Verb-determinatives in the hieroglyphic scripts:

Egyptian Hieroglyphs versus Hieroglyphic Luwian (Anatolian).

(abstract)

Mariusz Prokopowicz, PhD

prokop.egypt@gmail.com

1. Egyptian
Within generative linguistics, Gruber motivated a system of the basic structural (thematic)
relations forming prelexical semantic level of representations: syntax and semantics have the
same representation at the prelexical categorial level (Gruber 1976). In his elaboration, verb is
the principal variable in a sentence. The semantic aspects of prelexical categories have been
developed in many other studies as thematic relations, and conceptual structures (Jackendoff
1976, and many others).

In Egyptian, verb-determinative is a kind of iconic-thematic-relation,

consciously elaborated, and inserted at the level of script.

A large group of verbs is recognizable by the relatively small group of determinatives (see below
ex. mostly from the Ship.). Determinatives represent the highly abstract universal domain
underlying the general conceptual domain (verbs). At the cognitive plan, the universal domain
(templates) represents the semantic intentions versus the semantic realizations, verbs, generating
the general domain. The universal domain is only partly easily conceptualized (see: the
hypernym ,,GO”), it means that our cognition has not potentiality to find any conceptual
universals representing the domains marked by the Egyptian image (see:?). Even if we are
unable to create a proper conceptual universal-template, the universal appears as the non
conceptual image. It helps us to understand the semantic importance of images and to reconstruct
the Egyptian kind of conceptualization: the body-image supported UNIVERSAL.

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 SEMANTIC INTENTION SEMANTIC REALIZATION

UNIVERSAL GENERAL
ICONS
DOMAIN DOMAIN
(TEMPLATES) (VERBS)

come pass walk stretch

MOVEMENT DOMAIN out come back come out
LEGS ,,GO’’ draw near separate reach
hesitate

HAND DOMAIN grasp give wash save

HANDS
,,?’’ away offer

eat drink pray answer

ask talk stammer foretell
HAND-MOUTH MOUTH-HEART DOMAIN satiate fear happy
,,?’’ remember kiss love laugh
recognize report

FORCE DOMAIN bow take set down be

HAND-STICK ,,?’’ brave slaughter load

Verb-determinative marks general idea underlying relationships

between verb (activity) and iconically marked body-body-parts.

It appears clear that, at the level of script, verb-determinative transforms verb to the
construction:

VERB + PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

and the P- phrase ( from X, under X, into X, for X, out of X, etc.) generates space orientations,
which iconically interpret an event expressed by the verb meaning.

In the early stage of development of Egyptian script, a lot of verbs appeared without
determinatives: thematic-iconicity was marked by ideograms (sound-picture-picture), and
logograms (sound-picture-idea): the two are semantically less universal than determinatives (it

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seems that the extensive group of two- and three-consonant-signs should be interpreted as
logograms, and not only as phonetic complementizers).

2. Luwian
In the hieroglyphic Luwian, the ''mute'' verb-determinative has been derived (like in Egyptian)
from logograms and ideograms (Hawkins 2000). Its ''distribution'' between verbs (its
''universality'') is incomparably weaker than in Egyptian. Verbs very often appear without
determinatives, so the thematic-iconicity is usually marked by a syllabic logogram. The same
icon is usually used like logogram and determinative. The Luwian logograms (not
determinatives) are iconically highly elaborated.

Most of verb-determinatives, in the hieroglyphic Luwian

(as in the Egyptian), represent human body and its parts.

ICONS UNIVERSAL GENERAL

DOMAINS DOMAINS
(Templates) (Verbs)

MOVEMENT DOMAIN
LEGS come bring go run
,, GO ”

HAND DOMAIN bring offer

HANDS ,, GIVE ”

MOUTH-HEART DOMAIN

HAND-TOUNGE ,, SPEAK ” speak proclaim course

HAND-MOUTH ,, DRINK ” drink

ideogram

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 HAND-MOUTH ,, EAT ” eat
ideogram

CROOK ON FACE ,, LOVE ” love

logogram

FORCE DOMAIN bow overly set down be

FIRST WITH ,,?’’ brave slaughter load
(KNIGHT?)
logogram

CONCLUSION: The iconic-verbal-system in Luwian conveys the Egyptian heuristic

construction. The Luwian determinatives are less ''abstract''/universal – the
verb iconicity is usually expressed only by ideograms or logograms, like in
the early stage of development of the Egyptian script, and so – the Luwian
domains are easily conceptualized. The Luwians have not widely
accommodated the clear Egyptian distinction between universal and
general.

GRUBER Jeffrey, Lexical Structures In Syntax And Semantics, North Holland Linguistics
Series 1976.

JACKENDOFF Ray, Towards an explanatory semantic representation, in: Linguistic Inquiry 7

(1976), 89-150.

DOWTY David Thematic proto-roles and argument selection, in: Language 67 (1991), 547-619.

LAROCHE Emmanuel, Dictionnaire De La Langue Louvite, Paris 1959.

HAWKINS J. Dawid, Corpus Of Hieroglypic Luwian Inscriptions, vol.1, Berlin-New York

2000.

ZWARTS Joost, Priorities in the production of prepositions, in: Anna Asbury, Jakub Dotlacil,
Berit Gehrke, Rick Nouwen, eds., Syntax And Semantics Of Spatial P. Amsterdam.
John Benjamins, 85-102.