Editing Hittite language (section)

==Classification==
Hittite is one of the Anatolian languages and is known from [[Hittite cuneiform|cuneiform]] tablets and inscriptions that were erected by the Hittite kings. The script formerly known as "Hieroglyphic Hittite" is now termed Hieroglyphic Luwian. The Anatolian branch also includes [[Cuneiform Luwian]], [[Hieroglyphic Luwian]], [[Palaic language|Palaic]], [[Lycian language|Lycian]], [[Milyan language|Milyan]], [[Lydian language|Lydian]], [[Carian language|Carian]], [[Pisidian language|Pisidian]], [[Sidetic language|Sidetic]] and [[Isaurian language|Isaurian]].<ref>Kloekhorst, Alwin. "[https://www.academia.edu/86912968/Anatolian_2022_ Anatolian]". In: ''The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective''. Edited by Thomas Olander. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. pp. 63–65. {{doi|10.1017/9781108758666.005}}.</ref>

Unlike most other Indo-European languages, Hittite does not distinguish between masculine and feminine grammatical gender, and it lacks subjunctive and [[optative mood]]s as well as aspect. Various hypotheses have been formulated to explain these differences.<ref>{{harvnb|Melchert|2012|pp=2–5}}.</ref>

Some [[linguists]], most notably [[Edgar H. Sturtevant]] and [[Warren Cowgill]], have argued that Hittite should be classified as a [[sister language]] to [[Proto-Indo-European]], rather than as a [[daughter language]]. Their [[Indo-Hittite]] hypothesis is that the parent language (Indo-Hittite) lacked the features that are absent in Hittite as well, and that Proto-Indo-European later innovated them.

Other linguists, however, prefer the ''Schwund'' ("loss") Hypothesis in which Hittite (or Anatolian) came from Proto-Indo-European, with its full range of features, but the features became simplified in Hittite.

According to [[Craig Melchert]], the current tendency (as of 2012) is to suppose that Proto-Indo-European evolved and that the "prehistoric speakers" of Anatolian  became isolated "from the rest of the PIE speech community, so as not to share in some common innovations".<ref>{{harvnb|Melchert|2012|p=7}}.</ref> Hittite and the other [[Anatolian languages]] split off from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] at an early stage. Hittite thus preserved archaisms that would be lost in the other Indo-European languages.<ref>{{harvnb|Jasanoff|2003|p=20 with footnote 41}}</ref>

Hittite has many loanwords, particularly religious vocabulary from the non-Indo-European [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] and [[Hattic language|Hattic]] languages. The latter was the language of the [[Hattians]], the local inhabitants of the land of [[Hattians|Hatti]] before they were absorbed or displaced by the [[Hittites]]. Sacred and magical texts from [[Hattusa]] were often written in Hattic, [[Hurrian]] and [[Luwian language|Luwian]] even after Hittite had become the norm for other writings.