# jemdoc: addcss{rbh.css}, addcss{jacob.css} = ch5: the language barrier ~~~ {}{raw} Navajo   hiero   linear   ~~~ ~~~ {other WWII ciphers} - Germany-Enigma Japan-Purple Britain-Type X US-SIGABA - Purple: Midway/Yamamoto - improper Enigma use -- repeated msg keys, cillies, plugboard/rotor restrictions -- otherwise not broken ? -- much later: Enigma broken - science: reasoning history socialogy psychology: human behaviour - cipher machines: slow human language translators: fast - WWI US (France): Choctaw - WWII US (Pacific): Navajo code talkers ~~~ ~~~ {}{raw} ~~~ ~~~ - Philip Johnston → James Jones - precision? 2 man whisper demo - language? Navajo (28 Americans) Sioux Chippewa Pima-Papago -- large pop'n, literate, fluently bilingual -- distinct fr Eur/Asia, not studied by roving German students - cryptosystem -- word ↔ word 274 word military lexicon spell: letter ↔ word -- submarine QZ ↔ iron fish quiver zinc ↔ besh-lo ca-yeilth besh-do-gliz - US Naval Intel: guttural/nasal/tongue-twisting - 7 Aug 1942: 1st use - end 1942: rqst 83 add'l code talkers - Na-Dené: verb form = f(subj, obj = f(category), adverb, personal/hearsay) - enhancements -- lexicon: + 234 words -- homophones: e t a o i n \+ 2 ~ ~ s h r d l u \+ 1 -- a ↔ ant, apple, axe ↔ wol-la-chee, be-la-sana, tse-nihl - Iwo Jima: 800 Navajo msgs - [https://xkcd.com/257/ xkcd] ~~~ ~~~ {}{raw}

crack lost languages: hieroglyphs

~~~ ~~~ - lost languages/scripts of Egypt -- ? 3000 BC [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs hieroglyphic] fr Grk: sacred carving -- ? 3000 BC [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic hieratic] fr Grk: priestly writing -- 600 BC [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demotic_(Egyptian) demotic] fr Grk: popular - Egypt -- 313 BC [http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://0.tqn.com/d/cruises/1/0/p/W/3/luxor_temple09.JPG&imgrefurl=http://cruises.about.com/od/africacruises/ig/Luxor-Temple/luxor_temple09.htm&h=500&w=375&sz=45&tbnid=BXB7QMYgV8Xu1M:&tbnh=97&tbnw=73&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dalexander%2Bcartouche%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=alexander+cartouche&usg=__zpDsyWDWM8Mr11ZOvoyHOtI3Ba8=&docid=EmWkPmzORiCdtM&sa=X&ei=JslQUYfMCsG2igLF34C4Dg&ved=0CE0Q9QEwBQ&dur=3227 Alexander] invades, leader, ruling culture Macedonian/Greek -- 305 BC general [http://www.livius.org/ps-pz/ptolemies/ptolemy_i_soter3.html Ptolemy] his line until {{...}} -- 30 BC [http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/kom-ombo-pictures/cartouche-cleopatra-cc-trevorlowe.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/kom-ombo-pictures/slides/cartouche-cleopatra-cc-trevorlowe.htm&h=680&w=1024&sz=496&tbnid=a3QiajQk576bhM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=136&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcleopatra%2Bcartouche%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=cleopatra+cartouche&usg=__DFsZXxsvGb077ZFBJubGxupr-SU=&docid=HGNEQgi4JSl0sM&sa=X&ei=481QUbvWOcGYiAKnx4DADA&ved=0CDUQ9QEwAQ&dur=262 Cleopatra] dies, Egypt now province of Rome - \~100 AD [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_language Coptic] (late Egyptian) -- Greek alphabet \+ Egyptian language {{=>}} Coptic script 24 Greek characters \+ 6 demotic characters (non-Greek sounds), Egyptian pronunciation -- demotic outlawed by Christian church (Constantine: 272-337) - 10xx AD Arabic (Egyptian/Coptic linguistic link mostly broken, but e.g. survived in Coptic Christian church liturgy) - 16xx: Egyptian obelisks erected in Rome - hieroglyph = semagram (meaningful symbol) ? - 1652 German Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher Oedipus aegyptiacus - 1798 Napolean historians/scientists/draughtsmen → Egypt - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone Rosetta] → Cairo → Alexandria → London - 3 scripts: heiroglyphic, demotic, classical Greek - [http://discoveringegypt.com/egyptian-hieroglyphic-writing/hieroglyphic-typewriter/ typewriter] - Thomas Young 1773 - 1829 -- polymath Grk Lat Fr Ital Heb Chald Syr Sam Arab Pers Turk Eth -- Cambridge medicine, eye, cartouche -- 1814 summer: foreign name would have to be phonetic Ptolemy ? Berenika ? -- rest of text ? ( respect for Kircher ? ) -- 1819 Encyclopedia Brittanica - Jean-Francois [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/champollion_jean.shtml Champollion] 1790-1832 -- 1807 → Collège de France, Paris → Egypt under the pharaohs -- Grk Lat Heb Eth San Zend Pahlevi Arab Syr Chal Pers Chin -- 1808 "Lenoir has published ... " (fainted) -- 1809 prof Grenoble (fainted) -- 1815 Grenoble Fac Arts closed -- 1822 following Young's ideas, more cartouches --- Ptolemaios ↔ P t o l m e s --- Cleopatra ↔ C l e o p a t r a two diff't t glyphs --- ?????? ↔ a l ? s e ? t r ? a l k s e n t r s scrbs lkd t mt vwls -- 1822 Sept 14 pre-GrecoRoman cartouches --- still phonetic --- rebus ... in Coptic (late Egyptian) ! /je tiens l'affaire/ -- 1828 → Egypt -- 1832 stroke - Singh: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_01.shtml hiero decipher] ~~~ ~~~ - [http://www.virtual-egypt.com/newhtml/hieroglyphics/sample/alphabet.htm hieoroglyph alphabet] - [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/crypto/other/cartouchey.png cartouche y] - [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/crypto/other/cartouchez.png cartouche z] ~~~ ~~~ {}{raw}

cracking linear B

~~~ ~~~ {cracking post hiero} - Babylon cuneiform - Kok-Turki - India Brahmi ~~~ ~~~ {linear B background} - 1600-1100 BC Mycenaean age - 1200 BC Trojan war - 1100-750 BC Greek dark ages -- 800 BC Homer Ilyiad, Odyssey - 750-480 BC Greek archaic - 500-323 BC Greek classical -- 490 Marathon, 323 death Alexander - 1872 Heinrich Schliemann Troy ~~~ ~~~ {Arthur Evans 1851-1941} - wanted Myceneaean writing - from Athen antiquities to Cretan seals to Crete - 1900 Knossos excavations: fire-baked tablets -- 2000-1650 BC drawings/semagrams -- 1750-1450 BC linear A -- 1450-1375 BC linear B - [http://www.ancientscripts.com/linearb.html linear B script] -- left to right (ragged right margins) -- syllabic (90 symbols) - linear B language -- some symbols similar to Cypriot-Greek (600-200 BC) -- but few linear B words end in C-G *se* symbol -- so linear B not likely to be (Cypriot-)Greek -- frescoes of young men jumping bulls: Minotaur -- palace with 1500 rooms: King Minos? -- Evans conviction: linear B a Minoan age lost Cretan language -- scientists who suggested Minoans spoke Greek were ostracized ~~~ ~~~ {Carl Blegen 1939} - linear B tablets found in Pylos (Greek mainland) - evidence that linear B is Greek? - 1941 death Evans ~~~ ~~~ {Alice Kober 1906-1950} - [https://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/crypto/kober.pdf minoan scripts: fact and theory] - breakthrough? linear B looks inflective, like Akkadian ~~~ ~~~ {}{} cases of Akkadian noun sadanu sadani sa da ni sadanu sa da nu sadu sa du conjectured cases of two Linear B nouns A B 1 25 26 37 57 70 52 41 57 2 " " " 36 " " " 36 3 " " 05 " " 12 ~~~ ~~~ {Kober conjectures} - for each noun, common 5-letter stem - for each case, common end -- case 1,2: 3-letter end -- case 3: 1-letter end - each syllable: consonant-vowel - conclusion -- 3-letter end of 25-26-37-57 = end of 70-52-41-57, so syllables 37,41 share vowel -- 1-letter end of 25-26-05 = end of 70-52-12, so syllables 05,12 share vowel -- 5-letter stem of 25-26-37-57 = stem of 25-26-05, so syllables 37,05 share consonant -- 5-letter stem of 70-52-41-57 = stem of 70-52-12, so syllables 41,12 share consonant - 1950 Kober death ~~~ ~~~ {Michael Ventris 1922-1956} - continued Kober's approach - some high-initial-frequency symbols: single vowel ? - [https://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/crypto/kober.pdf grouped symbols by common initial consonant] - high frequency words: town name ? - town with initial vowel? Amnisos ? - 08-73-30-12 a - mi - ni- so ~ so know 08,73,30,12 - 70-52-12 ?o - ?o - so ? ~ Knossos ? - 70-52-12 ko - no - so ~ so know 08,73,30,12,70,52 - 69-53-12 ?? - ?i - so ? ~ Tulissos ? - 69-53-12 tu - li - so ~ so know 08,73,30,12,70,52,69 - jigsaw -- 05 in same column as 12,52,70 -- so 05 vowel o -- 05 in same row as 69 -- so 05 consonant t -- so 05 = to ~ ! -- similarly, 31 = sa ~ ! -- word often at bottom of list ~ 05 - 31 = to - sa -- experts had guessed lists were inventories, 05-31 was total -- total in old Greek can be "so much", /tossos/ or /tosa/ -- eureka: linear B is old Greek? -- frivolous digression ? ~ start reading other words -- BBC listener John Chadwick ~~~ ~~~ {John Chadwick 1920-1988} - expert in archaic Greek, Greek philology (language evolution) - 1953 Chadwick/Ventris ~ /Evidence for Greek Dialect in the Mycenaean Archives/ - linear B conclusions -- Greek -- Linear A might have been written in lost Minoan language -- around 1450 Greek Mycenaea conquers Crete? -- Linear B similar writing to Linear A, but different language - 1956 death Ventris - [https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A4596735 another version of story] ~~~