Editing Sumerian language (section)

=== Vowels ===
The vowels that are clearly distinguished by the cuneiform script are {{IPAslink|a}}, {{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|i}}, and {{IPAslink|u}}. Various researchers have posited the existence of more vowel phonemes such as {{IPAslink|o}} and even {{IPAslink|ɛ}} and {{IPAslink|ɔ}}, which would have been concealed by the transmission through Akkadian, as that language does not distinguish them.<ref name="smith" /><ref name="keetman2013" /> That would explain the seeming existence of numerous homophones in transliterated Sumerian, as well as some details of the phenomena mentioned in the next paragraph.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/51326989.pdf |title=Zólyomi, Gábor. 2017. An introduction to the grammar of Sumerian. P. 12-13 |access-date=2018-09-16 |archive-date=2018-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916130913/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/51326989.pdf }}</ref> These hypotheses are not yet generally accepted.<ref name="michal08" /> Phonemic vowel length has also been posited by many scholars based on vowel length in Sumerian loanwords in Akkadian,<ref name="Edzard 2003: 13-14">Edzard (2003: 13-14)</ref><ref name=jagersma_length>Jagersma (2010: 56-57)</ref> occasional so-called ''plene'' spellings with extra vowel signs, and some internal evidence from alternations.{{efn|Above all, two different signs for the syllable /ne/, which are systematically used in different morphemes, sometimes alternate so that a contraction with a following vowel /e/ causes the replacement of 𒉌 ''ne<sub>2</sub>'' by 𒉈 ''ne'':  ''ne<sub>2</sub>'' */ne/ + */e/ > ''ne'' */neː/. The suspected long /eː/ also seems to be resistant to apocope and assimilation which are undergone by the suspected short /e/.<ref>Attinger (2009: 9-10)</ref>}}<ref name=jagersma_length/><ref>Besides Edzard, Attinger and Jagersma, also accepted by Zólyomi (2017: 29 and passim), Sallaberger (2023: 35), Zamudio (2017: 45) and by Kogan and Krebernik (2021). Rejected by Michalowski (2020: 93) and Foxvog (2016: 18).</ref> However, scholars who believe in the existence of phonemic vowel length do not consider it possible to reconstruct the length of the vowels in most Sumerian words.<ref>Sallaberger (2023: 35), Jagersma (2010: 56-57)</ref>{{efn|Some frequent words considered to contain long vowels based on borrowings into or from Akkadian are {{lang|sux|𒆹|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|ambār}} "marsh", {{lang|sux|𒀭|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|ān}} "sky", {{lang|sux|𒄑𒍎|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|<sup>g̃eš</sup>banšūr}}, {{lang|sux|𒁓|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|būr}} "vessel", {{lang|sux|𒁮𒃼|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|dam-gār<sub>3</sub>}} "merchant", {{lang|sux|𒂍|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|ē<sub>2</sub>}} (from earlier /haj/) "house", {{lang|sux|𒂊|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|ēg<sub>2</sub>}} "levee", {{lang|sux|𒂗|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|ēn}} "highpriest", {{lang|sux|𒄀|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|gīn<sub>6</sub>}} "firm, true", {{lang|sux|𒋼𒀀|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|kār}} "harbour", {{lang|sux|𒆤|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|kīd}} "reed mat", {{lang|sux|𒈜|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|nār}} "musician", {{lang|sux|𒉣|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|nūn}} "prince", {{lang|sux|𒊕|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|sāg̃}} "head", {{lang|sux|𒉪𒁕|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|šēr<sub>7</sub>-da}} "crime" and {{lang|sux|𒍣|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|zīd}} "right".<ref name="Edzard 2003: 13-14"/><ref name=jagersma_length/> Among grammatical morphemes, length has been posited with greater or lesser confidence for the nominal plural marker {{lang|sux|𒂊𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-enē}}, the 3rd person singular animate pronoun {{lang|sux|𒀀𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|a-nē}} or {{lang|sux|𒂊𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|e-nē}}, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person plural possessive enclitics {{lang|sux|𒈨|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-mē}}, {{lang|sux|𒍪𒉈𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-zu-nē-nē}} and {{lang|sux|𒀀𒉈𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-a-nē-nē}}, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person plural verbal prefixes {{lang|sux|𒈨|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-mē-}}, {{lang|sux|𒂊𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-e-nē-}} and {{lang|sux|𒉈|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-nnē-}}, the ablative {{lang|sux|𒋫|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-tā}}, the prospective prefix {{lang|sux|𒅇|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-ū<sub>3</sub>}} (but shortened and [[#Modal prefixes|qualitatively assimilated]] in an open syllable), the affirmative prefix {{lang|sux|𒈾|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|nā-}} and the 1st and 2nd person pronouns {{lang|sux|𒂷|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|g̃ē<sub>26</sub>}} and {{lang|sux|𒍢|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|zē<sub>2</sub>}} in position before the enclitic copula {{lang|sux|𒈨|italic=no}} {{lang|sux-latn|-me-}}.<ref>Jagersma (2010: passim)</ref>}}

During the Old Sumerian period, the southern dialects (those used in the cities of [[Lagash]], [[Umma]], [[Ur]] and [[Uruk]]),<ref name=Jagersma_vh/> which also provide the overwhelming majority of material from that stage, exhibited a [[vowel harmony]] rule based on [[vowel height]] or [[advanced tongue root]].<ref name=smith>Smith, Eric J M. 2007. [-ATR] "Harmony and the Vowel Inventory of Sumerian". ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'', volume 57</ref> Essentially, prefixes containing /e/ or /i/ appear to alternate between /e/ in front of syllables containing open vowels and /i/ in front of syllables containing close vowels; e.g. 𒂊𒁽 ''e-kaš<sub>4</sub>'' "he runs", but 𒉌𒁺 ''i<sub>3</sub>-gub'' "he stands". Certain verbs with stem vowels spelt with /u/ and /e/, however, seem to take prefixes with a vowel quality opposite to the one that would have been expected according to this rule,{{efn|In particular, the verbs 𒊒 ''ru'' "lay down", 𒋩 ''sur'' "produce fluid", 𒃡 ''ur<sub>3</sub>'' "drag", and 𒌴 ''ur<sub>4</sub>'' "pluck" take open-vowel prefixes; and the verbs 𒌣 ''de<sub>2</sub>'' "pour", 𒂊 ''e'' "do, say", 𒇯𒁺 ''ed<sub>3</sub>'' "go out", 𒆟 ''keš<sub>2</sub>(d)'' "bind", and 𒅊 ''se<sub>12</sub>'' "live/dwell (plural)" take close-vowel prefixes.<ref name="smith" /><ref name=Jagersma_vh/>}} which has been variously interpreted as an indication either of the existence of  additional vowel phonemes in Sumerian<ref name="smith" /> or simply of incorrectly reconstructed readings of individual lexemes.<ref name=Jagersma_vh/> The 3rd person plural dimensional prefix 𒉈 ''-ne-'' is also unaffected, which Jagersma believes to be caused by the length of its vowel.<ref name=Jagersma_vh>Jagersma (2010: 58-59)</ref> In addition, some have argued for a second vowel harmony rule.<ref name=keetman2009>Keetman, J. 2009. "[http://sepoa.fr/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2009-4.pdf The limits of <nowiki>[ATR]</nowiki> vowel harmony in Sumerian and some remarks about the need of transparent data] ". Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 2009, No. 65</ref><ref name=keetman2013>Keetman, J. 2013. "Die sumerische Wurzelharmonie". Babel und Bibel 7 p.109-154</ref>

There also appear to be many cases of partial or complete [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]] of the vowel of certain prefixes and suffixes to one in the adjacent syllable reflected in writing in some of the later periods, and there is a noticeable, albeit not absolute, tendency for disyllabic stems to have the same vowel in both syllables.<ref name=michal08p17/> These patterns, too, are interpreted as evidence for a richer vowel inventory by some researchers.<ref name=smith/><ref name=keetman2013/> For example, we find forms like 𒂵𒁽 ''g'''a'''-kaš<sub>4</sub>'' "let me run", but, from the Neo-Sumerian period onwards, occasional spellings like 𒄘𒈬𒊏𒀊𒋧 ''g'''u'''<sub>2</sub>-mu-ra-ab-šum<sub>2</sub>'' "let me give it to you". According to Jagersma, these assimilations are limited to open syllables<ref name=Jagersma_assim/> and, as with vowel harmony, Jagersma interprets their absence as the result of vowel length or of stress in at least some cases.<ref name=Jagersma_assim>Jagersma (2010: 60-62)</ref> There is evidence of various cases of elision of vowels, apparently in unstressed syllables; in particular [[Apheresis (linguistics)|an initial vowel in a word of more than two syllables seems to have been elided]] in many cases.<ref name=Jagersma_assim/> What appears to be [[Contraction (phonology)|vowel contraction]] in [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] (*/aa/, */ia/, */ua/ > ''a'', */ae/ > ''a'', */ie/ > ''i'' or ''e'', */ue/ > ''u'' or ''e'', etc.) is also very common.<ref>Thomsen (2001: 40)</ref> There is some uncertainty and variance of opinion as to whether the result in each specific case is a long vowel or whether a vowel is simply replaced/deleted.<ref>Foxvog (2016: 41)</ref>

Syllables could have any of the following structures: V, CV, VC, CVC. More complex syllables, if Sumerian had them, are not expressed as such by the cuneiform script.