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Nuzi_e-DUB.SAR



FIRST RESULTS


The project Nuzi_e-DUB.SAR analyzes a corpus extracted from Nuzi texts, by integrating text mining technologies and network analysis and visualization.
For this case-study a complex of e-tools has been employed on e-texts, transliterated from the best preserved tablets. In their application, the reduced dimension of the corpus allows an exhaustive control of the results.

As it is known, the writing system in the Kingdom of Harrapḫa knew marked, subtel changes in usage, so that it developped in the distinctive Nuzi writing system from a formative stage. It is possible to observe traces of this process in the Šeršiia family. For thise purpose it is necessary to analyze many elements to trace the modus operandi of a scribe: uses in ortography (i.e., logographic and syllabic writing), uses of verbal tenses (i.e., preterit or perfect), uses of clauses, and so on. Attestations are hardly comparable due to the different nature and number of the texts of the three scribes. In this preliminary phase of the project (presented at RAI 57th), it is not possible to draw general conclusions. Nevertheless some indications can be reached.

The variants in (š)e-ni tend to disappear (see Fig. 1).
The three scribes use fonetic complements in the same way (see Fig. 2).
No trace of the occasional assyriasms of Šeršiia are found in the texts of his son and grandson.
Furthermore, the use of clauses is more consistent in Šeršiia and in Muš-teššup than in Ḫupita.

Text Mining and Linguistic Quantitative Analysis
Within the project Nuzi_e-DUB.SAR, the lack of linguistic quantitative software able to process adequately UNICODE fonts employed in the e-texts, lead to the substitution of the following characters:
š  --> $
ṭ  --> v
ṣ  --> c
ḫ  --> h

Other graphic conventions:
=_=      "erasure without text"
=abc=  "text over erasure"
/abc/    "text omitted by the scribe and added by scholars"
//abc//  "text mistakenly added by the scribe"

Akkadian is written in lower case.
Sumerian logograms in CAPS.


Network Analysis and Visualization
As far as prosopography is concerned, some data have been preliminarly investiged; some results of a tentative match of five texts (AASOR XVI 23, 26, 31; JEN 124, 331) are shown in Fig. 3.

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