Editing Urartian language (section)

==Writing==

=== Cuneiform ===
Urartian cuneiform is a standardized simplification of Neo-Assyrian cuneiform.
Unlike in Assyrian, each sign only expresses a single sound value.
The sign  ''gi'' {{lang|xur|{{cuneiform|11|𒄀}}}} has the special function of expressing a hiatus, e.g. ''u-gi-iš-ti'' for ''Uīšdi''. A variant script with non-overlapping wedges was in use for rock inscriptions.

===Hieroglyphs===
Urartian was also rarely written in the "[[Anatolian hieroglyphs]]" used for the [[Luwian language]]. Evidence for this is restricted to [[Altıntepe]].

There are suggestions that besides the Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions, Urartu also had a native hieroglyphic script.
The inscription corpus is too sparse to substantiate the hypothesis. It remains unclear whether the symbols in question form a coherent writing system, or represent just a multiplicity of uncoordinated expressions of [[proto-writing]] or ad-hoc drawings.<ref>Paul Zimansky, Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 299/300, The Archaeology of Empire in Ancient Anatolia (Aug. - Nov., 1995), pp. 103-115</ref>
What can be identified with a certain confidence are two symbols or "hieroglyphs" found on vessels, representing certain units of measurement:  [[Image:Hieroglyph Urartian aqarqi.jpg|100x33px]] for ''aqarqi'' and [[Image:Hieroglyph Urartian tyerusi.jpg|100x33px]] for ''ṭerusi''. This is known because some vessels were labelled both in cuneiform and with these symbols.<ref>Mirjo Salvini: ''Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer''. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995. {{ISBN|3-534-01870-2}}</ref>