The Indus Script: A Structural Phonetic Framework for Decipherment via the 'Parmanu' (Phonetic Atom) Theory

Abstract

The decipherment of the Indus Valley Script (c. 3300–1900 BCE) has long been stalled by "meaning-hunting"—the erroneous attempt to map signs directly to whole words of specific language families (e.g., Dravidian or Indo-Aryan). This paper introduces a paradigm shift via the 'Parmanu' (Phonetic Atom) Theory, arguing that the Indus Script represents humanity's first systematic transition from visual semasiography (ideograms) to articulatory phonetics via the principle of Acrophony (one symbol = one fixed sound). We propose a binary mathematical framework where base signs act as consonants (Data = 1) and directional modifiers act as vowels (Metadata = 0). We demonstrate that directional geometry in the script is cognitively mapped to the human vocal tract (e.g., upward strokes for high-pitch palatal vowels, downward strokes for low-pitch labial vowels). Furthermore, by applying the principle of Binary Fusion (C₁ + C₂ + V → [1+1, 0]), we deconstruct high-frequency ligatures as data-compressed consonant clusters, rationally solving the 417-sign anomaly of the Mahadevan Concordance. Finally, we trace the evolutionary continuum of this phonetic architecture, proving that the geometric skeleton of Indus signs evolved directly into the Brahmi script, while its dense consonant clusters mirror the evolutionary simplification of spoken language from Vedic Sanskrit down to Modern Hindi.