One of the following is true about the Harappan script:

Concept

A writing system is classified by what its signs represent: pictures or conventional signs can stand for objects, words, or syllables, whereas an alphabet uses a small set of symbols mainly for individual speech sounds.

Because the Indus script remains undeciphered, its exact linguistic structure is uncertain; descriptions must therefore distinguish visible sign form from proven phonetic value.

Application

Harappan inscriptions use numerous compact signs, many with pictorial forms, on seals and other short objects. Standard educational descriptions therefore call the script pictographic, while some scholarship cautiously discusses logo-syllabic possibilities.

Contrast

• Pictographic script: this description matches the visible sign-based character commonly attributed to the Harappan script.

• Comparable to the Roman script: the Roman script is alphabetic, and no demonstrated structural or historical equivalence with the Indus sign system has been established.

• Left to right like Devanagari: Devanagari is written left to right, whereas the predominant direction inferred for Indus inscriptions is right to left.

• Alphabetic script: the large sign inventory and undeciphered sound values do not support classifying it as a demonstrated alphabet.

Cross-check and result

Direction evidence independently rules out the left-to-right statement, and the absence of a demonstrated alphabetic structure rules out the Roman-comparison and alphabetic statements. Among the offered choices, the supported statement is: “It is a pictographic script.”