Semitic&Akadian (was: New Conlang: Emegali Phonology)
| From: | Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Friday, February 1, 2002, 17:29 |
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On Wed, 30 Jan 2002 10:56:28 -0500, I wrote:
>Sorry, it seems I won't be able to post my promised translation today (the
>office where I am now will be disconnected in about half an hour because
>of some electric works).
>
>Anyway, my source is:
>
>I. M. Dyakonov, Akkadskij jazyk, - in: Jazyki Azii i Afriki/Semitskie
>jazyki. No. IV/1 in the series: Jazyki Azii i Afriki, Moskva, Glavnaja
>redakcija vostochnoj literatury, 1991; idem, Vvedenije. Afrazijskie jazyki
>- ibid.
p. 75 ff.:
<quote>
[The method] can be illustrated by the sibilants. It should be taken into
account that Old Akkadian had only four series of syllabograms rendering
all Proto-Afro-Asiatic and Proto-Semitic sibilants and affricates. Let's
denote them conventionally as ZV, S'V, S_V and S`V; the series S_V was not
used consistently and was soon relaced completely by the series S'V:
P.-Afro-Asiatic Their graphical reflexes
sibilants & affricates in Old Akkadian
s c c. 3 S'V ZV ZV ZV
s` c` c.` 3` S_/S'V S`V ZV ZV
s^ c^ c.^ (-) S'V S'V* ZV -
----------------
* The P.-Afro-Asiatic phoneme c^ merged with s^ already in Old Akkadian,
like in a number of other Afro-Asiatic languages.
Therefore, the Old Akkadian syllabogram series ZV renders all
P.-Afro-Asiatic affricates except c`, while the series S'V renders all
[other] P.-Afro-Asiatic sibilants (originally, except s`). However, it
would be a premature assumption to think that in Old Akkadian all
sibilants merged in s, while all affricates except c` merged in z. We know
that Old Akkadian graphic system rendered the language's phonology very
roughly, e. g. failed to distinguish p from b, k from q and g, t from t.
and d; nevertheless, on a later stage these phonemes were differentiated,
although not quite consequentially [...]. Let us consider, therefore,
the way the same P.-Afro-Asiatic sibilants and affricates were denoted in
later writing systems, starting from Old Babylonian:
P.-Afro-Asiatic Their graphical reflexes
sibilants & affricates in Old Babylonian
s c c. 3 S`V SV S.V ZV
s` c` c.` 3` S`V S`V S.V ZV
s^ c^ c.^ (-) S`V S`V S.V -
Here we see not three but four series of syllabograms [...] In the new
system (1) P.-Afro-Asiatic emphatic affricates denoted by the S.V-series
were differentiated from P.-Afro-Asiatic voiced affricates rendered by the
ZV-series; (2) all P.-Afro-Asiatic sibilants were denoted using the
S`V-series; (3) the same series rendered, as earlier, the reflex of
P.-Afro-Asiatic c`, which seems to indicate that it had lost its affricate
quality already on the Old Akkadian stage or even earlier and now has to
be classified as a sibilant; (4) P.-Afro-Asiatic non-emphatic affricate c
has its own separate graphic series, conventionally SV. The conventional
notation is adapted to the Hebrew phonological system, with Hebrew s. [c.]
considered [s.].
This picture leaves no grounds for the inference that Akkadian, even on the
Old Babylonian stage, had lost the P.-Afro-Asiatic affricates [...]. The
Akkadian phonology can be uncontroversially reconstructed e. g. as follows:
P.-Afro-Asiatic Their graphical reflexes A possible Akkadian
sibilants & affricates in Old Babylonian phonemic reconstruction
s c c. 3 S`V SV S.V ZV s' c c.
s` c` c.` 3` S`V S`V S.V ZV s' s` c.^
s^ c^ c.^ (-) S`V S`V S.V - s^ s^ c.
One can also suppose that all P.-Afro-Asiatic emphatic affricates merged in
c., but this [...] cannot be proven
[then the author argues against reconstructing c`, c.`, 3` as interdentals]
Above we assumed conventionally that in Old Babylonian the entire
S`V-series denotes s . But this is probable only for the New Assyrian
dialect where the graphophoneme combination -S` + T- yields (S)S, i. e.
[cc] (due to a metathesis -st- > ts?); but such a supposition is hardly
plausible for the Babylonian dialects where the combinaton -S` + T-,
irrespective of the origin of the graphic S` (from s, s`, s^ or c`), yields
-L + T-. This suggests that the graphic series S`V in Babylonian can stand
for only one phoneme, namely, the lateral s^ . Accordingly, the emphatics
should have yielded in Assyrian c, c. : c` > c.' > c. ; c.^ > c.' > c., and
in Babylonian, c^ : c. > c.^ ; c.` > c.' > c.^ ; c.^ > c.' .
Let us note also that the phonotactic combination of graphophonemes
-T + S`- yields Akkadian graphic -S + S-, i. e. cc , which, again, points
to pronounciation of the graphic series SV as c . The same combination,
theoreticall, should have yielded -T + S^- > c^c^ in Babylonian. However,
this has no graphical expression, since Akkadian had no non-emphatic
phoneme c^ ; it is probable that here Babylonian also used cc in
pronounciation.
Finally, the phonotactic combination "historical c` + historical s` is
writen using a doubled sign of the S`-series; since c` had lost its
occlusive component, no africate emerged here, but it was pronounced in
Assyrian as s's > ss, in Babylonian as s's^ > s's [a typo?] . [...]
[Evidence based on graphemes and words borrowed from Akkadian:]
Use of graphic series of Akadian Cuneiform syllabograms
Akkadian Used to denote local phonemes in other languages
Cuneiform
syllabogram Hittite* Hurrian Elamite** Urartian***
ZV ts an affricate an africate 3, 3`
(exact quality
unknown
S.V - an affricate - c., c.`
(rarely)
SV - an africate an affricate (c` ?) c, c`
S`V s s, s` s s, s`
(or at least used
for historical s, s`)
* Based on general relations in Indo-European.
** Based on Elamite transcriptions of Old Persian words and proper names,
as well as on Elamite-Dravidian correspondences.
*** Based on Armenian, Georgian and Greek transcriptions of Urartian
toponyms, as well as on Hurrian-Urartian-Northeast Caucasian
correspondences.
[sound correspondences in borrowed words]
Akkadian
Cuneiform in Egyptian in Hebrew in Old Persian
syllabogram
series
ZV 3` z
S.V 3`, c` s. ([c.]!) c`
SV c`; s ? s
S`V s s', s` t ( < Sem. t_ ?)
>I can copy D(y/j)akono(v/ff)'s reconstruction for consonants:
>
>Proto-S. Old Akkadian dial. Old Bbylonian dial.
>
>p p p
>p. b b
>b b b
>f p p
>t t t
>t. t. t.
>d d d
>s s (?) s^ (?)
>c c c
>c. c. c. > c^. (?)
>3 3 3 > z (?)
>s` s' (?) s^ > s' (?)
>c` c` > s` s^ > s' (?)
>c`. c^. c^. > c. (?)
>3` 3` 3 > z (?)
>s^ s^ (?) s^ (?)
>c^ s^ (?) s^ (?)
>c^. c^. c^. (?)
>k k k
>k. q q
>g g g
>h_ (etc) h_ h_
>G ` ', 0
>h. h. ', 0
>` ` ', 0
>h ', 0 ', 0
>' ', 0 ', 0
>m m m ( > w~)
>n n n
>l l l
>r r r
>w w w ( > 0, m)
>j j, 0 j, 0
>
>
>3 - voiced affricate; ` (as diacritic) = hacek (alveopalatal), (otherwise)
>ayin; ' (as diacritic) = acute (palatal), otherwise glottal stop; ^ =
> caron (lateral).
I hope I'll post a couple more paragraphs later (on Monday?).
Basilius