Cyril Brosch, "Räumlichkeit in Zentralanatolien. Eine hethitische "Grammar of Space"", in: Silvia Kutscher and Daniel A. Werning (Eds.), On Ancient Grammars of Space. Linguistic Research on the Expression of Spatial Relations and Motion in Ancient Languages, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014, 1–44

Abstract

Recently scientists concerned with extinct languages have joined linguists’ efforts to write spatial
grammars of the languages of the world in order to understand the underlying universal cognitive
principles governing the expression of space. This article collects and analyzes the spatial expressions
— case, deictic verbs, syntax, local particles, adverbs, and place words — of Hittite, an Indo-European
language spoken in central Anatolia some 3,500 years ago. It is argued that, although the lack of
native speakers has serious impacts on the depth of understanding we can attain, Hittite contributes
interesting data for the typological studies, as it suggests a subtler semantic fractionation of the
topological domain and an extension of Talmy’s lexicalisation pattern of dynamic verbs.

Published In

Silvia Kutscher and Daniel A. Werning (Eds.), On Ancient Grammars of Space. Linguistic Research on the Expression of Spatial Relations and Motion in Ancient Languages, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014