Akkadian was a language of the Semitic family spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. It used the cuneiform writing system.
Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) is divided into dialects based on geography and time.
2500 - 1950 Old Akkadian
1950 - 1530 Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian
1530 - 1000 Middle Babylonian/Middle Assyrian
1000 - 600 Neo-Babylonian/Neo-Assyrian
600 B.C. - 100 A.D. Late Babylonian
Cuneiform
Akkadian scribes wrote cuneiform using signs that represented Sumerianlogograms, Sumerian syllables, Akkadian syllables, and phonetic complements. Cuneiform was in many ways unsuited to Akkadian: among its flaws were its inability to represent glottal stops, pharyngeal stops, and emphatic consonants, as well as a syllabic construction completely inappropriate for languages demonstrating the triconsonantal root. Sumerian cuneiform also distinguished between i and e; this distinction, however, though not originally present in Akkadian, was adopted rapidly as compensation for the disappearance of the original pharyngeals.
Akkadian sentence order was subject, object, verb, which sets it apart from most other Semitic languages, apart from those of Ethiopia. It has been hypothesized that this word order was a result of influence from the Sumerian language, which was also SOV. There is evidence that native speakers of both languages formed the same society for at least 500 years, so it is entirely likely that a sprachbund could have formed. Further evidence of an original VSO or SVO ordering can be found in the fact that direct and indirect object pronouns are suffixed to the verb. Word order seems to have shifted to SVO/VSO late in the 1st millennium, possibly under the influence of Aramaic.
External Links
Akkadian Language Sample (http://www.language_museum.com/a/akkadian_cuneiform.php)
The very existence of such a language had been forgotten, and its writing seemed so capricious and bewildering that the earlier European travellers mistook the characters for fantastic and bizarre ornamental decorations; their dagger- or arrow-headed shape (from which their name of cuneiform) presenting a difficult puzzle.
This Babylonian influence, indeed, can be equally traced in its different forms and manifestations through all western Asia, many centuries before that conquest of Palestine by the twelve Israelitish tribes which put an end to the Canaanitish dominion and supremacy.
An examination of the religions of the two countries proves that the Assyrians adopted Babylonian doctrines, cults, and rites, with such slight modifications as were called for by the conditions prevailing in the northern country.
Many, if not most international university organisations, were formed out of sheer determination on the part of their founders to maintain a sense of institutional control and to pursue the development of their own unique organisational identity, usually in the form of niche markets.
Others regard the development of their international university organisations as their only means for survival, whether that may relate to culture, language, or special ‘localised’ interest.
In discerning mono-disciplinary cooperative arrangements between the University and other partner institutions, it was determined that incentives for growth had to involve the prospect of enhanced status in the eyes of students and staff, a competitive stance with other like-minded organisations, and a minimal financial outlay (Neave, 1991; 103).
Feeds |
Contact