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The Illyrian languages are a group of Indo-European languages that were spoken in the western part of the Balkans〔If the Messapian language was close enough to the Illyrian languages to be considered an Illyrian language, then Illyrian would also have been spoken in southern Italy.〕 in former times by groups identified as Illyrians: Ardiaei, Delmatae, Pannonii, Autariates, Taulanti (see List of ancient tribes in Illyria). Some sound-changes from Proto-Indo-European to Illyrian and other language features are deduced from what remains of the Illyrian languages, but because there are no examples of ancient Illyrian literature surviving〔: "While the Illyrians are a well-documented people of antiquity, not a single verifiable inscription has survived written in the Illyrian language."〕 (aside from the Messapian writings if they can be considered Illyrian), it is difficult to clarify its place within the Indo-European language family. Because of the uncertainty,〔: "Though almost nothing of it survives, except for names, the Illyrian language has figured prominently in several theories regarding the spread of Indo-European languages into Europe."〕 most sources provisionally place the Illyrian language family on its own branch of Indo-European, though its relation to other languages, ancient and modern, continues to be studied. It is believed by most scholars that Albanian is the closest descendant to Illyrian language, relatively speaking. ==Classification== The Illyrian languages are part of the Indo-European language family. The relation of the Illyrian languages to other Indo-European languages—ancient and modern—is poorly understood due to the paucity of data and is still being examined. 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. Given the scarcity of the data it is difficult to identify the sound changes that have taken place in the Illyrian languages; the most widely accepted one is that the Indo-European voiced aspirates /bʰ/, /dʰ/, /gʰ/ became voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/.〔.〕〔.〕 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 and onomastics. Messapian material culture bears a number of similarities to Illyrian material culture. Some Messapian anthroponyms have close Illyrian equivalents. A grouping of Illyrian with the Venetic language and Liburnian language, once spoken in northeastern Italy and Liburnia respectively, has also been proposed. The consensus now is that Illyrian was quite distinct from Venetic and Liburnian.〔: "We may begin with the Venetic peoples, Veneti, Carni, Histri and Liburni, whose language set them apart from the rest of the Illyrians."〕〔: "In Roman Pannonia the Latobici and Varciani who dwelt east of the Venetic Catari in the upper Sava valley were Celtic but the Colapiani of the Colapis (Kulpa) valley were Illyrians (north Pannonian), exhibiting names such as Liccaius, Bato, Cralus, Lirus and Plassarus."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Illyrian languages」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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