The previous attempts of reading Linear A, the forerunner of Mycenaean Linear B, did not convince the scientific community. According to the general opinion, the main gaps consisted in 1°) an unproved transposition of Linear B phonetic values to several Linear A signs which looked like homomorphs, 2°) a too small size of the studied samples, and 3°) on a linguistic point of view, the absence of a grammatical analysis.

Based on a large epigraphic review and on the principle of phonetic autonomy of Linear A, the comparison of two different methods seems to be interesting in the case of Linear A, the Minoan script of Bronze Age Crete. Palaeography provides possible phonetic values for every syllabogram or phonogram, and frequencies give them a stronger coherence (conventional phonetic values).

The study of the frequencies of the signs shows that the results are parallel to those of comparative palaeography for the signs which have a significant frequency. Ratios between global frequency, initial frequency and final frequency of each sign are of high interest in order to define the type of phonemes.

In the text below, we can see the beginning of the inscribed rim of a pithos (PEzb6) coming from the Minoan palace of Petras near Sitia (Archaeological Museum of Sitia, n°9102). Reading the tablets and their blanks, we know that Linear A was generally written from left to right. Here the text begins by a word made of two signs 08b-77, followed by two dots. Then we may read the signs 60-67-58-06 etc. There is a short vertical stroke before the sign 67 that could be a separator as often on tablets. Applying the conventional values, we could read : à-kha / ra / khi-su-na-. Hubert La Marle, 2008

(Note : the HTML code does not allow here to use a proper phonetic transcription for Linear A ; here à is for a long a)

> an answer to John G. Younger's remarks on Linear A