In Egyptology, the Standard Theory or Polotskyan Theory, sometimes abbreviated ST, is an approach to the verbal syntax of the Egyptian language originally developed by Hans Jakob Polotsky in which Egyptian verb forms are regarded as variously adjectival, substantival, or adverbial,[1] with the possibility of ‘transposing’ any given verb phrase into any of these three classes.
[1] In 1976, Polotsky published Les transpositions du verbe en égyptien classique, his most complete treatment of the theory as it applied to classical Egyptian.
[1] Papers directly challenging some of the core assumptions of the Standard Theory began to appear, as Mark Collier and others cast doubt on the adverbial nature of certain verb forms.
[3][1] More recent trends also pay greater attention to discourse phenomena and pragmatics in analyzing verb forms rather than following a narrowly structural approach.
[6][3][4] Nonetheless, a few scholars have continued to defend the ideas of the Standard Theory against their detractors, and many of Polotsky's discoveries remain widely accepted.
[1][7] While there are many variants and further developments of the Standard Theory, the core of the analysis remains Polotsky's treatment of the Egyptian verbal system.