Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 84. Chapters: Sumerian language, Tocharian languages, Anatolian languages, Avestan language, Hurrian language, Sirenik Eskimo language, Old Azari language, Ubykh language, Hittite language, Zonouz, Tiberian vocalization, Scythian languages, Ugaritic language, Phoenician language, Tangut language, Luwian language, Middle Mongolian language, Bulgar language, Hunnic language, Middle Persian, Phrygian language, Philistine language, Carian language, Jurchen language, Hattic language, Lydian language, Kawi language, Urartian language, Median language, Lycian language, Chagatai language, Bactrian language, Old Turkic language, Khazar language, Sogdian language, Siraya people, Parthian language, Khitan language, Lydian alphabet, Arwi language, Zhang-Zhung language, Han'er language, Harappan language, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Goguryeo language, Ahom language, Khwarezmian language, Samaritan Aramaic language, Paisaci, List of extinct languages of Asia, Amorite language, Kazeruni dialect, Shirvani Arabic, Palaic language, Eblaite language, Galatian language, Deilami language, Ketagalan people, Javindo language, Aka-Bo language, Moabite language, Ammonite language, Sabaean language, A-Pucikwar language, Saka language, Kerek language, Mator language, Kamassian language, Yugh language, Vanji language, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Edomite language, Babuza language, Mysian language, Jangil, Pisidian language, Silla language, Ba-Shu Chinese, Palmyrene dialect, Dana-i Menog Khrat, Sidetic language, Yokohama Pidgin Japanese, Karagas language, Dumi language, Himyarite language, Classical Mongolian language, Aka-Jeru language, Aka-Bea language, Proto-Mandarin Chinese, Ermitaño creole, Aka-Kora language, Shayast ne-shayast, Aariya language, Kott language, Soyot, Yurats language, Arin language, Akar-Bale language, Hoanya people, Aka-Kede language, Taygi language, Aka-Cari language, Oko-Juwoi language, Assan language, Koibal language, Aka-Kol language, Basay language, Hadramautic language, Baekje language, Rangas language, Pumpokol language, Turung language. Excerpt: Sumerian ( "native tongue") is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. 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 convergence. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium as a sprachbund. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate), but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD. Then, it was forgotten until the 19th century, when Assyriologists began deciphering the cuneiform inscriptions and excavated tablets left by these speakers. Sumerian is a language isolate. The history of written Sumerian can be divided into several periods: Archaic Sumerian is the earliest stage of inscriptions with linguistic content, beginning with the Jemdet Nasr (Uruk III) period from about the 31st to 30th centuries BC. It succeeds the proto-literate period, which spans roughly the ...
