Kreteja

General information
Kreteja is a constructed language based on the Linear A inscriptions left by the so-called "Minoan" civilization.

The Linear A script has yet to be deciphered. In fact, we know almost nothing about the spoken language it encoded. We don't even know to which other languages, living or dead, it might have been related. About all that can be said for certain is that it was not a form of Greek.

However, many of the Linear A signs have been assigned tentative phonetic values, based on their resemblance to the Linear B script later used as the earliest writing system for Greek. Given that, it's (barely) possible to guess at some of the morphological and grammatical features of the underlying language, and assemble a little vocabulary. That's not enough to decipher the Linear A script, and I make no pretense that's what this project is about. On the other hand, it's more than enough to begin building a constructed language that, in small doses, might be plausible for anyone but an expert in the ancient Aegean civilizations.

I intend to write some historical fantasy fiction using the Minoan civilization as part of the setting. This constructed language will eventually be used to provide names, scraps of dialogue, and background flavor for those stories.

Consonants
Kreteja is unusual in that it does not have a complete series of voiced stops - but it does distinguish non-aspirated from aspirated stops, and the labiovelar stop [kw] is quite common.

Kreteja has only one liquid [ɹ], and native speakers often have difficulty distinguishing between that and [l] (as, for example, when listening to the speech of Greek "barbarians").

In many cases, Kreteja uses the glides [j] and [w] in word-initial position, and between vowels that do not explicitly form diphthongs.

Vowels
Kreteja has an incomplete five-vowel system, with [a], [i], and [u] by far the most common vowel sounds. [e] and [o] are less common, and in everyday speech [e] and [o] tend to be closed toward the more common [i] and [u].

Several diphthongs occur, most notably /ai̯/ and /au̯/.