Akkadian Interlinear Building Tool

[u/jrothlander]

EDIT: Trimmed down and added screenshots — the images probably explain the idea better anyway.

I’m curious whether anyone would be interested in an interlinear‑building tool that supports Akkadian cuneiform. The core was built as a Greek learning and translation tool that builds an interlinear, and I’ve been experimenting with using it for Akkadian. Hosting it online is not free, so I’m looking to release it as an open‑source project so anyone can use it for free.

For a demo, I mocked up the first two sentences of the Code of Hammurab{p}i using Harper’s 1904 translation, the ORACC sign list, Unicode, and the Noto Sans Cuneiform font. The signs aren’t perfectly aligned with the original monumental script, but they’re close. As with Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, etc., you have to normalize the script — you can’t support every historical sign variant, so you standardize around a print‑style font. I am open to suggestions here. Standardized Neo-Assyrian style seems to be the best option.

So far, it’s been interesting to play with and has piqued my curiosity again. You can import transliterations (be-lum ša a-lim) or normalized transcription (bēlum ša ālim) and generate the text with the signs, a mechanical translation, interlinear with lemma, parse tag, and gloss. To create a translation, you set word order, add/remove words as needed, add your gloss, and generate your final translation. The software supports the process and helps learners interact with the text.

Screenshots

You can click on the images below to see the details. I did not include any of the lexicon screenshots, character management, text management, ending charts, etc., as it is a lot of detail that I think someone can imagine.

Reader (column view)

You can have it list per line or per clause. You can turn the lemma, parse tag, and gloss off/on as needed.

Column and Line View

Reader (Line View)

Per Clause View

A sandbox sample based on samples from a grammar. This is the interlinear builder where you would enter your translation. The next tab, "My translation" (poorly named), is where you set up your word order algorithm of sorts; then the "final" tab is purely your translation. The idea is that you set up the word order, punctuation, add words, or mark them as untranslated. Then you can regen the translation again and again as you continue to work on it. You can export this in a custom-formatted text file or to Word.

Your translation

Word order, add words, mark words as untranslated, and add punctation.

Final translation. You have 100% control over this but you use the tool so you can regen it at any time.

Test & Quizes

Self-testing is an important part of the learning process. I have a training feature that turns the text into tests and flashcard drills. It uses a distance equation and the lexicon glosses to score your translation. And uses the parse tag to score your parsing. There is also a flashcard drill: know it, don't know it that you can execute for any line of text.

Sentence Diagram/Outline

You can generate a sentence diagram of sorts and an outline. These are logic-based algorithms generated in real-time. The setup is based on Koine Greek, so I need to add support for Akkadian. Note that here, it is picking up anaku as a verb and not as a pronoun. That's due to the parsing tag differences between Akkadian and Greek. I'll fix it, but thought it was worth giving you an idea of what will be able to do.

EDIT/UPDATE: Added a few more screenshots to demonstrate enabling different parts of the interlinear. Here, I am only showing the transliteration. In the next pic, I am showing the cuneiform, not per line but per clause. There is a checkbox on the right to control how it is displayed, but it is hard to show in a screenshot. You can export whatever you display to a Word doc or in a custom text format I created for the tool.

Just the transliteration

Just the cuneiform

The reader with everything turned on and one word selected and the lexicon entry displayed.