] What can be identified with a certain confidence are two symbols or "hieroglyphs" found on vessels, representing certain units of measurement: for aqarqi and for ṭerusi. This is known because some vessels were labelled both in cuneiform and with these symbols.^[17]

Literature

C. B. F. Walker: section Cuneiform in Reading the Past. Published by British Museum Press, 1996, ISBN 0-7141-8077-7.
J. Friedrich: Urartäisch, in Handbuch der Orientalistik I, ii, 1-2, pp. 31–53. Leiden, 1969.
Gernot Wilhelm: Urartian, in R. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge, 2004.
Vyacheslav V. Ivanov: "Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Northern Caucasian and Indo-European". UCLA, 1996
Mirjo Salvini: Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1995.
Jeffrey J. Klein, Urartian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Altintepe, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 24, (1974), 77-94.

References

^ People of Ancient Assyria: Their Inscriptions and Correspondence - Page 89 by Jørgen Laessøe
^ J.Lendering, Urartu/Armenia article by Jona Lendering [1]
^ Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, "Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Indo-European, and Northern Caucasian" discusses the difficulties and disagreements faced by linguists working in this area, the term Alarodian being created especially for the Hurro-Urartian-Nakh-Avar languages as a family.
^ John A. C. Greppin; I. M. Diakonoff, Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 111, No. 4 (Oct., 1991), pp. 720-730
^ The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian
^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East - Page 292 by Eric M. Meyers, American Schools of Oriental Research
^ Jeffrey J. Klein, Urartian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Altintepe, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 24, (1974), 77-94
^ Academic American Encyclopedia - Page 198
^ Wilhelm 1982: 5
^ The Pre-history of the Armenian People. I. M. Diakonoff
^ ^a ^b John Noonan, Van! at saudiaramcoworld.com
^ ^a ^b A. Götze 1930, 1935
^ J. Friedrich 1933
^ Urartu - Page 65 by Boris Borisovich Piotrovskiĭ
^ The international standard Bible encyclopedia - Page 234 by Geoffrey William Bromiley
^ Paul Zimansky, Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 299/300, The Archaeology of Empire in Ancient Anatolia (Aug. - Nov., 1995), pp. 103-115
^ Mirjo Salvini: Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995. ISBN 3-534-01870-2

External links

Russian-language scholarly publications on Urartu and the Urartian language; includes texts in Urartian

Template:Link FA Template:Link FA

[1] People of Ancient Assyria: Their Inscriptions and Correspondence - Page 89 by Jørgen Laessøe

[2] J.Lendering, Urartu/Armenia article by Jona Lendering [1]

[3] Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, "Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Indo-European, and Northern Caucasian" discusses the difficulties and disagreements faced by linguists working in this area, the term Alarodian being created especially for the Hurro-Urartian-Nakh-Avar languages as a family.

[4] John A. C. Greppin; I. M. Diakonoff, Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 111, No. 4 (Oct., 1991), pp. 720-730

[5] The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian

[6] The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East - Page 292 by Eric M. Meyers, American Schools of Oriental Research

[7] Jeffrey J. Klein, Urartian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Altintepe, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 24, (1974), 77-94

[8] Academic American Encyclopedia - Page 198

[9] Wilhelm 1982: 5

[10] The Pre-history of the Armenian People. I. M. Diakonoff

[noonan-11] John Noonan, Van! at saudiaramcoworld.com

[goetze-12] A. Götze 1930, 1935

[13] J. Friedrich 1933

[14] Urartu - Page 65 by Boris Borisovich Piotrovskiĭ

[15] The international standard Bible encyclopedia - Page 234 by Geoffrey William Bromiley

[16] Paul Zimansky, Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 299/300, The Archaeology of Empire in Ancient Anatolia (Aug. - Nov., 1995), pp. 103-115

[17] Mirjo Salvini: Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995. ISBN 3-534-01870-2

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@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 '''Urartian''', '''Vannic''', and (in older literature) '''Chaldean''' are conventional names for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of [[Urartu]] that was located in the region of [[Lake Van]], with its capital near the site of the modern town of [[Van, Turkey|Van]], in the [[Armenian Highland]], modern-day [[Eastern Anatolia region]] of [[Turkey]].<ref>People of Ancient Assyria: Their Inscriptions and Correspondence - Page 89 by Jørgen Laessøe</ref>
-First attested in the 9th century [[BCE]], Urartian ceased to be written after the fall of the Urartian state in 585 BCE. Presumably its disappearance was caused by the fall of Urartu<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.106</ref> and it may have been replaced during the period of [[Achaemenid Persia|Achaemenid Persian]] rule by an early form of [[Proto-Armenian language|Armenian]] (which it is considered to have influenced).<ref>[[Jona Lendering|J.Lendering]], Urartu/Armenia article by Jona Lendering [http://www.livius.org/arl-arz/armenia/armenia.html]</ref> It is [[Classical Armenian]] that emerges in written records in the 5th century AD as the dominant language of what used to be the Urartian territory.
+First attested in the 9th century [[BCE]], Urartian went into decline after the fall of the Urartian state in 585 BCE, and by 500 BCE it appears to have been confined to the elite, while the common people spoke ([[Proto-Armenian|proto-]])[[Armenian language|Armenian]].<ref>[[Jona Lendering|J.Lendering]], Urartu/Armenia article by Jona Lendering [http://www.livius.org/arl-arz/armenia/armenia.html]</ref><ref>[http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/pies/pdfs/IESV/1/VVI_Horse.pdf Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, "Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Indo-European, and Northern Caucasian" discusses the difficulties and disagreements faced by linguists working in this area, the term [[Alarodian]] being created especially for the Hurro-Urartian-Nakh-Avar languages as a family.]</ref><ref>John A. C. Greppin; I. M. Diakonoff, Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest [[Armenians]], Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 111, No. 4 (Oct., 1991), pp. 720-730</ref><ref>[http://www.nostratic.ru/books/(432)bomhard-hurrian.pdf The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian]</ref>
 ==Classification==
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 There have been claims<ref>Jeffrey J. Klein, Urartian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Altintepe, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 24,   (1974), 77-94</ref> of a separate autochthonous script of "Urartian hieroglyphs" but these remain unsubstantiated.
-Urartian is closely related to Hurrian, a somewhat better documented language attested for an earlier, non-overlapping period, approximately from 2000 BC to 1200 BC (written by native speakers until about 1350 BC). The two languages must have developed quite independently from approximately 2000 BC onwards.<ref>Wilhelm 1982: 5</ref><ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.105</ref> Although Urartian is not a direct continuation of any of the attested dialects of Hurrian<ref>Academic American Encyclopedia - Page 198</ref>, many of its features are best explained as innovative developments with respect to Hurrian as we know it from the preceding millennium. The closeness holds especially true of the so-called Old Hurrian dialect, known above all from Hurro-Hittite bilingual texts. [[Igor Diakonoff]] and others have suggested ties between the [[Hurro-Urartian languages]] and the [[Northeastern Caucasian languages]].<ref>The Pre-history of the Armenian People. I. M. Diakonoff</ref>
+Urartian is closely related to Hurrian, though not derived from it.<ref>Academic American Encyclopedia - Page 198</ref> Although Urartian and Hurrian are related, it is now fairly clear that the two languages developed quite independently from the third millennium onwards.<ref>Wilhelm 1982: 5</ref> [[Igor Diakonoff]] and others have suggested ties between the [[Hurro-Urartian languages]] and the [[Northeastern Caucasian languages]].<ref>The Pre-history of the Armenian People. I. M. Diakonoff</ref>
 ==Decipherment==
@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 The inscription corpus is too sparse to substantiate the hypothesis. It remains unclear whether the symbols in question form a coherent writing system, or represent just a multiplicity of uncoordinated expressions of [[proto-writing]] or ad-hoc drawings.<ref>Paul Zimansky, Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 299/300, The Archaeology of Empire in Ancient Anatolia (Aug. - Nov., 1995), pp. 103-115</ref>
 What can be identified with a certain confidence are two symbols or "hieroglyphs" found on vessels, representing certain units of measurement:  [[Image:Hieroglyph Urartian aqarqi.jpg|100x33px]] for ''aqarqi'' and [[Image:Hieroglyph Urartian tyerusi.jpg|100x33px]] for ''ṭerusi''. This is known because some vessels were labelled both in cuneiform and with these symbols.<ref>Mirjo Salvini: ''Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer''. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995. ISBN 3-534-01870-2</ref>
-gdšṣṭḫdəf
-==Phonology==
-Urartian had at least the folowing consonants, conventionally transcribed below:
-Labial stops: p, b<br>
-Dental stops: t, d, ṭ<br>
-Velar stops: k, g, q<br>
-Sibilants: s, z, ṣ, š<br>
-Gutturals: {{IPA|ʔ}}, ḫ<br>
-Sonorants: m, n, l, r<br>
-There were presumably also the semivowels /w/ and /y/.
-As usual with ancient languages, the exact nature and pronunciation of the consonants are uncertain. As the table shows, the stops and the sibilants all display a three-way distinction between voiced, voiceless and "emphatic" consonants, but it cannot be acertained what was special about the third groups of consonants, which were rendered with the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] cuneiform signs for the Semitic emphatics. Perhaps they were [[glottalization|glottalized]] or [[aspiration|aspirated]]. The pronunciation of the sibilants is debatable, as it is for Akkadian; some may actually have been [[affricate]]s.
-The script distinguishes the vowels ''a'', ''e'', ''i'' and ''u''. It is unclear whether there was an /o/ as well. There may have been phonemic vowel length, but it is not consistently expressed in the script. Word-finally, the distinction between ''e'' and ''i'' is not maintained, so many scholars transcribe the graphically vacillating vowel as a [[schwa]]: ''ə'', while some preserve a non-reduced vowel (usually opting for ''i''). The full form of the vowel appears when suffixes are added to the word and the vowel is no longer in the last syllable: ''Argištə'' "[[Argišti]]" - ''Argištešə'' "by Argišti ([[ergative case]])". This [[vowel reduction]] also suggests that stress was commonly on the next-to-the-last syllable.
-In the [[morphonology]], various morpheme combinations trigger [[syncope]]: *''ar-it-u-mə'' → ''artumə'', *''zaditumə'' → ''zatumə'', *''ebani-ne-lə'' → ''ebanelə'', *''turul(e)yə'' →'' tul(e)yə''.
-==Morphology==
-===Nominal morphology===
-The morphemes which may occur in a noun follow a strict order: stem - article - possessive suffix - number and case suffix - suffixes received through [[Suffixaufnahme]].
-All nouns appear to end in a so-called thematic vowel - most frequently ''-i'' or ''-e'', but ''-a'' and ''-u'' also occur. They may also end in a derivational suffix. Notable derivational suffixes are ''-ḫə'', forming adjectives of beloning (e.g. ''Abiliane-ḫə'' "of the tribe Abiliani", ''Argište-ḫə'' "son of [[Argišti]]") and ''-šə'', froming abstract nouns (e.g. ''alsui-šə'' "greatness", ''ardi-šə'' "order", ''arniu-šə'' "deed").
-The forms of the so-called "article" are ''-ne-'' for the singular (never found in the [[absolutive case]]), ''-ne-lə'' for the plural in the [[absolutive case]] and ''-na-'' for the other forms of the plural. They do not seem to function exactly like [[definite article]]s. Instead, they obligatorily precede agreement suffixes added through Suffixaufnahme: e.g. ''Argište-šə Menua-ḫi-ne-šə'' "Argišti (ergative), son of Menua (ergative)". The plural form can also serve as a general plural marker in non-absolutive cases: ''arniuši-na-nə'' "by the deeds".<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.112</ref>
-The well-attested possessive suffixes are the ones of the first person singular ''-ukə'' (in non-reduced form sometimes ''-uka-'') and ''-i(yə)'' (in non-reduced form sometimes ''-iya-''): e.g.  ''ebani-uka-nə'' "from my country", ''ebani-yə'' "his country".
-The plural is expressed, above all, through the use of the plural "article" (''-ne-lə'' in the absolutive case, ''-na-'' preceding the case suffix in the oblique cases), but some of the case suffixes also differ in form between the singular and the plural. Therefore, separate plural version of the case suffixes are indicated below separately. The nature of the absolutive and ergative cases is as in other ergative languages (more details in the section ''Syntax'' below).
-[[Absolutive case|Absolutive]]: sing. ''-Ø'', plur. ''-lə''<br>
-[[Ergative case|Ergative]]: ''-š(ə)''<br>
-[[Genitive]]: sing. ''-i'', plur. ''-wə''<br>
-[[Dative]]: sing. ''-ə'', plur. ''-wə''<br>
-[[Directive case|Directive]]: sing. ''-edə'', plur. (archaic) ''-š-tə''<br>
-[[Comitative]]: ''-ranə''<br>
-[[Ablative]]-[[Instrumental case|instrumental]]: ''-nə''<br>
-[[Ablative]]: sing. ''-danə'', plur. ''-š-tanə''<br>
-[[Locative]]: ''-a''<br>
-Since the "complete" plural forms also include the plural definite article, they appear as ''-ne-lə'', ''-na-šə'', ''-na-wə'', ''na-(e)də'' or ''na-š-tə'', etc..
-A phenomenon typical of Urartian is [[Suffixaufnahme]] - a process in which dependent modifiers of a noun (including [[genitive case]] modifiers) agree with the head noun by absorbing its case suffixes. The copied suffixes must be preceded by the article (also agreeing in number with the head). Examples: ''Ḫaldi-i-na-wə šešti-na-wə'' "for the gates (dative) of [god] Ḫaldi (dative)", ''Argište-šə Menua-ḫi-ne-šə'' "Argišti (ergative), son of Menua (ergative)".
-The known personal pronouns are those of the first and third person singular.<br>
-The first person singular has two different forms for the absolutive case: ''ištidə'' as the absolutive subject of an intransitive verb, and ''šukə'' as the absolutive object of a transitive verb. The ergative form is ''iešə''. Judging from correspondences with Hurrian, ''šu-'' should be the base for the "regular" case forms. An enclitic dative case suffix for the first person singular is attested as ''-mə''.<br>
-The third person singular has the absolutive form ''manə''.<br>
-As for possessive pronouns, besides the possessive suffixes (1st singular ''-uka-'' and 3rd singular ''-iya'') that were adduced above, Urartian also makes use of possessive adjectives formed with the suffix ''-(u)sə'': 1st singular ''šusə'', 3rd singular ''masə''.
-The encoding of pronominal ergative and absolutive participants in a verb action is treated in the section on ''Verbal morphology'' below.
-Demonstrative pronouns are ''i-nə'' (plural base ''i-'', followed by article and case forms) and ''ina-nə'' (plural base ''ina-'', followed by article and case forms). A relative pronoun is ''alə''.
-===Verbal morphology===
-The paradigm of the verb is only partially known. As with the noun, the morphemes that a verb may contain come in a certain sequence that can be formalized as a "verb chain": root - root complements (of unclear meaning) - [[ergative case|ergative]] third person plural suffix -  [[Valency (linguistics)|valency]] markers ([[intransitive]]/[[transitive]]) - other person suffixes (expressing mostly the [[absolutive case|absolutive]] subject/object). It isn't clear if and how tense or aspect were signalled.
-The valency markers are ''-a-'' (rarely ''-i-'') for intransitivity and ''-u-'' for transitivity: for example ''nun-a-də'' "I came" vs ''šidišt-u-nə'' "he built". A verb that is usually transitive can be converted to intransitivity with the suffix ''-ul-'' before the intransitive valency marker: ''aš-ul-a-bə'' "was occupied" (vs ''aš-u-bə'' "I put in [a garrison]").<ref> Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.115</ref>
-The person suffixes express the persons of the absolutive subject/object and the ergative subject. When both of these are present, a single suffix may expresses a unique combination of persons. The ascertained endings are as follows (the ellipsis marks the place of the valency vowel):
-<u>Intransitive verbs:</u><br>
-st person singular: ''-də''<br>
-rd person singular: ''-bə''<br>
-rd person plural: ''-lə''<br>
-<u>Transitive verbs:</u><br>
-st person singular (ergative) - 3rd person singular (absolutive): ''-bə''<br>
-st person singular (ergative) - 3rd person plural (absolutive): ''-bə'' / ''-lə''<br>
-rd person singular (ergative) - 3rd person singular (absolutive): ''-nə'' <br>
-rd person singular (ergative) - 3rd person plural (absolutive): ''-a-lə''<br>
-rd person plural (ergative) - 3rd person singular (absolutive): ''-it-…-nə'' <br>
-rd person plural (ergative) - 3rd person plural (absolutive): ''-it-…-lə'' <br>
-Examples: ''ušt-a-də'' "I departed"; ''nun-a-bə'' "he came"; ''aš-u-bə'' "I put-it in"; ''šidišt-u-nə'' "he built-it"; ''ar-u-mə'' "he gave [it] to me", ''kuy-it-u-nə'' "they dedicated-it".
-As the paradigm shows, the person suffixes added after the valency vowel express mostly the person of ''absolutive'' subject/object, both in intransitive and in transitive verbs. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that the absolutive third person singular is expressed by a different suffix depending on whether the ergative subject is in the first or third person. An additional detail is that when the first-person singular dative suffix ''-mə'' is added, the third-person singular absolutive suffix ''-nə'' is dropped. It should also be noted that the encoding of the person of the absolutive subject/object is present, even though it is also explicitly mentioned in the sentence: e.g. ''argište-šə inə arə šu-nə'' "Argišti established(-it) this granary". An exceptional verb is ''man-'' "to be", in that it has a transitive valency vowel, and takes no absolutive suffix for the third person singular: ''man-u'' "it was" vs ''man-u-lə'' "they were".
-The [[imperative]] is formed by the addition of the suffix ''-ə'' to the root: e.g. ''ar-ə'' "give!". The [[jussive]] or third person imperative is formed by the addition of the suffix ''-in'' in the slot of the valency vowel, whereas the persons are marked in the usual way, following an epenthetic vowel ''-[i]-'':e.g. ''ar-in-[i]-nə'' "may he give it", ''ḫa-it-in-nə'' "may they take it". The modal suffix ''-l-'', added between the valency vowel and the person suffixes, participates in the construction of several modal forms. An [[optative]] form, also regularly used in clauses introduced with ''ašə'' "when", is constructed by ''-l-'' followed by ''-ə'' (''-i'' in non-reduced form) - the following absolutive person suffix is optional, and the ergative subject is apparently not signalled at all: e.g. ''qapqar-u-l-i-nə'' "I wanted to besiege-it [the city]", ''urp-u-l-i-nə'' or ''urp-u-l-ə'' "he shall slaughter". A [[conditional]] is expressed by a graphically similar form, which is, however, interpreted by Wilhelm (2008) as ''-l-'' followed by ''-(e)yə'':<ref> Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.118</ref> an example of its use is ''alu-šə tu-l-(e)yə'' "whoever destroys it". Finally, a [[desiderative]], which may express the wish of either the speaker or the agent, is expressed by ''-l-'' followed by a suffix ''-anə''; in addition, the valency marker is replaced by ''-i-'': e.g. ''ard-i-l-anə'' "I want him to give …", ''ḫa-i-l-anə'' "it wants to take/conquer …".
-Negation is expressed by the particle ''ui'', preceding the verb. A prohibitative particle, also preceding the verb, is ''mi''. ''mi'' is also the conjunction "but", whereas ''e'ə'' is "and (also)", and ''unə'' is "or".
-[[Participle]]s from intransitive verbs are formed with the suffix ''-urə'', added to the root, and have an active meaning (e.g. ''ušt-u-rə'' "who went out [for a campaign]"). Participles from transitive verbs are formed with the suffix ''-aurə'', and have a passive meaning (e.g. ''šidaurə'' "which is built"). It is possible that ''-umə'' is the ending of an infinitive or a verb noun, although that is not entirely clear.
-==Syntax==
-Urartian is an ergative language, meaning that the [[grammatical subject|subject]] of an [[intransitive verb]] and the [[direct object|object]] of a [[transitive verb]] are expressed identically, with the so-called [[absolutive case]], whereas  the subject of a transitive verb is expressed with a special [[ergative case]]. Examples are: ''Argištə nun-a-bi'' "Argišti came" vs ''Argište-šə arə šu-nə'' "Argišti established a granary". Within the limited number of known forms, no [[split ergativity| exceptions from the ergative pattern]] are known.
-The word order is usually verb-final, and, more specifically, [[Subject Object Verb|SOV]] (where S refers to the ergative agent), but the rule is not rigid and components are occasionally re-arranged for expressive purposes. For example, names of gods are often placed first, even though they are in oblique cases: ''Ḫaldi-ə ewri-ə inə E<sub>2</sub> Argište-šə Menuaḫini-šə šidišt-u-nə'' "For Ḫaldi the lord Argišti, son of Menua, built this temple." Verbs can be placed sentence-initially in vivid narratives: ''ušt-a-də Mana-idə ebanə at-u-bə'' "Forth I marched towards Mana, and I consumed the land." <ref> Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.120</ref> Nominal modifiers usually follow their heads (''erelə tarayə'' "great king"), but deictic pronouns such as ''inə'' precede them, and genitives may either precede or follow them. Urartian generally uses [[postposition]]s (e.g. ''ed(i)-i-nə'' "for", ''ed(i)-i-a'' - both originally case forms of ''edi'' "person, body" - ''pei'' "under", etc..) which govern certain cases (often ablative-instrumental). There is only one attested preposition, ''parə'' "to(wards)". Subordinate clauses are introduced by particles such as ''iu'' "when", ''ašə'' "when", ''alə'' "that which".
 == See also ==
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 ==External links==
 * [http://annals.xlegio.ru/i_urart.htm Russian-language scholarly publications on Urartu and the Urartian language; includes texts in Urartian]
-* [http://www.nostratic.ru/books/(432)bomhard-hurrian.pdf The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian (contains a description of the relation between Hurrian and Urartian)]
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Urartian Language}}
 [[Category:Ancient languages]]
+[[Category:Armenian languages]]
 [[Category:Hurro-Urartian languages]]
 [[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
-[[Category:Languages of Armenia]]
 {{Link_FA|de}}