Editing Elamite language (section)

==Morphology==
Elamite is [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] but with fewer morphemes per word than, for example, [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] or [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] and [[Urartian language|Urartian]]. It is mostly suffixing.

===Nouns===
The Elamite nominal system is thoroughly pervaded by a [[noun class]] distinction, which combines a gender distinction between animate and inanimate with a personal class distinction, corresponding to the three persons of verbal inflection (first, second, third, plural). <br>
The suffixes that express that system are as follows:<ref name="Stolper 73" /> <br>
Animate: <br>
:1st person singular: ''-k''
:2nd person singular: ''-t''
:3rd person singular: ''-r'' or ''-Ø''
:3rd person plural: ''-p''
:
Inanimate: <br>
:''-∅'', ''-me'', ''-n'', ''-t''<ref>Apart from the productive use of ''-me'' to form abstract nouns, the meaning (if any) of the difference between the various inanimate suffixes is unclear.</ref>

[[File:Inscription in Elamite, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE.jpg|thumb|Inscription in Elamite, in the [[Xerxes I inscription at Van]], 5th century BCE]]
The animate third-person suffix ''-r'' can serve as a nominalizing suffix and indicate [[nomen agentis]] or just members of a class. The inanimate third-person singular suffix ''-me'' forms abstracts.

Some examples of the use of the noun class suffixes above are the following:

:''sunki-k'' “a king (first person)” i.e. “I, a king”

: ''sunki-r'' “a king (third person)”

:''nap-Ø'' or ''nap-ir'' “a god (third person)”

:''sunki-p'' “kings”

:''nap-ip'' “gods”

: ''sunki-me'' “kingdom, kingship”

:''hal-Ø'' “town, land”

: ''siya-n'' “temple”

: ''hala-t'' “mud brick”.

Modifiers follow their (nominal) heads. In noun phrases and pronoun phrases, the suffixes referring to the head are appended to the modifier, regardless of whether the modifier is another noun (such as a possessor) or an adjective. Sometimes the suffix is preserved on the head as well:

:''u šak X-k(i)'' = “I, the son of X”

:''X šak Y-r(i)'' = “X, the son of Y”

:''u sunki-k Hatamti-k'' = “I, the king of Elam”

:''sunki Hatamti-p'' (or, sometimes, ''sunki-p Hatamti-p'') = “the kings of Elam”

:''temti riša-r'' = “great lord” (lit. “lord great”)

:''riša-r nap-ip-ir'' = “greatest of the gods” (lit. "great of the gods")

:''nap-ir u-ri'' = “my god” (lit. “god of me”)

:''hiya-n nap-ir u-ri-me'' = “the throne hall of my god”

:''takki-me puhu nika-me-me'' = “the life of our children”

:''sunki-p uri-p u-p(e)'' = ”kings, my predecessors” (lit. “kings, predecessors of me”)

This system, in which the noun class suffixes function as derivational morphemes as well as agreement markers and indirectly as subordinating morphemes, is best seen in Middle Elamite. It was, to a great extent, broken down in Achaemenid Elamite, where possession and, sometimes, attributive relationships are uniformly expressed with the “[[genitive case]]” suffix ''-na'' appended to the modifier: e.g. ''šak X-na'' “son of X”. The suffix ''-na'', which probably originated from the inanimate agreement suffix ''-n'' followed by the nominalizing particle ''-a'' (see below), appeared already in Neo-Elamite.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=74}}</ref>

The personal pronouns distinguish nominative and accusative case forms. They are as follows:<ref name=":0">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=75}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Singular
! colspan="2" | Plural
|-
! Nominative || Accusative
! Nominative || Accusative
|-
! 1st person
| u
| un
| nika/nuku
| nukun
|-
! 2nd person
| ni/nu
| nun
| num/numi
| numun
|-
! 3rd person
| i/hi
| ir/in
| ap/appi
| appin
|-
! Inanimate
| colspan="4" | i/in
|}

In general, no special possessive pronouns are needed in view of the construction with the noun class suffixes. Nevertheless, a set of separate third-person animate possessives ''-e'' (sing.) / ''appi-e'' (plur.) is occasionally used already in Middle Elamite: ''puhu-e'' “her children”, ''hiš-api-e'' “their name”.<ref name=":0" /> The relative pronouns are ''akka'' “who” and ''appa'' “what, which”.<ref name=":0"/>

===Verbs===
[[File:Seal of Darius the Great British Museum.jpg|thumb|Seal of [[Darius the Great]] hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian ({{wikt-lang|peo|𐎠𐎭𐎶}}𐏐{{wikt-lang|peo|𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴}} {{wikt-lang|peo|𐏋}}, "''adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya''"), as well as in [[Elamite]] and [[Akkadian language|Babylonian]]. The word 'great' only appears in Babylonian. [[British Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Darius Seal |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=282610&partId=1&people=92952&peoA=92952-3-18&page=1|access-date=24 January 2024 |website=British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Darius' seal: photo – Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/pictures/a/iran/darius-seal-photo/}}</ref>]]
The verb base can be simple (''ta-'' “put”) or “[[reduplication|reduplicated]]” (''beti'' > ''bepti'' “rebel”). The pure verb base can function as a verbal noun, or “infinitive”.<ref name=":1">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=81}}</ref>

The verb distinguishes three forms functioning as [[finite verb]]s, known as '''“conjugations”'''.<ref name=":2">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=78}}</ref> Conjugation I is the only one with special endings characteristic of finite verbs as such, as shown below. Its use is mostly associated with active voice, transitivity (or verbs of motion), neutral aspect and past tense meaning. Conjugations II and III can be regarded as periphrastic constructions with participles; they are formed by the addition of the nominal personal class suffixes to a passive perfective participle in ''-k'' and to an active imperfective participle in ''-n'', respectively.<ref name=":1" /> Accordingly, conjugation II expresses a [[perfective aspect]], hence usually past tense, and an intransitive or passive voice, whereas conjugation III expresses an [[imperfective aspect|imperfective]] non-past action.

The Middle Elamite '''conjugation I''' is formed with the following suffixes:<ref name=":2" />

{| class="wikitable" 
|+ Conjugation I
|-
! 
! singular
! plural
|-
! 1st person
| -h
| -hu
|-
! 2nd person
| -t
| -h-t
|-
! 3rd person
| -š
| -h-š
|}

: Examples: ''kulla-h'' ”I prayed”, ''hap-t'' ”you heard”, ''hutta-š'' “he did”, ''kulla-hu'' “we prayed”, ''hutta-h-t'' “you (plur.) did”, ''hutta-h-š'' “they did”.

In Achaemenid Elamite, the loss of the /h/ reduces the transparency of the Conjugation I endings and leads to the merger of the singular and plural except in the first person; in addition, the first-person plural changes from ''-hu'' to ''-ut''.

The '''participles''' can be exemplified as follows: perfective participle ''hutta-k'' “done”, ''kulla-k'' “something prayed”, i.e. “a prayer”; imperfective participle ''hutta-n'' “doing” or “who will do”, also serving as a non-past infinitive. The corresponding conjugations ('''conjugation II and III''') are:

{| class="wikitable" 
|-
! colspan="2" |
! perfective<br>(= conj. II)
! imperfective<br>(= conj. III)
|-
! 1st person
! singular
| hutta-k-k
| hutta-n-k
|-
! 2nd person
! singular
| hutta-k-t
| hutta-n-t
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
! singular
| hutta-k-r
| hutta-n-r
|-
! plural
| hutta-k-p
| hutta-n-p
|}

In Achaemenid Elamite, the Conjugation 2 endings are somewhat changed:<ref>{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=79}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" 
|+ Conjugation II
|-
! 1st person
! singular
| hutta-k-ut
|-
! 2nd person
! singular
| hutta-k-t
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
! singular
| hutta-k (hardly ever attested in predicative use)
|-
! plural
| hutta-p
|}

There is also a '''periphrastic construction''' with an [[auxiliary verb]] ''ma-'' following either Conjugation II and III stems (i.e. the perfective and imperfective participles), or ''nomina agentis'' in ''-r'', or a verb base directly. In Achaemenid Elamite, only the third option exists. There is no consensus on the exact meaning of the periphrastic forms with ''ma-'', but durative, intensive or volitional interpretations have been suggested.<ref name=":3">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=80}}</ref>

The '''optative''' is expressed by the addition of the suffix ''-ni'' to Conjugations I and II.<ref name=":3" />

The '''imperative''' is identical to the second person of Conjugation I in Middle Elamite. In Achaemenid Elamite, it is the third person that coincides with the imperative.<ref name=":1" />

The '''prohibitative''' is formed by the particle ''anu/ani'' preceding Conjugation III.<ref name=":1" />

Verbal forms can be converted into the heads of subordinate clauses through the addition of the '''nominalising suffix''' ''-a'', much as in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: ''siyan in-me kuši-hš(i)-me-a'' “the temple which they did not build”. ''-ti''/''-ta'' can be suffixed to verbs, chiefly of conjugation I, expressing possibly a meaning of anteriority (perfect and pluperfect tense).<ref>{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=82}}</ref>

The '''negative particle''' is ''in-''; it takes nominal class suffixes that agree with the subject of attention (which may or may not coincide with the grammatical subject): first-person singular ''in-ki'', third-person singular animate ''in-ri'', third-person singular inanimate ''in-ni''/''in-me''. In Achaemenid Elamite, the inanimate form ''in-ni'' has been generalized to all persons, and concord has been lost.