Studi e Saggi Linguistici

V. 59 N. 1 (2021)
Articoli

Sillaba e sillabazione nelle scritture sillabiche egee con particolare riferimento alla lineare A

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  • Carlo Consani
Carlo Consani
Università di Chieti-Pescara
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4454/ssl.v59i1.294

Pubblicato 2021-07-29

Parole chiave

  • syllable,
  • syllabic writing,
  • natural grapholinguistics,
  • Minoan Linear A,
  • Linear B,
  • Cypro-Minoan,
  • Classical Cypriot Syllabary
    • ...Più
    Meno
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Abstract

The work analyzes the contributions that two research fields such as phonological theory and recent researches in the field of natural grapholinguistics can offer to clarify the functioning of ancient syllabic scripts, with particular reference to the syllabic scripts of the Aegean of the first and of the second millennium B.C.

Starting from this theoretical basis, a method is developed to identify possible cases of writing of consonant groups attested in a syllabic writing with open syllables such as Minoan Linear A; an analysis extended to the whole corpus of this writing highlights both the lack of standardization in the spellings adopted and the tendency to extensively note the segment of each consonant group, with a certain preference for progressive spellings, independently of the syllabic structure underlying.

The results of the Linear A spelling are compared with the analogous strategies adopted by the other syllabic scripts which are connected in a more or less direct way with Linear A, namely Linear B, Cypro-Minoan and Classical Cypriot Syllabary; this comparison makes it possible to identify a line of continuity, characterized by the tendency to write as accurate as possible each segment of a consonant group, a line which unites Linear A with Cypro-Minoan and the Classic Cypriot Syllabary; with respect to this orthographic tradition, the spelling strategy adopted by Linear B, which is characterized by the omission of the coda-segments and by the spelling of only the onset segments, appears as an isolate episode, which has been related to the particular bureaucratic-administrative purpose of this writing.

Finally, some possible explanations of the different orthographic strategies are proposed, both from the perspective of the typology of the writing systems, and in relation to the specific historical coordinates and the literacy that characterizes the different scripts examined.

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