How was the Phrygian language related to other ancient languages?

The Phrygian language was an ancient Indo-European language spoken in west-central Anatolia. Its precise classification within the Indo-European family remains a subject of scholarly debate.1

Historically, because Greek tradition suggested the Phrygians migrated from Macedonia and Thrace, the language was once believed to be closely related to Thracian or Illyrian. However, most modern linguists categorize Phrygian as a distinct Indo-European language that shares several notable isoglosses—or linguistic features—with ancient Greek. One such shared feature is the "augment," a verbal prefix (e-) used to mark the past tense.231

Crucially, Phrygian is distinct from the Anatolian languages, such as Hittite and Luwian, which were native to the region. Its presence in Anatolia is generally understood to be the result of a later population movement.1