INDUS SCRIPT

A recent research paper published in Palgrave Communications, a Nature group journal, has claimed that a majority of the Indus Valley inscriptions were written logographically (by using word signs) and not by using phonograms (speech sounds units).

Name of the paper: Interrogating Indus inscription to unravel their mechanism of meaning conveyance.
Objective: This article mainly focuses on understanding how Indus inscriptions conveyed meanings, rather than on deciphering what they conveyed.
Key findings:
- Majority of the Indus Valley inscriptions were written logographically (by using word signs) and not by using phonograms (speech sounds units).
- The inscriptions can be compared to the structured messages found on stamps, coupons, tokens and currency coins of modern times.
- The popular hypothesis that the seals were inscribed with Proto-Dravidian or Proto-Indo-European names of the seal-owners does not hold ground.
- These inscriptions can be compared to the messages found on stamps, coupons, tokens and currency coins of modern times.

Way ahead: This study could serve as a basis in future for the deciphering of the script.

Image Credits:http://bit.ly/2LTstI8

Important Info :

The Indus inscriptions have not been deciphered due to the absence of bilingual texts, extreme brevity of the inscriptions, and ignorance about the language(s) encoded by Indus script.

Image Credits: https://swarajyamag.com/commentary/indus-script-the-no-script-theory-is-a-non-starter

Source: The Hindu