Jason JewellEric, here’s the response from my colleague:
“As far as I am aware, classical Akkadian does not have word dividers or punctuation marks. Yet, the English punctuation provided is not entirely arbitrary. For instance, questions would be implied by the presence of an interrogative or by lengthening the last syllable of a phrase. Likewise, imperatives might be indicated by “la.” But, as you suggested, some of the punctuation is going to depend on the instincts of the translators (his feel for the context).
Some cuneiform languages, such as Ugaritic, employ a small triangle as a divider between words, but no punctuation marks. Perhaps some cuneiform-based languages use punctuation marks, but if so I am unaware of this practice. Even paleo-Hebrew and Greek did not employ punctuation marks.”