Editing Lepontic language (section)

==Classification==
Some scholars view<ref name=Schumacher/> (e.g. Lejeune 1971, Koch 2008) Lepontic as a distinct Continental Celtic language.<ref name=LL/><ref name=Koch/> Other scholars (e.g. Evans 1992, Solinas 1995, Eska 1996, McCone 1996, Matasovic 2009)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0VNHHxyNt0C|title=Gaulois et celtique continental|last=Pinault|first=Georges-Jean|date=2007|publisher=Librairie Droz|isbn=978-2-600-01337-6|pages=375|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YN_YPQAACAAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic|last=Matasović|first=Ranko|date=2009|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-17336-1|pages=13 & 16|language=en}}</ref> consider it as an early form of Cisalpine Gaulish (or '''Cisalpine Celtic''') and thus a dialect of Gaulish. An earlier view, prevalent for most of the 20th century and until about 1970, regarded Lepontic as a "para-Celtic" western [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language, akin to but not part of Celtic, possibly related to [[Ligurian language (ancient)|Ligurian]] (Whatmough 1933 and Pisani 1964). However, Ligurian itself has been considered akin to, but not descended from, Common Celtic, see Kruta 1991 and Stifter 2008.<ref name=Kruta/><ref name=Stifter/>

Referring to linguistic arguments as well as archaeological evidence, Schumacher even considers Lepontic a primary branch of Celtic, perhaps even the first language to diverge from Proto-Celtic.<ref name=Schumacher>{{cite book|last1=Schumacher|first1=Stefan|last2=Schulze-Thulin|first2=Britta|last3=aan de Wiel|first3=Caroline|title=Die keltischen Primärverben. Ein vergleichendes, etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon|year=2004|publisher=Institut für Sprachen und Kulturen der Universität Innsbruck|location=Innsbruck|isbn=3-85124-692-6|pages=84–85|language=de}}</ref> In any case, the Lepontic inscriptions are the earliest attestation of any form of Celtic, and given its very scanty attestation, it is unlikely that debates over how exactly it is to be classified within Celtic will be resolved any time soon to everyone's satisfaction unless further significant finds come to light.