The history of written Sumerian can be divided into several periods:
• Archaic Sumerian – c. 2900 BC to c. 2600 BC
• Old or Classical Sumerian – c. 2600 BC to c. 2200 BC See more

Sumerian is widely accepted to be a local language isolate. Sumerian was at one time widely held to be an Indo-European language, but that view has been almost universally … See more

The key to reading logosyllabic cuneiform came from the Behistun inscription, a trilingual cuneiform inscription written in Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian. (In a similar manner, the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs was the bilingual [Greek and … See more

The standard variety of Sumerian was Emegir (𒅴𒂠: eme-gir₁₅). A notable variety or sociolect was Emesal (𒅴𒊩: eme-sal), possibly to be interpreted as "fine tongue" or "high-pitched … See more

Development
Pictographic proto-writing was used starting in c. 3300 BC. It is unclear what underlying … See more

Assumed phonological or morphological forms will be between slashes //, with plain text used for the standard Assyriological transcription of … See more

Ever since its decipherment, research of Sumerian has been made difficult not only by the lack of any native speakers, but also by the relative … See more