THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF MIDDLE AND LATE BRONZE AGE WESTERN ANATOLIA HD

Not much certain is known about the ethnolinguistic make-up of Western Anatolia during the Middle and Late Bronze Age: the contemporary sources from this area are sparse (a few hieroglyphic inscriptions) and it is debated what they signify (are they in Luwian or not?). In the present paper I will offer a reconstruction of the linguistic landscape of Western and Central Anatolia in the 2nd millennium BCE based on contemporary sources (Old Assyrian texts, Hittite texts) as well as later ones (from the 1st millennium BCE). It will be argued that in this period this region must have been home to several languages (most of which belong to the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European family), and that, at the end of the Bronze Age, some language shifts took place that were caused by population movements, partly from the Balkans into Anatolia (Phrygians and Mysians). This has repercussions for our view on the (linguistic) prehistory of the speakers of the Luwic languages. Author(s): Kloekhorst, Alwin (Leiden University)