East Semitic languages

The East Semitic group is attested by three distinct languages, Akkadian, Eblaite and possibly Kishite, all of which have been long extinct.

By the early 2nd millennium BC, East Semitic languages, in particular Akkadian, had come to dominate the region.

Modern understanding of the phonology of East Semitic languages can be derived only from careful study of written texts and comparison with the reconstructed Proto-Semitic.

Most striking is the reduction of the inventory of back consonants, the velar and pharyngeal fricatives, as well as glottals.

Their elision appears to give rise to the presence of an e vowel where it is not found in other Semitic languages (for example, Akk.