The writing of Sumerian in the third millennium BC. A computer-basedanalysis of the use of phonographic cuneiform signs and itsdiachronic and regional variation

然而，一个楔形文字符号所能表达的多种可能的含义通常是众所周知的，但在特定的时间、地点和语境中，没有多少可靠的数据可以证明哪些含义是实际使用的。这是有实际原因的：虽然一些例子足以建立一个迄今为止未知的符号的含义，但语料库的大部分必须被系统地评估，以确定它不能被用来呈现给定的含义。然而，随着像CDLI和BDTNS这样的大型语料库项目的创建，这些项目已经使大部分苏美尔文本材料以数字形式提供，这项工作现在至少可以在现代计算方法的帮助下部分自动化。因此，首次以相对较少的努力对楔形文字的使用进行全面的研究是可能的。该项目旨在尽可能全面地分析公元前三千年苏美尔文本中留声机符号的使用。在第一步，所有的留声机符号实例将在机器学习算法的帮助下被识别和分类。音标符号分为五类：词缀链上的音标，词干上的音标，用来书写闪族术语的音标，特殊拼写中的音标，以及语音补语。此外，还收集了按音位法书写的词干和专有名词的拼写变体。在这些数据的基础上，建立了所有重要地区、时期和符号类别的音节表和符号清单。除了它的直接价值，例如作为阅读文本的资源外，这些数据作为进一步研究的基础具有重要意义。因此，在第二步中，它对理解当地楔形文字传统及其发展的贡献，苏美尔楔形文字与早期闪族文字系统之间的关系，苏美尔人的音韵学，以及美索不达米亚留声法文字的发展将被探索。该项目的一个明确目标是进一步为Sumerology中计算方法的使用创建一个基线，并创建一个广泛的注释文本语料库，这可以作为进一步调查的重要基础。

Whereas the multitude of possible meanings that could be rendered by a single cuneiform sign are usually well known, not much reliable data exists as to which of these were actually in use in a given time, place and context.There are practical reasons for this: While a few examples are sufficient to establish a hitherto unknown meaning of a sign, large parts of a corpus have to be systematically evaluated to determine with due certainty that it could not be employed to render a given meaning.However, with the creation of large-scale corpus projects like the CDLI and BDTNS, which have made the better part of the Sumerian textual material available in digital from, this work can now be at least partly automated with the help of modern computational methods. Thus, comprehensive studies of the usage of the cuneiform signs are possible for the first time with relatively little effort.This project seeks to analyze as comprehensively as possible the usage of the phonographic signs in the Sumerian texts of the third millennium BC. In a first step, all instances of phonographic signs will be identified and classified with the help of a machine learning algorithm. Five classes of phonographic signs are distinguished: phonograms in the affix chain, phonograms in the word stem, phonograms used to write Semitic terms, phonograms in ad hoc spellings, and phonetic complements. Additionally, spelling variants of phonographically written stems and proper nouns are collected. On the basis of this data, syllabaries and sign inventories for all important regions, periods and sign classes are established.Apart from its immediate value, e. g. as resource for the reading of texts, this data is of great significance as a basis for further research. In a second step, therefore, its contribution to the understanding of local cuneiform traditions and their development, the relationship between the Sumerian cuneiform and the early semitic writing systems, the phonology of Sumerian, and the development of phonographic writing in Mesopotamia will be explored.An explicit goal of this project is furthermore to create a baseline for the use of computational methods in Sumerology and to create an extensive annotated text corpus, which can serve as an important basis for further investigations.