Article | Local Adaptations of The Alphabet Among The Non-Greek Peoples of Anatolia

Mavi Boncuk |

LOCAL ADAPTATIONS OF THE ALPHABET
AMONG THE NON-GREEK PEOPLES OF ANATOLIA
Ignasi-Xavier Adiego[1]

Summary
This chapter examines the various alphabets developed in Anatolia during the first millennium BC to represent local languages:
Phrygian, Lydian, Lycian, Carian and Sidetic. The first three systems have in common a core inventory of signs that matches or is very similar to the Greek alphabet, from the point of view of both letter shapes and letter values. For sounds that were not represented by the model alphabet (and whether this model was Greek or Phrygian is a question that remains open), each
of these three alphabets – Phrygian, Lydian and Lycian – employs letters that are most likely innovations, and whose design appears to have sought axial symmetry. These new letters seem also to have circulated between alphabets in a context of contact. The focus then shifts to the peculiar position of the Carian alphabet, which in addition to various idiosyncratic graphemes possesses letters which seemingly have Greek shapes, but not the corresponding sound values. Finally, a full section is devoted to the Sidetic alphabet. As far as letter shapes are concerned, this writing system is also distant from the Greek alphabet, a fact that has led to the unconvincing hypothesis of an Aramaic origin.

[1] Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, Doctor in Classical Philology from the University of Barcelona (1990), is currently Professor of Indo-European Linguistics.Publications:Adiego, I. J. (2006), The Carian Language, Brill, Leiden.

The Carian language is an extinct language of the Luwian subgroup of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The Carian language was spoken in Caria, a region of western Anatolia between the ancient regions of Lycia and Lydia, by the Carians, a name possibly first mentioned in Hittite sources. Carian is closely related to Lycian and Milyan (Lycian B), and both are closely related to, though not direct descendants of, Luwian. Whether the correspondences between Luwian, Carian, and Lycian are due to direct descent (i.e. a language family as represented by a tree-model), or are due to dialect geography, is disputed.[3]

Prior to the late 20th century CE the language remained a total mystery even though many characters of the script appeared to be from the Greek alphabet. Using Greek phonetic values of letters investigators of the 19th and 20th centuries were unable to make headway and classified the language as non-Indo-European. Speculations multiplied, none very substantial. Progress finally came as a result of rejecting the presumption of Greek phonetic values.


Adiego, I. J. - Artigas, E. - Riquer, A. (2005), Séneca el Viejo. vol I: Controversias. Libros I-V. vol. II: Controversias. Libros VI-X. Suasorias, Gredos, Madrid.