Messapisch

Messapic (Messapus, "Messapian") was the language of the Iapyges/Iapygians of southeastern Italy (the heel of the boot — Apulia, Calabria) from c. 6th century BCE until its extinction by ~1st century BCE through Roman Latinization. Genealogical classification is debated: some scholars classify Messapic as Italic alongside Latin, Oscan, Umbrian; others classify it as Illyrian (sister to languages of the eastern Adriatic coast, including Albanian); a minority view sees it as a separate Indo-European branch. About 600 inscriptions survive, mostly funerary and votive, allowing partial reconstruction of phonology and noun morphology but limited verb morphology and almost no syntax. Distinctive features include initial *p preserved as p (vs. Italic *p > p Italic but contrasting with Albanian ph), and a unique vocative case ending -e similar to Indo-Iranian.