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THE LINGUISTICS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK 338
Language name Sumerian su��miəriən
Language name Squamish �skwɔ�miʃ
Autonym (if known and different)
Autonym (if known and different)
Language family isolate
Language family Salishan Central Coast
Spoken in extinct, but spoken in modern Iraq from c. 3200 bce
to 1600 bce
Spoken in British Columbia (Canada)
Approximate number of speakers 0
Approximate number of speakers 0
Writing system
Writing system cuneiform
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress variable
Stress
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 4
Contains following rare uvular; ejective
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 4
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types
Tone none
Tone none
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony none
Vowel harmony some apparent
Morphology polysynthetic stem-based
Morphology agglutinative word-based
Particular formation types incorporation; prefix; partial prefixed and partial
suffixed and full reduplication; suffix; synaffix
Particular formation types apophony; incorporation; prefixation; reduplication;
suffixation
Syntax
Syntax
Word order VSO AN prepositions
NPoss
Word order SOV NA postpositions
PossN
Particular syntactic phenomena ergative / absolutive marking; classifiers
Particular syntactic phenomena ergative / absolutive and nominative / accusative marking;
morphological aspect
Points of interest
Points of interest some of the oldest written texts still extant are in Sumerian
Sources Campbell (1991), Kuipers (1967), Maddieson (1984),
Ruhlen (1976)
Sources Michalowski (2004)