2 Controversy over the nature of Phoenician signs
Since Greek letters were doubtless derived from Phoenician signs, it is important to ascertain the true nature of Phoenician signs before one can understand how Greek alphabetic writing started. A Phoenician sign is generally introduced in books on writing systems as a sign that stands for a consonant. For example, the Phoenician written word <_k_l_m> for ‘king’ (to be read from right to left in accordance with the direction of Phoenician writing) is generally transliterated in roman letters as <mlk>, which obviously cannot be easily pronounced. Thus the statement that a Phoenician sign stands for a consonant cannot be taken literally. As all genuine scripts are glottographic, they can be read out in the language they represent, and in this respect the Phoenician script is no exception. A comparative study of the ancient and modern Semitic scripts and their representations in other languages will reveal that a Phoenician sign, in fact, stands for a consonant followed by any vowel or none. For example, the Phoenician sign <_m> stands for the consonant /m/ followed by any vowel in the Phoenician vocalic system, or no vowel.
However, scholars are divided in their opinions about the nature of a Phoenician sign. Many say that it is a sign denoting a consonant only without indicating a vowel, while some contend that it is a syllabic sign. Scholars regarding Phoenician signs as consonantal signs include Diringer (1968:159), Higounet (1969:42), Gaur (1984:3838), Sampson (1985:77), DeFrancis (1989:150), Healey (1990:9), Daniels (1996:4), and Swiggers (1996:261). Scholars regarding Phoenician signs as syllabic signs include Gelb (1952:147-153), Chao (1968:109), Robins (1971:116), Havelock (1976:27), and Powell (2009:163-174). The debate has persisted for over half of a century. We believe that one possible way to resolve this long-standing controversy over the nature of Phoenician signs is to try to look at the signs from the Phoenicians’ perspective.
25 December 2016
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