Sumerian pronunciation

[ninurta2008]

Not completely certain where this would go. I've gotten back into studying sumerian, but I've run into the same problem that seems to intimidate me a little. English has a simple, unwritten, tonal system, so the concept isn't hard to grasp. But to know which tone is what can be difficult.

I want to learn more about how to pronounce sumerian vowels and their tones, and I'm having a whole lot of trouble finding information on tones above 3.

a, à and á i know how to pronounce. It comes almost as second nature since I studied spanish. And I´m aware that they´re a, a2, and a3.

But what number is â? and what are the tones of 4 and above?

[madness]

You can't, because no one knows. Sumerian is a long dead language.

See my replies #7 and 8 in this thread.


And the important point that I will stress is that the accents and indices - á à a₄ etc. - do NOT help with pronunciation in any way, they are only used as a tool by Assyriologists to differentiate between the many signs.

[ninurta2008]

Thanks Madness!