Conditional Structures in Mesopotamian Old Babylonian

This volume examines conditional structures in Old Babylonian from a linguistic point of view, drawing on a corpus of letters, law collections, and omens. All of the conditional patterns are provided with a syntactic characterization, so that each conditional sequence is differentiated from all other potential sequences. The volume includes detailed discussion about the values of various verbal and other predicative forms in the conditional structures occurring in the corpus, the differences between superficially similar conditional patterns, and the functions of the various conditional patterns. Many traditionally difficult points are treated and given suitable solutions. The concluding sections of each chapter include linguistic glosses and more general discussions that provide linguistic typologists a window onto the conditional system of Old Babylonian.

“The author, who had already published an important study on the modal system of Old Babylonian, is to be congratulated on the completion of this meticulous descriptive-analytical study. The three genre-related case studies form a harmonious set.”—Lutz Edzard, Journal of the American Oriental Society