The "Sumerian-Akkadian Level" (Recognition of Sumerian as Distinct and Older)Brief Historical Background on the Languages and Script:

Here's the full English version of the presentation continuation, adapted and enriched based on historical details (keeping the same structure and style as the previous parts):Continuation of the Presentation — The "Sumerian-Akkadian Level" (Recognition of Sumerian as Distinct and Older)Brief Historical Background on the Languages and Script:

• Sumerian is one of the world's oldest attested written languages, with evidence dating back to ≈2900–3100 BCE (possibly earlier proto-forms).
• It is a language isolate — no known relatives among living or extinct languages.
• Akkadian, by contrast, is an East Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, etc.

Adoption of Cuneiform by the Akkadians:

• Cuneiform script ("wedge-shaped" writing) was originally developed by the Sumerians in the late 4th millennium BCE, initially for administrative and economic purposes.
• The Akkadians adopted this script around 2350 BCE (during the Akkadian Empire under Sargon the Great).
• They retained many logograms (word-signs) from Sumerian but read them in Akkadian, greatly expanded phonetic (syllabic) values, and adapted the system to fit Semitic grammar and phonology.

Death of Sumerian as a Spoken Language:

• Sumerian gradually ceased to be a vernacular (spoken everyday language) around 2000 BCE (estimates range from ≈2100–1700 BCE, with most scholars placing the effective end in the early 2nd millennium BCE, especially after the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur).
• Akkadian (in its Babylonian and Assyrian dialects) became the dominant spoken language across Mesopotamia.

Survival of Sumerian as a Literary / Sacred / Classical Language:

• Despite disappearing as a mother tongue, Sumerian continued in written form for over two millennia — as a prestigious classical, liturgical, literary, and scholarly language (similar to Latin in medieval Europe).
• Texts were copied, studied, translated, and even newly composed in Sumerian until the 1st century CE (and possibly slightly later) in schools (edubba), temples, and royal courts.
• Bilingual (Sumerian-Akkadian) dictionaries, grammatical aids, and parallel texts served as core teaching tools.

Modern Rediscovery and Recognition of Sumerian as a Separate Language:

• Cuneiform decipherment progressed in the 19th century:
  • First Old Persian (Rawlinson et al., 1830s–1850s).
  • Then Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) — officially confirmed in 1857 by the Royal Asiatic Society.
• Sumerian was identified as a distinct and older language only later — primarily in the 1850s–1870s (with full acceptance by the 1880s).
• Key breakthrough: analysis of bilingual texts (Sumerian-Akkadian parallels), ancient Akkadian-Sumerian dictionaries/lexicons, and glossaries.
• Before this, scholars often assumed all cuneiform texts were in Akkadian (or mislabeled them as "Scythian," "Akkadian" in the wrong sense, etc.).
• Major figures and milestones:
  • Edward Hincks (1850s): First suspected a non-Semitic origin for the script; recognized its unsuitability for Semitic and its agglutinative nature.
  • Jules Oppert (1869): Proposed the name "Sumerian" based on royal titles "King of Sumer and Akkad" (arguing "Sumer" referred to the non-Semitic part); defended it vigorously in works like "Sumérien ou accadien?" (1875) and "Sumérien ou rien?".
  • Henry Rawlinson: Published early non-Semitic inscriptions from southern sites (Larsa, Nippur, Uruk).
  • Paul Haupt (1879): First scientific treatment of a bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian text (Die sumerischen Familiengesetze).
  • François Lenormant, Ernest de Sarzec (excavations at Tello/Girsu from 1877): Flood of pure Sumerian texts.
• Controversy: Joseph Halévy (1874 onward) argued Sumerian was a priestly cryptographic system, not a real language (debate lasted decades, influenced by 19th-century racial/linguistic theories, but ultimately refuted by evidence like Akkadian references to "lišān šumeri" — "Sumerian tongue").

Key Dates Summary for the Slide:

• ≈2350 BCE — Akkadians adopt cuneiform from Sumerians.
• ≈2000 BCE — Sumerian ceases to be a spoken vernacular.
• 1850s–1870s — Modern recognition of Sumerian as a separate, older language (via bilinguals, lexicons, and key publications).
• Until ≈100 CE — Sumerian persists as a classical / liturgical / scholarly language.

If you'd like to add visuals (e.g., photos of bilingual tablets, cuneiform examples, portraits of Oppert/Hincks/Haupt, script evolution charts, or famous texts like royal inscriptions or the Urra=hubullu lexical series) — just let me know, and we can expand further!