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ugaritic [2012/07/12 15:00] – [The Writing System] dahlugaritic [2015/01/07 11:02] (current) – [The Writing System] hawkins
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 ͗a    b    g    ḫ    d    h    w    z    ḥ    ṭ    y    k    š    l      ḏ    n    ẓ    s     ͑      ṣ    q    r    ṯ    ǵ    t     ͗i    ͗u   ś ͗a    b    g    ḫ    d    h    w    z    ḥ    ṭ    y    k    š    l      ḏ    n    ẓ    s     ͑      ṣ    q    r    ṯ    ǵ    t     ͗i    ͗u   ś
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 The last letter, ś, is rare and usually only occurs in loanwords (such as śśw from Indo-European ‘horse’) but can also interchange with s.  It has been posited that ś represents s plus long or short /u/, in other words su or sū (Huehnergard 2002, 1).  Another theory is that ś represents the evolution of the phoneme s, corresponding to Hebrew samekh, where the former expressed an affricate when the later had become, or was in the process of becoming, a fricative (Pardee 2007, 183; Tropper 1995, 505-528).   The last letter, ś, is rare and usually only occurs in loanwords (such as śśw from Indo-European ‘horse’) but can also interchange with s.  It has been posited that ś represents s plus long or short /u/, in other words su or sū (Huehnergard 2002, 1).  Another theory is that ś represents the evolution of the phoneme s, corresponding to Hebrew samekh, where the former expressed an affricate when the later had become, or was in the process of becoming, a fricative (Pardee 2007, 183; Tropper 1995, 505-528).  
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 In conclusion, the cuneiform writing system at Ugarit can be seen as straddling the two prominent cultures of writing in the ancient Near East: alphabetic and syllabic-logographic cuneiform.  Regardless of how or why Ugarit transitioned from an illiterate (or alphabetic) to cuneiform, it is significant that it occurred relatively late compared to the rest of the ancient Near East.  The middle of the 14th century BC must have witnessed a shift in political power and pressure that coerced Ugarit to adopt the medium of clay and cuneiform for both international and local documentation. In conclusion, the cuneiform writing system at Ugarit can be seen as straddling the two prominent cultures of writing in the ancient Near East: alphabetic and syllabic-logographic cuneiform.  Regardless of how or why Ugarit transitioned from an illiterate (or alphabetic) to cuneiform, it is significant that it occurred relatively late compared to the rest of the ancient Near East.  The middle of the 14th century BC must have witnessed a shift in political power and pressure that coerced Ugarit to adopt the medium of clay and cuneiform for both international and local documentation.
  
-L. Hawkins+
 ===== Bibliography ===== ===== Bibliography =====
  
ugaritic.1342101616.txt.gz · Last modified: 2012/07/12 15:00 by dahl
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