Editing Akkadian language (section)

===Writing===
{{Main|Akkadian cuneiform}}
[[Image:AkkadischLand.png|200px|thumb|[[Cuneiform]] writing (Neo-Assyrian script)<br />
(1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ''{{IPA|ḫi}}'',<br />
2 = LG "moat",<br />
3 = SG ''{{IPA|aʾ}}'',<br />
4 = SG ''{{IPA|aḫ}}, {{IPA|eḫ}}, {{IPA|iḫ}}, {{IPA|uḫ}}'',<br />
5 = SG ''kam'',<br />
6 = SG ''im'',<br />
7 = SG ''bir'')]]
Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to {{circa|2500 BC}}. It was written using [[cuneiform]], a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian scribes, the adapted cuneiform script could represent either (a) Sumerian [[logogram]]s (''i.e.'', picture-based characters representing entire words), (b) [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] syllables, (c) Akkadian syllables, or (d) [[phonetic complement]]s. In Akkadian the script practically became a fully fledged [[Syllabary|syllabic script]], and the original [[Logogram|logographic]] nature of cuneiform became secondary{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}<!--I doubt that positing such a radical difference between Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform is really justified. Already Sumerian has syllabic signs used for pronunciation when needed, and Akkadian continued to use logograms quite a lot.-->, though logograms for frequent words such as 'god' and 'temple' continued to be used. For this reason, the sign ''AN'' can on the one hand be a logogram for the word ''ilum'' ('god') and on the other signify the god [[Anu]] or even the syllable ''-an-''. Additionally, this sign was used as a [[determinative]] for divine names.

Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a well defined phonetic value. Certain signs, such as ''{{transliteration|sem|AḪ}}'', do not distinguish between the different [[vowel]] qualities. Nor is there any coordination in the other direction; the syllable ''{{transliteration|sem|-ša-}}'', for example, is rendered by the sign ''{{transliteration|sem|ŠA}}'', but also by the sign ''{{transliteration|sem|NĪĜ}}''. Both of these are often used for the same syllable in the same text.

Cuneiform was in many ways unsuited to Akkadian: among its flaws was its inability to represent important [[phonemes]] in Semitic, including a [[glottal stop]], [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeals]], and [[emphatic consonant]]s. In addition, cuneiform was a [[syllabary]] writing system—i.e., a consonant plus vowel comprised one writing unit—frequently inappropriate for a Semitic language made up of [[Triliteral|triconsonantal root]]s (i.e., three consonants plus any vowels).