How did Sumerian and Akkadian languages influence each other?

The Sumerian and Akkadian languages influenced each other primarily through the adaptation of the Sumerian writing system to the Semitic Akkadian language.1

When Akkadians adopted the cuneiform script around the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE, they modified it to suit their own linguistic structure. While they retained Sumerian logograms for complex concepts, they pronounced them as Akkadian words. Furthermore, the Akkadians expanded the phonetic values of the script, incorporating both original Sumerian syllabic values and new, complex readings derived from Akkadian vocabulary. This process introduced significant polyphony, where a single sign could represent multiple phonetic values depending on whether it was read in Sumerian or Akkadian.12

Beyond the script, the two languages coexisted for centuries. By approximately 2000 BCE, Akkadian replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of southern Mesopotamia, yet Sumerian persisted as a prestigious written language for sacred literature and administrative texts. This enduring influence is evidenced by the existence of bilingual inscriptions and the continued study of Sumerian in Babylonian schools long after it ceased to be a living, spoken tongue.32