Out and About with Michelle Hart – Column 16

No More Word’s

Sumerian, the oldest known written language in human history, was spoken in Mesopotamia which is modern Iraq and it’s peripheral regions throughout the third millennium BC. It survived as an esoteric written language until the death of the cuneiform tradition around the time of Christ. The Sumerian language was not deciphered until the nineteenth century of our era, when it was found to be different from both the Indo-European and Semitic language groups. Fifteen hundred cuneiform symbols were reduced in the next thousand years to about seven hundred, but it did not become alphabetic until about 1300 BC. It has been the subject of controversial proposals purportedly identifying it as genetically related with almost every known agglutinative language.

As the most ancient known language, it has a peculiar prestige, and such proposals sometimes have a nationalistic background and generally enjoy little popularity in the linguistic community because of their unverifiability. The term ‘Sumerian’ applies to speakers of the Sumerian language. The Sumerian language is generally regarded as a language isolated in linguistics because it belongs to no known language family; Akkadian belongs to the Afro-Asiatic languages. Sumerian has also been claimed to have two tenses; past, and present-future, but these are currently described as completive and incompletive aspects instead. There is a large number of cases – nominative, ergative, genitive, dative, locative, comitative, equative (“as, like”), terminative (“to”), ablative (“from”), etc. The exact list varies somewhat in different grammars.

Another characteristic feature of Sumerian is the large number of homophones or words with the same sound structure but different meanings – or perhaps pseudo-homophones, since there might have been differences in pronunciation such as tone, that we do not know about. The different homophones and the different cuneiform signs that denote them are marked with different numbers by convention, 2 and 3 being replaced by acute accent and grave accent diacritics respectively. For example: du = “to go”, du3 = dù = “to build”.

The Sumerian language of ancient Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BC. Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 2000 BC, but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial and scientific language in Mesopotamia until about 1 AD. Then, it was forgotten until the 19th century. Sumerian is distinguished from other languages of the area such as Hebrew, Akkadian, which also comprises Babylonian and Assyrian, and Aramaic, which are Semitic languages, and Elamite, which may be an Elamo-Dravidian language. From the beginning of the second millennium, Babylonians and Assyrians maintained and utilized the extinct Sumerian language in much the same way that ancient Greek and Latin are used for artistic, religious and scholarly purposes today. By 2500 BC libraries were established at Shuruppak and Eresh, and schools had been established to train scribes for the temple and state bureaucracies as well as to legally document contracts and business transactions. Schools were regularly attended by the sons of the aristocracy and successful.

As always ladies and gentlemen, I have a devious or somewhat mystical, perhaps ethereal, or otherwise completely random bit of zany and predictably confusing lessons to cast upon your unsuspecting psyche. Considering that I do this all the time I wonder if it really IS that random anymore. Oh well… If not then it’s just another day in the desert for us. Fortunately we have GPS systems now and really nifty satellites so wandering around the sand dunes looking for an oasis really isn’t that difficult these days. Or is it? In the past year we’ve covered a whole lot of ground on our never ending trek haven’t we? Just wandering through the wilderness of infinity, that mountain of perpetual confusion, those completely riveting; show stopping divine mysteries. Well fear not weary traveler, once I manage to get off my high camel and set up my tent we can sit here around the campfire and just enjoy the silence.

Dramatic pause…

Ok. Maybe it wasn’t so dramatic but you get the point…

Thousands of years ago the first written language was devised and taught. From that I would assume all others followed. Just as Beethoven ushered in a grand musical age which led to smooth jazz and eventually Elvis; the Sumerians gave us the written word. They are everywhere you go now and are cast in a thousand languages with a gazillion dialects. Sometimes they can be forever, rather often though they are merely temporary. Time erases their meaning or erodes the statements but they are still with us in memory. You may not remember what you said or wrote last week or even last month but as certain as the sun will shine, someone else will certainly remember them. No matter what the effect, no matter the feeling, they are inescapable wether you loath them or love them; you cannot escape their immense power. In this fantastic digital age our senses are bombarded with them, a constant stream of someone’s thoughts pouring endlessly like a raging river into our minds. The words I use always do that, you’re a captive to mine, and just as mine can often hold your attention, at least I sure hope they do, you can do the very same thing. My thoughts, my emotions, my feelings, and whimsical desires are pouring out of my very soul onto this digital stage as you watch, and you listen. Faintly hearing my voice as the sirens song drifting on the digital wind.

A thousand years ago it was a chisel and hammer that created them, these were quickly dispatched by a the quill and ink, and those succumb to the pen and parchment only to find themselves also confined to the infinite dustbin of history. As these tiny pixels dance across your screen seemingly invisible, you sit in that warm comfy chair in wondrous amazement at my literary prose. Never failing to admire its fantastic beauty. Perhaps you condemn it as just a lustful tease of wanton fidelity while your mind and body react to these simple words upon the screen. You see even while saying absolutely nothing I say everything. The vocabulary I use speaks volumes about my intent or perhaps my deepest desire. With just a phrase I can captivate you totally.

Is it to early for another dramatic pause?

Awesome! Shall we continue?

Words define us, they illuminate our world in ways that are without measure. They can be used to inflict magnificent, devastating pain, and perpetual suffering. Words can promise unimaginable joy, fantastic rewards, scrumptious delights, or deliver wonderful feelings of ab.. so.. lute pleasure.

The internet is driven by them, these strange words that direct a terminal to a server which delivers this latest jewel for your sparkling eyes and inquisitive mind to feast upon. Just words, just code, just communication starting when a neuron fires and collides with a synapse, and ultimately quenches your wonderful mind with a new thought. Did those words elicit a desire, cause a hunger…. For more? Did they challenge your beliefs or invoke petulant anguish? Did I…. your seductive and sultry digital diva offend? Could I…. Would I…. Shall I…. May I…. It’s such a tempting morsel to partake in as I draw you in to my spiraling silken web.

Quite often I relish visiting various questionable illicit websites, or do I? Perhaps it’s just the news, it could be divine makeup secrets, maybe they encapsulate comedy or just plain old Dr. Seuss. You name it, I read them all with a voracious appetite. Often I will read the works of authors or other writers that I dislike immensely. It’s like the unquenchable Sahara to me. I simply love to read, to learn, to grow, to capture knowledge however mundane it may be. There is a certain magic that comes from words. There is a mystique which surrounds them, an often subtle hidden meaning such benevolent brainac’s would call…. The definition.

Why would I do it? Why would I offer myself as a willing sacrifice to this over pixilated world that we all swim in? Oh my dear it’s so simple an answer; I trust you know. Freedom, release, a sharing of thoughts occasionally concluded by an orgy of prose. Why… Why you ask? I just love to read.

Every day people send me their words in the hope that they will provoke a reaction of some kind. A completely random or even odd question or just a simple request. Sometimes they are mundane, sometimes profound, many elicit tears. Each and every one must rest solely on the merits of it’s author whomever that may be. Those whom I’ve corresponded with know the score as it flashes in stars above, they see it in my response, often coy, or bubbly, quietly demure, sometimes catty perhaps even vulgar. It’s a devious ruse to entice their next action. I may have made the suggestion of a longing desire, an offer for tea, who knows? Surely they do….

Did they limit their words or go for broke as the blood rushed to their fingers to delicately capture my heart with the words they hoped I would long to read? Did they wait Impatiently in expectation of an answer? Did the waiting loom heavy on their shoulders as the sweat of their brow glistened while plotting, and feigning interest? Just barely enough effort to achieve that desirable goal of seduction?

Were the words enough to ensnare me or cause my instant rebuff? Were you the one who was adored or rebuked in favor of another? As each moment passes you analyze every syllable and check each consonant to determine the hidden meaning of any note you may receive. what does it all mean my dear? confusion? Pain? Pleasure Or joy? Raw emotion which can only be set free to fly upon the gentle wind as it caresses the wings of a sparrow.

Of all the words I am assaulted by, the vulgarity, the snide, the pompous, and most often the egregious ignorance of those who haven’t read my words; NONE dismay me more than those who have not read at all! I learned about the Sumerians by reading, it’s as simple as that. I took the time to research all the knowledge that is so freely shared in the vastness of the worlds digital library. I studied, if only to do little more than enrich my own life. Shall we stroll down these hallowed corridors, upon these magnificently polished floors learning together? Joyful that this vast library which contains mankind’s deepest fantasies and most morbid desires is always available. Would you prefer to abandon it to disrepair and never seek out the answers to the questions yourself?

Do you favor the peaceful sands which surround us on this balmy summer night? Choose your words carefully dear, they just may be your last! That is our hopeless dilemma. That is our cross to bear as we trudge through this exercise in futility. How do you use these wonderful words to achieve your ends, and enrapture the object of our affections. If you have managed to survive this journey into a cavern of such phenomenal proportion; then you may have found the answer to the mystery of my heart, and that of every other woman on earth. Are you hopelessly enamored by the language I’ve written in each article? Are you seduced by the vanity I portray or the innocence I claim as virtue? Should I continue to phrase this curious litany in such a way to enthrall you with a seemingly never-ending flood of powerful summation or resign to simplicity of purpose?

IF you are thus dumbfounded and shuddering with despair at this very moment; continue on my love there are no great mysteries to be unraveled by you this evening.

Have you read my words, have they affected you? Where they profound or distasteful? Did they make you weep or sing my praise? Language dear reader is an art only for the studious, a symphony of will, entrenched in emotion, wrapped in a passion, that glows brighter than a thousand suns! Are you enthralled yet, or should I subject you to more marvelous words?

On second thought…

sup babe ur hot!!!! wanna get it onn??

Don’t fool your self… Your empty passion won’t satisfy me… No more words!

With love,

Michelle Hart

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