SUMERIAN

LESSON 2
PHONOLOGY
Sumerian is an extinct language without any known relatives. The reconstruc -
tion of its sound system must therefore rely entirely on written sources which
were recorded using a mixed logographic-phonographic writing system. The
interpretation and transliteration of this writing system is eventually based on
our understanding of Akkadian phonology. Additional evidence is provided, for
example, by the behaviour of loanwords, by glosses in syllabaries and vocabu -
laries, by spelling variants of the same word, by the ancient names of cuneiform
signs, and by Greek spellings of Sumerian and Akkadian words from the
Hellenistic period. Needless to say, the reconstruction of the Sumerian sound
system will always involve a certain degree of conjecture.
2.1 The consonants
The transliteration system used for Sumerian is based on its sound system in
the 2nd millennium BCE, which differs significantly from the sound system of
the 3rd millennium, and whose reconstruction itself is based on a by now partly
overhauled understanding of Akkadian phonology. In Table 2.1 below each
consonant is represented in square brackets by their reconstructed
pronunciation in the 3rd millennium (using the symbols of the International
Phonetic Alphabet), followed in curly brackets by the letter with which they
are normally transliterated, called graphonemes.
Graphonemes are phonemic units distinguished by the writing system.
Their values ultimately reflect their use in an Akkadian context and depend on
our understanding of Akkadian phonetics.
One may ask if it were not better to use different systems for transliterating
Sumerian texts from different periods. One could argue, for example, that the
verbal form mu-na-du₃ should be be transliterated as mu-na-ts h u if it occurs
in a inscription of Ur-Nanshe from the 25th c. BCE. There are several arguments
against such a proposal. First, this would entail that any time a new proposal
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