Editing Akkadian language (section)

==== Descent from Proto-Semitic ====
Several [[Proto-Semitic]] phonemes are lost in Akkadian. The Proto-Semitic glottal stop {{transliteration|sem|[[Aleph (letter)|*ʔ]]}}, as well as the fricatives {{transliteration|sem|[[Ayin|*ʕ]]}}, {{transliteration|sem|[[He (letter)|*h]]}}, {{transliteration|sem|[[Heth (letter)|*ḥ]]}} are lost as consonants, either by sound change or orthographically, but they gave rise to the vowel quality ''e'' not exhibited in Proto-Semitic. The [[voiceless lateral fricatives]] ({{transliteration|sem|[[Śawt|*ś]], [[Ḍād|*ṣ́]]}}) merged with the sibilants as in [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]], leaving 19 consonantal phonemes. Old Akkadian preserved the /*ś/ phoneme longest but it eventually merged with [[Shin (letter)|/*š/]], beginning in the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian period]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite thesis |degree=Doctoral |title = A descriptive grammar of Sumerian|url = https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/16107 |publisher=Universiteit Leiden |access-date = 2015-11-20 |last=Jagersma |first=Abraham Hendrik |page = 46|date = 2010 |archive-date = 2015-10-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151016111558/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/16107|url-status = live}}</ref> The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Akkadian, [[Modern Standard Arabic]] and [[Tiberian Hebrew]]:
[[File:Inscription in Babylonian, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE.jpg|thumb|An inscription in Babylonian, in the [[Xerxes I inscription at Van]], 5th century BCE]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" align="center"
! | [[Proto-Semitic]]
! | Akkadian
! colspan="2" | [[Arabic language|Arabic]]
! colspan="2" |[[Aramaic]]
! colspan="2" | [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*b}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|b}}''
| ب || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|b}}
|𐡁
|{{transliteration|sem|b/ḇ}}
| ב || {{transliteration|sem|b/ḇ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*d}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|d}}''
| د || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|d}}
|𐡃
|{{transliteration|sem|d/ḏ}}
| ד || {{transliteration|sem|d/ḏ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*g}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|g}}''
| ج || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ǧ}}
|𐡂
|{{transliteration|sem|g/ḡ}}
| ג || {{transliteration|sem|g/ḡ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*p}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|p}}''
| ف || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|f}}
|𐡐
|{{transliteration|sem|p/p̄}}
| פ || {{transliteration|sem|p/p̄}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*t}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|t}}''
| ت || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|t}}
|𐡕
|{{transliteration|sem|t/ṯ}}
| ת || {{transliteration|sem|t/ṯ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*k}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|k}}''
| ك || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|k}}
|𐡊
|{{transliteration|sem|k/ḵ}}
| כ || {{transliteration|sem|k/ḵ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ʔ}}
| (∅)/ <big>{{transliteration|sem|ʾ}}</big>
| ء || <big>{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʾ}}</big>
|𐡀
|<big>{{transliteration|sem|ʾ}}</big>
| א || <big>{{transliteration|he|ʾ}}</big>
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ṭ}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|ṭ}}''
| ط || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ṭ}}
|𐡈
|{{transliteration|sem|ṭ}}
| ט || {{transliteration|sem|ṭ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ḳ}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|q}}''
| ق || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|q}}
|𐡒
|{{transliteration|sem|q}}
| ק || {{transliteration|sem|q}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ḏ}}
| rowspan="2" valign="center" | ''{{transliteration|sem|z}}''
| ذ || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḏ}}
|{{bdo|ltr|𐡆 ,𐡃}}
|''{{transliteration|sem|ḏ}}'', {{transliteration|sem|d/ḏ}}
| rowspan="2" | ז || rowspan="2" |{{transliteration|sem|z}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*z}}
| ز || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|z}}
|𐡆
|{{transliteration|sem|z}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ṯ}}
| rowspan="3" valign="center" | ''{{transliteration|sem|š}}''
| ث || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ṯ}}
|{{bdo|ltr|𐡔 ,𐡕}}
|''{{transliteration|sem|ṯ}}'', {{transliteration|sem|t/ṯ}}
| rowspan="2" |שׁ || rowspan="2" |{{transliteration|sem|š}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*š}}
| س || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|s}}
|𐡔
|{{transliteration|sem|š}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ś}}
| ش || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|š}}
|{{bdo|ltr|𐡔 ,𐡎}}
|''{{transliteration|sem|ś}}'', {{transliteration|sem|s}}
| שׂ 
| {{transliteration|sem|ś}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*s}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|s}}''
| س || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|s}}
|𐡎
|{{transliteration|sem|s}}
| ס 
| {{transliteration|sem|s}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ṱ}}
| rowspan="3" valign="center" | ''{{transliteration|sem|ṣ}}''
| ظ || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ẓ}}
|{{bdo|ltr|𐡑 ,𐡈}}
|''{{transliteration|sem|ṯ̣}}'', {{transliteration|sem|ṭ}}
| rowspan="3" |צ || rowspan="3" |{{transliteration|sem|ṣ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ṣ}}
| ص || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ṣ}}
|𐡑
|{{transliteration|sem|ṣ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ṣ́}}
| ض || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḍ}}
|{{bdo|ltr|𐡒 ,𐡏}}
|''{{transliteration|sem|ṣ́}}'', <big>{{transliteration|sem|ʿ}}</big>
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ġ}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|ḫ}}''
| غ || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ġ}}
| rowspan="2" | {{bdo|ltr|𐡏}}
|''{{transliteration|sem|ġ}}'', <big>{{transliteration|sem|ʿ}}</big>
| rowspan="2" |ע || rowspan="2" | <big>{{transliteration|he|ʿ}}</big>
|-
! '''{{transliteration|sem|*ʕ}}'''
| ''{{transliteration|sem|ḫ}}'' / (e) <ref group="t2" name="zero">These are only distinguished from the ∅ (zero) reflexes of {{IPAslink|h}} and {{IPAslink|ʔ}} by {{IPAslink|e}}-coloring the adjacent vowel *a, e.g. PS ''*ˈbaʕ(a)l-um'' ('owner, lord') → Akk. ''bēlu(m)'' ({{harvnb|Dolgopolsky|1999|p=35}}).</ref>
| ع || <big>{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿ}}</big>
|<big>{{transliteration|sem|ʿ}}</big>
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ḫ}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|ḫ}}''
| خ || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḫ}}
| rowspan="2" | {{bdo|ltr|𐡇}}
|''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḫ}}'', {{transliteration|sem|ḥ}}
| rowspan="2" |ח || rowspan="2" |{{transliteration|sem|ḥ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*ḥ}}
| (e) <ref group="t2" name="zero" />
| ح || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥ}}
|{{transliteration|sem|ḥ}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*h}}
| (∅) 
| ه || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|h}}
|𐡄
|{{transliteration|sem|h}}
| ה || {{transliteration|sem|h}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*m}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|m}}''
| م || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|m}}
|𐡌
|m
| מ || m
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*n}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|n}}''
| ن || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|n}}
|𐡍
|{{transliteration|sem|n}}
| נ || {{transliteration|sem|n}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*r}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|r}}''
| ر || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|r}}
|𐡓
|{{transliteration|sem|r}}
| ר || {{transliteration|sem|r}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*l}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|l}}''
| ل || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|l}}
|𐡋
|{{transliteration|sem|l}}
| ל || {{transliteration|sem|l}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*w}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|w}}''
| و || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|w}}
|𐡅
|{{transliteration|sem|w}}
| ו || {{transliteration|sem|w}}
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|*y}}
| ''{{transliteration|sem|y}}''
| ي || {{transliteration|ar|DIN|y}}
|𐡉
|{{transliteration|sem|y}}
| י || {{transliteration|sem|y}}
|-
! | [[Proto-Semitic]]
! | Akkadian
! colspan="2" | [[Arabic language|Arabic]]
! colspan="2" |[[Aramaic]]
! colspan="2" | [[Tiberian Hebrew|Hebrew]]
|}

{{reflist|group=t2}}