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4 - Linear A Morphology

from Part I: - Linguistic Analysis of Linear A

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2026

Brent Davis
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Summary

It is also possible to investigate the morphology of the Minoan language—that is, its grammar and methods of word-formation—by studying Linear A. For example, many words in the script occur multiple times, but with different endings (suffixes) or beginnings (prefixes), thus yielding hints about the nature of Minoan grammar. Chapter 4 systematically addresses the morphology of Minoan through a refinement of a statistical method of analysis devised by David W. Packard in the 1970s. His method was designed to help determine the spoken values of some signs whose values were not yet known back then, whereas my refinement is designed to determine which syllabic signs are most likely to be indicating the presence of Minoan prefixes and suffixes at the beginnings and ends of words. This process isolates six signs—two very common at the beginnings of words, and four very common at the ends of them—that are highly likely to be grammatical prefixes and suffixes, including one suffix in particular that is highly likely to denote a genitive (showing possession), an ablative (showing origin), or a toponymic adjective (such as the “-ish” in “British,” again showing origin).

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  • Linear A Morphology
  • Brent Davis, University of Melbourne
  • Book: The Undeciphered Aegean Scripts
  • Online publication: 20 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009562331.005
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  • Linear A Morphology
  • Brent Davis, University of Melbourne
  • Book: The Undeciphered Aegean Scripts
  • Online publication: 20 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009562331.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Linear A Morphology
  • Brent Davis, University of Melbourne
  • Book: The Undeciphered Aegean Scripts
  • Online publication: 20 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009562331.005
Available formats
×