Akkadian Grammar Study Guide 001
Alphabet and Sounds of Akkadian a, b, d, e, g, ḫ, i, y, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, ṣ, š, t, ṭ, u, w, z Unique Letters Akkadian Value Note ḫ ch as in loch Called "hooked h" y y as in Mayan also written j ṣ ts as in bits emphatic, called "dotted s" š sh as in shot Hebrew Shin ṭ t as in tot emphatic, called "dotted t" ʾ glottal stop Aleph, ignored in the dictionary Vowels Short Vowel Value Long Vowel Value a a as in swap ā, â a as in father e e as in pet ē, ê e as in reign i i as in pit ī, î i as in marine u u as in put ū, û u as in rule Notes on the Vowels The length of the vowels is an important part of the spelling. (mutum ‘husband’ vs mūtum ‘death’) Long vowels are marked either with a macron, ā, or with a circumflex, â, depending on the origin of the length (see Lesson 6). Notes on the Consonants w does not occur before other consonants except itself except at the end of a word y only occurs between vowels or (rarely) at the beginning of a word) also transliterated as ‘j’ ʾ (aleph) only occurs between vowels and rarely at the end of a syllable some scholars put an aleph between every doubled vowel ignored in the dictionary (words containing ʾ are treated as if it were not there) all consonants can be doubled b, d, g, z are “voiced” p, t, k, s are “voiceless” q, ṣ, ṭ are “emphatic” (important later, see Lesson 9) Voiced Voiceless Emphatic b p — d t ṭ g k q z s ṣ - note the coorespondences in the physiology (e.g. b & p are formed the same way in the mouth, one is voiced, one not) Syllables The writing system is based on syllables. Therefore crucial to master syllabification! Three rules: Every syllable has one and only one vowel. No syllable may begin with a vowel except the beginning of a word except the second of two vowels (kiam -> ki / am) No syllable may begin or end with two consonants Accents Three types of syllables: ...