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Diachronica: Online-First Articles

Insubordination and what happens after it

Evidence from Hittite

ORCID logo | Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences

One of the sources of irrealis markers is former markers of conditional sentences, both protases and apodoses, both factual and counterfactual. The development, amply documented cross-linguistically, is that of insubordination: a former marker of subordination is used as an irrealis marker in main clauses. However, the next stage of development is not commonly observed: when irrealis markers that came into being as the result of insubordination and are used in main clauses spread back to their original locus, conditional sentences. The paper deals with a clear attestation of this pattern in Hittite, an extinct Indo-European language. It is argued that the development is part of a linguistic cycle of the ‘broken’ kind, i.e., that the cycle changed by other processes simultaneously operating in the language.

Keywords: Hittite, irrealis, conditional subordination, grammaticalization, insubordination, linguistic cycles
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Insubordination and grammaticalization of conditional subordinators
  • 3.Conditional subordinator and irrealis marker in Hittite
    • 3.1Conditional subordinator and irrealis marker in Hittite: Diachrony
      • 3.1.1Conditional subordinator > irrealis marker: Etymology of mān
      • 3.1.2Conditional subordinator > irrealis marker: Semantic difficulties and their solution
      • 3.1.3Conditional subordinator > irrealis marker: Phonological difficulties and their solution
      • 3.1.4Akkadian influence on Hittite irrealis marker?
      • 3.1.5Conditional subordinator > irrealis marker: Consolidated diachronic scenario
      • 3.1.6Conditional subordinators and irrealis markers in Old Hittite and prehistoric (Proto) Hittite
    • 3.2Conditional subordinator > irrealis marker: Finer-grained development of mān
      • 3.2.1Conditional subordinator > irrealis marker in main clauses
      • 3.2.2Irrealis marker in main clauses > irrealis marker in subordinate (conditional) clauses
  • 4.Irrealis marker in other subordinate clauses
    • 4.1Irrealis marker in other subordinate clauses with optativity in the main clause
    • 4.2Irrealis marker in other subordinate clauses marking counterfactual situation types
    • 4.3Irrealis marker only in subordinate clauses
  • 5.Hittite irrealis marking in cross-linguistic perspective
    • 5.1Insubordination and beyond
    • 5.2Cyclic development
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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