Principles of the Relation between Local Adverb, Verb and Sentence Particle in Hittite

Abstract

This book deals with the function of the so-called local in Hittite, and the relation between their use and the occurrence of so-called sentence particles. The local adverbs have traditionally been explained as postpositions, preverbs or adverbs, depending on their position in the sentence. In this book, the function of the local adverbs is described in terms of their relation with the verb. Local adverbs belonging to the verb form a semantic particle. Independent local adverbs have no relation with the verb, but function as postpositions or independent adverbs. A new lexical description of all Hittite verbs, in the absence of native speakers, necessarily based on the study of all available predicate frames, will be necessary to define the function of the Hittite local adverbs in each of their attestations. In this book, the evidence of four common Hittite verbs of motion has been analysed as a specimen study. In the last section the situation in a much better-known language, Homeric Greek, where the same problems confront the researcher, is adduced for comparison.