Why is the Lydian language difficult for scholars to interpret?

The Lydian language remains difficult for scholars to interpret primarily due to the lack of a substantial Lydian-Greek bilingual text. While a short bilingual text with Aramaic allowed for the initial identification of its Indo-European character, the absence of longer, more comprehensive bilingual inscriptions has severely hindered progress in deciphering the language.1

Consequently, scholarly understanding of the Lydian lexicon remains vague and tentative, limiting the ability to analyze the details of existing texts. Furthermore, the language underwent significant phonetic changes, including massive syncope (loss of interior sounds) and apocope (loss of final sounds), which give it a superficially distinct appearance compared to its closest relatives, such as Hittite and Luwian. Although basic grammar has been established through comparative analysis, these linguistic shifts and the scarcity of long-form documents continue to pose challenges for researchers.12