If the first two articles on Linear Script B were an introduction to a new research direction, then Liang En's third article delved into the details of Linear Script B.
The core content of the third paper was listing vowels and consonants, a crucial step in translating phonetic scripts, followed by creating a chart similar to the Japanese kana table.
Of course, this chart was just a framework, with the vowels and consonants not yet assigned actual values. It only outlined the relationships between these syllables.
But this was already a significant step in deciphering Linear Script B. The actual decoding required completing this chart and assigning values to these syllables.
The beginning of deciphering Linear Script B was somewhat similar to Ancient Egyptian, where the breakthrough came from a noun with a fixed pronunciation. The only difference was that Ancient Egyptian started with a person's name, while Linear Script B started with a place name.
Names of places and people generally have fixed pronunciations. Once the place name was identified, some pronunciations could be determined, allowing Liang En to assign corresponding values to the syllable chart he held.
This progress was possible because the clay tablets had been discovered more than once, and due to previous excavations on Crete, Liang En had access to all the relevant materials.
Among those clay tablets, he found a word common in tablets found on Crete and the Peloponnese but absent in another set of tablets known as the Pylos tablets.
Based on this discovery, Liang En supplemented his view, stating that words with the same prefix did not all represent verb conjugations but were derivatives.
He reasoned that if it were a verb, there was no reason for it to be common in one place and rare in another. Hence, the word was likely a place name on Crete.
Linear Script B had a distant relative in Cypriot syllabary, with both Cyprus and Crete in the Aegean Sea. The two scripts also bore similarities.
Cypriot syllabary, which recorded Greek and Phoenician, was deciphered in 1870 thanks to a bilingual stele. Cypriot syllabary was a thousand years younger than Linear Script B and had many different symbols.
Nevertheless, researchers could boldly use Cypriot syllabary symbols to speculate on place names in Cretan Linear Script due to these connections.
Liang En chose a four-syllable place name as the breakthrough point. Based on his previous research and phonetic guesses, the first syllable was "a," and the third syllable resembled "ni" in Cypriot syllabary.
Thus, from the known content, it was inferred to be a place name on Crete called "Aminisos" [a mi ni so]. This identified the pronunciations of "mi" and "so."
With this, the rows for "n," "m," and "s," as well as the columns for "i" and "o," were known. Based on this, Liang En could reasonably speculate that another place name "*noso" referred to Knossos, the site of the Minos palace.
Thus, the "k" row in the syllable chart was also identified. From here, as long as one syllable in a row or column was deciphered, the entire row or column could be read.
This made deciphering Linear Script B much easier. Soon, the pronunciations of various syllables were known, and upon reading the documents, many words were found to resemble Greek.
This indicated that Linear Script B indeed recorded ancient Greek, the foundation of many European languages.
For this reason, even though Cork University was not particularly strong in archaeology, they continued to track and study this subject. During the free Q&A session in the latter part of the lecture, most questions focused on this area.
The students present had evidently read Liang En's previous papers, but what they saw in the papers was not comprehensive. The live Q&A provided an opportunity to fill in these gaps.
This highlighted the benefit of Liang En having gone through the entire process beforehand. This process gave him a clear understanding, allowing him to quickly answer any questions from the students.
Had he taken the easy route and simply copied, he might have struggled with some questions or encountered topics he hadn't addressed, leading to suspicions of plagiarism.
In contrast, Liang En's ability to answer every question quickly dispelled the initial subtle disdain some students had for him.
After all, the audience included not only undergraduates but also master's and doctoral students. Initially, they looked down on someone younger and only with an undergraduate degree.
However, Liang En's lecture gradually changed their attitudes. Through the Q&A, they realized Liang En's academic prowess in this field, surpassing even some professors in certain aspects.
Beyond academic questions, some young students inquired about Liang En's previous novel writing. For example, they asked where his inspiration came from.
"These inspirations are mainly related to my previous treasure hunts," Liang En smiled and said. "For instance, fairy tales came from a series of discovered documents, and the supernatural novels related to the polar regions were inspired by searching for the British Arctic expedition."
"As for the vampire novel, it came about after I discovered a long-lost Hungarian noble and was gifted an ancient castle. To pay the property tax, I wrote the novel."
"Of course, I'm currently writing a new vampire novel, also to cover the property tax. The first volume should be published by next year."
After impressing the students academically, they began to realize Liang En's multifaceted identity. Thus, when Liang En concluded the lecture, the room was silent, with everyone attentively listening.
"——Modern research on history highlights the importance of accumulation, so reading more books regularly is an excellent way to improve oneself," Liang En said to everyone at the end.
After stepping down from the podium, Professor Hunter wrapped up, followed by some free time. Surprisingly, many students pulled out pens and notebooks, hoping for Liang En's autograph.
Initially bewildered by their enthusiasm, Liang En quickly adapted and signed autographs. Fortunately, the crowd was not too large, so he soon finished signing for those who wanted his autograph.
"Your lecture was excellent today," Professor Hunter said to his student as Liang En left the library for the parking lot. "I hope we can invite you to similar events in the future."
"Thank you very much," Liang En replied, shaking hands with his professor as he reached his car. "If I'm available, I'll definitely come. Goodbye!"
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