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Title: Phrase nominale, identité et substitution dans les Textes des Sarcophages (troisième partie)
Author(s): DORET, Éric
Journal: Revue d'Égyptologie
Volume: 43    Date: 1992   
Pages: 49-74
DOI: 10.2143/RE.43.0.2011270

Abstract :
The third part of this contribution deals with the tripartite nominal sentence, noun + pw + noun. In this construction the second noun, which functions as the real subject, is cataphorically introduced by the grammatical subject pw. The analysis, in keeping with the tradition of the Stoic grammarians, centers around the proper name either of the deceased (N) or of a god or a divine being (PN). It shows that all possible realizations of the tripartite nominal sentence are derived from three basic 'patterns': 1. noun + pw + N, where the proper name of the deceased functions as the real subject after pw; 2. N + pw + noun, where the proper name of the deceased appears in predicative position; 3. noun + pw + PN, where the proper name of a god or a divine being functions as the real subject. A substitution list or paradigm can be associated with both predicate and subject: i.e. the noun can be realized as PN, as a substantive or a pronoun; the proper name of the deceased, N, as a substantive or even as a substantivized participle or relative form, and also as a pronoun; and, finally, the proper name of a god or a divine being, PN, as a substantive. It also shows that the choice of one realization or other depends on two factors: the identity of the speaker (the lector-priest; the deceased; a god or a divine being) on the one hand, and the evolution of funerary beliefs as reflected in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, on the other. The description of each one of the three basic 'patterns' is followed by a chart classifying their possible realizations, both in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, according to the speaker's identity.

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