McLaughlin, Rachael
(2022)
The Linguistic Cycle in Ancient Egyptian Verbal Constructions.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
The linguistic cycle pattern, involving the repeating alternation between analyticity and syntheticity, is clearly visible in many constructions across the development of the ancient Egyptian language between Old Egyptian and Coptic. This thesis aims to provide a detailed, evidence-based account of the linguistic cycle pattern in the diachronic developments of Egyptian verbal constructions, and to further understanding of how and why this pattern was formed. The first chapter of this thesis introduces the key themes, research questions and methodology featured throughout the thesis, including three illustrative crosslinguistic examples of the linguistic cycle and a discussion of motivations for the formation of this pattern. The second chapter observes and analyses how the linguistic cycle was formed in the development of each individual construction, establishing the linguistic processes involved in analyticisation and syntheticisation in each case. The following three chapters provide a comparison between the verbal constructions analysed in chapter 2, determining the nature of the linguistic cycle in Egyptian verbal constructions through similarities between constructions, as well as establishing differences. It is determined that analyticisation occurred through the addition of new elements to constructions, primarily through the process of auxiliarification, while syntheticisation involved the reduction of a construction, primarily through the processes of erosion and coalescence. It is also proven that the linguistic cycle in Egyptian verbal constructions was not truly cyclical, and that this pattern occurred over various different time scales in different constructions. It is consequently argued that, in the context of the linguistic cycle, constructions must be examined individually, rather than an entire language or language phase being categorised. At various stages throughout these chapters, the findings from Egyptian verbal constructions are compared with the three known examples of the linguistic cycle from different languages given in chapter 1, establishing various similarities. This adds to evidence for the currently unanswered question of the universality of the linguistic cycle pattern. It also demonstrates how the Egyptian language, which as the world’s longest attested language offers a unique opportunity to examine linguistic patterns over a more extended time period than any other language, can reveal more about the linguistic cycle as a crosslinguistic pattern than its current application in linguistic works. The final chapter summarises the findings of this thesis, and presents conclusions to its primary research questions.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Jan 2023 10:13 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Jan 2023 10:14 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03166207 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3166207 |
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