Well, I'm looking at Linear A and I've come up with
some conclusions. First of all, it does appear to me
that /-mV/ is commonly marking nouns as an oblique case
marker (optionally given agglutinized postpositions).
I also conclude that the case ending is in reality /-m/
based on the assimilation seen in the variant spellings
of YA-SA-SA-RA-MA-NA and YA-SA-SA-RA-A-NA-NE, implying
*Yassaram-na/Yassaran-ne.
If the above is true, there is a strong chance that the
language is a Nostratic language of the Eurasiatic type
since *-m is the inherited accusative marker of these languages.
A shift from "accusative" to "all non-nominative cases"
is certainly plausible. The postpositions /-tV/ and /-nV/
that accompany the ending then would most probably reflect
the genitive "of, from" and locative-dative "at, to",
respectively.
I'm skeptical of the interpretation of the verbal endings
/-si/ and /-ta/ as singular and plural 3ps. These forms
could also be interpreted as unmarked third persons with
modal affixes, unless I'm mistaken.
Just thoughts.
- gLeN
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