Grammatical Variation in Neo-Assyrian
Mikko Luukko
Variation is a prerequisite of change ...without synchronic variation, change would not have a launching pad.” Thus says Raimo Anttila in his Historical and Comparative Linguistics. The problem with ancient languages is that it is difficult to get enough texts to be able to document variation. In this respect, the Neo-Assyrian period stands apart from most of the other eras of the Ancient Near East. The century after the coming to power of the Sargonid kings in 722 BCE is documented by thousands of preserved letters between bureaucrats of the royal administration written in the Neo-Assyrian dialect/language. The value of this letter corpus for being able to document synchronic variation in Neo-Assyrian is difficult to overstate. And this is in addition to the wide range of other types of texts available from this period.
Mailing List
Subscribe to our mailing list and be notified about new titles, journals and catalogs.