# The signs are a logo-syllabic writing system that encodes a spoken language.

> Most likely: The signs are a logo-syllabic writing system that encodes a spoken language.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/answers/ANS0CWY3FSP48TH/the-signs-are-a-logo-syllabic-writing-system-that-encodes-a  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Indus script](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script)[Are the Indus signs a writing system for a spoken language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/questions/QST0CWY3ETE3XCV/are-the-indus-signs-a-writing-system-for-a-spoken-language)Answer

Answer · Indus script

# The signs are a logo-syllabic writing system that encodes a spoken language.

The signs are a logo-syllabic writing system that encodes a spoken language.

**Most likely** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Most likely** Its tests partly supported it: three pieces of evidence for, one against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Sign sequences show the positional and combinatorial regularities of writing, including affix-like terminal signs.
- Longer texts, when found, show the same sign behaviour as short ones.
- A bilingual or a decipherment eventually reads the corpus.

## What would rule it out

- A convincing non-linguistic explanation accounts for all the regularities and for the uses of the inscribed objects.

## Evidence 3 for · 1 against

[Conditional entropy of sign pairs lies in the range of natural-language scripts.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/evidence/EVD0CWY3G9A1MCY/conditional-entropy-of-sign-pairs-lies-in-the-range-of)

Suggestive

FOR

[The signs form a stable, bounded inventory used consistently across sites and centuries.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/evidence/EVD0CWY3GH42EEP/the-signs-form-a-stable-bounded-inventory-used-consistently)

Supported

FOR

[n-gram models find strong positional and sequential structure, including start-favouring and end-favouring…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/evidence/EVD0CWY3G1G5FGM/n-gram-models-find-strong-positional-and-sequential)

Supported

FOR

[No text longer than about seventeen signs on one surface exists, which is unlike any known literate…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/evidence/EVD0CWY3GRY71Y4/no-text-longer-than-about-seventeen-signs-on-one-surface)

Supported

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[Are the Indus signs a writing system for a spoken language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/questions/QST0CWY3ETE3XCV/are-the-indus-signs-a-writing-system-for-a-spoken-language)

Most likelyThe signs are a logo-syllabic writing system that encodes a spoken language

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The signs are a logo-syllabic writing system that encodes a spoken language. [Answer ANS0CWY3FSP48TH]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0CWY3FSP48TH
```

Key

**ANS** 0CWY3FSP48TH

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ANS0CWY3FSP48TH)