The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its Connection with Other Scripts c10.s81.11

c10.s81.11

It will be observed that no sign of common occurrence, except is not found as a single word. If, as there is strong reason to suppose from the phonetic modifications of signs in accordance with principles of euphony, each sign constitutes a single sound or syllable, we have here evidence that a large number of words in our texts are monosyllables - i.e., unilateral or bilateral roots. And it must be remembered that in the above list of independent signs no account has been taken of compound ideograms, which may well also be monosyllabic, nor of a large number of simple ideograms which are probably independent, but where the evidence is not strong enough to give certitude. I conclude then that we are dealing in this script with a language which is pre-eminently monosyllabic, and in consequence that the language is not Sanskrit, or Semitic, whatever else it may be.