Typology before decipherment?

[Rick Mc Callister]

[ Moderator's note:
  The following is quoted from a post by Lloyd Anderson.
  --rma ]

>Rich Alderson wrote in reply to Steve Long:

>>If a text is undeciphered, it is unclear to me how any amount of typological
>>information could be put to use.  Typology makes reference to concepts
>>such as
>>"noun", "verb", "adjective", "subject", "object", and so on, which cannot be
>>applied to an undeciphered text.  Perhaps you mean something other than
>>"undeciphered"?

>There are indeed situations in which typology is used before successful
>decipherment.  I suspect Chadwick used it for Linear B.
>But a case I am more recently aware of is Indus Valley,
>which is not generally regarded as deciphered
>(no disrespect intended towards anyone).
[snip]

	Or perhaps "tentative typology" as Ventris used by focusing on word
endings
	Can you elaborate a bit on the Indus Valley script? I'm aware of
the proposed "star"-"fish" rebus but what else has been proposed recently?

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701