Re: Odo: Linear A

Piotr writes:  Just a word of caution: The phonology of various IE languages is by no means typologically uniform, so it's not quite correct to speek generically of IE as a type of language. Before the invention of the alphabet all kinds of script were based, more or less directly, on Middle Eastern models; if syllabic, they were inevitably similar to scripts designed for various Semitic languages.

Piotr:  I am not a linguist nor do I or would I ever assume I can compete with  your academic knowledge.  But I have a reason to perhaps disagree with the above statement and that reason is that the Indus script which AFAIK is still undecipherable is based on a binary system of 0 and 1, similar to the system of a computer.   

Piotr: The inadequacy of Linear A to record Greek is no proof that the language of Linear A was non-IE. After all, Linear B is only a little less clumsy and before Chadwick's decipherment was believed to be non-IE by most competent scholars. The Hittite cuneiform script, hieroglyphic Luwian or the Cypriot syllabary are all "hopeless" in their own ways. The truth is that we simply don't know at present whether the language of Linear A was IE or not. Such questions cannot be resolved by voting, so what the majority or minority of linguists believe is completely irrelevant -- there is hardly any ground for educeted guessing there. Only the successfull decipherment of Linear A will decide the issue.

Gerry:  And I totally support your opinion that _voting_ does not resolve the issue.  Do you per chance have an example of Linear A that you could post to me?   If not, then I'll certainly understand.

Thank you,
Gerry Reinhart-Waller