The majority of the inscriptions are made up of one or two signs. This essential quality has led various authors to deny the Balkan-Danube signs the status of writing (Winn, 1981). However, even the Hindu scripts (4600-3800 years old) often show one-sign inscriptions. In this case, we are in the presence of a complete written word. (Parpola, 1994).

A single, isolated sign is frequently found on pottery, less frequently on anthropomorphic figures and rarely on spindle whorls. Grouped signs mostly appear on whorls and pottery. In the first case, inscriptions with a great number of geometric signs are compressed into the space available; in the second case, there is a striking contrast between the amount of space available and the prevalence of ideograms obtained by combining only two signs (although the inscriptions on the edge are denser).