Editing Linear A (section)

===Underlying language===
[[Image:Linear A vase filt.jpg|thumb|right|Linear&nbsp;A incised on a jug, also found in Akrotiri]]

Linear A does not appear to encode any known language. The placeholder term ''[[Minoan language]]'' is often used, though it is not certain that the texts are all in the same language.<ref name = "SalgarellaOverview" /><ref>Chadwick J., "Introduction to the problems of ‘Minoan Linear A’", JRAS 2, pp. 143–147, 1975</ref> Minoan appears to be [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]], making copious use of [[prefix]]es and [[suffix]]es. It likely had a three vowel system, since it shares Linear B's /{{IPA|i}}/, /{{IPA|u}}/, and /{{IPA|a}}/ series, but not Linear B's /{{IPA|o}}/ series and not all of its /{{IPA|e}}/ series.<ref name = "SalgarellaOverview" /> Based on regularities in the Linear A Libation Formulas, it has been argued that its [[word order]] was [[Verb–subject–object word order|Verb Subject Object]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Brent |title=Syntax in Linear A: The Word-Order of the 'Libation Formula' |journal=Kadmos |date=1 December 2013 |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=35–52 |doi=10.1515/kadmos-2013-0003 |s2cid=163948869 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/kadmos-2013-0003/html |access-date= | issn=0022-7498 }}</ref><ref>[https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-do-you-crack-the-code-to-a-lost-ancient-script How do you crack the code to a lost ancient script? - Andrew Trounson, University of Melbourne – 5 November 2019]</ref><ref name = "SalgarellaOverview" /><!-- Salgarella also says that Minoan had complex onsets like /nwa/, but I'm confused by how she presents this. I suspect what she intends is that Minoan had phonemic labialized nasals since LB has signs for /nwa/ even though this would be a random complex onset in Greek. But that's too far from what she literally wrote for me to be comfortable including this without checking against other sources. --><!-- Answer to previous comment: Minoan also seems to have had other labialised and palatalised vowels as onsets, much like in NW Caucasian languages. (Peter Schrijver has suggested that Minoan was at least typologically similar to NW Caucasian and Hattic, and certain substratum languages in Europe and Asia Minor were similar too.) I think this is what Salgarella refers to. -->

[[File:Luwian Hieroglyphs from Karatepe.svg|thumb|[[Anatolian hieroglyphs]]]] 
Scholars have noted a number of potential parallels between Minoan and [[Anatolian language]]s such as [[Luwian language|Luwian]] and [[Lycian language|Lycian]], as well as with [[Semitic language]]s such as [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] and [[Ugaritic]]. However, even if these connections are not coincidental, it is unclear whether Minoan is related to one of these languages or if the parallels arose through [[language contact]].<ref name = "SalgarellaOverview" /><ref>Jan Best, "The First Inscription in Punic. Vowel Differences between Linear A and B, Ugarit-Forschungen 32, pp. 27–35, 2000</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dietrich|Loretz|2001}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Palmer |first=Leonard Robert |title=Luvian and Linear A |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=75–100 |year=1958 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-968X.1958.tb01273.x | issn=0079-1636}}</ref><ref name="Finkelberg"/>