Illyrian languages: Encyclopedia II - Illyrian languages - Language affinity

Illyrian languages - Language affinity

Further than belonging to the Indo-European language family, probably as a centum language, the relation of Illyrian to other ancient and modern languages remains unclear because no writings in Illyrian have been found. Today, the main source of authoritative information about the Illyrian language consists of a handful of Illyrian words cited in classical sources, and numerous examples of Illyrian anthroponyms, ethnonyms, toponyms and hydronyms.

A grouping of Illyrian with the Messapian language has been proposed for about a century, but remains an unproven hypothesis. The theory is based on classical sources, archaeology, as well as onomastic considerations. Messapian material culture bears a number of similarities to Illyrian material culture. Some Messapian anthroponyms have close Illyrian equivalents.

A relation to the Venetic language and Liburnian language, once spoken in northeastern Italy and Liburnia respectively, is also proposed.

A grouping of Illyrian with the Thracian and Dacian language in a "Thraco-Illyrian" group or branch---an idea popular in the first half of the 20th century---is now generally rejected due to a lack of sustaining evidence, and due to what may be evidence to the contrary.

A hypothesis that the modern Albanian language is a surviving Illyrian language remains very controversial among linguists. As noted above, Illyrian is more often considered a centum language, while Albanian is a satem language. The identification of Illyrian as a centum language is widely but not unanimously accepted, although it is generally admitted that from what remains of the language, centum examples appear to greatly outnumber satem examples. One of the few satem examples in Illyrian appears to be Osseriates, probably from PIE *eghero-, "lake". Only a few Illyrian items have been linked to Albanian, and these remain tentative or inconclusive for the purpose of determining a close relation.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Language affinity", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki