The Hitite Language

The end of the Bronze Age brought an end to the empire that disintegrated into several city states at around the 11th century B.C (Drews, 1993). .
             The origin of the Hittite language can be traced back to the emergence of the Hittites and their subsequent occupation of Anatolia. The Kurgan Hypothesis gives an indication that the Indo-Europeans that the Hitittes were part of originated in the region known as the Pontic Steppe that is modern day Ukraine. They migrated south and took up the culture of the indigenous inhabitants by way of conquest and assimilation. Indigenous peoples of the region were the Hattians and the Hurrians. It disintegrated and was replaced by the Luwian language. It later became extinct and there is no anthropological evidence to prove that it is being used in any part of the world. .
             A linguistic analysis of the language looks at several different sections; morphology syntaxis, phonetics, classification, decipherment, orthography, phonology, vowels, consonants, grammar and laryngeals. Morphology is the identification and description given on the smallest grammatical units of a given language. This analysis will take into account the following; nouns, verbs, MI conjunction, active voice and syntax.
             The Hittite language groups nouns using the following criteria; allative, nominative, instrumental, genitive, dative collective and accusative. Gender separation does exist but only a word can be used as both male and female. There is also a clear difference portrayed in reference to inanimate and animate objects. Majority of the words are the same in both plural and singular with a few exceptions that are expressed directly in form of a vocative. .
             There are two sets of verb classes in the Hittite Language hi-conjunction and mi-conjunction. The latter several root generated primary formations that include; athematic presents with ablaut, acrostatic present with ablaut and nasal inflix presents.