Elamite: A Comparison of Script and Language

Elamite: A Comparison of Script and Language presents a comprehensive structural-linguistic analysis of the Elamite writing tradition, tracing its development from early proto-Elamite forms through the Linear Elamite corpus and into its later cuneiform phases. Bringing together epigraphic data, graphemic patterning, phonological reconstruction, and comparative Indo-Iranian evidence, Jessica Scott Dunn offers a unified framework for understanding how Elamite script behavior reflects deeper linguistic structure. This book challenges long-standing assumptions about Elamite's classification, demonstrating that its script traditions are not isolated anomalies but part of a coherent linguistic system with recoverable phonological and morphological rules. Through comparisons of signs, structural correspondences, and cross-script parallels, Dunn reconstructs the underlying language mechanisms that shaped Elamite writing across millennia. Drawing on original decipherment work, newly synthesized analyses, and structural methodology, Elamite: A Comparison of Script and Language provides scholars with a fresh, data-driven perspective on one of the ancient world's most complex and misunderstood linguistic traditions. It is an essential resource for researchers in historical linguistics, epigraphy, Near Eastern studies, and anyone interested in how ancient scripts encode the languages behind them.