Minoan is an IE language?

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/14/01 9:16:46 PM Mountain Standard Time, X99Lynx at aol.com
writes:

> On this basis, there appears to be no strong reason to dismiss the notion
> that Linear A at some point was used by "Eteo-Cretans" to write in Semitic
> or

-- except that Linear A is not exclusively a pictographic or logographic
script; like the derived Linear B script, it contains both syllabic and
pictographic elements, and many of the elements are common to both.

The only thing one can say with even a high degree of probability is that
whatever language the Linear A script was designed for wasn't Indo-European,
given the clumsiness of Linear B for that purpose -- despite the fact that it
was specifically intended for Mycenaean Greek.

Therefore it's a safe bet that Linear A was totally unsuitable for writing
Mycenaean and had to be substantially modified to be useable at all, even to
the very limited extent that Linear B achieves.