[citation needed] All the Paleohispanic scripts, with the exception of the Greco-Iberian alphabet, share a common distinctive typological characteristic: they represent syllabic values for the occlusives and monophonemic values for the other consonants and vowels.
In this writing system, they are neither alphabets nor syllabaries; rather, they are mixed scripts that are typically identified as semi-syllabaries.
The northeastern script was nearly deciphered in 1922 by Manuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez, who systematically linked the syllabic signs to their occlusive values.
This decipherment was based on the existence of a large number of coin legends (some bearing Latin inscriptions) that could easily be associated with ancient place names known from Roman and Greek sources.
This system, discovered by Joan Maluquer de Motes in 1968, allows for the differentiation of occlusive signs (dentals and velars) between voiced and unvoiced by the addition of an extra stroke.