Introduction: how to avoid reading this page
Semitic languages rely heavily on consonants.
Most Semitic languages are written without vowels (Akkadian is a
noticeable exception) and can still be understood.
The basic meaning of a word is given by three consonants,
the root. In order to translate an
Akkadian word, one must be able to recognize the
root consonants, then form the citation form (for Akkadian verbs this
is the infinitive, other semitic languages use other grammatical forms).
With the citation form one can search a dictionary.
Some consonants change
(e.g. by assimilation, or
dissimilation)
or the order changes (e.g. by metathesis
depending on nearby other consonants.
It is therefor
essential to know and learn the pattern of consonantal structure
(in particular the rules of assimilation) in Akkadian and
(to a lesser extend) the pattern of vocalic structure.
Here follows a minimum to read, before continuing to the grammar.
In addition to consonants that you easily recognize, Akkadian has
additional consonants. Just accept this fact and treat them as any other
consonant (including the aleph, transcribed as '):
called shin and pronounced (and sometimes written)
as sh (as twice in shashlick)
called tsade an emphatic s
(forget pronunciation, say a sharp s or ts), written as capital S or sc
called teth, an emphatic t
(forget pronunciation, say a t), written as capital T or th
' called aleph, a glottal stop like heard
in a series of short vowels 'a'a'a'a'a
Note that words with are simply different words than with
t and the same hold for the three s-type consonants.
Absent in Akkadian are the sounds corresponding to f, v, c, x, y
The letter q (qoph) is used to denote an emphatic k
The letter j has the sound of English y
The letter g is pronounced as in 'go', 'game'
The letter h is pronounced as ch in Scottish 'Loch'
The Akkadian vowels used are a, e, i, u and there long variant,
usually written with a macron like 
, but in these notes written as
ä, ë, ï, ü
Consonants
A consonant is a speech sound produced by hindering the airstream
through the vocal tract. The configuration of the vocal tract can
be relatively constricted (like f) or totally closed (like p).
Maintained and updated by John Heise
lu2.shab.tur
shumallû 'pupil'
last modification on Feb 16, 1996
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