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- Suggested revisions to Lesson 2.
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- Here are my suggested changes to sections 28-30, and the exercises,
that will bring the text more into alignment with modern linguistic
thought. Be aware that there are two main schools of egyptian
linguists: those that follow the substitutional analysis of Polotsky,
and those who use the current ideas of general linguistics (eg.
x-bar theory, functional grammar). I follow the latter. The grammatical
analyses differ greatly, but in general, the translations are
surprisingly similar, so don't worry....'just do it'.
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- Section 27:
- Verbs are more complicated than outlined here. Gardiner was not
aware of these other verb forms and gives examples that mix them
together. To keep it simple at this stage, just add the particle
iw (see Gardiner section 29) to the beginning of every main sentence.
This severely limits the verb forms that can be placed immediately
after it, and you can treat them for now as plain statements of
fact. So in the examples given in this section, change them to:
- iw wbn ra m pt, The sun rises in the sky.
- iw rx sS sxr m hrw pn, The scribe knows a counsel on this day.
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- See the comments on iw and verb forms by Serge Rosmorduc and StephenFryer
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- Section 28.
- Ditto for the example here. Even though it has no verb and is a
non-verbal sentence, it is best for now to learn it as an independent
sentence (main clause), so put 'iw' in front of the example: iw ra m pt, The sun is in the sky. Without the initial 'iw', the statement is a subordinate clause (eg. I will get up, WHEN
the sun is in the sky).
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- Section 29.
- Add the initial 'iw' to all sentences and treat them as independent statements.
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- Section 30.
- The listing of possible alternative translations of the verbal
sentence wbn ra m pt is a confusion of verb forms. Disregard it. Put 'iw' at the beginning and translate it as a simple statement of fact
(present or past tense depending on its context). In particular,
simply disregard the last example on the page ["(when) the sun
rises, the earth is in joy"]. For those who want to know some
of the difficulties we now face with these examples given by Gardiner,
read the comments by Serge Rosmorduc and StephenFryer .
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- Gardiner certainly realised the importance of iw in introducing independent statements: what he didn't realise
was the significance of the ABSENCE of iw at the beginning of verbal sentences. It is now generally accepted
that there are certain verb forms (eg. prospective) that begin
sentences without the need for initial particles like iw.
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- Vocabulary
- In these early chapters, Gardiner does not indicate verbs where
the 3rd consonant is one of the so-called 'weak' consonants (i or w). Verbs are classified by the number of consonants, and the 3rd
weak variety are a particularly interesting class. Much later,
in lesson 21, Gardiner does list many of the 3rd weak verbs (section
281, p215), but this is long after students would have already
learned the incorrect version.
- The verbs involved are:
- xdi (to fare downstream)
- hAi (go down)
- Please correct these in the vocabulary transliterations, and use
the full form in all transliterations.
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