=(i)s
‘(emphasizing)’
- Language
- Lydian
- Grammar
- part
- ID
- 2276
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lydian
=(i)s
‘(emphasizing)’1.1.1Transmission
This particle is found in the inscriptions of all genres, mostly coming from Sardis, but in one instance also from Maeonia. Most texts featuring this particle can be roughly dated to the 5th or 4th century BCE.
[I.Y.]
1.1.2Forms
The separation between the emphasizing particle =(i)s and the “local” particle =iš (q.v.) relies on cumulative evidence. The core group of cases for which the emphasizing function can be proposed on contextual grounds includes LW 2.1,9, LW 22.1, LW 23.4, and LW 24.17. In LW 11.4 and LW 15.11, the position after a dative noun is taken as a cue for the emphasizing reading, since all the clitics of the core group are likewise attached to dative nouns. The instances of =is have been added to this list on the assumption that free variation between s and š is unlikely in Lydian. As long as nak=is (LW 80.17) contains the clitic under discussion, the same analysis appears to be possible for LW 24.18 ak=s. As long as LW 14.9 kot=is contains the clitic under discussion, the position after the deictic element ãn (LW 14.11 and LW 15.3) probably also cues the emphatic meaning, even though one must bear in mind that the function of ãn (q.v.) remains debatable. Note that =τ in 13.11 may represent a morphophonemic variant of =s.
[I.Y.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
The default variant of the particle under discussion is =s. The appearance of the anaptyctic variant =is (if it belongs here) is limited to the final position after monosyllabic phonetic sequences ending in a consonant. Nevertheless, even in this position we find the basic allomorph =s in LW 24.18. A similar pattern of distribution is observed between the allomorphs =t and =it (cf. under =(i)t).
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1.1.4Meaning
The identification of the Lydian emphasizing particle was accomplished in Melchert 1991a:131-135, where a meaning similar to that of the Hittite emphasizing particle =pat was suggested. Melchert 1991a’s list of examples was extended in Kloekhorst 2012a:170f. at the expense of the non-existent reflexive particle =s. The syntactic feature that helps to distinguish the prototypical cases of the emphasizing and reflexive clitics in Lydian is the appearance of the former one in non-Wackernagel position. The emphasis is, presumably, placed on the constituent appearing next to the particle. The two cases, LW 24.18 ak=s and LW 80.17 nak=is, constitute an obvious exception to this generalization: here the particle is placed in Wackernagel position, immediately in front of the relative pronouns (cf. below).
It is striking that in all the prototypical cases the emphasizing =s is attached to the dative nouns. The cases that do not fit into this pattern according to Melchert 1991aare LW 22.1 sfardẽnτ and possibly LW 3.2 ardẽnc (Melchert 1991a:134f.). This part of Melchert 1991a’s analysis is, however, not compelling. In the instance of LW 22.1 one should rather look for the emphatic pronoun in the sequence mλimnas, whereas sfardẽnτ is the nominative plural subject containing the ending -s (Yakubovich 2017b). The subject function is likewise likely in the instance of ardẽc (cf. under Lyd. ardẽt-).
A likely reason why we do not see the emphasizing particle attached to the subject is that it would be invisible under the nominative ending -s. Presumably, the Lydian language had an alternative strategy of emphasizing subjects. It is possibly manifest in ak=s (LW 24.18) and nak=is (LW 80.17), where the emphasizing particle is placed before the nominative subject.
[I.Y.]