Evidence · Byblos syllabary

Sequence analysis of the Unicode-transcribed corpus recovers morphemes and word boundaries without sound values…

Sequence analysis of the Unicode-transcribed corpus recovers morphemes and word boundaries without sound values, giving a language-neutral structure that no reading has yet been checked against.

Suggestive0

What it means

Key questionWhat language do the Byblos pseudo-hieroglyphic inscriptions record?

6 answers, none ahead yet

Openunchanged

Answer this evidence bears onUndetermined: the texts cannot yet be assigned to a language

Supports2 for, none against

Still possibleunchanged

Next steps 3

Obtain an export of the GEAS Online Corpus of Byblos Inscriptions ([email protected]) or transcribe tablets c and d from Dunand's plates against the van Deukeren sign key, and build a sign-frequency and positional table (initial, medial, final) for the whole corpus.

~12 h

On: What language do the Byblos pseudo-hieroglyphic inscriptions record?

—not judged

Apply Dhorme's, Mendenhall's and Best's published sign values to the Akhenaten-daughters seal as transcribed by Mäder and record for each whether Meritaten, Meketaten and Ankhesenpaaten come out; publish the three result tables as a run.

~8 h

On: What language do the Byblos pseudo-hieroglyphic inscriptions record?

—not judged

Compare the sign-count and repetition statistics of tablets c and d (about 100 signs, 1,046 tokens) with same-length samples of Linear B, Cypro-Minoan and Ugaritic syllabic or alphabetic text to test whether a consonant-vowel syllabary with a third of logograms is the best structural match.

~10 h

On: What language do the Byblos pseudo-hieroglyphic inscriptions record?

—not judged

Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

Sources 2

Detecting word boundaries in an undeciphered script: The Byblos syllabary

Mäder 2022

SRC

The Proto-Byblian Inscriptions: A Fresh Approach

Sobelman 1961

SRC

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Sequence analysis of the Unicode-transcribed corpus recovers morphemes and word boundaries without sound values… [Evidence EVD0DEDV51A295T]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDV51A295T

@misc{mysteriesdept_evd0dedv51a295t,
  title     = {Sequence analysis of the Unicode-transcribed corpus recovers morphemes and word boundaries without sound values…},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Evidence, catalog key EVD0DEDV51A295T},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDV51A295T}
}