Editing Lycian language (section)

==Classification==
[[File:Lycian alphabet.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Lycian alphabet: an early attempt at transliteration]]
Lycian was an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language, one in the [[Luwian language|Luwian]] subgroup of [[Anatolian languages]]. A number of principal features help identify Lycian as being in the Luwian group:<ref>Adiego (2007) page 765.</ref>
* [[Assibilation]] of [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) [[palatals]] (''[[Centum and satem languages|satem]]'' change): ''*h₁éḱwos'' to Luwian ''á-zú-wa/i-'', Lycian ''esbe'' 'horse'.
* Replacement of [[genitive case]] with adjectives ending in ''-ahi'' or ''-ehi'', Luwian ''-assi-''.
* A [[preterite]] [[Grammatical voice|active]] formed with PIE [[Ancient Greek grammar#Verbs|secondary]] [[Grammatical voice#The middle voice|middle]] endings:
**PIE ''*-to'' to Luwian ''-ta'', Lycian ''-te'' or ''-de'' in the [[Grammatical person|third person]] singular
**PIE ''*-nto'' to Luwian ''-nta'', Lycian ''-(n)te'' in the third person plural
* Similarity of words: Luwian ''māssan(i)-'', Lycian ''māhān(i)'' 'god'.

The Luwian subgroup also includes cuneiform and hieroglyphic Luwian, [[Carian language|Carian]], [[Sidetic]], [[Milyan language|Milyan]] and [[Pisidian language|Pisidic]].<ref>Adiego (2007) page 763.</ref> The pre-alphabetic forms of Luwian extended back into the [[Late Bronze Age]] and preceded the fall of the [[Hittite Empire]]. These vanished at about the time of the [[Neo-Hittite]] states in southern Anatolia (and [[Syria]]); thus, the Iron Age members of the subgroup are localized daughter languages of Luwian.

Of the Luwic languages, only the Luwian parent language is attested prior to 1000&nbsp;BC, so it is unknown when the classical-era dialects diverged. Whether the [[Lukka]] people always resided in southern Anatolia or whether they always spoke Luwian are different topics.

From the inscriptions, scholars have identified at least two languages that were termed ''Lycian''. One is considered standard Lycian, also termed Lycian&nbsp;A; the other, which is attested on side D of the [[Xanthos]] stele, is [[Milyan language|Milyan]] or Lycian B, separated by its grammatical particularities.