Anatolian languages
| Anatolian | |
|---|---|
| Ethnicity: | Anatolians |
| Geographic distribution: |
formerly in Anatolia |
| Linguistic classification: | Indo-European
|
| Proto-language: | Proto-Anatolian |
| Subdivisions: |
—
|
The Anatolian languages comprise a group of extinct Indo-European languages that were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language.
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The Anatolian branch is generally considered the earliest to split from the Proto-Indo-European language, from a stage referred to either as Indo-Hittite or "Middle PIE"; typically a date in the mid-4th millennium BC is assumed. Under the Kurgan hypothesis, there are two possibilities for how the early Anatolian speakers could have reached Anatolia: from the north via the Caucasus, and from the west, via the Balkans,[1] the latter of which is considered somewhat more likely by Mallory (1989) and Steiner (1990).
[edit] Languages
- Hittite (nešili), attested from ca. 1600 BC to 1100 BC, official language of the Hittite Empire. Named after the city of Neša (Kanesh), an Assyrian trading colony from which the language spread.
- Luwian (luwili), a close relative of Hittite spoken in adjoining regions sometimes under Hittite control.
- Cuneiform Luwian, glosses and short passages in Hittite texts written in Cuneiform script.
- Hieroglyphic Luwian, written in Anatolian hieroglyphs on seals and in rock inscriptions.
- Lycian (Lycian A; standard Lycian), spoken in Lycia (possibly Lukka) in the Iron Age, a descendant of Luwian, extinct in ca. the 1st century BC, fragmentary.
- Milyan, also called Lycian B, a dialect of Lycian, known from a single inscription.
- Carian, spoken in Caria (possibly Karkija), fragmentarily attested from graffiti by Carian mercenaries in Egypt from ca. the 7th century BC, extinct ca. in the 3rd century BC.
- Pisidian and Sidetic (Pamphylian), fragmentary.
- Palaic, spoken in the north-central Anatolian region of Pala, extinct around the 13th century BC, known only fragmentarily from quoted prayers in Hittite texts.
- Lydian, spoken in Lydia, extinct in ca. the 1st century BC, fragmentary.
There were likely other languages of the family that have left no records; these include the languages of Lycaonia and Isauria, as well as languages such as Lutescan, which are too poorly attested to construe a relationship with Anatolian.
[edit] Extinction
Anatolia was heavily Hellenized following the conquests of Alexander the Great, and it is generally thought that, by the 1st century BCE, the native languages of the area were extinct. This makes Anatolian the first known branch of Indo-European to become extinct. The only other known branch that has no living descendants is Tocharian, which ceased to be spoken around the 8th century CE.
[edit] Features
Hittite morphology is simpler than other older Indo-European languages. Some Indo-European characteristics seem to have disappeared in Hittite, and other IE language branches had developed different innovations. Hittite contains a number of archaisms that have disappeared from other IE languages. Notably, Hittite has no gender system which distinguishes masculine and feminine; instead, it exhibits a noun-class system that is based upon an older animate /inanimate distinction. It should be noted, however, that the masculine/feminine distinction is still a matter of dispute, since there are some, such Robert S. P. Beekes, who doubt that the feminine gender originated in PIE languages. ("Indo-European Linguistics" 13.2.3).)
It has been proposed that the Tyrsenian and the wider Aegean language family are related to the Anatolian branch, but in mainstream linguistics the evidence in support of such claims is not considered conclusive.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- J.P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London (1989).
- G. Steiner, The immigration of the first Indo-Europeans into Anatolia reconsidered, JIES 18 (1990), 185–214.
- Patri, Sylvain (2007), L'alignement syntaxique dans les langues indo-européennes d'Anatolie, (StBoT 49), Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, ISBN 978-3-447-05612-0
[edit] External links
- Anatolian Languages (by D. E. Landon)
- "Lenguas Anatolias" (Archived 2009-10-25), Linguæ Imperii. (in Spanish) – includes map and timeline of Anatolian languages
- Indo-European Languages: Anatolian Family, by Carol Justus and Jonathan Slocum, site at University of Texas
- Anatolian Databases, (Luwian, Lycian and Lydian), by prof. H. Craig Melchert at UCLA
- The Hittite Grammar Homepage, by Olivier Lauffenburger
