Available in early January 2000 (advance ordering already possible):

Leo Depuydt
FUNDAMENTALS OF EGYPTIAN GRAMMAR, PART 1: ELEMENTS. 1999.

Textbook grammar and systematic analysis of ancient Egyptian. For
teaching, self- teaching, reference. Full answer key to the exercises.
All tools included for attaining independent proficiency in reading
hieroglyphic Egyptian and an in-depth, professional understanding of its
grammatical structure. Part 1.

Published by Frog Publishing. 
Paperback with sew-and-wrap binding.
906 pages (lxxxiii + 823).
5.5' x 8.5' (text 4' x 5.75').
ISBN: 0-9674751-0-4. LCCN: 99-75646. P-CIP: PJ1135.D47 1999.
Price: $57.62. 


Description of Fundamentals of Egyptian Grammar, Part 1:

This is an introduction to Middle Egyptian, spoken in ancient Egypt
around 2000 BC, also called Classical Egyptian. Scribes imitated it long
after Egyptian had further evolved. Egyptian was both written and spoken
from ca. 3000-2500 BC to ca. AD 1000-1500, for nearly 4000 years. The
language changed much in this time. Several stages are distinguished.
Middle Egyptian, the second, is traditionally studied first. This
textbook is perhaps more suitable for an intensive course, the kind used
in American colleges to teach other languages that differ much from
English, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Swahili, and
Turkish. But there is enough material for any kind of course or for
self-teaching.

This work is organized in two ways: first, in chapters and sections by
subject matter; and second, in thirty-six lessons with questions and
exercises for teaching and learning. There are five chapters, entitled
"The Hieroglyphic Script," "Substantives and Adjectives," "Pronouns and
Adverbs," "Non-verbal Sentences," and "Verbal Coordinates."

This book is fully self-sufficient. It contains all the necessary
vocabulary, a full answer key to all the exercises, a list of all the
hieroglyphic signs that occur, and definitions of all the grammatical
terms. There is also an index of passages cited from Egyptian texts and
an index of grammatical topics. The story of the decipherment is told in
an appendix.

Middle Egyptian is written with the hieroglyphic script. For all its
beauty, this script does not represent the language in full. Thus, vowels
are not denoted. Studying Middle Egyptian is an unusual endeavor. This
book is therefore also unusual as an introduction. Much emphasis is
placed on analysis. In fact, this book is not only a textbook, but also
an analysis of the fundamentals of Middle Egyptian cast in a textbook
mold for clarity and distinction. The analysis progresses from the most
basic elements to ever increasing complexity by simple and obvious
incremental steps. In light of this logical progression, Part 1 is called
"Elements." Part 2 will be called "Links." No prior knowledge of grammar
or of any theory of language is presupposed. Grammatical terms are used
parsimoniously.

This work is much inspired by the writings of H.J. Polotsky and by a
decade of teaching Egyptian to Yale, Brown, and Harvard students.
Eighteen theses discussed in the Preface and defended in detail elsewhere
convey some of what lends this grammar its own character.

About the author:

Leo Depuydt was educated at Yale University (Ph.D. '90), the University
of Tuebingen in Germany, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Hebrew
Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Catholic University of Leuven
in Belgium. He teaches in the Department of Egyptology at Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives in Norton, Massachusetts.

About the publisher:

Frog Publishing
P.O. Box 259
Norton, Mass. 02766-0259
United States of America

The above book will (for the moment) exclusively be sold via
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