Also worth mentioning in relation to pronunciation differences are examples of phonetic
shifts: /tt/ > /ss/ (G307); [k] > [g] (G85); shifts affecting sibilants (G156 and G171); /š/ >
/l/ before dentals (G211). Of some interest are phonetic shifts that appear to involve a two
stage process (G294 and G298, where /mq/ > /qq/ > /nq/).
Some other types of linguistic variations that are found among the sources for Gilgamesh
XI are of less significant value for discussions concerning pronunciation and dialect, but
may perhaps contribute to discussions around preferred grammatical forms and the use of
certain suffixed particles. For example, the use of the stative instead of the participle oc-
curs (G34), as do several other changes in verbal conjugation or tense that may reflect
preferred grammatical forms (G93, G174, G225, G236, G308, and possibly G152). The
shift in the final vowel indicating the ventive /a/ > /u/ is occasionally seen (G199 and
G237). The omission of the ventive in several places is also seen (G1, G41, G188, G226
and G233), as is the loss of mimation (e.g. G243).
Stylistic Variants (Type 1)
The addition, omission or interchange of prepositions occurs frequently (e.g. G17, G79,
G82, G99, G130, G170, G296). Occasionally a similar change occurs involving pro-
nominal suffixes (G52) and even syntactically redundant cardinal numbers (G321). There
are limited examples of differences in the gender of some pronominal suffixes (G33,
G153, G157) and verbal predicates (G290). Certain sources, especially tablet J, display a
proclivity for dropping the enclitic particle “-ma” (G14, G118, G123).