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Description:
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Luvian is the language of Anatolian hieroglyphic inscriptions and a close relative
of Hittite. This book explores the Luvian ethnic history through sociolinguistic
methods, with an emphasis on the interpretation of contacts between Luvian and
its linguistic neighbors, such as Hittite, Hurrian, and Greek. It is concluded that
Luvian was originally spoken in the central part of Anatolia. Subsequent Luvian
migrations were connected with the expansion of the Hittite state, where Hittite
was the socially dominant language, but the Luvian speakers were more
numerous. The unstable balance between the Hittite and the Luvian speakers
continued to shift in favor of the second group, to the point that the Hittite elites
were fully bilingual in Luvian.
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