Elamite language
| Modern Elamite | |
|---|---|
| Lisan Haltamtime | |
| Pronunciation | [li.san hal.tam.ti.me] |
| Native to | Elam |
| Ethnicity | Elamites |
Native speakers | 2.7 million (2018) |
Early forms | Old Elamite
|
| Elamite Latin alphabet Perso-Arabic script (historically) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Elam |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Elamite College of Grammar Kuliyah Nahume Haltamtime |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | ELY |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
The Elamite Language (lisan Haltamtime, [li.san hal.tam.ti.me]), sometimes referred to as Modern Elamite to distinguish it from its historical forms, is a language spoken primarily in Elam and in bordering regions of neighbouring Iran. Linguistically, Elamite is unrelated to the other languages of the region and is a language isolate unrelated to any other known living language. The Elamites are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the region of Elam.
Native speakers of Elamite live in a contiguous area that straddles the edge of the Iranian plateau and follows the course of the Karun river to the Persian gulf. The northern and central parts of Elam and the Iranian province of Ilam form the core of the historically Elamite speaking area. In the southern- and westernmost parts of Elam, Arabic has either displaced Elamite or Elamite was never spoken natively to begin with.
Under Qajar rule, public use of Elamite was frowned upon and often regarded as a sign of separatism and growing nationalism. After Elam became independent in 1921, this trend reversed and education and publishing in Elamite began to flourish. As part of this process, a standardised form of the Elamite language was developed by the University of the Republic (now the Royal Elamite University) in the early 1920s. Although variation within dialects still exists, the standardised form is considered universally easy to understand and employ in formal situations (education, mass media, literature).
A language isolate, Elamite is believed to be one of the few surviving Pre-Semitic and Pre-Indo-Iranian languages of the ancient Near East. The origin of the Elamites and their language isn't conclusively known, though the most accepted theory is that early forms of Elamite developed in the area well before the arrival of Semitic peoples. A relationship to the Dravidian language family was suggested by Igor M. Diakonoff and later defended by David McAlpin; this hypothesis has not gained mainstream acceptance however. Elamite has borrowed extensively from surrounding languages over the years — particularly from Arabic following the Islamic conquest of Elam and Iran.