Challenge: extinct languages
The first language
introduced himself:
‘My name is
Partatua. I am a very old language ghost. I come from Eurasia and I am a
warrior. Linguists classified me as an Indo-European language, more specifically,
an Eastern Iranian language. I am surprised how they did it because I didn’t
leave much traces of my language, only personal and tribal names. But you know,
linguists know this stuff. In addition, some scholars claimed that I had two
dialects: the Alanian languages and Saka languages.’
The second
language continued:
‘Hello. I am
Cato and I am a politician. I come from the Italian Peninsula. I am a classical
language and belong to the Indo-European language family. I am very famous. My
word roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. I was an official
language of some European states. I am a synthetic, fusional language. My
regular nouns belong to one of five main declensions. I have seven noun cases. I
have four main verb conjugations.’
Here is the
third language’s introduction:
‘I am Nesha, a
princess from north-central Anatolia. I am an Anatolian language but I am also
classified as an Indo-European language, but I don’t have all Indo-European
features. For example, I don’t have genders or subjunctive and optative moods,
and aspect. My language records are attested from the 16th century
to the 13th century BC. I used a cuneiform writing system. I am
famous from my cuneiform tablets and inscriptions erected by the kings of my
realm.’
And here comes
the last one:
‘My name is Lianna.
I am a priestess of a Ziggurat in a city state in southern Mesopotamia. I am
the most ancient language in the word that has been found until today. I was first
attested in about 3100 BC. I am a language isolate. I have two main dialects: eme-ĝir
and eme-sal. I also used a cuneiform writing system. I am an agglutinative,
split ergative, and subject-object-verb language.’
Which languages did Alpha encounter? Write your answer in order in the comments.