Akkadian phonology

2. Language system

2.1. Expression systems

2.1.1. Phonology

2.1.1.1. Inventory

place manner	labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
stop voiceless	p	t / ṭ			k / ḳ	ʔ
voiced	b	d			g
affricative voiceless			ts / ṭṣ	ʧ
voiced			dz
fricative voiceless					x
nasal	m	n
liquid		l / r
semivowel				j	w
vowel				i	u
				e	(o)
					a

Both consonants and vowels could be geminated/long.

2.1.1.1.2. Vowel system

There was probably a vowel /o/, for which, however, there is little or no evidence in the writing.

In transliteration, the products of contraction are marked by a circumflex (macron).

2.1.1.1.3. Consonants

Akkadian has only a subset of the Proto Semitic set of points of articulation:

there are no interdentals
there are no pharyngeals
for velars, there is only [x ~ χ].
Moreover, [ʔ] (which is not distinguished in writing) survives in Old Akkadian, but subsequently gets confined to word-initial position.

Emphatic (i.e. velarized or pharyngealized) consonants contrasted with plain ones; they are indicated with an underdot.

The consonant system as posited above (following essentially wikipedia.de 2007 s.v. Akkadische Sprache) is improbable in a number of respects. In particular, several of the phonemes posited as affricates should rather be fricatives.