Learn to Read Ancient Sumerian: An Introduction for Complete Beginners.

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The corpus contains Sumerian texts in transliteration, English prose translations and bibliographical information for each composition. The site also contains a “Consolidated bibliography of Sumerian literature” that students may find useful. More focused, but certainly of interest to students interested in the development of Mesopotamian literature is H. It came across as if he has simply transcribed his you-tube channel lectures (which are also extremely good) into the book.

Each lesson ends with a series of tasks; a solution key to selected exercises can be found at the end of the volume. Each of the 11 chapters introduce and explain important grammatical features, building upon previous chapters to provide and in-depth understanding of the language without being overwhelming. He wrote his dissertation on the (unorthographic) Sumerian lamentational liturgies that were excavated from the Old Babylonian city of Kis. That said, someone who is learning Sumerian alongside reading these translation is likely well attuned to the language’s interpretative difficulties and especially sympathetic to Jacobsen’s words.The book is designed to appeal to readers of all backgrounds, including those with no prior background in Sumerian or cuneiform writing. This helps overcome the first major hurdle in acquiring the language, namely, the cuneiform writing system. It explains the functioning of Sumerian grammar in 16 lessons, illustrated with more than 500 fully glossed examples.

F55 2015], which in addition to its efficient overview to the script is also beautifully illustrated by photographs of the British Museum’s collection.I do not know if I have succeeded, but I hope that this post is at least understandable to people without a background in historical linguistics. Without wasting time, you're immediately introduced to all the important details to make sense of the general grammar, sentence structure, the writing system (cuneiform) and basic vocabulary. Embora os autores digam que esta obra terá mais dois livros, e um deles já esteja em formato eBook Kindle (quando olhei não tinha o formato impresso e penso que o impresso nestes casos é essencial para facilitar o aprendizado), depois desta introdução podemos começar a estudar por uma gramática mais tradicional, robusta, "dura" e profunda com muito mais facilidade e êxito! My criticisms are only minor and ultimately none of them detract from this being the best book I have found for the curious enquirer to just get the basics of Sumerian grammar without being drowned in all the minutiae, exceptions, uncertainties and so on that are listed ad nauseam in a formal comprehensive grammar - to the extent that you end up learning nothing.