East Semitic languages

The East Semitic languages were a branch of Semitic languages. It is extinct. The main languages were Akkadian and Eblaite, and possibly Kishite. All these languages have long been extinct. They were influenced by the non-Semitic Sumerian language and used cuneiform writing.

The two main language Groups of Semitic languages are East Semitic and West Semitic.  East Semitic languages are different from West Semitic languges in many ways. People believe that the distinction was because speakers of East Semitic languages wandered furether east, to Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BC. Akkadian texts of the time write this. By the early 2nd millennium BC, East Semitic languages, in particular Akkadian, had come to dominate the region.

References

Category:Semitic languages