Table Of ContentTheAncientEgyptianLanguage
AnHistoricalStudy
Thisbook,thefirstofitskind,examineshowthephonologyandgrammarof
theancientEgyptianlanguagechangedovermorethanthreethousandyears
ofitshistory,fromthefirstappearanceofwrittendocuments,c.3250bc,to
the Coptic dialects of the second century ad and later. Part One discusses
phonology, working backward from the vowels and consonants of Coptic
to those that can be deduced for earlier stages of the language. Part Two
isdevotedtogrammar,includingbothbasiccomponentssuchasnounsand
the complex history of the verbal system. The book thus provides both a
synchronicdescriptionofthefivemajorhistoricalstagesofancientEgyptian
andadiachronicanalysisoftheirdevelopmentandrelationship.
jamesp.allenistheWilbourProfessorofEgyptologyatBrownUniversity.
HeisaformercuratorofEgyptianartattheMetropolitanMuseumofArtin
NewYorkandpresidentoftheInternationalAssociationofEgyptologists.His
previouspublicationsincludeGenesisinEgypt:ThePhilosophyofAncient
EgyptianCreationAccounts(1989),MiddleEgyptian:AnIntroductiontothe
LanguageandCultureofHieroglyphs(2000,2010),TheHeqanakhtPapyri
(2002),TheAncientEgyptianPyramidTexts(2005),andTheDebatebetween
aManandhisSoul(2010).
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The Ancient Egyptian Language
An Historical Study
JamesP.Allen
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Firstpublished2013
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Allen,JamesP.,1945–
TheancientEgyptianlanguage:anhistoricalstudy/byJamesP.Allen.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-03246-0(hardback)
1.Egyptianlanguage–History. 2.Egyptianlanguage–Grammar,Historical.
3.Egyptianlanguage–Phonology. I.Title.
PJ1111.A44 2012
493′.15–dc23 2012024808
ISBN978-1-107-03246-0Hardback
ISBN978-1-107-66467-8Paperback
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Contents
Preface pageix
Conventions xi
1. Phonologicalconventions xi
2. Glossingconventions xiii
1 AncientEgyptian 1
1.1 Affinities 1
1.2 Historicaloverview 2
1.3 Writing 4
1.4 Diachronicanalysis 5
PartOne Phonology
2 Copticphonology 11
2.1 TheCopticalphabet 11
2.2 Syllablestructureandstress 12
2.3 Vowels 13
2.4 Consonants 17
3 CopticandEgyptian 23
3.1 Syllablestructureandstress 23
3.2 Vowels 24
3.3 Consonants 26
4 Correspondentsandcognates 31
4.1 EgyptianrenditionsofSemiticwords 31
4.2 Cognates 33
4.3 Valuesfromcorrespondentsandcognates 36
5 Egyptianphonology 37
5.1 Theconsonants 37
5.2 Egyptianconsonantalphonesandphonemes 50
5.3 ThegraphemesofEgyptian 53
5.4 Generalhistoricalprocesses 54
v
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vi Contents
PartTwo Grammar
6 Nouns,pronouns,andadjectives 59
6.1 Nouns 60
6.2 Interrogativeanddemonstrativepronouns 64
6.3 Personalpronouns 65
6.4 Nounphrases 71
6.5 Adjectives 73
7 Non-verbalpredicates 79
7.1 Nominalpredicates 79
7.2 Adjectivalpredicates 86
7.3 Adverbialpredicates 88
7.4 Negations 89
7.5 Non-verbalpredicateswithjw 91
8 Verbs 94
8.1 Thelexicallevel 94
8.2 Thephrasallevel 100
8.3 Theclausallevel 102
8.4 Thesententiallevel 102
9 Verbs:EgyptianI 104
9.1 Morphology 104
9.2 Featuresoftheprimaryverbalsystem 119
9.3 Negations 127
9.4 Theexpressionofpastandperfect 132
9.5 Analyticconstructions 135
9.6 Verbalpredicateswithjw 138
10 Verbs:EgyptianII 141
10.1 Syntheticforms 141
10.2 Analyticforms 144
10.3 TheverbalsystemofEgyptianII 153
11 Verbs:EgyptianI–II 157
11.1 Inflectedforms 157
11.2 Semanticfeatures 160
12 Subordination 164
12.1 Parataxis:nounclauses 166
12.2 Parataxis:adverbclauses 167
12.3 Parataxis:relativeclauses 169
12.4 Hypotaxis:nominalforms 170
12.5 Hypotaxis:otherdedicatedforms 179
12.6 Hypotaxis:subordinatingmorphemes 180
12.7 Summary 195
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Contents vii
Notes 201
Bibliography 220
1. Studies 220
2. Textsources 229
Indices 235
A. Texts 235
B. Words 243
C. Topics 250
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