Pre-Greek languages

[Stanley Friesen]

At 11:13 PM 10/3/99 -0400, Sean Crist wrote:
>On Thu, 30 Sep 1999, Miguel Carrasquer Vidal wrote:
>I know; that's why I said 'mostly', and also why I picked the example of
>Japanese, which does have a limited set of syllable codas.

Which, interestingly, are often written using a kana containing the vowel
'u', at least in the Tokyo dialect.  Could this be where the high frequency
of final 'u's comes from in Linear A?

[The most common syllabic coda in Japanese, 'n', has its own kana].

>That's assuming that any of these systems had an effect on the development
>of Linear A.  I don't think we know this; as far as we know, it developed
>in isolation

I would say "isolation" is a bit too strong, given the extent of sea trade
at the time.  Independently is certainly indicated, but some influence, at
least to the extent of planting the *idea* of writing in their heads, is
very probable.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com