Editing Lycian language (section)

== Grammar ==
=== Nouns ===
Nouns and adjectives distinguish [[grammatical number|singular and plural]] forms. A [[dual (grammatical number)|dual]] has not been found in Lycian. There are two [[grammatical gender|genders]]: animate (or 'common') and inanimate (or 'neuter'). Instead of the [[genitive case|genitive]] singular case normally a so-called [[possessive]] (or "genitival adjective") is used, as is common practice in the [[Luwic languages]]: a suffix -(e)h- is added to the root of a substantive, and thus an adjective is formed that is declined in turn.

Nouns can be divided in five declension groups: ''a''-stems, ''e''-stems, ''i''-stems, consonant stems, and mixed stems; the differences between the groups are very minor. The declension of nouns goes as follows:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laroche |first1=Emmanuel |title=L'inscription lycienne |journal=Fouilles de Xanthos |date=1979 |volume=VI |pages=51-128: 87, 119-122}}</ref><ref name="kloekhorst2013">{{cite journal |last1=Kloekhorst |first1=Alwin |title=Ликийский язык (The Lycian language), in: Языки мира: Реликтовые индоевропейские языки Передней и Центральной Азии (Languages of the World: Relict Indo-European languages of Western and Central Asia) |journal=Языки Мира: Реликтовые Индоевропейские Языки Передней И Центральной Азии &#91;"Languages of the World: Relict Indo-European Languages of Western and Central Asia"&#93; (Edd. Y.b. Koryakov & A.a. Kibrik), Moscow, 2013, 131-154 |date=2013 |publisher=Москва Academia |location=Moscow |pages=131–154 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5549740 |access-date=2021-04-17}}  (in Russian)</ref><ref name="didier">{{cite journal |last1=Calin |first1=Didier |title=A short English-Lycian/Milyan lexicon |url=https://www.academia.edu/38134494 |website=Academia |date=January 2019 |access-date=2021-04-21}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | case
! colspan="2" | ending
! ''lada''<br>'wife, lady' !! ''tideimi''<br>'son, child' || ''tuhes''<br>'nephew, niece' || ''tese''<br>'vow, oath' || ''atlahi''<br>'own'
|-
! animate || inanimate || (a-stem) || (i/e-stem) || (consonant stem) || (inanimate) || (adjective){{efn|''atlahi'' is the possessive derivative of ''atla'', 'person'.}}
|-
| valign="top" rowspan="6" | Singular || [[nominative case|Nominative]] || align="center" | -Ø, -s || align="center" rowspan="2" | -~, -Ø, -yẽ || lad'''a''' || tideim'''i''' || tuhe'''s''' || rowspan="2" | (tese) || atlah'''i'''
|-
| [[accusative case|Accusative]] || align="center" | -~, -u, -ñ || lad'''ã''', lad'''u''' || tideim'''i''' || tuhe'''sñ''' || atlah'''i'''
|-
| [[ergative case|Ergative]] || align="center" | — || align="center" | ? ||  ||  ||  || || 
|-
| [[dative case|Dative]] || colspan="2" align="center" | -i || lad'''i''' || tideim'''i''' || tuhe'''si''' || || atlah'''i'''
|-
| [[locative case|Locative]] || colspan="2" align="center" | -a, -e, -i || (lada) || (tideime) ||  || tes'''i''' || (atlahi)
|-
| [[genitive case|Genitive]] || colspan="2" align="center" | -Ø, -h(e);<br>[[Possessive]]: -(e)he-, -(e)hi- || (Poss.:) laθ'''θi''' ||  || || ||
|-
| SIng., Pl. || [[ablative case|Ablative]]-[[instrumental case|instrumental]] || align="center" colspan="2" | -di || (ladadi) || (tideimedi) || tuhe'''di''' || ||
|-
| valign="top" rowspan="6" | Plural || Nominative || align="center" | ~-i || align="center" rowspan="2" | -a || lad'''ãi''' ||  tideim'''i''' || tuh'''ẽi''' || rowspan="2" | tas'''a''' ||
|-
| Accusative || align="center" | -s || lad'''as''' || tideim'''is''' || ||
|-
| Ergative || align="center" | — || align="center" | -ẽti ||  ||  ||  || tes'''ẽti''', tes'''eti''' || 
|-
| Dative/Locative || colspan="2" align="center" | -e, -a || lad'''a''' || tideim'''e''' || tuhe || tes'''e''' || atlah'''e'''
|-
| Genitive || colspan="2" align="center" | -ẽ, -ãi || lad'''ãi''' (?) || tideim'''ẽ''' ||  ||  ||
|}
{{notelist}}

=== Pronouns ===
==== Demonstrative pronoun ====
The paradigm for the demonstrative pronoun ''ebe'', "this" is:<ref>Neumann, Günther (1969), "Lydisch". In: ''Handbuch der Orientalistik'', II. Band, 1. und 2. Abschnitt, Lieferung 2, ''Altkleinasiatische Sprachen'', Leiden/Köln: Brill, pp. 358-396: p. 386.</ref><ref name="didier"/>

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | case
! colspan="2" | Singular
! colspan="2" | Plural
|-
! {{small|animate}} || {{small|inanimate}}
! {{small|animate}} || {{small|inanimate}}
|-
| Nominative || align="center" | ebe || rowspan="2" align="center" | eb'''ẽ''' || align="center" | eb'''ẽi''' || rowspan="2" align="center" | ebe'''ija'''
|-
| Accusative || align="center" | eb'''ẽ''', ebe'''ñnẽ''', eb'''ẽñni''' || align="center" | ebe'''is''', ebe'''ijes'''
|-
| Dative / Locative || colspan="2" align="center" | ebe'''hi''' || colspan="2" align="center" | ebe'''tte'''
|-
| Genitive || colspan="2" align="center" | (Possessive:) ebe'''hi''' || colspan="2" align="center" | eb'''ẽhẽ'''
|-
| Ablative / Instrumental || colspan="2" align="center" | ? || colspan="2" align="center" | ?
|}

==== Personal pronoun ====
The demonstrative ''ebe'', 'this', is also used as a personal pronoun: 'this one', therefore 'he, she, it'. Here is a paradigm of all attested personal pronouns:<ref name="didier"/>
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | case
! rowspan="2" | ''ẽmu, amu''<br>'I'
! rowspan="2" | ''ẽmi-''<br>'my'
! rowspan="2" | ''eb(e)-''<br>'he, she, it'
! colspan="2" | ''ehbi(je)-''<br>'his'
! colspan="2" | ''epttehe/i-, eb(e)ttehe/i-''<br>'their'
|-
! {{small|animate}} || {{small|inanimate}}
! {{small|animate}} || {{small|inanimate}}
|-
| rowspan="5" | Singular || Nominative || rowspan="2" | ẽmu, amu || rowspan="2" | ẽmi || ebe || rowspan="2" | ehbi || rowspan="2" | ehbijẽ || ebttehi ||rowspan="2" |
|-
| Accusative || ebñnẽ ||
|-
| Genitive ||  ||  ||  || colspan="2" align="center" | (Possessive:) ehbijehi || colspan="2" | 
|-
| Dative || emu ||  ||  || colspan="2" align="center" | ehbi || colspan="2" align="center" | ebttehi
|-
| Ablative/Instrumental ||  ||  ||  || colspan="2" align="center" | ehbijedi || colspan="2" | 
|-
| rowspan="5" | Plural || Nominative ||  ||  ||  || ehbi || rowspan="2" | ehbija || ebttehi
|-
| Accusative ||  || ẽmis ||  || ehbis || ebttehis
|-
| Genitive ||  ||  ||  || colspan="2" |  || colspan="2" | 
|-
| Dative / Locative ||  ||  || ebtte || colspan="2" align="center" | ehbije || colspan="2" align="center" | epttehe 
|}

==== Other pronouns ====
Other pronouns are:<ref name="didier"/>
* [[relative pronoun|Relative]] or [[interrogative word|interrogative]] pronouns: ''ti-'', 'who, which'; ''teri'' or ''ẽke'', 'when'; ''teli'', 'where'; ''km̃mẽt(i)-'', 'how many' (also indefinite: 'however many').
* [[indefinite pronoun|Indefinite]] pronouns: ''tike-'', 'someone, something'; ''tise'', 'anyone, anything'; ''tihe'', 'any'.
* [[reflexive pronoun|Reflexive]] pronoun: ''-ti'' ([[suffix]]ed), 'himself'.

=== Numerals ===
The following [[numeral (linguistics)|numerals]] are attested:<ref name="didier"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! !! [[cardinal number]] !! '' 'x-fold' '' !! '' 'x-year-old' '' !! also attested
|-
| ''two'' || [kbi-] || '''tu'''pm̃me-, 'twofold, pair'  || '''kbi'''sñne/i-, 'two-year-old' || '''kbi'''hu, 'twice'; '''kbi'''jẽt(i)-, 'double'; <br>'''kbi-''', '''kbije-''', '(an-)other'; '''kbi'''sñtãta, 'twenty'
|-
| ''three'' || teri- || '''tr'''ppem-, 'threefold (?)' || '''tri'''sñne/i-, 'three-year-old' || (''[[Milyan language|Milyan]]'':) '''tr'''isu, 'thrice'
|-
| ''four'' || mupm̃m[- || '''mu'''pm̃m[-, 'four, fourfold' ||  || 
|-
| ''eight'' || aitãta ||  ||  || 
|-
| ''nine'' || nuñtãta ||  ||  || 
|-
| ''twelve'' || qñnãkba ||  ||  || (''Milyan'':) '''qñnãtb'''isu, 'twelve times'
|-
| ''twenty'' || kbisñtãta ||  ||  || 
|}

=== Verbs ===
Just as in other Anatolian languages (Luwian, Lydian) verbs in Lycian were conjugated in the present-future and preterite tenses and in the imperative with three persons singular and plural. Some endings have many variants, due to [[nasalization]] (''-a- → -añ-, -ã-; -e- → -eñ-, -ẽ-''), [[lenition]] (''-t- → -d-''), [[gemination]] (''-t- → -tt-; -d- → -dd-''), and [[vowel harmony|vowel harmonization]] (''-a- → -e-'':  ''prñn'''a'''wãtẽ → prñn'''e'''wãtẽ'').

About a dozen [[grammatical conjugation|conjugations]] can be distinguished, on the basis of (1) the verbal root ending (''a''-stems, consonant stems, ''-ije''-stems, etc.), and (2) the endings of the third person singular being either unlenited (present ''-ti''; preterite ''-te''; imperative ''-tu'') or lenited (''-di''; ''-de''; ''-du''). For example, ''prñnawa-''<sup>(ti)</sup> (to build) is an unlenited ''a''-stem (''prñnawati'', he builds), ''a(i)-''<sup>(di)</sup> (to make) is a lenited ''a(i)''-stem (''adi'', he makes). Differences between the various conjugations are minor.

Verbs are conjugated as follows; Mediopassive ''(MP)'' forms <span style="color:#a06000;">are in brown</span>:<ref>Billings, Nils Oscar Paul. "Finite verb formation in Lycian" (thesis), Leiden 2019.</ref><ref name="sass2020">{{cite book |last1=Sasseville |first1=David |title=Anatolian Verbal Stem Formation: Luwian, Lycian and Lydian |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden / Boston |isbn=9789004436282 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! width="20%" colspan=3 rowspan=2 |
! width="11%" | Active
! width="11%" | <span style="color:#a06000;">Mediopassive</span>
! width="11%" | ''prñnawa-''<sup>(ti)</sup> !! width="11%" | ''(t)ta-''<sup>(di)</sup> !! width="11%" | ''a(i)-''<sup>(di)</sup> !! width="11%" | ''(h)ha-''<sup>(ti)</sup> !! width="11%" | <span style="color:#a06000;">''si-''<sup>(?)</sup></span>
|-
! ending || <span style="color:#a06000;">ending</span>
! 'to build' || 'to put, place' || 'to make, do' || 'to release' || <span style="color:#a06000;">'to lie' (''MP'')</span>
|-
| rowspan="6" valign="top" | Present / <br />future || rowspan="3" valign="top" | Singular || 1 || align="center" | -u (-w) || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">-xani, -xãni</span> ||  ||  ||  ||  || <span style="color:#a06000;">si'''xani'''</span>
|-
| 2 || align="center" | ? || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
| 3 || align="center" | -di, -(t)ti, -i, -e || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">-ẽni, -tẽni</span> || prñnawa'''ti''' || (t)ta'''di''' || a'''di''', '''edi''' || ha'''di''', ha'''ti''' || <span style="color:#a06000;">sij'''ẽni''', sij'''eni''', sit'''ẽni'''</span>
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | Plural || 1 || align="center" | ? || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
| 2 || align="center" | (-tẽni ?) || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
| 3 || align="center" | ~-ti, -(i)ti, -ñti || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">~-tẽni (?)</span> ||  || t'''ãti''' (t'''ẽti''') || ai'''ti''' || (h)h'''ãti''', (h)ha'''ti''' || <span style="color:#a06000;">si'''tẽni''' (?)</span>
|-
| rowspan="4" valign="top" | Preterite || rowspan="2" valign="top" | Singular || 1 || align="center" | -(x)xa, -xã, -ga, -ax(a) || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">-xagã, -xaga (?)</span> || prñnawa'''xã''', -wa'''xa''' || ta'''xa''' || a'''xa''', a'''ga''', a'''xã''', a'''gã'''; <br /><span style="color:#a06000;">(''MP:'') a'''xagã''', a'''xaga'''</span> ||  ||
|-
| 3 || align="center" | -tẽ, -(t)te, -dẽ, -de || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">(-tte ?)</span> || prñnawa'''tẽ''', -wa'''te''' (-w'''etẽ''', -we'''te''') || ta'''dẽ''', ta'''de''' (te'''tẽ''' ?) || a'''dẽ'''. a'''de''' (e'''de''', a'''da''') || ha'''dẽ''', ha'''de''' ||
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | Plural || 1 || align="center" | ? || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
| 3 || align="center" | ~-tẽ, -(i)tẽ, -(i)te, ~-te, -ñtẽ, -ñte || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> || prñnaw'''ãtẽ''', -w'''ãte'''; prñn'''e'''w'''ãtẽ''' || t'''ete''' || ai'''tẽ''', ai'''te''' || h'''ãtẽ''', hã'''te''' ||
|-
| rowspan="5" valign="top" | Imperative || rowspan="3" valign="top" | Singular || 1 || align="center" | -lu (?)<ref name="lycb">Only attested in [[Milyan language|Lycian B]].</ref> || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> || || || || ||
|-
| 2 || align="center" | -Ø<ref name="lycb" /> || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> || || || || ||
|-
| 3 || align="center" | -(t)tu, -du, -u || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">(-tẽnu ?)</span> ||  || ta'''tu''' ||  || ha'''du''' ||
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | Plural || 2 || align="center" | (-tẽnu ?) || align="center | <span style="color:#a06000;">(-tẽnu ?)</span> ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
| 3 || align="center | ~-tu || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">(~-tẽnu ?)</span> ||  || t'''ãtu''', ta'''tu''' ||  ||  ||
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | Participle Active <span style="color:#a06000;">(Passive?)</span> || colspan="2" | Singular || colspan="2" align="center" | -mi, ~-mi, -me, -ma ||  ||  ||  ||  ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Plural || colspan="2" align="center" | -mi ||  ||  || (''acc. neutr.:'') '''eim̃''' || <span style="color:#a06000;">(''accusative:'') h'''m̃mis'''</span> ||
|-
| colspan="3" | Infinitive || align="center | -ne, ~-ne, -na, ~-na || align="center" | <span style="color:#a06000;">?</span> ||  || (t)t'''ãne''', ta'''ne''', tt'''ãna''' ||  || ha'''ne''', hã'''ne''', hhã'''na''' ||
|}

A [[suffix]] -s- (cognate with Greek, Latin -/sk/-), appended to the stem and attested with half a dozen verbs, is thought to make a verb [[iterative]]:<ref name="didier" /><ref>Billings (2019), pp. 116-118.</ref>
: stem ''a(i)-'', 'to do, to make', ''s''-stem ''a'''s'''-''; (Preterite 3 Singular:) ''ade, adẽ'', 'he did, made', ''a'''s'''tte'', 'he always did, has made repeatedly';
: stem ''tuwe-'', 'to erect, place (upright)', ''s''-stem ''tu'''s'''-''; (Present/future 3 Plural:) ''tuwẽti'', 'they erect', ''tu'''s'''ñti '', 'they will erect repeatedly'.

=== Syntax ===
[[Emmanuel Laroche]], who analysed the Lycian text of the Letoon trilingual,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laroche |first1=Emmanuel |title=L'inscription lycienne |journal=Fouilles de Xanthos |date=1979 |volume=VI |pages=51–128: 95–98}}</ref> concluded that word order in Lycian is slightly more free than in the other Anatolian languages.  Sentences in plain text mostly have the structure
: ''ipc (initial particle cluster) - V (Verb) - S (Subject) - O (direct Object)''.

The verb immediately follows an "initial particle cluster", consisting of a more or less meaningless particle "''se-''" or "''me-''" (literally, 'and') followed by a series of up to three suffixes, often called emphatics. The function of some of these suffixes is mysterious, but others have been identified as pronomina like "he", "it", or "them". The subject, direct object, or indirect object of the sentence may thus proleptically be referred to in the initial particle cluster. As an example, the sentence "X built a house" might in Lycian be structured: "and-he-it / he-built / X / a-house".

Other constituents of a sentence, like an indirect object, predicate, or complimentary adjuncts, can be placed anywhere after the verb.

Contrary to this pattern, funeral inscriptions as a rule have a standard form with the object at the head of the sentence: "This tomb built X"; literally: "This tomb / it / he built / X" (order: ''O - ipc - V - S''). Laroche suspects the reason for this deviation to be that in this way emphasis fell on the funerary object: "This object, it was built by X". Example:<ref>Inscription TL 19 from Pinara.</ref>

::{| valign="top"
|1.
||| ''ebẽñnẽ prñnawã <u>'''mẽti'''</u> prñnawatẽ''
|| This building, [it was] <u>'''he who'''</u> built <u>'''it'''</u>:
|- valign="top"
|2.
||| ''xisteriya xzzbãzeh tideimi''
|| Qisteria, Qtsbatse's son,
|- valign="top"
|3.
||| ''hrppi ladi ehbi se tideime'' 
|| for his wife and for the sons.
|}

In line 1 ''mẽti = m-ẽ-ti'' is the initial particle cluster, where ''m- = me-'' is the neutral "steppingstone" to which two suffixes are affixed: ''-ẽ-'' = "it", and the [[relative pronoun]] ''-ti'', "who, he who".

==== Subject-verb-object hypothesis ====
Kim McCone proposed in the 1970s that Lycian's unmarked word order was instead [[subject-verb-object]]. The apparent VSO and OVS orders come from various frontings and [[Dislocation (syntax)|dislocation]]s of a basic SVO structure.

Lycian's SVO is itself a shift from the typical Anatolian [[subject-object-verb]] order, of which Lycian preverbal object pronouns like ''ẽ'' "him/her/it" would be a relic.<ref>{{cite book |last=McCone|first=Kim|section=The Diachronic Possibilities of the IE "Amplified" Sentence| editor-first=Bela | editor-last=Brogyanyi | title=Studies in Diachronic, Synchronic, and Typological Linguistics: Festschrift for Oswald Szemerényi on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday | publisher=John Benjamins | series=Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science | year=1979 | isbn=978-90-272-3504-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_drSeCMfIkEC | access-date=May 9, 2022 | page=}}</ref>

{{interlinear
| indent = 1.6|mexisttẽn ẽ-ep[i]tuwe-te|Megasthenes.NOM it-set.up.PRET-3sg|Megasthenes set it up…
}}

In spite of McCone's alternative analysis, the assumption that [[verb-subject-object]] was Lycian's unmarked word order went unchallenged until the 2010s, when [[Alwin Kloekhorst]] independently formulated and adopted the SVO hypothesis. This led to other linguists like Heiner Eichner and H. Craig Melchert to adopt the SVO hypothesis after him.<ref name="Melchert 2021">{{cite journal|last=Melchert|first=H. Craig|title=Lycian relative clauses|journal=Hungarian Assyriological Review|volume=2|issue=1|year=2021|pages=65–75 |doi=10.52093/hara-202101-00013-000|location=Budapest|s2cid=249356921 |url=https://harjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/harassets/har202101-00013.pdf}}</ref> The principal unmarked example cited by SVO supporters comes from the following sentence:<ref>Inscription TL 40 from Xanthos.</ref>

{{interlinear|indent=1.6
|pajawa m[a]n[ax]ine: prñnawa-te: prñnaw-ã ebẽ-ñnẽ:
|Pajawa.NOM Manaxine build.PRET-3sg building-ACC this-ACC
|Pajawa Manaxine built this building. (Note the absence of the initial particle cluster.)
}}

Further examples of subject-initial unmarked clauses cited by Melchert include:<ref name="Melchert 2021"/>

{{interlinear|indent=1.6
|tebursseli prñnawa-te lusñ[tr]e ẽti waziss-e
|Tebursseli.NOM build.PRET-3sg Lysander.GEN at leadership-LOC
|Tebursseli built (this tomb) under Lysander's leadership.<ref>Inscription TL 104 from Limyra.</ref>
}}
{{interlinear|indent=1.6
|upazij ẽne-prñnawa-te hrppi prñnezi ehbi
|Upazij.NOM it-build.PRET-3sg for household his.DAT
|Upazij built it for his household.<ref>Inscription TL 31 from Kadyanda.</ref>
}}