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:
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