Sound rules: vowels and consonants in contact

This page summarises the most important rules for understanding how some consonants and vowels behave when next to each other. It is not an exhaustive list, and we have not attempted to explain why they occur. Any good textbook of Akkadian will provide details and justifications of these rules. You may find it helpful to read this in conjunction with the explanation of how Akkadian phonology is expressed in cuneiform writing.

Consonant clusters and helper vowels

Adjacent dentals and sibilants

Nasal consonants

The weak consonant ʾ (aleph)

The semi-weak consonant w

Adjacent vowels

Mysterious e instead of a

Content last modified on 05 Apr 2024.

Eleanor Robson

Eleanor Robson, 'Sound rules: vowels and consonants in contact', Knowledge and Power, Higher Education Academy, 2024 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/knpp/CuneiformRevealed/Akkadianlanguage/Soundrules/]

 
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