OI In-Person Members' Lecture Registration: Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee

1155 East 58th Street,Chicago IL 60637

06 October, 2021

Description

Registration is for in-person attendance only. Please do not register if you intend to watch the livestream. *Masks are required for this in-person OI lecture. Lecture attendance and restrictions are subject to change. There will be no reception for this lecture. This lecture will be streamed live for all patrons interested in watching at-home. A link to the live-stream will be listed on OI social media and on our website closer to the event date. Language and Cultural Contact in the Third Millennium BCE: The Case of Ebla Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee, OI, Professor of Comparative Semitics, University of Chicago From almost the earliest attestations of writing, there is evidence for languages in contact. In Mesopotamia, for example, we have evidence for Sumerian and Akkadian contact from the early third millennium BCE. It is very difficult, however, to determine the extent and duration of such contact in languages that are no longer spoken. In the case of the Ancient Near East, for example, sources do not commonly tell us what language(s) individuals spoke or if the language they wrote represents the language also used for oral communication. This lecture wishes to draw attention to the difficulties involved in determining the linguistic situation “on the ground” by using the example of Eblaite, an idiom attested in the 24th century BCE in the ancient northern Syrian site of Ebla (Tell Mardikh). The case of Eblaite is illuminating since it is undisputed that the locals adopted the Mesopotamian cuneiform writing tradition, including the main language used in writing at the time, Sumerian. They also adapted the cuneiform system to write a Semitic language called “Eblaite”, a language closely related to Akkadian and commonly taken to be the native language of the city of Ebla. “Eblaite” poses many problems, however. Some of the issues include questions such as: is what we call Eblaite truly the or a language of Ebla, was it a spoken language or a learned idiom only used in writing, and how exactly does it relate to Akkadian? These questions can only be answered by having a closer look at the socio-economic and cultural context of Eblaite and its relations to other Ancient Near Eastern regions.