Sumerian language

The Sumerian language ( "native tongue") is a language isolate that was spoken and written in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Sumerian is classified as an agglutinative language with split ergativity. In the 3rd millennium BCE, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages influenced each other from widespread bilingualism. Eventually, the Sumerian language declined, with Akkadian gradually replacing it as a spoken language sometime after 2000 BCE. Thereafter, Sumerian was limited to written use in sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific script throughout Mesopotamia until the 1st century CE. The language was likely forgotten about until the 19th century, when Assyriologists began deciphering cuneiform script from excavated clay tablets. Ever since its decipherment of the written form, fully knowing the Sumerian phonetics has proven difficult due largely in part from the relative sparseness of linguistic data.

Dialects
The standard dialect of Sumerian was eme-ĝir. A notable variety or sociolect was eme-sal (𒅴𒊩 EME.SAL), possibly to be interpreted as "fine tongue" or "high-pitched voice" (Rubio (2007) p. 1369). Other terms for dialects or registers were eme-galam "high tongue", eme-si-sa "straight tongue", eme-te-na "oblique[?] tongue", etc. Eme-sal is used exclusively by female characters in some literary texts (that may be compared to the female languages or language varieties that exist or have existed in some cultures, such as among the Chukchis and the Island Caribs). Additionally, it is dominant in certain genres of cult songs. The special features of eme-sal are mostly phonological (for example, m is often used instead of ĝ (i.e. [ŋ]) as in me as opposed to the ĝe26, "I"), but words different from the standard language are also used (ga-ša-an rather than standard nin, "lady").

Phonology

 * Main: Sumerian linguistics

Sumerian phonology is flawed and incomplete because of the lack of native speakers, the transmission through the filter of Akkadian phonology and the difficulties posed by the cuneiform script. There is relatively little consensus, even among reasonable Sumerologists, in comparison to the state of most modern or classical languages. Verbal morphology in particular is hotly disputed. In addition to the general grammars, there are many monographs and articles about particular areas of Sumerian grammar, without which a survey of the field could not be considered complete. As I.M. Diakonoff observes, "when we try to find out the morphophonological structure of the Sumerian language, we must constantly bear in mind that we are not dealing with a language directly but are reconstructing it from a very imperfect mnemonic writing system which had not been basically aimed at the rendering of morphophonemics".

Grammar

 * Main: Sumerian grammar

Sumerian is an agglutinative language with split ergativity. Its grammar behaves in the nominative–accusative as in the 1st and 2nd persons in an incomplete tense-aspect, but as ergative–absolutive in most other forms of the indicative mood. The basic word order is subject–object–verb; verb finality is only violated in rare instances, such as in poetry. The moving of a constituent towards the beginning of the phrase may be a way to highlight it, as may the addition of the copula to it. The so-called anticipatory genitive (e2-a lugal-bi "the owner of the house/temple", lit. "of the house, its owner") is common and may signal the possessor's topicality. There are various ways to express subordination, some of which have already been hinted at; they include the nominalization of a verb, which can then be followed by case morphemes and possessive pronouns (kur9-ra-ni "when he entered") and included in "prepositional" constructions.

Writing system

 * See main, Sumerian writing

The Sumerian language is one of the earliest known written languages. Records with unambiguously linguistic content, identifiably Sumerian, are those found at Jemdet Nasr, dating to the 31st or 30th century BCE. From c. 2600 BCE, the logographic symbols were generalized using a wedge-shaped stylus to impress shapes into wet clay. The archaic "wedge-shaped" mode of writing, called cuneiform script was adapted to Akkadian writing from the mid third millennium. Deciphering cuneiform is based on Akkadian glossaries, the “Rosetta Stone” for Sumerian. By the time of the "Sumerian Renaissance" (Ur III) of the 21st century BCE, Sumerian was written in already highly abstract cuneiform glyphs directly succeeded by Old Assyrian cuneiform.

Bilingualism
As early as Uruk period, Sumeria included widespread bilingualism with the use of Akkadian. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian (and vice versa) is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergance, where 20th century scholars have referred to the Sumerian / Akkadian use in the 3rd millennium BCE as a Sprachbund. Sumer being conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire, marked the gradual decline of the Sumerian language, after 2270 BCE (short chronology).

Decline
Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language. The discontinued spoken use of Sumerian is traditionally dated to the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur, the last predominantly Sumerian state in Mesopotamia, c. 2000 BCE. However, some scholars contend that spoken Sumerian was already dying out by 2100 BCE, at the beginning of the Ur III period. With a particularly large quantity of literary texts and bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian lexical lists surviving, especially from the scribal school of Nippur, this has led some to believe that spoken Sumerian persisted at least at Nippur, and possible surrounding areas, as late as 1700 BCE. Nomatter, after 2000 BCE, Sumerian was predominantly limited to sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific use in Mesopotamia until the 1st century CE. The language was likely forgotten about until the 19th century, when Assyriologists began deciphering cuneiform script from excavated clay tablets. Ever since its decipherment of the written form, fully knowing the phonetics of Sumerian has proven difficult not only by the lack of native speakers, but also by the relative sparseness of linguistic data, the apparent lack of a closely related language, and the language isolate features of the writing system.