# jemdoc: addcss{rbh.css}, addcss{jacob.css}
= ch5: the language barrier
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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
~~~
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Navajo code-talkers
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~~~
- 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]
~~~
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crack lost languages: hieroglyphs
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~~~
- 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]
~~~
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cracking linear B
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{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
~~~
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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]
~~~