Cuneiform Flashcards
describe cuneiform
(script/organization/medium/langs/time/devo)
logosyllabic w/ determinatives
linear organization L->R
clay medium, reed stylus tool/stamp
Langs: Sum./Akk./Hittite etc. (developed for Sum. as agglutinative language)
Mesopotamia 3500 BCE
Started picto/ideographic accounting w/ bulla
Summary of transference to Akkadian
Akk. is Semitic (Sum. is isolate) and kept the same script/tools/environment/scribal education, but the values of the signs changed to accomodate the diff lang
Cuneiform Phonology change to Akk
Sumerian distinguished aspiration but not voicing in writing
Akk. distinguishes voicing and emphaticness, needed chars to distinguish those
Cuneiform Morphology change to Akk
Sum. is agglutinative (stack non-changing morphemes). Akk. is fusional (morphemes conjugate)
So can’t use some chars as they would need to be transformed to fit in sentences
So used combo of chars/phon comps
Cuneiform Syntax change to Akk
Sumerian is SOV
Akkadian was VSO, changed to SOV to fit cuneiform!
Adaptations in writing style for Akk. in Cuneiform
Sumerographic Writing = write in Sum, read in Akk “Sumerograms”
Mixed Writing = write some parts of word/names in Akk syllabograms indicates Akk reading of logos using phon. comps.
Rebus - to invent new Akk. syllabograms, Akk. reading of Sumerian logos = Akk syllabos
Akkadian adaptation for Hittites
Akk. adpoted for Hittite (diff phonology)
Akkadograms = Akk. syllabic word read as Hittite
Heterograms = Sum/Akk logo read in Hittite, allow some new syllabogram readings
Amarna Canaanite and Alphabetic Cuneiform
uses Akk. logosyllabic but diagnoal wedges mark Cannanite words, like phon comps
verbs use Canannite pre/suffixes to indicate C. readings
Ugaritic turned Cuneiform into an alphabet for their lang, only brorrow the wedge strokes not chars themselves
5 functions of writing for social development
Mnemonic - helps memory, extended cognitive system
Distancing - communciate across space/time, interpret text as real human communication
Interactional - writing helps otherwise impossible interactions, talk to people generations later. “Enactive signification” - writing on staute makes it that person
Reifying - transform words into tangibel things, not ephemeral, Hammurabi is here in this town with the statue
Aesthetic - graphic, for illiterates it’s visual art, is it art depends on centering institution (mayan yes)
Social control of writing functions
Mnemonic - remember/construct history
Distancing - extend authority
Interactional - organize society large scale
Reifying - make laws/norms tangible
Aesthetic - make polticis attracitve/terrifying
3 examples of cuneiform text
Palace of Ashurnasirpal -> text overlaid image but not face
Bronze tablet - hung on chains, imposing laws
Laws of Hammurabi - imposing laws put in many Meso. cities
