The Phoneticisation of the Luwian Hieroglyphic Writing System

Alexander J. J. Vertegaal*

Cite as Vertegaal, A. J. J. 2021: The Phoneticisation of the Luwian Hieroglyphic Writing System. Hungarian Assyriological Review 2: 295–312.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52093/hara-202102-00025-000

Abstract

This paper offers a new perspective on the phoneticisation of the Luwian hieroglyphic writing system. It investigates to what extent we can determine the time frame in which they acquired their syllabographic values by relating them to key phonological and morphological changes in the Luwian language. Several hieroglyphic signs plausibly developed phonetic readings before particular linguistic developments took place, which suggests that the phoneticisation process took place over a long time and may have started centuries before the first texts (perhaps even in Proto-Luwic times), continuing gradually and continuously until the writing system was abandoned in the 7^th century BCE.

Keywords: Luwian, hieroglyphs, phoneticisation, syllabograms

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