Script
A more elaborate monumental style is distinguished from more abstract linear or cursive forms of the script. In general, relief inscriptions prefer monumental forms, and incised ones prefer the linear form, but the styles are in principle interchangeable. Texts of several lines are usually written in boustrophedon style. Within a line, signs are usually written in vertical columns, but as in Egyptian hieroglyphs, aesthetic considerations take precedence over correct reading order.
The script consists of the order of 500 unique signs, some with multiple values; a given sign may function as a logogram, a determinative or a syllabogram, or a combination thereof. The signs are numbered according to Laroche's sign list, with a prefix of 'L.' or '*'. Logograms are transcribed in Latin in capital letters. For example, *90, an image of a foot, is transcribed as PES when used logographically, and with its phonemic value ti when used as a syllabogram. In the rare cases where the logogram cannot be transliterated into Latin, it is rendered through its approximate Hittite equivalent, recorded in Italic capitals, e.g. *216 ARHA. The most up-to-date sign list is that of Marazzi (1998).
Hawkins, Morpurgo-Davies and Neumann corrected some previous errors about sign values, in particular emending the reading of symbols *376 and *377 from i, ī to zi, za.
Roster of CV syllabograms:
| -a | -i | -u | |
| - | *450, *19 | *209 | *105 |
| h- | *215, *196 | *413 | *307 |
| k- | *434 | *446 | *423 |
| l- | *176 | *278 | *445 |
| m- | *110 | *391 | *107 |
| n- | *35 | *411, *214 | *153, *395 |
| p- | *334 | *66 | *328 |
| r- | *383 | *412 | |
| s- | *415 *433, *104, *402, *327 | - | - |
| t- | *100, *29, *41, *319, *172 | *90 | *89, *325 |
| w- | *439 | - | |
| y- | *210 | - | - |
| z- | *377 | *376 | *432(?) |
Some signs are used as reading aid, marking the beginning of a word, the end of a word, or identifying a sign as a logogram. These are not mandatory and are used inconsistently.
Read more about this topic: Hieroglyphic Luwian
Famous quotes containing the word script:
“I long to create something
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I want to write
a script about plumbing, how every pipe
is joined
to every other.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“...he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own house.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Esther 1:22.
King Ahasuerus, after his Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command.
“If it’s a good script I’ll do it. And if it’s a bad script, and they pay me enough, I’ll do it.”
—George Burns (b. 1896)