Banana languages

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Banana languages or Prototigris languages refer to a hypothetical substrate in the Sumerian language. Attested only by personal names used in Sumerian texts. These names have a characteristic feature, reduplication of syllables (like in the word banana): Inanna, Zababa, Chuwawa, Bunene etc. Such feature of the "banana languages" reminds the extinct Minoan language whose genetic relations are unclear.

[edit] Literature

• История древнего Востока, т.2. М. 1988. (in Russian: History of Ancient Orient, Vol. 2. Moscow 1988. Published by the Soviet Academy of Science)
• Емельянов В. Древний Шумер: очерки культуры (in Russian)