Akkadian

Where it was spoken

Akkadian appeared in Mesopotamia by the late third millennium BCE, replacing Sumerian as the everyday spoken language. It split into Babylonian (south) and Assyrian (north) dialects, and served as the diplomatic lingua franca of the Near East — the language of the Amarna correspondence between Egypt and its vassals — until Aramaic supplanted it around 600 BCE.

What it sounded like

A typical Semitic root-and-pattern morphology with triconsonantal roots, broken plurals, and a rich verbal system distinguishing G, D, Š, and N stems with various aspectual conjugations.

How it’s written

Akkadian adopted Sumerian cuneiform — wedge-shaped impressions on clay tablets — and adapted it to its own phonology. The script combines syllabic signs with logograms, making decipherment in the 19th century a major scholarly achievement.