Canaano-Akkadian or Amarna Canaanite is an ancient
Semitic language
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic,
Amharic, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew, Maltese, Modern South Arabian languages and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by mo ...
which was the written language of the
Amarna letters from
Canaan
CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...
,
Alashiya and
Amurru.
It is a
mixed language
A mixed language, also referred to as a hybrid language or fusion language, is a type of contact language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. ...
with mainly
Akkadian vocabulary and
Canaanite grammatical features. It has been variously described as a Canaanite dialect of Akkadian, Canaanite coded in
Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform and a purely
scribal language.
Linguistic features
Canaano-Akkadian combined the Akkadian lexicon with Canaanite grammar, which influenced the syntax and morphology of the language. As such, the hybridization manifested in numerous ways, including:
* Akkadian verbs were conjugated using Canaanite verb affixes, using the Akkadian term's 3MS form as the base.
* a change i > ''e'', seen in Canaano-Akkadian ''edin'', for Akkadian ''
idin'', "give!".
*
elision
In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run to ...
of vowels between the root radicals ''r'' and ''b'', seen in CA ''tîrbu'' for Akk. ''têrubu'', "you enter".
* a change -Vn > ''-CV'' in words which end with the energic marker ''-(n)na'' followed by a suffix or enclitic participle, seen in CA ''ištimûš+šu'' for Akk. ''ištemun+šu'', "I have heard it"; and CA ''nûbbalûš+šu'' for Akk. ''nubbalun+šu'', "we must bring him".
See also
*
Kanbun
''Kanbun'' ( 'Han Chinese, Han writing') is a system for writing Literary Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period until the 20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for offici ...
*
Sadhu bhasha
Sadhu bhasha () or Standard literary Bengali was a historical literary register of the Bengali language most prominently used in the 19th to 20th centuries during the Bengali Renaissance. Sadhu bhasha was used only in writing, unlike Cholito ...
References
Bibliography
*
Akkadian language
Canaanite languages
Mixed languages
Extinct languages of Asia
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