Akkadian and Amorite Phonology

18 Giorgio Buccellati1.3.4. Laryngeals and pharyngealsLaryngeals are distinguished graphemically in Amorite but not in Akkadian,where h is subsumed under : The pharyngeals are distinguished graphemicallyas a set, but it cannot be determined whether they are further distinguishedfrom each other. In Amorite, they are rendered by signs with h. InAkkadian there is no overt graphemic marker, but we can infer that theywere still present in Old Akkadian, because of the way in which they affectthe vocalism of the word in which they appear: in Old Akkadian the vowelin contact is a, except in closed syllables beginning with pharyngeal, whereit becomes e,8 while in the later dialects all a vowels in the core of the wordbecome for the most part e (see $ 1.4.2). Table 1-2 lists the correspondencesfor laryngeals and pharyngeals among the various dialects and their positedProto-Semitic equivalent.Table 1-2. Correspondences among Laryngeals and Pharyngeals* Am OAkk OB+ Am OAkk OB+ Gloss-- ---. -.--.- - - --- --- -- -- -- ---- --- -- - - --- -- .-A A ' A 'abu 'abu 'abu 'father'h h 5 ~ ' A ' E haddu 'adad 'adad 'storm god'' E ~ A ' A ' E 'zb 'zb 'zba 'to leave'~ E J A ' A E bhr b'r b$ Yo choose'g ? g ~ ' A E ? 'rb kbC 'to enter'-. -- -- --------.-- - --.--- --- - -- -- -- -- -- -a. Babylonian ezGbu, Assyrian eziibu.b. Babylonian kru, Assyrian besru.c. Babylonian erebu, Assyrian eHbu. Knudsen 1991: 874 givespurgugu 'flea' as an Amoriteexample for g. See D~akonoff 1985: 20 for an Eblaite equivalent.1.3.5. SibilantsThe treatment of the sibilants (see notes 4 and 5) presents us with severeproblems. (A) The graphemic rendering, while relatively consistent withineach dialect, appears to us confusing when comparing different dialects.(B) The phonetic realization of some of the phonemes is in part uncertain.(C) The notations used in the literature are often ambiguous.It is regrettable that Gelb, while distinguishing clearly the various categorieson the theoretical level, does not carry this over to either the text of hisGrammar (1961) or the entries of his Glossary (1957); rather, he uses capitalto subsume without differentiation 3, i, 2, and 1. In their edition of Old8. For a fuller statement of the pertinent rules see Gelb 1961: 123-25.