Akkadian Grammar Study Guide 006
Alephs and Vowel Changes There were five Proto-Semitic letters that are not present in Akkadian. These are referred to as aleph 1-5. (Some of these alephs exist in Hebrew.) ʾ1 = ʾ (א) ʾ2 = h (ה) ʾ3 = ḥ (ח) ʾ4 = ʿ (ע) ʾ5 = ǵ (ע) The Akkadian letters y and w may also be referred to as alephs. ʾ6 = w (ו) ʾ7 = y (י) These alephs largely disappear in Akkadian, but they can affect the word formation. If a word began or ended with an ʾ1-7, the aleph was lost with no change to the word. ...