Cuneiform Orthography of the Stops in Alalah VII Akkadian

This article presents a statistical analysis of signs of the CV type and their values as used for stop consonants in Alalah VII documents. Comparing the Alala. VII syllabary with those of OAkk, OAss and Mari, I show that it had not been systematized by the time of the city's destruction, and that one cannot speak of an adequate written representation for all voiced, voiceless and emphatic stops in Alala. VII. Nevertheless, the syllabary does show a tendency towards a rational distribution of the signs used. This research also demonstrates that it may be misleading to consider Alala. VII the direct source of borrowing of Hittite cuneiform.