Once again on the evolution of the Anatolian hieroglyphic script

Abstract The Anatolian hieroglyphic script represents a logosyllabic system, which gradually evolved in Asia Minor in the course of the second millennium BCE. Although the first syllabic values of Anatolian hieroglyphs are attested about 1400 BCE, there have been recent attempts to demonstrate that linguistic considerations prompt the projection of the development of the syllabic script further back in time. The present paper addresses the arguments advanced in favour of such a hypothesis and shows their inconclusive character. A collateral result of the present investigation is the segmentation of the set of earliest syllabic signs for which logographic readings are also attested. The comparison between the logographic and syllabic values within this set is conducive to a conclusion that the Hittite language, as opposed to Luwian, played a decisive role in assigning the syllabic values to Anatolian hieroglyphs in Hattusa between 1400 and 1250 BCE.