| 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.
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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).
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.
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.
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).)